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8,713,641 | Our Town (The X-Files) | 1,167,593,846 | null | [
"1995 American television episodes",
"Television episodes about cannibalism",
"Television episodes about shamanism",
"Television episodes set in Arkansas",
"Television episodes set in Oceania",
"Television episodes set in Papua New Guinea",
"Television episodes written by Frank Spotnitz",
"The X-Files (season 2) episodes"
]
| "Our Town" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on May 12, 1995. It was written by Frank Spotnitz and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Our Town" received a Nielsen rating of 9.4 and was watched by 9.0 million households. The episode received mixed reviews from critics.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Dudley, Arkansas, is the site of the latest investigation for Mulder and Scully, who are sent to find a missing poultry inspector. The case takes a twist when another poultry worker is shot after she goes insane, leading Mulder to believe that certain townspeople are cannibals.
"Our Town" was future executive producer Spotnitz's first stand-alone episode for the show. Spotnitz was inspired to write the episode after thinking of cannibalism occurring at a chicken processing plant, an idea that he thought was one of the most despicable and vile things. Spotnitz later named the characters after real life cannibals.
## Plot
In Dudley, Arkansas, government health inspector George Kearns follows his seemingly young lover, Paula Gray, into the woods. However, after losing track of Paula, George Kearns soon finds himself surrounded by approaching lights in the woods. He is then killed by an axe-wielding assailant wearing a tribal mask.
When Kearns is reported missing and a witness claims to have seen foxfire near Dudley, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate. At the site of the alleged foxfire, the agents find the ground burnt. After visiting Kearns' wife Doris, the agents discover that he was about to recommend a local chicken plant, Chaco Chicken, to be closed down for health violations. While giving the agents a tour of the plant, floor manager Jess Harold claims that Kearns held a vendetta against Chaco Chicken. After hearing this, a hallucinating Paula, who works at the plant, grabs and holds Harold at knifepoint. Mulder and Scully attempt to reason with Paula until she is shot and killed by Arens, the local sheriff. The plant's physician, Dr. Vance Randolph, later claims that Paula was suffering from consistent headaches, which Kearns had also reported.
The agents later see Walter Chaco, Paula's grandfather and the plant's owner, who allows the agents to perform an autopsy. The agents find that while Paula's personnel file gives her age as 47, she appears no older than her mid-20s. They also discover that Paula suffered from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, a rare and fatal illness that causes dementia. When the agents nearly collide with a Chaco Chicken truck, they learn that the driver also suffered from the disease. Noticing the plant's blood-red runoff in a nearby stream, Mulder orders a reluctant Sheriff Arens to dredge it. They quickly find the bones of nine people, including Kearns. While inspecting the remains, the agents notice that the skulls are missing and that the bones appear to have been boiled. Meanwhile, Randolph and Harold discuss the uncovered bones and the increase of Creutzfeldt–Jakob cases. While Randolph complains about Chaco's inaction, Harold assures him that he will talk to Chaco.
Using FBI records, Mulder and Scully find that eighty-seven people have vanished within a two-hundred mile radius of Dudley over the past half-century. Mulder suspects that the town's residents are practicing cannibalism in order to prolong life, possibly explaining Paula's youthful appearance. Mulder also realizes that Kearns originally had Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, and that the other residents caught the illness after consuming his body. The agents try to search the town's birth records for confirmation of Paula's age, but find that they have been destroyed. At Chaco's mansion, Chaco and Harold meet with Doris, who tearfully implies that she "helped" Chaco kill her husband; Chaco instructs her to obstruct the FBI's investigation.
Doris calls Mulder, believing that Chaco wants to kill her; after she hangs up, she is attacked by the masked figure. Scully goes to help Doris while Mulder searches for Chaco at his mansion. There, he finds the shrunken heads of Kearns and other victims in a cabinet. Mulder calls Scully on the phone and hears her being knocked out by Chaco. She is bound and gagged and taken to a secluded field, where Harold has started a bonfire and led the townsfolk in consuming Doris. Chaco berates them for killing one of their own, but Harold chastises him for allowing the Creutzfeldt–Jakob epidemic to occur and has Chaco executed by the masked figure. Scully herself is about to be killed when Mulder arrives and shoots the figure; he is revealed to be Sheriff Arens. Harold tries to shoot Mulder, but is trampled to death by the fleeing townsfolk.
In narration, Scully explains that Chaco's plant has been closed down by the Department of Agriculture, and that twenty-seven Dudley residents have died from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. She reveals that Chaco was ninety-three years old at the time of his death, and had spent time with the allegedly cannibalistic "Jale tribe" after his transport plane was shot down over New Guinea during World War II. She also states that his remains have never been found; the final scene suggests that Chaco's remains are being fed to chickens at his plant.
## Production
"Our Town" was written by future executive producer Frank Spotnitz and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode was Spotnitz's first stand-alone episode for the show, and because of that he decided to write about "the most despicable and vile things he could imagine", which in this case was cannibalism occurring at a chicken processing plant. Spotnitz was also inspired by the thriller Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) (about a town that holds a terrible secret) and an article he read while a student at University of California, Los Angeles about salamander cannibalism and how such behavior makes the animals sick. When the episode was being scripted, these ideas were later supplemented with medical research about kuru, a very rare, incurable neurodegenerative disorder that was formerly common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea.
While researching the Ancestral Puebloans for the second-season finale, Spotnitz learned that archaeologists had discovered boiled human bones in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico—an element featured in the final version of the episode. Spotnitz also used "Chaco" as the name of the chicken plant in this episode. Spotnitz had trouble finding books about cannibalism, but he did glean enough information to name the characters in the episode after real, notable cannibals. Gary Grubbs, the actor who played the sheriff, was later cast as the fire captain in the 1998 X-Files film. Howard Gordon came up with the idea to start the episode with a love affair between George Kearns and Paula Gray.
Of the result, Spotnitz said "I was very pleased with the way it was executed, and I think it was a good mystery." He later wrote that he "liked [it] more as time has gone on." Director Rob Bowman admitted to being exhausted both physically and mentally by the time this episode—the second to last of the season—was produced. This lack of interest later resulted in the episode taking "extra time to finish". Bowman later recalled that the most difficult scene to film was the episode's climax, if only because of the ceremonial mask featured. He explained, "The mask scared the hell out of me only because I thought, 'Boy, if I don't shoot this right, it's going to be silly."
## Reception
"Our Town" was first broadcast in the United States on May 12, 1995, on the Fox Broadcasting Company. In its original broadcast, it was watched by 9 million households, according to the Nielsen ratings system. It received a 9.4 rating and a 17 share among viewers, meaning that 9.4 percent of all households in the United States and 17 percent of all people watching television at the time, viewed the episode.
The episode received mostly mixed reviews from television critics. In a retrospective review of the second season, Entertainment Weekly gave "Our Town" a C+, describing it as "scary — but mostly because of what transpires in a chicken processing plant." Writing for The A.V. Club, Zack Handlen rated the episode a B−, criticizing the clichéd opening sequence—"Haven't we seen this before? Like, a million times, in dozens of horror movies, and even on this very series"—the bland characters and lack of humor. However, he did compliment the fact that the plot explained enough of the villain's motives and that the episode had "some sense of a community behind everything". Furthermore, he wrote that the resolution worked well despite again resorting to Scully in danger.
Television Without Pity ranked "Our Town" the fifth most nightmare-inducing episode of the show. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode two stars out of five. The two wrote positively of Spotnitz juxtapositions, praising the idea to frame the themes around cannibalism. However, they wrote that "Spotnitz pushes the metaphor too far", citing the ending scene as evidence. Shearman and Pearson also criticized both Bowman's directing, noting it lacked the flourishes to make "Spotnitz' strange black comedy work", and Mark Snow's score. They noted that Snow was on "autopilot" and that his soundtrack was "the same horn anthem he gives any character who's taken a little too much from a tribal culture." The two further criticized the series' use of the capture of Scully as a mechanism for Mulder to spring into action. |
27,282,996 | Death of Kaja Ballo | 1,163,666,893 | Norwegian student | [
"2008 deaths",
"Deaths by person in France",
"Scientology-related controversies",
"Women deaths"
]
| Kaja Bordevich Ballo (1988 – March 28, 2008) was a Norwegian university student who took her own life in Nice, France, on March 28, 2008, shortly after taking an Oxford Capacity Analysis (OCA), a personality test administered by the Church of Scientology, earlier the same day. Family and friends state that Ballo was happy prior to taking the OCA, and that her mood dramatically shifted after receiving the results; she jumped from the fourth floor of her dorm room hours later. In addition to a suicide note, Ballo's family found the OCA among her belongings. French police investigated connections between Scientology and Ballo's death, and interviewed two leaders of the Church of Scientology in France; prosecutors stated in December 2008 that they were unable to establish a causative link.
A Scientology representative in France asserted that the OCA was not created by the Church, and that it was not related to the suicide. Scientology's information chief in Norway, Matthias Fosse, stated that the OCA was not dangerous and that the organization did not bear any responsibility for the tragedy. Ballo's father, Norwegian MP Olav Gunnar Ballo (SV), retained a lawyer to investigate his daughter's death, and her family considered filing a lawsuit against Scientology. 500 people attended Ballo's funeral on April 11, 2008, at Grefsen Church in Oslo.
The incident received significant media coverage in Norway, for which some outlets faced criticism. Norwegian MP Inga Marte Thorkildsen (SV) indicated that she thought Scientology had a role in Ballo's suicide. Psychologist Rudy Myrvang told Aftenposten that the OCA was designed to break down an individual; he characterized the test as a form of recruitment tool for the organization. Scientology critic Andreas Heldal-Lund stated parents of those involved in Scientology contacted him with similar concerns. The Norwegian Psychological Association warned individuals against taking such types of personality tests.
Ballo's father wrote a book about his daughter's death, and refrained from press interviews until the book was published in 2009. Titled Kaja: 1988–2008, the book became a bestseller in Norway. The author stated he wrote the book as an expository method to both process his grief, inform his family about the controversy, and educate the public about suicide.
## Family
Kaja Bordevich Ballo was the daughter of Olav Gunnar Ballo, a member of the Norwegian parliament who at the time of her death belonged to the Socialist Left Party (SV). Her stepmother was Heidi Sørensen, a former Norwegian MP for the SV and State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment.
## Scientology personality test
On March 28, 2008, Ballo took a Church of Scientology personality test, officially known as the Oxford Capacity Analysis (OCA), at a storefront Scientology mission located a few meters from her dormitory in Nice, France. According to representatives for Scientology, Ballo spent a total of one hour at the facility. She received a negative result from the OCA, which indicated that some of her responses were situated on what is referred to in Scientology as "an unacceptable level". Out of the 200 questions on the OCA, Ballo missed 100 points, which was seen as "unstable". The OCA stated Ballo had a "very limited" IQ.
Friends and family members maintain that Ballo had not indicated any problems prior to taking the OCA, but her mood "changed" after receiving the results. Ballo's uncle, Heljar Ballo, told public broadcaster NRK that the results of the OCA were "devastating" to her. He described Ballo as "happy and bubbly", stating, "We can only relate the facts, that she was doing well in France, was happy and had many good friends, and that she took this test."
## Death
Ballo jumped to her death from the fourth floor of her dorm room two hours after getting the results of the OCA. She left behind a suicide note, along with the OCA results, which was found by her family. In April 2008, Aftenposten noted that the French police and were investigating connections between Scientology and Ballo's suicide. The investigation was headed by a French judge, and involved prosecutors. In April 2008, French police interviewed two leaders of the Church of Scientology in France. One French prosecutor told Dagbladet that, "We are almost convinced that it is a suicide. But the question is whether something encouraged her to this." Prosecutors stated in December 2008 that they could not determine a direct link between the Scientology test and Ballo's death.
Agnes Bron, a Scientology representative in France, denied that the OCA was related to Ballo's death, and asserted that the test was not created by the Church of Scientology. Scientologists pay royalties to the Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation for use of the OCA. Bron claimed that Ballo never actually received her test results.
Scientology spokespeople asserted that the OCA non-judgmentally allows an individual to gain insight into their own personality, described the concerns arising from the controversy as "deeply unfair", and noted that Ballo had an eating disorder as a teenager. Scientology's Information Chief in Norway, Matthias Fosse, asserted that the OCA was not "dangerous", and stated that "millions" of individuals had partaken in the test. He asserted that approximately 10,000 residents of Norway had taken the OCA. "I have never, never, never heard of someone who has killed on the basis of the OCA test," said Fosse. Fosse said that Ballo had entered the Scientology premises in Nice of her own volition. He maintained that the negative views of Scientology were based on ignorance and intolerance. "I feel deeply for the Ballo family, but it is a rude insinuation that the Church of Scientology has any responsibility for this incident," said Fosse.
Ballo's father Olav was critical of the statements made by Fosse about his daughter's psychological history. He commented to Verdens Gang (VG) that Scientology was impugning her reputation and not respecting her privacy. Olav did not wish to comment regarding the nature of the investigation in France. Ballo's uncle Heljar explained that her family decided to come forward with information to the media about her suicide, due to a motivation to publicize information relating to the circumstances of her death. Heljar told Aftenposten that the family "had confidence" in the investigation by local law enforcement in France. He publicly expressed his belief that there was a connection between her death and Scientology. Olav retained an attorney to investigate his daughter's death. In April 2008, her family was considering taking legal action against Scientology. Ballo was interred on April 11, 2008, at Grefsen Church in Oslo, and approximately 500 people were present at the funeral ceremony.
## Commentary
The Ballo case received a significant amount of coverage in Norwegian news publications; and media attention focused criticism on Scientology. Both VG and Dagbladet devoted several cover stories investigating Ballo's death. However, the media received criticism regarding the amount of coverage given to the case, which a representative of a Norwegian suicide support group regarded as excessive. Peter Raaum, news editor of Dagbladet, defended his paper's coverage: "We write about this because the survivor has made criticism of the Scientology test that Kaja took just before she took her life. The family wanted a debate about this. What makes this so important is this test. What kind of test is this? Is it so reprehensible, and significant to what happened? If it is, I mean it's something that's extremely important to focus on." Ballo's family agreed to discuss the incident with the media. Olav Ballo stated he did not have issues with how newspapers were covering his daughter's death.
Norwegian MP Inga Marte Thorkildsen (SV) told Dagbladet that, "All indications are that the Scientologist sect has played a direct role in Kaja's choice to take her own life." Ballo's friend and study partner, Henry Møinichen, told Dagbladet, "I think Kaja would be alive today if she had not gone to the Scientologists." Psychologist Rudy Myrvang told Aftenposten that testing procedures such as the OCA could have negative consequences; he said the goal was focused on "breaking you down, and then they'll offer to build you up again". Myrvang characterized the OCA as a recruitment tool for Scientology. Dagbladet consulted an expert on the subject of assessment tests, Ole I. Iversen, who characterized the OCA as "unethical and junk".
Scientology critic Andreas Heldal-Lund stated that Scientology views candidates for the OCA as "raw meat from the street". He stated that, "thousands of desperate parents contact me because they have children who have had major mental problems, or taken their own life after similar circumstances to Kaja Ballo". Musician Hank Von Helvete, a Scientologist, commented that he thought psychiatry, not Scientology, was the cause of Ballo's suicide. TV 2 reported that psychologists advised that subsequent to the OCA, there should be proper follow-up attention with the subject. In an analysis of personality tests available online on social networking sites, Andreas Høstmælingen of the Norwegian Psychological Association cited Ballo as "an example of how wrong things can go". The Association warned individuals against taking such types of personality tests.
## Kaja: 1988–2008
Olav Ballo subsequently wrote a book about her suicide. He decided not to give press interviews about his ordeal until the book was published. He wanted to be able to tell the story and impact of his daughter's death, on his own terms. Titled, Kaja: 1988–2008, the book explores the sequence of events that led to Ballo's death. Her early history of psychiatric treatment is discussed in the book. Olav recounts the difficulties in getting information about Ballo's death from government authorities. According to the author, there was a slow response in receiving help from Norway's Foreign Ministry.
In an interview with Politiken, Olav explained the motivation for writing the book: "After the funeral I felt I had to do something relating to grief. This was my way to process the grief. The second issue was that I needed to transcribe the account to later tell my little daughter Oda." He also said, "I wanted to contribute to greater openness about suicide." He acknowledged, "Losing a child means that life is turned upside down. I believe that grief becomes heavier if you do not share it with anyone." The book was written with input from other family members.
Kaja: 1988–2008 became a bestseller in Norway. Kaja: 1988–2008 sparked renewed controversy over perceptions of Scientology activities in Norway. In a review of the book, Dagbladet noted that because the author was writing both as a private individual and as a physician, "he is trained to look at the familiar and intimate with professionalism and distance." Upon the book's publication, Matthias Fosse stated, "Church of Scientology had absolutely nothing to do with this young woman's decision to take her own life. We are sorry for the loss the family has suffered, but this young woman was never a member of the Church of Scientology and never participated in any of the church activities."
## See also
- List of suicides
- Scientology controversies
- Scientology in France: Suicide of Patrice Vic
- Scientology in Norway
- Scientology and the legal system
- Scientology and psychiatry |
57,370,233 | Asim Chaudhry | 1,168,073,558 | British comedian and actor | [
"1980s births",
"English Sunni Muslims",
"English male actors",
"English male comedians",
"English people of Pakistani descent",
"English people of Punjabi descent",
"Living people",
"People from Hounslow",
"Year of birth missing (living people)"
]
| Asim Chaudhry (Punjabi: عاصم چودھری) is an English comedian, writer, director and actor best known for playing Chabuddy G in the BBC mockumentary series People Just Do Nothing, which he co-created. For this role, he won a Royal Television Society Award and was nominated for two British Academy Television Awards.
In 2015 and 2016, Chaudhry starred in the mockumentary Hoff the Record alongside David Hasselhoff. In 2018, Chaudhry appeared in series six of the panel show Taskmaster and starred in the television film Click & Collect alongside Stephen Merchant.
At college, Chaudhry met Hugo Chegwin, Steve Stamp, and Allan Mustafa, with whom he created YouTube mockumentary videos about a fictional pirate radio station. This led to the group being commissioned for People Just Do Nothing. Chaudhry also authored How To Be a Man under the name Chabuddy G, and the group produced music as Kurupt FM. Chaudhry wrote and directed the short film Love Pool, and has appeared in Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
## Early life
Asim Chaudhry was born in the mid-1980s to a Punjabi Muslim family in Hounslow, London. His mother hails from Karachi, Pakistan, and his father from Lahore.
Chaudhry attended Islamic summer schools during his childhood. In high school, Chaudhry made a play parodying the 1972 crime film The Godfather, called The Poppadom Father. On a media studies course at college, he met Hugo Chegwin, Steve Stamp, and Allan Mustafa. The group made a series of YouTube mockumentaries, filmed by Chaudhry, based on their experiences as DJs on a pirate radio station in London. The mockumentaries were seen by Ash Atalla, producer of the mockumentary series The Office, and Atalla commissioned the group to make the BBC Three series People Just Do Nothing.
## Career
### People Just Do Nothing
Chaudhry co-created and starred in People Just Do Nothing, a BBC mockumentary sitcom which premiered in 2014. The series is largely improvised. Chaudhry plays Chabuddy G, a failed entrepreneur with high ambitions who manages the group Kurupt FM. The character is partially based on Chaudhry's father. The programme ended in 2018 after five series, as the group found it increasingly difficult to come up with new ideas. A film, People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan, was released in 2021. A US remake is planned, in which Chaudhry will serve as an executive producer.
Chaudhry won a 2017 Royal Television Society Award for Best Comedy Performance. He was nominated for two British Academy Television Awards for Best Male Comedy Performance, in 2017 and 2018. The show also won awards for Best Scripted Comedy at the 2017 BAFTAs and 2017 RTS Awards.
Chaudhry, Hugo Chegwin, Steve Stamp, and Allan Mustafa also perform as the group Kurupt FM. Their single "Heart Monitor Riddem" was released in 2016 after featuring in People Just Do Nothing, and a music video shot by Chaudhry was released in 2018. Kurupt FM were signed to independent music label XL Recordings. Their single "Suttin Like That" was released in October 2017, and their mixtape The Lost Tapes was released in November 2017. Chaudhry has also released a comedy book, How to Be a Man, under the name Chabuddy G.
### Film
In 2016, Chaudhry starred in the short film Donald Mohammed Trump as Donald Trump. The black comedy shows Trump inexplicably turning into an Asian man before a Republican Party rally. Though Chaudhry watched hours of Trump speaking in preparation, he was told by the director to instead play Trump as "a real person", so that the film could focus on the politics of the situation rather than Trump himself. Chaudhry also appeared in the comedy film Chubby Funny, about two struggling London actors, in which he played a corner shop owner.
In February 2018, the 17-minute short film Love Pool was released, which Chaudhry wrote and directed. In Love Pool, single man Mark meets a woman while carpooling with the service Uber. The film was Chaudhry's directorial debut, produced by DMC Film and released on the app Vero. It was inspired by a dinner party in which Chaudhry felt pressure from his friends to settle down, and by his carpooling experiences. Chaudhry plays the taxi driver, imagining the character as the "pissed off, sour, bitter cousin" of Chabuddy G—his character in People Just Do Nothing. The film won the 2018 People's Choice Award at Thunderdance, an independent film festival in London.
In 2018, Chaudhry appeared in the comedy film Eaten by Lions, which is about half-brothers Omar and Pete who search for Omar's estranged father after their parents are eaten by lions. It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2018. In a three-star review, Steve Bennett of Chortle called Chaudhry a "scene-stealer".
On 24 December 2018, Chaudhry starred alongside Stephen Merchant in the BBC One television film Click & Collect, with a runtime of 53 minutes. The pair play Dev and Andrew, respectively, who travel 300 miles (480 km) on a road trip on Christmas Eve to buy Andrew's daughter a Christmas present. Chaudhry took inspiration for Dev from a former neighbour who recognised him from the television and waved at Chaudhry when he was in the kitchen, which he could see from his living room window. Adam Starkey of Metro and Jasper Rees of The Telegraph gave the film four out of five stars. Rees commented that Chaudhry performed as Dev like "slipping into an old coat". Starkey praised the actors for "convincing, likeable performances" and wrote that Dev "takes the natural course from irritatingly vibrant neighbour to having a sympathetic, misunderstood circumstance for his enthusiasm".
In 2018, Chaudhry appeared in the Ben Wheatley black comedy Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, playing Sham. The film had a limited release at film festivals before airing on BBC Two on 30 December; a BBC television series spin-off is planned for 2019. Neil Maskell stars as Colin Burstead, who hires a manor for a New Year celebration with his extended family. Sham is an estranged character who wallows in sorrow. Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter criticised Chaudhry's character as one of several whose secondary subplots detract from the film.
Chaudhry appeared in the interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which was released on Netflix on 28 December 2018. Part of the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror, Bandersnatch allows the viewer to make choices that affect the resultant story. Most storylines involve the young programmer Stefan adapting a book into an adventure game and descending into madness. Chaudhry stars as Mohan Thakur, the founder of the video game company Tuckersoft. The film received a mostly positive critical reception. Chaudhry received racist comments following the episode, but said of the online response that "99.9% of the stuff is positive and lovely". He commented that he and his friends have all played through the film multiple times.
In 2022, Chaudhry was cast in Duke Johnson's upcoming film The Actor, based on the novel Memory by Donald E. Westlake.
### Television
Chaudhry starred in the mockumentary Hoff the Record, which aired for twelve episodes on Dave in 2015 and 2016. The programme follows David Hasselhoff as he struggles to find work in the UK, with Chaudhry playing his driver. The show won an International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series in 2016. In a four-star review of the first episode for The Telegraph, Michael Hogan called Chaudhry "the standout among the supporting cast".
In 2017, Chaudhry appeared on the quiz show Celebrity Mastermind, finishing third of four. In April 2018, he appeared in an episode of Rob Beckett's Playing For Time, in which Rob Beckett plays a series of video games with his guest. In May 2018, Chaudhry played Arnab in the Channel 4 sitcom High & Dry. The six-episode series is about a group of people who survive a plane crash, and was filmed in the Seychelles.
Chaudhry was a contestant on the sixth series of Dave panel show Taskmaster; the episodes premiered between May and July 2018. Taskmaster challenges its panellists to complete humorous and absurd tasks, such as "bring in the best liquid". The sixth series featured Chaudhry alongside Alice Levine, Liza Tarbuck, Russell Howard, and Tim Vine; it set record ratings for the programme, with an average viewership of 900,000. Sam Wollaston of The Guardian called Chaudhry "absolutely hopeless at everything, but hilariously and very likably so".
In 2018, Chaudhry appeared on chat shows The Jonathan Ross Show and The One Show, with the latter appearance in a Christmas special. In 2019, Chaudhry appeared on the first episode of The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan.
Chaudhry played Abel in the television adaptation of Neil Gaiman's comic series The Sandman. Chaudhry was not previously familiar with the comics, but fans found he bears a striking resemblance to Abel. Bethy Squire of Vulture praised Chaudhry's acting, saying he brought the right "pathos and softboy energy" to the character.
In 2023, Chaudhry guest starred in The Cleaner, a sitcom about crime scene cleaning. He described his character Kai as "a conspiracy theorist with a good heart". The series was created by and stars Greg Davies, whom Chaudhry had worked with on Taskmaster.
The same year, Chaudhry played a role in series 8, episode 4 of the BBC comedy-horror anthology Inside No. 9 episode "Love Is a Stranger". Chaudhry's character—Jai—is a friendly man on a virtual dating service who suffers from the social stigma of facial disfigurement. Jai is later revealed to have been lured in by the pickup artist community. The episode was rated five stars by The Times.
### Other
Chaudhry appears in British Airways' safety video as Director Chabuddy G. and in Riz Ahmed's album The Long Goodbye, also as Chabuddy G.
## Filmography
### Film
### Television
## Awards and nominations |
17,396,208 | Foster–Payne House | 1,145,438,873 | Historic house in Rhode Island, United States | [
"Houses completed in 1878",
"Houses in Pawtucket, Rhode Island",
"Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island",
"National Register of Historic Places in Pawtucket, Rhode Island"
]
| The Foster–Payne House is a historic house at 25 Belmont Street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Built in 1878, the two-story multi-gabled house is distinguished by its clapboarded and exterior woodwork and opulent parlors in the interior. The property also has a matching carriagehouse with gable roof and cupola. The house was originally constructed and owned by Theodore Waters Foster, but it was sold to George W. Payne in 1882. The Foster–Payne House is architecturally significant as a well-designed and well-preserved late 19th century suburban residence. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
## History
The house was built in 1878 for Theodore Waters Foster, born on May 19, 1847, to Chauncey Foster and Ophelia Remington. He was educated in Pawtucket and joined the Rhode Island Cavalry in 1863. He served in the American Civil War under Nathaniel P. Banks in the Red River Campaign. In 1873, he formed a jewelry-manufacturing partnership with Walter E. White and Samuel H. Baily, named White, Foster & Company. After White retired in 1878, the company was renamed Foster & Bailey. During this time, Foster constructed the house and lived in it for a period of four years, commuting to his place of business in Providence, Rhode Island. Foster would continue to be successful in his jewelry manufacturing business and his son, Theodore Clyde Foster, would succeed him upon his death in 1928. In 1882, Theodore Foster sold the home to George W. Payne, the owner of the G. W. Payne & Company.
## Design
Constructed in 1878, the Foster–Payne House is a two-story home with a low-pitched multi-gabled roof. The house has a single story open porch on the western side, a kitchen ell that projects from the rear and a single-story bay window that projects from the western bay of the front facade. The house is distinguished by its clapboard exterior and wooden trim under the gable peaks, the window trim and the porch brackets. There are three types of windows used on the house, single and paired one-over-one windows and two-over-two windows.
The small foyer on the western entry porch leads to the main stairhall that features a gently curving staircase with turned balusters and a curving rail. The first floor rooms are arranged in an "L" pattern on the southern and eastern sides with the kitchen placed on the northern ell. The interior of one room, not specified in the NRHP nomination, has been altered with a pressed tin ceiling. The second floor of the home was not described in the NRHP nomination. The interior of the rooms display late Victorian details, with the front parlor having a carved marble mantlepiece, a molded central ceiling medallion and a painted ceiling with scroll-work. The back parlor has a marbleized slate mantlepiece with an over-mounted mirror in a Renaissance Revival frame. On the back edge of the lot is a two-story clapboarded carriagehouse with a Victorian cupola. This structure was not described in the NRHP nomination, but a photo from 2013 shows the cupola has been damaged.
## Significance
The house is architecturally significant as a well-designed and well-preserved late 19th century suburban residence, with excellent interior detail and a matching carriagehouse. The area in which it is located was situated in an upper-class suburban area, but since the late 19th-century commercial and industrial buildings have entered the area. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
## See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Pawtucket, Rhode Island |
70,852,689 | Evening Bells (painting) | 1,145,433,464 | Painting by Isaac Levitan | [
"1892 paintings",
"Collections of the Tretyakov Gallery",
"Paintings by Isaac Levitan",
"Ships in art"
]
| Evening Bells (Russian: Вечерний звон, romanized: Vecherniy zvon) is an 1892 oil painting by the Russian artist Isaac Levitan. The painting depicts a monastery standing by a river bend in the evening light. It is thought to be a variation of an earlier painting from 1890, Quiet Abode [ru], which depicted a similar monastery. Evening Bells has been housed in Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery since 1918.
The painting was created by Levitan in 1892. It was sent to Saint Petersburg in December 1892, and then to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, where it was exhibited under the title A Convent on the Eve of a Holiday. The painting was kept in the Filosofovs [ru]-Ratkovs [ru] family collection until 1918, when it was donated to the Tretyakov Gallery.
According to art historian Aleksei Fedorov-Davydov, in Evening Bells, Levitan managed "to create an impression of image commonality and unity, harmony of parts as a whole". This canvas is "one of the most musical and perfect in its artistic structure of Levitan's works", according to art historian Vladimir Petrov. He writes that "despite the motif's similarity to Quiet Abode, Evening Bells is nevertheless devoid of secondary character, has its own, unique charm".
## History
### Background and creation
Isaac Levitan had the idea for a painting depicting a monastery in the setting sun in 1887, while living in Slobodka near Zvenigorod and observing the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery at sunset. Two years later, while in Plyos, Levitan visited Yuryevets in search of new motifs for paintings and came across a small monastery, which rekindled his desire to create such a landscape. As a result, the plots of future works became intertwined with visions of these two monasteries.
The monastery near Yuryevets was called the Krivozero [ru]. Levitan first depicted a similar monastery in the painting Quiet Abode [ru], which is currently housed in the Tretyakov Gallery, and then two years later in the painting Evening Bells. A hipped-type bell tower (with a cone-shaped top) is depicted as part of the monastery in both works. According to various assumptions, the artist could have used the bell tower of the Sobornaya Gora church in Plyos as a prototype, or the bell tower of the Resurrection Church in the village of Reshma.
After finishing By the Pool [ru], Levitan painted Evening Bells in 1892. There are various theories about the origin of the painting's name. According to Sofia Prorokova, the author of Levitan's biography, the name Evening Bells could be associated with the song of the same name by composer Alexander Alyabiev on words by poet Ivan Kozlov. According to Prorokova, Levitan frequently sang the song, possibly because it reminded him of "the summer evenings in Plyos, when the entire polyphony of church bells came into operation and melodious bells resounded around". Another version, cited in a monograph by art historian Aleksei Fedorov-Davydov, claims that Levitan was influenced by a collection of poems by the Russian poet Yakov Polonsky, Evening Bells, published in 1890 and containing works by the poet written between 1887 and 1890. Evening Bells was the title of the final poem in this collection.
There is a sketch of Evening Bells called simply Evening (35 by 39 centimetres (14 in × 15 in)). This 1891 sketch is in a private collection in the Czech Republic. It depicts a landscape that is similar to the one in the final version of the painting – in a similar evening light and colour scheme, but without the shore in front and without the monastery buildings.
### After creation
Evening Bells was sent to the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts in December 1892 for the Russian section of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, where it was exhibited under the title A Convent on the Eve of a Holiday. The painting was shown at Levitan's posthumous exhibition in Saint Petersburg in 1901 under the title Quiet Abode.
Evening Bells was later in the collection of the Filosofovs [ru]-Ratkovs [ru], and by 1918, it was in the possession of Zinaida Ratkova-Rozhnova. When she left Russia in 1918, she left behind a number of artworks from her Moscow collection to the Tretyakov Gallery, including Levitan's Evening Bells and paintings by Alexey Venetsianov, Valentin Serov, and others.
Evening Bells was shown at several occasions, including Levitan's personal exhibitions in 1938 at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and in 1939 at the State Russian Museum in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), as well as the exhibition commemorating the artist's 100th birthday, held in Moscow and Leningrad in 1960–1961. Between 1971 and 1972, the painting was shown at the "Peredvizhniki in the State Tretyakov Gallery" and "Peredvizhniki Landscape Art" exhibitions commemorating the Museum of Fine Arts' centennial. Evening Bells was shown at the "1000th Anniversary of Russian Artistic Culture" exhibition in Moscow, Hanover, and Wiesbaden in 1988. It was also included in the Levitan 150th-anniversary exhibition, which ran from October 2010 to March 2011 at the New Tretyakov Gallery [ru] on Krymsky Val.
## Description
Evening Bells depicts a monastery illuminated by the evening sun standing at a bend in the river. The monastery is surrounded by an autumnal forest, with clouds drifting across the sky, all reflected in the still flowing river's mirror-like surface. A high pre-sunset sky, clean and brightly reflected in the waters plays an important role in the composition of the image. Levitan's appreciation for the beauty and poetry of old churches is thought to have come from his teacher, Alexei Savrasov.
Evening Bells is built on horizontal lines that represent Russia's large plains, interrupted by a large depiction of water that reflects the sky. In this painting, Levitan used an impressionist palette and drew light with a poetic feeling. Crepuscular light dominates in this work, which according to art historian Mary Chamot, transforms the mundane into something unique in a magical twilight zone where darkness and light, reality and reflection, merge.
The monastery in Evening Bells, like in Quiet Abode, is behind the river, with a portion of the near bank visible in the foreground. In comparison to Quiet Abode, the river is wider and not crossed by a flimsy-looking wooden bridge. There is a small pier near the bank, as well as boats, including one carrying people down the river. The monastery buildings on the other side of the river are similar to those depicted in Quiet Abode, but they are less obstructed by trees—the ensemble appears to open to the viewer, and the path does not disappear into the bushes, but leads directly to the monastery gates.
The landscape surrounding the monastery is different from that of Quiet Abode. The river flows diagonally in Evening Bells, making a steep bend and passing behind the monastery, which, along with the grove surrounding it, appears to be situated on a bend. According to Fedorov-Davydov: "The greater spatiality of Evening Bells is striking, and it is reflected in the breadth and depth of the space of the new landscape and the diagonal dynamic asymmetry of the composition".
## Reception
When discussing the direction of Levitan's work in the late 1880s–early 1890s, Fedorov-Davydov noted that the constant search for "more and more new generalising images" was based on reflection. Following a holiday along the Volga River in 1889, Levitan created a number of the most literary and philosophical of his paintings in 1892—Evening Bells, By the Pool, Vladimirka and, finally, as a kind of synthesis, the painting Over Eternal Peace [ru] (1894). Calling Evening Bells a variation of Quiet Abode, Feodorov-Davydov acknowledged that the painting in 1892 Levitan made a decisive step towards the composed landscape: "This is his first landscape, which did not exist as such in nature". The landscape was created by the artist "from the combination of two natural images", according to Fedorov-Davydov, and Levitan was able to "masterfully combine these two motifs in his painting and achieve the impression of commonality and unity of image, the harmony of the parts as a whole".
Evening Bells, according to art historian Serafim Druzhinin, has "a light and peaceful feeling". Druzhinin wrote that Levitan succeeded in conveying "the feelings that one who subtly perceives nature might have, listening to the evening chime melting in the air" and feeling sad because life does not have the same harmony as nature does through the painting's harmonious combination of cool and warm tones.
Evening Bells, along with Levitan's earlier paintings Evening. Golden Plyos [ru] (1889) and Quiet Abode, were ranked by art historian Gleb Pospelov [ru] as important works representing the concept of an abode in the landscape art of Russian artists of the late 19th century. Pospelov defined abode as "a serene land, sheltered from storms, where the human soul not only thaws, but also germinates", and the motif of abode also included "a sense of the path to be crossed in order to reach a visible in the depths abode". According to Pospelov, the theme of approaching the abode is less prominent in Evening Bells, but the "impression of achieved silence" is more prominent than in the previous two paintings.
According to art historian Vladimir Petrov, the canvas Evening Bells, which "found soulful embodiment of deepest strings of poetic aspirations of the artist and his contemporaries", is "one of the most musical and perfect in its artistic structure" of Levitan works. Despite the fact that the painting Evening Bells is similar to the motif of Quiet Abode, Petrov noted that it is "nevertheless devoid of secondary character, has its own, unique charm". According to Petrov, Levitan achieves "even greater poetic scale than in Quiet Abode" in Evening Bells, owing primarily to the successful spatial solution.
## Literature |
15,485,634 | SMS Königsberg (1915) | 1,172,955,417 | Light cruiser of the German Imperial Navy | [
"1915 ships",
"Cruisers of the French Navy",
"Königsberg-class cruisers (1915)",
"Ships built in Bremen (state)",
"World War I cruisers of Germany"
]
| SMS Königsberg was the lead ship of the Königsberg class of light cruisers, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) during World War I. She took the name of the earlier Königsberg, which had been destroyed during the Battle of Rufiji Delta in 1915. The new ship was laid down in 1914 at the AG Weser shipyard, launched in December 1915, and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in August 1916. Armed with eight 15 cm SK L/45 guns, the ship had a top speed of 27.5 kn (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).
Königsberg saw action with the II Scouting Group; in September 1917 she participated in Operation Albion, a large amphibious operation against the Baltic islands in the Gulf of Riga. Two months later, she was attacked by British battlecruisers in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. She was hit by the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, which caused a large fire and reduced her speed significantly. She escaped behind the cover of two German battleships, however. She was to have taken part in a sortie by the entire High Seas Fleet to attack the British Grand Fleet in the final days of the war, but unrest broke out that forced the cancellation of the plan. The ship carried Rear Admiral Hugo Meurer to Scapa Flow to negotiate the plan for interning the High Seas Fleet. Königsberg was not interned, however, so she escaped the scuttling of the German fleet and was instead ceded to France as a war prize. She was renamed Metz and served with the French Navy until 1933, before being scrapped in 1936.
## Design
Königsberg was 151.4 meters (496 ft 9 in) long overall and had a beam of 14.2 m (46 ft 7 in) and a draft of 5.96 m (19 ft 7 in) forward. She displaced 5,440 t (5,350 long tons) normally and up to 7,125 t (7,012 long tons) at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two sets of steam turbines powered by ten coal-fired and two oil-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers. These provided a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph) and a range of 4,850 nautical miles (8,980 km; 5,580 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). The ship had a crew of 17 officers and 458 enlisted men.
The ship was armed with a main battery of eight 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, four were located amidships, two on either side, and two were arranged in a superfiring pair aft. They were supplied with 1,040 rounds of ammunition, for 130 shells per gun. Königsberg also carried two 8.8 cm SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns mounted on the centerline astern of the funnels. She was also equipped with a pair of 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes with eight torpedoes in deck-mounted swivel launchers amidships. She also carried 200 mines. The ship was protected by a waterline armored belt that was 60 mm (2.4 in) thick amidships. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides, and the deck was covered with 60 mm thick armor plate.
## Service history
Königsberg was ordered under the contract name "Ersatz Gazelle" and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen on 22 August 1914, less than a month after the outbreak of World War I. She was launched on 18 December 1915 without fanfare, after which fitting-out work commenced. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 12 August 1916, and on 29 October she joined II Scouting Group as its new flagship. The following day, Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Ludwig von Reuter hoisted his flag aboard the ship and thereafter the ship participated in coastal defense patrols in the German Bight. At the time, II Scouting Group also included the light cruisers Pillau, Frankfurt, Graudenz, and Regensburg. The ships were primarily tasked with supporting the defenses of the German North Sea coast, as the fleet commander, Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Reinhard Scheer had by that time abandoned offensive operations with the surface fleet in favor of the U-boat campaign. In 1917, patrol duties were interrupted with individual and unit training in the Baltic Sea from 22 February to 4 March and again from 20 May to 2 June. Königsberg went to the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven for repairs from 16 August to 9 September.
### Operation Albion
After the repair work was completed, Königsberg steamed to the Baltic to take part in Operation Albion, the amphibious assault on the islands in the Gulf of Riga after the German Army captured the city during the Battle of Riga the month before. In addition, the German fleet sought to eliminate the Russian naval forces in the Gulf of Riga that still threatened German forces in the city. The Admiralstab (the Navy High Command) planned an operation to seize the Baltic island of Ösel, and specifically the Russian gun batteries on the Sworbe Peninsula. The ship joined the task force in Kiel on 23 September; she and the rest of II Scouting Group were tasked with escorting the troop transports and Königsberg was also made the flagship of IV Transport Group for the operation. Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) Ludwig von Estorff, the commander of the 42nd Division, came aboard the ship during the cruise from Kiel. The invasion fleet stopped in Libau on 25 September to make final preparations, and on 11 October the Germans began the voyage to the Gulf.
The operation began on the morning of 12 October, when Moltke and the III Squadron ships engaged Russian positions in Tagga Bay while IV Squadron shelled Russian gun batteries on the Sworbe Peninsula on Saaremaa. Königsberg steamed in Tagga Bay, where Estorff coordinated the operations of the German infantry, who quickly subdued Russian opposition. On 18–19 October, Königsberg and the rest of II Scouting Group covered minesweepers operating off the island of Dagö, but due to insufficient minesweepers and bad weather, the operation was postponed. On the 19th, Königsberg, her sister ship Nürnberg, and the cruiser Danzig were sent to intercept two Russian torpedo boats reported to be in the area. Reuter could not locate the vessels and so broke off the operation. By 20 October, the islands were under German control and the Russian naval forces had either been destroyed or forced to withdraw. The Admiralstab ordered the naval component to return to the North Sea. On 28 October, Königsberg returned to Libau and proceeded back to the North Sea to resume her guard duties there with the rest of II Scouting Group.
### Second Battle of Helgoland Bight
On 17 November, Königsberg saw action at the Second Battle of Helgoland Bight. Along with three other cruisers from II Scouting Group and a group of torpedo boats, Königsberg escorted minesweepers clearing paths in minefields laid by the British in the area of Horns Rev. The dreadnought battleships Kaiser and Kaiserin stood by in distant support. Reuter had sent Nürnberg forward while he remained further back with the ships of II Minensuchflotille (Minesweeper Flotilla). The British 1st Cruiser Squadron and the 6th Light Cruiser Squadron, supported by the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, sortied to attack the operation. After the British opened fire, Reuter sought to use his ships to distract the British from the minesweepers while laying a smoke screen to cover their withdrawal. He also hoped to draw the British cruisers toward the two dreadnoughts.
As the battle developed, the British battlecruisers HMS Courageous, Glorious, and Repulse joined the action. Once Kaiserin and Kaiser arrived on the scene, Reuter launched a counterattack, during which Repulse scored a hit on Königsberg with a 38 cm (15 in) shell at 10:58. The shell knocked all three of her funnels over and caused a fire, which significantly reduced her speed to 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph). Reuter transferred to Pillau while Königsberg withdrew so her crew could fight the fire; after the fire was suppressed she rejoined the German squadron. The presence of the German battleships led the British to break off the attack. Further German reinforcements arrived, including the battlecruisers Hindenburg and Moltke at 13:30 and the dreadnoughts Friedrich der Grosse and König Albert at 13:50.
With these forces assembled, the IV Battle Squadron commander aboard Friedrich der Grosse, VAdm Wilhelm Souchon, conducted a sweep for any remaining British vessels but could find none. At 15:00, the German ships withdrew from the area and Königsberg anchored in the Schillig roadstead at 19:05. In the course of the battle, Königsberg had suffered twenty-three casualties, of whom eight died. The commander of Kaiserin, Kurt Graßhoff, was later criticized for failing to intervene quickly enough, leading to the development of new guidelines for placing battleships closer to minesweeper groups in the future. From 19 November to 15 December, Königsberg was in the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven for repairs.
### Later operations
Reuter came back aboard his flagship and Königsberg resumed patrol duties in the German Bight on 17 December. On 20 January 1918, Reuter was replaced by KzS Magnus von Levetzow. II Scouting Group conducted exercises in the Baltic from 21 January to 7 February, after which they returned to the North Sea. They took part in the abortive fleet operation on 23–24 April to attack British convoys to Norway. I Scouting Group and II Scouting Group, along with the Second Torpedo-Boat Flotilla were to attack a heavily guarded British convoy to Norway, with the rest of the High Seas Fleet steaming in support. While steaming off the Utsira Lighthouse in southern Norway, Moltke had a serious accident with her machinery, which led Scheer to break off the operation and return to port.
From 10 to 13 May, Königsberg and the rest of II Scouting Group escorted the minelayer Senta while the latter vessel laid a defensive minefield to block British submarines form operating in the German Bight. The ships conducted additional training in the Baltic from 11 to 12 July. Levetzow left the unit later in July for the meetings that led to the formation of the Seekriegsleitung (SKL—Maritime Warfare Command); during this period, Karlsruhe's commander served as the commander of the group. Levetzow returned on 5 August, though he was replaced the following day by KzS Victor Harder, who also used Königsberg as his flagship.
In October 1918, Königsberg and the rest of II Scouting Group were to lead a final attack on the British navy. Königsberg, Cöln, Dresden, and Pillau were to attack merchant shipping in the Thames estuary while Karlsruhe, Nürnberg, and Graudenz were to bombard targets in Flanders, to draw out the British Grand Fleet. Scheer, promoted to Großadmiral and placed in charge of the SKL, and the new fleet commander Admiral Franz von Hipper intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to secure a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet. On the morning of 29 October 1918, the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven the following day. Starting on the night of 29 October, sailors on Thüringen and then on several other battleships mutinied. The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation. When informed of the situation, the Kaiser stated, "I no longer have a navy."
While disorder consumed the bulk of the fleet, Kommodore Andreas Michelsen organized a group to attack any British attempt to take advantage of the fleet's disarray. He pieced together a group of around sixty ships, including Königsberg and several other light cruisers. On 9 November, reports of British activity in the German Bight prompted Königsberg and several destroyers to make a sweep. After the reports proved false, the flotilla returned to Borkum, where they learned of the Kaiser's abdication. Following the Armistice that ended the fighting, Königsberg took Rear Admiral Hugo Meurer to Scapa Flow to negotiate with Admiral David Beatty, the commander of the Grand Fleet, for the place of internment of the German fleet. The ship arrived in Scapa Flow on 15 November, flying a white flag. The accepted arrangement was for the High Seas Fleet to meet the combined Allied fleet in the North Sea and proceed to the Firth of Forth before transferring to Scapa Flow, where they would be interned. Most of the High Seas Fleet's ships, including Königsberg's sister ships Karlsruhe, Emden, and Nürnberg, were interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow, under the command of Reuter. Königsberg instead remained in Germany, returning Meurer from the negotiations with Beatty by the time the fleet left for internment.
### Service with the French Navy
Königsberg was stricken from the naval register on 31 May 1920 and ceded to France as "A". The ship was taken to Cherbourg on 20 July, and was renamed Metz on 6 October for service with the French fleet. She was not significantly modified in French service, the primary change being the replacement of her 8.8 cm guns with 75 mm (3 in) anti-aircraft guns. She also had her submerged torpedo tubes removed and the above-water tubes were replaced with 60 mm (2.4 in) versions. After entering service in November 1921, Metz was assigned to the Atlantic Light Division, but she served here only briefly before being transferred to the French Mediterranean Fleet in early 1922. Here, she served with the other ex-German cruisers Mulhouse and Strasbourg and the ex-Austro-Hungarian Thionville in the 3rd Light Division (which was renamed the 2nd Light division in December 1926).
In October 1922 she carried Henry Franklin-Bouillon to Turkey to take part in the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Lausanne, which finally ended World War I for Turkey, which had spawned the Turkish War of Independence of 1919–1922. In the mid-1920s, she participated in the Rif War. On 7 September 1925, she and the battleship Paris and another ex-German cruiser, Strasbourg, supported a landing of French troops in North Africa. The three ships provided heavy gunfire support to the landing troops. In 1927, Metz was transferred to the French Atlantic Fleet, though she served here only through 1928 when the entire division of ex-German cruisers was deactivated and stationed in Brest; this coincided with the commissioning of the new Duguay-Trouin-class light cruisers. While there, Metz had her aft funnels and her main mast removed. In 1929, the ship transferred to Landévennec, still in reserve. She was stricken from the naval register on 18 August 1933 and sold to ship breakers in 1934. While in the breakers' yard in December that year, Metz caught fire. Scrapping work was completed by 1936 at Brest. |
14,349,067 | Bob Timberlake (American football) | 1,160,833,132 | American football player (born 1943) | [
"1943 births",
"American Presbyterian ministers",
"American football placekickers",
"American football quarterbacks",
"Living people",
"Marquette University faculty",
"Michigan Wolverines football players",
"New York Giants players",
"People from Franklin, Ohio",
"Players of American football from Ohio",
"Sportspeople from Middletown, Ohio",
"Sportspeople from Warren County, Ohio"
]
| Robert W. Timberlake (born October 18, 1943) is a former American football player who played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1962 to 1964 and for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) in 1965.
Timberlake was the starting quarterback for Michigan who led the Wolverines to the 1964 Big Ten Conference championship and a 34–7 victory over Oregon State Beavers in the 1965 Rose Bowl. Timberlake was selected as a first-team All-American in 1964, received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten, and finished fourth in the 1964 Heisman Trophy voting. Over his three years at Michigan, Timberlake rushed for 315 yards and passed for 1,507 yards. He was responsible for 19 touchdowns, eleven rushing and eight passing. He also served as the team's punter and placekicker with six field goals, 36 extra points, and a total of 121 points scored.
After a brief career in professional football, Timberlake became an ordained Presbyterian minister. Even during his football career, Timberlake was outspoken about his Christian faith. He has also been active in Habitat for Humanity. Since 2003, he has been on the faculty of Marquette University where he teaches courses in community service and affordable housing.
## College football
Timberlake was born in Middletown, Ohio, but he was raised in Franklin, Ohio and played football for the Franklin Wildcats. He was originally recruited as a halfback and played more than any other Michigan player at halfback in 1962. However, he was later switched to the quarterback position and had his greatest success there.
### 1964 regular season
In 1964, Timberlake led the Wolverines football team to their first Big Ten Conference championship since 1950, breaking the longest championship drought in school history. Playing quarterback, Timberlake's total offense of 1,381 yards (807 passing and 574 rushing) was the second highest in Michigan history at that time. The 1964 Wolverines outscored their opponents 235–83, finished the regular season 8–1, and narrowly missed an undefeated season with a 21–20 loss to a Purdue Boilermakers team led by sophomore Bob Griese. By virtue of turnovers, Purdue led 21–14 with five minutes remaining. Timberlake ran an option play to the left side and went 54 yards for a touchdown. Rather than kick the extra point for the tie, Timberlake carried again on the option play to the right, but was tackled one foot short of the goal line, and two points short of an undefeated season. When Michigan and Ohio State met in Columbus, Ohio on November 21, 1964, both teams were in the Top 10 in the national rankings. Michigan had not beaten Ohio State since 1959. Michigan won 10–0, as Ohio native Timberlake was responsible for all ten points, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jim Detwiler and a fourth-quarter, 27-yard field goal to clinch the game.
### 1965 Rose Bowl
The Wolverines (ranked No. 4) advanced to the Rose Bowl where they defeated Tommy Prothro's Oregon State Beavers, 34–7, on New Year's Day. Prior to the Rose Bowl, much of the attention was focused on Michigan's veteran quarterback. The Pasadena Star-News wrote that Timberlake was "the key" to Michigan's attack: "He does everything—run, pass, kick field goals, soup up the team...Timberlake has had that strength. The Wolverines listen to him and they believe in him. At 6–4 and weighing 215 pounds, Timberlake is a Lincoln to look up to." Mel Anthony scored three touchdowns for Michigan, and Timberlake and the Wolverines gained 415 yards in the game. Timberlake was 7-for-10 passing for 77 yards, and added 57 yards rushing, including a 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
### Post-season honors
At the end of the 1964 season, Timberlake was awarded the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten Conference. He placed fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting (losing to Notre Dame's John Huarte), and was also named to multiple All-American teams. After attending an All-American dinner at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Timberlake reported, "There is a great deal of loneliness in being an All-America. . . . I get sick of it. They all want to shake your hand, but they don't really know you. All they do is stick out the glad hand. I don't mind talking to anyone who is interested in ideas, but nothing makes me sicker than having my name dropped by people who don't know anything about me except that I'm an All-America." He joked that he might write an autobiography called, "The Loneliness of an All-America." He was also an A-minus student majoring in sociology, was named a scholar-athlete by National Football Association, and was placed on the Big Ten All-Academic team two years in a row.
## Religion in Timberlake's life
Timberlake was outspoken during his time in the limelight about the importance of his Christian faith. While attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he said that at one point he felt his "whole life was really off the track", but "the guidance of Dr. Ernest T. Campbell, a great speaker" at the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor helped him to develop his faith. Timberlake taught Sunday school and said he intended to become a Presbyterian minister. At a speech in Mansfield, Ohio, shortly after winning the Rose Bowl in January 1965, Timberlake said, "I couldn't have played football if it hadn't been for Jesus Christ." He continued, "God changed my life. He promises the abundant life, which he has given me, and eternal life, which if I die I'm sure I will have. There's peace associated with being a Christian."
Timberlake also spoke openly of his personal conversion as he walked in a parking lot while on a night watchman's job at a Chevrolet plant in Warren, Michigan. Timberlake defined a Christian as "one who has Christ as his personal savior," and not just a person who was brought up in a Christian home or goes to church.
When he signed a professional football contract with the New York Giants, Timberlake stated that he intended to take ministerial training at Princeton Theological Seminary during the off-season. He noted, "I don't really want to play professional football, because there is no privacy and no time to be alone when you're a famous athlete." He emphasized that, if he were ever forced to choose between professional football or studying for the ministry, he would give up football: "I see no reason why I can't do both, but if I have to give up pro ball, I'll certainly do it." Timberlake said the thing he would always remember about playing football was the 20 minutes before kickoff. He recalled that those 20 minutes were "horrible." "You want to go home. You want to quit football. It is times like these when something happens to me. I can't explain it. I put my face in my hands and ask God to come into my heart and give me courage. He gives me peace."
When a boy asked Timberlake for his autograph at the Giants' rookie camp in 1965, Timberlake signed his name but also wrote citations to two Bible verses: John 3:16 and 1 Peter 1:5–9. The boy asked, "What's that?" Timberlake explained they were Bible verses, and he told reporters he started doing it about six months earlier, hoping the kids would look up the verses. In 1965, such public religious expressions were not common among athletes, and columnists made note of the fact that Timberlake "packs a Bible in his suitcase and keeps one in his locker."
While playing for the Giants in October 1965, he told an interviewer: "I'm playing football to convey Christianity either indirectly or directly and to give me access to you people. The eye of American is upon the sports' field, so I can reach more people playing football. I guess you can say my goal is to spread a Christian message." At that time, he was attending Princeton Theological Seminary once a week and planned to attend full-time after the football season. Asked if the violent nature of football was inconsistent with his Christian beliefs, Timberlake noted that "you don't need to hurt anyone to get by" in football and that the game involved skill, timing and execution more than violence. He then joked, "There's nothing really wrong with good, clean violence."
## Professional football
The New York Giants drafted Timberlake in the third round of the 1965 NFL Draft. He signed a two-year contract with the Giants for an estimated \$85,000 (\$12,500 per year base plus \$60,000 in bonuses and fringe benefits). Timberlake turned down offers from the Buffalo Bills in the American Football League (AFL) and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League (CFL) because he had an opportunity to compete for a starting job with the Giants. Future Pro Football Hall of Famer Y. A. Tittle’s tenure with the Giants was over, and Timberlake was expected to compete in a new system that would emphasize rushing quarterbacks.
Timberlake did not get the quarterback spot with the Giants and was assigned as kickoff specialist; he was also used as a kicker on long field goals for the 1965 NFL season. In a nationally televised game on October 3, 1965, at Pittsburgh, Timberlake hit a 43-yard field goal in a 23–13 win. Timberlake’s kick against the Pittsburgh Steelers was the last field goal by any Giants kicker that season.
Early in an October 24 game against the Cleveland Browns, the Giants' main placekicker twisted an ankle. Timberlake took over as the team’s full-time kicker until the season’s final week. Timberlake went 0-for-14 in field goal attempts for the rest of the season, and three of his shorter attempts were blocked.
In the 1966 pre-season, Timberlake was third on the Giants' depth chart at quarterback. In the September 1966 issue of the Sporting News, Timberlake lamented: "I’m not doing anything. For four days the other week, I didn’t throw a single pass. Not a single pass." After just one season, the Giants cut Timberlake from the team on August 29, 1966, at their camp in Fairfield, Connecticut.
In an article concluding that Timberlake may have been the worst placekicker in NFL history, the writer concluded: "Timberlake’s 1-for-15 performance makes him look like a laughingstock. He’s better remembered as one of Michigan’s great quarterbacks, a Rose Bowl hero who might have had what it took to be a fine pro quarterback or running back. It’s a shame he was asked to do what he couldn’t." Sports blog Deadspin ranked Timberlake the 2nd-worst player to ever play in the NFL, only behind quarterback Rusty Lisch.
### Impact on the AFL–NFL merger
Because of Timberlake's poor performance as a kicker in 1965, the Giants signed Buffalo Bills kicker Pete Gogolak in 1966, who was also football's first soccer-style kicker. Previously, kickers kicked the ball straight on instead of at a soccer-style angle, which improved accuracy and is the standard at all levels of football today. This ended a "gentleman's agreement" between the NFL and the AFL in not signing each other's players, and would start a rash of signings that would eventually led to the two leagues merging.
In an NFL Films documentary featuring Timberlake, Steve Sabol called Timberlake the "father of the Super Bowl", because his poor performance indirectly led to the two leagues merging and the Super Bowl being formed.
## Life after football
Timberlake went on to become an ordained Presbyterian minister and a hospital administrator at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, which is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2003, Timberlake joined the faculty of Marquette University where he teaches courses on community service and faith, and mentors the student Habitat for Humanity chapter. In 2007, Timberlake said he saw the community service course as "an excellent opportunity to bring along the next generation" to address problems of neighborhood blight, poverty, family disorganization, failure in school, and incarceration for African-American males. He described the problems facing the poor as "a colossal, colossal waste of human life." Timberlake has been a volunteer for several years with Milwaukee's Habitat for Humanity chapter, and one of the courses he teaches at Marquette is called "Decent and Affordable Housing," in which students are instructed in construction methods (and use of power tools), investigate the causes of hyper-segregation, study substandard housing as a social injustice issue, and spend part of the semester at a Habitat for Humanity work site helping to build a house. The course is taught through the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, which has hired Timberlake as an adjunct professor. Timberlake, who is not an engineer by trade, has overseen the construction of eleven garages through the project. Timberlake is a proponent of gay marriage.
## See also
- List of Michigan Wolverines football All-Americans |
28,232,071 | Simarouba amara | 1,160,270,250 | Species of tree in the family Simaroubaceae | [
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"Flora of Southern America",
"Flora of the Atlantic Forest",
"Flora of the Caribbean",
"Flora without expected TNC conservation status",
"Plants described in 1775",
"Simaroubaceae",
"Trees of Brazil",
"Trees of Peru"
]
| Simarouba amara is a species of tree in the family Simaroubaceae, found in the rainforests and savannahs of South and Central America and the Caribbean. It was first described by Aubl. in French Guiana in 1775 and is one of six species of Simarouba. The tree is evergreen, but produces a new set of leaves once a year. It requires relatively high levels of light to grow and grows rapidly in these conditions, but lives for a relatively short time. In Panama, it flowers during the dry season in February and March, whereas in Costa Rica, where there is no dry season it flowers later, between March and July. As the species is dioecious, the trees are either male or female and only produce male or female flowers. The small yellow flowers are thought to be pollinated by insects, the resulting fruits are dispersed by animals including monkeys, birds and fruit-eating bats and the seeds are also dispersed by leaf cutter ants.
Simarouba amara has been studied extensively by scientists in an attempt to understand the tree and also to gain a better understanding of the ecology of the rainforest in general. Many of these studies were conducted on Barro Colorado Island in Panama or at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. Of particular interest is how it competes with other species and with individuals of the same species at different stages in its life cycle. The seedlings are normally limited by the amount of light and nutrients found where they are growing and the saplings are considered relatively light demanding compared to other species. Young individuals are more likely to survive when they grow further away from their parents and when there are few other individuals growing near to them, which may be due to them being able to escape diseases. Plant physiologists have investigated how the leaves of the tree differ depending on their location in the forest canopy finding they are thicker in the canopy and thinner in the understory. They have also measured how the water potential of their leaves changes and when their stomata open and close during the day; the findings suggest that rather than closing their stomata to control water loss, it is controlled by the leaf area instead. Population geneticists have examined the way in which its genes vary, at both the local scale and across its range using microsatellites. It is genetically diverse, indicating gene flow occurs between populations and seeds can be dispersed up to 1 km. The leaves of S. amara are eaten by several species of caterpillar, particularly those in the genus Atteva. Several species of termite and ants live on or around the tree and lianas and epiphytes grow on the tree.
The bark of S. amara has been used by people in its range to treat dysentery and diarrhea, as well as other diseases, and was also exported to Europe in the eighteenth century to treat these illnesses. A number of compounds have since been isolated from the bark and have been shown to have antimicrobial effects. Local people use the wood of the tree for various purposes and it is also grown in plantations and harvested for its timber, some of which is exported.
## Description
Simarouba amara grows to heights of up to 35 metres, with a maximum trunk diameter of 125 cm and a maximum estimated age of 121 years. It has compound leaves that are each around 60 cm long, the petioles are 4–7 cm long and each leaf has 9–16 leaflets. Each leaflet is 2.5–11 cm long and 12–45 mm wide, with those towards the end of the compound leaf tending to be smaller. The flowers occur on a staminate panicle that is around 30 cm in length, which is widely branched and densely covered in flowers. The flowers are unisexual, small (\<1 cm long) and pale yellow in colour. They are thought to be pollinated by insects such as small bees and moths. On Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, it tends to flower during the dry season from the end of January to the end of April, persisting for 11 to 15 weeks each year. In Costa Rica, it flowers slightly later, between March and July, peaking in April. Fruits form between 1 and 3 months after pollination occurs. The fruits are brightly colored green to purplish-black, approximately 17 mm long and contain large seeds (10–14 mm), they occur in groups of 3–5 drupes. The seeds cannot stay dormant and are dispersed by vertebrates. Each seed weighs approximately 0.25 g.
It is an evergreen species, with a new flush of leaves growing between January and April, during the dry season, when the highest light levels occur in the rainforest. This phenology is thought to allow S. amara to photosynthesise most effectively, since the new leaves are more efficient than those they replace. It has visible, but indistinct growth rings that are on average 7 mm wide. A study of individuals in Panama found that they grow on average 8.4 mm in diameter each year, in Costa Rica, growth rates as fast as 18 mm per year have been recorded, and the stem grows constantly throughout the year. The xylem vessels in mature trees range from 20 to 90 μm in diameter, with around 50 vessels present per mm<sup>2</sup> of branch. The density of the wood is between 0.37–0.44 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, lower than many other species in the rainforest.
It is a fast-growing, light-demanding and shade-intolerant species. Saplings are typically one straight pole, with several compound leaves and only one point of growth. This allows the sapling to achieve the greatest vertical growth with a minimum amount of biomass. They start to branch once they are 2–5 m tall.
A study in the forest dynamics plot on BCI found that between 1982 and 2000, around 65% of individuals died, with mortality highest amongst small individuals (\<1 cm dbh). Large trees (\>20 cm dbh) are relatively rare, averaging 2.4 trees per hectare, compared to 40 trees per hectare of \>1 cm dbh.
## Taxonomy
Simarouba amara was first described by Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet in French Guiana in 1775 and is the type species of the genus Simarouba. In 1790, William Wright described Quassia simarouba, which Auguste Pyrame DeCandolle suggested was the same species as S. amara. However, because S. amara was described as monoecious by Aublet and Q. simarouba was described as dioecious by Wright, they were still regarded as separate species in 1829. By 1874, when the Flora Brasiliensis was published, they were considered synonymous.
Among the six species of Simarouba, two besides S. amara occur on the continent: S. glauca and S. versicolor. S. amara can be distinguished from the other continental species by having smaller flowers, anthers and fruit, and straight, rather than curved petals. The leaves of Simarouba amara subsp. opaca are not glaucous (a bluish-grey or green colour) on their underside, whereas those of Simarouba amara subsp. typica are.
### Common names
Simarouba amara is known by many common names, where in the Neotropics. In Bolivia it is known as chiriuana, in Brazil as marupa, marupuaba, parahyba, paraiba and tamanqueira. In Colombia it is called simaruba, in Ecuador as cedro amargo, cuna and guitarro, in French Guiana as simarouba, in Guyana as simarupa, in Peru as marupa, in Surinam as soemaroeba and in Venezuela cedro blanco and simarouba.
In Europe, it was known by various names during the nineteenth century when it was used as a medicine; these names included bitter ash, bitterwood, mountain damson and stave-wood.
## Distribution
The natural range of S. amara is in the Neotropics, the ecoregion of Central and South America. Its range extends from Guatemala in the north, to Bolivia in the south and from Ecuador in the west, to the east coast of Brazil. It has been introduced to the islands of Dominica and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea, becoming naturalised in Puerto Rico. On BCI, mature trees (\>10 cm dbh) are found at a frequency of 5 per hectare, in Ecuador at 0.7 per hectare and in French Guiana at 0.4 per hectare. Genetic analysis of populations suggests that it has always been relatively common within its range. It grows in rainforests and in savannahs. The seedlings of S. amara are rare in primary forest due to their light-demanding habit.
## Genetics
Populations of S. amara display high levels of heterozygosity indicating that it is genetically diverse. This is consistent with the tree outcrossing over large distances by long-distance pollen flow and that there has been sufficient long distance gene flow between populations to counteract the effects of genetic drift. A study of 478 plants from 14 populations across South America found that 24% of all alleles occurred in only one population. A study of 300 plants on Barro Colorado Island found that the heterozygosity at 5 microsatellite loci varied between 0.12 and 0.75. 8 out of the 50 alleles scored occurred in only one plant.
## Reproduction
Individuals do not typically reproduce until they have a trunk diameter of 30 cm. Once mature, the trees produce flowers each year, but not all females produce fruit each year. Their flower morphology is typical of being pollinated by generalist small insects such as bees and moths. It has been reported to be pollinated by non-sphingid moths, but other authors have questioned whether this is correct.
### Seed dispersal
The seeds of S. amara are dispersed by vertebrates, mainly large birds and mammals, including chachalacas, flycatchers, motmots, thrushes, howler monkeys, tamarins and spider monkeys. Leaf cutter ants have also been observed to disperse the seeds and dense seedling carpets form in areas where they dump waste material but most of the seedlings die and dispersal by the ants is thought to be unimportant in determining the long-term patterns of recruitment and dispersal. Seeds that are eaten by monkeys are more likely to germinate than seeds that have not. Fruit-eating phyllostomid bats have also been noted to disperse their seeds; this may aid the regeneration of forests as they disperse the seeds of later successional species while they feed on S. amara.
Based on inverse modelling of data from seed traps on BCI, the estimated average dispersal distance for seeds is 39 m. Studying seedlings and parent trees on BCI using DNA microsatellites revealed that, in fact on average, seedlings grow 392 m away from their parents, with a standard deviation of ±234 m and a range of between 9 m and 1 km. In the forest there are many seeds and seedlings beneath reproductive females; genetic data indicate that seedlings are unlikely to be from nearby adults, but rather dispersed there by vertebrates that have fed on one tree and then moved to feed on another, defecating while in the canopy and depositing the seeds.
## Physiology
Various aspects of the physiology or S. amara have been studied. The stomatal conductance of the leaves, an indication of the rate at which water evaporates, of mature trees at midday range from 200 to 270 mmol H<sub>2</sub>O m<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>. The leaf water potentials at midday range from −0.56 to −1.85 MPa, averaging around −1.2 MPa. Cavitation is widespread in the trunk and the stomata do not close before cavitation occurs. Although this would normally be considered deleterious to the tree, it may buffer the leaf water potential and therefore be beneficial. The stomatal conductance and hydraulic conductance of the branches of taller trees (\~30 m) are much higher than in the branches of smaller trees (\~20 m). Phillips, Bond and Ryan suggested that this is probably due to the branches of taller trees having a lower leaf-to-sapwood ratio than those of small branches. Dye staining shows that cavitation is common in the branches of S. amara. They concluded that water flux in S. amara is controlled by structural (leaf area), rather than physiological (closing stomata) means.
Leaves absorb light in the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) spectrum at wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm with a high efficiency, but the efficiency decreases at longer wavelengths. Generally plants absorb PAR at efficiencies of around 85%; the higher values found in S. amara are thought to be due to the high humidity of its habitat. The reflectance and transmittance of the leaves are low at between 400 and 700 nm. The optical properties and the mass of the leaves vary depending on their location in the forest canopy, with leaves becoming thicker and more efficient as their height within the canopy increases. For their weight, however, leaves in the understory are more efficient at capturing light than leaves in the canopy.
The concentration of bioavailable phosphate has been found to be higher underneath female individuals than underneath males, even though the total concentration of phosphate is equal. Rhoades et al. concluded that this difference was due to females changing the availability of phosphate, rather than females only growing in areas with high phosphate availability. This is thought to be caused either by the fruit containing high levels of phosphate which would fall off the tree and rot, or by the fruits attracting animals which deposit phosphate beneath the females. It is also possible that the sexes produce different root exudates, which affect the microbial community in their rhizosphere, thereby affecting phosphate availability.
The woody tissues of S. amara have been found to respire at a rate of 1.24 μmol m<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>, and this rate of respiration correlates positively with the growth rate of the stem. Maintenance respiration was calculated at 31.1 μmol m<sup>−3</sup> s<sup>−1</sup> and this rate correlated positively with the sapwood volume.
### Seedling physiology
Experiments on BCI where trenches were dug around seedlings of S. amara, or where gaps in the canopy were made above them, show that their relative growth rate can be increased by both. This shows that their growth is normally limited by both above-ground competition for light and by below-ground competition for nutrients and water. Competition for light is normally more important, as shown by the growth rate increasing by almost 7 times and mortality decreasing, when seedlings were placed in gaps, compared to the understory. When seedlings in gaps had a trench dug round them to prevent below-ground competition their growth increased further, by 50%, demonstrating that in gaps the seedlings are limited by below-ground competition. Trenching around seedlings in the understory did not significantly increase their growth, showing that they are normally only limited by competition for light.
Larger seedlings are more likely to survive the dry season on BCI than smaller seedlings. Density-dependent inhibition occurs between seedlings: they are more likely to survive in areas where fewer seedlings of S. amara are growing. A study on individuals on BCI found that this pattern may be caused by differences in soil biota rather than by insect herbivores or fungal pathogens. Observations based on the distance of seedlings from their parents indicate that the Janzen-Connell hypothesis applies to seedlings of S. amara: they are more likely to survive away from their parents as they escape pests such as herbivores and plant pathogens which are more common underneath the parent trees.
### Sapling physiology
Saplings of S. amara are light demanding and are found in brighter areas of the rainforest compared to Pitheullobium elegans and Lecythis ampla seedlings. A study at the La Selva Biological Station found the leaves weigh approximately 30 g/m<sup>2</sup> (dry weight), similar to P. elegans, but around double the weight of L. ampla. The photosynthetic capacity of the leaves of S. amara is higher than that of the other two species, averaging around 6 μmol m<sup>−1</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>. Dark respiration is on average 0.72 μmol m<sup>−1</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>, higher than that of the other two species. The maximum photosynthetic rate correlates with both stem diameter and vertical growth. Diffuse light is thought to be more important for seedling growth than sunflecks. Another study of saplings at La Selva found that they grew 7 cm yr<sup>−1</sup> in height and 0.25 mm yr<sup>−1</sup> in diameter. On average they had nine compound leaves, a leaf area index of 0.54 and the total surface area of their leaves was 124 cm<sup>2</sup>. The saplings that had the lowest leaf area were most likely to die during the study and those with a larger leaf area grew faster than other saplings.
A study of saplings between one and four centimeters in diameter on BCI found that the growth of saplings did not vary depending on which species grew near them, contrary to predictions that density-dependence inhibition occurs. A model based on these findings predicted that saplings with a diameter of 2 cm are able to grow at a maximum rate of 13 mm yr<sup>−1</sup> and that if another tree with a diameter of 10 cm is growing within 5 m of the sapling, its growth is only reduced to 12 mm yr<sup>−1</sup>, indicating that they are not affected by crowding. Trees growing more than 15 m away from a sapling do not affect their growth.
## Ecology
Lianas are relatively rare on mature (\>20 cm dbh) individuals of S. amara, compared to other trees on BCI, with only around 25% having lianas growing on them. Putz suggested that this may be due to the trees having large leaves, but the mechanism by which this would reduce the number of lianas is unknown. Smaller individuals also have fewer lianas and woody hemi-epiphytes than other species of tree in the same forests.
The ailanthus webworm (Atteva aurea) and other members of the genus Atteva have been recorded to eat the new shoot tips of S. amara in Costa Rica. The larvae of the butterfly species, Bungalotis diophorus feed exclusively on saplings and treelets of S. amara. Two termite species have been observed living on S. amara in Panama, Calcaritermes brevicollis in dead wood and Microcerotermes arboreus nesting in a gallery on a branch. Bullet ants (Paraponera clavata) have been found to nest at the base of S. amara trees. The Hemiptera, Enchophora sanguinea (Fulgoridae) has been found preferentially on the trunks of S. amara.
## Uses
### Materials
Simarouba amara is used locally for producing paper, furniture, plywood and matches and is also used in construction. It is also grown in plantations, as its bright and lightweight timber is highly sought after in European markets for use in making fine furniture and veneers. The wood dries rapidly and is easy to work with normal tools. It is creamy white to light yellow in colour, with a coarse texture and a straight grain. It has to be treated to prevent fungi, wood borers and termites from eating it. The heartwood has a density of 0.35–0.45 g/cm<sup>3</sup>. It has been noted to be one of the best species for timber that can be grown in the Peruvian Amazon, along with Cedrelinga catenaeformis, due to its rapid growth characteristics. The Worldwide Fund for Nature recommend that consumers ensure S. amara timber is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council so that they do not contribute to deforestation. Wood shavings of S. amara have been used in animal bedding leading to the poisoning of horses and dogs.
### Medical
The leaves and bark of S. amara have been used as an herbal medicine to treat dysentery, diarrhea, malaria and other illnesses in areas where it grows. In 1713, it was exported to France where it was used to treat dysentery, being an effective treatment during epidemics between 1718 and 1725. In 1918 its effectiveness was validated by a study where soldiers in a military hospital were given a tea made of the bark to treat amoebic dysentery. In a 1944 study, the Merck Institute found it was 92% effective at treating intestinal amoebiasis in humans. During the 1990s, scientists demonstrated it could kill the most common cause of dysentery, Entamoeba histolytica, and species of Salmonella and Shigella bacteria that cause diarrhea. A greater amount of evidence is required to prove the efficacy of Simarouba.
The main biologically active compounds found in S. amara are the quassinoids, a group of triterpenes including ailanthinone, glaucarubinone, and holacanthone. These have been reported to kill protozoa, amoeba, Plasmodium (the cause of malaria). The antimalarial properties were first investigated by scientists in 1947; they found that in chickens, 1 mg of bark extract per 1 kg of body weight had strong antimalarial activity. In 1997 a patent was filed in the United States for using an extract in a skin care product. Simarouba amara is not to be confused with Simarouba glauca, which is known as Lakshmi Taru in India. |
30,859,085 | Yahballaha III | 1,171,435,366 | Patriarch of the Church of the East, 1281–1317 | [
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| Yahballaha III (c. 1245–13 November 1317), known in earlier years as Rabban Marcos (or Markos) or Yahballaha V, was Patriarch of the East from 1281 to 1317. As patriarch, Yahballaha headed the Church of the East during the severe persecutions under the reign of khans Ghazan and his successor Öljaitü. He acknowledged the primacy of the Pope and tried to form a church union, which was rejected by the Nestorian bishops of the Church of the East.
A native of Koshang, Marcos traveled with Rabban Bar Sauma, an ascetic Nestorian monk from Mongol-controlled China to Jerusalem, however, due to the war between the Mongols and Mamluks they were prevented to reach the final destination. Patriarch Denha I of the Church of the East recalled them and consecrated Markos as the bishop of Katay and Ong, with the name Mar Yahballaha. However, both of them opted to remain in monasteries in Mosul.
Yahballaha's election as the new patriarch of the Church of the East was approved by Abaqa Khan for political reasons and consecrated in 1281 as Yahballaha III. In 1282 Abaqa Khan's brother Tekuder, a convert to Islam succeeded the throne. The Old-Mongol party of Buddhists and Nestorian Christians opposed Tekuder, who started persecuting the Church of the East for siding with the Old-Mongol party and Yahballaha was imprisoned, but his life was saved by Tekuder's Christian mother Qutui Khatun. In 1284, Abaqa Khan's son Arghun became khan, and he held both Yahballaha and Bar Sauma in high esteem. Arghun sought an alliance with Christian Europe against the Muslims in Syria and Egypt and, advised by Yahballaha, sent Bar Sauma for the first East Asian diplomatic mission to Europe in history. After the fall of Acre to Muslims in 1291, the popular opinion in Ilkhanate started to incline towards Islam. The relations between the Church of the East and the khan remained well during the rule of Gaykhatu, Arghun's successor. However, with Arghun's son Ghazan ascendance to the throne, Muslims gained dominance. Ghazan started the persecution of Christians and Yahballaha was again imprisoned. He was ransomed by Hethum II of Armenia.
In 1289, Yahballaha allowed the Dominican friar Riccoldo da Monte di Croce to preach among the Nestorians and renounced their heterodoxies. He sought a church union with the Catholic Church in Rome and started negotiations in 1302 by writing to Pope Boniface VIII and Pope Benedict XI in 1304, professing the Catholic faith in the latter letter and acknowledging the pope's primacy over all of Christiandom. However, the union was rejected by the Nestorian bishops. In 1304, Öljaitü succeeded Ghazan and renewed the persecutions against Christians which Yahballaha unsuccessfully tried to end. Yahballaha died in Maragheh in 1317.
## Early life
Markos was born in the city of Koshang (near modern Dongsheng District, Inner Mongolia) the capital of the Turkic Ongud tribe. His ethnic ancestry is not entirely clear. According to the contemporary source Story of Mar Yahballaha and Rabban Sauma he was an "Oriental Turk". Bar Hebraeus in his Chronography referred to him as "Uyghur, that is Turk". The Arabic Chronicle of the Nestorian Patriarch calls him "a Turk by birth from the region of Katay (i.e. Northern China)". The two lists of the patriarch of the Church of the East refer to him as "a Turk", and a Latin bull calls him "an Oriental Turk". Pier Giorgio Borbone suggests that Yahballaha probably belonged to the Ongud tribe, and dismisses Bar Hebraeus' claim about his Uyghur descent since Uyghurs at the time lived in a distant region around Turfan.
As a child, he became a pupil of Rabban Bar Sauma, a Nestorian monk. At first, they probably lived in the Monastery of the Cross in the present-day Fangshan District of western Beijing. In 1275/76 Markos and Bar Sauma started a journey towards Jerusalem. At the beginning of their travel, Markos was around thirty and Bar Sauma was forty-eight. They first went to Khanbaliq, Bar Sauma's birthplace, to gather more people for the journey. Then they went to Koshang, Tangut, Hotan and Kashgar. After staying in Hotan for six months and finding Kashgar empty as its population fled the "enemy", Bar Sauma and Markos went to Taraz (north of Tien Shan) in present-day Kazakhstan to pay homage to Kaidu Khan and ask for safe passage through his land, which he allowed. The two travelers probably passed through Samarkand and Bukhara, arriving in the region of Khorosan in the town of Tus, now a village near Mashhad in present-day Iran. In Maragheh in the region of Azerbaijan they met with Patriarch Denha I. From Erbil they went to Mosul and visited Nisibis and various Nestorian monasteries along the Tigris river.
Their plan to visit Jerusalem was prevented because of the war between the Mongols and Mamluks, who at the time bordered each other along the Euphrates river. They still tried to reach Palestine, traveling through Armenia and Georgia and then by the sea. However, they were recalled by the Patriarch, who wanted to give them leadership over the church in China. The Patriarch named Markos the bishop of Katay and Ong (Northern China and the Ongud tribe, respectively), giving him the name Mar Yahballaha. At the same time, he named Bar Sauma sa'ora (visiting bishop) for the Eastern countries, and general vicar. The new titles meant that the two of them would return to the east; however, both of them insisted on staying to live in a monastery, deeming themselves unworthy of the new titles. They remained in a monastery near Mosul for two years.
## Patriarchate
After the death of Patriarch Denha I, the Nestorian bishops chose Yahballaha as his successor in November 1281, with approval from Abaqa Khan, the Mongol ruler of the Ilkhanate. The reasons for his election were political, as Yahballaha was familiar with the Mongol customs, politics, and language because of his origin. His knowledge of Syriac was scarce, and he did not speak Arabic at all. In the presence of other Nestorian bishops, Yahballaha was consecrated in Kokhe church on 21 November 1281 as Yahballaha III. He received the seal given to the patriarch before him by Möngke Khan.
Abaqa died in 1282 and was succeeded by his brother Tekuder, a convert to Islam. Tekuder became unpopular among the Mongol elites, the so-called "Old-Mongol" party of Nestorian Christians and Buddhists, who now favored his nephew Arghun, Abaqa's son. They protested to Kublai Khan, who threatened to intervene. Tekuder blamed the Church of the East for the appeals to Kublai Kahn and threw Yahballaha III into prison. His life was saved by Tekuder's mother Qutui Khatun, who was a Christian. Tekuder was succeeded by his nephew Arghun in 1284. Both Yahballaha and Bar Sauma were held in high esteem by both Abaqa and Arghun.
After succeeding Tekuder, Arghun sought an alliance with the European rulers against the Muslims in Syria and Egypt. He wrote to Pope Honorius IV that Kublai Khan commissioned him to liberate the "land of the Christians". For that purpose, he consulted with Yahballaha about who should head the embassy to Europe; Yahballaha proposed Bar Sauma, which Arghun accepted. In 1287, Bar Sauma arrived in Trabzon at the south shore of Black Sea. In June, he went to Constantinople, where he met with Emperor Andronikos of Byzantium, and then to the Kingdom of Naples, where he met with Charles II. In Rome he learned about the death of Pope Honorius IV and was greeted by the College of Cardinals instead. However, they were not able to respond to Arghun's request until the election of the new pope. Bar Sauma went to Florence and Genoa, where he met with the Captain of the People. From Genoa, Bar Sauma went to Lombardy, and onwards to Paris where he met Philip IV of France. After staying for a month in Paris, Bar Sauma met with the English king Edward in Bordeaux. Both English and French kings expressed their interest in the alliance. Before returning to Rome, Bar Sauma spent the winter in Genoa, and met Pope Nicholas IV after his election. The Pope issued a bull recognising Yahballaha as the "patriarch of all the Christians of the East" Bar Sauma returned to Ilkhanate in the summer of 1288.
Dominican friar Riccoldo da Monte di Croce traveled to the East in 1289 and remained there for ten years. Da Monte di Croce found that the Nestorians put greater emphasis on rituals than dogma. He writes that they had a liberal conception of marriage, with divorces and remarriages being allowed at will. Nestorians occasionally practiced circumcision, even for women, and did not recognise the practice of anointing of the sick. They also abstained from meat. Yahballaha renounced these heterodoxies and allowed da Monte di Croce to preach in Baghdad in 1290. The Nestorian elite wanted to enter the union with Rome, mostly for political reasons.
The Mongols saw the fall of Acre to Muslims in 1291 as a victory of Islam over Christianity and started to incline towards Islam afterward. However, relations remained good between the Church of the East and the new khan Gaykhatu, who succeeded Arghun that year. By the time of his death in 1295, the popular opinion in the Ilkhanate favoured Muslims. Another son of Arghun, Ghazan, became khan in 1295. He brought Muslims to dominance and started persecuting Christians and destroying churches. He imprisoned Yahballaha and hung him upside down. Yahballaha's life was saved by Hethum II, who paid a ransom to free him from prison, and in 1296 Yahballaha returned to his seat in Maragheh. The next year his residence was pillaged and destroyed by Muslims, so he moved to Erbil in Iraq. Hethum persuaded Ghazan to end the persecution in 1296. He also issued countermeasures to compensate the Christians. Yahballaha returned to the monastery in Maragheh, whose reconstruction was supported by Ghazan, who in 1303 visited the monastery. However, sporadic persecution continued elsewhere. Nevertheless, Yahballaha enjoyed Ghazan's support until the end of his reign.
In 1302, Yahballaha started negotiations with the Roman Curia regarding the union, and sent a letter to Pope Boniface VIII. On 18 May 1304, Yahballaha wrote to Pope Benedict XI making a profession of Catholic faith, accepting the Pope, and acknowledging his primacy over all of Christiandom. However, the union was rejected by the Nestorian bishops.
During the reign of the khan Öljaitü, who succeeded Ghazan in 1304, the persecution of Christians continued. Although personally on good terms with Yahballaha, he was unwilling or unable to end the persecutions, and even carried them out himself, with the persecution in 1306 being remembered as the fiercest. An outbreak of violence occurred in Erbil in 1310, with many Christians being killed and Yahballaha, who was there at the time, barely survived. Yahballaha tried to prevent the massacre of Christians who hid at the Citadel of Erbil, but when the citadel was conquered by the Muslims on 1 July 1310, they were all massacred. Öljaitü did nothing to prevent the violence. Yahballaha, discouraged by the failure, retired to Maragheh. He died there on 13 November 1317. |
13,156,194 | Victoria Louise-class cruiser | 1,173,513,749 | German protected cruiser class built 1895–1899 | [
"Cruiser classes",
"Victoria Louise-class cruisers",
"World War I cruisers of Germany"
]
| The Victoria Louise class of protected cruisers was the last class of ships of that type built for the German Imperial Navy. The class design introduced the combined clipper and ram bow and the blocky sides that typified later German armored cruisers. The class comprised five vessels, Victoria Louise, the lead ship, Hertha, Freya, Vineta, and Hansa. The ships were laid down in 1895–1896, and were launched in 1897–1898 and commissioned into the fleet over the following year.
The first three ships were 110.60 meters (362 ft 10 in) long and displaced 6,491 metric tons (6,388 long tons) at combat load; Vineta and Hansa were a slightly modified design. They were 110.50 m (362 ft 6 in) long and displaced 6,705 t (6,599 long tons) at full load. All five ships were armed with a main battery of two 21-centimeter (8.3 in) guns and eight 15 cm (5.9 in) guns. The first three ships had a top speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph); the last two were slightly slower, at 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph). Problems with the Niclausse boilers installed on Freya prompted the Navy to standardize boiler types in future warships.
The ships of the class served in various units in the German fleet, including on the America Station, in the East Asia Squadron, and with the home fleet. Hertha and Hansa participated in the suppression of the Boxer Uprising in China in 1900, and Vineta was involved in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903. All five ships were modernized between 1905 and 1911, after which they served as training ships for naval cadets. They were mobilized into V Scouting Group at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but were quickly withdrawn from front-line service. They served in various secondary roles for the rest of the war. After the end of the conflict, Victoria Louise was converted into a merchant ship, but was broken up in 1923. The other four ships were scrapped in 1920–1921.
## Design
In the early 1890s, elements in the German naval command structure grappled with what type of cruiser ought to be built to fulfill the various needs of the fleet. The Reichsmarineamt (RMA—Imperial Navy Office) preferred to build a combination of large cruisers of around 6,000 t (5,900 long tons) along the lines of the protected cruiser SMS Kaiserin Augusta and significantly smaller vessels of about 1,500 t (1,500 long tons) to support them, while the Oberkommando der Marine (Naval High Command) argued that a uniform force of 3,000 t (3,000 long tons) cruisers was preferable. At the time, the German navy lacked the budget to build dedicated overseas cruisers along with vessels optimized for scouting purposes. The budgetary constraints led to designers attempting to build ships that could fulfill both roles, though the high speed, heavy armament, and thick armor necessary for fleet operations necessarily conflicted with the needs of a colonial cruiser, which required a long cruising radius.
After failing to secure budgetary approval for the new ships from the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) in 1892, 1893, and 1894, the Reichstag finally authorized construction of three ships for the 1895–1896 budget year. The RMA's proposal was chosen and three 6,000-ton cruisers were begun in 1895. Two more vessels were authorized for 1896–1897.
Compared to Kaiserin Augusta, Victoria Louise had a displacement that was about six percent less, though she carried a much heavier armament The resulting design were smaller scale versions of the contemporary Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships; they featured the same fore military mast and pole mainmast and a combination of gun turrets and casemates for the secondary battery. As was common practice in the German fleet in the 1890s, the five ships employed different types of water-tube boilers for evaluation purposes. The ships' design set a precedent for later armored cruisers, with large, bulky sides and a combined clipper bow and ram.
### General characteristics
The first three ships of the Victoria Louise class—Victoria Louise, Hertha, and Freya—were 109.10 meters (357 ft 11 in) long at the waterline and 110.60 m (362 ft 10 in) long overall. They had a beam of 17.40 m (57 ft 1 in) and a draft of 6.58 m (21 ft 7 in) forward and 6.93 m (22 ft 9 in). These ships displaced 5,660 metric tons (5,570 long tons) as designed and 6,491 t (6,388 long tons) at full load. Vineta and Hansa had slightly different dimensions; they were 109.80 m (360 ft 3 in) long at the waterline and 110.50 m (362 ft 6 in) overall. Their beam was 17.60 m (57 ft 9 in) and drew 7.08 m (23 ft 3 in) forward and 7.34 m (24 ft 1 in) aft. Their displacement was also higher than the first three ships, at 5,885 t (5,792 long tons) as designed and 6,705 t (6,599 long tons) at combat load.
The ships' hulls were constructed with longitudinal and transverse steel frames; a single layer of wood planks were used for the hull. A layer of Muntz metal sheathing extended up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) above the waterline to protect against fouling of the hull. This sheathing was later removed from Victoria Louise, Hertha, and Freya. The hull was divided into twelve watertight compartments, which were later reduced to eleven, with the exception of Freya. The hull also incorporated a double bottom that extended for 60 percent of the length of the hull.
The ships' standard crew was 31 officers and 446 enlisted men, with an additional 9 officers and 41 enlisted while serving as a second command flagship. After their reconstruction into training ships, the crew was substantially enlarged to incorporate the trainees, with 26 officers and 658 sailors, 75 of whom were naval cadets and 300 others were cabin boys. The ships carried a number of smaller boats, including three picket boats, one launch, one pinnace, two cutters, two yawls, and three dinghies. After their modernization, the boats were significantly revised; the number of picket boats was reduced to one, a barge and a launch were added, the dinghies were removed, and five more cutters were added.
The ships were good sea boats; they had an easy motion and were dry as a result of their high forecastles. They had a tendency to pitch when steaming downwind, however, and made severe leeway in heavy winds because of their large superstructures. They were difficult to maneuver without the center shaft engaged. Steering was controlled with a single rudder. They lost only around ten percent speed in a head sea or with the rudder hard over. In addition, as the lower coal bunkers were emptied, the ships became increasingly unstable; with empty bunkers, the ships could heel over as much as fifteen degrees in a hard turn. The modernization of the ships between 1905 and 1911 rectified this problem. They had a transverse metacentric height of .56 to .73 m (1 ft 10 in to 2 ft 5 in). As built, the ships were very hot, and ventilation had to be improved before they were commissioned.
### Machinery
The propulsion system of all five ships consisted of three vertical 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines built by AG Vulcan. Steam was provided by twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers from different manufacturers, with the exception of Hansa, which received eighteen boilers. Victoria Louise and Vineta had boilers from Dürr AG, Freya had Niclausse boilers, and Hertha had Belleville boilers. Hansa was equipped with eighteen transverse Belleville boilers. The Niclausse boilers in Freya proved to be particularly troublesome, which led the Navy to use only Schulz-Thornycroft or Marine-type boilers in future vessels. The boilers were ducted into three funnels, though after their modernization between 1905 and 1908, they were trunked into two funnels.
The ships' engines were rated at 10,000 metric horsepower (9,900 ihp) for a top speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) for the first three ships and 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) for the last two vessels. As built, the ships carried up to 950 t (930 long tons; 1,050 short tons) of coal, which gave them a cruising range of 3,412 nautical miles (6,319 km; 3,926 mi) at a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). The more efficient Marine-type boilers installed in 1905–1911 increased cruising range to 3,840 nmi (7,110 km; 4,420 mi) at the same speed. Victoria Louise and Hertha were equipped with four electricity generators with a combined output of 224 to 271 kilowatts (300 to 363 hp) at 110 Volts; the last three ships had three generators with a total output of 169 to 183 kW (227 to 245 hp) at 110 V.
### Armament and armor
The ships' primary armament consisted of two 21 cm SK L/40 C/97 built-up guns in single gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The turrets were C/97 type mounts, which were hydraulically operated and hand-loaded. The turrets had a range of elevation from -5 to 30 degrees, and at maximum elevation, they had a range of 16,300 m (53,500 ft). Muzzle velocity was 780 m/s (2,600 ft/s). The guns were supplied with 58 rounds of ammunition each; these were 238 kg (525 lb) shells.
Eight 15 cm SK L/40 guns rounded out the offensive gun armament. Four of these guns were mounted in turrets amidships and the other four were placed in casemates. These guns fired armor-piercing shells at a rate of 4 to 5 per minute. The guns could depress to −7 degrees and elevate to 20 degrees, for a maximum range of 13,700 m (14,990 yd). The shells weighed 51 kg (112 lb) and were fired at a muzzle velocity of 735 m/s (2,410 ft/s). The guns were manually elevated and trained. Two of the 15 cm guns were removed in the refit.
For defense against torpedo boats, the ships also carried ten 8.8 cm SK L/30 naval guns, and an eleventh was added during the modernization. These were also mounted individually in casemates and pivot mounts. These guns fired 7.04 kg (15.5 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 590 mps (1,936 fps). Their rate of fire was approximately 15 shells per minute; the guns could engage targets out to 6,890 m (7,530 yd). The gun mounts were manually operated. Three longer-barreled 8.8 cm SK L/35 naval guns were also added at that time. The gun armament was rounded out by ten 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Maxim machine cannon, which were removed during the refit.
The ships were also equipped with three 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes with eight torpedoes, two launchers were mounted on the broadside and the third was in the bow, all below the waterline. These weapons were 5.1 m (201 in) long and carried an 87.5 kg (193 lb) TNT warhead. They could be set at two speeds for different ranges. At 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), the torpedoes had a range of 800 m (870 yd). At an increased speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), the range was reduced to 500 m (550 yd).
In 1916, all of the ships of the class were disarmed, with the exception of Freya, which was re-equipped with a single 15 cm gun, four 10.5 cm SK L/45 guns, and fourteen 8.8 cm guns of both the L/30 and L/35 versions, for use as a gunnery training ship.
Armor protection for the ships was composed of Krupp steel. The main deck was 40 mm (1.6 in) thick with 100 mm (3.9 in) thick slopes. The forward conning tower had 150 mm (5.9 in) thick sides and a 30 mm (1.2 in) thick roof. The aft conning tower was given only splinter protection, with just 12 mm (0.47 in) thick sides. The 21 cm and 15 cm gun turrets had 100 mm thick sides and 30 mm thick roofs. The casemate guns were also given 100 mm worth of armor protection. The ships were also equipped with cork cofferdams.
## Construction
## Service history
### Victoria Louise
Victoria Louise served with the fleet for the first seven years of her career. During this time, she represented Germany during the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. In 1906, she was modernized and after 1908, used as a training ship for naval cadets. In 1909, she visited the United States, and at the outbreak of World War I, was mobilized into V Scouting Group. She was attacked unsuccessfully by the British submarine HMS E1 in October 1914, and at the end of the year she was withdrawn from service. She was used as a minelayer and barracks ship based in Danzig for the rest of the war. Victoria Louise was sold in 1919 and converted into a freighter the following year, though she served in this capacity until 1923, when she was broken up for scrap.
### Hertha
Hertha served abroad in the German East Asia Squadron for the first six years of her career; she served briefly as the squadron flagship in 1900. She contributed a landing party to the force that captured the Taku Forts during the Boxer Uprising in 1900. After returning to Germany in 1905, she was modernized and used as a training ship in 1908, following the completion of the refit. She served in that capacity for the next six years. At the outbreak of World War I, Hertha was mobilized into V Scouting Group, but served in front-line duty only briefly. She was used as a barracks ship after 1915, and ultimately sold for scrapping in 1920.
### Freya
Freya served in the German fleet for the initial years of her career, unlike her sister ships, all of which served abroad on foreign stations. As a result, she led a fairly uneventful career in the fleet. After a modernization in 1905–1907, Freya was used as a school ship for cadets. While visiting Canada in 1908, she accidentally rammed and sank a Canadian schooner, killing nine sailors. At the outbreak of World War I, Freya was mobilized into V Scouting Group, but served in front-line duty only briefly. She was used as a barracks ship after 1915, and ultimately sold for scrapping in 1921.
### Vineta
Vineta served abroad in the American Station for the first several years of her career. While on station in the Americas, she participated in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903 and bombarded several Venezuelan fortresses. She returned to Germany in 1905 and was used as a torpedo training ship in 1908. She was modernized in 1909–1911, after which she was used as a school ship for naval cadets. In November 1912, she participated in an international naval protest of the First Balkan War. At the outbreak of World War I, Vineta was mobilized into V Scouting Group like her sisters, but served in front-line duty only briefly. She was used as a barracks ship after 1915, and ultimately sold for scrapping in 1920.
### Hansa
Hansa served abroad in the East Asia Squadron for the first six years of her career. Along with Hertha, she contributed a landing party to the force that captured the Taku Forts during the Boxer Uprising. In August 1904, she participated in the internment of the Russian battleship Tsesarevich after the Battle of the Yellow Sea during the Russo-Japanese War. After returning to Germany in 1906, she was modernized and used as a training ship in 1909, following the completion of the refit. At the outbreak of World War I, Hansa was mobilized into V Scouting Group, but served in front-line duty only briefly. She was used as a barracks ship after 1915, and ultimately sold for scrapping in 1920. |
889,476 | 95th Infantry Division (United States) | 1,171,644,298 | Active United States Army formation | [
"1918 establishments in the United States",
"Infantry divisions of the United States Army",
"Infantry divisions of the United States Army in World War II",
"Military units and formations established in 1918",
"Training divisions of the United States Army",
"United States Army divisions during World War II",
"United States Army divisions of World War I"
]
| The 95th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. Today it exists as the 95th Training Division, a component of the United States Army Reserve headquartered at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Activated too late to deploy for World War I, the division remained in the Army's reserve until World War II, when it was sent to Europe. Renowned for fighting back fierce German counterattacks, the division earned the nickname "Iron Men of Metz" for fighting to liberate and defend the town.
In April 1945, the 95th Infantry Division (United States) "Victory" division uncovered a German prison and civilian labor camp in the town of Werl. On April 7, the unit reported discovering a camp housing some 4,500 undernourished French officers and 800 enlisted men. The 95th provided the prisoners with emergency rations from the division's own supplies.
After World War II, the division spent another brief period in reserve before being activated as one of the Army's training divisions.
The 95th Infantry Division (United States) was recognized as a liberating unit by the United States Army Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995.
Over the next fifty years the division would see numerous changes to its structure as its training roles changed and subordinate units shifted in and out of its command. It activated many regimental and brigade commands to fulfill various training roles. The division then began conducting one station unit training, a responsibility it continues to this day.
## History
### World War I
The 95th Division was first constituted on 4 September 1918 in the National Army. It was organized that month at Camp Sherman, Ohio. The division was organized with the 189th Infantry Brigade and the 190th Infantry Brigade. The division was slated to be deployed overseas to fight in World War I, and training of all of the division's units began immediately. On 11 November, the Armistice with Germany was signed, ending hostilities. The division's deployment was cancelled, and it was demobilized in December 1918. All of the division's officers and enlisted men were discharged from the military or transferred to other units.
The division was commanded by:
- Colonel Julien Edmund Victor Gaujot (acting), September 23 – September 25, 1918
- Colonel Edward Croft (acting), September 25, 1918 – October 24, 1918
- Brigadier General Mathew C. Smith, October 24, 1918 – December 22, 1918
### Interwar period
On 24 June 1921, the division was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve, assigned to the XVIII Corps, and further assigned the state of Oklahoma as its home area. The headquarters was organized on 31 August 1921. From that point until 1942, the division remained as a reserve unit based in Oklahoma City.
### World War II
On 15 July 1942, the division was ordered into active military service and reorganized at Camp Swift, Texas. Major General Harry L. Twaddle was assigned to command, and he remained in this position until the division was demobilized at the end of the war. The 189th and 190th Infantry Brigades were disbanded as part of an army-wide elimination of brigades. Instead, the division was based around three infantry regiments, the 377th Infantry Regiment, the 378th Infantry Regiment, and the 379th Infantry Regiment. The division also received a new shoulder sleeve insignia in August 1942. Over the next two years, the division trained extensively in locations throughout the United States, including Camp Coxcomb in California.
#### Order of battle
- Headquarters, 95th Infantry Division
- 377th Infantry Regiment
- 378th Infantry Regiment
- 379th Infantry Regiment
- Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 95th Infantry Division Artillery
- 358th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
- 359th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
- 360th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
- 920th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
- 320th Engineer Combat Battalion
- 320th Medical Battalion
- 95th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized
- Headquarters, Special Troops, 95th Infantry Division
- Headquarters Company, 95th Infantry Division
- 795th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
- 95th Quartermaster Company
- 95th Signal Company
- Military Police Platoon
- Band
- 95th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment
#### Europe
The 95th Infantry Division was assigned to XIII Corps of the Ninth United States Army, Twelfth United States Army Group. The division sailed for Europe on 10 August 1944. The 95th Infantry Division arrived in England on 17 August. After receiving additional training, it moved to France one month later on 15 September. During this time it was reassigned to III Corps. The division bivouacked near Norroy-le-Sec, from 1 to 14 October. It was then assigned to XX Corps of the Third United States Army. The division was sent into combat on 19 October in the Moselle bridgehead sector east of Moselle and South of Metz and patrolled the Seille near Cheminot, capturing the forts surrounding Metz and repulsing enemy attempts to cross the river. It was during the defense of this town from repeated German attacks that the division received its nickname, "The Iron Men of Metz." On 1 November, elements went over to the offensive, reducing an enemy pocket east of Maizières-lès-Metz. On 8 November, these units crossed the Moselle River and advanced to Bertrange. Against heavy resistance, the 95th captured the forts surrounding Metz and captured the city by 22 November.
The division pushed toward the Saar on 25 November and entered Germany on the 28th. The 95th seized a Saar River bridge on 3 December and engaged in bitter house-to-house fighting for Saarlautern. Suburbs of the city fell and, although the enemy resisted fiercely, the Saar bridgehead was firmly established by 19 December. While some units went to an assembly area, others held the area against strong German attacks. On 2 February 1945, the division began moving to the Maastricht area in the Netherlands, and by 14 February, elements were in the line near Meerselo in relief of British units. During this time the division returned to the Ninth Army under XIX Corps, though saw temporary assignments to several other corps through the spring.
On 23 February, the division was relieved, and the 95th assembled near Jülich, Germany, on 1 March. It forced the enemy into a pocket near the Hitler Bridge at Uerdingen and cleared the pocket on 5 March, while elements advanced to the Rhine. From 12 March, the 95th established defenses in the vicinity of Neuss. Assembling east of the Rhine at Beckum on 3 April, it launched an attack across the Lippe River the next day and captured Hamm and Kamen on the 6th. After clearing the enemy pocket north of the Ruhr and the Möhne Rivers, the division took Werl and Unna on 9/10 April, Dortmund on 13 April and maintained positions on the north bank of the Ruhr. It held this position until the end of the war.
#### Casualties
- Total battle casualties: 6,591
- Killed in action: 1,205
- Wounded in action: 4,945
- Missing in action: 61
- Prisoner of war: 380
#### Demobilization
The division returned to the United States on 29 June 1945 where it began the process of preparing to join the invasion forces of the Japanese Island of Honshu as part of the First United States Army. With the ending of the war in Japan, the division, remaining on orders for the Pacific, staged a minor mutiny before the orders were changed. This resulted in the division being demobilized and releasing its soldiers from Army service. It was inactivated on 15 October 1945 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The division took 31,988 German prisoners. Soldiers of the division were awarded one Medal of Honor, 18 Distinguished Service Crosses, 1 British Military Cross, 14 Legion of Merit Medals, 665 Silver Star Medals, 15 Soldier's Medals, 2,992 Bronze Star Medals, and 162 Air Medals. The division was awarded one Presidential Unit Citation and four campaign streamers during its time in combat.
### Cold War
The division was reactivated on 13 May 1947 at Oklahoma City as a reserve unit. However, it was not mobilized for any combat duties following World War II. In 1952, the division underwent reorganization, with the first change being the addition of the 291st Infantry Regiment of Tulsa, Oklahoma, from the 75th Infantry Division. The second change that year for the division was the withdrawal of assignment of the 377th Infantry Regiment from the 95th, which was transferred to the 75th Infantry Division. The 377th had headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana since its activation after World War II.
The year 1955 saw further changes to the division and more changes of assignment for subordinate elements. On 1 January 1955, the 291st Regiment was again assigned to the 75th Infantry Division from the 95th and was subsequently inactivated on 31 January 1955. On 30 January, the 377th Regiment was reassigned to the 95th from the 75th and its headquarters moved from New Orleans to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The same date saw the relocation of the 379th Regimental headquarters from Hot Springs, Arkansas where it had been since 1947, to Little Rock, Arkansas.
On 1 April 1958 the 95th Infantry Division was redesignated as the 95th Division (Training) and a major reorganization of mission assignments was underway. Personnel trained for infantry combat, field artillery, military police and combat support roles were now to undergo re-training to enable them to train others. The division had a new role as one of the 13 Training Divisions in the Army Reserve. The same year the division's size increased as the 291st Regiment was reassigned again from the 75th and was redesignated as 291st Regiment (Advanced Individual Training). With the reorganization of the division all of the regiments were redesignated. The 95th Divisional Artillery became the 95th Regiment (Common Specialist Training) with headquarters at Shreveport, Louisiana. The 377th became the 377th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), as did the 378th and 379th, and all were reassigned new training sites. In 1966, the division received a distinctive unit insignia.
In 1967, the division was reorganized according to the Reorganization Objective Army Divisions plan, part of an army-wide transformation. The division's former World War II components were reorganized into brigades. The division's former headquarters was reactivated as 1st Brigade, 95th Division at Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 920th Field Artillery Battalion became the 2nd Brigade, 95th Division, also in Tulsa. The 320th Engineer Battalion became the 3rd Brigade, 95th Division at Oklahoma City, and the 795th Ordnance Battalion became the 4th Brigade, 95th Division in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1975, the division's center was changed to Midwest City, Oklahoma.
The division was located in three states, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The 1st Brigade was headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma and had elements of the 377th and 379th in regiments in its battalions. The 2nd Brigade was headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma with elements of the 378th and 379th Regiments. The 3rd Brigade was headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma, a move made in September 1975, and consisted of only 291st Regiment elements. The 4th Brigade was headquartered in Bossier City, Louisiana, a suburb of Shreveport, and includes the 95th Regiment and one element of the 379th. The Committee Group was headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas with no Regimental elements. The 95th Support Battalion was headquartered in Midwest City, Oklahoma with the Division Headquarters, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 95th Division Leadership Academy, and the 95th Division Maneuver Training Command. On 1 January 1979 the division's four brigades was reorganized specifically for one station unit training.
The division experienced tremendous expansion in October 1984 with the addition of the 4073d US Army Reception Station, in Lafayette, Louisiana, with a strength of 809 personnel. The 402nd Brigade was also activated under the division's administrative control. It was designated to expand the training base for the Army's Field Artillery Training Center located at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In 1989 the division's location was returned to Oklahoma City.
### Present day
The division continued its mission of training and operating one station unit training. In 1996, the division received three additional brigades as part of an Army consolidation of training commands. The 5th Brigade, 95th Division was activated in San Antonio, Texas, the 6th Brigade, 95th Division was activated in Topeka, Kansas, and the 7th Brigade, 95th Division was activated from the 95th Training Command in Little Rock, Arkansas.
In 2000, the brigade took on the additional responsibility of training Reserve Officer's Training Corps cadets. The 8th Brigade, 95th Division was activated as a provisional unit in charge of ROTC units throughout the southwestern United States. In 2005, the division headquarters were relocated to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This put the division at the area's major training center, allowing it to more effectively provide training oversight.
## Subordinate units
As of 2017 the following units are subordinated to the 95th Training Division (Initial Entry Training):
- 1st Brigade (Initial Entry Training), Fort Sill, Oklahoma
- 1st Battalion, 330th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Fort Wayne, Indiana
- 3d Battalion, 334th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- 2d Battalion, 354th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Grand Prairie, Texas
- 1st Battalion, 355th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Round Rock, Texas
- 2nd Battalion, 377th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Lincoln, Nebraska
- 3d Battalion, 378th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Norman, Oklahoma
- 2d Battalion, 379th Regiment (Training Support), Fort Sill, Oklahoma
- 2d Brigade (Initial Entry Training), Vancouver, Washington
- 2d Battalion, 413th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Riverside, California
- 1st Battalion, 415th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Phoenix, Arizona
- 3d Battalion, 415th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington
- 3d Brigade (Initial Entry Training), Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
- 1st Battalion, 320th Regiment (Military Police One Station Unit Training), Abingdon, Virginia
- 2d Battalion, 330th Regiment (Engineer One Station Unit Training), Arlington Heights, Illinois
- 1st Battalion, 334th Regiment (Training Support), Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- 1st Battalion, 354th Regiment (Military Police One Station Unit Training), Tulsa, Oklahoma
- 1st Battalion, 390th Regiment (Engineer One Station Unit Training), Amherst, New York
## Honors
### Unit decorations
The division has never received a unit award from the United States Army. However, in a recent ceremony in Columbus, Indiana a bridge was named "Iron Men of Metz Memorial Bridge"
### Campaign streamers
## Legacy
In the 1962 film, Hell Is for Heroes, the actors wear the 95th Division's shoulder patch on their uniforms. The division is also an element of the Legacy of the Aldenata book series.
A number of soldiers who served with the 95th Division later went on to achieve notability for various reasons. They include journalist Harry Ashmore, writer Jerry Rosholt, oil tycoon Ernest L. Massad, and Lieutenant General Emmett H. Walker, Jr. Additionally, one soldier of the division received the Medal of Honor during his service, Andrew Miller, who received the medal in World War II during the division's fight for Metz. Miller captured a number of German machine gun nests and soldiers while leading a squad of men in assaulting the city. German born (MG) Gerd Grombacher served as an NCO interrogating POWs and was commissioned 2LT Grombacher in January 1945. He directly assisted in the negotiations for the capture of Metz in 1944.
In the 2021 film, Dear Sirs, directed by Mark Pedri and produced by Carrie McCarthy follows the path of Sgt. Silvio Pedri. Silvio’s grandson, Mark, uncovered an archive of documents and photos detailing the horrifying journey of his grandfather as an American POW during World War II. In the winter of 2018, Mark and his fiancé will set out to retrace his footsteps across Germany on bike, piecing together a long-forgotten story in an effort to understand the man who raised him.
In November 1944, Sgt Silvio J. Pedri of the 95th Infantry was sent on a mission to cross the Moselle river near Metz, France. His objective was clear: secure the opposite bank and create a diversion so that a larger unit could build a bridge to bring in the heavy artillery and take the city of Metz from the German army. Sgt Pedri had trained for almost two years for this moment, detailing every step of the way in letters to his fiancé in Rock Springs, Wyoming. However, no amount of training could have prepared him for what happened over the course of these few days. After losing most of his closest friends in a grueling battle against the Germans and mother nature, Sgt Pedri was taken prisoner. His letters home went silent, as did his account of the War once he finally made it back to American soil. After being captured by the German Army, Silvio was transported to a POW hospital in Heppenheim where he was treated for trench foot and injuries sustained in combat during the Battle of Metz. From there he was sent to Stalag XII-A in Diez where he was forced to work in a metal scrap yard near the camp. As the allies advanced into Germany, Silvio and 800 other American POWs were put on a train and shipped north to Stalag XB near the village of Sandbostel.
The film depicting Silvio's journey has been used as a tool to bring families closer to the veterans in their lives who have served.
## Notable people
Walter Bedell Smith served with the division during World War I. Silvio J Pedri served with the division during the Battle of Metz. He was a Staff Sergeant in the 377th Infantry Regiment, Company B earning a Silver Star for Gallantry in Action in the vicinity of the Immeldange, France. He was captured by the German Army and became a POW from November 14th 1944 - April 28th 1945. After liberation, Silvio returned home to Rock Springs, Wyoming where he worked in a trona mine for the rest of his career. |
33,352,793 | Portia schultzi | 1,136,101,929 | Species of spider | [
"Salticidae",
"Spiders described in 1878",
"Spiders of Africa",
"Taxa named by Ferdinand Karsch"
]
| Portia schultzi is a species of jumping spider which ranges from South Africa in the south to Kenya in the north, and also is found in West Africa and Madagascar. In this species, which is slightly smaller than some other species of the genus Portia, the bodies of females are 5 to 7 mm (0.20 to 0.28 in) long, while those of males are 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) long. The carapaces of both sexes are orange-brown with dark brown mottling, and covered with dark brown and whitish hairs lying over the surface. Males have white tufts on their thoraces and a broad white band above the bases of the legs, and these features are less conspicuous in females. Both sexes have tufts of orange to dark orange above the eyes, which are fringed with pale orange hairs. Males' abdomens are yellow-orange to orange-brown with blackish mottling, and on the upper sides are black and light orange hairs, and nine white tufts. Those of females are pale yellow and have black markings with scattered white and orange-brown hairs on the upper side. P. schultzi has relatively longer legs than other Portia, and a "lolloping" gait.
While most jumping spiders focus accurately up to about 75 cm (30 in) away, P. schultzi responds to a maximum of about 10 cm (3.9 in) in good light, and ignores everything in very subdued light. For prey, P. schultzi prefers web-based spiders, then jumping spiders, and finally insects. The females of P. schultzi and other Portia species build "capture webs" to catch prey, and often join their own webs on to web-based spiders to catch the other spiders or their prey.
If a P. schultzi female is mature, a male P. schultzi will try to copulate with her, or cohabit with a subadult female and copulate while she is moulting. They usually mate on a web or on a dragline made by the female, and P. schultzi typically copulates for about 100 seconds, while others in the genus can take several minutes or even several hours. Females try to kill and eat their mates during or after copulation, and subadult females mimic adult females to attract males as prey. Contests between Portia females are violent, and embraces in P. schultzi typically take 20 to 60 seconds. Sometimes, one female knocks the other on her back and the other may be killed and eaten if she does not right herself quickly and run away. When hunting, P. schultzi mature females emit olfactory signals that reduce the risk that any other females, males, or juveniles of the same species may contend for the same prey.
## Body structure and appearance
The bodies of female P. schultzis are 5 to 7 mm long (smaller than other Portia species), while those of males are 4 to 6 mm long. The carapaces of both sexes are orange-brown with dark brown mottling, and covered with dark brown and whitish hairs lying over the surface. Males have white tufts on their thoraxes and broad white band above the bases of the legs, and these features are less conspicuous in females. Both sexes have tufts of orange to dark orange above the eyes, which are fringed with pale orange hairs. Females' chelicerae are pale yellow with black markings at the ends, while males' orange-brown with darker markings, and those of both sexes have pale orange and white hairs. The abdomens of females are pale yellow with black markings and the upper sides have scattered white and orange-brown hairs. Males' abdomens yellow-orange to orange-brown with blackish mottling, and on the upper sides are black and light orange hairs, and nine white tufts. Those of females' are pale yellow and have black markings with scattered white and orange-brown hairs on the upper side, but no tufts. The legs of both sexes are unusually long and slender, and those of male's are orange-brown with darker markings while those of females are light yellow with blackish markings. In both sexes the final two segment of each leg has no other decorations, but the other segments in both sexes have brownish hairs and many robust spines, and those of males also scattered white tufts. The palps of both sexes have pale yellow hairs and white fringes. All species of the genus Portia have elastic abdomens, so that those of both sexes can become almost spherical when well fed, and females' can stretch as much when producing eggs.
## Movement
When not hunting for prey or a mate, Portia species, including P. schultzi, adopt a special posture, called the "cryptic rest posture", pulling their legs in close to the body and their palps back beside the chelicerae ("jaws"), which obscures the outlines of these appendages. When walking, most Portia species have a slow, "choppy" gait that preserves their concealment: pausing often and at irregular intervals, waving their legs continuously and their palps jerkily up and down, moving each appendage out of time with the others, and continuously varying the speed and timing. P. schultzi uses what Forster and Murphy (1986) call a "lolloping" gait, flexing and stretching the legs. They suggest that the long legs are advantageous for moving through webs, and that lolloping enables P. schultzi to use the long legs while keeping the body near the surface.
Like many species of spider, a P. schultzi lays a continuous dragline of silk as it moves, and from time to time anchors the dragline to a surface with a spot of sticky silk. This allows the spider to return to the surface if the animal is dislodged. A spider about to jump first lays a sticky silk anchor, and then lays out a dragline as it flies. Unlike those of most jumping spiders, P. schultzi′s draglines stick to each other and, when a P. schultzi has laid a few lines across a gap, it uses these as walkways and reinforces them with additional silk as it moves.
When disturbed, most leap upwards about 100 to 150 mm, often from the cryptic rest pose, and often over a wide trajectory. Usually Portia then either freezes or runs about 100 mm and then freezes.
## Senses
Although other spiders can also jump, salticids including P. schultzi have significantly better vision than other spiders, and their main eyes are more acute in daylight than a cat's and 10 times more acute than a dragonfly's. Jumping spiders have eight eyes, the two large ones in the center-and-front position (the anteriomedian eyes, also called "principal eyes") housed in tubes in the head and providing acute vision. The other six are secondary eyes, positioned along the sides of the carapace and acting mainly as movement detectors. In most jumping spiders, the middle pair of secondary eyes is very small and has no known function, but those of Portia are relatively large, and function as well as those of the other secondary eyes. Jumping spiders' main eyes can see from red to ultraviolet.
In most jumping spiders, the main eyes focus accurately on an object up to about 75 cm away. However, P. schultzi does not react at all to objectives when the light is under 100 lux. Between 100 and 500 lux, it detects and approaches the objective from distances up to 6 cm, from 500 lux to 1500 lux, its response distance increases gradually to a maximum of about 10 cm, and stronger light causes no increase in the response distance. For comparison, Trite auricoma swivels towards a movement up to 75 cm away and approaches targets from about 20 cm. Perhaps P. schultzi gains little from being alerted to objectives at distances because this spider moves so slowly that it is very unlikely to reach a more distant target in time to catch it.
Like all jumping spiders, P. schultzi can take in only a small visual field at one time, as the most acute part of a main eye can see all of a circle up to 12 millimeters wide at 20 centimeters away, or up to 18 millimeters wide at 30 centimeters away. A Portia spider takes a relatively long time to see objects, possibly because getting a good image out of such tiny eyes is a complex process and needs a lot of scanning. This makes a Portia vulnerable to much larger predators such as birds, frogs, and mantises, which it often cannot identify because of the other predator's size.
Spiders, like other arthropods, have sensors, often modified setae (bristles), for smell, taste, touch and vibration protruding through their cuticle ("skin"). Unlike insects, spiders and other chelicerates do not have antennae. A Portia can sense vibrations from surfaces, and use these for mating and for hunting other spiders in total darkness. It can use air- and surface "smells" to detect prey which it often meets, to identify members of the same species, to recognise familiar members, and to determine the sex of other member of the same species.
## Hunting tactics
### Tactics used by most jumping spiders and by most of genus Portia
Members of the genus Portia have hunting tactics as versatile and adaptable as a lion's. All members of Portia have instinctive tactics for their most common prey, but can improvise by trial and error against unfamiliar prey or in unfamiliar situations, and then remember the new approach. They can also make detours to find the best attack angle against dangerous prey, even when the best detour takes it out of visual contact with the prey, and sometimes the planned route leads to abseiling down a silk thread and biting the prey from behind. Such detours may take up to an hour, and it usually picks the best route even if it needs to walk past an incorrect route. If a Portia spider makes a mistake while hunting another spider, it may itself be killed.
While most jumping spiders prey mainly on insects and by active hunting, females of Portia also build webs to catch prey directly. These "capture webs" are funnel-shaped and widest at the top and are about 4,000 cm<sup>3</sup> in volume. The web is initially built in about 2 hours, and then gradually made stronger. A Portia spider often joins her own web on to one of a web-based nonsalticid spider. When not joined to another spiders', a P. schultzi female's capture web may be suspended from rigid foundations such as boughs and rocks, or from pliant bases such as stems of shrubs. Males of Portia do not build capture webs.
Portias hunt in all types of webs, while other cursorial spiders generally have difficulty moving on webs, and web-building spiders find it difficult to move in webs unlike those they build. Where the web is sparse, a Portia will use "rotary probing", in which it moves a free leg around until it meets a thread. When hunting in another spider's web, a Portia′s slow, choppy movements and the flaps on its legs make it resemble leaf detritus caught in the web and blown in a breeze. P. schultzi and some other Portias use breezes and other disturbances as "smokescreens" in which these predators can approach web spiders more quickly, and revert to a more cautious approach when the disturbance disappears. A few web spiders run far away when they sense the un-rhythmical gait of a Portia entering the web - a reaction Wilcox and Jackson call "Portia panic".
If a large insect is struggling in a web, Portia usually does not usually take the insect, but waits for up to a day until the insect stops struggling, even if the prey is thoroughly stuck. When an insect stuck in a web owned by P. schultzi, P. labiata or any regional variant of P. fimbriata, and next to a web spider's web, the web spider sometimes enters the Portia′s web, and the Portia pursues and catches the web spider.
The webs of spiders on which Portias prey sometimes contain dead insects and other arthropods which are uneaten or partly eaten. P. schultzi and some other Portias such as P. fimbriata (in Queensland) and P. labiata sometimes scavenge these corpses if the corpses are not obviously decayed.
A Portia typically takes 3 to 5 minutes to pursuit prey, but some pursuits can take much longer, and in extreme cases close to 10 hours when pursuing a web-based spider.
All Portias eat eggs of other spiders, including eggs of their own species and of other cursorial spiders, and can extract eggs from cases ranging from the flimsy ones of Pholcus to the tough papery ones of Philoponella. While only P. fimbriata (in Queensland) captures cursorial spiders in their nests, all Portias steal eggs from empty nests of cursorial spiders.
Portias' venom is unusually powerful against spiders. When a Portia stabs a small to medium spider (up to the Portia′s weight), including another Portia, the prey usually runs away for about 100 to 200 millimetres, enters convulsions, becomes paralysed after 10 to 30 seconds, and continues convulsing for 10 seconds to 4 minutes. Portia slowly approaches the prey and takes it. Portia usually needs to inflict up to 15 stabbings to completely immobilise a larger spider(1.5 to 2 times to the Portia′s weight), and then Portia may wait about 20 to 200 millimetres away for 15 to 30 minutes from seizing the prey. Insects are usually not immobilised so quickly but continue to struggle, sometimes for several minutes. If Portia cannot make further contact, all types of prey usually recover, making sluggish movements several minutes after the stabbing but often starting normal movement only after an hour.
Occasionally a Portia is killed or injured while pursuing prey up to twice Portia′s size. In tests, P. schultzi is killed in 1.7% of pursuits and injured but not killed in 5.3%, P. labiata is killed in 2.1% and injured but not killed in 3.9%, and P. fimbriata in Queensland is killed in 0.06% of its pursuits and injured but not killed in another 0.06%. A Portia′s especially tough skin often prevents injury, even when its body is caught in the other spider's fangs. When injured, Portia bleeds and may sometimes loses one or more legs. Spiders' palps and legs break off easily when attacked, Portia′s palps and legs break off exceptionally easily, which may be a defence mechanism, and Portias are often seen with missing legs or palps, while other salticids in the same habitat are not seen with missing legs or palps.
### Tactics used by Portia schultzi
All performance statistics summarise result of tests in a laboratory, using captive specimens. The following table shows the hunting performance of adult females. In addition to P. schultzi, the table shows for comparison the hunting performances of P. africana, P. labiata and three regional variants of P. fimbriata.
For resting, all Portias spin a horizontal web whose diameter is about twice the spider's body length and is suspended only 1 to 4 millimetres below a leaf. P. schultzi returns to its resting platform at night. While eating prey at dusk and with no platform nearby, one P. schultzi built a silk platform while holding the prey, and then continued eating.
P. schultzi does not respond to prey if the light is under 100 lux (like a restaurant with only subdued artificial lighting), but responds to prey at distances from 6 to 10 centimetres as the light level increases. A test suggested that P. schultzi′s hunting is stimulated only by vision, as prey close but hidden caused no response. A preliminary check showed that lures got the same responses from P. schultzi as live prey, and then more detailed testing with the lures showed that: if the target moved erratically, P. schultzi did not pursue it; if the target was totally stationary, the spider approached very slow (between 5 and 100 millimetres per minute), with very long pauses in the final stages, and the sequence was not completed in 43% of cases; if the lure jiggled on the same spot, P. schultzi approached much faster and the sequence was almost always completed; if a lure was pulled directly away from P. schultzi, the spider followed, and faster if the lure was pulled, up to a limit (P. schultzi generally moves very slowly).
A female P. schultzi more often pursues small jumping spiders and web spiders than larger prey. While it more often catches small jumping spiders than larger ones, it is about equally effective with all sizes of web spiders up to twice P. schultzi′s size. A female P. schultzi is effective against insects up to twice P. schultzi′s size when the insect is stuck in a non-salticid's web, and against insects not in webs and up to P. schultzi′s size, while P. schultzi seldom pursues or catches a larger insect in the open. A female P. schultzi very seldom pursues or catches a larger insect in her own web, and is slightly less effective against smaller insects in P. schultzi′s web than in other situations. Males are less efficient in all cases.
A test in 1997 showed that P. schultzi′s preferences for different types of prey are in the order: web spiders; jumping spiders; and insects. These preferences apply to both live prey and motionless lures, and to P. schultzi specimens without prey for 7 days ("well-fed") and without prey for 14 days ("starved"). P. schultzi specimens without prey for 21 days ("extra-starved") showed no preference for different types of prey. The test included as prey several species of web spiders and jumping spiders, and the selection of the prey species showed no evidence of affecting the results. Insects were represented by the house fly Musca domestica.
In a test, P. schultzi spiderlings took Drosophila ("fruit flies") almost as often as spiders. P. schultzi retreats from the sudden flights of houseflies found in the open, but sometimes takes flies entangled in a web. Out of its web, P. schultzi rarely capture thomisids (non-web sit-and-wait predators, usually under 13 millimetres long ) in the open, as thomisids often wave their front legs when threatened.
If a spider walks under a P. schultzi female's capture web and the vertical distance is less than 8 centimetres, the P. schultzi often drops onto the prey too fast for a human eye to follow. If the P. schultzi misses, it quickly returns up its safety line to its vantage point and looks for another chance - and seldom misses the second time. Most drops cover two to four centimetres, as longer drops are often obstructed by the web.
When hunting a web spider in the prey's web, a P. schultzi walks very slowly towards the prey and then, when two to three centimetres away, pauses for some minutes. During this time the P. schultzi quivers very quickly with its whole body at regular intervals. In almost all cases the prey stays motionless. P. schultzi never plucks the web as Portia fimbriata does.
Unlike the Queensland variant of P. frimbriata, P. schultzi has no special tactics when hunting other jumping spiders.
When hunting, mature females of P. fimbriata, P. africana, P. fimbriata, P. labiata, and P. schultzi emit olfactory signals that reduce the risk that any other females, males or juveniles of the same species may contend for the same prey. The effect inhibits aggressive mimicry against a prey spider even if the prey spider is visible, and also if the prey is inhabiting any part of a web. If a female of one of these Portias smells a male of the same species, the female stimulates the males to court. These Portia species do not show this behaviour when they receive olfactory signals from members of other Portia species.
## Reproduction and lifecycle
Before courtship, a male Portia spins a small web between boughs or twigs, and he hangs under that and ejaculates on to it. He then soaks the semen into reservoirs on his pedipalps, which are larger than those of females. Females of many spider species, including P. schultzi, emit volatile pheromones into the air, and these generally attract males from a distance.
Among P. schultzi and some other Portias, when adults of the same species but opposite sexes recognise each other, they display at 10 to 30 centimetres. Males usually wait for 2 to 15 minutes before starting a display, but sometimes a female starts a display first. Portias sometimes use "propulsive displays", with which a member threatens a rival of the same species and sex, and unreceptive females also threaten males in this way. A propulsive display is a series of sudden, quick movements including striking, charging, ramming and leaps. In P. schultzi and in some other species, contests between males usually last only 5 to 10 seconds, and only their legs make contact. Contests between Portia females are violent and embraces in P. schultzi typically take 20 to 60 seconds. These occasionally include grappling that sometimes breaks a leg, but more usually the final move is a lunge. Sometimes one knocks the other on her back and the other may be killed and eaten if she does not right herself quickly and run away. If the loser has a nest, the winner takes over and eats any eggs there.
A female P. schultzi that sees a male may approach slowly or wait. The male then walks erect and displaying by waving his legs and palps. If the female does not run away, she gives a propulsive display first. If the male stands his ground and she does not run away or repeat the propulsive display, he approaches and, if she is mature, they copulate. If the female is sub-adult (one moult from maturity), a male may cohabit in the female's capture web. Portias usually mate on a web or on a dragline made by the female. P. schultzi typically copulates for about 100 seconds, while other genera can take several minutes or even several hours.
Females of P. schultzi, like those of P. labiata, try to kill and eat their mates during or after copulation, by twisting and lunging. The males wait until the females have hunched their legs, making this attack less likely. Males also try to abseil from a silk thread to approach from above, but females may manoeuvre to get the higher position. If the female moves at all, the male leaps and runs away.
Before being mature enough to mate, females of P. shultzi and also P. labiata mimic adult females to attract males as prey.
P. schultzi usually lays eggs on dead, brown leaves about 20 millimetres long, suspended near the top of its capture web, and then cover the eggs with a sheet of silk. If there is no dead leaf available, the female will make a small horizontal silk platform in the capture web, lay the eggs on it, and then cover the eggs. P. schultzi has been seen laying eggs in a rolled-up leaf in a web of Ischnothele karschi.
For moulting, all Portias spin a horizontal web whose diameter is about twice the spider's body length and is suspended only 1 to 4 millimetres (0.039 to 0.157 in) below a leaf. The spider lies head down, and often slides down 20 to 30 millimetres (0.79 to 1.18 in) during moulting. Portias spin a similar temporary web for resting. Like all arthropods, spiders moult and, after hatching, the life stage before each moult is called an "instar". The distinctive tufts of P. schultzi juveniles appear in the third instar.
P. schultzi exuviae (discarded "skins") have been found both in their own webs and in those of I. karschi, which has suggested that P. schultzi moults in the open. In one case, while its new skin was still pale and soft, its spinnerets were still stuck in the discarded skin, and the spider slowly twirled for about 90 seconds until it was free. The spider's body then darkened quickly to the normal colouration, and some time later the spider hung in its usual upside-down posture in the web.
## Ecology
P. schultzi′s range runs from Durban (in South Africa) in the south to Malindi (in Kenya) in the north, and westwards to the East African Rift, and also in West Africa and Madagascar.
P. schultzi, along with a large variety of spiders and insects, is often found in the dense, large webs of the diplurid Ischnothele karschi (about 15 millimetres long), which are especially abundant in partly cleared secondary bush where rain forests have been cut down, and usually about one metre above the ground. A survey of one area suggested that there is about one P. schultzi per three I. karschi webs. P. schultzi is also found in its own web and those of other spiders, on tree trunks and the walls of buildings, and in leaf litter.
## Taxonomy
P. schultzi is one of 17 species in the genus Portia as of June 2011. Portia schultzi Karsch, 1878 is synonymous with Brettus martini Simon, 1900, Linus lesserti Lawrence, 1937 and Linus alboguttatus Lawrence, 1938.
Wanless divided the genus Portia into two species groups: the schultzi group, in which males' palps have a fixed tibial apophysis; and the kenti group, in which the apophysis of each palp in the males has a joint separated by a membrane. The schultzi group includes P. schultzi, P. africana, P. fimbriata, and P. labiata.
Portia is in the subfamily Spartaeinae, which is thought to be primitive. Molecular phylogeny, a technique that compares the DNA of organisms to reconstruct the tree of life, indicates that Portia is a member of the clade Spartaeinae, that Spartaeinae is basal (quite similar to the ancestors of all jumping spiders), that Portia′s closest relative is the genus Spartaeus, and that the next closest are Phaeacius and Holcolaetis. |
10,958,545 | Ithan Creek | 1,167,956,555 | Stream in Delaware County, Pennsylvania | [
"Rivers of Delaware County, Pennsylvania",
"Rivers of Pennsylvania",
"Tributaries of Darby Creek (Pennsylvania)"
]
| Ithan Creek (also known as Ithan Run) is a tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 4.2 miles (6.8 km) long and flows through Radnor Township and Haverford Township. The creek's watershed has an area of 7.39 square miles (19.1 km<sup>2</sup>) and is highly developed. It has three named tributaries: Browns Run, Kirks Run, and Meadowbrook Run.
Ithan Creek is within the Piedmont Uplands physiographic province. The creek was historically the site of several mills and has been subjected to numerous floods over the years. In 1902, a sewage company began dumping raw sewage into the creek, but this practice was stopped in 1905. The creek is in approved trout waters. It is the site of Ithan Valley Park, a small park with hiking and fishing opportunities and the Radnor Valley Country Club.
## Course
Ithan Creek rises in a small valley just south of U.S. Route 30 in the community of Wayne, Pennsylvania. It flows west for several tenths of a mile before receiving its first tributary, Browns Run, from the right and turning south. The creek passes under Pennsylvania Route 320 and receives two small unnamed tributaries from the left. It flows alongside Interstate 476 and crosses it once. After a short while, it receives Kirks Run from the right near the community of Rosemont, Pennsylvania. It flows alongside the interstate for several tenths of a mile before passing under it again. Shortly thereafter, Ithan Creek enters Haverford Township, Pennsylvania and receives its largest tributary, Meadowbrook Run. It passes under Darby Road and meets its confluence with Darby Creek.
Ithan Creek joins Darby Creek 17.9 miles (28.8 km) upriver of its mouth.
## Geography and geology
The elevation near the mouth of Ithan Creek is 184 feet (56 m) above sea level. The elevation of the creek's source is 399 feet (122 m) above sea level.
Ithan Creek is within the Piedmont Uplands physiographic province. The Piedmont Uplands section has generally old, hard upland rocks that eroded from the Appalachian Mountains. The rocks in the watershed date to the Precambrian Era and Lower Paleozoic Era. The surficial geology mainly consist of felsic gneiss and mafic gneiss formations, with small amounts of serpentinite near the mouth of the creek. Silvery mica schist is exposed along the creek. According to a report by the Geological Society of Pennsylvania, the exposures are rare in the vicinity of Ithan Creek.
Two soil associations exist in the Ithan Creek watershed. The Neshaminy-Lehigh-Glenlg soil association is present in a small part of the watershed. It consists of silty, well drained, gravelly, and deep soil that rests on gabbro and granodiorite bedrock. The Chester-Glenlg-Manor soil association is prevalent through the middle of the watershed. It consists of silty, channery, and shallow to deep soil that rests on brown schist and gneiss bedrock. Most of the watershed is considered to have slightly erodible soil.
## Watershed
The watershed of Ithan Creek has an area of 7.39 square miles (19.1 km<sup>2</sup>). Its source is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Valley Forge, but its mouth is in the quadrangle of Lansdowne. Ithan Creek's watershed has a diversity of land uses, including residential (high density and low density), transportation facilities, offices, college campuses, and historic sites. Its culverts from Sproul Road to Iven Avenue are not sized correctly to manage moderate floods. There are brick structures located alongside the creek that are in poor condition. Major roads in the watershed include Interstate 476, U.S. Route 30, and Pennsylvania Route 320. Ithan Creek is not considered to be impaired.
## History
Ithan Creek was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1177888.
The village of Ithan along the creek was the first European settlement in modern-day Radnor Township in the seventeenth century. In 1826, an official report stated the following about mills on the creek:
> On Ithan creek in Radnor, a mill seat, on land of the heirs of Andrew Steel, deceased. On Ithan creek, in Radnor, a grist-mill and saw-mill, head and fall about twenty-three feet, owned and occupied by John and David Evans. Near the head of Ithan creek, in Radnor, a grist mill and saw-mill, head and fall about sixteen feet, grinds from eight to ten thousand bushels of grain per annum, and about fifty tons gypsum per annum, saw-mill employed occasionally, owned and occupied by Jesse Brooke.
On August 5, 1843, heavy rains caused massive flooding on Ithan Creek. About a quarter million dollars of damage in property was assessed, and several lives were lost. Bridges on Ithan Creek sustained a damage of about \$475.
The Wayne Sewerage Company was incorporated on December 1, 1902 and constructed and maintained sewers in Radnor township. It purchased an eleven-acre tract along the creek to build a sewer system and built an engine house with boilers to purify sewage. After it was purified, the water would be released into Ithan Creek where, the company claimed, it posed no threat to human health. Despite this, on December 4, 1905, the State Board of Health filed a lawsuit against the company alleging raw sewage was being illegally dumped into the creek. As a result, a judge sided with the Board of Health and a new plant was constructed.
Several bridges have been built across Ithan Creek. A concrete tee beam bridge with a length of 27.9 feet (8.5 m) carries Sproul Road over the creek and was built in 1922. A 25.9 feet (7.9 m) bridge of the same type was built in 1930 and carries Conestoga Road over the creek. In 1932, a 40 feet (12 m) concrete arch bridge was constructed that carries Darby Road across Ithan Creek. A concrete slab bridge with a length of 27.9 feet (8.5 m) carries Clyde Road across the creek and was built that same year. Built in 1964, a 27.9 feet (8.5 m) prestressed box beam carries Bryn Mawr Avenue over Ithan Creek. Three years later, two concrete slab bridges were constructed to allow the Mid-County Expressway to cross the creek, both being 29.9 feet (9.1 m) across.
The creek flooded substantially after Tropical Storm Nicole on September 30, 2010. A majority of households surveyed after the storm reported flooding in their basements. As a result, several watershed drainage recommendations were proposed. On August 13, 2018, heavy rains damaged a culvert and some pipes along Ramsey Run, a tributary of Ithan Creek. Several houses were flooded as Pennsylvania Route 320 become a flowing stream. A sink hole also opened next to the culvert. In May 2019, state government agencies repaired the culvert and pipes.
## Biology
The creek is approved trout waters. Brown trout have been recorded to naturally reproduce in the creek. On the banks of the stream, populations of white-tailed deer are overabundant.
The Ithan-Darby Creek Wetlands is listed on the Delaware County Natural Areas Inventory. It is a "notable significance" site. At the floodplain at the confluence of Ithan Creek and Darby Creek, the main trees species include silver maple, black willow, boxelder, and red maple. In the wetlands at this site, the main tree species include scattered black willow and silver maple. There are also patches of silky dogwood and wild rose, which are surrounded by assorted wetland plants such as herbs, grasses, sedges, and rushes. Monkeyflower, ironweed, joe-pye weed, and mountain mint can sometimes be seen in the wetland, and a variety of invasive species are a concern. Most of the original forest cover has been removed to allow for farming and residential development.
## Recreation
Ithan Valley Park is a 19-acre park that is adjacent to the creek. It contains a hiking trail and has fishing opportunities. The construction of a “Willowstreams corridor” trail is actively underway next to the creek that will connect Haverford Reserve to Ithan Valley Park when completed. Radnor Valley Country Club is a golf course that borders the creek. Formerly crossing the creek, it was redesigned in 1968 to run north-south along the creek due to construction of Interstate 476.
## See also
- List of Pennsylvania rivers |
27,455,751 | The Harbingers | 1,135,247,488 | 1995 video game | [
"Atmosfear (series)",
"Board games introduced in 1995",
"Cultural depictions of Elizabeth Báthory",
"Party board games"
]
| Atmosfear: The Harbingers is an Australian video board game designed by Brett Clements and Phillip Tanner and published by Mattel as a major update to the Atmosfear series. The object of the game is to collect six different coloured "Keystones", face player's worst fear and thus beat the "Gatekeeper". Each player adopts the persona of one of the "Harbingers", otherwise must play as a "Soul Ranger". The game is set in a place known as "The Other Side". The Gatekeeper is to ensure the other characters do not "escape" from The Other Side. The game board is made up of a central hub and six two-sided interchangeable "Provinces" which fit together, creating a hexagon. A videotape is included with the game, and acts as a game clock. The videotape stars Wenanty Nosul as The Gatekeeper.
## Gameplay
### Game rules
When they are ready, players roll the dice in turn, the one who rolls highest becoming the "Chosen One" who assembles the game board by connecting the Provinces to the central hub, creating a hexagon shape. The players write down their greatest fear on a slip of paper which is placed in the "well of fears" by the Chosen One. The Gatekeeper then starts the game, and the players, using their Numb Skulls, race to become a Harbinger by landing on the Harbinger's headstone located in each province. If a player fails to make it to a headstone within ten minutes, they become Soul Rangers for the rest of the game. If more than half the players fail to become Harbingers within ten minutes, the game is forfeited. They must remain in the sewers until either they are released by the Gatekeeper, or collect the Keystone which allows them to release themselves.
Players who become Harbingers start collecting Keystones either by landing on them on the game board, or by taking them from other players by dueling. Soul Rangers cannot collect Keystones by landing on them; instead, they chase down other players and steal their Keystones. Players must collect the six Keystones of different colours to win. Although players only need one keystone per colour, players can collect more than one which can prevent other players from completing the game. Each Keystone gives players different powers, depending on which Harbinger they are, the list of powers being described on the back of the character's card. When players have collected the Keystones, they can win the game by returning home to the central hub. Then they must roll a six on the dice; a fear is picked from the well of fears, and if it does not correspond to the player's earlier expressed "greatest fear", that player wins the game. Otherwise, players must return to their headstone and try again. If none of players is able to win the game within sixty minutes, the Gatekeeper is the winner.
### Characters
The six Harbingers in the game are: Gevaudan the werewolf; Hellin the poltergeist; Khufu the mummy; Baron Samedi the zombie; Anne de Chantraine the witch, and Elizabeth Bathory the vampire. Each of the Harbingers is based on either a real person or a myth, except for Hellin. Hellin is the only Harbinger entirely created by Brett Clements.
Soul Rangers, players who have failed to become Harbingers, are described as miserable, skeletal scavengers, the scourge of The Other Side. Soul Rangers hunt down other players and steal their keystones. Soul Rangers were created during the game's development. Brett Clements wanted to introduce characters that players did not want to become, but he later found that players enjoyed the anarchic role of the Soul Ranger. The final character in the game is the Gatekeeper, whose job is to make sure the other characters cannot escape from The Other Side to the real world. The Gatekeeper's character is based on the old cemetery gatekeepers, whose job was to guard cemeteries from grave robbers.
### Layout
The game board is made up of the Central Hub and six two-sided Provinces which fit together creating a hexagon. The Central Hub is made up of the Well of Fears, the home positions and the Ring Road. The Well of Fears is a cup with a lid that fits inside the hole in the middle of the Central Hub. Located around the Well of Fears are six numbered grooves, called "Home"; players must start from and return to Home. The Home positions are connected to the Ring Road, a path that runs around the Central Hub. The Ring Road give players access to all the Provinces.
Each Province is a two-sided interchangeable board, on one side of which is a Harbinger's province while on the other are the sewers. The Provinces can be assembled in any order, which can allow different game experiences when the Provinces are changed. Each Province has its own headstone and is in the Harbinger's colours. Both sides of the Province board have paths used by the players to move around the board. Located along the paths are the six Keystones for that colour Province, and three different game symbols: the black holes, the lightning bolts and the compasses.
The game includes six boomerang-shaped slabs which allow players to store their character card, Numb Skull and collected Keystones. The character card has a photograph of the character on the front, and on the back a list of powers each keystone gives to the player. To move around the game board, players use their own character's playing pieces: a vampire bat for Elizabeth Bathory, a cobra for Khufu, a top hat for Baron Samedi, an "H" building block for Hellin, a fang for Gevaudan, a cauldron for Anne de Chantraine and a Numb Skull for Soul Rangers. The Numb Skull is also used at the beginning of the game, before players become Harbingers.
### Videotape
A VHS videotape is included with The Harbingers which is played during the game. The videotape begins with The Gatekeeper – played by Wenanty Nosul – starting the game with "On your marks...Get ready...Get set...Go!". As the game begins the game clock appears in the top right corner of the screen, counting down from sixty minutes; unless the game is won by a player within one hour the Gatekeeper is declared the winner. During the sixty minutes the Gatekeeper will appear on screen, to give players instructions or a choice between receiving a prize or imposing a penalty on an opponent. Players must carry out all instructions given by the Gatekeeper. When the Gatekeeper appears he demands that players stop and listen to him. He will not hold back from insulting players and is reluctant to reward or help players. During the game a computer-generated storm can be seen in the background; sometimes the storm partly covers the game clock. Along with the storm, spooky sounds and sometimes the Gatekeeper's laughter can be heard.
During development there was a concern that the game might initially seem too complicated. At the end of the videotape there is a special fifteen-minute presentation called the rules presentation in which a voice-over along with the Gatekeeper explains the game, the characters and how to play. The rules presentation was created to help explain the game to new players. The videotape can be forwarded to the start of the instructions. During the rules presentation a game is played by actors who are dressed as three Harbingers – Baron Samedi, Anne de Chantraine and Elizabeth Bathory – and three Soul Rangers. The demonstration game is used throughout the rules presentation to help explain how to play the game. There would be a later version of the video where the rules would actually be presented at the start of the tape, rather than at the end, with the instruction that the Chosen One should rewind the video said by the narrator being completely removed and replaced by a countdown till the time the actual game begins. The Gatekeeper then begins the game as normal.
## Development
With the feedback received from players after the release of Nightmare, Brett Clements and Phillip Tanner started work on the major update to the series. They struck a deal with J. W. Spear & Sons, to use publishing experience and market research with Nightmare to help create the new game. The deal allowed J. W. Spear & Sons to have input into how the game was developed, which was not the case with Nightmare. Village Roadshow was also involved with the game's development and with its release in the United States. The development ended six years after it started, with about six million dollars invested in the development of the game.
## Reception
The Harbingers sold above the industry's sales predictions in Australia and became one of the top ten best selling games in the United States and the United Kingdom, within months of its release. On the game's release, Mattel launched a marketing campaign with a spot on MTV, cross-promotions with soft drinks and a website for the game.
## Expansions
### Booster tapes
Two booster tapes were released following the success of The Harbingers. The tapes provide a challenging experience to The Harbingers for experienced players. The booster tapes run for forty-five minutes instead of the sixty minutes of the original, and come with a new rule to limit the number of Keystones added to each province based on the number of players. Other than this limit the normal rules apply.
### The Soul Rangers
A year later, an add-on called The Soul Rangers was released. The add-on allows players to play only as The Soul Rangers and is hosted by a Soul Ranger calling himself Dr. Mastiff. The add-on was released because the creators found out that players enjoy causing damage as The Soul Rangers.
This game had a major variation in the rule conditions of the base game in that players start out with all keystones of each color in their possession and, upon becoming their chosen Soul Ranger, must get rid of their keystones before they can head back home. Each player could also, upon getting rid of a certain keystone, choose to use their Numb Skull token as a "Grunt" whenever their turn came around. Each Soul Ranger also had a unique special skill that could be used also after getting rid of a certain keystone. The win condition was also changed so that if a fear drawn from the well corresponded with the player's earlier written fear (in this case, "what disgusted them most"), they won the game. |
61,384,172 | Photography in Sudan | 1,164,505,647 | History of photography in Sudan | [
"History of Sudan",
"Mass media in Sudan",
"Photography in Sudan",
"Society of Sudan",
"Sudanese culture"
]
| Photography in Sudan refers to both historical as well as to contemporary photographs taken in the cultural history of today's Republic of the Sudan. This includes the former territory of present-day South Sudan, as well as what was once Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and some of the oldest photographs from the 1860s, taken during the Turkish-Egyptian rule (Turkiyya). As in other countries, the growing importance of photography for mass media like newspapers, as well as for amateur photographers has led to a wider photographic documentation and use of photographs in Sudan during the 20th century and beyond. In the 21st century, photography in Sudan has undergone important changes, mainly due to digital photography and distribution through social media and the Internet.
After the earliest periods in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for which only foreign photographers have been credited with photographs or films of life in Sudan, indigenous photographers like Gadalla Gubara or Rashid Mahdi added their own visions to the photographic inventory of the country from the 1950s onwards. In 2017, the Sudan Historical Photography Archive in Khartoum started to build a visual inventory of everyday life from Sudan's independence in 1956 until the early 1980s. - As documented in the comprehensive exhibition at the Sharjah Art Foundation on "The making of the modern art movement in Sudan", this period also includes Gubara and Mahdi as photographic artists during the country's prolific period for modern art.
Since the end of World War II, professional photographers travelling the world, such as British photojournalist George Rodger, German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl or photographer Sebastião Salgado from Brazil have created photographic stories of rural ethnic groups in southern Sudan that became famous in the history of photography in Sudan. More recently, developments in tourism, global demand for photographs in mass media and the digital media of the 21st century have allowed an increasing number of Sudanese and foreign photographers to closely observe and record life in Sudan.
## Colonial period - from pictures of 'natives' to real people
### Early foreign photographers
The earliest existing photographs from Sudan were taken from the late 1840s onwards by French, British, Austrian or other foreign photographers and served as documents of life in Africa or the colonial enterprise. Among other archives, the digital collections of the New York Public Library have a number of such early photographs taken in the Sudan. An archive of several thousand photographs, mainly taken by British officials and visitors during the years from 1899 and up to the 1950s, is kept at the Sudan Archive at Durham University in the UK. The same university also holds several other archives of British colonial officers, including photographs from various cities and regions of Sudan, with an online catalogue.
Following his travels to Upper Egypt, Eastern Sudan and Ethiopia in 1847–1848, French photographer and author of scientific and ethnographic publications Pierre Trémaux published the second volume of his Voyage en Éthiopie, au Soudan Oriental et dans la Nigritie, dedicated to Sudan in 1862, including prints made from his photographs of people of Darfur, Sennar or the Nuba mountains.
In the 1880s, the Austrian explorer and photographer Richard Buchta published several books in German about his travels along the Nile, including a large number of photographs of ethnic people in southern Sudan. At the turn of 1884/85, the Italian-British photographer Felice Beato documented the unsuccessful Nile Expedition of the British Army that came to the aid of Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, who was besieged by Mahdist forces. Following the short-lived Mahdist State, the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan provided new opportunities for photographs of British military and civilian officials. At that time, the early technology of photography was extremely difficult and expensive to use, as large format cameras and glass plates were used.
Accompanying the Anglo-Egyptian re-conquest of Sudan from 1896–1898, war correspondent Francis Gregson documented both the advance of British troops and the victory of Lord Kitchener's troops over the Mahdist forces in 'Khartoum 1898''', his album of 232 silver gelatin print photographs. Among other photographs of defeated Sudanese, this includes a photograph of the commander at the Battle of Atbara, Emir Mahmoud, as a prisoner of war.
In 1912–1913, new photographic technology in Sudan was used for aerial photography in archaeology, when British entrepreneur and amateur archaeologist Sir Henry Wellcome applied his automatic kite trolley aerial camera device during excavations at Jebel Moya, which was documented by several other photographs on this archaeological campaign.
Between 1926 and 1936, the British anthropologist E.E. Evans-Pritchard took thousands of photographs during his anthropological fieldwork in southern Sudan. About 2500 of his images, mainly showing the life of the Azande, Moro, Ingessana, Nuer and Bongo peoples are in the collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, with many of them published online.
Documenting the military activities of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, photographs of soldiers and other military scenes, like the inspection of the Sudan Defense Force Guard of Honour, were taken during 1925 and 1955 and later collected in archives in the United Kingdom.
A critical appreciation of these early non-Sudanese photographers and their interest in exotic images of Sudan is expressed in the following quote by Danish researcher Elsa Yvanez:
> In Sudan, many photographs have been produced by British citizens posted in Khartoum and elsewhere during the Anglo-Egyptian condominium (1899-1956). As thousands of other Europeans through the colonial empires, the British directed their cameras to the "typical scenes" of Sudanese life: open-air markets, views of the Nile, fishing scenes, wild and natural landscapes and, above all else, the Sudanese people themselves. Many of these photographs where then edited as postcards (notably by the Gordon Stationary and Bookstores in Khartoum). Circulating through the colonies, Europe, and America, these pictures form an evocative, exotic and fascinating portrait of the Sudanese people.
### Hugo Bernatzik's ethnographic photographs and book
In 1927, Austrian photographer and travel writer Hugo Bernatzik travelled by boat and his own automobile to southern Sudan. He returned with 1.400 photographs and 30.000 ft. of cinema film and published his impressions and ethnographic pictures of Shilluk, Nuer and Nuba people in 1930 in a popular travelogue, first in German and later in English titled Gari Gari: The Call of the African Wilderness (1936). Thus, exotic images and descriptions of ethnic life in remote areas of southern Sudan became known to European audiences and were later followed by photo stories by George Rodger and Leni Riefenstahl.
### George Rodger's photographs of the Nuba and Latuka
A professional photojournalist, interested in traditional lifestyles in Africa, was George Rodger, a founding member of Magnum Photos. His photographs were taken in 1948 and 1949 of indigenous people of the Nuba mountains in the Sudanese province of Kordofan as well as of the Latuka and other peoples of southern Sudan. In the introduction to the book Nuba and Latuka. The colour photographs, they were called "some of the most historically important and influential images taken in sub-Saharan Africa during the twentieth century." As Rodger wrote several years later, "When we came to leave the Nuba Jebels (mountains), we took with us only memories of a people ... so much more hospitable, chivalrous and gracious than many of us who live in the 'Dark Continents' outside Africa." In 1951, Rodger published his photo essay of this journey in National Geographic. - In the 1960s, his pictures prompted controversial German photographer and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl to travel to the Nuba mountains for her own photo stories on the Nuba people.
### The first Sudanese photographers
As far as has been documented, one of the first professional Sudanese photographers and film cameramen was Gadalla Gubara, a pioneer of cinema in Sudan and Africa at large. During and after the Second World War, he filmed and photographed many current events, one of them being the raising of the Sudanese flag on the Day of Independence. Another early Sudanese photographer was the self-taught photographer Rashid Mahdi. The French photographer Claude Iverné [fr], who also created his own photo stories in Sudan, called Rashid Mahdi "certainly the most sophisticated and one of the major African photographers of the XXth century". On his webpage, which claims to present a collection of about 12.000 digitized images from 1890 up to 2015, Iverné has published many photographs by Rashid Mahdi, both in Inverné's own collection, as well as in the Musée du quai Branly in Paris.
Commenting on the important change of representation in photographs of Africans in cities during the 1930s, the authors of the article An outline history of photography in Africa to ca. 1940, David Killingray and Andrew Roberts, have called this change "a shift to pictures of people, not 'natives'".
## Post-independence (1956–2010)
### The Golden Years of photography (1950s–1980s)
The years before Sudan's independence in 1956 and up to the 1980s have been described as a prolific period for cultural life in Sudan, "including literature, music, and theatre to visual and performing arts". Many Sudanese photographers of this important era are presented with a short biography and pictures on the website of the French photo archive Elnour. The photographers described include Rashid Mahdi, Abbas Habiballah, Fouad Hamza Tibin, Mohamed Yahia Issa and others. In an interview about his research in Sudan, Claude Inverné talked about this era of photography in Sudan. Photographs by Gadalla Gubara and Rashid Mahdi were included in the exhibition at the Sharjah Art Foundation titled "The making of the modern art movement in Sudan" in 2017.
At the 6th African Photography Encounters held in Bamako in 2005, Sudan gained international recognition, when it was featured with a number of photographers active from 1935 to 2002.
### Riefenstahl's photo books on the Nuba peoples
Riefenstahl travelled to the Nuba mountains in the 1960s and 1970s when she was over 60. On her return she published her colour images of Nuba people in traditional settings in two books titled Die Nuba (The Last of the Nuba) and Die Nuba von Kau (The People of Kau). For some of her photographs and film scenes, she relied on Sudanese cameraman Gadalla Gubara, who accompanied her to the Nuba mountains. Both photo books became international bestsellers and attracted much attention to the archaic lifestyle of these ethnic groups.
A critical reaction to Riefenstahl's photography of the Nuba came from the American writer Susan Sontag. Based on Riefenstahl's fascination with strong, healthy bodies and her 1930s propaganda films for the government of Nazi Germany, Sontag scrutinized the "fascist aesthetics" of these photo books in her essay 'Fascinating fascism'. Writing in the New York Review of Books in 1975, she stated: "The fascist dramaturgy centers on the orgiastic transactions between mighty forces and their puppets." This kind of criticism of the foreigner's view and interpretation of archaic African lifestyles was further elaborated in her collection of essays On Photography, where Sontag argues that the proliferation of photographic images had begun to establish a "chronic voyeuristic relation" of the viewers to the subjects portrayed. Further, the German media critic Rainer Rother wrote "Riefenstahl viewed [the Nuba] as potential models and scanned the world before her eyes for spectacular images. Photography became something intrusive, a form of hunting."
### Travel photography and photojournalism
With the rise of colour photography, coffee table books and magazines specialising on lavish photo essays and international tourism, various styles of documentary photography evolved. In Sudan, this includes photo stories about its historic heritage, such as the Nubian pyramids. The growing concerns of social repercussions of travel photography apply to professionals as well as to tourists and their private, amateur photography. Culturally inappropriate behaviour of tourists has raised criticism with respect to taking photographs in non-Western countries, and of creating "exotic visions" of foreign cultures. Sudan being one of the less visited, but more "exotic" destinations, is no exception to this.
After having documented the culture of the Dinka people in South Sudan since the 1970s, American photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have earned renown for their aesthetically crafted images of the Dinka's ancient ways of cattle raising. Their photo essay is presented online on Google's Arts & Culture. Similar images form part of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado's work depicting archaic lifestyles in Eastern Africa. In 2008, Australian photographer Jack Picone's published a book of photographs about his trip to the Nuba mountains, with text provided by anthropologist John Ryle.
As Sudanese have suffered from forced displacement, civil war or human trafficking, humanitarian crises have also been covered by photo journalists. UNMIS, the United Nations Mission in Sudan for Peacekeeping, WHO and UNICEF, usually employ their own professional photographers. Sudanese self-trained photographers like Sari Omer have also been employed for this kind of documentary photography, using their cultural knowledge of the populations concerned.
In 1993, a shocking picture of a child, lying lifeless on the ground, and observed by a vulture sitting nearby, was published worldwide as a reminder of the human catastrophe in southern Sudan. The photographer Kevin Carter, a South African photojournalist, became known for this picture, The vulture and the little girl. Carter later said that he was shocked by the situation he had just photographed, and had chased the vulture away. The following year, Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for this picture, which had raised concerns about the ethical behaviour of the photographer, who had not tried to help the child.
## The 2010s and beyond
### Digital photography
Even though there are no institutions for teaching photography in Sudan, the new technical possibilities of digital photography, image editing and using the Internet for learning about how to take photographs have made it possible for a growing number of Sudanese to train themselves in photography. The spread of affordable mobile phones and Internet tariffs have led mostly younger Sudanese to start experimenting with digital cameras or mobile photography and to share their pictures or videos on social media.
In 2009, an informal group of aspiring photographers created the Sudanese Photographers Group on Facebook. The idea for this group was to have an easily accessible, virtual place for all interested photographers to meet and share ideas. In 2012, they decided to focus more seriously on the art of photography and found a partner for setting up workshop sessions in the German cultural centre in Khartoum. These workshops were conducted by professional photographers, invited from Germany, South Africa or Nigeria and repeated from 2012 to 2017, with assignments and meetings of the photographers in between the workshops. From this training, several photo exhibitions called Mugran Foto Week were organized. Some of the photographers have been invited to international exhibitions such as the African Photography Encounters in Bamako or have received grants to study abroad. Sudanese photographers like Ala Kheir have also been involved with the Centers of Learning for Photography in Africa (CLPA), an independent network whose aim is to facilitate exchange between photographers of curriculum development and teaching methods.
### Commercial challenges and political expression
A limiting factor for professional photographers in Sudan is the low demand for commercial photography. Companies using professional photographs of Sudanese settings are DAL Group, that promotes Sudanese food products and local traditions, as well as Internet service providers such as MTN, or Zain. Despite such constraints, Sudanese freelance photographers have experimented with street photography and fine-art photography.
After the Sudanese revolution of 2018/19, new chances for artistic expression, public action or citizens' involvement in society have opened up. An example of photography used to illustrate political participation in Sudan was the smartphone image of the Kandake of the Sudanese Revolution, of the student Alaa Salah, taken by amateur photographer Lana Haroun during the 2019 protests. Another well-known image of these protests is a photograph by Japanese photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba of Agence France-Presse, showing a young man in Khartoum reciting protest poetry, while demonstrators chant slogans calling for civilian rule, that was selected as World Press Photo of the Year 2020. In 2022, an image by Sudanese photographer Faiz Abubakr Mohamed of a woman protestor hurling a teargas canister back at riot police during pro-democracy protests in Sudan in 2021 was awarded with the first prize in the "Singles Category for Africa" of the World Press Photo contest. In 2022, Ammar Abdallah Osman won the First Place of the East African Photography Awards in the Human Singles category for his portrait Man with Nobody.
### Contemporary photographers
Contemporary Sudanese photographers of the 2010s and beyond include professional photojournalists Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah, who has covered Sudan for Reuters for more than 15 years and is also known for his creative fine-art photography, and Ashraf Shazly, who works for AFP/Getty Images in Khartoum.
Other photographers, mainly active in non-commercial photojournalism, such as street photography or documenting cultural life through fashion or other lifestyles, are women photographers Salma Alnour, Ola Alsheikh, Suha Barakat, Eythar Gubara, Metche Jaafar, Duha Mohammed or Soleyma Osman, as well as their male colleagues Ahmad Abushakeema, Mohamed Altoum, Salih Basheer, Nagi Elhussain, Hisham Karouri, Ala Kheir, Sharaf Mahzoub, Sari Omer, Atif Saad, Muhammad Salah, or Wael Al Sanosi aka Wellyce. Most of them are members of the Sudanese Photographers Group, and have been part of Sudan's upcoming generation of photographers since the 2010s.
In 2021, the French book Soudan 2019, année zéro presented a detailed historical and sociological documentation and analysis of the weeks during the Sudanese revolution that preceded the deadly assault and destruction of the site that protestors had occupied in front of the headquarters of the Armed Forces in central Khartoum. Part of this documentation of the Khartoum massacre are numerous pictures by Sudanese photographers who had documented the uprising until that point in time. From July to September 2021, the international photography festival Rencontres de la photographie at Arles in southern France announced an exhibition on the Sudanese revolution under the title 'Thawra! ثورة Revolution!'. It presented images by some of the Sudanese photographers who contributed to the book Soudan 2019, année zéro. During this festival, Eythar Gubara won the photography award (Prix de la photo Madame Figaro - Arles) for her photo story «Nothing can stop the Kandakas» (title of the queens in ancient Nubia), sponsored by French women's magazine Madame Figaro. This award entailed a fashion photo editorial by Gubara, published in the magazine's July 2022 edition.
As a literary reflection about documentary photography of political events, South Sudanese writer Stella Gaitano described the intentions of a fictional photographer taking pictures during the Sudanese revolution:
> He was simply doing what he knew how to do well, for the good of the revolution: taking pictures from various locations, photos that inspired enthusiasm, like the picture of that revolutionary woman who picked up a tear-gas grenade and put it back in its launcher. Photos that provoked anger, like the one of several masked agents whipping a child. Photos that triggered both pain and anger, like the one of a martyr falling, covered in blood. Photos that caused disgust, like the one of security personnel raiding homes - utterly disrespecting the people's sanctuaries - to look for revolutionaries. Photos that brought smiles, like that of a little girl carried on someone's shoulders, yelling “Down with the regime of killers!”
### 2023 Postcards from Khartoum
Following the 2023 armed conflict in Sudan, Ala Kheir, Ola Alsheikh and other Sudanese photographers started the online project Postcards from Khartoum. Amidst the destruction of their cities, thousands of people fleeing the fighting and shortages of food, water and electricity, they have been publishing their pictures and brief commentaries as "an insight to what is going on in their lives since the 16th of April 2023."
## Collections and online archives
Starting in 2018, the online archive and cultural heritage project Sudan Memory has been conserving and promoting Sudanese cultural heritage both physically in the country itself, as well as since April 2022 through the Internet. Among many other documents, the project's webpage offers access to numerous photographs documenting Sudan's political and cultural history as well as its natural and demographic diversity from the early 1900s to the present. The country's largest photographic archive, Rashid Mahdi's photo studio in Atbara is featured with hundreds of photographs documenting the region's private, public and economic history from the 1940s to 1990s. Gadalla Gubara (1920–2008), Sudan's internationally most well-known photographer and filmmaker, is shown working in his studio, and the street art of the 2019 Sudanese revolution is presented through more than 60 images.
Historical photographs of Sudan are also available online from a number of international collections, such as Durham University (photographs and documents), Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, (detailed catalogue of ethnographic photographs from southern Sudan), both of whom are also contributors to Sudan Memory. Further, the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna presents historical photographs by Richard Buchta, an Austrian explorer and early photographer.
In her essay The Sudanese gaze: Visual memory in post-independence Sudan'' Sudanese-American writer Dalia Elhassan discussed the complex relationships that historical photographs and films from Sudan play in constructing knowledge about this East African country. Accordingly, both for people like herself, who live in the Sudanese diaspora, as well as for Sudanese at home and of different generations, these images "captured by a Sudanese lens, a Sudanese gaze" relate directly to questions of cultural identity, blackness, history and their perceptions in Sudanese literature, visual arts and the media.
> While the photographers themselves cannot live on, it is the stories, the visual memories safeguarded in their photographs that remain alive: a time in Sudan that, despite every effort being made to blur it from national consciousness, can sharpen into view upon a single glance of any photograph captured through the Sudanese gaze.
## See also
- Visual arts of Sudan
- Cinema of Sudan |
38,162,186 | Scarygirl | 1,164,884,152 | 2012 adventure-platform video game | [
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"Cooperative video games",
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"Square Enix games",
"TikGames games",
"Video games developed in the United States",
"Video games featuring female protagonists",
"Windows games",
"Xbox 360 Live Arcade games"
]
| Scarygirl (also stylized as ScaryGirl) is an adventure-platform game for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network and Microsoft Windows. Scarygirl was previously a graphic novel by Nathan Jurevicius, a Flash game, and a downloadable title for the PlayStation Portable. It was developed by TikGames and published by Square Enix.
Scarygirl places the player in control of a girl who is sent from her home to a far-away city on a rescue mission. The girl is able to jump, grapple, and hover her way through seven game worlds, either alone or with another player in a cooperative multiplayer mode. Combat is handled through combining strings of light and heavy attacks, with grapple-based attacks becoming available once enemies take enough damage. Roundly praised for Jurevicius' art, ScaryGirl received otherwise mixed reviews upon its release. Critics found fault with both the control scheme and its combat system, although boss battles did receive some praise.
## Gameplay
Scarygirl is a side-scrolling adventure-platform game. Players control the protagonist Scarygirl as she navigates and fights through twenty-one stages spread across seven distinct worlds. The game uses a 2.5D visual style and employs parallax scrolling to create visual depth.
Outside of combat, Scarygirl navigates the game world by running, jumping, gliding, and using her tentacle arm to grapple onto objects. Scarygirl eventually gains access to a feather attachment that can replace the hook on her tentacle arm, allowing Scarygirl to hover and reach otherwise inaccessible locations. Stages contain deadly traps that have to be avoided, often by grappling over them, and most stages contain at least two paths through the stage, although after choosing one the option to backtrack and take the other route exists. Crystals, which can be used to purchase combat upgrades for both combat and exploration, and heart fragments, which increase Scarygirl's maximum health, are scattered throughout stages. In order to get all of the crystals and heart fragments, players will have to traverse both paths through stages that have more than one path.
In combat, Scarygirl has light and heavy attacks, which can be strung together to form combos. Heavy attacks have the ability to launch enemies in the air. After enemies take a certain amount of damage, they can be grappled and thrown or used to bludgeon other enemies. Additional moves are available for purchase using crystals, such as a grappling attack that heals Scarygirl or an attack that turns Scarygirl's tentacle into a club with a smashing attack. Additional weapons, which replace the hook at the end of Scarygirl's tentacle arm, are also available for purchase, and include an anchor and a fan. Scarygirl charges a meter when she attacks, and is able to enter a "Rage Mode" once it is fully charged. In rage mode Scarygirl gains the ability to eat enemies, restoring her own health in the process.
Scarygirl does not have an online component, but does support two-player cooperative multiplayer. The second player is able to drop in or out of the game at any time, and plays as Bunniguru. Bunniguru is faster than Scarygirl and has a different, martial arts inspired, set of moves in combat, but lacks Scarygirl's ability to grapple.
## Plot
In the game, the player controls Scarygirl, a young girl with an eye patch, a sewn-shut mouth and a hook-capped tentacle for one arm. The girl, an orphan, was raised and cared for by Blister, an intelligent, mustached octopus that built the girl a tree house to live in. Plagued by recurring nightmares that featured a mysterious man, the girl consults Bunnyguru, a rabbit that lives in the bottom of the tree where the girl makes her home. Bunniguru offers a vision of a city far away from the girl's home. The girl is then sent by Blister into a forest to investigate why the Tree of Life is losing its leaves, where she discovers that one of the keepers of the forest has been kidnapped and taken to the city from Bunnyguru's vision, and becomes tasked with seeing to the keeper of the forest's safe return.
## Reception
The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions received "mixed or average reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Critics praised the game's visuals, with Nathan Meunier of GamesRadar+ stating that the Xbox 360 version "really stands out" as one of the "more visually impressive and creatively designed downloadable offerings" in recent years. Peter Eykemans of IGN wrote that "the art highlights the journey" and that "the overall aesthetics are beautiful". Edge, in a highly critical review, called the Xbox 360 version "successful only as an interactive showcase of Jurevicius' art". Simon Parkin of Eurogamer, in a review that was much kinder to the same console version overall, also called the art and animation "the strongest aspects of the game". Several reviewers compared the same console version's visuals to the style developed by Tim Burton.
The gameplay itself was viewed in a significantly harsher light. Several critics took issue with the controls, which were viewed as imprecise, both in the platforming and in the combat phases of the game. Reviewers took issue with various parts of the combat system. Several reviewers found combat against large groups of enemies to be frustrating. Jason Venter of GameSpot singled out a specific combat stage taking place on an airship as particularly demonstrative of the Xbox 360 version's shortcomings in combat, calling the scenario "cheap". Venter did, however, have praise for the game's boss battles, which he described as "a nice change of pace because victory relies more on pattern memorization and intuition than manic combat". Edge echoed the praise for the boss battles, and both reviews lamented that such segments were not more common.
Reviews were mixed on the co-op mode. While reviewers praised Bunnyguru's martial arts-inspired moveset, they did not like Bunnyguru's inability to grapple, which limits the second player's utility in some situations. Edge also complained that even when there were two players playing, the camera would always center on Scarygirl, even if that meant that Bunnyguru wound up off screen. Reviews were also mixed for the exploration and collection aspects of the game. Parkin described these aspects by stating that: "Branching paths through levels add the illusion of depth but, for players who wish to collect 100 per cent of the gems in a stage, trekking backwards and forwards through a level is an inelegant slog." Eykemans found that the game's branching paths created difficulty for players seeking to gain a rating of "perfection", but went on to recommend the game to people who enjoy searching for collectables.
## Film adaptation
A film based on Scarygirl is currently in production at Passion Pictures and Like A Photon. Scarygirl is set to be released into theaters sometime in the future, and will star Shailene Woodley, Jai Courtney, and King Bach. Scarygirl is directed by Ricard Cusso, with Sophie Byrne producing the film and John Stevenson acting as executive producer. |
926,251 | Zersenay Tadese | 1,171,068,027 | Eritrean long-distance runner (born 1982) | [
"1982 births",
"African Games gold medalists for Eritrea",
"African Games medalists in athletics (track and field)",
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"Eritrean male marathon runners",
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"Olympic bronze medalists for Eritrea",
"Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)",
"People from Southern Region (Eritrea)",
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"World Athletics Championships medalists",
"World Athletics Cross Country Championships winners",
"World Athletics Half Marathon Championships winners"
]
| Zersenay Tadese Habtesilase (Tigrinya: ዘርእሰናይ ታደሰ; born 8 February 1982) is a retired Eritrean long-distance track and road running athlete. He held the men's half marathon world record from 2010 to 2018. His bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2004 Athens Olympics made him the first ever Eritrean Olympic medallist, and his 20-km title at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships also made him the country's first athlete to win at a world championship event. He does not use a sprint finish to win races; his strategy relies on a combination of efficient running and fast pace setting.
Zersenay ("Tadese" is his father's name) has found most of his success in the half marathon, with four consecutive victories in the World Half Marathon Championships from 2006 to 2009 (with a 2006 20 km edition), a silver medal in 2010 and a fifth title in 2012. His 5 titles are a record. He set a world record at the Lisbon Half Marathon in 2010.
He has also excelled in cross country running, winning a gold, a silver, and two bronze medals in the long-distance race over five IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He is a four-time Olympian (2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016).
In 2009, Zersenay became only the second man (after Paul Tergat) to win three World Championship medals over three different surfaces in the same year, winning World Cross Country bronze, 10,000 metres World Championship silver on the track, and gold in road running at the World Half Marathon Championships. He is a popular public figure in his home country; 2500 guests attended his wedding to Merhawit Solomon, which was broadcast live on Eritrean television. His brother, Kidane Tadese, is also a professional distance runner.
In 2016, he was chosen to be part of Nike's Breaking2 team to try to break 2 hours for the marathon and finished in 2:06:51.
## Career
### Early life
Zersenay Tadese was born in Adi Bana, Eritrea, and had a peaceful, rural upbringing with his six siblings, largely avoiding the troubles of the Eritrean War of Independence. He became interested in cycling in his teenage years and, after winning a number of races, he set his sights upon becoming a professional cyclist in Europe. However, the races of 30–50 km fell short of the distances needed to compete on the European circuit and he was ill-prepared for a transition to top-level cycling.
He was a relative late-comer to competitive running: in his late teens, scouts from a local athletics club suggested that his cycling stamina might translate to running and invited him to compete. He won the race and was spurred on by the victory to start taking the sport seriously and focus on running. Zersenay was adamant that his early years in cycling had given him a firm foundation for endurance running.
His first foray into the international athletics circuit came in 2002, when he attended the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Dublin. Although he was wearing ill-fitting shoes and was somewhat puzzled at hearing a starting gun for the first time, he managed to finish in 30th place with a time of 36 minutes and 37 seconds. However, he remained some distance off the winner Kenenisa Bekele. He competed at his first IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in May of that year, finishing just outside the top twenty runners with a time of 1:03:05. He competed on the track at the African Athletics Championships, taking sixth place in the 10,000 metres race in Radès, Tunisia, rounding off a modest debut year.
The 2003 season saw Zersenay establish himself as an emerging force in cross country: he broke into the top ten at the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, and finished in the top three in all of his six races in Europe that winter. A 5000 metres win at the KBC Night of Athletics brought Zersenay an Eritrean record of 13:11.07, and a place at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. At the 2003 World Championships, he improved his record further to 13:05.57 and finished in eighth place in the 5000 metres final. More improvements came at the World Half Marathon Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal, where he recorded a personal best of 1:01:26 to finish in seventh position.
### Olympic medalist
The 2004 season represented a breakthrough for Zersenay and he established himself as a serious contender in distance running. He signed a contract with Adidas Spain and brought the team victory at the European Clubs' Cross Country Cup in February. The following month he bettered his previous showings at the World Cross Country Championships with a sixth-place finish. With the help of teammates Yonas Kifle and Tesfayohannes Mesfen, among others, he took Eritrea to third position in the team competition – the first time the country had reached the podium at a world cross country event. Two months later he finished second in the 10 km Great Manchester Run; his time of 27:59 was five seconds behind winner Craig Mottram. He took to the track in June at a meeting in Gavà, Spain, and recorded another national record, this time in the 10,000 m with a time of 27:32.61.
The peak of his season came at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he became the first person in Eritrean sporting history to win an Olympic medal. Zersenay took the bronze in the 10,000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece behind Kenenisa Bekele, and Sileshi Sihine. His performance of 27:22.57 represented a dramatic improvement as he had beaten his previous best by ten seconds, despite unfavourably hot conditions. Zersenay refused to politicise his medal win behind his Ethiopian counterparts, stating: "we have always been friends with the Ethiopians. Now we are a nation...I can say I am very happy." The Eritrean-born runner Meb Keflezighi, representing the United States, won silver in the marathon a few days later, highlighting the country's improving standards. Zersenay finished his first Olympics by reaching another event final: he took seventh place in the men's 5000 metres race, confirming his position as a world-class runner.
He opened 2005 with a second win in the European Clubs' Cross Country Cup. He won his first World Cross Country Championship medal soon after, finishing second to Bekele to take silver at the 2005 edition. On the track, he recorded a 5000 m personal best of at the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha, and qualified to compete at the World Championships in both the 5000 and 10,000 m. At the 2005 World Championships, he broke the national record in the 10,000 m final, but his time of 27:12.82 was only enough for sixth. The 5000 m final held little reprieve for the Eritrean as he finished in second last position. He ended the season on a positive note, however, improving his 10,000 m best to 27:04.70 at the Memorial Van Damme, and winning the Great North Run with a world best time of 59:05 – which was only his second outing over the half marathon distance.
### Road and cross country world champion
Zersenay failed to make the podium for a second time at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships, but his fourth-place finish headed the Eritrean team towards silver medal in the team competition. The following month, Zersenay overcame both Fabiano Joseph and Boniface Kiprop to win the Great Manchester Run. He sprinted to the line with a finishing time of 27:36; an Eritrean record and the second fastest that year. In August that year, he significantly improved his 10,000 m best at Memorial Van Damme; his time of 26:37.25 knocked almost thirty seconds off his previous mark to make him the 8th fastest person ever, but he still finished behind the emerging Micah Kogo who ran the tenth fastest ever time. A new best of 59:16 by Zersenay at the Rotterdam Half Marathon equalled Samuel Wanjiru's course record and boded well for the upcoming championship race.
He scored a striking victory at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, finishing the 20 km race in 56:01 – a time which was second only to Haile Gebrselassie's world record and was forty seconds faster than the silver medallist Robert Kipchumba. It was first time that an Eritrean had won a major world title in sport. As Zersenay did not possess a strong sprint finish (crucial for success on the track) commentators suggested that a move to the marathon distance seemed an obvious career progression, but he downplayed the idea, stating that he would not change distances in the near future. He closed the season with a run at the New Year's Eve 10 km road race: the San Silvestre Vallecana in Madrid. Zersenay and Eliud Kipchoge were awarded the same time of 26:54, but Kipchoge was announced as the race winner. Although this was faster than Haile Gebrselassie's world record of 27:02 at the time, it was not ratifiable as the runners benefited from the race's downhill circuit.
The 2007 season brought Zersenay his greatest medal haul, as he succeeded on grass, track and road. For the first time in his career he overcame all opposition, including five-time champion Kenenisa Bekele, to become the 2007 World Cross Country Champion. The hot conditions in Mombasa forced a number of runners out of the race, but Zersenay maintained his pace to finish over twenty seconds ahead of the next runner. At the Cáceres Half Marathon, he stated his intention to try for the world record and, although he won the race, poor pacing left him some distance from a record time. He returned to the Great Manchester Run and again improved his best, recording 27:24, but this was not enough to beat Micah Kogo who won in a UK all-comers record time. He competed at the Prefontaine Classic for the first time, and set a two miles best of 8:19.34, although he was some distance behind winner Craig Mottram.
The 2007 All-Africa Games represented a double landmark victory for Zersenay: he became the first Eritrean medallist in the competition's history, and won his first ever gold medal on the track, sealing victory in the 10,000 m final with a Games record time of 27:00.30. The following month he competed at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and he edged closer to a podium finish – he led the 10,000 m race up to the 8 km mark, setting a fast pace, but ultimately ended up in fourth position. Preparing for the road championships that year, he ran the 10-mile Dam tot Damloop race in September and won in 45:51 (the world's fastest that season), finishing some distance ahead of runners up Bernard Kipyego and James Rotich. Zersenay emphasised his position as one of the world's most dominant half marathon runners with a second victory at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy. Although he was close to world record pace at the 15 km point, he slowed behind the leading pack of Makau Musyoki, Evans Kiprop Cheruiyot and Deriba Merga. In the final kilometre, he burst away to take the lead and the gold medal, setting a national and championship record time of 58:59 in the process. Following these achievements, a medical team did a study of his running economy and found him to be one of the most efficient runners ever to be tested.
### World Half Marathon champion
Bekele was keen to regain his cross country title from Zersenay and the 2008 cross country season was a competitive one. At the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country race, Zersenay was pipped by the Ethiopian at the line, finishing just one second behind. The following month, Zersenay beat Eliud Kipchoge to win the Cinque Mulini race in the buildup to the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. On the day of the Championship race in Edinburgh, Scotland, Zersenay took the lead early on and set a strong pace at the mid-race point. However, near the finish Bekele and Kenyan Leonard Komon surged ahead to leave Zersenay as the bronze medallist.
A win at the World 10K Bangalore, where he beat Moses Kipsiro in 27:51, was the highlight of a low-key build up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In August, Zersenay was among some forty runners competing for the medals in the 10,000 metres Olympic final. Zersenay's brother, Kidane, was also competing and he led for most of first half of what was a quick race. Zersenay Tadese had the lead at the 7–8000 m mark but Bekele and Sihine sprinted into first and second. Although Zersenay's time almost equalled the previous Olympic record for the event, he ended up one second behind Kenyans Moses Masai and Micah Kogo, taking fifth place overall.
After the Olympics, Zersenay returned to Eritrea and trained for one month to prepare for the 2008 World Half Marathon Championships in Rio de Janeiro. He won his third consecutive title over the half marathon distance with ease, taking the lead early on and beating the second-placed Patrick Makau Musyoki by almost two minutes. His success caused much celebration in his home country, so much so that the President of Eritrea greeted him at the airport upon his return. With a strong history in the half marathon, Zersenay announced he would try the full marathon distance the following season.
Zersenay took third place at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in a closely contested race, finishing just behind a resurgent Gebregziabher Gebremariam and Ugandan runner Moses Kipsiro. He competed in his first ever full-length marathon in April, signing up for the London Marathon. His first appearance over the distance was much anticipated following his cross country and track success, but he could not finish the race, pulling out around the 35 km mark.
He rebounded, however, taking silver in the 10,000 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, finishing behind Kenenisa Bekele. Zersenay had led for a large part of the race, setting a fast pace, but he was beaten to the gold by Bekele's sprint finish. Following this, he won his third World Half Marathon title, setting a Championship record of 59:35 and also winning a silver medal with Eritrea in the team competition. The gold medal over the half marathon distance made him the second runner ever to win a World Championship medal in cross country, track and road racing all in the same year, a feat achieved previously by only Paul Tergat.
### Half marathon world record
Zersenay's first road race of 2010 was the Lisbon Half Marathon. The organisers had modified the course and assembled a field of fast runners in order to facilitate a quick race. Despite the top five athletes all running personal best times, Zersenay was alone at the very front from 10 km onwards. He fell four seconds short of the 15 km world record, but significantly revised Haile Gebrselassie's four-year-old 20 km world mark to 55:21, beating it by almost half a minute. Samuel Wanjiru's half marathon world record was next to fall as Zersenay crossed the line at 58:23 minutes, a clear ten seconds ahead of the previous mark.
He managed to finish his first full-marathon at the 2010 London Marathon, although his time of 2:12:03 for seventh place was not as strong a transition as expected. He made his first appearance at the Giro di Castelbuono in Sicily in July and, although he described the course as "very hard", he won the race ahead of Samuel Wanjiru. He attempted for yet another title at the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, but Wilson Kiprop brought an end to his four-year reign – the Eritrean took the silver medal, labouring towards the end and pulling up in injured at the line. He was still suffering from the injury at the San Silvestre Vallecana some two months later, although he managed to beat Ayad Lamdassem to win the race.
He was at full strength at the 2011 Lisbon Half Marathon: he missed his world record mark but ran the second fastest of all-time (58:30 minutes). In the outdoor track season he ran 26:51.09 minutes for the 10,000 m at the Prefontaine Classic and came close to a personal best with a win at the Barcelona Meeting with a time of 12:59.32 minutes. Making his fourth consecutive appearance in the event, he took fourth place in the men's 10,000 m at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. He ended the year with road wins at the Porto Half Marathon and the São Silvestre de Luanda, setting course records of 59:30 minutes and 27:44 minutes, respectively.
At the 2012 World's Best 10K he came third, beaten by Sammy Kitwara and Vincent Chepkok. He won the Lisbon Half Marathon for the third straight year, but was slower than previous times (59:34) due to warm conditions and having the flu. A run at the 2012 London Marathon saw him perform better than he did in 2010, but he lost touch with the leading pack after the halfway point and came fourteenth with a time of 2:10:41 hours. He was chosen as Eritrea's flag bearer at the 2012 London Olympics and ran in the 10,000 metres final. He set the pace early on in the race but was defeated in the sprint finish, finishing in sixth place some three seconds behind the winner Mo Farah. After the Olympics he ran at the 2012 World Half Marathon Championships. He dominated the race from just beyond the 5 km point, and won it convincingly in a time of 1:00:19 hours, 32 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Deressa Chimsa. Only two weeks later he entered the Great Birmingham Run, but he appeared tired and finished third in a race where the top three all dipped under Haile Gebrselassie's course record.
### 2013–19 seasons
Zersenay managed only seventh at the World's Best 10K in February but returned to the top of the podium in his speciality at the Prague Half Marathon, edging out his training partner Amanuel Mesel with a time of 60:10. He clocked another win over the distance at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, beating the defending champion Martin Mathathi and setting a course record of 60:31 minutes. In October, he attempted to run the Chicago Marathon, but dropped out shortly after the halfway point. He did not compete again until February 2014, when he won at the small Cáceres cross country in Spain.
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio he competed in the final of the 10,000 m finishing 8th in a time of 27.23.
He won 18 out of 29 half Marathons he raced.
In 2019, he competed in the men's marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar. He finished in 6th place.
## Personal life
A quietly spoken athlete, he frequently states that his victories are a tribute to his country. Eritrea is one of Africa's newest and least populous countries, and Zersenay's achievements on the world athletics stage have made him one of the country's most identifiable sportsmen. He is a popular public figure in his home country; 2500 guests attended his wedding to Merhawit Solomon, which was broadcast live on Eritrean television. His brother, Kidane Tadese, is also a professional distance runner who has competed at the World Cross Country Championships and the 2008 Summer Olympics.
## Personal bests
- All information taken from IAAF profile.
## Major competition record |
59,563,998 | 2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix | 1,170,312,893 | Formula E motor race in Saudi Arabia | [
"2018 in Saudi Arabian sport",
"2018–19 Formula E season",
"December 2018 sports events in Asia",
"Diriyah ePrix"
]
| The 2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix (formally the 2018 SAUDIA Ad Diriyah E-Prix) was a Formula E electric car race held at the Riyadh Street Circuit in the town of Diriyah, which is located north-west of the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, on 15 December 2018 before a crowd of about 23,000 spectators. It was the first round of the 2018–19 Formula E Championship, the inaugural Ad Diriyah ePrix and the first Middle Eastern Formula E race.António Félix da Costa of the Andretti team won the 33-lap race from pole position. Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne finished second and Jérôme d'Ambrosio took third for Mahindra.
The one day event was affected by heavy rain which flooded the track; as a result, the two scheduled practice sessions were cancelled and combined into a single 35 minute session. Qualifying was restructured into a half an hour two-group session that saw Félix da Costa claim the first pole position of his career. He held the lead for the opening 13 laps until Vergne passed him on the 14th lap. As Vergne appeared set to take his first victory of the season, he incurred a drive-through penalty for exceeding the maximum amount of power permitted under electrical energy harvesting. He took the penalty in the pit lane and fell to fifth. Vergne recovered through the field but he could not make a successful pass on the final lap on Félix da Costa who took the second win of his career and BMW's first as a Formula E manufacturer.
Because this was the first race of the season, Félix da Costa left Ad Diriyah as the Drivers' Championship leader with 28 points (25 for the win and three for the pole position). Vergne was ten points behind in second and d'Ambrosio was a further three points adrift in third. Mitch Evans was fourth with 12 points and André Lotterer rounded out the top five with 11 points after earning an extra point for setting the fastest lap. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah led with 29 points, ahead of Andretti with one point less. Mahindra, e.Dams-Nissan and Jaguar were all one point behind each other in positions three to five with twelve races left in the season.
## Background
### Regulation changes
The race saw the introduction of a brand new car to replace the Spark-Renault SRT 01E that had been used since Formula E began in 2014. The new car, the Spark SRT05e (or "Gen2"), eschews the conventional design of having a rear wing in favour of incorporating aerodynamic elements into the chassis and floor and features the halo for driver head protection. It was also designed to last the entire race due to a new McLaren Applied Technologies designed battery, eliminating the need for mid-race car switches. Cars will have a series of pre-set power modes introduced to encourage strategic racing without allowing a team to gain a competitive advantage through powertrain development. In a further regulation change, the maximum power permitted to be used by each driver during the race increased from 180 kW (240 hp) to 200 kW (270 hp) and up to 250 kW (340 hp) in practice and qualifying.
Also, the championship introduced a system dubbed "attack mode" or "Mario Kart mode" in which drivers received an additional 25 kW (34 hp) of power by driving through a designated area of the circuit off the racing line. The duration of the boost mode and the number of boosts available was decided in advance of a round by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to stop teams from anticipating its use and incorporating it into race strategy. Furthermore, LED lights embedded into the halo illuminated electric blue when a car enters attack mode and magenta when a driver deploys FanBoost to help television viewers and spectators follow the race easier. In a final change to the regulations, races were no longer be run to a set number of laps. Rather, they lasted 45 minutes with one full lap to be completed once the time limit expired.
### Driver changes
A total of 11 teams of two drivers each for a total of 22 competitors were entered for the ePrix. Heading into the new season, three teams opted to keep the same line-up as they had in the previous season; as several teams changed drivers. One of the main changes involved the début appearance of HWA Racelab with 2015 GP2 Series champion and former McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne and two-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Gary Paffett. BMW entered Formula E as a manufacturer team with partner Andretti Autosport, employing its development driver Alexander Sims and two-time Macau Grand Prix winner António Félix da Costa. Nissan entered the series to replace its strategic partner Renault in their partnership with racing team DAMS, retaining Sébastien Buemi and employing FIA Formula 2 Championship driver Oliver Rowland to fill in for Nico Prost.
Felipe Massa, the 2008 Formula One World Championship runner-up, made his series début with Venturi, partnering two-time Macau Grand Prix winner Edoardo Mortara; Massa took over from 2016 Formula V8 3.5 Series champion Tom Dillmann who in turn moved to NIO to replace the outgoing Luca Filippi. After spending the 2017–18 season out of Formula E, Audi factory driver Robin Frijns joined Virgin to replace Alex Lynn. The final change involved Nick Heidfeld moving to a reserve role at Mahindra as the team signed Jérôme d'Ambrosio (his Dragon car was driven by Formula 2's Maximilian Günther) and 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Pascal Wehrlein to be their drivers. Wehrlein was prohibited by his Mercedes-Benz contract to race for another team until 31 December 2018, so Felix Rosenqvist drove in his final event before going to the IndyCar Series in 2019. Defending series champion Jean-Éric Vergne stayed at DS Techeetah after his title-winning campaign and he was again joined by three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner André Lotterer.
### Preparations for the race
The first meeting to discuss a potential Saudi Arabian Formula E race was held on 14 December 2017 with presentations and proposals discussed with series officials such as CEO Alejandro Agag. On 17 May 2018, it was officially announced the series was set to race its all-electric single seater racing cars in the kingdom's capital of Riyadh's Al Diriyah district. A 10-year contract was signed 12 days beforehand by its General Sports Authority and the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation to be the series' season-opening round. Saudi Arabian authorities were also granted permission to bar another Middle Eastern ePrix as part of its agreement with Formula E. It was officially confirmed as part of the 2018–19 Championship by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in October 2018 and took place on 15 December. The race is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan that seeks to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil exports and into developing public service sectors. Prior to the ePrix, the first in the Middle East, Riyadh hosted the 2018 Race of Champions, which former Formula One driver David Coulthard won.
The layout of the 21-turn 2.847 km (1.769 mi) Riyadh Street Circuit was unveiled in a public ceremony at the Diriyah Governorate on 25 September 2018. The track's design, overseen by contractor Samer Issa-El-Khour, features a number of flowing corners and high-speed turns and few 90-degrees corners atypical of Formula E street circuits. The existing road network was upgraded to comply with FIA standards, with construction performed in close collaboration with UNESCO and the Diriyah Gate Development Authority to ensure the area's heritage was conserved for future generations. D'Ambrosio spoke of his belief the track's sweeping corners would be the main objective to setting a fast lap time and the race would be about electrical energy management, "This is definitely not a classic Formula E track that we have used before, especially all the way from turn 1 to turn 14 which will be a lot of part-throttle and high speed for Formula E.”
### Concerns about human rights
Following the initial announcement of its inauguration, the race was subject to criticism by Formula E members and outside observers in light of Saudi Arabia's human rights record regarding its treatment of women, minorities and migrant workers, its oil wealth and dependency, and other major geopolitical problems. In response to these concerns, Agag revealed the Saudi Arabian authorities requested women to participate in the weekend's racing activities and were granted dispensation to report on and spectate the race, "We are happy to be part of that change and we see Formula E as a force for good and in this case is a very specific place under very specific circumstances, but we think Formula E can make a contribution also for good in that country by doing this.”
After the assassination of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in the Turkish capital of Istanbul in October 2018, Agag told the Associated Press the Ad Diriyah ePrix would proceed as scheduled and stated Formula E would monitor the situation, "Referring to the incident, we obviously have no comment to make. At this moment there are no plans to change the Formula E calendar this season."
### Post-race test session
The first in-season test session of the season was held at the circuit the day after the race. Teams were permitted six hours of running divided into two sessions and were allowed to field one or two cars. As part of an FIA Women in Motorsport initiative, teams were encouraged to field female drivers due to Saudi Arabia lifting its restriction on barring women from driving in the kingdom in June 2018. Nine women tested: Sauber's test driver Tatiana Calderón, Italian F4 Championship participant Amna Al Qubaisi, Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy's Katherine Legge, 2015 British GT4 champion Jamie Chadwick, IndyCar Series' Pippa Mann, BMW junior driver Beitske Visser, Supercars Championship competitor Simona de Silvestro, former GP3 Series participant Carmen Jordá, and GT racer Carrie Schreiner.
## Shakedown
A half an hour shakedown session was held on Friday afternoon to allow teams to check the efficiency and reliability of their cars at reduced speed. Sam Bird and Massa stopped during the session; Bird continued and Massa pulled over to the side of the circuit to end his session early. After shakedown, several drivers praised the circuit's challenge. Paffett explained its elevation changes were greater than had been expected from pre-race simulations, Dillmann compared it to the Suzuka Circuit. and Rosenqvist likened it to the Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR, "Just surviving the track is going to be an achievement itself." Félix da Costa opined the most likely areas for overtakes on the narrow circuit away from turn 18 were the final and first corners.
Concerns were raised about the attack mode activation zone positioned on the track's right-hand side leaving turn 17, which required drivers to take a tighter line than normal and reduce their speed on the racing line in order to enter the area and drive near the barrier. Vergne spoke of his feeling the zone was too close to the corner's exit, while Jaguar's Mitch Evans argued it should have been placed 50 m (160 ft) further along the track. Dillmann argued drivers could lose up to two seconds of time and they would activate the system under safety car conditions. Félix da Costa said he felt the differing speed within the racing line was dangerous. Despite the criticism, the FIA did not initially consider altering or moving the zone because of a perceived limit of alternative areas.
## Free practice
Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were scheduled to be held before the late afternoon race. The first session was scheduled to run for 45 minutes and the second was due to last half an hour. Torrential rain fell in Riyadh overnight and returned when the first practice session was about to begin. The FIA delayed and later cancelled first practice 20 minutes after its commencement because the weather did not improve and track marshals had too much standing water to clear and pump away. Particular water drainage problems emerged at turns eight, ten, eleven and seventeen due to the temporary erection of barriers, which created a lack of drainage and caused rivers to collate across the circuit due to the natural undulations in those areas. To compensate for the loss of on-track driving, the FIA planned for the second practice session to last for an hour from 08:35 to 09:35 Arabia Standard Time (UTC+03:00) rather than the scheduled half an hour to provide drivers with an opportunity for track familiarisation before qualifying.
However, heavy rain continued to fall and the FIA delayed second practice before cancelling it 25 minutes after its planned start because the clearing of deep standing water with course vehicles capable of pumping water failed to improve track conditions. Bird accompanied FIA race director Scot Elkins in a course car for a reconnaissance lap and a track inspection. When the two returned to the pit lane, several drivers, including Vergne, Audi's Lucas di Grassi and Buemi congregated to discuss the situation and its impact on the race. Vergne proposed a hybrid-practice session where drivers would simultaneously set laps with the maximum amount of available power reduced from 250 kW (340 hp) to determine the starting order. Other drivers supported Vergne's proposal because of a lack of preparation in the changeable weather. It was also suggested the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy cars circulate the track to dry it because of the sport utility vehicle's increased ride height compared to Formula E machinery.
A 35-minute practice period was followed soon after by a two-group qualifying session. Most drivers remained in the garage bar Vergne who ventured outside to observe the weather. Drivers then spent five minutes (three laps) at reduced speed behind the safety car to gather knowledge on how the Spark SRT05e handled on a saturated circuit before green flag conditions. Frijns set a benchmark lap, before a 17-minute red flag was necessitated as a brake-by-wire problem sent Mortara into the turn one TecPro energy absorbing barrier. The session resumed with ten minutes to go and lap times lowered. Vergne, Bird, Rowland and Evans all led until Vandoorne set the overall fastest lap of 1 minute, 18.868 seconds, followed by Bird, Buemi, Rowland, Evans, Vergne, Sims, Félix da Costa, Günther and Audi's Daniel Abt. With more than a minute left, Rosenqvist made an error and hit the turn one wall at low speed with damage to his car's nose cone. Massa drove straight to avoid hitting him. One of Rosenqvist's wheel arches detached on the main straight linking turns 17 and 18 on the way back to the pit lane.
## Qualifying
Saturday morning's half an hour qualifying session was divided into two groups of eleven cars rather than the customary four of either five or six. Each group was permitted 15 minutes of on-track activity and all drivers were limited to a single timed lap at 250 kW (340 hp). The starting order was determined by the combined fastest overall lap times from both groups. The driver and team who recorded the pole position lap time were awarded three points towards their respective championships. Félix da Costa took the first pole position of his career with a 1-minute, 17.728 seconds lap. Dillmann was the first driver to circulate the track; he spent the first ten minutes recording multiple lap times at 200 kW (270 hp) of power and set the second-fastest time. He was investigated for completing more qualifying laps than permitted due to the amended schedule confusing his team. Dragon's José María López was the second driver to record a lap time with five minutes left of group one; he could not better Dillmann's effort and was in provisional third. Buemi took fourth and the highest-placed rookie Vandoorne in fifth was the sole driver in group two to qualify in the top ten. Bird was sixth. Vergne, seventh, complained of car problems. Frijns, d'Ambrosio and Lotterer completed the top ten provisional qualifiers with Lotterer 1 seconds slower than Félix da Costa.
Di Grassi was the fastest driver not to set a top ten lap; he described his car as "undriveable". Evans was the faster of the two Jaguars in 12th. 13th-placed Rowland was an early second group pace setter but he made minor contact with the turn one barrier during his maximum power lap, and Oliver Turvey of NIO was 14th-quickest. An error on his best lap put Paffett 15th. Following him on the provisional starting grid were Mortara, Sims, Abt, Massa and Nelson Piquet Jr. of Jaguar. 21st-placed Günther scraped a barrier lining the track with the left-front of his car and qualifying was stopped with four minutes left in the second group after he parked at turn seven and had to be extricated by a recovery vehicle. Rosenqvist was slowest overall because he lost control of his car and struck the outside barrier at the edge of turn 21 at high speed. With Rosenqvist stranded, a track marshal created confusion by waving a red flag; race control did not officially deploy it.
### Post-qualifying
Following deliberation in the pre-race driver meeting, the attack mode activation zone was moved 23 m (75 ft) closer to the start line and painted white lines indicating the zone's beginning and exit points were enlargened for improved visibility. Seven drivers received grid penalties: Dillmann had all of his qualifying laps invalidated for exceeding the maximum amount of permitted laps and his car lacked a data logger sensor. His teammate Turvey also had all of his timed laps cancelled for having no data logger sensor. The two Virgin teammates of Frijns and Bird, di Grassi and Rowland had all of their fastest qualifying times deleted for exceeding 250 kW (340 hp) due to a power overshoot from hitting a trackside bump. Mortara was issued a three-place grid penalty because Venturi had transgressed Formula E's 2018–19 Championship battery software implementation guide. Hence, the grid lined up after penalties as Félix da Costa, López, Buemi, Vandoorne, Vergne, d'Ambrosio, Lotterer, Evans, Paffett, Sims, Abt, Massa, Mortara, Rowland, Piquet, Günther, Rosenqvist, di Grassi, Bird, Frijns, Turvey and Dillmann.
### Qualifying classification
Notes
- — Tom Dillmann had all of his lap times deleted because he exceeded the maximum amount of permitted qualifying laps
- — Oliver Turvey and Tom Dillmann's lap times were invalidated for a missing data logger sensor.
- — Robin Frijns, Sam Bird, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Rowland's best lap times were deleted for exceeding 250 kW (340 hp) of power.
- — Edoardo Mortara incurred a three-place grid penalty after his team Venturi transgressed Formula E's 2018–19 Championship battery software implementation guide.
## Race
The race began before a crowd of about 23,000 people at 15:05 local time. The weather at the start were dry and clear with the track slippery and damp but drying. The air temperature was between 17.60 and 17.95 °C (63.68 and 64.31 °F) and the track temperature ranged from 21.1 and 21.7 °C (70.0 and 71.1 °F); forecasts indicated a 20 per cent chance of rain. Each driver was mandated to use the attack mode twice and were permitted to arm the system no more than five times. A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 25 kW (34 hp) power to use during the race's second half. The five drivers who were allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote. For the Ad Diriyah ePrix, Félix da Costa, Vandoorne, Massa, Abt and di Grassi were handed the extra power. Before the lights went on for the start, Félix da Costa overshot his starting slot because he looked away from pole position. He reversed to ensure he was in the correct position but was skewed at an angle towards the left-hand side barrier and risked locking his rear tires. Nevertheless, Félix da Costa held the lead into the first turn as Buemi overtook the poor-starting López.
Vandoorne was passed by Vergne for fourth as Rowland appeared to jump the start but he was not investigated. While the majority of the field avoided a first lap incident, Mortara locked his brakes and crashed straight into the turn one right-hand side TecPro energy absorbing barrier. He reversed to complete almost an entire lap and entered the pit lane for a replacement front wing. This created confusion with track marshals at the turn who felt a full course fellow flag was necessary to recover Mortara's car; they later discovered the procedure was not officially activated as Mortara had left the area. It came as Lotterer steered right to pass d'Ambrosio for sixth entering turn 18. D'Ambrosio made contact with the rear of Lotterer's car with minimal damage to it. That prompted Massa to pass Paffett and Abt on their right on the entry to the final turn for tenth. Further back, Abt overtook Paffett for 11th and Günther was passed by the Virgin duo of Bird and Frijns and fell to 17th. Piquet got ahead of Paffett for 13th on the straight entering turn 18 on lap two as Vandoorne fell to seventh when Lotterer and d'Ambrosio overtook him.
On lap three, Vergne pressured López for third. He tried to pass him into turn 18 but López turned right to block him. He did succeed on the next lap and Lotterer also got ahead of López for fourth soon after. Both Techeetahs battled for third as Félix da Costa opened up a two-second advantage over Buemi. It concluded when Lotterer ran wide on the left through turn 17 on the sixth lap. He then held off López on his right entering the next corner. Doing this dropped López into d'Ambrosio's clutches, who was not close enough to affect a pass. In the meantime, Turvey and his teammate Dillmann used the attack mode in an attempt to advance through the field with 34 minutes to go. On his eighth lap, Rosenqvist retired with a rear transmission failure. During the following lap, Buemi was out-braked by Vergne on the outside at turn 18 for second. An error from Paffett put him off the racing line between turns eight and nine and he collided with a barrier and retired on lap ten. On lap 11, Massa overtok Vandoorne on the right for ninth.
As Vergne began to draw closer to Félix da Costa, Lotterer turned left to pass Buemi for third at turn 18 on the next lap. Vergne moved to within passing distance of Félix da Costa on the 13th lap. He almost took the lead when the latter ran wide at turn 17 and waited for another lap. The two ran close by each other through lap 14 until Vergne overtook the defensive Félix da Costa on his left at turn 18 for the lead. On lap 17, Abt used the attack mode to try a pass on Rowland but the latter kept tenth by driving onto the corner's run-off area. Buemi held off López on the left for fourthon the following lap entering turn 18 and prevented stopped d'Ambrosio from passing. That prompted López to be more aggressive on the left at the same turn on lap 19 and passed Buemi that time round. Buemi ran wide leaving the next corner and allowed d'Ambrosio past for fifth. Lotterer used the attack mode to pass Félix da Costa on the straight linking the final and first turns for second at the start of the 22nd lap.
At this point, it appeared Techeetah would finish 1–2, until Vergne and his teammate Lotterer incurred drive-through penalties for exceeding the maximum amount power permitted during electrical energy harvesting because of a software problem that used more electrical energy beyond the level defined in the FIA suppliers' implementation guide, a transgression of Formula E's sporting regulations. This eroded Vergne's 2.7 second lead and he fell to fifth and Lotterer dropped to seventh and lost 20 seconds of time. Hence, Félix da Costa retook the lead with López second and d'Ambrosio third. Massa and Sims were also issued drive-through penalties for the same infraction as the Techeetahs. On lap 24, López failed to earn the extra amount of power because he missed the attack zone and lost second to d'Ambrosio. He tried again on the next lap and again missed the attack zone. López fell to fifth, behind Buemi and Vergne. He damaged his rear suspension which left him fighting for control of his car until its rear-left wishbone collapsed on a kerb. López retired at the exit to turn 14.
Elkins deployed a brief full course yellow flag and later the safety car to allow López's car to be extricated by a recovery vehicle. He had considered using a system to dictate the field to close up to the leader. Félix da Costa immediately activated his first attack mode as the safety car circulated the track for three laps (five minutes). Shortly before racing continued for four laps after the safety car's withdrawal, nine drivers, including Félix da Costa and Vergne, strategically used the attack mode for a second time. The disruption to proceedings allowed all to drive at full speed until the end' some opined there was no electrical energy limitations in all circumstances. Félix da Costa led d'Ambrosio and Vergne at the lap 30 restart. That lap, Vergne passed d'Ambrosio on the main straight for second. Buemi had less usable electrical energy and lost sixth to Evans and Lotterer on laps 30 and 31. On the 32nd lap, Félix da Costa used his FanBoost to increase his lead over Vergne. During the lap, Piquet ran into the left-hand quarter of di Grassi's car as the former passed him for ninth into turn 18. Lotterer earned one championship point for setting the fastest lap on lap 32, a 1-minute, 12.591 seconds.
Félix da Costa led Vergne by 1.507 seconds at the start of the final lap as the latter closed up to provide himself with an opportunity for a last-lap pass. Although Félix da Costa achieved a good exit out of turn 17, it did not dissuade Vergne from an unsuccessful out-braking manoeuvre that saw him lock his brakes. Thus, Félix da Costa held the lead for the final three corners to claim his second career victory, his first since the 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix and BMW's maiden Formula E win by 0.462 seconds over Vergne. D'Ambrosio finished third despite nursing diffuser damage from his earlier contact with Lotterer. Evans took fourth, Lotterer fifth, and the Nissans of Buemi and Rowland were sixth and seventh. The Audi duo of Abt and di Grassi took eighth and ninth and Piquet completed the top ten. The last of the classified finishers were the Virgin duo of Bird and Frijns, NIO teammates Turvey and Dillmann, Günther, Vandoorne, Massa (who received two-post race penalties for using his FanBoost earlier than allowed and for using 150 kW (200 hp) of energy rather than 100 kW (130 hp) while on FanBoost and incurred one e-licence penalty point), Sims and Mortara. The attrition rate was low, with 19 of the 22 starters finishing the race.
### Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Félix da Costa spoke of his happiness over his win and called it "a perfect start" to the season, "When I crossed the line I was happy obviously but I was just assimilating everything. It was when I saw everyone’s faces and felt all the emotion from the rest of the guys that it all really came to me." Vergne said his second-place result was "a taster of what is to come from Techeetah" and aimed for more podium results and his first win of the season, "I’m confident that we will continue to deliver some very exciting racing for the rest of the championship. We’re going to absorb all the lessons, continue in this spirit and come back for more." D'Ambrosio said of his third-place finish, "I come also from two difficult years so it’s great to start this new relationship with the team in this way. We’ve worked really hard over the past few months to be ready and I think we were really fast and good in race pace. I’m really happy to be a part of such a great team – there are loads of great people and a great atmosphere."
After retiring from a suspension failure, López spoke of his belief he lost the chance to finish on the podium. He hoped to maintain his pace at the season's next race in Marrakesh, "If we keep it, we’re going to be fighting the next race, so I really hope so. I know that we’re privateers, the outsiders but the truth today is that we were competitive. There were many positives today and we take more confidence now going in to Marrakesh." Evans had mixed feelings over coming fourth; he said he had a considered approach, which enabled him to compete in the top five with drivers such as Buemi, d'Ambrosio and López, "It was a strong race and a good one especially after the bad luck in quali. A bucket-load of points is a good start and we’ll take that at this early stage but to be so close to the podium is a little bittersweet." Buemi stated that he was disappointed by finishing sixth because of a lack of speed after running in second early on, "I could not fight the [Techeetahs]. I just did the best I could to lose the least amount of time but I was not in their league to be honest."
Media reception to the race was mixed. Writing for The Guardian, Richard Williams said the race demonstrated Formula E did not need to follow Formula One's example of the heavy imposition of penalties as it tried to showcase it was different from internal combustion motor racing. He also complimented the driving on the circuit, "although it was an entertaining spectacle, the rules farrago towards the end was the last thing the formula needs". Journalist Maurice Hamilton of ESPN wrote the ePrix reminded him of Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes in that it had "a similar impression of delusion appeared to infiltrate enthusiastic media and TV summaries referring to a 'brilliant race'" and that it did little to arouse deep emotion because the circuit appeared to him as "weaving through a building site thanks to the impression of high screens blanking off construction work".
Views on the attack mode were mixed. Abt argued the attack mode was like "a lose mode" because he lost a position activating it and proposed its power be increased to allow for a more effective pass on other drivers. His teammate di Grassi concurred and said he believed there were less strategic possibilities with it. Bird opined that the system should lose drivers around six to eight seconds for better on-track action, "A bit like the joker lap in Rallycross – same sort of concept, only you lose six-eight seconds but you've got more power for the next three laps. Something like that would be cool." Evans said his belief the system was effective but he wanted a good balance of losing and gaining time. Audi team principal Allan McNish considered the attack mode to have offered up unpredictability, "That's never a bad thing because I do believe that overtaking is a skillset a driver needs to have and so therefore we saw some guys doing some pretty strong overtaking manoeuvres." Günther said he felt it was a helpful system for passing and close racing.
Because this was the first race of the season, Félix da Costa led the Drivers' Championship with 28 points (25 for the win and three points for earning the pole position). Vergne was ten points behind him in second and d'Ambrosio was a further three points adrift in third. Evans was fourth with 12 points and Lotterer rounded out the top five with 11 points. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah became the leader with 29 points picked up from Vergne's and Lotterer's finishing results of second and fifth. Andretti followed in second with 28 points. Mahindra, e.Dams-Nissan and Jaguar made up positions three to five with a point apiece with twelve races left in the season.
### Race classification
Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.
Notes
- — Pole position.
- — Fastest lap.
- — Felipe Massa received 5-second time penalty for using FanBoost earlier than allowed and drive through penalty converted into 25-second time penalty for using the system with 150 kW (200 hp) of energy rather than 100 kW (130 hp).
## Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings
Teams' Championship standings
- Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. |
64,557,612 | Tolkien's artwork | 1,166,553,263 | Artwork by J. R. R. Tolkien | [
"Fantasy art",
"J. R. R. Tolkien",
"Middle-earth themes",
"Themes of The Lord of the Rings"
]
| Tolkien's artwork was a key element of his creativity from the time when he began to write fiction. The philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien prepared illustrations for his Middle-earth fantasy books, facsimile artefacts, more or less "picturesque" maps, calligraphy, and sketches and paintings from life. Some of his artworks combined several of these elements to support his fiction.
In his lifetime, some of his artworks were included in his novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; others were used on the covers of different editions of these books. Posthumously, collections of his artworks have been published, and academics have begun to evaluate him as an artist as well as an author.
## Early work: sketches
Early in his life, Tolkien, taught by his mother, made many sketches and paintings from life. He drew with skill and depicted landscapes, buildings, trees, and flowers realistically. The one thing he admitted he could not draw was the human figure, where his attempts have been described as "cartoonish", as if "a different hand" was involved. The scholars Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull describe his 1912 ink drawing of a cottage in Berkshire, "Quallington Carpenter", as "the most impressive" of these early works, its "sagging walls" and thatched roof "elaborately textured and shaded".
## Illustrations for his books
Tolkien's illustrations for his books consisted of drawings, paintings, artefacts, more or less "picturesque" maps, and calligraphy.
### The Hobbit
Tolkien's illustrations contributed to the effectiveness of his writings, though much of his oeuvre remained unpublished in his lifetime. However, the first British edition of The Hobbit in 1937 was published with ten of his black-and-white drawings. In addition, it had as its frontispiece Tolkien's drawing The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the-Water. It depicts Bilbo Baggins's home village of Hobbiton in the Shire. The old mill, based on the mill at Sarehole, and The Water are in the foreground, an idealised English countryside in the middle distance, and The Hill and Bilbo's home Bag End (tunnelled into The Hill) in the background. The American edition replaced the frontispiece with Tolkien's full-colour watercolour painting of the same scene; this was then used in later impressions in England also. The American edition had in addition four of his watercolour paintings.
### The Lord of the Rings
#### The Book of Mazarbul
Tolkien worked on making realistic artefacts to accompany his writing; he spent enormous effort on a facsimile Book of Mazarbul to resemble the burnt, torn volume abandoned at the tomb of the Dwarf-leader Balin in the subterranean realm of Moria; in the story, the wizard Gandalf finds the book and struggles to read out a substantial amount of the damaged text. Tolkien carefully stained the artefact's materials, actually burning in the burn-marks and tearing the paper to make it as authentic as possible. He anxiously wrote to his publisher Rayner Unwin asking about the reproduction of the artefact. The company however chose not to include an image of the book in the first edition, prompting Tolkien to remark that without it the text at the start of "The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm" was "rather absurd".
#### The Doors of Durin
The Lord of the Rings, despite Tolkien's best efforts, appeared with only one illustration other than its maps and calligraphy. This was The Doors of Durin, in the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, in 1954.
The Doors of Durin were the magical stone gates forming the western entrance to Moria; they were invisible when shut, but could be made visible by moonlight, whereupon their lettering and design, worked in mithril, could be seen. That lettering in fact contained a welcome and the password, to those who could read the Feänorian script (Tengwar) and understand the Elvish language (Sindarin). Tolkien gave the design elegantly curled trees, mirroring the curls of the script. The design's clean lines cost Tolkien much effort; he made numerous sketches, each one a simplification of the last, to attain the apparent simplicity of the final design.
He wrote to Unwin that while he was drawing it in black ink "it should of course properly appear in white line on a black background, since it represents a silver line in the darkness. How does that appeal to the Production Department?"
The image was accompanied by a calligraphic caption in English, made to resemble "both the insular characters of Old English manuscript and the very Feänorian characters [that] it translates".
### The Silmarillion
Tolkien did not live to see The Silmarillion published, but he prepared images for it, including paintings of several symmetrical tile-like heraldic emblems for its kings and houses, and an actual Númenórean tile such as would have been rescued from the wreck of the civilisation of Númenor in Elendil's ships, and brought to Middle-earth. One of his emblems, for Lúthien Tinúviel, was used on the front cover of The Silmarillion, and another five (for Fingolfin, Eärendil, Idril Celebrindal, Elwë, and Fëanor) were used on the back cover.
### Maps
Tolkien's maps, like his illustrations, helped his readers to enter his subcreated world of Middle-earth. The Hobbit had two maps; The Lord of the Rings had four; The Silmarillion had two. These served multiple purposes, first as guides to the author, helping to ensure consistency in the narrative, and later to the reader through the often complex routes taken by his characters.
### Calligraphy
Tolkien's profession of philology made him familiar with medieval illuminated manuscripts; he imitated their style in his own calligraphy, an art which his mother had taught him. He applied this skill in his development of Middle-earth, creating alphabets such as Tengwar for his invented languages, especially Elvish.
Tolkien applied his skill in calligraphy to write the One Ring's iconic inscription, in the Black Speech of Mordor, using Tengwar. The calligraphic inscription and a translation provided by Gandalf appear in The Fellowship of the Ring.
## Publication
In 1979, Tolkien's son Christopher began the process of bringing his father's artwork to the world's attention, beyond the images already published at that time on calendars, by editing Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien. It had 48 plates, some in colour.
Two major books have addressed Tolkien's artwork: Hammond and Scull's 1995 collection of his paintings, J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator; and Catherine McIlwaine's 2018 book accompanying the exhibition she curated at the Bodleian Library, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth. Hammond and Scull have also published two further collections; The Art of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (2011) and The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (2015).
## Analysis
Influences on Tolkien's artwork identified by scholars include Japonisme, Art Nouveau, Viking design, and William Morris. Japonisme is seen in stylised features like Tolkien's mountains, waves, and dragons. Morris's book Some Hints on Pattern Designing, which Tolkien owned, appears in his designs for tiles and heraldic devices for The Silmarillion.
John R. Holmes, in the J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, states that given the struggle faced by literary critics to establish Tolkien's position as a writer, in the face of an enduringly hostile literary establishment, "the problem of evaluating Tolkien's status as a visual artist is even more daunting". The Tolkien scholar Patchen Mortimer similarly comments on the "contentious debate" about him, noting that his many readers find his books and "the attendant languages, histories, maps, artwork, and apocrypha" a huge accomplishment, while his critics "dismiss his work as childish, irrelevant, and worse". Mortimer observes that admirers and critics treat his work as "escapist and romantic", nothing to do with the 20th century. Mortimer calls this "an appalling oversight", writing that "Tolkien's project was as grand and avant-garde as those of Wagner or the Futurists, and his works are as suffused with the spirit of the age as any by Eliot, Joyce, or Hemingway".
The Tolkien scholars Jeffrey J. MacLeod and Anna Smol write that as an artist, Tolkien "straddled the amateur and professional fields", something he did also in his fiction and his scholarly studies. They note that he always had pencils, paper, coloured inks, chalks, and paintboxes to hand, and that his metaphors of creativity, as in his essay On Fairy-Stories, constantly refer to colour, or as in his poem Mythopoeia, to the theme of light, something that the scholar of mythology and medieval literature Verlyn Flieger calls central to the whole mythology, seen throughout The Silmarillion. MacLeod and Smol write that images and text "merge" in his creative work in four ways: in drafting his tales; in shaping his descriptions of landscapes; in his explorations of the visual appearance of text, as in his invented alphabets, his calligraphy, and his "JRRT" monogram; and in his view of the relationship between illustration and fantasy. In short, they conclude, "Tolkien's art and his visual imagination should be considered an essential part of his writing and thinking."
## Artists inspired by Tolkien's writing
Many artists and illustrators have created drawings, paintings, and book illustrations of Tolkien's Middle-earth. Tolkien was critical of some of the early attempts, but was happy to collaborate with the illustrator Pauline Baynes who prepared the iconic map of Middle-earth. Among the many artists who have worked on Middle-earth projects are John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith; as well as illustrating books, Howe and Lee worked as conceptual artists for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. |
21,386,922 | Shane Hurlbut | 1,161,120,759 | American cinematographer (born 1964) | [
"1964 births",
"American cinematographers",
"Artists from Ithaca, New York",
"Emerson College alumni",
"Living people"
]
| Shane Hurlbut, ASC (born February 18, 1964) is an American cinematographer. Originally from Ithaca, New York, he grew up near Cayuga Lake, and graduated from Southern Cayuga High School in 1982. Hurlbut studied film at Emerson College, graduating with a degree in film and television in 1986. His early career included work on music videos for Gloria Estefan and Smashing Pumpkins. He met director Rob Cohen while working on a music video for the 1996 disaster film Daylight, and again worked with Cohen as cinematographer for the television pilot of The Guardian.
Hurlbut received a nomination for an award from the American Society of Cinematographers for his work as director of cinematography on the 1998 television movie The Rat Pack – he was the youngest cinematographer ever to have been nominated for an American Society of Cinematographers award for a debut film.
He has received positive comments from film critics for his cinematography work on films including Drumline and Mr. 3000, and in a review of the film Into the Blue Roger Ebert highlighted Hurlbut's work. In a review of the 2005 film The Greatest Game Ever Played Joan E. Vadeboncoeur of The Post-Standard described Hurlbut as a "splendid cinematographer" who contributed "beauty and atmosphere" to the film's shots. His work on the 2006 romantic comedy Something New where he collaborated with director Sanaa Hamri was positively received in The Times-Picayune and The Journal News, and his cinematography work on the 2006 film Waist Deep with director Vondie Curtis-Hall was well received in The Seattle Times.
## Early life
Hurlbut was raised in Ithaca, New York. His mother taught sixth grade, and his father worked as a professor's assistant at Cornell University. He grew up on a 250-acre (1.0 km<sup>2</sup>) farm in Aurora, New York near Cayuga Lake, and graduated from Southern Cayuga High School in 1982. He married Lydia Kunkler, a fellow graduate of Southern Cayuga.
Hurlbut attended Herkimer County Community College, graduating with a degree in radio and television broadcasting in 1984, and he was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Honor by the Herkimer County Community College Alumni Association on April 4, 2008. Hurlbut received a bachelor's degree from Emerson College, where he majored in film and television. He graduated from Emerson College in 1986.
## Career
### 1987–2004
Hurlbut moved to Los Angeles in 1987, where he began work in film as a driver, key grip, and gaffer, before becoming a cinematographer. He was a grip truck driver for the 1988 film Phantasm II. His early career included work on music videos for Gloria Estefan and Smashing Pumpkins, photo shoot work with photographer Herb Ritts for an April 1997 Absolut Vodka spread in Vogue magazine, and work on a Nissan "Enjoy the Ride" commercial. He met director Rob Cohen while working on the Donna Summer/Bruce Roberts music video for the 1996 disaster film Daylight. Hurlbut again worked with Cohen as cinematographer for the 1997 NBC television pilot The Guardian. In 1997 Hurlbut's career focused on light as applied to photography and film, and he owned a lighting business in Pasadena, California. Hurlbut assisted friends from Southern Cayuga in their film careers, including Dan Wade and Tim Carr.
Cohen selected Hurlbut as his cinematographer for the 1998 television movie The Rat Pack, which was Hurlbut's feature film debut. His lighting style for the movie was heavily influenced by the glamour photography of George Hurrell. Hurlbut received a nomination for an award from the American Society of Cinematographers for his cinematography work on the movie, becoming the youngest cinematographer ever to have been nominated for an American Society of Cinematographers award for a debut film. Hurlbut worked again with Cohen on the 2000 film The Skulls, which was his first theatrical feature film.
He received positive comments for his work on the 2002 film Drumline, directed by Charles Stone III. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post wrote that the film was "Handsomely photographed by Shane Hurlbut". "With 300 students dancing, running, jumping, singing and playing, Stone and cinematographer Shane Hurlbut bring you right inside the brassy band, nudged between the tubas, saxophones and clarinets," wrote Clint O'Connor of The Plain Dealer. Charles Taylor of Salon commented "The movie was shot by Shane Hurlbut and none of the shots call attention to themselves. Instead you're struck by the beauty of watching a row of drummers' hands as they blur with the rhythm their sticks are beating out." Hurlbut worked with director Barry Levinson, as cinematographer for The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman advertisements for American Express.
In 2004, Hurlbut teamed up with director Charles Stone III again to work on the film Mr. 3000. In a positive review of the film, Harper Barnes of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch highlighted Hurlbut, noting he had previously worked with the film's editor, Bill Pankow, on Drumline. In a review of Mr. 3000 for The Manhattan Mercury, arts critic G.W. Clift specifically highlighted Hurlbut's work on the film, commenting: "Mr. 3000 has several attractions, even unexpected ones like Shane Hurlbut's heart-stopping photography. ... one doesn't mind that it lingers over scenes, in part because the scenes look so very good." In his review Mr. 3000 for the Intelligencer Journal, Jack Roberts also highlighted Hurlbut's work on the film.
### 2005–present
Hurlbut's cinematography work on the 2005 film Into the Blue received positive reception from film critic Roger Ebert. In a review of Into the Blue for the San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Hartlaub noted "director of photography Shane Hurlbut does some nice work in tight places". Lou Lumenick wrote in the New York Post that the "watery interludes" in Into the Blue were "gorgeously photographed by Shane Hurlbut". Though Associated Press writer David Germain gave a negative review overall of Into the Blue, he wrote positively of Hurlbut's cinematography work, commenting: "Shane Hurlbut's cinematography buoys the movie, but his lovely pictures of the actors swimming among jellyfish and shimmery aquatic vegetation cannot compensate for everything else."
Bob Strauss of the Los Angeles Daily News also wrote positively of Hurlbut's work in his review of Into the Blue, writing: "The undersea photography, much of it shot amid schools of wild sharks, is exquisite..." Strauss also commented positively on Hurlbut's work on the 2005 film The Greatest Game Ever Played, writing he "does a great job of making golf look cinematic". Soren Andersen of The News Tribune wrote of Hurlbut's work on The Greatest Game Ever Played: "Shot by cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, the picture is extraordinarily handsome, with its velvety green fairways and its burnished, candlelit interiors." Joan E. Vadeboncoeur of The Post-Standard was critical of the film's script, but praised Hurlbut's work: "Director Bill Paxton does have a splendid cinematographer, Shane Hurlbut, contributing beauty and atmosphere."
In 2005, Hurlbut became the first cinematographer to utilize the InDI process developed by LaserPacific, while working on the film Something New. In 2006, Hurlbut became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers. Hurlbut's cinematography work on the 2006 romantic comedy was positively received by film critic Michael H. Kleinschrodt of The Times-Picayune, who wrote: "Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut finds interesting angles from which to shoot and photographs a formal cotillion with panache." Kevin Canfield of The Journal News noted that Hurlbut assisted director Sanaa Hamri with "one lovely scene of the lovers bathed in the orangy light of morning and another, shot from overhead, of couples twirling on a dance floor".
Hurlbut worked on the 2006 film Waist Deep with director Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Tom Keogh of The Seattle Times described their work on shots prior to a kidnapping scene in the film as "close to breathtaking". Hurlbut worked as cinematographer on the 2008 film Semi-Pro starring Will Ferrell, and Steven Boone of The Star-Ledger noted: "...Shane Hurlbut's widescreen sports cinematography does conspire with two notorious disco covers of classical music to give us a thrill along with the cheap laughs." Hurlbut collaborated with director McG as director of photography on the 2006 film We Are Marshall. Hurlbut and McG decided to use vintage lenses and film stock from the time period to evoke a feeling of the 1970s.
In 2008, Hurlbut again worked with director McG, as director of photography on the film Terminator Salvation. During shooting for the film in July 2008, Hurlbut was the victim of a profane tirade from actor Christian Bale, who scolded Hurlbut for walking into a scene involving Bale and actress Bryce Dallas Howard. Hurlbut responded calmly and apologized several times to Bale, and continued shooting for seven hours after the incident. On February 6, 2009, Bale told KROQ-FM radio that he and Hurlbut talked after the incident and "resolved this completely". Bale acknowledged the two worked together for several hours after the incident, and "at least a month after that", and noted "I've seen a rough cut of the movie and he has done a wonderful job. It looks fantastic".
Charles Stone III, director of the original "Whassup?" commercial campaign for Anheuser-Busch Budweiser beer, remembered Hurlbut from their work together on Drumline, and contacted him in 2008 to make a video in support of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign for President. The video, "Wassup 2008" was posted to YouTube in October 2008 and received over 1.8 million views.
Additionally, Shane and his wife Lydia Hurlbut started the Hurlbut Academy, an online educational platform and mentoring community dedicated to helping filmmakers become better artists. The Hurlbut Academy will rebrand to the Filmmakers Academy in 2022.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, Shane and Lydia announced the Filmmakers Academy. Along with Cinematography, new courses include "Unscripted Camera Operating: The Playbook" (taught by Sherri Kauk), "Commercial Directing" (taught by Jordan Brady), "How to be a camera assistant" (taught by Derek Edwards), "How to be a DIT" (taught by Derek Johnson), and "How to be a MOVI Tech" (taught by Chris Herr). The Hurlbut Academy will cease operations at 00:00 January 31, 2022 to allow Shane and Lydia to fully focus on the Filmmakers Academy.
## Filmography
Film
Short film
Television |
30,132,352 | So Beautiful or So What | 1,137,730,758 | null | [
"2011 albums",
"Albums produced by Paul Simon",
"Albums produced by Phil Ramone",
"Hear Music albums",
"Paul Simon albums"
]
| So Beautiful or So What is the twelfth solo studio album by American folk rock singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was released on April 8, 2011, by Hear Music.
The album found Simon reuniting with former collaborator and record producer Phil Ramone. Having experimented with rhythm-based textures for much of the previous two decades, the singer returned to composing songs in a more traditional manner using only his acoustic guitar. These songs were further augmented by experimental recording practices in the studio. The album was largely recorded in a small cottage at Simon's home in New Canaan, Connecticut.
The music of So Beautiful or So What features West African blues-inspired guitar playing, Indian-style percussion, and experimentation with samples, which ranged from an excerpt from a 1941 sermon to nighttime ambience in Kenya. The songs were recorded with little bass but with a very large presence of bells. Much of Simon's lyrics touch on themes of spirituality and mortality, which Simon said was unintentional and resulted naturally in his songwriting process for the album.
So Beautiful or So What received widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom considered it Simon's best work in two decades. It later appeared on many year-end lists of the year's best records. The album also became his highest US chart debut at the time, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and charted within the top ten in nine other countries.
## Recording and production
For So Beautiful or So What, Simon reunited with record producer and former collaborator Phil Ramone, who previously worked with him on Simon & Garfunkel's 1982 live album The Concert in Central Park. According to Simon, the reunion came casually; he told Ramone when they met each other that he was beginning to work on a new album and, as Ramone lived in the next town, they decided it would be easy to work together again. Simon recorded the album at his small cottage in New Canaan, Connecticut. The recording sessions often consisted solely of Simon, Ramone, and engineer Andy Smith. Throughout the production of the record, the album's engineers would gradually make upgrades to the space during months off. As it was not acoustically designed or soundproofed, Smith often employed iZotope RX software to rid the recordings of extra noise, such as an oak tree above the home from which acorns fell, interrupting recordings. Keeping in line with his experimental attitude, Simon decided to record the acorns, remarking, "All sounds are musical once you start to listen." Occasionally, Simon would record in the control room instead. Like all of Simon's output from his 1997 effort Songs from The Capeman onward, the album was recorded digitally using Pro Tools.
Much time was spent on getting guitars to sound as Simon preferred. A bit of experimentation among the additional session players occurred, from which Simon would edit himself, compiling them together or often deleting them altogether. Many songs were recorded with a hand-built cigar-box guitar, which Simon bought from Mississippi blues musician Super Chikan. Analogue effects were applied before recording digitally to keep mixes simple; this method also inspired Simon while arranging the songs. Smith would burn Simon a compact disc each evening of the day's session, and he would return the next day with notes on the recordings. This resulted in mixes being created as the album developed, rather than at the end of the process. Simon and Ramone often listened to their recordings while driving around, noting what would need changes.
The album's production lasted over a year. Additional recording took place at Simon's summer home in Montauk, New York on Long Island, but less so than his previous efforts. Home recording, as Ramone told Sound on Sound shortly after the album's release, required a certain discipline. Simon would often arrive in the morning and recording until nightfall. Percussion and vocals were overdubbed at Germano Studios. The Indian ensemble on "Dazzling Blue" was recorded at Clinton Studios in New York City, while a bluegrass ensemble was cut at Tony Bennett’s New Jersey studio. Simon’s wife, Edie Brickell, and his teenage daughter Lulu contributed harmonies, while Chris Bear of indie rock band Grizzly Bear contributed electronic drum parts to the album.
Simon financed the recording of So Beautiful or So What himself after being released from his 30-year record contract with Warner Bros. Records. After the recording sessions were finished, he signed a deal with Concord Music Group to distribute the album. Simon said, "It's the best work I've done in 20 years." The cover art, titled "DNA Mutation", was designed by visual artist and NASA systems engineer Sven Geier.
## Music and lyrics
So Beautiful or So What finds Simon returning to more harmonic-based compositions than rhythm-based. This was spurred from when he realized his favorite song on his 2006 effort Surprise, "Everything About It Is a Love Song", contained a chord progression he found particularly interesting. After coming to this realization, he focused on the album's three ballads, "Questions for the Angels", "Amulet", and "Love and Hard Times". Unlike his previous rhythm-based albums, in which he would gain inspiration for his guitar parts from pre-recorded backing tracks, Simon took a more traditional approach to building the songs on So Beautiful or So What. He wrote songs at home before developing them further in the studio with the help of a natural click track, such as "a percussion instrument, or even just tapping out a rhythm on his guitar." He overdubbed additional elements afterwards, including additional guitar parts and percussion. Simon began envisioning the album's sequencing when he only had a few songs written, letting it inform his songwriting.
The music for So Beautiful or So What was inspired by West African blues, which Simon combined with "Indian drumming, Old Hollywood strings and bluegrass harmony singing." The songs employ a wide variety of samples, including from older blues and gospel recordings. "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" contains a harmonica sample from Sonny Terry, and "Love and Blessings" lifts from The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet. Simon did not want to record an ordinary studio album and instead, according to Ramone, wanted "lots of space with lots of atmosphere and feeling ... Rather than go for hugely orchestrated ideas he was going, for example, for overtones in bells and gongs. Or if a sax or a kora comes in, they're there to do something specific, and not to fill in the space." The album's music is also largely devoid of heavy bass (some tracks actually using a baritone guitar instead), and drums are very quiet and reserved. Smith said percussion instruments, including exotic bells, ancient hand bells, and glockenspiels, were Simon's favorite to record with for the album. In using bells to augment the sound, Simon put them behind certain guitar notes to “highlight” the sound, as he wanted the recordings to be devoid of echo; he found that using bells created only a slight echo, with an odd, atmospheric tone that he preferred. Drummer Jim Oblon placed towels over each drums to emphasize the higher-frequency percussive instruments.
The songs on So Beautiful or So What touch on subjects such as love, mortality, and faith. In terms of songwriting, Simon did not approach each new song with a theme; instead, he let them evolve naturally from the first line he would compose. Simon had no plans to pursue religious writing, but it ended up particularly strong in the album's lyrics. He noted that "five of the first six" songs he wrote touched on themes of God: "I wondered whether there was a subconscious theme that I was tapping into. I have used Christian symbols and imagery before in songs. It’s very strongly evocative, so it may just be coincidence—but it may not be." The A.V. Club suggested that the album's gospel influence inspired the touch of humor when discussing dark subjects such as death.
"Getting Ready for Christmas Day" was one of the album's earliest completed songs, and it contains a sample from a 1941 sermon by the Reverend J.M. Gates. The sermon inspired the song's creation, with a certain rhythmic tone to his oration that interested him. Simon heard the sermon on a box set titled Goodbye Babylon, which consists early 20th century Americana. It came together quicker than other songs, with Simon recording his guitar live. The track also references his nephew, who served multiple tours in the Iraq War. "The Afterlife" concerns a man dying and getting to heaven, where he waits in line to meet with God, where everyone is "filling out forms and waiting in line to catch 'a glimpse of the divine.'" While in line, he unsuccessfully hits on a woman. When he finally meets God, he is taken aback, and can only spout gibberish. The point of the song is that having questions for God would cease to be relevant if one were to confront God face-to-face due to the enormity of such a theoretical situation.
"Dazzling Blue" is based on his relationship with wife Edie Brickell, and the title references her favorite color. "The CAT scan's eye sees what the heart's concealing", sang Simon over African cadences and Indian tablas, before marvelling at how his wife and he "were born beneath a star of dazzling blue". He said the song reminded him of his work as a part of Simon & Garfunkel. "Rewrite" features segments of recordings made on a small digital recorder by Brickell on a 2009 family trip together in Kenya. Simon was frustrated over the guitar tone in his song and attached the sound of a wildebeest to a certain guitar note each time it occurred, in an effort to create an interesting sound. The song contains nighttime ambience recorded during the trip. It was written about a burned out Vietnam veteran imagining that he could rewrite his life, in order to give it a happy ending. "Love and Hard Times" is an affirmation of love for Brickell. The beginning of the song references “God and his only son” visiting Earth. Simon noted that the song's thesis is being thankful at the highest level. The track contains orchestral arrangement from Gil Goldstein, which was recorded at Avatar Studios, as Ramone wanted a larger room to record in.
"Questions for the Angels" includes a reference to American rapper Jay-Z, which was inspired by a billboard featuring him that was present over the Brooklyn Bridge for a time. Simon mentioned that he would pass it on his way to the Brooklyn Academy of Music when they were holding a month-long celebration of his music in April 2008. Simon included the line to create a sharp transition from angels in Heaven to a downtown Brooklyn street. "So Beautiful or So What" contains what Simon once admitted is "one of [his] favorite Bo Diddley rhythms," and the song's title references Miles Davis's "So What". The title is a question Simon envisioned when facing the enormity of the infinite. The song almost became a collaboration with Bob Dylan; Simon felt two verses might be nice for him and sent him a message through their mutual manager. Although Dylan said that he liked the song, Simon did not hear back in sufficient time, as the album was on a deadline.
## Marketing and sales
Many songs from So Beautiful or So What were made available in various forms before their release on the album. "Rewrite" and "Love and Hard Times" appeared in Simon's 2008 book Lyrics; 1964-2008, "Questions for the Angels" was included on the 2009 Starbucks compilation This Better Be Good, and the lead single "Getting Ready for Christmas Day" premiered on National Public Radio on November 16, 2010. On April 5, 2011, So Beautiful or So What was available for streaming on the album's website of the same name for the week preceding its official release. It was released on formats including digital download, vinyl LP, and a CD deluxe edition with a DVD featuring footage of Simon's live performances at Webster Hall. Rolling Stone held a sweepstakes for fans to win a collector's edition box set, which was released in a limited amount of 1,000 copies and included the CD/DVD deluxe edition, a vinyl copy, and a 12' x 12' lithograph and replica notebook.
In the first week of the album's release, it debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and sold 68,000 copies in the United States. It was Simon's highest chart debut on the chart, and by October 2011, it had sold 254,000 copies in the US. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number six on the British albums chart, selling 21,993 copies in its first week. It was Simon's ninth top-ten solo album in the UK. In April 2016, the album reached sales of 319,000 copies in the US.
## Critical reception
So Beautiful or So What was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 27 reviews. Many critics compared its diverse influences to the music of Simon's 1986 album Graceland.
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine said So Beautiful or So What sounded not only focused but "vivid, vibrant, and current in a way none of [Simon's] peers have managed to achieve". Los Angeles Times writer Margaret Wappler praised its "multiethnic landscape" of American folk and Afropop influences on an album that is his best since 1990's Rhythm of the Saints. In The New York Times, Jon Pareles took note of Simon's lyrics: "Sketches of individuals and moments are intertwined with grander pronouncements; unforced humor tempers gloomier reflections". Will Hodgkinson from The Times believed his meditations on the afterlife are informed by both youthful enthusiasm and the wisdom of old age, while The Guardian's Maddy Costa said Simon "finds an answer to the ineffable in song".
Many reviewers took note of the rather overt religious symbolism in Simon's lyrics; one Irish blogger facetiously called So Beautiful or So What the year's best Christian music album, while American evangelical journalist Cathleen Falsani said it was the most significant record of spiritually reflective music in recent years. Writing for MSN Music, Robert Christgau found Simon's usual folk rock "graced with global colors that sound as natural" as his guitar and said his lyrics are imbued with gratitude for his wife's love and God, although he disagreed with Simon's view of God's benevolent nature.
Some critics were less receptive. Pitchfork reviewer Stephen M. Deusner said the record "can be stodgy in its emotions and a bit too devoted to its motifs", and Simon "too preoccupied with the 20th century", although his down-to-earth lyrical allusions helped rescue the album from the "solemn, end-of-life affairs" of other albums by older musicians. Andy Gill from The Independent was more critical, finding much of Simon's ruminations on love, age, and mortality trivial. He named "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" as a highlight but still felt its evocation of the singer's 1987 song "The Boy in the Bubble" made it seem predictable coming from Simon.
At the end of 2011, So Beautiful or So What appeared on several top-ten lists curated by music publications. Rolling Stone named it the year's 3rd best record, while Mojo ranked it 15th. It was voted the 14th best album of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide. Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 3rd on his year-end list for The Barnes & Noble Review. Years later, he said So Beautiful or So What and Simon's 2016 album Stranger to Stranger had remained the singer's "21st century prizes".
## Track listing
All songs written by Paul Simon.
1. "Getting Ready for Christmas Day" – 4:06
2. "The Afterlife" – 3:40
3. "Dazzling Blue" – 4:32
4. "Rewrite" – 3:49
5. "Love and Hard Times" – 4:09
6. "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" – 4:02
7. "Amulet" – 1:36
8. "Questions for the Angels" – 3:49
9. "Love and Blessings" – 4:18
10. "So Beautiful or So What" – 4:07
Sample credits
- "Getting Ready for Christmas Day" contains excerpts from the 1941 sermon of the same name by Reverend J. M. Gates with congregation.
- "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" contains excerpts from "Train Whistle Blues".
- "Love and Blessings" contains excerpts from "Golden Gate Gospel Train", recorded by The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet in 1938.
## Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
- Mary Abt – clarinet
- Chris Bear – electronics
- Edie Brickell – background vocals
- Greg Calbi – mastering
- Elvis Costello – liner notes
- Sara Cutler – flute, harp
- Desiree Elsevier – viola
- David Finck – bass
- Geoff Gans – art direction, art design
- Sven Geier – cover image
- Gil Goldstein – arranger
- Steve Gorn – bansuri
- Skip La Plante – gong, harp, wind chimes
- Doyle Lawson – background vocals
- Jeanne LeBlanc – cello
- Diane Lesser – horn
- Vincent Lionti – viola
- Richard Locker – cello
- Karaikudi R. Mani – ensemble percussion, vocal percussion
- Elizabeth Mann – flute
- Lois Martin – viola
- Kevin Mazur – band photo
- Vincent Nguini – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Jim Oblon – bass, drums, electric guitar, slide guitar, percussion
- Charles Pillow – clarinet
- Phil Ramone – mixing, production
- Mick Rossi – piano
- Mark Seliger – photography
- Steve Shehan – angklung, bass, brushes, crotale, cymbals, djembe, glass harp, resonator, saz, stick and talking drum
- Lulu Simon – background vocals
- Paul Simon – bells, composer, glockenspiel, lyricist, percussion, production, vocals, whistle, twelve-string guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, nylon string guitar
- Yacouba Sissoko – kora
- Pamela Sklar – flute
- Andy Smith – engineer
- Etienne Stadwijk – celeste
- Joshua Swift – dobro
- Michael White – clarinet
- Gabe Witcher – fiddle
- Nancy Zeltsman – marimba
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Release history
## See also
- 2011 in American music
- 2011 in British music charts |
382,344 | Agkistrodon piscivorus | 1,173,103,437 | Species of reptile | [
"Agkistrodon",
"Endemic reptiles of the United States",
"Fauna of the Southeastern United States",
"Reptiles described in 1789",
"Semiaquatic animals",
"Taxa named by Bernard Germain de Lacépède",
"Venomous snakes"
]
| Agkistrodon piscivorus is a species of pit viper in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. It is one of the world's few semiaquatic vipers (along with the Florida cottonmouth), and is native to the Southeastern United States. As an adult, it is large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite. When threatened, it may respond by coiling its body and displaying its fangs. Individuals may bite when feeling threatened or being handled in any way. It tends to be found in or near water, particularly in slow-moving and shallow lakes, streams, and marshes. It is a capable swimmer, and like several species of snakes, is known to occasionally enter bays and estuaries and swim between barrier islands and the mainland.
The generic name is derived from the Greek words ἄγκιστρον ankistron "fish-hook, hook" and ὀδών odon "tooth", and the specific name comes from the Latin piscis 'fish' and voro '(I) eat greedily, devour'; thus, the scientific name translates to "hook-toothed fish-eater". Common names include cottonmouth, northern cottonmouth, water moccasin, swamp moccasin, black moccasin, and simply viper. Many of the common names refer to the threat display, in which this species often stands its ground and gapes at an intruder, exposing the white lining of its mouth. Many scientists dislike the use of the term water moccasin since it can lead to confusion between the venomous cottonmouth and nonvenomous water snakes.
## Description
Agkistrodon piscivorus is the largest species of the genus Agkistrodon. Adults commonly exceed 80 cm (31 in) in total length (including tail); females are typically smaller than males. Total length, per one study of adults, was 65 to 90 cm (26 to 35 in). Average body mass has been found to be 292.5 to 579.6 g (10.32 to 20.44 oz) in males and 201.1 to 254.1 g (7.09 to 8.96 oz) in females. Occasionally, individuals may exceed 180 cm (71 in) in total length, especially in the eastern part of the range.
Although larger ones have purportedly been seen in the wild, according to Gloyd and Conant (1990), the largest recorded specimen of A. p. piscivorus was 188 cm (74 in) in total length, based on a specimen caught in the Dismal Swamp region and given to the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. This snake had apparently been injured during capture, died several days later, and was measured when straight and relaxed. Large specimens can be extremely bulky, with the mass of a specimen of about 180 cm (71 in) in total length known to weigh 4.6 kg (10 lb).
The broad head is distinct from the neck, and the snout is blunt in profile with the rim of the top of the head extending forwards slightly further than the mouth. Substantial cranial plates are present, although the parietal plates are often fragmented, especially towards the rear. A loreal scale is absent. Six to 9 supralabials and eight to 12 infralabials are seen. At midbody, it has 23–27 rows of dorsal scales. All dorsal scale rows have keels, although those on the lowermost scale rows are weak. In males/females, the ventral scales number 130-145/128-144 and the subcaudals 38-54/36-50. Many of the latter may be divided.
Though most specimens are almost or even totally black, (with the exception of the head and facial markings), the color pattern may consist of a brown, gray, tan, yellowish-olive, or blackish ground color, which is overlaid with a series of 10–17 dark brown to almost black crossbands. These crossbands, which usually have black edges, are sometimes broken along the dorsal midline to form a series of staggered halfbands on either side of the body. These crossbands are visibly lighter in the center, almost matching the ground color, often contain irregular dark markings, and extend well down onto the ventral scales. The dorsal banding pattern fades with age, so older individuals are an almost uniform olive-brown, grayish-brown, or black. The belly is white, yellowish-white, or tan, marked with dark spots, and becomes darker posteriorly. The amount of dark pigment on the belly varies from virtually none to almost completely black. The head is a more or less uniform brown color, especially in A. p. piscivorus. Subadult specimens may exhibit the same kind of dark, parietal spots characteristic of A. contortrix, but sometimes these are still visible in adults. Eastern populations have a broad, dark, postocular stripe, bordered with pale pigment above and below, that is faint or absent in western populations. The underside of the head is generally whitish, cream, or tan.
Juvenile and subadult specimens generally have a more contrasting color pattern, with dark crossbands on a lighter ground color. The ground color is then tan, brown, or reddish-brown. The tip of the tail is usually yellowish, becoming greenish-yellow or greenish in subadults, and then black in adults. On some juveniles, the banding pattern can also be seen on the tail. Young snakes wiggle the tips of their tails to lure prey animals.
This species is often confused with the copperhead, A. contortrix. This is especially true for juveniles, but differences exist. A. piscivorus has broad, dark stripes on the sides of its head that extend back from the eyes, whereas A. contortrix has only a thin, dark line that divides the pale supralabials from the somewhat darker color of the head. The watersnakes of the genus Nerodia are also similar in appearance, being thick-bodied with large heads, but they have round pupils, no loreal pit, a single anal plate, subcaudal scales that are divided throughout, and a distinctive overall color pattern.
## Common names
This is a list of common names for A. piscivorus, some of which also refer to other species:
- aquatic moccasin
- black moccasin
- black snake
- black water viper
- blunt-tail moccasin
- Congo
- copperhead
- cottonmouth
- cotton-mouthed snake
- cottonmouth rattler
- cottonmouth water moccasin
- gaper
- gapper
- highland moccasin
- lake moccasin
- lowland moccasin
- mangrove rattler
- moccasin
- moccasin snake
- North American cottonmouth snake
- North American water moccasin
- North American water viper
- pond moccasin
- pond rattler
- river moccasin
- river rattler
- rusty moccasin
- saltwater rattler
- short-tailed moccasin
- short-tail rattler
- small-tailed cottonmouth
- snap-jaw
- stub-tail
- stub-tail snake
- stump moccasin
- stump-tail moccasin
- stump-tail viper
- swamp lion
- swamp moccasin
- swamp rattler
- Texas moccasin
- trap jaw
- Troost's moccasin
- true horn snake
- true water moccasin
- viper
- water copperhead
- water mamba
- water moccasin
- water mokeson
- water pilot
- water pit rattler
- water pit viper
- water rattlesnake
- water viper
- white-mouth moccasin
- white-mouth rattler
- worm-tailed viper
## Geographic range
A. piscivorus is found in the eastern US from the Great Dismal Swamp in southeast Virginia, south through the Florida peninsula and west to Arkansas, eastern and southern Oklahoma, and western and southern Georgia (excluding Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona). A few records exist of the species being found along the Rio Grande in Texas, but these are thought to represent disjunct populations, now possibly eradicated. The type locality given is "Carolina", although Schmidt (1953) proposed this be restricted to the area around Charleston, South Carolina. Snakes observed in the northern areas of this range are typically larger older individuals.
Campbell and Lamar (2004) mentioned this species as being found in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Maps provided by Campbell and Lamar (2004) and Wright and Wright (1957) also indicate its presence in Western and Middle Tennessee and extreme southeastern Kansas, and limit it to the western part of Kentucky.
In Georgia, it is found in the southern half of the state up to a few kilometers north of the Fall Line with few exceptions. Its range also includes the Ohio River Valley as far north as southern Indiana, and it inhabits many barrier islands off the coasts of the states where it is found.
## Conservation status
The species A. piscivorus is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List (v3.1, 2007). Species are listed as such due to their wide distribution, presumed large population, or because they are unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. When last assessed in 2007, the population trend was stable.
Constant persecution of the species and drainage of wetland habitat prior to development has taken a heavy toll on local populations. Despite this, it remains a common species in many areas.
In Indiana, the cottonmouth is listed as an endangered species.
## Habitat
Agkistrodon piscivorus is the most aquatic species of the genus Agkistrodon, and is usually associated with bodies of water, such as creeks, streams, marshes, swamps, and the shores of ponds and lakes. The U.S. Navy (1991) describes it as inhabiting swamps, shallow lakes, and sluggish streams, but it is usually not found in swift, deep, cool water. Behler and King (1979) list its habitats as including lowland swamps, lakes, rivers, bayheads, sloughs, irrigation ditches, canals, rice fields, and small, clear, rocky, mountain streams.
It is also found in brackish-water habitats and is sometimes seen swimming in salt water. It has been much more successful at colonizing Atlantic and Gulf Coast barrier islands than the copperhead. Even on these islands, though, it tends to favor freshwater marshes. A study by Dunson and Freda (1985) describes it as not being particularly salt-tolerant.
The snake is not limited to aquatic habitats, however, as Gloyd and Conant (1990) mentioned large specimens have been found more than a mile (1.6 km) from water. In various locations, the species is well-adapted to less moist environments, such as palmetto thickets, pine-palmetto forest, pine woods in East Texas, pine flatwoods in Florida, eastern deciduous dune forest, dune and beach areas, riparian forest, and prairies.
## Behavior
In tests designed to measure the various behavioral responses by wild specimens to encounters with people, 23 of 45 (51%) tried to escape, while 28 of 36 (78%) resorted to threat displays and other defensive tactics. Only when they were picked up with a mechanical hand were they likely to bite.
When sufficiently stressed or threatened, this species engages in a characteristic threat display that includes vibrating its tail and throwing its head back with its mouth open to display the startlingly white interior, often making a loud hiss while the neck and front part of the body are pulled into an S-shaped position.[^1] Many of its common names, including "cottonmouth" and "gaper", refer to this behavior, while its habit of snapping its jaws shut when anything touches its mouth has earned it the name "trap jaw" in some areas. Other defensive responses can include flattening the body and emitting a strong, pungent secretion from the anal glands located at the base of the tail. This musk may be ejected in thin jets if the snake is sufficiently agitated or restrained. The smell has been likened to that of a billy goat, as well as to a genus of common flood-plain weeds, Pluchea, that also have a penetrating odor.
Harmless watersnakes of the genus Nerodia are often mistaken for it. These are also semiaquatic, thick-bodied snakes with large heads that can be aggressive when provoked, but they behave differently. For example, watersnakes usually flee quickly into the water, while A. piscivorus often stands its ground with its threat display. In addition, watersnakes do not vibrate their tails when excited. A. piscivorus usually holds its head at an angle around 45° when swimming or crawling.
Brown (1973) considered their heavy muscular bodies to be a striking characteristic, stating this made it difficult to hold them for venom extraction owing to their strength.
This species may be active during the day and at night, but on bright, sunny days, they are usually found coiled or stretched out in the shade. In the morning and on cool days, they can often be seen basking in the sunlight. They often emerge at sunset to warm themselves on warm ground (i.e., sidewalks, roads) and then become very active throughout the night, when they are usually found swimming or crawling. Contrary to popular belief, they are capable of biting while under water.
In the north, they hibernate during the winter. Niell (1947, 1948) made observations in Georgia, and noted they were one of the last species to seek shelter, often being found active until the first heavy frosts. At this point, they moved to higher ground and could be found in rotting pine stumps by tearing away the bark. These snakes could be quite active upon discovery and would then attempt to burrow more deeply into the soft wood or escape to the nearest water. In southeastern Virginia, Wood (1954) reported seeing migratory behavior in late October and early November. During a period of three or four days, as many as 50 individuals could be seen swimming across Back Bay from the bayside swamps of the barrier islands to the mainland. He suggested this might have something to do with hibernating habits. In the southern parts of its range, hibernation may be short or omitted altogether.
## Feeding
Raymond Ditmars (1912) described A. piscivorus as carnivorous. Its diet includes mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, eggs, insects, other snakes, small turtles, and small alligators. Cannibalism has also been reported. Normally, though, the bulk of its diet consists of fish and frogs. On occasion, juvenile specimens feed on invertebrates. Catfish (especially of the genus Ictalurus) are often eaten, although the sharp spines sometimes cause injuries. Toads of the genus Bufo are apparently avoided. Common prey species include southern leopard frogs, bass, juvenile black rat snakes, young common snapping turtles, and North American least shrews.
Many authors have described the prey items taken under natural circumstances. Although fish and frogs are their most common prey, they eat almost any small vertebrate. Fish are captured by cornering them in shallow water, usually against the bank or under logs. They take advantage when bodies of water begin to dry up in the summer or early fall and gorge themselves on the resulting high concentrations of fish and tadpoles. They are surprisingly unsuccessful at seizing either live or dead fish under water.
They are opportunistic feeders and sometimes eat carrion, making them one of the few snakes to do so. Campbell and Lamar (2004) described having seen them feeding on fish heads and viscera that had been thrown into the water from a dock. Heinrich and Studenroth (1996) reported an occasion in which an individual was seen feeding on the butchered remains of a feral hog (Sus scrofa) that had been thrown into Cypress Creek. Northern cottonmouths have an unusual feeding adaptation that allows them to adhere to prey through rotation of their head during swallowing because it aids the jaws in clearing the prey and contributes to the advance of the jaws along the prey.
Conant (1929) gave a detailed account of the feeding behavior of a captive specimen from South Carolina. When prey was introduced, the snake quickly became attentive and made an attack. Frogs and small birds were seized and held until movement stopped. Larger prey was approached in a more cautious manner; a rapid strike was executed after which the snake would withdraw. In 2.5 years, the snake had accepted three species of frogs, including a large bullfrog, a spotted salamander, water snakes, garter snakes, sparrows, young rats, and three species of mice. Brimley (1944) described a captive specimen that ate copperheads (A. contortrix), as well as members of its own species, keeping its fangs embedded in its victims until they had been immobilized. A 2018 study found that northern cottonmouths on a diet of only fish when compared to a diet of mice had to eat 20% more to achieve the same growth.
Young individuals have yellowish or greenish tail tips and engage in caudal luring. The tail tip is wriggled to lure prey, such as frogs and lizards, within striking distance. Wharton (1960) observed captive specimens exhibiting this behavior between 07:20 and 19:40 hours, which suggests it is a daytime activity.
In August 2020 and May 2021, individuals found in Florida were observed to have consumed introduced Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus). Burmese pythons are an invasive species in Florida with the capacity to inflict great damage to the local ecosystem, so it is hoped that A. piscivorus may be in the process of modifying its diet to enable it to hunt the pythons.
## Predators
Agkistrodon piscivorus is preyed upon by snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), falcons, American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis), horned owls (Bubo virginianus), eagles, red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus), loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus), and large wading birds, such as herons, cranes, and egrets.
It is also preyed upon by ophiophagous snakes, including their own species. Humphreys (1881) described how a 34-inch (86 cm) specimen was killed and eaten by a 42-inch (1.1 m) captive kingsnake. On the other hand, Neill (1947) reported captive kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula) were loath to attack them, being successfully repelled with "body blows". Also called body-bridging, this is a specific defensive behavior against ophiophagous snakes, first observed in certain rattlesnake (Crotalus) species by Klauber (1927), that involves raising a section of the middle of the body above the ground to varying heights. This raised loop may then be held in this position for varying amounts of time, shifted in position, or moved towards the attacker. In the latter case, it is often flipped or thrown vigorously in the direction of the assailant. In A. piscivorus, the loop is raised laterally, with the belly facing towards the attacker.
## Reproduction
Agkistrodon piscivorus is ovoviviparous, with females usually giving birth to one to 16 live young and possibly as many as 20. Litters of six to eight are the most common. Neonates are 22–35 cm in length (excluding runts), with the largest belonging to A. p. conanti and A. p. leucostoma the smallest. If weather conditions are favorable and food is readily available, growth is rapid and females may reproduce at less than three years of age and a total length of as little as 60 cm. They will also only reproduce every other year, unless optimal conditions are met for them to go through the reproduction process. The young are born in August or September, while mating may occur during any of the warmer months of the year, at least in certain parts of its range.
Regarding A. p. piscivorus, an early account by Stejneger (1895) described a pair in the Berlin Zoological Garden that mated on January 21, 1873, after which eight neonates were discovered in the cage on July 16 of that year. The young were each 26 cm in length and 1.5 cm thick. They shed for the first time within two weeks, after which they accepted small frogs, but not fish.
Combat behavior between males has been reported on a number of occasions, and is very similar in form to that seen in many other viperid species. An important factor in sexual selection, it allows for the establishment and recognition of dominance as males compete for access to sexually active females.
A few accounts exist that describe females defending their newborn litters. Wharten (1960, 1966) reported several cases where females found near their young stood their ground and considered these to be examples of guarding behavior. Another case was described by Walters and Card (1996) in which a female was found at the entrance of a chamber with seven neonates crawling on or around her. When one of the young was moved a short distance from the chamber, she seemed to be agitated and faced the intruder. Eventually, all of her offspring retreated into the chamber, but the female remained at the entrance, ready to strike.
### Facultative parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis is a natural form of reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. A. piscivorus can reproduce by facultative parthenogenesis, that is, they are capable of switching from a sexual mode of reproduction to an asexual mode. This likely involves recombination at the tips of the chromosomes, which leads to genome wide homozygosity. The result is the expression of deleterious recessive alleles and often to developmental failure (inbreeding depression). Both captive-born and wild-born A. piscivorus specimens appear to be capable of this form of parthenogenesis.
## Venom
Agkistrodon piscivorus venom is more toxic than that of A. contortrix, and is rich with powerful cytotoxic venom that destroys tissue. Although deaths are rare, the bite can leave scars, and on occasion, require amputation. Absent an anaphylactic reaction in a bitten individual, however, the venom does not cause systemic reactions in victims and does not contain neurotoxic components present in numerous rattlesnake species. Bites can be effectively treated with CroFab antivenom; this serum is derived using venom components from four species of American pit vipers (the eastern and western diamondback rattlesnakes, the Mojave rattlesnake, and the cottonmouth).
Bites from the cottonmouth are relatively frequent in the lower Mississippi River Valley and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, although fatalities are rare. Allen and Swindell (1948) compiled a record of A. piscivorus bites in Florida from newspaper accounts and data from the Bureau of Vital Statistics: 1934, eight bites and three fatalities (no further fatalities were recorded after this year); 1935, 10; 1936, 16; 1937, 7; 1938, 6; 1939, 5; 1940, 3; 1941, 6; 1942, 3; 1943, 1; 1944, 3; 1998, 1. Wright and Wright (1957) report having encountered these snakes on countless occasions, often almost stepping on them, but never being bitten. In addition, they heard of no reports of any bites among 400 cypress cutters in the Okefenokee Swamp during the entire summer of 1921. These accounts suggest that the species is not particularly aggressive. Studies show that stressed snakes are more likely to strike. This action comes as a predator defense mechanism. Snakes with elevated hormone levels are more likely to strike. Additionally, larger snakes are more likely to strike than smaller snakes.
Brown (1973) gave an average venom yield (dried) of 125 mg, with a range of 80–237 mg, along with values of 4.0, 2.2, 2.7, 3.5, 2.0 mg/kg IV, 4.8, 5.1, 4.0, 5.5, 3.8, 6.8 mg/kg IP and 25.8 mg/kg SC for toxicity. Wolff and Githens (1939) described a 152 cm (60 in) specimen that yielded 3.5 ml of venom during the first extraction and 4.0 ml five weeks later (1.094 grams of dried venom). The human lethal dose is unknown, but has been estimated at 100–150 mg.
Symptoms commonly include ecchymosis and swelling. The pain is generally more severe than bites from the copperhead, but less so than those from rattlesnakes (Crotalus spp.). The formation of vesicles and bullae is less common than with rattlesnake bites, although necrosis can occur. Myokymia is sometimes reported.[^2] However, the venom has strong proteolytic activity that can lead to severe tissue destruction.
## Subspecies and taxonomic changes
For many decades, one species with three subspecies were formally recognized: eastern cottonmouth, A. p. piscivorus (Lacépède, 1789); western cottonmouth, A. p. leucostoma (Troost, 1836); and Florida cottonmouth, A. p. conanti Gloyd, 1969. However, a molecular (DNA) based study was published in 2014, applying phylogenetic theories (one implication being no subspecies are recognized), changing the long-standing taxonomy. The resulting and current taxonomic arrangement recognizes two species and no subspecies. The western cottonmouth (A. p. leucostoma) was synonymized with the eastern cottonmouth (A. p. piscivorus) into one species (with the oldest published name, A. p. piscivorus, having priority). The Florida cottonmouth (A. p. conanti) is now recognized as a separate species.
- Agkistrodon piscivorus (Lacépéde, 1789), northern cottonmouth
- Agkistrodon conanti Gloyd, 1969, Florida cottonmouth (south Georgia and Florida peninsular)
[^1]: Carpenter, Charles C.; Gillingham, James C. (1990). "Ritualized Behavior in Agkistrodon and Allied Genera". pp. 523–531. In: Gloyd HK, Conant R (1990). Snakes of the Agkistrodon Complex: A Monographic Review. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 614 pp. 52 plates. LCCN 89-50342. .
[^2]: Norris R (2004). "Venom Poisoning in North American Reptiles". In: Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 870 pp. 1,500 plates. . |
44,244,083 | Time and Eternity (philosophy book) | 1,164,075,561 | Book by Walter Terence Stace | [
"1952 non-fiction books",
"Mysticism texts",
"Philosophy of religion books"
]
| Time and Eternity - An Essay on the Philosophy of Religion (1st imp. Princeton New Jersey 1952, Princeton University Press, 169 pp) is a philosophy book written by Walter Terence Stace. At the time of writing, Stace was a professor of philosophy at Princeton University, where he had worked since 1932 after a 22-year career in the Ceylon Civil Service. Time and Eternity was one of his first books about the philosophy of religion and mysticism, after writing throughout most of the 1930s and 1940s that was influenced by phenomenalist philosophy.
In his introduction Stace writes that Time and Eternity is an attempt to set out the fundamental nature of religion, and to deal with the conflict between religion and naturalism. He explains that the basic idea set out in the book is that all religious thought is symbolic, and that his influences include Rudolf Otto, especially his Mysticism East and West, and Immanuel Kant. He says he was motivated to write the book in an attempt to add to the "other half of the truth which I now think naturalism [as espoused in his 1947 essay Man Against Darkness] misses".
The book begins by looking at religion, specifically God as non-being and as being, put by Stace as the negative and positive divine. Stace then defines two orders of being - time and eternity, which he says intersect in the moment of mystic illumination. He goes on to say that the nature of God or eternity is such that all religious language is symbolic and that it is necessarily subject to contradictions.
## Synopsis
The first chapter asks what religion is, stating that religious thought is contradictory, is rooted in intuition, and that God is fundamentally a mystery. The second and third chapters look at the negative divine - the characterisation of God as void, silence or non-being - which Stace maintains is an idea found in all religions. He maintains that mystical experience is shared by all mankind, it is only the theories about it that differ. On this point he says he is in agreement with Otto. In this experience the distinction between subject and object is overcome, indeed there is no difference between the experiencer and the experience.
Stace then goes on to explain that all religions say that religious revelation is ineffable, because no words or concepts can be applied to God who is without qualities or predicates. Thus, God cannot be comprehended by the intellect, but is apprehended by intuition. "... it is of the very nature of intellect to involve the subject-object opposition. But in the mystic experience this opposition is transcended. Therefore the intellect is incapable of understanding it. Therefore it is incomprehensible, ineffable."
Stace then looks at the positive divine; he asks how concepts can be applied to that which is above all concepts and finds that all propositions about God are symbolical. He defines religious and non-religious symbolism as differing in two respects. Firstly, religious symbols cannot be translated into logical propositions because they refer to an (ineffable) experience rather than a proposition. Secondly, the relationship between the religious symbol and what is symbolised is one of evocation rather than "meaning", as meaning is a concept, which is absent in the mystical experience. "Yet in some way this symbolic language evokes in us some glimpse, some hint, seen dimly through the mists and fogs which envelop us, of that being who stands above all human thought and conception." He goes on to write that some of these symbols feel more appropriate than others (e.g. God is love not hate).
Next Stace explains that there are two orders of being: time (or the world) and eternity (or God), and these intersect in the moment of mystic illumination. He maintains these orders are distinct, so one order cannot dictate to the other. Here he says that he agrees with Kant, who made a distinction between the world of phenomena and the noumenon, although he is critical of Kant’s disregard for mystical experience.
Looking at symbolism in religion, Stace states that there are two types of predicates applied to God: first, the ethically-neutral sort, such as God being mind, power or personhood. Secondly, the ethical kind, where he is love, mercy, or righteousness. He explains that the former qualities are justified by an appeal to a hierarchy of being, and the latter to a hierarchy of value. In both cases the more adequate symbol are those that are higher in each hierarchy. In rooting symbolism in hierarchies, Stace explicitly states he is in opposition to Otto who thought religious symbolism was based on analogy between the numen and qualities found in the natural world.
Stace next looks at religion’s claims to truth. He draws an analogy between mystical illumination and aesthetic truth, as the truths of both rest on revelation rather than reason. "Either you directly perceive beauty, or you do not. And either you directly perceive God in intuition, or you do not." Further, he maintains the arguments of both mystics and naturalists in denying each other's positions are invalid, as they concern different realities.
These separate spheres lead Stace to reflect on both proofs for God and acosmism. He writes that proofs and disproofs for God are equally false, as God is only accessible by intuition and not logic. "... the production by philosophers of proofs of the unreality of space, time, and the temporal world generally, is a direct result of their mistaking of their mystical propositions for factual propositions." Further, proofs of God actually harm religion as they make him a part of the natural order - a point on which he says that he agrees with Kant. Conversely acosmism (the denial of the reality of the world) has its root in the mystical moment, within which there is no other truth, God is the supreme reality and there is no naturalistic world. However, this is a symbolic truth, rather than a statement of fact. Its counterpart in naturalism is atheism, which denies the reality of God.
In the final chapter Stace looks at mysticism and logic. He returns to the idea that theology and mystical philosophies (he gives the examples of Vedanta, Spinoza, Hegel, and Bradley) will always contain contradictions. Known as the doctrine of the Mystery of God, he maintains this is because the intellect is inherently incapable of understanding the Ultimate. All attempts to state the nature of the ultimate necessarily produce contradictions.
## Critical response
Virgil C Aldrich reviewed the book alongside Religion and the Modern Mind and The Gate of Silence, also by Stace and published in 1952. He points out that all three books mark a new direction for Stace who was previously best known as an empiricist and naturalist. For Aldrich this new intellectual interest results in a sharp dualism in both Stace’s personality and his thought. However, he writes that fortunately Stace’s philosophical background prevents him from supposing that scientific empiricism can confirm religious experience, indeed his religious philosophy is the sort “that a Hume or a Kant can consort with.” Aldrich argues that Stace's intellectual sophistication is most evident in his ideas about the negative divine, but his thought is liable to all the standard objections where he proposes notions of the positive divine and religious intuition. Specifically, the notion that religious language is evocative of the mystical experience is problematic, because it is difficult to determine what language is adequate without resorting to literal or abstract ideas. Rudolf Otto's notion of analogy, rejected by Stace, is more robust. Aldrich points out a contradiction in Stace's reliance on hierarchies of being and values to more adequately refer to God, as this implies continuity between the world and eternity, which Stace denies.
Julius Seelye Bixler reviewed the book twice, in 1952 and 1953. In his first review he wrote that he believed Stace was trying to have his cake and eat it with regards to the truth of both naturalism and mysticism. Bixler also wonders whether the revelation of God can really be free of concepts and thus whether time and eternity are utterly unrelated as Stace maintains. He identifies points in Stace's thought where there is continuity between these two states and mystical language does appear to refer to concepts. Finally he rejects the book's analogy of mystical experience to the evocative power of art, maintaining that art must be somewhat related to logic. Nonetheless, Bixler does concur that the book is a fascinating confessio fidei and personal statement. A year later, he reviewed Time and Eternity alongside Religion and the Modern Mind. As well as reiterating the points he had made earlier, Bixler judges the second book more favourably and recommends reading the two together to better understand the problems they address.
Stace was praised for his clarity and ambitious aims in Time and Eternity by Abraham Kaplan who believed the book was one of the best on the subject for many many years. He pointed out that the book's distinction between the orders of time and eternity owed much to Kant (which Stace himself acknowledged). Kaplan reflected that it was the book's emphasis placed on mysticism and a universal religious intuition that would be of particular interest to students of “Oriental and comparative philosophy”. The central idea upon which Stace's thought stands or falls, for Kaplan, is that religious language is evocative rather than descriptive. In this both religionists and naturalists will find problems. For the former, Stace can only account for the appropriateness of religious language by relying on ‘nearness’ to the divine rather than on resemblance, and this relies on ‘a vague panpsychism’ and levels of being in the manner of Samuel Alexander. While for the naturalist, Stace's system of religious symbolism is doomed to remain mysterious, because it does not allow religious metaphors to be translated literally and neither can it be said how they evoke the experience to which they refer.
Also noting the unachievable ambition of solving the conflict between naturalism and religion, Martin A Greenman, remarks that one must come to the book “with a certain mood”. Too critical a mood would blind the reader to its religious insights, while the sensitivity and depth of its philosophic insights would be lost if one were to approach it in a too enthusiastically religious mood. Greenman finishes by justifying Stace's philosophy to logical positivists by quoting from Wittgenstein's Tractatus: “My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless, when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them....He must surmount these propositions: then he sees the world rightly” (6. 54.) Dorothy M. Emmet found issue with the notion that the mystical experience is the point of intersection between the temporal and eternal orders. She writes that there are difficulties in Stace defining these orders as two distinct “orders of being”, rather than just as a way of speaking, because this then means some statements about the temporal order are relevant to what is said about the eternal order and vice versa. Indeed, the interrelation between these two orders is difficult to maintain. She also questioned Stace's characterisation of mystical consciousness as being the same everywhere.
More recently, Maurice Friedman writes about the book in the context of the various attempts to find a universal essence - or perennial philosophy - within religion. He finds that Time and Eternity is a more systematic attempt at this than those proposed by Aldous Huxley or Ananda Coomaraswamy, but no more successful. For Friedman, the philosophy that Stace lays out in the book is derived from metaphysical speculation (that, like the ideas of Huxley and Coomaraswamy, is influenced by Vedanta), rather than mystical experience. Central to Friedman's critique is the notion that there is a vast gulf between the mystical experience which Stace defines as beyond thought, and his philosophical system built on this. He also mentions that mystics do not always agree on what experiences, symbols and philosophies are the closest to the divine.
The book has received more positive support however. Robert C Neville called Time and Eternity “the most sophisticated treatment of eternity and time in our century so far”. In his Thought: A Very Short Introduction, Tim Bayne says the book contains a “classic” discussion of ineffability. American writer Arthur Goldwag has said that the phrase "that than which there is no other" that he encountered in Time and Eternity was one of a number of factors that contributed to him giving up praying. |
13,523,158 | Coat of arms of Basque Country (autonomous community) | 1,089,685,255 | Coat of arms | [
"Basque history",
"Coats of arms of autonomous communities of Spain",
"Coats of arms with acorns",
"Coats of arms with bordures",
"Coats of arms with buildings",
"Coats of arms with crosses",
"Coats of arms with hands",
"Coats of arms with lions",
"Coats of arms with oak branches",
"Coats of arms with saltires",
"Coats of arms with swords",
"Coats of arms with trees"
]
| The current Basque coat of arms (Spanish: Escudo del País Vasco, Basque: Euskal autonomi erkidegoaren armarria) is the official coat of arms of the Basque Country, Autonomous community of Spain. It consists of a party per cross representing the three historical territories of Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay, as well as a fourth, void quarter. The arms are ringed by a regal wreath of oak leaves, symbolic of the Gernikako Arbola. The fourth quarter constituted since the late 19th century the linked chains of Navarre; however, following a legal suit by the Navarre Government claiming that the usage of the arms of a region on the flag of another was illegal, the Constitutional Court of Spain ordered the removal of the chains of Navarre in a judgement of 1986.
## Origin
After the end of home rule in 1839-1841, the Basque governments started a mutual approach out of common concerns in face of their exposure to Spanish centralism. The movement intensified after 1866, and a motto was coined, the "Laurac bat", 'the four make one', echoing the "Irurac bat" of the Royal Basque Company, which in turn crystallized in a coat of arms including the four historic Basque districts in Spain (called variously the Sister Provinces, the Chartered Territories, the Basque Country, the Basque-Navarrese Country, etc.), to represent their common bonds, as claimed during that period by the chartered provincial governments, or the 1931 draft Statute of the Basque Country.
In 1936, the Provisional Government of Euzkadi, presided over by the first president, José Antonio Aguirre, adopted the shield with the arms of the three provinces of Álava, Gipuzkoa, Biscay comprised in the 1936 Statute (the Basque Provinces, as established in the 1833 administrative design), and Navarre. The president of the government affirmed in the preamble to the Decree of 19 October 1936, and thereby approved, the emblem and flag that was to be used by the Basque Country. Thus the shield of the Government of Euzkadi contained the arms of Álava, Gipuzkoa, Biscay and Navarre in a single blazon of four quarters surrounded by a crown of oak leaves. The Provisional Government of Euzkadi stated that "the flag must be that which gathers Basque unity and which the use, ever more frequent in the Basque lands, has sanctioned as such symbol of their unity."
As an official shield, like the 1936 Basque Autonomous Community, disappeared after the pro-Franco victory in the Spanish Civil War, but the coat of arms continued in unofficial use, it was even used in its flag by the rightist pro-rebel newspaper from Donostia El Diario Vasco during wartime (data for 2 May 1937). On 2 November 1978, the Consejo General del País Vasco (General Council of the Basque Country), restored the republican shield, albeit modified as follows:
1. The Álava quarter lost the motto "En aumento de la justicia contra malhechores" and both the designs of the castle and of the arm with sword were changed. The castle is now on top of a grey rock and the arm and sword are light blue in colour.
2. In the Biscay quarter, the wolves of the arms of the house of Haro were suppressed in 1986 and the field changed from gules to argent, the bordure from argent to gold, the crosses from sinople to gules, and the terrace, or ground, from sinople to maroon.
3. In the Gipuzkoa quarter, the field changed from argent to gold, and the ground (the "terrace") was removed, leaving only the trees and the waves.
4. The fourth quarter once contained the linked chains of Navarre; however, following a legal suit by the Navarre government claiming that the usage of the arms of a region on the flag of another was illegal, the Constitutional Court of Spain forced the Basque government to remove the chains of Navarre, leaving the red background.
In 1991 the Basque Government standardised the colours used in the shield.
Basque nationalists, but not only, have used an unofficially recognised Basque coat of arms, the Zazpiak Bat. It has been argued that it differs from the original one by being divided into six squares and by including the coat of arms of the Basque regions in France. The motto "Zazpiak bat" was coined by Antoine-Thomson d'Abbadie in the late 19th century.
## The quarters
## See also
- Ikurriña
- Quartering (heraldry)
- Zazpiak Bat |
130,131 | Lawton, Oklahoma | 1,173,446,282 | null | [
"1901 establishments in Oklahoma Territory",
"Cities in Comanche County, Oklahoma",
"Cities in Oklahoma",
"County seats in Oklahoma",
"Lawton, Oklahoma",
"Populated places established in 1901"
]
| Lawton is a city in and the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Located in southwestern Oklahoma, approximately 87 mi (140 km) southwest of Oklahoma City, it is the principal city of the Lawton, Oklahoma, metropolitan statistical area. According to the 2020 census, Lawton's population was 90,381, making it the sixth-largest city in the state, and the largest in Western Oklahoma.
Developed on former reservation lands of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians, Lawton was founded by European Americans on 6 August 1901. It was named after Major General Henry Ware Lawton, who served in the Civil War, where he earned the Medal of Honor, and was killed in action in the Philippine–American War. Lawton's landscape is typical of the Great Plains, with flat topography and gently rolling hills, while the area north of the city is marked by the Wichita Mountains.
The city's proximity to the Fort Sill Military Reservation, formerly the base of the Apache territory before statehood, gave Lawton economic and population stability throughout the 20th century.
Although Lawton's economy is still largely dependent on Fort Sill, it has grown to encompass manufacturing, higher education, health care, and retail. The city has a council-manager government; the city council members are elected from single-member districts and the mayor is elected at-large. They hire a professional city manager to direct daily operations.
Interstate 44 and three major United States highways serve the city, while Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport connects Lawton by air. Recreation can be found at the city's many parks, lakes, museums, and festivals. Notable residents of the city include many musical and literary artists, as well as several professional athletes.
## History
The territory of present-day Oklahoma was long settled by ancient cultures of prehistoric American Indians, including the Clovis, 11500 BCE; Folsom, 10600 BCE; and Plainview, 10000 BCE cultures.
The valleys of the Arkansas River and Red River were the center of Caddoan Mississippian culture, which began to develop about 800 CE. The people developed more dense settlement and a complex architecture of earthwork platform mounds. Archeological evidence has shown that these people were the direct ancestors of the historic Caddoan-language peoples who inhabited the larger region, including the Caddo and the Wichita peoples.
In the 16th century, Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado visited in 1541, beginning European contact. Around the 1700s, two tribes from the north, the Comanche and Kiowa, migrated to the Oklahoma and Texas regions.
For most of the 18th century, the French exerted nominal control over the Oklahoma region as part of French Louisiana. The largest French settlements were along the Gulf Coast, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. The limited interaction between the Native American and European peoples was based on fur trading.
In 1803, the French sold this territory as Louisiana Purchase to the US, under President Thomas Jefferson. European Americans continued to migrate into the Southeast and across the Mississippi River into Indian territories, especially seeking territory to expand cotton cultivation, which was a lucrative commodity crop. They pressured the government to give them access to Indian lands. In 1830, under President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which removed American Indian tribes from the Southeast and relocated them to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.
The southern part of this territory was originally assigned to the Choctaw and Chickasaw. Following the Civil War, during which most of the Southeast tribes had allied with the Confederacy, in 1867, the United States required new treaties of peace. In 1867, under the Medicine Lodge Treaty, it allotted the southwest portion of former Choctaw and Chickasaw lands to the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes. It had forced them to move out of East Texas and nearby areas of Arkansas.
Fort Sill was established in 1869 after the American Civil War and commanded by Major General Philip Sheridan. He was leading a campaign in Indian Territory to stop raids into Texas by American Indian tribes. In 1874, the Red River War broke out in the region when the Comanche, Kiowa, and Southern Cheyenne left their Indian Territory reservation. Attrition and skirmishes by the US Army finally forced the return of the tribes to Indian Territory in June 1875.
In 1891, the United States Congress appointed a commission to meet with the tribal leaders and come to an agreement allowing White settlement. Years of controversy and legal maneuvering ensued before President William McKinley issued a proclamation on 4 July 1901, that gave the federal government control over 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km<sup>2</sup>) of "surplus" Indian lands that remained after allotments of communal tribal lands to individual households under the Dawes Act. Under other legislation, the United States through the Dawes Commission allotted communal lands as plots to individual households of tribal members, selling off what remained as "surplus". These actions extinguished the tribal claims to communal lands, a condition needed for the admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907.
After these changes, the legislature of the new state began to organize counties. Three 320-acre sites in Kiowa, Caddo and Comanche counties were selected for county seats. Lawton was designated as the Comanche County seat. The town was named for Major General Henry W. Lawton, a quartermaster at Fort Sill, who had taken part in the pursuit and capture of Comanche chief Geronimo.
The city was opened to settlement through an auction of town lots beginning on 6 August 1901, which was completed 60 days later. By 25 September 1901, the Rock Island Railroad expanded to Lawton and was soon joined by the Frisco Line. The first city elections were held 24 October 1901.
The United States' entry into World War I accelerated development at Fort Sill and Lawton. The availability of 5 million US gallons (19,000 m<sup>3</sup>) of water from Lake Lawtonka, just north of Fort Sill, was a catalyst for the War Department to establish a major cantonment named Camp Doniphan. It was active until 1922.
Similarly, the US response in World War II stimulated activity and expansion at Fort Sill and Lawton. The city's population increased from 18,055 to 34,757 from 1940 to 1950. By the 1960s, it had reached 61,697.
In the postwar period, Lawton underwent tremendous growth during the late 1940s and 1950s, leading city officials to seek additional water sources to supplement existing water from Lake Lawtonka. In the late 1950s, the city purchased large parcels of land along East Cache Creek in northern Comanche County for the construction of a dam and human-made lake, built in 1959 on the creek just north of U.S. 277 west of Elgin. Lake Ellsworth, named for a former Lawton mayor, soft-drink bottler C.R. Ellsworth, was dedicated in the early 1960s. It offered additional water resources, but also recreational opportunities and flood control along Cache Creek.
In 1966, the Lawton City Council annexed several square miles of land on the city's east, northeast, west, and northwest borders, expanding east beyond the East Cache Creek area and west to 82nd Street. On 1 March 1964, the north section of the H. E. Bailey Turnpike was completed, connecting Lawton directly to Oklahoma City, the capital. The south section of the turnpike leading to the Texas border was completed on April 23, 1964.
Urban-renewal efforts in the 1970s transformed downtown Lawton. A number of buildings dating to the city's founding were demolished to build an enclosed shopping mall, which was believed to provide a suburban attraction for shoppers.
On June 23, 1998, the city expanded when Lawton annexed neighboring Fort Sill. The Base Realignment and Closure of 2005 resulted in reassignment of people from other bases and consolidation of some military activities at Fort Sill, increasing the number of people assigned there and its scope of activities. Lawton expects a continuing benefit if population and economic growth over the course of the next 20 years.
## Geography
Lawton is the fifth-largest city in Oklahoma, located at (34.604444 N, 98.395833 W). The city has a total area of 75.1 sq mi (195 km<sup>2</sup>), all land. Lawton is located about 84 mi (135 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. Other surrounding cities include Wichita Falls about 47 mi (76 km) to the south, Duncan about 33 mi (53 km) to the east, and Altus about 56 mi (90 km) to the west.
Lawton lies in an area typical of the Great Plains, with prairie, few trees, and flat topography with gently rolling hills. The region north of the city consists of the Wichita Mountains, including Mount Scott and Mount Pinchot, the area's highest peaks. The area consists mostly of Permian Post Oak Conglomerate limestone on the northern sections of the city.
In the south sections of the city, Permian Garber sandstone is commonly found with some Hennessey Group shale. Area creeks including East Cache Creek contain deposits of Quaternary alluvium. To the northwest, the Wichita Mountains consist primarily of Wichita Granite Group from the Cambrian period.
### Climate
Lawton lies in a dry subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), with frequent variations in weather daily, except during the constantly hot and dry summer. Frequent strong winds, usually from the south or south-southeast during the summer, help to lessen the hotter weather. Northerly winds during the winter can occasionally intensify cold periods.
The average mean temperature for southwest Oklahoma is 61.9 °F (16.6 °C). The summers can be mildly hot; Lawton averages 21 days with temperatures 100 °F (37.8 °C) and above. The winters are typically mild, though periods of extreme cold can occur. Lawton averages eight days that fail to rise above freezing. The city receives about 31.6 inches (800 mm) of precipitation and less than 3 in (80 mm) of snow annually.
Lawton is located squarely in the area known as Tornado Alley and is prone to severe weather from late April through early June. Most notably, an F4 tornado in 1957, and an F3 tornado in 1979 struck the southern region of the city.
## Demographics
As of the census of 2010, 96,867 people, 34,901 households, and 22,508 families resided in the city. The population density was 1,195.4 inhabitants per square mile (461.5/km<sup>2</sup>). The 39,409 housing units averaged 486.3 per square mile (187.8/km<sup>2</sup>). The racial makeup of the city was 60.3% White, 21.4% African American, 4.7% Native American, 2.6% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 3.4% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 12.6% (7.8% Mexican, 2.8% Puerto Rican, 0.3% Panamanian).
Of the 34,901 households, 36.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% were married couples living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.5% were not families. Of all households, 29.4% were made up of individuals, and 2.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the city, the population was distributed as 24.9% under the age of 18, 15.3% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was \$41,566, and for a family was \$50,507. Males had a median income of \$36,440 versus \$31,825 for females. The per capita income for the city was \$20,655. About 16.6% of families and 19.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.5% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
## Economy and workforce
Lawton is primarily centered on government, manufacturing, and retail trade industries. The Lawton MSA ranks fourth in Oklahoma with a gross domestic product of \$4.2 billion produced in 2008, with a majority (\$2.1 billion) in the government sector, primarily associated with the military.
Fort Sill is the largest employer in Lawton, with more than 5,000 full-time employees. In the private sector, the largest employer is Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company with 2,400 full-time employees. Some major employers in the Lawton area also include: Lawton Public Schools, Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Southwestern Hospital, City of Lawton, Cameron University, and Bar S Foods.
Lawton has developed two major industrial parks. One is located in the southwest region of town, while the second is located near the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport. The Blue Canyon Wind Farm, consisting of four development phases generating about 423.45 megawatts of electrical power, is about 27 miles north-northwest of town.
In 2010, the city of Lawton was engaged in the Downtown Revitalization Project. Its goal is to redesign the areas between Elmer Thomas Park at the north through Central Mall to the south to be more visually appealing and pedestrian-friendly to encourage business growth in the area.
Lawton had 35,374 employed civilians as of the 2010 Census, and 49.1% were female. Of the civilian workers, 21,842 (61.7%) were private for-profit wage and salary workers. Of the for-profit wage and salary workers, 659 (1.9% of the total Lawton civilian workforce) were employees of their own corporations. The nonprofit sector had 2,571 (7.3%) private nonprofit wage and salary workers. The government sector included 4,713 (13.3%) federal workers, 2,545 (7.2%) state government workers, and 2,160 (6.1%) local government workers. In addition, the city had 1,634 (4.6%) self-employed workers and unpaid family workers.
## Arts and culture
### Events and festivals
Lawton is home to many annual attractions, including the Prince of Peace Easter passion play held in the Holy City in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge each year on Palm Sunday, continuing to Easter Eve. It continues to be one of the longest-running Easter passion plays in the nation.
It was the basis for the 1949 movie The Prince of Peace. The passion play was also featured in a documentary called Jesus Town, USA, which focuses on a new actor portraying the role of Jesus after the former actor of 8 years retired from the role.
In May, Lawton Arts for All, Inc hosts the Arts for All Festival. The festival includes several judged art competitions, as well as live entertainment. The festival is typically held at Shepler Park. In late September, The International Festival is held in the city. Founded in 1979, the event showcases the many different cultures, arts, and music of the community.
### Museums
Lawton has three public museums. The Museum of the Great Plains is dedicated to natural history and early settlement of the Great Plains, particularly by European Americans. Outdoor exhibits include a replica of the Red River Trading Post, the original Blue Beaver schoolhouse, and Elgin Train Depot with a Frisco locomotive.
The Fort Sill Museum, located on the military base of the same name, includes the old Fort Sill corral and several period buildings, including the old post guardhouse, chapel, and barracks. It also features several artillery pieces. The old fort is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center, operated by the Comanche Nation Tribe, focuses on exhibits and art relating to the Comanche culture. The museum also hosts traveling American Indian exhibitions from the Smithsonian Institution, Michigan State University Museum, and Chicago's Field Museum.
## Sports
Lawton is home to Cameron University, which is an NCAA Division II school in the Lone Star Conference. Their athletic teams are known as the Aggies. Noted for winning the NAIA Football National Championship in 1987, the school currently does not have a football program. However, Cameron remains competitive in 10 varsity sports, including men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball.
Lawton was the former home to the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry, a basketball team. The team moved in 2007 from Oklahoma City to Lawton, where they won two Continental Basketball Association championships and a Premier Basketball League championship. In 2011, the Cavalry ceased operations in their second year in the PBL.
## Parks and recreation
Lawton operates 80 parks and recreation areas in varying sizes, including the largest - Elmer Thomas Park. Along with the park system, the city is near three major lakes, Lake Lawtonka, Lake Ellsworth, and Elmer Thomas Lake, where boating, swimming, camping, and fishing are permitted.
The Lawton branch of the YMCA offers a wide variety of recreational programs to members, and the Lawton Country Club maintains an 18 hole, par 71 golf course. Recreation can also be found in many amateur leagues, including adult softball, youth baseball, soccer, softball, and volleyball.
Northwest of the city is the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to preserve the natural fauna of southwest Oklahoma. The refuge includes a visitor center, several camping areas, hiking trails, and many lakes for the public to explore.
## Historic structures
The National Register of Historic Places lists 15 places in Lawton, including (but not limited to) the Mattie Beal House, the Carnegie Library, the First Christian Church, the First Presbyterian Church of Lawton, the Mahoney-Clark House, the Meers Mining Camp, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. As noted, old Fort Sill has been designated as a National Historic Landmark, the highest classification. An additional structures or sites in and around Fort Sill are listed on the NRHP.
## Government
Lawton uses the council–manager model of municipal government. The city's primary authority resides in the city council, which approves ordinances, resolutions, and contracts. The city is divided into eight wards, or single-member districts. Each ward elects a single city council representative for a three-year term. The mayor, who is elected at-large every three years, presides and sets the agenda of the City Council, but is primarily ceremonial as a head of government. The administrative day-to-day operation of the city is headed by the City Manager, who is appointed by the City Council. As of January 2022, the mayor of Lawton was Stan Booker. As of January 2022, the city manager was Michael Cleghorn.
Lawton is the county seat of Comanche County, and houses county offices and courts. Three elected commissioners serving four-year terms manage the county government.
At the federal level, Lawton lies in Oklahoma's 4th congressional district, represented by Tom Cole. In the state senate, Lawton is in District 31 (Chris Kidd) and 32 (John Michael Montgomery). In the House, District 62 (Daniel Pae), 63 (Trey Caldwell), and 64 (Rande Worthen) cover the city.
## Education
### Higher education
Cameron University is the largest four-year, state-funded university in southwest Oklahoma, offering more than 50 degree programs in areas of business, education, liberal arts, and science and technology. Founded in 1909, Cameron has an average fall enrollment of 6,000 students, with 70 endowed faculty positions. Other colleges in Lawton include Comanche Nation College. Founded in 2004, the college provides lower-division programs and educational opportunities in higher education for the Comanche Nation and the public.
Lawton is also served by the Great Plains Technology Center, which is part of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education system. Great Plains provides occupational education, training, and development opportunities to area residents.
### Primary and secondary schools
Lawton Public Schools serve most of the city of Lawton. The district operates two prekindergarten centers, 24 elementary schools, four middle schools, and three high schools – Eisenhower, Lawton, and MacArthur. In 2008, Lawton Public Schools had an enrollment of about 16,000 students with about 1,000 teachers. Two independent districts, Bishop and Flower Mound, serve portions of Lawton. Bishop operates a single pre-K–6 elementary campus and Flower Mound has a pre-K–8 campus. Secondary students living in these districts attend Lawton Public Schools. A small portion of far-west Lawton is served by Cache Public Schools.
Other schools in Lawton include St. Mary's Catholic School, which has both elementary and middle schools. St. Mary's has served the greater Lawton area and the Fort Sill community for over 100 years and offers accredited Catholic education for grades pre-K through eighth grade. Trinity Christian Academy, Lawton Academy of Arts & Science, and Lawton Christian School are three other private schools. Trinity Christian Academy offers classes from K–3 through the eighth grade. Lawton Academy of Arts and Sciences and Lawton Christian has the city's only two private independent high schools. Lawton Christian, founded in 1976, offers education from prekindergarten through the 12th grade, and has a student body of 426 students.
## Media
The Lawton Constitution, the only daily newspaper published in Lawton, has a circulation of 30,000. In addition, the Fort Sill newspaper, The Cannoneer, is published weekly primarily for military personnel; The Cameron Collegian has as its main audience Cameron University students. Additionally, Okie Magazine is a monthly magazine that focuses on news and entertainment in the Southwest Oklahoma area.
Radio stations in Lawton include two AM stations – CBS Sports Radio affiliate KKRX (1380) and urban adult contemporary station KXCA (1050) – and 15 FM stations – including NPR member KCCU (89.3), country stations KFXI (92.1) and KLAW (101.3), rock music station KZCD (94.1), Hot AC station KMGZ (95.3), urban contemporary outlet KJMZ (97.9), and CHR station KVRW (107.3).
`is a free magazine distributed throughout Lawton and Duncan with stories, historical pieces, pictorials, and articles describing philanthropic individuals or organizations; an online version of magazine available through Amazon.`
Lawton is part of a bistate media market that also includes the nearby, larger city of Wichita Falls, Texas; the market, which encompasses six counties in southwestern Oklahoma and 10 counties in western North Texas, has 152,950 households with at least one television set, making it the 148th-largest in the nation as of the 2016–2017 season, according to Nielsen Media Research. KSWO-TV (channel 7), an ABC affiliate (which also carries affiliations with MeTV and Telemundo on digital subchannels), is the only broadcast television station in the market that is licensed to Lawton, and its local news programming maintains a primary focus on southwestern Oklahoma in its coverage. All other major stations in the area, including KFDX-TV (channel 3; NBC), KAUZ-TV (channel 6; CBS, which is a sister station to KSWO through a shared services agreement but maintains separate operations on the Texas side of the market), and KJTL (channel 18; Fox), are based in Wichita Falls.
## Infrastructure
### Transportation
Lawton is primarily served by Interstate 44, designated as the H. E. Bailey Turnpike. It connects the city to Oklahoma City to the northeast and to Wichita Falls, Texas, to the south. The city is also connected by US Highway 62, which connects to the regional towns of Altus to the west and Anadarko to the north. Other major thoroughfares include US Highway 277 and 281, which parallels the H. E. Bailey Turnpike to Wichita Falls to the south and leads to regional towns of Anadarko and Chickasha, respectively, to the north, and OK-7, which connects Lawton to Duncan.
Lawton Area Transit System (LATS) provides public transit for both Lawton and Fort Sill. Founded in 2002, LATS had a ridership of 427,088 in 2009, and provides five major routes throughout the city.
Intercity bus service is available from Jefferson Lines.
By air, Lawton is served by the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport (LAW, KLAW). At present, it offers daily American Eagle flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and is also used for military transport.
### Health care
Lawton has three major hospitals in the area. The largest, Comanche County Memorial Hospital, is a 283-bed nonprofit hospital that employs 250 physicians. Southwestern Medical Center is a 199-bed hospital with a staff of 150 physicians. In addition, the U.S. Public Health Lawton Indian Hospital is located in the city to provide health services for the large American Indian population. It has 26 beds with a staff of 23 physicians.
## Notable people
### Musicians and authors
- Don Blanding, (1894-1957), poet, cartoonist, author
- C. J. Cherryh, (b. 1942) Hugo Award-winning science fiction writer
- Conrad Herwig (b. 1959) jazz trombonist.
- Stephen Hillenburg, (1961 - 2018) SpongeBob SquarePants creator
- N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
- Leon Russell, (1942 - 2016) American musician and songwriter
- Bryan White, country music singer
- Kelly Willis, country music singer
### Political leaders
- Randy Bass Democratic State Senator
- Scott Ferris, U.S. representative
- Thomas Gore, U.S. Senator
- L. M. Gensman, Elmer Thomas,
- Gregory A. Miller, a attorney and politician born at Fort Sill in 1962, where his father, Ralph R. Miller, was stationed. Ralph Miller was a state representative from St. Charles Parish from 1968 to 1980 and 1982 to 1992.
- Julian Niemczyk US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (born on Fort Sill).
- T.W. Shannon, Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives
- Heck Thomas, law enforcement officer who in 1896 captured the outlaw Bill Doolin, the founder of the Wild Bunch gang, spent his later years as the first elected police chief in Lawton.
### Other notable residents
- Grady Brewer, 2006 contender, champion boxer
- Marty Brown, Buffalo Bisons manager and former MLB infielder
- Charles Chibitty, World War II Comanche code talker
- Joan Crawford, Academy Award-winning actress
- Vickie Gates, professional bodybuilder.
- Butch Huskey, former MLB outfielder
- Robert S. Johnson, WWII ace
- Tom Jordan, former MLB catcher
- Stacey King, three-time NBA champion
- Sam Maddux Jr., American Air Force lieutenant general and commander
- Lauren Nelson, Miss America 2017
- Michael Ray Richardson, former NBA All-Star
- Jason Rouser, 1996 Olympic gold medalist.
- Will Shields NFL Pro Bowlers and Jammal Brown,
- Kelly Stinnett, former MLB catcher
- Charles Thompson, motivational speaker and former University of Oklahoma quarterback |
5,599,513 | RalliSport Challenge 2 | 1,172,702,396 | null | [
"2004 video games",
"Digital Illusions CE games",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"Rally racing video games",
"Video games developed in Sweden",
"Video games scored by Olof Gustafsson",
"Video games scored by Tom Salta",
"Xbox games",
"Xbox-only games"
]
| RalliSport Challenge 2 is a rally racing video game developed by Digital Illusions CE and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox in 2004. Released as a sequel to the 2002 video game RalliSport Challenge, the game introduced several new features, including a career mode, additional cars, and track types with new environments, including night driving and ice racing. Digital Illusions CE developed RalliSport Challenge 2 as a completely new approach from its predecessor, with the developers aiming to create a more realistic and diverse simulation of rally racing by introducing added environmental effects and an improved car damage and handling model.
Microsoft released RalliSport Challenge 2 under the Xbox Sports Network line of sports games, marketed to take advantage of the Xbox Live network with online multiplayer. Similar to other Xbox Sports Network games, RalliSport Challenge 2 featured expanded multiplayer features, including online tournaments and leaderboards. Upon release, the game was positively received by reviewers, with praise directed towards the game's realistic visual presentation, the ease and accessibility of handling, and multiplayer features. Retrospective reviews of RalliSport Challenge 2 have assessed the game as one of the best racing games released for the Xbox, with a focus on the game's technical achievement at the time of its release.
## Gameplay
Described as an "arcade-style racer", RalliSport Challenge 2 features several racing modes from RalliSport Challenge, including 'Rally', a point-to-point solo race; 'Rallycross', a race against three opponents on a looped track; 'Ice Racing'; and 'Hill Climb', a race to the top of an incline. The game also features two new modes: 'Ice Racing', a race on a slick circular track, and 'Crossover', a race that switches lanes on a looped track. Races can be completed in several modes, including a 'Career' mode which features a progression of 90 tracks with progression through four difficulties ('Amateur', 'Pro', 'Champion', and 'Superrally'), with completion of Career tracks unlocking access to over 40 rally cars and new courses. The game also features 'Time Attack' races for the player to compete against recorded lap times and 'Single Race' modes played solo or against the computer.
A major addition to the design of RalliSport Challenge 2 over its predecessor was enhancements to the damage and handling model. Collision in the game creates damage to several components of the player's car, with many parts of the car becoming completely destructible, such as windows, doors, hoods and wheels. The game's interface allows players to monitor the status of damage to their car, with major damage affecting driving performance, such as speed and handling. Between races, players also can adjust tuning options to manipulate the handling of their car, including to change the tyre type for different environments, gear type and ratio, steering, and advanced options for brakes, power, and suspension.
RalliSport Challenge 2 featured integration with Xbox Live, which allowed for multiplayer races. Using Xbox Live or System Link, players could host or join a lobby to participate in races of up to sixteen players in contrast to the four available in local play. Online play was enhanced by the Xbox Sports Network, providing support for round robin and single elimination tournaments and seasons of races for players to compete as individuals or as part of a team. The Xbox Sports Network also featured web integration, which allowed players to track statistics, message other players, participate in forums, and receive notifications and updates on the XSN website. In line with other online-enabled games on the Xbox, multiplayer on Xbox Live was available to players until 15 April 2010.
## Development and release
RalliSport Challenge 2 was developed by Swedish developers Digital Illusions CE. The company began development immediately following the release of RalliSport Challenge in March 2002, with a total development time of two years. Producer Karl Magnus Troedsson stated development of the game was done from scratch, with "most of the architecture" of the game changed from RalliSport Challenge, including new environments and tracks. Lead designer Patrick Bach noted that the game was intended to "better reflect what a real rally is" over its predecessor, with the inclusion of an improved physics and damage model, wider roads, and longer track lengths. Product manager Adam Kovach stated the development process was also driven by player feedback seeking "more content" to the game, with the game's user-set career mode expanding the level of unlockable tracks available to the player.
In September 2003, RalliSport Challenge 2 was announced by Microsoft Game Studios as the first racing title in the Xbox Sports Network, a series of licensed sports games developed to take advantage of multiplayer capabilities under Xbox Live. Program manager David Bridgham stated the game was "built from the ground up" to support the online features of Xbox Live, with the game designed to support online tournaments and leaderboards using the service. RalliSport Challenge 2 was the last title to be released under the Xbox Sports Network upon cancellation of the brand in March 2004 due to the underperformance of titles. The game was showcased by Digital Illusions CE and Microsoft at several trade shows, including the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003, X in September 2003, and E3 in May 2004.
RalliSport Challenge 2 was the first major video game project of recording artist and composer Tom Salta, who developed several songs for the soundtrack of the game. The tracks were taken from Salta's 2004 debut album, 2 Days or Die. Salta stated the songs were developed intentionally under the moniker Atlas Plug for media licensing, with his publisher successfully pitching the music to Microsoft for licensing in RalliSport Challenge 2 before the songs were completed. Salta cited the "sheer energy" and "aggressive" tone of the tracks as suited to the racing genre. Exposure from RalliSport Challenge 2 led Volvo to license Salta's music for several advertisements for the S40, supported by footage from the game.
## Reception
RalliSport Challenge 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. GameSpot praised the game as a "wonderful sequel" and "fantastic rally racing game from top to bottom", stating that the game's presentational and feature upgrades "give the game a huge boost of replay value over its predecessor". Eurogamer praised the game as a "technical achievement" and "benchmark product in virtually every area". GameSpy praised the game as "supremely entertaining" and "hugely varied, devilishly addictive, and as purely accessible as a would-be rally champion could hope for." GameSpot named the game as the best Xbox title of May 2004, and a runner-up for its 2004 "Best Driving Game" award category.
The graphics and visual presentation of the game were highlighted, with several reviewers praising the game as the most visually impressive console racing game for its time. Eurogamer praised the game as "a new benchmark for driving games", stating "In terms of the graphics alone, it’s easily one of the best looking games", focusing on the "intricate touches" to the design of the track environments. GameSpot stated that the road and track textures were "absolutely perfect" and that "every visual effect associated with the cars...look absolutely great. There just aren't better car models available in any game currently on the console racing market". GameZone described the game as "easily the best-looking game released thus far this year", focusing upon the "intricately detailed environments" and "jaw-dropping" and "amazing" weather effects. Xbox Nation praised the game's "near photo-realism" as "shockingly good" and "hyperreal", describing the visuals as an "amazing replication of vehicular life on the edge and in the dirt".
Critics also focused upon the accessible handling of the cars, bridging the arcade and simulation genre of racing games. Eurogamer praised the handling as "impressively realistic yet fun" and "utterly assured and natural", describing it as "the most convincing car handling in any game". GameSpot praised the diversity of handling, stating that cars "handle superbly" and "each one drives just a bit differently...you can definitely feel the differences in each car". GameSpy described the handling as having an "arcade sensibility that knows just what hardcore elements to retain and which to minimize in favor of pure fun", stating "the physics have been balanced for a sense of notable realism..the sense of velocity is impressive". Similarly, Xbox Nation stated the "controls feel just arcadey enough to take the frustration out of driving a real car, but without being condescending to the veterans of the genre". However, Game Informer critiqued the handling as simplified, stating "cars feel like they pivot on a central point too much...I could veer from side to side and not feel like I was losing control of the car", suggesting this took the "skill and danger" out of gameplay.
The multiplayer features of the game were praised by critics, although many were mixed on the implementation of larger races. GameSpy stated the game "makes a great case for Live as a truly useful online service", remarking that the online play "adds a much higher level of competitiveness to already peerless tracks". Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the online play as "flawless", stating the game "(runs) perfectly on Xbox Live". However, IGN noted that "track design and technical issues" made play on many tracks impractical with sixteen players. GameSpot similarly stated that "with collision turned off, you don't see the full car models of your opponents; rather, you're given colored outlines of the cars...it is a little bizarre that the ability to collide with other cars actually determines the number of cars in a race".
### Sales
RalliSport Challenge 2 was a commercial disappointment. The game sold 410,000 units as of December 2005, well under half of the 900,000 units sold of RalliSport Challenge. The game entered the UK sales charts at a peak position of 13 in May 2004. David Jenkins of Game Developer observed the "disappointing" sales performance of the game, predicting "little hope of long-term success". The game fared slightly better upon release in other markets, peaking at 10 on the US EB Games sales charts for all consoles in August 2004 and at 9 in Japan in October 2004.
### Retrospective reception
Several outlets praised RalliSport Challenge 2 in the years immediately following its release. Eurogamer, in a 2006 article, stated that the game "remains the finest arcade rally game ever made", praising the game for "pushing the capabilities of the Xbox to near-breaking point". Hyper described the game as a "tragically overlooked rally title", praising the game's multiplayer mode and replayability as "bringing out the best in rally racers". IGN deemed the game one of the best racing games for the Xbox, praising the game as an "all-time favorite" and stating "not only is it one of the best-looking Xbox racers, it is incredibly fun to play". Writing in a compendium of driving games, Sanches praised the game as an "impressively accomplished and worthy driving game", praising the game's "daunting single-player content", "various and engaging types of events offered", and the game's "remarkable environments" as "easily some of the best technically and largest in any genre at the time of its release". |
34,200,979 | Trivia (The Office) | 1,153,520,672 | null | [
"2012 American television episodes",
"The Office (American season 8) episodes"
]
| "Trivia" is the eleventh episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 163rd episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 12, 2012. It was written by Steve Hely and was directed by executive producer B. J. Novak.
In this episode, Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) reveals that he is partaking in a trivia contest in Philadelphia and Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) tries to get the entire office involved. Meanwhile, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) journeys to Florida and meets with his boss, Robert California (James Spader), in order to explore other job opportunities.
After airing, the episode sparked a debate among fans, as well as critics, as to whether former leading actor Steve Carell had made an uncredited cameo as a member of an opposing trivia team. NBC later denied that Carell had made an appearance and stated that the situation was just a coincidence. "Trivia" received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many noting that the episode marked an improvement from the first part of the season. Despite this, several reviews were critical of the Dwight sub-plot. According to Nielsen Media Research, "Trivia" drew 5.87 million viewers and received a 2.9 rating/7% share in the 18–49 demographic, staying relatively even with the previous three episodes, "Christmas Wishes", "Gettysburg" and "Mrs. California". It ranked third in its timeslot and was the highest-rated NBC series of the night.
## Plot
Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), worried that he will not be able to meet the 8% quarterly sales growth figures that Robert California (James Spader) asked for by about \$800, proposes that everyone in the office buy paper to alleviate some of the burden, but no one is willing. He then asks Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) to make a rounding mistake in the books. Oscar tells Andy that he does not have time to make the mistake because he is leaving for a trivia contest with a \$1,000 prize in a bar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Andy, encouraged by Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), decides to take the entire office to Philadelphia in an attempt to win the money and make up the sales growth difference. At the bar, which turns out to be a gay bar called the Liberty Well, Andy divides the office into three teams: the A-Team consisting of Jim, Darryl, Andy, and Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak), the B-Team consisting of Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker), Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith), Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton), and Cathy Simms (Lindsey Broad), and the "Just For Fun" team consisting of Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling), Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper), and Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery). Oscar refuses to join Andy and stays on his original team. Initially, the Dunder Mifflin A-Team does well but soon falters. However, the "Just For Fun" team (calling themselves The Einsteins) does much better than expected because of the group's trivial knowledge on a variety of issues (though at one point, they ironically get a question about Albert Einstein wrong). They make it to the final round against Oscar's team and eventually win thanks to Kevin's correct answers. However, the Just for Fun team later get demolished while trying to win another bar's even more lucrative trivia contest.
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) heads down to Florida to meet with Robert California at the Sabre headquarters to discuss a possible manager position in the printers division. While sitting in the waiting room, Dwight talks to Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods), who describes himself as the essential "toilet of the company" who flushes all the unwanted items away. Robert then tells Dwight that he cannot meet with him but will have him meet with Bill, another executive, much to Dwight's frustration. Robert secretly calls Gabe and instructs him to not let Dwight speak with Bill either, but to listen to Dwight's pitch and then reject him. Gabe can barely keep a straight face throughout Dwight's pitch. Dwight, after being told by Gabe that Dwight isn't wanted as a manager, grabs and twists Gabe's arm and forces him to take him to Robert's Florida condo. Initially, Robert tries to spare Dwight's feelings, telling him that his drive and energy would be wasted in a manager's position and attempting to give him a medal as a sign of respect. Dwight resists, so Robert eventually turns him down by telling him he is a better salesman. Dwight then returns to Scranton.
## Production
The episode was written by supervising producer Steve Hely, at the time, his second writing credit for the series. It was directed by executive producer and cast member B. J. Novak, who portrays Ryan Howard on the show. The episode also marks the fifth appearance of Lindsey Broad, who plays Cathy, Pam's replacement during her maternity leave. She appeared in a recurring role for the season and she initially appeared in "Pam's Replacement." Due to Jenna Fischer's actual pregnancy, Pam did not appear in the episode. After airing, the episode sparked a debate among fans, as well as critics, as to whether former leading actor Steve Carell had made an uncredited cameo as a member of an opposing trivia team, The Queerstein Bears. NBC later denied that Carell had made an appearance and stated that the situation was just a coincidence. The Season Eight DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include Andy attempting to get the office to sell \$800 worth of paper in a day, and Andy trying to switch team members in order to boost Dunder Mifflin A-Team's chance of winning.
## Cultural references
Due to the episode largely taking place at a trivia contest, "Trivia" featured a plethora of cultural references. After Ryan uses his smart phone, the trivia reader chides him for checking his Grindr account, a geosocial networking application for gay men. Dwight compares himself to a Spanish conquistador, coming to Florida to "claim what is rightfully [his]." Several of the trivia teams featured names with culturally related puns. The teams included: The Queerenstein Bears, Joey Triviani, Impish Impresarios, Two Broke Dorks, Jason So-Gay-Kiss, Ladies Gaga, Aesop's Foibles, and Lawrence O-Trivier.
Many of the references were either the answers to trivia questions, or incorrect guesses. The "Einsteins" erroneously guess "See-atle" when asked what the capital of the state that was on Ray Charles' mind when he wrote one of his most famous songs was. After being asked a question about Albert Einstein, the "Einsteins" answer with Thomas Edison, much to the delight of the sarcastic trivia reader. L'Damian Washington is referenced by Ryan incorrectly as the winner of the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2011. Kelly is able to correctly guess a basketball question because she cross-referenced her knowledge of Khloe and Lamar and Dancing with the Stars. Kevin knows that the answer to the final trivia question is the 2001 French film Les Jolies Choses, starring Marion Cotillard, because Cotillard "exposes herself a number of times."
## Reception
### Ratings
"Trivia" originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 12, 2012. The episode was viewed by an estimated 5.87 million viewers and received a 2.9 rating/7% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 2.9% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 7% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode remained relatively equal in ratings compared with the previous episode, "Christmas Wishes." The episode finished third in its time slot, being beaten by Grey's Anatomy which received a 3.8 rating/9% share and the CBS drama Person of Interest which received a 3.2 rating/8% share in the 18–49 demographic. The episode, however, did manage to beat the Fox drama series The Finder and The CW drama series The Secret Circle.
### Reviews
"Trivia" received relatively positive reviews, although many critics did not enjoy the Florida sub-plot. Many television critics agreed that "Trivia" was a marked improvement over many of the episodes in the first part of the season. Craig McQuinn from The Faster Times wrote, "Aside from a few weak moments, 'Trivia' was a solid episode of The Office and a vast improvement over most of the episodes this season." Myles McNutt from The A.V. Club awarded the episode a B+ rating and wrote positively of the trivia plot, saying, "When The Office reaches its next hiatus, and then its subsequent return, I’ll find myself hoping for more like the trivia side of 'Trivia', storylines that even after contrived introductions can simply sit back and let the character-driven jokes take over the narrative." Chris Plante from New York magazine explained that "If you plan to continue watching The Office, here’s my advice ... You need to forget the negative energy this show attracts. Start thinking of Season Eight like a reboot." He concluded that "The Office is not irreparable. It’s not great either, but there is some marked improvement here over the worst episodes from the first half of the season." Lizzie Fuhr from BuzzSugar.com wrote positively on both the trivia A-plot and the Dwight and Robert B-plot. TV Fanatic reviewer Dan Forcella called the trivia conceit "quite fun" and awarded the episode 3.5 out of 5 stars. The Huffington Post wrote that "The Office continues to find fun and unique ways to spotlight how mundane office life can be by showing ways the gang finds to fill their day." Alan Sepinwall from HitFix, who was notably critical of the new season, called the episode "charming." IGN reviewer Cindy White noted that the episode bore stylistic similarities to the third episode of the British version of the show, entitled "The Quiz", writing that "while 'Trivia' does loosely allude to that pub quiz with a bar trivia night, that turns out to be the only thing the two have in common." She did, however, positively write about the humor of the episode, noting that, "the writers squeezed some good laughs out of the idea, and it feels good to be laughing again at The Office."
While a large majority of critics praised the main trivia storyline, many reviews criticized the Dwight and Robert plot. McNutt wrote that, "As the trivia storyline was building momentum, the Florida storyline was killing that same momentum, a push-and-pull that the trivia ended up winning." Forcella explained that "the titular storyline of the gang playing 'Trivia' in Philadelphia worked really well, but the forced trio in Florida definitely did not." Jill Mader from InsidePulse.com wrote, "All in all, I thought it was an inconsistent episode – I liked the trivia storyline, but the Dwight stuff really fell flat for me." |
33,862 | Wannsee Conference | 1,172,469,204 | 1942 Holocaust planning meeting | [
"1940s in Berlin",
"1942 conferences",
"1942 in Europe",
"1942 in Germany",
"1942 in Judaism",
"Holocaust commemoration",
"Holocaust historiography",
"January 1942 events",
"Planning the Holocaust",
"Reinhard Heydrich",
"Steglitz-Zehlendorf",
"World War II conferences"
]
| The Wannsee Conference (German: Wannseekonferenz, ) was a meeting of senior government officials of Nazi Germany and Schutzstaffel (SS) leaders, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference, called by the director of the Reich Security Main Office SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, was to ensure the co-operation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, whereby most of the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to occupied Poland and murdered. Conference participants included representatives from several government ministries, including state secretaries from the Foreign Office, the justice, interior, and state ministries, and representatives from the SS. In the course of the meeting, Heydrich outlined how European Jews would be rounded up and sent to extermination camps in the General Government (the occupied part of Poland), where they would be killed.
Discrimination against Jews began immediately after the Nazi seizure of power on 30 January 1933. Violence and economic pressure were used by the Nazi regime to encourage Jews to voluntarily leave the country. After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the extermination of European Jewry began, and the killings continued and accelerated after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. On 31 July 1941, Hermann Göring gave written authorization to Heydrich to prepare and submit a plan for a "total solution of the Jewish question" in territories under German control and to coordinate the participation of all involved government organisations. At the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich emphasised that once the deportation process was complete, the fate of the deportees would become an internal matter under the purview of the SS. A secondary goal was to arrive at a definition of who was Jewish.
One copy of the Protocol with circulated minutes of the meeting survived the war. It was found by Robert Kempner in March 1947 among files that had been seized from the German Foreign Office. It was used as evidence in the subsequent Nuremberg trials. The Wannsee House, site of the conference, is now a Holocaust memorial.
## Background
Legalized discrimination against Jews in Germany began immediately after the Nazi seizure of power in January 1933. The ideology of Nazism brought together elements of antisemitism, racial hygiene, and eugenics and combined them with pan-Germanism and territorial expansionism with the goal of obtaining more Lebensraum (living space) for the Germanic people. Nazi Germany attempted to obtain this new territory by invading Poland and the Soviet Union, intending to deport or exterminate the Jews and Slavs living there, who were viewed as being inferior to the Aryan master race.
Discrimination against Jews, long-standing but extra-legal throughout much of Europe at the time, was codified in Germany immediately after the Nazi seizure of power on 30 January 1933. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, passed on 7 April of that year, excluded most Jews from the legal profession and the civil service. Similar legislation soon deprived other Jews of the right to practise their professions. Violence and economic pressure were used by the regime to force Jews to leave the country. Jewish businesses were denied access to markets, forbidden to advertise in newspapers, and deprived of access to government contracts. Citizens were harassed and subjected to violent attacks and boycotts of their businesses.
In September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were enacted, prohibiting marriages between Jews and people of Germanic extraction, extramarital sexual relations between Jews and Germans, and the employment of German women under the age of 45 as domestic servants in Jewish households. The Citizenship Law stated that only those of German or related blood were defined as citizens; thus, Jews and other minority groups were stripped of their German citizenship. A supplementary decree issued in November defined as Jewish anyone with three Jewish grandparents, or two grandparents if the Jewish faith was followed. By the start of World War II in Europe in 1939, around 250,000 of Germany's 437,000 Jews emigrated to the United States, British Mandatory Palestine, Great Britain, and other countries.
After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, Hitler ordered that the Polish leadership and intelligentsia be destroyed. The Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen (Special Ledger of Wanted Persons–Poland)—lists of people to be located so they could be interned or killed—had been drawn up by the SS as early as May 1939. The Einsatzgruppen (special task forces) performed these murders with the support of the Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz (Germanic Self-Protection Group), a paramilitary group consisting of ethnic Germans living in Poland. Members of the SS, the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces), and the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police; Orpo) also shot civilians during the Polish campaign. Approximately 65,000 civilians were killed by the end of 1939. In addition to leaders of Polish society, they killed Jews, prostitutes, Romani people, and the mentally ill.
On 31 July 1941, Hermann Göring gave written authorization to SS-Obergruppenführer (Senior Group Leader) Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), to prepare and submit a plan for a "total solution of the Jewish question" in territories under German control and to coordinate the participation of all involved government organisations. The resulting Generalplan Ost (General Plan for the East) called for deporting the population of occupied Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to Siberia, for use as slave labour or to be murdered. The minutes of the Wannsee Conference estimated the Jewish population of the Soviet Union to be five million, including nearly three million in Ukraine.
In addition to eliminating Jews, the Nazis also planned to reduce the population of the conquered territories by 30 million people through starvation in an action called the Hunger Plan devised by Herbert Backe. Food supplies would be diverted to the German army and German civilians. Cities would be razed and the land allowed to return to forest or resettled by German colonists. The objective of the Hunger Plan was to inflict deliberate mass starvation on the Slavic civilian populations under German occupation by directing all food supplies to the German home population and the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. According to the historian Timothy Snyder, "4.2 million Soviet citizens (largely Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians) were starved" by the Nazis (and the Nazi-controlled Wehrmacht) in 1941–1944 as a result of Backe's plan.
Harvests were poor in Germany in 1940 and 1941 and food supplies were short, as large numbers of forced labourers had been brought into the country to work in the armaments industry. If these workers—as well as the German people—were to be adequately fed, there must be a sharp reduction in the number of "useless mouths", of whom the millions of Jews under German rule were, in the light of Nazi ideology, the most obvious example.
At the time of the Wannsee Conference, the killing of Jews in the Soviet Union had already been underway for some months. Right from the start of Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of the Soviet Union—Einsatzgruppen were assigned to follow the army into the conquered areas and round up and kill Jews. In a letter dated 2 July 1941, Heydrich communicated to his SS and police leaders that the Einsatzgruppen were to execute Comintern officials, ranking members of the Communist Party, extremist and radical Communist Party members, people's commissars, and Jews in party and government posts. Open-ended instructions were given to execute "other radical elements (saboteurs, propagandists, snipers, assassins, agitators, etc.)". He instructed that any pogroms spontaneously initiated by the occupants of the conquered territories were to be quietly encouraged. On 8 July, he announced that all Jews were to be regarded as partisans, and gave the order for all male Jews between the ages of 15 and 45 to be shot. By August the net had been widened to include women, children, and the elderly—the entire Jewish population. By the time planning was underway for the Wannsee Conference, hundreds of thousands of Polish, Serbian, and Russian Jews had already been killed. The initial plan was to implement Generalplan Ost after the conquest of the Soviet Union. European Jews would be deported to occupied parts of Russia, where they would be worked to death in road-building projects.
## Planning the conference
On 29 November 1941, Heydrich sent invitations for a ministerial conference to be held on 9 December at the offices of Interpol at Am Kleinen Wannsee 16. He changed the venue on 4 December to the eventual location of the meeting. He enclosed a copy of a letter from Göring dated 31 July that authorised him to plan a so-called Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The ministries to be represented were Interior, Justice, the Four Year Plan, Propaganda, and the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
Between the date the invitations to the conference went out (29 November) and the date of the cancelled first meeting (9 December), the situation changed. On 5 December 1941, the Red Army began a counter-offensive in front of Moscow, ending the prospect of a rapid conquest of the Soviet Union. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese carried out an attack on Pearl Harbor, causing the U.S. to declare war on Japan the next day. Germany declared war on the U.S. on 11 December. Some invitees were involved in these preparations, so Heydrich postponed his meeting. Somewhere around this time, Hitler resolved that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated immediately, rather than after the war, which now had no end in sight. At the Reich Chancellery meeting of 12 December 1941 he met with top party officials and made his intentions plain. On 18 December, Hitler discussed the fate of the Jews with Himmler in the Wolfsschanze. Following the meeting, Himmler made a note on his service calendar, which simply stated: "Jewish question/to be destroyed as partisans".
The war was still ongoing, and since transporting masses of people into a combat zone was impossible, Heydrich decided that the Jews currently living in the General Government (the German-occupied area of Poland) would be killed in extermination camps set up in occupied areas of Poland, as would Jews from the rest of Europe.
On 8 January 1942, Heydrich sent new invitations to a meeting to be held on 20 January. The venue for the rescheduled conference was a villa at Am Großen Wannsee 56–58, overlooking the Großer Wannsee. The villa had been purchased from Friedrich Minoux in 1940 by the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Force; SD) for use as a conference centre and guest house.
## Attendees
Heydrich invited representatives from several government ministries, including state secretaries from the Foreign Office, the Justice, Interior, and State Ministries, and representatives from the SS. The process of disseminating information about the fate of the Jews was already well underway by the time the meeting was held. Of the 15 officials who attended the conference, 8 held academic doctorates. Shorthand notes for the minutes were taken by Eichmann's secretary, Ingeburg Werlemann, and the minutes were later written by Eichmann in consultation with Heydrich.
## Proceedings
In preparation for the conference, Eichmann drafted a list of the total numbers of Jews in the various European countries. Countries were listed in two groups, "A" and "B". "A" countries were those under direct German control or occupation (or partially occupied and quiescent, in the case of Vichy France); "B" countries were allied or client states, neutral, or at war with Germany. The numbers reflect the estimated Jewish population within each country; for example, Estonia is listed as Judenfrei (free of Jews), since the 4,500 Jews who remained in Estonia after the German occupation had been killed by the end of 1941. Occupied Poland was not on the list because by 1939 the country was split three ways among Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany in the west, the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union in the east, and the General Government where many Polish and Jewish expellees had already been resettled.
Heydrich opened the conference with an account of the anti-Jewish measures taken in Germany since the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. He said that between 1933 and October 1941, 537,000 German, Austrian, and Czech Jews had emigrated. This information was taken from a briefing paper prepared for him the previous week by Eichmann.
Heydrich reported that there were approximately eleven million Jews in the whole of Europe, of whom half were in countries not under German control. He explained that since further Jewish emigration had been prohibited by Himmler, a new solution would take its place: "evacuating" Jews to the east. This would be a temporary solution, a step towards the "final solution of the Jewish question".
> Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as the seed of a new Jewish revival.
German historian Peter Longerich notes that vague orders couched in terminology that had a specific meaning for members of the regime were common, especially when people were being ordered to carry out criminal activities. Leaders were given briefings about the need to be "severe" and "firm"; all Jews were to be viewed as potential enemies that had to be dealt with ruthlessly. The wording of the Wannsee Protocol—the distributed minutes of the meeting—made it clear to participants that evacuation east was a euphemism for death.
Heydrich went on to say that in the course of the "practical execution of the final solution", Europe would be "combed through from west to east", but that Germany, Austria, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia would have priority, "due to the housing problem and additional social and political necessities". This was a reference to increasing pressure from the Gauleiters (regional Nazi Party leaders) in Germany for the Jews to be removed from their areas to allow accommodation for Germans made homeless by Allied bombing, as well as to make space for laborers being imported from occupied countries. The "evacuated" Jews, he said, would first be sent to "transit ghettos" in the General Government, from which they would be transported eastward. Heydrich said that to avoid legal and political difficulties, it was important to define who was a Jew for the purposes of "evacuation". He outlined categories of people who would not be killed. Jews over 65 years old, and Jewish World War I veterans who had been severely wounded or who had won the Iron Cross, might be sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp instead of being killed. "With this expedient solution", he said, "in one fell swoop, many interventions will be prevented."
The situation of people who were half or quarter Jews, and of Jews who were married to non-Jews, was more complex. Under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, their status had been left deliberately ambiguous. Heydrich announced that Mischlinge (mixed-race persons) of the first degree (persons with two Jewish grandparents) would be treated as Jews. This would not apply if they were married to a non-Jew and had children by that marriage. It would also not apply if they had been granted written exemption by "the highest offices of the Party and State". Such persons would be sterilised or deported if they refused sterilisation. A "Mischling of the second degree" (a person with one Jewish grandparent) would be treated as German, unless he or she was married to a Jew or a Mischling of the first degree, had a "racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Jew", or had a "political record that shows that he feels and behaves like a Jew". Persons in these latter categories would be killed even if married to non-Jews. In the case of mixed marriages, Heydrich recommended that each case should be evaluated individually, and the impact on any German relatives assessed. If such a marriage had produced children who were being raised as Germans, the Jewish partner would not be killed. If they were being raised as Jews, they might be killed or sent to an old-age ghetto. These exemptions applied only to German and Austrian Jews, and were not always observed even for them. In most of the occupied countries, Jews were rounded up and killed en masse, and anyone who lived in or identified with the Jewish community in any given place was regarded as a Jew.
Heydrich commented, "In occupied and unoccupied France, the registration of Jews for evacuation will in all probability proceed without great difficulty", but in the end, the great majority of French-born Jews survived. More difficulty was anticipated with Germany's allies Romania and Hungary. "In Romania the government has [now] appointed a commissioner for Jewish affairs", Heydrich said. In fact the deportation of Romanian Jews was slow and inefficient despite a high degree of popular antisemitism. "In order to settle the question in Hungary", Heydrich said, "it will soon be necessary to force an adviser for Jewish questions onto the Hungarian government". The Hungarian regime of Miklós Horthy continued to resist German interference in its Jewish policy until the spring of 1944, when the Wehrmacht invaded Hungary. Very soon, Eichmann – with the collaboration of Hungarian authorities – would send 600,000 Jews of Hungary (and parts of Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia occupied by Hungary) to be murdered in the extermination camps, primarily Auschwitz.
Heydrich spoke for nearly an hour. Then followed about thirty minutes of questions and comments, followed by some less formal conversation. Otto Hofmann (head of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office; RuSHA) and Wilhelm Stuckart (State Secretary of the Interior Ministry) pointed out the legalistic and administrative difficulties over mixed marriages, and suggested compulsory dissolution of mixed marriages or the wider use of sterilisation as a simpler alternative. Erich Neumann from the Four Year Plan argued for the exemption of Jews who were working in industries vital to the war effort and for whom no replacements were available. Heydrich assured him that this was already the policy; such Jews would not be killed. Josef Bühler, State Secretary of the General Government, stated his support for the plan and his hope that the killings would commence as soon as possible. Towards the end of the meeting cognac was served, and after that the conversation became less restrained. "The gentlemen were standing together, or sitting together", Eichmann said, "and were discussing the subject quite bluntly, quite differently from the language which I had to use later in the record. During the conversation they minced no words about it at all ... they spoke about methods of killing, about liquidation, about extermination". Eichmann recorded that Heydrich was pleased with the course of the meeting. He had expected a lot of resistance, Eichmann recalled, but instead, he had found "an atmosphere not only of agreement on the part of the participants, but more than that, one could feel an agreement which had assumed a form which had not been expected".
### Eichmann's list
## Wannsee Protocol
At the conclusion of the meeting Heydrich gave Eichmann firm instructions about what was to appear in the minutes. They were not to be verbatim: Eichmann ensured that nothing too explicit appeared in them. He said at his trial: "How shall I put it – certain over-plain talk and jargon expressions had to be rendered into office language by me". Eichmann condensed his records into a document outlining the purpose of the meeting and the intentions of the regime. He stated at his trial that it was personally edited by Heydrich, and thus reflected the message he intended the participants to take away from the meeting. Copies of the minutes (known from the German word for "minutes" as the "Wannsee Protocol") were sent by Eichmann to all the participants after the meeting. Most of these copies were destroyed at the end of the war as participants and other officials sought to cover their tracks. It was not until 1947 that Luther's copy (number 16 out of 30 copies prepared) was found by Robert Kempner, a U.S. prosecutor in the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, in files that had been seized from the German Foreign Office.
## Interpretation
The Wannsee Conference lasted only about ninety minutes. The enormous importance which has been attached to the conference by post-war writers was not evident to most of its participants at the time. Heydrich did not call the meeting to make fundamental new decisions on the Jewish question; massive killings of Jews in the conquered territories in the Soviet Union and Poland were ongoing. A new extermination camp was under construction at Belzec at the time of the conference, and other extermination camps were in the planning stages. The decision to exterminate the Jews had already been made, and Heydrich, as Himmler's emissary, held the meeting to ensure the cooperation of the various departments in conducting the deportations. Observations from historian Laurence Rees support Longerich's position that the decision over the fate of the Jews was determined before the conference; Rees notes that the Wannsee Conference was really a meeting of "second-level functionaries", and stresses that Himmler, Goebbels, and Hitler were not present. According to Longerich, a primary goal of the meeting was to emphasise that once the deportations had been completed, the fate of the deportees became an internal matter of the SS, totally outside the purview of any other agency. A secondary goal was to determine the scope of the deportations and arrive at definitions of who was Jewish and who was Mischling. "The representatives of the ministerial bureaucracy had made it plain that they had no concerns about the principle of deportation per se. This was indeed the crucial result of the meeting and the main reason why Heydrich had detailed minutes prepared and widely circulated", said Longerich. Their presence at the meeting also ensured that all those present were accomplices and accessories to the murders that were about to be undertaken.
Eichmann's biographer David Cesarani agrees with Longerich's interpretation; he notes that Heydrich's main purpose was to impose his own authority on the various ministries and agencies involved in Jewish policy matters, and to avoid any repetition of the objections to the deportations and genocide from his military and civilian subordinates that had occurred earlier in the annihilation campaign. "The simplest, most decisive way that Heydrich could ensure the smooth flow of deportations", he writes, "was by asserting his total control over the fate of the Jews in the Reich and the east, and [by] cow[ing] other interested parties into toeing the line of the RSHA".
## House of the Wannsee Conference
In 1965, historian Joseph Wulf proposed that the Wannsee House should be made into a Holocaust memorial and document centre, but the West German government was not interested at that time. The building was in use as a school, and funding was not available. Despondent at the failure of the project, and the West German government's failure to pursue and convict Nazi war criminals, Wulf committed suicide in 1974.
On 20 January 1992, on the fiftieth anniversary of the conference, the site was finally opened as a Holocaust memorial and museum known as the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz (House of the Wannsee Conference). The museum also hosts permanent exhibits of texts and photographs that document events of the Holocaust and its planning. The Joseph Wulf Bibliothek / Mediothek on the second floor houses a large collection of books on the Nazi era, plus other materials such as microfilms and original Nazi documents.
## See also
- The Wannsee Conference – 1984 German-language TV film
- Fatherland – 1992 alternate history novel dealing in large part with the Wannsee Conference
- Fatherland – 1994 film adaptation of the homonymous novel.
- Conspiracy – 2001 English-language film
- Die Wannseekonferenz – The Wannsee Conference, 2022 German-language TV film |
36,917,670 | Darin Ruf | 1,159,274,276 | American baseball player (born 1986) | [
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"American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela",
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"Florida Complex League Phillies players",
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"Lakewood BlueClaws players",
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"New York Mets players",
"Philadelphia Phillies players",
"Reading Phillies players",
"Sacramento River Cats players",
"Samsung Lions players",
"San Francisco Giants players",
"Scottsdale Scorpions players",
"Tiburones de La Guaira players",
"Williamsport Crosscutters players",
"Wisconsin Woodchucks players"
]
| Darin Cortland Ruf (born July 28, 1986) is an American professional baseball first baseman, left fielder, and designated hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, and New York Mets. Ruf was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and played at Westside High School. Subsequently, he attended Creighton University, excelled playing baseball there, and was named the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player of the Year.
The Philadelphia Phillies drafted him in the 20th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. In the minor leagues, he initially hit for a high batting average, but in 2011 combined that with power numbers to become one of the Phillies' top prospects. In 2012 he led the minor leagues (and the Eastern League) with 38 home runs, and was the Eastern League Most Valuable Player. He made his major league debut in 2012. In 2013, he split time between Triple-A and the major league Phillies. He was embroiled in a roster battle for a bench spot entering 2014, but hurt his oblique, and landed on the disabled list prior to the season. He remained with the Phillies for two more seasons, but by 2016 his time on the major league roster ended. He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he did not play in any games before they sold his contract to the Samsung Lions of the KBO League.
Ruf spent three seasons in South Korea, and in 2017 he led the KBO in runs batted in. After two more successful seasons at the plate, he returned stateside and signed with the San Francisco Giants, with whom he earned a major league roster spot. The Giants traded him to the New York Mets during the 2022 season; he played for the Mets for the remainder of that season before being designated for assignment and released prior to the 2023 season.
## Early life and career
Ruf was born to parents Bill and Mary Ruf in Omaha, Nebraska; he has four siblings (one of whom is older, the rest younger). He attended Westside High School, where he helped the team win a Nebraska state championship his sophomore season and finish as the runner-up his senior year. He also played football and basketball, and was the captain of the baseball and football teams – during his senior season, he achieved all-state honors in both football and basketball.
After his senior season, he committed to play baseball at Creighton University for its "combination of athletics and academics"; there, he was a "standout" over his four seasons, serving as the squad's first baseman.
In Ruf's freshman season (2006), he started all 52 games. His sophomore season (2007) he was named the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player of the Year, a member of both the first-team all conference squad, and a first-team all-conference scholar athlete. He also was named an all-star for his performance in summer collegiate baseball, during which he was a member of the Wisconsin Woodchucks of the Northwoods League. During his junior season (2008) he compiled a 15-game hitting streak that contributed to his .347 season batting average. After the 2008 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League. His collegiate career culminated in 2009, when he was named to the second-team all-MVC team and a third-team academic-All American by ESPN. Overall, he was "all over the Bluejay record books, finishing second in runs batted in (RBIs) with 201, third in total bases with 423 and in hits with 275, sixth in walks with 135, seventh in doubles with 57 and tied for 10th in home runs with 27 ... (he) started all 227 games in his career." While at Creighton, he earned a degree in finance, compiled a 3.51 grade point average (GPA), and aspired to be a successful businessman.
## Professional career
### Minor leagues (2009–11)
Ruf was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 20th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. After the Phillies drafted him, scouting director Marti Wolever asserted that Ruf "is an outstanding defensive first baseman with a chance to hit and has tremendous makeup." After converting to play predominantly in the outfield, however, Ruf's fielding was characterized as either "serviceable" or "weak", and Phillies general manager Rubén Amaro, Jr. commented that he did not have the defensive skills to play every day.
Ruf's first professional assignment was the GCL Phillies in 2009; after performing well there, he was promoted to the Williamsport Crosscutters of short season A. With both squads, he held a batting average of over .300. He also participated in the Florida Instructional League. In 2010, he began the season with the Lakewood BlueClaws, also of Class A, but spent only 32 games there. The Phillies promoted him to the Class A-Advanced Clearwater Threshers, and was the Phillies' minor league player of the week in late May. In total, he amassed nine home runs and 67 RBIs while posting a .290 amalgamated batting average.
His power emergence began in 2011 when he hit a Florida State League-leading 43 doubles, as well as 17 home runs (8th in the league) and 82 RBIs (4th) and a .308 batting average. Defensively, he played first base, third base, and left field, and even pitched two innings of relief during a 23-inning game. He was named an MiLB.com Organization All Star and a post-season All Star. After the season, he played in the Arizona Fall League for the Scottsdale Scorpions.
### Philadelphia Phillies (2012–2016)
Ruf enjoyed great success playing for the Reading Phillies (since renamed the Reading Fightin Phils) in 2012, earning Eastern League Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors, as well as the Paul Owens Award, which is given to the best player in the Phillies' minor league system. During the season, the Fightin Phils sold T-shirts that said "Babe Ruf", a reference to Babe Ruth. He batted .317/.408/.620 and led the Eastern League (and all of minor league baseball) with 38 home runs, 104 RBIs, in on-base percentage, in slugging percentage, and in 1.028 OPS, and tied for the league lead by playing in 139 games and 11 sacrifice flies, while second in runs behind Aaron Hicks (93), third in walks (65), and seventh in doubles (32), all en route to earning a September callup and making his major league debut on September 14 (skipping the Triple-A level entirely). He was named Rookie of the Year, a mid-season All Star, a post-season All Star, an MiLB.com Organization All Star, and a Topps Double-A All Star.
He recorded his first major league hit on September 25, a home run off the Washington Nationals' Ross Detwiler. Ruf totaled three home runs and 10 RBIs in his 12-game "cup of coffee" at the end of the season. An article on Phillies Nation summarized his season and journey through the minor league system:
> Darin Ruf slugged his way onto the scene about midway through the 2012 season with the Reading Phillies; it wasn't as though Ruf was some highly-touted prospect everyone knew about. Really, he was an afterthought at 26 years old; a guy who was just kind of there. That all changed.
Ruf started the 2013 season in Triple-A with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, but was recalled by the Phillies on July 6 when Ryan Howard was placed on the disabled list. In the minor leagues he was named a Baseball America Double-A All Star. At the major league level, he finished fifth among rookies with 14 home runs, nine of which were in August, the most among any major league player during that stretch. Of his 70 starts at the major league level, 28 were at first base, 27 in right field, and 16 in left field, while of his 78 starts in Triple-A, 59 came in left field and 19 came at first base. Ruf struggled to find a spot on the Phillies roster at which he could contribute, despite strong performance: "Even after proving he can be a productive offensive contributor and showing his defensive versatility, Ruf's spot in the Phils’ lineup may not be locked in for next season." one columnist wrote. For the season, he batted .247/.348/.458.
Entering the 2014 season, he was set to compete for a spot on the bench, as Amaro declared that he was not good enough, particularly defensively, to play every day. However, the Phillies placed him on the disabled list (DL) due to a strained oblique; his estimated recovery time was around the end of April or the beginning of May. When Ruf returned, he played for the IronPigs, but suffered another injury on June 3, fracturing his left wrist when sliding into the wall while playing left field. He returned to the major league Phillies on July 22 when John Mayberry, Jr. landed on the disabled list, but struggled in his first several games; in his first 17 at-bats, he had just two hits. Nevertheless, the Phillies toyed with platooning him with Ryan Howard, who was also struggling, at first base, and Ruf also played two innings at third base. Overall, Ruf amassed only 117 major league plate appearances, batting .235/.310/.402, and was significantly hindered by injuries.
As 2015 began, Ruf once again had to fight for playing time; there was no clear opening for him on the Phillies' roster, notwithstanding the fact that he was one of the few players on the roster with the ability to hit for power. For the season, he batted .235/.300/.414. He had the lowest batting average against right-handers among all MLB hitters (140 or more plate appearances), at .158.
On May 13, 2016, Ruf was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the roster for Tommy Joseph. With Lehigh Valley he was second in the league with 20 home runs, 5th with a .529 slugging percentage, and 7th with 65 RBIs. He was named an MiLB.com Organization All Star. For the season in the major leagues, he batted .205/.236/.337. On November 11, 2016, Ruf was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers (along with Darnell Sweeney) in exchange for Howie Kendrick.
### Samsung Lions (2017–2019)
On February 17, 2017, Ruf's \$1.1 million contract with the Dodgers was sold to the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. In his first season in South Korea, Ruf batted .315/.396/.569 and led the KBO League with 124 RBIs while also hitting 38 doubles (5th) and 31 home runs (6th).
He was re-signed for the 2018 season at \$1.5 million. In 2018 he batted .330/.419/.605 with 33 home runs (8th) and 125 RBIs (tied for 2nd) and 65 walks (6th) with a 1.024 OPS (3rd).
In 2019 he batted .292/.396/.515 with 35 doubles (4th in the league), 22 home runs (6th), 101 RBIs (5th), and 80 walks (2nd), with a .911 OPS (5th). Ruf became a free agent following the 2019 season.
### San Francisco Giants (2020–2022)
On January 23, 2020, Ruf signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants. He made the team's opening day roster. He finished the season batting .276/.370/.517 with 5 home runs and 18 RBIs in 87 at bats over 40 games.
For the 2021 season, the Giants extended Ruf through one-year arbitration on a \$1.275 million deal. In the 2021 regular season, he batted .271/.385/.519 with 16 home runs and 43 RBIs in 262 at bats. He played 44 games at first base, 33 games in left field, 5 games in right field, and pitched in one game.
On March 22, 2022, Ruf signed a 2-year, \$6.25 million contract with the Giants, avoiding salary arbitration. In a July 21 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ruf hit a game-tying grand slam off of Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia. However, the Giants would ultimately lose the game 6-9.
### New York Mets (2022)
On August 2, 2022, Ruf was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for J. D. Davis, Carson Seymour, Nick Zwack and Thomas Szapucki. Ruf made his Mets debut on August 5, entering as a pinch hitter for Tyler Naquin and remaining in left field. On August 15, Ruf made his first pitching appearance for the Mets, throwing two scoreless innings in a loss against the Atlanta Braves, in the process becoming the first regular position player to pitch multiple innings in one game for the Mets. Ruf appeared in 28 games for the Mets down the stretch, limping to a .152/.216/.197 slash with no home runs and 7 RBI.
Ruf later said that the trade came at an especially difficult time in his life because he was still mourning his father who had died that May. He also said he struggled to handle the pressure of playing in New York City for a demanding fanbase and critical sports media.
On March 27, 2023, Ruf was designated for assignment after Tommy Hunter was added to the roster. He was released by the Mets on April 2.
### San Francisco Giants (second stint)
On April 8, 2023, Ruf signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants organization. Ruf was happy to re-sign in San Francisco after an unhappy stint in New York, saying "There’s not a better spot for me to go where people know me, I know them, I’m comfortable ... and working with people I love working with." Four days later, his contract was selected to the Major league roster. He played in 9 games for the Giants, going 6-for-23 (.261) with 3 RBI before he was placed on the injured list with right wrist inflammation. While on rehab assignment with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, Ruf went 4-for-20 with a double and a RBI. On May 9, he was activated from the injured list and designated for assignment to clear roster space for Casey Schmitt. Ruf was not claimed on waivers, but refused an outright assignment to Triple-A and became a free agent.
### Milwaukee Brewers (2023–present)
On May 15, 2023, Ruf signed a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. On June 2, Ruf suffered a knee laceration after colliding with a tarp while chasing a foul ball in a game against the Cincinnati Reds. He was placed on the 60-day injured list on June 5 after he was diagnosed with a non–displaced fracture of his patella in addition to a deep laceration in his right knee.
## Player profile
Eric Longenhagen, a baseball analyst for Crashburn Alley, asserted in 2013 that Ruf's ceiling was a platoon player at first base, but that his superior intangibles had allowed him to overachieve in terms of his potential. He wrote,
> For him to be anything more than that would be positively historic. We’ve never seen a player of this age with a similar skill set (a fringe average hitter with a huge hole in his swing and plus raw power who is a 20 runner with pretty much unknown arm strength) do anything sustainable of note at the major league level. Ruf turns 28 halfway through next year and possesses both a skillset and body that typically don't age well. It's a very weird situation but it's a triumph of the Phillies player development system and of Ruf's effort that he ever put on a Major League uniform at all.
### Offense
Ruf is a strong power hitter who, according to one talent evaluator quoted in Lindy's Sports 2014 baseball preview magazine, possessed "raw country strength" at the plate. He has an uppercut swing, and struggles to hit outside pitches because of poor balance at the plate, but consequently, is able to hit fly balls and drive mistake pitches out of the park. He is a patient hitter, and hits left-handed pitchers better than right-handed pitchers.
### Defense
Ruf has played first base as well as both of the corner outfield spots during his career, and focused on the outfield during the latter stages of his development because of Ryan Howard's perceived preeminence at first base. In the outfield, Ruf is a "liability", and he is "pretty shaky" at first base, further underscoring his "man without a position" persona within the Phillies' organization. This has led some to suggest he would be better suited as a designated hitter in the American League. In the 2020 season, which saw the DH introduced to the National League, the Giants used him in this capacity as well as in the field.
## Personal life
Ruf's wife is Libby Schuring, whom Ruf married in December 2011. His hobbies include golfing and traveling. , Ruf lives during the offseason in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and two kids, Henry and Olive. Christa Ruf, Ruf's sister, also attended Creighton; she played softball there for four seasons. |
61,617,557 | Honeyland | 1,171,318,006 | 2019 Macedonian documentary | [
"2010s Turkish-language films",
"2019 documentary films",
"2019 films",
"Documentary films about bees",
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"Documentary films about global warming",
"Films set in North Macedonia",
"Lozovo Municipality",
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"Sundance Film Festival award-winning films"
]
| Honeyland (Macedonian: Медена земја, transliterated: Medena zemja) is a 2019 Macedonian documentary film that was directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. It portrays the life of Hatidže Muratova, a loner beekeeper of wild bees who lives in the remote mountain village of Bekirlija and follows her lifestyle before and after neighbors move in nearby. The film was initially planned as a short film documenting the region surrounding the river Bregalnica but its area of focus changed when the directors met Hatidže. Honeyland received its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January and it has grossed \$1,315,037.
Filming of Honeyland lasted three years, and 400 hours of footage was filmed. Several environmental topics are explored, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and exploitation of natural resources. The directors primarily focused on the visual aspects and wanted to portray humanity's balance with the ecosystem through Hatidže, and consumerism and resource depletion through her neighbors. The documentary also portrays Hatidže's relationships with her bedridden mother and her neighbors. Honeyland contains elements of several documentary styles, including fly on the wall, direct cinema, and cinéma vérité.
Honeyland received universal critical acclaim from film critics, who praised its attention to detail and applauded its conservationist message. The documentary received numerous awards and nominations at film festivals, including three awards at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and two nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards in the categories for Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature. Honeyland is the first documentary to receive a nomination in both categories in the history of the Oscars.
## Plot
Honeyland documents the life of Hatidže Muratova, a Macedonian beekeeper of Turkish descent, who lives in the village of Bekirlija in the municipality of Lozovo. She is one of the last keepers of wild bees in Europe. Due to its location in a secluded mountain, the village has no access to electricity and running water. Hatidže lives with her 85-year-old, partly blind and bedridden mother Nazife, who is completely dependent on her daughter. Hatidže earns a living by selling honey in the country's capital Skopje, which is four hours away from the village.
The atmosphere in the village changes when the nomadic rancher Hussein Sam arrives with his wife Ljutvie, their seven children, and their imported domestic animals. Initially, Hatidže maintains good relationships with the family and spends time playing with the children. In need of money, and inspired by Hatidže's way of earning money, Sam takes an interest in wild beekeeping himself. Hatidže instructs him on collecting honey and provides him with several bees so Sam can start his own colony. Despite his initial success, one of Sam's customers demands more honey than his bees can produce. Sam disregards Hatidže's advice to always leave half of the honey for his bees and proceeds to sell the entire stock of honey. This leads to Sam's colonies attacking Hatidže's during the resource-scarce winter. Hatidže scolds Sam for ignoring her advice and her bee colony collapses. Soon after, her mother dies. As the nomadic family decides to move to another village, Hatidže remains alone in Bekirlija.
## Conception and development
Honeyland is Tamara Kotevska's and Ljubomir Stefanov's second collaboration on a documentary movie after Lake of Apples (2017). The movie was originally intended as government-funded documentary short focusing on the Bregalnica river and the preservation of the surrounding region in Lozovo municipality, central North Macedonia. The project was also part of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation's program for preservation of North Macedonia's natural resources. Finance came from a \$25,000 grant awarded by San Francisco International Film Festival's documentary fund and three million Macedonian denars awarded by North Macedonia Film Agency.
Initially, the directors were planning to focus on the rotational farming practices of villagers inhabiting the area around Bregalnica. They also planned to follow the natural change of the river's flow that takes place every ten years. Upon arriving at the location, the film crew was introduced to Hatidže. Although initially reluctant to participate in the documentary, Hatidže agreed to get involved to send a message of sustainable living to the world. The film was going to focus on Hatidže's relationship with her mother and the directors had no conflict planned until the nomad family arrived sometime later. Hatidže and the nomad family were camera-shy at first but became used to the process as filming progressed. According to Kotevska, virtually none of the film's scenes are inauthentic – the only part that had to be recreated was the Sams' arrival in the village, which the filmmakers had missed during their first year of filming.
## Filming and production
Starting in 2015, the documentary was filmed over three years and the final version was condensed from more than 400 hours of footage. Due to the remoteness of Bekirlija, the production team stayed there for three-to-four consecutive days before going to nearby towns for supplies and to recharge their filming equipment. They slept in tents and hammocks in front of Hatidže's house. The production involved a crew of six: the two directors, two directors of photography, an editor, and a sound engineer. They spent the better course of three years visiting the families of the film. Fejmi Daut, one of the documentary's cinematographers, said the lack of electricity in the village meant the production crew relied on daylight, candles, gaslight and a fireplace to achieve desired image quality. Each of the directors focused on a different element of the narrative; Kotevska's main role was the portrayal of relationships while Stefanov captured the environmental aspects.
The documentary uses fly on the wall style; it does not use any voice-overs and subjects filmed do not look directly at the camera, which gives it an "invisible" quality. According to Kotevska and Stefanov, during filming they mainly relied on visual observations of their subjects, whose language they did not understand. This approach was followed during the post-production stages and the first six months of the rough cut, which together lasted approximately 12 months. The directors focused only on the visuals without making use of audio recordings or transcripts. According to Kotevska, they wanted to make sure the movie's narrative is completely understandable even if it is followed visually. The filming technique has elements of direct cinema and cinéma vérité. The camerawork, which is steady during the first half of the movie, later becomes less steady with the arrival of the nomadic neighbors.
The film's score was composed and performed by the Macedonian band Foltin under the musical supervision of Rana Eid from the production company DB Studios in Beirut, Lebanon. The directors decided to collaborate with Foltin on the movie's score because they deemed Foltin original and capable of creating music specifically tailored for the documentary.
After the film, the filmmakers bought Hatidže a house close to her brother's family, although she still spends bee season in her old village. They also set up a donation page supporting Hatidže and the Sam kids on the film's website.
## Themes
According to Stefanov, the directors' main focuses in Honeyland were climate change, biodiversity loss exemplified by the decline of the bee population, and the use of natural resources. Stefanov said, "The point is to take as much as you need, not to take everything, and leave [something] for tomorrow and those who are providing for you". Kotevska said the most suitable description of the documentary's main theme is modern consumerism. She described Hatidže's case as a portrayal of "how consumerism destroys ... natural resources completely". She elaborated that Sam's initial hesitation to sell more honey than he could produce comes from the conflict between his moral values and "the pressures of society". Josh Kupecki from the Austin Chronicle said Honeyland successfully depicts the way "capitalism functions even in the most rural areas". Sheena Scott, writing for Forbes, said Sam's actions were motivated by profit "to the detriment of a more suitable sustainable way of living".
Set in the context of global warming and the rise of contemporary environmental awareness, numerous critics emphasized the message of sustainability. A.O. Scott from The New York Times viewed Hatidže as a "heroic figure" who sends a message to her "wasteful, wanton neighbors". Michael O'Sullivan from The Washington Post also found a prominent, cautionary message about the consequences of disrupting the universe's equilibrium. David Fear writing for Rolling Stone viewed it as a documentary that portrays "rural regionalism and lost art forms", also saying the directors ensured viewers are immersed in Hatidže's way of living during the first half of the movie so they realize what is being lost during the latter half. The documentary's producer Atanas Georgiev said the production team was "very eager" to send the message of sustainability to the citizens and the government of North Macedonia, and to prompt action to improve the country's air quality and reduce pollution.
In an interview, Hatidže said she views her work as a means of restoring the ecosystem's balance. This is exemplified when she chants "half for me, half for you" to her bees when collecting honey. This principle is based on the customs and traditions of her grandfather, who taught her bees need to use their own honey to obtain enough energy to fly and mate. The documentary includes numerous scenes of Hatidže and her neighbors during the beekeeping process, including the handling of the apiaries where the bees are kept, the cutting of honeycombs and the collection of honey in jars.
Critics have viewed it as a film that also explores anthropological topics. Another theme covered in the movie is the mother–daughter relationship between Hatidže and her bedridden mother, which cinematographer Ljuma and Kotevska described as resembling that between a queen bee and a worker bee. The finished film includes six of the twenty-five scenes portraying the relationship between the two. Kotevska and Stefanov stated they tried to reflect the traditions of the region, according to which the last daughter has to take care of her parents until they die, prohibiting the daughter from marrying and establishing her own family.
## Release
The world premiere of Honeyland took place at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019. Its distributor Neon gave it a theatrical release in the United States, opening on 26 July 2019. In North Macedonia, the film had its premiere at the MakeDox Festival in Kuršumli An on 28 August 2019, which was attended by the film crew and Hatidže, and included a concert by Foltin. In the United Kingdom, Honeyland was released by Dogwoof on 13 September 2019, which was followed by a wider release in most European countries the same month. In Australia and New Zealand, Honeyland was released by the production company Umbrella Films on 5 March 2020. As of July 2021, Honeyland has grossed \$815,082 in the US and Canada, and \$499,955 in other territories, making a worldwide gross of \$1,315,037.
## Reception
### Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Honeyland has an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . According to the website's critical consensus, "Honeyland uses life in a remote village to offer an eye-opening perspective on experiences that should resonate even for audiences halfway around the world". At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the film received an average score of 85 based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". A.O. Scott from The New York Times praised the directors for "render[ing] the thick complexity of experience with poignant clarity" and called the film "quiet, intimate and intense, but touched with a breath of epic grandeur. It's a poem including history" and listed the film as best pick for 2019. In a separate year-end review, Scott and Manohla Dargis of the same newspaper named Honeyland the best film of 2019, and called it "nothing less than a found epic". Bob Verini of Variety deemed it a "rare film that would be a strong contender in either [Academy Awards] category, in any year" due to its "strong geopolitical resonance and visual splendor". Guy Lodge, another Variety journalist, wrote in a positive review that in the "painstaking observational documentary, everything from the honey upwards is organic".
Grading Honeyland with four stars out of five, Ty Burr from The Boston Globe said the film's strongest point is that it serves as "both allegory and example, a symbolic tale about the importance of nature's balance and a specific story about these specific lives", and called Hatidže "a figure for the ages". Los Angeles Times journalist Justin Chang described it as one of the rare films that serve as an "intimately infuriating, methodically detailed allegory of the earth's wonders being ravaged by the consequences of human greed". The New Yorker's Anthony Lane identified numerous topics covered in the movie, writing that it "swarms with difficult, ancient truths about parents, children, greed, respect, and the need for husbandry". Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Sheri Linden called it an "unforgettable vérité character study and an intimate look at an endangered tradition". Ed Potton of The Times, who gave the film four stars out of five, said "[a]lthough it starts as a meditation on the hardship and rhythms of rural life, [the film] becomes something more intimate". Rating it with four stars out of five, Helen O'Hara of Empire magazine, summed up the film as "[s]tunningly beautiful and quietly powerful, this is a portrait of a vanishing way of life and of a determined woman who's just trying to make her way in the world".
David Sims of The Atlantic called Honeyland "a rare nature documentary that's deeply personal". He elaborated, "a sensitivity to both petty human concerns and striking natural beauty is what makes Honeyland a particularly enthralling documentary. Nature filmmaking that focuses only on the environment can feel a little dry, while so-called human-interest storytelling can be cloying; Honeyland succeeds by combining the two." Sheena Scott from Forbes shared Sims's sentiments, writing that "it is the moments of intimacy that make this film so unique and beautiful". Austin Chronicle's Josh Kupecki said the documentary is ultimately a "broader impact of humanity (in all its messy glory), and a document of so many things: grief, loss, happiness, and joy". Rating it with three stars out of four, Michael O'Sullivan from The Washington Post said despite the worthwhile patience it requires from viewers, the film "sneaks up on you in a quiet yet powerful way". David Ehlrich writing for IndieWire gave the film a B+ in his review, calling it "a bitter and mesmerically beautiful documentary that focuses on a single beekeeper as though our collective future hinges on the fragile relationship between her and the hives". One mixed review came from Stephen Whitty writing for Screen Daily, who praised the painstaking filming and imagery but said its "commercial future seems limited" and that it "leaves plenty of questions – and, occasionally, its audience – behind".
Dina Iordanova, an academic of world cinema at the University of St. Andrews criticized the directors' claim that the movie was not scripted or re-enacted and questioned the authenticity of the documentary in her review published in Docalogue. She stated that the movie was too fictionalized to be regarded as a documentary and claimed it was "a bona fide Flahertian re-enacted documentary. One can also call it “fake.”". She also criticized the alleged romanticization and exploitation of the austere conditions of Hatidže’s circumstance for the political message on sustainability, defining it a "morality tale about environmentalism and sustainability that borders on preaching.".
Honeyland was ranked as the third-best documentary and twelfth-best foreign film of 2019 in a survey of over 300 critics around the world conducted by IndieWire. On Metacritic, it was ranked as the twenty-fourth-best film of 2019. It also appeared on twenty-three critics' year-end top-ten lists, ranking first in three of them.
### Accolades
Honeyland received its first monetary award prize of €30,000 from the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation at the 2019 Sarajevo Film Festival in late August 2019. Money received from the award was used to purchase a new house for Hatidže in the nearby village of Dorfulija in Lozovo Municipality, close to her relatives and friends. Kotevska and Stefanov also started a campaign titled Donate for the Honeyland Community that sends jars of natural honey to donors of a fund that benefits Hatidže and her neighbors.
Honeyland was the most awarded movie at the 2019 Sundance Movie Festival, winning awards in three categories, including the Grand Jury Prize, the Special Jury Award for Impact for Change, and the Special Jury Award for Cinematography, all in the World Cinema Documentary Competition category. In February 2020, the documentary won an award in the category of Best International Success at the 23rd Golden Ladybug of Popularity Awards in North Macedonia. Hatidže attended the event and performed two songs after receiving the award.
On 13 January 2020, Honeyland received nominations in the categories for Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards; it was the first documentary in the history of the Oscars to receive a nomination in the both categories. It is also the second Macedonian film to earn an Oscar nomination after Before the Rain (1994). Matilda Coleman of The New York Times dubbed the movie an "Oscar game changer" and stated with its two nominations, it paved the way for more success of the documentary genre in future Academy Award nominations. Jake Coyle writing for the Associated Press deemed the documentary a "quietly revolutionary Oscar nominee" and said it "speaks to ... the increasingly boundless nature of [the] documentary [genre]". Following the movie's dual nomination, several other countries started submitting their documentaries for dual categories at the 2021 Oscar awards.
## See also
- List of submissions to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
- List of Macedonian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
- List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
- Macedonian bee
- Cinema of North Macedonia
- Environmental issues in North Macedonia
- Hive (film) |
61,800,413 | Memories of My Body | 1,149,605,522 | 2018 Indonesian film | [
"2010s coming-of-age drama films",
"2018 LGBT-related films",
"2018 drama films",
"2018 films",
"Best Film Citra Award winners",
"Censored films",
"Cross-dressing in film",
"Films directed by Garin Nugroho",
"Indonesian LGBT-related films",
"Indonesian coming-of-age drama films",
"Indonesian-language films",
"Javanese culture",
"LGBT-related coming-of-age films"
]
| Memories of My Body (Indonesian: Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku) is a 2018 Indonesian Javanese-language coming-of-age drama film directed by Garin Nugroho and produced by Ifa Isfansyah. The film tells the story of a dancer in the Lengger tradition, revolving around his introduction to it and finding his self-identity. The plot is loosely based on dancer Rianto's life; Rianto also stars in the film. The ensemble cast is Muhammad Khan, Sujiwo Tejo, Teuku Rifnu Wikana, Randy Pangalila, and Endah Laras.
It premiered internationally before in Indonesia. During its theatrical release, the film's team experienced obstacles from the general public such as two Change.org petitions wanting the film to be cancelled due to a perception that the film promoted morals inconsistent with Indonesia's common culture, namely LGBT elements, which became the reason of positive reviews by critics and portions of the general public. The film was banned in Padang, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Depok, Garut, Pontianak, and Kubu Raya. Nugroho took offence to the controversy. The film was the Indonesian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.
## Plot
### Context
Memories of My Body's main character's name, Wahyu Arjuno, is derived from the name Arjuna, the strong, divine protagonist of the epic poetry Māhabhārata. Wahyu, nicknamed Juno, lives in a village in Banyumas Regency, where a person's body is regarded as the archive of their life, carrying education, emotion, and trauma as they go on with their life. The regional lengger dance, which involves men cross-dressing, is derived from "leng", meaning "hole" (a reference to the vagina), and "ger", meaning "comb" (a reference to the penis); thus, the word highlights the masculinity and femininity within humans.
### Summary
In the 1980s, young Juno's father leaves him inexplicably. Out of admiration, he begins learning lengger from a dance teacher, also beginning his sexual exploration at this point. He witnesses the teacher implementing vigilantism upon student Jok for having sex with his wife. Upon his father's request, Juno's aunt Atmo takes him. She learns that he can detect chickens' fertility by inserting his finger into the genitals, much to her vexation. He is punished by a teacher for spreading odor, and is asked to write an apology with a chalk in his mouth, to which he writes "MOM." A dance teacher rescues and teaches him lengger. Noticing that Juno wants to touch her cleavage, missing his mother, she allows him, and the villagers take her to police, citing pedophilia. Overwhelmed, Atmo gives Juno to his uncle.
As a young adult, Juno works for his clothing store, able to measure a person's body with his senses. One day, a boxer orders a traditional wedding costume. He requests that Juno demonstrate how to wear it. When the man accidentally bleeds his chest with a safety pin, he sucks it, and Juno realizes he is gay. As the eldest of a plethora of siblings, the man never gets to spend time with himself or cuddle with his mother, exacerbated by poverty. In a fit of closeness, they kiss. The man loses a boxing match, thus not being able to garner money for his wedding and the boss of a controlling enemy, whose fixer separates him and Juno. The next day, Juno's uncle reveals that his father left due to trauma upon a river nearby his house, where his family was slaughtered out of accusation that he was involved in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66. Juno's uncle then dies, and Juno moves to Jati village to be costume designer of a lengger group.
Anticipating the election, a regent candidate is advised by shaman Pesisiran to methodically find a mate that will spiritually allow him to win. Juno is the one, but he riskily rejects the instruction. A warok blocks his plan to reconcile with the regent (who is furious that the reog group cancelled further political dances) by choosing Juno as his gemblak (male lover), noticing a close connection; Juno accepts. After seeing a dance where the warok bleeds a man with a sickle, Juno has a meltdown; his warok comforts him. The regent's wife hires fixers to kick Juno and the lengger group out of the village, worrying that a scandalous photo of the regent and Juno holding hands may cause the majority, homophobic villagers to not vote for him. A woman in her house confronts the wife for abuse of power, saying that she will be lonely. The group absconds before the fixers arrive. Juno hitchhikes and smiles, now out of the closet.
## Cast
- Muhammad Khan as Juno
- Raditya Evandra as little Juno
- Rianto as The Dancer
- Sujiwo Tejo as the Lengger instructor
- Teuku Rifnu Wikana as the regent
- Randy Pangalila as the boxer
- Whani Dharmawan as the warok
- Endah Laras as Juno's aunt
- Dwi Windarti as the dance teacher
## Production
Memories of My Body is the 19th film made by Garin Nugroho. Pre-production took two months, principal photography took two weeks, and post-production took another two months. Nugroho claims the film is his fastest film to be produced. He also said that part of the script is loosely based on the life of Rianto, a dancer native to Banyumas who now stays in Japan. Nugroho has known Rianto since 2015 and has worked with him to make a short film called Mangir based on a fable of the same name by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, a writer known for his historic novel This Earth of Mankind. They also worked together in making a choreography titled "Medium." As their friendship goes on, Nugroho gets a full picture of Rianto's life and decided to make the film. Despite that, the film is not fully inspired by him; some elements are based on Nugroho's life. When told about the film, Rianto is reported to be surprised; he then enters the project. Rianto also became the choreographer for several cast members, including Muhammad Khan. Nugroho also stayed in the same room with Rianto throughout principal photography; they chatted about Khan's role every night.
Translating the title Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku (lit. I Make Out with My Beautiful Body) to English took a considerably long time, as there are many challenges in translating such a poetic title to an understandable English title. Producer Ifa Isfansyah had 10 titles to choose from; one of them was Through the Hole (Indonesian: Lewat Lubang). Eventually, they settled with Memories of My Body (Indonesian: Ingatan-ingatan Akan Tubuhku).
## Themes
According to CNN Indonesia, Memories of My Body reflects the diverse Indonesian society who are difficult to accept differences, whose xenophobic opposition bedevils the target, causing hardships in life. The main character has a different gender identity and lives in a passive society, which later leads to difficulty in communicating, as it noted. When he decides to express his feelings through dancing in a local tribe, it yet fails to slap society with understanding. Due to its perceived realism, CNN Indonesia later looked down upon La La Land, a film said to be set in an over-utopian society.
The film was also said to be a criticism of egotistical politicians. When observing reality, there are indeed traces of minority groups being oppressed when seeking equal rights balancing with the majority. In Indonesia, various cultures have been disowned as they were observed as "communistic, occult, or rebellious towards religion."
## Release
Memories of my Body premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in 2018; Other international screenings include the 2018 Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France, as well as Teatro Farnese in Rome, Italy, from 23 to 26 May 2019; the screening in Rome was part of the 70th anniversary celebration of Indonesia's diplomatic relationship with Italy. It also screened at the Holland Festival from 11 to 12 June 2018, as well as the nearby IFFR in 2019. Other festivals screening the film included the Busan International, Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay, Göteborg, Guadalajara International, Vilnius International, Locarno, Frameline, Singapore International, and Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival. It also screened at the Oldham Theater, Singapore, on 10 January 2020.
Locally in Indonesia, the film premiered at the 2018 Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival on 13 December. It was then theatrically released on 18 April 2019 along with two other Indonesian films, Pocong the Origin and Rumput Tetangga, after a one-month delay in release schedules. Due to its taboo topic, the film was only screened in 40 theaters in Indonesia, with each theater playing it between one and three times a day. Film Indonesia recorded that the film got 8,082 unique viewers in just a week.
There were two versions of the film distributed by the Indonesian Film Censorship Board (LSF). The first version is an edited version of it that is rated and passed censor on 13 December 2018. The second version in unedited one rated that passed censor on 23 January 2019; nowhere but at the Plaza Indonesia Film Festival on 16 February is the unedited version screened. The head of the LSF, Ahmad Yani Basuki, had personal considerations that allowed the film to be qualified for release, and he refused to believe that the LSF's article on the film may indirectly promote LGBT. Ahmad stated that the film contains morals that can be taught for a mature individual; he sees the depiction of the masculine character cross-dressing and acting feminine tolerable by the general public. Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu of publication Cinema Poetica says that the film is worthy of screening all across Indonesia, reminding the public that the LSF is not responsible for territorial screenings. Adrian says that there are no elements of the film that could convert youth to LGBT.
The film does not screen in typical theatres initially but in film festivals instead, because it does not prioritize money and the box office. Ifa says that the film might not be regularly released due to the general public's inability to prioritize a film's art instead of its elements. The film needed to be screened at a large festival; thus, it was released at the Venice International Film Festival.
From 12 to 17 December 2019, Memories of My Body rescreened itself in three CGV Cinema theaters in Jakarta.
## Critical response
The film received positive response by the general public and the media. Other than regarding its LGBT elements, it is also praised for its historical references to the 1980s. Endro Priherdityo of CNN Indonesia praised Nugroho in his efforts to tell a wider story than just a casual dancer but also discrimination towards a culture, also marking it as Nugroho's best film. Media Indonesia also praised him for bringing light to the issue of gender discrimination. The IFDC praised it for glorifying and encouraging freedom of speech in such taboo topic. A writer of The Jakarta Post noted it as one of the best films made after the New Order. A German critic called Memories of My Body "an alienating-looking artificiality." Another critic, after watching the film in Venice, wrote that Nugroho "takes a path in full line with this artistic syncretism, adding cinema as a meta-artistic structure that encompasses all the arts." In the film, according to them, "sexuality is intertwined with art, with the infinite possibility of the arts." Other than calling it a "striking poetic imagery out of the socially and sexually conscious material and strikes a delicate balance between his trademark aesthetics," The Hollywood Reporter wrote:
> While the pic thrives on its socially charged script and its cast's nuanced performances — especially Evandra's depiction of the protagonist as a confused boy and Khan's turn as the older Juno — Nugroho also benefits from Teoh Gay Hian's emotive camerawork and the period details of Ong Hari Wahyu's production design. At once evoking the gritty realities of agrarian Indonesia while also celebrating the richness of its folk culture, Memories of My Body offers a complex picture of the conflicting social and historical traumas concealed within the bodies and minds of marginalized, oppressed social groups in a nominally secular country.
## Controversy
On 16 April, Ifa stated that the film would not be boycotted because it focuses on a coming-of-age story rather than LGBT issues. Ifa performed a risk-benefit analysis on it. However eight days later, there were two Change.org petitions made, titled (translated): "Emergency! Indonesia is now making an LGBT film called "Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku"" by Budi Robantoro and "Cancel the Release of LGBT film titled "Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku" Directed by Garin Nugroho" by Rakhmi Mashita. As a result, the trailer of the film caused mixed reviews by the netizens; some supported the release of the film, while others did not. The Vice President of the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) Youth and Family Commission Arovah Windiani asked the film not to be released, calling it immoral.
Depok's regent, Idris Abdul Somad, banned Memories of My Body in the city he controls, also leaning towards LGBT elements of the film. He also wrote a formal letter to the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) to ban the film nationwide. Somad was supported by MUI's President Garut Sirojul Munir, worrying that the film will bring a negative effect to millennials whilst asking all Muslims to pray more as Ramadan neared. The film is also banned in West Kalimantan, specifically in Pontianak and Kubu Raya. Pontianak's regent, Edi Rusdi, reportedly wrote three letters to three different institutions: the Ayani Mega Mall, the West Kalimantan KPI, as well as the Mayor of West Kalimantan, Sutarmidji, on 26 and 27 April, saying that he wanted to protect children from domestic violence and abuse, as well as protecting the general public. He also wanted the film to be abandoned by the general public not to cause an individual to become a member of the LGBT community. Muda Mahandrawan, Kubu Raya's regent, also wrote a letter after witnessing the trailer three times in three different media. He also stated that the film is against religious teachings and that it may cause conversion in an individual. In Balikpapan, several Islamic organizations, in particular the Islamic Defenders Front, boycotted the film in the city.
On the island of Sumatra, Ratu Dewa, Palembang's city secretary, asked the KPI of South Sumatra to ban the film in the said territory on 29 April due to its apparent promotion of LGBT. Like Muda, she also had the idea after watching the film trailer. Pekanbaru's regent, Firdaus, wrote a letter the following week, thinking that it might wreak havoc on the general public. Firdaus claimed that the film is robust in its elements on LGBT, and is against religious teachings. He said that there is no morality whatsoever infused in the film. The next day, Padang's regent Mahyeldi Ansharullah wrote a letter to the Indonesian Film Censorship Board showing disgust towards the film, opposing it with similar reasons stated by other politicians. The Islamic Defenders Front also cancelled further screening of the film in Bandar Lampung; they initially screamed in front of the building and were let in by fearful officers. In a footage, the Front threatened the building's managers to have them arrested if they were caught screening any taboo films in the future. The audiences were told that the film could not be screened further due to restrictions. One of the managers criticized the Front for their far-frontal actions and asked them to watch the film before accusing it. The audiences, who were mostly students, were disappointed with the Front, as they were "simply appreciating Indonesia's culture," and that "there's no concerning [scenes] so far."
### Response
KPI stated that they will not manage those problems raised by politicians earlier. Nugroho stated that the controversy proves that Indonesia is not ready to be mature towards taboo topics such as LGBT, and he says that he is "ready to fight even when [he] is threatened to be murdered." He questioned the inconsistency of the general public for not boycotting Bohemian Rhapsody, a 2018 biopic film about Freddie Mercury, also with LGBT elements, which was played in many regions in Indonesia.
Nugroho stated that Memories of My Body's contra is an example of the general public judging without actually knowing what they are talking about. He was also disappointed by the mass anarchy without any dialogue and process that may influence the mindedness of future generations as well as the openness to be free from discrimination and democratic violence. He gave the example of Opera Jawa, which was also contested by the World Hindu Youth Organization, calling it stupid, even when the film received positive reviews by the Hindu community in Bali, where the religion is dominant. He also brought up Soegija, a 2012 epic film by Nugroho as well, which received controversy due to its strength in the ability to possibly convert a person. Ifa said that the opposition of the film is caused by the dilemma of recent Indonesian culture, where the Muslim community is divided on Sufism or Wahhabism. In the Wahhabi teachings, one must follow the Arab culture to oppose Indonesia's signature culture as well as the arts of Hinduism and Buddhism. Rianto, in an interview with BBC Indonesia, argues "From its start to its end, there's no such thing as LGBT promotion. This is my motherland's culture."
Ifa said that the boycotters who signed the two Change.org petitions were more than the viewers. Ifa said that he does not know whether this is the effect of a mass flag or the effect of Avengers: Endgame dominating the Indonesian box office, although in Jakarta, Endgame only screened at two theatres at the time due to its over domination. Other directors such as Hanung Bramantyo, Ernest Prakasa, and Joko Anwar stated that the boycotting of the film reflects the thriving intolerance in Indonesia.
In response to the controversy, Aktivis Women's March supported Nugroho and also talked about Nugroho's response towards the controversy. Airlangga University sociology teacher Bagong Suyanto stated that the film's controversy is not new to Indonesia as in the last few years, as there have been debates related to the presence of the LGBT community in Indonesia. Another sociologist, Sigit Rochadi, said that the film is incapable of converting a person to a different sexuality. Endro Priherdityo of CNN Indonesia humiliates those who agreed on Indonesia's diversity, but fail to accept all the cultures present. The Indonesian Film Directors Club (IFDC) similarized the film with films that was qualified but received such close-minded controversy: Pocong, Suster Keramas, Cin(T)a, Perempuan Berkalung Sorban, ?, Cinta Tapi Beda, Naura & Genk Juara, and Dilan 1991. Tirto.id called the controversy a decadence.
## Soundtrack
Soundtrack composer Mondo Gascaro released an album of the same name, which is mostly filled with remakes of pre-existing songs like "Hanya Semalam" (lit. "Only One Night") and "Rindu Lukisan" (lit. "The Heart of a Painting) by Ismail Marzuki as well as "Apatis" (lit. "Pessimistic"), which was popularized by Benny Subardja in the 1970s.
The soundtrack's cover art depicted a Lengger dancer behind the yellow walls (as background) dancing; the dancer's body reflected as a shadow. The soundtrack was praised by Grain, calling Mondo "advancing traditional values and able to convey the movie's feelings using his." Tracks with Rianto credited are spoken or chanted by Rianto in the film and are original audio clips from the film.
The soundtrack album was released digitally and physically, specifically on compact disc by labels Ivy Music League and Signature Music Indonesia. The digital version was released in correspondence with its premiere in the Jogja-NETPAC Film Festival.
## Accolades
Memories of My Body was selected as the Indonesian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It was Nugroho's second film to be entered for selection in the awards, after Daun di Atas Bantal. Initially, Nugroho stated that he did not have big expectations when it was entered, and said, "a good film will find its own way."
## See also
- List of submissions to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
- List of Indonesian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
### Plot
- Gemblak, cultural element hinted in the film
- Reog, a tradition of the village's dance group |
2,895,635 | Mr. and Mrs. Iyer | 1,162,958,383 | 2002 film by Aparna Sen | [
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"Films featuring a Best Actress National Award-winning performance",
"Films shot in West Bengal",
"Films whose director won the Best Director National Film Award",
"Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay National Film Award",
"Indian drama road movies"
]
| Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is a 2002 Indian English-language drama film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by N. Venkatesan. The film features Sen's daughter Konkona Sen Sharma as Meenakshi Iyer, a Tamil Iyer Brahmin who is a Hindu. Rahul Bose portrays the character of Raja Chowdhury, a Bengali Muslim wildlife photographer. The story revolves around these two lead characters during a fateful bus journey amidst the carnages of a communal strife in India. Zakir Hussain, an Indian tabla maestro, composed the background score and music for the film; Goutam Ghose, a film director himself, was the cinematographer.
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland and was showcased at other prominent film festivals. The film opened to Indian audiences on 19 July 2002. It was met with critical acclaim upon release, and won several national and international awards, including the Golden Maile award at the Hawaii International Film Festival and the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration in India. The film, which was also released as a DVD, had English as its predominant language with a sporadic use of Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali.
## Plot
Meenakshi Iyer and her infant son, Santhanam, embark on a bus journey to return home, after visiting her parents. At the bus station, Meenakshi is introduced to Raja Chowdhury by a common friend. Raja, a wildlife photographer, is requested by Meenakshi's parents to look after their daughter and grandson during the journey. The passengers of the bus include a boisterous group of youngsters, two Sikh men, an elderly Muslim couple, a young couple high on romance, a mentally challenged boy and his mother, and some card-playing men. The bus faces a roadblock and the bus driver attempts a detour, but is stopped by traffic jam caused by sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims in nearby areas.
Raja reveals his Muslim identity to Meenakshi. As someone who comes from a high caste and conservative Hindu Brahmin family, Meenakshi shudders at the very fact that during their travel she drank water offered by Raja, a Muslim. She is shocked and asks Raja to not touch her. Raja contemplates leaving the bus, but is forced to stay inside by the patrolling police, who declare a curfew due to the riot. After the police leaves to scout other areas, a rioting Hindu mob arrives and forcibly enters the bus. They begin interrogating passengers about their religious identities and when in doubt, they even resort to check if the person is circumcised.
In order to protect himself from them, one of the passengers, who is Jewish and hence circumcised, points to the old Muslim couple to divert the mob's attention. The mob's leader drags the old couple out of the bus. One of the teenagers resists this, but she is assaulted by the mob. As Raja attempts to rise in revolt, Meenakshi plants Santhanam on his lap, ordering him to hold the baby with an intent to shield Raja's Muslim identity. The mob asks about their identities, and Meenaksi tells the leader that she is Mrs. Iyer and Raja is her husband. After this chilling encounter, the passengers spend the night in the bus.
In the morning, the passengers trek to a nearby village to seek accommodation. Raja and Meenakshi, identifying themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, fail to find any accommodation. However, the police officer, who was patrolling the earlier evening, bails them out by providing shelter at an abandoned forest bungalow. They are provided with the single usable bedroom available in the bungalow. Meenakshi refuses to share the room with Raja, and curses herself for coming along with a stranger. Raja confronts her on her outdated prejudices about caste and religion. After a brief quarrel, Raja allows her the comfort of the bedroom and prefers to sleep outside. The next morning when Meenakshi does not find Raja, she gets worried and angry as to why he left Santhanam and her in such a place. Soon, she feels relieved to find Raja sleeping outside. After they reach a restaurant in the nearby village, they meet the teenagers from the bus. The girls are excited and curious to know about Meenaakshi and Raja's love story. To keep their farce alive, both of them cook up an impromptu story right from how they met till where they went for their honeymoon. During their stay at the bungalow, they discover each other's beliefs and understanding of religion. That night, as they witness a horrific murder by one of the mobs, a shocked Meenakshi is comforted by Raja.
The next day, they reach a railway station with the army's help. There, they board the train towards their destination. At their destination station, Kolkata, Meenakshi's husband, Mr. Iyer arrives to receive her and Santhanam. Meenakshi introduces Raja to her husband as Jehangir Chowdhury, a Muslim man who helped her (a Hindu woman) during the curfew. Raja hands over a camera roll to Meenakshi, containing the photos of their journey; they bid an emotional farewell to each other.
## Cast
- Konkona Sen Sharma as Meenakshi S. Iyer – A traditional Tamil Iyer Brahmin traveling with her son, Santhanam, in the bus on her way to meet her husband. She meets a fellow-traveler, Raja Chowdhury, and gets drawn to him due to the surrounding circumstances.
- Rahul Bose as Jehangir "Raja" Chowdhury – A liberal Muslim by faith, he is a wildlife photographer by profession. With the imminent danger from the rioters, Meenakshi contrives a protective identity for him as her husband.
- Bhisham Sahni as Iqbal Ahmed Khan – An elderly conservative Muslim traveling along with his wife, Najma. He ends up as one of the victims of the sectarian violence.
- Surekha Sikri as Najma Ahmed Khan – The dutiful and loving wife of Iqbal, Najma perishes in the riots when she comes in defence of her husband.
- Anjan Dutt as Cohen – He is responsible for diverting the attention of the Hindu mob, in self-defence, towards the old Muslim couple. Thereafter, he is petrified thinking that he may also have been killed by the mob who could wrongly identify him as a Muslim, since he is circumcised.
- Bharat Kaul as Rajesh Arora – The police officer responsible for controlling and maintaining the law and order in the riot-stricken area. He gets acquainted with the bus passengers and helps the Iyer 'couple' find a place to stay during the curfew.
- Niharika Seth, Riddhi Basu, Richa Vyas, Eden Das, Jishnu Sengupta as Khushbu, Mala, Sonali, Amrita, Akash – An enthusiastic young group of friends riding the bus.
## Production
### Development
Aparna Sen, a noted actress and director of Bengali cinema, made her debut as a director with the English film 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981). Mr. and Mrs. Iyer was her second film in English. She hoped to write a simple romantic story, but it shaped out to be a relationship drama in the backdrop of sectarian violence. Sen came up with the background of the story in the aftermath of 9/11 and the 2002 Gujarat riots. In an interview, Sen stated that the omnipresent, circumstantial violence in the film was only to serve as a strain in the script which aimed to show how the relationship evolves between two people who are forced to be together under trying times. She stated that the time frame of the film was set after the attacks on the Parliament of India on 13 December 2001.
In an interview at the screening at the Locarno Film Festival, Sen revealed that Konkona was involved in the pre-production research, and she suggested the title. About the cinematographer Gautam Ghose, Aparna Sen said that they had a good rapport and that Ghose, himself an acclaimed director, was one of the best cinematographers she knew. Ghose, in reply, said that he hoped to give his best for the film and thus contribute to their friendship.
### Casting
Rahul Bose's work in English, August (1994) and Split Wide Open (1999) made Aparna Sen feel that he was a good, controlled and intelligent actor. After a costume and a makeup test, he was chosen for the character of Raja Chawdhury. Sen admitted that Bose's work was up to the mark, and working with him was a wonderful experience. She told in an interview that Konkona Sen Sharma's abilities as a sensitive actress fetched her the role of Meenakshi Iyer. Konkona said that she chose this film as she was interested in Indian films made in English, and was reluctant to do regular commercial films. Sen had penned the elderly Muslim woman's character bearing Surekha Sikri in mind. Eventually Sikri and the author and playwright Bhisham Sahni were cast to play the roles of the Muslim couple in the film. Santhanam, the infant son of Meenakshi Iyer in the film is Sen's grand niece.
Aparna Sen chose English as the film's narrative since the characters are linguistically diverse. She had to make sure that the characters spoke in English with their regional accent. Konkona admitted in an interview that playing the role of a Tamil Brahmin did not come easy. The director forced her to visit Chennai (where the major language is Tamil) for two weeks to research her character. She also said that she had learned many characteristics, nuances and mannerisms native to Tamilian housewives. She took a close look at Iyer lifestyles and customs in and around Mylapore, a cultural hub in Chennai. She attempted listening to recorded conversations in Iyer households to get a suitable Tamil accent.
### Filming
The production commenced in December 2001. Sen chose to keep the geographical setting unstated because she felt that it was a journey that could take place anywhere. The film was shot in the Himalayan foothills of northern West Bengal. The producers provided a state-of-the-art camera from Chennai's Prasad Studios to ensure that the shooting crew was technically better equipped. Rupali Mehta, from Triplecom Productions, the co-producer oversaw the crew of over 100 complete the production schedule in 50 days. The production team resorted to certain cost-cutting measures to ensure they committed fewer mistakes. For example, they had organised a workshop for the actors to avoid mistakes while filming.
While filming in Jalpaiguri, Sen got embroiled in a controversy for damages caused to the forest bungalow, a heritage property, where a portion of filming was done. She admitted that, to give the bungalow a haunted look, they "... sprayed slush on the walls and plastered cobwebs all over the place." However, she claimed that the place was cleaned up after the completion of their shoot.
## Release and reception
Following objections from the local police, two scenes were removed by producers from the version of the film screened in the city of Mumbai. One scene showed a Hindu man saying—using profanity—that Muslims should be sent back to Pakistan; the other featured a policeman using obscenities with a communal undertone. The police felt both scenes were too "provocative" for a "communally sensitive" city. However, for the rest of India, the film was screened in its entirety.
The film had only modest box office success; domestically, it made 7.3 million rupees in its first release. However, thanks to its low budget and the spread of multiplexes in India, it brought in some revenue. Furthermore, the contemporary trend in the Indian television channels is to showcase films within months of their release. This trend helped modest box-office successes such as Mr. and Mrs. Iyer to get additional thrust to their financial returns. Indeed, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer was one of the first films that led to reworking of the business models for small films in India. In addition, Triplecom Productions sold the dubbed version in Italy for \$20,000. A trade analysis by Rediff.com suggested that small-budget films such as Mr. and Mrs. Iyer did not compromise on marketing budgets, instead they put efforts in marketing themselves more innovatively.
### Special screenings and awards
In 2002, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer was chosen as India's official entry at the Locarno International Film Festival. It ran for 3 minutes longer than its runtime of 120 minutes at Locarno. Though it missed out on the Golden Leopard Award at Locarno, it won the Netpac Jury Prize along with two other films. The film won the Golden Maile award at the 22nd Hawaii International Film Festival, the Audience Award for the Best Feature Film at the Philadelphia Film Festival, and the best screenplay award at the 2003 Cinemanila International Film Festival.
In 2003, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles chose to open with Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, while New Zealand's first Asian film festival in 2004 chose to close its 10-day fest with it. The India International Women's Film Festival had a special retrospective to Aparna Sen for Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. The film was also showcased at the Pusan International Film Festival, Regus London Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, International Film Festival of India, Braunschweig International Film Festival, and High Falls Film Festival. At the International Film Festival of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, it won the Gold prize, awarded to the best film screened that year. Rahul Bose said that when the film was showcased at the Geneva festival, it was seen and liked by Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General.
Back home in India, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer won the Golden Lotus Award for best direction, the Silver Lotus Awards for best actress, the best screenplay, and the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration at the 2003 National Film Awards ceremony.
Govind Nihalani, an Indian film director wondered if Mr. and Mrs. Iyer could have been sent to the Oscars instead of the regular song-and-dance entries. Eventually, Film Federation of India, the apex organisation that sends the nation's official entries to the Oscars, did not find any film worth sending for the 76th Academy Awards.
### Reviews
Lawrence van Gelder commented in his review in The New York Times that "The well-acted romance, as the two principal characters are thrown together by unanticipated events, is hard to resist, even though the answer to the crucial question it raises is all too conveniently deferred time and again." However, he added that Mr. and Mrs. Iyer "... is not a subtle film ..." The Chicago Reader also said, "Sen is anything but subtle in populating the bus with a cross section of class and ethnic types ... but the friendship that blossoms between the leads is tenderly depicted and hints at a solution to sectarian strife" TIME magazine praised Aparna sen for her "... attention to detail ..." that "... skillfully captures the characters' idiosyncrasies." The Village Voice said, "The actors appear game, yet director Aparna Sen, who conceived the film in the wake of September 11, resorts often to hokey pseudo-lyricism and prefers sound-bite ballyhoo to sociological depth." Metacritic, a website with a medley of reviews by American critics, gives the film a score of 50/100, meaning mixed or average reviews.
In his review, Derek Elley of Variety remarked that the film had "... the awkward, issue-driven dialogue and wavering direction, showing influences from both the arty and commercial. [The] two leads just about scrape through." Although The Hindu review praised the director for "... handling (these) scenes in an understated, muted fashion ..." giving "... them the power to disturb and haunt you." it questioned certain aspects of the film, stating, "Though the flutters of the heart have been treated with finesse—sometimes a little too prudishly, pandering, perhaps, to middle class morality—we are never entirely convinced that love could blossom between Meenakshi Iyer and Raja Chowdhary." Indeed, Sen was criticised for contriving cinematic situation not quite fitting to the real world, "Can a married woman with a baby in arms fall in love with a total stranger that she meets on a very short bus journey, however extraordinary the situation may have been? Having decided to drive them to each other's arms, Sen thinks up situations, which are terribly contrived ... Sen's story and script are found wanting elsewhere too. The police officer, who plays the good Samaritan, appears so unreal in the world of rancour that Sen creates ... [She], probably in her over enthusiasm, lets her own emotions derail her."
Konkona Sen Sharma, who had not been widely seen outside Bengal before the release of the film, received particular praise for her performance, "... the movie clearly belongs to Konkona Sen Sharma ... who as Meenakshi [Iyer] gets so beautifully into the psyche of a Tamil Brahmin ... she emotes just splendidly: when her eyes well up at the thought of parting with Raja [Chowdhary], when she gently rests her head on his shoulders in the train, and when her expressions suggest the faintest hint of love, we know that here is a great actress." A Rediff.com review said, "... Konkana, a youngster, bowls you over with her silently sledge-hammering portrayal of Meenakshi Iyer, a conservative Tamilian Brahmin housewife ... [Her] eyes tell a thousand untold stories." An Australian critic said that the film, with "wonderfully nuanced performances by Sensharma and Rahul Bose, whose love affair is as innocent as the lyrical, lingering soundtrack. Mr and Mrs Iyer is a gentle film, whose simple and haunting love story will appeal to the romantic traveller."
The "... attractive lensing by Gautam Ghose (a director in his own right) and atmospheric scoring by Ustad Zakir Hussain ..." were well received. "Looking through the eyes of Gautam Ghose's illuminating lens, Aparna Sen builds a miniature, but epic, world of tremendous inner strength. In her first seriously politically committed film, Sen takes on the issue of communal conflict with the surging humanism of Gabriel García Márquez, painting words on celluloid ... If [Zakir] Hussain creates sounds within the seesaw of silences and screams, cinematographer Gautam Ghose creates a lucid contrast between the silently majestic Himalayan hinterland and the fundamentalists."
## Home media
### DVD
The DVD, which released on 2 June 2004, has subtitle options in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Urdu. It is available in 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, progressive 24 FPS, widescreen and NTSC format.
### Soundtrack
Ustad Zakir Hussain composed music for the film. For the first time in mainstream cinema, he sang for one part of a song. He said this in an interview and added that it was only after the track was recorded, the producers decided to go for Hussain's voice. Rahul Bose, who introduced Hussain to Aparna and Konkona, was instrumental in influencing Hussain to compose the background score for the film.
The soundtrack consists of 5 songs: |
962,300 | Lovell Telescope | 1,157,579,173 | Radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, England | [
"Buildings and structures in Cheshire",
"Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire",
"Grade I listed scientific buildings",
"Jodrell Bank Observatory",
"Radio telescopes"
]
| The Lovell Telescope (/ˈlʌvəl/ LUV-əl) is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire, in the north-west of England. When construction was finished in 1957, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76.2 m (250 ft) in diameter; it is now the third-largest, after the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, United States, and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany. It was originally known as the "250 ft telescope" or the Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank, before becoming the Mark I telescope around 1961 when future telescopes (the Mark II, III, and IV) were being discussed. It was renamed to the Lovell Telescope in 1987 after Sir Bernard Lovell, and became a Grade I listed building in 1988. The telescope forms part of the MERLIN and European VLBI Network arrays of radio telescopes.
Both Bernard Lovell and Charles Husband were knighted for their roles in creating the telescope. In September 2006, the telescope won the BBC's online competition to find the UK's greatest "Unsung Landmark". 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the telescope.
If the air is clear enough, the Mark I telescope can be seen from high-rise buildings in Manchester such as the Beetham Tower, and from as far away as the Pennines, Winter Hill in Lancashire, Snowdonia, Beeston Castle in Cheshire, and the Peak District. It can also be seen from south-facing windows of the Terminal 1 restaurant area and departure lounges of Manchester Airport.
## Construction
### Conception and construction of the Mark I
Bernard Lovell built the Transit Telescope at Jodrell Bank in the late 1940s. This was a 218 ft (66 m)-diameter radio telescope that could only point directly upwards; the next logical step was to build a telescope that could look at all parts of the sky so that more sources could be observed, as well as for longer integration times. Although the Transit Telescope had been designed and constructed by the astronomers that used it, a fully steerable telescope would need to be professionally designed and constructed; the first challenge was to find an engineer willing to do the job. This turned out to be Charles Husband, whom Lovell first met on 8 September 1949.
Two circular 15" turret drive gear sets and associated pinions from 15-inch (38-cm) gun turrets were bought cheaply in 1950; these came from the World War I battleships HMS Revenge and Royal Sovereign, which were being broken up at the time. The bearings became the two main altitude rotator bearings of the telescope, with the appropriate parts of the telescope being designed around them. Husband presented the first drawings of the proposed giant, fully steerable radio telescope in 1950. After refinements, these plans were detailed in a "Blue Book", which was presented to the DSIR on 20 March 1951; the proposal was approved in March 1952.
Construction began on 3 September 1952. The foundations for the telescope were completed on 21 May 1953 after being sunk 90 ft (27 m) into the ground. It then took until mid-March 1954 to get the double railway lines completed because of their required accuracy. The central pivot was delivered to the site on 11 May 1954, and the final bogie in mid-April 1955.
The telescope bowl was originally going to have a wire mesh surface to observe at wavelengths between 1 and 10 meters (3.2 and 32 feet), so frequencies between 30 and 300 MHz; this was changed to a steel surface so that the telescope could observe at the 21 cm (8 in) hydrogen line, which was discovered in 1951. Also, in February 1954 Lovell and the Air Ministry met to see if funding could be made available for improving the accuracy of the dish so that it could be used on centimetre wavelengths, for research at these wavelengths for the Ministry as well as "other purposes". Although the funding was not ultimately made available from the Air Ministry, the planning process had already progressed, so this improvement was made anyway.
The telescope was constructed so that the bowl could be completely inverted. Originally, it was intended to use a movable tower at the base of the telescope to change the receivers at the focus. However, the movable tower was never built, jointly because of funding constraints and the fact that much of the receiver equipment was placed at the base of the telescope rather than at the focus. Instead, receivers were mounted on 50-foot (15-m) long steel tubes, which were then inserted by a winch into the top of the aerial tower while the bowl was inverted. The cables from the receivers then ran down the inside of this tube, which could then be connected when the telescope was pointed at the zenith. Associated receiver equipment could then be placed either in the small, swinging laboratory directly underneath the surface; in rooms at the tops of the two towers; at the base girders, or in the control building.
The telescope moved for the first time on 3 February 1957: by an inch. It was first moved azimuthally under power on 12 June 1957; the bowl was tilted under power for the first time on 20 June 1957. By the end of July the dish surface was completed, and first light was on 2 August 1957; the telescope did a drift scan across the Milky Way at 160 MHz, with the bowl at the zenith. The telescope was first controlled from the control room on 9 October 1957, by a purpose-built analogue computer.
There were large cost overruns with the telescope's construction, mainly the result of the steeply rising cost of steel during construction. The original grant for the telescope came jointly from the Nuffield Foundation and the government; this amounted to £335,000. The government increased its share of the funding several times as the cost of the telescope rose; other money came from private donations. The final part of the debt from the construction of the telescope, £50,000, was paid off by Lord Nuffield and the Nuffield Foundation on 25 May 1960 (partly because of the telescope's early, very public role in space probe tracking; see below), and Jodrell Bank observatory was renamed to the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories. The final total cost for the telescope was £700,000.
### Upgrade to Mark IA
Shortly after the telescope was originally completed, Lovell and Husband started contemplating an upgrade to the telescope so that it had a more accurate surface, and was controlled by a digital computer. Plans for this upgrade were created by Husband and Co., and were presented to Lovell in April 1964. Their plans became more urgent when fatigue cracks were discovered in the elevation drive system in September 1967. The telescope was only expected to have an operational lifespan of 10 years, and Husband had been warning about the decay of the telescope since 1963. The appearance of fatigue cracks was the first of these problems that threatened to stop the telescope working; had they not been put right the elevation system could have failed and perhaps jammed. The telescope was therefore repaired and upgraded to become the Mark IA; the £400,000 of funding to do this was announced on 8 July 1968 by the SRC. The upgrade was carried out in three phases, phase 1 lasting between September 1968 and February 1969, phase 2 between September and November 1969 and phase 3 between August 1970 and November 1971.
The first phase saw the addition of an inner railway track, which was designed to take a third of the weight of the telescope. The outer railway track, which had been decaying and sinking over the previous years, was relaid in the second phase. Four bogies and their steelwork were added on the inner track, and the existing bogies on the outer track were overhauled.
The third phase saw the biggest changes; a new, more accurate bowl surface was constructed in front of the old surface, meaning that the telescope could be used on wavelengths as small as 6 cm (5 GHz), and the central "bicycle wheel" support was added. A new computer control system was also installed (reusing the Ferranti Argus 104 computer from the Mark II); fatigue cracks in the cones connecting the bowl to the towers were repaired, and the central antenna was lengthened and strengthened. In January 1972 the hoist carrying two engineers to the central antenna broke, gravely injuring one and killing the other.
The Mark IA upgrade was formally completed on 16 July 1974, when the telescope was handed back to the University of Manchester. Because of increases in the cost of steel during the upgrade, the final amount for the upgrade was £664,793.07.
### Later upgrades and repairs
The Gale of January 1976 on 2 January brought winds of around 90 mph (140 km/h), which almost destroyed the telescope. The towers bowed, and one of the bearings connecting the dish to the towers slipped. After an expensive repair, diagonal bracing girders were added to the towers to prevent this happening again.
By the 1990s, the telescope surface was becoming badly corroded. In 2001–03, the telescope was resurfaced, increasing its sensitivity at 5 GHz by a factor of five. A holographic profiling technique was used on the surface, meaning that the surface works optimally at wavelengths of 5 cm (compared to 18 cm on the old surface). A new drive system was installed, which provides a much higher pointing accuracy. The outer track was relaid, and the focal tower was strengthened so that it could support heavier receivers.
In 2007 the telescope needed a new drive wheel, as one of the 64 original wheels had cracked; in 2008 another new steel tyre was needed after a second wheel cracked. These are the only two wheel changes needed since the telescope started operation in 1957.
The presence (as at 2010) of two breeding pairs of wild peregrine falcons (nesting one in each of the telescope's two support towers) prevents the nuisance of pigeon infestation (by droppings fouling, and their body heat affecting sensitive instrument readings) that some other radio telescopes suffer from.
Close to one of the buildings at the observatory stands a bust of Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer who developed the heliocentric model of the universe, with Sun, rather than the Earth, at its centre.
## Statistics
## Space probe tracking
### Sputnik and artificial satellites
The telescope became operational in the summer of 1957, just in time for the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. While the transmissions from Sputnik itself could easily be picked up by a household radio, the Lovell Telescope was the only telescope capable of tracking Sputnik's booster rocket by radar; it first located it just before midnight on 12 October 1957. It also located Sputnik 2's carrier rocket at just after midnight on 16 November 1957.
The telescope also took part in some of the early work on satellite communication. In February and March 1963, the telescope transmitted signals via the moon and Echo II, a NASA balloon satellite at 750 km (466 mi) altitude, to the Zimenki Observatory in the USSR. Some signals were also relayed from the US to the USSR via Jodrell Bank.
### The race to the Moon
The Lovell Telescope was used to track both Soviet and American probes aimed at the Moon in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The telescope tracked Pioneer 1 from 11 to 13 November 1958, Pioneer 3 in December 1958, and Pioneer 4 in March 1959. The telescope tracked Pioneer 5 between 11 March and 26 June 1960, and was also used to send commands to the probe, including the one to separate the probe from its carrier rocket and the ones to turn on the more powerful transmitter when the probe was 13 million kilometres (8 million miles) away. It also received data from Pioneer 5, and was the only telescope in the world capable of doing so at the time. The last signal was picked up from the probe at a distance of 36.2 million kilometres (22.5 million miles) on the 26 June 1960.
The telescope also tracked the Soviet Moon probes. An attempt to track Luna 1 failed. The telescope successfully tracked Lunik II from 13 to 14 September 1959 as it hit the moon; this was proven by the telescope by measuring the effect of the Moon's gravity on the probe, and Luna 3 around 4 October 1959. Also, the telescope tracked Luna 9 in February 1966, the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon. The telescope listened in on its facsimile transmission of photographs from the Moon's surface. The photos were sent to the British press – the probe transmitted, likely intentionally to increase chances of reception, in the international format for image transmission by newswire – and published before the Soviets themselves had made the photos public.
The telescope tracked Luna 10, a Russian satellite put into orbit around the Moon, in April 1966, and Zond 5 in September 1968, a Russian probe containing two tortoises that was launched at the Moon, around which it sling-shotted before returning to Earth. The telescope did not track Apollo 11, as it was tracking Luna 15 in July 1969. However, a 50 ft (15 m) telescope at Jodrell Bank was used at the same time to track Apollo 11.
### Venus probes
The telescope possibly detected signals from Venera 1, a Russian satellite en route to Venus, during 19–20 May 1961. However, it was not possible to confirm the origin of the signals. A few years later, in December 1962, the telescope tracked and received data from Mariner 2. On 18 October 1967, the telescope received signals from, and tracked, Venera 4, a Russian probe to Venus.
### Mars probes
The telescope tracked Mars 1 in 1962–63, and Mars 2 and Mars 3 in 1971 (amidst the upgrade of the telescope to the Mark IA). In more recent years, it has also searched for several lost Mars spacecraft, including NASA's Mars Observer spacecraft in 1993, Mars Polar Lander in 2000, and the Beagle 2 lander on Mars in 2003. However, it did not succeed in locating any of them.
### ICBM watchdog
As a stopgap measure while RAF Fylingdales was being built, the telescope was on standby for "Project Verify" (also known by the codewords "Lothario" and "Changlin") between April 1962 and September 1963. During strategic alerts, a 'pulse transmitter, receiver and display equipment' could be connected to the telescope to scan known Russian launch sites for indications of launches of ICBMs and/or IRBMs. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, the telescope was discreetly turned towards the Iron Curtain to provide a few minutes' warning of any missiles that might have been launched.
## Scientific observations
When the telescope was proposed, a series of objectives for the telescope's observations were set out. These included:
- Surveys of galactic and extragalactic radio emission
- Observations of the Sun
- Radar echoes from the planets
- Investigation of meteor detections
- Observations of the Gegenschein
- Studies of the Aurora
- Detections of radio reflections from cosmic ray ionization in the atmosphere
However, the actual observations made with the telescope differ from these original objectives, and are outlined in the following sections.
### Solar system
In Autumn 1958, the telescope was used to bounce "Hellos" off the Moon for a demonstration in Lovell's third Reith Lecture. The telescope was also used to receive messages bounced off the Moon (a "moonbounce") as part of the 50th anniversary First Move festival. In April 1961, a radar echo from Venus was achieved using the telescope while the planet was at a close approach, confirming measurements of the distance of the planet made by American telescopes.
### 21cm hydrogen line
The 21 cm hydrogen line was discovered during the telescope's construction; the telescope was subsequently redesigned so that it could observe at that frequency. Using this line emission, hydrogen clouds both in the Milky Way galaxy and in other galaxies can be observed; for example, the telescope discovered a large cloud around the M81 and M82 galaxies. The motion of these clouds either towards or away from us either redshifts or blueshifts the line, allowing the velocity to the cloud to be measured. This provides a probe of the internal dynamics of galaxies, and can also provide a measurement of the rate of expansion of the universe.
### Masers
In 1963, the telescope discovered OH emissions from star-forming regions and giant stars; the first astronomical masers. OH masers emit on four frequencies around 18 cm (7 in), which are easily observable on the telescope. As part of MERLIN, the telescope is regularly used to construct maps of maser regions.
### Pulsars
In 1968, the telescope observed the coordinates of the recently discovered pulsar, confirming its existence and investigating the dispersion measure. It was also used to make the first detection of polarization of the pulsar's radiation. This marked the start of a substantial amount of work investigating pulsars at Jodrell, which is still ongoing. In the 30 years following the discovery of pulsars, the telescope discovered over 100 new pulsars (and astronomers at Jodrell Bank discovered around 2/3 of the total number using the Lovell and other telescopes). 300 pulsars are regularly observed using either the Lovell, or a nearby 42-foot (13-m) dish.
The telescope was involved in the discovery of millisecond pulsars, and also discovered the first pulsar in a globular cluster in 1986: a millisecond pulsar in the Messier 28 globular cluster. In September 2006, the results of three years of observing a double pulsar, PSR J0737-3039, with the Lovell telescope, as well as with the Parkes and Green Bank Telescopes, were announced; these confirmed that the general theory of relativity is accurate to 99.5%.
### Gravitational lensing
Between 1972 and 1973, the telescope was used for "a detailed survey of the radio sources in a limited area of the sky ... up to the sensitivity limit of the instrument". Among the objects catalogued was the first gravitational lens, which was confirmed optically in 1979 after its position was found to coincide with a pair of faint blue stars by using the Mark I as an interferometer with the Mark II. The telescope was also involved in the detection of the first Einstein ring in 1998, in conjunction with observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope.
### Quasars and interferometry
The early investigation into the size and nature of quasars drove the development of interferometry techniques in the 1950s; the Lovell telescope had an advantage because of its large collecting area, meaning that it could make high-sensitivity interferometer measurements relatively quickly. As a result, the telescope featured heavily in the discovery of quasars.
Interferometry at Jodrell Bank started before the Lovell telescope was constructed, using the Transit Telescope with a 35 m<sup>2</sup> broadside array to determine the size of radio-loud nebulae. Once construction of the Lovell telescope was complete, the broadside array was put on a steerable mount and the pair were used as a tracking radio interferometer. This was then used to determine the 2D shape of quasars on the sky. In the summer of 1961, a 25-foot (8-m) diameter paraboloid telescope was constructed (of aluminium tubing and mounted on the rotating structure of an old defence radar). This was then used as a steerable interferometer with the Mark I, with a resolution of 0.3 arcseconds, to determine the sizes of some high-redshift (z\~0.86) quasars.
The Mark II telescope once constructed was also used as an interferometer with the Lovell telescope. This has a baseline of 425 m (1,394 ft) (meaning that it can synthesize a telescope with 425 m diameter), giving it a resolution of around 0.5 arcminutes. This telescope pair has been used to carry out survey work, and to determine the positions of faint radio objects. Also, one of the drivers behind the construction of the Mark III was to use it as an interferometer with the Mark I to carry out a survey of radio sources.
The telescope took part in the first transatlantic interferometer experiment in 1968, with other telescopes being those at Algonquin and Penticton in Canada. It was first used as an interferometer with the Arecibo radio telescope in 1969.
In 1980, it was used as part of the new MERLIN array with a series of smaller radio telescopes controlled from Jodrell Bank. With baselines of up to 217 km (135 mi), this gave a resolution around 0.05 arcminutes. An upgraded version of this became a national facility in 1992. It has also been used in Very Long Baseline Interferometry, with telescopes across Europe (the European VLBI Network), giving a resolution of around 0.001 arcseconds. Around half of the telescope's observing time is now spent doing interferometry with other telescopes. It is planned that the telescope will work as part of an interferometer with the Radioastron (Russian) and VLBI Space Observatory Programme (Japanese) orbital radio satellites, providing yet larger baselines and higher resolutions.
### Other notable observations
The telescope was used as a follow-up instrument for possible SETI detections made at Arecibo between 1998 and the end of 2003. No signals were detected. In February 2005, astronomers using the Lovell Telescope discovered the galaxy VIRGOHI21 that appears to be made almost entirely of dark matter.
## In popular culture
- A 1:200 scale model of the telescope, made in 1961, resides in the Science Museum, London.
- In 1962, the telescope was mentioned in a sci-fi novel A for Andromeda, by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot.
- The 1981 Doctor Who serial Logopolis, filmed at Crowsley Park, used a model of the Lovell Telescope as the Pharos Project, from which the Doctor, played by Tom Baker, fell and regenerated. The model was based on the Mark I telescope, but it also featured some modifications from the Mark IA telescope such as the rim around the edge of the dish.
- Sophie Aldred portrayed the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace, standing on both the superstructure and dish in the 1990 Doctor Who educational special "Search Out Science: Search Out Space".
- In 1992, the telescope was featured on the cover of Sub Sub's "Space Face" single.
- The telescope also made a brief appearance in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 2005.
- Four bands have shot music videos or photos in the bowl of the telescope: Oasis in June 1994 by Steve Double, D:Ream in 1995 ("Party Up the World"), Placebo in 2003 ("The Bitter End"), and Public Service Broadcasting in 2015 ("Sputnik"). Long shots of the telescope feature in the music video of "Secret Messages" by Electric Light Orchestra.
- The Royal Mail depicted the telescope as "J for Jodrell Bank" in their alphabetical landmarks stamp series; it has also previously featured on stamps from Haiti, Hungary, Ascension Island, Barbuda, Liechtenstein and Tanzania.
- In an August 1981 episode of Coronation Street the telescope was seen. Len and Rita Fairclough brought the boy they were fostering to see the telescope.
## See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire
- Listed buildings in Goostrey |
6,142,319 | 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane | 1,171,780,343 | Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 1933 | [
"1933 Atlantic hurricane season",
"1933 natural disasters in the United States",
"Cape Verde hurricanes",
"Category 4 Atlantic hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Delaware",
"Hurricanes in Maryland",
"Hurricanes in Virginia",
"Hurricanes in Washington, D.C."
]
| The 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane was among the most damaging hurricanes in the Mid-Atlantic states in the eastern United States. The sixth storm and third hurricane of the very active 1933 Atlantic hurricane season, it formed in the eastern Atlantic, where it moved west-northwestward and eventually became a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. A strong ridge over New England allowed a continued northwest course, bringing the storm south of Bermuda and later toward the middle coast of the eastern United States. Advanced warning allowed hundreds of people to evacuate ahead of the hurricane making landfall. It did so in northeastern North Carolina on August 23 with winds of about 90 mph (140 km/h). Soon after, the eye crossed over Norfolk, Virginia, the first time that happened since 1821. The hurricane weakened into a tropical storm over northern Virginia shortly before passing near Washington, D.C., becoming the worst tropical cyclone there since 1896. Curving northward, the storm moved through Pennsylvania and New York before losing tropical characteristics on August 25. Now extratropical, the former hurricane moved across Atlantic Canada, dissipating on August 28.
Across the eastern United States, the hurricane left widespread damage amounting to over \$40 million (equivalent to about \$800 million in 2020) and causing at least 47 deaths. Although the storm struck North Carolina, damage in the state totaled only about \$250,000, largely to crops and transport. Along the Chesapeake Bay, the storm produced 100-year flooding from its storm surge, setting records that remained for 70 years. In Virginia, flooding covered downtown portions of Norfolk in the southeast and Alexandria in the north. Damage in the state was estimated at \$17.5 million. Similarly heavy damage occurred in Maryland, including over \$7 million to crops. High waves along the coast eroded beaches and created a new inlet at Ocean City. The highest rainfall associated with the hurricane was 13.28 in (337 mm) at York, Pennsylvania. In the state, the rains flooded several rivers which forced thousands to evacuate. In neighboring New Jersey, high waves wrecked boats and destroyed a fishing pier, while in New York, flooding caused traffic jams. In Atlantic Canada, heavy rainfall assisted firefighters in combating wildfires, and the associated winds caused isolated power outages.
## Meteorological history
On August 13, a tropical depression developed near the west coast of Africa, southeast of Cape Verde, with an associated closed circulation. Based on observations from a nearby ship, it is estimated the depression quickly intensified into a tropical storm while moving generally to the west-northwest. For several days the storm continued this general trajectory, eventually shifting more to the northwest. Based on interpolation of reports, it is estimated the storm intensified into a hurricane on August 16 while halfway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles. The Weather Bureau began tracking the system on August 18. Later that day, a ship reported a pressure of 948 mbar (28.0 inHg), suggesting winds of 135 mph (217 km/h). This made the hurricane a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Another ship report on August 20 indicated a pressure of 940 mbar (28 inHg) while reporting hurricane winds, suggesting peak winds of 140 mph (230 km/h).
After remaining near peak intensity for three days, the hurricane began steadily weakening while curving more to the west-northwest, a rare track for the region due to steering from a ridge over New England. On August 21, the storm passed about 150 mi (240 km) southwest of Bermuda. At 1000 UTC on August 23, the hurricane made landfall along the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina, near Nags Head, with a pressure of 963 mbar (28.4 inHg). Based on the steady weakening, coastal observations, and a larger than normal size, landfall winds were estimated at 90 mph (140 km/h). A few hours later, the hurricane made another landfall on the North Carolina mainland after crossing the Albemarle Sound. While the hurricane continued to the northwest, the eye briefly moved over Norfolk, Virginia, for the first time since the 1821 Norfolk and Long Island hurricane. Early on August 24, the hurricane weakened into a tropical storm while passing near Washington, D.C. Curving to the north, the storm crossed Pennsylvania and into New York, where it weakened further into a tropical depression. On August 25, the former hurricane turned to the east near the Canada–US border, and after interacting with a cold front, became extratropical. It emerged from Maine and briefly re-intensified, moving across southern Nova Scotia with gale-force winds. On August 28, the circulation dissipated to the south of Newfoundland.
## Preparations and impact
The hurricane first affected Bermuda when it passed to the south. Winds at St. George's reached 64 mph (103 km/h). High waves along the coast prevented boats from docking.
Early on August 21, the Weather Bureau issued storm warnings from Cape Hatteras to Boston, Massachusetts. As the hurricane approached land, the warnings were extended southward to Southport, North Carolina. In Norfolk, Virginia, most ships either remained at port or sought shelter due to advance warning. Residents were advised to evacuate in Ocean View, Virginia Beach, and Willoughby Spit, and about 350 people left their houses in Virginia Beach. Along the coast, the United States Coast Guard rescued more than 200 people, many of whom due to capsized boats. A 1993 article published in the Monthly Weather Review considered the storm to have been "one of the most severe storms that has ever visited the Middle Atlantic coast." Flooding affected a larger portion of the northeastern United States than any other hurricane in the 1900s after Hurricane Agnes in 1972. The Federal Emergency Management Agency later used high water levels from the storm as a 100-year event for the Chesapeake Bay region. The next storm to approach the storm surge levels was Isabel in 2003, which was lower in most locations in Virginia, although higher in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore due to sea level rise. This hurricane caused damage from North Carolina through New Jersey, due to the combination of high winds and storm tides, and left at least 47 people dead overall.
### North Carolina and Virginia
When the hurricane made landfall in the Outer Banks, it produced winds of 76 mph (122 km/h) at Cape Hatteras. The winds caused crop damage as far inland as Granville County. The four-masted schooner G.A. Kohler hailing from Baltimore and bound for Haiti was driven ashore at Hatteras by the high winds. Across the region, the storm downed power lines, washed out highways, wrecked boats, and destroyed houses, and overall damage in the state was around \$250,000.
As the hurricane moved into Virginia, winds were as strong as 82 mph (132 km/h) at Cape Henry, while Norfolk reported winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). The latter city reported a record high tide of 9.8 ft (3.0 m) above normal at Sewell's Point, which flooded the downtown section with 5 ft (1.5 m) of water. Water levels were 5 to 8 ft (1.5 to 2.4 m) higher than any previous high water mark in Newport News and most of Fort Eustis was flooded. In Hampton the storm surge flooded Langley Air Force Base, swamped homes and businesses, wrecked boats, and destroyed fishing piers. Rainfall in Chesapeake reached about 10 in (250 mm), and reached about 7 in (180 mm) in Norfolk. Flooding near Norfolk damaged crops, and after its downtown section was flooded, residents were forced to travel by boat. When the flood levels dropped, many fish were left behind in the streets. High water levels of around 4 ft (1.2 m) along the York River destroyed buildings at Gloucester Point. In Virginia Beach, the storm knocked down about 600 trees, many of them about 100 years old, and over 79,000 people lost telephone service.
Due to advance warning, there was minimal damage to shipping in the region. However, high waves damaged the steamer Madison with 90 people on board and caused it to drift off Cape Charles, which necessitated rescue from the Coast Guard. Inland flooding occurred along the James River as far west as Richmond, where damage was limited to downed trees and broken windows. The pier of the Jamestown Ferry was washed out in Surry and a marina at Jordan Point near Hopewell was wrecked after the river reached the highest level on record. A powerful storm surge moved up the Chesapeake Bay and flooded waterfront locations. At Colonial Beach along the Potomac River, the surge flooded the town with 4 ft (1.2 m) of water and wrecked a local amusement park. The Potomac in Alexandria was at its highest level since 1899, causing floods 8 ft (2.4 m) deep along U.S. Route 1, and flooding the Old Town section. High winds in the city caused power outages, and flooding along the Cameron Run washed out a bridge. The combination of rain and winds damaged crops in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, mainly to corn and peaches. Statewide, the storm caused \$5.25 million in crop damage, largely to corn and tobacco. Damage in the state was estimated at \$17.5 million, and there were 15 deaths. After the storm, about 350 people helped clear debris from the streets of Norfolk.
### Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic
Farther north, it is estimated the storm produced hurricane-force winds in portions of Maryland. Along the coast, high waves eroded about 2 sq mi (5.2 km<sup>2</sup>) of beaches in Maryland and another 1 sq mi (2.6 km<sup>2</sup>) in Delaware. High waves created an inlet that turned Assateague into an island. The storm damaged or destroyed several hotels in the region. Power, telephone, and telegraph outages occurred from Cape Charles through Delaware. In Baltimore, 7.62 in (194 mm) of precipitation fell in 24 hours, setting a record and causing flooding. The storm surge wrecked a steamboat pier and promenade at Chesapeake Beach, and damaged or destroyed 70 houses in neighboring North Beach. In Cheverly, flooding caused nine cars of a train to derail, killing four people. Statewide, the storm caused about \$7 million in crop damage, mostly to tobacco, tomato, and corn. The high tides caused \$3 million in damage to the fishing industry, having damaged or destroyed many boats and docks. There was about \$90,000 worth of damage to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, after docks were damaged. Throughout the state, the hurricane caused about \$10 million in property damage, with another \$1.1 million to federal properties, about \$960,000 in transportation damage, and \$364,000 in utility damage.
In neighboring Delaware, road damage was about \$150,000, after three bridges were wrecked along DuPont Highway. Rainfall in the state reached 13.24 in (336 mm) in Bridgeville. In Washington, D.C., the storm dropped 6.39 in (162 mm) of rainfall, at the time the highest on record for a single day total. High winds knocked down trees and destroyed the roofs of several houses. Along the Anacostia River, flooding surpassed a seawall, and traffic was disrupted when the Benning Bridge was flooded with 2 ft (0.61 m) of water. The Washington-Hoover Airport was also flooded. Damage in the nation's capital was the worst since a tropical storm in 1896. The highest rainfall associated with the hurricane was 13.28 in (337 mm) near York, Pennsylvania. On August 24, the minimum pressure in Philadelphia dropped to 996 millibars (29.4 inHg), which was the lowest on record in the month of August at the time. Wind gusts in the city reached 42 mph (68 km/h). In the surrounding area, winds and rainfall caused \$1 million in damage, mostly to crops and houses, and there were four deaths. Rainfall caused the worst flooding in the Lehigh Valley since 1902. In York County, floods destroyed 47 bridges, while in York proper, about 3,000 people evacuated along the swollen Codorus Creek.
Hurricane-force winds potentially affected portions of Delaware and southern New Jersey. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, winds reached 76 mph (122 km/h) at a height of 171 ft (52 m), which is 67 mph (108 km/h) at sea level. At the time, this was the highest wind report for the station in the month of August. Rainfall in Atlantic City totaled 8.12 in (206 mm), including 2.25 in (57 mm) that fell in an hour on August 20, which was the monthly average. Two people drowned along the Jersey Shore due to high waves, and the storm capsized nine boats. The waves destroyed a 300 ft (91 m) long fishing pier in Cape May. High winds damaged the boardwalk while streets were flooded in Atlantic City, and there was about \$3 million in damage. The storm spawned a tornado in Wildwood. At Picatinny Arsenal, residents and members of the military helped prevent a dam from breaking. Sustained winds of around 35 mph (56 km/h) were observed across northern New York, while the top of the Empire State Building reported a gust of 90 mph (140 km/h). Heavy rainfall in the state increased water levels along streams, causing one person to drown at Mount Tremper. After a dam broke, 190 people at Godeffroy were stranded until they were rescued by a fire crew. A power outage during the storm caused the Statue of Liberty torch to extinguish for the first time since 1929. Streets and basements of New York City were flooded after the heavy rainfall. The combination of flooding and fallen trees caused heavy traffic jams.
The former hurricane passed near southern Quebec as a tropical depression, and later crossed southern Nova Scotia as an extratropical cyclone. Along Lake Ontario, winds reached 51 mph (82 km/h), and in Montreal, winds reached 21 mph (34 km/h). After a dry summer, the storm's accompanying rainfall was beneficial, reaching 4.4 inches (110 mm) in Fredericton, New Brunswick and 2 inches (51 mm) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The rains helped farmers in Ontario and assisted firefighters in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In Montreal, 2.4 inches (61 mm) of rainfall flooded a tunnel. Gusty winds knocked down power lines in portions of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Nova Scotia. Overall effects were minor, limited to some utility damage and delays for shipping.
## See also
- Hurricane Isabel
- Hurricane Florence
- List of North Carolina hurricanes (1900–49)
- List of Delaware hurricanes |
3,582,815 | 1976 Canada Cup | 1,172,290,488 | Canada Cup ice hockey tournament | [
"1970s in Montreal",
"1970s in Ottawa",
"1970s in Philadelphia",
"1970s in Quebec City",
"1970s in Winnipeg",
"1976 in Manitoba",
"1976 in Ontario",
"1976 in Quebec",
"1976 in Toronto",
"1976 in sports in Pennsylvania",
"1976–77 in American ice hockey",
"1976–77 in Canadian ice hockey",
"1976–77 in Czechoslovak ice hockey",
"1976–77 in Finnish ice hockey",
"1976–77 in Soviet ice hockey",
"1976–77 in Swedish ice hockey",
"Canada Cup",
"Ice hockey competitions in Toronto",
"International sports competitions in Toronto",
"September 1976 sports events in Canada",
"September 1976 sports events in the United States"
]
| The 1976 Canada Cup was an international ice hockey tournament held September 2 to 15, 1976, in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Quebec City in Canada as well as in Philadelphia, in the United States. It was the first of five Canada Cup tournaments held between 1976 and 1991, organized by Alan Eagleson, and sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Hockey Canada and the National Hockey League (NHL).
The six-team, round robin tournament ended with a best-of-three final between the top two teams. Canada finished atop the standings and defeated Czechoslovakia in the final in two consecutive games. Bobby Orr was named the most valuable player of the tournament, and Viktor Zhluktov was the leading scorer.
The Canada Cup was the first true best-on-best world championship in hockey history as it allowed any player to represent their team regardless of amateur or professional status. The hockey was both exciting and entertaining, with one of the games being declared "best game of all time" by fans. Bobby Orr and Lanny MacDonald both claimed that winning the Canada Cup was more important to them than their Stanley Cup wins. Consequently, it marked the end of Canada's six-year boycott of the IIHF. The success of the event paved the way for greater use of professional players in the World Championship and Winter Olympics.
## Background
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) had complained for years that Team Canada faced a competitive disadvantage in international tournaments as it was restricted from using its best players, who were professionals in the National Hockey League (NHL), while European teams masked the status of their best players. The issue came to a head in 1970 when International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) president Bunny Ahearne reneged on a promise to allow each team to use up to nine professional players at the 1970 World Championship. In response, the CAHA withdrew Canada from all international competition until the IIHF gave it the right to use its best players as the European teams could.
Around the same time, talks were begun to hold a friendly tournament between Canada's top players and the Soviet national team. These talks culminated in the Summit Series in 1972 that was narrowly claimed by Canada's NHL all-stars. A second Summit Series in 1974 saw the Soviets easily defeat the World Hockey Association's (WHA) top all-stars, but the two series created demand for a true best-on-best world championship. It was during the 1974 Summit Series that National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) executive-director Alan Eagleson began negotiations with Soviet and European authorities to create such a tournament. The negotiations, which grew to include the IIHF and Hockey Canada and lasted over two years, resulted in numerous agreements: Canada would return to international competition in 1977, the World Championships moved to an open format that allowed professionals to play and club teams of the Soviet League would tour North America and face NHL teams in exhibition games in what became the Super Series. The key agreement was the creation of the Canada Cup, to be held in 1976.
Having gained international approval, Eagleson then convinced the NHLPA's players to support the tournament with promises of increased pension contributions resulting from their participation. The NHL's owners supported the concept after agreeing that half of the proceeds from the games would go to them. Some teams remained uneasy, however. The Philadelphia Flyers were afraid their players might suffer injuries in the tournament and vowed that no player from their roster would be permitted to play. They were convinced to back down on their threats after being promised two games would be played in Philadelphia with the Flyers receiving their share of the revenue. Though the tournament was held in September so as not to interfere with the NHL season, league president Clarence Campbell remained skeptical of the tournament's viability, calling it "wasteful".
## Teams
Six teams competed in the 1976 Canada Cup. Canada was favoured to win as they had brought what was argued to be the strongest team in the nation's history to the tournament – 18 of the 25 players on the roster would later be elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Seeking its best possible roster, the Canadian team put aside the bitter rivalry between the NHL and WHA, selecting players from both leagues, though almost entirely from the NHL (Winnipeg Jets winger Bobby Hull was the only WHA player to skate in the tournament, while Cleveland Crusaders defenseman Paul Shmyr participated in training camp only). Bobby Orr, plagued by growing knee problems nearly turned down the invitation to play before reconsidering, while goaltender Rogatien Vachon, who was not initially invited to join the team, wound up playing every minute in the Canadian goal.
While the fans hoped for a Canada-Soviet Union final, analysts ranked the Soviets as only the fourth best team entering the tournament. They chose to leave most of their elite players home for reasons that remain unclear. The potential of defections, or losing stars to North American professional hockey, are two possibilities. Officially, Soviet officials said many of their players were suffering from fatigue, though goaltender Vladislav Tretiak later claimed the omissions were the result of a power struggle between Olympic coach Boris Kulagin and Canada Cup team coach Viktor Tikhonov and that the former sought to undermine the latter by forcing him to coach a weaker team.
The Soviets downplayed the importance of the tournament, stating their true focus was the World Championships and the Winter Olympics. As a result, they sent a much younger, "experimental" team to Canada. Valeri Kharlamov, considered by many to be their best forward, also did not play in the series, as he was recovering from serious injuries suffered in a car accident.
The Czechoslovak team was predicted to face Canada in the final by most experts as they brought the same team that won the 1976 World Championship a few months prior. Their goaltender, Jiří Holeček, was considered the best in the world outside the NHL. Czechoslovak coach Karel Gut anticipated his team would emerge to show the world that there was "more to international hockey than Canada and the Soviet Union". Sweden was ranked third entering the tournament and had a large mixture of amateurs and professionals who were playing in the NHL and WHA. The United States and Finland rounded out the tournament and were not expected to be competitive.
## Round robin games
The tournament opened in Ottawa on September 2 as Finland faced a Canadian team focused on avoiding a sense of complacency following defeats against the Soviets in 1974 and 1975. Rick Martin scored a hat trick to lead Canada in a rout of the Finns, 11–2. Sweden then defeated the United States, 5–2, on the strength of four first period power play goals. Swedish star Börje Salming, who played in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, was greeted with a five-minute standing ovation by the Toronto crowd prior to the game.
The third game featured the world champion Czechoslovaks against the Olympic champion Soviets. Czechoslovakia justified pre-tournament expectations by winning 5–3 while the Soviets complained about the scheduling, claiming organizers deliberately matched them up against the Czechoslovaks in their opening game to set them at an early disadvantage in the tournament. The Soviet complaints grew louder following a 3–3 tie against Sweden. While the Swedish press was hailing Salming as the greatest player in their nation's history after his second consecutive dominant effort, the Soviets threatened to quit the tournament as they were upset about the officiating of Canadian referee Andre Legace. Organizers did not take the Soviet threats to quit the tournament seriously.
The Czechoslovaks remained dominant, defeating the Finns 8–0 in a game where they out-shot their opponent 49–15. Czechoslovak goaltender Holeček recorded the first shutout in the tournament's history. The Finns were similarly decimated by the Soviets, who did not withdraw from the tournament, by an 11–3 score. Meanwhile, the Americans, criticized in the media as being "team useless" over their perceived lack of talent, earned a measure of respect when they lost to Canada 4–2 in a game where the outcome was not certain until the final minute of play, then earned a 4–4 tie against the Czechoslovaks, and the respect of their coach, in a game played at Philadelphia.
A 4–0 loss to Canada followed by a shocking 8–6 defeat at the hands of their Scandinavian rival Finland eliminated Sweden from contention. The Finns, who overcame a 4–1 deficit, felt the result vindicated their placement in the tournament while the Swedes considered the result an embarrassment. The Soviets remained alive by defeating the United States 5–0 in Philadelphia while Canada faced the Czechoslovaks at the same time in Montreal. The game featured a goaltender battle between Canada's Rogatien Vachon and the Czechoslovak's Vladimír Dzurilla and was immediately claimed to be one of the greatest games of all time. Milan Nový scored with less than five minutes to play to lift the Czechoslovaks to a 1–0 victory and assured them a place in the final. The result meant that the winner of the Canada–Soviet Union game would claim the second spot in the final.
Three games marked the final day of the round robin on September 11. The United States overcame a 2–0 deficit to defeat Finland 6–3 to finish fifth in the tournament. American co-general manager Tommy Ivan expressed his pride in his team's tournament, and predicted that this tournament had set the stage for the United States to grow into a contender in hockey. The Swedes, meanwhile, earned a 2–1 victory over Czechoslovakia in a game that had no impact on the standings.
While fans expected Canada and the Soviet Union would meet in the final, ultimately, they squared off in an unofficial semi-final. The two teams played the game at a furious pace, trading goals in a first period from which Canada emerged with a 2–1 lead. Canada extended their lead in the second period then relied on defenceman Bobby Orr's stellar play to hold off the Soviets and advance to the final. As they had earlier in the tournament, the Soviets complained of biased officiating playing a role in the outcome of the game.
## Final
The 1976 Canada Cup final was a best-of-three series. The first game was played September 13 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Czechoslovaks started Dzurilla in goal after his brilliant display against Canada in the round robin. Dzurilla was unable to duplicate his success as Gilbert Perreault opened the scoring one minute into the game en route to a four-goal onslaught by the Canadians in the first period. The Czechoslovaks were stronger in the final 40 minutes, but were unable to beat Canada's Vachon, who recorded his second shutout of the tournament in a 6–0 victory for Canada. During the game, the Czechoslovaks were angered when Canada's Steve Shutt crosschecked Jiří Novák from behind. Novak suffered a concussion and was unable to play the remainder of the series. Shutt, a skill player of smaller stature, was apologetic after the game, claiming he had not intended to hit his opponent in the fashion he did.
Game two was played in the Montreal Forum on September 15. Jiri Holeček, who replaced Dzurilla in goal after the first period of the first game, started game two for Czechoslovakia, while Vachon remained in the Canadian net. As they had in the first game, Canada jumped out to an early lead, scoring two goals in the first three minutes of play. Holeček was quickly pulled and replaced with Dzurilla, who completed the game. The Czechoslovaks replied with a second period goal and another early in the third to tie the game. Bobby Clarke re-established the Canadian lead midway through the period before Josef Augusta and Marián Šťastný scored goals one minute apart to give Czechoslovakia its first lead, 4–3, with four minutes remaining in the third period. Dzurilla was strong in net as the Canadians put 39 shots on goal in regulation time, but made a critical mistake with less than three minutes remaining. His attempt to clear a puck from his zone went instead to Canada's Bill Barber, who scored into an open net to tie the game and send it to overtime.
The teams played an intense overtime period filled with end-to-end rushes and brilliant saves by the goaltenders. At one point, Canada's Guy Lafleur put a shot on net that snuck through the Czechoslovak goaltender, but Ivan Hlinka deliberately shoved the net out of place before the puck crossed the line. He received a delay of game penalty, but prevented a Canadian win. A few moments later, Guy Lapointe rifled a low shot that again beat Dzurilla, however this goal was also disallowed as the buzzer had sounded to end the first ten-minutes of the overtime period one-tenth of a second before it crossed the line. International rules of the time dictated that play was to be stopped at the ten-minute mark of each overtime period and the teams would switch the side of the ice they defended. During the break, Canadian assistant coach Don Cherry noted to his team that Dzurilla often came far out of his net to defend and could be beaten on a shot from a sharp angle.
Less than two minutes into the second half of the overtime period, Darryl Sittler received a pass from Marcel Dionne as he skated into the Czechoslovak zone close to the side boards. As Dzurilla came out to challenge, Sittler faked a shot that froze the goaltender, took two more strides then fired the puck into an open net. The goal touched off a wild celebration amongst the Canadian players on the ice and the fans in the stands. Sittler's championship winning goal remains one of the most famous in hockey history. During the celebrations, the players of both teams traded uniforms; Bobby Orr was presented with the Most Valuable Player award while wearing a Czechoslovak jersey. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau presented Canadian captain Bobby Clarke with the Canada Cup.
## Legacy
The tournament finale was the most watched television event in Canadian history at the time. 10,700,000 people were estimated to have watched the game, representing nearly half of all Canadians in 1976. The team that represented Canada is still considered one of the greatest national teams ever to represent the nation in a hockey tournament. For many players, winning the Canada Cup was the highlight of their careers. Bobby Orr and Lanny McDonald both rated winning this tournament ahead of winning the Stanley Cup.
The Canada Cup established a new era in international hockey. It marked Canada's formal return to the international stage after a six-year boycott, and was the first true best-on-best world championship in the sport's history. For North American audiences, the tournament established that Czechoslovakia and Sweden could compete with Canada and the Soviet Union, while the Finns and Americans proved they were capable of playing with the sport's elite teams.
## Standings
## Results
### Round-robin
### Final (best of three)
## Statistical leaders
### Scoring
### Goaltending
Minimum 120 minutes played
## Awards |
158,595 | Rupert Grint | 1,171,064,087 | English actor (born 1988) | [
"1988 births",
"21st-century English male actors",
"English male child actors",
"English male film actors",
"English male radio actors",
"English male stage actors",
"English male television actors",
"English male video game actors",
"English male voice actors",
"Living people",
"Male actors from Essex",
"People educated at Richard Hale School",
"People from Harlow",
"People from Watton-at-Stone"
]
| Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint (/ɡrɪnt/; born 24 August 1988) is an English actor. Grint rose to fame for his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, for which he was cast at age eleven, having previously acted only in school plays and his local theatre group. Since then, he has continued his work on film, television, and theatre.
Beginning in 2002, he began to work outside of the Harry Potter franchise, with a co-leading role in Thunderpants. He starred in the dramedy Driving Lessons (2006) and the drama Cherrybomb (2009) and co-starred in the comedy Wild Target (2010). After the Harry Potter series concluded, he appeared in the films Into the White (2012), Charlie Countryman (2013), CBGB (2013), and Moonwalkers (2015). He made his stage debut in 2013 in Mojo at the Harold Pinter Theatre. He executive-produced and starred in the television series Snatch, based on the film of the same name. He has also starred in the black comedy series Sick Note, the mystery thriller miniseries The ABC Murders, and the psychological horror series Servant.
## Early life
Grint was born on 24 August 1988 in Harlow, Essex, to Nigel Grint, a dealer in racing memorabilia, and Joanne Grint (née Parsons). He is the eldest of five siblings. He has said that his earliest goal in life was to become an ice cream man. He grew up in Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, and was educated at Richard Hale School, in Hertford.
While in school, he took an avid interest in theatre. He began performing in school productions and joined the Top Hat Stage and Screen School, a local theatre group that cast him as a fish in Noah's Ark and a donkey in a nativity play. He continued participating in school plays as he moved into secondary school. Nonetheless, he had never acted professionally prior to the Harry Potter series. He left school at sixteen to focus on his acting career, saying he "didn't really like school that much".
## Career
### 1999–2011: Harry Potter and worldwide recognition
Starting in 1999, casting began for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the best-selling novel by J. K. Rowling. Rowling insisted the cast be British, and assisted Susie Figgis and director Chris Columbus in casting the roles. Grint, a fan of the book series, chose to audition for the role of Ron Weasley, one of Harry Potter's best friends at Hogwarts. Having seen a Newsround report about the open casting, he sent in a video of himself rapping about how he wished to receive the role, and the casting team asked for a meeting with him. In August 2000, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Grint were selected to play Harry, Hermione Granger, and Ron. Grint is the oldest member of the trio. The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001 was Grint's debut screen performance. Breaking records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings, it was the year's highest-grossing film. With a total of US\$974 million in its theatrical run, it stands as the series' second most commercially successful entry. It was critically well-received, scoring mainly positive reviews. However, a number of critics found the adaption's faithfulness to the book both its best and worst quality. Grint won a Satellite Award in the category of Outstanding New Talent, and a Young Artist Award for Most Promising Young Newcomer.
A year later, Grint again starred as Ron in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). It opened to positive reviews and critics generally enjoyed the lead actors' performances. Both Los Angeles Times and New York Magazine observed that Grint and his peers had matured between films, with the latter pointing out that Grint had become "more proficient" and said they missed "the amateurish ardour" the actor and Watson carried in Philosopher's Stone. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) was released on 31 May in the UK. The film sees all three of its lead characters hover on the brink of adolescence, "and while they look braver and more capable than before, the dangers they face seem far more grave and their own vulnerability more intense." Alfonso Cuarón took over direction for Prisoner of Azkaban, which remains the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film with US\$795 million in revenue. Nonetheless, it was the second highest-grossing movie of 2004, behind Shrek 2.
In 2005, Grint reprised his role for the fourth film in the series – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The adaptation, unlike previous films, explored romantic elements and included more humour. In a 2005 interview with IGN, all three lead actors singled out humour as a reason for the film's success. It was directed by Mike Newell, whom Grint characterised as "really loud and not afraid to swear at you, but he was really cool." Goblet of Fire is one of the series' best-reviewed instalments, and is noted for its characters' maturity and sophistication, darker and more complex plotline, and the quality of the screenplay and lead actors' performances.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the Harry Potter franchise, was released to cinemas in 2007. A huge financial success, it set a record worldwide opening-weekend gross of US\$394 million, superseding Spider-Man 3. It was directed by a new filmmaker, David Yates, who directed all of the subsequent Potter films. Grint said the laid-back director was "really good" and helped keep the material fresh. Grint and his Harry Potter co-stars left imprints of their hands, feet and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
On 15 July 2009, the series' sixth instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released and again set box office records. In its theatrical run, it earned US\$933 million ticket sales. It is also one of the most positively reviewed Harry Potter films, with critics praising its "emotionally satisfying" story, direction, cinematography, visual design and music. Grint observed a change in Ron in this entry, pointing out that his once insecure, often overshadowed character started to become more secure and even began to show a dark side. He found it fun to personify a more emotional Ron. Between 2009 and 2010, Grint's work received three award nominations, including one win—an Otto Award from the German magazine Bravo.
Despite the previous films' successes, the franchise's future was put into question when the three lead actors had reservations about signing on for the final two films. However, by March 2007, Grint agreed to return for the last installments. For financial and scripting reasons, the final book was divided into two films, shot back-to-back, with filming concluding in June 2010. After completing the final film, Grint said: "I mean it literally has been my childhood, and suddenly it all came down to really just one random scene, with us jumping through a fireplace, and then it was over. ...it's very odd. Because suddenly it was all over, just like that. It was really emotional for all of us, realising that we're never going to be doing this again."
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) was released in November and grossed over US\$950 million. It set several box office records and received mostly favourable reviews. Grint's portrayal of Ron again earned him critical praise. Reviewing the adaption for Slate, Dana Stevens called all three of the leads "terrific". Although he disliked the film, Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote that "Grint has grown up to be a skilful actor who knows the value of a slow burn". New York Post writer Lou Lumenick, however, felt that both Grint and Radcliffe had grown weary of playing the characters and expressed it in their performances. Grint's performance brought him nominations from the MTV Movie Awards and National Movie Awards for Best Fight and Performance of the Year in 2011. He reprised his role for the seventh time in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the final Harry Potter instalment. It resumed from where the previous film left off, and included a lot of action, whereas Part 1 had focused more on character development. Grint, along with the film, was critically acclaimed: Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote, "Who could have predicted that Radcliffe, Grint and Watson would turn out to be good actors?". The film broke several box office records, including biggest midnight release, biggest first-day opening, and biggest opening-weekend. Deathly Hallows – Part 2 became the fourth highest-grossing film of all time. Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling gave a speech at the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 on 7 July 2011 in London. She said that there were seven Harry Potter film series cast members whom she called "The Big Seven"; Grint was one of them, with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch and Bonnie Wright.
### 2002–2011: Concurrent film work during Harry Potter
In 2002, Grint starred in his first non-Harry Potter film, Thunderpants, which revolves around Patrick (played by Bruce Cook) whose remarkable capacity for flatulence scores him a job as an astronaut. In this film, Grint played the co-lead role of Alan, an anosmic boy who is Patrick's only friend. It was generally ignored by critics and audiences. Most critics that did take notice of it did not respond well to it, with one writing: "This film should be shown in prisons so that inmates have a good reason to never return." Grint also appeared in Driving Lessons, a comedy drama released in 2006, starring opposite Julie Walters. It met with a mixed reception by critics, but his portrayal of an oppressed teenage boy was generally praised. Alt Film Guide'''s Andre Soares wrote: "Grint, on the other hand, is a revelation . . . [He] displays an innate naturalness mixed with personal charisma that turn a potentially pathetic Christian freak into a humorous, thoroughly likable – if more than a little awkward – young man".
In July 2008, it was announced that Grint would star in the drama film Cherrybomb with Robert Sheehan and Kimberley Nixon. Grint found shooting this film very different from the Harry Potter films, as he had to adjust to doing a dozen scenes per day. Grint's character—Malachy, a worker at Belfast—goes to great lengths to impress his boss's daughter, with whom he is infatuated. This film, like his next project, involved him playing violent roles. Despite premiering at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, the film was initially unable to find a distributor. An online campaign by Grint's fans was credited with helping to secure a distribution deal in the UK in 2010.
Jonathan Lynn directed Grint in Wild Target, a 2010 comedy thriller, where he starred with Emily Blunt and Bill Nighy. A remake of the 1993 French film Cible Emouvante, it was made on a relatively small budget of US\$8 million. It was a commercial failure, earning only US\$3.4 million, and garnered mostly negative reviews in the media, which criticised it for dishonouring the original film and wasting the comedic potential of its cast. However, Grint also attracted some positive notice: "It’s nice to see Rupert Grint perform well in a role other than that of Ron Weasley, and it’s clear that he’s got a career ahead of him."
In January 2011, Grint made a cameo appearance on the BBC popular comedy show Come Fly with Me, starring comedy duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams (Little Britain). In March 2011, he was cast as the lead character in the small-budget anti-war Norwegian film Into the White, directed by Petter Næss. Principal photography started in April, and the film, which was shot on location, was released in 2012. It is based on a real incident that took place on 27 April 1940, when German Luftwaffe pilot Horst Schopis's bomber was shot down at Grotli by a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua, which then crash-landed. The several German and British crew members found shelter by chance during a harsh winter there.
In August 2011, Grint did a photo shoot with his friend and Harry Potter co-star Tom Felton in Los Angeles for the autumn/winter collection of the fashion label Band of Outsiders. In September 2011, it was announced that Grint would voice a character in the film adaptation of Postman Pat along with David Tennant, Stephen Mangan and Jim Broadbent; it was released in May 2014. Grint also appears in the music video for Ed Sheeran's song "Lego House", released on 20 October 2011.
### 2012–present: Further work, theatre, and television
In March 2012, the "Visit Britain" TV ad was released, featuring Grint alongside Julie Walters, Michelle Dockery and Stephen Fry, promoting holidaying at home in the UK. Later that month,Variety reported that Grint had been cast alongside Chloë Grace Moretz in The Drummer, a biopic film about drummer Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. That day, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed it and announced that filming would begin 15 June 2012 in California and Savannah, Georgia.
On 25 July 2012, Grint carried the 2012 London Olympic torch during the Olympic Torch Relay, part of the London 2012 Summer Olympics. He told the BBC News that it was an "overwhelming" experience that he "hoped to remember forever", and told The Daily Telegraph, "It was amazing, it was really overwhelming. It's just such an honour to be a part of this. I'm really proud". In October 2012, he narrated We Are Aliens, a 25-minute 3D Planetarium Fulldome film about the possibility of other intelligent life in the universe.
On 13 February 2013, The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed announced that Grint would star in a television pilot for CBS called Super Clyde. It did not become a series. In July 2013, it was confirmed that Grint would make his stage debut in the second run of Jez Butterworth's black comedy Mojo, with Grint playing Sweets, a hood who "pops amphetamines like Smarties" and "does a sort of double act, full of comic menace". The play, which also starred Brendan Coyle, Ben Whishaw and Daniel Mays, was based on real-life events, and ran from 26 October 2013 to 8 February 2014 at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. Grint won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best London Newcomer for his role.
In September 2013, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Grint would star in an adaptation of Macbeth called Enemy of Man, also featuring Sean Bean, Charles Dance, Jason Flemyng, James D’Arcy, Neil Maskell and Joe Gilgun, and directed by Vincent Regan. Filming began in January 2014 in the United Kingdom. In June 2014, it was announced that Grint would make his Broadway debut as Frank Finger in the play It's Only a Play at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, appearing with Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, and Megan Mullally. It ran from 28 August 2014 to 4 January 2015.
Since 2019, Grint has starred as Julian Pearce in the Apple TV+ psychological horror series Servant. The series has been critically praised. In December 2021, the show was renewed for its fourth and final season.
Grint starred in the 2022 Netflix anthology series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities and in M. Night Shyamalan's 2023 thriller film Knock at the Cabin. He also reunited with multiple cast members of the Harry Potter film series for an HBO Max special, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts'', which premiered on 1 January 2022.
## Personal life
Grint has been in a relationship with actress Georgia Groome since 2011. They have a daughter, Wednesday, born in May 2020.
Amidst the 2009–10 influenza pandemic, Grint contracted H1N1 swine flu and suffered mild illness. He took part in the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay, carrying the flame through Hendon in northwest London to outside Middlesex University.
He joined Instagram in November 2020, posting a photo of himself holding his newborn daughter. He reached one million followers within four hours and one minute of creating his account, breaking the previous Guinness World Records title for the fastest time to reach one million followers on the platform.
Grint is a keen football fan and an avid supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.
### Philanthropy
Grint has supported various charitable organisations, including donating personal items to charity auctions. He participated in the Wacky Rally in 2010 with James and Oliver Phelps, which raised money for Britain's Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He was one of more than 40 people to produce designs for the Chrysalis Collection for Keech Hospice Care in Luton. His piece, a painted butterfly, was auctioned on eBay in March 2010. In May 2011, with other celebrities, he took part in the "Make Mine Milk" ad campaign to promote daily milk drinking. His ads were seen on posters and the sides of thousands of buses across the United Kingdom. Since 2011, he has supported the Little Star Award for Cancer Research UK. "I think that it's wonderful that Cancer Research UK is helping to bring a little bit of magic to the children's lives in this way," he said.
## Filmography
### Film
### Television
### Video games
### Stage
### Music
### Other roles
## Awards and nominations
## See also
- List of Harry Potter cast members |
7,278,015 | New York State Route 427 | 1,172,005,453 | East–west state highway in Chemung County, New York | [
"State highways in New York (state)",
"Transportation in Chemung County, New York"
]
| New York State Route 427 (NY 427) is an east–west state highway in Chemung County, New York. It extends for 11.5 miles (18.5 km) from its western terminus at an intersection with NY 14 in the town of Southport, south of the city of Elmira, to its eastern terminus at an interchange with I-86/NY 17 in the town of Chemung. Between those two towns, the highway passes through the town of Ashland and serves the village of Wellsburg. Much of NY 427 follows the Chemung River.
The route number 427 was assigned in the early 1940s, and replaced the ennumeration New York State Route 17D. Route 17D was established as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. It originally began in downtown Elmira and ended at the Pennsylvania state line in Chemung. NY 427 was realigned on its east end in 1967 to meet the newly constructed exit 59 on NY 17 and on its west end in 1978 to follow what had been New York State Route 379 through the town of Southport. Other minor realignments occurred during the route's history.
## Route description
NY 427 begins at an intersection with NY 14 (the Clemens Center Parkway) in Southport (Southport is located south of the city of Elmira.) It heads east, following Cedar Street and paralleling Seeley Creek through the southern suburbs of Elmira to an intersection with Maple Avenue near Notre Dame High School. Here, NY 427 turns south to follow Maple Avenue into the adjacent town of Ashland and across Seeley Creek.
As the route heads through Ashland, it turns to the southeast to match the curvature of the Chemung River valley. The valley contains the river, NY 427, and the Southern Tier Expressway (NY 17). NY 427 follows the river and the expressway into Wellsburg. Wellsburg is a small village sandwiched between the Chemung River and the Pennsylvania state line. In the center of the village, NY 427, named Front Street, intersects with the northern end of NY 367, a short highway linking NY 427 to the Pennsylvania border. Just east of NY 367, NY 427 intersects County Route 8 (CR 8). CR 8 crosses the Chemung River and links Wellsburg to NY 17 at exit 58.
Outside of Wellsburg, NY 427 becomes Wilawana Road and heads eastward, and parallels the Chemung River and the Norfolk Southern Railway-owned Southern Tier Line through the town of Chemung toward the Pennsylvania state line. Less than 300 yards (270 m) from the Pennsylvania border, NY 427 departs Wilawana Road and turns northeast onto Wyncoop Creek Road. Wilawana Road from here to the border is unsigned NY 961B. NY 427 crosses the Chemung River before coming to an end at an interchange with NY 17 0.5 miles (0.8 km) later. Although NY 427 comes to an end at this interchange, the road continues onward through the interchange as NY 961A; NY 961A is an unsigned reference route.
## History
### Origins and designation
Most of what is now NY 427 was originally designated as NY 17D in the 1930 renumbering. NY 17D began at the intersection of East Water Street (NY 17) and Madison Avenue (NY 14 and NY 17) in downtown Elmira. NY 17D headed west, overlapping NY 14 along Water Street to Lake Street, where NY 17D turned south and followed Lake Street and Pennsylvania Avenue over the Chemung River to Maple Avenue. Here, NY 17D turned to the southeast to follow Maple Avenue through southern Elmira. At Cedar Street, NY 17D joined the modern alignment of NY 427. From this point east, NY 17D followed what is now NY 427 to Wyncoop Creek Road in Chemung. From Wyncoop Creek it continued on Wilawana Road to the Pennsylvania border.
In the months immediately following the 1930 renumbering, NY 14 was routed on Pennsylvania Avenue and South Main Street through southern Elmira. By 1935, NY 14 was rerouted to follow Pennsylvania Avenue into downtown. As a result, all of NY 17D north of the junction of Pennsylvania and Maple avenues became concurrent with NY 14. The overlap was eliminated in the early 1940s when NY 17D was pulled back to the intersection of Pennsylvania and Maple avenues and renumbered as NY 427.
### Realignments
The 1930s-era realignment of NY 14 was reverted in c. 1961 as the route was reconfigured to follow South Main Street into downtown Elmira. NY 427 was extended northward along Pennsylvania Avenue to a new terminus at Water Street (NY 14 and NY 17E; later NY 352) as part of the change. At the other end of the route, the easternmost part of NY 427 was realigned c. 1967 to follow Wyncoop Creek Road to a new interchange (exit 59) with the Southern Tier Expressway (NY 17) in Chemung. The former routing of NY 427 along Wilawana Road between Wyncoop Creek Road and the Pennsylvania state line was designated as NY 961B. NY 961B is an unsigned reference route like NY 961A.
On October 23, 1978, NY 427 was rerouted to bypass Elmira entirely. Instead of continuing north into downtown, NY 427 turned west at Cedar Street and followed it through Southport to a new terminus at Pennsylvania Avenue (NY 14). The realignment of NY 427 through Southport supplanted NY 379; the route had been assigned to the portion of Cedar Street between Pennsylvania and Maple avenues since c. 1931. NY 427's former alignment along Maple Avenue from Cedar Street north to the Elmira city line was redesignated as NY 961K. Although this part of Maple Avenue is still listed as a state highway in the New York State Highway Law, NY 961K ceased to exist at some point between 2004 and 2006 and the road is now maintained by Chemung County and designated as CR 85.
The Clemens Center Parkway was completed c. 2002, and created a continuous four-lane arterial between Southport and the northernmost part of Elmira. South of downtown Elmira, the highway loosely paralleled Pennsylvania Avenue and South Main Street. NY 14 was realigned c. 2004 to follow all but the northernmost part of the parkway, and the west end of NY 427 was shifted 0.25 miles (0.40 km) east to Cedar Street's junction with the parkway as part of the change. The portion of Cedar Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and NY 14 is now CR 84.
## Major intersections
## See also
- List of county routes in Chemung County, New York |
52,417,479 | Sorry Mrs. Carter | 1,055,163,575 | null | [
"2014 singles",
"2014 songs",
"American hip hop songs",
"Diss tracks"
]
| "Sorry Mrs. Carter" is a song recorded by American rapper Liv. The song was released on August 4, 2014, through her YouTube and SoundCloud accounts. Promoted as an "open letter" to American singer Beyoncé, Liv wrote and recorded the song in response to Nicki Minaj's remix of the single "Flawless" (2013). It is an uptempo, hip hop song with lyrics that revolve around Liv's alleged relationship with rapper Jay Z and Beyoncé's image as a wife and role model. The track's lyrical content portrays Liv as the victim of Jay Z's advances and the object of Beyoncé's jealousy.
"Sorry Mrs. Carter" has received primarily negative feedback from critics, who found its message to be confusing, and viewed it as a marketing ploy. In the single's accompanying music video, Liv raps the lyrics while wearing risqué clothing. The video had over two million views in less than a week after its release. "Sorry Mrs. Carter" was listed by HipHopDX in the top ten of the most popular hip hop singles for two weeks in 2014.
## Background
American rapper Liv self-released "Sorry Mrs. Carter" on August 4, 2014 through her YouTube and SoundCloud accounts. She wrote the song as an "open letter" to American singer Beyoncé. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Liv explained that the she recorded the song and its accompanying music video after hearing the remix of Beyoncé's single "Flawless" (2013) featuring Nicki Minaj. Liv uploaded her song shortly after the release of the "Flawless" remix. Prior to the single's release, tabloids had frequently identified Liv as Jay Z's mistress.
Despite being phrased as an apology, the song was described as a diss track against Beyoncé by media outlets. Liv had previously criticized other celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and Kendrick Lamar, in her series of songs entitled "The Invasion". Bryan Goldberg of Bustle wrote that "The Invasion" portrays Liv as pursuing a "quest to dominate the hip-hop world and vanquish all of the celebrities she hates."
## Composition and lyrics
"Sorry Mrs. Carter" is an uptempo, hip hop song that lasts three minutes and 44 seconds. It features a sample from Outkast's single "Ms. Jackson" (2000). Tim Surrette of TV Guide noted that the song heavily relies on the sample. In the lyrics, Liv details her alleged relationship with rapper Jay Z. She also criticizes Beyoncé as a poor wife and role model for young women. Throughout the song, she portrays herself as a victim of Jay Z's flirtations and Beyoncé's jealousy. According to HipHopDX, the track consists of "sharp-edged criticism" towards both artists.
The song opens with spoken word prelude, which includes: "I was gonna respect you, but since you crossed over into my lane, it's time to check it." The lyrics contain references to Jay Z's songs "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" (2000), "99 Problems" (2004), and "Girls, Girls, Girls" (2001), as well as Beyoncé's "Flawless", "Run the World (Girls)" (2011), "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008), and "Drunk in Love" (2013). Liv also alludes to rumors that Jay Z had a relationship with British singer Rita Ora. On the track, the rapper denies having an affair with Jay Z, but claims they share an emotional intimacy by rapping lyrics such as "F–k f–king to the top, me and Jay never screwed" and "We were attracted like magnets, us crossing paths was no accident." During the chorus, she sings "Sorry Mrs. Carter, this is for real" before criticizing Beyoncé's influence on women; the lyrics include, "Why don't you tell these girls how to be wives? Why don't tell these girls how to act around yo' husband?" The song ends with a second spoken word section, in which Liv advances that she could replace Beyoncé and says: "The invasion has begun."
## Critical reception
"Sorry Mrs. Carter" received primarily negative responses from music critics upon its release. Courtney Carter of The Huffington Post cited the song and its music video as examples of society's glorification of the side chick. She criticized Liv for promoting an alleged encounter with a married man as "her claim to fame" and "claim to self-esteem." TV Guide's Tim Surette described Liv's performance as worse than "a bunch of pots and pans clanging together." The single was described as "embarrassing" and a "trainwreck" by In Touch Weekly and Bustle.
Critics have also commented on the song's message. Ariana Bacle of Entertainment Weekly was confused over Liv's intentions for the song, questioning if the rapper was apologizing to Beyoncé about her flirtation with Jay Z or his alleged, inappropriate behavior with other women. Bacle chose the lyrics, "You got a good girl, why she messing with a bad guy?" as a point of confusion, in which the song transitions to become more "directed at Mrs. Carter-Knowles' decisions." In Touch Weekly's Carly Sitzer viewed the track as "ultra-confusing", and cast doubt on Liv's claims of being a victim and the object of Beyoncé's jealousy. Echoing this thought, Bustle's Kaitlin Reilly was critical of Liv's interpretation of herself as a victim in the song's lyrics.
The single has been considered a publicity ploy by media commentators. Inquisitr's Addam Corré expressed doubts over the authenticity of the song, and equated it to a publicity stunt. The recording was described as Liv's attempt to gain wider exposure by Boston Herald'''s Kevin O'Leary, who called her a "small-time rapper." The Miami Herald wrote that releasing a song about Beyoncé was "one surefire way to get publicity for your song." Beyoncé's fans reacted negatively to the single on social media. Following the release of Beyoncé's "Sorry" in 2016, it was speculated that Liv was the "Becky with the good hair" referenced on the track in response to "Sorry Mrs. Carter".
"Sorry Mrs. Carter" did earn some positive reviews. Amy Zimmerman of The Daily Beast called the song a "fantastic Garage band gem", and jokingly described Liv as either "totally insane or the future first female president". HipHopDX included it on the list of the top ten most popular hip hop singles for the weeks of August 9, 2014, and August 23, 2014.
## Music video
An accompanying music video for the single premiered on Liv's YouTube account on August 4, 2014. According to Sharifa Daniels of Vibe, the video was homemade, with the rapper being the main person behind its production. In the video, Liv wears risqué clothing while applying lip gloss and examining herself in a mirror. She is also shown dressed in a bikini and shawl, and drinking wine to symbolize the breakdown of Beyoncé's marriage to Jay-Z. She performs an "exaggerated eye roll" while mocking the "Surfbort" lyric from Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love". Images of tabloid covers featuring Liv, and headlines about her alleged affair with Jay-Z, are shown prominently throughout the video, with one of them including her interview with Life & Style. The clip ends with a panning shot across Liv's body. The video had over two million views in less than a week following its release.
Critical reception of the music video was negative. It was described as a "cringe video" by SPIN 1038's Georgie Crawford, and "that godawful video" by Cate Sutherland of Life & Style. Lauren Weigle of Heavy.com viewed the video as "just another log on the fire for the already fueled divorce rumors surrounding Jay Z and Beyoncé." It was called "such an obvious publicity stunt that it's cringeworthy" by Bustle'''s Kaitlin Reilly, who concluded by comparing the music video to a celebrity's sex tape.
## Release history |
35,671,513 | Eugénie Brazier | 1,165,570,685 | French chef | [
"1895 births",
"1977 deaths",
"Chefs from Lyon",
"Chefs of French cuisine",
"French chefs",
"French restaurateurs",
"Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants",
"Women chefs",
"Women restaurateurs"
]
| Eugénie Brazier (12 June 1895 – 2 March 1977), known as "la Mère Brazier", was a French chef who, in 1933, became the first person awarded six Michelin stars, three each at two restaurants: La Mère Brazier in the rue Royale, one of the main streets of Lyon, and a second, also called La Mère Brazier, outside the city. This achievement was unmatched until Alain Ducasse was awarded six stars with the publication of the 1998 Michelin Guide.
Born in La Tranclière in the French departement of Ain, near Lyon, Brazier was raised on a small farm, and entered domestic service in her teens. She learned to cook for her employers, and was taken on as a junior cook by the proprietor of a leading restaurant in Lyon. In 1921 she opened her own restaurant there, and having built the establishment into a nationally famous restaurant by the end of the decade, she opened a second in a converted chalet at the Col de la Luère in the foothills of the Massif Central above the city.
Brazier followed the traditions of Lyon's famous female cooks – the Mères lyonnaises – in avoiding over-elaborate dishes, preferring to offer fairly simple food of the highest quality. She influenced subsequent generations of French cooks, including Paul Bocuse and Bernard Pacaud, whom she trained at her restaurant. She is commemorated in scholarships and annual prizes for cookery writing awarded in her name. Her own recipes were collected and published in 1977 and an English translation was issued in 2014. She was offered but declined the Légion d'honneur, the highest French order of merit. Her original restaurant in Lyon, run by her family for many years after her death, was bought by the Michelin-starred chef Mathieu Viannay in 2007, who retains her classics on the menu.
## Life and career
### Early years
Brazier was born on 12 June 1895 at La Tranclière, a village 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) south of Bourg-en-Bresse and 60 kilometres (37 miles) north-east of Lyon. Her parents had a small farm at Dompierre-sur-Veyle, and when she was still a baby the family moved to a larger farm at Certines around 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) away, where she grew up. She learned about cookery while still a child; by the time she was five she knew how to make the sweet and savoury tarts her mother cooked for the family, and among the dishes she first learned to make was barbaton, consisting of fried bacon, onion, potatoes and garlic. Her schooling was confined to the winter months, and then only when she was not busy working on the farm. When she was ten her mother died, and her education opportunities became even less regular. Though she could read well enough, she was never a confident writer. She was sent to work on another farm, where, she recalled, in addition to her board and lodging she received a pair of clogs and a new dress each year. She continued as a farm worker throughout her teens.
In 1914, aged 19, the unmarried Brazier gave birth to a son, Gaston. Unmarried mothers were, as she later said, "definitely frowned on in those days", and according to some sources her father threw her out, although she did not say so in her published recollections. She entered domestic service in Lyon for a large family named Milliat, prosperous bakers and manufacturers of pasta. At first she worked as a maid and nanny, and began cooking in 1915 when the women and children of the family moved to a villa in Cannes for the summer. She had no recipe books, and provided meals based on what she had picked up from the family's cook in Lyon and with advice from the concierge in Cannes. She discovered some supposedly tricky recipes such as hollandaise sauce were less daunting than they were often thought: "Cooking is not complicated: you have to be well organised, to remember things and have a bit of taste. I learned to cook by doing it – as simple as that."
### Cook in Lyon
Around the end of the First World War, after a few years working for the Milliats, Brazier was taken on by a leading restaurateur in Lyon, Françoise Fillioux (or Filloux) in her women-only kitchen at le Bistrot Fillioux. La Mère Fillioux was a temperamental and demanding employer but under her supervision Brazier learned to make some of the most celebrated of the bistrot's dishes including quenelles au gratin with crayfish butter, artichoke hearts with truffled foie gras, and the house speciality, volaille truffée demi-deuil (truffled chicken in half-mourning). The dish consisted of a Bresse chicken poached in chicken stock, with slices of black truffle inserted under the skin. (When it was cooked, the truffle showed through the white skin of the chicken so that the overall appearance was black-and-white; hence the name.) She also learned how to cook various types of game such as larks, ortolans, and partridges, although they did not appear often in her menus once she had her own restaurant.
From the Bistrot Fillioux, Brazier moved to another restaurant in Lyon, the Brasserie du Dragon, where she was better paid. She remained there until 1921. In April that year, aged 26, she opened her first restaurant.
### La Mère Brazier, Lyon
Brazier bought a vacant shop at 12 rue Royale in the first arrondissement of Lyon, on the opposite side of the Rhône from the Fillioux establishment. Her resources were limited: her capital was 12,000 francs (roughly equivalent to 9,200 euros in 2015 terms). With encouragement and advice from her former employer at the Dragon and the help of well disposed suppliers, she built up the business and began to attract regular customers. Her partner, Pierre, whom she never married, worked as a chauffeur during the day and in the evenings "swept the dining rooms, sharpened the knives and prepared the wine carafes". Initially, the restaurant could accommodate only 15 diners, but gradually Brazier increased the capacity, opening a second dining room and, later, a private salon and two small rooms upstairs. Fillioux died in 1925, and although her restaurant remained in business, Brazier was immediately seen as her successor. She first attracted notice beyond Lyon after the director of a motor-oil company dined at rue Royale and, impressed, asked her to supply a cold picnic for the participants in the company's car rally. The event was a success, and he invited Brazier to go to Paris every year to cook the firm's annual banquet for around 200 people. Among the dishes she provided were the quenelles and Fillioux's chicken dish with which Brazier's name became associated. According to the historian André Mure, "The whole world now marched to her place ... for the great specialities with which her teacher had triumphed". By the late 1920s chefs elsewhere in France were offering La poularde pochée à la façon de la Brazier (Poached chicken in the Brazier style).
Brazier had a reputation for being demanding about the quality of her ingredients; her chicken supplier once joked that soon he would be expected to give the birds manicures before she would accept them. She was equally particular about cleanliness, emptying storage areas daily for cleaning. She hated waste, and would create staff dinners from trimmings and save anything left on diners' plates to feed her pigs. Her menu changed as required by seasonal availability. When there were few vegetables, she served a macaroni gratin with Gruyère cheese. The writer Joseph Wechsberg remembered her as "a formidable woman with a voice like a foghorn, rough language, and strong forearms". With regular customers she was known to take matters into her own hands: one recalled her telling him, "Mon petit, yesterday, you had the poule demi-deuil; tonight you'll have a quenelle!"
### Col de la Luère
By the end of the 1920s Brazier was exhausted from the effort of building up her restaurant. She left her son, Gaston, in charge and retired temporarily to an old wooden chalet in the foothills of the Massif Central at Col de la Luère, Pollionnay, 17 kilometres (11 miles) from Lyon, and, in the words of the food writer Elizabeth David, "high above its notorious fogs and damp". As she started to feel better she began making light lunches for former customers that came to visit her, and gradually built up a second restaurant. The Restaurant Mère Brazier, Col de la Luère became the rural outpost of the Lyon original. Remembering the restaurant after Brazier's death, David described it:
In 1932 Brazier was awarded two stars in the Michelin Guide for each of her two restaurants. The following year, when the guide introduced three-star ratings for the first time, Brazier was the first chef to be awarded six stars, both her restaurants being rated of three-star quality. No other restaurateur was awarded this for another sixty-four years.
### War and post-war
Among Brazier's well-known customers was Édouard Herriot, mayor of Lyon and three times prime minister of France, who said, "She does more than I do to make the city famous." As an enemy of the Nazis and the puppet Vichy government, he was imprisoned during much of the Second World War, and under his collaborateur replacement Brazier fell foul of the authorities. She refused to compromise her standards and was repeatedly fined, and on one occasion imprisoned for a week, for breaching the Nazi occupiers' regulations about food rationing. In 1941 the regime ordered the closure of the rue Royale restaurant for buying food without the requisite authorisation.
When the war ended, Brazier held a celebratory feast at the Col for a large number of people from Lyon. She hired a band and a clown and her guests sang La Marseillaise during the banquet. The two establishments were restored to their pre-war eminence. From 1946 Brazier left Gaston in control of the rue Royal restaurant, where he, his wife, and later their daughter continued Brazier's traditions. Brazier concentrated her efforts on the Col de la Luère. Among the young chefs who learned their craft there were Paul Bocuse and Bernard Pacaud. Both contributed forewords paying tribute to their mentor in editions of her posthumously published recipe book, Les secrets de la Mère Brazier. Brazier's second-in-command at the Col de la Luère was Roger Garnier, husband of Odette, Brazier's niece; he was chef there for 20 years. Every February, accompanied by the Garniers, Brazier made what Drew Smith, in a biographical sketch, calls "note-gathering field trips" to other top restaurants in France, including Fernand Point's La Pyramide, Maison Pic and others.
The Michelin Guide reputations of the Col de la Luère establishment varied. The restaurant lost one of its three stars in 1960, Brazier resumed personal direction of the kitchen and three stars were restored in 1963. The third star was again withdrawn in 1968, when Brazier retired.
In 1968, aged 72, Brazier handed over to Gaston. In 1971 Jacotte Brazier, his daughter, joined the restaurant in the rue Royale, and succeeded him after his death in 1974. Brazier turned down the Légion d'honneur, the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, saying that it "should be given out for doing more important things than cooking well and doing the job as you're supposed to".
Brazier died on 2 March 1977 at the age of 81. The restaurant at Col de la Luère closed, but the rue Royale establishment continued under Jacotte until 2004. In 2008 the Michelin-starred chef Mathieu Viannay bought the restaurant, retaining its name, restoring the 1930s décor and featuring Brazier classics such as the volaille demi-deuil on the menu along with new dishes.
## Food
Although Brazier had a reputation for menus that changed little, her recipe book, begun in her last years and published after her death, contains more than 300 dishes. The editors intersperse the chapters with details of seven of her classic menus, illustrating her wide range. Starters included artichokes with foie gras, Belon oysters, house pâté, turbot cooked in Chambertin, salmon soufflé, artichokes with truffles, and grilled boudin with godiveau (veal forcemeat). Among the second courses are lobster with brandy and cream, smoked salmon, lobster with mayonnaise, and quenelles au gratin. The most prominently featured main course is Brazier's trademark chicken demi-deuil; others are roast pork, chicken with morels and cream, fillet steak Rossini, grilled chicken with béarnaise sauce, and poularde de Bresse poached en vessie with Riesling white wine. The larger courses are interspersed with dishes such as chicory salad, chestnuts and spinach in cream, or sautéed potatoes (as a course on their own). Desserts included ice cream bombe with fresh pineapple, peaches flambéed with Kirsch, fruit sorbet, Bresse galettes, and rum baba.
Elizabeth David recalled the food, like everything else chez la Mère Brazier, as "best described as of a sumptuous simplicity, but lighthearted and somehow all of a piece":
## Legacy
Brazier's customers included well known figures including Marlene Dietrich and Charles de Gaulle. For the influential food writer Curnonsky, "France's Prince of Gastronomy", Brazier was the greatest cuisinier in the world. Smith writes, "It is not going too far to say that her cuisine was the start of modern French gastronomy". In the same book, Bocuse calls her "one of the pillars of global gastronomy". Her death was marked by obituaries not only in the French press but in foreign papers; The New York Times and papers across the US carried articles, tribute was paid in the British press, and a Swiss paper observed that the gourmets of Lyon were in mourning.
Nonetheless, Brazier's accomplishments were largely forgotten outside France for many years. When Alain Ducasse received his sixth Michelin star in 1998, Florence Fabricant, food and wine writer for The New York Times, announced this as the first time any chef had received six stars. Papers elsewhere in the US and in Britain and Ireland made the same mistake. In 2016 Eater published a feature on Brazier, subheadlined, "How history erased this influential chef". The article observed that Quentin Crewe's 1978 book Great Chefs of France barely mentions her, and that the 2007 Food: The History of Taste, a collection of essays by French, German, Belgian, American, and British food historians, discusses Brazier's important contemporaries but does not mention her.
In France, Brazier was not forgotten. Her recipe book, published in 1977, went into a second edition in 1992 and a third in 2001. In 2003 the neighbouring street closest to the restaurant at 12 rue Royale was renamed rue Eugénie-Brazier by the Lyon City Council.
In 2007, thirty years after Brazier's death, Jacotte founded l'association des Amis d'Eugénie Brazier (the Association of Friends of Eugenie Brazier) to pay tribute to her grandmother. Bocuse and Pacaud sponsored the association. Its aim is to promote the careers of young women apprentices, guide and support them in 'the very masculine world of cooking' (univers très masculin de la cuisin) and pass on to them Brazier's professional values. The association supports young women trainees, paying tuition fees and funding training materials. The association also sponsors the annual Eugénie Brazier Literary Prizes, awarded to the female author of a cookbook (the Grand Prix), to an illustrator or photographer of a cookbook (Prix de l'Iconographie), a food-related novel or essay (Prix du Roman or l'Essai Gourmand) and a cookbook in the category "Francophone countries and elsewhere". The prizes and scholarships are awarded every year at the Lyon City Hall in December during the association's annual evening.
Brazier was commemorated by a Google Doodle on 12 June 2018, the 123rd anniversary of her birth. In a 2019 documentary about female chefs, The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution, the documentary filmmaker Maya Gallus focused on Brazier as the predecessor of the current generation of female chefs appearing in the film.
## Books by Brazier
- Les secrets de la mère Brazier, edited by Roger Moreau, with preface by Paul Bocuse:
\*First edition (1977), Paris: Solar.
\*Second edition (1992), Paris: Solar.
\*Third edition (2001), Paris: Solar.
- La Mère Brazier: The Mother of Modern French Cooking. English edition of Les secrets de la mère Brazier, with introduction and translation by Drew Smith, and additional preface by Bernard Pacaud.
\*New York: Rizzoli (2014)
\*London: Modern Books (2015)
## Notes, references and sources |
33,029,233 | Tina McKenzie | 1,157,409,251 | Australian wheelchair basketball player | [
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"20th-century Australian women",
"21st-century Australian women",
"Australian women's wheelchair basketball players",
"Basketball players from New South Wales",
"Guards (basketball)",
"Living people",
"Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics",
"Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics",
"Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics",
"New South Wales Institute of Sport alumni",
"Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia",
"Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball",
"Paralympic silver medalists for Australia",
"Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia",
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"Sportspeople from Albury",
"Sportswomen from New South Wales",
"Wheelchair basketball players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics",
"Wheelchair basketball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics",
"Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics"
]
| Tina McKenzie (born 8 June 1974) is an Australian wheelchair basketball player. She participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal; and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal. After becoming an incomplete paraplegic as a result of a fall from a building in 1994, she took up wheelchair tennis and later wheelchair basketball. She joined the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, in 1999, and played her first international match at the 2002 World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Japan. She has over 100 international caps.
## Personal life
McKenzie was born in Albury, New South Wales, on 8 June 1974. She had a brother who died at the age of 19 in 1997.
She left home in 1990 at the age of 16, and moved to Melbourne, where she qualified as a hairdresser and beauty therapist. By 1994 she was running a hair dressing store and managing seven employees. Her life was changed that year by a fall from a building in Melbourne in which fractured her third and fourth thoracic vertebrae, rendering her an incomplete paraplegic. She lay there for forty minutes before someone found her. She spent the next four weeks in the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg, and then another two and a half months in the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre in Kew. She was forced to move back in with her parents, where she lived for the next five years, but within a year of her accident, she was managing five hairdressing stores.
She has a Bachelor of Education degree from Macquarie University, which she attended on an NRMA ParaQuad scholarship. As of 2013, she works as a primary school teacher, and lives in St Peters, New South Wales.
## Wheelchair basketball
McKenzie is a 3 point player, who plays guard. She took up wheelchair tennis while in rehabilitation at Royal Talbot. Her tennis team entered a basketball competition in 1997 for fun during the off season.
In 2011/12, the Australian Sports Commission gave her A\$17,000 grants through the Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program, a scheme which provides direct financial support to elite athletes. She received \$5,200 in 2008/9, \$5,571 in 2009/10 and \$8,000 in 2010/11. In 2012, she had a scholarship with the New South Wales Institute of Sport. Macquarie University awarded her the Chancellor's Award for academic and sporting excellence in 2005 and 2006, and a university full blue in 2008.
### Club
In 2000 and 2001, she played for the Whittlesea City Pacers in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL). In 2008 and 2009, she played for the Dandenong Rangers. In the second round of the 2008 season, the Dandenong Rangers defeated the Western Stars 53–47. Despite fouling out late in the game, she scored 21 points in her team's victory. In 2010, she played for St Peters and the Wenty Leagues Wheelkings, and for the Stacks Goudkamp Bears in the WNWBL. She was a three-time All Star Five WNWBL player, in 2004, 2006 and 2007. After moving to Melbourne, McKenzie began playing for Victoria in 2014. The team became the Kilsyth Cobras in 2015, with McKenzie on the roster.
### National team
McKenzie has over 100 international caps with the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, generally known as the Gliders. She joined the team in 1999, but missed out on selection for the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. She played in a four-game test series in Canberra against the Japan women's national wheelchair basketball team held in March 2002, the first Australian hosted international for the Gliders since the Paralympics. She was then selected to play at the 2002World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Japan, winning a bronze medal, and later at the 2006 and 2010 World Championships, where the Gliders finished fourth each time.
She was selected to represent Australia at the 2009 Four Nations tournament in Canada, one of six players in the side who played for the Dandenong Rangers in the WNWBL. She was selected to participate in a national team training camp in 2010, and captained the team at the Osaka Cup and the World Championships that year. In July, she played in a three-game test series against Germany.
### Paralympics
McKenzie was part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, and the bronze medal-winning team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.
At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she took to the court only twice. The first time was in her team's victory over Great Britain on 31 August, in which she played for 7 minutes 2 seconds. The second was in her team's quarterfinal 62–37 victory over Mexico women's national wheelchair basketball team, in which she played for 10 minutes 47 seconds. She was awarded a silver medal after her team was defeated by Germany in the final.
### Retirement
In December 2012, McKenzie officially announced her retirement. After thanking various people, she concluded her remarks by saying: "I will always be proud to call myself a Glider." |
6,390,683 | Sleepless (The X-Files) | 1,152,002,339 | null | [
"1994 American television episodes",
"Television episodes about sleep disorders",
"Television episodes set in Connecticut",
"Television episodes set in New York (state)",
"Television episodes set in Virginia",
"Television episodes written by Howard Gordon",
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]
| "Sleepless" is the 4th episode of the second season and 28th overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files, premiering on the Fox network on October 7, 1994. The episode was written by supervising producer Howard Gordon and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Sleepless" earned a Nielsen rating of 8.6 and was viewed by 8.2 million households. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder is assigned a new partner, Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea). The two investigate a case where doctors and marines who were part of a sleep deprivation experiment are being killed off.
"Sleepless" featured what would become the recurring character of Alex Krycek. Howard Gordon, the episode's writer, was inspired by various cases of insomnia. During the first season, Chris Carter had written a similar themed episode but stopped working on it when he became "unhappy" with the result.
## Plot
In New York City, Dr. Saul Grissom finds a fire outside his apartment. Firefighters arrive and evacuate the building. One man who is being evacuated has a distinctive horizontal mark on the back of his neck; as he is being evacuated, he looks up at Grissom's apartment and smiles knowingly. The firefighters find no fire or any related damage, but discover Grissom's lifeless body in his apartment.
Fox Mulder anonymously receives a tape cassette of Grissom's 9-1-1 call. He tries to take the case, only to learn that another FBI agent, Alex Krycek, has opened it first. Deciding to leave Krycek out of the loop, Mulder calls Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and asks her to conduct Grissom's autopsy. He then heads to Grissom's clinic in Stamford, Connecticut, where he is confronted by an angered Krycek. The two travel back to Quantico to see Scully, who says that Grissom's body showed no signs of a fire, but yet seems to have biologically believed it was burning.
Meanwhile, in a Brooklyn apartment, Vietnam veteran Henry Willig is approached by a fellow ex-Marine, Augustus Cole. Suddenly a group of wounded Vietnamese appear and gun Willig down. Examining Willig's corpse, Mulder and Krycek find a scar on his neck and realize he was in a Marine reconnaissance unit stationed in Vietnam in 1970; he was one of only two survivors, the other being Cole. They head to the VHA hospital in New Jersey where they discover that Cole was discharged, despite the fact that his doctor does not remember doing so.
Mulder meets a mysterious informant named "X", who gives him information on a secret military project that Grissom performed where he eradicated the need for sleep through lobotomy. X provides him with the name of Salvatore Matola, a squad member who was mistakenly reported as killed in action.
A man matching Cole's description robs a drug store. Mulder and Krycek arrive, but not before two gunshots are heard from the room where Cole is believed to be. It appears that the two officers in the room with him shot each other; Cole escapes. Mulder believes that Cole's years of sleeplessness have provided him with illusionary abilities. Mulder and Krycek meet with Matola soon afterwards, who says that he has not slept in twenty-four years due to the experiment. He reveals that another researcher with the squad, Dr. Girardi, was the one who actually performed the lobotomies.
Mulder and Krycek head to a subway station, where Dr. Girardi is expected to arrive for Grissom's funeral. Mulder sees Cole there, and Cole seems to shoot Girardi, but this is shown to be in Mulder's head. In reality, Cole has captured Girardi and holds him hostage, about to show him a similar fate as his other victims. By searching surveillance footage, the agents track his location and find Girardi wounded. Mulder finds Cole, who is ready to kill himself. Krycek, believing Cole is holding a gun instead of the Bible he is actually holding, shoots him, and Cole dies of his wounds. Mulder and Scully find both of their files on the case missing.
Krycek reports to the Smoking Man and others, telling them that the dissolution of the X-Files and the separation of Mulder and Scully has only made their determination stronger. He also notes that Scully is a bigger problem than they anticipated.
## Production
Writer Howard Gordon was initially inspired to write this episode based on insomnia he was suffering at the time. Gordon, who wrote many episodes with Alex Gansa in season one, made his solo writing debut with this episode. Originally Chris Carter had written a script for the first season, which shared the same theme as "Sleepless." The original conceit for Carter's episode was, "What makes the perfect soldier?" He also liked the twist on sleep, noting that "sleep is where demons are released in our dreams." He explained that the characters in "Sleepless" were haunted by their memories in real life because they were not able to sleep. Carter sees this episode as one of his favorites.
This episode marked the first appearance of Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek. Carter had much interest in Krycek, because he replaced Dana Scully as Mulder's new partner. Lea had previously appeared as a different character in the first season episode "Gender Bender." Bowman, who had directed "Gender Bender," thought that Lea "was a [...] strong choice for a fresh-out-of-Quantico FBI agent." When creating him, the writers always had in mind that he would be a recurring character, while they agreed if the character did not work they would kill him off.
"Sleepless" also marked the first onscreen appearance of Steven Williams as Mulder's new source, "X." The character was originally intended to be a woman, and Natalija Nogulich was initially cast in the role. However, after shooting her first scene the role was recast with Williams, an actor who had previous experience with writers Glen Morgan and James Wong. Nogulich was replaced because the writing staff felt she was not able to create the "right chemistry" between her co-stars.
## Reception
"Sleepless" earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.6, with a 15 share. It was viewed by 8.2 million households in the United States alone. Stephen Mark was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1995 in the category "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a Series — Single Camera Production", but did not win.
Carter enjoyed the episode, saying, "I really love that show. It's a great idea, well executed. We had a good cast; Tony Todd was wonderful" and saying it was "beautifully directed by Rob Bowman. Entertainment Weekly rated "Sleepless" with a B+, considering that Tony Todd's performance "elevates a just-good story into a great one." John Keegan Critical Myth gave the episode 7 out of 10, saying it was best remembered for its introduction of Alex Krycek. The web site further stated that the episode was decent and was a "fairly standard exploration" for the early season episodes. Dave Golder from SFX named the episode one of the "20 TV Sci-Fi Gamechangers" due to its introduction of Krycek.
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five. The two noted that Gordon was able to make "the cliche of Vietnam war guilt" feel "very personal and even sorrowful." However, Shearman and Pearson noted that the revelation of Krycek as an enemy was "the biggest shame" in the episode. Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club wrote that, while the episode is "your standard MotW riff", it is important because it features the on-screen introduction of both Krycek and X.
## See also
- Jacob's Ladder (film) |
39,124,743 | Sclerodermatineae | 1,110,080,443 | Suborder of the fungal order Boletales | [
"Boletales"
]
| Sclerodermatineae is a suborder of the fungal order Boletales. Circumscribed in 2002 by mycologists Manfred Binder and Andreas Bresinsky, it contains nine genera and about 80 species. The suborder contains a diverse assemblage fruit body morphologies, including boletes, gasteroid forms, earthstars (genus Astraeus), and puffballs. Most species are ectomycorrhizal, although the ecological role of some species is not known with certainty. The suborder is thought to have originated in the late Cretaceous (145–66 Ma) in Asia and North America, and the major genera diversified around the mid Cenozoic (66–0 Ma).
## Taxonomy
The Sclerodermatineae was first legitimately used by Manfred Binder and Andreas Bresinsky in 2002 based on molecular analyses of nuclear ribosomal large subunit (25S) rRNA sequences from 60 species of Boletales. This research was an extension of Binder's 1999 graduate work, in which he argued for the need to recognize the molecular differences of the sclerodermatoid fungi. Sclerodermatineae is one of six lineages of the Boletales recognized as a suborder; the others are the Boletineae, Paxillineae, Suillineae, Tapinellineae, and Coniophorineae. Of the nine genera assigned to the Sclerodermatineae, three are hymenomycetes (Boletinellus, Gyroporus, and Phlebopus), and six are gasteroid (Astraeus, Calostoma, Diplocystis, Pisolithus, and Scleroderma). Since the suborder's original description, there have been several phylogenetic studies investigating the Sclerodermatineae. Some studies have revealed the existence of numerous cryptic species and have contributed to taxonomic expansion of the group. The "core" Sclerodermatineae include the genera Astraeus, Calostoma, Scleroderma, Pisolithus, Diplocystis, Tremellogaster (all gasteroid), and the boletoid genus Gyroporus; Phlebopus and Boletinellus resolved as sister to this core group.
As of 2012, there are an estimated 78 species in the Sclerodermatineae. The type of the suborder is the family Sclerodermataceae; other families in the suborder are the Boletinellaceae, Diplocystaceae, and the Gyroporaceae.
- Boletinellaceae
\*Boletinellus (2 species)
\*Phlebopus (12 species)
- Diplocystaceae
\*Astraeus (5 species)
\*Diplocystis (1 species)
\*Endogonopsis (1 species)
\*Tremellogaster (1 species)
- Gyroporaceae
\*Gyroporus (10 species)
- Sclerodermataceae
\*Calostoma (15 species)
\*Chlorogaster (1 species)
\*Favillea (1 species)
\*Horakiella (1 species)
\*Pisolithus (5 species)
\*Scleroderma (about 30 species)
Based on ancestral reconstruction studies, the earliest (basal) members of the Sclerodermatineae originated in the late Cretaceous (145–66 Ma). The major genera diversified near the mid Cenozoic (66–0 Ma). Asia and North America are the most probable ancestral areas for all Sclerodermatineae, and Pinaceae and angiosperms (primarily rosids) are the most probable ancestral hosts.
## Description
Members of the Sclerodermatineae have fruit body shapes ranging from boletoid (with a cap, stipe, and tubes on the underside of the cap) to gasteroid. Boletoid fruit bodies sometimes have hollow stipes with a surface that is smooth to somewhat furfuraceous (covered with flaky particles), and lack the reticulation (a net-like pattern of interlacing lines) characteristic of some members of the Boletaceae. The pores are merulioid (wrinkled with low, uneven ridges), boletinoid, and either fine or coarse. The flesh is usually whitish to yellowish, and some species exhibit a blue staining reaction upon injury. In mass, spores are yellow; microscopically, the spores are ellipsoid in shape and have a smooth surface.
Gasteroid fruit body types are either roughly spherical or tuberous, occasionally with stipes, and usually have a peridium that is either simple or multi-layered. Mature gasteroid fruit bodies generally open irregularly at maturity to expose a powdery gleba with a color ranging from white to yellow or black-brown to black. Capillitia are generally absent from the gleba. Spores are spherical or nearly so, and have a surface texture that ranges from smooth to wart-like and spiny, or sometimes with reticulations. Hyphae have clamp connections.
## Morphological diversity
A distinguishing feature of the Sclerodermatineae is the diversity of morphologies within the group. The hymenomycete genera Boletinellus, Gyroporus, and Phlebopus are typical boletes with a cap and stipe. However, each of the gasteroid Sclerodermatineae has a distinct morphology. Species of Astraeus have an "earthstar" morphology where the outer peridium peels back in sections. The gleba of Pisolithus is partitioned into hundreds of membranous chambers. Scleroderma is a simple puffball with a thin outer skin and a powdery gleba at maturity. Diplocystis and Tremellogaster are each distinct in their morphologies: the former comprises compound fruit bodies each with 3–60 spore sacs crowded together, while the latter forms a roughly spherical sporocarp with a thick multi-layered peridium. Calostoma (Greek for "pretty mouth") is morphologically distinct from other gasteroid members, having a fruit body that forms a globed, spore-bearing head composed of a three-layered peridium. About two-thirds of Sclerodermatineae species have a gasteroid morphology, although this may be an underestimate due to the existence of cryptic species that have yet to be formally described. For example, studies of the gasteroid genera Astraeus and Pisolithus indicate the existence of numerous cryptic taxa.
## Ecology
The mycorrhizal associations of several Sclerodermatineae genera have been established. Studies have demonstrated that Astraeus, Pisolithus, and Scleroderma form ectomycorrhizal associations with both angiosperms and gymnosperms. Previously thought to be saprophytic, the Calostomataceae were determined to be ectomycorrhizal with Fagaceae and Myrtaceae using isotopic and molecular analyses. Species from the genera Pisolithus and Scleroderma have been used in forestry as mycorrhizal inocula to help promote the growth and vigor of young seedlings.
As a group, the Sclerodermatineae have a broad distribution, and some genera (Pisolithus and Scleroderma) have been found on all continents except Antarctica. |
2,278,333 | His Band and the Street Choir | 1,171,810,458 | null | [
"1970 albums",
"Albums produced by Van Morrison",
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| His Band and the Street Choir (also referred to as Street Choir) is the fourth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in November 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. Originally titled Virgo's Fool, Street Choir was renamed by Warner Bros. without Morrison's consent. Recording began in early 1970 with a demo session in a small church in Woodstock, New York. Morrison booked the A&R Studios on 46th Street in New York City in the second quarter of 1970 to produce two sessions of songs that were released on His Band and the Street Choir.
Reviewers praised the music of both sessions for its free, relaxed sound, but the lyrics were considered to be simple compared with those of his previous work. Morrison had intended to record the album a cappella with only vocal backing by a vocal group he called the Street Choir, but the songs released on the album that included the choir also featured a backing band. Morrison was dissatisfied with additional vocalists to the original quintet that made up the choir, and these changes and others have led him to regard Street Choir poorly in later years.
His Band and the Street Choir was as well received as Morrison's previous album, Moondance, peaking at number 32 on the Billboard 200 and number 18 on the UK Album Chart. It owes its success mainly to the US Top Ten single "Domino", which was released before the album and surpassed Morrison's 1967 hit, "Brown Eyed Girl". As of 2019, "Domino" remains the most successful single of Morrison's solo career. Two other singles were released from the album, "Blue Money" and "Call Me Up in Dreamland"; although less successful, they still managed to reach the Billboard Hot 100.
## Production
### Recording
Recording began with a demo session at a small church in Woodstock, which was not intended to produce any official releases. During its course Morrison worked on leftover material from his previous two albums (Astral Weeks and Moondance), recorded songs that he had not performed in the studio before ("Crazy Face" and "Give Me a Kiss"), as well as two instrumentals. Limited recording equipment was used, operated by drummer Dahaud Shaar, who was intending to open a recording studio in Woodstock at the time. Shaar remembered: "I found an old church and we would just load in. I'd set up a pair of mikes and we would just run down some tracks with the tapes running. They became like a working thing for the album."
For his new band Morrison brought back three musicians from the Moondance sessions: saxophonist Jack Schroer; guitarist John Platania and bassist John Klingberg. The backing vocal trio of Emily Houston, Judy Clay and Jackie Verdell also returned to sing on "If I Ever Needed Someone". Multi-instrumentalist Dahaud Shaar joined for His Band and the Street Choir; he was a veteran of the Moondance tour, though he had not played on the album. Keyboardist Alan Hand joined Morrison's band in late April 1970, replacing Jef Labes, who had left the band and moved to Israel before the end of the year. Keith Johnson completed the line-up on trumpet and Hammond organ.
Between March and May 1970 Morrison began work on the album at the A&R recording studios in New York City. He intended to create a full a capella record, and with this in mind assembled a vocal group he called the Street Choir, consisting of his friends Dahaud Shaar, Larry Goldsmith, Andrew Robinson and then wife, Janet "Planet" Rigsbee, who all lived near Woodstock. He had wanted the choir to feature only four vocalists, but was persuaded to allow two additional members to join: the wives of Keith Johnson and Jack Schroer (Martha Velez and Ellen Schroer). However, Morrison was later persuaded to abandon the use of a cappella: "I had a group of people in mind for the Street Choir ... I asked them if they wanted to sing ... then the old ladies got involved and it ruined the whole thing." He was unhappy with the tracks recorded with the choir, as he wanted to use the group for a different effect: "I wanted these certain guys to form an a cappella group so that I could cut a lot of songs with just maybe one guitar. But it didn't turn out." During this session Morrison recorded the same tracks used for the demo session in Woodstock, as well as "Gypsy Queen" and an additional instrumental, six of which were used on Street Choir. Elliot Scheiner was used as the engineer for this session, after he helped to produce Moondance. However, according to biographer Clinton Heylin, Scheiner and Morrison had a disagreement, so he was not used for the rest of the album.
Morrison returned to the A&R studios between June and August to record the remaining six tracks that featured on the album. For this second session Dahaud Shaar filled the role of engineer, though Shaar did not remember Morrison giving the job to him: "Elliot thought he was going to be the co-producer, but then again I never saw him calling takes or asking people to change parts ... I didn't consider myself co-producer. Van would ask me questions and I would give him answers, but it was never a defined role." Morrison felt dissatisfied with some of the final recordings, and notably reworked the song "Street Choir" shortly before studio work concluded.
### Composition
Some songs featured on His Band and the Street Choir were first recorded for the albums Astral Weeks and Moondance. Morrison rewrote and rearranged them for release on Street Choir because the recordings for his new album featured different personnel and instrumentation. The songs on the album, which Rolling Stone reviewer Jon Landau believes have a free, relaxed sound to them, borrow from various music genres; the simple lyrics lack the complexity popularly expected from Morrison's work. According to Pitchfork journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Street Choir eschewed Moondance's jazz influences in favor of "soul and gospel, using folk almost as an accent", all the while possessing a "heavy R&B kick". AllMusic contributor Jason Ankeny believed that, without the "overt mysticism" of the singer's previous two records, it was "simply Morrison's valentine to the rhythm and blues that inspired him".
The first recording that would feature on His Band and the Street Choir was "I've Been Working", an out-take from the Astral Weeks sessions in 1968 and the Moondance sessions in 1969. The final version produced on His Band and the Street Choir is upbeat and shows the influence of James Brown. Morrison notably sings the line "Woman, woman, woman, you make me feel alright" in unison with the horn section, which Jon Landau describes as "breathtaking".
"Domino" had been recorded many times before its release. The first was in sessions from September to November 1968, just after Astral Weeks was recorded. Morrison rearranged "Domino" frequently from 1968 to 1970, notably recording rap and harmony versions. For its release it was arranged in a moderate 4/4 tempo and features rhythm guitar. Horn overdubs were later added to the recording. Morrison ad libs between the end of the chorus and the start of the verses, when he shouts the words "Dig it!", as well as near the end with "And the band ... one more time!", which, according to biographer Peter Mills, helps bring out the theme of "liveliness" in both the song and the album as a whole. The song was considered by musicologist Brian Hinton as a tribute to pianist and singer-songwriter, Fats Domino. As with "Domino", Morrison first recorded "If I Ever Needed Someone" in late 1968; it is one of many blues-influenced tracks on the album.
"Virgo Clowns" was first recorded at the start of 1969 as "(Sit Down) Funny Face". Morrison next recorded it during the first Street Choir session, renaming it simply "Funny Face". It was re-recorded during the second session under the completely different title of "Virgo Clowns". In its final form, Morrison and John Platania duet on acoustic guitars. As the song fades out laughter is heard performed by Dahaud Shaar and Larry Goldsmith.
"Crazy Face" evolved from "Going Around with Jesse James", a song Morrison first recorded for Astral Weeks on 15 October 1968. Both songs contain references to American outlaw Jesse James. Morrison arranged "Crazy Face" in the irregular time signature 8/4; the first, third and seventh beats of the bar are emphasised. It begins with a gentle piano introduction, and ends abruptly, which, in Peter Mills' view, represents a shot from a gun, consistent with the American outlaw theme.
"Give Me a Kiss" and "Gypsy Queen" are the final songs recorded during the first recording session. Morrison wrote "Give me a Kiss" about either Planet or his newly born baby girl Shana. It is a twelve bar blues in the style of boogie rock, a music genre prominent in the 1960s, leading reviewers to compare the song to the work of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Reviewers believed the song "Gypsy Queen" was inspired by "Gypsy Woman", first recorded by Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions. Johnny Rogan feels the song is "a failed attempt to recapture the spirit of 'Caravan'", another Morrison composition inspired by "Gypsy Woman", released on the album Moondance. Morrison sings the song in falsetto, while keyboardist Alan Hand plays celeste, imitating a music box at both the beginning and end.
The second recording session yielded the remaining material. "Call Me Up in Dreamland" is a gospel-style composition. The lyrics refer to life on the road, as Morrison was touring when he recorded the album. They also refer to Morrison and Janet Planet's life at the time: "We were finally, really living in a dreamland—believe it or not—it was a magical time", Planet recalled.
"I'll Be Your Lover, Too" was inspired by Morrison and Planet's marriage. This acoustic ballad has a moderate 4/4 tempo, with one 5/8 bar before the vocal comes in. "Blue Money", a pun-filled reference to Morrison's financial situation, is about a model, perhaps his wife. (Planet worked in the industry before meeting Morrison.) "Sweet Jannie" is the second twelve-bar blues on the album; written about young love, the song is another that reviewers speculated was about Planet. The lyrics, "I've been in love with you baby / Ever since you were in Sunday school" lead Clinton Heylin to believe it was written about memories from Morrison's childhood when he attended Sunday school in Belfast; Planet is a California-raised Texan.
In the album closer, "Street Choir", Morrison repeats the questions, "Why did you let me down / And now that things are better off / Why do you come around". Because of these lyrics Heylin wrote that "such songs [as "Street Choir"] were spawned by an increasing awareness of just how badly ripped off he had been". Ken Brooks has said that the lyric "Move On Up" is another reference on the album to a Curtis Mayfield song. The track prominently features Keith Johnson's trumpet and Morrison's harmonica. Writer Brian Hinton described the lyrics as perversely bitter, while Jon Landau wrote that "Street Choir" was one of the "two or three finest songs" of Morrison's career because of its "musical and poetic energy".
### Packaging
Warner Bros. Records scheduled His Band and the Street Choir for rush-release to sell over Christmas 1970, leaving little time to plan the packaging. These pressured conditions led the company to mistitle the promotional releases as His Band and Street Choir and prepare an incorrectly ordered track listing. At the end of "I'll Be Your Lover, Too" an unedited conversation is left on the finished record, which Peter Mills notes is an example of the album's rough edges. Janet Planet designed the album cover and wrote the sleeve notes, which sound "a little desperate", in the words of Brian Hinton, as she wrote, "This is the album that you must sing with, dance to, you must find a place for these songs somewhere in your life."
David Gahr took the gatefold photos of Morrison surrounded by his musicians with their wives and children at a party for Planet's son, Peter, born from a previous relationship. Morrison dismissed these photos as "rubbish". However, Johnny Rogan commented that the front cover looks far worse; it included a "hilarious" image of Morrison in a full-length kaftan. Morrison complained about the stereotypical front cover as well: "people think you're a hippie because of the long hair and beard. ... I'd bought the kaftan in Woodstock, and that's what people were wearing." Mills agrees that "Van Morrison was never a hippie, but this was as close as he came."
## Reception
### Release
His Band and the Street Choir was first released on LP in November 1970 and was Morrison's third record to be produced for Warner Bros. It was re-released by the record company on CD in 1987, 1990 and 2005, and LP in 2008 with Rhino Records. On 30 October 2015, along with Astral Weeks, the album was remastered and reissued by Warner Bros. Records with five session bonus tracks; three alternate takes, and two alternate versions of "I've Been Working" and "I'll Be Your Lover, Too".
His Band and the Street Choir peaked at number 32 on the Billboard 200, and at number 18 on the UK Album Chart. The album received a warm reception in North America—as Moondance had done—largely due to the success of "Domino", a sampler single that peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. This single remains Morrison's biggest US hit (as of 2010), as it climbed one place higher than his 1967 hit "Brown Eyed Girl", from the album Blowin' Your Mind!. "Domino" was also a hit in the Netherlands, reaching number 22 on the Dutch Top 40. Jon Landau of Rolling Stone magazine attributed the success of "Domino" to the guitar figure at the beginning of the track, which he considered "not only a great way to start a single, but a fine way to begin the album". "Blue Money" debuted as the second single, faltering outside the Top 20 at number 23 in the US. The final single, "Call Me Up in Dreamland", managed only two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching number 95; biographer Ken Brooks believed it deserved better. John Platania recalled that Morrison "had designs" on securing radio airplay for Street Choir, and the success of its singles reflected a growing audience and commercial appeal for his music.
### Critical response
Reviewers generally praised Street Choir. Jon Landau of Rolling Stone compared it to Morrison's previous work:
> "His Band and the Street Choir is a free album. It was recorded with minimal over-dubbing and was obviously intended to show the other side of Moondance. And if it has a flaw it is that, like Moondance, it is too much what it set out to be. A few more numbers with a gravity of 'Street Choir' would have made this album as close to perfect as anyone could have stood."
ZigZag magazine reviewer John Tobler felt, "even if it's inferior to Moondance, it is still better than eighty per cent of the records you've got in your collection." Robert Christgau wrote in The Village Voice, "A few humdrum cuts and an occasional minor lapse of taste make this a less compelling album than Moondance, which only means it wasn't one of the very best of 1970. The good cuts, especially 'Domino' and 'Blue Money,' are superb examples of Morrison's loose, allusive white r&b." Biographer Brian Hinton commented that His Band and the Street Choir is "vaguely reminiscent of Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline". Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello identified His Band and the Street Choir as one of his 500 essential albums and "Street Choir" as one of his favorite songs. In 2006 Johnny Rogan called the songs on the album "a severe disappointment when compared to the material on the previous two albums."
## Morrison and the musicians' responses
Van Morrison regarded Street Choir poorly, as he told biographer Ritchie Yorke in 1973: "Somewhere along the line I lost control of that album. I'd rather not think about that album because it doesn't mean much in terms of where I was at ... the album didn't sell very well and I'm glad." Morrison first lost control of the album before its release, when it was retitled from Virgo's Fool to His Band and the Street Choir:
> "Somebody else got control of it and got the cover and all that shit while I was on the West Coast. I knew what was happening to it, but it was like I couldn't stop it. I'd given my business thing over to someone else and although I had final approval on things, they just went ahead and did the wrong thing. They told the record company it was one thing and it wasn't. So the whole thing went wrong."
Despite this, assistant producer and drummer Dahaud Shaar recalled that Morrison had positive feelings towards the album at the time of its release.
Janet Planet holds the view that "There is much to love about the songs on this album: 'Blue Money', 'Crazy Face', 'Call Me Up in Dreamland', 'Domino' - these are just great songs in any era."
## Track listing
All songs written by Van Morrison.
## Personnel
Musicians
- Van Morrison – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, tenor saxophone (on "Crazy Face" and "Call Me Up in Dreamland")
- Alan Hand – piano, Hammond organ, celeste
- Keith Johnson – trumpet, Hammond organ
- John Klingberg – bass
- John Platania – electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin
- Jack Schroer – soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones, piano
- Dahaud Shaar (David Shaw) – drums, percussion, bass clarinet, backing vocals
- Judy Clay, Emily Houston, Jackie Verdell – backing vocals (on "If I Ever Needed Someone")
The Street Choir
- Larry Goldsmith
- Janet Planet
- Andrew Robinson
- Ellen Schroer
- Dahaud Shaar (David Shaw)
- Martha Velez
Production
- Van Morrison – producer
- Dahaud Shaar – assistant producer
- Elliot Scheiner – production coordinator, engineer
- Dixon Van Winkle, Ed Anderson, Mark Harman, Richard Lubash – assisting engineers
- David Gahr – photography
- Janet Planet – album design
## Charts
### Album
### Singles |
64,162,443 | Die BIF | 1,103,965,086 | 1926–1927, world's first lesbian magazine published, edited and written solely by women | [
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| Die BIF – Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften (Papers on Ideal Women Friendships), subtitled Monatsschrift für weibliche Kultur (Monthly magazine for female culture), was a short-lived lesbian magazine of Weimar Germany, published from either 1925 or 1926 until 1927 in Berlin. Founded by lesbian activist Selli Engler, Die BIF was part of the first wave of lesbian publications in history and the world's first lesbian magazine to be published, edited and written solely by women.
## Publication dates
Die BIF was founded, edited and published by Selli Engler, who afterwards became one of the most renowned lesbian activists of Weimar Germany. It was one of three lesbian magazines of the time beside Die Freundin (since 1924) and Frauenliebe (since 1926). Among them Die BIF was unique, as both other magazines were published, edited and even partly written by men.
According to the imprint it was located at Großbeerenstraße 74 III in Kreuzberg. Engler acted as publisher, editor and writer but, as a result of financial difficulties and illness, had to delay publishing twice. Die BIF was printed at Mitsching's Buchdruckerei in Berlin, its circulation is unknown. The 1927 issues were distributed by the GroBuZ company in Berlin. Advertising offices were available in many large towns in Germany, including Dresden, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Duisburg.
Only three issues are known to have been published: Issue No. 1 (date unknown) and Issues No. 2 (January 1927) and No. 3 (early 1927). The only known originals belong to the collection of the German National Library in Leipzig, Engler herself submitted them in November 1927. Copies can be found in the special libraries Spinnboden – Lesbenarchiv und Bibliothek [de], Schwules Museum and Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft [de] in Berlin and at the library of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The exact dates of publication of Die BIF are still unknown, as the first and the last issues contain no information on when exactly they were published. For many years researchers suggested either 1924 or 1926 as possible dates for the first issue. As 1924 has since been discounted, publication is believed to have started either in 1925 or more likely 1926. Engler discontinued Die BIF in early 1927 and started writing in July for the competing magazine Frauenliebe.
Die BIF had 24 pages and was released as a monthly magazine on the first of the month, sold on news booths at a price of 1 Mark, a relatively high price, as well as by subscription. In Issue No. 3, "on request" of readers Engler announced a lower price for a reduced number of pages, down to 50 Pfennig for 12 pages.
As a spring-off to the magazine, on January 1, 1927, Engler started the "Damen-BIF-Klub" (Ladies BIF Club), an opportunity for lesbian women to meet once a week.
## Authors and contents
Die BIF published mainly literary works such as fictional prose and poems along with an occasional historical or analytical article on lesbianism, discussing social and work life, fashion and lesbian identity. Engler's intention was to offer a magazine with a standard higher than that of its competitors, which Engler considered to be inadequate. Nevertheless, in 2016 Claudia Schoppmann referred to Die BIF as "a monthly magazine with a low literary standard". In contrast to Freundin and Frauenliebe, Die BIF refrained from reporting on Berlin's contemporary lesbian social life.
All original content of Die BIF was written by women. While many articles were written by Engler herself, other noticeable writers included Olga Lüdeke and Ilse Espe. All in all, there were at least ten contributors, five of whom later went on—along with Engler—to write for Frauenliebe. In addition to their articles, there were occasionally excerpts of works by men, selected by the publisher for their interest to readers, for example snippets from Alexandre Dumas, Magnus Hirschfeld or Otto Weininger.
## Legacy
Only few contemporary comments on Die BIF are known. Franz Scott wrote in 1933, that Die BIF has been launching "excellent artistic and literary contributions", which in accordance with its standards made Die BIF superior to Freundin and Frauenliebe and stated that it failed because the target group was undemanding. Scott's comparison has been heavily criticized by Hanna Hacker [de] in 2015 as biased, contradictory and one-sided. In 1927, Magnus Hirschfeld took a photograph that shows two issues of Die BIF from the archive of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, among other gay papers. In 1938 the Nazi jurist Rudolf Klare mentioned Die BIF in his article "Zum Problem der weiblichen Homosexualität" (On the problem of female homosexuality) as an example of the "abundant press" by "organisations of female homosexuals" of the 1920s in Germany.
After being forgotten for decades, Die BIF was rediscovered by Katharina Vogel and Claudia Schoppmann in 1984 as part of basic work on Engler's biography, punctually extended by Schoppmann (1997), Jens Dobler (2003) and Heike Schader (2004). Some more in-depth work followed in 2020, though a thorough analysis of the BIF's contents is still missing.
Since the rediscovery of Selli Engler and Die BIF, German and international researchers acknowledge its pioneering role as the first lesbian magazine run by women (and the only one until Vice Versa was published in 1947). Florence Tamagne highlighted this as Die BIF's "unique quality". |
67,628,535 | John U. Monro | 1,141,724,800 | American academic administrator | [
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"Phillips Academy alumni",
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| John Usher Monro (December 23, 1912 – March 29, 2002) was an American academic administrator and Dean of Harvard College from 1958 to 1967. He made national headlines when he left Harvard for Miles College, a historically black and then-unaccredited institution in Birmingham, Alabama.
Monro, born in Massachusetts and educated at Phillips Academy in Andover, worked as a journalist after graduating from Harvard University in 1935. When the United States entered World War II in 1941, he joined the United States Navy and later served on the USS Enterprise. He was honoured with a Bronze Star for his efforts as a damage control officer. After the war, he worked in various roles at Harvard, became the director of financial aid and co-founded the College Scholarship Service. He was made Dean of Harvard College in 1958, but his strong interest in supporting black students saw him leave Harvard to work as director of freshman studies at Miles College in 1967. In the late 1970s, he moved on to Tougaloo College, where he worked as the director of its writing center.
## Early life and education
Monro was born in North Andover, Massachusetts, to Claxton and Frances Sutton Monro on December 23, 1912. His father was a Harvard-educated chemist working at the American Woolen Company and his mother the daughter of a mill owner. As his family was not well-off, he attended Phillips Academy at Andover on a scholarship and was later admitted to Harvard College, also on a scholarship. He was aware of social and racial issues, interested in Karl Marx but refused to join the Communist Party, saying that whenever one disagreed with the communists, "they'd try to bulldoze you". Nonetheless, he believed in historical materialism, but said that he "could profit from knowing that without joining the party".
He was heavily involved in journalism at Harvard, serving as an editor for The Harvard Crimson in 1934. However, he found it too socially conservative and set up a rival daily, the Harvard Journal, which ran for almost six weeks. It was more inclusive than the all-male Crimson, as it covered the entire university and had a section on Radcliffe College with its own editorial board. Due to the time spent on editing the new newspaper, he did not finish his senior thesis on time and graduated in 1935, a year late. He was interested in Scottish history because of familial ties to Scotland–he had relatives living in Foulis Castle–and wrote his senior thesis on eighteenth-century Scottish history.
He then worked as Harvard correspondent for the Boston Evening Transcript and writer for the Harvard news office until the United States entered World War II in 1941.
## War service and career at Harvard
Initially enlisting for the public relations department of the Navy, Monro later became a damage control officer on the USS Enterprise. His position put him in charge of machinists and sailors repairing the ship in the event of an attack. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his "organizational leadership" during a kamikaze attack on the carrier near Okinawa in 1945. According to Archie Epps, Monro's dedication to racial integration began with when he was tasked by his captain to integrate his ship.
Originally intending to continue his career as a journalist after the war, he was convinced to work at Harvard’s Office of Veterans Affairs. He became director of financial aid in 1950. Disagreeing with Harvard's approach to use financial aid as a means to compete for the best applicants, he devised a formula to calculate applicants actual need for aid instead. A simplified version called the "Monro Doctrine" is still used today. He also helped set up the College Scholarship Service in the 1950s and was its first chairman. Harvard Student Agencies was also created by Monro in 1958.
He became Dean of Harvard College in 1958 and was awarded an L.H.D. in 1967. He took a hard line against drug use, promising to expel anyone involved in their distribution or use.
Monro was strongly involved in advocacy for black students. In 1948, he started traveling to recruit promising black undergraduates, joined the board of the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students and supported the creation of the Association of African and Afro-American Students in 1963. In a 1960 educational conference, he expressed dismay over college admissions, as they were "starving the development of [...] children, whose only fault is that they are poor or a wrong color". Believing that the under-representation of black employees in large companies was a result of inadequate education, Monro called for black colleges to provide more practical instruction, such as in business administration, to their students.
## Miles and Tougaloo College
Monro met Lucius Pitts, president of Miles College, at the annual meeting of the American Teachers Association in 1962. Pitts invited Monro to speak to the Miles faculty the following year. His talk on September 4, 1963, coincided with the bombing of Arthur Shores's home, which set off a major riot. Despite being visibly shaken by the unrest, Monro was interested to return and asked to assist in Miles College basic-skills workshop the following summer.
Pitts and Monro also organized a partnership which teamed members of Phillips Brooks House, a non-profit organization at Harvard University, with Miles students to tutor grade-schoolers in Birmingham, Alabama. After having taught English at Miles College for three consecutive summers for free, he resigned as Dean of Harvard College in 1967 to become director of freshman studies at Miles College. Aware of the impression leaving one of the most prestigious positions in American education for a lowly paid role at an unaccredited college gave, Monro said: "I want to disassociate myself from any idea that this is a sacrifice. I see it as a job of enormous reward".
Monro convinced a number of graduate students and teachers to move to the South with him, while arguing that black colleges needed black leadership to achieve their aims as bastions of black institutional strength. He taught more classes than many of his former colleagues at Harvard and devised a new English and social studies curriculum. Robert J. Donovan, spending some time with Monro for the San Francisco Examiner in 1972, described him as "resoundingly happy" at Miles College. Monro found the atmosphere at Miles to be different from selective schools of the Northeast, as its students, often dividing their time between work and class, believed that college could do something for them and were serious in their studies.
He left Miles for Tougaloo College, also a historically black and financially deprived college, a decade later. He taught English and served as the director of its writing center. Voted best teacher at Tougaloo College at the age of 80, he retired at the age of 84 due to Alzheimer's disease. He died on March 29, 2002, in La Verne, California, of pneumonia.
## Legacy
The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, which awarded Monro the Harvard Foundation Humanitarian Award in 1993, commissioned a portrait of him for their Minority Portraiture Project. It was painted by Stephen E. Coit and unveiled in Phillips Brooks House on October 13, 2008. It was hung next to a room named after Monro. At the unveiling, S. Allen Counter, the foundation's executive director, said: "To give up a powerful career at Harvard to go and work at a minority school is just amazing". A second portrait hangs in the Writing Center at Tougaloo College. It was painted by Johnnie M. Maberry Gilbert, who graduated from Tougaloo in 1970.
## Personal life
Monro married Dorothy Steven Foster (d. 1984), whom he had known since his childhood in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1936. They had two daughters, Ann Monro and Janet Dreyer.
Claxton Monro (May 7, 1914 – September 20, 1991), one of John Monro's brothers, also attended Phillips Academy and graduated with a degree in engineering and business administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936. After working for a couple of years for the Guaranty Trust Company and J. Walter Thompson, he attended the General Theological Seminary, graduating in 1943. He served as assistant to Sam Shoemaker at Calvary Church in Manhattan from 1942 to 1945, when he was made rector of Grace Episcopal Church. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, appointed him rector in 1950. Monro retired in 1981, the first rector of St. Stephen's to do so.
His youngest brother Sutton Monro (November 15, 1919 – March 5, 1995) graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1942. He went on to work for Bell Labs as a quality control engineer and taught mathematics at the University of Maine at Orono. He attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to pursue a Ph.D in statistics under the supervision of Herbert Robbins, with whom he developed the Robbins–Monro algorithm. A rule at the university prevented students who pre-published doctoral work from being awarded their degree, but his advisor published the work in before Monro finished his Ph.D, meaning that he never received his Ph.D. Monro was then employed by New York City, until he was hired as associate professor of industrial engineering by Lehigh University. He was a Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He had two sons and two stepsons.
## Publications
### Journal articles
### Other publications |
149,592 | Super Mario Sunshine | 1,172,442,066 | 2002 video game | [
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| is a 2002 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second 3D game in the Super Mario series, following Super Mario 64 (1996). The game was directed by Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Usui, produced by series creators Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, written by Makoto Wada, and scored by Koji Kondo and Shinobu Tanaka.
The game takes place on the tropical Isle Delfino, where Mario, Toadsworth, Princess Peach, and five Toads are taking a vacation. A villain resembling Mario, known as Shadow Mario, vandalizes the island with graffiti and leaves Mario to be wrongfully convicted for the mess. Mario is ordered to clean up Isle Delfino, using a device called the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (F.L.U.D.D.), while saving Princess Peach from Shadow Mario.
Super Mario Sunshine received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the game's graphics, gameplay, story, soundtrack, and the addition of F.L.U.D.D. as a mechanic, though some criticized the game's camera and F.L.U.D.D.'s gimmicky nature, the high difficulty, as well as the decision to use full voice acting for some characters. The game sold over five million copies worldwide by 2006, making it one of the best-selling GameCube games. The game was re-released as a part of the Player's Choice brand in 2003. Nintendo EPD re-released it alongside Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection for the Nintendo Switch in 2020.
## Gameplay
Super Mario Sunshine shares many similar gameplay elements with its predecessor, Super Mario 64, while introducing various new gameplay features. Players control Mario as he tries to obtain 120 Shine Sprites in order to bring light back to Isle Delfino and prove his innocence after Bowser Jr. (disguised as Mario) steals the Shine Sprites and covers the island in toxic slime. Players start off in the hub world of Delfino Plaza and access various worlds via portals which become available as the game progresses. Similar to collecting Stars in Super Mario 64, players obtain Shine Sprites by clearing a selected mission with a specific objective. Unlike its predecessor, these missions have a more strictly linear order and most other mission Shine Sprites cannot be collected until the previous missions are completed. There are also various hidden areas and challenges across Isle Delfino where more Shine Sprites can be obtained. Throughout the game, players may also find Blue Coins hidden across the island, which can be exchanged for more Shine Sprites in the boathouse at Delfino Plaza.
In this game, Mario is joined by a robotic backpack named F.L.U.D.D. (Flash Liquidizing Ultra Dousing Device), which uses the power of water to clean away goop and help Mario reach new places. Mario starts with two default nozzles for F.L.U.D.D., Squirt and Hover, which he can quickly switch between. The Squirt nozzle lets Mario spray a stream of water which he can use to clean sludge, attack enemies, and activate certain mechanisms. The Hover nozzle lets Mario hover in the air for a short period of time, allowing him to cross large gaps while simultaneously spraying things directly below him. As the game progresses, Mario unlocks two additional nozzles for F.L.U.D.D. which can be substituted with the Hover nozzle: the Rocket nozzle, which shoots Mario high up into the air; and the Turbo nozzle, which moves Mario at high speeds, allowing him to run across water and break into certain areas. Each of F.L.U.D.D.'s nozzles use water from its reserves, which can be refilled via water sources such as rivers or fountains. There are also various secret courses where F.L.U.D.D. is taken away from Mario, forcing him to rely on his natural platforming abilities. Unlike Super Mario 64, Mario can no longer long jump; he can instead perform a spin jump by twirling the analog stick and jumping, allowing Mario to jump higher and farther. Mario can also now perform dives at any time, giving Mario the ability to slide quickly across wet surfaces and serve as another alternative to the long jump. At certain points in the game, Mario may come across an egg which hatches into a Yoshi after being brought a fruit he asks for. Yoshi can be ridden upon and can attack by spitting juice, which can clear certain obstacles that water cannot. Yoshi can also use his tongue to eat enemies or other pieces of fruit which change his color, depending on the type of fruit. Yoshi will disappear if he runs out of juice or falls into deep water. Juice can be replenished by eating more fruit.
## Plot
The game takes place on Isle Delfino, a dolphin-shaped tropical island. The island is mainly inhabited by the Pianta and Noki people.
Mario sets out for Isle Delfino for a vacation with Princess Peach, her steward Toadsworth, and several other Toads. Upon their arrival at Delfino Airstrip, they discover a mass of paint-like goop. After acquiring the Flash Liquidizing Ultra Dousing Device (F.L.U.D.D.), a water cannon created by Professor E. Gadd, Mario defeats a slime-covered Piranha Plant that emerges from the goop. However, Mario is arrested on suspicion of vandalizing the island with graffiti. As a result, the source of the island's power, Shine Sprites, have disappeared and the island is covered in shadow. After being convicted, Mario is assigned community service to clean up the island and track down the real criminal.
The culprit is revealed to be a shadowy blue doppelgänger of Mario known as Shadow Mario. Using a magic paintbrush, also developed by Professor E. Gadd, Shadow Mario created the graffiti. He attempts to kidnap Princess Peach but is thwarted by Mario. After the player collects ten Shine Sprites, Shadow Mario successfully kidnaps Peach, and takes her to Pinna Island. Arriving at Pinna Park, a theme park on the island, Mario encounters and destroys Mecha Bowser, a giant Bowser robot controlled by Shadow Mario. Afterwards, Shadow Mario reveals that his true identity is Bowser Jr., and that he framed Mario because his father, Bowser, told him that Peach is his mother whom Mario was trying to kidnap. Mecha Bowser's head then transforms into a hot air balloon and Bowser Jr. takes Peach to Corona Mountain.
After the player defeats Bowser Jr. (in his Shadow Mario disguise) in the seven main levels, Delfino Plaza floods, and the entrance to Corona Mountain is opened. Mario travels through the lava-filled caverns and finds Bowser, Bowser Jr. and Princess Peach in a giant hot tub in the sky. Mario defeats Bowser and Bowser Jr. by destroying the hot tub, causing everyone to fall from the sky. Bowser and Bowser Jr. land on a platform in the ocean, while Mario and Peach land on a small island. However, F.L.U.D.D. is damaged by the fall and powers down. Mario and Peach watch as the Shine Gate's power is restored while a group of Piantas and Nokis celebrate. Meanwhile, Bowser admits to his son that Peach is not really his mother, to which Bowser Jr. replies that he already knows, and that when he is older he wants to fight Mario again. Mario and Princess Peach watch the sunset at Sirena Beach, and the Toads present Mario with F.L.U.D.D., who has been repaired, and he declares that the vacation begins now.
## Development
A sequel to Super Mario 64 had been in development for several years; the canceled games Super Mario 64 2/Super Mario 128 were some ideas Nintendo had for a direct sequel. Super Mario Sunshine was first shown at Nintendo Space World 2001. The game was later shown again at E3 2002. It was developed by Nintendo EAD.
The game received the first lead directing role for Nintendo designer Yoshiaki Koizumi following a ten-year-long apprenticeship working on various other games. Super Mario creators Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka served as producers. It was the first Nintendo first-party game after Satoru Iwata became president of Nintendo, succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi. Developing a Mario game for the GameCube was the last request Yamauchi gave the team before resigning. In an interview about the development of Super Mario Sunshine with Koizumi, Kenta Usui, and Tezuka, it was mentioned that the game's development began after showing Super Mario 128 and following the critical and commercial success of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, when Koizumi conceived the idea of gameplay involving a water pump. However, at first Koizumi, Miyamoto and Tezuka thought that the world was too daringly out of character with Mario. There were ten candidates for possible water nozzles, and F.L.U.D.D. was chosen because of fitting in the game's setting, though it was not one of the favorites. They also stated that several Yoshi features were omitted, such as Yoshi vomiting water fed to him. It was the first in the Mario series to include Peach’s panneria-like overskirt and ponytail and Toad’s different colored spots, and vests with yellow outlines.
Koji Kondo and Shinobu Tanaka composed the score to Super Mario Sunshine. Kondo composed the main motif for Isle Delfino, Bianco Hills, Ricco Harbor, and Gelato Beach, as well as the ending credits, while additional music was composed by Tanaka. The soundtrack features various arrangements of classic Mario tunes, including the underground music and the main stage music from the original Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Sunshine features many of the usual voice actors for the various Mario characters. Charles Martinet voices Mario, Jen Taylor voices Princess Peach and Toad, Kit Harris voices F.L.U.D.D. and the Nokis, Scott Burns voices Bowser in the character's first speaking role in a video game, Toadsworth, and the male Piantas, and Dolores Rogers voices Bowser Jr. and the female Piantas. Unlike most games of the series, the cutscenes in Super Mario Sunshine feature full English voice acting.
## Release
Super Mario Sunshine was released in Japan on July 19, 2002. It was later released in the United States on August 26 of that year. A GameCube bundle containing the game along with a GameCube console was released in North America on October 14, 2002. The game was re-released alongside Super Mario 64 (1996) and Super Mario Galaxy (2007) in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection on Nintendo Switch on September 18, 2020.
## Reception
Super Mario Sunshine was critically acclaimed by game critics. Particular praise went towards the graphics, music, story, gameplay and the addition of F.L.U.D.D. IGN praised the addition of the water backpack for improving gameplay, and GameSpy commented on the "wide variety of moves and the beautifully constructed environments". The game received a perfect score from Nintendo Power, who commended the "superb graphics, excellent music, clever layouts, funny cinema scenes and ingenious puzzles".
Super Mario Sunshine won GameSpot's annual "Best Platformer on GameCube" award. GamePro gave it a perfect score, stating that the game was "a masterpiece of superior game design, infinite gameplay variety, creativity, and life." The American-based publication Game Informer said that the game is arguably "the best Mario game to date." Computer and Video Games also mentioned the game is "better than Super Mario 64." The game placed 46th in Official Nintendo Magazine'''s 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time. AllGame gave a lower review, stating that "During the six-year span between Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, platform games have become more epic, more interactive, and prettier. Yet the core element of collecting items in a world divided into sub-sections has been left unchanged. So it comes with a modicum of disappointment that Super Mario Sunshine doesn't shake up the genre with a number of new and fresh ideas other than the usual enhancements expected from a sequel."
Some reviewers were critical towards certain aspects of the game. The camera system and high difficulty were the most criticized aspects of the game. The decision to use full voice acting for some characters in the game, as well as F.L.U.D.D., received mixed responses. GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann criticized the various additions, including F.L.U.D.D. and Yoshi, calling them "mere gimmicks." He also complained about the camera system. Gerstmann said that the game seemed somewhat unpolished and rushed, a sentiment shared by Matt Wales of Computer and Video Games. GameSpot named it 2002's most disappointing GameCube game.
During the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Super Mario Sunshine for "Console Platform Action/Adventure Game of the Year".
### Sales
In Japan, more than 400,000 copies of Super Mario Sunshine were sold within four days. In the United States, more than 350,000 copies were sold within its first ten days of release, surpassing launch sales of the PlayStation 2's Grand Theft Auto III, the Xbox's Halo, and the Nintendo 64's Super Mario 64, and boosting hardware sales of the GameCube. In Europe, 175,000 units were sold within a week of its release. In Japan, 624,240 units had been sold by October 2002. In 2002, Super Mario Sunshine was the tenth best-selling game in the United States according to the NPD Group. It was re-released in 2003 as part of the Player's Choice line, a selection of games with high sales sold for a reduced price. By July 2006, 2.5 million copies were sold for \$85 million, in the United States alone. Next Generation ranked it as the ninth highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. By June 2006, over 5.5 million copies had been sold worldwide. Despite strong sales numbers, Satoru Iwata confirmed at E3 2003 that the game's sales (Along with those of Metroid Prime) had failed to live up to the company's expectations.
## Legacy
Super Mario Sunshine introduced several elements that were carried over into subsequent Mario games. Many of the bosses from this game and Luigi's Mansion appear in multiple Mario spin-offs that followed on the GameCube, such as the unlockable Petey Piranha and King Boo in Mario Kart: Double Dash and the four unlockable characters in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. The central goop hazard featured in Super Mario Sunshine also reappears in later Mario titles, mostly through attacks by Bowser Jr. and Petey Piranha.
Super Mario Sunshine introduces the Shine Sprites, which have appeared in later Mario games such as Mario Kart DS and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It is also the debut of Bowser Jr., who has since become a recurring character in games such as New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Galaxy 2, and in later Mario spin-off and sports games. It introduces recurring character Petey Piranha. Piantas appear in Super Mario Galaxy 2 in the Starshine Beach Galaxy and in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door in Rogueport.
The game is the first 3D Super Mario game with the ability to ride Yoshi. The Super Smash Bros. series has numerous references to original elements of Super Mario Sunshine; most notably, F.L.U.D.D. has been featured as a part of Mario's moveset since Super Smash Bros. Brawl''. |
13,965,157 | Saturn V dynamic test vehicle | 1,169,455,534 | Moon rocket test article in Huntsville, Alabama | [
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| The Saturn V dynamic test vehicle, designated SA-500D, is a prototype Saturn V rocket used by NASA to test the performance of the rocket when vibrated to simulate the shaking which subsequent rockets would experience during launch. It was the first full-scale Saturn V completed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Though SA-500D never flew, it was instrumental in the development of the Saturn V rocket which propelled the first men to the Moon as part of the Apollo program. Built under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun, it served as the test vehicle for all of the Saturn support facilities at MSFC.
SA-500D is the only Saturn V on display that was used for its intended purpose, and the only one to have been assembled prior to museum display. It is on permanent display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama.
## Pre-flight configurations
Before a Saturn V could be launched, engineers needed to verify that their design had accounted for everything the rocket would encounter on its journey, from assembly to the launchpad and from Earth to the Moon. To validate the Saturn V design and procedures, they created five pre-flight configurations for testing. These configurations were subjected to tests simulating all aspects of flight preparations and flight itself, and all the tests needed to demonstrate satisfactory results before MSFC would certify the Saturn V to fly.
SA-500D was one of the five pre-flight configurations of the Saturn V. This configuration showed the Saturn V's "bending and vibration characteristics" and verified "the adequacy of guidance and control systems' design." The rocket's 7,610,000 pounds-force (33.9 MN) of thrust would generate vigorous shaking and it was important to see that the rocket would not shake apart or vibrate itself off-course.
Other pre-flight configurations were:
- Battleship test model, used for initial engine firing and design improvements
- Structural test model, to certify the structure for loads during launch at the anticipated temperatures, and to assess the stiffness of each stage
- SA-500F, the facilities checkout model, verify launch facilities, train launch crews, and develop test and checkout procedures.
- SA-500T, all systems test model, for static firing of engines in the flight configuration
The vehicle designated SA-500D did not include an Apollo spacecraft, but boilerplate parts were used during testing to verify the entire system.
## Development of the test article
The Saturn V consisted of three stages and an Instrument Unit (IU). The first stage, S-IC, delivered 7,610,000 pounds-force (33.9 MN) thrust and delivered the other stages to 200,000 feet (61 km). Afterwards, it was jettisoned to fall into the Atlantic Ocean and the second stage continued acceleration. The second stage, S-II, was responsible for lifting the remaining parts nearly to Earth orbit. The third stage, S-IVB provided the final push to orbit and the trans-lunar injection burn to set the Apollo spacecraft on a course to the Moon. The IU was the guidance and control computer. SA-500D was the assembly of these components for dynamic testing.
The Saturn V dynamic test stand with "electrodynamic shakers" provided a table capable not only of holding the Saturn V fully assembled and fueled, but also able to simulate the vibrations that would be generated by rocket engines.
The components used for testing were developed from 1964 to 1966, and the tests conducted in 1966–67. Because the Saturn V shared some components with the Saturn IB, some of the components for SA-500D were initially used for dynamic testing with the Saturn IB stack.
In naming the individual stages, MSFC used the stage designation with a suffix indicating its purpose. For example, S-IC-D was the first stage, S-IC, for dynamic testing, and S-IC-1 was the first flight model of the first stage. Suffixes used were S, for structural, F for facilities, T for all-systems test, and D for dynamic testing.
Following is a history of each component of the dynamic test article in order of appearance.
### Apollo boilerplate
Development of the test article started from the top. A boilerplate Apollo spacecraft, BP-27 together with LTA-2, was used for all configurations of dynamic testing. The boilerplate took the place of actual flight hardware. Boilerplate size, shape, mass and center of gravity were the same, but it was not necessary for the entire Apollo spacecraft to be complete to commence dynamic testing. The boilerplate was outfitted with instrumentation to record data for engineering study and evaluation.
BP-27 consisted of hardware specifically built for that configuration and some hardware reassigned from other designations. The command module and launch escape system were unique to BP-27. The service module SM-010 (formerly SM-006) and the spacecraft–lunar module adapter SLA \#1 were also assigned to BP-27.
BP-27 was accepted at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in late September, 1964.
Shortly thereafter, MSFC took delivery of the boilerplate lunar module, called a lunar test article and designated LTA-2. LTA-2 is the only part of SA-500D to fly in space. It was refurbished, designated LTA-2R, and flew on Apollo 6.
BP-27 was used for Saturn IB dynamic testing, shipped to Kennedy Space Center to be a component of SA-500F, and shipped back to MSFC for full-stack testing with SA-500D.
### Third stage
The third stage, S-IVB-D arrived at MSFC before any other Saturn V stages because it was destined for dynamic testing in the Saturn IB first. It was assembled by Douglas near Los Angeles. With ceremony and dignitaries for the first Douglas-built S-IVB stage, it set out by barge December 8, 1964, and made its way to New Orleans via the Panama Canal, the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers to MSFC, where it arrived on January 4, 1965. The same day, MSFC took delivery of the first stage of the Saturn IB for dynamic and facilities checkout testing, S-IB-D/F. The parts were assembled together with the instrument unit designated S-IU-200D/500D (see below) and BP-27 for dynamic testing in the Saturn IB configuration from February to September 1965 before it was allocated to the Saturn V configuration.
### Instrument unit
The Saturn V instrument unit served as the electronics hub for the first three stages of the rocket, controlling engine firing, guidance, stage separation, and climate for the three stages below. It consisted of two main parts, a rigid ring for structure, and within that, electronics.
Instrument units had a slightly different numbering scheme than the other parts. S-IU-200D/500D was for use with the SA-200D dynamic test article – a Saturn IB, and also for use with SA-500D, the Saturn V.
IBM won the contract to build electronics for the IU, and so, by 1964, constructed a \$14 million four-building complex including a manufacturing facility with clean room in Huntsville.
The IU's structural ring had two responsibilities: provide a mounting location for IBM's electronics and hold everything on top of it. It needed to be structurally sound enough to hold the weight of the lunar module, service module, command module, and the three astronauts during the acceleration provided by three mighty stages of rocket beneath. The rings were all fabricated at MSFC.
The IU for SA-500D was not the first built. MSFC built S-IU-200V/500V for vibration testing from September to November 1964. Wyle Labs tested it as part of the Saturn I-B program.
S-IU-200D/500D was the second IU to be built, with the ring completed in January 1965 and electronic components from IBM installed by February 1. It was the last piece necessary for dynamic testing in the Saturn IB program. It was stacked together with S-IVB-D, S-IB-D, and BP-27 for Saturn IB testing through much of 1965. On October 8, 1965, it began dynamic testing for the Saturn V program as part of SA-500D.
### First stage
MSFC built the first three S-IC test first stages for the Saturn V: S-IC-T, the S-IC-S, and the S-IC-F. They also built the first two flight stages, S-IC-1 and S-IC-2. S-IC-D was the first to be built by Boeing at the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans using the tooling that had been developed in Huntsville.
S-IC-D, was under construction on September 9, 1965, when Hurricane Betsy struck the Michoud Assembly Facility. The building housing the stage sustained severe damage, but the stage itself was repaired promptly.
S-IC-D set out on the maiden voyage of NASA barge Poseidon to Marshall Space Flight Center on October 6, 1965, and arrived at MSFC October 13. The first stage was lifted into place in the dynamic test stand January 13, 1966 in the picture top right. Said one observer, "Fog and clouds hovered around the top of the 360 foot (110 m) tall test stand most of the day while the 300,000 pounds (140,000 kg) stage was being lifted from its transporter into place inside the stand, said to be the tallest building in Alabama."
### Second stage
The second stage of SA-500D had a complex history. The second stage, S-II-D had been on order, but that part was cancelled February 19, 1965. The plan was to use another test article for dynamic testing as well as its other purpose. Two such test articles were destroyed during testing after having been designated for the dynamic test phase. The actual article used in SA-500D was named in the third re-allocation, when S-II-F, the facilities checkout article, was designated S-II-F/D.
S-II-S, which North American Aviation's Space and Information Systems Division (S&ID) at Seal Beach had completed by January 31, was re-designated as S-II-S/D to be used for dynamic testing. S-II-S/D would not survive its final structural test on September 29, 1965, but the test was exercising considerable margin above the structural integrity required for flight.
In January 1966, the all-systems test S-II-T was re-designated S-II-T/D, so that it might be used for dynamic testing as well as engine firing. S-II-T/D completed integrated checkout of ground support facilities at MTF on February 3, 1966. S-II-T/D's engines were fired five times at MTF from April to May, including a full-duration test. On May 28, 1966, S-II-T/D was undergoing a pressure test to find a hydrogen leak, but the hydrogen pressure sensors and switches had been disconnected unbeknownst to the second-shift crew when they tried to pressurize the tank. Five technicians sustained minor injuries. MSFC convened an investigation that night, and the team completed the report in two days.
After the S-II-T/D destruction, a third article was assigned to dynamic test duties. Facilities checkout article S-II-F became the dynamic test article designated S-II-F/D. S-II-F was shipped from S&ID, Seal Beach, California on February 20, 1966, to Kennedy Space Center where it arrived March 4. It filled in the final part of SA-500F to check out facilities for processing the Saturn V, replacing a dumbbell-shaped temporary stage of the same length and weight as an S-II stage. SA-500F was assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building where it was mated to S-IC-F on March 28 and S-IVB-F the next day.
SA-500F was completed in the VAB, tested for stability against swaying in the wind, and rolled out to the launch pad May 25, 1966, on Mobile Launcher-1 (ML-1).
Hurricane Alma interrupted exercises as SA-500F was rolled back to the VAB on June 8, though the ground crew supposed the rollback was more of an exercise than necessity because winds remained below critical for the entire storm. It was returned to Launch Complex 39A two days later and finally returned to the VAB October 14, 1966 for disassembly.
After facilities checkout at KSC was completed, the remaining components of SA-500F were then transferred to MSFC for inclusion in SA-500D: the Apollo boilerplate BP-27 and S-II-F/D. The second stage was modified for dynamic testing, and shipped by Posideon from KSC on October 29 to arrive at MSFC November 10, 1966.
## Dynamic testing
Engineers needed a detailed knowledge of the space vehicle's dynamic flight characteristics to design structural, guidance, and flight control systems. They initially used analytical data that had not been substantiated by test for design criteria. The dynamic test vehicle test project determined the dynamic characteristics of the space vehicle and verified earlier analyses.
The objectives of the dynamic tests were to:
> 1. Determine the space vehicle structural dynamic characteristics under conditions simulating flight configuration and environment insofar as practicable.
> 2. Determine the optimum location for flight sensors and obtain experimental transfer functions for the control system.
> 3. Determine the physical mating capability of stages and modules.
> 4. Compare dynamic test results with subsequent flight test results for continuous development of dynamic test techniques and facilities to assure the highest possible degree of accuracy in the development of future vehicle structures prior to flight.
> 5. Determine the space vehicle dynamic characteristics under conditions simulating transport from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad insofar as practicable.
Dynamic tests came in three configurations, one for each phase of Saturn V-powered flight. Configuration I focused on testing the entire stack, as if the vehicle had just been launched. Configuration II exercised the stack as if the first stage had jettisoned and the second stage were firing, and configuration III tested just the third stage and Apollo spacecraft. Tests began with Configuration III in the Saturn IB dynamic test facility, while the Saturn V dynamic test stand, first, and second stages were still under construction. Configuration I testing followed in the Saturn V dynamic test stand, then Configuration II in the same place.
Configuration III testing took place in late 1965.
Configuration I dynamic tests required the first stage of the Saturn V, which was loaded into the test stand January 13, 1966. Testing would have to wait for the last piece, the second stage, to arrive.
With all the components at MSFC as of November 10, 1966, the second stage was stacked atop the first inside the dynamic test stand on November 23. The third stage was added to the stack November 30, and the Instrument Unit and boilerplate Apollo were installed in December. The rocket was stacked and ready for "Configuration One" testing.
Configuration One Testing ran from January through March. Testing produced "several minor irregularities indicating the need for possible engineering changes" which were addressed during March, 1967.
Configuration Two testing followed, in which the first stage was removed from the stack to simulate conditions after the first stage had jettisoned.
Dynamic testing examined "the vehicle's response to lateral, longitudinal, and torsional excitation, simulating those that would be experienced in flight. The vehicle was "mounted on a hydrodynamic support system made up of four hydraulic/pneumatic pedestals to permit a simulated unrestrained reaction." Engineers tested vibrations in one plane at a time with different amounts of ballast simulating "fuel load at critical time points in the flight trajectory."
NASA historian Mike Wright summarizes the testing:
> Combined, the tests involved 450 hours of shaking to gather data from some 800 measuring points. A simulated Apollo capsule with the same weight and same center of gravity as the spacecraft being checked out for launch at Kennedy Space Center were placed on top of the rocket. Forces were applied to the tail of the rocket to simulate engine thrusting, and various other flight factors were fed to the vehicle to test reactions. During some of the shaking tests, the rocket moved as much as 6 inches at the top and up to 3 inches at the bottom. The tests were mandatory before the Center could certify that the guidance system would hold the rocket on course when it was launched.
On August 3, 1967, MSFC announced the successful completion of the dynamic test program, thereby declaring dynamics and structures of the Saturn V ready for its first launch later in the year. The dynamic testing resulted in "several slight modifications" to the final flight vehicle.
The first Saturn V launch came three months later, with Apollo 4. The dynamic test article LTA-2 was refurbished as LTA-2R and flown on the next Saturn V launch, Apollo 6.
After dynamic testing, the second stage returned to KSC for a time for launchpad B checkout.
## Public display
After all tests were complete, the SA-500D was reassembled in Huntsville, this time for public exhibition at the Alabama Space Science Center, on land carved out of the north edge of Marshall Space Flight Center. Transport of the rocket, along with the Saturn I which would be erected vertically, to the museum, took place June 28, 1969. The rocket would be displayed lying down on the southern edge of a rocket park with its predecessor rockets, near a Saturn 1 standing erect and a moonscape complete with model lunar module and a flag. SA-500D was installed in 1969, and the (renamed) Alabama Space and Rocket Center opened in 1970 showcasing articles that could otherwise only be seen by NASA and Army workers at Redstone Arsenal. The first stage sat on a low-boy trailer and the others in cradles. The instrument unit was put on display inside the museum, and interstages were given roofs and converted to educational rides for the museum.
SA-500D was added to the List of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1980 and declared a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 1987.
In 1989, the museum assumed its current name, U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
### Restoration
After decades of the vehicle resting unprotected outdoors, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center commissioned the restoration of the vehicle in 2005. Analysis by Conservation Solutions, Incorporated determined significant damage from both weather and pest infestations. Various materials comprising the vehicle, including metal alloys and non-metal materials such as polyurethane foam and fiberglass, exhibited significant deterioration. After conducting the analysis, full restoration of the Saturn V vehicle began in June 2005.
Restoration culminated in July 2007 when the Saturn V was moved into a building designed as protection for the artifact and to provide additional museum facilities. The move took place from July 10 to approximately July 17, starting with the first stage. The Davidson Center for Space Exploration opened in January 2008.
On May 3, 2012, an unknown person fired three .308 caliber bullets from Interstate 565 at the Davidson Center, breaking three windows. Two bullets struck SA-500D's third stage marring paint and leaving dents. No people were harmed. The damage was repaired within two months.
### Components on display
This display consists of S-IC-D, S-II-F/D, and S-IVB-D, S-IU-200D/500D, an SLA (possibly SLA-1), SM-010, and BP-23A.
For the Block II Environmental Control System tests, the assembly of Launch Escape System (LES) 006, Boilerplate (BP) 006 and SM 006 were used. After ECS testing, CM-006 was scrapped, while the LES 006 was reassigned to Boilerplate 14, and SM-006 was reassigned to SM 010. LES 006/BP-14 was later reassigned a second time to BP-23A, used on PA-2 (Pad Abort 2), and was destroyed as part of testing. The CM for BP 23A remained, and wound up on the SA-500D display, with former SM-006/SM-010.
SM-006/SM-010 was to be used at MSFC for testing, but test was canceled, and SM-010 was reassigned for use with BP-27. At some point, seems this SM was repurposed to be used with BP-23A and the SA-500D display.
BP-23 launched for A-002 to test the launch escape system and recovery parachutes on December 8, 1964. It was refurbished, designated BP-23A, and exercised the launch escape system again in Launch Pad Abort Test 2, June 29, 1965.
BP-27, the dynamic test boilerplate article, is on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center atop the vertical Saturn I.
Other Apollo and Saturn artifacts on display include the Apollo 16 command module, the Apollo 12 Mobile Quarantine Facility, a Lunar Lander with a test article landing stage (MSFC 76545) and a replica ascent stage, and another Instrument Unit.
## See also
- SA-500F, the Saturn V Facilities Integration Vehicle |
14,964,319 | Brian Carbury | 1,167,292,779 | New Zealand-born British World War II flying ace | [
"1918 births",
"1961 deaths",
"Deaths from cancer in England",
"Deaths from leukemia",
"Military personnel from Wellington",
"New Zealand World War II flying aces",
"New Zealand World War II pilots",
"New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom",
"People educated at King's College, Auckland",
"Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)",
"Royal Air Force officers",
"Royal Air Force pilots of World War II",
"The Few"
]
| Brian Carbury, DFC & Bar (27 February 1918 – 31 July 1961) was a New Zealand fighter ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He was officially credited with destroying 15+1⁄2 enemy aircraft.
Born in Wellington, Carbury joined the RAF in 1937 after being rejected by the Royal Navy. After completion of his flight training, he was posted to No. 41 Squadron where he learnt to fly Supermarine Spitfires. He was later sent to No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron to train its pilots how to handle the Spitfire. During the early stages of the Second World War, the squadron was based in Scotland and patrolled the North Sea during which time Carbury was credited with damaging at least three bombers. The squadron shifted south in August 1940 to join in the Battle of Britain. He shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter on 28 August and another the following day. On 31 August he destroyed five enemy aircraft, one of three RAF pilots to achieve this feat during the Battle of Britain. He saw continued action for the next two months, shooting down several more enemy aircraft.
After the Battle of Britain, Carbury's squadron moved north and began operating from Scotland. At the end of the year, he was posted to No. 58 Operational Training Unit on instructing duties. In October 1941 he was courtmartialed for dishonesty offences and discharged from the RAF. However, he may have continued on instructing duties until 1944. After the war, he was involved in efforts to illegally export fighter aircraft to Palestine. He died in 1961 of leukaemia.
## Early life
Brian John George Carbury was born in Wellington on 27 February 1918, the son of Herbert Carbury, an Irish immigrant who was a veterinarian and worked with horses. He later moved the Carbury family to Auckland, and started specialising in the treatment of small animals. Carbury was educated at King's College but left after three years of schooling. He found employment selling shoes at the Farmers' Trading Company. Tiring of retail work, he headed to the United Kingdom in June 1937 to pursue a military career. He wanted to join the Royal Navy but on being told he was too old, he instead applied for the Royal Air Force (RAF) on a short service commission.
## Military career
Accepted for the RAF, Carbury began training in September 1937 and later in the year was appointed an acting pilot officer. His first posting, in June 1938, was to No. 41 Squadron which was based at Catterick in Yorkshire and operated the Hawker Fury bi-plane fighter. His pilot officer rank was confirmed a few months later. The squadron began converting to Supermarine Spitfires in January 1939. In August, Carbury was posted to RAF Turnhouse near Edinburgh, Scotland, to join No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) as a training officer. Being an AAF squadron, the pilots of No. 603 Squadron were weekend 'part-time' airmen from Edinburgh and the surrounding area. Carbury's work, as a by now experienced Spitfire pilot, was to help the amateur airmen convert to the aircraft. As war approached the squadron was mobilised and Carbury's posting, initially just temporary, was made permanent upon the outbreak of the war with Germany in September 1939.
## Second World War
No. 603 Squadron's first encounter with the enemy was on 16 October 1939, when the Luftwaffe mounted its first raid of the war on Britain. A section of the squadron had taken off to intercept bombers targeting shipping in the Firth of Forth and shot down a Junkers Ju 88 east of Dalkeith. The destroyed German aircraft was the first to be shot down over Britain during the Second World War. Another Ju 88 was badly damaged in the encounter and crashed in Holland. Carbury, although flying that day, was not involved in the action.
In early December, Carbury was part of a detachment of No. 603 Squadron sent to Montrose to provide fighter cover there. In this role, he and two other pilots attacked a group of seven Heinkel He 111 bombers on 7 December. He claimed a damaged He 111, observing smoke coming from both engines of the bomber as it turned away although he was unable to pursue it due to a lack of fuel. On 18 January 1940, reunited with the main body of No. 603 Squadron which was now flying from the RAF station at Dyce, he claimed a third share in the destruction of another He 111. The squadron carried out patrols and training over the spring and summer of 1940. During this time, he was promoted to flying officer and also shared in the destruction of two more German bombers, a He 111 in March and a Junkers 88 in July. By this stage, the pilots of No. 603 Squadron were eager to join in the fighting over southern England. Among them was the Australian Richard Hillary, who on arrival at the squadron in early July, was greeted by Carbury and immediately invited to drinks in the mess.
### Battle of Britain
No. 603 Squadron became involved in the Battle of Britain on 27 August 1940, when it redeployed to RAF Hornchurch to replace a battle weary No. 65 Squadron. Carbury flew two patrols the day after the squadron's arrival, encountering a group of Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters on both occasions. He claimed a damaged Bf 109 but three of the squadron's pilots were killed. He claimed his first victory, a Bf 109, over Manston on 29 August. Another Bf 109 was shot down near Canterbury the next day. On 31 August, he flew three patrols. On the first, in the morning, he shot down a Bf 109, one of a group of 20 that the squadron encountered over Canterbury. On the second patrol carried out in the early afternoon, he and several other pilots attacked He 111s that were raiding Hornchurch. He shot down two of the bombers. Then, on the final patrol of the day, he destroyed two Bf 109s near Southend. His own aircraft was damaged in this encounter and he received an injury to his foot. His efforts of the day not only saw him become a fighter ace, but also one of only three pilots of the RAF to be credited with destroying five enemy aircraft in a day during the Battle of Britain.
On 2 September Carbury claimed a Bf 109 as destroyed. Now officially credited with at least eight enemy aircraft destroyed, his exploits were recognised by the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). The award was gazetted on 24 September 1940, and the published citation read:
> During operations on the North East coast Flying Officer Carbury led his section in an attack on two enemy aircraft. Both were destroyed. From 28th August, 1940, to 2nd September, 1940, he has, with his squadron, been almost continuously engaged against large enemy raids over Kent, and has destroyed eight enemy aircraft. Five of these were shot down during three successive engagements in one day.
On 7 September the Luftwaffe mounted its first large scale daylight bombing raid on London. No. 603 Squadron caught part of the bombing formation on its return flight to France and Carbury shot down an escorting Bf 109 and damaged two bombers. He damaged a He 111 on 11 September and destroyed a Bf 109 on 14 September, near London. Towards the end of the month, the pace of the aerial fighting began to slow down with the Luftwaffe changing its tactics by using Bf 109s in a fighter-bomber role for daylight attacks. Carbury's next victory did not occur until 2 October, when he shot down a Bf 109 over the Thames Estuary. He destroyed another over southeast London on 7 October. Flying a patrol on 10 October as the leader of a section of three Spitfires, he spotted a group of 20 Bf 109s returning to northern France. Leading the section into attack, he shot down one of the Bf 109s into the English Channel and a second on to the beach at Dunkirk. On 14 October, he damaged a Junkers Ju 88.
By the end of October 1940, Carbury was officially credited with 15+1⁄2 victories, the fifth highest scoring RAF pilot of the Battle of Britain. He was awarded a bar to the DFC he had received the previous month, one of only a few pilots so recognised during the period of the battle. The award of the bar was gazetted on 25 October 1940, the citation reading:
> Flying Officer Carbury has displayed outstanding gallantry and skill in engagements against the enemy. Previous to 8th September, 1940, this officer shot down eight enemy aircraft, and shared in the destruction of two others. Since that date he has destroyed two Messerschmitt 109's and two Heinkel 113's, and, in company with other pilots of his squadron, also assisted in the destruction of yet another two enemy aircraft. His cool courage in the face of the enemy has been a splendid example to other pilots of his squadron.
### Move to the North
At the start of December 1940, No. 603 Squadron moved to the RAF base at Rochford, near Southend, for two weeks before shifting to Scotland, based at Drem. On Christmas Day, Carbury took off in pursuit of a Ju 88 bomber flying off St Abb's Head. The German aircraft made for home after Carbury inflicted some damage. At the end of the year, he was posted to No. 58 Operational Training Unit, based at Grangemouth, as an instructor and did not fly operationally in combat again. By this time, in addition to his 15+1⁄2 confirmed kills, he was also credited with two probables and five damaged enemy aircraft. He was the seventh highest scoring New Zealand fighter ace of the Second World War.
In October 1941 Carbury was charged with fraud after being accused of passing false cheques. His wife had expensive tastes and incurred bills that he could not pay. It was also alleged that he had deserted and misrepresented his rank by wearing the markings of a flight lieutenant. He was courtmartialled and dismissed from the RAF, a punishment announced in the London Gazette on 21 October 1941. According to aviation historian Kenneth Wynn, he continued on instructing duties until 1944. He divorced his wife and later remarried.
## Later life
After leaving the RAF, Carbury continued to live in England. In 1949, he was involved with an effort to provide military equipment to Palestine. He was reportedly paid £500 to deliver a Bristol Beaufighter to Palestine and flew it there from England, with stops at Corsica and Yugoslavia. Afterwards he was charged with the illegal export of the Beaufighter and fined a total of £100. Three co-offenders received the same sentence. He later worked in London for a heating and ventilation company. He died of leukaemia on 31 July 1961 at Bourne End in Buckinghamshire, survived by his second wife and a son. |
4,278,088 | Concurrent use registration | 1,038,165,641 | Federal trademark registration of the same trademark to two or more unrelated parties | [
"Trademark law",
"United States trademark law"
]
| A concurrent use registration, in United States trademark law, is a federal trademark registration of the same trademark to two or more unrelated parties, with each party having a registration limited to a distinct geographic area. Such a registration is achieved by filing a concurrent use application (or by converting an existing application to a concurrent use application) and then prevailing in a concurrent use proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB"), which is a judicial body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO"). A concurrent use application may be filed with respect to a trademark which is already registered or otherwise in use by another party, but may be allowed to go forward based on the assertion that the existing use can co-exist with the new registration without causing consumer confusion.
The authority for this type of registration is set forth in the Lanham Act, which permits concurrent use registration where the concurrent use applicant made a good-faith adoption of the mark prior to the registrant filing an application for registration. Such registrations are most commonly achieved by agreement of the parties involved, although the USPTO must still determine that no confusion will be caused.
## Statutory basis
The authority of the USPTO to issue a concurrent use registration is set forth in the Lanham Act, section 2 (d), enacted in 1947 and coded at , which states in relevant part:
> Provided: That if the Director determines that confusion, mistake, or deception is not likely to result from the continued use by more than one person of the same or similar marks under conditions and limitations as to the mode or place of use of the marks or the goods on or in connection with which such marks are used, concurrent registrations may be issued to such persons when they have become entitled to use such marks as a result of their concurrent lawful use in commerce prior to
>
>
> \(1\) the earliest of the filing dates of the applications pending or of any registration issued under this Act;
>
> \(2\) July 5, 1947, in the case of registrations previously issued under the Act of March 3, 1881, or February 20, 1905, and continuing in full force and effect on that date; or
>
> \(3\) July 5, 1947, in the case of applications filed under the Act of February 20, 1905, and registered after July 5, 1947.
>
> Use prior to the filing date of any pending application or a registration shall not be required when the owner of such application or registration consents to the grant of a concurrent registration to the applicant. Concurrent registrations may also be issued by the Director when a court of competent jurisdiction has finally determined that more than one person is entitled to use the same or similar marks in commerce. In issuing concurrent registrations, the Director shall prescribe conditions and limitations as to the mode or place of use of the mark or the goods on or in connection with which such mark is registered to the respective persons.
Through these provisions, the Act effectively places three requirements on marks for which a later applicant seeks a concurrent use registration:
1\) the later applicant must have used the mark in commerce prior to the time that the earlier registrant filed its application for registration, unless the senior registrant consents to the junior user's registration;
2\) the later applicant's use in commerce must have been lawful
3\) concurrent use of the marks must not result in a likelihood of confusion.
The statute essentially codifies the Tea Rose-Rectanus doctrine, established by the United States Supreme Court in two cases decided in 1916 and 1918. The Court had established in those cases that a junior user of a mark that is geographically remote from the senior user of the mark may establish priority over a senior user's claim to the mark in the junior user's area.
Any party may voluntarily limit the geographic scope of its application while conceding the rights of another party to a different geographic territory. A concurrent use application may not be filed based on a party's intent to use a mark, but must rely on actual use in commerce. The concurrent use application must identify all other parties who are entitled to use the mark, and provide the names and addresses of the parties identified. Instead of making the usual assertion that no other party has the right to use the mark, the applicant must assert that no other party "except as specified in the application" has such a right.
Where two or more geographically unrestricted applications are pending at the same time, and no registration has yet been issued, the USPTO will proceed with the earliest application, and put all later applications on hold pending a determination on the earliest.
### Use in commerce prior to an adverse filing for registration
By the terms of the Act, the critical dates with respect to concurrent registration are the date of the applicant's first use and the earliest filing date of any other registrant. In other words, as the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure ("TBMP") states, "an application seeking concurrent registration through a concurrent use proceeding normally must assert a date of first use in commerce prior to the earliest application filing date of the application(s)... involved in the proceeding."
The Lanham Act requires that an Applicant's use in commerce must have been lawful. The TTAB (and its predecessor, the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals ("CCPA")) has read this to mean that the applicant's use must not have infringed another party's use at the time that applicant adopted its mark. Therefore, one potential pitfall facing applicant is that "[g]enerally, concurrent rights arise when a party, in good faith, and without knowledge of a prior party's use in another geographic area, adopts and uses the same or similar mark for the same or similar goods or services within its own geographic area."
The mere fact that an applicant's use was geographically remote from a registrant or other opposer's use does not establish good faith, as "courts have generally held that the remote use defense... is unavailable where the junior user adopts a substantially identical mark in a remote geographic area with full knowledge of the senior user's prior use elsewhere." However, the TTAB has also previously held that "mere knowledge of the existence of the prior user should not, by itself, constitute bad faith."
### Likelihood of confusion
The factors under which the TTAB evaluates the likelihood of confusion were established in In re E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and are commonly referred to as the "du Pont factors".
The thirteen du Pont factors are:
\(1\) The similarity or dissimilarity of the marks in their entireties as to appearance, sound, connotation and commercial impression.
\(2\) The similarity or dissimilarity and nature of the goods or services as described in an application or registration or in connection with which a prior mark is in use.
\(3\) The similarity or dissimilarity of established, likely-to-continue trade channels.
\(4\) The conditions under which and buyers to whom sales are made, i.e. "impulse" vs. careful, sophisticated purchasing.
\(5\) The fame of the prior mark (sales, advertising, length of use).
\(6\) The number and nature of similar marks in use on similar goods.
\(7\) The nature and extent of any actual confusion.
\(8\) The length of time during and conditions under which there has been concurrent use without evidence of actual confusion.
\(9\) The variety of goods on which a mark is or is not used (house mark, "family" mark, product mark).
\(10\) The market interface between applicant and the owner of a prior mark:
: (a) a mere "consent" to register or use.
: (b) agreement provisions designed to preclude confusion, i.e. limitations on continued use of the marks by each party.
: (c) assignment of mark, application, registration and good will of the related business.
: (d) laches and estoppel attributable to owner of prior mark and indicative of lack of confusion.
\(11\) The extent to which applicant has a right to exclude others from use of its mark on its goods.
\(12\) The extent of potential confusion, i.e., whether de minimis or substantial.
\(13\) Any other established fact probative of the effect of use.
In many instances, only a few of the categories will be applicable to the facts of the case before the TTAB.
## Procedure to acquire
The procedures to acquire such a registration are set forth in the TBMP Chapter 1100. They are initiated when a concurrent use application is submitted to the USPTO, which will initiate a concurrent use proceeding to determine if the applicant is entitled to such registration. An existing application that has been denied registration because of a conflict with an existing mark may be converted into a concurrent use application against that existing mark. In either case, the applicant must assert that its mark was used in commerce before the owner of the existing registration, called the "senior registrant", had filed its own application for registration. The applicant must also demonstrate that the marks can both be used in their specific geographic areas without causing a likelihood of confusion.
The USPTO will contact the senior registrant to inform that party of the claim against their mark. The proceeding in which the respective rights of the parties are determined is like a trial in which the applicant must submit evidence showing that the applicant had adopted the mark in good faith, that the applicant had adopted the mark prior to the senior registrant's date of registration, and that the confusion is not likely. The senior registrant may present evidence to the contrary, in order to prevent the loss of control over the use of the registered mark in the applicant's claimed territory. Both parties may take discovery in the form of requests for admission, interrogatories, requests for production, and depositions. As with a regular trial, the TTAB may be called upon to resolve disputes over whether discovery requests are overbroad, and whether discovery responses are inadequate.
The senior registrant in such a proceeding has ample incentive to oppose the grant of a concurrent use registration, because a registered trademark is presumed to apply throughout the entire United States. Thus, the grant of a concurrent use registration carves out some geographic territory from the senior registrant's exclusive control.
As 15 U.S.C. § 1052 (d) indicates, a concurrent use registration may also be issued "when a court of competent jurisdiction has finally determined that more than one person is entitled to use the same or similar marks in commerce." As a matter of right, the TTAB will issue such a registration pursuant to a court order that an applicant has the right to use its mark in certain geographic area. Where a court has issued such an order, a concurrent use proceeding is not needed, as evidence has already been taken in the court proceeding, and the rights of the parties have already been determined.
Most concurrent use proceedings result in a legal settlement between the parties. Frequently, one party will surrender its concurrent use claim and instead receive a trademark license from the other party. In other situations, each party may agree to geographic limitations on its use of the mark at issue, which the TTAB will honor if the settlement stipulates to facts which show that no confusion is likely. A benefit of such an agreement is that the parties can agree to terms beyond the scope of the TTAB's decision, such as specific restrictions on time and place of advertising, or modifications to the appearance of either mark. However, irrespective of the agreement reached, the TTAB must still make an independent finding that no consumer confusion is likely to result from the concurrent use registration. Even if both parties assert that no confusion is likely, the TTAB may still make findings of fact which demonstrate that confusion is likely, and deny registration to the junior user of the mark.
A pivotal factor in assessing the likelihood of confusion in such a circumstance "is whether the parties whose marks are in question have agreed, in some form, to memorialize methods of avoiding confusion." In that case, the court held that such an agreement "is viewed in light of the parties' interests and the prevailing marketplace", further stating:
> The weight to be given more detailed agreements should be substantial. Thus when those most familiar with use in the marketplace and most interested in precluding confusion enter agreements designed to avoid it, the scales of evidence are clearly tilted. It is at least difficult to maintain a subjective view that confusion will occur when those directly concerned say it won't. A mere assumption that confusion is likely will rarely prevail against uncontroverted evidence from those on the firing line that it is not.
Furthermore, the issuance of concurrent use registrations need not prevent either party from engaging in advertising or other activities which might result in the incidental publication of one registrant's mark in the territory of the other registrant. In the Amalgamated Bank case, the Federal Circuit found acceptable a term in the agreement that "nothing in this agreement will preclude Amalgamated New York from conducting advertising which might enter in the State of Illinois or from dealing with customers who happen to be located in the State of Illinois." Courts have similarly held that a concurrent use registration does not curtail either party from advertising over the Internet, particularly where the junior user includes a disclaimer of some form on their website.
## Geographic divisions
A concurrent use registration can be very detailed in the geographic divisions laid down. It may, for example, allow one party to own the right to use a mark within a fifty-mile radius around a handful of selected cities or counties, while the other party owns the right to use the same mark everywhere else in the country. It may even divide the rights to use a mark within a particular city by reference to roads or other landmarks in that city.
The TTAB succinctly describes its territorial analysis in Weiner King, Inc. v. Wiener King Corp.:
> Turning to the fundamental question in this case, i.e., who gets what territory, this court has suggested certain criteria which are helpful in resolving this question. In In re Beatrice Foods Co.... this court noted that actual use in a territory was not necessary to establish rights in that territory, and that the inquiry should focus on the party's (1) previous business activity; (2) previous expansion or lack thereof; (3) dominance of contiguous areas; (4) presently-planned expansion; and, where applicable (5) possible market penetration by means of products brought in from other areas.
The TTAB has found that in concurrent use proceedings, "[t]he area for which registration is sought is usually more extensive than the area in which applicant is actually using the mark." "As a general rule, a prior user of a mark is entitled to a registration covering the entire United States limited only to the extent that the subsequent user can establish that no likelihood of confusion exists and that it has concurrent rights in its actual area of use, plus its area of natural expansion."
Between lawful concurrent users of the same mark in geographically separate markets, the senior registrant has the right to maintain his registration for at least those market areas in which it is using the mark. However, the senior registrant does not always maintain the right to use the mark in territories not yet occupied by either party. In Pinocchio's Pizza, for example, the first applicant (but the junior user of the mark in commerce) owned one small restaurant in Maryland and had expressed no plans for expansion, while the second applicant (but senior user of the mark in commerce) owned multiple restaurants in Texas and was planning aggressive expansion. The TTAB held that "purpose of the statute is best served by granting [the second] applicant a registration for the entire United States except for registrant's trading area." The TTAB therefore restricted the first applicant's registration to permit exclusive use in Maryland, and within 50 miles of the first applicant's restaurant in areas crossing into other states.
Furthermore, although the general rule provides that the entire United States should be covered by the respective registrations, it is permissible for parties to a proceeding to resolve the issue of territorial rights in a way that leaves some part of the country uncovered entirely. In a contested proceeding In re Beatrice Foods Co.'', the court held that the senior user of a mark was entitled to a registration covering the entire United States, outside of the junior user's area of actual use. However, the court went on to say:
> The foregoing is not intended to imply that the Patent Office is required to issue registrations covering the whole of the United States in all circumstances. Certainly the applicant or applicants may always request territorially restricted registrations. In addition, in carrying out the Commissioner's duty under the proviso of § 2(d) of determining whether confusion, mistake or deception is likely to result from the continued concurrent use of a mark by two or more parties, it may be held that such likelihood will be prevented only when each party is granted a very limited territory with parts of the United States granted to no one.
The few courts that have considered the antitrust implications of concurrent use registration have determined that it does not raise any violation of antitrust laws. Although it is considered a violation of such laws for companies to agree to divide up geographic territories for the sale of goods, concurrent use agreements dividing up trademark territories are specifically provided for by Congress. Furthermore, even with such an agreement in place, a company can still sell competing products in the trademark territory of another company, so long as the intruding party sells that product under a different mark.
## Impact
The availability of concurrent use registration is not commonly invoked, even where the applicant might stand an excellent chance of demonstrating the existence of geographically distinct markets. Proceedings before the TTAB, like proceedings before any court, can be expensive and time-consuming. A contested concurrent use proceeding may last for two or three years before the resolution of a claim, and the outcome will remain uncertain until the end. The outcome of the proceeding will then be subject to an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, or to a collateral challenge in a United States District Court.
Perhaps the most notable instance of a continuing concurrent use registration is that of Holiday Inn. Although the national chain owns numerous trademark registrations, there is one registration for an unrelated "Holiday Inn" which is "restricted to the area comprising the town of Myrtle Beach, S.C.". The Myrtle Beach hotel had used that name since the 1940s, and initiated a concurrent use proceeding in 1970. While this proceeding was pending, the national chain commenced an action in the United States District Court. The concurrent use proceeding was suspended during the pendency of the federal litigation, which resulted in a judgment in 1973 authorizing the Myrtle Beach hotel to use a distinctive, noninfringing Holiday Inn service mark within the Town of Myrtle Beach. The concurrent use proceeding resumed, and in 1976, the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals awarded the Myrtle Beach hotel a federal trademark registration.
Even where a concurrent use registration is issued, the parties may eventually come to an agreement under which one party will surrender its registration. In some instances, a party will simply happen to cease using the mark in favor of a new brand name, and the registration will lapse. In other cases, the larger company will eventually acquire the smaller.
A final note is that concurrent use registration was devised before the advent of the Internet, which serves to diminish geographic distinctions between sellers. John L. Welch, a Harvard-educated attorney who writes a well-known blog on the proceedings of the TTAB, has noted that "vigorously contested proceedings may well make it clear that concurrent use registrations are, in this Internet Age, a dying breed". |
67,903,070 | 2021 Championship League (ranking) | 1,172,235,012 | null | [
"2021 in English sport",
"2021 in snooker",
"August 2021 sports events in the United Kingdom",
"Championship League",
"July 2021 sports events in the United Kingdom",
"Sport in Leicester"
]
| The 2021 Championship League was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 18 July to 13 August 2021 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. The event featured 128 players and was played as three rounds of round-robin groups of four, before a best-of-five final. It was the 17th edition of the Championship League and the first ranking tournament of the 2021–22 snooker season. It was one of two Championship League events held over the season, with a following invitational event held as the 2022 Championship League (invitational).
Kyren Wilson was the defending champion, having defeated Judd Trump 3–1 in the final of the September to October 2020 edition of the tournament. Wilson's title defence ended in Stage Three, where he finished third in his group. David Gilbert won the tournament, defeating Mark Allen 3–1 to win his first ranking title. Allen made the highest of the event, a 146.
## Format
The 2021 Championship League was hosted from 18 July to 13 August 2021 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. 128 players took part in the event. The competition began with 32 rounds of group matches with each group consisting of four players. Two groups were played to a finish every day during three blocks, from 18 to 23 July, from 26 to 30 July and from 2 to 6 August, using a two-table setup in the arena. The groups were contested using a round-robin format, with six matches played in each group. All matches in group play were played as best-of-four frames, with three points awarded for a win and one point for a draw. Group positions were determined by points scored, frame difference and then head-to-head results between players who were tied. Places that were still tied were then determined by the highest made in the group.
The 32 players that topped the group tables qualified for the group winners' stage, consisting of eight groups of four players. The eight winners from the group winners' stage qualified for the two final groups, with the final taking place later on the same day. The winner took the Championship League title and a place at the 2021 Champion of Champions.
### Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for the tournament is shown below.
Stage One
- Winner: £3,000
- Runner-up: £2,000
- Third place: £1,000
- Fourth place: £0
Stage Two
- Winner: £4,000
- Runner-up: £3,000
- Third place: £2,000
- Fourth place: £1,000
Stage Three
- Winner: £6,000
- Runner-up: £4,000
- Third place: £2,000
- Fourth place: £1,000
Final
- Winner: £20,000
- Runner-up: £10,000
- Tournament total: £328,000
## Summary
The first stage was held over 32 groups with 128 participants between 18 July and 6 August. Peter Lines won Group 8 over Mark Williams after winning their match 3–0, despite losing to Jak Jones. Noppon Saengkham won all three of his matches, including over four-time world champion John Higgins to win Group 9. This was Saengkham's first professional match since being forced to withdraw from the 2021 World Snooker Championship due to a positive case of COVID-19. World number 115, Ashley Hugill won Group 24, with wins over John Astley and Stephen Maguire. Former UK Championship winner Maguire finished bottom of the group. Defending champion Wilson lost just two frames as he won Group 16.
The second stage was held over 8 groups with 32 participants between 9 and 12 August. Tom Ford won Group A, after he completed a whitewash over world number one Judd Trump. Ali Carter won Group E over two former world snooker champions Shaun Murphy and Graeme Dott, winning all three of his Group matches 3–1. Ronnie O'Sullivan, who had won Group 32, withdrew from the event, and was replaced by second placed Mark Joyce. Joyce, however, finished bottom of Group H, won by David Gilbert.
The final two groups and the final were played on 13 August. Allen won the first of the stage three groups, completing 3–0 victories over Ford and Wilson, as well as a 3–1 win over Bai Langning. During his win over Wilson, Allen made three century breaks of 127, 124 and 146 (the highest of the tournament), where Wilson scored just two points. Despite a loss in the opening match to Cao Yupeng, Gilbert won the second Group after victories over Carter and Ryan Day. The final had Allen win the opening frame with a break of 102, before Gilbert won the remaining three frames with breaks of 59 and 57. This was the first ranking event win of Gilberts 22-year career, having appeared in four previous finals. Gilbert commented after the match that he was "only used to loser's speeches".
## Stage One
Stage One consisted of 32 groups, each containing four players.
### Order of play
### Group 1
Group 1 was played on 6 August.
#### Matches
- Judd Trump 3–1 Rod Lawler
- Anthony Hamilton 3–1 Lee Walker
- Anthony Hamilton 2–2 Rod Lawler
- Judd Trump 3–1 Lee Walker
- Lee Walker 3–1 Rod Lawler
- Judd Trump 3–1 Anthony Hamilton
#### Table
### Group 2
Group 2 was played on 21 July.
#### Matches
- Stuart Carrington 3–0 Duane Jones
- Jordan Brown 3–0 Michael Judge
- Jordan Brown 2–2 Duane Jones
- Stuart Carrington 3–1 Michael Judge
- Jordan Brown 2–2 Stuart Carrington
- Duane Jones 2–2 Michael Judge
#### Table
### Group 3
Group 3 was played on 22 July.
#### Matches
- Tom Ford 2–2 Simon Blackwell
- Simon Lichtenberg 2–2 Reanne Evans
- Simon Lichtenberg 3–0 Simon Blackwell
- Tom Ford 2–2 Reanne Evans
- Reanne Evans 1–3 Simon Blackwell
- Tom Ford 3–1 Simon Lichtenberg
#### Table
### Group 4
Group 4 was played on 2 August.
#### Matches
- Joe Perry 3–0 Jimmy White
- Jimmy Robertson 3–0 Sean Maddocks
- Jimmy Robertson 2–2 Jimmy White
- Joe Perry 3–0 Sean Maddocks
- Sean Maddocks 0–3 Jimmy White
- Joe Perry 1–3 Jimmy Robertson
#### Table
### Group 5
Group 5 was played on 6 August.
#### Matches
- Chris Wakelin 0–3 Mitchell Mann
- Mark Allen 3–0 Daniel Womersley
- Mark Allen 2–2 Mitchell Mann
- Chris Wakelin 2–2 Daniel Womersley
- Mark Allen 3–0 Chris Wakelin
- Mitchell Mann 2–2 Daniel Womersley
#### Table
### Group 6
Group 6 was played on 20 July.
#### Matches
- Andrew Higginson 2–2 Fergal O'Brien
- Michael Holt 2–2 Mark Lloyd
- Michael Holt 2–2 Fergal O'Brien
- Andrew Higginson 3–0 Mark Lloyd
- Michael Holt 3–0 Andrew Higginson
- Fergal O'Brien 3–0 Mark Lloyd
#### Table
### Group 7
Group 7 was played on 18 July.
#### Matches
- Nigel Bond 2–2 Allan Taylor
- Ricky Walden 3–1 Oliver Brown
- Ricky Walden 3–0 Allan Taylor
- Nigel Bond 2–2 Oliver Brown
- Ricky Walden 3–0 Nigel Bond
- Allan Taylor 3–1 Oliver Brown
#### Table
### Group 8
Group 8 was played on 18 July.
#### Matches
- Mark Williams 3–0 Hammad Miah
- Jak Jones 3–1 Peter Lines
- Jak Jones 2–2 Hammad Miah
- Mark Williams 0–3 Peter Lines
- Peter Lines 3–1 Hammad Miah
- Mark Williams 3–1 Jak Jones
#### Table
### Group 9
Group 9 was played on 27 July.
#### Matches
- John Higgins 3–0 Soheil Vahedi
- Noppon Saengkham 3–1 Igor Figueiredo
- Noppon Saengkham 3–1 Soheil Vahedi
- John Higgins 3–0 Igor Figueiredo
- Igor Figueiredo 2–2 Soheil Vahedi
- John Higgins 1–3 Noppon Saengkham
#### Table
### Group 10
Group 10 was played on 22 July.
#### Matches
- David Grace 3–0 Farakh Ajaib
- Ben Fortey 0–3 Bai Langning
- Ben Fortey 2–2 Farakh Ajaib
- David Grace 0–3 Bai Langning
- Ben Fortey 1–3 David Grace
- Farakh Ajaib 2–2 Bai Langning
#### Table
Lu Ning was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Ben Fortey.
### Group 11
Group 11 was played on 5 August.
#### Matches
- Joe O'Connor 2–2 Andy Hicks
- Zhao Xintong 2–2 David Lilley
- Zhao Xintong 3–1 Andy Hicks
- Joe O'Connor 0–3 David Lilley
- Zhao Xintong 1–3 Joe O'Connor
- Andy Hicks 1–3 David Lilley
#### Table
### Group 12
Group 12 was played on 23 July.
#### Matches
- Anthony McGill 1–3 Billy Castle
- Mark Davis 2–2 Yuan Sijun
- Mark Davis 3–0 Billy Castle
- Anthony McGill 0–3 Yuan Sijun
- Yuan Sijun 3–1 Billy Castle
- Anthony McGill 0–3 Mark Davis
#### Table
### Group 13
Group 13 was played on 26 July.
#### Matches
- Oliver Lines 2–2 Peter Devlin
- Joshua Thomond 3–0 Luke Pinches
- Joshua Thomond 0–3 Peter Devlin
- Oliver Lines 3–0 Luke Pinches
- Joshua Thomond 0–3 Oliver Lines
- Peter Devlin 3–0 Luke Pinches
#### Table
Zhou Yuelong was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Joshua Thomond.
### Group 14
Group 14 was played on 26 July.
#### Matches
- Martin Gould 2–2 Ryan Davies
- Ken Doherty 3–1 Rory McLeod
- Ken Doherty 3–0 Ryan Davies
- Martin Gould 2–2 Rory McLeod
- Rory McLeod 3–1 Ryan Davies
- Martin Gould 2–2 Ken Doherty
#### Table
### Group 15
Group 15 was played on 4 August.
#### Matches
- Mark King 3–1 Andrew Pagett
- Matthew Stevens 3–1 Ross Muir
- Matthew Stevens 1–3 Andrew Pagett
- Mark King 2–2 Ross Muir
- Matthew Stevens 3–1 Mark King
- Andrew Pagett 1–3 Ross Muir
#### Table
### Group 16
Group 16 was played on 29 July.
#### Matches
- Kyren Wilson 3–1 Dylan Emery
- Sam Craigie 3–0 Ben Hancorn
- Sam Craigie 3–0 Dylan Emery
- Kyren Wilson 3–1 Ben Hancorn
- Ben Hancorn 2–2 Dylan Emery
- Kyren Wilson 3–0 Sam Craigie
#### Table
### Group 17
Group 17 was played on 4 August.
#### Matches
- Shaun Murphy 3–0 Michael Collumb
- Jamie Jones 3–1 Chen Zifan
- Jamie Jones 2–2 Michael Collumb
- Shaun Murphy 3–1 Chen Zifan
- Chen Zifan 2–2 Michael Collumb
- Shaun Murphy 2–2 Jamie Jones
#### Table
### Group 18
Group 18 was played on 28 July.
#### Matches
- Zhao Jianbo 2–2 Gerard Greene
- Robert Milkins 1–3 Haydon Pinhey
- Robert Milkins 0–3 Gerard Greene
- Zhao Jianbo 3–0 Haydon Pinhey
- Robert Milkins 2–2 Zhao Jianbo
- Gerard Greene 3–1 Haydon Pinhey
#### Table
### Group 19
Group 19 was played on 19 July.
#### Matches
- Ali Carter 3–1 Michael Georgiou
- Dominic Dale 2–2 Sydney Wilson
- Dominic Dale 2–2 Michael Georgiou
- Ali Carter 3–0 Sydney Wilson
- Sydney Wilson 1–3 Michael Georgiou
- Ali Carter 2–2 Dominic Dale
#### Table
Alfie Burden was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Sydney Wilson.
### Group 20
Group 20 was played on 29 July.
#### Matches
- Robbie Williams 3–0 Iulian Boiko
- Graeme Dott 3–1 Si Jiahui
- Graeme Dott 3–1 Iulian Boiko
- Robbie Williams 0–3 Si Jiahui
- Graeme Dott 2–2 Robbie Williams
- Iulian Boiko 2–2 Si Jiahui
#### Table
### Group 21
Group 21 was played on 30 July.
#### Matches
- Stuart Bingham 2–2 Michael White
- Elliot Slessor 0–3 Gao Yang
- Elliot Slessor 1–3 Michael White
- Stuart Bingham 3–0 Gao Yang
- Gao Yang 1–3 Michael White
- Stuart Bingham 3–1 Elliot Slessor
#### Table
### Group 22
Group 22 was played on 30 July.
#### Matches
- Hossein Vafaei 1–3 Jackson Page
- Ryan Day 3–1 Barry Pinches
- Ryan Day 3–0 Jackson Page
- Hossein Vafaei 2–2 Barry Pinches
- Ryan Day 2–2 Hossein Vafaei
- Jackson Page 2–2 Barry Pinches
#### Table
### Group 23
Group 23 was played on 19 July.
#### Matches
- Alexander Ursenbacher 3–0 Aaron Hill
- Scott Donaldson 1–3 Leo Fernandez
- Scott Donaldson 1–3 Aaron Hill
- Alexander Ursenbacher 3–0 Leo Fernandez
- Scott Donaldson 0–3 Alexander Ursenbacher
- Aaron Hill 0–3 Leo Fernandez
#### Table
### Group 24
Group 24 was played on 2 August.
#### Matches
- Sunny Akani 2–2 Ashley Hugill
- Stephen Maguire 2–2 John Astley
- Stephen Maguire 1–3 Ashley Hugill
- Sunny Akani 2–2 John Astley
- Stephen Maguire 0–3 Sunny Akani
- Ashley Hugill 3–0 John Astley
#### Table
### Group 25
Group 25 was played on 3 August.
#### Matches
- Yan Bingtao 3–0 Robbie McGuigan
- Jamie Clarke 2–2 Louis Heathcote
- Jamie Clarke 3–0 Robbie McGuigan
- Yan Bingtao 3–1 Louis Heathcote
- Louis Heathcote 3–0 Robbie McGuigan
- Yan Bingtao 3–1 Jamie Clarke
#### Table
### Group 26
Group 26 was played on 27 July.
#### Matches
- Steven Hallworth 0–3 Cao Yupeng
- Gary Wilson 2–2 James Cahill
- Gary Wilson 0–3 Cao Yupeng
- Steven Hallworth 3–1 James Cahill
- Gary Wilson 2–2 Steven Hallworth
- Cao Yupeng 3–1 James Cahill
#### Table
### Group 27
Group 27 was played on 3 August.
#### Matches
- Ashley Carty 3–1 Lukas Kleckers
- Matthew Selt 2–2 Fraser Patrick
- Matthew Selt 2–2 Lukas Kleckers
- Ashley Carty 2–2 Fraser Patrick
- Matthew Selt 3–1 Ashley Carty
- Lukas Kleckers 3–1 Fraser Patrick
#### Table
### Group 28
Group 28 was played on 21 July.
#### Matches
- Barry Hawkins 3–0 Kuldesh Johal
- Ben Woollaston 2–2 Zak Surety
- Ben Woollaston 3–0 Kuldesh Johal
- Barry Hawkins 3–0 Zak Surety
- Zak Surety 2–2 Kuldesh Johal
- Barry Hawkins 2–2 Ben Woollaston
#### Table
### Group 29
Group 29 was played on 28 July.
#### Matches
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 3–1 Zhang Jiankang
- Martin O'Donnell 0–3 Craig Steadman
- Martin O'Donnell 1–3 Zhang Jiankang
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2–2 Craig Steadman
- Craig Steadman 2–2 Zhang Jiankang
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2–2 Martin O'Donnell
#### Table
### Group 30
Group 30 was played on 5 August.
#### Matches
- David Gilbert 3–1 Sanderson Lam
- Liam Highfield 3–0 Jamie Wilson
- Liam Highfield 3–1 Sanderson Lam
- David Gilbert 3–0 Jamie Wilson
- Jamie Wilson 2–2 Sanderson Lam
- David Gilbert 3–0 Liam Highfield
#### Table
### Group 31
Group 31 was played on 23 July.
#### Matches
- Pang Junxu 2–2 Chang Bingyu
- Luca Brecel 3–1 Dean Young
- Luca Brecel 1–3 Chang Bingyu
- Pang Junxu 2–2 Dean Young
- Luca Brecel 0–3 Pang Junxu
- Chang Bingyu 3–0 Dean Young
#### Table
### Group 32
Group 32 was played on 20 July.
#### Matches
- Ronnie O'Sullivan 3–1 Ian Burns
- Mark Joyce 3–1 Saqib Nasir
- Mark Joyce 2–2 Ian Burns
- Ronnie O'Sullivan 3–0 Saqib Nasir
- Saqib Nasir 0–3 Ian Burns
- Ronnie O'Sullivan 2–2 Mark Joyce
#### Table
Ng On-yee was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Saqib Nasir.
## Stage Two
Stage Two consisted of eight groups, each containing four players.
### Order of play
### Group A
Group A was played on 12 August.
#### Matches
- Judd Trump 2–2 Jimmy Robertson
- Tom Ford 0–3 Stuart Carrington
- Tom Ford 3–0 Jimmy Robertson
- Judd Trump 3–0 Stuart Carrington
- Stuart Carrington 1–3 Jimmy Robertson
- Judd Trump 0–3 Tom Ford
#### Table
### Group B
Group B was played on 12 August.
#### Matches
- Ricky Walden 3–1 Peter Lines
- Mark Allen 3–0 Fergal O'Brien
- Mark Allen 3–1 Peter Lines
- Ricky Walden 3–0 Fergal O'Brien
- Mark Allen 3–0 Ricky Walden
- Peter Lines 2–2 Fergal O'Brien
#### Table
### Group C
Group C was played on 11 August.
#### Matches
- Mark Davis 1–3 David Lilley
- Noppon Saengkham 2–2 Bai Langning
- Noppon Saengkham 3–1 David Lilley
- Mark Davis 0–3 Bai Langning
- Noppon Saengkham 0–3 Mark Davis
- David Lilley 2–2 Bai Langning
#### Table
### Group D
Group D was played on 11 August.
#### Matches
- Kyren Wilson 3–1 Ken Doherty
- Matthew Stevens 2–2 Oliver Lines
- Matthew Stevens 0–3 Ken Doherty
- Kyren Wilson 3–1 Oliver Lines
- Oliver Lines 3–0 Ken Doherty
- Kyren Wilson 0–3 Matthew Stevens
#### Table
### Group E
Group E was played on 10 August.
#### Matches
- Shaun Murphy 3–1 Gerard Greene
- Graeme Dott 1–3 Ali Carter
- Graeme Dott 3–1 Gerard Greene
- Shaun Murphy 1–3 Ali Carter
- Ali Carter 3–1 Gerard Greene
- Shaun Murphy 3–0 Graeme Dott
#### Table
### Group F
Group F was played on 10 August.
#### Matches
- Ryan Day 2–2 Alexander Ursenbacher
- Stuart Bingham 3–1 Ashley Hugill
- Stuart Bingham 3–0 Alexander Ursenbacher
- Ryan Day 3–1 Ashley Hugill
- Stuart Bingham 0–3 Ryan Day
- Alexander Ursenbacher 2–2 Ashley Hugill
#### Table
### Group G
Group G was played on 9 August.
#### Matches
- Barry Hawkins 2–2 Matthew Selt
- Yan Bingtao 2–2 Cao Yupeng
- Yan Bingtao 2–2 Matthew Selt
- Barry Hawkins 1–3 Cao Yupeng
- Yan Bingtao 3–1 Barry Hawkins
- Matthew Selt 0–3 Cao Yupeng
#### Table
### Group H
Group H was played on 9 August.
#### Matches
- Mark Joyce 1–3 Craig Steadman
- David Gilbert 3–0 Chang Bingyu
- David Gilbert 3–0 Craig Steadman
- Mark Joyce 2–2 Chang Bingyu
- Chang Bingyu 3–1 Craig Steadman
- Mark Joyce 0–3 David Gilbert
#### Table
Ronnie O'Sullivan was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Mark Joyce.
## Stage Three
Stage Three consisted of two groups, each containing four players.
### Group 1
Group 1 was played on 13 August.
#### Matches
- Kyren Wilson 2–2 Bai Langning
- Mark Allen 3–0 Tom Ford
- Mark Allen 3–1 Bai Langning
- Kyren Wilson 2–2 Tom Ford
- Tom Ford 3–1 Bai Langning
- Kyren Wilson 0–3 Mark Allen
#### Table
### Group 2
Group 2 was played on 13 August.
#### Matches
- Ali Carter 2–2 Ryan Day
- David Gilbert 1–3 Cao Yupeng
- David Gilbert 3–0 Ryan Day
- Ali Carter 3–1 Cao Yupeng
- David Gilbert 3–1 Ali Carter
- Ryan Day 3–1 Cao Yupeng
#### Table
## Final
The final was played on 13 August as the best of five frames.
## Century breaks
There was a total of 74 century breaks made during the tournament. The highest break was made by Mark Allen, who made a 146 in his stage three match against Kyren Wilson.
- 146, 137, 127, 124, 124, 123, 115, 110, 103, 102 – Mark Allen
- 143, 139, 131, 100 – David Gilbert
- 140, 100 – Jimmy Robertson
- 137, 125 – Stuart Carrington
- 136, 134 – Ryan Day
- 134, 116 – Stuart Bingham
- 133 – Craig Steadman
- 132 – Mitchell Mann
- 130, 129, 114, 104 – Yan Bingtao
- 130, 111 – Matthew Stevens
- 130 – John Higgins
- 130 – Martin O'Donnell
- 128 – Judd Trump
- 127, 125 – Chang Bingyu
- 127 – Andy Hicks
- 125, 115, 100 – Peter Lines
- 125, 112, 105, 104, 101 – Ricky Walden
- 124 – Tom Ford
- 122 – Barry Pinches
- 119 – Anthony Hamilton
- 119 – Soheil Vahedi
- 118 – Bai Langning
- 117, 113 – Cao Yupeng
- 117 – Gary Wilson
- 116 – Joe O'Connor
- 115 – Louis Heathcote
- 114, 108 – Noppon Saengkham
- 113, 102 – Mark Davis
- 112, 104 – Michael White
- 111, 103 – Yuan Sijun
- 111, 100 – Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- 111 – Robert Milkins
- 107 – Barry Hawkins
- 106 – Graeme Dott
- 103, 100 – Kyren Wilson
- 102 – Jamie Jones
- 102 – Sydney Wilson
- 100 – Shaun Murphy
- 100 – Fergal O'Brien
- 100 – Dean Young |
3,538,538 | Raghunath Temple | 1,170,868,185 | Hindu Temple in Jammu, India | [
"Hindu temples in Jammu and Kashmir",
"Rama temples",
"Religious organizations established in the 19th century",
"Tourist attractions in Jammu (city)",
"Vishnu temples"
]
| Raghunath Temple is a Hindu temple located in Jammu in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It consists of a complex of seven Hindu shrines. Raghunath Temple was constructed by the first Dogra ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh in the year 1835 and later his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh got it completed in the year 1860 During Dogra rule. The temple has many gods in its complex of shrines, but the presiding deity is Rama – also known as Raghunath, an Avatar of Vishnu. All the spiral-shaped towers have gold plated spires. The niches in the walls of the shrines are decorated with 300 well-crafted icons of gods and goddesses including those of Surya and Shiva, but most are particularly related to the life stories of Rama and Krishna. The paintings in the 15 panels of the main shrine are based on themes from Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavad Gita. The temple premises include a school and a library that preserves over 6,000 manuscripts in many Indian languages, with a notable collection of Sarada script Sanskrit manuscripts.
The temple witnessed two terrorist attacks in the year 2002, when militants attacked it in March and November, with grenades and indulged in indiscriminate firing which resulted in the death of 20 devotees and also in injuries to over 40 people.
## Location
The temple complex is located in the old part of the Jammu city north of River Tawi with an average elevation of 350 m (1,150 ft) in Jammu and Kashmir. The city is well connected by road, rail and air services. The National Highway 1 A passes through Jammu and connects with all parts of the country. Jammu city has a railway station called Jammu Tawi, on the northern railway line, that is well connected with major cities of India. Express trains operate from this station to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Amritsar. Jammu Airport operates flights to many cities in India such as Delhi, Leh and Srinagar.
## History
During the reign of the rulers of Jammu Shivaliks, after 1765, there was a spurt in temple building activity in Jammu area, which continued during the early period of the 19th century. The rulers built spiral shaped temples with brick and crowned each tower with bright Kalashas in the shape of shikhara (rising tower). One such temple complex was started in 1822 (1835 is also mentioned) by Gulab Singh, the ruler of Jammu and was dedicated to his guru Baba Prem Das. Its construction was completed in 1860 by his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh. However, according to an inscription in Brahmic script (Takri) at the entrance of the temple, Gulab Singh and his brother Dhyan Singh are credited with building the temple in 1827 in honour of Mahant Jagannath.
### Library and religious school
During the reign of Ranbir Singh, the temple complex started a pathshala (school) which welcomed students from all castes and classes. The temple housed a library with some 6,000 manuscripts. These are mostly copies made from manuscripts not available for sale, in Devanagari from Sarada originals, by scribes employed by the library in the nineteenth century. The library added to its collection, in the 19th century, a dozen rare Sanskrit birch bark codices in the Sarada script as an object of curiosity. The collection as indexed by Stein, included Sanskrit manuscripts (predominantly Devanagari) of Vedic literature, grammar, lexicography, prosody, music, rhetoric, Kavya, drama, fables, dharmasutras, Mimamsa, Vedanta, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Jyotisha, Architecture, Medicine, Epics, Puranas, Bhakti and Tantra.
Singh funded a translation centre and included an effort to translate texts in Arabic and Persian languages into Sanskrit. According to Zutshi, this inter-religious initiative was praised by his contemporaries.
The Raghunath temple remains a significant scholarly source of Sarada script manuscripts and one of the largest collection of Hindu and Buddhist texts of the Kashmir tradition. The Raghunath temple has been an early promoter of digitization initiative of the manuscripts it houses, and has started the eGangotri initiative to digitize ancient manuscripts from other parts of India.
## Features
The Raghunath temple has seven shrines. The temple complex is dedicated to Raghunath, another name for Rama. The entrance has a Surya icon, another manifestation of Vishnu. It is built over a raised platform of 5 feet (1.5 m) height in an octagonal shape. The front fascia is 40 feet (12 m) in width while the main shrine is set 50 feet (15 m) away from the entrance. Within the enclosed space of the yard there are residential buildings and open cattle yards on its eastern and northern directions. The front fascia of the temple has three entry doors. The main shrine which is 20 feet (6.1 m)x20 feet (6.1 m) in size, is surrounded by a circumambulatory passage (pradakshina path) of 10 feet (3.0 m) width. The entrance door, set on one side of this octagonal chamber of the shrine, faces east. The interior of the inner chamber is gold plated. The main walls of the outer chamber have 15 panels, each of 9 feet (2.7 m) height. These interior panels have a surfeit of paintings of the Jammu School of painting consisting of images from the Hindu epics Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavad Gita, represented by gods such as Ganesha, Krishna, Sheshashayi Vishnu (reclining Vishnu) and also a large painting depicting the Sita Swayamvara scene (Sita choosing her husband from an elite gathering of princesses). Apart from the mythology related themes, some paintings relate to secular aspects, like Kabir, a saint, engaged in weaving and army personnel of Dogra and Sikh communities. The paintings also reveal the type of attire and the weaponry prevalent during the period of temple building.
In the main shrine, the idol of Lord Rama, which is the family deity of the then king and the Dogra people, is deified in the garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum). The shrine has a dome instead of the normal shikara in a pyramidal shape, which is in the Sikh architectural style. All the seven shrines have gold plated spires. Gods and Goddesses enshrined in the seven shrines are all related to the epic Ramayana. The shrines are also enshrined with a very large number of Saligramas (fossil ammonite stones specially obtained from the Gandaki river, in Nepal – a Vaishnava (Hindu) aniconic representation of Vishnu).
A distinct feature noted in the entire temple complex is the stucco style embellishments built with brick masonry and finished with plaster. The motifs crafted are of floral (lotuses) and geometric designs, on the walls, in the niches and on arches. Apart from paintings on the walls, the niches in the interior parts of the shrines have 300 well crafted images of deities. The profusion of paintings and images on the internal and external faces of the temple was considered an auspicious feature, instead of leaving the wall surfaces blank. However, the images and murals on the outer walls of the temple have since been demolished.
## Terrorist attacks
On 30 March 2002, a terrorist outfit first attacked in the market area by lobbing grenades and then entered the temple where they started firing. The security forces surrounded them. Ten persons, including four security forces personnel and two militants were killed and many more were injured. The second attack took place at the temple on 24 November 2002, when the Hindus were performing puja in the temple; this attack was committed by bombers of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and resulted in the deaths of 13 devotees and injuries to over 40. |
17,564,137 | Holy Jesus Hospital | 1,143,551,200 | Historic building in Newcastle upon Tyne, England | [
"Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne",
"Grade II* listed buildings in Tyne and Wear",
"History museums in Tyne and Wear",
"Hospitals established in the 17th century",
"Museums in Newcastle upon Tyne"
]
| The Holy Jesus Hospital is a working office in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in the care of the National Trust. It is a Grade II\* listed building.
The site of the hospital has been in use for 700 years helping the townspeople. There was an Augustinian friary on the site from the thirteenth century, then an almshouse for housing retired freemen, then a soup kitchen was built next to Almshouse in the nineteenth century, before the site acquired its current function as a working office. The building also serves as the base for the Inner City Project of the National Trust. This project takes people of ages 12–25 and over 50 out to the countryside in order to increase appreciation of the city's natural surroundings.
The building is of architectural interest because it still retains architectural elements from many previous centuries, including a 14th-century sacristy wall and 16th-century tower connected with the King's Council of the North. It is also one of only two intact 17th-century brick buildings that survive in the city, the other being Alderman Fenwick's House.
## Augustinian Friary (1291–1539)
In the 13th century, Newcastle upon Tyne had a population of around 4,000; and it was difficult for the four parish churches to care for the needs of such a large population. The priests were expected to be educators, doctors and counsellors, as well as meeting the spiritual needs of their parishioners. Therefore, in 1291 land was donated by William Baron of Wark on Tweed to found an Augustinian friary on the land on which the museum now stands.
The Augustinian Friars were originally an order of hermits in northern Italy who Pope Alexander IV first congregated into a single body in 1256. The Order spread to France and then to England after being invited by Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, to found Clare Priory in Suffolk, by the River Stour. On 3 September 1249, de Clare was able to obtain a writ of protection for the friars from the King. The brethren were clothed in black and observed the rule of St Augustine of Hippo. Augustianian friars had been in England since 1250 and they helped by preaching and healing in the community.
The friary was also used as a lodgings house because it was on one of the main roads to the north. On the day that King Edward I passed through Newcastle in December 1299 the brethren each received three shillings and four pence (3s. 4d). In 1306, the King also granted the monastery additional lands to enlarge the burial ground. Richard II directed the bailiffs of the city to issue a proclamation against dumping waste near the site. Apparently some local people threw "excrements, filth, and garbage, in a certain way that led near to the house of the Austin Friars, to their great annoyance and peril."
It is possible that the site was used by English kings before its later use as a temporary seat for the Council of the North after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry Bourne, an 18th-century historian of Newcastle upon Tyne wrote of the site: "the Kings of England since the Conquest, kept house in it, whence they came with an Army Royal against Scotland, and since the Suppression of the Monasteries, made a Magazine and Store-house for the North Parts."
Bourne also suggests that the use of the site as a religious centre might predate the friary. He wrote, "the same authority tells us also, that there was an ancient Religious House founded by the Kings of Northumberland and that several of them were buried here; but it cannot be true that they built any Thing for the St Austin Fryers, for they came not into England 'till long after the Conquest, in the year 1252."
## Dissolution of the Monasteries (1539)
In 1539, the friary was seized by the crown along with five others in the area including the Dominican monastery of Blackfriars. At the time of its capture the friary had seven brethren and three novices including the prior, Andrew Kell. The monks and nuns were pensioned and the friars received gratuities. Some took jobs as chantry priests or accommodation in parish livings. Those nuns who were of good birth returned to their families. The bells, lead plate and vestments were turned over to the crown. Most of the building and lands were sold to the lesser gentry, new nobility, and town merchants or to borough corporations. At the time of the Dissolution there were a prior, ten friars and three novices.
In 1537, Thomas Cromwell was asked if the Austin Friary site could be left intact after the dissolution, to be used as northern headquarters of the King's Council of the North when it was not sitting at York. It was rarely used for this purpose (Elizabeth I decreed that the council spend 20 days a year there). It appears that in 1551 the site was granted to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland "as parcel of Tynemouth Monastery." In 1553, Richard Benson occurs as keeper of this house for the crown for a fee of 40s per annum. In the map of the city by John Speed in 1610, the site appears as 'Kings Manour'. It was much dilapidated by 1595. During the confused period of the English Civil War, it passed into the hands of the Corporation. The area became known as Kings Manor which was a short lived counterpart to the famous King's Manor at York. Military drills were performed by the townspeople at an area called the artillery ground. All that remains of the friary is part of the sacristy wall, though a model in the interpretation room gives a possible layout of some of the friary buildings.
### The tower
The tower was constructed sometime between the Dissolution and the Union of the Crowns but the exact date is not known. It was probably constructed as a strong room to store munitions or provide a secure location if the city walls were breached. This turned the ground floor room into a lock-up where troublesome citizens would be thrown until they came before the law to be punished. Much about the tower has changed. The wall to the right of the door is 13th-century, while the dividing wall including the door is 18th-century.
## Private ownership (1605–1646)
In 1605, the tower and friary buildings were given by James I of England to George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar. In the same year, Home was also made a Knight of the Garter and received his Earldom of Dunbar. Bourne quotes one of his sources as saying, "a Scot did beg it (the Hospital) of King James; after that took the lead off it and sold it; but it was cast away before it came to its market." Also in 1605, Home consolidated all the lands given to him into a free Earldom, Lordship of Parliament and Barony of Dunbar. The site was one of many Home acquired under the patronage of the king including the Manor and Castle of Norlan and the Castle of St Andrews. Home died in Whitehall, London, in 1611 without a male heir and thus his Earldom and Barony became extinct. A Captain Dykes became the next owner of the land. Bourne wrote 'He (George Home) sold also some stones to Sir Peter Riddel, who with them built the south end of his fine house; but now it belongs to Captain Dykes, and his posterity hath no right.' The site disappears from the historical record until 1646 when it is recorded as being owned by the council.
## The Hospital (1646–1825)
The Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1681 by public subscription to house retired Freemen, their widows or unmarried sons or daughters. The hospital was commonly known by local people as the "Freeman's Hospital" and the "Town's Hospital" but on 26 March 1684 the building was incorporated by the name of the master, brethren, and sisters of the Hospital of the holy Jesus. The Mayor, alderman and Common Council of Newcastle were appointed as visitors and charged with setting the rules for the hospital. Shortly afterwards the founders bought a quay and garden, in the Close for £700 and an estate in Edderly, County Durham for £1610, and another estate at Whittle, Northumberland for £1300 and the master and brethren of the hospital were settled across these properties. The building itself was constructed using brick construction which was then a relatively new method (brick was usually used as an infill for timber-framed buildings). Indeed, the structure is one of only two 17th-century brick buildings in Newcastle upon Tyne, the other being nearby Alderman Fenwick's House in Pilgrim Street. To be allocated a room, one had to meet the committee's criteria and once were admitted one had to abide by the master's rules. It remained in use until 1937, when the new hospital was built at Spital Towers. Strict rules governed the "inmates" including being locked in their rooms at 9 pm and having their doors unlocked again at 6 am. There were no children allowed, and the inmates were instructed to attend church each week and take the sacrament. Each year the residents would have been given a free suit of clothing, a measure of coal and, if the charity allowed it, some pocket money (Alms).
The first master of the house was a man named Thomas Lewen, a merchant by trade. The master's seal had a cross engraved on it and bore the words "Sigillum Hospitalis Sancti Jesu in Novo Castro." The original allowance for the inmates of the hospital was 20 shillings per 'quarterly', while the master would get 30 shillings. On 2 January 1752, the council decreed that forty 'fothers' of coal be given to the hospital annually and, on 18 December 1769, the master was required to be paid £8, and each inmate sister £6 per annum. By the early 19th century this allowance had increased to £13 for each inmate per annum, four fothers of 'best Benwell' coals as well as providing clothing. In addition to this the inmates were required to see the Mayor at the Guildhall once each quarter where grievances would be heard. The inmates could also receive money from charities, and this was often called escutcheon money.
In 1705, the inmates of the Newcastle House of Correction were commissioned to produce 'purple and grey cloth' for the uniforms of the widows of the Holy Jesus Hospital.
There is an inscription in Latin on the front on the building. Roughly translated it reads;
"Hospital for poor people by the expense of the citizens and leaders of Newcastle upon Tyne in the year of salvation 1683. Built by Timothy Robson, Mayor, John Squire Sheriff, but now only remains the three of Faith Hope and Charity, and the greatest of these is Charity."
In 1646, the council allowed the Barber Surgeons to build their hall just east of the site: this agreement was given on 15 March 1647. In 1648, the plot of land was leased to the barber surgeons on condition that they constructed their hall within two years and that part of the site was to be laid out as a garden for medicinal herbs. A second hall built in 1730 disappeared under the railway viaduct in the 1840s. The most aged claimants were preferred for placements at the Hospital and on 22 March 1779, the Mayor and common council of Newcastle ordered that several candidates produce certificates to prove their respective ages, to be filed in the town-clerk's office.
## Nineteenth century
While the modern site is heavily enclosed by modern constructions, particularly Swan House roundabout, Mackenzie, in 1827, portrays a much more open space:
> This hospital is finely situated on a small eminence, which is ascended by steps from the Manor Chare. It faces the south, and is a good brick building, three stories high. The under story is adorned with piazzas, which are 91 feet in length, and make a very agreeable walk, a small field being in front, which is separated from the street by a low stone wall and a light iron paling. About the middle of the piazza is the entrance to the second and third stories, each of which has a light gallery that extends the whole length of the building. At the foot of the stairs is a poor-box, and the figure of Charity; and, opposite to the entrance, an ornamented fountain for the use of the hospital. This building contains 42 rooms, each 13 feet by 12 feet; and every room has a small coal-house in the back-yard. They are now all rendered more comfortable than formerly; and some of the magistrates occasionally visit the hospital, as was the practice in former times.
A soup kitchen was built in 1880, replacing the police station which adjoined the hospital on the west side, by public subscription and dispensed soup to the ‘deserving poor’ until 1891. The soup was not free: it cost half a pence per pint. People who had donated each had a number of tickets which they could give to those people who they believed qualified for the ration. The deserving poor in Victorian times were those unable to work during the winter months. Those individuals classed as undeserving were those whose poverty was deemed to be caused by indolence and alcoholism. A recent article has suggested that the soup provided by the kitchen was highly nutritious. The kitchen was open from December to March, seven days a week, weather permitting. Advertisements were placed in local newspapers such as the Daily Chronicle and The Journal and Courant to solicit donations for the kitchen. The donations were used to pay the kitchen staff and buy the provisions for the soup. The names of prominent contributors were also listed in those newspapers and annual receipts and expenditures were also published in the press. The kitchen was run by a committee of prominent townsmen, including Thomas Pumphrey, Henry E Armstrong, James Joicey and the banker Thomas Hodgkin.
Lynn Redhead, customer services administrator at the Holy Jesus Hospital, has described what the kitchen would have looked like in the following way:
"People wanting soup came in through an 18-inch wide brick-lined corridor one at a time to be served from troughs. Nine copper boilers were on the first floor of the building with storage below where raw materials were weighed to be hoisted up. They were making 100 gallons of soup at a time, that’s 800 people all queuing at the back of the building."
In 1881, the committee from the Discharged Prisoner's Aid Society asked to use the building when it was not in use for discharged female convicts from the prison at Carliol Square (1828–1925) to do laundry work and the Society continued to use it for this purpose until the turn of the century. Between 1882 and 1883 City Road was built over the front lawn of the Hospital.
The soup kitchen closed in 1891. The building was leased to pork butcher F.G Thompson, who made alterations to the building presumably to separate his business from the laundry and ex-convicts. Urwins Chemical Factory operated on the site from 1913, producing industrial and domestic chemicals and pharmaceuticals as well as filing first aid boxes until 1961 when it moved to Stepney bank in Ouseburn. In 1937, the Council decided that the hospital was no longer fit to house people because the area around the almshouse was very unhealthy. Therefore, a new hospital was built at Spital Tongues. Some of the building's original fixtures were moved to the new site at this time.
### The Peoples Kitchen
The 19th-century soup kitchen inspired 'The People's Kitchen', a 20th-century charity organization dedicated to helping Newcastle's homeless. The People's Kitchen was founded by 76-year-old Alison Kay who was moved to help the homeless after finding an unidentified man dead under a bush in Newcastle. First she held a "friendship picnic" attended by four homeless men in which she delivered flasks of tea and sandwiches prepared in her own kitchen. Then, after liaising with the police and social services she inaugurated The People's Kitchen. After occupying temporary premises in Blenheim Street, the people's hospital moved its headquarters to Bath Lane, Newcastle, in 1997 and distributes clothing and equipment to the homeless.
## The first museum: The John George Joicey Museum (1950–1993)
In the late 1960s, the Museum Board was looking to have more museums in Newcastle and thought the Holy Jesus Hospital could be used. The fact that the building had stood empty for decades meant that the condition of the building had suffered greatly. The restoration cost £67,000, the money coming from the John George Joicey bequest of 1968 and a new roof was needed. During the restoration some of the original fabric of the building such as door frames, doors and walls on the top floor were lost. In 1971 John George Joicey Museum opened. During this time the soup kitchens were joined to the Holy Jesus Hospital. The first floor rooms were used for teaching the history of Newcastle from the Roman period to the present date. There were period rooms illustrating living styles from the early Stuart to late Victorian periods. Much of the collection was donated by bequest by John George Joicey, a Gateshead businessman and owner of the mining company James Joicey & Co. ltd, and after whom the museum was named. Joicey was also a prominent donor to the Laing Art Gallery. The tower of the hospital had the Alnwick Armoury and the Shotley Bridge Sword makers displays on the first and second floors. The Shotley Bridge Sword makers were sword makers and knifemakers from Solingen, Germany who settled in Shotley Bridge, Durham, in 1690. The soup kitchen was mainly used as a Victorian schoolroom where children were dressed and taught as Victorian children would have been. There were also audio-visual presentations that illustrated the Tyne Flood of 1771 and the Great Fire of 1854. Part of the museum was devoted to the Northumberland Hussars and the 15th and 19th Regiments of the King's Royal Hussars. The museum's location combined with the city's underpasses and roads system made access to the museum difficult and it was little visited. In 1993, the museum closed and all artifacts were taken to the Discovery Museum on Blandford Street. These included the effigy of a knight from the 15th century that was found next to the sacristy wall outside the tower.
## The Inner City Project (2000)
The Holy Jesus Hospital has been the centre of the National Trust's Inner City Project. By August 2004, £800,000 had been spent on renovating the building. Funds for the restoration of the site came from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Tyne and Wear Partnership. The project had been running since 1987 in the east end of Newcastle working with young people from 12-25 and with the over 50s, taking them out to the countryside. The National Trust needed a central office to expand their work into other inner city areas, so a 25-year lease was negotiated with the council. The Exhibition Room on the site features touch screens and 3D models to help teach people about the site's history of helping the townspeople. In the book The Remains of Distant Times: Archaeology and the National Trust, Priscilla Boniface criticizes what she believes to be the National Trust's lack of interest in operating in urban environments but praises the Inner City Project as a step towards rectifying this. She wrote "Its occasional ventures - such as the Newcastle Inner City Project...by their frequent mention in National Trust communications, merely serve to underline how few of their type the Trust has to call on for report." She argues that although the aim of introducing town dwellers to the countryside is "laudable", the "respectful and serious suggestion might be made, though, that a person or person's might be usefully employed also with the objective of raising National Trust people's understanding of and confidence in their ability to visit and enjoy, or at least encounter, the city." However, Collins and Kay cite research suggesting that the scheme has been effective in promoting "social inclusion". They note, however, that the project has been limited by the funds made available to it.
## Notable visitors to the site
- Princess Margaret Tudor – daughter of Henry VII spent four days there in 1503 on her journey north to marry James IV of Scotland
- Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, stayed there in 1560. As a result, £67 was spent on materials and repairs: the walls were re-pointed, roof lead re-laid, gutters and broken windows repaired, a chimney rebuilt, dining chamber on the Great Hall enlarged, two doors cut through a wall and the construction of a new stone window. Materials purchased included 4000 bricks and a considerable amount of glass from Hartlepool. Norfolk was imprisoned nine years later by Elizabeth I for plotting to marry Mary, Queen of Scots.
- Eric XIV of Sweden visited in 1561 for which the Great Hall was whitewashed and hung with borrowed tapestries for his visit.
## See also
- Augustinians
- Dissolution of the Monasteries
- Council of the North
- Blackfriars, Newcastle
- National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
- Discovery Museum
- Eric XIV of Sweden
- George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar
- Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
- Princess Margaret Tudor
- History of Newcastle upon Tyne |
1,533,193 | Ajtony | 1,157,860,414 | 11th century ruler of Banat | [
"10th-century Hungarian people",
"11th century in Hungary",
"11th century in Romania",
"11th century in Serbia",
"11th-century Hungarian people",
"History of Banat",
"Magyar tribal chieftains",
"Medieval history of Vojvodina"
]
| Ajtony, Ahtum or Achtum (Hungarian: Ajtony, Bulgarian: Охтум, Romanian: Ahtum, Serbian: Ахтум) was an early-11th-century ruler in the territory now known as Banat in present Romania and Serbia. His primary source is the Long Life of Saint Gerard, a 14th-century hagiography. Ajtony was a powerful ruler who owned many horses, cattle and sheep and was baptised according to the Orthodox rite in Vidin. He taxed salt which was transferred to King Stephen I of Hungary on the Mureș River. The king sent Csanád, Ajtony's former commander-in-chief, against him at the head of a large army. Csanád defeated and killed Ajtony, occupying his realm. In the territory, at least one county and a Roman Catholic diocese were established.
Historians disagree on the year of Ajtony's defeat; it may have occurred in 1002, 1008 or between 1027 and 1030. His ethnicity is also a subject of historical debate; he may have been Hungarian, Kabar, Pecheneg or Romanian. In Romanian historiography, Ajtony and Glad, the ruler of Banat during the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin according to the 13th century Gesta Hungarorum are viewed as members of a Romanian ruling dynasty.
## Background
The Magyars (or Hungarians), who had lived on the Pontic steppe for decades, invaded the Carpathian Basin after their defeat by a coalition of Bulgarians and Pechenegs about 895 AD. Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus wrote that the seven Magyar tribes formed a confederation with the Kabars. Although the Kabars had originally lived in the Khazar Khaganate, they rebelled against the Khazars and joined the Magyars on the Pontic steppe.
According to churchman Regino of Prüm, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and other contemporary sources, the Magyars fought the Bavarians, Bulgarians, Carinthians, Franks and Moravians in the Carpathian Basin. Among the Magyars' opponents the same sources noted many local rulers, including Svatopluk I of Moravia, Luitpold of Bavaria and Braslav, Duke of Lower Pannonia. The Gesta Hungarorum—the earliest extant Hungarian chronicle, written after 1150—instead mentioned Glad, lord of the lands between the Danube and the Mureș (now known as the Banat in Romania and Serbia) and other local rulers absent from the earlier sources. Therefore, the credibility of the Gesta reports is a subject of scholarly debate. Although Vlad Georgescu, Ioan Aurel Pop and other historians describe Glad as one of the local Romanian rulers who attempted to resist the invading Hungarians, other scholars—including Pál Engel and György Györffy—call him one of the dozen "imaginary figures" invented by Anonymus (author of the Gesta) as foes in the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin.
Constantine Porphyrogenitus identified "the whole settlement of Turkey" (Hungary) with the basins of five rivers—the Criș, Mureș, Timiș, Tisza and the unidentified "Toutis"—around 950, indicating that the land east of the Tisza was ruled by the Hungarians at that time. The emperor apparently received information about the Carpathian Basin situation from Termatzus, Bulcsú and Gylas, three Hungarian chieftains who visited Constantinople during the mid-10th century. According to Byzantine historian John Skylitzes, Bulcsú and Gylas were baptised during their visit. Bulcsú, Skylitzes wrote, still "violated his contract with God and often invaded" the Byzantine Empire; Gylas, however, "remained faithful to Christianity" and made no further inroads against the empire. Skylitzes also mentioned a Greek monk, Hierotheos, who was ordained bishop for the Hungarians. Hierotheos accompanied Gylas back to Hungary and "converted many from the barbaric fallacy to Christianity". Most 10th-century Byzantine coins and artifacts have been unearthed around the confluence of the Tisza and the Mureș, particularly in the Banat. Tudor Sălăgean, Florin Curta and other historians posit that Gylas's lands must have been in these territories, but their theory is not universally accepted.
Unlike Gylas, who chose the Eastern Orthodox Church, Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, opted for Western Christianity and a cleric from the Holy Roman Empire (according to most scholars, Bruno from the Abbey of Saint Gall) baptised him during the 970s. Thietmar of Merseburg and other 11th-century authors emphasized that Géza was a cruel ruler, suggesting that the unification of the Hungarian chieftains' lands began under him. Géza was succeeded by his son, Stephen, who was crowned the first king of Hungary in 1000 or 1001.
## In primary sources
The principal source of Ajtony's life is the Long Life of Saint Gerard, compiled from a number of earlier sources in the early 14th century. According to modern historians (including Carlile Aylmer Macartney and Florin Curta), all information on Ajtony incorporated into the Long Life was based on a ballad about the heroic deeds of Csanád—Ajtony's former commander-in-chief—because a shorter version of Bishop Gerard of Csanád's life does not mention Ajtony. Most historians agree that the ballad was composed shortly after Ajtony's death. In addition to the Long Life, Ajtony is mentioned in the Gesta Hungarorum; the Hungarian chronicle was written after around 1150. According to the Gesta, Ajtony was descended from Glad (in the same source, lord of the Banat); however, its credibility is questioned. In a 1499 sermon the Franciscan Osvát Laskai wrote that Ajtony was from the Nyírség region, but no evidence exists to indicate that Laskai knew his place of birth.
Ajtony's name, recorded in the earliest sources as "Ohtun" or "Achtum", is of Turkic origin. According to linguist Loránd Benkő, his name is rooted in the Turkic word for golden (altun) and changed in Hungarian. Place names also echo his name; an abbey named Ahtunmonustura (Ajtony's monastery) existed in Csanád County and a village (Ahthon) in Krassó County, and a settlement named Aiton exists in Romania.
According to the Long Life, Ajtony's seat was a stronghold on the Mureș (urbs Morisena). His realm extended from the Criș in the north to the Danube in the south, and from the Tisza in the west to Transylvania in the east. Ajtony was a wealthy ruler who owned horses, cattle and sheep, and was powerful enough to establish customs offices and guards along the Mureș and tax salt carried to Stephen I of Hungary on the river.
Originally a pagan, Ajtony was baptised according to the Greek rite in Vidin. Shortly after his baptism, he established a monastery for Greek monks at his seat which was dedicated to John the Baptist. Ajtony remained polygamous, with seven wives after his baptism. In the Long Life Ajtony "had taken his power from the Greeks", suggesting that he accepted the Byzantine emperor's suzerainty.
Ajtony's commander-in-chief was Csanád, described in the Gesta Hungarorum as the "son of Doboka and nephew" of King Stephen. Accused of conspiring against Ajtony, Csanád fled to Stephen; the king prepared to conquer Ajtony's realm, placing Csanád at the head of a large army. After crossing the Tisza, the royal army engaged Ajtony's troops but was forced to withdraw. In a second battle, Stephen's army routed Ajtony's troops near modern Banatsko Aranđelovo or at Tomnatic. Csanád killed Ajtony, either on the battlefield (according to the Long Life) or in his stronghold on the Mureș (according to the Gesta Hungarorum). In the Long Life Csanád cut out Ajtony's tongue after his death, enabling him to prove that he had killed Ajtony (and exposing Gyula, who had taken credit for the deed in Stephen's presence). Archaeologist István Erdélyi said that the Treasure of Sânnicolau Mare, excavated near Ajtony's seat, was connected to the ruler; however, his view has not been universally accepted by scholars.
King Stephen granted large estates to Csanád in the lands Ajtony had ruled. Ajtony's stronghold, now known as Cenad (Hungarian: Csanád), was named for Stephen's commander. The king also appointed Csanád the head (or ispán) of the county made up of Ajtony's former realm. Stephen established a Roman Catholic diocese in Cenad, with the Venetian monk Gerard its first bishop. The Greek monks from Cenad were transferred to a new monastery built by Csanád at Banatsko Aranđelovo. Ajtony's descendants owned land in the region, indicating that King Stephen had not confiscated all of his predecessor's domain.
## In modern historiography
Ajtony's ethnicity is debated. Historian Paul Stephenson described him as a Magyar chieftain; according to historian László Makkai, he was of Kabar origin and his Turkic name may imply that he was a Pecheneg. According to historian Florin Curta he could be Bulgar, Khazar or Pecheneg. In Romanian historiography, Ajtony has been considered the last member of a "native" dynasty descended from Glad, who is mentioned in the Gesta Hungarorum as opposing the invading Hungarians, historian Alexandru Madgearu wrote that the Latin name of Ajtony's seat (urbs Morisena) preserved a Romanian form.
The date of Ajtony's conquest is also uncertain. His close contacts with the Byzantine Empire, including his "Greek rite" baptism in Vidin, show that he ruled after the Byzantine Emperor Basil II seized Vidin from the Bulgarians in 1002. The conflict between Ajtony and King Stephen must have occurred before the king appointed Gerard the first bishop of Csanád in 1030. Alexandru Madgearu, who called Ajtony an ally of Samuel of Bulgaria rather than Emperor Basil II, wrote that Stephen I's army occupied Ajtony's realm in parallel with Basil II's 1002 conquest of Vidin. Makkai placed the conquest of Ajtony's realm in 1008. According to Pop, Stephen I decided to invade the Banat after a 1027 Pecheneg raid on the Byzantine Empire and Emperor Constantine VIII's death the following year. Pop also writes that Ajtony's former duchy was not fully incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary until the 13th century because frequent internal conflicts had enabled the Romanians to preserve their idea of a "Romanian country". Curta rejected the Long Life account of Ajtony altogether, calling it a "family legend" from a 14th-century hagiography.
## See also
- Gyula III
- Koppány |
30,743,542 | Time Capsule (Parks and Recreation) | 1,146,028,143 | null | [
"2011 American television episodes",
"Parks and Recreation (season 3) episodes",
"Television episodes written by Michael Schur"
]
| "Time Capsule" is the third episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 33rd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 3, 2011. In the episode, Leslie tries to encourage civic pride through a time capsule, but it descends into chaos as Pawnee citizens argue over what to include. Meanwhile, Chris tries to help Andy win back April.
Written and directed by series co-creator and executive producer Michael Schur, "Time Capsule" was one of six episodes filmed early after second season to accommodate Amy Poehler's pregnancy. Although always meant as the third episode of the season, it was the last of the six filmed because it had the highest amount of props that could conceal Poehler's belly. Saturday Night Live star Will Forte guest starred as Kelly Larson, a Pawnee citizen who passionately argues for including the Twilight books in the time capsule.
"Time Capsule" also included appearances by recurring guest stars Jama Williamson, Alison Becker, Darlene Hunt and Natalie Morales, who made her last in a string of performances as Tom's girlfriend Lucy. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by 4.95 million household viewers, a 17 percent decline from the previous episode, "Flu Season". It received generally positive reviews.
## Plot
Leslie (Amy Poehler) is organizing the making of a time capsule, meant to be opened 50 years in the future and filled with items that encapsulate the spirit of Pawnee. A citizen named Kelly Larson (Will Forte) comes to Leslie's office and makes a passionate plea for the Twilight books to be included. When Leslie refuses because the books have no connection to Pawnee, Kelly handcuffs himself to a pipe in her office until she reconsiders. He is able to stay several days because he brought food, water and a pillow. During his stay, Kelly notices Tom (Aziz Ansari) appears sad, and correctly deduces Tom is having romantic issues; Tom's girlfriend Lucy (Natalie Morales) has dumped him because Tom cannot get over the fact that his ex-wife, Wendy (Jama Williamson), is dating Ron (Nick Offerman). Kelly encourages Tom to read Twilight, to which he initially scoffs, but after reading them finds he loves the books. Lucy later visits Tom and tells him she still likes him, and if he ever gets past his Ron & Wendy-jealousy problems he should call her.
After Leslie notices the name "Liz Waverly" in one of Kelly's Twilight books, Kelly admits she is his 12-year-old daughter. He is divorced from her mother, and wants to put Twilight into the time capsule to impress her. Leslie now wants to include it, but Ben (Adam Scott) says if she makes one exception, everyone will want their own item in the capsule. Leslie decides to hold a public meeting so all citizens can make suggestions for capsule items. The meeting descends into chaos when the participants argue over what to include and make absurd suggestions, such as the ashes of a family member and the ashes of a pet cat. Conservative activist Marcia Langman (Darlene Hunt) argues Twilight should not be included because it is too anti-Christian, while a civil liberties organization member says that the book isn't suitable because it is pro-Christian. Leslie tries to compromise by making multiple time capsules, but she ultimately decides to stick to one capsule and include nothing except a video recording of the meeting, which she said represents Pawnee because it shows "a lot of people with a lot of opinions arguing passionately for what they believed in". Ben, a visiting state auditor, says he thinks the residents of Pawnee are strange, but he is impressed by their passion.
In the B story, Andy (Chris Pratt) still pines for April (Aubrey Plaza), who remains angry at Andy and is now dating the handsome Eduardo (Carlo Mendez). Chris (Rob Lowe) suggests Andy tap into the aspects of his personality April was attracted to in the first place. However, the only things he can think of are that he is nice and he is in a band. Andy decides to be nice to Eduardo, and the two realize they have similar musical tastes (they both like the Dave Matthews Band) and end up bonding over a guitar session. April becomes frustrated because she only dated Eduardo to make Andy jealous. She dumps Eduardo, which Chris interprets as a sign that his efforts are succeeding. Ann (Rashida Jones), who was nervous about Andy and Chris spending time together, is relieved when Chris tells her that Andy had nothing but positive things to say about her. The episode ends with the Pawnee residents — including Kelly and his daughter — watching an outdoor screening of the Twilight film.
## Production
"Time Capsule" was written and directed by Parks and Recreation co-creator and executive producer Michael Schur. Like all six of the first third season episodes, it was written and filmed almost immediately after the second season ended as part of an early shooting schedule due to Amy Poehler's pregnancy. However, although finished early in anticipation of a September 2010 release date, Parks was ultimately placed on hiatus until early 2011, many months after production on "Time Capsule" was completed. "Time Capsule" was the last of these six episodes to be filmed, but as planned was shown third in the season. It was filmed last because the story presented the highest amount of props to place Poehler in front of objects that strategically concealed her pregnancy, most notably the time capsule itself.
The episode featured comedian Will Forte in a guest appearance as Kelly Larson, a Pawnee citizen obsessed with Twilight. Forte was a cast member of NBC's sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he previously worked with performer Poehler and writer Schur. "Time Capsule" featured the last in a string of guest performances by Natalie Morales as Lucy, a romantic interest for the Tom Haverford character. Darlene Hunt made a guest appearance as Marcia Langman, a member of the conservative group, the Society for Family Stability Foundation. Hunt previously portrayed Langman in the second-season premiere, "Pawnee Zoo", where she tried to have Leslie fired for holding a same-sex wedding for two male penguins. The episode also featured appearances by Jama Williamson and Alison Becker in their recurring roles as Tom's ex-wife Wendy and reporter Shauna Malwae-Tweep, respectively.
"Time Capsule" continued what Michael Schur described as one of the primary story arcs of the third season: Ben Wyatt gradually falling in love not only with Leslie Knope, but with the town of Pawnee itself. This is particularly illustrated by how impressed Ben is with the Pawnee citizens who make impassioned cases for what they want inside the Pawnee time capsule: although he still considers them weirdos, he respectfully calls them "weirdos who care". During the cold open, while discussing the time capsule, Leslie describes several former Pawnee town slogans. After each slogan, the camera switches to a different cut of Leslie reading another. This method of comedic narrative is frequently used in Parks and Recreation, in which Poehler and the other actors improvise several different jokes and the editors slice them all together into one scene.
## Cultural references
A great deal of the plot in "Time Capsule" revolves around the Twilight series of novels and films. The popular book series was written by Stephenie Meyer. At one point, while trying to persuade Leslie to include Twilight in the capsule, Kelly Larson begins telling the entire story of the Twilight series, including Meyer's birth and life story and shot-for-shot descriptions of the film adaptations. The stories are told from the perspective of high school student and outsider Bella Swan, who is pursued romantically by a vampire named Edward Cullen and a werewolf named Jacob Black. Elements of the story are raised in various scenes of "Time Capsule", including when Tom tries to ask Lucy why she broke up with him: "Is it because I'm not cool enough, like the normal kids compared to the vampires? Is it an Edward-Bella-Jacob type situation, where you like me but there's someone else you like more?" Leslie claims to favor Harry Potter, the popular fantasy series by author J.K. Rowling, over Twilight. Parks department employee Donna professes an unhealthy infatuation with Robert Pattinson, the actor who played Edward Cullen in the Twilight films.
Among the town slogans Leslie described was "Pawnee: The Birthplace of Julia Roberts", a reference to the Academy Award-winning actress. Leslie subsequently explains Roberts is not from Pawnee and that she sued over the slogan, leading to a new slogan: "Pawnee: Home of the World Famous Julia Roberts Lawsuit". During the public meeting, one resident proposes putting Crazy from the Heat, the autobiography of Van Halen lead vocalist David Lee Roth, into the time capsule. When Andy and Eduardo bond, they find they are both fans of Dave Matthews Band, an American jam band. After Lucy breaks up with Tom, he dismissingly claims she is crazy, which he claims is what the characters on the HBO comedy-drama series Entourage always say whenever they break up with a woman.
## Reception
### Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "Time Capsule" was seen by an estimated 4.95 million household viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, with an overall 2.9 rating/4 share, and 2.4 rating/6 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49. It marked a more than 17 percent decline compared to the previous episode, "Flu Season", and an even further drop compared to the season premiere "Go Big or Go Home", which was seen by 6.19 million households. The night "Time Capsule" was broadcast, almost all of the comedy shows in NBC's Thursday lineup lost viewership compared to the prior week: while 30 Rock remained flat, Perfect Couples was down 18 percent, Community dropped 9 percent, The Office was down 7 percent and Outsourced dropped 5 percent.
### Reviews
"Time Capsule" received generally positive reviews. Alex Strachan of the Montreal Gazette called it a "near-perfect episode" featuring brisk timing, laugh-out-loud jokes and heartwarming moments of civic unity. Strachan praised Michael Schur's script for being "funny without being hurtful or vicious, heartwarming without being mawkish or sentimental". New York magazine writer Steve Kandell said the fact that Will Forte's character segued believably from a loon to a believable and sympathetic father was a sign of the script's strength. Kandell said, "Could the character have been more over-the-top? Sure. But in the long run, it’s not just funnier, but more dramatic, that he’s not." Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly praised "Time Capsule", which she said highlighted how the quirky setting of Pawnee itself contributed a major part to the show's success. Busis said the town's eccentricities were on great display during the public scenes, but did not feel forced or over-the-top. Barry Hertz of the National Post praised both the episode and Forte, whose eccentric performance he said fit in well with the rest of the show. Hertz said, "Every single element on this show is on fire right now, from Andy’s naive stupidity and infatuation with April to Ben’s continued surprise at what Pawnee has to offer."
Matt Fowler of IGN said this episode highlighted how the show excelts as portraying small-town life in a comedic way without ridiculing small towns. Fowler said the Twilight jokes felt a bit stale, but he praised Aziz Ansari's performances and moments highlighting the supporting characters, like jokes at the expense of character Jerry Gergich and Ben's developing respect for Pawnee. Zap2it writer Rick Porter said the series, and "Time Capsule" in particular, accurately captures the details and flavors of the local governments and the public in small towns, even if they exaggerate them. Porter praised the pairing of Chris and Andy and said the two conflicting character personalities worked well together. HitFix writer Alan Sepinwall said he did not feel Will Forte's character was well integrated with the rest of the cast and that he dragged down the first half of the episode. However, Sepinwall said once Forte removed himself from Leslie's office, the episode had a "terrific second half", and that the public hearing in particular displayed the strengths of the show. Joel Keller of TV Squad had the opposite view of Alan Sepinwall and felt Forte's character was the most interesting part of the episode, whereas the second half felt "dragged down" and less funny. Keller wrote, "It just lasted a scene too long; we get it, the people in Pawnee are loopy." Eric Sundermann of Hollywood.com said Parks and Recreation is "at its best when its illustrating small-town life in America" and that the public hearing meetings did so brilliantly. Sundermann praised Rob Lowe's performance and said the new additions of the Chris and Ben characters was "exactly what the show needed to push itself to another level of silliness".
The Atlantic writer Scott Meslow said Will Forte's obsession with Twilight led to funny scenes, particularly an impromptu book club meeting with Tom and Donna, but said the character's efforts to impress his daughter didn't make much sense: "Is there a preteen on the planet who would be anything but mortified to find her middle school buzzing with gossip about her father's Twilight-based sit-in?" Steve Hesiler of The A.V. Club said the episode demonstrated how far the show has come because "it was only mid-season two when Parks & Rec started producing episodes where Pawnee residents showed up two, three, or more at a time—and contributed to the larger town mythology." Heisler also praised how the show could pair two seemingly random characters like Andy and Chris and make them so funny. Time magazine writer James Poniewozik called "Time Capsule" the weakest of the first seven third-season episodes, but he said "that speaks more to the high quality of the rest". Poniewozik said the episode demonstrated that, despite how bizarre the complaints of Pawnee residents are, "those concerns and arguments are what makes Pawnee Pawnee". Some reviews were more negative. Matt Richenthal called "Time Capsule" mediocre at best, especially compared to the previous episode, "Flu Season". He said the episode was too centered on the "one-note joke" of Will Forte's character, and that the jokes about Twilight felt dated. Richenthal wrote, "Parks and Recreation features too many hilarious characters to include such a gimmick." |
1,416,262 | Smolensk War | 1,152,173,128 | Conflict between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia | [
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| The Smolensk War (1632–1634) was a conflict fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia.
Hostilities began in October 1632 when Russian forces tried to capture the city of Smolensk. Small military engagements produced mixed results for both sides, but the surrender of the main Russian force in February 1634 led to the Treaty of Polyanovka. Russia accepted Polish–Lithuanian control over the Smolensk region, which lasted for another 20 years.
## Background
In 1632, Sigismund III Vasa, the king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, died. Although the Commonwealth nobility quickly elected Sigismund's son Władysław IV Vasa as their new ruler, Poland's neighbours, expecting delays in the electoral process, tested the Commonwealth's perceived weakness. Swedish king Gustav II Adolph sent envoys to Russia and the Ottoman Empire to propose an alliance and war against the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth was not ready for war. In 1631, the royal army numbered barely 3,000 men; the Smolensk garrison was about 500 strong, and most garrisons in the border area were composed not of regular or mercenary soldiers but of 100 to 200 local volunteers. Aware that Russia was preparing for war, in the spring of 1632 the Sejm (Polish–Lithuanian parliament) increased the army by recruiting an additional 4,500 men; by mid-1632 the deputy voivode (podwojewoda) of Smolensk, Samuel Drucki-Sokoliński, had about 500 volunteers from pospolite ruszenie and 2,500 regular army soldiers and Cossacks. In May the Senate of Poland agreed to increase the size of the army, but Grand Lithuanian Hetman Lew Sapieha objected, arguing that the current forces were enough and that war was not likely. Nonetheless the Field Lithuanian Hetman Krzysztof Radziwiłł recruited an additional 2,000 soldiers.
Russia, having recovered to a certain extent from the Time of Troubles, agreed with the assessment that the Commonwealth would be weakened by the death of its king, and unilaterally attacked without waiting for the Swedes and the Ottomans. Russia's aim was to gain control of Smolensk, which it had ceded to the Commonwealth in 1618 at the Truce of Deulino, ending the last Russo-Polish War. Smolensk was the capital of the Commonwealth's Smoleńsk Voivodeship, but it had often been contested, and it changed hands many times during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries (from the days of the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars). A major supporter of the war was the Tsar's father, Patriarch Filaret, who represented the anti-Polish camp at court. Inspired by the Zemsky Sobor's (Russian parliament's) call for vengeance and reclamation of lost lands, the Russian army sallied west.
## Hostilities
The Russian army that crossed the Lithuanian border in early October 1632 had been carefully prepared and was under the experienced command of Mikhail Borisovich Shein, who had previously defended Smolensk against the Poles during the 1609–1611 siege. Several towns and castles fell as the Russians advanced, and on 28 October 1632 (the same day that the historic town of Dorogobuzh was taken), Shein moved to begin the siege of Smolensk.
Former Polish estimates of the size of the Russian forces varied from 25,000 through 30,000 to 34,500, with 160 artillery pieces. Recent research on 17th-century Russian archive documents showed that the size of the Russian army was 23,961. Compared to former Russian armies, Shein's army was significantly modernised. Dissatisfied with their traditional formations of musket-equipped infantry (the streltsy), the Russians looked to foreign officers to update the equipment and training of their troops based on the Western European model of regulars, dragoons, and reiters. Eight such regiments, totaling 14,000 to 17,000 men, comprised part of Shein's army.
### Siege of Smolensk
Commonwealth forces in Smolensk were composed of the Smolensk garrison (about 1,600 men with 170 artillery pieces under the command of the Voivode of Smolensk, Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski), strengthened by the local nobility, which formed a pospolite ruszenie force of about 1,500 strong. The city's fortifications had also recently been improved with Italian-style bastions.
Shein constructed lines of circumvallation around the fortress. Using tunnels and mines, his forces damaged a long section of the city wall and one of its towers. Russian heavy artillery, mostly of Western manufacture, reached Smolensk in December 1632 with even heavier guns arriving the following March. After a preliminary artillery bombardment, Shein ordered an assault, which was repulsed by the Polish defenders. Nonetheless the siege was progressing; Smolensk's fortifications were being eroded, and the defenders were suffering heavy casualties and running out of supplies. By June 1633, some soldiers started to desert, and others talked of surrender.
Despite these difficulties, the city, commanded by Deputy Voivode Samuel Drucki-Sokoliński, held out throughout 1633 while the Commonwealth, under its newly elected King Władysław IV, organised a relief force. The Sejm had been informed about the Russian invasion by 30 October 1632, and, starting in November, had discussed the possibility of relief. However, the process was delayed until the spring of 1633, when the Sejm officially sanctioned a declaration of war and authorised a large payment (6.5 million zlotys, the highest tax contribution during Władysław's entire reign) for the raising of a suitable force. The intended relief force would have an effective strength of about 21,500 men and would include: 24 chorągiews of Winged Hussars (\~3,200 horses), 27 chorągiews of light cavalry—also known as Cossack cavalry but not composed of Cossacks—(3,600 horses), 10 squadrons of raitars (\~1,700 horses), 7 Lithuanian petyhor regiments (\~780 horses), 7 large regiments of dragoons (\~2,250 horses), and \~20 regiments of infantry (\~12,000 men). Over 10,000 of the infantry would be organized based on the Western model, previously not common in Commonwealth armies.
Meanwhile, Field Hetman of Lithuania and Voivode of Vilnius, Krzysztof Radziwiłł, and Voivode Gosiewski established a camp about 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) from Smolensk, moving from Orsha to Bajów and later, Krasne. By February 1633, they had amassed around 4,500 soldiers, including over 2,000 infantry, and were engaged in raiding the rear areas of the Russian besiegers to disrupt their logistics. Hetman Radziwiłł also managed to break through the Russian lines on several occasions, bringing about 1,000 soldiers and supplies into Smolensk to reinforce the fortress and raising the defenders' morale.
By the summer of 1633, the relief force, led personally by the king and numbering about 25,000 (20,000 in the Polish–Lithuanian army, according to Jasienica), arrived near Smolensk; they reached Orsha on 17 August 1633. By the first days of September, the main body of the relief forces approaching Smolensk numbered around 14,000. The Russian army, recently reinforced, numbered 25,000. Only when Cossack reinforcements, led by Tymosz (Timofiy) Orendarenko and numbering between 10,000 and 20,000, arrived on 17 September would the Commonwealth army gain numerical superiority. The Cossacks under Orendarenko and Marcin Kazanowski raided the Russian rear lines, freeing the Polish–Lithuanian units under Radziwiłł and Gosiewski to join the effort to break the siege.
Władysław's brother, John II Casimir, commanded one of the regiments in the relief army. Another notable commander was the Field Crown Hetman, Marcin Kazanowski. King Władysław IV, a great supporter of the modernization of the Commonwealth army, proved to be a good tactician, and his innovations in the use of artillery and fortifications based on Western ideas greatly contributed to the eventual Polish–Lithuanian success. He had replaced the old arquebusiers with musketeers, and standardized the Commonwealth artillery (introducing 3- to 6-pounder regimental guns), both to great effect.
Commonwealth's cavalry, including the Winged Hussars, significantly restricted Russian mobility, forcing them to stay in their trenches. In a series of fierce engagements, Commonwealth forces gradually overran the Russian field fortifications, and the siege reached its final stages by late September. On 28 September 1633, Commonwealth forces took the main Russian supply points, and by 4 October the siege had broken.
Shein's army retreated to its main camp, which was in turn surrounded by Commonwealth forces in mid-October. The besieged Russians waited for relief, but none arrived, as Commonwealth and Cossack cavalry had been sent to disrupt the Russian rear. Some historians also cite dissent and internal divisions in the Russian camp as responsible for their inaction and ineffectiveness. (Jasienica blames the Russian warlords, and Parker the foreign mercenaries.) The Tatar invasion threatening the south Russian borderlands was a contributory factor, with many soldiers and boyars from those regions deserting the Russian camp to return to protect their homeland. Some foreign mercenaries also deserted to the Commonwealth side.
Shein began surrender negotiations in January 1634, and by February they were in full swing. The Russians finally signed a surrender treaty on 25 February 1634, and on 1 March they vacated their camp. (Some scholars, such as Rickard and Black, give the date of 1 March for Shein's capitulation.) Under the surrender terms, the Russians had to leave behind most of their artillery but were allowed to retain their banners after a ceremony in which they were laid before King Władysław. They also had to promise not to engage Commonwealth forces for the next three months. Shein's forces numbered around 12,000 at the time of their capitulation, but over 4,000, including most of the foreign contingent, immediately decided to defect to the Commonwealth.
### Other engagements
Several other towns and fortresses in the region were the site of smaller battles. Russian forces captured several significant locations during their advance in 1632, but Nagielski speculates that the delay in the arrival of their main force and artillery at Smolensk caused by this dilution of effort may have cost them the siege and consequently the war. In July 1633, the Russians took the towns of Polatsk, Velizh, Usvyat, and Ozerishche. Polatsk was the scene of particularly heavy fighting as the Russians captured the city and part of the fortress. However, attacks on Vitebsk and Mstsislaw were successfully repulsed. Polish forces laid siege to Putivl, but due to the desertion of their Cossack allies they were forced to withdraw.
In the autumn of 1633, Commonwealth forces retook Dorogobuzh, an important Russian supply point after its capture the year before. This setback wrecked Russian plans to send reinforcements to Shein's army, although in any event the Russians did not begin to gather a 5,000-strong army for that purpose until January 1634. Also that autumn, Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski defeated an Ottoman incursion in the south of the Commonwealth, freeing his force to lay siege to the Russian town of Sevsk; although Koniecpolski failed to take the fortress, he tied down large Russian forces, preventing them from moving north towards Smolensk.
After the relief of Smolensk in the spring of 1634, the Commonwealth army moved towards the fortress Belaya. However, the siege of Belaya turned to a fiasco although the king manage to capture Vyazma.
## Treaty of Polyanovka
By the spring of 1634, the Russians had not only lost Shein's army but were threatened by Tatar raids that ravaged southern Russia. Patriarch Filaret had died the previous year, and without him the war fervour lessened. Even before the end of 1633, Tsar Michael of Russia was considering how best to end the conflict. Because he had once been elected Tsar of Russia and could realistically lay claim to the Russian throne, King Władysław wanted to continue the war or, because the Polish-Swedish Treaty of Altmark would soon be expiring, ally with the Russians to strike against Sweden. However, the Sejm wanted no more conflict. As Stanisław Łubieński, the Bishop of Płock, wrote two weeks after Shein's surrender: "Our happiness is in remaining within our borders, guaranteeing health and well-being." With neither side keen on prolonging the war, they began negotiating, not for an armistice but for "eternal peace."
Talks began on 30 April 1634, and the Treaty of Polyanovka was signed in June, putting an end to hostilities. The treaty confirmed the pre-war status quo, with Russia paying a large war indemnity (20,000 rubles in gold), while Władysław agreed to surrender his claim to the Russian throne and return the royal insignia to Moscow. Jasienica notes that from the Russian perspective it was likely that Władysław's abnegation of his claim was more important, in terms of the subsequent increase in internal stability, than the loss of disputed borderland. Despite not winning militarily, the Russians may have scored a diplomatic triumph. Other authors, such as Hellie, support this interpretation.
## Aftermath
Already during the later stages of the war, when the Commonwealth army moved from Smolensk to Bely, a new threat begun to loom on the southern borders, where the Ottoman Empire was massing an invasion force. Thus Władysław began redirecting his reinforcements to that theater. Later that year, the Commonwealth forces under Stanisław Koniecpolski scored a victory in the south, ending a war against the Ottomans.
Both sides introduced new tactics, units and equipment based on Western models, but the Polish–Lithuanian forces proved more adept with these innovations than the Russians. However, the main factors that kept the Russians from winning were the delay in moving siege artillery to Smolensk and the severe disruption of Russian supply lines by Polish cavalry. A scapegoat was nevertheless needed: Mikhail Shein was accused of treason and, together with his second-in-command Artemy Izmaylov and the latter's son Vasily, executed in Moscow on April 28, 1634. Learning from this defeat, the Russians would adopt new and more successful tactics in the Polish–Russian War (1654–1656).
After the war, Władysław gave the Russians the border town of Serpeysk and nearby territories, hoping to persuade the Tsar to join in an anti-Swedish alliance. However, the king was ultimately unable to overcome objections from the Polish–Lithuanian Sejm, who were unwilling to fight Sweden after the Treaty of Sztumska Wieś. The Russians, unable to see benefit in such an alliance, were also unenthusiastic, and the proposed alliance came to nothing.
The war cost the Commonwealth treasury about 4,300,000 zlotys.
The Battle of Smolensk is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw, with the inscription "SMOLENSK 18 X 1632–25 II 1634".
## See also
- Polish–Ottoman War (1633–1634)
- Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) |
205,892 | Tammy Wynette | 1,169,990,198 | American country singer (1942–1998) | [
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| Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a woman's perspective to the male-dominated country music field that helped other women find representation in the genre. Her characteristic vocal delivery has been acclaimed by critics, journalists and writers for conveying unique emotion. Twenty of her singles topped the Billboard country chart during her career. Her signature song "Stand by Your Man" received both acclaim and criticism for its portrayal of women's loyalty towards their husbands.
Wynette was born and raised near Tremont, a small town in Itawamba County, Mississippi, by her mother, stepfather, and maternal grandparents. During childhood, Wynette picked cotton on her family's farm but also had aspirations of becoming a singer. She performed music through her teen years and married Euple Byrd at age 17. With several marital setbacks, Wynette enrolled in cosmetology school and later appeared on a local country music television program. Wynette then divorced and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a country music career in 1965. She soon met her second husband, Don Chapel, and eventually signed with Epic Records. Under the production of Billy Sherrill, her first single, "Apartment No. 9", was released in 1966. In 1967, she had her first commercial success with the single "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad". In the late sixties, Wynette's career rose further with the number one Billboard country singles "I Don't Wanna Play House", "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and the self-penned "Stand by Your Man".
As her career entered the 1970s, Wynette was among country music's most popular artists and regularly topped the charts. During the same time, she met and married fellow country artist George Jones. The pair had a recording career together that resulted in several number one country singles and a successful touring act. However, their relationship was tumultuous and they divorced in 1975. Following their separation Wynette returned as a headlining solo performer. She also continued to have singles regularly make the upper reaches of the country charts into the 1980s. During this time, she also acted on several television shows, including Capitol (1986). Wynette had several more high-profile relationships before marrying her final husband, George Richey, in 1978. Several intestinal health problems led to hospitalizations and addictions to prescription pain killers, the latter of which was said to have led to her death in 1998.
Wynette has sold an estimated 30 million records worldwide. She has received two Grammy Awards, three Country Music Association awards, and two Academy of Country Music Awards. Wynette was also among country music's first female performers to have discs certify gold and platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Her influence as a country music artist led to several inductions into music associations. This includes inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
## Early years
Virginia Wynette Pugh was born in Itawamba County, Mississippi in 1942. The farm where she was born was near the Alabama state line, between Red Bay, Ala., and Tremont, Miss. Wynette later credited both Alabama and Mississippi as her home states. She was the only child born to Mildred Faye Russell and William Hollis Pugh. Russell was a school teacher, while her father was an aspiring musician who played guitar and sang in a group. Her father was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and died when Wynette was only nine months old. Weeks before his death, Wynette's father brought her to the family piano and insisted she learn to play when she became old enough. Following his death, Wynette's mother moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where she worked in a defense plant during World War II. She was left in the care of her grandparents and picked cotton on their Mississippi farm. "I hated every minute I spent picking cotton," she recalled. Her mother's sister Carolyn was raised alongside Wynette and they developed a sister-like bond. She also learned to play the musical instruments that her father left behind.
Wynette referred to her grandparents as "Mama" and "Daddy" while Mildred Russell was simply referred to as "Mother". Most people referred to young Virginia Pugh by her middle name, "Wynette". In 1946, Mildred Russell married Wynette's stepfather, Foy Lee. As a child, Wynette played basketball but was not allowed to wear the shorts provided to the girls' team. Instead, her grandfather had Wynette wear blue jeans. She later made the all-state basketball team in both 1958 and 1959. She also took piano lessons and learned to play by ear. After several lessons, the instructor told her mother she was "wasting her money" because of her natural ability on the instrument. In upper elementary school, Wynette befriended classmate Linda Cayson. The pair became close friends and later realized they could harmonize with one another. Along with another friend, they would form a trio called Wynette, Linda & Imogene. The trio often sang at gospel functions together. A local Methodist minister had both Linda and Wynette sing on his early-morning Saturday radio show on WERH. They also listened to music together, including country artists Ernest Tubb and Hank Williams.
Wynette attended Tremont High School in Tremont, Mississippi. She was considered to be "popular" by high school friends. In 1960, she was voted "Miss Tremont High School" by her classmates. Wynette also smoked cigarettes. She also became fascinated with the opposite sex. "She was into datin' and boys long before we were," recalled friend Holly Ford. However, mother Mildred disapproved of her daughter dating and the pair often argued about it during her teenage years. During this period, Wynette fell in love with fellow church attendee, Billy Cole. Wynette insisted on marrying Cole and attempted to keep it from her mother by mail-ordering eight dollar rings to her high school. However, Wynette's mother discovered her daughter's idea and stopped the courtship. Wynette temporarily moved to Birmingham, Alabama, when she was 17, where her mother and Foy Lee were living at the time. She soon moved back to her grandparents' farm after her mother found her difficult to control.
At age 17, she married Euple Byrd, which caused friction with Wynette's mother. The couple lived temporarily at Euple's family home and then in a small apartment in Tupelo, Mississippi. By this point, Wynette had become pregnant with her first child and was given the opportunity to live rent-free at a home owned by her grandfather. Built in 1844, the home had no running water, heat, or electricity. Friend Linda Cayson helped Wynette nail cardboard boxes to the walls to keep the wind out during the winter months.
In 1963, Euple obtained a job in Red Bay, Alabama, that allowed the family to move to a home with more amenities. To help sustain themselves financially, Wynette convinced her mother to help pay for her to attend Mrs. McGuire's School of Beauty. In the middle of her schooling, Euple found work in Memphis, Tennessee, and the young family moved there. In Memphis, she obtained a job as a barmaid and sang for customers. Both the bar owner and the building's in-house pianist were impressed by Wynette's talents and encouraged a move to Nashville, Tennessee. However, the family soon returned to Tupelo where she finished cosmetology school. After becoming famous, she continued renewing her cosmetology license every year for the rest of her life, in case she ever had to go back to a daily job. Wynette ultimately left her first marriage and moved to Birmingham, Alabama.
## Career
### 1964–1966: Early career in Alabama and the move to Nashville
Wynette moved to Birmingham in 1964 and lived with her paternal grandparents, uncle, and cousins. She discovered that her cosmetology license wouldn't transfer to Alabama, so she enrolled at a beauty college. Her paternal family also encouraged Wynette's musical talents. Her uncle worked for the WBRC television station in Birmingham and helped his niece secure an audition for the Country Boy Eddie country music television show. The show's headliner, Eddie Burns, was impressed and agreed to have her on the program. On her first show, she sang a cover of Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams" while the camera pointed above her waist to avoid showing Wynette's pregnant body. Wynette performed on the program from six to eight o'clock each morning before going to school, then went to work at the Midfield Beauty Salon. She received 45 dollars per week. She befriended the show's pianist, David Vest, who helped record demos. The pair often performed together, playing piano bars in the Birmingham area.
Wynette started visiting a local radio station called WYAM and met disc jockey Fred Lehner. She accompanied Lehner on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, which inspired her to pursue a country music career. Meanwhile, Euple Byrd continued returning to Birmingham. Not officially divorced, the couple agreed to give their marriage one final chance and they lived in a Birmingham housing project near the steel industry. Byrd secured a new job but did not return to their residence, according to Wynette. She decided to make the move to Nashville in January 1966 with her three children and all their belongings in their car.
After she arrived in Nashville, Wynette moved into the Anchor Motel while she attempted to secure a recording contract. She met her future husband, musician Don Chapel, at the motel. They eventually moved into an East Nashville apartment and put together a road show. For several months the pair performed in several states, including Georgia and Pennsylvania. Chapel attempted to help Wynette secure a country recording contract with the Musicor, Hickory, Kapp, and Decca labels, but Wynette was turned down by every company. Nashville producer Kelso Herston helped her arrange a meeting with new Epic Records producer Billy Sherrill. Wynette went into Sherrill's office and pitched him several songs. Sherrill was impressed by her voice and signed her to a recording contract with Epic in 1966.
On her first recording session, Wynette cut Bobby Austin's "Apartment No. 9". At that point Sherrill changed her stage name from Wynette Byrd to Tammy Wynette. "You look like a Tammy to Me," Sherrill told her in reference to the film Tammy and the Bachelor. "Apartment No. 9" was released as Wynette's debut single and reached number 44 on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Although she had a charting single, Wynette still had little income. Sherrill arranged for booking agent Hubert Long to set up tour dates for her. Most promoters did not want to book Wynette because she was a female performer. "I had begun to realize I was working in a man's world, and most of them looked down on women in the business," she later explained.
### 1967–1975: Breakthrough, "Stand by Your Man" and recordings with George Jones
In 1967, Epic released "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad". It climbed to number three on the Billboard country singles chart and was Wynette's first chart success. Her debut album of the same name was also released in 1967 and reached number seven on the Billboard Country LPs chart. They were followed by a duet with David Houston called "My Elusive Dreams", which was her first number one country single. Its follow-up was the solo single "I Don't Wanna Play House" which topped the Billboard country chart in 1967. It later won Wynette the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Her next singles topped the country charts through 1968: "Take Me to Your World" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E". The latter was her second to make the Billboard Hot 100 and also her first to top Canada's RPM country chart. The recordings appeared on Wynette's third studio disc, Take Me to Your World / I Don't Wanna Play House, which reached number three on the Country LPs chart in 1968.
Wynette started touring amidst her newfound success. She was joined by second husband, Don Chapel, and a band called the Countrypolitans. The group featured a drummer, steel guitarist, guitar player, bass player, and background singer. Wynette herself played acoustic guitar on occasion. She toured for the first time internationally in late 1967 to Germany and the United Kingdom. She also did several package dates with Chapel, David Houston, and George Jones. Wynette and Jones began performing "My Elusive Dreams" on the road following an argument with Houston's management. Upon realizing their romantic feelings for one another, Wynette divorced Chapel and married Jones in 1969.
During this time, Wynette went into the studio to record the single "Stand by Your Man". Reportedly written by Wynette and Billy Sherrill in 15 minutes, the song's emphasis on women standing by their husbands made her a spokeswoman for the working class housewife. It also received criticism from the feminist movement who found it too conservative. "Stand by Your Man" topped the Billboard and RPM country charts, reached number 19 on the Hot 100 and later topped the charts in the United Kingdom. A corresponding LP of the same name reached number two on the Billboard country albums chart.
In the wake of "Stand by Your Man", Wynette received a series of accolades. In 1969, she joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry and won her second Grammy award. She also won the 1969 Top Female Vocalist accolade from the Academy of Country Music and three back-to-back honors for Female Vocalist of the Year from the Country Music Association (1968, 1969 and 1970). Her 1969 compilation, Tammy's Greatest Hits, was among the first female country albums to certify gold (and later platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America. Critics had also taken notice of her music. Greg Adams of AllMusic described the Stand by Your Man LP as "consistent" and gave it five stars. Writer Kurt Wolff found her material "from the mid-60's onward" created "a solid female perspective on country radio that the listening public badly craved." Meanwhile, rock critic Robert Christgau found Wynette's "sultry" delivery to have "archetypal power".
Wynette was among country music's most commercially successful and popular artists. She followed it with ten more singles that topped the Billboard country chart: "Singing My Song" (1969), "The Ways to Love a Man" (1969), "He Loves Me All the Way" (1970), "Run Woman Run" (1970), "Good Lovin' (Makes It Right)" (1971), "Bedtime Story" (1971), "My Man (Understands)" (1972), "'Til I Get It Right" (1972), "Kids Say the Darndest Things" (1973), and "Another Lonely Song" (1973). Most of these songs followed similar themes about housewives attempting to keep their husbands happy or the effects that troubled marriages have on children. Additionally, Epic Records released a series of studio albums by Wynette during this period. Between 1969 and 1970 alone, Epic released six original albums. This included the 1969 gospel LP, Inspiration, and the 1970 holiday LP, Christmas with Tammy. Additional album projects featured her number one and top ten singles of the period. Of these LPs, Tammy's Touch (1970) topped the Billboard country albums chart. The Ways to Love a Man (1970), The First Lady (1971) and My Man (1972) reached the Billboard country top five.
Jones and Wynette had been wanting to record together since they married. Although they started touring together in 1969, they could not record together until 1971, when Jones was released from his previous contract. Their first single was a remake of Jones's solo release, "Take Me". In 1971, it climbed to number nine on the Billboard country chart and number 12 on the RPM country chart. Their first studio LP, We Go Together (1971), reached the top five of the Billboard country albums chart. Their 1972 single, "The Ceremony", was also a top ten single in the United States and Canada. Altogether, Epic label issued seven studio albums of Jones and Wynette duets. The pair were considered among country music's most successful and well-known duet partnerships. Touring as a packaged duo, they were often referred to as the "President and First Lady". Their tour bus was labeled "Mr. and Mrs. Country Music".
However, their marriage had several challenges which made their day-to-day life difficult, such as Jones's alcoholism. Jones often missed shows after drinking too much, which increased Wynette's growing frustration with their relationship. The couple's marital problems prompted her to file for divorce in 1973, but the pair reconciled. Shortly afterwards, they recorded the autobiographical single, "We're Gonna Hold On". It became their first song to top the Billboard country chart. An album of the same name charted at number three on the Country LPs list. It was followed by the top ten single "We Loved It Away" in 1974. After a fight between the couple, Wynette filed for divorce again. This time however, the pair went through with it and they officially split in 1975. Despite their divorce, they were coaxed back into the studio once more to record the album Golden Ring. Its title track became the duo's second Billboard number one country single, while also reaching number five in Canada in 1976.
### 1976–1984: Solo return with "'Til I Can Make It on My Own" and continued success
Despite her divorce from George Jones, Wynette had to continue her career. However, she had anxiety about doing so. Fans would shout, "Where's George?" during most early performances following their split. "Even though I'd been on stage for eight years, I didn't know how to communicate with the people," she recalled. Previously a packaged act with Jones, Wynette created her own stage show for the first time. She hired the Gatlin Brothers (Larry Gatlin and his brothers Rudy and Steve) to be her road band. She also hired several women as part of her road crew. Wynette included up-tempo gospel songs to energize the audience along with slow ballads that were "extraordinarily intimate," according to writers Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann.
In 1976, she returned to the top of American and Canadian country songs charts with "'Til I Can Make It on My Own". It was her first Billboard chart-topper as a solo artist in almost three years. The song was co-written by Wynette and reflected her life following the divorce. According to Wynette, it was her favorite song she recorded in her career. Her album of the same name reached number three on the Billboard country LPs chart. "'Til I Can Make It on My Own" was nominated for Song of the Year by the Country Music Association, while Wynette herself was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year. Her next release, "You and Me", also topped the Billboard country chart, while a corresponding studio LP reached the country albums top five. A duet with Jones recorded the year before, "Near You", also topped the North American country charts in 1976.
Several incidents in Wynette's personal life also occurred during this period. These incidents included several short-term relationships, house burglaries, and alleged kidnappings. She also developed health problems that led to a dependence on pain killers. Yet, her commercial success continued. Although none of her solo singles topped the charts, she continued reaching the top ten. Both "(Let's Get Together) One Last Time" and "One of a Kind" reached number six on the Billboard country chart in 1977. Through 1979, Wynette had three more solo releases reach the Billboard and RPM top ten: "Womanhood", "They Call It Making Love" and "No One Else in the World".
Critics and writers highlighted Wynette's music of this period. Bufwack and Oermann observed that her late 1970s singles "took a candid look at modern sexuality". AllMusic's Thom Jurek found 1977's One of a Kind LP to evoke the performances of a "true diva" and "country music's reigning queen". Meanwhile, critic Eugene Chadbourne (also of AllMusic) found the musical quality of 1978's Womanhood to be mediocre and gave it two-and-a-half stars.
As the 1980s progressed, Wynette continued having commercial success but with less frequency. In 1980, she reunited with George Jones for the duet single "Two Story House". It reached number two on the Billboard country chart and number one on the RPM country chart. However, it also proved to be her final American top five single. The pair also reunited for several shows including a performance at Wembley Stadium and an HBO special. In 1980, Wynette told Billy Sherrill that she was ready to work with a new record producer. "She needed fresh blood, fresh ideas," Sherrill commented in 2010. The final Sherrill-produced album was 1980's Only Lonely Sometimes. Both singles from the LP ("He Was There (When I Needed You)" and "Starting Over") reached number 17 on the Billboard country chart.
Several years prior, Wynette married for the fifth (and final) time to George Richey. The pair previously wrote songs together, but after marrying, he became her full-time manager. Besides business affairs, he also produced several of her albums. Following the Chips Moman-produced You Brought Me Back (1981), Richey produced Wynette's 1982 LP, Soft Touch. The album spawned "Another Chance", which became her first top ten single in several years. Additional early 1980s singles made the country top 20: "Crying in the Rain" (1981), "You Still Get to Me in My Dreams" (1982), and "A Good Night's Love" (1983). Wynette's record sales began to wane following 1982. Both the albums Good Love & Heartbreak (1982) and Even the Strong Get Lonely (1983) reached only the Billboard country top 60. Wynette's singles also reached progressively lower chart positions following 1982. This included "Still in the Ring" and a cover of John Prine's "Unwed Fathers".
### 1985–1998: Commercial comeback, collaborations and final years
Around 1985, Wynette made changes to her declining career. She hired California-based Stan Moress to serve as her manager. Moress had Wynette cut her hair, change her wardrobe, and incorporate choreography into her shows. Steve Buckingham also started producing Wynette's next album, which was to feature a duet. Although she wanted to collaborate with Merle Haggard, she was instead paired with Mark Gray. Gray had left Exile before that band's shift from pop to country, and was beginning a solo country music career of his own at the time. Their result was a cover of the pop song "Sometimes When We Touch". Wynette and Gray's rendition peaked at number six on the Billboard country chart in 1985. It became her first top ten recording in four years. The Buckingham collaboration resulted in Wynette's 1985 album of the same name, which charted at number 32 on the Billboard country LPs survey. Amidst a commercial comeback, Wynette also faced several setbacks. In late 1986, Wynette entered the Betty Ford Center to treat her addiction to prescription drugs. Two years later, Wynette and her husband declared bankruptcy following several failed investments.
Wynette's longtime label released her next album titled Higher Ground in 1987. The second Buckingham-produced project, he described it as "a more rural, more back-home" album. It featured collaborations with Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, The O'Kanes, Gene Watson, and Larry Gatlin. Bufwack and Oermann called it a "landmark LP", while AllMusic gave it a four-star rating. Despite positive reviews, Higher Ground only peaked at number 43 on the Billboard country chart. Its singles proved more commercially successful. In 1987, "Your Love" reached the American and Canadian country songs top 20, while "Talkin' to Myself Again" reached number 16 on the former. Following Higher Ground, Buckingham told Sony Music executives that it was becoming difficult to think of new album concepts for Wynette. This resulted in a temporary end to their professional partnership. Instead, she was paired with producer Norro Wilson for 1989's Next to You and Bob Montgomery for 1990's Heart Over Mind. Singles spawned from both albums reached positions outside the Billboard and RPM country top 40.
As Wynette's career entered the 1990s, several new team members were hired to manage her business affairs. These included Epic vice president Mark Martinovich, who had to convince the Nashville establishment that Wynette was still marketable. Martinovich had her perform in more diverse settings, including The Bottom Line venue in Greenwich Village. Other new ventures included Wynette recording with British group the KLF. In 1991, they collaborated on the song, "Justified and Ancient (Stand by the JAMs)". KLF member Bill Drummond was a fan of Wynette's and personally called to ask her permission to record the track. Wynette accepted and Drummond helped produce it. Although she had difficulty singing in-time to the track, the song was pieced together by studio engineers when Drummond returned to England. The dance-pop song centering around an imaginary setting called "Mu Mu Land" was considered a departure from Wynette's previous recordings in terms of song choice and production. It became a chart success. By 1992, the single was being routinely played on MTV and reached number one in 18 countries.
In 1993, Wynette joined with Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton to record the studio album Honky Tonk Angels. Parton herself explained that she wanted to make the project "before one of us goes". Consisting of classic country recordings performed in three-part harmonies, the album reunited Wynette with Steve Buckingham. Several selections on the project were penned by the trio, including one composed by Wynette herself. Honky Tonk Angels reached number six on the Billboard country albums chart and number 42 on the Billboard 200. It was Wynette's first top ten Billboard album in 18 years and her first album in 22 years to certify gold in the United States. AllMusic's Kelly McCartney called it "a fun listen" while the Songwriters Hall of Fame described it as a "landmark album".
In 1994, Wynette released a studio album of duets titled Without Walls. It featured collaborations with notable artists of the era including Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, and Sting. Its first single was a duet with Wynonna Judd titled "Girl Thang", which was among Wynette's final charting singles. Although it did not chart in North America, Without Walls did reach number eight on the ARIA charts in Australia. The project received mixed reviews. BBC called it a "respect-laden series of duets", while biographer Jimmy McDonough called it "cringe-worthy". Health problems continued to affect Wynette into the 1990s as her dependence on prescription drugs increased. She often missed concerts because she was too ill to perform. In the mid-1990s, Wynette was hospitalized with a severe bile duct infection that nearly led to her death. Wynette was visited by George Jones during her recovery, who encouraged her to record another album with him. The result was 1995's One. Released on MCA Records, the album reached number 12 on the Billboard country chart. It was followed by a high-profile duet tour featuring Jones and Wynette as headliners.
In 1995, Wynette was dropped by her long-time label, Epic Records. Despite this, she continued to be a popular concert attraction until her death. During this period, she re-made the Beach Boys's "In My Room" with Brian Wilson. The song proved to be her final recording. Wynette's final concerts and television performances were held in March 1998.
## Other works
Other works by Wynette have also appeared outside of music. In 1979, she published a book about her life with author Joan Dew. Released by Simon & Schuster, it was titled Stand by Your Man: An Autobiography. Dew toured with Wynette in the 1970s and wrote down what Wynette told her verbatim.
Wynette's career also took shape through film and television. In 1981, CBS aired a television film about her life, also called Stand by Your Man. Directed by Jerry Jameson, the film featured Annette O'Toole as Wynette while George Jones was portrayed by Tim McIntire. Both actors did their own singing for the roles. It was reviewed unfavorably by newspaper critics. The New York Times commented, "The rags-to-riches sagas, presumably meant to be inspiring, tend to get trapped under a cloud of dreariness," wrote John O'Connor. "Suspicious viewers may legitimately conclude that the whole Tammy Wynette story has yet to be told." Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote, "It seems to capitalize on the creative achievement and financial success of the Loretta Lynn film bio, 'Coal Miner's Daughter.' Unfortunately, television will be television, and the results are lackluster and somewhat misleading."
In 1986, Wynette joined the cast of the CBS soap opera Capitol, playing the role of a hair stylist-turned-singer, Darlene Stankowski. It was her first major acting role. In 1987, BBC released a documentary about her life called Stand by Your Dream. A film crew followed Wynette while on the road and at home with her husband. The documentary was directed by Rosemary Bowen-Jones, who commented on it years later: "When you're someone like that, you've kind of rehearsed your life." Throughout her life, Wynette enjoyed cooking, and repeatedly cooked pinto beans on a range on her tour bus. This would inspire her to compile her 1990 cookbook Tammy Wynette's Southern Cookbook, issued by the Pelican Publishing Company. The book featured southern American-inspired recipes used routinely in Wynette's family.
In the nineties, Wynette received more exposure on television. In 1994, she guest-starred on Burt Reynolds's CBS television program Evening Shade. Fellow country artist K. T. Oslin also appeared on the show. She made a cameo on the sitcom Married... with Children in 1996. Wynette later voiced a role for the animated television show King of the Hill. She portrayed Hank Hill's mother between 1997 and 1998.
Further works about her were released posthumously. Among them were three books that appeared in the years following her death. The first was written by Wynette's daughter, Jaclyn Daly, titled Tammy Wynette: A Daughter Recalls Her Mother's Tragic Life and Death. Daly collaborated on the book with country music biographer Tom Carter. The second was written by Jimmy McDonough and titled Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen. The book offered a detailed account of both Wynette's life and career told through his own words and interviews he gave of those close to Wynette. A second was published by Wynette's fourth child, Georgette Jones, and was titled The Three of Us. The book was focused on Georgette's own account of being Wynette's daughter and living her life with her father, George Jones. A limited series that will focus on Wynette and Jones's marriage began production in mid-2022. Titled George and Tammy, it features Jessica Chastain in the role of Wynette and Michael Shannon as Jones. The series is based on Georgette Jones's memoir and aired its first of six weekly episodes on Showtime December 4, 2022.
## Death
Wynette was plagued by health problems throughout her life. Her health declined even more in the final years of her life and she began to look more frail. Nashville writer Alanna Nash recalled watching one of Wynette's final music videos and remembered her physical condition: "Tammy looked ancient, like a plant that had withered up about to die. I thought, 'this woman is dying – why isn't somebody doing something?'" Wynette died on April 6, 1998, while sleeping at her Nashville, Tennessee, home. She was 55 years old. Husband George Richey and Wynette were sleeping all day on adjacent living room couches when he discovered that evening that she was dead. Her death was certified by her doctor, Wallis Marsh, who flew from Pennsylvania to make it official. He stated in his original report that Wynette died from a blood clot in her lung.
In the days following her death, performers and other industry insiders reacted to her death. "She'll always be dear to me. She'll always be special. She'll always live in our memories," said Dolly Parton. "Tammy Wynette was an American original, and we will miss her," said Bill and Hillary Clinton. "We once made a record called One of a Kind," commented producer Billy Sherrill. "There are no more words. The words have all been said," he added.
A public memorial service, attended by about 1,500 people, was held at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on April 9, 1998. The service was televised live by cable networks CNN and The Nashville Network. Parton gave remarks and performed a specially written song, closing her performance with a chorus from "I Will Always Love You." Country stars Wynonna Judd and Lorrie Morgan also performed while Merle Haggard offered his performance through a prerecorded video. Eulogies were given by other notable country artists, including Naomi Judd. A private, graveside service had been held earlier with a crypt entombment at Nashville's Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
According to her daughters, a will written by Wynette years prior had provided a trust. The specifics of the trust included money to be given to her four daughters over a period of time. The yellow legal pad which included this information (written by Wynette herself) was missing in the days following her death. Instead, Wynette's daughters were denied their inheritance of their mother's will by George Richey. Executive decisions were instead given to Richey and his brother, Carl Richardson. Richey received a one million dollar estate policy, along with an additional 1.4 million dollars on his own insurance policy. According to daughter Jackie, Richey was "evasive" when asked about the daughters' own payouts. Surprised by the will, Wynette's daughters began to question their mother's death.
Further detective work was conducted by local television reporter Jennifer Kraus. She discovered that a local company called Care Solutions Inc. had been delivering prescription drugs to Wynette's home through 1998. In April 1999, Wynette's daughters filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her doctor, Wallis Marsh, Care Solutions, and George Richey. The sisters claimed they were responsible for the country star's demise. Furthermore, they claimed that Richey refused to take advice from Dr. Marsh. According to Dr. Marsh, he had told Richey to take Wynette to a hospital in the days leading up to her death. In 1999, Wynette's body was exhumed and an autopsy was given. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy declared Wynette died from cardiac arrhythmia. The autopsy also revealed that Wynette had several powerful drugs in her system at the time of her death including Versed and Phenergan. Jackie Daly noted that her mother was regularly taking these drugs at the time of her death. Wynette used syringes and was later fitted with a permanent catheter into her side that allowed drugs to directly enter her bloodstream. The catheter was also used for Wynette to inject food because of her intestinal issues.
Richey was later dropped as a defendant from the suit, a court dismissed the claims against Care Solutions, and the remaining parties reached a confidential settlement with the doctor. Wynette's remains were re-interred in the Woodlawn Cross Mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee. In March 2012, the name on Wynette's tomb was changed from "Tammy Wynette" to "Virginia W. Richardson", her legal married name at the time of her death. Wynette's daughters were angered by the name change. Through Facebook, they launched a petition to urge fans to help change the name of her tomb back to "Tammy Wynette". More than 3,000 fans voted in support of the petition. In March 2014, the name on the tomb was changed back through a court order.
## Personal life
### First marriage
Wynette married Euple Byrd (who was five years her senior) when she was 17, one month before her high-school graduation. She originally intended to marry his brother, D.C., but the relationship ended when he remarried his first wife. Wynette was not yet of legal age so her mother would be required to sign the marriage paperwork, but she refused and instead forced her daughter to leave the family home; her grandfather signed the papers that legalized their marriage. Byrd and Wynette fought throughout their relationship. Many of their marital conflicts stemmed from Byrd being unable to hold down a steady job. After becoming pregnant again, Wynette asked Euple to leave but he kept returning. After one argument, Wynette suffered a "nervous breakdown", according to biographer Jimmy McDonough, and her family took her to a psychiatric hospital. Doctors diagnosed her with depression and gave her 12 rounds of electric shock treatment.
Upon returning from the hospital, she still insisted on filing for divorce. However, her mother disapproved and Wynette secretly moved with her children to Birmingham, Alabama. While in Birmingham, Byrd returned and Wynette agreed to give their marriage one more chance. However, their problems continued and they eventually divorced in 1965. In one of their final encounters, Wynette told Byrd her ambitions of becoming a country performer. He then replied, "Dream on baby, dream on." A decade later, Byrd appeared at one of her concerts. When he asked for her autograph, she signed it, "Dream on, baby. Love, Tammy". Wynette and Byrd would later see each other at family functions when he began attempting to re-establish his relationship with their three daughters. In 1996, Byrd was killed in a car crash.
### Second marriage
Wynette met her second husband, Don Chapel, upon moving to Nashville in 1965. Chapel was a front desk attendant at the Red Anchor Motel in Nashville where Wynette was staying. The pair developed a romantic relationship through their day-to-day interactions at the motel. Chapel was also an aspiring songwriter and musician. He would later write several popular country songs, including one made commercially successful by George Jones titled "When the Grass Grows Over Me". The couple did not marry until 1967, and their courtship was brief. Her growing affection for George Jones would lead to the couple's divorce in 1968. Wynette later claimed in her autobiography that Chapel had taken and traded nude photographs of her to other male colleagues. Chapel denied the allegations and later filed a lawsuit against her for \$37 million. The couple had no children and Chapel died in 2015.
### Third marriage to George Jones
Wynette first met George Jones while on tour with him in the late sixties. Jones was also friendly with her second husband, Don Chapel, and the three often spent time together. According to Wynette, Jones helped her one evening when one of her children was hospitalized with food poisoning. The following day, Jones stopped by Chapel and Wynette's home. Chapel was irritated with Wynette because she would not stop playing Jones's music on their record player. Chapel then began directing derogatory words and profanity at her. Angered by Chapel's conduct, Jones overturned the couple's dining room table. Jones and Wynette then proceeded to confess their love for each other to Chapel. Immediately after the incident, Jones escorted Wynette and her three daughters out of the Chapel home. They never returned.
After leaving Chapel, they flew to Mexico to get a quick divorce. However, her marriage to Chapel was later annulled because she remarried quickly after her first marriage to Euple Byrd. Jones and Wynette officially wed on February 16, 1969, in Ringgold, Georgia. The couple then proceeded to move into a 6,000-square-foot (560 m<sup>2</sup>) plantation home in Lakeland, Florida. They later built a performance venue on the property, which they titled "Old Plantation Music Park".
Jones and Wynette's marriage was tumultuous. A major factor that affected their relationship was Jones's alcoholism. When he drank, he became difficult to control. This led to Wynette becoming angry with Jones's behavior. For a short period, Jones stopped drinking but then relapsed. In an effort for Jones to retain sobriety, they moved from Lakeland back to Nashville in 1972. However, Jones relapsed again, which caused further friction in their marriage. Wynette also attempted to stop his drinking herself. To stop Jones from driving under the influence, Wynette began hiding his car keys. On one day, Jones could not find where Wynette had hid his keys. As a result, he took the keys to their riding lawnmower and successfully rode it into town and back to purchase alcohol.
In a separate incident, Wynette claimed in her autobiography that Jones had chased her through their home with a loaded rifle. Jones later denied this in his own autobiography. Wynette filed for divorce in 1973, but the couple ultimately reconciled. By this point, they had moved to a larger home, also located in Nashville. However, their problems continued. Jones would often disappear for days at a time. In one attempt to locate him, Wynette drove her children and two friends down to Florida but were unsuccessful in their search. After a recording session between the couple in late 1974, Jones disappeared again. Disappointed and upset, Wynette filed for divorce for a second time. It was finalized on January 8, 1975. After the divorce became public, Wynette told the press, "George is one of those people that can't tolerate happiness. If everything is right, there's something in him that makes him destroy it."
Wynette and Jones's relationship was portrayed in the 2022 miniseries George & Tammy, starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon. The miniseries was created by Abe Sylvia based upon the memoir of the couple's daughter, Georgette, and directed by John Hillcoat. It was released on Showtime, CMT and the Paramount Network.
### Short-term relationships and fourth marriage
Following her divorce from George Jones, Wynette was romantically linked to several people. She was briefly involved with Rudy Gatlin, a brother of Larry Gatlin and then-member of her touring band. According to Joan Dew, Larry did not approve of the relationship. Additionally, the couple received negative publicity after a fire was mysteriously started at Wynette's home. Rumors circulated that Rudy had started the fire. Amidst the publicity, their relationship ended. Wynette also dated actor Burt Reynolds during this period. The pair met while performing on a television show hosted by country artist Jerry Reed. Their relationship was temporarily kept secret but was eventually revealed by the press in 1977. The couple spent time in Florida, where Wynette owned a home. During one evening, Reynolds was taking a bath at her home when she found him unconscious. She was able to pull Reynolds out before he drowned. He was later diagnosed with having low blood sugar. Knowing that Reynolds was not ready to commit to a relationship, Wynette chose to end their romance. However, they remained friends until Wynette's death in 1998.
Wynette then met real estate developer Michael Tomlin through her friend Nan Crofton. It was a brief courtship, as they married only weeks after meeting. The couple wed on July 18, 1976, at her Nashville home. Tomlin was known for renting private jets, drinking Dom Pérignon, and driving a Mercedes Benz. It has since been claimed by several of Wynette's friends that Tomlin was not truthful about his life. "It was all a facade. The furniture in his office was rented," remembered Joan Dew. Following the couple's honeymoon in Hawaii, Wynette claimed that Tomlin spent a lot of money and attempted to fire a gun on the beach, which scared her children. The marriage was annulled six weeks following their wedding.
### Final marriage to George Richey
On July 6, 1978, Wynette married her fifth husband, George Richey. Richey had previously been a songwriter, music publisher, and record producer. Many of the songs Richey wrote had been recorded by George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Wynette herself. The two already had a professional relationship but a series of events in Wynette's personal life changed their relationship. This included several instances when Richey visited Wynette while she was recovering from illnesses at the hospital. After a recording session one evening, Richey professed his love for Wynette. The pair then married. Richey then became his wife's full-time manager. Among his first moves as manager was to fire several of Wynette's female road crew members. "I cannot start a life with and build a relationship with Tammy and her girls when I'm livin' in a female dormitory," he told a female coworker. He also took control of her finances.
Wynette's marriage to Richey caused friction between her loved ones. According to Wynette's youngest daughter, Georgette Jones, Richey attempted to keep his wife away from her close friends. Georgette also claimed to have been estranged from her biological father (George Jones) because Richey did not want her to see him. Older daughter, Jackie Daly, claimed that Richey had helped to "enable" her mother's drug addiction. Singer Lorrie Morgan believed that Richey was only interested in his new wife's money and earnings. George Jones commented, "I believe a lot of things went on that shouldn't have went on. Let me put it that way." Wynette told the press that she loved Richey, while family and friends claimed that she regretted her decision to marry him. "It was an emotionally abusive relationship," reported Georgette Jones. Nonetheless, the couple remained together until her death in 1998. Richey married Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Sheila Slaughter in 2001. Richey died in 2010 at the age of 74.
### Children
Wynette gave birth to four daughters. Three of her children were from her first marriage to Euple Byrd. Their first child, Gwendolyn Lee, was born on April 14, 1961. Their second, Jaclyn Faye, was born on August 21, 1962. Her third, Tina Denise, was born on March 27, 1965, which was three months early and she weighed only two pounds three ounces (990 g). Four months later, she was diagnosed with spinal meningitis and kept in isolation at a hospital for 17 days. Wynette borrowed several thousand dollars from her uncle to afford the hospital bills. Tina eventually made a full recovery. In 1975, Tina would record an album with her mother and stepfather titled George & Tammy & Tina.
In October 1970, Wynette had her fourth daughter, Tamala Georgette Jones, her only child from her relationship with George Jones. Georgette would eventually create her own music career as an adult. She has since recorded five albums and toured internationally as a country artist. Since their mother's death, Jaclyn and Georgette have worked to keep the legacy of their mother alive. Both daughters wrote memoirs about their mother following her death. The first was penned by Jaclyn Daly in 2000, titled Tammy Wynette: A Daughter Recalls Her Mother's Tragic Life and Death. Georgette would also publish a memoir of her childhood with Wynette and her father in 2011, titled The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George.
### Controversies
A series of incidents occurred over the course of Wynette's personal life that were considered controversial. Among the most well-known was an incident in which Wynette claimed to have been kidnapped. On October 4, 1978, Wynette went shopping at Green Hills Shopping Center (now The Mall at Green Hills) in Nashville. Upon returning to her unlocked car, Wynette claimed a man was in the backseat with a gun. She was then released 80 miles away in Giles County, Tennessee, and claimed to have been suffering from neck injuries. She sought help from a local resident who brought her a cold wet rag and called Wynette's family. Richey appeared at the scene to retrieve her.
After the alleged kidnapping, more incidents occurred that were said to have been linked to the same event. Several days later, Wynette's youngest daughter (Georgette) was nearly abducted from school. Wynette then appeared in Columbia, South Carolina, to give a concert. Following the show, Wynette received a crumpled-up note backstage that said, "I'm still around, I'll get you." An FBI investigation occurred following these incidents that proved inconclusive and no arrests were ever made. Several rumors then began circulating about the alleged kidnapping. One rumor centered around ex-husband George Jones attempting to plot revenge on his ex-wife. Another rumor centered around Wynette using the kidnapping to cover up infidelity to Richey. Both Jackie Daly and Georgette Jones claimed the kidnapping was staged in an attempt to cover up being beaten by Richey.
During the late 1970s, a series of burglaries and break-ins occurred at Wynette's Nashville residence. One night while she was sleeping, Wynette woke to a fire. She attempted to call the police, but her phone lines were cut. A total of three rooms were destroyed from the incident. Police never discovered who had started the fire, despite giving several people lie detector tests. Once again, no arrests were ever made.
In 1992, 24 years after it topped the country chart, Wynette's signature song ("Stand by Your Man") became the subject of political debate. When asked during a 60 Minutes interview about her marriage to then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton (who had been accused of infidelity), Hillary Clinton said, "I'm not sitting here as some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette". The end of this quotation has also appeared as "some little woman, standing by my man and baking cookies, like Tammy Wynette." However, the reference to cookie-baking more likely comes from an unrelated remark by Hillary Clinton: "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life." The remark received widespread media and press attention. Wynette wrote to Clinton, saying, "With all that is in me, I resent your caustic remark. I believe you have offended every true country-music fan and every person who has made it on their own with no one to take them to the White House." Hillary then remarked to the press that she had no intention of speaking negatively about Wynette and that she enjoyed Wynette's music. She then personally called Wynette and apologized to her.
### Health problems and drug addiction
In 1970, Wynette underwent a hysterectomy following the birth of her fourth daughter. This procedure started a series of health issues that affected Wynette for the rest of her life. Following the hysterectomy, Wynette developed an infection that resulted in a continual build-up of scar tissue (also known as adhesions). The infection and hysterectomy resulted in lifelong problems with her gall bladder. The pain was so severe that Wynette started taking pain killer medication to alleviate her symptoms.
Beginning in the early seventies, she started taking Valium and regularly used it on the road before concerts. However, her adhesions continued and Wynette had a series of operations to stop them from forming. She then was being prescribed more painkillers, which caused a drug addiction starting in the seventies. Along with Valium, Wynette also was prescribed Demerol to alleviate her stomach cramps and in time began taking the drug when she was not in pain. When Demerol pills became ineffective in warding off symptoms of withdrawal, she resorted to taking Demerol by injection. Members of her road crew administered some of these injections after one of Wynette's doctors trained them how to do so. Wynette's doctors soon realized that she had grown addicted to the medication they had prescribed and ceased giving prescriptions. In turn, Wynette found other physicians in various locations around the United States who would unwittingly give her the same prescriptions. Some nights on the road, Wynette scheduled overnight stops of the tour bus at hospitals, where she could acquire yet more pain killers. During this period, Wynette also underwent surgeries to remove nodules on her vocal cords and a surgery for a kidney problem.
Wynette's drug problem became public for the first time in November 1986 when she announced she would enter the Betty Ford Center for treatment. Her public appearances were then canceled until the start of 1987. Three weeks into the six-week treatment program, Wynette began having stomach pain following an afternoon meal. She was then hospitalized for an intestinal blockage. The blockage revealed that previous surgeries had caused a narrowing of the area where food left her stomach. She then had an eight-hour operation where she said 25 percent of her stomach was removed. She was then put back on the same drugs to alleviate the pain, which reinstated her addiction to painkillers.
Wynette continued abusing painkillers into the nineties. During this time, she started taking Dilaudid for pain. Wynette often carried the drug in her purse. In 1993, she entered the hospital after developing a bile duct infection. She was in critical condition because of the infection's severity. Her blood pressure dropped and she was in a coma for several days. She later made a full recovery. In the final years of her life, Wynette was often given oxygen and IV treatments to alleviate further medical problems she developed. All the while, she continued to abuse drugs and was routinely being injected with pain medication until the end of her life.
## Artistry
### Musical styles
Wynette was marketed as a country artist throughout her career and considered the genre to be the roots of her musical style. While Billy Sherrill served as her producer, he imparted his style of Nashville sound, also called "countrypolitan", a style of country characterized by heavy use of string sections and backing vocals. Jon Pareles of The New York Times called her "the standard-bearer of an elaborately orchestrated Nashville sound." Marcus K. Dowling of CMT commented that "the birth of the blend of blue-collar roots and countrypolitan flair that defined four decades of female country stars can be associated with Wynette." She also released music in country's sub-genres honky tonk and country pop.
Wynette's signature recording, "Stand by Your Man", was often considered to be about women remaining faithful to their husbands through difficult times. Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann stated that the song "typecast Tammy as the long-suffering housewife, forlornly putting up with abuse for the sake of love." Jon Pareles wrote in 1998 that it "established Ms. Wynette in the role of a long-suffering but determinedly loyal wife, holding the family together even when her husband strayed."
The song and its concept drew criticism as well, including from the women's liberation movement who were gaining political traction when the single was released in 1968. Many feminists criticized it for influencing housewives to view themselves as subservient to their husbands. Sherrill explained to The Wall Street Journal his reasons for composing it: "I reworked the lyrics so the story came from the perspective of a woman singing to another woman—as if she were giving advice to a friend who was a little unsure about how to hold on to her man." "All I wanted to say in the song was, 'Be understanding. Be supportive'", Wynette herself later commented.
The song helped develop a sound and style that made her commercially successful in the next several years following "Stand by Your Man". Number one singles such as "Singing My Song", "I'll See Him Through", "The Ways to Love a Man", and "He Loves Me All the Way" followed similar themes about housewives staying faithful to their husbands. While she was often stereotyped for only recording songs about housewives, her song choices reflected various feminine perspectives. The 1967 single "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" warned a husband that his wife will start behaving like the rowdy women he interacts with at the bar. In the 1982 single "Another Chance", a woman chooses not to take her partner back after reassessing her life as a single woman. In her 1983 single "Unwed Fathers", Wynette described the scrutiny and societal backlash faced by teenage mothers.
Wynette was also a songwriter and wrote many of her most popular recordings. She co-wrote "Stand by Your Man", along with the number one singles "Singing My Song", "The Ways to Love a Man", "We Sure Can Love Each Other", "Another Lonely Song", and "'Til I Can Make It on My Own".
### Voice
Wynette had a mezzo-soprano vocal range. She was known for delivering singing performances with an emotional vulnerability that has been described as a "teardrop" vocal style. This delivery also helped her become billed as the "Heroine of Heartbreak". Her original producer was the first to give Wynette the "teardrop" moniker. The Country Music Hall of Fame wrote, "Her gripping, teardrop-in-every-note vocal style seemed to weep with emotion, while she elaborated on the theme that suffering ennobles a woman." Other publications described Wynette's emotional depth in other ways. Rolling Stone wrote, "Tammy could sustain power and complexity, whether whispering in your ear or shoving you up against a wall of sound." The New York Times wrote, "When the songs moved toward honky-tonk or old-fashioned weepers, Ms. Wynette did more than navigate the melody dutifully; her voice showed the emotional depth that was smothered elsewhere." In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Wynette at number 127 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
### Influences
Before marrying George Jones, Wynette idolized him first as a country singer. Her mother owned all of Jones's records and Wynette was fascinated by his phrasing. She often sang his songs to pass the time while picking cotton on her family's farm during childhood. Wynette also cited female country artists Patsy Cline and Skeeter Davis as early influences on her music. Wynette also listened to early recordings of Billie Jo Spears after discovering her music once moving to Nashville. She learned to harmonize in the recording studio by listening to Davis's "The End of the World". She also cited Hank Williams as an early inspiration. She recalled listening to Williams's records every night. Outside of country, Wynette also was influenced by R&B music. She also credited Ray Charles and the Platters as influences on her music.
## Legacy, influence and awards
Wynette helped bring a female's perspective to country music. Her music spoke for rural and working class women who previously lacked representation in the genre. Wynette's music also helped eliminate some of the male bias at country radio by expanding women into the record-buying public. Along with Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, Wynette elevated the popularity of female country artists. In total, Wynette had 39 singles reach the Billboard country chart while 20 topped the same chart. She has been said to have sold roughly 30 million records worldwide. Kurt Wolff of Country Music: The Rough Guide called her "the most successful woman country singer of the late 1960s". "Her vibrant, pleading timbre was up to the task of portraying women who have been wronged by their men, and women who are determined to stay in a relationship at any cost," he commented. Edward J. Reily of American Popular Culture Through History called Wynette "one of the most successful female country vocalists of all time."
Wynette's impact led to her being referred to by critics and fans as "The First Lady of Country Music". David Don Drehle of The Washington Post described the title in 1998: "Wynette's voice – raw, broken, sad, knowing – prophesied [...] The First Lady of Country, she came to be known for her string of hurtin' hits." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated that Wynette achieved the honorary title because she "dominated the country charts". He also commented that both her record production and modern storylines that defined her songs also helped give her the title.
Her partnership with George Jones is considered among country music's most iconic collaborations. Sara Kettler of Biography commented, "Despite many ups and downs – including two divorce filings – the pair still recorded some of the best duets in country music history." Noah Berlatsky of The Atlantic wrote, "The part-schtick, part-sincere corniness that was in different ways so integral to both of their performance styles was multiplied to extravagant levels when they sang together under [Billy] Sherrill's auspices."
Journalist Claudia Levy of The Washington Post called Wynette "one of country music's most influential singers." Her career helped influence an entire generation of female country performers, according to NPR. Faith Hill stated, "Especially with the next generation developing and creating their music, I think it's important they hear Tammy Wynette." Miranda Lambert found that Wynette's "Stand by Your Man" had a double meaning that reflected both the loyalty women have towards spouses and the strength they have as women. Kellie Pickler wanted to bring awareness of her music to a new generation by recording a track titled "Where's Tammy Wynette" for her 2012 album 100 Proof. Reba McEntire credited her as influence and later recorded a song called "Tammy Wynette Kind of Pain" for her 2019 album Stronger Than the Truth. Other artists who have cited Wynette as an influence include Garth Brooks, Suzy Bogguss, Rosanne Cash, Brandi Carlile, Terri Clark, Sheryl Crow, Sara Evans, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris, Elton John, Wynonna Judd, Martina McBride, Lorrie Morgan, Carly Pearce, Orville Peck, Taylor Swift, Pam Tillis, Shania Twain, Tanya Tucker, Carrie Underwood, Lee Ann Womack and Trisha Yearwood.
Wynette received a number of honors during her lifetime and posthumously. In 1991, Music City News gave Wynette the Living Legend Award. In 1996, she received the American Music Awards' "Award of Merit", given to artists "who have made truly exceptional contributions to the music industry". In 1993, she was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. She also performed for several American presidents during her lifetime. This included performing for Ronald Reagan at The White House in 1983. In 1991, she performed at the Ford's Theatre for then-President George H. W. Bush.
Posthumously, Asylum Records released a tribute album called Tammy Wynette Remembered in 1998. The project featured some of Wynette's most popular songs re-recorded by contemporary artists from various musical genres. Also in 1998, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1999, "Stand by Your Man" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song was later added to the National Recording Registry. In 1999, Wynette was included on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock. In 2003, she was posthumously given the Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music. Country Music Television included her on its list of "40 Greatest Women of Country Music" in 2002. In 2009, Wynette's contributions as a songwriter allowed for her induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 2010, the state of Mississippi designated a segment of Mississippi Highway 23 the Tammy Wynette Memorial Highway. The 17-mile (27 km) stretch of road is in Itawamba County, where Wynette was born. Also that year, the Country Music Hall of Fame opened an extended exhibit showcasing Wynette's life and career. Titled "Tammy Wynette: First Lady of Country Music," the exhibit ran from August 2010 to June 2011. In 2017, she was ranked number 16 on Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Country Artists of All-Time list. In 2021, her recording of "Stand by Your Man" was ranked as No. 473 on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Additionally, her recording of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" placed at number 69 on Rolling Stones 2014 list of the "100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time".
## Discography
Studio albums
- Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad (1967)
- My Elusive Dreams (with David Houston) (1967)
- Take Me to Your World / I Don't Wanna Play House (1968)
- D-I-V-O-R-C-E (1968)
- Stand by Your Man (1969)
- Inspiration (1969)
- The Ways to Love a Man (1970)
- Tammy's Touch (1970)
- The First Lady (1970)
- Christmas with Tammy (1970)
- We Sure Can Love Each Other (1971)
- Bedtime Story (1972)
- My Man (1972)
- Another Lonely Song (1974)
- Woman to Woman (1974)
- I Still Believe in Fairy Tales (1975)
- Til I Can Make It on My Own (1976)
- You and Me (1976)
- Let's Get Together (1977)
- One of a Kind (1977)
- Womanhood (1978)
- Just Tammy (1979)
- Only Lonely Sometimes (1980)
- You Brought Me Back (1981)
- Soft Touch (1982)
- Good Love & Heartbreak (1982)
- Even the Strong Get Lonely (1983)
- Sometimes When We Touch (1985)
- Higher Ground (1987)
- Next to You (1989)
- Heart Over Mind (1990)
- Honky Tonk Angels (with Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn) (1993)
- Without Walls (1994)
Studio albums with George Jones
- We Go Together (1971)
- Me and the First Lady (1972)
- We Love to Sing About Jesus (1972)
- Let's Build a World Together (1973)
- We're Gonna Hold On (1973)
- George & Tammy & Tina (1975)
- Golden Ring (1976)
- Together Again (1980)
- One (1995)
## Filmography
## Books
- Stand by Your Man: An Autobiography (with Joan Dew) (1979)
- The Tammy Wynette Southern Cookbook (1990) |
17,387,761 | Brian Kershisnik | 1,123,283,338 | American painter | [
"1962 births",
"20th-century American painters",
"20th-century Mormon missionaries",
"21st-century American painters",
"21st-century male artists",
"American Latter Day Saint artists",
"American Mormon missionaries in Denmark",
"American expatriates in Pakistan",
"American male painters",
"Artists from Oklahoma City",
"Artists from Utah",
"Brigham Young University alumni",
"Harold B. Lee Library-related 21st century articles",
"Latter Day Saints from Oklahoma",
"Latter Day Saints from Texas",
"Latter Day Saints from Utah",
"Living people",
"University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts alumni",
"University of Utah alumni"
]
| Brian T. Kershisnik (born 1962) is an American painter. He studied art at the University of Utah, Brigham Young University (BYU), and the University of Texas at Austin. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
One art professor described his style as primitive-realist, and his paintings have a dream-like quality that is focused on idealized human figures. His notable works include a portrait of Leslie Norris, Nativity, and She Will Find What Was Lost. Kershisnik often begins with sketch or title, transforming his ideas into paintings. His work is in the permanent collections of many institutions, including the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Covey Center for the Arts.
## Early life and education
Kershisnik was born in 1962, in Oklahoma City. He is the youngest son of four children and grew up both in the United States and internationally. His father worked as a petroleum geologist, moving internationally with his work. The family lived in various locations around the world, including Angola, Thailand, and Pakistan. He spent his childhood summers in Rock Springs, Wyoming, visiting his grandparents.
After graduating high school from the International School of Islamabad, Kershisnik attended the University of Utah intending to study architecture. After a year, he left to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark. He transferred to BYU where he studied art and eventually focused on painting. During his undergraduate studies, he received a grant to study in London for six months. He received his Bachelor of Arts (BA) from BYU in 1988, after which he studied printmaking at the University of Texas at Austin where he received a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in 1991. Upon the completion of his master's degree, he and his family moved to Kanosh, Utah.
## Process and style
Kershisnik is one of the best-known contemporary Utah artists, and his work relates the mundane to the divine. He has described his own style as "mythological autobiography," or a kind of "emotional self-portrait." His paintings often have whimsical or humorous subjects, and he paints in oil in a primitive-realist style, as described by Noel Carmack, an art professor at the Utah State University. Geoff Wichert, an art critic and frequent writer on Kershisnik, writes that Kershisnik's work deals mainly with the human figure as an ideal. The way his complex figures contrast with their unadorned settings gives his paintings a dreamlike quality. Flying is a common theme. Another way that Kershisnik abstracts his figures is by using the frontal eye on profile figures, as in Egyptian and Cubist paintings. He uses unusually large or small objects and textual inscriptions to heighten the otherworldly sense in his paintings. His works engage in a dialogue with religious ideas, showing human struggles and their consequences. Disheveled Saint depicts a scruffy man wearing a T-shirt, showing Kershisnik's belief that ordinary people can be holy. Burden on Wheels depicts two figures in white pushing a large object on wheels, which is pulled by a dark figure. The painting reflects the Christian idea that humans receive divine providence.
Kershisnik views art as way to "become more human." He uses a sketchbook to illustrate ideas, write down perspective concepts or aspects of a future painting. Often, his works will begin as a title and will illustrate the symbolism or the meaning behind those words. He usually works on numerous paintings at a time, having worked on as many as 100 pieces simultaneously. His approach to figure drawing "from [his] imagination rather than models." He is influenced by many artists, but specifically names Chagall, Degas, Modigliani, Klee, Giotto, and the artists that painted in the Lascaux caves. He sums up his artistic philosophy in the following statement:
> There is great importance in successfully becoming human, in striving to fully understand others, ourselves, and God. The process is difficult and filled with awkward discoveries and happy encounters, dreadful sorrow, and unmitigated joy sometimes several at once. I believe art should facilitate this journey, rather than simply decorate it, or worse, distract us from it. It should remind us of what we have forgotten, illuminate what we know, or teach us new things. Through art we can come to feel and understand and love more completely—we become more human... I firmly believe that when a painting succeeds, I have not created it, but rather participated in it. I paint because I love, and because I love to paint. The better I become at both, the more readily accessed and identified is this grace, and the better will be my contribution.
## Works
Leslie Norris's neighbor asked Kershisnik to do a portrait of Norris. Kershisnik agreed to do it and give the neighbor the first chance to buy or refuse the painting. When the portrait was finished, the neighbor did not want to buy the painting, which Kershisnik then sold to the Utah Arts Council in 1994. Norris himself wanted to buy the painting afterwards, but the painting remains in custody of the Utah Arts Council.
Nativity depicts the birth of Christ. Kershisnik painted Nativity in 2006 while he was a visiting professor at BYU. Kershisnik started the 17-foot-long (5.2 m) painting to create "something ambitious", after encouraging his students to do the same. The painting shows Mary nursing the baby Jesus, two midwives, Joseph, and a dog with her pups underneath a concourse of angels. Kershisnik said that his experiences of the births of his own children felt "densely witnessed" and inspired the painting. He also explained the iconography of the dog as a representation of fidelity and faithfulness, a common symbol in religious art. Bren Jackson, an art critic, wrote that the midwives exemplify the "fellowship of sisterhood" and Kershisnik adds that he would imagine that there would have been women there to help Mary. In the painting, Joseph is nearby, but separate from Mary and her child, and has an overwhelmed expression. The angels have distinct faces, which according to Jackson, invites viewers to consider what their role in observing the birth could have been. In an essay on Nativity, Jackson wrote that the way Mary puts her hand on Joseph's hand to comfort him even after she has just given birth reminds viewers of their humanity.
She Will Find What Was Lost depicts many angels blessing and looking at a woman, who seems to some viewers to be unaware of their presence. It was on the cover of the February 2017 Ensign, and is on display in the LDS Conference Center as part of the LDS Church's collection. Viewers interpret the painting in different ways; some see it as depicting divine revelation and others see it as showing family history. Of the painting, Kershisnik wrote, "My intention for this piece was to speak to the most intensely private and intimate kind of supernatural interference, influence, and assistance... Many unseen forces are interested in you, love you, and work to influence matters for your profound benefit. Most of what we all do is resist it, misinterpret it, or mess it up, but my experience indicates that these unseen efforts persist impossibly. I thank God for that."
In Standing With Jesus on the Grass, a white-haired resurrected Jesus stands in profile, half-turned and looking toward the left. In the lower right-hand corner, a man and woman are visible from behind as they are oriented toward Christ, but with downturned gazes that signify their reverence for Christ. In an essay on the painting, Phillip and Delys Snyder, who own the painting and display it in their home, speculate that a face-to-face meeting is not depicted because it might be too sacred or personal to show in a painting. The use of "Standing" in the title, which is also written in the painting itself, shows a continuous action. The couple's ability to be present with Jesus shows that they are righteous, because a wicked person cannot "abide in the presence of the sacred." The word "stand" in the scriptures is often associated with becoming aware of God and Jesus's power. Even as the couple becomes aware of Jesus's power, they are standing with him in the same ordinary, grassy Earth.
## Criticism
In June 2017, the BYU Museum of Art opened the exhibition The Interpretation Thereof: Contemporary LDS Art and Scripture. Kershisnik's work, Descent From the Cross, is included in this exhibition, which Sean Rossiter criticized for depicting Christ too lightly, and as he argues, limiting the emotional weight of Crucifixion of Jesus. In 2011, Geoff Wichert criticised some of Kershisnik symbols as being esoteric and theologically specific. Writing for the Phoenix New Times, Tricia Parker commented that the people in his paintings are emotionally ambiguous because they are literally two-dimensional, but that this ambiguity makes them relatable.
## Permanent and long-term exhibitions and collections
Several institutions display Kershisnik's work permanently or on a long-term basis. These include the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts and Education Complex at the University of Utah, the BYU Museum of Art, the Springville Museum of Art, and the Covey Center for the Arts. The collections in Illinois State University and the University of Ohio also include some of his works. |
20,036,781 | Broad Exchange Building | 1,173,680,669 | Residential building in Manhattan, New York | [
"Broad Street (Manhattan)",
"Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan",
"Financial District, Manhattan",
"Historic district contributing properties in Manhattan",
"Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in New York (state)",
"New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan",
"Office buildings completed in 1900",
"Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan",
"Renaissance Revival architecture in New York City",
"Residential skyscrapers in Manhattan"
]
| The Broad Exchange Building, also known as 25 Broad Street, is a residential building at Exchange Place and Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The 20-story building was designed by Clinton & Russell and built between 1900 and 1902. The Alliance Realty Company developed the Broad Exchange Building as a speculative development for office tenants.
The Broad Exchange Building is either 20 or 21 stories tall. its articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The lowest three stories of the facade are clad with rusticated granite blocks; the fourteen-story shaft is clad with brick; and the top stories are clad with granite and terracotta, topped by a copper cornice. Inside, the building originally contained office space, but as of 2019, has 307 residential units. With 326,500 square feet (30,330 m<sup>2</sup>) of rental space in total, the Broad Exchange Building was Manhattan's largest office building upon its completion.
Due to the Broad Exchange Building's proximity to the New York Stock Exchange Building, many financial firms sought space in the building. The Broad Exchange Building was sold off numerous times in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The Broad Exchange Building was gutted and renovated into apartments in the late 1990s, and a southern wing of the building was demolished in the early 21st century. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1998, and was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2000. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a NRHP district created in 2007.
## Site
The Broad Exchange Building is located in the Financial District of Manhattan, at the southeast corner of Broad Street and Exchange Place. The block on which the building is located is bounded by Broad Street to the west, Exchange Place to the north, William Street to the east, and Beaver Street to the south. The Broad Exchange Building has 106.8 feet (32.6 m) of frontage on Broad Street and 296.3 feet (90.3 m) on Exchange Place.
As designed, the building was shaped in an irregular "T" with a wing going southward toward Beaver Street. According to a 1909 advertisement, the building originally occupied around 28,705 square feet (2,666.8 m<sup>2</sup>) of space. The southern wing was demolished in the early 2010s.
The building is adjacent to 15 Broad Street to the north; the New York Stock Exchange Building to the northwest; the Continental Bank Building to the west; and the Lee, Higginson & Company Bank Building and 45 Broad Street to the south. In addition, 55 Wall Street and 20 Exchange Place are less than one block east, and Federal Hall and 23 Wall Street are one block north. Historically, the Broad Exchange Building also abutted the Corn Exchange Bank at William and Beaver Streets, a site later taken up by 15 William Street. Flanking the main building entrance on Broad Street are two staircase entrances for the Broad Street station on the New York City Subway's Nassau Street Line (served by the ).
## Architecture
The building was designed by Clinton and Russell in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It is 276.55 feet (84 m) tall. Sources differ on whether the building has 20 or 21 stories.
### Facade
The primary elevation on Broad Street contains 10 vertical bays, while the Exchange Place elevation has 26 bays. The Broad Exchange Building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The lowest three stories of the facade are clad with rusticated granite blocks. The fourteen-story shaft is generally clad with brick and contains terracotta trim. The highest three stories contain a facade of granite and terracotta, topped by a copper cornice.
At ground level, there is an entrance portico projecting slightly from the center of the Broad Street elevation, measuring two bays wide and two stories high. The portico consists of fluted Doric columns supporting an entablature with the text broad exchange, underneath which is a cast-iron aedicule containing the main doors. On either side of the portico are two stories of paired sash windows flanked by granite pilasters, with cast-iron vertical mullions and decorated cast-iron horizontal spandrels. The six center bays at the 3rd story are topped by an alternating series of four granite modillions and three heads depicting Greek figures. The secondary entrance on Exchange Place is similar to that on Broad Street, except that this entrance is six bays wide, has no projecting portico, and contains wall niches containing bronze lamps. There are two tertiary entrances along Exchange Place as well. A frieze runs above the second floor, and a granite string course runs above the 3rd floor.
The 4th through 17th stories are clad with brick, except for the two outermost bays on either end of the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations, which are instead clad with rusticated terracotta. In the six center bays on the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations, there are elaborate cartouches between the 4th and 5th floors, and two cartouches and three lions' heads between the 16th and 17th stories. A terracotta string course runs above the 17th story. These elevations contain one rectangular window opening in each bay. The 18th through 20th stories comprise the attic; the two outermost bays on either end of the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations are clad with rusticated terracotta. On the 18th and 19th story along Exchange Place, three of the pairs of bays are flanked by a pair of Ionic columns. A copper cornice runs above the 20th story. A penthouse, sometimes considered the 21st story, is atop the roof.
The rear elevations are composed mostly of brick, as was the now-demolished south wing, and contain arched and rectangular window openings. The east elevation contained cornices above the 16th and 20th floors. The south wing was topped by a decorative cartouche similar to those on the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations.
### Features
The Broad Exchange Building uses caisson foundations that descend 40 feet (12 m) to the bedrock layer, supporting the building's mass. The frame was made of structural steel, enabling it to be built taller than most previous buildings. There is a basement and subbasement with mechanical rooms, as well as large vaults.
When built, the Broad Exchange Building was described as "a town under a single roof", with fourteen or eighteen elevators. It had 490,000 square feet (46,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of space in total and 326,500 square feet (30,330 m<sup>2</sup>) of rentable space, corresponding to 27,000 square feet (2,500 m<sup>2</sup>) on each floor. In the original configuration there were 40 offices per floor, but the floors were arranged in an open plan layout. The lowest four floors were targeted toward bankers and banking firms, with 15-foot (4.6 m) ceilings.
Since residential conversion, the building has had 307 residential condominium units. These consist of 168 one-bedroom units, 135 two-bedroom units, and four penthouse apartments. Each condominium has ceilings measuring 9 to 13.5 feet (2.7 to 4.1 m) high, wooden floors, and glass bathroom tiles. In addition, the units have appliances such as washer-dryers, while the penthouses have outdoor terraces of between 410 and 3,000 square feet (38 and 279 m<sup>2</sup>). The building's amenities include a shared lounge for residents; a room for games and simulations; indoor and outdoor play areas for children; a dog grooming salon; and a shared rooftop terrace. After its conversion, the building has had five elevators.
The lobby measures 125 feet (38 m) long and is shaped in a "T". The longer leg of the "T" extends west–east from Broad Street, while a shorter north–south passageway extends from Exchange Place and intersects with the west–east corridor. Two classical staircases flank the corridor leading from Exchange Place and lead to a mezzanine. The walls in the lobby are clad with marble, and contain marble pilasters topped by Corinthian capitals. On the lobby's eastern wall are the five remaining elevators, with stainless steel doors. The lobby's ceiling is made of plaster beams with overhanging lighting fixtures. Four commercial spaces abut the lobby. After rental conversion in the 1990s, the lobby was used as a leasing office by its first owner Crescent Heights; Swig Equities converted it into a party space during the 2000s, and LCOR converted it into a lounge in the 2010s.
## History
### Construction
During the late 19th century, builders began erecting tall office buildings in New York City, especially in Lower Manhattan, where they were compelled to build tall structures due to a lack of available land. One such project was headed by the Alliance Realty Company, who hired Clinton & Russell in 1900 to design a speculative development at 25 Broad Street, near Exchange Place. The George A. Fuller Company was hired as the contractor. The structural steelwork was designed by civil engineer Marion S. Parker. In June 1900, Alliance Realty transferred ownership to the Broad Exchange Company, in which Fuller was involved, for \$4 million. The Broad Exchange Company then secured a \$2.25 million construction loan from the Equitable Life Assurance Society.
Contemporary media reported that the building was occupied by late April or early May 1901. The building was officially completed in 1902, and was Manhattan's largest office building, with 326,500 square feet (30,330 m<sup>2</sup>) of space available for rent. The next largest buildings in Manhattan were the Bowling Green Offices Building, Equitable Life Building, and 42 Broadway, which each only had two-thirds of the space that the Broad Exchange Building had. The Architectural Record observed contemporaneously that New York City buildings like the Broad Exchange Building were increasingly being erected by holding companies "organized to 'finance' such big undertakings" rather than their owners.
### Office use
Financial firms began moving into the Broad Exchange Building, attracted by its proximity to the New York Stock Exchange. The building provided office space for financial companies such as Paine Webber, who occupied the space starting in 1909, and Hayden, Stone & Co., which moved in during 1906. The New York Curb Exchange took space in the Broad Exchange Building in 1911, and remained there until the Curb Exchange Building opened in 1921. The Pierce Oil Corporation's offices in the building were described by The New York Times as being "among the most handsome in the financial district". Other tenants included brokers Carl H. Pforzheimer and Company, as well as investment bankers Stephen Trask and Company. In addition, the City Midday Club was housed on the building's 20th floor from 1901 to 1945.
When the Broad Exchange Building was built, there existed a public alleyway called Lord's Court east of the building's southern wing, which connected to a six-story building at 53 Beaver Street. The owner of 53 Beaver Street sued Broad Exchange Company in 1905 after the company delivered coal and hauled out ashes to Beaver Street, and the company was subsequently found to have no right to use the alleyway. The Broad Exchange Company then bought a four-story building at 41 Broad Street for \$325,000 () so it could transport the coal and ashes through 41 Broad Street, and then leased out the upper floors of that building. The Broad Exchange Building and 41 Broad Street were remortgaged in 1909 for \$3.45 million. Three years later, the Broad Exchange Company announced plans to demolish 41 Broad Street, described in the New-York Tribune as "one of the most expensive coal chutes in this country", and erect an annex to the Broad Exchange Building in its place. In 1921, the Broad Exchange Company bought 53 Beaver Street, providing an alternate entrance to the Broad Exchange Building. Broad Exchange and Alliance Realty acquired all of the Broad Street blockfront by 1922, although not all of these lots would become part of the Broad Exchange Building.
25 Broad Street was owned by the Broad Exchange Company until 1940, when Prudential Financial took over the building for \$500,000 as part of foreclosure proceedings against the Broad Exchange Company. At the time, the property was assessed as being worth \$5.6 million. During the mid-1940s, the building remained nearly 100% occupied, and one of the major lessees was the United States Department of War. 25 Broad Street was purchased by the City Investing Company in 1945, at which point its worth was assessed at \$4.85 million. Walker & Gillette renovated the storefronts shortly afterward, adding two entrances on Exchange Place. Harry Helmsley bought the building in 1952 for \$6.5 million. Several major tenants moved out during the late 20th century. Hayden, Stone & Co. moved out during 1970; Paine Webber & Co. moved its headquarters elsewhere in 1979, though some of the company's operations remained in 25 Broad Street through at least 1983.
In 1979, the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company bought 25 Broad Street and the adjacent 27 William Street for \$20 million. The building was still 75% occupied at the time. Morgan planned to replace 25 Broad Street with a new office tower to serve as its headquarters, but put it for sale in 1981 after failing to do so. Olympia and York subsequently bought 25 Broad Street for \$20.5 million, also planning to build an office tower, and also failing. In 1984, Joseph Neumann bought the building for \$73 million in cash, assuming \$58 million of the previous owners' debt, with the intention to build a headquarters for Kidder, Peabody & Co. on the site. Neumann's consortium spent \$18 million to restore the building for office use until it ran out of money. After the 1987 stock market crash, Neumann locked up 25 Broad Street in 1988, and the building sat empty for the next four years, during which it was looted. Neumann defaulted on the \$58 million loan in 1989. The mortgage-holder, American Savings and Loan Association went out of business, and Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation assumed the mortgage, while a consortium headed by Robert Bass assumed property management duties.
### Residential use
New West placed 25 Broad Street for sale in 1992, and the next year, Arthur Shapolsky signed a contract to buy the building for \$5.8 million. Shapolsky wished to convert the building to either apartments or record storage. Abe Hirschfeld and Bruce Menin bought 25 Broad Street in 1994 for \$4.975 million, a price that The Wall Street Journal noted at the time as being cheaper than that of some Manhattan townhouses. Menin's firm Crescent Heights then began converting the building into 345 luxury apartments. Costas Kondylis, as well as John Cetra of CetraRuddy, devised a plan to renovate 25 Broad Street, in one of the first major commercial-to-residential conversion projects in Lower Manhattan. The original interior was completely removed for the project. The conversion was originally supposed to be completed in 1996, although a rental office opened in 1997 and the project was ultimately finished the next year. In total, the conversion had cost \$100 million.
Around the same time that the conversion was completed, city officials were considering a plan to purchase and raze the entire block upon which 25 Broad Street was located, erecting a new New York Stock Exchange building on the site. In 1998, Crescent Heights petitioned the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate 25 Broad Street as a landmark to preclude such development. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on April 13, 1998, and was designated as a landmark by the LPC on June 27, 2000. In 2007, it was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a NRHP district.
About fifty tenants left the building after the September 11 attacks on the nearby World Trade Center in 2001, though these vacancies were quickly filled as part of a grant program to encourage people to live in Lower Manhattan. Crescent Heights put 25 Broad Street for sale in 2005, and Swig Equities purchased it for \$260 million, planning to convert the building into a rental complex. Swig subsequently indicated plans to de-designate part of the building as a landmark, because it wished to demolish the southern wing above the first floor, transferring the air rights to its new residential skyscraper at 45 Broad Street. The local community board, Manhattan Community Board 1, endorsed the decertification. Under Swig's management, 25 Broad Street became known as the Exchange, and condominium sales launched in early 2007. Lehman Brothers Holdings made a mortgage on the building in 2007, but when Swig fell into default as a result of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, Lehman initiated foreclosure proceedings in January 2009. Lehman Brothers itself filed for bankruptcy in 2008, prompting Swig to close the sales office for the condos at 25 Broad Street. A court-appointed receiver designated LCOR, a subsidiary of the California State Teachers Retirement System, as the new developer for the rental project, and Lehman spent \$39.9 million on preparing the building for conversion. In March 2011, Lehman sought permission from the judge overseeing its bankruptcy proceedings to restart work on the conversion, as well as demolish the south wing. The building's leasing office opened the next month. 25 Broad Street was auctioned in 2012 as part of the foreclosure proceeding against Swig, and LCOR made the winning bid of \$170 million.
After receiving approval from the LPC, LCOR spent another \$50 million to renovate 25 Broad Street in 2013, demolishing the south wing and restoring the exterior to its early-20th-century appearance. The residential units were largely converted to luxury rentals and were mostly occupied by September 2013. However, the building had previously received a 421-g tax exemption, meant for developers converting Lower Manhattan buildings to residential use, and as such, some of the residential units were rent-stabilized. A judge ruled in 2015 that two rental tenants could stay in their rent-stabilized apartment, since they had not been given proper notice that the exemption for their unit was expiring. Most of the remaining units in 25 Broad Street were converted into condominium units, with sales launching in 2019. Booking.com ran a promotion at the building in January 2020, allowing people to stay in several of the unsold units for two nights. The same month, Regal Acquisitions bought the building's ground level storefronts. In July 2020, the developers announced that 15% of the condominium units were under contract, despite a general slowdown in real estate market due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.
## See also
- Early skyscrapers
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan below 14th Street |
35,834,064 | 1948 Summer Olympics torch relay | 1,163,970,395 | Summer Olympics torch relay | [
"1948 Summer Olympics",
"Olympic torch relays"
]
| The 1948 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from 17 July until 29 July 1948, prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics, held in London, United Kingdom. The relay was nicknamed the "relay of peace". It was only the second occasion that a torch relay was held for the Olympics; the first was at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
There were three types of torches designed for use on the relay: a standard solid fuel powered torch made of aluminium, a special butane gas torch used on board HMS Whitesand Bay, and a final torch used to enter Empire Stadium that was made of stainless steel and powered by a magnesium candle.
The route itself was initially designed to be a direct one from Olympia to Wembley, taking in Italy, Switzerland and France. Belgium and Luxembourg were added to the route after those countries requested it. It was expected that the Greek part of the relay would be 750 kilometres (470 mi), but was reduced to 35 kilometres (22 mi) due to concerns over security. After the 12-day journey, the torch arrived at the Empire Stadium only thirty seconds later than expected.
## Background
Despite hosting the 1908 Summer Olympics, the 1948 Games was the first London-based games to have a torch relay after it was introduced at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Former British athlete David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, and the rest of the organising committee for the 1948 Games agreed to continue the tradition begun by the previous games, and run a torch relay for a second time.
## Relay elements
### Torch
Each of the torches contained a solid fuel tablet made of hexamine and 6% naphthalene (following torch running tests in May 1947) that fuelled the flame itself. The solid fuel increased the distance each runner could run to 2 miles (3.2 km) over flat terrain, decreasing the number of torches needed to be produced, which in turn reduced the cost of the relay. There were eight tablets loaded into each torch, with the bottom tablets pushed up by the use of a spring. The design increased the burning time of each torch up to around fifteen minutes, an increase from the four-minute torches of the 1936 Olympics. The torch itself was designed by Ralph Lavers, with the brief that it should be "inexpensive and easy to make, of pleasing appearance and a good example of British craftmanship". The torches were made from aluminium, with a long shaft holding a cup that contained the burner. "With thanks to the bearer" was written on the cup of the torch itself, along with the Olympic rings. The torches for the Greek leg of the relay were shipped to the Mediterranean aboard HMS Liverpool, along with a purpose-built torch for the leg aboard a Royal Navy vessel from Corfu to Italy.
A differently designed torch was used for the final leg. It was made of stainless steel and was fueled by magnesium in order to ensure that the flame showed up properly during the opening ceremony. It was also designed by Ralph Lavers, with the frame for the torch created by EMI, and the magnesium candle supplied by Wessex Aircraft Engineering. Neither the suppliers nor designer charged a fee for the final torch.
### Planned torch route
Key
`As planned`
Source: The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad
### Torch route
While the general negotiation with other countries and the specific route were handled by the Organising Committee for the Games, the detailed organisation was delegated to a subgroup led by F.W. Collins. Due to cost implications, the extensive route conducted by the 1936 Games was ruled out. Instead, the simplest route from Olympia to London was to be used, going by sea to Italy and then run through Switzerland and France. The route was modified only when Luxembourg and Belgium both requested that the torch travel their territories. A longer Greek route was planned, but reduced from an expected 750 kilometres (470 mi) down to 35 kilometres (22 mi) due to concerns over instability in the country and a lack of security.
The torch lighting ceremony took place on 17 July 1948 in Olympia, Greece. As with the 1936 Summer Olympic relay, the torch relay was begun by focusing the sun's rays onto kindling using a parabolic reflector, which then lit the first torch. The kindling was conducted by a Girl Guide leader from Pyrgos, Elis. She was only chosen the previous evening due to the unsettled state of the country; the Athenian girl who was trained for the ceremony was unable to travel to Olympia. In a symbolic gesture, the first runner, Corporal Dimitrelis of the Greek Army, laid down his arms and removed his military uniform before taking his torch in hand. The kindling material for the first torch was handed over as a gift from the Chairman of the Greek Olympic Committee to Collins, for Princess Elizabeth. It was then run to the Greek coast at Katakolo, where at 7 pm it boarded the Greek destroyer Hastings bound for the island of Corfu. It stayed overnight in the city of Corfu, and boarded HMS Whitesand Bay at 1:30 pm the following day where the flame was switched to a specially equipped butane gas torch in order to ensure that there was a 48-hour lifespan available for the flame, despite the crossing only being expected to take 22 hours.
The ship dropped the torch off in Bari at 12:30 pm on 19 July. It was run north through several Italian cities before crossing the Simplon Pass into Brig, Switzerland on 23 July. From there it was run west until leaving the country at Perly-Certoux, and entering France at Saint-Julien-en-Genevois. The route then detours from the direct route to take in Luxembourg and into Belgium before re-entering France at Lille on 28 July, finally departing the country at Calais. HMS Bicester carried the torch across the English Channel to Dover, arriving at 8:25 pm on 28 July. It travelled through several towns in the South East of England until it arrived at Wembley, where it arrived only thirty seconds late after the entire journey. That delay may have only been in the final few hundred yards of the relay down Olympic Way outside of Empire Stadium as the pressure of the crowds on the torch carrier and their escorts reduced the pace to walking speed. Special celebrations were held at each border crossing, and at Pierre de Coubertin's tomb in Lausanne, Switzerland.
It was agreed for a secondary Olympic Flame to be lit in Torquay during the games, and a secondary torch relay was conducted to take the flame from Wembley south to the coast to Torquay. The arrangements were the same as from Dover to Wembley but in reverse. |
36,742,126 | Madness (Muse song) | 1,161,514,651 | 2012 single | [
"2012 singles",
"2012 songs",
"Muse (band) songs",
"Music videos directed by Anthony Mandler",
"Rock ballads",
"Songs written by Matt Bellamy",
"Synth-pop ballads"
]
| "Madness" is a song by the English rock band Muse. It is the second track and second single from Muse's sixth studio album, The 2nd Law (2012), released as a download on 20 August 2012. It was written by singer and guitarist Matthew Bellamy and produced by the band. The music video premiered on 5 September 2012.
"Madness" spent 19 weeks at number one on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, becoming the second-longest-running number-one song on the chart. The song earned a nomination in the Best Rock Song category at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
## Background and writing
"Madness" is an electronic rock, synth-pop, soft rock, and R&B song. According to NME, "Madness" draws influences from Queen's "I Want to Break Free", George Michael's "Faith" and some instrumental elements of his other hit "I Want Your Sex". During a preview of The 2nd Law on French site Jeuxactu, the song was said to resemble Depeche Mode and described as "calm, languid and sweet". Matthew Bellamy stated that the song started as a personal reflection after a fight with his girlfriend Kate Hudson, and how, after she had gone to her mother's house, he began to realise "yeah, she was right, wasn't she?" In a separate interview, Bellamy stated the song was the band's attempt to strip down the sound of the album, and that the song has its roots in twelve-bar blues with gospel, soul and R&B influences. He went on to conclude that, "It's the song I'm probably most proud of on the album for sure."
## Music video
The "Madness" music video was uploaded to Muse's YouTube channel on 5 September 2012. This video saw the second collaboration between the band and director Anthony Mandler, who previously directed the music video for "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)". Jacquelyn London edited it. The director of photography was David Devlin. The video was filmed on the Red Line platform at Los Angeles Union Station. The two main characters are played by models Erin Wasson and Max Silberman.
## Release and reception
"Madness" was released as a download on 20 August 2012, with an accompanying lyric video for the song being uploaded shortly after. NME described the song as "taking the defining noise of 'bass music' and using it to create slinky, soft rock sex music." The track review goes on to call it a brilliant single and states that Muse have "tamed the shark" following their declaration that Muse had jumped the shark with "Survival". Diffuser.fm noted that the single "doesn't sound like the Muse that established itself as one of the world's biggest rock bands" but that "the unusual blend of sounds works far better than it probably should", giving the track 8/10.
Rolling Stone stated that the single sees Muse "swap bombastic bass brutality with wubby subtleties as Matthew Bellamy croons over a surprisingly gentle pop track." Radio Times described it as "George Michael's "Faith" underwater". In a negative review of the song, Robert Myers of The Village Voice wrote that "the band's U2 imitation has finally caught up to Achtung Baby and Zooropa". He further added that Muse "gets the surface details right but lacks the emotional and intellectual foundation to get at their inspiration's essence." Rolling Stone named the song the 37th best song of 2012. Chris Martin of Coldplay described the single as "Muse's best song yet".
"Madness" spent 19 weeks at the summit of Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, making it the longest running number-one song on the chart, beating the previous record of 18 weeks set by Foo Fighters' "The Pretender". The record was later broken again by Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" in 2017, which spent 20 weeks at the number-one spot. "Madness" was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 2013 Grammy Awards, but lost to "Lonely Boy" by the Black Keys.
## Commercial performance
"Madness" had a positive commercial performance, charting in several countries and peaking within the top 10 in Belgium (Wallonia), Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and South Korea. In the band's home country of the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number 25 on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the song peaked at number 45 on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot Rock Songs chart. It topped the Alternative Songs chart for 19 weeks, breaking the record for the longest-reigning number-one song on the chart, which was previously held by "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. That record later got overtaken by Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" in 2017 which spent 20 weeks at the number-one spot. "Madness" has been certified gold by the IFPI in Switzerland, platinum by the MC in Canada and FIMI in Italy, and double-platinum by the RIAA in the United States.
## Track listing
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## See also
- List of number-one Billboard Alternative Songs of 2012
- List of number-one Billboard Alternative Songs of 2013 |
54,567,088 | 2017 New York City ePrix | 1,161,087,089 | Pair of Formula E electric car races | [
"2016–17 Formula E season",
"2017 in American motorsport",
"2017 in sports in New York City",
"July 2017 sports events in the United States",
"New York City ePrix"
]
| The 2017 New York City ePrix (formally the 2017 FIA Formula E Qualcomm New York City ePrix) were a pair of Formula E electric car races held on 15 and 16 July 2017 at Brooklyn Street Circuit in Red Hook, Brooklyn before a two-day crowd of 20,000 people. They were the ninth and tenth races of the 2016–17 Formula E Championship and the first New York City ePrix. The first race, contested over 43 laps on 15 July, was won by Virgin driver Sam Bird after starting from fourth place. The Techeetah duo of Jean-Éric Vergne and Stéphane Sarrazin took second and third. The longer 49-lap race held the next day was won by Bird from pole position. Mahindra teammates Felix Rosenqvist and Nick Heidfeld finished second and third.
Alex Lynn started from pole position for the first race by recording the fastest lap in qualifying, but Daniel Abt passed him at the start. Abt elected to conserve electrical energy, meaning he could not establish a significant lead at the front and later struggled with his brakes, prompting his team to request he focus on harvesting electrical energy. After twice not being able to pass Abt two laps previously, Bird overtook Abt for first the lead on lap 16. Bird maintained the lead after switching into a second car, until a safety car was necessitated for Heidfeld's car. At the lap 41-restart, Bird blocked a pass by Vergne on the final lap to win. There were two lead changes among two different drivers during the course of the race.
Bird carried over his form from the previous day and won the pole position for the second race, but lost the lead to Rosenqvist at the start. However, he was able to remain close behind Rosenqvist early in the race, catching the latter off guard following a restart, and passed him to retake the lead on the 11th lap. Lynn stopped his car on track nine laps later, prompting a full course yellow flag, and several drivers made pit stops to switch into their second cars. Bird chose to remain on track for one additional lap, and retook the lead with extra electrical energy. Bird opened up a significant lead over the rest of the field, and won the race. There was one lead change among two different drivers during the course of the race.
The victories were Bird's fourth and fifth of his career and he became the first driver to win both races of a double header weekend since Nico Prost at the 2016 London ePrix. The results allowed Lucas di Grassi to lower the lead of Drivers' Championship leader Sébastien Buemi (who was absent because of a World Endurance Championship commitment) to ten points. Rosenqvist maintained third position while Bird's two victories moved him from eighth to fourth and Prost fell to fifth. e.Dams-Renault maintained their Teams' Championship lead with 229 points and increased their gap over Audi Sport ABT by seven points. Mahindra remained in third and Virgin consolidated fourth with two races left in the season.
## Background to race weekend
### Preview
Coming into the double header from Berlin five weeks earlier, e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi led the Drivers' Championship with 157 points, 32 ahead Lucas di Grassi in second, and a further 39 in front of third-placed Felix Rosenqvist. Nico Prost was fourth on 72 points, nine points ahead of Nick Heidfeld in fifth position. e.Dams-Renault led the Teams' Championship with 229 points; Audi Sport ABT were second on 171 points, and Mahindra third with 149 points. With 97 points, Virgin were in fourth place, and Techeetah was fifth 40 points adrift.
### Preparations
In March 2014, it was announced that Formula E was working with New York City authorities to bring a motor race to the area. Formula E's founder Alejandro Agag told CNN in May 2016 he was "very optimistic" about the possibility of hosting an event in the city, having visited potential sites there, "Our dream would be to have a race in New York." Originally, planners considered Governors Island, Central Park, and Liberty State Park in Jersey City as possible locations for the track. However, these sites were not chosen since a Governors Island track would have been too costly; a Central Park circuit would have required cutting down trees; and Liberty State Park is outside city limits. New York City deputy mayor Alicia Glen visited Paris in May 2016. After attending the ePrix, she lent her support to the New York City race with backing from the New York City Economic Development Corporation. A one-year contract to stage the race was signed with a renewal option every year for the next ten years.
On September 21, 2016, officials announced the New York City ePrix would be held on the 1.210 mi (1.947 km) long Brooklyn Street Circuit in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook. Senior figures supported the race with mayor Bill de Blasio calling Red Hook the place where is "no better home for the ePrix", and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Jean Todt said bringing the series to the city was "an amazing achievement in itself". The event was confirmed one week later as part of Formula E's 2016–17 schedule by the FIA World Motor Sports Council as a double header round. They were the ninth and tenth single-seater electric car races of the Championship, and were held on July 15 and 16, 2017. It was the first FIA-sanctioned open-wheel motor sport round to be held in New York City, and its first motor race since 1896. The New York City ePrix was the third city to hold a Formula E race in the United States, following the Miami ePrix in 2015 and the Long Beach ePrix in 2015 and 2016. The press expected the races to be attended by about 18,000 to 40,000 spectators.
The first pictures of the planned layout were released to the media on September 21. Construction of the track began on July 2, 13 days before the first race, and finished 11 days later. More than \$20 million was spent renovating the area which included the dismantling of pedestrian crosswalks, sections of curb and bus canopies because they protruded into the circuit and a terminal guardhouse in the track's centre was rebuilt to make it portable for moving before and after the event. Rosenqvist described the track as "one of those really technical circuits" and believed the layout was comparable to the Circuit des Invalides.
### World Endurance Championship clash
With the races scheduled for July 15 and 16, the event conflicted with the 2017 6 Hours of Nürburgring. The clash occurred because the CEO of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Gérard Neveu and teams agreed not to hold a race within four weeks after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Nürburgring required a two-week gap leading into a proposed 30 July date for the German Grand Prix. Previously Neveu and Agag had a "gentlemen's agreement", preventing their respective series from holding races on the same weekend as several drivers participate in both disciplines. The dates for the New York City races could not be changed because of its location and ship docking schedules, and the Nürburgring event was not rescheduled due to freight needing transporting to Mexico City and the circuit had been rented for the weekend after. WEC and Formula E reached an agreement in July 2017, preventing both series from clashing in 2018.
Prost and Nelson Piquet Jr. (Jaguar) were the first two WEC drivers to confirm their participation in New York in February, with Jaguar's Adam Carroll leaving the endurance racing series to focus on Formula E. Sam Bird reached an agreement with his team AF Corse to contest the New York races, and was partnered at Virgin by the team's development driver Alex Lynn after José María López was required to prioritize WEC by Toyota. Championship leader Buemi could not reach an agreement that would allow him to enter the first race because of logistical problems, and Toyota mandated he attend the Nürburgring WEC round. He was replaced by 2016 GP2 Series champion and Super Formula driver Pierre Gasly.
## Race one
### Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were held before the late afternoon race. The first session ran for 45 minutes and the second for 30 minutes. A 30-minute shakedown session took place on Friday afternoon in which no competitive lap times were set was held on a wet track for the first time in Formula E history. Lynn was fastest in the first session, which took place on a damp track created by heavy rain from Friday but dried as the session progressed, with a late lap of 1 minute, 5.977 seconds, almost two-tenths of a second faster than teammate Bird in second and Rosenqvist third. Prost was fourth-fastest, ahead of both Audi Sport ABT drivers Daniel Abt and di Grassi. Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Mitch Evans, Robin Frijns and Adam Carroll rounded out the session's top-ten drivers. The session was temporarily halted three minutes in when Tom Dillmann (Venturi) stopped his car on track and could not restart. Jean-Éric Vergne later drifted wide onto the run-off area but avoided damage to his car. Rosenqvist used 200 kW (270 hp) of power to set the second practice session's fastest lap time, at 1 minute, 2.423 seconds despite minor contact with a wall leaving turn five with his right-rear tire, damaging its suspension. The damage however was not severe enough to rule him out and was repaired. He was three-tenths of a second faster than teammate Heidfeld in second and Prost third. Bird, the Audi Sport ABT duo of di Grassi and Abt, Loïc Duval, Evans, Frijns and Lynn completed the top ten. Late in the session, di Grassi drove to the side of the track with a battery management system problem and could not restart his car, necessitating race control to activate the full course yellow procedure.
Saturday's afternoon qualifying session ran for 60 minutes and was divided into four groups of five cars. Each group was determined by a lottery system and was permitted six minutes of on-track activity. All drivers were limited to two timed laps with one at maximum power. The fastest five overall competitors in the four groups participated in a "Super Pole" session with one driver on the track at any time going out in reverse order from fifth to first. Each of the five drivers was limited to one timed lap and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest times (Super Pole from first to fifth, and group qualifying from sixth to twentieth). The driver and team who recorded the fastest time were awarded three points towards their respective championships. Qualifying took place in dry and warm weather. In the first group of five runners, Vergne paced the session despite minor contact with a barrier lining the circuit, going four-tenths of a second faster than second-placed Duval. Andretti teammates Frijns and António Félix da Costa were third and fourth (the latter lightly impacted a wall between the eighth and ninth corners) and Gasly was the group's slowest driver after hitting a concrete wall, damaging his suspension. D'Ambrosio set the second group's fastest lap time, three-tenths of a second faster than Heidfeld in second. Prost, Stéphane Sarrazin and Evans were group two's slowest three participants. In the third group, Abt was fastest with Lynn second. Piquet took third with Carroll fourth. Rosenqvist slid and went deep at the turn one hairpin, losing him two seconds of time and was the third group's slowest entrant.
Bird set the fastest overall lap at 1 minute, 2.806 seconds, going almost six-tenths of a second faster than Oliver Turvey in second. Di Grassi, Dillmann, and Maro Engel was the fourth group's slowest three drivers. Engel was affected by a problem which emerged before he could record a maximum power lap, forcing di Grassi to slow because yellow flags were waved. At the end of group qualifying, Bird, d'Ambrosio, Abt, Lynn and Vergne's lap times qualified them for super pole. In what was considered "a shock result" by the motorsport press, Lynn took the first pole position of his career, with a lap of 1 minute, 3.296 seconds in his first race meeting. He became the first driver to win the pole position in his debut Formula E race since Vergne at the 2014 Punta del Este ePrix. Lynn was joined on the grid's front row by Abt, who lost time in the final third of a lap. Abt was 0.003 seconds ahead of the third-place qualifier Vergne. Bird had an untidy lap that left him fourth as he could not match his teammate's pace with two errors at the track's hairpins. D'Ambrosio could not get his car into a qualifying setup, resulting in him locking his tires at turn six, and took fifth. The rest of the field lined up as Heidfeld, Piquet, Turvey, Prost, di Grassi, Sarrazin, Duval, Carroll, Evans, Dillmann, Frijns, Rosenqvist, Félix da Costa, Gasly and Engel.
### Race
The first race began at 16:00 Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−05:00). The weather at the start was dry and sunny with the air temperature between 84.65 to 85.64 °F (29.25 to 29.80 °C) and the track temperature ranged from 91.0 to 93.0 °F (32.8 to 33.9 °C). A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 100 kW (130 hp) of power to use in the driver's second car. The three drivers who were allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote. For the first New York race, Abt, di Grassi and Vergne were handed the extra power. When the race started, Lynn spun his tires, allowing Abt to overtake him at the turn one hairpin. Bird and di Grassi gained one position at the start; traffic delayed di Grassi at the hairpins, where multiple cars made contact but sustained no bodywork damage. Rosenqvist gained six positions by the end of the first lap while Prost lost nine places over the same distance because of car damage. Evans was required to switch into his second car because of a broken right front wheel, and d'Ambrosio entered the pit lane with left-corner front wing damage after contact with Piquet.
At the end of the first lap, Abt led from Lynn, who was followed in turn by, Bird, Vergne, Heidfeld, d'Ambrosio, Turvey, Sarrazin, Piquet, and di Grassi. Abt opted to conserve electrical energy, meaning he could not establish a large lead over both Virgin drivers. Lynn defended from teammate Bird but the latter grew frustrated over his manoeuvres. Bird was granted permission to pass Lynn at the second corner on lap nine. Heidfeld overtook Vergne for fourth place at the end of the same lap. Abt was struggling with his brakes; his team requested he focus on restoring electrical energy. Bird challenged Abt for the lead, attempting to pass him twice on lap 14 but was unsuccessful both times. Two laps later, Bird took the lead from Abt by aggressively turning to the inside of him at the turn five hairpin. Vergne and Heidfeld attacked Lynn who was struggling to manage his car's electrical energy. Heidfeld took advantage of a small gap left by Lynn to pass him for third into the turn two chicane on the 16th lap. Vergne passed Lynn for fourth place at the turn one hairpin on the next lap.
Heidfeld placed pressure onto Abt but Vergne was drawing closer to him, allowing Abt to pull out a small gap over the pair. Vergne began his attack before the opening of the pit stop window and moved past Heidfeld at the turn two chicane for third on lap 18. Further down the field, Carroll and Félix da Costa battled each other and both cars made contact, littering the track with debris. On the 21st lap, Abt fell to third when he was passed by Vergne. The mandatory pit stops, during which all drivers need to change into a second car, began on the same lap when Lynn entered the pit lane after Vergne overtook him for sixth position. Bird and Vergne made their pit stops on the same lap, handing the lead back to Abt. Engel set the race's fastest lap on the same lap. His lap of 1 minute, 3.883 seconds earned him one point. Abt was on an alternative strategy, and led for one lap before relinquishing it to Bird. After the pit stops, Bird led Vergne by 2.2 seconds, with Abt five seconds behind Bird. Swift work from Sarrazin's pit crew promoted him to fourth, while Rosenqvist moved to sixth after starting from 17th position, though his teammate Heidfeld fell to eighth.
Lynn's race was curtailed on lap 25 when he stopped on track with a driveshaft failure. Di Grassi was separated by the two Mahindras of Rosenqvist and Heidfeld, and battled the former while also defending from the latter. Dillmann and Gasly overtook Carroll to move into the top ten on lap 29. As the lead group established themselves, attention focused on di Grassi's duel with Rosenqvist. Di Grassi was cautious as he attempted to find room to pass Rosenqvist, but kept pressuring him. On lap 33, Rosenqvist locked his tires turning into the turn two chicane, causing him to lose control of his car's rear, and drifted into the corner's exit barrier. His error promoted di Grassi into fifth place; the impact removed his rear wing, prompting race officials to display a black flag with an orange circle, requiring him to make a pit stop for repairs. After passing Dillmann, Gasly was in seventh position. Heidfeld's right-rear suspension collapsed after hitting the turn three inside kerb too hard on the 37th lap. He stopped on track, triggering the safety car's deployment, and reducing the time gaps within the field. Heidfeld pushed his car back to pit lane without assistance from marshals.
The safety car was withdrawn at the end of lap 41, and racing resumed with Bird leading Vergne and Abt. On the final lap, Abt slowed with a battery management system failure in the first turn, enabling Sarrazin to claim third place. As Abt attempted to rejoin, he almost hit teammate di Grassi, and stopped on track, preventing him from finishing. Vergne attempted to pass Bird by braking later than him on the lap, but could not overtake him and Bird maintained the lead to secure his first victory of the season, the fourth of his career, and his first since the 2016 Buenos Aires ePrix. He became the first driver to win a motor race in New York City. Vergne finished second, 1.3 seconds behind and his teammate Sarrazin took third. Di Grassi was fourth, Duval fifth and Turvey sixth. The two e.Dams-Renaults of Gasly and Prost were seventh and eighth. Frijns and Carroll rounded out the top ten. Piquet and Félix da Costa were in the next two positions. Problems dropped Dillmann to 13th. Abt and Rosenqvist were the final finishers. Evans, d'Ambrosio and Engel were the other three drivers not to finish the race. There were two lead changes during the race; two drivers reached the front of the field. Bird led twice for a total of 27 laps, out of 43.
### Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Bird was delighted with the victory, calling his achievement "incredible" and congratulated Formula E for organising the event: "I can imagine how difficult it was, but it’s been an amazing week so far. We had pretty good speed today." He said both Berlin races were "a turning point" for his team as they had been extensively educated on their performance and praised his teammate Lynn for taking the pole position. Vergne was pleased to finish second but claimed his getaway off the grid prevented him from winning the race as there was a large amount of dirt off the racing line, causing him to lose positions. However, he was aware he could reclaim ground in the ePrix's opening phase, and increased his pace to conserve more electrical energy than Bird but felt the latter deserved the victory. Sarrazin said he felt "very good" to finish third, and despite making a small error in qualifying, he felt "lucky" because of Abt's final lap problem.
Following battery re-generation problems on his car leaving him unable to finish the event after having led the first 16 laps, Abt spoke of his annoyance and revealed he had some issues with his first car: adding "But still we were in a position to at least take a podium here which would have been good points. Still good, and then last lap my car shuts off with a battery failure or whatever. It’s annoying." He was also disappointed over losing the possibility of finishing on the podium, but said it was continually satisfying to compete at the front of the pack; however he claimed to feel more satisfied to be the first driver to finish the race: "I don’t know why this always happens to me, so many times. It’s just really annoying because in the end people forget what happened."
The result reduced Buemi's Drivers' Championship to 20 points by di Grassi finishing fourth. Rosenqvist remained in third position on 86 points, but his advantage over Prost in fourth place had decreased to ten points. Bird's victory moved him from eighth to fifth. e.Dams-Renault still led the Teams' Championship on 239 points, although their lead over Audi Sport ABT had been narrowed slightly by two points. Mahindra maintained third place on 149 points. Virgin consolidated fourth position with 125 points, and Techeetah further extended their advantage over NextEV for fifth with three races left in the season.
### Standings after the race
- Bold text indicates who still had a theoretical chance of becoming Champion.
Drivers' Championship standings
Teams' Championship standings
- Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
## Race two
### Practice and qualifying
One 45-minute practice session on Sunday morning was held before the early afternoon race. Bird recorded the fastest lap of the third practice session, which took place in dry and warm weather, of 1 minute, 2.209 seconds, almost two-tenths of a second faster than Vergne in second. Engel, Turvey, Piquet, Dillmann, Lynn, di Grassi, d'Ambrosio and Heidfeld were in positions three to ten. Dillmann broke his front-left suspension following an impact with a barrier leaving the turn six hairpin. He could not drive back to pit lane, and stopped his car at the next corner, necessitating a red flag. Di Grassi carried excess speed into the turn one hairpin, and steered in the opposite direction to continue driving. The session ended early when Frijns lost control of his car's rear, and hit the turn ten wall, littering the circuit with debris. Frijns vacated his vehicle but limped slightly, possibly caused by hitting his leg on the monocoque cell.
Sunday's qualifying session was held in the morning rather than the traditional afternoon. Qualifying took place in dry and warm weather. In the first group of five runners, Bird paced the session, ahead of Frijns. Prost and Piquet were third and fourth due to both drivers losing time through errors. Duval had trouble selecting second gear, and ran deep into the first turn, ending the first group slowest. Rosenqvist set a lap immediately made him fastest in the second group, ahead of Turvey and Abt. D'Ambrosio and Félix da Costa were the second group's slowest participants. In the third group, Gasly set the fastest overall time in group qualifying at 1 minute, 2.080 seconds, one-tenth of a second faster than Vergne in second place. Di Grassi hit the turn three exit barrier lightly en route to third. Sarrazin and Evans finished the third group as its slowest competitors. In the fourth group, Heidfeld set a final minute lap that made him fastest, ahead of Engel and Dillmann. After changing three car components, Lynn struggled with brake temperatures and was fourth. Carroll was the fourth group's slowest driver after contact with the turn five exit barrier. At the end of group qualifying, Gasly, Rosenqvist, Vergne, Bird and Heidfeld qualified for super pole. Bird won pole position with a lap of 1 minute, 2.285 seconds, and was joined on the grid's front row by Rosenqvist. Vergne locked his tires at the hairpin, which disrupted his rhythm through the following corners, but recovered enough time to qualify third. Gasly went wide at the turn one hairpin, leaving him fourth. Heidfeld's lap was untidy, and started fifth. After qualifying, Frijns and Piquet were demoted ten places because of a gearbox and engine change, respectively. and Piquet did the same after changing his engine. After the penalties, the rest of the grid lined up as Engel, Turvey, Abt, di Grassi, Dillmann, Sarrazin, Evans, d'Ambrosio, Prost, Lynn, Félix da Costa, Duval, Carroll, Frijns and Piquet.
### Race
The second race started at 13:00 local time. The weather at the start of the race were dry and sunny with the air temperature between 83.5 and 85.1 °F (28.6 and 29.5 °C) and the track temperature from 83.03 to 84.02 °F (28.35 to 28.90 °C). The second event was six laps longer than the first, making battery management the core concern of every driver. For the second consecutive day, it was not the pole sitter who led as Rosenqvist accelerated faster than Bird and passed him into the turn one hairpin. Gasly fell to fifth behind Heidfeld. Just as in the first race, several drivers made contact in the first turn. Abt's rear wheel guard was damaged from contact with teammate di Grassi and Dillmann. Engel ploughed into the rear of Vergne in the first corner, and was shown a black flag with an orange circle, requiring him to enter the pit lane for repairs. Abt slowed halfway through the first lap, stopping in the centre of the track to perform a full reset, and fell to the rear of the field. Prost gained three positions by the end of the first lap, while Abt fell twelve places over the same distance.
At the end of the first lap Rosenqvist led from Bird, Vergne, Heidfeld, Gasly, Engel, Turvey, Dillmann, di Grassi, and Evans. Bird was close behind Rosenqvist in the opening laps, while Heidfeld drew closer to both drivers. After starting ninth, di Grassi was seventh by lap seven. Engel hit a trackside barrier, and drove to pit lane where his team repaired his car and was focused on setting the race's fastest lap. However he did not achieve this as Abt set the fastest lap on his seventh lap. Abt completed a circuit in 1 minute, 3.898 seconds to earn one point. After locking his right-front brake, Evans ran wide, and stopped his car near the pit lane entry after lightly hitting a wall two laps later. Evans had difficulty reversing out of the barrier, prompting the first full course yellow flag. Gasly was the first driver to notice this, slowing in turn ten, and fell back from the top three. During the full course yellow, di Grassi, Abt and Heidfeld were announced as the winners of the second FanBoost vote.
Racing resumed on lap 10 with Rosenqvist leading Bird and Heidfeld. Shortly afterward, Bird attacked Rosenqvist, catching the latter off guard, and passing him on the inside at the turn six hairpin for the lead at the start of the 11th lap. Heidfeld could not pass his teammate as Gasly was drawing closer to the lead group. Bird began to pull away from the field. Frijns was preserving electrical energy in an attempt to gain positions. The other half of the top ten were delayed by Turvey with Dillmann and di Grassi battling him. Dillmann and di Grassi managed to overtake the struggling Turvey. Engel chose to risk changing into his second car on lap 15, but dropped to 18th while Vergne moved to 12th. A second full course yellow was necessitated on lap 20 when Lynn stopped in the centre of the straight after the turn one chicane with a technical problem. This prompted several drivers, including Mahindra teammates Rosenqvist and Heidfeld, to enter the pit lane for the mandatory change into their second cars on the same lap. Bird opted to remain on track for one additional lap before making his stop, giving him more electrical energy than the drivers behind him. Techeetah drivers Vergne and Sarrazin were caught off guard by the full course yellow, and switched to their second cars just as the field returned to racing speed. The two lost positions, but had more usable electrical energy.
When racing resumed, Bird kept first place and was ahead of both Mahindras. Di Grassi was seven seconds behind Gasly, and the two were separated by the yet-to-stop Frijns. Bird used the restart to increase his lead to three seconds over both Mahindras without overusing electrical energy. D'Ambrosio spun at the chicane; although his rear of his car was damaged, the rear wing remained intact. Félix da Costa steered to the inside of Duval, but spun at the first turn, falling behind Duval's teammate d'Ambrosio. Rosenqvist's team noticed his car had an energy readout issue, and they prompted teammate Heidfeld to overtake him for second on lap 36 to see whether he could draw closer to Bird and pass him. Rosenqvist quickly fell behind to allow his problem to be solved in a calmer environment. This allowed Bird to further increase his lead by a second. Piquet incurred a drive-through penalty because he had not served an earlier ten-second penalty—which was issued after an engine change—at his car swap. D'Ambrosio drove to the inside of teammate Duval entering the sixth turn, and passed him, allowing Félix da Costa to draw closer to both Dragon cars. One lap later, Félix da Costa braked later than Duval, but the two made contact at the first corner hairpin. The collision saw the imposition of a drive-through penalty on Félix da Costa.
Heidfeld allowed teammate Rosenqvist back through to second place on lap 48. Despite an oversteer in the race's final laps, Bird opened up a healthy advantage and crossed the start/finish line after 49 laps to earn his second victory of the season, his second in succession in New York City, and the fifth of his career. He was the first driver to win both races of a double header weekend since Prost at the 2016 London ePrix. Gasly caught the Mahindras of Rosenqvist and Heidfeld on the final lap, and all three drivers concertinaed through the final turn. While challenging Heidfeld for third, Gasly carried too much speed entering the final corner and drifted into a trackside wall. He hurled a detachable barrier on the circuit, which no other driver hit. Rosenqvist took second, with Heidfeld narrowly ahead of Gasly's damaged car. Di Grassi was fifth, Prost sixth, Dillmann seventh and Vergne eighth. Frijns's additional electrical energy allowed him to pass four cars on the final lap and took ninth. D'Ambrosio rounded out the top ten. Carroll, Sarrazin, Duval, Turvey, Félix da Costa and Piquet were the final finishers. There was one lead change during the race; two drivers reached the front of the field. Bird led once for a total of 29 laps, out of 49.
### Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Bird was euphoric with his second New York City win and paid tribute to the Virgin team for providing him with what he called "the best car" he had driven in his Formula E career: "What a car I was given this weekend. Blinding in qualifying, sensational on energy management in the race." He suggested pole position be moved to the right-hand side if Formula E returned to New York City, and did not rule out challenging for victories at the season's final race weekend in Montreal. Second-place finisher Rosenqvist stated he had not anticipated the strong form of the Virgin team but praised Bird's driving. He said that he was "thrilled" to return to the podium despite being overtaken by Bird after the first ten laps. Rosenqvist stated his feeling that this displayed his team's potential to win more races, and was looking forward to the season's final two ePrix. Heidfeld, who finished third, spoke of his enjoyment of the second race. Because of the problems affecting his teammate Rosenqvist, he said he made an effort to put pressure on Bird but wanted to drive more calmly following his suspension failure in the previous day's race.
In regards to the final lap collision with Gasly, Heidfeld said that he did not encourage Gasly to run on the inside, as he was attempting to remain close behind teammate Rosenqvist so there would be no space available to in which the latter could steer into: "For sure I didn’t touch him on purpose, and it’s a pity to finish like this, but at least we both made it over the line." Gasly claimed Heidfeld had placed him in a position to impact the wall following the latter releasing his brake pedal. Nevertheless, he described his weekend as "very positive", but did not anticipate his advancing into super pole after having just a day's worth of experience driving in the series: "We had a very busy schedule, especially with me arriving later on during the event. There was a lot to learn but we did great. We scored important points for the team. It was a great opportunity to discover a new discipline and I enjoyed the challenge very much." Félix da Costa spoke of his disagreement of the drive-through penalty he received from the stewards after his collision with Duval late in the race, something he said ended it competitively for him.
The result further reduced Buemi's Drivers' Championship advantage over di Grassi to ten points. Rosenqvist remained in third place on 104 points, and was four points ahead of Bird. Prost's sixth-place finish dropped him to fifth position. e.Dams-Renault increased their lead over Audi Sport ABT in the Teams' Championship to 65 points. Mahindra maintained third place on 182 points. With 153 points, Virgin consolidated fourth position and were 59 points ahead of Techeetah with two races left in the season. 20,000 people attended the race weekend. Di Grassi acknowledged his team did not have the pace to challenge for victories in both races, but believed he could improve his situation in the championship and focused on the final two rounds.
### Standings after the race
- Bold text indicates who still had a theoretical chance of becoming Champion.
Drivers' Championship standings
Teams' Championship standings
- Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
## Classification
### Qualifying one
### Race one
Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.
Notes:
- — Three points for pole position.
- — One point for fastest lap.
### Qualifying two
Notes:
- — Robin Frijns was demoted ten places because he changed his gearbox.
- — Nelson Piquet Jr. was demoted ten places because he changed his engine.
### Race two
Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.
Notes:
- — Three points for pole position.
- — One point for fastest lap. |
4,370,098 | Take Me Home (Cher song) | 1,169,233,143 | 1979 single by Cher | [
"1978 songs",
"1979 singles",
"2001 debut singles",
"American disco songs",
"Casablanca Records singles",
"Cher songs",
"Music videos directed by Sophie Muller",
"Number-one singles in Scotland",
"Polydor Records singles",
"Songs written by Bob Esty",
"Sophie Ellis-Bextor songs"
]
| "Take Me Home" is a song recorded by American singer and actress Cher for her fifteenth studio album. The album, released in 1979, bore the same name as the single. "Take Me Home" is a disco song conceived after Cher was recommended to venture into said genre after the commercial failure of her previous albums. The lyrics center around the request of a woman to be taken home by her lover. It was released as the lead single from the Take Me Home album in January 1979 through Casablanca Records, pressed as a 12-inch single.
Music critics gave positive reviews of "Take Me Home", highlighting its sound and melody. The single fared well in the United States charts, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and entering three of its component charts. In Oceania, it entered the singles chart of New Zealand at number 49. It was also a hit in Canada, reaching the top-ten of the singles chart.
## Background and composition
After releasing the studio albums Stars (1975), I'd Rather Believe in You (1976), Cherished and Two the Hard Way (1977), which became commercial failures, Cher went to the headquarters of Casablanca Records, in order to start recording for a new full-length record. She was hoping to record rock and roll-tinged music, though she was quickly advised by Neil Bogart to delve into disco music before recording with a genre that, according to him, she was not very good at. She was reluctant to take his advice, as she regarded disco as a "superficial" genre and did not believe it was "serious music". However, she took his advice, and started working with Bob Esty, who arranged and produced records for Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand. Esty was skeptical of Cher's decision to record disco music, although he changed his mind after he began recording with her. The first song he played her was a demo of "Take Me Home", which Cher said she liked.
"Take Me Home" is a disco song running at a length of six minutes and forty-five seconds (6:45). Its lyrics see Cher asking her partner to "take her home", which is an indirect way of expressing her desire to have sexual intercourse. For the book The Persistence of Sentiment: Display and Feeling in Popular Music of the 1970s, Mitchell Morris commented on the song: "Ostensibly a plea to be chosen, the song relies on the musical force of the arrangement combined with Cher's vocal presence to turn this plea into an irresistible demand, the auditory equivalent of the showgirl's direct gaze."
## Release and reception
"Take Me Home" was released in the United States as a 12-inch single at a 33 1⁄3 rpm by Casablanca Records, containing the original version of "Take Me Home" and B-side "Wasn't It Good". Therefore, it served as the album's lead single. Promotional versions were also sent to radio stations in the United States with a different coloring on the vinyl, although with the same track listing. In Germany and France, the vinyl was pressed by Philips and branded as a "Super Single" and substituted "Wasn't It Good" with "My Song (Far Too Gone)". Some international pressings' vinyl sleeves had the same image as that of its parent album printed, featuring Cher dressed in a "gilded Viking warrior get-up", a winged bikini bottom, wings and a gold scabbard attached to her hip. UGO Networks' K. Thor Jensen considered the sleeve to be her "bad taste highwater mark", and named her outfit "Flash Gordon-esque". In the United Kingdom, when "Wasn't It Good" was issued as a vinyl single, "Take Me Home" served as its B-side.
The staff of Billboard magazine picked it as a recommended disco single and wrote: "[The song] is an upbeat, cleanly produced sound with a light, easy melody. It's sure to catch the ears of the disco set." A reviewer for AllMusic singled out the track from its parent album, feeling it was one of its "track picks". Having spent in total 20 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100, "Take Me Home" peaked at number eight, thus making it Cher's first top 10 single since 1974's "Dark Lady". It also entered its component charts of Adult Contemporary, Hot Dance Club Play (now the Hot Dance Club Songs) and Hot Soul Singles (now Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) charts, respectively, at numbers 19, two and 21. It was certified Gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on May 3, 1979. Billboard ran an article on Cher's biggest hits on the Hot 100, where "Take Me Home" was listed as the eleventh. The single was a hit in Canada, where it reached the top 10 on the charts. In New Zealand it reached number 49 and stayed for two weeks before leaving the chart.
## Live performances
Cher performed the song on her Take Me Home Tour wearing a shiny silver wig along with a matching silver sequin dress. She performed the song for the first time in twenty years on her concerts from her Do You Believe? Tour, which ran from 1999 to 2000, wearing an almost identical silver sequined outfit she wore during the Take Me Home tour. During her Living Proof: The Farewell Tour (2002–05), she performed it in a similar fashion, changing the wig and shirt-and-pants set's color to a sparkly red. At her residence in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, in the show Cher at the Colosseum, Cher performed the song in a similar costume in turquoise color. Cher also performed the song in her Classic Cher shows with the turquoise costume from Caesars Palace.
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Sophie Ellis-Bextor cover
"Take Me Home" (also known as "Take Me Home (A Girl Like Me)") was covered by English recording artist Sophie Ellis-Bextor for her debut studio album Read My Lips (2001). It contains rewritten lyrics by Ellis-Bextor, while British musician Damian LeGassick handled production and a few other tasks. Polydor Records released it as both a digital download and a CD single on August 13, 2001, alongside a remix and B-side track "Sparkle".
An accompanying music video, directed by Sophie Muller, was included in the CD single release and features Ellis-Bextor in a variety of outfits and high-couture clothes. In 2018, "Take Me Home" was released in a re-recorded orchestral version as the second single off Ellis-Bextor's greatest hits compilation The Song Diaries.
### Background
Ellis-Bextor first ventured into the music business as the frontwoman for indie rock band theaudience. A moderately successful band, they released an album with Mercury Records and eLLeFFe, which spawned various singles, including "I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)", which reached number twenty-five on the UK Singles Chart. After finishing up the promotion for their debut album, they recorded a demo tape for a potential second album, however, Mercury dropped them and they split shortly afterwards. Following the disbandment of the group, Ellis-Bextor recorded vocals for DJ Spiller's single "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)", which ultimately became a commercial success, peaking at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2000.
### Production and composition
The track was produced by British musician Damian LeGassick, who also mixed and engineered the song. He additionally played the keyboards and the guitar while programming them. The bass guitar was played by Guy Pratt and programmed by Yoad Nevo. Jake Davis served as an engineer for mix; he also helmed the additional programming and sound design. The sound was remixed and additionally produced by Jeremy Wheatley at the Townhouse studios, while Ellis-Bextor's vocals were produced and recorded by Bacon & Quarmby at the Strongroom studios.
Being a cover of Cher's song, the song retains writing credits for Bob Esty and Michele Aller, while Ellis-Bextor included new lyrics written by herself. While both versions address sexual intercourse, the publication noted that in the original version, Cher "sings romantically about 'makin' love'" while Ellis-Bextor sings "more aggressive" lyrics such as "only fair I get my way". Even before Ellis-Bextor had released the cover, Cher's management deemed the rewritten lyrics overly sexual. To NME, Ellis-Bextor stated:
> I was told by my publishers that Cher heard my version and she doesn't like my new lyrics. She thinks it's too overtly sexual. But the original writers were happy for me to do that—Cher didn't actually write it so she didn't get approval about what happened to the song. Now apparently she's heard what I've done and she doesn't like it.
### Release and reception
"Take Me Home" was released by Polydor Records in the United Kingdom on August 13, 2001, and in the United States as an import. It was released as a legal digital download and an enhanced maxi CD single; both featured the Ellis-Bextor cover, B-side "Sparkle" and a Jewels & Stone remix, while the latter contained the song's music video for the song. The single was also pressed as an edition dubbed the "Mixes & Remixes" EP, released only in France. A 12-inch single was also pressed in the United Kingdom, with remixes. Two AllMusic writers reviewed the song. Upon its release as a single, Dean Carlson gave it a negative rating of one and a half star out of five, commenting: "[...] Ellis Bextor is well aware of what's required for beating the likes of Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton at their own game—simply take Cher's "Take Me Home" and add one disco beat circa ABBA's 'Fernando', being mindful to avoid its cocaine harmonies and the air of free love [...], techno-fy it with random fiddly bits, sing with the breathless detachment of someone getting a massage from a lumberjack, and chuck in some remixes just so everybody knows that you're not utterly out of step." After its parent album's release, Kelvin Hayes denoted it as one of the album's strongest tracks, as did Toby Manning from Q. For Yahoo! Music, Gary Crossing wrote that the album "start[ed] well with the song", while describing it as Spiller-esque. Betty Clarke of The Guardian regarded "Take Me Home" as a "pleasant enough song", though she called the production and Ellis-Bextor's vocals "more tired than sexy".
On the UK Singles Chart, the song was a commercial success, debuting and peaking at number 2. While extensively analyzing the song, Justin Myers from the Official Charts Company observed that although the song had reached the runner-up position on the UK Singles Chart, it was largely overshadowed by "Murder on the Dancefloor". In Netherlands and Germany, the song peaked at number 79, respectively on the Dutch Top 40 and Media Control Charts—staying on each chart for respectively 12 and 5 weeks. The song also reached top 20 on the Recorded Music NZ singles chart of New Zealand, where it stayed for 14 weeks before leaving the chart.
### Promotion
To promote the song, Sophie Muller filmed a music video for "Take Me Home" which was released on the song's CD single. The video was also included in her video album Watch My Lips (2002).' It opens with Ellis-Bextor, dressed in a black one-strap dress, in front of a yellow-toned painting of a woman with red lips. Throughout the music video, Ellis-Bextor is seen in a variety of dresses and outfits—she appears standing in front of a green mural with a flowery large tablecloth, while dressing a see-through shirt, which reveals her black bra; other scene shows her with a dark green gown; other shows her with a flower and leaves pattern and holding a in front of a projected image which shows the Eiffel Tower from far. She also appears dressed in a green trench coat in another scene. Usually, costume and location scenes are accompanied by a change of gradient color, which are projected onto Ellis-Bextor. By the middle of the video, she walks across a street, surrounded by formally-dressed men, who dance around her and lift her. After the song's middle 8 plays, the lights of the street turn on and various French event posters are shown. The video concludes as they all enter a disco club. She also performed the track at the Read My Lips Tour (2002–03), serving as its encore. Ellis-Bextor would shortly introduce the song, with green eye makeup and red lipstick, dressed in a cream-colored dress and pink heels. As the backing track started playing, she would start singing and clapping her hands as the public imitated her, and the audience was showered with confetti.
### Charts
#### Weekly charts
#### Year-end charts
### Certifications
### Release history |
15,410,213 | Tithonus (The X-Files) | 1,158,229,409 | null | [
"1999 American television episodes",
"Fiction about photography",
"Television episodes about personifications of death",
"Television episodes set in New York City",
"Television episodes written by Vince Gilligan",
"The X-Files (season 6) episodes"
]
| "Tithonus" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on January 24, 1999. The episode was written by Vince Gilligan, and directed by Michael W. Watkins. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Tithonus" earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.2, being watched by 15.90 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received positive reviews.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Scully learns that she, but not Mulder, is being given a chance to prove her worth at the FBI, and—paired with a new partner—she investigates a crime scene photographer with an uncanny knack for arriving just in time to see his victims' final moments. What she does not expect, however, is for Death to play a role himself.
Vince Gilligan wrote "Tithonus" in an attempt to create a story wherein immortality is portrayed as scary. The episode was based on three different stories: Arthur Fellig, the Greek myth of Tithonus, and the yellow fever epidemic in the 19th century. In addition, several of the scenes were filmed on the sets from NYPD Blue, whose sets were located just across from The X-Files studios. The character of Alfred Fellig in "Tithonus" has thematically been compared to the Tithonus in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's dramatic monologue of the same name. In addition, themes of immortality and escaping death were revisited in the eighth season episode "The Gift".
## Plot
In New York City, a man with a camera follows a woman from an elevator through a corridor to another elevator, where all the people appear to be gray. He gets off on a floor before the woman and runs down the stairs. Lights flicker and the elevator cable snaps. As the man reaches the basement, the cab crashes and its door spills open to reveal the woman's wrist, covered with blood. The man begins to snap photos. Later, in Washington, D.C., FBI Assistant Director Alvin Kersh (James Pickens, Jr.) assigns Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), along with Agent Peyton Ritter from New York, to the case. Scully's partner Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) looks at the material on Scully's desk and points out that the case looks like an X-file—and that Kersh is obviously splitting them up.
Scully and Ritter soon discover that their prime suspect, Alfred Fellig, who has worked as a police photographer since 1964, has not aged at all in any of his official photos on his renewal applications. Elsewhere in the city, Fellig watches a criminal kill a youth for his sneakers. When he approaches to take photos of the dying young man, the murderer returns and repeatedly stabs Fellig, but he pulls the knife out of his back and walks away. Scully and Ritter learn of the crime and of the fact that Fellig's prints are on the knife. Ritter demands to know how Fellig always seems to be around when people die, but Scully realizes that the man is in pain and asks whether he was wounded in the attack which Fellig says he merely observed. When she sees the wounds on his back she sends him to the hospital, much to Ritter's chagrin. Ritter reminds Scully that they are trying to charge Fellig with murder, and to not let him go.
Ritter leaves Scully staking out Fellig's apartment, but Scully is unnerved when she sees Fellig shooting photos of her out his window and bangs on his door, demanding to know how he took photos at a crime scene before the police even knew the crime had been committed. He invites her to take a ride with him so he can show her. After driving, he sees a prostitute who appears to be gray to him. Fellig tells Scully that the woman will be dead very soon. A pimp approaches the woman and begins to harass her. Scully leaps out of the car with her gun, announcing that she is an FBI agent and handcuffing the pimp, but when the prostitute tries to flee, she is hit by a truck and killed.
Scully goes to warn Fellig that he is about to be charged for murder, and accuses him of profiting from people's deaths. In his darkroom, Fellig shows Scully a photo of a dead woman with an odd fuzzy shape around her head, which the photographer claims is Death. When asked why he bothers to try to photograph Death, Fellig says that it is so he can look Death in the face and finally die. He claims to be 149 years old, and says he cannot kill himself. Scully points out that most people would like to live forever, but Fellig says that he has experienced everything, and that even love does not last forever. Suddenly, he notices that Scully is gray, and says, "Count your blessings." When she asks about the science of his immortality, he says he was meant to die of yellow fever, but he refused to look Death in the face, so instead Death took the kind nurse who had taken care of him. Fellig takes a photo just as Ritter enters and shoots. The bullet passes right through the camera and through Fellig into Scully, who collapses. While Ritter rushes to call an ambulance, Fellig asks Scully whether she saw Death and begs her to close her eyes. He covers her hand with his own. The color returns to Scully's hand as Fellig's turns gray. Looking up, he dies.
At the hospital, Mulder watches through a window as Ritter apologizes to Scully, then tells Ritter that he's a lucky man (because Scully survived). Going inside the room, Mulder reports to Scully that Fellig died of a single gunshot wound, while the doctors are amazed at her own rapid recovery.
## Production
### Writing
An X-Files story about immortality had been discussed by the writers for a number of years, but they always struggled with making the concept "scary". Frank Spotnitz, the show's executive producer, claimed that the breakthrough came when they began contemplating the idea of an immortal photographer trying to catch Death so that he could die. Vince Gilligan was assigned to outline and write "Tithonus", and he took inspiration from three distinct aspects of history and myth. The first of these was the story of Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, a famous photographer, whose name served as the inspiration for Alfred Fellig. The second was the New York Yellow fever epidemic in the 19th century. The third and most fantastical inspiration was the Greek myth of Tithonus (to which this episode's title alludes), who was the son of Cephalus and the lover of Eos, Goddess of the Dawn. Eos later kidnapped him to be her lover and asked Zeus to make him immortal. Eos, however, forgot to ask for eternal youth to go with eternal life, resulting in Tithonus living forever but degenerating into a husk of a man.
The episode was not the first X-Files episode to reference to immortality. The season three episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" featured Scully being told by the titular character that she would not die. This episode was the inception of a lesser-known story arc that was originally supposed to reveal that Scully was immortal. The sub-plot, popular with fans on the internet, was verified by Spotnitz. However, Spotnitz later admitted that this sub-plot was bookended by "Tithonus", a solution that Spotnitz later called "very satisfying".
### Filming and effects
While the first five seasons of the series were mainly filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, production of the show's sixth season was based in Los Angeles, California. Several of the scenes for "Tithonus" were shot on the sound stage of NYPD Blue, an ABC program whose sets were just across from the Fox studios.
All of Fellig's cameras were borrowed from the University of California's Museum of Photography, and many of the photographs were used courtesy of the Los Angeles-based advertising and licensing agency Corbis. The production staff of The X-Files was tasked with not only creating the photographs that Fellig takes, but also with ensuring that each looked as if it belonged to a discrete time period. Tom Day, the episode's property master, researched "popular government typefaces and printing technologies" to make the pictures as historically accurate as possible.
The episode featured several special effects. The stab wounds that were on Fellig's back were constructed in "precisely graduated sizes" to show Fellig's healing powers. The faux-wounds were then applied to Lewis' back by make-up department head Cheri Montesanto-Mecalf. Reportedly the effect that caused the most headaches was turning select figures in photos black-and-white. Visual effects producer Bill Millar noted that the process was "very similar to the one used to wreck all those old movies by colorizing them. In fact, it's basically the same, only in reverse". The "painstaking" process involved outlining what needed to be de-colorized. A computer program then completed the job. Millar had previously used the technique on the NBC series Nightmare Cafe in 1992 as well as the 1998 movie Pleasantville.
## Themes
Besides a direct reference to the titular mythological character, Matthew VanWinkle, in the chapter "Tennyson's 'Tithonus' and the Exhaustion of Survival in The X-Files", of the book The X-Files and Literature: Unweaving the Story, Unraveling the Lie to Find the Truth, argues that the episode bears a striking resemblance to Alfred, Lord Tennyson's dramatic monologue "Tithonus". In the poem, one line reads "Alas! For this gray shadow, once a man." VanWinkle argues that in The X-Files episode, this line is paralleled by Alfred Fellig's tendency to see those about to die in a monochromatic vision. Furthermore, both the poem and the episode stress that death is not appealing because it is simply "a means to an end". Rather, it is to be sought because it "is the event that most fully unites us with other humans."
VanWinkle compared and contrasted Fellig with Eugene Victor Tooms, from the first season episodes "Squeeze" and "Tooms", and John Barnett, from the first season episode "Young at Heart". While all three are similar in that they have obtained, to a varying degree, elements of immortality, Tooms is different from Fellig because he is a "monstrous predator", and Barnett is unlike Fellig because he is a mere sociopath. Fellig, however, is the only character, out of the three, to possess true immortality. Furthermore, he is separated from Tooms and Barnett due to his distinct hatred for his ability; he did not want to be immortal; rather, it was forced upon him. VanWinkle also notes that Fellig is, furthermore, different from Tennyson's Tithonus because the latter actively sought immortality, due to the flaw of hubris or extreme pride, in order to become more like a god.
In the episode, VanWinkle draws parallels between Scully and Tithonus' lover Aurora. In the end, both will "continue [their] ending and invariable office"—in the former's case, investigating crimes, and in the latter's case, raising the dawn. The themes of immortality and escaping death were later revisited in the eight season episode "The Gift". In the episode, Agent John Doggett, played by Robert Patrick, is looking for clues following Mulder's abduction. Without Scully, he travels to Pennsylvania and seeks out a soul eater: a being that can consume another person's injuries. In the end, Doggett is fatally shot, and the soul eater, wishing to die, consumes Doggett's death. VanWinkle argues that this episode serves as a direct parallel to "Tithonus", although it switches the perspective significantly.
## Broadcast and reception
"Tithonus" first aired in the United States on January 24, 1999. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9.2, with a 13 share, meaning that roughly 9.2 percent of all television-equipped households, and 13 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 15.90 million viewers. The episode aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky1 on May 9, 1999, and received 0.79 million viewers, making it the third most watched episode that week. Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "When death looks you in the face... you're dead. Tonight, Scully gets a good hard look."
The episode was met with largely positive reviews. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club wrote positively of the episode and awarded it an "A" grade. He noted the entries' similarities with "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", noting that both deal with men "who [know] too much about death for [their] own good". He also praised the characterization of Scully and Fellig; he noted that the former is "no-nonsense" and optimistic, whereas the latter is a "creepy man" who is jealous of those who are capable of dying. Handlen concluded that the episode "doesn’t play out like a classic monster episode, it feels like one". Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files wrote positively of the episode, comparing it favorably to "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". He wrote, "If imitation is the highest form of flattery, what is a fascinating offshoot of a previous incarnation? I'd say it looks a lot like the latest entry into Season 6 of The X-Files. The engaging 'Tithonus'."
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode five stars out of five, drawing comparisons to "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", but noting that the former has "a flavour all of its own". Shearman and Pearson praised Geoffrey Lewis' portrayal of Fellig, and described "Tithonus" as "bizarre, chilling, and yet strangely life-affirming". Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a mixed-to-positive review and awarded it two-and-a-half stars out of four. Vitaris wrote that the episode had a "terrific 'feel'". In addition, Vitaris, despite slightly criticizing Gillian Anderson's "tired" performance through most of the episode, called Anderson's acting in the scene wherein Scully is shot "excellent", citing her "amazement and near-paralysis" as reasons why the scene was a success. The character of Alfred Fellig has also attracted positive critical acclaim. UGO Networks listed him amongst the greatest monster-of-the-week characters in The X-Files. |
1,531,942 | Celilo Falls | 1,173,741,047 | Historical waterfall on the Columbia River in Washington (state), United States | [
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"Landforms of Klickitat County, Washington",
"Landforms of Wasco County, Oregon",
"Submerged waterfalls",
"Waterfalls of Oregon",
"Waterfalls of Washington (state)"
]
| Celilo Falls (Wyam, meaning "echo of falling water" or "sound of water upon the rocks," in several native languages) was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. The name refers to a series of cascades and waterfalls on the river, as well as to the native settlements and trading villages that existed there in various configurations for 15,000 years. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent until 1957, when the falls and nearby settlements were submerged by the construction of The Dalles Dam. In 2019, there were calls by tribal leaders to restore the falls.
## Geography
### Main waterfall
The main waterfall, known variously as Celilo Falls, The Chutes, Great Falls, or Columbia Falls, consisted of three sections: a cataract, called Horseshoe Falls or Tumwater Falls; a deep eddy, the Cul-de-Sac; and the main channel. These features were formed by the Columbia River's relentless push through basalt narrows on the final leg of its journey to the Pacific Ocean. Frequently more than a mile (1.6 km) in width, the river was squeezed here into a width of only 140 feet (43 m). The seasonal flow of the Columbia changed the height of the falls over the course of a year. At low water the drop was about 20 feet (6.1 m). In 1839, Modeste Demers investigated the area in some detail and described not just one fall but a great many, in different channels and with different qualities. He wrote, "The number and variety [of the channels and falls] are surprising. They are not all equally deep. The falls are from 3 to 12 and 15 feet high." During the spring freshet in June and July, the falls could be completely submerged. The falls were the sixth-largest by volume in the world and were among the largest in North America. Average annual flow was about 190,000 ft3/sec (5380 m3/s), and during periods of high water or flood, as much as 1,240,000 ft3/sec (35,113 m3/s) passed over the falls.
### The Narrows and The Dalles
Celilo Falls itself was the first in a series of cascades and rapids known collectively as The Narrows or The Dalles, stretching for about 12 miles (19 km) downstream. Over that length, the river dropped 82 feet (25 m) at high water and 63 feet (19 m) at low water.
Three miles (4.8 km) below Celilo Falls was a stretch of rapids known variously as the Short Narrows, Ten Mile Rapids, the Little (or Upper) Dalles, or Les Petites Dalles. These rapids were about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 250 feet (76 m) wide. Ten miles (16 km) below Celilo Falls was another stretch of rapids, this one known as the Long Narrows, Five Mile Rapids, the Big (or Lower) Dalles, Les Grandes Dalles, or Grand Dalles. This stretch of rapids was about 3 miles (4.8 km) long, and the river channel narrowed to 75 feet (23 m). Immediately downstream were the Dalles Rapids (or Wascopam to the local natives), about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. Here the river dropped 15 feet (4.6 m) in a tumult much commented on by early explorers.
The Long Narrows and the Dalles Rapids are sometimes grouped together under names such as Grand Dalles, Les Dalles, Big Dalles, or The Dalles. One early observer, Ross Cox, noted a three-mile "succession of boiling whirlpools." Explorer Charles Wilkes described it as "one of the most remarkable places upon the Columbia." He calculated that the river dropped about 50 feet (15 m) over 2 miles (3.2 km) here. During the spring freshet, the river rose as much as 62 feet (19 m), radically altering the nature of the rapids. Fur trader Alexander Ross wrote, "[The water] rushes with great impetuosity; the foaming surges dash through the rocks with terrific violence; no craft, either large or small, can venture there safely. During floods, this obstruction, or ledge of rocks, is covered with water, yet the passage of the narrows is not thereby improved."
## History
### Fishing and trading
For 15,000 years, native peoples gathered at Wyam to fish and exchange goods. They built wooden platforms out over the water and caught salmon with dipnets and long spears on poles as the fish swam up through the rapids and jumped over the falls. Historically, an estimated fifteen to twenty million salmon passed through the falls every year, making it among the greatest fishing sites in North America.
Celilo Falls and The Dalles were strategically located at the border between Chinookan and Sahaptian speaking peoples and served as the center of an extensive trading network across the Pacific Plateau. Artifacts from the original village site at Celilo suggest that trade goods came from as far away as the Great Plains, Southwestern United States, and Alaska. There are also numerous rock art drawings at the head of the falls. This demonstrates the site to not just be important for trading purposes. It acted as a melting pot for the cultures which fished and traded there. When the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through the area in 1805, the explorers found a "great emporium...where all the neighboring nations assemble," and a population density unlike anything they had seen on their journey. Accordingly, historians have likened the Celilo area to the "Wall Street of the West." The Wishram people lived on the north bank, while the Wasco lived on the south bank, with the most intense bargaining occurring at the Wishram village of Nix-luidix. Charles Wilkes reported finding three major native fishing sites on the lower Columbia — Celilo Falls, the Big Dalles, and Cascades Rapids, with the Big Dalles being the largest. Alexander Ross described it as the "great rendezvous" of native traders, as "the great emporium or mart of the Columbia." Pinnipeds such as sea lions and seals followed salmon up the Columbia as far as Celilo Falls. In 1841 George Simpson wrote "these animals ascend the Columbia in great numbers in quest of the salmon.
### Navigation
The seasonal changes in the Columbia's flow, high in summer and low in winter, affected Celilo Falls dramatically. Lewis and Clark reached Celilo Falls in the late autumn when the water was relatively low, turning the falls into a major barrier. In contrast, when David Thompson passed Celilo Falls in July 1811, the high water obscured the falls and made his passage through the Columbia Gorge relatively easy. Modeste Demers wrote about the seasonal change in 1839: "One may be astonished to learn that these chutes, so terrible at low water, are smooth and still at very high water, which does not happen every year. Then it is that, instead of fearing them, the voyageurs hasten to approach them, to light their pipes and rest." More difficult was the Long Narrows, or Big Dalles, ten miles below Celilo Falls. This section of the river was impassable during high water. During the autumn low water they were passable but with unloaded boats only, and even then the passage was very dangerous. "They are never passed without dread," wrote François Blanchet in 1839. Narcissa Whitman asserted in 1836 that over one hundred "white lives" had been lost at the Dalles.
In the 1840s and 1850s, American pioneers began arriving in the area, traveling down the Columbia on wooden barges loaded with wagons. Many lost their lives in the violent currents near Celilo. In the 1870s, the Army Corps of Engineers embarked on a plan to improve navigation on the river. In 1915, they completed the 14-mile (23 km) Celilo Canal, a portage allowing steamboats to circumvent the turbulent falls. Though the canal's opening was greeted with great enthusiasm and anticipation, the canal was scarcely used and was completely idle by 1919.
## Flooding by the dam
As more settlers arrived in the Pacific Northwest in the 1930s and 1940s, civic leaders advocated a system of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. They argued that the dams would improve navigation for barge traffic from interior regions to the ocean; provide a reliable source of irrigation for agricultural production; provide electricity for the World War II defense industry; and alleviate the flooding of downriver cities, as occurred in the 1948 destruction of Vanport, Oregon.
Aluminum production, shipbuilding, and nuclear production at the Hanford site contributed to a rapid increase in regional demand for electricity. By 1943, fully 96 percent of Columbia River electricity was being used for war manufacturing. The volume of water at Celilo Falls made The Dalles an attractive site for a new dam in the eyes of the Corps of Engineers.
Throughout this period, native people continued to fish at Celilo, under the provisions of the 1855 Treaties signed with the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Cayuse, which guaranteed the tribes' ancient "right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed stations." In 1947, the federal government convened Congressional hearings and concluded that the proposed dam at The Dalles would not violate tribal fishing rights under the treaties. Subsequently, the government reached a monetary settlement with the affected tribes, paying \$26.8 million for the loss of Celilo and other fishing sites on the Columbia.
The Army Corps of Engineers commenced work on The Dalles Dam in 1952 and completed it five years later. On March 10, 1957, hundreds of observers looked on as a rising Lake Celilo rapidly silenced the falls, submerged fishing platforms, and consumed the village of Celilo, ending an age-old existence for those who lived there. A small Native American community exists today at nearby Celilo Village, on a bluff overlooking the former location of the falls.
In 2008 the Army Corps of Engineers completed a survey of the Celilo Falls site using sonar technology, in response to the 50th anniversary of the flooding of the falls. The survey revealed that the falls remain intact below the artificial lake, and that "rocky outcrops, carved basins and channels that match aerial photographs from the 1940s."
## Legacy
Celilo Falls retains great cultural significance for native peoples. Ted Strong of the Intertribal Fish Commission told one historian, "If you are an Indian person and you think, you can still see all the characteristics of that waterfall. If you listen, you can still hear its roar. If you inhale, the fragrances of mist and fish and water come back again." In 2007, three thousand people gathered at Celilo Village to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the inundation of the falls.
In Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the narrator, Chief Bromden, grows up in a native village near the waterfall. In one section, he encounters the government agents sent to appraise the land and negotiate with Bromden's father, the chief of the village at the time.
Artist and architect Maya Lin is working on interpretive artwork at Celilo for the Confluence Project, scheduled for completion in 2019.
## Restoration calls
Yakama and Lummi nation leaders called for a restoration of the falls in 2019, who noted that Indigenous peoples never agreed to the submergence of the falls. They cited that the river's temperature has become hotter with the reservoir each year and that there has been a large decline in salmon populations. They also noted that the dam has destroyed fishing sites that were guaranteed to the tribes in treaties 150 years ago. In response, Northwest RiverPartners issued a statement that the dam remains important for hydropower electricity generation for ports and businesses in the area.
## See also
- List of waterfalls by flow rate
- List of rapids of the Columbia River |
5,841,043 | Clarke MacArthur | 1,155,135,388 | Canadian ice hockey player | [
"1985 births",
"Atlanta Thrashers players",
"Buffalo Sabres draft picks",
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| Clarke MacArthur (born April 6, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. MacArthur played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Atlanta Thrashers and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was originally selected by Buffalo in the third round, 74th overall, at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
Prior to turning professional, MacArthur spent three seasons playing for the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League (WHL). While playing major junior hockey, he was named to the 2004 Memorial Cup All-Star and 2005 WHL Eastern Conference All-Star Teams. MacArthur was also a member of Canada's gold medal-winning squad at the 2005 World Junior Championships.
## Playing career
### Amateur
MacArthur played minor hockey in his hometown of Lloydminster, Alberta. He went unselected in the Western Hockey League (WHL) Bantam Draft when he was eligible, due in part to his short stature. While playing bantam hockey in Alberta, MacArthur put up impressive statistics, despite standing only 5'4". He recorded 99 points in 38 games during the 2000–01 season with the Strathcona Warriors. After the season, he was named his club's most valuable player.
With the numbers MacArthur put up in bantam hockey, he was able to secure a tryout with the Medicine Hat Tigers, but was the club's final cut heading into the 2001–02 season. As a result, MacArthur played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) for the Drayton Valley Thunder. In his only season in the AJHL, MacArthur recorded 62 points in 62 games, and helped the Thunder capture a League championship. During the season, he grew seven inches and Medicine Hat was again interested in obtaining his services. He subsequently joined the club for the 2002–03 season, putting up 75 points in 70 games as a rookie. During the summer, MacArthur was then drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the third round, 74th overall, of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
During his sophomore season in the WHL, 2003–04, MacArthur helped lead the Tigers to the Ed Chynoweth Cup as League champions and a berth in the 2004 Memorial Cup. MacArthur was the fourth-leading scorer in the tournament with one goal and four assists and was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star Team. The Tigers, however, lost in the semifinal of the tournament to the Kelowna Rockets. MacArthur played in 58 games during the 2004–05 season with the Tigers and recorded 74 points, while serving as one of the club's alternate captains. After the season, he was named to the WHL's Eastern Conference First All-Star Team. MacArthur was remarkably consistent during his WHL career, scoring 75, 75 and 74 points in his three WHL seasons.
### Professional
MacArthur began his professional career with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL), the Buffalo Sabres' top minor league affiliate, for the team's run in the 2005 playoffs, appearing in three games and recording an assist for his first professional point. He remained with Rochester in 2005–06, recording 53 points over 69 games in his first full professional season.
After starting the 2006–07 season in Rochester for a second year, MacArthur made his NHL debut for Buffalo on December 19, 2006, against the Montreal Canadiens. He split time between the Americans and Sabres for the rest of the season, finishing with 63 points over 51 games in the AHL and seven points over 19 games in the NHL. He recorded his first NHL point, an assist, on February 20, 2007, against the Philadelphia Flyers and scored his first career goal against the Ottawa Senators on February 22.
During the 2007–08 season, MacArthur again spent time with the Americans and Sabres. At the NHL level, he scored eight goals and added seven assists in 37 games, while recording 42 points in 43 games with the Americans. After the season, MacArthur became a restricted free agent before re-signing to a one-year deal with the Sabres. MacArthur spent his first full season at the NHL level in 2008–09, playing in 71 games with the Sabres and recording 31 points. After the season, the Sabres tendered MacArthur a qualifying offer to retain his rights; he subsequently signed a two-year deal with the club in July 2009. MacArthur played in 60 games for the Sabres, scoring 13 goals and adding 13 assists before being traded to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for two draft picks at the NHL trade deadline. He finished the season with the Thrashers recording nine points in 21 games.
After the 2009–10 season, MacArthur filed for salary arbitration. After the hearing, he was awarded a one-year contract worth \$2.4 million, a significant raise over his previous salary of \$1.4 million. The Thrashers chose not to accept the arbitration award, however, and MacArthur subsequently became an unrestricted free agent.
MacArthur signed a one-year deal for \$1.1 million with the Toronto Maple Leafs on August 28, 2010, ahead of the 2010–11 season. When asked later about his decision to sign in Toronto, MacArthur said, "It was nice to come back to a hockey community." He later added, "It's the most fun I've had since junior." Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf, one of MacArthur's teammates at the 2005 World Junior Championships, was influential in the decision to sign with Toronto. MacArthur scored goals in each of his first four games with the club, becoming the first player in team history to do so. The following month, he tied his personal career-best when he scored two goals against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 13. On November 16 he tied a club record by recording three assists in a period against the Nashville Predators. At the end of his first season with the Maple Leafs, he signed a two-year contract extension at \$3.25 million per annum on July 5, 2011, thereby avoiding salary arbitration with the club.
On July 5, 2013, after his contract had expired with the Maple Leafs, MacArthur signed a two-year, \$6.5 million deal with Toronto's Ontario rivals, the Ottawa Senators. On August 19, 2014, the Senators announced they had signed MacArthur to a five-year contract extension worth a total of \$23.25 million—carrying a \$4.65 million annual average value—set to start in the 2015–16 season.
On February 16, 2015, MacArthur collided with goalie Robin Lehner, resulting in both players being diagnosed with concussions. On October 20, 2015, Senators general manager Brian Murray announced that MacArthur suffered another concussion during a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 14 and that MacArthur would not be playing in the near future. MacArthur played only the first four games of the 2015-16 season due to his concussion, although he passed a "baseline test" and was announced to be "medically cleared to play" in late March 2016.
During a training camp game on September 25, 2016, MacArthur suffered another concussion when newly-acquired Patrick Sieloff hit MacArthur into the boards. Bobby Ryan immediately began a fight with Sieloff, which was quickly broken up. Sieloff was sent to the Senators' AHL affiliate the Binghamton Senators shortly afterwards. On January 20, 2017, the Senators announced that MacArthur would not play any of the remaining games of the season on the recommendation of various doctors, despite MacArthur's insistence, that he did not have any symptoms of post-concussion syndrome. On April 4, 2017, MacArthur returned to the Senators' lineup after an 18-month absence and played in all of the Senators' four remaining regular season games. On April 23, 2017, MacArthur scored the series-winning goal (on the powerplay for a 3-2 win 6:30 into overtime of game six) against the Boston Bruins in their first round playoff matchup.
At the beginning of training camp for the 2017-2018 NHL season, it was announced that MacArthur had failed his physical and therefore could not attend camp. On November 14, 2017, Senators general manager Pierre Dorion stated it was "highly doubtful" MacArthur would ever play another NHL game. In 2018, it was reported by Spectrum News Rochester that MacArthur had retired, although MacArthur himself has never made an official statement.
## International play
MacArthur made his international debut playing for Team West at the 2002 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which was held in Manitoba. Two years later, he was invited to attend Canada's junior team Summer Development Camp in August 2004. He was ultimately chosen to the squad in December to compete in the 2005 World Junior Championships. During the tournament, MacArthur scored four goals in six games, tied for tenth in tournament scoring. One of the players he tied with was American Phil Kessel, who would become teammates with MacArthur in the NHL. In Canada's first game of the tournament against Slovakia, MacArthur scored two goals. Canada eventually captured gold at the tournament after routing Russia 6–1 in the final.
## Personal life
MacArthur's parents are named Dean and Deborah, and he has one sister, Kristin. As a child, his favorite hockey team was the Edmonton Oilers and his favorite player forward Vincent Lecavalier. Clarke also has an uncle Ken MacArthur who was selected by the Minnesota North Stars the eighth round (148th overall) of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft.
MacArthur and his wife Jessica have two children together.
## Career statistics
### Regular season and playoffs
Junior and professional statistics source
### International
International statistics source
## Awards |
976,141 | Jon Snow (character) | 1,171,188,687 | Fictional character | [
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| Jon Snow is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, in which he was portrayed by English actor Kit Harington. In the novels, he is a prominent point of view character. He is one of the most popular characters in the series, and The New York Times cites him as one of the author's finest creations. Jon is a main character in the TV series, and his storyline in the season 5 finale generated a strong reaction among viewers. Speculation about the character's parentage has also been a popular topic of discussion among fans of both the books and the TV series.
Jon is introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones as the illegitimate son of Ned Stark, Lord of Winterfell in the North of Westeros. Knowing his prospects are limited by his status as a bastard, Jon joins the Night's Watch, who guard the far northern borders from the wildlings living beyond The Wall. In A Clash of Kings (1998), Jon joins a scouting party investigating the growing threat from the otherworldly "Others" beyond the Wall, and infiltrates the wildlings. Jon learns of their plans to invade Westeros in A Storm of Swords (2000), and falls in love with the wildling woman Ygritte. Jon betrays the wildlings and Ygritte, returns to defend the Night's Watch against the wildlings' invasion, and is elected Lord Commander of the Watch. He appears briefly in A Feast for Crows (2005) and returns as a prominent character in A Dance with Dragons (2011), in which he works to negotiate an alliance between the Night's Watch and the wildlings against the Others; his policies are met with hostility by some among the Watch, and he is left for dead in a mutiny at the novel's end following a desired attempt to break his vows to fight House Bolton.
On the HBO series Game of Thrones, Jon's storyline follows the character's plot arc from the novel series, though seasons 6–8 continue on from the events of Martin's latest published installment, detailing Jon's resurrection, and revealing him to have been born Aegon Targaryen, the legitimate son of Rhaegar Targaryen, firstborn son of the Mad King, and Lyanna Stark, therefore possessing a stronger claim to the Iron Throne than Daenerys Targaryen whose birthright is now contested. For the role, Harington was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 2019, two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2016 and 2019, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards.
## Character
### Description
In A Game of Thrones, Jon Snow is introduced as the 14-year-old illegitimate son of Eddard "Ned" Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and half-brother to Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon. Jon is described as having strong Stark features with a lean build, long face, dark brown hair, and dark grey eyes. Jon has the surname "Snow" (customarily used for illegitimate noble children in the North) and is resented by Ned's wife Catelyn, who views him as a constant reminder of Ned's infidelity. Jon is the same age as Robb and enjoys a warm relationship with his siblings, particularly the tomboy Arya (who resembles Jon, and like him does not feel like she fits in). Ned treats Jon as much like his other children as propriety and his honor will allow. Still, as somewhat of an outsider, Jon has learned to be independent and to fend for himself when necessary. Jon idolizes his father, but is wounded by Ned's refusal to tell him about his mother. At the beginning of the story, Jon adopts the albino direwolf that he names Ghost. He later finds that at times he can "inhabit" the wolf and share its experiences.
David Orr of The New York Times describes Jon as "a complex, thoughtful and basically good character". David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the creators and executive producers of the television adaptation of the series, explain that Jon is one of several characters in the series who must "face hard truths about the world they live in, and adapt themselves to those truths" because, "The struggle many of them face is how to do that without losing their grip on who they are." Ned Stark teaches all his children about leadership, selflessness, duty and honor. Following his father's example becomes more difficult as Jon faces challenges to his identity as a man, a Stark, and a brother of the Night's Watch. Benioff and Weiss note that "Jon Snow tries to live with honor, while knowing that honor often gets his family members murdered." Writing for Variety about the season 6 episode "Battle of the Bastards", Laura Prudom suggests that Jon "has the same shortcomings" as his father: "he fights with honor against opponents who are all too willing to use that predictable morality against him".
Jon is a prominent point of view character in the novels, and has been called one of Martin's "finest creations". Jon is introduced as the illegitimate son of a Northern Lord who, realizing he is an outsider in his own family, follows his uncle to the far north and accepts the honorable duty of serving in the Night's Watch. But as much as he is a second-class Stark at home, initially his fellow recruits and brothers of the Watch set him apart as privileged and aloof. Jon adapts, soon proving himself to be wise, compassionate, and a natural leader. Over the course of the series, Jon's loyalty to the Watch and its vows, his family, and even Westeros itself are tested as he becomes embroiled in the efforts of the wildlings from Beyond the Wall to force their way back into the Seven Kingdoms. He lives among them as a spy for the Watch, sympathetic to their cause and becoming romantically involved with the tenacious Ygritte. However he ultimately betrays them to defend The Wall. Later, as the newest Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, he pursues an alliance with the wildlings.
Several reviews of 2011's A Dance with Dragons noted the return to the narrative of Jon, Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister, the three popular characters whom fans had missed most from the previous volume, A Feast for Crows. These "favorites" had last been featured 11 years before in Martin's A Storm of Swords. In A Dance with Dragons, Jon's leadership of the Night's Watch is complicated by several unprecedented challenges, including a wildling alliance, the demands of would-be-king Stannis Baratheon and the conflicting factions developing within the Watch itself. The New York Times notes that "Jon’s leadership is the best hope of Westeros, so naturally he’s in imminent danger throughout A Dance With Dragons." James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly called Jon's final chapter in A Dance with Dragons "a harsh chapter in terms of fan expectations. You go from this total high of Jon giving this rousing speech about going after the evil Ramsay Bolton, to this utter low of his men turning against him." Jon's presence in the forthcoming volume The Winds of Winter is uncertain.
When asked what he thought was "Jon's biggest 'mistake'", Martin replied:
> Were they mistakes? I guess they were mistakes in some ways since they led to him losing control of part of his group. But it might have been wise and necessary decisions in terms of protecting the realm and dealing with the threat of the White Walkers. I'm a huge student of history, and all through history there’s always this question of what's the right decision. You look back with benefit of hindsight at a battle that was lost and say, 'The losing general was such an idiot.' Was Napoleon a genius for all the battles he won? Or an idiot for losing at Waterloo? Partly I'm reacting to a lot of the fantasy that has come before this. Ruling is difficult whether you're a Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch or the King of England. These are hard decisions and each have consequences. We're looking at Jon trying to take control of Night's Watch and deal with the wildlings and the threat beyond The Wall.
### Parentage
The identity of Jon's mother has created much speculation among readers of the series, and guessing her identity was the test Martin gave Benioff and Weiss when they approached him in March 2006 about adapting his novels into a TV series. In the novels, characters believe that she could be a servant named Wylla, or the noblewoman Ashara Dayne. The popular fan theory—called R+L=J, an abbreviation of "Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon"—proposes that Jon is not the son of Ned at all, but is actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Ned's younger sister Lyanna Stark, and Ned feigned dishonor and claimed the nephew to be his own child in order to protect Jon from harm.
Though the character is presented as the illegitimate son of Ned Stark, David Orr voiced the doubt of some readers when he wrote in The New York Times in 2011, "Jon Snow is presented as the illegitimate son of the Stark patriarch, although it's uncertain whether Stark is indeed his father." Actor Sean Bean, who portrays Ned in the HBO television series, said when asked in a 2014 interview about returning to the series to appear in flashbacks, "I've definitely got some unfinished business that needs to be resolved there. I'm obviously not Jon Snow's dad. And you need that to be revealed at some point, don't you?" The uncertainty arises from anecdotal evidence in the texts interpreted by readers to connect the mysterious maternity of Ned's son with the vague backstory of his sister Lyanna.
As recounted by Ned in A Game of Thrones, at a tourney years before the events of the novel, Rhaegar had shown public favor to Lyanna in the presence of his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell. When Rhaegar and Lyanna disappeared a year later, her father Rickard and eldest brother Brandon confronted Rhaegar's father, the "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen, demanding that his son return the abducted Lyanna. Aerys had Rickard and Brandon brutally executed for their insolence, inciting Ned and his friend Robert Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End and Lyanna's betrothed, to rebel against Aerys. In what later became known as Robert's Rebellion, Aerys was overthrown and Rhaegar was killed by Robert in single combat. After a bloody battle against three of Aerys' Kingsguard protecting the Tower of Joy in Dorne, Ned found Lyanna inside, in a "bed of blood." She died shortly after eliciting a promise from Ned. Once the war was won, he returned to Winterfell with his supposed illegitimate son Jon.
The R+L=J theory posits that rather than Rhaegar kidnapping Lyanna, they fell in love and ran away together. Living for a year in the Tower of Joy, they conceived a child—Jon. Rhaegar was killed in battle by Robert, and Lyanna died in childbirth. Ned promised Lyanna on her deathbed to claim the baby as his own to protect him from Robert, who sought to exterminate all Targaryens out of hatred and to secure his claim to the throne.
HBO's Game of Thrones has included in its adaptation many of the "hints" identified by this theory. In the season 6 finale, "The Winds of Winter", Bran Stark has a vision of the past which shows Ned reuniting with a dying Lyanna in the Tower of Joy. Lyanna makes him promise to protect her son—Jon. An infographic subsequently posted on the HBO-controlled website MakingGameofThrones.com confirmed Rhaegar as Jon's father. Journalists later commented on the significance of two plot points in the season 7 episode "Eastwatch". One of Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, Drogon, approaches Jon calmly and allows the King in the North to pet him, seemingly recognizing him as a Targaryen. Later, Gilly learns from a book at the Citadel that a High Septon annulled Rhaegar's marriage, and married him to someone else in Dorne, suggesting the possibility that Jon is the legitimate son of Rhaegar and Lyanna. The season 7 finale episode "The Dragon and the Wolf" confirmed that Jon is indeed the legitimate son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, and that his birth name is actually Aegon Targaryen.
## Storylines
### A Game of Thrones
Jon Snow is first introduced in A Game of Thrones (1996), as he and his five siblings adopt six orphaned direwolf cubs. Jon takes the runt of the litter, a white cub that he names Ghost. Known by all as Ned Stark's illegitimate son and with Ned's wife Catelyn despising him, Jon has always felt removed from the rest of the Stark family. He resolves to join the Night's Watch, as his status as a bastard prevents him from holding lands or marrying into a good family, whereas a life in the Night's Watch would offer opportunities for advancement. At The Wall, the other recruits resent Jon's aura of superiority, but he makes amends by helping them master swordplay. He also befriends Samwell Tarly, a cowardly lordling who, despite being helpless with weapons, is keenly intelligent. Jon's independence and his compassion for the recruits invite the ire of the harsh master-at-arms Alliser Thorne, who sees Jon as a threat to his authority. Jon gains the notice of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, who names Jon his personal squire and grooms Jon for command. After a dead Night's Watch brother brought back from beyond the Wall reanimates as an undead wight, Jon saves Mormont's life by killing the creature. In thanks, Mormont gives Jon House Mormont's ancestral sword Longclaw, made of Valyrian steel, with a wolf's head pommel custom-made for Jon. However, Jon is torn between his vows to the Night's Watch and his loyalty to his family after learning of Ned's execution and his half brother Robb's march south for justice. Jon resolves to desert the Night's Watch and join Robb, but his friends convince Jon to remain loyal to his vows. Mormont is aware of Jon's attempt at desertion, but convinces Jon that the new threat beyond the Wall is more concerning than events in the south. Mormont then orders a great ranging, with Jon accompanying him.
### A Clash of Kings
In 1998's A Clash of Kings, Mormont leads a party of Night's Watch rangers beyond the Wall to investigate the disappearance of Jon's uncle Benjen, assess the intentions of the wildling leader Mance Rayder, and learn more of the threat posed by the Others. Jon is sent out with a scouting party led by Qhorin Halfhand. On the journey, Jon comes upon a wildling lookout and takes the spearwife Ygritte captive; though told to kill her, Jon lets her escape. Jon and Qhorin are subsequently captured by the wildlings. Facing execution by Mance's hand, Qhorin commands Jon to infiltrate the wildlings and learn their plans at any cost. Jon pretends to disavow the Night's Watch, and the wildlings force him to fight Qhorin to the death to earn their trust. With Qhorin's silent consent, Jon kills him with the aid of Ghost.
### A Storm of Swords
As A Storm of Swords (2000) begins, Jon has infiltrated the wildlings and marches with their host. He learns that Mance Rayder intends to breach the Wall and march south to escape the Others, crushing the Night's Watch if necessary. Jon breaks his vows of celibacy with Ygritte and becomes torn between his growing feelings for her and his loyalty to the Night's Watch. After climbing over the Wall with Ygritte, Jon deserts them to warn the Watch of the impending attack. He helps defend Castle Black against the wildlings' attack despite his injuries. Ygritte is killed in battle, leaving Jon stricken with grief. Jon takes over Donal Noye's command of the Wall's defense after Noye is killed. When Thorne and Janos Slynt arrive at Castle Black, they attempt to have Jon executed for desertion. Jon is freed after the judges are convinced of his loyalty but Thorne orders Jon to kill Mance under the pretense of parley. As Jon negotiates with Mance, Stannis Baratheon arrives with his army and defeats the wildings. Stannis offers to legitimize Jon and declare him Lord of Winterfell if he will align the North with Stannis. Though greatly tempted by the prospect of becoming a true Stark, Jon ultimately chooses to remain loyal to his Night's Watch vows. Due to Sam's machinations, Jon is elected as the new Lord Commander in a landslide victory.
### A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons
Jon is not a POV character in 2005's A Feast for Crows, but appears briefly from Sam's perspective as he sends Sam away from Castle Black with the Watch's Maester Aemon and Mance's newborn son to protect them from being sacrificed by the Red Priestess Melisandre. Jon also gives Sam the specific mission of traveling to the Citadel in Oldtown to become a maester, so that he may better understand the threat of the Others and eventually succeed Maester Aemon.
In A Dance with Dragons (2011), Jon prepares the defense of the realm against the Others. He attempts to juggle the integration of the wildlings, growing unrest within the Night's Watch, and Stannis' attempts to use the Watch in his war for the Iron Throne, while trying to maintain the Watch's strict political neutrality. When Slynt openly defies Jon's orders multiple times, Jon executes him, which increases tension between factions. Later, he advises Stannis against attacking the Dreadfort. Jon plans to settle the wildlings in sparsely populated regions of the North and allows some of them to join the Watch to garrison the many abandoned Night's Watch fortresses. Many members of the Watch dislike the idea of allowing their ancient enemies through the Wall and welcoming them into their ranks. Jon learns that his sister Arya is being married to Ramsay Bolton to secure the Bolton hold on Winterfell but in truth, the bride is Jeyne Poole posing as Arya. Jon allows Melisandre to send Mance to rescue her. He later receives a letter from Ramsay claiming that Stannis, who marched on Winterfell, has been defeated and Mance is a prisoner. Ramsay demands hostages, threatening to march on the Wall and kill Jon if he is defied. Jon decides to confront and kill Ramsay himself, openly compromising his neutrality, but he is stabbed by his Night's Watch brothers in a mutiny.
Jon's presence in the forthcoming volume The Winds of Winter is uncertain; when asked in 2011 by Entertainment Weekly "Why did you kill Jon Snow?", author Martin responded "Oh, you think he’s dead, do you?" Asked later whether Jon was killed or will survive, Martin responded with a laugh, "I will not comment on that."
### Family tree
## TV adaptation
### Overview
Martin told Rolling Stone in 2014 that some early inquiries he received about adapting A Song of Ice and Fire suggested identifying the story's "important character" and focusing on that individual plot line, Jon and Daenerys Targaryen being the two most popular choices. Martin was not interested in sacrificing so much of the overall story. When the pilot for the HBO adaptation went into production years later, one of the first parts cast was Jon, with Kit Harington announced in the role in July 2009. Alfie Allen and Iwan Rheon had also auditioned for the role, and were brought into the show to play Theon Greyjoy and Ramsay Snow instead, respectively. In October 2014, Harington and several other key cast members, all contracted for six seasons of the series, renegotiated their deals to include a potential seventh season and salary increases for seasons five, six, and seven. The Hollywood Reporter called the raises "huge", noting that the deal would make the performers "among the highest-paid actors on cable TV". Deadline Hollywood put the number for season five at "close to \$300,000 an episode" for each actor, and The Hollywood Reporter wrote in June 2016 that the performers would each be paid "upward of \$500,000 per episode" for seasons seven and the potential eight. In 2017, Harington became one of the highest paid actors on television and may have earned £1.2 million per episode for the show.
As the series premiered, TV Guide called Harington a "soulful heartthrob" whose Jon is idolized by his younger siblings and who "seeks purpose" by joining the Night's Watch. Creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss later noted that Jon "tries to live with honor, while knowing that honor often gets his family members murdered". They explained that he is one of several characters in the series who must "face hard truths about the world they live in, and adapt themselves to those truths. The struggle many of them face is how to do that without losing their grip on who they are." Matt Fowler of IGN wrote in 2013 that while Jon and Daenerys' storylines in season 1 and season 2 "felt very separate" from the rest of the series' plot, for the first time in season 3, "Jon's entire situation felt incorporated into the larger picture." Fowler also added that Jon's "oath-breaking romance with Ygritte added a lot of heat to the story". In May 2015, International Business Times called Jon "clearly the most popular character" of the series.
In a 2015 interview Benioff said, "The problem with Jon is, he’s not a cautious man. It's the problem with him, and also the reason we love him. He is a hero, but heroes are inherently incautious." Weiss added, "At the end of the day, Jon is his father’s son, he’s a person who’s honorable to a fault and does the right thing even when the right thing is extremely dangerous to him personally." In the June 2015 season 5 finale "Mother's Mercy", Jon is stabbed to death by Alliser Thorne and several men of the Night's Watch after being labeled a traitor. With Martin's 2011 novel A Dance with Dragons vague on Jon's fate, Harington confirmed the character's death in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying "I've been told I’m dead. I'm dead. I’m not coming back next season." He added, "I loved how they brought [the orphan boy] Olly in to be the person who kills me. I love how the storyline with Thorne was wrapped up." Benioff also said of the episode:
> This is obviously a big deal, the death of Jon Snow. This is something we've been thinking about for a long long time, and Alliser kills him, it's kind of like, it's a bad guy killing a good guy. But when it's Olly holding the knife ... Olly's not a bad guy. Olly's a kid who’s seen just way too much horror way too early, and he makes a decision that's a really hard decision for him but you understand where he's coming from ... It's one of those great conflicts that makes us love the books and this saga, is that it's, ultimately it's not just about good vs evil, it's about people of good intentions who come into conflict with each other because they have very different views of the world, and unfortunately it did not work out well for Jon Snow in this case.
Writing for The New York Times, Jeremy Egner called Jon's demise "the biggest death on the show" since Ned Stark's beheading in season 1. Amid strong fan reaction over Jon's death on social media, immediately following the episode journalists began theorizing how the show could resurrect the character. Nate Jones of Vulture noted:
> It's easy to see what [other characters'] deaths meant for the series' sprawling narrative: Ned's execution sent the Stark kids adrift in a universe where there was nobody looking out for them, while Robb's murder was the final death knell for the hopes that the saga would ever have a traditional 'happy' ending. What would be accomplished, narratively, by getting rid of Jon permanently right now?
A July 2015 sighting of Harington arriving in Belfast, a primary filming location for the series where other actors were arriving for season 6 script read-throughs, prompted further speculation about the character's return. However, a story in Vanity Fair pointed out that Charles Dance had been seen in Belfast the previous year after his character Tywin Lannister's death as well, and he only appeared in the first episode of the subsequent season as a corpse. A season 6 Game of Thrones promotional poster released in November 2015 featured a bloodied Jon.
Jon is resurrected by Melisandre in "Home", the May 2016 second episode of season 6. Though calling it a "predictable move" for a television series, David Sims of The Atlantic praised the plot development as "the right choice" for the show's narrative. In a subsequent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Harington said:
> I'd like to say sorry for lying to everyone. I'm glad that people were upset that he died. I think my biggest fear was that people were not going to care ... But it seems like people had a, similar to the Red Wedding episode, kind of grief about it. Which means something I'm doing—or the show is doing—is right.
Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair credited Jon's much-discussed cliffhanger death as a primary factor behind Game of Thrones''' subsequent 25% ratings increase for season 6. Harington's performance in season 6 earned the actor his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination in July 2016. Harington as Jon had the most screen time of any other character in the first seven seasons of the show.
### Storylines
#### Season 1
Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, decides to join the Night's Watch. He arrives at Castle Black with his direwolf Ghost to find that the once proud order is a shadow of its former self. Raised to be a skilled fighter with a strong sense of justice and honor, Jon is initially contemptuous of his fellow recruits, most of whom are lowborn criminals and exiles. He is persuaded by Tyrion Lannister to put aside his prejudices and help train the others. Jon befriends Samwell Tarly, an overweight, fearful recruit who is more an intellectual than a fighter. Jon takes his vows but is disappointed about being made steward to Lord Commander Jeor Mormont rather than a ranger. Sam points out that Jon is likely being groomed for future command. Jon saves Mormont from a wight and is given the House Mormont ancestral sword Longclaw, made of Valyrian steel, with a wolf's head pommel custom-made for Jon. Jon learns of his father's execution for apparent treason and, although tempted to leave the Wall to join Robb Stark's army, is convinced to stay.
#### Season 2
Jon accompanies the Night's Watch on the Great Ranging beyond the Wall. When the Night's Watch seek shelter from the wildling Craster, an old man who marries his own daughters, Jon is horrified to discover that Craster sacrifices his sons to the White Walkers. Later, as part of a small scouting party led by legendary Night's Watch ranger Qhorin Halfhand, Jon is tasked with killing a wildling prisoner, a woman warrior Ygritte. He finds himself unable to do so and she escapes, only to capture him with her comrades. Qhorin, also taken prisoner, orders Jon to pretend to defect and join the wildlings in order to discover their plans. Qhorin stages a fight and secretly instructs Jon to kill him to gain the wildlings' trust. Jon does and is taken to meet former Night's Watch ranger Mance Rayder, the wildlings' King-Beyond-the Wall.
#### Season 3
Jon pledges his loyalty to Mance and travels with the wildlings, learning that they intend to scale the Wall and force their way south to escape the inevitable arrival of the White Walker army. Jon attempts to convince Mance not to attack the wall, falsely claiming Castle Black is home to over 1,000 Watchmen. Ygritte seduces Jon and takes his virginity, and they eventually fall in love. After scaling the Wall, Jon refuses to kill an innocent man to prove his loyalty. He is attacked by the other wildlings but escapes to Castle Black, despite being wounded by a devastated Ygritte.
#### Season 4
Jon survives his wounds and is tried for his defection to the wildlings, but Maester Aemon is convinced of Jon's loyalty to the Watch and frees him. Jon leads an expedition to Craster's Keep, where some Night's Watchmen have mutinied and murdered Lord Commander Mormont. After defeating the mutineers, Jon is reunited with Ghost. Later, Tormund Giantsbane's wildlings attack Castle Black while Mance's army besieges the Wall. Acting-commander, Ser Alliser Thorne, is wounded forcing Jon to take command of the battle. Jon fights and kills Styr, leader of the Thenns. The wildlings are successfully repelled, although Ygritte is shot with an arrow and dies in Jon's arms. Jon goes beyond the Wall to negotiate with Mance, but Stannis Baratheon's army arrives and routs the wildling camp, taking Mance prisoner. At Tormund's behest, Jon cremates Ygritte beyond the Wall.
#### Season 5
Stannis enlists Jon as an intermediary between himself and Mance, hoping to add the wildling army to his own. Mance refuses to kneel to Stannis, and he is subsequently burned at the stake by the red priestess Melisandre. Jon shoots Mance with an arrow before he succumbs to the fire. Stannis, who intends to take Winterfell from the traitorous House Bolton, offers to legitimize Jon as a Stark and name him Lord of Winterfell in exchange for his support, but Jon remains loyal to his vows.
As the Watch prepares to elect a new Lord Commander, Sam advocates for Jon who is unexpectedly elected as the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, initially tying with his nemesis Thorne before the tie is broken by Maester Aemon's vote. Jon's intention to bring the wildlings into the Seven Kingdoms and grant them lands south of the Wall further enrages Thorne's faction of the Watch, who all hold a hatred for the wildlings. Jon travels to the wildling village of Hardhome, seeking their support for his plan to ally the Night's Watch and the wildlings against the growing threat of the White Walkers. Several thousand agree to come with Jon, but the rest are massacred when the White Walkers attack the village, although Jon discovers their vulnerability to Valyrian steel when he destroys one with Longclaw. Jon returns to the Wall, where he learns that Stannis has been defeated by the Boltons. Later, he is lured into a trap by his steward Olly and is killed by Thorne and his men. They assassinate Jon for his perceived betrayal of the Night's Watch.
#### Season 6
Davos Seaworth finds Jon's body. He, Dolorous Edd, and other brothers of the Watch loyal to Jon barricade themselves in a room with Ghost, and an attack by Thorne and his men is thwarted by the arrival of Tormund and his wildlings. Davos encourages Melisandre to attempt to resurrect Jon. The ritual seemingly fails but Jon suddenly awakens. After hanging Thorne and the other ringleaders of his assassination, Jon passes his command to Edd and declares he has been released from his Night's Watch vows by death. He makes plans to leave Castle Black. Jon is reunited with his half-sister Sansa Stark, who has fled her abusive husband Ramsay Bolton and seeks Jon's aid in retaking Winterfell. Jon refuses until a threatening message arrives from Ramsay demanding Sansa's return and announcing Ramsay's possession of their brother Rickon. Jon, Sansa, Davos, and Tormund travel the North to recruit an army to take back Winterfell and rescue Rickon, but many houses refuse to support them. Jon convinces the wildlings to fight with him. As the armies assemble, Ramsay kills Rickon in order to provoke Jon and lure the Stark forces out of position. The ploy works and the outnumbered Stark forces are surrounded and nearly slaughtered, but the Knights of the Vale of House Arryn arrive with Sansa and Petyr Baelish and rout the Bolton army. Jon pursues Ramsay back into Winterfell and subdues him, but allows Sansa to decide his death. Jon gathers the lords of the North and warns them of the threat of the White Walkers. The Northern lords declare Jon the new King in the North.
Meanwhile, Bran Stark has a vision of the past which shows Ned reuniting with his dying sister Lyanna Stark in the Tower of Joy. She makes him swear to protect her son with Rhaegar Targaryen, who is revealed to be Jon.
#### Season 7
Jon prepares the North's defense against the White Walkers. He receives a message from Cersei Lannister that he swear his allegiance to her, as well as an invitation to Dragonstone from Daenerys Targaryen's Hand Tyrion. In a message from Sam, Jon learns Dragonstone has a deposit of dragonglass, to which the White Walkers and wights are vulnerable. He decides to meet with Daenerys. Daenerys wants Jon to bend the knee but Jon refuses, insisting that the White Walkers are a threat to all of humanity. Tyrion persuades Daenerys to let Jon mine dragonglass as a gesture of goodwill. Jon discovers cave drawings of the First Men and the Children of the Forest fighting the White Walkers and invites Daenerys to view them. As part of the plan to convince Cersei that the army of the dead is real, Jon leads an expedition beyond the Wall to capture a wight to provide proof of it. During the mission, when Jon kills a White Walker, the wights it had reanimated are destroyed. He realizes that killing the Night King will likely kill the entire army of the dead. When Jon and his party are surrounded by wights, Daenerys comes to their aid with her dragons. However, one of the dragons, Viserion, is killed by the Night King. Daenerys is forced to flee without Jon but Benjen Stark arrives to rescue him, sacrificing himself. Later, Daenerys vows to fight the Night King with Jon and he swears fealty to her as his queen.
Jon and Daenerys travel to King's Landing to parley with Cersei. Cersei is apparently convinced to declare a truce so that the Lannisters may aid in the battle against the dead but later reveals to Jaime Lannister that she has no intention of keeping her word. Meanwhile, Sam and Bran have discovered that Jon was born Aegon Targaryen, the legitimate son of Rhaegar and Lyanna and rightful heir to House Targaryen. Having fallen in love, Jon and Daenerys give in to their feelings for each other and have sex on their voyage north while unaware they are related by blood.
#### Season 8
Jon returns to Winterfell and is reunited with Bran and Arya Stark. He learns the Wall has been breached by the White Walkers. Though they have readied Winterfell for battle, Sansa and the Northern lords are angry over Jon bending the knee to Daenerys. Jon's bond with Daenerys continues to grow, and he rides one of her dragons, Rhaegal. Sam tells Jon the truth about his identity as Aegon Targaryen. Later, Jon reveals this to Daenerys. The White Walkers arrive and Jon attempts to engage the Night King in single combat but is stopped when the Night King reanimates the dead to fight Jon. Jon attempts to pursue him to the Godswood, where Bran is waiting to lure the Night's King, but is cornered by the undead Viserion. Jon prepares to fight Viserion, but the Night King is killed by Arya, destroying the army of the dead. In the celebrations afterwards, Jon is praised by the wildlings. This troubles Daenerys, who fears the people of Westeros would prefer Jon as their ruler over her. Jon is troubled by his blood relation to Daenerys, causing him to withdraw from their intimacy.
Jon assures Daenerys that he has no desire to take the Iron Throne, renouncing his claim for hers, but insists he must be honest with his sisters about his true parentage. Jon tells Sansa and Arya, swearing them to secrecy, but Sansa sees him as a preferable alternative to Daenerys and tells Tyrion. Tyrion informs Varys, who implores Jon to take the Iron Throne but Jon refuses to betray Daenerys.
Jon leads the Northern forces to help Daenerys claim the Iron Throne. They take King's Landing and the city surrenders to Daenerys. However, having been driven mad by her recent losses and betrayals, Daenerys burns the city, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Afterward, she declares she will wage war on the rest of the world until she rules the entire planet. Arya and Tyrion warn Jon that Daenerys will view his heritage as a threat and she is a threat to the Starks. Tyrion tells Jon that despite Jon's love for Daenerys, it is his duty to kill her to protect the people. Jon confronts Daenerys but, unable to dissuade her from further destruction, reluctantly kills her and she dies in his arms. Jon is imprisoned by Grey Worm and awaits execution. Tyrion convinces the lords of Westeros to set up a new system of kingship, with Bran elected the King of the Six Kingdoms (the North having been granted independence). Bran sentences Jon to the Night's Watch to appease Daenerys' supporters as a compromise. Jon returns to Castle Black and leads the wildlings to return to their lands beyond the Wall.
### Recognition and awards
Harington has received several accolades for the role of Jon Snow, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 2019, and two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2016 and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2019. He has also been nominated for two Critics' Choice Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2016 and Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2019. Harington was also nominated for four Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television and a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television. His other nominations include the Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series in 2012, the Young Hollywood Award for Actor of the Year in 2013, and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2016. IGN also nominated Jon Snow as its Best TV Hero in 2011. |
1,358,098 | Fuller Building | 1,161,567,200 | Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York | [
"1929 establishments in New York City",
"Art Deco architecture in Manhattan",
"Art Deco skyscrapers",
"Buildings and structures completed in 1929",
"Madison Avenue",
"Midtown Manhattan",
"New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan",
"New York City interior landmarks",
"Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan",
"Skyscrapers on 57th Street (Manhattan)"
]
| The Fuller Building is a skyscraper at 57th Street and Madison Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Walker & Gillette, it was erected between 1928 and 1929. The building is named for its original main occupant, the Fuller Construction Company, which moved from the Flatiron Building.
The 40-story building is designed in the Art Deco style and contains numerous setbacks as mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The facade of the lowest six stories are clad with black granite and contain large display windows for stores, as well as large windows for art galleries. The triple-height main entrance is decorated with architectural sculpture by Elie Nadelman. The remaining stories are largely designed with light cast stone and smaller windows. The interior has richly decorated vestibules and lobby featuring marble walls, bronze detailing, and mosaic floors.
The Fuller Building was constructed as part of the artistic hub that occupied East 57th Street during the early 20th century. At the time of its completion, the Fuller Building housed several art galleries with the address 41 East 57th Street, as well as offices at the address 595 Madison Avenue. It was purchased several times over the years before being acquired in 1999 by Vornado Realty Trust, its owner as of 2021. The Fuller Building and its interior became New York City designated landmarks in 1986.
## Site
The Fuller Building is in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and 57th Street. The largely rectangular land lot covers approximately 12,900 square feet (1,200 m<sup>2</sup>), with a frontage of 74.5 feet (22.7 m) on Madison Avenue and 150 feet (46 m) parallel to 57th Street. The Four Seasons Hotel New York is on the same block to the east. Other nearby buildings include 432 Park Avenue to the south; 590 Madison Avenue to the southwest; LVMH Tower and the L. P. Hollander Company Building to the west; the General Motors Building to the northwest; and the Ritz Tower to the east.
Before the Fuller Building was developed, the site was occupied by the Madison Avenue Dutch Reformed Church, constructed in 1870. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, East 57th Street largely contained homes and structures built for the arts. The Central Presbyterian Church bought the Madison Avenue Church structure in 1915. Many of the residential structures on 57th Street were replaced with offices, shops, and art galleries by the 1920s. In April 1928, the Charles of London Corporation was planning to buy the Central Church building, with plans to redevelop the site with a 30-story skyscraper. Ultimately, the Fuller Construction Company purchased the Central Church building, and the Central Church moved to Park Avenue.
## Architecture
The Fuller Building was designed by Walker & Gillette in the Art Deco style, although in a very conservative fashion. The building is 492.13 feet (150.00 m) tall and contains 40 stories. The building's design contains relatively little ornament, as much of the design emphasis is on its shape, as well as the contrast of granite and stone on the facade. The Fuller Building contains numerous setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, and the exterior contains various textures of stone to provide vertical and horizontal emphases on different parts of the facade. The exterior uses Rockwood stone and black Swedish granite. The interior uses gray Tennessee marble, black Belgian marble, golden veined Formosa marble, and Bottocino marble.
Christopher Gray wrote in The New York Times in 1995 that the building was "a jazz-age testament to the emerging commercial chic of 57th Street". The AIA Guide to New York City called it "the Brooks Brothers of Art Deco: black, gray and white."
### Form
The six-story base occupies the entire lot, and the setbacks are largely restricted to the fifteen stories above the base. The limestone contains rounded corners at the setbacks, although these corners are generally too small to see from the street. The overall form was intended to be visualized in several vertical sections: a large base, a mass with setbacks, a narrow tower, and a crown. The base was intended for stores and galleries; the set-back midsection was for art dealers; and the narrow tower was for businesses. These differing uses were to be reflected by the differing materials used on the facade, as well as the setbacks themselves. Because of the proximity of other tall buildings, Paul Goldberger wrote for the Times in 1978 that "almost no one ever sees it" as having several vertical sections.
The outer sections of the southern elevation on 57th Street, and the southern section of the western elevation on Madison Avenue, contain setbacks on the 11th, 13th, and 15th floors, with black stone highlights at the tops of the setbacks. The eastern elevation has setbacks at the 10th, 13th, and 15th floors, which blend with the setbacks on the eastern section of the 57th Street elevation. The northern elevation contains no setbacks.
At the 16th through 21st stories on 57th Street, there are setbacks at every floor except the 18th. Along this elevation of the facade, the center two vertical bays project slightly from the 17th to 20th stories. Above the 20th story, the building rises as a continuous rectangular tower. At the 38th and 40th stories are setbacks with black stone bands. The roof of the building, above the 40th floor, also contains some setbacks for mechanical equipment.
### Facade
#### Base
The lowest six stories of the Fuller Building are clad in black Swedish granite. Along the southern side, facing 57th Street, the facade consists of eight bays. The western side, on Madison Avenue, consists of four bays. There are two entrances at the base: the main entrance on 57th Street and the secondary one on Madison Avenue. In general, the Fuller Building's art galleries have tended to use the address 41 East 57th Street, while the offices have used the address 595 Madison Avenue.
The main entrance portal is in the fourth bay from west on 57th Street; it is three stories high and is flanked by granite-and-stone pilasters. There are four brass-framed glass doors at ground level, slightly recessed from the street. In front of and above the doors is a glass panel, which hangs from a bronze lintel with diamonds. At the center of the lintel is a glass-and-brass light fixture topped by an eagle. The second and third floors of the main entrance portal contain a grid of square windows framed by metal mullions. Atop the third story are stone-on-granite letters reading fuller building. Above this sign, at the fourth story, is a limestone sculptural group designed by Elie Nadelman. The sculptural group represents two construction workers flanking a clock, behind which is a carving of a skyline.
The secondary entrance is a single-story opening in the northernmost bay on Madison Avenue. The Madison Avenue entrance contains a brass service elevator door on the left and a brass-framed glass double door on the right. Atop these doors, but beneath the second story, is a sign with the stone letters fuller building. The rest of the base is designed similarly on both street facades. The ground level generally contains storefronts separated by vertical granite piers, which extend through the second to sixth floors. The second through fifth floor windows are separated horizontally by bronze spandrel panels with wave-and-inverted ziggurat designs. The fifth and sixth floors are separated horizontally by a granite band with a Greek key motif made of limestone. The window openings on each floor consist of large glass panes surrounded by smaller panes.
#### Upper stories
At the seventh floor, the design of the facade changes to a light-colored limestone cladding with black granite accenting. Centered above the 57th Street entrance, on the seventh through 16th floors, are five bays, each with four windows per floor, which correspond to openings at the base. Within these bays, each story is separated by horizontal bands that project slightly from the windows. Along 57th Street, the outer bays on the seventh through 16th floors consist of single-width windows with limestone piers. The center two bays on Madison Avenue have similar horizontal bands and four-window-wide bays as on 57th Street, while the outer bays contain narrower windows. On the first 17 floors, the northern and eastern facades are clad with two-tone brick and are largely unornamented. On the eastern facade, there are horizontal and vertical yellow brick bands contrasting with a darker background.
Above the 17th story, all of the facades contain single-width windows with limestone piers. Except for the northern facade, the 18th through 21st stories are clad with limestone on all sides. At the lintels above the 20th-story windows, there are black-stone geometric designs, and the piers between each bay are capped by stone slabs. The northern facade on these stories contains intermittent limestone cladding with brick.
Above the 20th story, the west, south, and east facades are designed identically and are each six bays wide. On these facades, the two center bays are flanked by wide piers and separated by a narrow pier, with recessed spandrels separating the windows on each floor. Within the four outer bays on each facade, the windows on different stories are separated by horizontal bands. In the center bays from the 36th to 39th stories, the piers contain horizontal bands. The spandrels beneath the 36th and 37th floors contain black vertical lines, and there are balconies on the 38th floor. At the 39th floor are black-and-white sunburst motifs flanking a round window in the center bays. The roof above the 40th floor contains friezes with black-and-white triangles and zigzag patterns. The northern facade is similar but has no windows in the center two bays. Additionally, there is no balcony on the 38th floor, and the 39th and 40th floors have dark geometric patterns without any windows.
### Features
The Fuller Building had a rentable area of about 210,000 square feet (20,000 m<sup>2</sup>) when it was completed. According to the New York City Department of City Planning and building owner Vornado Realty Trust, the building has a gross floor area of approximately 322,000 square feet (29,900 m<sup>2</sup>). The third through 19th floors typically contain an area of 7,800 to 14,700 square feet (720 to 1,370 m<sup>2</sup>), while the 20th through 40th stories are much smaller, with an area of 2,000 to 4,200 square feet (190 to 390 m<sup>2</sup>). Ceiling heights range from 11 to 14 feet (3.4 to 4.3 m), while the floors can carry loads of 120 pounds per square foot (590 kg/m<sup>2</sup>).
The building is constructed with a steel superstructure. The steel structure contains wind bracing to minimize movement due to wind. When the Fuller Building was completed, it contained a then-novel vertical fire alarm system, with direct lines to the New York City Fire Department at every other floor, as well as tanks and standpipes throughout the height of the building.
#### Lobby
The lobby is T-shaped in plan, with marble, bronze, and mosaic decorations. The main entrance hall leads north from 57th Street to the elevator lobby, which leads east from the Madison Avenue entrance. Just inside either entrance are small vestibules with doors leading to the main lobby. The 57th Street vestibule's wall consists of light tan marble, with horizontal black bands on the lowest sections of the walls. One light marble panel on each wall is flanked by two narrower, darker marble pilasters, which are flush with the rest of the wall. At the top of each dark marble panel are fret designs intended to resemble the capitals of a column. The floors contain stylized mosaics inlaid with the letter "F", as well as decorative borders. The Madison Avenue vestibule is similar in design, except it has three doors to the lobby, whereas the 57th Street vestibule has four. Additionally, a stair to the basement is on the northern side of the Madison Avenue lobby.
The main lobby walls have similar designs to the vestibules, except the dark marble pilasters are placed in regular intervals along the light-tan marble surface. A black frieze with a fret pattern runs atop the entirety of all the walls. The floor of the main lobby consists of gray, black, white, and tan mosaic tiles with chevron-patterned borders and geometric patterns. The center of the floor contains three roundels depicting notable structures in the Fuller Construction Company's history: the Tacoma Building, the Flatiron Building, and the Fuller Building. These mosaics were made by Vincent Foscato in Long Island City. The ceiling is made of white plaster and contains an anthemion molding along its borders, as well as coffered ribs that divide the ceiling perpendicularly. The perpendicular ribs contain rectangular lighting fixtures, rosettes, and plain panels. The center of the ceiling contains hexagonal lighting fixtures.
The Madison Avenue hallway contains nine elevators at the intersection with the 57th Street hallway. The south wall of the lobby has three elevators: a freight elevator west of the 57th Street hallway and two passenger elevators east of the elevators. The north wall contains six passenger elevators. Each elevator contains a double-leaf bronze door with eight hexagonal bronze reliefs depicting the process of construction, as well as Art Deco-style decorative molding. There is a staircase on the far eastern end of the Madison Avenue hallway, on the south wall. In addition, the service elevator next to the Madison Avenue entrance contains a 10-by-15-foot (3.0 by 4.6 m) cab. In total, the Fuller Building has ten elevators, of which eight are for passengers and two are for freight.
#### Shops, galleries, and offices
The lowest six stories were reserved for shops or art galleries. The New York Times said the base was designed to provide "salon shop space", and Walker and Gillette called it "the first high-class multiple-purpose skyscraper" in the city. Tenants could occupy ground-level storefronts on 57th Street or Madison Avenue, as well as space on the second through sixth floors above their respective storefronts. Each space could be served by its own elevator and circular stair. The arrangement of vertical storefronts and the lobby's design were intended to "give the greatest attraction to the exteriors of the shops", according to Douglas Grant Scott of the United States Realty and Construction Company, the Fuller Company's parent corporation. Rents for the stores was initially calculated by averaging the rates for the first through sixth floors; in typical buildings, space on higher floors was subjected to lower rates than space on lower floors.
In the years after its opening, many galleries were opened on the storefronts in the lowest six floors. The Fuller Building became "one of Manhattan's most prestigious gallery addresses", as The New York Times described it. The gallery tenants over the years have included the Nailya Alexander Gallery, Andrew Crispo, the Charles Egan Gallery, André Emmerich, Hammer Galleries, Howard Greenberg Gallery, Marlborough-Gerson, Pierre Matisse, the Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, and the Zabriskie Gallery. Other gallery occupants have included the Kent Fine Art Gallery, Jan Krugier, David McKee, Robert Miller, the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, and Joan Washburn.
The 7th to 15th stories were designed as spaces for interior decorators and art dealers to sell merchandise. The 16th to 40th stories were designed as offices. The Fuller offices on the 16th through 19th stories were trimmed extensively in teakwood and had private elevator service. At the roof, Walker and Gillette designed an eleven-room penthouse apartment for J. H. Carpenter, president of the Fuller Construction Company at the time of the building's completion. The offices were built with cement floors, white plaster walls, and steel-and-glass partitions, while the corridors had marble and terrazzo floors.
## History
Architect George A. Fuller had founded the George A. Fuller Company in 1882. Unlike other architecture firms of the time, Fuller's firm intended to handle all aspects of building construction except for the design, similar to the modern general contractor. Following Fuller's death in 1900, his son-in-law Harry S. Black took over as president of the Fuller Company and made it a subsidiary of the new United States Realty and Construction Company. Shortly after Fuller's death, Black constructed what is now the Flatiron Building at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street for the company's headquarters. That structure was supposed to be called the "Fuller Building" in honor of the late Fuller, but its triangular flatiron shape led to the popular name "Flatiron Building" instead. By the 1920s, the center of business in Manhattan had moved northward to Midtown.
### Development
In May 1928, the Fuller Company purchased the Central Church at Madison Avenue and 57th Street for \$3 million. The United States Realty and Construction Company founded a subsidiary, the GAF Realty Company, to construct a 30-story building on the site. The board of GAR Realty consisted of officers from the National City Bank of New York and the Fuller Company, which were to occupy the building. Walker and Gillette were hired to draw the plans. The plans were revised to 39 stories by September 1929, when the official blueprints were filed with the Manhattan Bureau of Buildings.
To fund the construction, United States Realty sold \$5 million in bonds and \$3 million from debentures in January 1929. The Fuller Company planned to name the new structure "Fuller Building", transferring the name from the Flatiron Building. The Fuller Company labeled both entrances of its new building prominently, likely in an attempt to prevent the structure from being mislabeled like its predecessor had been. In June 1929, twenty-four mechanics received craftsmanship awards for their work on the Fuller Building. The building was completed on September 7, 1929. Two days later, the Fuller Company moved its offices to the 16th through 19th floors of the building, becoming its first tenant.
### 1930s to 1980s
In the building's first two decades, its commercial tenants included Kaskel and Kaskel, a haberdasher that moved to the corner storefront in the Fuller Building. as well as McGibbon & Co., one of the city's oldest linen merchants. Storefront and basement space was also leased to Sally Gowns Inc. and McGibben & Co., both clothing companies, and Edward Garratt Inc., furniture dealer. Galleries moved to the building as well, including the F. Kleinberger Galleries, the Pierre Matisse Gallery, the French Art Galleries, and manuscript and autograph dealer Thomas F. Madigan Inc. The office story tenants included the French Consul, food processor Standard Brands, book publisher Jordanoff Aviation Corporation, developer Paul Tishman, financier Frederick Lewisohn, former New York governor Herbert H. Lehman, and businessman Bernard Baruch. A committee was formed in 1935 to protect the interests of the building's bondholders.
The Penroy Realty Company. led by Miami-based realtor Kenneth S. Keyes, bought the building on behalf of "out-of-town" investors in January 1949. At the time, the Fuller Construction Company still maintained its executive offices there. Shortly afterward, the building received a \$3 million first mortgage from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance. In January 1961, investor Lawrence Wien purchased the building's 33-year lease from the Fuller Building Corporation, with two options for 25-year renewals. Four months later, a syndicate headed by Irving Brodsky and Richard Gittlin bought a 99-year leasehold for the land from the Fuller Building Corporation. Leases on 100,000 square feet (9,300 m<sup>2</sup>), about half of the office space, were set to expire in 1962, and it was renting at a rate below the average for the neighborhood. As a result, the owners decided to renovate the building's mechanical features such as acoustical ceilings, fluorescent lighting, and air conditioning. Simultaneously, new or existing tenants signed leases for the remaining office space. In 1968, Brodsky signed a contract to purchase the Fuller Building on behalf of the Fred F. French Company, which paid cash to cover the \$4.2 million mortgage.
By the late 20th century, the Fuller Building had become a center for art galleries. Not only was 57th Street still an artistic hub, but also, building management was willing to accommodate each gallery's specific needs, such as large doorways, minimal window space, and heavy floor slabs. Accordingly, by the 1970s, much of the showroom space on the lowest six floors was used mostly by galleries. The building's retail space also remained popular despite being split across multiple levels. As Carter B. Horsley wrote for The New York Times in 1978, the building was one of the few in the city "that have been successful in maintaining more than two retail floors", aside from specialty buildings. The Fuller Company continued to occupy the building until the early 1980s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the exterior and lobby interior as city landmarks in 1986.
### 1990s to present
Cushman & Wakefield took over management of the building in 1990. While the Fuller Building contained over twenty art galleries at the time, several gallery tenants expressed frustration that rents at the building were much higher compared to other buildings. By the beginning of 1994, the Fuller Building was more than 25 percent vacant. Within the same year, the office space remained vacant but much of the available gallery space was occupied. The mortgage holder L&B Group retook the building in December 1994 and subsequently started renovating the building. The changes included replacement windows, a facade cleaning, and upgrading the interior to modern standards. By then, the Fuller Building had been overshadowed by the construction of the much taller Four Seasons Hotel on the adjacent lot, which had been completed in 1993.
In August 1999, Vornado Realty Trust arranged to purchase the Fuller Building for approximately \$125 million; the next month, the company closed on its purchase. Vornado announced in 2002 that it planned to renovate the base to designs by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, though this plan received some opposition. The proposal called for replacing the glass above the main entrance with "electronic glass", which could alternate between being transparent or opaque, as well as adding similar glass above the lobby ceiling. Coach Inc. opened its global flagship store in the building in 2005. Coach abruptly closed its store in January 2020. A Berluti flagship opened in part of the former Coach space in December 2020, and a two-level Fendi flagship store opened in another part of Coach's space in July 2021. By the end of 2021, the building was 81 percent occupied, and its tenants included fashion firms such as Bottega Veneta and Tom Ford.
## See also
- Art Deco architecture of New York City
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets |
24,186,280 | The Road to Middle-Earth | 1,173,791,279 | Book of literary criticism of Tolkien | [
"1982 books",
"Allen & Unwin books",
"Books about Middle-earth"
]
| The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology is a scholarly study of the Middle-earth works of J. R. R. Tolkien written by Tom Shippey and first published in 1982. The book discusses Tolkien's philology, and then examines in turn the origins of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and his minor works. An appendix discusses Tolkien's many sources. Two further editions extended and updated the work, including a discussion of Peter Jackson's film version of The Lord of the Rings.
The book's various versions, including new editions in 1993 and 2005, have been welcomed by Tolkien scholars and others as rigorous, convincing, and "the single best book written on Tolkien". Shippey won the 1984 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies for the book.
## Book
### Background
Tom Shippey is, as Tolkien was, a philologist. Early in his career he taught English at the University of Oxford, using the same syllabus as Tolkien. He became a full professor at the University of Leeds, a post that Tolkien had once held. He then moved to St. Louis University, Missouri. Since the 1980s, he has worked on Tolkien studies, becoming a leading expert on the subject.
### Synopsis
The book discusses Tolkien's inspiration in creating the world of Middle-earth and the writing of works including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. A recurrent theme is that of Tolkien's detailed linguistic studies (particularly of Old Norse and Old English) and the creation of languages (such as Sindarin and Khuzdul) which feature prominently throughout his works.
The book begins by explaining Tolkien's philology, his belief in its ability to show what happened as the Gothic empire fell in the 4th century as hinted at in brief mentions of the mythical Mirkwood, and his feeling that if he reconstructed an imagined past on such foundations, it would not be wholly false. It then examines the origins of The Hobbit, how Tolkien rebuilt a picture of Elves and Dwarves from the available clues, and from the different ways of speaking of each race, how he ended up writing a richly-characterised story. Three chapters then explore The Lord of the Rings, its map-based plot, its elaborate interlacement of narrative threads, its roots in literature including Shakespeare, and its underlying mythical and Christian themes. A chapter examines The Silmarillion's origins and structure, looking at Christopher Tolkien's 1977 selection from his father's legendarium, and his further selection in 1980, published as Unfinished Tales. These had dark themes, especially of death and immortality, and Shippey notes that readers have found them difficult, providing a good reason for a chapter on them. Another chapter looks at Tolkien's minor works.
An appendix discusses Tolkien's many sources, from the Elder Edda and Beowulf through to the many languages that Tolkien knew. Also attached are four of Tolkien's "asterisk" poems (so called as, like conjectured wordforms, they are not actually recorded in any medieval manuscript), written to appear to be the ancient origins of more recent works: for instance, Ofer Widne Garsecg is stated by Tolkien to be "An Old English version of 'Twas in the broad Atlantic in the equinoctial gales / That a young fellow fell overboard among the sharks and whales'". Two of the poems concern the Birch tree, symbolising to Tolkien the "B" stream of English studies at Oxford, which covered "Lang[uage]" (including Old English) as opposed to "Lit[erature]" (including Shakespeare).
In the third edition, the book concludes with a chapter on Peter Jackson's film version of The Lord of the Rings; it notes the film trilogy's enormous popular and commercial success, and considers how far the films are faithful to the book. In Shippey's view, the films tend both to "democratisation" and to "emotionalisation" of the narrative, though he welcomes the fact that Jackson has brought a fresh audience to Tolkien's work.
### Publication history
The book was first published in 1982, by Allen & Unwin in Great Britain and by Houghton Mifflin in the United States. The second edition, published by HarperCollins in 1993, included discussion of the 12-volume History of Middle-earth edited by Tolkien's son Christopher. The third edition was published in 2003.
The book has been translated into at least four languages. A Polish edition was published in 2001 by Zysk i S-ka in Poznań. A Spanish edition was brought out by Planeta-De Agostini in Barcelona in 2002. A Russian edition appeared in 2003, published by Limbus Press of Saint Petersburg. A German edition was published by Klett-Cotta in Stuttgart in 2018.
## Reception
Jessica Yates, in Mythlore, writes that Shippey, a holder of Tolkien's old professorial chair at Leeds, and a Tolkien fan, had two goals for the book: to explain to instinctive lovers of Lord of the Rings why they are right to do so; and to refute the hostile criticism from literary figures like Edmund Wilson. She states that this second reason explains "the rigorous tone" of the book.
Kirkus Reviews in 1983 called the work "In sum: the most useful book on Tolkien since the Carpenter biography". The review describes the book as an "erratically enlightening study", one that sometimes goes into great detail on minute points, but that powerfully sets out a major thesis. This is, states the review, that clues from philological study – Tolkien's profession – of Old English and other languages of that period suggested "the greatness of some hidden pre-literate Northern past", and that Tolkien set about inventing "the world that should have existed for legend to take place in, and constructed the epic that should have lain behind the 'asterisk-world' of philogical conjecture".
Gergely Nagy, in Tolkien Studies, writes that the 2005 revision is "the good old Road", with useful additions. The book was in his view from 1982 "emblematic" of the "source-study" or "comparative study" approach to Tolkien criticism. Nagy calls it "the seminal monograph", and recalls that Glen GoodKnight, founder of the Mythopoeic Society, had called it "the best single book written on Tolkien". GoodKnight noted, too, Shippey's comments in the preface to the second edition that he had not had to make many changes despite the publication of Christopher Tolkien's detailed The History of Middle-earth, meaning that his early predictions had proven accurate.
Charles Moseley, in The Observer in 2000, writes that the book demonstrated that Shippey was "one of Tolkien's most acute critics and convincing apologists".
The historian Bradley J. Birzer, reviewing another of Shippey's books, his 2000 J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century in Catholic Social Science Review, writes that it contains similar information to his scholarly The Road to Middle-Earth, but aimed at a well-educated general audience.
## Awards
In 1984 the first edition of the book received the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies, an award "given to books on J.R.R. Tolkien ... that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship."
## See also
- Beowulf in Middle-earth – the influence of Tolkien's favourite medieval work on his own writing |
39,106,605 | Songs of Experience (David Axelrod album) | 1,094,214,978 | null | [
"1969 albums",
"Adaptations of works by William Blake",
"Albums arranged by Gerald Wilson",
"Albums conducted by Don Randi",
"Albums produced by David Axelrod (musician)",
"Capitol Records albums",
"Concept albums",
"David Axelrod (musician) albums",
"Instrumental albums"
]
| Songs of Experience is the second studio album by American composer and producer David Axelrod. It was released in October 1969 by Capitol Records. Axelrod composed, arranged, and produced the album while recording with session musicians such as guitarist Al Casey, bassist Carol Kaye, drummer Earl Palmer, and conductor Don Randi.
As with his 1968 debut album Song of Innocence, Axelrod and his musicians performed musical interpretations of English poet William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, an 18th-century illustrated collection of poems. A jazz fusion album, Songs of Experience explores darker sounds than its predecessor, as the poems Axelrod selected dealt with the darker side of humanity. Its music was partly inspired by composer Gunther Schuller's Third Stream concept. Axelrod composed Baroque orchestrations with rock, R&B, pop, and folk music elements.
Songs of Experience received retrospective acclaim from critics, who found Axelrod's compositions musically varied and innovative. In the years since its original release, musicians also praised it as a source for sampling in hip hop production. Some of its songs have been sampled frequently by hip hop artists and producers. In 2000, the album was reissued by EMI.
## Background
As he had on the 1968 album Song of Innocence, Axelrod composed musical interpretations of the works of English poet William Blake on Songs of Experience. He used eight poems from Blake's Songs of Experience (1794). The album's gatefold packaging featured Blake's poems reprinted for each song and liner notes that stated, "an anthology of awareness after birth ... based on the 18th century poems of William Blake." Blake's poems began with the premise of birth and innocence, and explored themes of life experience, rite of passage, and changes of perspective in life.
## Musical style
A jazz fusion album, Songs of Experience was partly inspired by Gunther Schuller's Third Stream concept, which fused American jazz with European classical music. Axelrod supported his Baroque orchestrations on the album with rhythms and melodies from rock, R&B, and pop music. The album's suite is more orchestral and less rock-oriented than Song of Innocence. Its symphony is embellished with percussive sounds, British and Irish folk song elements, and stylistic innovations from contemporary arranger Gerald Wilson.
With Songs of Experience, Axelrod explored darker sounds, as the poems he had chosen dealt with the darker side of humanity. For "The Human Abstract", he used ascending piano, bass, and percussion instruments to evoke the ghost described in Blake's poem. It is a bass-driven, funky song that juxtaposes augmented sevenths strummed on an electric guitar against an acoustic piano and muted horns. According to music critic Thom Jurek, "The Divine Image" and "A Little Girl Lost" elicit feelings of majesty and "pastoral sadness", respectively. "London" was recorded by Axelrod as a tone poem to reflect Blake's opening stanza about the spiritual climate of London at the onset of the Industrial Revolution: "I wander thro' each charted'd street / Near where the chart'd Thames does flow / And mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe."
## Reception and legacy
Songs of Experience was released in October 1969 by Capitol Records on stereo LP. It was reissued on CD in 2000 by EMI. In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Thom Jurek gave the album four-and-a-half out of five stars and said that Axelrod "succeeded in spades" in his search for a sound that "best exemplified not only his feelings but also the heady text he sought to sonically illustrate." Jurek felt that his compositions were diverse, lush, and able to resemble literature by "using as much space as they do sound for dramatic and dynamic effect", and that Axelrod created original palettes for rock instrumentation through his complex use of the horn section's "various colors". Lynell George of the Los Angeles Times called it a "prescient, genre-defying" solo project, and NME journalist John Mulvey viewed it as a "landmark" album. Mojo cited the album, along with Song of Innocence, as Axelrod's artistic peak and particularly praised "The Human Abstract" as "beautiful and blank", evoking "the view from Arthur Lee's castle of an endless pale blue sky and the vast deathly city beneath it." Tom Hull was less receptive, giving the album a B grade and calling it "the sort of high schmaltz you often get with movie music, with at least one cut ('The Fly') transcending the level of dreck".
Songs from the album have been sampled frequently by hip hop producers and artists, including Black Moon, who sampled "A Divine Image", and DJ Shadow, who sampled the luminous piano line from "The Human Abstract" on his 1996 song "Midnight in a Perfect World". English hip hop producer Metabeats called Songs of Experience one of his favorite sources for sampling music and said of the album in an interview for Hip Hop Connection: "You could sample everything on this record, and I think everyone already has. Axelrod is pretty much a sound library in himself – the quality is amazing." American musician John McEntire ranked it third on his list of top-five albums and called it "early crate-digger stuff. Great, funky rhythm-section playing, crazy, overblown string arrangements." In a 2000 interview for The Wire, rapper and producer Mike Ladd spoke of the album recording "London", deeming it "crazy stuff" that deviated from the one-dimensional rhythm loops of contemporary hip hop production. He went on the say, "this is definitely the kind of stuff I'm planning to do for the next album, incorporate more fusion elements and stuff like that. This is a really good production. I like it because it's little parts with gaps, which I don't normally have. Somebody told me I should listen to [Axelrod]. This is one I'm definitely going to buy I'd like to do more stuff with complicated melodies, everybody playing together, drum breaks, things like that."
## Track listing
All songs were composed, arranged, and produced by David Axelrod.
## Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
- John Arnold – musician
- David Axelrod – arranger, composer, producer
- Benjamin Barrett – musician
- Samuel Boghossian – musician
- Bobby Bruce – musician
- Al Casey – musician
- Gary Coleman – musician
- Douglas Davis – musician
- Allen De Rienzo – musician
- Al Dinkin – musician
- David Duke – musician
- James Getzoff – musician
- John Groomer – musician
- Terry Hatton – musician
- Fredereck Hill – musician
- William Hymanson – musician
- Robert Jung [de] – musician
- Armard Kaproff – musician
- Carol Kaye – musician
- Richard Leith – musician
- Lew McCreary – musician
- Arthur Maebe – musician
- Louis Morell – musician
- Gareth Nuttycombe – musician
- Earl Palmer – musician
- Don Randi – conductor, musician
- Myron Sandler – musician
- Sidney Sharp – musician
- Jack Shulman – musician
- Freddie Slatkin – musician
- Jeffrey Solow – musician
- Marshall Sosson – musician
- Robert Sushel – musician
- Anthony Terran – musician
- Rex Updegraft – engineer
- Kenneth Watson – musician
## See also
- William Blake in popular culture |
17,100,042 | Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams | 1,157,508,622 | null | [
"2008 albums",
"Albums produced by Jack Splash",
"Albums produced by Mark Ronson",
"Albums produced by the Neptunes",
"Geffen Records albums",
"Polydor Records albums",
"Solange Knowles albums"
]
| Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams is the second studio album by American R&B singer and songwriter Solange. It was released on August 26, 2008, by Geffen Records. Solange was heavily influenced by the "Motown Sound" of the 1960s and 1970s prior to the album's recording, prompting her to work with several like-minded producers and songwriters such as Jack Splash, CeeLo Green, Mark Ronson, and Lamont Dozier, formerly of Motown's Holland–Dozier–Holland. The production also incorporated elements of downbeat and electronic music that Solange had familiarized herself with on previous trips to Europe, while the songwriting explored themes of independence.
Departing from the dance-pop R&B of Solange's debut album Solo Star (2002), Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams was marketed toward the "intellectual, backpacking, coffee shop, digital" youth audience, as described by her record label. In its first week of release, the album charted at number nine on the Billboard 200 and sold 46,000 copies; it eventually reached 138,000 sold in the US. Meanwhile, its three singles all reached number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs. Critically, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams was well received, with reviewers generally finding the music ambitious, eccentric, and intelligently made.
## Background
Solange had been working on her second studio album on and off since 2005 following her return home to Houston, Texas, and her divorce from Daniel Smith, with whom she had lived following the birth of their son Daniel Julez in October 2004. The follow-up to the critical and commercial disappointment of 2003's Solo Star was preceded by Solange's move from Columbia to Geffen Records in late 2007. Solange was heavily influenced by Motown girl groups such as The Supremes and The Marvelettes, and by her mother Tina, a one-time member of the 1960s harmony group The Veltones, who used to play music by the likes of Dusty Springfield and Martha Reeves to her.
Inspired to create a concept album around her growth as a musical artist instead, Solange borrowed elements from downbeat and electronic music she discovered on recent trips to Europe, and her vision of the album eventually resulted in a mixture she described as a "'60s/70s vintage soul record with hints of electronica." In an interview with Billboard magazine, Geffen Records chairman Ron Fair said of the album prior to release, "Her record is totally bananas ... It's not what people would expect from her. The music is more electric and international. She's in her own lane."
## Recording and production
Although Solange had previously worked with a wide range of high-profile producers and songwriters on earlier projects, she struggled to convince her wishlisted musicians to contribute to Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, production-wise. This was due to no producer signing on to the project before hearing any material for the album. "I don't think it was offensive," Solange admitted. "I understand that these are people that want to take on credible passionate projects. So before I would work with them I would schedule a meeting and play them the record. And then they were more convinced and willing to get on board." Cee-Lo Green and Mark Ronson were not consulted until late into the production of the album, both having been persuaded by Solange at the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony: "I had to party with Cee-Lo too to get him to work on the record [...] but once he did [listen to my music] he signed on immediately."
Solange collaborated with several studio personalities, including Jack Splash, Shea Taylor, Mr. Familiar, Lamont Dozier, production teams Soulshock & Karlin and Bama Boyz, as well as singers and rappers Pharrell Williams, Bilal, Q-Tip and Lil Wayne respectively. In addition, Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry lent vocals to the unreleased recording "Wanna Go Back", while Raphael Saadiq and British singer Estelle demoed the track "Same Song, Different Man", which didn’t make it to the final track listing. In an interview with Starpulse, Solange later said of the experience:
> "By the end of the project, I had worked with all of the producers and artists I had ever dreamed of including Q-Tip, Boards of Canada and Mark Ronson ... When I got a call saying the legendary Lamont Dozier would take the time out to write with little old me I was ecstatic beyond words."
Inspired by the aspirations of Solange's father Mathew, the album was titled after Hadley Street, a plot of land in downtown Houston. This became the location of Matthew's Music World Entertainment complex (1505 Hadley), where Solange says she began working on the album.
## Marketing and sales
Leading up to its release, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams featured promotional photography of Solange in an array of costumes and wigs that evoke late 1960s and early 1970s fashion styles. The record companies of its release, Geffen and Music World Entertainment, aimed at an "intellectual, backpacking, coffee shop, digital kid" audience in promoting the album. Released on August 26, 2008, the album debuted at number three on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and at number nine on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 46,000 copies. By April 2009, the album had sold 138,000 copies in the United States.
The album's lead single, "I Decided", was released on April 22, 2008. It charted at number 44 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, at number one on the Hot Dance Singles Sales and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales charts, and at number two on the Hot Singles Sales chart. It also peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart and at number 6 on the UK R&B Singles Chart. "ChampagneChroniKnightcap" featuring American rapper Lil Wayne was released as a single on August 19. November 25 saw the release of "Sandcastle Disco", which reached the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. "T.O.N.Y." was released as the fourth single on March 31, 2009, topping the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song also charted at number 31 on Billboard's Adult R&B Songs, and number 62 on both the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
On August 17, 2010, "Wanna Go Back" was released as a single, and an EP of remixes for "I Told You So" was released; the latter charted at number 5 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. A similar EP featuring remixes of "Would've Been the One" was released the following week on August 25, and it reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. On October 25, a remix EP was issued for "6 O'Clock Blues".
## Critical reception
Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 72, based on 14 reviews.
Reviewing the album in The Village Voice, Rob Harvilla called it "bizarrely mesmerizing" and said that the idiosyncratic and unconventional lyrics of some songs invite "inexplicable but highly favorable comparisons to Kate Bush. (Ethereal but powerful, unhinged but in total command.)" Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe referred to the album as a "smartly executed, classy set of songs that's miles away from the hoochie pop being turned out by young female R&B vocalists these days". Pryia Elan of The Times declared it "a modern classic", while Hartford Courant critic Dan LeRoy compared Solange's music to that of her sister Beyoncé. "Solange combines retro warmth and current cool in ways her more commercially successful sibling probably can't", Leroy wrote. Jaimie Gill of Yahoo! Music called Sol-Angel a "fine, rich and extremely likeable record", and Francis Jones from Hot Press found Solange's singing "sassy and assured". Vibe's Keith Murphy named it one of the best R&B albums of the year. Andy Kellman of AllMusic cited it as "one of the year's more entertaining and easily enjoyable R&B releases" and found it "fun, silly, slightly eccentric and, most importantly, fearless", with most of the songs "soaked in bouncing pop-soul".
Some reviewers expressed reservations. In MSN Music, Robert Christgau gave the album an "honorable mention" and deemed Solange "privilege's child" who "runs through her options" in a defiant but frothy manner, while naming "Would've Been the One" and "I Decided" as highlights. Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian called its music "savvy R&B with a gloss you can check your reflection in", but ultimately observed "a lack of both memorable tunes and the steely spined ardour that makes Beyoncé so compelling." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine was ambivalent towards its use of sampling on certain songs, but praised "the mix of organic, old-school instrumentation and more electronic elements", which he felt make it "a loose, fun and reverent record." More critical was Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen, who found it "embarrassing" for Solange to attempt Erykah Badu-inspired psychedelic-soul on tracks such as "Cosmic Journey". He also remained unimpressed by her singing and the record's sound, comparing it to "a woozy lava lamp glow."
## Track listing
Notes
- denotes co-producer
### Sample credits
- "God Given Name" contains a sample of Thievery Corporation's "A Gentle Dissolve"
- "Dancing in the Dark" contains a sample of Heinz Kiessling's "Feeling Young"
- "I Decided, Part 1" contains a sample of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go"
- "6 O'clock Blues" contains a sample of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings' "Summer of Sound"
- "Ode to Marvin" contains a sample of the percussion in Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"
- "This Bird" contains a sample of Boards of Canada's "Slow This Bird Down"
## Personnel
### Musicians
- Sean Hurley – guitar, keyboards, bass instrument
- John "Jabb" Broussard – guitar, bass instrument (Track 7)
- Phillip Todd – saxophone
- Noel Langley – trumpet, flugelhorn
- Neil Sidwell – trombone
- Manny Patino – drums
### Production
- Arrangers: Jack Splash, Karlin, Simon Hale, Soulshock
- Engineers: Rommel Nino Villanueva, Andres Bermudez, Gelly Kusuma, Christian Plata, Ryan Gilligan, Shinnosuke Miyazawa, Robert "LB" Dorsey, Patrick Magee, Andrew Coleman
- Mixing: Ben H. Allen (Track 9), Neal H. Pogue (2, 6, 8, 13), Jack Splash (4), Manny Marroquin (3, 5), Dave Pensado (1, 7, 10, 12), Soulshock (11)
- Mastering: Tom Coyne, Chris Gehringer
- Art direction: Fusako Chubachi, Erwin Gorostiza
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## See also
- The Way I See It |
65,170,906 | Bukit Kutu | 1,171,938,568 | Ghost town in Malaysia | [
"Ghost towns in Asia",
"Hill stations in Malaysia",
"Hulu Selangor District",
"Populated places established in 1893"
]
| Bukit Kutu or Treacher Hill is a former hill station and now a ghost town in Hulu Selangor District, Selangor, Malaysia. This hill station was established in 1893 and consisted of two bungalows, which served as a lodge for visitors and included a 15.3 km (9.5 mi) bridle path that connected it with the town of Kuala Kubu. The hill station was abandoned in 1935 and the government of British Malaya acquired the station's bungalows which were sold as they no longer paid their way. The Japanese army later bombed the station during World War II, leaving it a ghost town. Since the abandonment of the hill station, it has become a popular hiking destination and is busiest during weekends. Bukit Kutu has a rich biodiversity with various kinds of flora and fauna which led to its gazettement as a wildlife reserve in 1922.
## Etymology
Treacher Hill is named after a former British Resident of Selangor, William Hood Treacher, whereas the alternative Malayan name Bukit Kutu comes from the Orang Asli people who said the route was too long. Kutu in Malay language means flea, and Bukit means hill, literally "flea hill".
## History
The hill station was established in 1893 and housed only two bungalows. The first bungalow was constructed by the Selangor government in 1895, using granite and timber; the second bungalow was constructed in 1904. They served as a lodge for visitors renting for a \$1 per day for visitors and available free of charge for government officers. Occupying them required a permit from the Kuala Kubu District Officer. Each bungalow provided bedrooms, a landline telephone, a fireplace, a tennis court and a telescope. The hill station was connected by a 15.3 km (9.5 mi) bridle path, which served as the only road connecting Kuala Kubu with Bukit Kutu. The Straits Times described the road's quality as "extremely bad" and felt it was a "pity" that a better road had not been constructed considering the hill station was a favorite tourist destination.
By 1935, the abandoned bungalows in Bukit Kutu were in ruins and the place had become a ghost town. Both buildings were sold to the government of British Malaya as they no longer paid their way. The Japanese army bombed the hill station during World War II. With the abandonment of the town, the only road access to the hill station became overgrown with thick vegetation, leaving it hidden from public view. As of 2020, the only remains of this ghost town are a chimney, a fireplace and a well. The chimney was part of the bungalow previously owned by Tom Sargent, a construction engineer for Federated Malay States Railway.
The trail to the ghost town has become a popular route with hikers, with peak use occurring on weekends. As there will be risks of getting lost inside the trail, all hikers are required to register with police and obtain a permit to access the trail that leads to the hill station. There has been several safety related incidents that have been reported since it became a popular hiking trail. A teacher from Taman Keramat went missing inside the trail in November 2015. While police has been attempted to search for the missing person, as of 2019, her remains has yet to be found. One hiker was rescued after they collapsed from a muscle cramp in November 2016. In July 2017, a hiker from Egypt was reportedly missing on Bukit Kutu, only to be rediscovered after 16 hours.
## Geography
Bukit Kutu is a mountainous terrain. The altitude at its highest point is 1,053 metres (3,455 ft) above sea level. The terrain is described as steep. It is one of the four areas that serve as the water catchment area for the Sungai Selangor River. The other three are Hulu Selangor, Semangkok and Fraser's Hill. Aside from forests which cover the water catchment areas, the other natural features in Bukit Kutu include the Lata Medang waterfall, and a large stone called Batu Tebung, which was reportedly defaced by irresponsible people who visited the site. Samuel Robert Aiken, a geography professor at Concordia University, classified the hill station as minor because of the lack of flat land that hindered additional development. The main environmental issue created by visitors is littering with rubbish left behind in the area.
### Climate
Bukit Kutu climate is classified as tropical. The temperature there averages 26.5 °C (79.7 °F). The average yearly rainfall is 3,320 millimetres (130.8 in). Precipitation is the lowest in June, with an average of 230 millimetres (9 in). The most precipitation falls in November—an average of 460 mm (18 in). With an average temperature of 27.2 °C (81.0 °F), May is the hottest month of the year. December has the lowest average temperature of the year—26.0 °C (78.8 °F). Between the driest and wettest months, the difference in precipitation is 230 millimetres (9 in).
### Biodiversity
According to The Straits Times, Bukit Kutu is rich in biodiversity with its forests of trees, moss, fungus, flowers, orchards, ferns, pitcher plants, vines, monkeys, bamboo, ants, centipedes, lizards, squirrels, butterflies, birds and hornbills. The author also noted that the twigs in the forest resembled reptiles or insects. This rich biodiversity has attracted biologists and researchers to study the species found in the area. For instance, seven subspecies of mosquitoes were discovered and studied by Kuala Lumpur Institute for Medical Research researchers between 1907 and 1908. In addition, a new mosquito species was discovered in 1903 by biologist Dr. Daniels which closely resembles anopheles of Italy, another malaria-carrying mosquito. The species was named A. Treacheri. Three subspecies of dobsonfly genus Neurhermes Navás were discovered and studied in 2014 by researchers from the China Agricultural University and the Tokyo Metropolitan University. Haematopota albiocrea and Haematopota splendens, new haematopota subspecies, were discovered in 1931. The abundant, rich biodiversity in this region has been gazetted as Malaysian wildlife reserves by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (PERHILITAN) in 1922, with an area of 1,943 ha (4,800 acres). |
1,092,133 | Denis Smith (footballer, born 1947) | 1,164,072,969 | English football player and manager (born 1947) | [
"1947 births",
"Association football coaches",
"Bristol City F.C. managers",
"English Football League managers",
"English Football League players",
"English Football League representative players",
"English autobiographers",
"English columnists",
"English football managers",
"English men's footballers",
"Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent",
"Living people",
"Men's association football defenders",
"Oxford United F.C. managers",
"Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff",
"Stoke City F.C. players",
"Sunderland A.F.C. managers",
"West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers",
"Wrexham A.F.C. managers",
"York City F.C. managers",
"York City F.C. players"
]
| Denis Smith (born 19 November 1947) is an English former professional footballer and manager. He made 531 appearances in all competitions in 15 seasons as a player in the Football League, and as a manager took charge for 1,195 competitive matches.
Born in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, he joined local club Stoke City as an amateur in 1964, making his first-team debut in September 1968. A hard-tackling defender, he soon established himself in the first team, playing in a centre-back partnership with Alan Bloor for much of his career. Stoke enjoyed one of the most successful periods of their history during his time at the club, as he helped Stoke to win the League Cup in 1972, featuring in successive FA Cup semi-finals in 1971 and 1972 and helping the club to successive fifth-place finishes in the First Division in 1973–74 and 1974–75. His bravery as a player meant that he also entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most injured man in football, although he was never able to fully recover after breaking his leg for the fifth time in his career in March 1975. He did manage to continue to play competitive football, and helped Stoke to win promotion from the Second Division in 1978–79. He missed the entire 1980–81 season due to injury, and left the club in May 1982.
He began his management career at York City in May 1982, having played for the club on loan the previous season. He led the club to the Fourth Division title in 1983–84, totalling five seasons at the club. He took charge of Sunderland in May 1987, and took the club to the Third Division title in 1987–88, before getting the club promoted from the Second Division in 1989–90. Dismissed by Sunderland in December 1991, he took charge at Bristol City three months later. He steered the club away from relegation in 1992–93, but was dismissed in January 1993 after falling out with the club's directors. He was appointed manager of Oxford United in September 1993 and, although unable to avoid relegation in 1993–94, led the club to promotion from the Second Division in 1995–96. He switched clubs to West Bromwich Albion in December 1997, remaining in charge for two-and-a-half seasons before being dismissed in July 1999.
He returned to manage Oxford in February 2000, and steered the club away from relegation in 1999–2000 before resigning in October 2000. In October 2001 he was appointed manager of Wrexham, but was unable to steer the club away from relegation in 2001–02. He won promotion from the Third Division at the first attempt in 2002–03, but Wrexham entered administration in December 2004 and the resulting points deduction saw them relegated once more. Despite the financial problems he managed the club to the Football League Trophy title in 2005, in addition to two successive FAW Premier Cup wins in 2002 and 2003. He was dismissed in January 2007, months after the club exited administration. He married in October 1967 and has three children.
## Early life
Denis Smith was born in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, the second youngest of seven siblings. At just three years old he formed his own gang, stating in his autobiography that "if we wanted to play in the sandpit we played in the sandpit", and continued to lead his gang through junior and senior years at Sandon Road Junior School. Despite being involved with gangs since his early childhood he grew out of the culture by the age of ten, and as a teenager formed friendships outside of his local council estate. He turned down the chance to sit the eleven plus exam as local grammar school Longton High was a rugby-playing school, and so instead attended Queensbury Road School, with whom he won the Stoke Schools Trophy; he also played for the Stoke-on-Trent Schoolboys (who were coached by former England international Dennis Wilshaw). At the age of 15 he became Staffordshire County boxing champion.
He was only at the age of 14, but a late growth spurt took him to just under six feet, and was therefore tall enough to play centre-back as a professional footballer. He was offered an apprenticeship by Portsmouth, but turned it down as he wanted to sign for his local club Stoke City, who initially were not willing to take him on as an apprentice. They only allowed him to train with the 'A' team twice a week as an amateur whilst he initially worked as a plumber's mate, and later as a factory worker at Stone Lotus.
## Playing career
### Stoke City
Smith signed for Stoke City in September 1966 after telling manager Tony Waddington that he was going to sign a contract at another club; though Waddington was not keen on Smith's hard-tackling style, he did not want to lose the young player. At the age of 18 he faced Leeds United's FWA Footballer of the Year Bobby Collins in a reserve match, and despite Collins going as far as to punch him in the face Smith managed to last the entire match without backing down in an extremely physical contest. However, for a period Waddington banned Smith from playing against first-team players in training as he feared Smith would injure one of his players. He made his first-team debut in the Football League against Arsenal in September 1968, and was given the task of man-marking Bobby Gould. He gave away a penalty after fouling Jon Sammels, which Terry Neill converted for the only goal of the match, but otherwise made a solid debut. However, in his second appearance he gave away two penalties in a 3–1 defeat away to Ipswich Town, and had to wait five months for another first-team appearance. In March 1969, Alan Bloor picked up a knock and Smith returned to the starting line-up in a 5–1 defeat to Leeds, failing in his task to man mark Mick Jones, who claimed a hat-trick. Despite the poor start to his senior career, he managed to finish the 1968–69 season with 14 First Division appearances to his name, and was occasionally used as an emergency striker.
Smith established himself in the Stoke defence in 1969–70, forming a centre-back partnership with Alan Bloor in between full backs Jackie Marsh and Mike Pejic. Smith was the aggressive and highly physical defender, complemented by Bloor who tended to stay further back and use his intelligence to read the game and clean up any mistakes Smith made. Smith claimed his first goal for the club on 17 September 1969, in a 3–1 win over West Bromwich Albion (West Brom) at the Hawthorns. Stoke reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1970–71, and Smith played in the fourth round victory over Huddersfield Town despite suffering from a fractured ankle. He scored the only goal of the match in the fifth-round replay away to Ipswich. He also scored a "freak goal" from a deflected Peter Storey clearance in the semi-final against Arsenal on 27 March 1971, but Stoke lost the replay four days later.
Stoke reached the FA Cup semi-final for a second successive season in 1971–72, again being knocked out by Arsenal in a replay. He had scored in the quarter-final victory over Manchester United and pressured Arsenal's Peter Simpson into scoring an own goal in the original semi-final match. However, John Radford was the hero of the tie as he played as an emergency goalkeeper in the first match following an injury to Bob Wilson, and then scored the winning goal in the replay. Stoke found greater success in the League Cup, beating Southport, Oxford United (after a replay), Manchester United (after two replays), Bristol Rovers and West Ham United (after three replays) to reach the 1972 League Cup Final against Chelsea. He scored two goals during the run, but was knocked out whilst scoring against Bristol Rovers in the quarter-final, and missed some weeks with concussion. He returned to play in the final, man-marking Peter Osgood in a match which Stoke won 2–1 to win their first major trophy.
Despite the cup success and arrival of new signing Geoff Hurst, Stoke laboured to a 15th-place finish in 1972–73. Smith blamed the car crash and subsequent injury to Gordon Banks in October 1972 as the cause for the club's mid-season slump, which compounded an already poor start to the season. Any concerns over relegation disappeared though with six victories in the final eight league matches. After a poor start to 1973–74, Waddington signed Alan Hudson in January 1974 to help revive the club's fortunes. The defence also improved, as Smith helped to ensure only two goals were conceded in the last nine matches of the season as Stoke finished fifth. On 23 February 1974, Smith scored the winning goal against Leeds to end their opponent's 29-match unbeaten run. Leeds went on to have a £250,000 bid for Smith turned down by Stoke in the summer.
Stoke made a push for the title in 1974–75. They also competed in the UEFA Cup against Dutch team Ajax, and Smith scored in a 1–1 draw at the Victoria Ground, though Stoke would lose the tie on away goals. Smith scored the only goal of the match against Leicester City on 30 November 1974 to take Stoke top of the table. However, Smith broke his leg for the fifth time in his career making a red-card challenge on Mick Lambert in a 2–1 defeat to Ipswich on 18 March 1975; he was the fourth Stoke player to break a leg that season. Stoke ended the season again in fifth place, picking up just two points from their final three matches to finish four points behind champions Derby County.
He underwent an operation to remove cartilage in his knee in November 1975, and his recovery was not entirely successful. He later admitted that after returning to match fitness from the injury he was only ever able to play at "half pace". His long-term replacement was young defender Alan Dodd. The club also faced a major decline following a gale which severely damaged the Victoria Ground's Butler Street stand, and a lack of adequate insurance cover left a significant repair bill meaning the club had to sell Alan Hudson, Jimmy Greenhoff, Mike Pejic, Sean Haslegrave and Ian Moores to fund the repair; Eric Skeels and John Ritchie also retired. Waddington filled in the gaps left by these players with youngsters, and it also meant that Smith could continue to be a regular for the club despite his reduced mobility. Waddington was dismissed in March 1976, and new manager George Eastham failed to prevent Stoke from being relegated at the end of 1976–77. Following relegation Smith formed another good partnership, this time with Mike Doyle, which helped Stoke gain promotion in 1978–79 under new manager Alan Durban. Smith claimed his two seasons in the Second Division were "boring", as even with his reduced mobility few attackers in the division posed too much of a threat for him.
A pre-season injury kept him out of the entire 1980–81 season, during which time he coached the reserves. In this time he converted Steve Bould from a striker into a centre-back. Smith returned from injury in 1981–82, and featured regularly early in the season, and by the time another injury forced him out of the team, Stoke were in 18th place. He joined York City, who were struggling in the Fourth Division, on a one-month loan in March 1982. He debuted in a 3–1 home defeat to Hull City on 16 March 1982, and scored once for York, in a 4–2 loss away to Wigan Athletic on 2 April. Smith made seven appearances while on loan at York, and exerted his influence on the team by organising the defence; he commented that "They had been crying out for an older head like me". He was recalled by Stoke manager Richie Barker as the defence struggled in his absence, and Smith re-established himself in the team as they avoided relegation. He was handed a free transfer to York in May 1982. He said that if he had been offered a coaching role at Stoke he would have stayed, but that Barker wanted him gone as he saw him as a threat to his position. In total, Smith made 493 appearances for Stoke, a club record for a centre-back.
### Style of play
During Smith's 14 seasons with Stoke, he became known for his fearless mentality which led to him sustaining a large number of injuries. These included five broken legs, breaking his nose four times, a cracked ankle, broken collar bone, chipped spine, breaking most of his fingers and toes and needing more than 200 stitches. The sequence saw him named in the Guinness Book of Records as the most injured man in football. Early into his career Smith soon developed a reputation as a "hard player", who would launch himself at opponents determined to either block a shot and win the ball, which is how he picked up most of his injuries. He was known as Stoke's "hitman", and relished going toe to toe with the biggest and most feared opposition players.
He would generally man-mark the opposition's playmaker or major goalscoring threat. He was a highly effective tackler, able to either flatten opposition players or to quickly take the ball off their toes. After the tackle from behind was outlawed he adapted to the rule change by making hard challenges from the side. Manager Tony Waddington said that "His qualities were his tackling strength and his courage. On the ball he just did what he could do, but he also had a tremendous ability to read the game."
## Managerial career
### York City
He moved into management with York as player-manager ahead of 1982–83, accepting the position on 12 May 1982. He described the set up at Bootham Crescent on his arrival as a "shambles", as training consisted entirely of running and was devoid of any actual coaching. He signed veteran players Roger Jones (goalkeeper), Alan Hay (defender) and Ricky Sbragia (defender), as well as young Stoke defender Chris Evans, which including Smith himself meant a complete change in the club's back line. He brought in striker Viv Busby as a player-coach. He then made 26-year-old striker Keith Walwyn his priority, and encouraged Walwyn to use his natural physical presence to become a greater threat in front of goal and unlock his potential. Smith retired from playing after steering York to a seventh-place in 1982–83, in which he made 36 appearances and scored 4 goals. He signed Sheffield United's John MacPhail on a free transfer as a replacement for himself.
In his second season as York manager, 1983–84, he signed another former teammate, energetic midfielder Sean Haslegrave. Smith was named as the division's Manager of the Month for March 1984 after York won five and drew one of their six league matches. He guided York to the Fourth Division title and promotion into the Third Division, with Walwyn scoring 25 goals and earning a place in the PFA Team of the Year alongside strike partner John Byrne, who scored 27 goals. York finished with 101 points, 16 points ahead of runners-up Doncaster Rovers.
Early in 1984–85 York were beaten by Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in the League Cup, but Byrne impressed QPR manager Alan Mullery enough to earn a £100,000 move to Loftus Road. Smith spent half of this sum (a club record) on Aldershot forward Dale Banton, who went on to score 49 goals in 138 appearances for the club. He also released winger Brian Pollard, but found that the man he signed in his place, Gary Nicholson, was not able to replicate Pollard's form. York started the season well and another of his signings, Keith Houchen (£15,000), scored a hat-trick in a 7–1 win over Gillingham in November 1984. On 26 January 1985, he guided York to victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round. In the next round York came from behind to draw 1–1 at home with Liverpool, before losing 7–0 away at Anfield.
York again drew Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round in 1985–86, and took the lead through Gary Ford only to concede a stoppage time equaliser. Tony Canham scored at Anfield and York had a second goal disallowed before York succumbed to a 3–1 defeat in extra time. York lost only three home league matches all season, but missed out on promotion after finishing seventh. In the summer of 1986 he sold MacPhail to Bristol City for £15,000, whilst many of the veteran players he signed when he first came to the club were coming to the end of their careers. The 1986–87 season was disappointing for York as they were knocked out of the FA Cup by non-League team Caernarfon Town and ended the season in 20th-place. They did though manage to beat Chelsea 1–0 in the League Cup, but lost the return fixture at Stamford Bridge 3–0. Smith ended up falling out with the club's directors, who invested money in the club's facilities rather than on players, and released goalkeeper Andy Leaning against his wishes.
### Sunderland
In May 1987, Smith was appointed manager at Sunderland, who had just been relegated into the Third Division for the first time in their history. York were unwilling to release him from his contract for less than £20,000 compensation, and Sunderland would only go as far as pay £10,000. Smith agreed to a £40,000-a-year contract that meant if he failed to win promotion with Sunderland in his first season he would pay the extra £10,000 compensation himself. He brought his York coaching staff with him: Viv Busby, Malcolm Crosby, and Roger Jones. He also signed former York player John MacPhail to shore up the defence, who captained the team and scored 16 goals (including 10 penalties) in his maiden season at Roker Park. He signed right-back John Kay, whilst remaining satisfied with existing left-back Reuben Agboola, centre-back Gary Bennett and goalkeeper Iain Hesford. In midfield he played a youthful combination of Gordon Armstrong, Paul Lemon, Gary Owers and Paul Atkinson, alongside the more experienced defensive midfielder Steve Doyle. He sold Mark Proctor to Sheffield Wednesday for £275,000. He signed young and pacey York striker Marco Gabbiadini for £80,000 and played him alongside the experienced Eric Gates; the pair scored 42 goals between them in 1987–88. A 7–0 win over Southend United started a run of 15 league matches unbeaten, though in the second half of the campaign a run of just 2 wins in 10 matches set them back. Smith bought Swansea City winger Colin Pascoe in March 1988, and oversaw a run of seven wins in the final eight matches to secure the Third Division championship and promotion with 93 points.
Injuries to Kay and Lemon hindered Sunderland at the start of 1988–89, and they took until 1 October 1988 to register their first win back in the Second Division. He signed burly striker Billy Whitehurst to act as a "battering-ram", who proved to be an effective player despite being a heavy binge drinker. He spent a club record £500,000 on goalkeeper Tony Norman, though Hesford and Whitehurst were traded as part-exchange on the fee. Sunderland improved and ended the season in 11th-place.
He signed experienced midfielder Paul Bracewell for 1989–90 and spent £130,000 on Portsmouth left-back Paul Hardyman. He introduced the exceptionally talented teenage winger Kieron Brady to the first team, but was unable to discipline the precocious teenager, and Brady never realised his full potential. Sunderland reached the play-offs, and faced rivals Newcastle United in the semi-final, securing passage into the final with a 2–0 victory at St James' Park. They lost 1–0 to Swindon Town in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium. However, Swindon were found guilty of financial irregularities and remained in the Second Division, whilst Sunderland took their place in the First Division.
Having been promoted weeks after the end of the previous season and not being granted an increased wage budget, Smith felt he had a tough job in keeping Sunderland in the top flight in 1990–91. He allowed Gates and MacPhail to leave on free transfers in order to free up money to bring in new players. He spent £350,000 on Portsmouth defender Kevin Ball and took forward Peter Davenport from rivals Middlesbrough; Ball would prove to be a success, though Smith admitted in his autobiography that signing Davenport had been a mistake that left him unable to bring in any further players, as his small budget was spent. He was given further funds in February 1991 as Sunderland were engaged in a relegation battle, and Smith spent £225,000 on midfielder Brian Mooney, who had a limited impact due to injuries. On the final day of the season Sunderland had to better Luton Town's result at home to Derby in their match against Manchester City at Maine Road, but they lost 3–2 and were relegated back into the Second Division.
In the summer of 1991, Stoke chairman Peter Coates offered Smith the vacant management position at the club, but Smith decided that potentially being dismissed by his hometown club would be too intense an experience emotionally, and chose to stay loyal to Sunderland. This was despite finances being tight at Sunderland as the club saved the money to build a new stadium.However, after just 4 wins in the opening 14 matches of 1991–92, Smith decided to sell star striker Gabbiadini to Crystal Palace for £1.8 million in order to raise funds to improve the squad. He then spent £350,000 on Celtic left-back Anton Rogan and brought in strikers Don Goodman (£900,000 from West Bromwich Albion) and John Byrne (£225,000 from Brighton & Hove Albion). Smith was dismissed on 30 December 1991, with Sunderland lying 17th in the Second Division. His former assistant Malcolm Crosby took Sunderland to the 1992 FA Cup Final, in which they were beaten by Liverpool.
### Bristol City
Smith was only out of work for nine weeks before being appointed manager of Bristol City on 9 March 1992. He succeeded Jimmy Lumsden, who left the club second-from-bottom in the Second Division. Smith felt the team lacked pace, so signed 20-year-old striker Andy Cole on loan from Arsenal. Dariusz Dziekanowski scored both goals against Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) in Smith's second match in charge to provide City with their first win in three months. They then won 3–1 against Smith's former club Sunderland, with Cole scoring the first of his 8 goals in 12 appearances during his loan spell. Smith successfully steered the club out of the relegation zone at the end of 1992–93 with a run of eight matches unbeaten, and paid a club record £500,000 to secure Cole's services on a permanent basis. He further paid £250,000 for Everton midfielder Raymond Atteveld and signed West Ham United striker Leroy Rosenior.
Smith rebuilt the defence for 1993–94, signing right-back Brian Mitchell and centre-back David Thompson, and oversaw a mixed start to the season. City won four straight home matches but also lost 5–1 to West Ham, 5–0 at Newcastle, and most significantly 4–0 to local rivals Bristol Rovers at Twerton Park. He found it difficult to control the club's talented and popular players, as Dziekanowski regularly got into trouble in his social life and skilled left-winger Junior Bent was unwilling to deliver crosses as regularly as Smith demanded. He tried to sell Bent but was unable to have the deal sanctioned by the club's directors. His relationship with the board was poor and he found himself regularly undermined and sensitive boardroom discussions were leaked. He also tried to sell Cole in order to provide funds to restructure the first team but again the board refused to sanction the deal. He was dismissed on 21 January 1993 following a run of 10 matches without a victory, and his assistant Russell Osman was appointed as his successor.
### Oxford United
Smith made a return to management with Oxford on 10 September 1993, and the following day led them to a 4–2 victory over his former club Bristol City. A victory over another former club, Stoke, took Oxford off the bottom of the Second Division, but a sequence of just 2 wins in 17 matches left them in great danger of relegation. He signed goalkeeper Phil Whitehead on loan from Barnsley, signed striker John Byrne (£50,000 from Millwall) for the third time in his career, and then made what he later said was the best signing of his career by bringing in defender Matt Elliott from Scunthorpe United for £170,000. Oxford were boosted by these arrivals and briefly exited the relegation zone, also claiming an FA Cup giant-killing over Leeds at Elland Road after Jim Magilton scored the winning goal in extra time. However, after the match Magilton moved to Southampton for a £600,000 fee. Oxford had struggled in the league during their FA Cup run and were 15 points short of safety with 16 matches to play, but were aided by £60,000 signing Paul Moody, who, despite arriving in February 1994, managed to finish as the club's top-scorer with 12 goals in 15 appearances. His arrival kick-started the club's fightback, and Oxford closed the 15 points gap in just 9 matches. However, a difficult run-in left Oxford needing to beat Notts County on the last day of the season and hope results elsewhere went their way, and though they beat County their relegation rivals also claimed victories and Oxford were relegated.
The sale of star midfielder Joey Beauchamp to West Ham for a club record £1 million allowed Smith money to spend in the transfer market, and he spent £100,000 each on Norwich City midfielder David Smith and Sunderland striker David Rush. Oxford formed a strong promotion push in 1994–95, but were knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round by non-League Marlow. In February 1995, he spent £60,000 on Hartlepool United's Phil Gilchrist, who would form a highly effective centre-back partnership with Elliott. Oxford finished the season in seventh place, six points outside the play-offs. In November 1995, Smith re-signed Beauchamp for £300,000, who continued his excellent form after returning to his native Oxfordshire. The next month he brought in striker Martin Aldridge on a free transfer. The club were 14th in January 1996, but lost only once in their last 17 matches of 1995–96 in a tremendous second half of the season that saw them climb 12 places to win promotion as runners-up. At the end of the season, Smith became a director of the club.
In order to strengthen for 1996–97, Smith signed striker Nigel Jemson and spent £100,000 on Leyton Orient defender Darren Purse. In order to finance these deals he sold Chris Allen to Nottingham Forest for £450,000. Oxford knocked Premier League team Sheffield Wednesday out of the League Cup en route to a fourth round exit. Oxford were fifth in the table in December 1996, but chairman Robin Herd resigned amidst financial problems at the club, and work on the new stadium came to a halt as the club debt reached £13 million. Smith raised funds by selling Elliott to Leicester for £1.7 million, and signed veteran defender Chris Whyte on a free transfer as a short-term replacement. Oxford finished the season in 17th place, but the club's financial situation became ever bleaker. Numerous players were sold, though Smith was allowed to spend £170,000 on defender Phil Whelan. Smith left the Manor Ground midway through 1997–98 with Oxford 16th in the league, and his assistant Crosby managed to maintain the club's mid-table position at the end of the season.
### West Bromwich Albion
Smith was appointed manager of West Brom on a three-year contract on 24 December 1997, with Oxford receiving around £100,000 in compensation. He had a mixed start to his time at the Hawthorns as Albion fell from promotion contenders to a tenth-place finish in 1997–98, but recorded victories over local rivals Wolves and Stoke.
In preparation for 1998–99, he signed athletic Derby centre-back Matt Carbon for £800,000, Blackpool striker James Quinn for £500,000, and Manchester City defender Jason van Blerk for £50,000. He also brought in winger Mark Angel, midfielders Mario Bortolazzi and Enzo Maresca, and striker Fabian de Freitas. However, the player who had the greatest impact for West Brom was young striker Lee Hughes, who had been signed before Smith's arrival but only made his first start under Smith. Aside from Maresca, many of Smith's signings had little impact, and supporters criticised him for allowing popular goalkeeper Alan Miller and strikers Andy Hunt and Bob Taylor to leave the club. West Brom started the season well with Hughes in tremendous form, but a slump in form in March 1999 left them ending up in 12th place. Smith was dismissed on 27 July 1999, just a week before the start of 1999–2000.
### Return to Oxford
On 3 February 2000, Smith was appointed manager of Oxford for the second time in his career, with the club 21st in the Second Division. He re-signed striker Nigel Jemson from Ayr United, and kept Oxford in the division as they ended 1999–2000 in 20th place, one place and one point above the relegation zone. He signed a one-year contract extension in the summer of 2000, but fell out with chairman Firoz Kassam. He later admitted that the signings he made on a limited budget, which included Ian McGuckin, Andy Scott and Rob Quinn, were not good enough. Smith resigned on 2 October 2000 after a terrible start to 2000–01, a season which ended in Oxford being relegated in last place. He continued to work as a scout for the club under Dave Kemp and then Mark Wright.
### Wrexham
Smith returned to management on 8 October 2001 with Wrexham on a two-year contract, replacing Brian Flynn who had resigned after 12 years in charge, with the club 23rd in the Second Division. He was tasked with keeping the club steady whilst it struggled with financial problems. He decided to cut back on the club's youth coaching spending, and as a result Wrexham's youth structure was downgraded from an Academy to a Centre of Excellence. He signed goalkeeper Marius Røvde, midfielder Jim Whitley, and gave striker Hector Sam his debut, but failed to keep Wrexham away from the relegation zone. With relegation confirmed, new signing Lee Jones scored all five goals in a 5–0 win over Cambridge United, leaving cause for optimism at the Racecourse Ground.
He signed wing-back Paul Edwards and held on to most of his key players for the 2002–03 season. Wrexham had a good start to the season and Smith won the Manager of the Month award for September 2002 after a sequence of four wins and two draws. A slump followed but Wrexham recovered from a poor October 2002 after coming from behind to beat AFC Bournemouth on 9 November, as strikers Andy Morrell and Lee Trundle formed a good partnership, with Jones an impact substitute. Wrexham dropped out of the play-off places following a sequence of draws in March 2003, but new signing Scott Green scored both goals in a 2–0 win over Hartlepool United on 18 March, the first of a sequence of eight victories that took Wrexham into the third automatic promotion place with four matches to go. They held on to the position to secure promotion from the Third Division at the first attempt. Wrexham also beat Newport County 6–1 in the final of the FAW Premier Cup to secure an important £100,000 in prize money. Smith was named as the Manager of the Month for April and 2003, before winning the League Managers Association's Third Division Manager of the Season award.
Smith lost Morrell and Trundle on free transfers, and replaced them with Chris Armstrong and Chris Llewellyn. The club's financial problems meant that players went unpaid at the start of 2003–04, although they remained in the play-off places in December 2003. However, a hairline fracture to Shaun Pejic left Smith short of defenders and the promotion challenge ebbed away to a mid-table finish. Wrexham retained the FAW Premier Cup though with a 4–1 victory over Rhyl. However, Smith made himself unpopular with supporters after refusing to endorse their campaign to oust controversial chairman Alex Hamilton.
Writing in his autobiography, Smith described 2004–05 "the most harrowing, distressing footballing time of my life" as the club entered administration with debts of £2.6 million. Wrexham became the first club to be deducted 10 points for entering administration and were subsequently relegated from League One, eight points short of safety despite new signing Juan Ugarte scoring 23 goals. Despite the financial trouble Wrexham managed to win the Football League Trophy, knocking out Notts County, Stockport County, Chester City, Hereford United and Oldham Athletic en route to the final against Southend United at the Millennium Stadium. The final was settled in extra time, with Ugarte and Darren Ferguson securing a 2–0 victory. The club earned £250,000 in prize money and the first national trophy in Wrexham's history.
Smith turned down the managerial role at Blackpool to remain in place at Wrexham for 2005–06. He signed goalkeeper Michael Ingham, defenders David Bayliss and Lee Roche, and strikers Lee McEvilly and Jonathan Walters, whilst blooding brothers Marc and Mike Williams. However, Wrexham struggled in the league, despite on loan striker Matt Derbyshire scoring 10 goals in 16 appearances. They finished the season 13th in League Two, having won only one of their last nine matches. The last match of the season was a 1–1 draw with former club Oxford, which hastened Oxford's relegation out of the Football League.
Wrexham exited 18 months of administration at the start of 2006–07, and started the season with an eight-match unbeaten run, including a 4–1 win over Championship club Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup. However, a 5–0 defeat at Accrington Stanley triggered a run of bad results that Smith was unable to turn around. With Wrexham hovering above the relegation zone in 18th place, Smith was dismissed on 11 January 2007. He is one of only 24 people to have managed over 1,000 professional matches in English football.
## Personal life
He married childhood sweetheart Kate in October 1967. Their first child Paul was born in April 1969, and was named after teammate Paul Shardlow, who had died six months earlier. They had two further children: Becky (born 1971) and Tom (born 1978). Smith released his autobiography, Just One Of Seven, in November 2008. He writes a weekly column for The Sentinel and is occasionally a commentator on Stoke matches for BBC Radio Stoke. In July 2011, he re-joined Stoke on a part-time basis as a mentor for young Academy players needing guidance off the pitch.
## Career statistics
### As a player
### As a manager
## Honours
### As a player
Stoke City
- Football League Second Division third-place promotion: 1978–79
- Football League Cup: 1971–72
- Watney Cup: 1973–74
### As a manager
York City
- Football League Fourth Division: 1983–84
Sunderland
- Football League Third Division: 1987–88
- Football League Second Division promotion: 1989–90
Oxford United
- Football League Second Division promotion: 1995–96
Wrexham
- FAW Premier Cup: 2002–03, 2003–04
- Football League Third Division third-place promotion: 2002–03
- Football League Trophy: 2004–05
Individual
- Football League Fourth Division Manager of the Month: March 1984
- Football League Third Division Manager of the Month: September 2002, April 2003
- Third Division Manager of the Season: 2002–03 |
4,369,255 | Bo McMillin | 1,161,250,944 | American football player and coach (1895–1952) | [
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"United States Navy sailors"
]
| Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin (January 12, 1895 – March 31, 1952) was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-time All-American at quarterback, and led the Centre Praying Colonels to an upset victory over Harvard in 1921. McMillin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player as part of its inaugural 1951 class.
McMillin was the head football coach at Centenary College of Louisiana (1922–1924), Geneva College (1925–1927), Kansas State University (1928–1933) and Indiana University (1934–1947), compiling a career college football coaching record of 140–77–13. In 1945, he led Indiana to its first Big Ten Conference title and was named AFCA Coach of the Year.
After graduating from Centre, McMillin played professionally with the Milwaukee Badgers and Cleveland Indians—two early National Football League (NFL) teams—in 1922 and 1923. He later returned to the NFL, coaching the Detroit Lions from 1948 to 1950 and the Philadelphia Eagles for the first two games of the 1951 season before his death. McMillin's career NFL coaching mark was 14–24.
## Early years
McMillin was born on January 12, 1895, to Reuben Thomas McMillin and Martha Buchanan Reilly in Prairie Hill, Limestone County, Texas. The family moved in 1897 to Waco and in 1901 to Fort Worth. McMillin's father was a meat packer. As a child, Bo was known to pick fights, but was also known all his life as one who never drunk nor smoked nor swore. He spoke with a distinctive Texas drawl. He was an Irish Catholic.
He played football as a running back at North Side High School in Fort Worth and Somerset High School in Somerset, Kentucky. At North Side, he played with Red Weaver and was coached by Robert L. (Chief) Myers. Sully Montgomery, Matty Bell, Bill James and Bob Mathias also attended North Side. By the ninth grade, McMillin had reached his full growth at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) and 165 pounds (75 kg).
Myers obtained the coaching job at his alma mater, Centre College, and brought all the above-named players with him. McMillin and Weaver did not have sufficient high-school credits to enter college and enrolled at Somerset High School for the 1916-17 year, playing with Red Roberts. "I've got a boy under my wing down here in Texas who's a football-playing fool and I want him to go to Centre. I'd like for you to get him in a high school up there, and away from his pool-playing pals in Texas." wrote Myers to a man in Somerset.
## Centre College
McMillin began his collegiate career at Centre College in Kentucky. McMillin was a poor student who supported himself by gambling and liked to play football. McMillin failed all his courses during his senior year, eventually receiving his A.B. degree from Centre in 1937 with credit for military service and courses taken after he left the college. According to McMillin, he initially left Centre with \$3,500 in debt.
He was a Hall-of-Fame, three-time All-American, triple-threat quarterback on the Centre Colonels football team under head coaches Chief Myers and Charley Moran. McMillin was the quarterback on Centre's all-time football team which was chosen in 1935. He was nominated for the Associated Press All-Time Southeast 1869-1919-era team. In McMillin's day of iron man football, he was also a safety man on defense and a kick returner on special teams.
### 1917
He began playing football at Centre in 1917, making an impact as a freshman when his 17-yard drop kick defeated the rival Kentucky Wildcats 3–0 (his only field goal). During his freshman year, McMillin was also on the track team; on April 27, 1917, he won the 220-yard dash at a Centre interscholastic track meet.
He missed the following year to serve in the United States Navy during the final year of World War I before returning to Centre.
### 1919 and 1920 seasons
In 1919, McMillin was selected to the Walter Camp All-America first-team at quarterback after helping the Praying Colonels to a perfect 9–0 record (including upsets of Indiana and West Virginia). Centre had been down 3–0 to Indiana for most of the game, scoring a touchdown to lead 6–3 with just over a minute left. Desperate to even the score, Indiana tossed a pass which was intercepted by McMillin, who returned it for a touchdown, dodging and straight arming the entire Indiana eleven. McMillin had the team pray before the West Virginia game, giving the Centre College Colonels its nickname of the "Praying Colonels". The 1919 team was selected for a national championship by MIT statistician Jeff Sagarin.
In 1920, McMillin received second-team All-America honors from Camp as Centre posted another successful season. However, the season did include a disappointing 31–14 loss to defending national champion Harvard. With the Harvard game tied 7–7, it was 4th down and 6 at the 30-yard line. Instead of punting, McMillin "defied every "don't" in the football book" and tossed a touchdown pass.
McMillin also had his only loss to a team from the South, to Georgia Tech by a 20–0 score. Tech tackle Bill Fincher reportedly tried to knock McMillin out of the game with brass knuckles or "something equally diabolical." Before the game, Fincher said "You're a great player Bo...I feel awful sorry about it because you are not going to be in there very long—about three minutes." The Atlanta Constitution reported, "McMillin's forward passes outdid anything of the kind seen here in many years, but Tech seemed to know where they were going". According to one writer, "Even the great "Bo" McMillin was powerless against the Tech players".
### 1921
1921 was an exceptional season for McMillin and Centre College. He was a consensus All-American, with an extraordinary October 29 effort against Harvard. After losing the year before, McMillin had promised that Centre would beat Harvard in 1921 (despite the Crimson's undefeated record since 1918). Before 43,000 fans, McMillin dashed 32 yards for the lone touchdown in a 6–0 Centre victory which ended Harvard's 25-game winning streak. Fullback Red Roberts told him, "It's time to score—ride my hump". McMillin dodged three of Harvard's secondary on his way to the end zone. Harvard coach Bob Fisher said after the game, "In Bo McMillin, Centre has a man who is probably the hardest in the country to stop".
MIT students who attended the game to cheer against Harvard tore down the goalposts and hoisted him on their shoulders and for decades afterward, it was known as "football's upset of the century". Tulane coach Clark Shaughnessy later wrote that the win "first awoke the nation to the possibilities of Southern football." Students painted the "impossible formula" of C6H0 around Danville, and the campus post office has a last vestige of the graffiti on its side. On the return celebration in Danville on Monday, Governor Edwin P. Morrow remarked "I'd rather be Bo McMillin this moment than the Governor of Kentucky."
The week before, Centre had defeated Transylvania 98–0 in a game where Spalding's Football Guide reported that McMillin ran back a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. The season ended with a 14–22 upset loss to Texas A&M in the Dixie Classic, when Texas A&M's 12th-man tradition originated. McMillin blamed himself for the loss. The day before the game, McMillin got married.
In an attempt to name Heisman Trophy winners retroactively before 1936, the National Football Foundation selected him as its 1921 recipient.
## Professional playing career
McMillin played professional football in the early days of the NFL, with the Milwaukee Badgers and the Cleveland Indians. McMillin could only play on certain weeks when the team he was coaching traveled North. The Badgers had to mail him the plays and signals the week before, pay him in advance, and he never had any practice with the team.
## Coaching career
Building upon his success as a player, McMillin became a coach and spent the next quarter-century compiling a 146–77–13 record. McMillin's "tactical contributions" were "both negligible," the five man backfield and the "cockeyed T."
### Centenary and Geneva
Preferring a small school, McMillin began at Centenary College of Louisiana in 1922. Over a three-year period, he lost only three of 28 games, and won two Louisiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles.
McMillin's success in Louisiana allowed him to move on to Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where he was the school's 13th head football coach for three seasons (1925–1927). His coaching record at Geneva was 22 wins, 6 losses and 1 tie, and he is a member of the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame. Geneva College fans generally consider McMillin among the best coaches in school history. His teams, renowned for playing some of the best teams in college football, prided themselves on a challenging schedule. Geneva opened the 1926 season with a 16–7 upset of Harvard.
Former Centre player Swede Anderson followed McMillin to Centenary and Geneva. Mack Flenniken also followed coach McMillin, as well as Cal Hubbard, the only person inducted into the Pro Football and Baseball Halls of Fame and Centenary's first All-American, at both schools. Georgia Tech coach Bill Alexander once watched Centenary when it was in Atlanta to play Oglethorpe. "Bo, this Oglethorpe bunch has fast backs, but the line is light and green. If you turn that Hubbard loose, he might kill some of them. Have Cal 'hurt his knee', why don't you, and let him sit on the bench?"
### Kansas State
In 1928, McMillin was hired by Kansas State University to replace Hall of Fame coach Charlie Bachman. He coached successfully at Kansas State for six years, including an 8–2 season in 1931, which after a 5–0 start and Rose Bowl aspirations had the Wildcats suffer close losses to Iowa State and Nebraska. In his final season at the helm in 1933, Kansas State "had an unexpectedly fine season," including an upset of Oklahoma.
Elden Auker (McMillin's all-conference quarterback at Kansas State) wrote in his book, Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms, "McMillin was a great psychologist. He really knew how to give us talks that fired us up ... The normal routine for McMillin was to bring us out onto the field to loosen up and then take us back into the locker room for a pep talk. By the time he was through talking, we believed we could take on the world".
### Indiana
McMillin's success at Kansas State propelled him into his most noteworthy achievements, coaching at Indiana University for 14 years, beginning in 1934. He helped improve the nondescript program to an undefeated season in 1945. That year was the first in which the Hoosiers won the Big Nine Conference and the school's only outright conference title. McMillin received the Coach of the Year Award. "I haven't seen Blanchard," said McMillin at the award ceremony's dinner, "but until I do, I'll settle for Pete Pihos any time."
McMillin was successful at the annual College All-Star game, winning in 1938 and 1946 against the defending NFL champions.
Indiana was reportedly at another Big Ten stadium when McMillin sought entrance several hours before the game, only to find the gates locked and guarded. He coaxed the guards to open one gate so they could discuss the problem and announced, "This is the Indiana football team. We've been marching around this place long enough, and, suh, we are not wearying ourselves before we get our suits on". He is the last Indiana football coach to have left with a winning record.
### Detroit Lions
Despite becoming the school's athletic director and earning apparent lifetime security, with seven years remaining on his most-recent contract the 53-year-old McMillin sought new challenges after the 1947 season. He accepted a five-year contract to coach the National Football League's Detroit Lions on February 19, 1948.
McMillin's coaching success disappeared with the Lions as the team dropped its first five games in 1948 and finished with a 2–10 record. In addition to many on-field changes, he briefly changed the team's colors from the familiar Hawaiian blue to maroon (similar to the color worn by his Indiana teams).
The Lions also struggled in 1949, with a 4–8 record, but picked up the rights to future star Doak Walker and brought in quarterback Bobby Layne and Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart the following year. Continued conflict with players led to McMillin's departure after the end of the 1950 NFL season, which saw the Lions finish with a 6–6 record.
### Philadelphia Eagles
He then took up the challenge of returning the Philadelphia Eagles to their previous glory when he was hired on February 8, 1951, succeeding Earle (Greasy) Neale. After two games, both victories, McMillin underwent surgery for what was thought to be stomach ulcers. The findings were far worse: stomach cancer, which ended his coaching career. On March 31, 1952, McMillin died of a heart attack; his funeral was attended by many fellow coaches and former players.
## Awards and accolades
In November 1951, during the last months of his life, McMillin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame for his success as a player. Two months later, he received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award from the American Football Coaches Association for his contributions to the sport. In 2013 McMillin was posthumously inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, and he is also a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1923 a horse named Bo McMillin, owned by J. Pendergast, ran in the Kentucky Derby. At odds of 12–1, the horse (ridden by D. Connelly) finished 12th in the 21-horse field.
McMillin's grandson, the son of his daughter Kathryn Jane Bubier, Craig McMillin Bubier, was an All-American lacrosse player at Johns Hopkins University in 1986. The next season, Bubier's senior year, was capped by Bubier scoring the winning goal to secure his third national championship. His championship streak continued in the 1990 World Games.
## Head coaching record
### College football
### NFL
## Endnotes
## Books |
4,182,426 | Halo 2 Original Soundtrack | 1,120,515,331 | Soundtrack for the video game Halo 2 | [
"2004 soundtrack albums",
"Albums produced by Nile Rodgers",
"Halo (franchise) music",
"Video game soundtracks"
]
| The Halo 2 Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack for Bungie's 2004 video game Halo 2. The soundtrack was released as two separate volumes, released almost two years apart. Volume 1, released at the same time as Halo 2 on November 9, 2004, contains arranged instrumental pieces written by Martin O'Donnell and his partner Michael Salvatori, as well as "inspired-by" tracks from bands Incubus, Hoobastank and Breaking Benjamin. Volume 2 was released on April 25, 2006 and contains all the game music arranged in a suite form.
O'Donnell, who had previously composed the music for Bungie games such as Myth and Halo: Combat Evolved, sought to develop the "Halo sound" of the previous game as well as introduce new sounds and influences to the music. The music was based on what was happening in the game, rather than using leitmotifs or theme repetitively. The music was recorded in pieces with a fifty-piece orchestra at Studio X in Seattle, Washington. To mark its release both Microsoft and Sumthing Else Music Works planned an aggressive marketing campaign.
Upon release, the music of Halo 2 was praised. Critics were split on the merits of Volume 1, with some publications enjoying the bonus offerings while others felt the first volume lacked cohesion. Volume 2 was declared the "real" soundtrack to Halo 2. Upon release both soundtracks became commercial successes, with more than 100,000 copies sold. The soundtracks' success was pointed to as a sign of increasing legitimacy of video game music in the entertainment industry. Halo's music has since been played in concert settings, including Play! A Video Game Symphony and Video Games Live.
## Background
In the summer of 2004, Halo 2 composer Martin O'Donnell and album producer Nile Rodgers decided it would be a good idea to present Halo 2's music in two distinct volumes. The first volume would contain the game's themes that were finished and mixed as well as "inspired-by" offerings from other artists. The first volume was released alongside the video game as Volume 1 on November 9 of the same year. As the soundtrack was finished before all the in-game music was completed, none of the tracks written by O'Donnell appear in Halo 2 in the same arrangement. The bands featured in Volume 1, including Breaking Benjamin and Incubus, were enthusiastic about adding music to the soundtrack. Incubus was tapped to produce a suite of music which appears scattered throughout the soundtrack as four movements. Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger said that "Halo is the only video game that ever inspired us to write a whole suite [of music]."
The first pieces of music O'Donnell wrote for Halo 2 were promotional in nature; O'Donnell scored the cinematic announcement trailer for Halo 2 on August 2, 2002, and followed up with interactive music for the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2003 Halo 2 demo. O'Donnell confirmed that the chanting monks of Halo: Combat Evolved's choral theme, along with additional guitars by Steve Vai, would return in Halo 2. O'Donnell noted that the new setting of Africa prompted him to look at "Afro-Cuban" influences, but most of this type of music did not make it to the final product. Rather than write for locations or use leitmotifs for all the different characters in what O'Donnell called a "Peter and the Wolf approach to music", O'Donnell wrote "sad music for sad moments, scary music to score the scary bits and so forth." Recurring themes developed more by accident than planning. Recording of orchestrated music was completed over several sessions with the Northwest Sinfonia orchestra at Studio X in Seattle, Washington.
Nile Rodgers produced both volumes of the soundtrack, in addition to writing and performing the track "Never Surrender" in collaboration with songwriter/remixer Nataraj. Rodgers himself is a video game player, noting in an interview that "30% to 40% of the [recording] budget was spent in downtime playing video games. Since all that money was going to that part of the recording session, I decided to figure out what was so compelling about it, and I got hooked [by the game]."
Due to legal issues, the second Halo 2 soundtrack containing the entire finished score, Volume 2, was not released until more than a year after the soundtrack had been mixed and mastered. The volume's music is formatted in a 'suite' structure that corresponds with the chapters within the game, in order to create a "music representation" of the video game. O'Donnell stated that this presentation of the music as a concept album was natural because the overall story and atmosphere of Halo 2 directly influenced the sound to begin with.
## Promotion
The first volume of the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack was specifically timed to coincide with the launch of the video game, to cash in on the "Halo effect"; players would go to buy the game and get the soundtrack and other merchandise by association. The first several million copies of the game sold all contained promotional inserts for the soundtrack. The soundtrack was seen as an integral part of the marketing and merchandise push Microsoft planned for Halo 2. The soundtrack's publisher, Sumthing Distribution, also planned and executed an aggressive marketing campaign, including special music listening stations and side-by-side soundtrack and game placement at participating retailers. The "Halo Theme MJOLNIR Mix", the first track on Volume 1, was released on November 22, 2007 as a free track for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on the Xbox 360.
## Reception
Upon release, the reaction to Halo 2's score was generally positive. Reception for the two soundtrack releases, however, varied. Volume 1's inclusion of other artists in addition to original music received both praise and criticism. Mike Brennan Soundtrack.net's review claimed that the inclusion of Hoobastank and Breaking Benjamin as well as Incubus made the soundtrack "more harsh" sounding but overall lacked cohesion. On the other hand, G4 TV found the four-part Odyssey by Incubus comprised "a progressive rock/fusion jam the likes of which haven't been recorded since the 1970s."
Nuketown.com declared that Volume 2 was the soundtrack that fans had been waiting for; other publications agreed, saying that it "feels like the real soundtrack to Halo 2". IGN found the soundtrack ultimately enjoyable, but felt that the more traditional orchestration that appeared in Halo 2 clashed with the ambient and electronic sounds that had appeared before, making the album "divided".
Overall, the Halo 2 soundtracks sold well. Volume 1 sold more than 100,000 copies, and peaked at the number 162 position of the Billboard 200, the first video game soundtrack to ever enter the chart. This compares favorably to typical movie soundtracks, which generally sell no more than 10,000 copies. The Halo 2 Original Soundtrack's success was pointed to as a sign of increasing legitimacy of video game music in the entertainment industry, which had graduated from "simple beeps" to complex melodies with big budgets.
## Track listings
### Volume 1
### Volume 2
## Personnel
All information is taken from the CD credits.
- Martin O'Donnell (ASCAP) – composer
- Michael Salvatori (ASCAP) – composer
- Simon James – concert master/contractor
- Christian Knapp – Northwest Sinfonia conductor
- Marcie O'Donnell – choir conductor
- Nile Rodgers – producer
- Nile Rodgers, Michael Ostin – music co-supervisors
- Lorraine McLees – album art director |
53,202,001 | 102nd Division (Philippines) | 1,164,507,253 | Division of the Philippine Army under the US Army Forces | [
"Infantry divisions of the Philippines",
"Military units and formations disestablished in 1942",
"Military units and formations established in 1941",
"Military units and formations of the Philippine Army in World War II"
]
| The 102nd Infantry Division was a division of the Philippine Army under the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).
Organized in early 1942, the division was responsible for the defense of the Cagayan Sector of Mindanao. It fought in the defense of Mindanao against Japanese invasion in early May, and surrendered after the Fall of Corregidor during the Philippines Campaign of 1941–1942.
## History
### Organization
The 61st and 81st Field Artillery Regiments were relocated by ship to Cagayan from Panay and Negros, respectively, between 2 and 3 January 1942. The movement was part of a large scale relocation of troops from the Visayas to Mindanao in order to strengthen the defenses of the latter. The 61st transferred from the 61st Division and the 81st from the 81st Division. The 61st and 81st Field Artillery were organized and equipped as infantry, due to the lack of artillery. On 12 January, United States Army Infantry Colonel William P. Morse was assigned commander of the Cagayan Sector of the Mindanao Force portion of the Visayan-Mindanao Force, including both regiments. Major General William F. Sharp commanded the Visayan-Mindanao Force. The Cagayan Sector was responsible for the defense of the northern terminus of the Sayre Highway, one of the island's two highways, and its only heavy bomber airfield, Del Monte.
They still had few if any items of heavy equipment, but had manpower and some rifles. Soon after the assignment of sectors to the 61st and 81st Field Artillery, Major Reed Graves' 1st Battalion, 101st Infantry reduced the 81st Field Artillery sector by taking over positions west from Tinao Canyon to the Little Agusan River. Around a week later the battalion was transferred south and replaced by the 3rd Philippine Constabulary Regiment, which took over the area from the Cagayan River to Barrio Gusa. The constabulary unit was in turn relieved by the 103rd Infantry, less 2nd Battalion, around 15 February.
The formation of the 102nd Division from the troops of the Cagayan Sector under the command of Morse was authorized by Douglas MacArthur when he passed through Mindanao during his escape to Australia in mid-March, by USAFFE General Order No. 43 on 15 March. Its 102nd Engineer Battalion was organized from personnel of the Surigao Provisional Battalion, while men from the Agusan Provisional Battalion and 2nd Provisional Battalion (Cotabato) were used to form the Headquarters Company, Service Troops and the 102nd Maintenance and Quartermaster Companies. Due to a shortage of ammunition, the untrained Filipino soldiers of the division were not able to conduct live fire exercises, and had never fired their outmoded Enfield rifles, instead spending hours practicing simulated firing.
In order to defend against an anticipated amphibious landing at Macajalar Bay against the Sayre Highway, Morse positioned the division along its shores between the Tagoloan and Cagayan Rivers. The 81st Field Artillery, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John P. Woodbridge, reinforced by a 65-man detachment composed of ground personnel-turned-infantrymen from the 30th Bombardment Squadron that had been left at Del Monte when their squadron departed for Australia, held a four-mile sector from the Tagaloan to the Sayre Highway. The four miles to the west, extending from the highway to the Cugman River, were held by Colonel Hiram W. Tarkington's 61st Field Artillery, while Major Joseph R. Webb's 103rd Infantry guarded the remainder of the line to the Cagayan.
About 1 May, the division numbered 4,713 men, including nineteen American officers, 67 American enlisted men (65 from the Air Corps detachment and two in the 61st Field Artillery), 268 Filipino officers, and 4,359 Filipino enlisted men. The 103rd Infantry was the strongest with nearly 1,800 personnel, while the 61st and 81st Field Artillery numbered slightly more than 1,000.
### Japanese invasion of Mindanao
On the afternoon of 2 May, the 102nd Division was alerted for combat after the convoy carrying the Kawamura Detachment, the Japanese invasion force for the Cagayan Sector, was spotted by a reconnaissance aircraft north of Macajalar Bay. The convoy entered the bay during the night, precipitating execution of the previously prepared demolition plan. The Japanese began simultaneous landings at Cagayan and at Tagoloan about 01:00 on 3 May, supported by the fire of two destroyers from the convoy. By dawn, the Japanese firmly held the shoreline between Tagoloan and the Sayre Highway. Although Webb was unable to prevent the Cagayan landing, he launched a two-company counterattack against the beachhead. In his subsequent report to Sharp, Webb stated that he might have been able to repulse the Japanese if he had not been forced to retreat when his right flank was exposed by the retreat of the 61st Field Artillery.
#### Battle of Mangima Canyon
In response to the Japanese landing, Sharp moved his reserves, which were the 2.95-inch gun detachment of Major Paul D. Phillips, the 62nd Infantry of Lieutenant Colonel Allen Thayer, and the 93rd Infantry of Major John C. Goldtrap, forward. The 2.95-inch gun detachment and the 93rd Infantry took up blocking positions on the Sayre Highway in the evening, as the 62nd Infantry moved up behind them. At 16:00 Morse ordered a general withdrawal, under the cover of darkness, to positions astride the highway about six miles south of the beach, but this was never effected due to a conference between Sharp, Morse, Woodbridge, and Webb. Instead, the commanders decided to defend along a line parallel to the Mangima Canyon and River east of Tankulan, where the Sayre Highway briefly separated into an upper and lower road, in order to block the Sayre Highway and prevent a Japanese advance into central Mindanao.
Sharp issued his orders for the withdrawal at 23:00. The Dalirig Sector on the upper (northern) road was held by the 102nd Division with the 62nd Infantry, 81st Field Artillery, the 2.95-inch gun detachment, and Companies C and E of the 43rd Infantry (PS), under Morse's command. The former commander of the Mindanao Force Reserve, Colonel William F. Dalton, took command of the Puntian Sector on the lower (southern road) with the 61st Field Artillery and the 93rd Infantry. Separated by the Japanese advance, the 103rd Infantry was made independent, tasked with defending the Cagayan River valley.
All units reached the positions by the morning of 4 May, taking advantage of a lull in the Japanese advance to organize the line for the rest of that day and the next. The division's 62nd Infantry held the main line of resistance along the east wall of Mangima Canyon, closely supported by the 2.95-inch gun detachment, while the reserve, Companies C and E of the 43rd Infantry (PS), was stationed in Dalirig itself. The remnants of the 81st Field Artillery, reduced to 200 men, were stationed in a draw 500 yards behind the town.
The Kawamura Detachment resumed its advance on 6 May, reaching Tankulan by the end of the day and registering artillery on Dalirig. On the next day, accurate Japanese artillery fire and air attack targeted the 62nd Infantry, whose left battalion suffered the most, forcing Thayer to reinforce the line with his reserve battalion. The bombardment continued until 19:00 on 8 May, when the Japanese infiltrated the division's lines, sowing disorder. In the chaos two platoons "mysteriously received orders to withdraw" and retreated, but were quickly stopped as no such orders had actually been issued. Before they could return to the front they came under attack from a small force of Japanese infiltrators, after which other Filipino troops commenced firing, although they could not distinguish between friend and foe in the night, inducing further panic on the line. The firing was only halted after Thayer's personal intervention.
After holding through the night, the 62nd Infantry, "tired and disorganized", retreated towards Dalirig by the morning of 9 May. The 2.5-inch gun detachment retreated, leaving the two Philippine Scout companies as the last organized resistance in the sector. At 11:30, as the 62nd retreated through the town, the Japanese attacked them on three sides, turning the retreat into a rout. The two Scout companies held their positions, but were forced to withdraw when threatened with encirclement. The Dalirig forces fled over exposed terrain, discarding equipment as they progressed under small arms, artillery fire, and strafing. By the end of the 9 May the Dalirig Sector forces no longer existed, except for the 150 men of the 2.5-inch gun detachment, holding positions five miles to the east of the town.
### Surrender
Sharp surrendered his command on 10 May, following the Fall of Corregidor, having ordered the 102nd Division units in the Dalirig Sector at 21:30 on 9 May to surrender at daybreak. Including the 103rd Infantry, the division surrendered sixteen American officers and four enlisted men, as well as eighty Filipino officers and 622 enlisted men. The remainder were listed as missing in action. Three American officers, seven Filipino officers, and 166 Filipino enlisted men from the 62nd Infantry surrendered, while only the two American officers of the two 43rd Infantry companies surrendered. The surrendered personnel of the division were sent to the former 101st Division camp at Malaybalay, along with the other surrendered personnel of the Visayas-Mindanao Force.
The 102nd Division personnel who remained unsurrendered simply disappeared into the hills of Mindanao; many later fought in the Philippine resistance against Japan.
## Order of battle
### Earlier Period (before 3 May 1942)
- Headquarters, 102nd Division (PA)
- 93rd Infantry Regiment (PA) (Major John Goldtrap) (transferred from 91st Infantry Division in Leyte)
- 62nd Infantry Regiment (PA) (LCol Allen Thayer) (transferred from 61st Infantry Division from Panay)
- 103rd Infantry Regiment (PA) (Major Joseph R. Webb) (transferred from the 101st Division)
- 81st Field Artillery Regiment (LCol John Woodridge)(transferred from Cebu Force)
- Headquarters Company, 102nd Division (PA)
- Headquarters, Special Troops, 102nd Division (PA)
- 102nd Maintenance Company (PA)
- 102nd Quartermaster Service Company (PA)
- 102nd Engineer Battalion (PA)
- Company A, 101st Medical Battalion (PA)
### Later Period (4–10 May 1942)
The following units were included in the 102nd Division from the retreat to Dalirig to the surrender:
- 103rd Infantry Regiment (PA) - Major Joseph Webb
- 62nd Infantry Regiment (PA) (Lieutenant Colonel Allen Thayer)
- 81st Field Artillery Regiment (LCol John Woodridge)
- 2.95-inch Gun Detachment (Major Paul D. Phillips)
- Provisional Battalion, 43rd Infantry (PS) (Major Allen L. Peck)
- Company "C", 43rd Infantry (PS)
- Company "E", 43rd Infantry (PS)
- Headquarters Company, 102nd Division (PA)
- Headquarters, Special Troops, 102nd Division (PA)
- 102nd Maintenance Company (PA)
- 102nd Quartermaster Service Company (PA)
- 102nd Engineer Battalion (PA)
- Company A, 101st Medical Battalion (PA)
## See Also
- Visayas-Mindanao Force
- Mindanao Force
- Battle of Mangima Canyon |
20,502,988 | Bobbi Kristina Brown | 1,172,014,921 | American television personality (1993–2015) | [
"1993 births",
"2015 deaths",
"American people of Dutch descent",
"Burials in New Jersey",
"Death in Georgia (U.S. state)",
"Deaths from pneumonia in Georgia (U.S. state)",
"Drug-related deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)",
"Infectious disease deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)",
"Participants in American reality television series",
"People from Livingston, New Jersey",
"People with disorders of consciousness",
"People with hypoxic and ischemic brain injuries",
"People with severe brain damage",
"Singers from New Jersey",
"Whitney Houston"
]
| Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown (March 4, 1993 – July 26, 2015) was an American reality television personality and singer. She was the only child of singers Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston. Her parents' fame kept Brown in the public eye, as did her appearances on the reality show Being Bobby Brown.
Brown intended to become a singer, actress, and dancer like her parents. She performed with her mother at concerts a number of times, as well as singing a cover of her mother's song "I'm Your Baby Tonight" on Being Bobby Brown. She appeared as herself on a number of television shows and specials, and played a role on Tyler Perry's television series For Better or Worse in 2012.
On January 31, 2015, Brown was found unconscious in a bathtub in her home, which was similar to the fate of her mother. After being in a coma for nearly six months, Brown died from lobar pneumonia on July 26, at the age of 22. After her death, her life was the subject of a television movie in 2017 and a documentary in 2021.
## Early life
Brown was born on March 4, 1993, at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, to singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Through her mother, Brown was related to many singers and entertainers: her maternal grandmother was singer Cissy Houston of The Drinkard Singers; her mother's cousins were singers Dee Dee Warwick, Dionne Warwick, and Leontyne Price. Brown's uncle was former professional basketball player Gary Garland, her mother's half-brother. Through her father, Brown had six half-siblings: Landon, La'Princia, Robert "Bobby" Jr., Cassius, Bodhi, and Estelle. Her godmother was gospel singer CeCe Winans and her godfather was music executive Clive Davis.
Brown grew up in front of cameras, appearing beside Houston during an interview with Barbara Walters at eight months old, and appearing aged one on stage at the 1994 American Music Awards, when her mother accepted an award. Her vocals were featured on her mother's 1998 song "My Love Is Your Love" for the album of the same title. When her mother brought her to the recording studio and held her up to the microphone, she said "Sing, mommy," which can be heard during the first verse of the song; she says, "Clap your hands!" at the end of the track. Brown was featured on her mother's 2003 Christmas album, titled One Wish: The Holiday Album, on "The Little Drummer Boy". When Brown's parents divorced in 2007, her mother was awarded custody.
The Guardian writer Caroline Sullivan characterized Brown's childhood as difficult because of her parents' drug problems. TheWrap stated, "Brown grew up under the media glare, with her family issues playing out in a very public way." The media also scrutinized Brown's weight; BET, Essence, and the Daily Beast all wrote articles commenting and speculating on Brown's fluctuating weight. Author Mark Bego characterized Brown's teenage years as "no picnic", because of the media focus on her and her "extreme growing pains" because of that.
## Adult life
Brown's mother died at age 48 in a hotel bathtub in February 2012 from what was later ruled an accidental drowning with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors. Brown was described as "inconsolable" and a few days later was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles: according to a family friend, Brown was "overwhelmed". In accordance with her mother's will, Brown was the beneficiary of Houston's entire estate including her clothing, jewelry, cars, personal effects, and furniture. The will provided for Brown to receive trust fund payments in installments until she reached age 30, after which she was to receive the remainder of Houston's \$115-million estate.
In March 2012, Brown said she felt her mother's spirit and expressed her intention to carry on her mother's legacy by doing the "singing thing," along with starting a career as an actor and dancer. She was subsequently cast in her acting debut for a recurring role as Tina the receptionist in Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse television series. Perry stated "She did a fantastic job. And that kid has a such a future. She's such an actor. I'm so proud of her. I'm telling you, as far as she wants to go in the business, she can." After rumors began Brown had "tearfully exited the set" of the show, Perry came to her defense stating that had never happened. Brown hoped to be cast in Angela Bassett's biographical film Whitney based on her mother. When Bassett did not cast her, Brown called her a "bitch". Bassett said that she did not cast Brown "for a number of reasons... she's not an actress, and acting is a craft". Brown later apologized to Bassett on Twitter after generating controversy among fans.
In July 2013, Brown announced her engagement to a close family friend, Nick Gordon, who had come to live in the Houston household when he was 12 years old but was never formally adopted. The announcement caused controversy within the family; before making their romantic involvement known, Brown had referred to him as her "big bruh" in online posts. Brown said the couple received her grandmother Cissy's blessing prior to their engagement. Though the two never legally married, Brown and Gordon announced they had married on January 9, 2014.
## Coma and death
On January 31, 2015, Gordon and a friend found Brown face down in a bathtub in her home in Alpharetta, Georgia. They began CPR until emergency medical services personnel arrived. According to the police spokesperson, Brown was alive and breathing after being transported to North Fulton Hospital in Roswell, Georgia. At first, they found no evidence to indicate drugs or alcohol caused the incident, but this was later disputed. Doctors placed Brown in an induced coma after determining her brain function was "significantly diminished", and her family was told a meaningful recovery would be "a miracle".
Brown died in hospice care on July 26, 2015, at age 22. Her death was considered similar to her mother's death, as both had died from effects of being submerged in a bathtub. The initial autopsy found no "obvious underlying cause of death and no significant injuries", and the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said more tests were forthcoming. A statement released by the family thanked "everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months". Several prominent celebrities offered their condolences, including Chris Brown, Oprah Winfrey, and Whitney Houston protégées Brandy and Monica. Funeral services were held August 1, 2015, at St. James United Methodist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Brown was buried two days later, between her mother and maternal grandfather, at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey.
### Autopsy report
The Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said it used both medical records and police investigative files to arrive at a determination for Brown's cause of death. According to the statement, "marijuana, alcohol (ethanol), benzoylecgonine (a cocaine metabolite), benzodiazepines (medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety), and morphine" were found in the body. As to the cause of death, it found the "underlying cause" of death as "immersion associated with drug intoxication". However, the manner of death could not be confirmed. The summary statement read, "Death was clearly not due to natural causes, but the medical examiner was not able to determine whether death was due to intentional or accidental causes, and therefore classified the manner of death as undetermined." A final autopsy report determined Brown died of lobar pneumonia.
## Posthumous films
After Brown's death, a television movie about her life was released, followed by a documentary on her and her mother. TV One released Bobbi Kristina in 2017. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote, "The story is ripe with melodrama as newcomer actress Joy Rovaris channels Bobbi Kristina's relationship with her mom, her love affair with Nick Gordon and the aftermath of her mother's death." Lifetime released the documentary Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn't We Almost Have It All in 2021, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "...less an exposé and more a loving tribute to these two women".
## Discography
Brown spoke and sang in some of her mother's recordings and televised performances, as well as on a television show after her mother's death.
## Filmography |
3,427,548 | Vogue (Ayumi Hamasaki song) | 1,071,473,512 | null | [
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| "Vogue" (uncapitalized as "vogue") is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki for her third studio album, Duty (2000). It was written by Hamasaki, while production was handled by Max Matsuura. It premiered on April 26, 2000 as the lead single from the album. Her third consecutive lead single to be produced by Matsuura, the song is part of a trilogy from Duty; the other two singles being "Far Away" and "Seasons".
Musically, "Vogue" was described as a Japanese pop song with musical elements of Latin pop. The lyrics discusses her presence in the music industry. Upon its release, the track garnered positive reviews from music critics, who praised the composition and Hamasaki's song writing. It also achieved success in Japan, peaking at number three on the Oricon Singles Chart and four on the TBS Count Down TV chart. "Vogue" has sold over 767,000 units in Japan.
The accompanying music video for "Vogue" was directed by Wataru Takeishi; it features two children in a post-apocalyptic city, reading a book that contains video imagery of Hamasaki in a cherry blossom field. Both the music video and the song has appeared on several compilations by Hamasaki, including A Best (2001) and A Complete: All Singles (2008). For additional promotion, the song was featured on several concert tours by Hamasaki including her 2000 self-titled and the Power of Music tour.
## Background and release
"Vogue" was written by Hamasaki, while production was handled by Japanese musician Max Matsuura. The song was composed and arranged by long-term collaborator Kazuhito Kikuchi, whilst Japanese musician Naoto Suzuki co-arranged it. This was Kikuchi's final collaboration with Hamasaki, until he returned as the main composer for her sixth studio album, My Story (2004). For the track's instrumentation, Suzuki played the keyboards, Naoki Hayashibe played the guitar, and Takahiro Iida mixed the final composition. It was selected as the lead single from Duty, and was released on April 26, 2000 by Avex Trax.
The maxi CD of the single contains the original composition and its instrumental version, plus seven remixes and the b-side "Ever Free". "Vogue" is her first single to include an unreleased non-album b-side since her 1999 single "Depend on You", and remains her final to do so. As a single from the Duty trilogy, which included Hamasaki's singles "Far Away" and "Seasons", the singles were released as a DVD single and VHS. It included the three mini-music videos, alongside the making of the videos and a TV commercial. The CD and digital cover sleeve has a close-up of Ayumi Hamasaki's face, edited with digital effects. The song's title, "Vogue", is present on cover. According to Matt Wilce from Metropolis magazine, the song's title was influenced by the same titular song by American recording artist Madonna. The standalone CD cover was used as the digital EP cover for the iTunes Store and Amazon.com.
## Composition
"Vogue" was recorded in 2000 at Avex Studios and Prime Sound Studios in Tokyo, Japan. The song was described as a Japanese pop song with musical elements of Latin pop. As part of the trilogy set with "Far Away" and "Seasons", "Vogue" highlights the theme of the present. With this, "Far Away" details the past and "Seasons" discusses Hamasaki's future. The trilogy set also focuses on hopelessness, a reflection of Hamasaki's disappointment that she had not expressed herself thoroughly in any of her previous songs. Based on her song writing, she described her feelings after the writing all the tracks from Duty as "unnatural" and was constantly "nervous" for the final result. A staff reviewer from Amazon Japan noticed the trilogy set had a "healing effect" that was absent on Hamasaki's two previous studio albums.
## Critical response
"Vogue" received highly favourable reviews from music critics. Alexey Eremenko, who had written her extended biography at AllMusic, highlighted the song as an album and career stand out track. A staff reviewer from Yahoo! GeoCities reviewed Hamasaki's greatest hits album A Best, and singled out the song as one of her best tracks. They commented that "Vogue" was the best examples of "classic J-pop music." Morimosa from Nifty.com complimented Hamasaki's song writing; he compared the song writing to the rest of the songs from Duty, and commended how she inducted a "pessimistic" nature rather than "anxiety" or "aggression". Hamasaki hosted an online voting poll for fans to choose their favourite tracks to be featured on her Ayumi Hamasaki 15th Anniversary Tour. As a result, "Vogue" was included on the list. The song was remixed as an orchestral song for her remix album ayu-mi-x III Acoustic Orchestra Version (2003), and was commended alongside other tracks for its "rich melody".
## Commercial performance
In Japan, "Vogue" debuted at number three on the Oricon Singles Chart. It lasted for seventeen weeks on the chart, selling 767,660 units by the end of 2000. This became Hamasaki's third highest selling single at the time. Currently, the song is Hamasaki's eighth best selling single, according to Oricon Style. The DVD single, released under the title of Vogue/Far Away/Seasons reached at number one on the Oricon DVD Chart, spending seventeen weeks in the top fifty. It is Hamasaki's second best selling DVD single, and her eighth best seller overall. "Vogue" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of 800,000 units. The single entered at number four on Japan's TBS Count Down TV Chart; it stayed there for two consecutive weeks, and lasted seventeen weeks in the chart. "Vogue" was placed at number twenty-five on their Annual Count Down TV chart in 2000.
## Music video
The accompanying music video was directed by Wataru Takeishi. Because the music video was part of the trilogy set with "Far Away" and "Seasons", only a portion of the song was shot for the video. As a result, the video for "Vogue" lasts for two minutes and fifty-one seconds. The artwork for the single was a screen shoot from the music video. Two out take shots from the video were then used for the artworks for "Far Away" and "Seasons". The music video was included on the DVD and VHS formats of the three singles. The music video also appeared on Hamasaki's DVD compilation box sets: A Clips Vol.2 (2002), Complete Clip Box (2004), A Clip Box 1998–2011 (2011), and the bonus DVD version with A Complete: All Singles.
### Synopsis
The video opens with two children walking through a post-apocalyptic world, with industrial sites in the background. The two children are barred in with barded wire fences. Hamasaki then appears inside a photo album, singing the song in front of cherry blossom trees. Hamasaki's scenes are inter cuts that are featured throughout the entire video. The two children escape by crawling under the fence, but are being watched by camera surveillance.
They are free and start to run around a hilly surface, only to see more industrial sites blowing out fumes in the distance. The two children find an unusual object buried in the sands surface and dig it up. They find an electronic-powered crate, open it, and find a blank photo album. The photo album starts to show the cherry trees from where Hamasaki is singing from, and finally watch Hamasaki singing. The last chorus features Hamasaki singing, fully colored, with the children flipping each page to observe the flowers where Hamasaki is singing from. The final scene features a destructed Empire State Building in the distance, with Hamasaki in the middle of the land by herself; this scene then leads onto the music video for "Far Away".
## Live performances and other appearances
Hamasaki has performed "Vogue" on several concert tours and New Years countdown shows throughout Asia. It has been included in all of Hamasaki's New Years countdown concerts up until the Ayumi Hamasaki Countdown Live 2006–2007 A. The song made its debut tour performance on Hamasaki's 2000 Japan Concert Tour. It appeared on her 2002 Stadium Tour and The Power of Music Tour. The song's last live performance was her 2014 Ayumi Hamasaki Premium Showcase: Feel the love, in which was supported by her 2014 studio album Colours. The song has been included on two of her greatest hits compilations, which are A Best (2002), and A Complete: All Singles (2008),
"Vogue" was remixed by several professional disc jockeys and producers, and has appeared on several remix albums by Hamasaki. The remixes include the Computerhell and Junkie XL remix on ayu-mi-x III Non-Stop Mega Mix Version (2001) and Ayu-mi-x 4 + Selection Non-Stop Mega Mix Version (2002), the Dave Rodgers remix on Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix 2 (2001), the Traditional remix on Rmx Works from Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix 3 (2003), and the Groove Coverage remix on Ayu-mi-x 7 Presents Ayu Trance 4 (2011). The orchestral acoustic remix, and its instrumental version, was included on her third orchestral remix album, ayu-mi-x III Acoustic Orchestra Version (2001). It was used as the theme song for Japanese cosmetics brand Kose Visee, and the b-side track "Ever Free" was used as the theme song for the 2000 Japanese TV series Tenki Yohou no Koibito.
## Track listings
- Japanese CD single
1. "Vogue" – 4:29
2. "Vogue" (Hal's 2000 remix) – 4:42
3. "Too Late" (Soul Solution extended remix) – 7:25
4. "Vogue" (Dub's Mellowtech remix) – 6:51
5. "Vogue" (Groove That Soul remix) – 5:43
6. "Vogue" (400Bpm Fatback remix) – 5:18
7. "Whatever" (FPM's Winter Bossa remix) – 6:53
8. "Vogue" (Pandart Sasanooha mix) – 5:25
9. "Vogue" (instrumental) – 4:29
10. "Ever Free" – 3:51
- Vogue/Far Away/Seasons DVD single
1. "Vogue" (music video)
2. "Far Away" (music video)
3. "Seasons" (music video)
4. TV commercial for DVD single
5. "Vogue" (making of the music video)
6. "Far Away" (making of the music video)
7. "Seasons" (making of the music video)
8. Credits roll
- 12 inch Vinyl
1. "Vogue" (Dub's Mellowtech remix) – 6:51
2. "Vogue" (Groove That Soul remix) – 5:43
3. "Vogue" – 4:29
- Digital download
1. "Vogue" – 4:29
2. "Vogue" (Hal's 2000 remix) – 4:42
3. "Too Late" (Soul Solution extended remix) – 7:25
4. "Vogue" (Dub's Mellowtech remix) – 6:51
5. "Vogue" (Groove That Soul remix) – 5:43
6. "Vogue" (400Bpm Fatback remix) – 5:18
7. "Whatever" (FPM's Winter Bossa remix) – 6:53
8. "Vogue" (Pandart Sasanooha mix) – 5:25
9. "Ever Free" – 3:51
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the singles liner notes:
- Ayumi Hamasaki – songwriting, vocals, background vocals
- Naoto Suzuki – arrangement
- Kazuhito Kikuchi – composition, arrangement
- Max Matsuura – executive producer, vocal production, additional production
- Shinichi Hara – art direction
- Shigeru Kasai – design
- Toru Kumazawa – photographer
- Koji Matsumoto – fashion director
- Koji Matsumoto and Takako Mishima – stylist
- CHIKA – hair assistant and make-up stylist
- Kanako Miura – nail artist
## Charts and certifications
### Weekly and daily charts
### Certification
## Release history |
60,280 | Margaret Atwood | 1,173,622,533 | Canadian writer (born 1939) | [
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| Margaret Eleanor Atwood CC OOnt CH FRSC FRSL (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published eighteen books of poetry, eighteen novels, eleven books of non-fiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children's books, two graphic novels, and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Atwood has won numerous awards and honors for her writing, including two Booker Prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Governor General's Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, Princess of Asturias Awards, and the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Awards. A number of her works have been adapted for film and television.
Atwood's works encompass a variety of themes including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and "power politics". Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from a very early age.
Atwood is a founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Writers' Trust of Canada. She is also a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto. She is the inventor of the LongPen device and associated technologies that facilitate remote robotic writing of documents.
## Early life and education
Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the second of three children of Carl Edmund Atwood, an entomologist, and Margaret Dorothy (née Killam), a former dietitian and nutritionist from Woodville, Nova Scotia. Because of her father's research in forest entomology, Atwood spent much of her childhood in the backwoods of northern Quebec, and traveling back and forth between Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto.
She did not attend school full-time until she was 12 years old. She became a voracious reader of literature, Dell pocketbook mysteries, Grimms' Fairy Tales, Canadian animal stories, and comic books. She attended Leaside High School in Leaside, Toronto, and graduated in 1957. Atwood began writing plays and poems at the age of 6.
As a child, she also participated in the Brownie program of Girl Guides of Canada. Atwood has written about her experiences in Girl Guides in several of her publications.
Atwood realized she wanted to write professionally when she was 16. In 1957, she began studying at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, where she published poems and articles in Acta Victoriana, the college literary journal, and participated in the sophomore theatrical tradition of The Bob Comedy Revue. Her professors included Jay Macpherson and Northrop Frye. She graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts in English (honours) and minors in philosophy and French.
In 1961, Atwood began graduate studies at Radcliffe College of Harvard University, with a Woodrow Wilson fellowship. She obtained a master's degree (MA) from Radcliffe in 1962 and pursued doctoral studies for two years, but did not finish her dissertation, The English Metaphysical Romance.
## Personal life
Atwood has a sister, Ruth Atwood, born in 1951, and a brother who is two years older, Harold Leslie Atwood. She has claimed that, according to her grandmother (maiden name Webster) the 17th-century witchcraft-lynching survivor Mary Webster might have been an ancestor: "On Monday, my grandmother would say Mary was her ancestor, and on Wednesday she would say she wasn't ... So take your pick." Webster is the subject of Atwood's poem "Half-Hanged Mary", as well as the subject of Atwood's dedication in her novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985).
Atwood married Jim Polk, an American writer, in 1968, but divorced in 1973. She formed a relationship with fellow novelist Graeme Gibson soon afterward and moved to a farm near Alliston, Ontario, where their daughter, Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson, was born in 1976.
The family returned to Toronto in 1980. Atwood and Gibson were together until September 18, 2019, when Gibson died after suffering from dementia. She wrote about Gibson in the poem Dearly and in an accompanying essay on grief and poetry published in The Guardian in 2020. Atwood said about Gibson "He wasn't an egotist, so he wasn't threatened by anything I was doing. He said to our daughter towards the end of his life, 'Your mum would still have been a writer if she hadn't met me, but she wouldn't have had as much fun'".
Although she is an accomplished writer, Atwood says that she is "a terrible speller" who writes both on a computer and by hand.
## Career
### 1960s
Atwood's first book of poetry, Double Persephone, was published as a pamphlet by Hawkshead Press in 1961, and won the E. J. Pratt Medal. While continuing to write, Atwood was a lecturer in English at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, from 1964 to 1965, Instructor in English at the Sir George Williams University in Montreal from 1967 to 1968, and taught at the University of Alberta from 1969 to 1970. In 1966, The Circle Game was published, winning the Governor General's Award. This collection was followed by three other small press collections of poetry: Kaleidoscopes Baroque: a poem, Cranbrook Academy of Art (1965); Talismans for Children, Cranbrook Academy of Art (1965); and Speeches for Doctor Frankenstein, Cranbrook Academy of Art (1966); as well as The Animals in That Country (1968). Atwood's first novel, The Edible Woman, was published in 1969. As a social satire of North American consumerism, many critics have often cited the novel as an early example of the feminist concerns found in many of Atwood's works.
### 1970s
Atwood taught at York University in Toronto from 1971 to 1972 and was a writer in residence at the University of Toronto during the 1972/1973 academic year. Atwood published six collections of poetry over the course of the decade: The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), Procedures for Underground (1970), Power Politics (1971), You Are Happy (1974), Selected Poems 1965–1975 (1976), and Two-Headed Poems (1978). Atwood also published three novels during this time: Surfacing (1972); Lady Oracle (1976); and Life Before Man (1979), which was a finalist for the Governor General's Award. Surfacing, Lady Oracle, and Life Before Man, like The Edible Woman, explore identity and social constructions of gender as they relate to topics such as nationhood and sexual politics. In particular, Surfacing, along with her first non-fiction monograph, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972), helped establish Atwood as an important and emerging voice in Canadian literature. In 1977 Atwood published her first short story collection, Dancing Girls, which was the winner of the St. Lawrence Award for Fiction and the award of The Periodical Distributors of Canada for Short Fiction.
By 1976, there was such interest in Atwood, her works, and her life that Maclean's declared her to be "Canada's most gossiped-about writer."
### 1980s
Atwood's literary reputation continued to rise in the 1980s with the publication of Bodily Harm (1981); The Handmaid's Tale (1985), winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and 1985 Governor General's Award and finalist for the 1986 Booker Prize; and Cat's Eye (1988), finalist for both the 1988 Governor General's Award and the 1989 Booker Prize. Despite her distaste for literary labels, Atwood has since conceded to referring to The Handmaid's Tale as a work of science fiction or, more precisely, speculative fiction. As she has repeatedly noted, "There's a precedent in real life for everything in the book. I decided not to put anything in that somebody somewhere hadn't already done."
While reviewers and critics have been tempted to read autobiographical elements of Atwood's life in her work, particularly Cat's Eye, in general Atwood resists the desire of critics to read too closely for an author's life in their writing. Filmmaker Michael Rubbo's Margaret Atwood: Once in August (1984) details the filmmaker's frustration in uncovering autobiographical evidence and inspiration in Atwood's works.
During the 1980s, Atwood continued to teach, serving as the MFA Honorary Chair the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, 1985; the Berg Professor of English, New York University, 1986; Writer-in-Residence, Macquarie University, Australia, 1987; and Writer-in-Residence, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, 1989. Regarding her stints with teaching, she has noted, "Success for me meant no longer having to teach at university."
### 1990s
Atwood's reputation as a writer continued to grow with the publication of the novels The Robber Bride (1993), finalist for the 1994 Governor General's Award and shortlisted for the James Tiptree Jr. Award, and Alias Grace (1996), winner of the 1996 Giller Prize, finalist for the 1996 Booker Prize, finalist for the 1996 Governor General's Award, and shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction. Although vastly different in context and form, both novels use female characters to question good and evil and morality through their portrayal of female villains. As Atwood noted about The Robber Bride, "I'm not making a case for evil behavior, but unless you have some women characters portrayed as evil characters, you're not playing with a full range." The Robber Bride takes place in contemporary Toronto, while Alias Grace is a work of historical fiction detailing the 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery. Atwood had previously written the 1974 CBC made-for-TV film The Servant Girl, about the life of Grace Marks, the young servant who, along with James McDermott, was convicted of the crime. Atwood continued her poetry contributions by publishing Snake Woman in 1999 for the Women's Literature journal Kalliope.
### 2000s
#### Novels
In 2000, Atwood published her tenth novel, The Blind Assassin, to critical acclaim, winning both the Booker Prize and the Hammett Prize in 2000. The Blind Assassin was also nominated for the Governor General's Award in 2000, Orange Prize for Fiction, and the International Dublin Literary Award in 2002. In 2001, Atwood was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
Atwood followed this success with the publication of Oryx and Crake in 2003, the first novel in a series that also includes The Year of the Flood (2009) and MaddAddam (2013), which would collectively come to be known as the MaddAddam Trilogy. The apocalyptic vision in the MaddAddam Trilogy engages themes of genetic modification, pharmaceutical and corporate control, and man-made disaster. As a work of speculative fiction, Atwood notes of the technology in Oryx and Crake, "I think, for the first time in human history, we see where we might go. We can see far enough into the future to know that we can't go on the way we've been going forever without inventing, possibly, a lot of new and different things." She later cautions in the acknowledgements to MaddAddam, "Although MaddAddam is a work of fiction, it does not include any technologies or bio-beings that do not already exist, are not under construction or are not possible in theory."
In 2005, Atwood published the novella The Penelopiad as part of the Canongate Myth Series. The story is a retelling of The Odyssey from the perspective of Penelope and a chorus of the twelve maids murdered at the end of the original tale. The Penelopiad was given a theatrical production in 2007.
In 2016, Atwood published the novel Hag-Seed, a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, as part of Penguin Random House's Hogarth Shakespeare Series.
On November 28, 2018, Atwood announced that she would publish The Testaments, a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, in September 2019. The novel features three female narrators and takes place fifteen years after the character Offred's final scene in The Handmaid's Tale. The book was announced as the joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize on October 14, 2019.
#### Non-fiction
In 2008, Atwood published Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, a collection of five lectures delivered as part of the Massey Lectures from October 12 to November 1, 2008. The book was released in anticipation of the lectures, which were also recorded and broadcast on CBC Radio One's Ideas.
#### Chamber opera
In March 2008, Atwood accepted a chamber opera commission. Commissioned by City Opera of Vancouver, Pauline is set in Vancouver in March 1913 during the final days of the life of Canadian writer and performer Pauline Johnson. Pauline, composed by Tobin Stokes with libretto by Atwood, premiered on May 23, 2014, at Vancouver's York Theatre.
#### Graphic fiction
In 2016, Atwood began writing the superhero comic book series Angel Catbird, with co-creator and illustrator Johnnie Christmas. The series protagonist, scientist Strig Feleedus, is victim of an accidental mutation that leaves him with the body parts and powers of both a cat and a bird. As with her other works, Atwood notes of the series, "The kind of speculative fiction about the future that I write is always based on things that are in process right now. So it's not that I imagine them, it's that I notice that people are working on them and I take it a few steps further down the road. So it doesn't come out of nowhere, it comes out of real life."
#### Future Library project
With her novel Scribbler Moon, Atwood is the first contributor to the Future Library project. The work, completed in 2015, was ceremonially handed over to the project on May 27 of the same year. The book will be held by the project until its eventual publishing in 2114. She thinks that readers will probably need a paleo-anthropologist to translate some parts of her story. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Atwood said, "There's something magical about it. It's like Sleeping Beauty. The texts are going to slumber for 100 years and then they'll wake up, come to life again. It's a fairytale length of time. She slept for 100 years."
#### Invention of the LongPen
In early 2004, while on the paperback tour in Denver for her novel Oryx and Crake, Atwood conceived the concept of a remote robotic writing technology, what would later be known as the LongPen, that would enable a person to remotely write in ink anywhere in the world via tablet PC and the Internet, thus allowing her to conduct her book tours without being physically present. She quickly founded a company, Unotchit Inc., to develop, produce and distribute this technology. By 2011, the company shifted its market focus into business and legal transactions and was producing a range of products, for a variety of remote writing applications, based on the LongPen technologies. In 2013, the company renamed itself to Syngrafii Inc. In 2021, it is cloud based and offers Electronic signature-technology. As of May 2021, Atwood is still co-founder and a director of Syngrafii Inc. and holder of various patents related to the LongPen and related technology.
#### Poetry
In November 2020 Atwood published Dearly, a collection of poems exploring absences and endings, ageing and retrospection, and gifts and renewals. The central poem, Dearly, was also published in The Guardian newspaper along with an essay exploring the passing of time, grief, and how a poem belongs to the reader; this is accompanied by an audio recording of Atwood reading the poem on the newspaper's website.
## Recurring themes and cultural contexts
### Theory of Canadian identity
Atwood's contributions to the theorizing of Canadian identity have garnered attention both in Canada and internationally. Her principal work of literary criticism, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, is considered somewhat outdated, but remains a standard introduction to Canadian literature in Canadian studies programs internationally. Writer and academic Joseph Pivato has criticised the continued reprinting of Survival by Anansi Press as a view-narrowing disservice to students of Canadian literature.
In Survival, Atwood postulates that Canadian literature, and by extension Canadian identity, is characterized by the symbol of survival. This symbol is expressed in the omnipresent use of "victim positions" in Canadian literature. These positions represent a scale of self-consciousness and self-actualization for the victim in the "victor/victim" relationship. The "victor" in these scenarios may be other humans, nature, the wilderness or other external and internal factors which oppress the victim. Atwood's Survival bears the influence of Northrop Frye's theory of garrison mentality; Atwood uses Frye's concept of Canada's desire to wall itself off from outside influence as a critical tool to analyze Canadian literature. According to her theories in works such as Survival and her exploration of similar themes in her fiction, Atwood considers Canadian literature as the expression of Canadian identity. According to this literature, Canadian identity has been defined by a fear of nature, by settler history, and by unquestioned adherence to the community. In an interview with the Scottish critic Bill Findlay in 1979, Atwood discussed the relationship of Canadian writers and writing to the 'Imperial Cultures' of America and Britain.[^1]
Atwood's contribution to the theorizing of Canada is not limited to her non-fiction works. Several of her works, including The Journals of Susanna Moodie, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and Surfacing, are examples of what postmodern literary theorist Linda Hutcheon calls "historiographic metafiction". In such works, Atwood explicitly explores the relation of history and narrative and the processes of creating history.
Among her contributions to Canadian literature, Atwood is a founding trustee of the Griffin Poetry Prize, as well as a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada's writing community. She has called Mona Awad, a Canadian novelist and short-story writer, her "literary heir apparent".
### Feminism
Atwood's work has been of interest to feminist literary critics, despite Atwood's unwillingness at times to apply the label 'feminist' to her works. Starting with the publication of her first novel, The Edible Woman, Atwood asserted, "I don't consider it feminism; I just consider it social realism."
Despite her rejection of the label at times, critics have analyzed the sexual politics, use of myth and fairytale, and gendered relationships in Atwood's work through the lens of feminism. Before the 1985 publication of The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood gave an interview to feminist theorist Elizabeth Meese in which she defined feminism as a "belief in the rights of women" and averred that "if practical, hardline, anti-male feminists took over and became the government, I would resist them." In 2017, she clarified her discomfort with the label feminism by stating, "I always want to know what people mean by that word [feminism]. Some people mean it quite negatively, other people mean it very positively, some people mean it in a broad sense, other people mean it in a more specific sense. Therefore, in order to answer the question, you have to ask the person what they mean." Speaking to The Guardian, she said "For instance, some feminists have historically been against lipstick and letting transgender women into women's washrooms. Those are not positions I have agreed with", a position she repeated to The Irish Times. In an interview with Penguin Books, Atwood stated that the driving question throughout her writing of The Handmaid's Tale was "If you were going to shove women back into the home and deprive them of all of these gains that they thought they had made, how would you do it?", but related this question to totalitarianism, not feminism.
In January 2018, Atwood penned the op-ed "Am I a Bad Feminist?" for The Globe and Mail. The piece was in response to social media backlash related to Atwood's signature on a 2016 petition calling for an independent investigation into the firing of Steven Galloway, a former University of British Columbia professor accused of sexual harassment and assault by a student. While feminist critics denounced Atwood for her support of Galloway, Atwood asserted that her signature was in support of due process in the legal system. She has been criticized for her comments surrounding the \#MeToo movement, particularly that it is a "symptom of a broken legal system".
In 2018, following a partnership between Hulu's adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale and women's rights organisation Equality Now, Atwood was honored at their 2018 Make Equality Reality Gala. In her acceptance speech she said:
> I am, of course, not a real activist—I'm simply a writer without a job who is frequently asked to speak about subjects that would get people with jobs fired if they themselves spoke. You, however, at Equality Now are real activists. I hope people will give Equality Now lots and lots of money, today, so they can write equal laws, enact equal laws and see that equal laws are implemented. That way, in time, all girls may be able to grow up believing that there are no avenues that are closed to them simply because they are girls.
In 2019, Atwood partnered with Equality Now for the release of The Testaments.
### Speculative and science fiction
Atwood has resisted the suggestion that The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake are science fiction, suggesting to The Guardian in 2003 that they are speculative fictionq%: "Science fiction has monsters and spaceships; speculative fiction could really happen." She told the Book of the Month Club: "Oryx and Crake is a speculative fiction, not a science fiction proper. It contains no intergalactic space travel, no teleportation, no Martians." On BBC Breakfast, she explained that science fiction, as opposed to what she herself wrote, was "talking squids in outer space." The latter phrase particularly rankled advocates of science fiction and frequently recurs when her writing is discussed.
In 2005, Atwood said that she did at times write social science fiction and that The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake could be designated as such. She clarified her meaning on the difference between speculative and science fiction, admitting that others used the terms interchangeably: "For me, the science fiction label belongs on books with things in them that we can't yet do ... Speculative fiction means a work that employs the means already to hand and that takes place on Planet Earth." She said that science fiction narratives give a writer the ability to explore themes in ways that realistic fiction cannot.
She further clarified her definitions of terms in 2011, in a discussion with science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin: "What Le Guin means by 'science fiction' is what I mean by 'speculative fiction', and what she means by 'fantasy' would include what I mean by 'science fiction'." She added that genre borders were increasingly fluid, and that all forms of "SF" might be placed under a common umbrella.
### Animal rights
Atwood repeatedly makes observations about the relationships of humans to animals in her works. A large portion of the dystopia Atwood creates in Oryx and Crake concerns the genetic modification and alteration of animals and humans, resulting in hybrids such as pigoons, rakunks, wolvogs and Crakers, raising questions on the limits and ethics of science and technology, and on what it means to be human.
In Surfacing, one character remarks about eating animals: "The animals die that we may live, they are substitute people ... And we eat them, out of cans or otherwise; we are eaters of death, dead Christ-flesh resurrecting inside us, granting us life." Some characters in her books link sexual oppression to meat-eating and consequently give up meat-eating. In The Edible Woman, Atwood's character Marian identifies with hunted animals and cries after hearing her fiancé's experience of hunting and eviscerating a rabbit. Marian stops eating meat but then later returns to it.
In Cat's Eye, the narrator recognizes the similarity between a turkey and a baby. She looks at "the turkey, which resembles a trussed, headless baby. It has thrown off its disguise as a meal and has revealed itself to me for what it is, a large dead bird." In Atwood's Surfacing, a dead heron represents purposeless killing and prompts thoughts about other senseless deaths.
Atwood is a pescetarian. In a 2009 interview she stated that "I shouldn't use the term vegetarian because I'm allowing myself gastropods, crustaceans and the occasional fish. Nothing with fur or feathers though".
### Political involvement
Atwood has indicated in an interview that she considers herself a Red Tory in what she sees as the historical sense of the term, saying that "The Tories were the ones who believed that those in power had a responsibility to the community, that money should not be the measure of all things." She has also stated on Twitter that she is a monarchist. In the 2008 federal election, she attended a rally for the Bloc Québécois, a Quebec pro-independence party, because of her support for their position on the arts; she said she would vote for the party if she lived in Quebec, and that the choice was between the Bloc and the Conservatives. In an editorial in The Globe and Mail, she urged Canadians to vote for any party other than the Conservatives to prevent them gaining a majority.
Atwood has strong views on environmental issues, and she and Graeme Gibson were the joint honorary presidents of the Rare Bird Club within BirdLife International. Atwood celebrated her 70th birthday at a gala dinner at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. She stated that she had chosen to attend the event because the city has been home to one of Canada's most ambitious environmental reclamation programs: "When people ask if there's hope (for the environment), I say, if Sudbury can do it, so can you. Having been a symbol of desolation, it's become a symbol of hope." Atwood has been chair of the Writers' Union of Canada and helped to found the Canadian English-Speaking chapter of PEN International, a group originally started to free politically imprisoned writers. She held the position of PEN Canada president in the mid 1980s and was the 2017 recipient of the PEN Center USA's Lifetime Achievement Award. Despite calls for a boycott by Gazan students, Atwood visited Israel and accepted the \$1,000,000 Dan David Prize along with Indian author Amitav Ghosh at Tel Aviv University in May 2010. Atwood commented that "we don't do cultural boycotts."
In her dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985), all the developments take place near Boston in the United States, now known as Gilead, while Canada is portrayed as the only hope for an escape. To some this reflects her status of being "in the vanguard of Canadian anti-Americanism of the 1960s and 1970s". Critics have seen the mistreated Handmaid as Canada. During the debate in 1987 over a free-trade agreement between Canada and the United States, Atwood spoke out against the deal and wrote an essay opposing it. She said that the 2016 United States presidential election led to an increase in sales of The Handmaid's Tale. Amazon reported that The Handmaid's Tale was the most-read book of 2017.
## Activism
In 2018, Atwood signed an appeal of the American PEN Center in defense of Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, a political prisoner in Russia.
In July 2020, Atwood was one of the 153 signers of the "Harper's Letter" (also known as "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate") that expressed concern that "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted."
On February 24, 2022, Atwood briefly covered the war in Ukraine at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and published a link to the state aid fund on Twitter. She continues to publish information about the war in Ukraine on the social network.
## Adaptations
Atwood's novel Surfacing (1972) was adapted into a 1981 film written by Bernard Gordon and directed by Claude Jutra. It received poor reviews; one reviewer wrote that it made "little attempt to find cinematic equivalents for the admittedly difficult subjective and poetic dimensions of the novel."
Her novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985) has been adapted several times. A 1990 film, directed by Volker Schlöndorff, with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, received mixed reviews. A musical adaptation resulted in the 2000 opera, written by Poul Ruders, with a libretto by Paul Bentley. It premiered at the Royal Danish Opera in 2000, and was staged in 2003 at London's English National Opera and the Minnesota Opera. Boston Lyric Opera mounted a production in May 2019. A television series by Bruce Miller began airing on the streaming service Hulu in 2017. The first season of the show earned eight Emmys in 2017, including Outstanding Drama Series. Season two premiered on April 25, 2018, and it was announced on May 2, 2018, that Hulu had renewed the series for a third season. Atwood appears in a cameo in the first episode as one of the Aunts at the Red Center. In 2019, a graphic novel () based on the book and with the same title was published by Renée Nault.
In 2003, six of Atwood's short stories were adapted by Shaftesbury Films for the anthology television series The Atwood Stories.
Atwood's 2008 Massey Lectures were adapted into the documentary Payback (2012), by director Jennifer Baichwal. Commentary by Atwood and others such as economist Raj Patel, ecologist William Reese, and religious scholar Karen Armstrong, are woven into various stories that explore the concepts of debt and payback, including an Armenian blood feud, agricultural working conditions, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The novel Alias Grace (1996) was adapted into a six-part 2017 miniseries directed by Mary Harron and adapted by Sarah Polley. It premiered on CBC on September 25, 2017, and the full series was released on Netflix on November 3, 2017. Atwood makes a cameo in the fourth episode of the series as a disapproving churchgoer.
In the Wake of the Flood (released in October 2010), a documentary film by the Canadian director Ron Mann, followed Atwood on the unusual book tour for her novel The Year of the Flood (2009). During this innovative book tour, Atwood created a theatrical version of her novel, with performers borrowed from the local areas she was visiting. The documentary is described as "a fly-on-the-wall film vérité."
Atwood's children's book Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop's Wunderground Washery (2011) was adapted into the children's television series The Wide World of Wandering Wenda, broadcast on CBC beginning in the spring of 2017. Aimed at early readers, the animated series follows Wenda and her friends as they navigate different adventures using words, sounds, and language.
Director Darren Aronofsky had been slated to direct an adaptation of the MaddAddam trilogy for HBO, but it was revealed in October 2016 that HBO had dropped the plan from its schedule. In January 2018, it was announced that Paramount Television and Anonymous Content had bought the rights to the trilogy and would be producing it without Aronofsky.
## Awards and honours
Atwood holds numerous honorary degrees from various institutions, including The Sorbonne, NUI Galway as well as Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Awards
- Governor General's Award, 1966, 1985
- Companion of the Order of Canada, 1981
- Guggenheim fellowship, 1981
- Los Angeles Times Fiction Award, 1986
- American Humanist Association Humanist of the Year, 1987
- Nebula Award, 1986 and Prometheus Award, 1987 nominations, both science fiction awards.
- Arthur C. Clarke Award for best Science Fiction, 1987
- Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1988
- Canadian Booksellers Association Author of the Year, 1989
- Outstanding Canadian Award – Armenian Community Centre of Toronto, 1989
- Order of Ontario, 1990
- Trillium Book Award, 1991, 1993, 1995
- Government of France's Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1994
- Helmerich Award, 1999, by the Tulsa Library Trust.
- Booker Prize, 2000, 2019
- Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement, 2007
- Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, 2008
- Fellow Royal Society of Literature, 2010
- Nelly Sachs Prize, Germany, 2010
- Dan David Prize, Israel, 2010
- Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Canada, 2012
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize "Innovator's Award", 2012
- Gold medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, 2015
- Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia, 2016
- Franz Kafka Prize, Czech Republic, 2017
- Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, Germany, 2017
- Companion of Honour, 2019
- Joint winner of the Booker Prize, 2019
- Dayton Literary Peace Prize, 2020
- British Academy President's Medal, 2020
- Emerson-Thoreau Medal (2020)
- Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Hitchens Prize (2022)
Honorary degrees
- Trent University, 1973
- Queen's University, 1974
- Concordia University, 1979
- Smith College, 1982
- University of Toronto, 1983
- University of Waterloo, 1985
- University of Guelph, 1985
- Mount Holyoke College, 1985
- Victoria College, 1987
- Université de Montréal, 1991
- University of Leeds, 1994
- McMaster University, 1996
- Lakehead University, 1998
- University of Oxford, 1998
- Algoma University, 2001
- University of Cambridge, 2001
- Dartmouth College, 2004
- Harvard University, 2004
- Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2005
- National University of Ireland, Galway, 2011
- Ryerson University, 2012
- Royal Military College of Canada (LLD), November 16, 2012
- University of Athens, 2013
- University of Edinburgh, 2014
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2017
## Works
Summary Bibliography
Novels
- The Edible Woman (1969)
- Surfacing (1972)
- Lady Oracle (1976)
- Life Before Man (1979, finalist for the Governor General's Award)
- Bodily Harm (1981)
- The Handmaid's Tale (1985, winner of the 1987 Arthur C. Clarke Award and 1985 Governor General's Award, finalist for the 1986 Booker Prize)
- Cat's Eye (1988, finalist for the 1988 Governor General's Award and the 1989 Booker Prize)
- The Robber Bride (1993, finalist for the 1994 Governor General's Award and shortlisted for the James Tiptree Jr. Award)
- Alias Grace (1996, winner of the 1996 Giller Prize, finalist for the 1996 Booker Prize and the 1996 Governor General's Award, shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction)
- The Blind Assassin (2000, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize and finalist for the 2000 Governor General's Award, shortlisted for the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction.)
- Oryx and Crake (2003, finalist for the 2003 Booker Prize and the 2003 Governor General's Award and shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction.)
- The Penelopiad (2005, nominated for the 2006 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and longlisted for the 2007 International Dublin Literary Award)
- The Year of the Flood (2009, Oryx and Crake companion, longlisted for the 2011 International Dublin Literary Award)
- MaddAddam (2013) (Third novel in Oryx and Crake trilogy)
- Scribbler Moon (written in 2014 as part of the Future Library project; will remain unpublished until 2114)
- The Heart Goes Last (2015) (Winner of the 2015 Red Tentacle award)
- Hag-Seed (2016) (Longlisted for the 2017 Women Prize for Fiction)
- The Testaments (2019, joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize)
Short fiction collections
- Dancing Girls (1977, winner of the St. Lawrence Award for Fiction and the award of The Periodical Distributors of Canada for Short Fiction)
- Murder in the Dark (1983)
- Bluebeard's Egg (1983)
- Wilderness Tips (1991, finalist for the Governor General's Award)
- Good Bones (1992)
- Good Bones and Simple Murders (1994)
- The Labrador Fiasco (1996)
- The Tent (2006)
- Moral Disorder (2006)
- Stone Mattress (2014)
- Old Babes in the Wood (2023)
Poetry collections
- Double Persephone (1961)
- The Circle Game (1964, winner of the 1966 Governor General's Award)
- Expeditions (1965)
- Speeches for Doctor Frankenstein (1966)
- The Animals in That Country (1968)
- The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970)
- Procedures for Underground (1970)
- Power Politics (1971)
- You Are Happy (1974) Includes the poem Song of the Worms
- Selected Poems (1976)
- Two-Headed Poems (1978)
- True Stories (1981)
- Love Songs of a Terminator (1983)
- Snake Poems (1983)
- Interlunar (1984)
- Selected Poems 1966–1984 (Canada)
- Selected Poems II: 1976–1986 (US)
- Morning in the Burned House, McClelland & Stewart (1995)
- Eating Fire: Selected Poems, 1965–1995 (UK,1998)
- "You Begin." (1978) – as recited by Margaret Atwood; included in all three most recent editions of her "Selected Poems" as listed above (US, CA, UK)
- The Door (2007)
- Dearly (2020)
E-books
- I'm Starved For You: Positron, Episode One (2012)
- Choke Collar: Positron, Episode Two (2012)
- Erase Me: Positron, Episode Three (2013)
- The Heart Goes Last: Positron, Episode Four (2013)
- The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home (2013) (with Naomi Alderman)
- My Evil Mother (2022)
Anthologies edited
- The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse (1982)
- The Canlit Foodbook (1987)
- The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English (1988)
- The Best American Short Stories 1989 (1989) (with Shannon Ravenel)
- The New Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English (1995)
Children's books
- Up in the Tree (1978)
- Anna's Pet (1980) (with Joyce C. Barkhouse)
- For the Birds (1990) (with Shelly Tanaka)
- Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut (1995)
- Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes (2003)
- Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda (2006)
- Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop's Wunderground Washery (2011); inspired a cartoon series called Wandering Wenda in 2016.
Non-fiction
- Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972)
- Days of the Rebels 1815–1840 (1977)
- Second Words: Selected Critical Prose (1982)
- Through the One-Way Mirror (1986)
- Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature (1995)
- Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (2002)
- Moving Targets: Writing with Intent, 1982–2004 (2004)
- Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose 1983–2005 (2005)
- Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2008)
- In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination (2011)
- On Writers and Writing (2015)
- Burning Questions: Essays & Occasional Pieces 2004-2021 (2022)
Drawings
- Kanadian Kultchur Komix featuring "Survivalwoman" in This Magazine under the pseudonym, Bart Gerrard 1975–1980
- Others appear on her website.
Graphic novels
- Angel Catbird, with Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillain (2016)
- War Bears, with Ken Steacy (2018)
Television scripts
- The Servant Girl (1974)
- Snowbird (1981)
- Heaven on Earth (1987)
Libretti
- The Trumpets of Summer (1964) (with composer John Beckwith)
- Frankenstein Monster Song (2004, with rock band One Ring Zero)
- "Pauline", a chamber opera in two acts, with composer Tobin Stokes for City Opera Vancouver (2014)
Audio recordings
- The Poetry and Voice of Margaret Atwood (1977)
- Margaret Atwood Reads "Unearthing Suite" (1985)
- Margaret Atwood Reading From Her Poems (2005)
- Margaret Atwood as herself in Zombies, Run, as a surviving radio operator in themes.
Filmography
- She is credited as playing herself in all 26 episodes of The Wide World of Wandering Wenda'' in which she wears funny hats to match the various themes (2017)
## See also
- Southern Ontario Gothic
- Canadian poetry
- List of Canadian poets
- List of Canadian writers
[^1]: Findlay, Bill (1979), Interview with Margaret Atwood', in Bold, Christine (ed.), Cencrastus No. 1, Autumn 1979, pp. 2 - 6. |
10,202,112 | Indiana Governor's Residence | 1,123,016,074 | Official home of the governor of Indiana | [
"Government buildings in Indiana",
"Governor of Indiana",
"Governors' mansions in the United States",
"Houses in Indianapolis",
"Tourist attractions in Indianapolis"
]
| The Indiana Governor's Residence is the official home of the family of the governor of Indiana and is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. In use since 1973, it is the sixth official residence of Indiana's governors. The current tenant is Governor Eric Holcomb.
## Current residence
The Indiana Governor's Residence is located in the historic district surrounding North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. It sits on an estate of 6.5 acres (2.6 ha) at 4750 North Meridian Street. Built for Scott Wadley, with the firm of Rubush & Hunter serving as architects, the English Tudor home was built in 1928. It was acquired by the state of Indiana in 1973 from attorney C. Severin Buschman for US\$242,000. The home was then renovated for approximately \$800,000, including \$125,000 in funds from a Lilly Endowment grant. Renovation included the installation of air conditioning and modern wiring.
Approximately 10,500 sq ft (980 m<sup>2</sup>), with twenty-three rooms and eleven bathrooms, it is considered a typical size for an English Tudor home and resembles many of the other homes in the neighborhood that were built in the same time period. Although the appearance is similar to the other homes, it is structurally unique because its support and foundation are made of concrete, whereas typical Tudor homes are entirely wooden. The home's lower floor is open to the public and tours are offered regularly to visitors. The rooms available for viewing include the foyer, a library, the formal living room, formal and informal dining room, a sun porch, a kitchen, a butler's pantry, and event space. The second floor is reserved for the first family as a living area and is off limits to the public. The home receives approximately 10,000 visitors annually.
## Previous governors' residences
Before Indiana became a state, the Indiana Territory had two governors. William Henry Harrison, the first governor, built a plantation-style home in Vincennes, and named it Grouseland for its many birds. Built in 1804, it was one of the first brick buildings in the territory. The home is still preserved and is a National Historic Landmark. Thomas Posey, the territory's second governor, had a home built in Corydon, but lived there only briefly before moving to Jeffersonville where he rented a room in a boarding house. The Posey House is preserved as part of a National Historic District.
There have been six official residences of Indiana's governors since Indiana became a state, but only five were actually inhabited by the first family. There were four other unofficial residences that governors also lived in while no other accommodations were available. The first residence of a state governor was in Corydon on a small hill overlooking the first statehouse; Governor Jonathan Jennings and his wife Anne lived in it from 1816 until 1822. The home was visited by United States Presidents Andrew Jackson and James Monroe. The building is no longer standing but a new home has been built upon its original foundation and uses its cellar as a basement. Governor William Hendricks also lived in Corydon at Governor Hendricks Headquarters, an unofficial residence purchased by Hendricks from Davis Floyd and located on the same block as Jennings' home. Floyd had built the home for himself, but lost it after the Panic of 1819. Hendricks lived there during his term as governor, from 1822–1825, and later sold it.
The second official residence for the state's governor was built in the center of Indianapolis where the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument now stands. It was designed by Alexander Ralston, who also laid out most of the city. The mansion cost \$6,500 and was completed in 1827 during the term of Governor James B. Ray. Ray's wife refused to live in the home because of its lack of privacy; it was never used by a governor. It was inhabited by Indiana Chief Justice Isaac Blackford from around 1830 until the 1850s. It was demolished in the 1870s.
Without an acceptable home for the governor, the state purchased the house of Dr. John H. Sanders to serve as a residence for the Governor in 1837. The location, on the corner of Market and Illinois Streets in Indianapolis, proved to be damp and unhealthy because of the wetland conditions of the area during that time. Governor James Whitcomb blamed the conditions for his wife's death. The home was abandoned in 1861 during the term of Oliver Morton, who briefly lived in the house but refused to stay. The house was sold during his term and eventually destroyed.
The governors remained without an official residence until 1919 when the state purchased a home located at 101 East 27th St., Indianapolis, for \$65,000 and furnished it for an additional \$20,000. It was built by Henry Kahn in 1908 and had the design of an English country house. The home had a Gothic interior with high, beamed ceilings and luxurious Wilton carpeting. After a brief renovation, the home was inhabited by the governor starting in 1919 and remained so until 1945. The building was sold by the state to the Marott Hotel, which intended to turn it into a clubhouse, but eventually demolished it in 1962 to clear land for a parking lot.
The fifth home for the governor was purchased in 1945 and located at 4343 N. Meridian St. The home was built in 1924 by Harry Lane, an auditor for the Indianapolis Stockyards. Three stories high with slated roofs and 12 rooms, it was famed for its golden bathroom fixtures and its high gilt-tipped iron fence. It was purchased from his widow for \$72,000. It served as residence for the governor from 1945 until the present mansion was purchased in 1973. The home was sold at an auction in 1973 to Robert L. Dawson, who in turn sold it to Dr. John C. Klein in 1978. Known as the William N. Thompson House, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
After the building was auctioned, there was a brief period while the current residence was in renovation. During that period, governors Edgar Whitcomb and Otis Bowen took up residence in Riley Towers located at 650 N. Alabama St. The state leased the penthouse for their residence at a cost of \$1,150 per month.
## Gallery
## Governor's Residence Commission
The governor's residence is maintained by a trust managed by the Governor's Residence Commission and is part of the Indiana Public Building Foundation located at 4750 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis. The commission was authorized in 1975, charged with overseeing the renovation and maintenance of the home as well as event planning. In 2008, the commission's members included Linda Goad, Sara Barclay, David Collins, Jim Baker, Mike Bosway, Judy Warren, and Shannon Rezek. The commission is partly funded by private donations. The members are appointed by the Governor and serve at term lengths of his choosing. The commission meets monthly and officially reports to the Office of First Lady. The commission serves without pay, but is reimbursed for expenses.
## See also
- Indiana Statehouse
- Governor of Indiana |
485,627 | HMS Royal Sovereign (05) | 1,162,413,465 | Revenge-class battleship | [
"1915 ships",
"Battleships of the Soviet Navy",
"Revenge-class battleships",
"Ships built in Portsmouth",
"Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations",
"World War I battleships of the United Kingdom",
"World War II battleships of the Soviet Union",
"World War II battleships of the United Kingdom",
"World War II naval ships of the Soviet Union"
]
| HMS Royal Sovereign (pennant number 05) was a Revenge-class (also known as Royal Sovereign and R-class) battleship of the Royal Navy displacing 29,970 long tons (30,450 t) and armed with eight 15-inch (381 mm) guns in four twin-gun turrets. She was laid down in January 1914 and launched in April 1915; she was completed in May 1916, but was not ready for service in time to participate in the Battle of Jutland at the end of the month. She served with the Grand Fleet for the remainder of the First World War, but did not see action. In the early 1930s, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and based in Malta.
Unlike the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, Royal Sovereign and her sisters were not modernised during the interwar period. Only minor alterations to her anti-aircraft battery were effected before the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. Assigned to the Home Fleet, the ship was tasked with convoy protection until May 1940, when she returned to the Mediterranean Fleet. Royal Sovereign was present during the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, but her slow speed prevented her from engaging the Italian battleships. By March 1942, she was assigned to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean, but after the Indian Ocean raid by Admiral Nagumo's Kido Butai, the ship was withdrawn to eastern Africa to escort convoys. In January 1944, she returned to Britain, and in May the Royal Navy transferred Royal Sovereign to the Soviet Navy, which renamed her Arkhangelsk. She then escorted Arctic convoys into Kola until the end of the war. The Soviets returned the ship in 1949, after which she was broken up for scrap.
## Description
Royal Sovereign had a length overall of 620 feet 7 inches (189.2 m), a beam of 88 feet 6 inches (27.0 m) and a deep draught of 33 feet 7 inches (10 m). She had a designed displacement of 27,790 long tons (28,240 t) and displaced 31,130 long tons (31,630 t) at deep load. She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines using steam from eighteen oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines were rated at 40,000 shaft horsepower (29,828 kW) and a top speed of 21 knots (38.9 km/h; 24.2 mph). She had a range of 7,000 nautical miles (12,964 km; 8,055 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph). Her crew numbered 1,240 officers and ratings in 1921. Royal Sovereign cost £2,570,504 upon completion.
### Armament
The ship was equipped with eight breech-loading (BL) 15-inch (381 mm) Mk I guns in four twin gun turrets, in two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. Twelve of the fourteen BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XII guns were mounted in casemates along the broadside of the vessel amidships; the remaining pair were mounted on the shelter deck and were protected by gun shields. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of two quick-firing (QF) 3-inch (76 mm) 20 cwt Mk I AA guns.
In August–September 1924, the 3-inch guns were replaced by a pair of QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V guns. During the ship's 1927–28 refit, the shelter deck 6-inch guns were removed and another pair of 4-inch AA guns were added. These were replaced by eight QF 4-inch Mk XVI guns in twin turrets during Royal Sovereign's 1937–1938 refit. A pair of eight-barrel 2-pounder "pom-poms" were added in 1932 abreast the funnel, and two four-barrel "pom-poms" were added in early 1942 atop 'B' and 'X' turrets. Ten 20 mm Oerlikon guns were also added in 1941. Another six were added in 1943. Royal Sovereign was initially equipped with four submerged 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes on her broadside, though the after pair were removed in 1932. The forward pair were also removed in 1937–1938, during the ship's last prewar refit.
### Fire control
Royal Sovereign was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with 15-foot (4.6 m) rangefinders. One was mounted above the conning tower, protected by an armoured hood, and the other was in the spotting top above the tripod foremast. Each turret was also fitted with a 15-foot rangefinder. The main armament could be controlled by 'X' turret as well. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the compass platform on the foremast once they were fitted in March 1917. A 30-foot (9.1 m) rangefinder replaced the smaller one originally fitted in 'X' turret in 1919. Similarly, another large rangefinder was fitted in 'B' turret during the ship's 1921–1922 refit. A simple high-angle rangefinder was added above the bridge during that same refit.
About 1931, a High-Angle Control System (HACS) Mk I director replaced the high-angle rangefinder on the spotting top. During the 1932 refit two positions for 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft directors were added on new platforms abreast and below the fire-control director in the spotting top. In the 1937–1938 refit a HACS Mark III director replaced the Mk I in the spotting top and another was added to the torpedo-control tower aft. By 1942, a Type 279 air warning radar, a Type 273 surface-search radar, a Type 284 gunnery radar and two Type 285 anti-aircraft gunnery radars were installed. By September 1943, the Type 284 radar had been replaced by an improved Type 284B and two Type 282 radars had been fitted for the "pom-poms".
### Protection
Royal Sovereign's waterline belt consisted of face-hardened Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was 13 inches (330 mm) thick between 'A' and 'Y' barbettes and thinned to 4 to 6 inches (102 to 152 mm) towards the ship's ends, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. Above this was a strake of armour 6 inches thick that extended between 'A' and 'X' barbettes. Transverse bulkheads 4 to 6 inches thick ran at an angle from the ends of the thickest part of the waterline belt to 'A' and 'Y' barbettes.
The gun turrets were protected by 11 to 13 inches (279 to 330 mm) of KC armour, except for the turret roofs which were 4.75–5 inches (121–127 mm) thick. The barbettes ranged in thickness from 6–10 inches (152–254 mm) above the upper deck, but were only 4 to 6 inches thick below it. The Revenge-class ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from 1 to 4 inches (25 to 102 mm) in thickness. The main conning tower had 13 inches of armour on the sides with a 3-inch (76 mm) roof. The torpedo control tower in the rear superstructure had 6 inches of armour protecting it. After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines. In 1918 the gun shields for the upper deck 6-inch guns were replaced by armoured casemates.
To protect against underwater explosions, the ship was fitted with longitudinal torpedo bulkheads 1 to 1.5 inches (38 mm) inches thick that ran from the forward to the rear magazines. During her 1921 refit, Royal Sovereign was fitted with an anti-torpedo bulge that ran the length of the ship between the fore and aft barbettes. It was divided into a water-tight empty lower compartment and an upper compartment filled with water-tight "crushing tubes" intended to absorb and distribute the force of an explosion. The space between the tubes was filled with wood and cement.
### Aircraft
The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets in 1918, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. In 1932 the platforms were removed from the turrets and a trainable catapult was installed on her quarterdeck, along with a crane to recover a seaplane. The catapult and crane were removed by March 1937.
## Service history
### First World War
Royal Sovereign was laid down on 15 January 1914 at the HM Dockyard, Portsmouth. The ship was launched on 29 April 1915 and commissioned in May 1916. On 30 May 1916, three weeks after her commissioning, Royal Sovereign was present in Scapa Flow when the fleet commander, Admiral John Jellicoe ordered the Grand Fleet to sea. Jellicoe purposely left Royal Sovereign behind in port due to the inexperience of her crew; causing her to miss the Battle of Jutland the following day. In the months after the engagement, Royal Sovereign was quickly made ready for service with the fleet to further increase the numerical superiority of the Grand Fleet over the German High Seas Fleet.
The Grand Fleet sortied on 18 August 1916 to ambush the High Seas Fleet while it advanced into the southern North Sea, but a series of miscommunications and mistakes during the action of 19 August prevented Jellicoe from intercepting the German fleet before it returned to port. Two light cruisers were sunk by German U-boats during the operation, prompting Jellicoe to decide to not risk the major units of the fleet south of 55° 30' North due to the prevalence of German submarines and mines. The Admiralty concurred and stipulated that the Grand Fleet would not sortie unless the German fleet was attempting an invasion of Britain or there was a strong possibility it could be forced into an engagement under suitable conditions.
In April 1918, the High Seas Fleet again sortied, to attack British convoys to Norway. They enforced strict wireless silence during the operation, which prevented Room 40 cryptanalysts from warning the new commander of the Grand Fleet, Admiral David Beatty. The British learned of the operation only after an accident aboard the battlecruiser SMS Moltke forced her to break radio silence to inform the German commander of her condition. Beatty then ordered the Grand Fleet to sea to intercept the Germans, but he was not able to reach the High Seas Fleet before it turned back for Germany. This was the last time Royal Sovereign and the rest of the Grand Fleet would go to sea for the remainder of the war. On 21 November 1918, following the Armistice, the entire Grand Fleet left port to escort the surrendered German fleet into internment at Scapa Flow.
### Inter-war period
The Royal Marines detachment assigned to Royal Sovereign left the ship on 21 June 1919 to conduct exercises. The ship meanwhile went into drydock at Invergordon in September. Post-war demobilisation in 1919 saw some 500 men leave the ship while she was in dock. Upon returning to service in late 1919, the ship was assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. Conflicts between Greece and the crumbling Ottoman Empire prompted the Royal Navy to deploy a force to the eastern Mediterranean. In April 1920, Royal Sovereign and her sister ship Resolution steamed to the region via Malta. While in the Ottoman capital Constantinople, Royal Sovereign and the other British warships took on White émigrés fleeing the Communist Red Army. Among those refugees aboard Royal Sovereign was a princess of the Galitzine family.
The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty cut the battleship strength of the Royal Navy from forty ships to fifteen. The remaining active battleships were divided between the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets and conducted joint operations annually. Royal Sovereign remained with the Atlantic Fleet through 1926. On 4 October 1927, the ship was placed in reserve to effect a major refit. Four new rangefinders and eight searchlights were installed. On 15 May 1929, the refit was finished, and the ship was assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. The squadron consisted of Royal Sovereign, her sisters Resolution and Revenge, and Queen Elizabeth, and based in Malta. By the 1930s, the five ships of the Queen Elizabeth class were rotated through extensive modernisation. Royal Sovereign and her sisters, however, were smaller and slower than the Queen Elizabeth class, and so they were not extensively modernised in the inter-war period. The only changes made were augmentations to their anti-aircraft batteries.
Fleet exercises in 1934 were carried out in the Bay of Biscay, followed by a fleet regatta in Navarino Bay off Greece. In 1935, the ship returned to Britain for the Jubilee Fleet Review for King George V. In August 1935, Royal Sovereign was transferred to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, where she served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Ramsey. The ship served as a training vessel until 2 June 1937, when she was again placed in reserve for a major overhaul. This lasted until 18 February 1938, after which she returned to the 2nd Battle Squadron. In 1939, King George VI made a state visit to Canada; Royal Sovereign and the rest of the fleet escorted his ship halfway across the Atlantic and met it on the return leg of the voyage.
In early 1939, the Admiralty considered plans to send Royal Sovereign and her four sisters to Asia to counter Japanese expansionism. They reasoned that the then established "Singapore strategy", which called for a fleet to be formed in Britain to be dispatched to confront a Japanese attack was inherently risky due to the long delay. They argued that a dedicated battle fleet would allow for faster reaction. The plan was abandoned, however, because the new King George V-class battleships would not begin to enter service until 1941. In the last weeks of August 1939, the Royal Navy began to concentrate in wartime bases as tensions with Germany rose. Royal Sovereign steamed to Invergordon, where she joined her sisters Resolution and Royal Oak, Rodney, and the battlecruiser Repulse. By 31 August, the force joined Nelson, the flagship of Admiral Charles Forbes, the commander of the Home Fleet.
### Second World War
On 31 August, the day before the German invasion of Poland, Royal Sovereign was assigned to a screening force in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap to patrol for German merchant ships that might be attempting to reach Germany. At the outset of war in September 1939, Royal Sovereign was assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet. She was assigned to the North Atlantic Escort Force, which was based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was tasked with protecting convoys to Britain. Upon returning to Plymouth, she underwent a short refit. In May 1940, she moved to the Mediterranean Fleet. There she was based in Alexandria with the battleships Warspite, Malaya, and Valiant, under the command of Admiral Andrew Cunningham. On 25–27 June, she and her sister ship HMS Ramillies escorted two convoys from Alexandria to Malta. On 28 June, aerial reconnaissance located Italian destroyers off Zakynthos; Admiral John Tovey took the 7th Cruiser Squadron. Royal Sovereign was left behind due to her slow speed. Cunningham split his fleet into three groups; Royal Sovereign and Malaya were the core of Group C. She was present at the Battle of Calabria on 18 July, but her slow speed prevented her from engaging the Italian battleships. Warspite bore the brunt of the action, as Royal Sovereign and Malaya lagged behind.
In mid-August 1940, while steaming in the Red Sea, Royal Sovereign was unsuccessfully attacked by the Italian submarine Galileo Ferraris. Later that month, she returned to Atlantic convoy duties. These lasted until August 1941, when periodic maintenance was effected in Norfolk, Virginia. The Admiralty decided in May 1941 to deploy a powerful fleet to be based in Singapore to counter any Japanese attempt to invade Western colonies in Southeast Asia. Royal Sovereign and her sisters Revenge, Ramillies, and Resolution were assigned to the force. The unit was to have been assembled in Singapore by March 1942, though Royal Sovereign reached the theatre earlier. At the beginning of March 1942, Royal Sovereign, the heavy cruiser Cornwall, and several smaller vessels escorted the convoy SU.1 of twelve troopships transporting 10,090 soldiers. The convoy departed Colombo on 1 March, bound for Australia. The convoy reached Fremantle without incident on 15 March.
By the end of March 1942, the Eastern Fleet had been formed, under the command of Admiral James Somerville. The fleet was centred on a pair of fleet aircraft carriers, the elderly carrier Hermes, and five battleships, four of which were Royal Sovereign and her sisters; the fifth was Warspite. The fleet also included seven cruisers and sixteen destroyers. Despite the numerical strength of the Eastern Fleet, many of its units, including the four Revenge-class battleships, were no longer front-line warships. Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful Kido Butai, composed of six carriers and four fast battleships, was significantly stronger than Somerville's Eastern Fleet. As a result, only the modernised Warspite could operate with the two fleet carriers; Royal Sovereign, her three sisters, and Hermes were kept away from combat to escort convoys in the Indian Ocean.
In late March, the code-breakers at the Far East Combined Bureau, a branch of Bletchley Park, informed Somerville that the Japanese were planning a raid into the Indian Ocean to attack Colombo and Trincomalee and destroy his fleet. He therefore divided his fleet into two groups: Force A, which consisted of the two fleet carriers, Warspite and four cruisers, and Force B, centred on Royal Sovereign and her sisters and the carrier Hermes. He intended to ambush Nagumo's fleet in a night action, the only method by which he thought he could achieve a victory. After three days of searching for the Japanese fleet without success, Somerville returned to Addu Atoll to refuel. While refuelling his ships, Somerville received a report that the Japanese fleet was approaching Colombo, which they attacked the following day, on 5 April, followed by attacks on Trincomalee on 9 April.
Following the raid in April 1942, Somerville withdrew Royal Sovereign and her three sisters to Mombasa, where they could secure the shipping routes in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Royal Sovereign and her sisters departed from Addu Atoll early on the morning on 9 April, bound for Mombasa. Here they remained stationed until September 1943, with the exception of another long period in the dockyard in Philadelphia in late 1942. While Royal Sovereign was moored in Philadelphia, the American light cruiser USS Boise, a badly-damaged veteran of the Battle of Cape Esperance, shared a pier with her. During the refit, the ship's deck armour was increased by 2 inches (51 mm) and four of her six-inch guns were removed. Royal Sovereign was sent back to the United States for a major overhaul in Philadelphia, from March to September 1943. She then returned to the Indian Ocean to resume her patrol duties. In January 1944, she left the Indian Ocean, bound for Britain.
#### Service with the Soviet Navy
After returning to Britain, Royal Sovereign was sent to the naval base in Scapa Flow. On 30 May 1944 she was transferred on loan to the Soviet Navy as Arkhangelsk in lieu of war reparations from Italy. The ship left Britain on 17 August 1944 as part of the escort for Convoy JW 59, which contained thirty-three merchant vessels. Six days later, while still en route, the convoy was attacked by the U-boat . The submarine's captain, Hans-Günther Lange, incorrectly reported hits on Arkhangelsk and a destroyer, though his torpedoes had exploded prematurely. Under the impression that they had crippled the battleship, the Germans launched several submarine attacks on the ship while she was moored in Kola. Anti-torpedo nets ensured that the attacks failed, however. The Germans then planned to use six Biber midget submarines to attack the ship, but mechanical difficulties eventually forced the cancellation of the plan. Regardless, Arkhangelsk had already departed Kola to patrol the White Sea by the time the Bibers would have arrived. A Soviet crew commissioned the ship on 29 August 1944 at Polyarny. Arkhangelsk was the largest ship in the Soviet fleet during the war. While in Soviet service, she was the flagship of Admiral Gordey Levchenko and was tasked with meeting Allied convoys in the Arctic Ocean and escorting them into Kola.
Arkhangelsk ran aground in the White Sea in late 1947; the extent of damage, if any, is unknown. The Soviet Navy returned the ship to the Royal Navy on 4 February 1949 after the former Italian battleship Giulio Cesare was transferred to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. The Soviet Navy had initially sought to avoid sending the ship back, claiming that she was not sufficiently seaworthy to make the voyage back to Britain. After an inspection by a Royal Navy officer, however, the Soviet Navy agreed to return the vessel in January 1949. Upon returning to the Rosyth naval base, Royal Navy personnel thoroughly inspected the ship and found much of her equipment to be unserviceable. It appeared to the inspectors that the main battery turrets had not been rotated while the ship was in Soviet service, and were jammed on the centreline. As a result of her poor condition, she was sold for scrap. The ship arrived at Thos. W. Ward's scrapyard at Inverkeithing, Scotland, on 18 May to be broken up. The elevation mechanisms from her main battery gun turrets were later reused in the 250-foot (76 m) Mark I radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, Cheshire built in 1955–1957. |
16,889,386 | There's No Place Like Home (Lost) | 1,171,076,525 | null | [
"2008 American television episodes",
"Lost (season 4) episodes",
"Television episodes directed by Jack Bender",
"Television episodes directed by Stephen Williams (director)",
"Television episodes written by Damon Lindelof"
]
| "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 1, 2 & 3" is the season finale of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost, consisting of the 12th through 14th episodes. They are also the 84th through 86th episodes of the show overall. The three constituent episodes were split into two broadcasts; "Part 1" first aired on May 15, 2008, and "Part 2", serving as the two-hour season finale of the fourth season, first aired on May 29, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada. The episodes were written by executive producers/show runners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof; "Part 1" was directed by co-executive producer Stephen Williams, while executive producer Jack Bender directed "Part 2". The episode's title is a reference to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The narrative takes place in late December 2004, 100 days after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. The survivors of the crash team up with the Others, natives of the island where the plane crashed, to confront the mercenaries from the freighter Kahana, who have come to the island. Following this, some of the survivors escape the island, which is afterwards moved by Ben Linus (Michael Emerson). Flashforwards show the first actions of the Oceanic Six, those who are rescued, after returning home in January 2005, and their lives in late 2007. The cliffhanger from the previous season finale, "Through the Looking Glass," is resolved by revealing John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) to be dead and in the coffin that Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) visits in that episode.
Production and broadcast of the fourth season were interrupted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike and following its resolution, the writers were unable to compress the remainder of season four into the five allotted episodes and the season finale was extended by one hour. Subsequently, the production schedule was compressed and post-production work was completed in three weeks, instead of the usual two months.
The second part was watched by 12 million Americans, making Lost the most watched show of the week, for the first time in the show's history. Both parts were met with critical acclaim. Matthew Fox's acting in his flashforward scenes was praised, as was Michael Giacchino's musical score. The episode's editing was nominated for both a Primetime Emmy Award and Eddie Award.
## Plot
### Part 1
In flashforwards to January 2005, the Oceanic Six—Jack Shephard, Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim), Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Claire Littleton's (Emilie de Ravin) infant, Aaron—arrive in Honolulu, where Hurley and Sun are reunited with their parents; Jack with his mother; and Sayid with his girlfriend, Nadia Jaseem (Andrea Gabriel). In the ensuing media circus, a press conference is held, where they lie about everything that has happened on the island; claiming that they are the only living survivors and that Kate gave birth to Aaron on the island. Sometime later, Hurley's dad (Cheech Marin) gives Hurley his newly rebuilt 1970s Camaro, at a surprise birthday party. Hurley, however, becomes panicked and runs away when he notices that the car's odometer displays the numbers. In Seoul, South Korea, Sun visits her father and informs him that she used the money from her settlement with Oceanic Airlines to buy a controlling interest in his company because she blames him for her husband's, Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim), death. In the final flashforward, Jack eulogizes his deceased father, Christian Shephard (John Terry). After the ceremony, Carole Littleton (Susan Duerden), Claire's mother, reveals to him that Claire is his half-sister; as she walks away, she smiles at Aaron in Kate's arm, oblivious to the fact that she is staring at her grandson.
On December 30, 2004, following the events of "Cabin Fever", Jack and Kate follow the tracking signal on the phone given to them by Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), who dropped it onto the survivors' beach from a helicopter. They encounter James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Aaron and Miles Straume (Ken Leung); Kate returns to the beach with Miles and Aaron. Jack and Sawyer meet up with Lapidus at the helicopter, but decide to rescue Hurley, who is with Ben, the mercenaries' target, before leaving for the freighter. Meanwhile, Sayid arrives at the beach on the freighter's Zodiac boat and informs the survivors that they must go to the freighter as soon as possible because the mercenaries' secondary objective is to kill everyone on the island. He and Kate go after Jack and Sawyer, but are captured by Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) and the rest of the Others. After unsuccessfully attempting to convince his crush, Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader), to leave the island, Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) starts ferrying people to the freighter. Sun, Jin, and Aaron arrive at the boat, only to discover a bomb, consisting of a large amount of C4 explosives, on board.
Meanwhile, in their quest to move the island, Ben, Locke and Hurley arrive at the Dharma Initiative Orchid station, which is disguised as a greenhouse. Ben sends Locke to the real part of the station and surrenders himself to Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) and the other mercenaries from the Kahana, who had previously arrived. A final montage shows the Oceanic Six and Ben in their respective predicaments.
### Parts 2 & 3
On the island, Jack and Sawyer meet up with Hurley and Locke at the Orchid station. Jack and Locke once more argue about the nature of the island; Locke implores him to lie about the island once he and the other survivors leave. At the helicopter, Kate, Sayid, and the Others free Ben by ambushing and killing the mercenaries, except Keamy, who feigns death. In return, the Others allow Kate, Sayid and the other survivors to leave the island on the helicopter. Ben returns to the Orchid, where he gets in a hidden elevator with Locke.
Inside the underground part of the Orchid station, Ben puts every metal item he can find into a small compartment at the back of the room, while Locke watches the orientation video for the Orchid. On the tape, Pierre Chang (François Chau) begins to discuss time travel involving "negatively charged exotic matter" when the VCR malfunctions and the tape rewinds itself. Shortly, Keamy arrives and tells Locke that if he (Keamy) dies, the C4 on the freighter will detonate, due to a remote trigger linked to a heart rate monitor he is wearing. Regardless, Ben kills Keamy with no remorse or sympathy for those on the boat, in order to avenge his adopted daughter Alex (Tania Raymonde), whom Keamy executed. Ben seals and then activates power to the compartment he had loaded with metal items, blowing a hole in the back of it. Ben, now wearing a parka, tells Locke that whoever moves the island is forced to leave it and never come back; Ben must do it so that Locke can stay and lead the Others. Locke then goes to the Others, who welcome him home. Ben climbs through the hole and down a rocky tunnel beyond it into a frozen chamber, cutting his arm in the process. He then turns a very large metal wheel. As he completes the rotation, an eerie sound and white-yellow light soon envelop the entire island. Ben disappears, only to reappear several months later in the Sahara Desert (as seen in "The Shape of Things to Come").
Jack, Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, Hurley, and Frank Lapidus leave the island on the helicopter, but discover a fuel leak on board. In order to lighten the helicopter, Sawyer jumps out after whispering something in Kate's ear and kissing her. The helicopter makes it to the Kahana in the nick of time; they refuel it, fix the leak, pick up Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick), Sun and Aaron and leave seconds before the C4 detonates. The resulting explosion kills Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau), who is told that "he can go now" by a vision of Christian Shephard. The status of Jin, who is still on the boat, is left uncertain as a cliffhanger. Sawyer swims back to the island and laments the destruction of the boat with Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell). The people on the helicopter decide to return to the island, but as they approach, they see the island vanish in the white-yellow light. With nowhere to land, the helicopter runs out of fuel and the survivors are forced to ditch into the ocean. They drift in a rescue raft for several hours, where Hurley suggests that Locke succeeded in moving the island, but Jack refuses to believe it. Jack convinces the other survivors that they must lie about their experiences on the island, to protect those left behind.
That same night, the survivors are rescued by Penny Widmore (Sonya Walger), Desmond's girlfriend, with whom he is finally reunited. In keeping with the faked wreckage of Flight 815 found in the Java Trench, the Oceanic Six are dropped off near the island of Sumba, where they are found by local villagers.
In flashforwards to late 2007, following those in "Through the Looking Glass", Jack, Kate and Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley) all recount stories of being approached by Jeremy Bentham, the dead man in the coffin. Kate has a dream in which Claire tells her not to bring Aaron back to the island. In London, England, Sun confronts Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), Penny's father, who sent the Kahana to the island, and tells him that they have common interests involving the island. After finding out that Bentham is dead, Sayid breaks into the mental hospital where Hurley is staying and convinces him to go "somewhere safe". Jack returns to the funeral parlor, where he is confronted by Ben, who says that the island will not allow Jack to return without everyone else who left joining him. This includes Jeremy Bentham's body, who is finally revealed to be John Locke.
## Production
### Cast
The episode features the last appearance of actor Harold Perrineau, whose character Michael dies in an explosion, as a main cast member. The character of Michael was absent for the entire third season of Lost and returned midway through the fourth season in "Ji Yeon." Perrineau was disappointed that he was brought back to the show only to be killed and that Michael does not get a chance to reunite with his son, Walt, saying, "there are all these questions about how [the writers] respond to black people on the show ... Walt just winds up being another fatherless child. It plays into a really big, weird stereotype and, being a black person myself, that wasn't so interesting." The fate of Jin, who is also on the freighter when it explodes, is left uncertain. Actor Daniel Dae Kim was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, which prompted speculation about his future on the series, due to co-stars Michelle Rodriguez (Ana-Lucia Cortez) and Cynthia Watros (Libby) leaving Lost after DUI arrests. This episode also marks Malcolm David Kelley's first appearance on the show since the third season, excepting a computer effects shot of the actor in "Meet Kevin Johnson". Kelley's character, Walt, was "benched" for the majority of the second and third seasons because the actor's growth was disproportionate to the amount of time that has passed on the island. The writers got the idea to show him in flashforwards in his older form while writing "Through the Looking Glass".
### Writing
Throughout season four, Jack and Locke have argued about the true nature of the island, whether it had supernatural powers and on how Oceanic Flight 815 crashing could be part of the survivors' destiny. Upon witnessing the island vanish at the end of this episode, Jack finally realizes that Locke was right. Jack then takes Locke's advice and convinces the other survivors that they must lie about the island once they are rescued. This is further emphasized by the fact that the same music is played during Jack and Locke's conversation and when the survivors encounter Penny's boat. Lindelof has also stated that Sawyer's message to Kate in the helicopter is a "critical plot point" in that it ultimately leads to the end of Jack and Kate's relationship once they return home (as seen in "Something Nice Back Home"). In terms of plot structure, the main action scene of the episode, where the Others and the survivors confront the mercenaries, was deliberately placed at the beginning of "Part 2" so that the remainder of the episode could focus on character development. Furthermore, all of the present time plotlines are interconnected by the C4 bomb on the freighter, even though the writers themselves have called the use of the bomb as a plot device "ridiculous". It was necessary, however, in order to keep both Michael and Jin from leaving the freighter with the other survivors.
The final scenes of the episode, particularly Ben turning the wheel, Penny and Desmond's reunion and the last shot of Locke in the coffin were kept secret, in order to prevent spoilers from leaking. The phrase "Frozen Donkey Wheel" was coined to describe not only the wheel that Ben turns, but also the final scene in which Locke is shown to be in the coffin. Only six people knew that Locke was in the coffin—actors Matthew Fox, Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn; writers Lindelof and Cuse and Jack Bender, the director.
#### Writers' Strike
The Writers Guild of America went on strike on November 4, 2007 after the writers had only finished the first eight episodes of the season. Show runners Lindelof and Cuse wanted to hold the eight episodes until they were able to produce more of the season, but ABC decided that the eight episodes would be aired from January to March, regardless of whether any more episodes were produced in the 2007–2008 season. After the resolution of the strike, ABC decided to produce five more episodes for the fourth season. This conflicted with ABC's earlier plan to broadcast seasons four, five and six in uninterrupted blocks of sixteen episodes each. Despite this, ABC prioritized scheduling Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Lost's returns all for April 24. The decision left the three unproduced episodes of season four "in the bank" to be used later in seasons five and six.
After the resolution of the strike, Lindelof said that the effect of the strike on the fourth season would be minimal and the season's story arc would be completed as originally intended. However, the first draft of the second part of "There's No Place Like Home," was 85 pages long, approximately 30 pages longer than a typical one hour Lost script. Lindelof and Cuse found that they could not compress the second half of the season finale into one episode and actually wanted to expand it. Subsequently, the show runners went into "advanced talks" with executives at ABC and convinced them to produce one of their episodes "in the bank", thereby extending "There's No Place Like Home: Part 2" to two hours. However, this caused a scheduling problem with Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty, which were both already scheduled to air their season finales on May 22, 2008. To allow Lost to have a two-hour finale, ABC moved it one week later to May 29, 2008 and aired both parts of "There's No Place Like Home" back-to-back. Ultimately, this left thirty-four episodes to be split over seasons five and six, which will each have seventeen episodes. Another effect of the strike was that the backstories of the so-called "freighter folk", i.e. Faraday, Miles and Charlotte, had to be pushed back to season five. As such, the writers dropped hints to Charlotte's backstory in "There's No Place Like Home".
### Filming
"There's No Place Like Home: Part 2" was filmed in approximately three and a half weeks; filming concluded three weeks before the episode aired. Scenes set on the exterior of the freighter were shot on an actual freighter named Kahana. Several actors and crew members stayed aboard the freighter while filming "There's No Place Like Home", as well as other episodes of the fourth season. Director Jack Bender and several others became seasick after only spending a short time on board. The helicopter featured in several scenes never actually took off from or landed on the Kahana because the rotors were too large and would hit the boat if used. Instead, the rotors were added using digital effects and the helicopter was raised and lowered by a crane onto the deck of the freighter while it was docked. Filming took place during this and the footage was intercut with scenes of Michael dealing with the bomb; thus the helicopter is never seen landing on the freighter. Other scenes set on the helicopter were shot on a soundstage in front of a green screen, where actress Yunjin Kim lost her voice from screaming. Furthermore, the first prop bomb was deemed to be too small and the amount of C4 was doubled, even though the original amount of C4 depicted was sufficient to blow up the freighter. The set for the exterior of the Orchid station was constructed in the Manoa valley on the island of Oahu, near Paradise Park, a defunct tourist attraction, which served as the Dharma Initiative Hydra station in the first few episodes of the third season. The exterior elevator for the Orchid station did not actually move and a camera trick was used to simulate movement. The scene in which Sun confronts Widmore was filmed on location, in London, because actor Alan Dale (Widmore) was appearing as King Arthur in Spamalot there at the time. Dale was not made aware of the plot of the episode, saying that "the wording, the title and all the headings on the scripts were changed. Only [he] knew they were the Lost scripts, along with the director." Sonya Walger declared that despite being a guest star on the show since the second season's finale, the rescue scene was the first time she had met Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, as most of her scenes were either only with Henry Ian Cusick or alone. Two alternate endings were shot for the episode in order to minimize the risk of the real ending being leaked. Both versions were shown on Good Morning America on May 30, 2008. In the first alternate ending, Sawyer is in the coffin and in the second, Desmond is in the coffin. Overall, it took four editors approximately three weeks to edit the second part of the finale, which under normal circumstances would take two months.
## Reception
### Ratings
"There's No Place Like Home: Part 1" was watched by 10.962 million American viewers, of which 6.391 million were ages 18 to 49, ranking nineteenth for the week in total viewers and eighth among viewers age 18 to 49. The episode was watched by 1.296 million Canadian viewers, ranking fifteenth for the week. It was also watched by 914,000 viewers in the United Kingdom and by 464,000 viewers in Australia, making it the thirtieth most watched program of the night, a feat that David Dale of The Sun-Herald thought proved that "there's hope for the world". "There's No Place Like Home: Part 2 " was watched by 12.303 million American viewers, of which 6.453 million were ages 18 to 49, making it the most watched show of the week overall and in the 18 to 49 demographic. It was the first Lost episode to lead the weekly ratings. The episode was watched by 1.448 million Canadian viewers, ranking second for the week. It was also watched by 1.166 million viewers in the United Kingdom and by 603,000 viewers in Australia.
### Critical response
Patrick Kevin Day of the Los Angeles Times praised Michael Giacchino's musical score, writing that "I'm reminded of the heights of emotion this series can evoke." Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post thought that the finale's split and two-week break was "not cool", but asked "how brilliant was Sun's smackdown on her bad daddy?". Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger wrote that "when Lost is at its best ... it manages to balance revelations ... with great character moments. I don't know that I'd put this one in the pantheon (again, a lot of it was set-up for ... [Parts 2 & 3]), but it was definitely in the spirit of what I love about the show." Kristin dos Santos of E! praised the chemistry between Naveen Andrews and Andrea Gabriel, who play Sayid and Nadia, respectively. Chris Carabott of IGN gave Part 1 of the three-hour finale a 7.9. He commended the music and called it "a good opening to what should be an exciting season finale"; however, the lack of suspense in favor of set-up was cited as the reason for the modest rating. However, Carabott gave Parts 2 & 3 a perfect 10 review, tying with other perfect-10 episodes such as "The Constant" and "Through the Looking Glass". He stated that "Not a moment is wasted in this brilliantly paced and well-executed conclusion to what has been a fantastic season." Dan Compora of SyFy Portal called "Part 1" "an excellent setup episode [with] fast pace, important revelations, and nearly a full utilization of the cast". Compora decided that "certain characters work much better in very small doses ... a little bit of [Hurley] goes a long way [and] it was nice to see Jack featured without completely dominating an episode." Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV summed up Part 1 as "very good", but said that the opening flashforward in which the Oceanic Six are reunited with their families was anticlimactic and "although each flashforward scene had minor and major revelations, it felt patched together and a little sloppy, like Lindelof and Cuse had all this ground to cover in their quest to link all the action up to the final scene of season 3 ... That said, the flashforward scenes all played out exceedingly well." Daniel of TMZ welcomed the return of Richard (on the island) and gave the episode an "A", saying that it had "more than a few fantastic scenes. All the flashforward scenes tonight were right on the money as far as I was concerned." Jay Glatfelter of The Huffington Post "really liked this episode" and concluded that it "definitely showcased the new breath of life the fourth season gave to the show."
Matthew Fox received much praise for his performance in the scene in which his character Jack reacts to the revelation that Claire is his half-sister. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post called this "brilliant acting", while Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger said that "Fox played Jack's anguish beautifully" and called this scene a contender for "Fox's single best moment in the history of the show". Kristin dos Santos gave Fox "mad props" and Chris Carabott of IGN said that "Fox hasn't been given much of an opportunity to stretch his acting muscles this season but he gives a great performance [in this scene]."
Robert Bianco of USA Today said that "a great season of Lost ended with a suitably great finale, which ... ended with the ... whoa-inducing discovery that Locke was the man in the casket. Didn't see that coming—and I can't wait to see what this terrific TV series has coming next." Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe wrote that "the episode was dynamic and busy enough as it relied heavily on action-adventure... but the finale wasn't as mind-bending as [the third] season's farewell, during which we received the show's first flash-forward." Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger enjoyed the triple-length "There's No Place Like Home", but ranked it in the middle of his list of the season's episodes from best to worst and decided that "'There's No Place Like Home" (both parts) played fair with the audience 100 percent, answered [many] questions ... and yet ... I feel ever so slightly disappointed by all of this." He also found the special effects "looked much shoddier than usual" and praised the score. Frazier Moore of the Associated Press thought that "it might be the most rewarding, deliciously challenging episode in the history of this mystical ABC serial." Dan Compora of SyFy Portal wrote that "Part 2" "was perhaps the most action-packed, meaningful episode of television I've watched all year. The pace was excellent, and the revelations were plentiful." Compora also wrote that "though the pace was considerably slower, the finale delivered in a big way ... it was [not a letdown, being] well written and well directed in its own right."
### Awards
The second part of "There's No Place Like Home" was nominated for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for the 2008 Creative Arts Emmy Awards, however it lost to the pilot episode of Breaking Bad. The episode as a whole was nominated by the American Cinema Editors for Best Edited Miniseries or Film – Commercial Television at the American Cinema Editors Awards 2008, losing to 24: Redemption.
## Note
A. Prior to being broadcast, "There's No Place Like Home: Part 2" was known as "There's No Place Like Home: Parts 2 & 3" in ABC's press material. The home release of season four, as well as ABC's official Lost website, refers to it as "There's No Place Like Home: Part 2". Furthermore, the home release states that there are fourteen episodes in season four and "There's No Place Like Home" is counted as three episodes. |
43,599,128 | Archimyrmex | 1,135,299,873 | Extinct genus of ants | [
"Eocene Argentina",
"Eocene animals of South America",
"Eocene insects",
"Fossil ant genera",
"Fossil taxa described in 1923",
"Fossil taxa described in 1957",
"Fossil taxa described in 1981",
"Fossil taxa described in 2012",
"Fossils of Argentina",
"Fossils of Germany",
"Fossils of the United States",
"Hymenoptera of South America",
"Lutetian life",
"Myrmeciinae",
"Paleontology in Colorado",
"Prehistoric insects of Europe",
"Prehistoric insects of North America"
]
| Archimyrmex is an extinct genus of ant in the formicid subfamily Myrmeciinae, described by palaeoentomologist Theodore Cockerell in 1923. The genus contains four described species, Archimyrmex rostratus, Archimyrmex piatnitzkyi, Archimyrmex smekali and Archimyrmex wedmannae. Archimyrmex is known from a group of Middle Eocene fossils which were found in North America, South America, and Europe. The genus was initially placed in the subfamily Ponerinae, but it was later placed in Myrmeciinae; it is now believed to be the ancestor of the extant primitive genus Myrmecia from Australia. Despite this, Archimyrmex is not a member to any tribe and is regarded as incertae sedis within Myrmeciinae. However, some authors believe Archimyrmex should be assigned as incertae sedis within Formicidae. These ants can be characterised by their large mandibles and body length, ranging from 13.2 to 30 mm (0.52 to 1.18 in). They also have long, thin legs and an elongated mesosoma (thorax) and petiole.
## History and classification
When described the genus Archimyrmex was known from a solitary fossil preserved as an impression in fine shale of the Green River formation in Colorado. The fossil was recovered in July 1922 from the "station 1" fossil site near the top of the Ute trail by entomologist Wilmatte Porter Cockerell. One side of the A. rostratus holotype is currently deposited in the University of Colorado paleontology collections while the counterpart is in the US National Museum, and an additional eleven fossils were known as of 2002. The holotype was first studied by palaeoentomologist Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell of the University of Colorado and his 1923 type description of the new genus and species was published in The Entomologist. The specific epithet "rostratus" is a reference to the beak-like outline of the mandibles seen in the type specimen.
Cockerell placed the genus into the subfamily Ponerinae. He noted similarities between Archimyrmex and Myrmecia and Prionomyrmex, suggesting Archimyrmex to be an intermediate between the two other genera. The genus was re-described in 1928 by palaeoentomologist William Wheeler who moved the genus from Ponerinae to Myrmicinae. This placement was not challenged until a 2003 paper by Russian palaeoentomologists G.M. Dlussky and K.S. Perfilieva, who moved the genus again, this time to the primitive Subfamily Myrmeciinae based on the close similarity between Archimyrmex and Prionomyrmex. In 1957, an additional species of fossil ant was described from the Middle Eocene Ventana Formation in the Rio Pichileufu region of Argentina by M.J. Viana and J.A. Haedo Rossi. They placed the species into a new genus, Ameghinoia as Ameghinoia" piatnitzkyi. As with Archimyrmex, the genus was first placed in Ponerinae. It was subsequently moved to Myrmeciinae by R.R. Snelling in 1981. A second Ventana Formation ant species was described in 1981 by E. Rossi de Garcia and placed into another new genus Polanskiella as P. smekali. Recovered from an outcrop of the Ventana Formation in the Rio Limay area, Rossi de Garcia distinguished the new species from "A." piatnitzkyi based on characteristics of the wing venation and because of the difference in size of the two type specimens. A series of fossils from the three genera were examined by Dlussky and Perfilieva and based on the very notable similarities between the three species, they synonymized the three genera under Archimyrmex, treating both Ameghinoia and "Polanskiella" as junior synonyms. A fourth species, A. wedmannae was described by Dlussky in 2012 based on fossils found in the Middle Eocene Messel Pit site of Germany. The specific epithet was chosen by Dlussky to honour paleoentomologist Sonja Wedmann.
Before Archimyrmex was placed into the subfamily Myrmeciinae, Wheeler classified the genus as incertae sedis (Latin for "of uncertain placement") within the ant subfamily Myrmicinae, as it could not be confidently placed into any ant tribe. Even after its placement within Myrmeciinae it was still classified as incertae sedis. However, Cesare Baroni Urbani of the University of Basel, Switzerland classified the genus as incertae sedis within the family Formicidae. Baroni Urbani justifies his decision by stating the characters of the ant are similar to those of Cariridris, an insect from the Lower Cretaceous that was once placed in Myrmeciinae, but is now incertae sedis within the subclade Aculeata. Archimyrmex also shares a similar structure to other ants and insects within the order Hymenoptera. The key diagnostic traits (synapomorphies) of Myrmeciinae ants cannot be observed although the described species have elongated scapes (the first segment of the antenna), a key diagnostic trait for Formicidae. A 2012 report describing new myrmecine fossils accepted the classification of Archibald and colleagues while disregarding Baroni Urbani's comments.
The following cladogram generated by Archibald and colleagues show the possible phylogenetic position of Archimyrmex among some ants of the subfamily Myrmeciinae; it is possible that Archimyrmex may be the ancestor of Myrmecia.
## Description
In general Archimyrmex individuals have a head capsule that bears a set of enlarged mandibles with either a rectangular or triangular outline. The mandibles have a mixed arrangement of teeth and denticles (smaller teeth) on the inside margin. The gynes have long legs and long mesosomas, an elongated petiole (a narrow waist between the mesosoma and gaster) which is usually smooth in profile on the upper surface. The petiole structure in combination with little to no constriction between abdominal segments III and IV is unique to the genus and separates it from the other Myrmeciinae genera.
### A. piatnitzkyi
A. piatnitzkyi is reported from three specimens, giving a body length between 16–18 mm (0.63–0.71 in). The holotype, recovered from the Ventana Formation of the Neuquén Basin in Argentina is currently preserved at the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum palaeoentomological collection. The head capsule is slightly ovoid, being a little longer than it is wide and having elongated mandibles that are notably shorter than the head. As with A. smekali, the mesosoma is massive, being between 1.7-1.8 times as long as it is tall. The legs are like those of the other species, being long and thin. Unlike the other species, the petiole of A. piatnitzkyi does not have a constricted post-petiole.
### A. rostratus
The type specimen numbers are UC no. 15174 and USNM no. 69617 for the part and counterpart; females of the type species A. rostratus have a body length estimated to be between 13.2–15.8 mm (0.52–0.62 in), with a small gaster that is shorter than the mesosoma and sporting a short thick sting. The length of the head when excluding the mandibles is 4 mm (0.16 in), the mesosoma is 5.3 mm (0.21 in) and the middle femur is around 3.7 mm (0.15 in). The preserved specimens from the Green River Formation are brown and the upper area of the head and gaster is black, which is similar to Myrmecia nigriceps. The head capsules have antennae borne on a scape which is long and passes the edge of the occipital margin of the head. The short, thickened mandibles have several larger teeth interspersed with small denticles, and are about 50% of the length of the head capsule. The scape is believed to be long and thin, and its mesosoma is narrow and long. The width of the scutum is greater than its length, the legs are noticeably elongated and thin, and the podeum (a narrow stalk that connects the mesosoma with the abdomen) is slightly convex.
### A. smekali
The A. smekali was recovered from the Ventana Formation in Argentina. The lectotype, numbered NMW. no. 1972/1574/9, is housed in the Museum of Natural History. The lectotype female has an estimated body length of 3 cm (1.2 in) with an mesosoma that is described as "relatively massive" (being only 1.7 to 1.9 times as long as tall) and an oval shaped gaster. There is a notable constriction in the post-petiole abdominal segment not seen in the other species. The head capsule has mandibles which are about 70% as long as the head capsule, and have four to five large teeth each. The antennal scape is longer than the occipital margin and the antenna is composed of an estimated twelve segments. The legs are elongated and narrow, the propodeum is weakly convex and the petiole does not have a node (a segment between the mesosoma and gaster). A. smekali can be distinguished from other species by its massive size, the constriction in the post-petiole and the absence of the node. It was previously thought the ant had an eight-segmented antennae, but the lectotype has seven segments; Dlussky also mentions that the original description provided by Elsa Rossi de Garcia does not match the description he provided.
### A. wedmannae
A. wedmannae from Germany is described from a single gyne that is approximately 23 mm (0.91 in), found in the Messel Formation. The fossil is believed to be 47 million years old. The mesosoma measures 7.4 mm (0.29 in), the length of the head is 2.8 mm (0.11 in), the scape is 3.4 mm (0.13 in), the diameter of the eyes are 1.2 mm (0.047 in) and the forewings are 10.6 mm (0.42 in). The species has a head which is shorter than it is wide, but has mandibles about as long as the head which are triangular in outline. The eyes are oval shaped. As with the three other species the antennal scape is long, one-third of the scape length protrudes past the occipital margin of the head. The pronotum in profile is either straight or weakly concave, and the petiole is weakly rounded with no node present. The propodeum has small denticles and is weakly convex, and the legs are long. The gaster has a well developed and long sting. This species can be distinguished from other Archimyrmex ants by its long mandibles; the shape of the petiole is almost the same as A. smekali, but their mandibles are much shorter and the mesosoma is more compact. The propodeum's dorsal surface is also more convex. |
12,511,319 | 2006 FA Community Shield | 1,138,222,518 | null | [
"2000s in Cardiff",
"2006–07 in English football",
"2006–07 in Welsh football",
"Chelsea F.C. matches",
"FA Community Shield",
"Liverpool F.C. matches"
]
| The 2006 FA Community Shield was the 84th staging of the FA Community Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the Premier League and FA Cup. The match was played between 2005–06 FA Cup winners Liverpool and 2005–06 Premier League champions Chelsea on 13 August 2006 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Chelsea were appearing in the competition for the sixth time, while Liverpool were making their 21st appearance. It was the final Community Shield to be held at the Millennium Stadium following the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium.
Chelsea, the Shield holders, qualified for the match as a result of winning the Premier League, which was their second successive league championship. Liverpool entered the competition after winning the FA Cup final against West Ham United 3–1 on penalties.
Watched by a crowd of 56,275, John Arne Riise opened the scoring for Liverpool early in the first half, only for Chelsea's recently signed forward Andriy Shevchenko to equalise shortly before half-time. Both sides had chances to win the match in the second half, but a Peter Crouch goal late in the half ensured Liverpool won the match 2–1, to win the Community Shield for the 15th time.
## Background
Founded in 1908 as a successor to the Sheriff of London Charity Shield, the FA Community Shield began as a contest between the respective champions of the Football League and Southern League, although in 1913, it was played between an Amateurs XI and a Professionals XI. In 1921, it was played by the league champions of the top division and FA Cup winners for the first time. Wembley Stadium acted as the host of the Shield from 1974. Cardiff's Millennium Stadium was hosting the Shield for the sixth and final time; it took over as the venue for the event between 2001 and 2006 while Wembley Stadium was being rebuilt. This was the first Charity/Community Shield to feature neither Arsenal nor Manchester United since 1995, when Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers faced FA Cup winners Everton.
Chelsea qualified for the Community Shield by winning the Premier League – their second successive championship. They finished eight points clear of second-placed Manchester United. Chelsea beat Liverpool in both their league meetings during the season. A 4–1 win away at Liverpool's home ground Anfield, was followed by a 2–0 victory in the corresponding fixture at their home ground, Stamford Bridge. The sides met in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, a match Liverpool won 2–1 to progress to the final. A 3–2 victory by Liverpool in a penalty shootout, after the 2006 FA Cup Final finished 3–3 with West Ham United, ensured the club's participation in the match.
Chelsea were appearing in the Community Shield for the sixth time and were the holders, after beating Arsenal 2–1 in the 2005 edition. Including this victory they had won the competition three times, in 1955 and 2000. In contrast, Liverpool were appearing in their 21st match in the competition. They had won eight outright (1966, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1989, 2001), shared five (1964, 1965, 1974, 1977, 1986, 1990) and lost six (1922, 1971, 1983, 1984, 1992, 2002). This was the first meeting between the two sides in the competition.
The match would normally be the first of the season for both clubs. However, as a result of finishing third in the Premier League, Liverpool were entered into the third qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League. They won the first of two legs against Israeli team Maccabi Haifa 2–1, courtesy of goals from new signings Craig Bellamy and Mark González. In addition to the signings of Bellamy and González, Liverpool had also purchased defender Fábio Aurélio and midfielder Jermaine Pennant. Chelsea had also brought in a number of players, despite winning successive league titles. Foremost among them was striker Andriy Shevchenko, who signed for a club record £30 million from Milan, manager José Mourinho was adamant that he would fit into the club's style of play: "Everybody knows him as a player, tactically he can play in the Chelsea system no doubt."
Chelsea were expected to start their new signings Shevchenko and Michael Ballack. However, they would be without midfielder Claude Makélélé, who had been allowed extra time to recover from playing for France in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. They would be without goalkeeper Petr Čech and midfielder Joe Cole, who had knee and shoulder injuries, respectively. Liverpool were expected to be without striker Robbie Fowler and defender Aurélio for the match, who were suffering from knee and calf injuries, respectively. Manager Rafael Benítez stated 'we would rather wait until next weekend', before playing the pair.
## Match
### Summary
Chelsea lined up in a 4–3–3 formation while Liverpool, who kicked off the match, lined up in a 4–4–2. Within nine minutes Liverpool had taken the lead. Defender John Arne Riise ran with the ball from his own half and hit a shot from 25 yards (23 m), which beat Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini. Chelsea midfielder Ballack received the first booking of the match in the 7th minute after he kicked Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko, and his partner Frank Lampard was given a yellow card eight minutes later for kicking Boudewijn Zenden. Liverpool almost extended their lead in the 22nd minute, when Paulo Ferreira's pass to Cudicini caught him unaware, however, the ball went wide of the Chelsea goal and out for a corner. Chelsea made the first substitution of the match in the 26th minute, when debutant Salomon Kalou replaced the injured Ballack. Cudicini kept the score at 1–0 in the 42nd minute, when he made saves to deny González and then a subsequent Peter Crouch shot. Chelsea scored two minutes later when Lampard passed the ball cross-field to striker Shevchenko who controlled the ball on his chest and shot past Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina to level the score at 1–1.
The first chance of the second half fell to Liverpool, but midfielder Zenden sent his shot wide of the Chelsea goal. The first substitution of the half came in the 54th minute when Chelsea replaced Geremi with Wayne Bridge. A minute later, they had two chances to take the lead. Reina saved a shot by Didier Drogba and from the resulting corner, he saved a Shevchenko header. Liverpool made their first substitutions of the match within the first 15 minutes of the second half as Aurélio replaced González, before a double-change saw Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso come on for Zenden and Pennant. Alonso received a yellow card two minutes after coming on for a challenge on Michael Essien. Two more substitutions were made in the coming minutes with Chelsea replacing Arjen Robben with Lassana Diarra and Bellamy replacing Luis García for Liverpool. Diarra was shown a yellow card soon after for a foul on Alonso. The resulting free-kick saw Alonso pass the ball to Aurélio, but his subsequent pass to Bellamy was blocked.
Chelsea had the best of the chances after this, with Shevchenko controlling a long pass with his chest before passing to Kalou, but his subsequent attempt went wide of the Liverpool goal. Then two minutes later Shaun Wright-Phillips, who had replaced Drogba, ran down the right-hand side of the pitch. He passed the ball to Kalou, but he was unable to pass to Shevchenko in the Liverpool penalty area, after being blocked by the Liverpool defence. Minutes later, Liverpool took the lead again; Bellamy advanced with the ball down the left-hand side of the pitch, his pass found Crouch, who headed into the Chelsea goal to make it 2–1. The lead was almost extended minutes later, as a Gerrard pass found Aurélio in the Chelsea penalty area, but his shot was saved by Cudicini. Chelsea had a final chance in stoppage time from a Lampard free-kick, but the ball was cleared from the Liverpool penalty area by Sissoko.
### Details
### Statistics
## Post-match
Liverpool manager Benítez was confident that victory in the match would provide his side with a boost ahead of their opening match of the 2006–07 FA Premier League with Sheffield United: "This will give us a lot of confidence I am sure, to play one of the best sides in the world and to beat them, this should give us more confidence going into what will be an interesting season." He also defended his decision to players such as Gerrard and Alonso on the bench: "It was my idea to start with the players that had the most fitness and have played the most minutes. Then I wanted to bring the other players on towards the end. It worked and it showed that we have a great squad – better than last season." Crouch, scorer of the winning goal, was also confident the result would boost the Liverpool squad: "There is a bit of rivalry between the sides and it is great to get an early one over them. Make no bones about it, this is a big game to win and it certainly could give us a psychological edge this season."
Chelsea manager Mourinho was primarily concerned with the fitness of his squad in the aftermath of the match, in particular Ballack, who was substituted with an injury early in the match: "He had a kick in the muscle and he couldn't run but I hope he will be back soon, we have quite a few players not in condition and we need players back, so I hope it's not a big deal." He felt that the fitness of the two squads was the decisive factor in the match: "Today our bench was not very good, with some kids, Liverpool could inject fresh blood at the same time as some of my players became really tired. They were broken. They were in better condition than us, you could see the difference between Frank Lampard and Sissoko." Mourinho was also unconcerned about his team's form heading into the start of the season: "Liverpool had more intensity and pace, qualities that make a team better. They had that and we didn't. We had a big percentage of the ball possession, but Liverpool defended with intensity and looked dangerous when they counter-attacked. I keep saying they are a difficult team to beat and they can go to every game with an ambition to win. They are a good team but over 10 months of competition we will be there."
## See also
- 2006–07 FA Premier League
- 2006–07 FA Cup |
23,884,671 | History of Fairbanks, Alaska | 1,169,168,633 | Aspect of history surrounding Fairbanks | [
"Fairbanks, Alaska",
"Histories of cities in Alaska"
]
| The history of Fairbanks, the second-largest city in Alaska, can be traced to the founding of a trading post by E.T. Barnette on the south bank of the Chena River on August 26, 1901. The area had seen human occupation since at least the last ice age, but a permanent settlement was not established at the site of Fairbanks until the start of the 20th century.
The discovery of gold near Barnette's trading post caused him to turn what had been a temporary stop into a permanent one. The gold caused a stampede of miners to the area, and buildings sprang up around Barnette's trading post. In November 1903, the area's residents voted to incorporate the city of Fairbanks. Barnette became the city's first mayor, and the city flourished as thousands of people came to search for gold during the Fairbanks Gold Rush.
By the time of World War I, the easy-to-reach gold was exhausted and Fairbanks' population plunged as miners moved to promising finds at Ruby and Iditarod. Construction of the Alaska Railroad caused a surge of economic activity and allowed heavy equipment to be brought in for further exploitation of Fairbanks' gold deposits. Enormous gold dredges were built north of Fairbanks, and the city grew throughout the 1930s as the price of gold rose during the Great Depression. A further boom came during the 1940s and 1950s as the city became a staging area for the construction of military depots during World War II and the first decade of the Cold War.
In 1968, the vast Prudhoe Bay Oil Field was discovered in Alaska's North Slope. Fairbanks became a supply point for exploitation of the oil field and for construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which caused a boom unseen since the first years of Fairbanks' founding and helped the town recover from the devastating 1967 Fairbanks Flood. Fairbanks became a government center in the late 1960s with the establishment of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, which took Fairbanks as its borough seat. A drop in oil prices during the 1980s caused a recession in the Fairbanks area, but the city gradually recovered as oil prices climbed during the 1990s. Tourism also became an important factor in Fairbanks' economy, and the growth of the tourism industry and the city continues even as oil production declines.
## Before Fairbanks
Though there was never a permanent Alaska Native settlement at the site of Fairbanks, Athabascan Indians have used the area for thousands of years. An archaeological site excavated on the grounds of the University of Alaska Fairbanks uncovered a Native camp about 3,500 years old. From evidence gathered at the site, archaeologists surmise that Native activities in the area were limited to seasonal hunting and fishing. In addition, archeological sites on the grounds of nearby Fort Wainwright date back 10,000 years. Arrowheads excavated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks site matched similar items found in Asia, providing some of the first evidence that humans arrived in North America via the land bridge.
The first recorded exploration of the Tanana Valley and the Tanana River did not take place until 1885, but historians believe Russian traders from Nulato and Hudson's Bay Company traders ventured into the lower reaches of the Tanana and possibly the Chena River in the middle of the 19th century. In 1885, Henry Tureman Allen of the U.S. Army led the first recorded expedition down the length of the Tanana River, charting the Chena River's mouth along the way.
In July 1897, the first news of the Klondike gold strike reached Seattle, Washington, triggering the Klondike Gold Rush. Thousands of people boarded steamships heading north to the goldfields. Some of these travelers sailed around the western tip of Alaska and up the Yukon River to Dawson City (site of the goldfields) rather than take an arduous overland trip across the Boundary Ranges.
One of these adventurers was E.T. Barnette, who intended to establish a trading post at Tanacross, Alaska, where the Valdez-Eagle Trail crossed the Tanana River. He hired the steamer Lavelle Young to transport him and his supplies, and they began their trip upriver in August 1901. After turning into the Tanana from the Yukon, the steamboat ran into low water. After venturing upstream several miles, the boat reached an impassable point. Barnette suggested the Chena River (then called the Rock River) might be a slough of the Tanana and a way around the low water. About 15 miles (24 km) from the mouth of the Chena, the Lavelle Young again ran into an impassable stretch of river. The captain of the Young did not want to travel downstream with a heavy load because of the danger posed by the extra mass. He therefore unloaded Barnette's cargo on August 26, 1901, with an irate Barnette assisting.
Barnette began building a cabin at a site he named "Chenoa City", and he sold supplies to two prospectors, Felix Pedro and Tom Gilmore, who were in the area. Barnette traded for furs, then traveled to Valdez via dog team with his wife and three other men. The mountain pass they traveled through was later named Isabel Pass in honor of Barnette's wife. From Valdez, he returned to St. Michael, where he built a steamboat, the Isabelle, and began sailing up the Yukon in August 1902. He intended to move his supplies to Tanacross, but when he arrived at his trading post on the Chena River, he changed his mind. Felix Pedro had discovered gold.
## Origins of Fairbanks
Before Barnette traveled upriver with the Isabelle, he met Judge James Wickersham in St. Michael. Wickersham was the judge for the federal Third Judicial District, which stretched from the North Slope to the Aleutian Islands. Wickersham was impressed with Barnette and his plan to establish a trading post at Tanacross. He suggested Barnette name his settlement Fairbanks, after Charles W. Fairbanks, the senior Senator from Indiana. Barnette liked the idea and later said, "If we should ever want aid at the national capital, we would have the friendship, at least, of someone who could help us." When Barnette heard of Pedro's gold strike, he transferred the name for his planned Tanacross store to the settlement on the Chena River and convinced the people with him to accept the name.
When Barnette and the Isabelle'''s crew heard of Pedro's discovery, they immediately fled the boat and the settlement to stake claims on creeks and likely gold-bearing spots 12 miles (19 km) north, near the mountain and creek Pedro named after himself. Marking a claim was simple. Each man could pick a set amount of space, which was marked with posts at each corner, hence "staking" the claim. Each claim had to be listed by a federal recorder. When Barnette and the crew of the Isabelle were staking claims, Barnette proclaimed himself the interim recorder until an official one could be brought to the area. Although they also recorded their claims with Barnette, most men also reported their claims at the official office in Circle. To maximize his gain, Barnette had power of attorney for several relatives in Ohio. He staked claims in their names, thus giving him authority over a large portion of what was believed to be the gold-bearing terrain.
Word of Pedro's discovery spread during the months that followed Barnette's arrival in September 1902. In December, he wrote to a friend in Seattle, "A message came yesterday that 1,000 people had left Nome during the last three days for here. I look for half of Dawson here before spring." In January 1903, Barnette's cook, Jujiro Wada, arrived in Dawson City with word of the gold find. On January 17, 1903, the Yukon Sun newspaper ran the headline "RICH STRIKE MADE IN THE TANANA" across most of its front page, spurring miners from the Yukon to stampede to Fairbanks in the first big rush of the settlement's history.
## Boom
When the miners from Nome, Dawson, Rampart, and other places arrived in the Tanana Valley, they were disappointed with what they found. Hundreds of claims were staked, but none were close to Pedro's discovery claims, which had been taken by the crew of the Isabelle and other early arrivers. Adding to the pressure on claiming land were men who, like Barnette, had power of attorney rights for others, and could thus make multiple claims. The Dawson Daily News reported that one man claimed 144 portions of 20 acres (81,000 m<sup>2</sup>) apiece. Around Barnette's trading post, town lots were claimed for \$2.50 apiece, and there was fierce competition for the choicest spots. At the mouth of the Chena River, a competing settlement, named Chena, sprang up when two traders moved their store to the junction of the two rivers. Land speculation was fierce in Chena, where claims were frequently stolen and had to be enforced with firearms.
Accounts vary, but historians estimate that by spring 1903, between 700 and 1,000 men arrived in the Tanana Valley. This put an enormous strain on Barnette's stock of food, which rapidly rose in price with demand. Miners objected to Barnette charging \$12 per bag of flour and requiring them to buy cases of canned food. They gathered outside his store and demanded he lower his prices or they would burn it down. He responded that he had riflemen inside the building, and both groups reached a compromise. Shortly afterward, Barnette headed south with his wife on a dog team, intending to gather investors to purchase more supplies.
In April, Judge Wickersham arrived on a trip looking for a location for the courthouse, jail, and government offices for the Third District courts. He later described his first view of the settlement: "A half-dozen new squat log structures, a few tents ... a small clearing in the primitive forest—that was Fairbanks as I first saw it on April 9, 1903." Wickersham examined Chena as a potential site for the government offices, but he settled on Fairbanks, partially because Barnette's partner and brother-in-law, Frank Cleary, gave Wickersham a choice piece of land valued at between \$1,500 and \$2,000. Wickersham asked Cleary to name the two main streets in town Cushman and Lacey, after U.S. Representatives Francis W. Cushman of Washington and John F. Lacey of Iowa.
Wickersham estimated 500 people in town, and another count estimated 1,000, with 387 houses under construction, six saloons, and no churches. Before spring arrived, Wickersham published the first newspaper in the settlement—the Fairbanks Miner—on a typewriter. It sold seven copies at \$5 per copy. But even as the walls of Wickersham's courthouse were going up, dissatisfied miners were leaving the area. Hundreds left on rafts going downriver or steamers going to Dawson City. By June 1903, cabins on city lots were selling for as little as \$10. Meanwhile, Barnette sold two-thirds of his store to the Alaska Commercial Company and arranged for the establishment of a post office at his settlement.
In fall 1903, the flood of miners leaving the Tanana Valley ended when major gold strikes were made north of Fairbanks. The gold was deeper than in the Klondike, and it had taken time to dig to it. At Cleary Creek, miner Jesse Noble discovered what became the richest vein of gold in Alaska. Gold extraction was slow, because almost no heavy machinery was available to remove the overburden above the layers of gold. The gold discoveries of 1903 reversed the trend of people away from the Tanana Valley. By Christmas 1903, there were between 1,500 and 1,800 miners in the valley. Another food shortage arose during the winter of 1903, alleviated only by the food Barnette had brought in after his trip to the Lower 48.
Despite the food shortage, more buildings were constructed. The Northern Commercial Company built a store to replace Barnette's cabin, and Wickersham recorded a wide range of businesses, including 500 houses and 1,200 people. To manage the growing population, the settlement held a vote on November 10, 1903, to decide whether to incorporate Fairbanks as a town or not. The vote passed, and Barnette was sworn in as the city's first mayor on the next day.
## City of Fairbanks
Barnette's first action as mayor was to write a letter to Washington, D.C., asking the federal government to sell its military food stores from posts near the town, thus alleviating the food shortage. This move was followed by others: licensing a telephone company, providing for garbage collection, fire protection, and a one-room school (which shut down later that winter for lack of funds). Barnette used his position to grant long-term contracts for city utilities to members of his family. One of Barnette's brothers-in-law, James W. Hill, was given a 25-year contract to provide electricity, drinking water, and steam heat to the city. In 1904, Barnette arranged for regular shipments of supplies to Fairbanks, and the town continued to expand. In addition to the local telephone system, Fairbanks was connected to the outside world via the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System, which was expanded from Eagle to Nome in 1903 and passed through Fairbanks.
Gold production increased from \$40,000 in 1903 to \$600,000 in 1904 and \$6 million in 1905. This expansion and the accompanying rise in population drove further productivity. Barnette opened the town's first bank on September 9, 1904. One month earlier, two Catholic priests built the town's first church, Immaculate Conception Church. Also in 1904, construction of a railroad began in Fairbanks and Chena, its downstream neighbor. Low water on the Chena River prevented steamboats from reaching Fairbanks, so a railroad line was built from the Tanana River at Chena to Fairbanks and the mines north of town. Construction of the Tanana Mines Railroad (later the Tanana Valley Railroad) was finished to Fairbanks on July 17, 1905. Two new banks opened in 1905, as did the city's first greenhouse, and a new \$10,000 bridge across the Chena River. In June 1905, the bridge caused the biggest flood in the young city's history when a bridge upstream of it collapsed and the resulting wreckage caught in the bridge and blocked the river's flow. The river rose, flooding the town, and the bridge had to be dynamited to halt the flood. The next year, a fire destroyed most of Fairbanks, and the damage was estimated at \$1.5 million. The town was quickly rebuilt, and the town's first hospital, St. Joseph's, was built on the north bank of the Chena. Because the hospital was run by a Catholic religious order, Immaculate Conception Church was later transported across the Chena River and placed next to the hospital. In 1907, Barnette's bank was forced to temporarily close due to the Panic of 1907 and legal troubles. A new school was built, which housed 150 students. Other schools were built on the north side of the Chena River, which was separate from town.
In 1908, the U.S. Army Signal Corps built a radiotelegraph tower in town, replacing the cable telegraph system to Valdez and Seattle. The 176 feet (54 m) tower was the tallest structure in town for decades. In 1909, Fairbanks' gold production peaked at more than \$9.5 million. The town saw its first library open that year, and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the city's longest-lived newspaper, began publishing.
Poor investments caused the bank founded by Barnette to fail in January 1911, at a time when it held more than \$1 million in deposits from Fairbanks residents. In Fairbanks, the common belief was that Barnette had embezzled money from the bank. Although he was found guilty of only one of 11 charges against him, Barnette had a poor reputation in Fairbanks. For years afterward, Fairbanks newspapers referred to any robbery as "Barnetting" the subject.
The accusations against Barnette were big news in a town that had little crime. Gambling and drinking were common throughout the town. Prostitution was restricted to a district separated from the rest of town by a wooden fence. The "line," as it was known, operated until the 1950s with the tacit approval of city authorities. Fights were common, but gunplay was not. As one miner recalled, not more than one man in 500 carried a gun, and while fisticuffs were common, gunfights were not. This was backed up by the experience of Northern Commercial Company stagecoach drivers, who carried more than \$7 million overland during a 12-year period without a single incident.
## Decline
In 1911, the Fairbanks Commercial Club, a group of businesses, created the slogan "Fairbanks, Alaska's Golden Heart." The slogan remains the city's motto today. In that year, Fairbanks boasted a population of more than 3,500 people, making it the largest city in Alaska. Thousands more people lived in mining camps outside the city itself. But 1910 marked the beginning of a decline in Fairbanks' fortunes. That year, less than \$6 million in gold was produced—two-thirds the total of the previous year. By 1911, production was half what it had been in 1909. In 1918, it was ten percent of what it had been nine years before. The decline in production caused businesses to go out of business. Stores that sold to miners closed, as did those that supported the mines directly. World War I caused a further decline as the town's young men were drafted and sent overseas. Economic effects also were felt. A local judge later stated that the war "set Fairbanks back by 10 years" because it dried up construction and sent men overseas. After the war, the 1918 flu pandemic was particularly virulent in Alaska; it killed between 2,000 and 3,000 people in the territory. By 1923, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner estimated fewer than 1,000 people lived in the city, and almost none at the mining camps beyond town.
## Slowing the decline
Although Fairbanks was in decline, two major projects mitigated the worst effects of the post-gold rush slump: construction of the Alaska Railroad and the creation of the University of Alaska.
### Alaska Railroad
In 1906, L.A. Nadeau of the Northern Pacific Railroad predicted a railroad link to the ocean would allow gold miners to bring in heavy equipment and process large amounts of low-grade ore. "Not only will the cost of living be cheaper to the miner, but he will be able to get his heavy machinery at a price low enough to enable him to work a vast quantity of low-grade ground, which cannot be touched under present conditions." Eight years after that remark, the U.S. Congress appropriated \$35 million to build the Alaska Railroad system. News of the appropriation set off celebrations among Fairbanks residents who hoped its construction would prove a boon for the local economy.
In 1917, the Alaska Railroad purchased the Tanana Valley Railroad, which had suffered from the wartime economic problems. The railroad line was extended westward, until it reached the town of Nenana and a construction party working north from Ship Creek, later renamed Anchorage. Until the railroad was finished and coal from Healy became available, Fairbanks burned wood as a heating source and to provide electricity. In 1913, the town burned between 12,000 and 14,000 cords of wood, with the Northern Commercial Company (owners of the power plant) burning 8,500 cords alone.
President Warren G. Harding visited Fairbanks in 1923 as part of a trip to hammer in the ceremonial final spike of the railroad at Nenana. The rail yards of the Tanana Valley Railroad were converted for use by the Alaska Railroad, and Fairbanks became the northern end of the line and its second-largest depot.
### University of Alaska
One year before Harding's visit to Fairbanks, the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines (today known as the University of Alaska Fairbanks), opened its doors to six students. The school was thought up by James Wickersham, who had risen to become Alaska's delegate to Congress. In 1915, Wickersham gained approval of a bill funding the college from the 63rd United States Congress. After the bill was approved, he traveled to Fairbanks and selected a site on a hill four miles west of Fairbanks, in what is today College, Alaska now often referred to as part of Fairbanks, and not as a separate entity. On July 4, 1915, acting "without the authority of law," he laid the cornerstone for the school.
The site for the school was directly north of the U.S. Agricultural Experimental Station (Tanana Valley), an experimental farm created by Charles Christian Georgeson in 1907. The farm was a project by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to explore the agricultural potential of Interior Alaska. By 1916, one year after the founding of the University of Alaska, the experimental farm employed 20 people. As mining declined in the Fairbanks area, some miners turned to homesteading. Under the Homestead Act, many miners applied for grants of land from the federal government and established farms around the city. A 1919 survey by the U.S. Geological Survey identified 94 homesteads within six miles of Fairbanks. Also listed were two tungsten mills and 16 gold mills.
Agriculture in the area was spurred by food and fodder shortages during the winters of 1913, 1915, and 1916. Fairbanks businessmen also encouraged the growth of farming. Wickersham provided more funding for the experimental farm, the Tanana Valley Railroad provided free grain seed acquired from an experimental farm in Sweden, and William Fentress Thompson, the editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, wrote frequent editorials supporting more farming. Prominent Fairbanks businessmen formed the Alaska Loyal League, a group that encouraged farming. Farmers also created the Tanana Valley State Fair in 1924 to demonstrate their agricultural success. It is Alaska's oldest state fair and still operates today. Despite these moves, the agriculture movement in Fairbanks had only limited success. A farmers' bank established in 1917 to provide loans for equipment purchases went out of business two years later, and although the Alaska Railroad allowed for cheaper shipment of tractors and other agricultural equipment, it also permitted a steady supply of food shipments to Fairbanks. In 1929, Alaska farms met only about 10 percent of the state's food demand. By 1931, the University of Alaska had grown to the point that the experimental farm was annexed by the school.
## Dredging era
After the completion of the Alaska Railroad, it became economically feasible to bring in heavy equipment and build gold dredges to work the large amount of low-grade ore that remained after the Fairbanks Gold Rush. The best example of this is the construction of Davidson Ditch, a 90-mile (140 km) aqueduct built between 1924 and 1929 to provide water for gold dredging. Fairbanks Exploration Company (FE Co.), a division of the United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, built both the aqueduct and many of the dredges that used its water to process ore. Large-scale dredging began in 1928, and FE Co. became the town's biggest employer. It built the biggest power plant in Alaska to provide electricity for the dredges, and it built pumping stations to provide them with water from the Chena and other rivers.
In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt fixed the price of gold at \$35 per ounce. This price increase encouraged mining and insulated Fairbanks from the Great Depression. When Roosevelt called for a bank holiday to alleviate the worst effects of the depression, Fairbanks banks declined, saying they didn't need one. Large-scale dredging peaked in 1940, when 209,000 ounces of gold were produced in the Fairbanks area. After the outbreak of World War II in the United States, the federal government closed most gold-mining operations, deeming them unessential to the war effort.
In 1932, Fairbanks' two-story school, built in 1907, burned to the ground. A new, \$150,000 three-story concrete art deco building was proposed as a replacement, and after heated debate, a \$100,000 bond measure was approved in 1933. On January 22, 1934, the new school opened. It had space for about 500 students, but the town's growth required renovation and expansion in 1939 and 1948.
### Paving Fairbanks
Until 1938, Fairbanks lacked paved streets. The town's dirt roads turned to dust in summer and thick mud in spring and fall, causing problems as Fairbanks' population grew in the 1930s. In 1937, the mayor of Fairbanks, E. B. Collins, proposed using a federal grant and city bonds to pave the roads, but he was turned down by voters. The next year, he tried again and was successful. By 1940, the first 0.25 miles (0.40 km) of paved road was complete.
### Aviation
About the time of the completion of the Alaska Railroad and the beginning of the dredging era in Fairbanks, Alaska's aviation industry began to take off. The first airplane flight in Alaska took place in Fairbanks on July 4, 1913, when a barnstormer flew from a field south of town. The aircraft had been crated and sent from Seattle via Skagway and Whitehorse. The pilot subsequently tried to sell the aircraft, but had no takers. Alaska's first commercial aircraft didn't arrive until June 1923, when Noel Wien began flying a Curtiss JN-4 on mail routes between Fairbanks and isolated communities. From Fairbanks, Wien became the first person to fly to Anchorage and cross the Arctic Circle in an airplane.
Given Alaska's limited road and rail infrastructure, the territorial government saw the advantages of aerial transport. In 1925, the territorial legislature authorized the spending of up to \$40,000 per year on airfield construction. Between that year and 1927, more than 20 airfields were built. By 1930, Alaska had more than 100. In Fairbanks, airplanes flew from a field that doubled as a baseball diamond until 1931, when the city bought the field, installed infrastructure, and named it Weeks Field. By the late 1930s, there were more than four dozen airplanes in the town of about 3,000 people, giving Fairbanks the reputation of having the most airplanes per capita in the world. Because of Fairbanks' location halfway between New York City and Tokyo, it became a crucial stop on the first around-the-world flights. Wiley Post's 1933 solo circumnavigation stopped in Fairbanks, as did Howard Hughes' 1938 effort.
Military flights also used Fairbanks as a base. In 1920, the first flight from the contiguous United States to Alaska used Fairbanks as a base. In 1934, a flight of Martin B-10 bombers flew from Washington, D.C. to Fairbanks, ostensibly to demonstrate the feasibility of long-range bomber deployments. In reality, the bombers flew photographic missions intended to scout locations for military airfields to be built in the territory.
## Military era
In his final public appearance, U.S. Army General Billy Mitchell said, "I believe that, in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world... I think it is the most important strategic place in the world." That year, Congress passed the Wilcox National Air Defense Act, which provided for a new airbase in Alaska for cold-weather testing and training. A survey team visited Fairbanks in 1936, and in 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 7596, which set aside 6 square miles (16 km<sup>2</sup>) of public land east of Fairbanks for the new airbase, which was named Ladd Army Airfield after Army pilot Arthur Ladd. Preliminary construction began in summer 1939, a few days before Germany invaded Poland to start World War II. The first runway was finished in September 1940, and the base was dedicated then, before most of the buildings were complete.
In the first winter after the dedication, soldiers practiced flying and servicing aircraft in subzero weather conditions. More than 1,000 workers, most of whom were hired from outside Alaska, worked on the project through 1941. Despite these outside workers, the construction effort caused unemployment to almost vanish in Fairbanks, causing a large demand for labor. Fairbanks' economy grew, and the city's second\<\> radio station, KFAR, began broadcasting on October 1, 1939. Hangars and base buildings were completed in summer 1941, but the second winter of cold-weather testing was interrupted by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
### World War II
Fairbanks received word of the attack on Pearl Harbor via civilian shortwave radio operators who passed the news to the U.S. Army base. More than 200 civil defense volunteers immediately signed up for work that included orchestrating a town blackout, blocking town airfields, and making emergency plans to evacuate the town if attacked. In June 1942, the invasion of the Aleutian Islands and the bombing of Dutch Harbor intensified the war's effect on Fairbanks. Ladd Field's cold-weather testing detachment was disbanded as its soldiers were used to bolster Alaska defenses at other locations.
During summer 1942, more soldiers arrived in Fairbanks to replace those moved away from town. Fairbanks residents were drafted to work at Ladd Field because the U.S. Army believed Alaskans were best experienced in cold-weather work. After gold mining was suspended during the war, the Army leased FE Co. offices and requisitioned supplies from Fairbanks businesses. Wartime demand and the draft caused a severe labor shortage in Fairbanks, and supplies of various food and commercial products were interrupted beyond the wartime rationing in the rest of the country. Crime also increased, and because the U.S. Army was placed in wartime control of the Alaska Territory, all newspapers and letters to and from Fairbanks were censored.
To alleviate shortages and supply the war effort, the U.S. Army and the Canadian government began construction of the Alaska Highway, which connected the Canadian road network to Alaska's Richardson Highway and Fairbanks. The highway was completed in fall 1942 and regular traffic began in 1943. As work on the highway took place, war supplies were already reaching Fairbanks through the air. The Northwest Staging Route, a chain of airfields, ended at Fairbanks. Starting in February 1942, supply aircraft began landing in Fairbanks to supply the war effort in Alaska. In summer 1942, negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in an extension of the Lend-Lease effort to Russia. Using the Northwest Staging Route, aircraft were flown from Great Falls, Montana, to Ladd Field. At Ladd Field, the aircraft were turned over to Soviet pilots, who flew them to Nome and on to the Soviet Union. Fairbanks was chosen as a transfer location because it was more protected from potential Japanese attack than Nome.
Starting in fall 1942, large numbers of Soviet soldiers arrived in Fairbanks to work with the U.S. soldiers already in the town. The massive Lend-Lease effort required additional facilities to be built in and near Fairbanks. Ladd Field expanded, and the grounds of the U.S. Army post expanded until it met the city limits of Fairbanks. The University of Alaska, which saw most of its students taken up by the draft, provided office and dormitory space for U.S. and Soviet soldiers. Its professors also contributed to the war effort with specially created Russian language classes. Russian airmen were regular customers of Fairbanks stores, and they bought large amounts of consumer goods unavailable at home. To meet demand when Ladd Field was unusable due to fog, an airfield now known as Eielson Air Force Base was built southeast of Fairbanks. Although there were some conflicts between Soviet and U.S. soldiers and civilians, Lend-Lease operations in Fairbanks continued through the end of the war, and when Lend-Lease ended in September 1945, 7,926 aircraft and tons of cargo had been transferred to Soviet officials in Fairbanks.
### Cold War
By fall 1945, Ladd Field had grown to encompass almost 5,000 military personnel and acres of runways and buildings. Despite a brief lull as the U.S. Army demobilized after World War II, activity in Fairbanks remained high as the Cold War began. The population of the Fairbanks area grew by 240 percent between 1940 and 1950, then doubled between 1950 and 1953. This growth strained the city's infrastructure: schools, water, power, sewer, and telephone systems were all overstressed by new arrivals and expansion. Suburbs sprang up around Fairbanks, which began annexing them in turn. In 1952, the city's boundaries grew from 1.3 square miles (3.4 km<sup>2</sup>) to 2.4 square miles (6.2 km<sup>2</sup>), with another 1 square mile (2.6 km<sup>2</sup>) soon after. More than a dozen subdivisions and housing developments filled the area between Fairbanks city limits and College, and the city's border advanced westward until it met the college city limit. The burgeoning town stopped to commemorate its roots with the Golden Days Festival, a weeklong celebration of Fairbanks history that started to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of gold. The annual festival continues today.
The University of Alaska also grew during this period. In 1946, Congress appropriated money to build a Geophysical Institute to study Arctic phenomena such as the aurora borealis. The institute was established in 1949 and spurred the university's growth as the GI Bill simultaneously boosted the student population. Elementary education also developed as the Fairbanks Independent School District (the precursor to today's Fairbanks North Star Borough School District) was established in 1947 to collect school taxes from areas outside the city limits that were sending students to Fairbanks' school. The Golden Valley Electric Association, an electrical cooperative, was founded in the 1940s to provide electricity to areas outside Fairbanks city limits. In 1953, it bought the FE Co. power plant that served Fairbanks and provided electricity to customers as varied as Fairbanks' second radio station, KFRB, and the town's largest farm, Creamer's Dairy.
A new airport opened on Oct. 15, 1951, to replace Weeks Field, which had been encroached upon by the town's growth, including Denali Elementary School, the town's first new school since the 1930s. The new Fairbanks International Airport began serving DC-6s, which cut the travel time from Seattle to six hours from eight. The new airport also attracted an over-the-pole test flight by Scandinavian Airlines System, but the airline eventually chose Anchorage as a refueling point for flights from Stockholm to Tokyo. Ground transportation also improved in Fairbanks, as a major program to pave downtown roads began in 1953 with the goal of coating 30 blocks. New military facilities sprang up around Fairbanks and further away. The Haines - Fairbanks 626 mile long 8" petroleum products pipeline was constructed during the period 1953–55. The city was a staging area for the construction of the Distant Early Warning Line, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at Clear Air Station, and several Nike Hercules air defense missile batteries.
The first skyscrapers were built in Fairbanks during this period: the eight-story Northward Building and the 100-foot (30 m) Hill Building (later Polaris Building) were built in the first half of the 1950s. The first traffic lights were installed during the same period. Fairbanks' first television station, KTVF Channel 11, began broadcasting on February 17, 1955. The city's first dedicated high school, Lathrop High (originally Fairbanks High), also began operating in 1955. In the four years that followed, four new elementary schools opened, taking the burden off Main School, which became Main Junior High School.
## Statehood
During the 1950s, agitation grew in Alaska for the territory to become a state. Alaskans could not vote in presidential elections and had a territorial legislature with limited powers. Efforts to lobby federal legislators for an Alaska statehood bill met with limited success, so prominent territorial officials decided to draft a state constitution to prove Alaska's readiness to become a state. On November 8, 1955, 55 elected delegates gathered at the University of Alaska to begin drafting a state constitution. The resulting debates lasted more than two months and caused a sensation in Fairbanks. Debates of the constitutional convention were broadcast on Fairbanks radio, and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner dedicated daily reports to the progress of the convention. On February 5, 1956, the delegates signed the constitution before 1,000 people who crowded into the University of Alaska gymnasium. The building where deliberations took place was subsequently named Constitution Hall.
On June 30, 1958, the U.S. Senate voted 64–20 to accept Alaska as a state. The news set off massive celebrations in Fairbanks. Residents set off fireworks, an impromptu parade took place down Cushman Street, the city's main road, and an attempt to dye the Chena River gold in celebration instead turned it green. The celebration was capped when residents used weather balloons to lift a 30-foot (9.1 m) wide wooden star painted gold and emblazoned with "49" into the air. The balloons lifted it, then drifted into power lines, causing a 16-minute power outage across the city.
President Dwight Eisenhower officially signed the new state into the United States on January 3, 1959, putting the Alaska constitution into effect. The new state's constitution called for the creation of borough governments to help manage the new state. Fairbanks and other areas were reluctant to impose an additional layer of government on themselves, and balked. In 1963, the Alaska Legislature passed the Mandatory Borough Act, which required the eight most populous areas of the state to form organized boroughs by 1964. Students from Fairbanks schools chose "North Star" as the Fairbanks' borough's name, and the Fairbanks North Star Borough came into existence on January 1, 1964.
The years after statehood saw the military boom continue to boost the Fairbanks economy and growth of the city. Fairbanks International Airport's runway was lengthened to 11,500 feet to accommodate jet aircraft. The George Parks Highway was built from Fairbanks to Anchorage and Denali National Park, encouraging tourism. Homes were built on the hills to the north of Fairbanks for the first time, roads were repaved and smoothed, and sidewalks replaced dirt paths. The growth had a price, however. Many of the structures built during Fairbanks' founding were torn down in the name of urban renewal. The first home built in Fairbanks was demolished, as were the final homes remaining on "the line", Fairbanks' prostitution district.
In 1960, the U.S. Air Force made plans to close Ladd Airfield and transfer its functions to nearby Eielson Air Force Base and Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage. When the decision was publicly announced, it was met with almost unanimous opposition by Fairbanks residents and businesses in the area. Although the Air Force held firm in its decision to transfer out of the base, the U.S. Army took over the post on January 1, 1961, and renamed it Fort Wainwright.
The arts scene in Fairbanks also grew during this time. The Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1959, and the Fairbanks Drama Association was created in 1963. The Alaska Goldpanners baseball team was founded in 1959 as the city's first professional sports team. The next year, the Goldpanners hosted their first annual Midnight Sun Baseball Game, a tradition that had been conducted since 1905 and continues under the Goldpanners' auspices today. Through the 1960s, Fairbanks became much more like small towns in the Lower 48 as communications, transportation, and utilities improved.
## The Great Flood
In 1967, Alaska celebrated 100 years since its purchase by the United States from Russia. To celebrate the event, Fairbanksans built A-67 (later Alaskaland and today Pioneer Park), a theme park celebrating the history of Fairbanks and Alaska. At a site away from downtown Fairbanks, it features pioneer cabins, historic exhibits, and the steamer SS Nenana, one of the steamboats that traveled Interior Alaska rivers during the gold rush era. The summer exposition that opened the park in July 1967 was attended by U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey but was plagued by rain, financial problems, and low attendance.
One month after the celebration of Alaska's centennial, the worst disaster in Fairbanks history took place. In July 1967, Fairbanks received 3.34 inches (8.5 cm) of rain, almost double the July average of 1.84 inches (4.7 cm). Then between August 11 and August 13, Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley received the heaviest rainfall in recorded history. In the 24 hours before noon on August 12, 3.42 inches (8.7 cm) of rain fell. Average rainfall for the entire month of August is 2.20 inches (5.6 cm). In August 1967, 6.20 inches (15.7 cm) fell on Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley.
The unprecedented rainfall turned the Chena River into a torrent. On August 14, it passed flood stage and continued to rise. Because no hydrological equipment had been installed upstream of Fairbanks, residents were unaware of the flood's scale. All day and night on August 14, the water rose. It inundated the A-67 site and volunteers allowed water to fill the hold of the SS Nenana'' to keep it from floating on the rising waters and damaging buildings. In downtown Fairbanks, hundreds of volunteers built a sandbag dike around St. Joseph's Hospital to no avail. As the water crested the emergency dike, doctors, nurses, and patients evacuated to the University of Alaska on College Hill.
The university, which is built on high ground, served as an evacuation point and emergency shelter for thousands of flood refugees. The civil defense director of the university expected between 700 and 800 people to take shelter at the university. Between 7,000 and 8,000 showed up as the water rose through August 14 and 15 and crammed into facilities designed to house just over 1,000 students. A helipad was set up in a parking lot, and helicopters from Eielson Air Force Base ferried supplies to the refugees. Fairbanks' power plant was flooded, so the university depended on its physical plant to provide electricity for the refugees. When the rising water threatened to flood the plant, hundreds of the refugees massed to build barricades and pump out the plant's basement.
The flood had a massive effect on Fairbanks. Four people were killed, and the damage ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars. It helped push the city's remaining farm, Creamer's Dairy, into bankruptcy, and it forced the closure of St. Joseph's Hospital. Fairbanks residents responded to the problems with aplomb. The annual Tanana Valley State Fair was postponed but not canceled. Seven thousand dollars were raised to buy Creamer's Dairy and turn it into a bird sanctuary. KTVF, one of the few town businesses to have flood insurance, rebuilt its studio and became the first Fairbanks TV station to broadcast in color, four months after the flood. When two bond measures to build a government-run hospital were turned down by Fairbanks voters, residents raised \$2.6 million from private contributions and \$6 million from the state and federal government to build Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
In the flood's wake, the U.S. Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1968, which provided funding to build the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project on the Chena River upstream of Fairbanks. The project was built between 1973 and 1979 and diverts the Chena River into the Tanana River when the former river rises above a certain level. A chain of dikes were built along the Tanana River to prevent high water from that river flooding Fairbanks from the south. Many businesses benefited from low-interest federal loans to rebuild, which was done quickly. In 1969, Fairbanks was one of 11 cities honored as an "All-America City" by Look magazine and the National League of Cities in honor of its success in recovering from the flood.
## Oil boom
On March 12, 1968, an Atlantic Richfield drilling crew struck oil near Prudhoe Bay, about 400 miles (640 km) north of Fairbanks. The resulting discovery of the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field sparked a massive boom in Fairbanks, which was the nearest city to the field. After abortive attempts to transport oil from the field using seagoing tankers and airplanes, the oil companies developing the field decided to build a pipeline. Plans were set into motion and about to move forward when legal challenges halted the project in 1970. One set of challenges, those levied by Alaska Native groups in the path of the pipeline, was settled by passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. Thirteen major Alaska Native corporations and dozens of smaller ones were created to manage the cash payment and land grants distributed by the federal government under the act. In 1972, Fairbanks became the headquarters of Doyon, Limited, the largest of these corporations.
The Fairbanks economy, which briefly boomed in the period between the discovery of oil and the legal challenge, stagnated as legal challenges dragged on. The challenges were ended by approval of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act in late 1973. When pipeline work began in early 1974, it sparked a boom in Fairbanks unlike anything since the years immediately after the city's founding. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company alone spent an estimated \$800,000 a day in Fairbanks, which housed the construction headquarters on Fort Wainwright. Tens of thousands of workers poured into the city, straining the economy, infrastructure, and public works. The population of the Fairbanks North Star Borough increased by 40 percent between 1973 and 1976. The number of businesses in the area doubled during the same period.
This increase in population caused many adverse effects. Municipal Utilities Service, which operated telephone service, ran out of phone numbers and the waiting list for phone connections stretched to 1,500 entries. Electric demand was so high that the power company advised homeowners to buy generators to cope with frequent brownouts. Home prices skyrocketed—a home that sold for \$40,000 in 1974 was purchased for \$80,000 in 1975. Home and apartment rentals were correspondingly squeezed upward by the rising prices and the demand from pipeline workers. Two-room log cabins with no plumbing rented for \$500 per month. One two-bedroom home housed 45 pipeline workers who shared beds on a rotating schedule for \$40 per week.
The skyrocketing prices were driven by the high salaries paid to pipeline workers eager to spend their money. The high salaries caused a corresponding demand for higher wages among non-pipeline workers in Alaska. Non-pipeline businesses often could not keep up with the demand for higher wages, and job turnover was high. Yellow Cab in Fairbanks had a turnover rate of 800 percent; a nearby restaurant had a turnover rate of more than 1,000 percent. Many positions were filled by high school students promoted above their experience level. To meet the demand, Lathrop High School ran in two shifts: one in the morning and the other in the afternoon to teach students who also worked eight hours a day. More wages and more people meant higher demand for goods and services. Waiting in line became a fact of life in Fairbanks, and the Fairbanks McDonald's became No. 2 in the world for sales—behind only the recently opened Stockholm store. Alyeska and its contractors bought in bulk from local stores, causing shortages of everything from cars to tractor parts, water softener salt, batteries and ladders.
The large sums of money being made and spent caused an upsurge in crime and illicit activity. This was exacerbated because police officers and state troopers resigned in large groups to become pipeline security guards at wages far exceeding those available in public-sector jobs. Fairbanks' Second Avenue became a notorious hangout for prostitutes, and dozens of bars operated throughout the town. In 1975, the Fairbanks Police Department estimated between 40 and 175 prostitutes were working in the city of 15,000 people. In the frigid temperatures of the winter months throughout the 1970s it was common to see street-walking prostitutes in downtown Fairbanks, clad fully from head-to-toe in luxuriant fur coats (and leaving everything to the imagination). Prostitutes brought pimps, who then engaged in turf fights. In 1976, police responded to a shootout between warring pimps who wielded automatic firearms. However, the biggest police issues were drunken brawls and fighting, resulting in a situation akin to the lawlessness associated with the "Wild West" of the American frontier of popular lore.
By 1976, after the city's residents had endured a spike in crime, overstressed public infrastructure, and an influx of people unfamiliar with Alaska customs, 56 percent said the pipeline had changed Fairbanks for the worse. In downtown Fairbanks, overcrowding, traffic problems, and drunken rambunctiousness caused by pipeline workers pushed businesses to move into malls built away from downtown. New commercial centers like Gavora Mall, Bentley Mall, and others away from the city center drove the construction of freeways that bypassed downtown Fairbanks.
## Post-boom
Pipeline construction ended in 1977, beginning a gradual decline in Fairbanks' economy. The loss of construction spending was mostly offset by state spending. Taxes on oil flowing through the pipeline were spent on low-interest loans, grants, and business assistance that poured money into the city. To entice businesses to return to downtown Fairbanks, the city demolished many of the bars favored by pipeline workers and attempted to attract a hotel or major business to the location. This effort was unsuccessful, and the land remained vacant until the late 1990s. Redevelopment of the Fairbanks airport was more successful. A new terminal built in 1984 functioned until 2009.
Bolstered by grants and subsidies, cultural events and institutions grew in Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Light Opera Theatre was created in 1970, and groups such as the Fairbanks Concert Association and the Northstar Ballet were also created at about the same time. Fairbanks largest arts event, the Summer Arts Festival, began in 1980 and continues today.
Sports facilities also benefited from the influx of state funding. The Big Dipper Ice Arena, a converted airplane hangar moved from Tanacross in 1969, went through a \$5 million renovation in 1981 that allowed it to host the Arctic Winter Games the next year. In 1979, the University of Alaska built the Patty Center, the first full indoor ice arena in Interior Alaska. The same year, the school started an NCAA Division I hockey team.
Wien Air Alaska, which had its headquarters in Fairbanks, was the state's largest private employer until it declared bankruptcy in 1983. The resulting shutdown cost hundreds of jobs in Fairbanks. This was a foretaste of more problems to come. In 1986, Saudi Arabia boosted oil production and oil prices plummeted. Alaska banks failed, construction came to a halt, and bankruptcies and foreclosures were common. A common practice in Fairbanks was for workers to drop their house keys off at local banks before catching a flight out of Alaska, the better to speed the foreclosure process. Although an expansion of Fort Wainwright helped the construction industry during this time, Fairbanks lost about 3,000 jobs between 1986 and 1989. The U.S. Army's 6th Infantry Division was stationed at Fort Wainwright in late 1987, but it was reduced to a single brigade and renamed in 1993.
This period in the city's history also had some bright spots. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Alaska statehood, the city commissioned a 25-foot sculpture of an Alaska Native family signifying "Alaska's first family". The statue is the centerpiece of Golden Heart Plaza, which was dedicated in 1986 on the south bank of the Chena River in the middle of downtown Fairbanks. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II briefly met in Fairbanks after it was realized that their two separate visits to Asia would cross over Alaska at the same time. Approximately 10,000 people attended their meeting, which was the largest gathering of people in Fairbanks' history.
## Modern Fairbanks
As oil prices rose during the 1990s, Fairbanks' economy improved. The city was also boosted by the regrowth of gold mining in the area. The Fort Knox Gold Mine north of Fairbanks opened in 1997 after several years of development, and another gold prospect is likely to be developed in the next decade. The same year that Fort Knox Mine opened, Alyeska moved 300 jobs from Anchorage to Fairbanks, making the city the base of its operations for the first time in several decades.
The U.S. military remains a large presence in Fairbanks. The U.S. 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division is based at Fort Wainwright, and Eielson Air Force Base remains a training and logistics hub for the U.S. Air Force. In 2009, the U.S. Army announced that it is considering basing 1,000 additional soldiers at Fort Wainwright because of its ample space.
Utilities and other services also have significantly changed since 1990. Fairbanks Memorial Hospital was renovated and expanded in 1976, 1985, 1995, and 2000. In 2009, the hospital opened a new heart care center during its latest expansion. Bassett Army Hospital on Fort Wainwright went through a \$132 million renovation in 2005. To meet the demand for a convention center and large sporting arena, the city paid for construction of the Carlson Center, a 5,000-seat arena that opened in 1990. In 1996, the city of Fairbanks privatized its utilities when the Municipal Utilities Service was sold to a private company. About \$74 million from the sale was deposited into a savings account called the Fairbanks Permanent Fund, which was invested and managed in a fashion similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, though residents do not receive any income from the Fairbanks Permanent Fund. |
20,481,929 | 1927 FA Charity Shield | 1,137,122,230 | null | [
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"1927–28 in Welsh football",
"Cardiff City F.C. matches",
"Corinthian F.C. matches",
"FA Community Shield",
"October 1927 sports events"
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| The 1927 Football Association Charity Shield was the 14th FA Charity Shield, an annual English association football match. The match, held at Stamford Bridge on 12 October 1927, was contested by Cardiff City, who beat Arsenal in the final of the 1926–27 FA Cup, and amateur side Corinthian. This was the first FA Charity Shield appearance for both sides, although Corinthian had previous won the Sheriff of London Charity Shield on three occasions.
After a goalless first half, Corinthian went ahead early in the second half with a goal from Gilbert Ashton. There were many attacks from both sides, but it took until the 77th minute before Cardiff equalised with a header by Hughie Ferguson after a series of passing plays. With only a few minutes remaining on the clock, Cardiff won a corner kick and from the cross, and Len Davies tapped the ball into the net to put them ahead. The game finished with the score two goals to one in Cardiff City's favour. Several charities benefited from the proceeds of the match, including the King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers and the National Institute for the Blind.
## Background
The FA Charity Shield was founded in 1908 as a successor to the Sheriff of London Charity Shield. It was a contest between the respective champions of the Football League and Southern League, and then by 1913 teams of amateur and professional players. At a Football Association Council meeting on 22 April 1927, it was decided that the following season's Charity Shield match should be played between the winner of the 1926–27 FA Cup and the amateur team Corinthians. This would mark the first occasion Corinthians would play in the competition, they had previously won the Sheriff of London Charity Shield on three occasions.
Cardiff City qualified for the 1927 FA Charity Shield as winners of the 1926–27 FA Cup. They defeated Arsenal by one goal to nil, with the only goal of the game coming from Hughie Ferguson. It was the club's first FA Cup victory, and the only time that the trophy had been won by a club outside of England. A few months after Cardiff's victory, the match between them and Corinthians for the FA Charity Shield was set to take place at Stamford Bridge on 12 October. Corinthian announced their team a few days prior to the game, though goalkeeper Benjamin Howard Baker was subsequently replaced by A.M. Russell, who normally played for Cambridge University A.F.C. Due to an injury to Tom Watson, Billy Hardy was switched to the other wing in defence for Cardiff City.
## Match
### Summary
The Corinthians gained a corner kick early on, and Cardiff cleared. This was followed up by a further attack by the amateurs, but R.G. Jenkins' shot went straight to Tom Farquharson in the Cardiff goal. Cardiff attacked twice in quick succession; both chances were squandered. A.H. Chadder, Frank Hartley and Jenkins moved up-field for Corinthian with some passing movement and played the ball through for Claude Ashton, but he shot wide of the post. Three corners followed for Cardiff, which were each stopped by Russell in goal for Corinthian stopped each chance. A few minutes later Len Davies headed the ball down to the feet of Ferguson, but the Cardiff player fired the ball wide of the goal despite being only a few feet away from the goal line. Just before half time, Cardiff won a direct free kick; Fred Keenor hammered the ball into a wall of Corinthian players.
The second half began with a speedy Cardiff attack. Corinthian countered, resulting in shots from both Claude and Gilbert Ashton within 15 seconds of each other. Another Cardiff attack resulted in Ferguson missing the goal from a few feet out once again. After four minutes in the second half, Corinthians attacked once more. Fred Ewer played it down the left wing to Kenneth Hegan, who passed it into the centre towards Gilbert Ashton, who fired it past Farquharson. Shortly after the restart, Billy Thirlaway appeared to be about to score a certain goal for Cardiff, but was charged down by Russell. Further chances came in rapid succession; for Cardiff, Ferguson struck the crossbar with one shot; then for Corinthian, Claude Ashton passed forward to Jenkins, who struck it wide of an open goal mouth. Hegan sent the ball over the bar, and then a further shot by Claude Ashton was charged down.
In the 77th minute, Keenor, Ferguson and Davies passed the ball among themselves before playing it wide to Thirlaway. Ferguson ran to the centre and the ball was crossed towards him. Ferguson leapt and headed the ball into the net to equalise for Cardiff. It looked like Cardiff were about to go ahead, however, a last minute tackle by Alfred Bower prevented Ernie Curtis from scoring, giving the Welsh team another corner. The ball was fired towards the goal mouth, and was shot into the goal from close range by Davies putting Cardiff ahead. The final two attacks of the game were both by Cardiff, with Russell saving a header by Ferguson and then Curtis firing the ball over the crossbar.
### Details
Source:
## Post-match
The match raised money for several charities. King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers received £210; National Institute for the Blind, £52 10s; Newspaper Press Fund, £52 10s; National Institute of Journalist's Orphans, £52 10s; London Lock Hospital, £52 10s; Prince of Wales General Hospital, £52 10s; Sheffield Royal Infirmary, £52 10s; Railway Benevolent Institution, £25; and the Surgical Aid Society received £25. A further sum of £210 was given to several Welsh based charities.
Corinthian never played in another FA Charity Shield, although they would later be runner-up in a resurrected Sheriff of London's Charity Shield, first to Arsenal in 1931 and in 1932, and then to Tottenham Hotspur in 1934. The club ceased to exist in 1939, when they merged with fellow amateur team Casuals to form the Corinthian-Casuals, which still plays today. The format of the FA Charity Shield changed several further times over the following decades, and in 1974 it was moved to August to become the opening match of each year's Football League season, and played between the winner of the FA Cup and the most senior league, now the Premier League.
Cardiff City is yet to return to the FA Charity Shield, which was renamed the FA Community Shield in 2002. However, between 2001 and 2006, the match was held at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium while the new Wembley Stadium was under construction. The closest Cardiff City has come so far to returning to the match was in 2008 when they reached the FA Cup Final once more, but lost by a goal to nil against Portsmouth.
## See also
- 1927–28 Football League
- 1927–28 FA Cup |
1,231,911 | 1996 Manchester bombing | 1,160,309,239 | Provisional IRA attack in England | [
"1990s in Manchester",
"1996 crimes in the United Kingdom",
"1996 in England",
"1996 in Northern Ireland",
"Battles and conflicts without fatalities",
"Building bombings in England",
"Car and truck bombings in England",
"Explosions in 1996",
"Explosions in England",
"Filmed improvised explosive device bombings",
"History of Manchester",
"June 1996 events in the United Kingdom",
"Political violence in England",
"Provisional IRA bombings in England",
"Terrorist incidents in Manchester",
"Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1996"
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| The 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on Saturday, 15 June 1996. The IRA detonated a 1,500-kilogram (3,300 lb) lorry bomb on Corporation Street in the centre of Manchester, England. It was the biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since the Second World War. It targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused significant damage, estimated by insurers at £700 million (equivalent to £ in ), a sum surpassed only by the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing, also by the IRA.
At the time, England was hosting the Euro '96 football championships and a Russia vs. Germany match was scheduled to take place in Manchester the following day. The IRA sent telephoned warnings about 90 minutes before the bomb detonated. At least 75,000 people were evacuated, but the bomb squad were unable to defuse the bomb in time. More than 200 people were injured, but there were no fatalities despite the strength of the bomb, which has been largely credited to the rapid response of emergency services in evacuating the city centre.
Although Manchester had been targeted by the IRA before, it had not been subjected to an attack on this scale. In February 1996, the IRA had ended its seventeen-month ceasefire with a large truck bomb attack on London's Canary Wharf financial district, though the 3,300-pound bomb of Manchester was three times the size of the Canary Wharf bomb. The Manchester bombing was condemned by the British and Irish governments and U.S. President Bill Clinton. Five days after the blast, the IRA issued a statement from Dublin in which it claimed responsibility but regretted causing injury to civilians.
Several buildings were damaged beyond repair and had to be demolished, while many more were closed for months for structural repairs. Most of the rebuilding work was completed by the end of 1999, at a cost of £1.2 billion, although redevelopment continued until 2005. The perpetrators have not been caught, and although Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had suggested it was unlikely that anyone will be charged in connection with the bombing, a suspect was arrested on 8 September 2022. The bombing has, however, been viewed by some as a "catalyst" for Manchester's mass regeneration, turning it into a modern "powerhouse" city with above-national average economic growth in the 20 years following the bombing.
## Background
From 1970, the Provisional Irish Republican Army was carrying out an armed campaign with the ultimate objective of bringing about a united Ireland. As well as attacking military and political targets, it also bombed infrastructure and commercial targets in Northern Ireland and England. It believed that by damaging the economy and causing severe disruption, it could pressure the British government to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland. Manchester had been the target of earlier IRA bombs. As part of the IRA's sabotage campaign in 1939-40 (the S-Plan) multiple bombings took place in Manchester and other English cities. In 1973 and 1974, firebombs damaged city centre businesses for which one man was later imprisoned. In April 1974, a bomb exploded at Manchester Magistrates' Court, injuring twelve. In 1975, IRA bomb factories were found in Greater Manchester and five men were imprisoned for planning attacks in North West England. On 3 December 1992, the IRA detonated two small bombs in Manchester city centre, forcing police to evacuate thousands of shoppers. More than 60 were hurt by shattered glass and the blasts cost an estimated £10 million in damage and business losses.
The Downing Street Declaration of 1993 allowed Sinn Féin, a political party associated with the IRA, to participate in all-party peace negotiations on condition that the IRA called a ceasefire. The IRA called a ceasefire on 31 August 1994. John Major's government, dependent on Ulster Unionist Party votes, then began insisting that the IRA must fully disarm before there could be any all-party negotiations. The IRA saw this as a demand for total surrender and believed the British were unwilling to hold negotiations. It ended its ceasefire on 9 February 1996 when it detonated a powerful truck bomb in Canary Wharf, one of the two financial districts of London. The blast killed two people and caused an estimated £150 million worth of damage. The IRA then planted five other devices in London within the space of 10 weeks.
The IRA planned to carry out a similar bombing in Manchester. The city may have been chosen because it was one of the host cities of the Euro '96 football tournament, attended by visitors and media organisations from all over Europe, guaranteeing the IRA what Margaret Thatcher called the "oxygen of publicity". A Russia vs Germany match was to take place at Old Trafford in Manchester a day after the bombing. The year before, Manchester had also won its bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, at the time the biggest multi-sport event ever to be staged in Britain.
On 10 June 1996, multi-party negotiations began in Belfast. Sinn Féin had been elected to take part but were barred because the IRA had not resumed its ceasefire or agreed to disarm.
## Details of the bombing
The IRA's South Armagh Brigade was tasked with planning and carrying out the attack. It had also been responsible for the Canary Wharf bombing in February, and the Bishopsgate bombing in 1993. Its members mixed the explosives in the Republic of Ireland and shipped them by freight from Dublin to England (see Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation). In London, the bomb was assembled and loaded into the back of a red and white Ford Cargo van. On 14 June it was driven north towards Manchester, accompanied by a burgundy Ford Granada which served as a "scout car".
### Discovery
At about 9:20 am on Saturday 15 June 1996, the Ford van was parked on Corporation Street, outside the Marks & Spencer store, near the Arndale Centre. After setting the bomb's timer, two men—wearing hooded jackets, baseball caps and sunglasses—left the vehicle and walked to Cathedral Street, where a third man picked them up in the Ford Granada, which was later abandoned in Preston. The truck had been parked on double yellow lines with its hazard lights flashing. Within three minutes a traffic warden had issued the vehicle with a parking ticket and called for its removal. At about 9:40 am, Granada Studios on Quay Street received a telephone call claiming that there was a bomb at the corner of Corporation Street and Cannon Street and that it would explode in one hour. The caller had an Irish accent and gave an IRA codeword so that police would know the threat was genuine. Four other telephoned warnings were sent to television/radio stations, newspapers and a hospital.
The first policeman to arrive on the scene noticed wires running from the van's dashboard through a hole into the back and reported that he had found the bomb. Forensic experts later estimated that the bomb weighed 1,500–1,600 kg (3,300–3,500 lb) and was a mixture of semtex, a military-grade plastic explosive, and ammonium nitrate fertiliser, a cheap and easily obtainable explosive used extensively by the IRA. Components of what may have been a tremble trigger were also found later, designed to detonate the bomb if it was tampered with.
### Evacuation
At 10:00 am, there were an estimated 75,000–80,000 people shopping and working in the vicinity. An evacuation of the area was undertaken by police officers from Bootle Street police station, supplemented by officers drafted into Manchester to control the football crowds. The police were helped by security guards from local shops.
One group worked to move people away from the bomb while another, assisted by firefighters and security guards, established a continuously expanding cordon around the area to prevent entry. By 11:10 am the cordon was at the greatest extent that available manpower would permit, about a quarter of a mile (400 m) from the truck and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in circumference.
### Explosion
The bomb squad arrived from their Liverpool base at 10:46 am and attempted to defuse the bomb using a remote-controlled device, but they were unable to defuse the bomb, resulting in the timer expiring and functioning the device. The bomb exploded at 11:17 am, causing an estimated £700 million (£ as of ) of damage and affecting a third of the city centre's retail space. The Marks & Spencer's and the sky bridge connecting it to the Arndale Centre were destroyed, along with neighbouring buildings. It was the largest peacetime bomb ever detonated in Great Britain, and the blast created a mushroom cloud which rose 300 metres (1,000 feet) from the ground. The explosion could be heard up to 15 miles (24 km) away and left a crater 15 metres wide. Glass and masonry were thrown into the air, and behind the police cordon – up to 1⁄2 mi (800 m) away, people were showered by falling debris. There were no fatalities, but 212 people were injured. A search of the area for casualties involved a brief confusion when mannequins blasted out of shop windows were mistaken for bodies. Hospitals across Greater Manchester were made ready to receive those injured in the blast. The police commandeered a Metrolink tram to take 50 of the casualties to North Manchester General Hospital, which treated 79 in total; a further 80 were cared for at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, and many others were treated in the streets by ambulance crews assisted by doctors and nurses who happened to be in the city centre that morning.
## Reaction
The bombing was condemned by British Prime Minister John Major and his government, by the opposition, and by individual members of parliament (MPs) as a "sickening", "callous" and "barbaric" terrorist attack. Early on, Major stated that, "This explosion looks like the work of the IRA. It is the work of a few fanatics and ... causes absolute revulsion in Ireland as it does here". Sinn Féin was criticised by Taoiseach John Bruton for being "struck mute" on the attack in the immediate aftermath. Bruton described the bombing as "a slap in the face to people who've been trying, against perhaps their better instincts, to give Sinn Féin a chance to show that they could persuade the IRA to reinstate the ceasefire". The President of the United States, Bill Clinton, stated he was "deeply outraged by the bomb explosion" and joined Bruton and Major in "utterly condemning this brutal and cowardly act of terrorism". Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, stated that he was "shocked and saddened" by the bombing. He insisted that his party was committed to achieving a peace settlement and argued "it is sheer folly to return to the old agenda of excluding Sinn Féin and seeking to isolate republicans". On 20 June 1996, the IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, and stated that it "sincerely regretted" causing injury to civilians. The IRA statement continued:
> The British Government has spent the last 22 months since August '94 trying to force the surrender of IRA weapons and the defeat of the republican struggle. We are still prepared to enhance the democratic peace process ... but if there is to be a lasting peace ... then the British Government must put the democratic rights of all of the people of Ireland before its own party political self interest.
The bombing came five days after the beginning of the peace talks in Belfast, and represented the IRA's opposition to talks which excluded republicans. The attack was part of a political strategy by the IRA to be included in negotiations on the IRA's own terms. According to historian Richard English: "What they were doing with their return to bombings like the Manchester bomb was saying, 'We can still return to war if we want to. We can still put off a huge bomb in your cities and devastate them and therefore you have to deal with us'".
In an effort to allay fears that Manchester's considerable Irish community might be subjected to reprisal attacks, Councillors Richard Leese and Martin Pagel – leader and deputy leader of Manchester City Council respectively – made a public visit to the Irish World Heritage Centre in Cheetham Hill. There were ultimately only a few incidents, the most serious of which occurred on the evening of the bombing, when a gang of ten men rampaged through an Irish-themed bar in the centre of Middleton, shouting the Ulster loyalist slogan "No surrender" and smashing furniture and windows. Seven days after the bombing, Manchester Council held a 'family fun day' in front of the Town Hall in Albert Square to encourage shoppers and visitors back into the city centre, the first of a "series of events and entertainments". The Euro '96 football match between Russia and Germany at Old Trafford went ahead as planned the day following the bombing, after the stadium had been heavily guarded overnight and carefully searched; the game, which Germany won 3–0, was watched by a capacity crowd of 50,700.
## Investigation
In an effort to trace the route of the Ford van, police examined CCTV footage from every major road and motorway taken in England within two days of the bombing. Footage revealed that the van was driven south along the M1 motorway into London on the Friday afternoon before the attack. It was seen again heading north along the motorway at 7:40 pm, accompanied by the Ford Granada. Detectives surmised that the van had been loaded with explosives in London and that the Granada was intended to be the getaway vehicle. The van was last recorded travelling east along the M62 motorway towards Manchester at 8:31 am on the morning of the explosion.
Police in Manchester were aware that their Metropolitan Police colleagues in London were investigating a suspected IRA unit based in the capital, and wondered whether the London unit was responsible for the Manchester bombing. On 15 July, Metropolitan police arrested six men suspected of IRA membership: Donal Gannon, John Crawley, Gerard Hanratty, Robert Morrow, Patrick Martin, and Francis Rafferty. Each was tried and convicted of "conspiracy to cause explosions at National Grid electricity stations", and sentenced to 35 years in jail. Police in Manchester meanwhile worked to establish if the men were also responsible for the Manchester bomb.
Their investigation was led by Detective Chief Inspector Gordon Mutch of the GMP. The van's last registered owner told police that he had sold it to a dealer in Peterborough, who had in turn sold the van on to a man calling himself Tom Fox, two weeks before the bombing. After the purchase price was delivered in cash by a taxi driver, the dealer was instructed to take the van to a nearby lorry park, and leave it there with the keys and documents hidden inside.
On checking records of telephone calls made to the dealer, the police found that some had been made from a mobile phone registered in Ireland, and on further checking the records of that phone it appeared that the calls were made from locations consistent with the known whereabouts of the Ford van. One call was to a known IRA member. The phone was last used at 9:23 am on the morning of the bombing, just three minutes after the bombers had parked their van in Corporation Street. On 27 June, the phone's registered owner reported that it had been stolen 17 days earlier, but the police felt they had gathered enough evidence to bring a prosecution against the six IRA men held in London.
At a meeting attended by the commander of Special Branch in Manchester, a GMP assistant chief constable and a "senior officer" from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), it was decided, for reasons never made public, not to present the findings of the investigation to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the body responsible for undertaking criminal prosecutions in England. The three may have felt that as the IRA suspects were already in police custody they were no longer a threat, or that to pursue the case against them may have jeopardised ongoing undercover operations. It was not until 1998 that the police finally sent their file to the CPS, who decided not to prosecute.
In September 2022, a man was arrested in connection with the bombing. According to GMP, the suspect was held at Birmingham Airport on 8 September on suspicion of terrorism offences and will be interviewed by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing for the North West (CTPNW).
### Leak
Early in 1999, Steve Panter, chief crime reporter for the Manchester Evening News, leaked classified Special Branch documents naming those suspected of the bombing. The documents also revealed that the man suspected of organising the attack had visited Manchester shortly after the bombing and been under covert police surveillance as he toured the devastated city centre before returning to his home in South Armagh. Suspicion fell on Mutch as the source of the leaked documents after an analysis of mobile phone records placed both him and Panter at the same hotel in Skipton, North Yorkshire, about 40 miles (64 km) from Manchester on the same evening.
On 21 April 1999, the Manchester Evening News named a man it described as "a prime suspect in the 1996 Manchester bomb plot". The newspaper reported that the file sent by GMP to the Crown Prosecution Service contained the sentence: "It is the opinion of the investigating officers of GMP that there is sufficient evidence to charge [him] with being a party in a conspiracy to cause explosions in the United Kingdom." The man denied any involvement. The Attorney General wrote in a letter to a local MP that the advice given to the CPS by an independent lawyer was that "there was not a case to answer on the evidence available ... a judge would stop the case": the Attorney General further wrote that the decision not to prosecute was not influenced by the government. The newspaper also identified the six men arrested in London on 15 July as having planned the attack. By July 2000, all six had been released under the terms of the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
Up until September 2022, Panter and Mutch were the only people to have been arrested in connection with the bombing. Mutch was tried for "misconduct in a public office" during an 11-day trial held in January 2002 but was acquitted. During the trial, Panter was found in contempt of court for refusing to reveal his source, an offence punishable by a term of imprisonment without the right of appeal. GMP announced in 2006 that there was no realistic chance of convicting those responsible for the bombing.
## Reconstruction
About twelve buildings in the immediate vicinity of the explosion were severely damaged. Overall, 530,000 square feet (49,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of retail space and 610,000 square feet (57,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of office space were put out of use. Insurers paid out £411 million (£ as of ) in damages for what was at the time one of the most expensive man-made disasters ever, and there was considerable under-insurance. Victims of the bombing received a total of £1,145,971 in compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority; one individual received £146,524, the largest amount awarded as a result of this incident.
According to Home Office statistics, an estimated 400 businesses within half a mile (0.8 km) of the blast were affected, 40% of which did not recover. The heaviest damage was sustained by the three buildings nearest the bomb: Michael House, comprising a Marks & Spencer store and a six-storey office block; Longridge House, offices for Royal and Sun Alliance, an insurance company; and the Arndale Centre, a shopping mall. Michael House was deemed beyond economic repair and demolished. Marks & Spencer took the opportunity to acquire and demolish the adjacent Longridge House, using the enlarged site for the world's biggest branch of the store. The company's fortunes changed during construction, and Selfridges subsequently co-occupied the building; Marks & Spencer leased part of the Lewis's store in the interim. The frontage of the Arndale was badly damaged and was remodelled when this area of the city centre was redeveloped.
The glass domes of the Corn Exchange and the Royal Exchange were blown in. The landlord of the Corn Exchange invoked a force majeure condition in the lease to evict all tenants, and the building was converted into a shopping centre. The dome of the Royal Exchange shifted in the blast; its reconstruction took two and a half years and cost £32 million, paid for by the National Lottery.
The possibility of rebuilding parts of the city centre was raised within days of the bomb. On 26 June 1996, Michael Heseltine, the Deputy Prime Minister, announced an international competition for designs of the redevelopment of the bomb-affected area. Bids were received from 27 entrants, five of whom were invited to submit designs in a second round. It was announced on 5 November 1996 that the winning design was by a consortium headed by EDAW.
### Subsequent redevelopment
Much of the 1960s redevelopment of Manchester's city centre was unpopular with residents. Market Street, near the explosion and at that time the second-busiest shopping street in the UK, was considered by some commentators a "fearful" place, to be "avoided like the plague". Until Margaret Thatcher's third consecutive election victory in 1987, the staunchly Labour-controlled Manchester Council believed that Manchester's regeneration should be funded solely by public money, despite the government's insistence on only funding schemes with a significant element of private investment. Graham Stringer, leader of Manchester City Council, later admitted that after the 1987 General Election result "there was no get out of jail card. We had gambled on Labour winning the General Election and we lost." Thatcher's victory effectively put paid to Manchester's "socialist experiment", and Stringer shortly afterwards wrote a letter of capitulation to Nicholas Ridley, then Secretary of State for the Environment, saying, "in a nutshell; OK, you win, we'd like to work together with you".
Efforts at improvement before the bombing had in some respects made matters worse, cutting off the area north of the Arndale Centre – the exterior of which was widely unloved – from the rest of the city centre. A large building nearby, now redeveloped as The Printworks and formerly occupied by the Daily Mirror newspaper, had been unoccupied since 1987. Many locals therefore considered that "the bomb was the best thing that ever happened to Manchester", as it cleared the way for redevelopment of the dysfunctional city centre, a view also expressed in 2007 by Terry Rooney, MP for Bradford North. The leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Manchester City Council, Simon Ashley, responded that "I take exception to his [Rooney's] comments about the IRA bomb. No one who was in the city on that day, who lost their jobs or was scared witless or injured by the blast, would say the bomb was the best thing to happen to Manchester". Sir Gerald Kaufman, MP for Manchester Gorton, stated that the bomb provided the opportunity for redeveloping Manchester city centre, although it was not fully exploited. "The bomb was obviously bad but from a redevelopment point of view, it was a lost opportunity. While the area around St Ann's Square and Deansgate is not disagreeable, if you compare it with Birmingham and its exciting development, we've got nothing to touch that in Manchester". Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council, has been quoted as saying "people say the bomb turned out to be a great thing for Manchester. That's rubbish." There was already substantial regeneration and redevelopment taking place in the city centre before the bombing, in support of the Manchester bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics, its second Olympic bid. Tom Bloxham, chairman of property development group Urban Splash and of the Arts Council England (North West), agreed with Bernstein that the bomb attack was not the trigger for the large-scale redevelopment that has taken place in Manchester since the early 1990s:
> For me the turning point for Manchester came before the bomb ... it was the second Olympic Games bid [in 1992] when we lost but the city suddenly had a realisation. There was a huge party in Castlefield and people grasped the idea that Manchester should no longer consider itself in competition with the likes of Barnsley and Stockport. It was now up against Barcelona, Los Angeles and Sydney and its aspirations increased accordingly.
## Memorials and legacy
A pillar box that survived the blast, despite being yards from the explosion, now carries a small brass plaque recording the bombing. It was removed during construction and redevelopment work, and returned to its original spot when Corporation Street reopened. The plaque reads:
A Thanksgiving service for the "Miracle of Manchester" was held at Manchester Cathedral on 24 July 2002, to coincide with the arrival of the Commonwealth Games baton, attended by Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh. At 11:17 am on 15 June 2006, a candle was lit at a memorial held at Manchester Cathedral to mark the tenth anniversary of the bombing.
### In popular culture
"One Man's Fool", the closing track on Genesis' 1997 album Calling All Stations, was inspired by the bombing. Tony Banks stated in a SongFacts interview:
> I remember I wrote the song "One Man's Fool", which was on the Calling All Stations album [1997]. If anybody hears it now, they would assume that that lyric was referring to the bombing of the Twin Towers, but it wasn't. It was written four years before, and yet it sounds like we were recalling that. I was actually writing about a bomb attack in Manchester, in England, which was done by the IRA at the time, and the idea that people carry out these attacks and did they really believe that, all the destruction, that it really is worth it? But, it still works, unfortunately, because we have this kind of terrorism still out there.
## See also
- List of terrorist incidents in 1996
- Baltic Exchange bombing
- Manchester Arena bombing
- Oklahoma City bombing
- Timeline of Provisional IRA actions (1990s)
- Timeline of the Northern Ireland Troubles |
55,072,141 | Low-key photography | 1,152,155,910 | Photography genre consisting of shooting dark-colored scenes | [
"Photographic techniques",
"Photography by genre"
]
| Low-key photography is a genre of photography consisting of shooting dark-colored scenes by lowering or dimming the "key" or front light illuminating the scene (low-key lighting), and emphasizing natural or artificial light only on specific areas in the frame. This photographic style is usually used to create a mysterious atmosphere, that only suggests various shapes, often graphic, letting the viewer experience the photograph through subjective interpretation and often implies painting objects or the human body with black non-toxic dyes or pigments.
Renaissance and Baroque, represented by different painting styles including sfumato and chiaroscuro used by artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Rubens), tenebroso (it. dark, mysterious) used by artists such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Jusepe de Ribera among others, produced paintings in which black was predominant on the canvas and the light often come from only one source to achieve dramatic scenes.
Edward Weston, Yousuf Karsh and Irving Penn are among the photographers experienced with the "black on black" technique.
## Etymology
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the term "low-key" appeared in 1895, a term that described something "low-keyed" (relating quiet sound or deep musical tone); according to the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary the term appeared between 1890 and 1895; however, the earliest (known) use of the term dates back to 1830 in the Genius of Liberty.
The "Rembrandt lighting" (or "Rembrandtian light") is a term correlated mostly with low-key portrait photography which uses a light source and a reflector, or two sources of light (a main and a very low intensity fill light). The term was named after the style of lighting the face in most of Rembrandt's self-portraits, but also in other works, such as the Portrait of an Old Man in Red (1652–1654), dominated by Tenebrism.
## History
Renaissance and Baroque painters have often used the sfumato, chiaroscuro and later the tenebroso painting modes not only to give a tridimensional impression in their paintings but also to achieve a dramatic atmosphere.
After the decline in popularity of the Pictorialism movement, the new style of photographic Modernism came into vogue, and the public's interest shifted to more sharply focused images. Edward Steichen, Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston were among the first photographers considered pioneers of low-key photography. Steichen's portrait of J. P. Morgan (1903), Pastoral – Moonlight (1907), published in Camera Work No. 20, Cunningham's Succulent (1920) and Weston's Pepper No. 30 (1930) are considered the earliest low-key photographs.
In art, black regained some of the territory that it had lost during the 19th century. The Russian painter Kasimir Malevich, a member of the Suprematist movement, created the Black Square in 1915, is widely considered the first purely abstract painting. He wrote, "The painted work is no longer simply the imitation of reality, but is this very reality ... It is not a demonstration of ability, but the materialization of an idea."
### Painting
The antagonism between light and shadow is a basic principle of a visual image, regardless of its nature. Leonardo da Vinci pioneered the sfumato technique so he could soften the transition from lighter areas to darker ones in some of his paintings. In his notes about painting, he highlights that light and shadow should intermingle "without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke or beyond the focus plane". Sfumato usually implies using many translucent layers to create a gradual tone spectrum from dark to light, eliminating thus the unwanted sharp contours. The technique is emphasized in the Mona Lisa (1503–1506, Musée du Louvre, Paris).
On the other hand, chiaroscuro, another oil painting technique, uses strong tonal contrasts between light and dark to model three-dimensional forms, often to dramatic effect. The first use of light-dark three-dimensional shadows – known as "skiagraphia" or "shadow-painting" in Ancient Greece – is traditionally attributed to the Athenian painter of the fifth century BC, Apollodorus (in De Gloria Atheniensum, Plutarch).
Leonardo da Vinci, through his Virgin of the Rocks (1483–1486, Louvre, Paris), influenced the use of chiaroscuro to create the illusion of depth; however, the term is most often associated with the works created in Mannerism and Baroque. In the Renaissance, the technique became essential to all "religious" painters who followed the visions of Bridget of Sweden, who claimed to have seen the light of Christ. In the paintings with religious scenes, the Renaissance artists reassigned this holy light as the predominant source of illumination, relying heavily on the chiaroscuro technique. This compositional approach has been extensively used in Tintoretto's Last Supper (1592–1594). If the religious chiaroscuro of the Renaissance served to create quiet and calm scenes, painters such as Caravaggio, Baglione, Veronese, and Georges de La Tour, had the tendency to use this style for a dramatic effect.
In Baroque, painting relied heavily on the use of shadows for their dramatic effect. Caravaggio has accomplished the dramatic illumination to its greatest extent with his method called tenebrism – a technique that has spread to Europe under the name of caravaggism. The works of Adam Elsheimer's were a turning point between chiaroscuro and tenebrism.
At first glance, a tenebrism painting could look very similar to the one using powerful chiaroscuro effects. However, there is a difference between the two styles: chiaroscuro is a shading technique used especially to give objects the illusion of volume, while tenebrism is a compositional technique that uses very dark shadows, in which some areas of the painting are preserved darkly (sometimes black), allowing only one or two areas of interest to be strongly illuminated; at the same time, the transition from light to dark is not gradual. The style was used for a purely dramatic effect (hence the term "dramatic illumination"), and there was no involvement in trying to create the illusion of three-dimensionality.
This style has been the victim of many negative criticisms in the Baroque, critics accusing artists of using this method to "hide" the mistakes of the paintings. First, Caravaggio's art, which approached the new artistic style in the most radical way, was aimed. Like Caravaggio, Rembrandt as well was accused of hiding his defects in the shades' painting.
Tenebrism gave the darkness a positive value, both iconic and symbolic, creating thus a new aesthetics. Darkness was equivalent to light, because it conditioned the glory and the majesty of the latter. The symbols of light and darkness were expressed in the works of Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Georges de La Tour and Rembrandt.
### Photography
In the photography of one of the most prominent portraitists, the Canadian Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002), the light only outlines the face; it may highlight it more or less intensely, but from an artistic point of view, light plays a secondary role in the scene along with the main subject. His portraits contain large areas of black, and the subject appears like a spot in that achromatic nothingness. Nothing competes with the areas of his subjects' faces being highlighted, which gives the portraits an almost mystical aura.
Thus, in the portrait of Winston Churchill, which according to The Economist is the "most reproduced portrait in the history of photography" and has been described as one of the "most iconic portraits ever shot", only his face is highlighted, while his head is outlined by another, very low light source, coming from the back; in the portrait of Jean Sibelius, the light is reduced even more, with half of the face being in gloom; in Helen Keller with Polly Thompson, both subjects are dressed in black and the background is also entirely black, so the photograph gives an impression of detachment, dissolution; Jasper Johns seems to emerge from a black ocean; the portrait of the French writer François Mauriac is only contoured from semi-profile, only an almost-abstracted line appearing on the black background.
The strong contrast between black and white and the use of this contrast to overcome classical portraits, is characteristic of all these portraits, thus creating a dramatic, enigmatic, mystical atmosphere, abundantly making use of the so-called "active black". Yousuf Karsh is considered to be one of the contemporary artists who adopt the low-key photographic style in the most efficient manner, being called "one of the 20th century's great portrait photographers" by Time magazine.
Other noteworthy examples that deal with black hues photography include Paul Strand's Blind (1916), where the subject is deliberately shadowed in order to create the gloomy atmosphere of the image, and the "Blind" sign is lit; Ansel Adams's Mt. Moran, Teton National Park, natural light falls only on the peak of the mountain, while the rest of the photo is a mixture of dark grey tones; some of Edward Weston's photographs are also illustrative of the low-key style, such as Nautilus (1930), Pepper No. 30 (1930), Cabbage Leaf (1931); Brassaï's Filles de joie, Quartier Italie (1932); Bresson's Nehru Announces Gandhi's Death, (1948). In 1944, Robert Capa takes photos of Picasso in natural light that only highlights the right half of his face, leaving the left one in the shade.
Irving Penn (1917–2009) took several low-key photographs of the American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis.
Among postmodernist photographers, the Australian Bill Henson photographs controversial nudes in low-key, Elad David works mainly with male nudes and in some of them only the busts – no head – of young men, is highlighted, leaving everything else in pitch black. Another artist who created a series of low-key photos exhibited in numerous exhibitions around the world, is the Finnish photographer Juha Arvid Helminen. He named his series The Invisible Empire, and refers to the shield that black colour offers, like a mask between who we truly are and the way society perceives us.
## Technique
Taking low-key photographs is possible in dark rooms where light penetrates only through a small window or a single unidirectional soft light, but the best results are achieved by using artificial studio lights. Sometimes, a single directed light source is sufficient. Usually, well-targeted sources are used to get the desired effect, since a large light source could considerably reduce the desired result. Special attention is paid to having sufficient neutral details that will, invariably, be left in the shade. This type of lighting is also known as Rembrandtian light.
There are various technical challenges depending on the subject, what the photographer wants to highlight, or how many subjects are in the frame. Therefore, photographing a single person and, for instance, if the photographer wants to highlight only half of the subject's face, a single light source placed laterally, at a certain distance and angle to the subject, and possibly a blend, will be usually used. Experimenting with different light intensities is performed until the desired effect is achieved. For photographing two people or a static scene, two or even three sources of light (one or two for contour, and a very low-intensity fill light) are usually used. The background is kept dark (ideally, fully black), as well as part of the face that will remain in the shade.
The relative power of the main and the fill lights, known as light ratio, can be measured using a light meter. The low-key technique has a higher light ratio, for example 8:1, while the high-key technique has a lower ratio, around 1:1. According to photographer Gavin Hoey "the first attention to detail has to be the background. It is best to keep it black or dark gray ... and from there, it is about improvising to achieve that perfect shot you have in mind" Lights Talking advises choosing and maintaining the lowest ISO (100, 64 or even 32) to get noise-free photographs.
### Painting the human body in black
Unlike tattoo and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and can last several hours or many weeks (in the case of mehndi or "henna tattoos" about two weeks).
Painting the human body in black is also employed in low-key photography using non-toxic dyes or pigments in order to darken and enhance as much as possible the colour of the subjects photographed, and to achieve the desired effects. In order to achieve the effect of reflection of light that creates a white contour of the painted body, as well as a high contrast between black and white, various dyes mixed with body creams are used. These usually include henna, tempera or acrylic paint. Liquid latex, which is composed of natural latex and dyes, is also used with caution to avoid stopping the skin to breathe.
Acrylic paint can be applied on the body with simple brushes or aerographs. This is one of the most used techniques because it dries very fast, provides elasticity and does not stain, since it is a water-soluble dye.
## Gallery
## See also
- Black light theatre |
72,679,155 | Battle of Chios (1912) | 1,171,381,635 | Greek landing in the First Balkan War | [
"1912 in Greece",
"1912 in the Ottoman Empire",
"1913 in Greece",
"1913 in the Ottoman Empire",
"Amphibious operations",
"Battles involving Greece",
"Battles involving the Ottoman Empire",
"Battles of the First Balkan War",
"Conflicts in 1912",
"Conflicts in 1913",
"December 1912 events",
"History of Chios",
"January 1913 events",
"November 1912 events"
]
| The Battle of Chios took place from 24 November 1912 to 3 January 1913 during the First Balkan War. It resulted in the capture of the eastern Aegean island of Chios by the Kingdom of Greece, ending almost 350 years of rule by the Ottoman Empire.
The occupation of the island was a prolonged affair. The Greek landing force, commanded by Colonel Nikolaos Delagrammatikas, was quickly able to seize the eastern coastal plain and the town of Chios, but the Ottoman garrison was well equipped and supplied, and managed to withdraw to the mountainous interior. A stalemate ensued, and operations almost ceased from the end of November and until the arrival of Greek reinforcements in late December.
Finally, the Ottoman garrison was defeated and forced to surrender on 3 January 1913.
## Background
The island of Chios had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire since 1566, when it was seized from the tributary Genoese Maona company as a recompense for the failure to capture Malta the previous year. Due to the production of gum mastic, the island remained prosperous and enjoyed considerable internal autonomy until 1866. The island had a mixed population of predominantly Greek Orthodox Christians, along with Roman Catholics ('Franks'), Jews, and Muslims, with the latter concentrated mostly in the town of Chios. In 1822, during the Greek War of Independence, the attempt by Greek revolutionaries from nearby Samos to raise the island in revolt ended in the Chios Massacre. Another attempt by Greek forces to capture the island in 1827–28 also failed.
With the outbreak of the First Balkan War in October 1912, the Greek fleet under Rear Admiral Pavlos Koundouriotis seized the strategic island of Lemnos at the entrance of the Dardanelles Straits, and proceeded to establish a naval blockade of the Straits. With the Ottoman fleet confined behind the Dardanelles, the Greeks were left with complete control of the Aegean Sea, and began occupying the Ottoman-ruled Aegean islands. Most of these islands had little to no garrisons, apart from the larger islands of Lesbos and Chios.
Due to the recent Italo-Turkish War, Chios had been particularly well prepared and supplied for a prolonged defence against a landing force, with a garrison composed of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 18th Infantry Regiment, the local Gendarmerie battalion, and a small artillery detachment totaling 2,000 men under Lieutenant Colonel Zihne Bey. As a result, the Greeks delayed moving against Chios and Lesbos until operations were concluded on the main front in Macedonia and forces could be spared for a serious assault. With rumours of a cease-fire circulating in late November, the speedy capture of these islands became imperative. Lesbos was attacked first, on . For Chios, an ad hoc regiment-sized force was assembled at Thessaloniki under Colonel Nikolaos Delagrammatikas, comprising the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment and two from Delagrammatikas' own 7th Infantry Regiment, to be joined by a battery of Krupp mountain guns from Piraeus.
## Fight for Chios
The landing force sailed from Thessaloniki in the liners Patris (7th Regiment elements and Col. Delagrammatikas) and Sapfo (1st Regiment elements) on , while the artillery left Piraeus on the steamer Erietta. Patris sailed separately to Mytilene, in Lesbos, where it was joined by the cruiser squadron under Ioannis Damianos, before meeting the other two ships off Chios in the morning of . Damianos then ordered his ships to perform a demonstration of force off Chios town, before two Greek officers handed an ultimatum to the local Ottoman commander, requesting his surrender within three hours.
As the Ottomans rejected the ultimatum, at 15:12 the Greek forces (3rd Battalion/1st Regiment and fleet marines) started landing in the area of Kontari some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Chios town. The Ottomans had taken positions at the coast and provided fierce resistance to the landing attempt, but they were forced to retreat upon nightfall into the island's interior due to the strength of the Greek naval bombardment. The initial landing party encamped at Kontari while the remaining Greek forces completed their landing by the next morning, and entered Chios town unopposed at 08:00 on . The Ottoman force reassembled at the village of Karyes, just northwest of Chios town, and began firing at a Greek battalion that had been sent in that direction as a covering force. As a result, Delagrammatikas sent six companies and his artillery in an attack that seized the heights before Karyes. On the next day, the Greeks paused their attacks to reorganize their forces, but resumed their offensive on , when 1st Battalion/7th Regiment managed to capture the villages of Agios Georgios and Dafnonas in the southwest. On the other hand, the initial Greek attacks on Karyes and the nearby Aipos heights failed with heavy casualties; the Aipos heights only fell after a night attack by the 3rd Battalion/1st Regiment on .
Facing determined Ottoman resistance, the Greek commander ordered landings on other parts of Chios, so that the Ottoman forces could be encircled and forced to surrender. Thus on the auxiliary cruiser Makedonia landed a force that seized the Mounda Monastery on the island's western coast, while a 200-strong volunteer force was raised from the local population at Kardamyla on the northeast, and another force of Chian volunteers captured the village of Lithi in the southwest of the island. In addition, reinforcements arrived in the form of a reserve infantry battalion and an Evzone company, but as their training was incomplete, Delagrammatikas for the moment chose to maintain the blockade of the Ottomans, now reduced to the central, mountainous portions of Chios. Due to the adverse weather, the Greeks even abandoned some of their forward positions and retreated to the lowlands. The impasse continued, despite the arrival of 200 Cretan volunteers on , and failed attacks by the Ottomans on the villages of Lithi, Karyes, and Agios Georgios five days later. Delagrammatikas resisted pressure to resume his offensive against the Ottomans as they held naturally defensible terrain, and on the Ministry for Naval Affairs ordered the cessation of offensive action.
In late December, the Greeks received additional reinforcements: 2nd Battalion of the 19th Infantry Regiment, another reservist battalion and a battery from Lesbos—whose conquest was not completed until 21 December—as well as a few more artillery pieces from the mainland. By that time the Greek force had reached a strength of 5,000 men. On , Delagrammatikas ordered the final attack to overcome the Ottoman defenders for the next day. On the same evening, however, the Ottoman garrison sent envoys for negotiations, requesting to be allowed to evacuate the island with their arms and equipment to Çeşme. Delagrammatikas rejected the proposal, but in consequence of the negotiations the Greek attack was delayed until . The assault began at 07:00, with the main thrust in the centre, from Vrontados to the Aipos heights, comprising a force of four battalions, the Evzone company, and 12 artillery pieces, led by Delagrammatikas himself. Despite fierce resistance, the attackers captured the heights by the afternoon, and pursued the retreating defenders towards Anavatos and Pityous. A secondary thrust from the south (1st Battalion/7th Regiment, along with volunteers and four guns) captured the Provatas heights. The combined effect of the Greek attack was that the Ottoman forces found themselves virtually encircled in the area of Anavatos, leaving them no option but unconditional surrender, which was completed on the next day. The last Ottoman forces at Pityous followed suit on the morning of .
The Ottoman forces taken prisoner amounted to 37 officers and about 1,800 other ranks. The capture of Chios cost the Greeks 36 killed and 166 wounded in action.
## Aftermath
The fate of the Aegean islands captured by Greece during the First Balkan War was the subject of prolonged diplomatic negotiations, as the Ottomans initially refused to cede them. Finally, in the Treaty of London, the fate of the islands was placed in the hands of the Great Powers, who in the event would cede them to Greece in February 1914, apart from the two closest to the Dardanelles, Imbros and Tenedos. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire was not reconciled to their loss, and a naval arms race followed, leading to a crisis in summer 1914 in which a new Greco-Turkish war appeared imminent; the crisis ended only through the outbreak of the First World War. The cession of Chios and the other islands to Greece was not finalized until the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. |
839,332 | Iori Yagami | 1,171,847,987 | Fictional character | [
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| Iori Yagami (Japanese: 八神 庵, Hepburn: Yagami Iori) is a character from SNK's The King of Fighters video game series. The character first appeared in The King of Fighters '95 as the leader of the Rivals Team, as the initial enemy and later rival of Kyo Kusanagi. Iori is the heir of the Yagami clan, who use pyrokinetic powers and sealed the Orochi devil along with the Kusanagi and Yata clans. Iori suffers from a curse – "The Riot of the Blood" (血の暴走, Chi no Bōso) – under which he becomes faster, stronger and wilder, exhibiting a deadly tendency to indiscriminately attack everyone in close proximity. In this state, Iori is commonly called "Wild Iori" or "Orochi Iori" (月の夜大蛇の血に狂う庵, Tsuki no Yoru Orochi no Chi ni Kuruu Iori, lit. Insane Iori with Blood of Orochi Under the Night of the Moon). Aside from the main series, Iori appears in several other media series, including spin-offs, crossover video games and comic adaptations of the series.
Iori was created as Kyo's rival; his name and abilities were designed to relate him with the legend of Yamata no Orochi. The designers ended up liking him so much they are careful of the character's development as the series expands. As a result, Iori sometimes helps Kyo to have the opportunity to fight him. Finding his design appealing, new outfits presented the SNK staff with difficulties as they devised new appearances for the character that would retain his popularity.
Video game journalists have praised Iori Yagami as one of the most powerful characters in the series. Reviewers have also cited Iori as one of the best characters from the games, labeling him as a veteran character and praising his appearance as one of SNK's best creations. "Miss X", Iori's crossdressing form from SNK Gals' Fighters and the additional female one of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, also received attention for its humor. A series of collectible items based on Iori's likeness, including key chains and figurines, have been manufactured.
## Conception and creation
### Origins
Iori's name is loosely based on the Japanese mythological creature Yamata no Orochi. In contrast to Kyo's life, SNK decided to keep Iori's life as private despite some related material mentioning the fact that Iori has relatives. One of the planned objectives for The King of Fighters '95 was to properly introduce Iori as Kyo Kusanagi's rival. According to his creators, Iori's personality and other aspects of his character such as his phrases and unique moves "broke the mold for characters in fighting games at that time". Like Kyo, several aspects of Iori, including his surname and abilities, were designed to relate him to the Japanese legend Yamata no Orochi, which was the inspiration for the plot. After watching fan reactions at initial location testing for King of Fighters '95, several staff members predicted Iori would be popular. One staff member was happy that at an event for The King of Fighters XIII on March 25, 2010, several fans reminded him that day is Iori's birthday according to his official profile. The pixel art of Iori was made by Yuichiro Hiraki who, despite leaving SNK to work in another project a few years later, was asked by Capcom's Kaname Fujioka to once again work on the character's design for the crossover fighting game Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000.
Iori was originally introduced in The King of Fighters '95 as the leader of a team composed of Billy Kane, Eiji Kisaragi and himself. Each member shares a rivalry with another character in the game. Although the staff members worked hard to impress their superiors at SNK, Iori's characterization caused them to discard the team in the next game in the series. In the rival team's ending, Iori betrays Billy and Eiji, generating anger from the Art of Fighting developers for what Iori did to their character. Iori is a berserker due to the Orochi demon blood within him. This version of the character, officially named "Orochi Iori", is hinted to have existed before his debut in The King of Fighters '97 as one of the game's mid-bosses. This form of Iori was designed to easily overpower other characters. Series' flagship director Toyohisa Tanabe states that the staff were initially reluctant to add this version of Iori to the series' roster; they were worried about fans' reactions but did so to add more impact to the Orochi saga's climax. Tanabe was particularly pleased to see surprised reactions from female fans to this form during KOF '97's location testing. Another minor development of the character was his change of "most valued possession/valued treasure" information. A girlfriend was also listed in The King of Fighters '95, The King of Fighters '99, and The King of Fighters 2000. Starting with The King of Fighters 2001 and every entry after that, however, the space is listed as "None". The SNK staff commented that it is curious that he does not have a girlfriend anymore.
### Development
During the early development stages of The King of Fighters '99, SNK planned to exclude Iori and Kyo from the game because the company wanted to focus the story on the new protagonist, K'. They reversed this decision because of the characters' popularity. The repeated appearance of Iori, Kyo, and other SNK regular characters in the series is at the insistence of the marketers and main planners, making it a challenge to decide the story for each title. Because of his popularity among fans, some of the series' main designers have said Iori is "difficult to draw for". Illustrator Shinkiro said he thought Iori was one of the series' wildest characters because of his hairstyle; similar sentiments were expressed by Last Blade illustrator Tonko. KOF: Maximum Impact producer Falcoon stated that attempting to change an "untouchable" design such as Iori's put him under severe pressure. He stated that creating Iori's alternative design that appears in the Maximum Impact series almost felt "unforgivable" because he felt unsure of fans' reaction to the change.
For the Maximum Impact spin-off games, Iori's characteristic hairstyle was changed dramatically. Throughout the series, his normal costume consists of a short jacket and bondage pants; without changing his design and adjusting only his coloring, a diverse number of image variations can be brought about. During the making of The King of Fighters XIV, Nobuyuki Kuroki wanted Iori, except the character's hair, to be redesigned. Character designer Eisuke Ogura created a new outfit for Iori and asked the modeler to focus on his masculinity and to pay close attention to the way the design of the character's eyes. This new design, alongside Kyo's, provoked controversy when it was revealed. KOF XIV director Yasuyuki Oda said the team wanted the characters to have new looks because the game is set in another story arc.
In an interview with Iori's Japanese voice actor, Kunihiko Yasui comments that he feels responsible as a voice actor for his performances as Iori, taking care to sound different in each installment as a means of developing and protecting his character's humanity. Yasui was replaced by Takanori Hoshino starting in The King of Fighters XIV; Hoshino said he was delighted to be the new voice actor of the character, thanking SNK. Chisa Horii voices Iori's female incarnation in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.
### Fighting style
When fighting, Iori employs the "Yagami style of ancient martial arts" as well as an art labelled as "Pure instinct" which involves the usage of purple flames. His strongest technique is known as Kin 1211 Shiki: Yaotome (禁千弐百拾壱式・八稚女, lit. "Forbidden Style 1211: Eight Maidens") In The King of Fighters XIII, Iori's gameplay mechanics were modified to become a close-range fighter. Despite losing his flaming techniques temporarily during KOF XIV, he continued fighting by using his fingernails like claws to scratch his opponents. Iori's strongest technique is "Forbidden 1218 Shiki: Yatagarasu" (禁千弐百拾八式・八咫烏), a new move that focuses on violent combinations and serves as a reference to the character's ending from The King of Fighters '96, in which he murders his teammates. Iori's 10th color scheme in the game matches that of his classic outfit. During development of the game, details were added to increase the similarities. This version, featuring his classic techniques, was designed to avoid surpassing the current Iori so players could choose the fighting style they prefer in the game. This was further emphasized in the console version of The King of Fighters XIII, in which Iori had his moveset were adjusted for better balance by not using flaming techniques.
As downloadable content for The King of Fighters XIII, SNK added the original Iori Yagami who can wield flames for his fighting style. This version was meant to be innovative similar rather than make him look like his classic The King of Fighters '95 persona. Despite being the same person, the playstyle of Iori's flames is highly different from the regular Iori whose attacks involve hand-to-hand combat. Nevertheless, he was balanced by SNK in order to avoid making the character be overpowered when exploring his special moves. Some distinguishable moves were given to him in order to give the player multiple options of tactics. This Neo Max was created with the idea of impressing gamers so that they would be attracted to use this version of the character. In KOFXIV, the commands for Iori's moves were also affected; one of his strongest attacks, the Ura 316 Shiki Saia (裏316裏参), would require high skill for regular players because SNK attempted to balance the characters. Oda wanted to keep his gameplay intact in order to avoid fan backlash.
## Appearances
### In video games
#### In The King of Fighters series
Iori is a violent, sadistic person who suffers from trauma because of his clan's past. In ancient times, the Yagami clan was known as the Yasakani who, With the help of the Yata and Kusanagi clans, sealed the snake demon Orochi. As time passed, the Yasakani clan grew tired of living in the shadow of the Kusanagi and made a blood pact with Orochi that gave them greater powers but cursed the clan and its descendants forever. They renamed their clan the Yagami and set out to destroy the Kusanagi with their new powers. The curse also causes each heir to die young and each mother to die in childbirth. Iori becomes obsessed with killing his heir Kyo, disregarding their clans' past. This sometimes results in Iori helping Kyo to defeat his enemies and to finish their battles. To find Kyo, Iori sometimes enters the King of Fighters tournaments and uses his teammates as tools to reach him.
Iori Yagami first appeared in The King of Fighters '95, in which he enters an annual tournament as the leader of the Rival Team with Billy Kane and Eiji Kisaragi. Iori learns that the heir of the Kusanagi clan, Kyo, is expected to be there. After the team fails to defeat Kyo's team, Iori betrays his teammates. In the next video game, Iori teams up with two women, Vice and Mature, servants of the Orochi demon. During the '96 competition, Iori meets Chizuru Kagura, the heir of the Yata clan who wants to gather Kyo and Iori on her team to seal Orochi. They defeat the Orochi follower Goenitz but neither Iori nor Kyo agree with the idea. When Iori leaves with his teammates, he cannot control his surge of Orochi power, resulting in their deaths. Iori continues to suffer from multiple outbreaks; during The King of Fighters '97 he attacks other team members and appears as a sub-boss character in the game, depending on the characters the player uses. He later joins Chizuru and Kyo to confront and seal Orochi.
In most versions of The King of Fighters '99, Iori is a secret character that can be faced as a bonus fight at the end of the game if the player scores enough points. In the story, Iori discovers the creation of Kyo clones and enters the annual tournament, where he finds those responsible, an organization named NESTS. Iori follows the battles in secret and fights against the NESTS' agents to continue his fight against Kyo. An assistant version of his character named Striker also appears for Iori in The King of Fighters 2000 wearing an outfit based on illustrations in artbooks. In The King of Fighters 2001, an agent named Seth invites Iori to join his team for the next King of Fighters tournament, assuming he would get his shot against Kyo. While his regular form appears in KOF 2002, his Orochi form is also featured in the PlayStation 2 port of the game and the remake of KOF '98. In The King of Fighters 2003, Chizuru appears to both Kyo and Iori, asking them to form a team and investigate suspicious activities concerning the Orochi seal. During the investigation, the team is ambushed by the fighter Ash Crimson, who plans to get the power from the descendants of the clans who sealed Orochi and steals the ones from Chizuru.
In the following video game, Iori and Kyo form a team with Kyo's student Shingo Yabuki to fill Chizuru's spot to stop Ash. At the end of the tournament, the strengthening presence of Orochi causes Iori to enter the Riot of Blood state, in which he attacks his comrades. Ash appears afterward and defeats Iori, stealing his powers. Iori is a playable character in The King of Fighters XII, in which he is featured with a different outfit and a new moveset that does not use purple flames. He does not have a team. Iori's appearance in The King of Fighters XIII sees him teamed with Mature and Vice, his teammates from the 1996 tournament who return as spirits. Following Ash's disappearance, Iori recovers his flames at the end and appears as downloadable content in this form. He returns in The King of Fighters XIV, in which he tracks Orochi's weakened body in central Hungary after the tournament is over. He seals the weakened snake demon with the help of Kyo and Chizuru. Iori wears a new costume in the game and his classic one appears as downloadable content. He is set to return in The King of Fighters XV.
#### Other games
In The King of Fighters: Kyo, a role-playing video game set before the events of KOF '97, Iori appears as Kyo's antagonist in his journey around the world. Both King of Fighters R-1 and King of Fighters R-2 feature the regular Iori and his berserker form as playable characters; the latter game features him as a teamless character. Iori appears in the spin-off video games Maximum Impact series. In the North American editions of Maximum Impact, Iori is voiced by Eric Summerer. Iori appears as a sub-boss in The King of Fighters Ex: Neo Blood, which is set after his fight against Orochi. Although Iori enters the tournament to fight Kyo, Geese Howard, the organizer of the tournament, tries but fails to make him awaken his Riot of the Blood to absorb his powers. In The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood, Iori enters another tournament and is joined by two women who want to find a man controlled by the Orochi power. The shooter game KOF: Sky Stage also features Iori as a boss, while Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting makes him playable. He is also featured in KOF X Arena Masters, Game of Dice The King of Fighters All Star. and the Korean fighting game The King of Cyphers. SNK also released a pachinko based on the Orochi storyline. as well as the otome game King of Fighters for Girls.
Iori also appears in SNK's hand-held game, SNK Gals' Fighters, as a comical interpretation called Miss X (ミス X, Misu Ekkusu). The character insists he is a female in order to participate in the game's Queen of Fighters tournament, though several female fighters easily see through his disguise. He is also present in The Rhythm of Fighters. Miss X reappears in the fighting game SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy as downloadable content, this time sharing both the original crossdresser and new true gender swapped form. In the story, Miss X fights against multiple female fighters (including his fellow gender-swapped fighters Terry Bogard and the guest fighter Skullomania) to stop the host Kukri and his ending involves an embarrassing nightmare in which he and Kyo become friendly rivals. Miss X's true identity, Iori also made a cameo on certain characters' endings in Heroines, prior Miss X DLC debut. In the crossover video games NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and SNK vs. Capcom series, Iori appears as a playable character; the latter includes his Riot of the Blood state. His character is also a boss character (along with Geese) in the Game Boy version from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special. He also appears in Square Enix's fighting game Million Arthur: Arcana Blood. He is also available in the King Fighters X Fatal Fury mobile phone game. He is also present in the Chinese mobile phone game named KOF: WORLD, the visual novel Days of Memories, Metal Slug Defense, Lords of Vermillion, and Lucent Heart. The character's original look is also being used in action role-playing Phantasy Star Online 2.
Additionally, Iori Yagami made his appearance as playable guest character in War Song, a multiplayer online battle arena developed by Morefun Studio, a game studio owned by Tencent. Iori also appears as one of the background characters on the King of Fighters Stadium stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In addition a costume based on him for the Mii Brawler appears as downloadable content.
### In other media
Aside from the King of Fighters series, the character is featured in an audio drama and a character image album. In the anime The King of Fighters: Another Day, Iori searches for Ash to regain his powers. Iori appears in the spin-off manga story entitled The King of Fighters: Kyo, which is based on his adventure prior to The King of Fighters '96. Ryo Takamisaki's manga The King of Fighters G shows an alternative retelling of KOF '96 in which Iori faces Kyo and Athena Asamiya. The character appears in a manhua adaptation of The King of Fighters: Zillion created by Andy Seto that retells Iori's story of his fight against Orochi until he attacks NESTS to destroy Kyo's clones. He also stars in other manhua for the games, starting with The King of Fighters 2001 and ending with 2003 along with the Maximum Impact series. In the manga The King of Fighters: A New Beginning, Vice and Mature force the Orochi power to make Iori lose his mind during his battle with Kyo. The battle ends in a draw with Iori's team losing due to the other fighters' rounds.
Iori is played by Will Yun Lee in the film The King of Fighters. In the CGI series The King of Fighters: Destiny Iori makes a brief appearance in the first season's finale, in which he tries to play music but starts going berserk. He is one of two protagonists alongside Kyo in online gag manga Part Time Stories: Kyo & Iori by Falcoon; the two title characters work together to promote SNK's merchandising. He is also featured in the manga The King of Fighters: A New Beginning. Iori is also present in novels based on the series. He is also set to be the protagonist of the light novel series Iori Yagami's Isekai Mu'sou by Nobuhiko Tenkawa which depicts him in an alternate universe fighting goblins.
## Reception
### Critical response
The character Iori Yagami was mostly well received by several video game publications and other media. IGN's A. E. Sparrow considered him one of the most useful of the games' characters and one of the best characters for "veteran players". He is ranked in the top-ten fighting games from GameTrailers and has been called one of the series' innovative characters from his introduction in The King of Fighters '95 and during his development in the following games. Some commentators found his recurring interactions with Kyo Kusanagi during fights to be appealing, adding depth to the games, despite English gamers not being able to understand them, and the lack of a storyline in some.
Kevin S. from GameRevolution liked the interactions between Kyo and Iori in The King of Fighters XIV because it was one of the most famous parts from the series. The addition of a unique theme song to Iori's and Kyo's rival fight was also praised. Meristation compared Kyo's and Iori's antagonistic rivalry to that of Goku and Vegeta from the Dragon Ball manga by Akira Toriyama. The Daily Star noted Kyo's and Iori's popularity comes from the way Kyo and Iori start facing each other as enemies but still become allies for other games. ThunderBoltGames stated that Iori stands out within the plot because of his rivalry with Kyo and because he is cursed with Orochi's power, which makes his heroic traits questionable yet well-written despite the series being from the fighting game genre. The formation of the Three Sacred Treasures Team in The King of Fighters '96 had a major impact with fans because it was appealing because of the Orochi saga and because of its incorporation of Japanese mythology. 4thletter enjoyed the KOF '97 of Kyo, Kagura and Iori, stating "this [is how you write a climax to a four-year-long story]" at the ending of the Orochi story arc. Lucke M. Albiges from Eurogamer praised Iori as having one of the most unpredictable appearances in the series, and considered him a veteran character.
Across the franchise, Iori has been given new looks and techniques which have also resulted in different kind of responses. IGN's Jeremy Dunham praised Iori's appearance in KOF: Maximum Impact as one of the best designs from the game. However, Dunham complained about his lack of bloody scenes considering his actions in previous 2D games. The character's new design from The King of Fighters XII has been well received by GameSpot's writer Andrew Park who found such moves interesting. On the other hand, 1UP.com writer Richard Li; Li complained about the lack of Iori's signature moves such as his fireballs, and while some of them remained, Li noted that they now require a different input from the ones they normally require. The Orochi form from Iori was listed as the sixth best altered video game character alongside Leona's based on the impact both have on the storyline by Den of Geek. Den of Geek same site also listed him as the fourth best King of Fighters characters based on his moves, rivalry with Kyo as well as apparent character arc based on how he retakes his lost powers in KOF XIII and used them in KOF XIV to once again seal Orochi. The writer noted that while Iori started as "anti-hero" due to his tendency to beat up his own teammates in his first two games, he would join forces Kyo for a greater good in upcoming titles which changed the way he was seen. However, the fact that Iori is defeated by Ash in KOF XI was noted to be the opposite due to how much it affected him to the point of creating a new fighting style that does not involve flames.
Todd Ciolek from Anime News Network found Iori's appearance in KOF XIV dated. Meanwhile, Iori's return to his classic techniques in KOF XIV mainly using flames were celebrated by Hobby Consolas because of their popularity with fans. Atinux agreed, calling the character "sadistic" because of the violence of his attacks, most notably seen in his strongest moves that reference his enhanced Orochi form from previous games. Shoryuken said that while Iori and Vice showed appealing skills in their KOF XIV trailer, they were overshadowed by Mature's techniques.
Journalists have also commented on Iori's appearances outside the KOF games. For the release of the tag game NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, IGN suggested using Kyo and Iori as partners due to the moves they could perform together. Iori's crossdressing persona Miss X has been popular; SNK stated they received multiple requests to add him into the crossover game SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, an upcoming fighting game focused on female characters. Destructoid stated he was shocked by Miss X's debut in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy because of Iori's obvious secret identity and because she has different incarnations with a different gender and outfit. Atomix shared similar feelings but refrained from revealing the character's true identity. Universo Nintendo originally thought the DLC character would be an alternative version of Ash Crimson and was surprised by the revelation. The website said Miss X's second form is possibly the most humiliating version because the character is wearing a t-shirt of his rival Kyo. Nevertheless, the character's movements were thought to be similar to those of the original Iori and thus long-time gamers would easily play as Miss X. Den of Geek found the comic SVC Chaos ridiculous because as Iori commits suicide to follow the deceased Kyo to the Underworld.
### Popularity
Iori has been very popular with video gamers. In Gamest's 1996 Heroes Collection, Iori was ranked second in the poll Best Character from 1996. In an issue from 1997, Iori was voted as the staff's favorite character, claiming first place over fifty other characters. He received the same rank on Neo Geo Freak's website with 3,792 votes. In a 2005 poll conducted by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted the fans' eighth-favorite character with 145 votes. Merchandising based on Iori, including figurines, key-chains and puzzles, has been released. Two scale figures based on Iori's original form and his XIV look have also been released. A replica of his KOF XIV coat was produced for merchandising.
In the book Gaming Cultures and Place in Asia-Pacific, Iori was regarded as one of the most popular video game characters in Hong Kong from the mid 1990s onward alongside Kyo, Mai and others, to the point of overshadowing the Street Fighter characters, which were also well-known. The developers of KOF noted that Kyo and Iori were very popular in Korea, which led to their immediate inclusion is The King of Fighters 2001 which was the first game in the series that was not developed by the original company. In 2018, Iori was voted as the seventh-most-popular Neo Geo character.
To choose the cover for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports of KOF XII, Ignition Entertainment started a survey on May 4, 2009, in which users of their forum could vote for one of two covers they wanted to see in the game. While both covers feature multiple characters, one uses Kyo in the center and the other Iori. When the two surveys ended, Ignition started two new ones that asked people to vote between the previous winners and the Japanese covers from the game for both consoles. In late 2018, Iori and other SNK characters appeared as part of collaborations with other companies in Harajuku, Japan, involving new merchandising. Iori's image was made by Falcoon. Game designer Masahiro Sakurai was amazed when first seeing Iori in The King of Fighters '95 due to his attitude and moves which made him praise the designers. |
5,775,796 | Hunter: The Reckoning (video game) | 1,150,832,268 | 2002 hack-and-slash video game | [
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| Hunter: The Reckoning is a 2002 hack-and-slash third-person shooter video game developed by High Voltage Software and published by Interplay Entertainment for the Xbox and GameCube. It is based on the tabletop role-playing game of the same name, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. Two sequels, Wayward and Redeemer, were both released in 2003.
Players take the roles of hunters who fight hordes of enemies with melee weapons, ranged weapons, and magic. The story revolves around Ashcroft Penitentiary, a prison which has been taken over by vampires as their feeding grounds; the inmates who die there rise again as vengeful and destructive wraiths.
Interplay chose to adapt Hunter: The Reckoning into a video game as they thought it would translate well into an action game, a genre their division Digital Mayhem was focusing on. It was intended from the start to be a flagship title for them, and the first in a series, which led to the decision to develop it for the Xbox, as it was new at the time and had greater graphical capabilities than other consoles. The game was well received for its gameplay and visuals, although the GameCube version was criticized for its downgraded graphics and frame rate issues.
## Gameplay
Hunter: The Reckoning is a hack-and-slash third-person shooter game where players fight hordes of enemies in a single-player or multiplayer mode for up to four players. The players fight using ranged and melee weapons, but can also use magic spells called "edges", with effects such as dealing damage to a group of enemies, or healing oneself. Certain weapons can be earned as pick-ups through exploration, including a machine gun, a chainsaw, and a shotgun.
Players take the roles of four hunters, which have different character classes: Deuce is an Avenger, and the strongest; Samantha is a Defender, and is balanced between speed and power; Father Cortez is a Judge, and has weak melee skills but strong edges; and Kassandra is a Martyr, and is fast and has quick attacks. The characters also have a set of statistics, such as strength and accuracy, which can be raised throughout the game.
The game consists of 23 levels, set in locations including a graveyard, sewer system, prison, hospital, mansion, and a torture chamber. The levels vary in length, ranging from around five minutes to around half an hour, and have a variety of different objectives, including traversing the map, freeing hostages, escorting non-player characters, and searching for things. After finishing the game, players get access to a new difficulty level and alternate costumes for their characters.
## Plot
Hunter: The Reckoning is set in the prison town Ashcroft in the World of Darkness, a gothic-punk take on the real world where monsters exist and hide in plain sight. The prison, Ashcroft Penitentiary, has been taken over by vampires as their feeding grounds for the last 50 years, and the warden has been embraced by the vampires, turned into one himself. In addition to feeding on the inmates, the vampires are subjecting them to torture and experiments; the inmates that die end up rising again as vengeful wraiths who do not care who or what they destroy.
One year before the events of the game, four people are present at the execution by electric chair of the serial killer Nathaniel Arkady at Ashcroft Penitentiary: Spenser "Deuce" Wyatt, Samantha Alexander, Kassandra Cheyung, and Father Esteban Cortez. As the switch was thrown, the souls of the dead who suffered at the hands of the prison's warden and his supernatural staff rose up in vengeful rage, driven by evil to exact their vengeance upon the residents of Ashcroft. The four witnessed the uprising of the supernatural evil, and received a message in their minds from benign supernatural beings called messengers to act against the vast supernatural force that threatened the population of Ashcroft. Choosing to heed their calling, the four became Imbued, and destroyed the evil inside the prison. The four Imbued locked the prison, sealing what was left of the evil inside, and left Ashcroft.
On the anniversary of the closing and abandonment of Ashcroft Penitentiary, several hundred local teenagers hold a rave in the courtyard. The lively celebration awakens the dormant wraiths, who slaughter most of the teenagers, and, freed from their prison, rage out into the town and begin to destroy the population. The Imbued return to Ashcroft to confront the source of the evil that threatens the town and protect the remaining survivors.
A wraith appears to the hunters, named Carpenter, and tells them that warden Degenhardt is a vampire, and that Dr. Hadrian has been performing flesh-warping experiments on the inmates. Arkady, they find out, is a werewolf and still alive. After they kill Degenhardt and Hadrian, Carpenter attacks them for denying him his revenge on Hadrian. Degenhardt turns out to not be truly dead, and to have deliberately reawakened the haunting as part of his plan to find his living family's ghosts and give them new bodies. By confronting him in the attic of his mansion, the hunters release the tortured spirits, kill Degenhardt, and escape Ashcroft.
## Development
Hunter: The Reckoning was developed by High Voltage Software in the AtlasTech game engine, and was published by Interplay Entertainment. The game was produced by Scot Lane and Kevin Sheller, designed by Dave Rodriguez, and programmed by Dan Goodman, with art by Matt Corso.
The concept of a World of Darkness video game adaptation came up during a brainstorm meeting at Interplay, whose staff included many fans of the series. When choosing which of the tabletop role-playing games in the series to adapt, Hunter: The Reckoning was picked over more established games like Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension or Changeling: The Dreaming due to Interplay's division Digital Mayhem's focus on action games, which they thought Hunter would translate well into. Production began around the beginning of 2001, and the game was announced in April of the same year. The choice to develop the game for the Xbox specifically came from how the console was new at the time, offering higher graphical capabilities compared to other available consoles. This was seen as important, as the game was intended from the beginning to be the first in a series, and be a flagship title for the publisher that gave a good impression.
Hunter: The Reckoning differed from most of High Voltage Software's games based on licensed properties, in that it was based on a game system rather than on characters in a specific setting with an established look. In adapting the tabletop game into a video game format, the developers focused on elements that would fit well in an action video game. They considered making the game appeal to younger audiences, but decided against it to avoid straying too far from the nature of the tabletop game. Certain characters were taken from the tabletop game, while the main cast was based on pre-made characters by High Voltage Software staff. The art direction was influenced by films, including Blade, The Crow, Blade Runner, and Dark City. The game's horror often relied on visuals and audio, with dark and dank environments; the developers also made use of the scare tactic of warping something that normally is seen as comforting into something scary, as seen in one part where a little girl's teddy bear transforms into a monster and kills her parents.
### Release
The game was released for the Xbox in North America on May 21, 2002, following a delay from March 15, and in Europe on July 5. A GameCube port followed on November 19 of the same year in North America, and on July 25, 2003, in Europe; this port was tweaked to have lower difficulty, based on feedback from the original release. The Xbox version was added to the Xbox 360 system's backward compatibility functionality in November 2007, and to the Xbox One system's in April 2018.
In 2004, Uwe Boll acquired the movie rights for the game. The film was planned to be directed by Boll, produced by Shawn Williamson, and written by David Schneider and Drew Daywalt, with shooting planned to take place in British Columbia.
## Reception
The original Xbox release of the game was well received by critics, while the GameCube version received "mixed or average" reviews, according to the review aggregator Metacritic. IGN called the game the "cream of the crop" of its genre, that future four-player games should be compared to, and in 2006 ranked it as the tenth best zombie video game. GameZone listed it as one of the top Xbox games that "need" an HD remake. According to GameFan, the game performed moderately well commercially, which they in part attributed to the pre-existing fan base of the Hunter: The Reckoning tabletop game it is based on.
The gameplay and combat were mostly well received by critics, particularly its multiplayer mode. The single-player mode was criticized by some reviewers as feeling lonely and repetitive; IGN considered only the multiplayer mode worth playing. AllGame did however find the combat sluggish and annoying, and thought the game seemed difficult in lieu of having intelligent enemy AI. The game's camera was frequently criticized, preventing players from seeing enemies in front of them, and making the multiplayer mode frustrating due to how it limits players' movement.
The Xbox version's visuals were frequently praised, with its environments described as atmospheric and detailed. Likewise, reviewers enjoyed the look of the characters, their animations, and their designs. The GameCube version's visuals were however considered a major step down from the Xbox version, looking washed out and having frame rate problems in several areas, particularly in the multiplayer mode and when a lot of enemies are shown on screen at the same time. The sound effects were well received, but were also downgraded in the GameCube version. Reception of the voice acting was varied: it was called excellent by Entertainment Weekly, not very strong by AllGame, and "hideous" by GameSpy. |
63,078,678 | Lady Like | 1,130,085,297 | null | [
"2020 debut albums",
"Ingrid Andress albums",
"Warner Records albums"
]
| Lady Like is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress. It was released on March 27, 2020, by Warner Music Nashville. A country pop record, its tracks are inspired by Andress's real-life events. The album focuses on the themes of relationships, family and feminism. Andress co-wrote and co-produced the entirety of it, while working with other producers such as Sam Ellis and Jordan Schmidt. "More Hearts Than Mine" preceded the album, being released in April 2019 as its lead single. It charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100. The track obtained double platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada (MC).
The album received acclaim from music critics, who praised its mix of country and pop as well as Andress's lyricism. It attained peak positions of four and nine on the country-music charts in the United Kingdom and the United States. On official charts, it peaked at numbers 47 in Scotland, 90 on the Billboard 200 and 91 in Canada. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, the record was nominated for Best Country Album while the lead single scored a nomination for Best Country Song. Two more singles followed the album–"The Stranger" and "Lady Like"–which charted moderately on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts; the latter song was certified gold by the RIAA and MC. A deluxe edition of the album was issued in October 2020, having five more tracks and a different track listing which was arranged accordingly by Andress.
## Background and release
Prior to starting a music career, Andress appeared on the second and third seasons of The Sing-Off as part of a cappella groups Pitch Slapped and Delilah, respectively while being enrolled at Berklee College of Music. After graduating from the college in 2013, Andress was advised by her professor, American songwriter Kara DioGuardi, to move to Nashville to pursue a career in songwriting. One year later, Andress, alongside fellow singer Devin Dawson, worked with American record producer Frank Rogers during a writing session.
Two songs which Andress wrote resulted in her being signed to DioGuardi's music publishing company Arthouse Entertainment, where Andress would eventually begin composing among other songwriters. In December 2016, she independently released the promotional single "Deck the Halls (Holidays Are Here)" alongside musician Eric Arjes. The company released "The Stranger" as Andress's debut single on February 4, 2017. She released "Anything but Love" in October of the same year. In 2018, her songs "Demons Too" and "Paper Thin" were featured on CMT's reality television show Music City. Warner Music Nashville signed Andress as a recording artist in the same year after noticing her contribution to Charli XCX's "Boys" (2017) and Fletcher's "About You" (2018). "Lady Like" would be released as Andress's debut single by the aforementioned label in February 2019. In a March 2019 interview with The Boot, the singer stated that she was going to put out a new song "every couple of months" and that five songs will be released in total and grouped as an extended play "at the top of [2020]". On September 16, Warner Music Nashville issued Andress' debut extended play, The Rosebank Acoustic Sessions which contains acoustic covers of three of her songs. "Both", "We're Not Friends" and "Life of the Party", which were released as promotional singles throughout 2019 and 2020, would all later be included on the album. The Tennessean reported in December 2019 that Andress' debut album would be released in March 2020. She unveiled the album's track listing on March 4, 2020.
Lady Like was released on March 27, 2020, for digital download and streaming. The deluxe edition of the album was released on October 2. It contains two different versions of her songs "More Hearts Than Mine" and "The Stranger", a cover of Charli XCX's "Boys" as well as two new songs, "Feeling Things" and "Waste of Lime", while the entire tracklist was re-arranged. Andress re-arranged the tracklist in order from the earliest song she wrote to the most recent one, stating that she did it "to match that progression of that time of [her] life".
## Music and lyrics
Lady Like is a country pop record. The album's lyrics focus on Andress's personal experiences. Overall, they touch on themes of relationships, family and according to Jacob Uitti from American Songwriter, Andress's "signature scuffed-boot-brand of feminism". In a 2021 interview with Spin, she declared that her biggest inspirations for the album were the Chicks, Whitney Houston, John Denver and Adele. One day before the album's release, Andress talked to Billboard and revealed how each song on the record came to fruition. Andress co-wrote and co-produced the entire album. She also worked with producers, Zach Abend, AJ Pruis, Jordan Schmidt and Sam Ellis, having co-produced with the latter six tracks on the standard edition of the album. The tracks were recorded at various studios in Nashville.
The album's opener, "Bad Advice", is about drinking alcohol and kissing strangers in order to get over a break-up. It is a retro cha-cha-inspired track, while Hits's Holly Gleason considered it to be "string-bathed Julie London-style '60s Britpop-goes-mariachi". "Both", which discusses a lover's indecisiveness, was inspired by the frustration of Andress's friends with the online dating application Bumble. "We're Not Friends" discusses the mix of a friendship with courtship over banjo and cello sounds. Andress revealed that she wrote the former song with the intention of pitching it to other artists, before choosing to record it herself. "The Stranger" encompasses a piano sound and details a lost romance; Andress wrote it after noticing her generation's unrealistic expectations of love. "Anything but Love" is a guitar-driven ballad about heartbreak which contains a strong back beat. Also a ballad, "More Hearts Than Mine" relates how Andress's family will react if she brings her new boyfriend home. The song was inspired by Andress's real-life indecision of whether or not she should bring her new boyfriend to her family, as they became attached to an ex-boyfriend from a previous relationship of hers. "Life of the Party" showcases Andress being a party animal amidst a break-up. The title track is about defying gender stereotypes; Andress used her personal experiences of being expected to act like a woman as inspiration for the track.
## Critical reception
Lady Like received acclaim from music critics. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the mix of country and pop and deemed it "bright, glossy, and amorphous". He further added that it is "dense and accessible" throughout its eight tracks, which he considered "something of an achievement" for a debut album. Marlo Ashley of Exclaim! declared that the album "sonically diverges from the country-pop norm; Andress's lyrical honesty adds a sentimental perspective that invites you to listen to something out of the ordinary and makes you crave more." Justin Cober-Lake from Pop Matters gave the album a 7 out of 10 rating, writing that the album succeeds thanks to "a combination of songwriting craft and distinctive sound", and clarifying that Andress's "clear lyrical voice" contributes to its distinctness. Cillea Houghton, writing for Taste of Country, stated that Andress is "intelligent in her writing, clever with her words and has a brazen personality to match," and that she "brings a refreshing voice to country music." Curtis M. Wong of HuffPost called it "remarkably cohesive".
Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press considered the album to be "filled with lyrical gems" and added that it is one of the 2020's strongest albums." Paper's Abby Schreiber declared that the record is filled with songs that "simultaneously cut you to the quick" but make one feeling "somehow stronger and more empowered." Writing for Variety, Chris Willman stated that Lady Like represents a return to a period when "strong female singer/songwriters who weren't necessarily strictly defined by genre" found their place in it such as Mary Chapin Carpenter and Rosanne Cash, and that Andress's pop crossover potential is "tremendous". Rolling Stone placed the album 24th on their 2020 year-end list of Best Country and Americana Albums with Jon Freeman commending the blending of country and pop and calling the album "charming and polished". At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, Lady Like received a nomination for Best Country Album while "More Hearts Than Mine" was nominated for Best Country Song.
## Singles and commercial performance
"More Hearts Than Mine" was released in April 2019 for digital download and streaming. It was later sent for radio airplay and impacted country radio stations on June 12 and July 8, respectively. The song was acclaimed by critics, who praised its lyrics and Andress's decision to write the song regarding the situation she was in. The track was Andress's first entry to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 30. It also peaked at number 55 on the Canadian Hot 100. The single received double platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada (MC). "The Stranger" was re-released as the second single from Lady Like when it was sent to country radio stations on June 1, 2020, peaking at numbers 49 and 54 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, respectively. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its theme. "Lady Like" was serviced to country radio stations in October 2020, serving as the third and last single from the record. The track garnered acclaim from critics who complimented its feminist message, while some deemed it an "anthem". It reached the top 40 on both the aforementioned charts and attained gold certifications from the RIAA and MC.
Lady Like debuted and peaked at number nine on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with 9,000 album-equivalent units. The record reached its highest peak on the UK Country Albums chart where it reached number four. It additionally peaked at numbers 47 in Scotland, 90 in Canada and 91 on the Billboard 200.
## Track listing
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Lady Like and AllMusic.
Sample credits
- "Waste of Lime" contains an interpolation of "Kokomo" (1988) performed by The Beach Boys.
- "Boys" is a cover of the 2017 song of the same name by Charli XCX, with a mandolin replacing the video game sample noise.
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the standard edition liner notes of Lady Like.
Locations
- Anthem House; Nashville, Tennessee (mixing: track 2)
- Blackbird Studios; Nashville, Tennessee (recording: track 2)
- Evan's Place; Nashville, Tennessee (recording: track 3)
- Georgetown Masters; Nashville, Tennessee (mastering: all tracks)
- Larrabee Studios; North Hollywood, California (mixing: tracks 6, 8)
- Rosebank Studio; Nashville, Tennessee (recording: tracks 1, 4–8)
- Sonic Element Studio; Los Angeles, California (mixing: tracks 1, 3, 4–8)
- The Chambers; Nashville, Tennessee (recording: track 3)
- The Library Studio; (strings recording: track 1)
- The Planetarium; Nashville, Tennessee (recording: track 4)
- The Tracking Room; Nashville, Tennessee (recording: track 2)
Musicians
- Sam Ellis – bass (tracks 4–6), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8), electric guitar (tracks 4, 6, 7), resonator guitar (track 6), banjo (tracks 7, 8), piano (tracks 1, 5–8), keyboards (tracks 1, 4–8), B3 (track 4), background vocals (tracks 4, 6)
- Ingrid Andress – lead vocals (all tracks), piano (track 4), background vocals (tracks 1–5, 7)
- Jordan Schmidt – acoustic guitar, electric guitar (track 2)
- AJ Pruis – bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, background vocals (track 3)
- Zach Abend – keyboards (track 5)
- Miles McPherson – drums, percussion (track 2)
- Evan Hutchings – drums (track 3)
- Jared Kneale – drums (track 4)
- Tony Lucido – bass (track 2)
- Jamie Moore – acoustic guitar (track 1)
- Todd Lombardo – acoustic guitar, banjo (track 2)
- Tim Galloway – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, resonator guitar, banjo, mandolin (track 3)
- Devin Malone – acoustic guitar (track 5), electric guitar (track 1), baritone guitar (tracks 1, 6), steel guitar (tracks 1, 6–8), cello (tracks 7, 8)
- Carl Miner – acoustic guitar, mandolin (track 5)
- Tyler Chiarelli – electric guitar (track 2)
- Justin Schipper – steel guitar (track 4), pedal steel guitar (tracks 3, 5)
- Carole Rabinowitz – cello (track 1)
- Cremaine Bocker – cello (track 3)
- Dave Davidson – violin, string arrangement (track 1)
- David Angell – violin (track 1)
- Monisa Angell – viola (track 1)
- Alex Wright – piano, B3, synthesizer (track 2)
Technical
- Sam Ellis – production (tracks 1–6, 8), additional engineering (tracks 1, 4–6, 7), programming (tracks 1, 4–8), digital editing (tracks 1, 4, 5, 7)
- Ingrid Andress – production (all tracks)
- Thomas Dulin – additional engineering (track 4)
- Tylor Pollert – strings recording (track 1)
- Erik Madrid – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 4–8)
- Aaron Mattes – mixing assistant (tracks 1, 3–5, 7)
- Manny Marroquin – mixing (tracks 6, 8)
- Chris Galland – mixing engineer (tracks 6, 8)
- Robin Florent – mixing engineer assistant (tracks 6, 8)
- Scott Desmarais – mixing engineer assistant (tracks 6, 8)
- Court Blankenship – production assistant (tracks 1, 4, 5, 7)
- Jordan Schmidt – production, recording (track 2)
- Bryce Roberts – recording assistant (track 2), programming (track 2)
- Jeff Braun – mixing (track 2)
- Alyson McAnally – production coordinator (track 2)
- AJ Pruis – production, engineer, programming (track 3)
- Zach Abend – production, additional engineering, programming, digital editing (track 5)
- Andrew Mendelson – mastering (all tracks)
Creative and visual
- Mike Moore – art direction & design
- Jess Williams – photography
- Sonia Young – wardrobe
- Lindsay Doyle – hair/makeup
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Release history |
24,783,400 | Wonderland (Faryl Smith album) | 1,168,287,079 | null | [
"2009 albums",
"Concept albums",
"Faryl Smith albums",
"Music based on Alice in Wonderland",
"Universal Classics and Jazz albums"
]
| Wonderland is the second studio album by teenage mezzo-soprano Faryl Smith, released by Decca Records on 30 November 2009. Smith became famous after her participation in Britain's Got Talent in 2008, and subsequently, aged 13, signed with Universal Classics and Jazz, releasing her debut album, Faryl. Released only a few months afterwards, Wonderland contains a mix of classical and non-classical songs, which were chosen by both Smith and her record label. A concept album, it is based on Alice in Wonderland, and features a digitally produced "duet" with Luciano Pavarotti, who died in 2007, as well as a song set to "Winter", from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. As with Faryl, Wonderland was produced by Jon Cohen.
Smith promoted the album with appearances on television and radio. For the most part, critics responded positively to the album, with praise for Smith's vocals, the song choice and the musical arrangement, but criticism for "the lack of emotional weight". Further, critics observed that Smith's voice had improved since her appearance on Britain's Got Talent. Despite this, Wonderland appeared in the UK Albums Chart for only one week, peaking at 54, proving less successful than Faryl. Smith later rerecorded "The Prayer", her cover of which was originally released on Wonderland, with 22 other classical artists, with proceeds going to charity.
## Background
Smith, aged 13 at the time, signed a record-breaking multi-album deal with Universal Classics and Jazz in December 2008, six months after finishing outside the top three in the Britain's Got Talent series two final. Her debut album, Faryl, was released in March 2009. Smith later described the album as "an introduction to me and an introduction for me to recording", and said that she "wanted to follow up [Faryl] as quickly as possible with another record, something richer and varied". In July, it was announced that work had begun on her second album, with hopes to release it later in the year. Smith said in an interview that "We're starting to look at what songs will be on the second album ... I'm not really choosing the songs myself, I'm leaving that up to the people at the record label. I'm really happy that they want me to do another album so soon – I didn't think I would be working on one so quickly after the first one was released ... I'm just excited to get under way with it."
## Recording and release
Wonderland was revealed as the album's name in September, and a preliminary release date of 30 November was forwarded. Recording took place at Sarm Studios in Notting Hill, London, and completed in early October. Smith recorded her vocals during her school holidays. Initially, Smith was asked by her label for a track listing, but said that she "didn't know what songs would be wrong or right for an album". Instead, she and Decca both created their own lists, and the final track list was compiled from the two. The result included a variety of songs; Smith said she was pleased with the mix, citing "classical numbers" like "The Prayer", in contrast to "a more unexpected song", "Close to You". The track "O Holy Night" features a "duet" with Luciano Pavarotti, who died in 2007; Pavarotti's vocals were digitally added to Smith's recording to produce the song. The title track, "Wonderland", is set to "Winter", from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and the lead track, "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Somewhere Far Away)" is an adaptation of a piece by Ryuichi Sakamoto, originally from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Smith's favourite tracks on the album are "O Holy Night" and "The Prayer".
The album was produced by Jon Cohen, who also produced Faryl and has previously worked with artists including the Opera Babes and Vanessa-Mae. Cohen said that Smith has "matured as an artist since the first album" and that he had "no doubt that once again, people will be astonished and moved by her performances". Smith's father, Tony, said that the bosses at universal were hoping for the album to be more commercially successful than Faryl, but noted that the market around Christmas time is tough, due to the high volume of releases. Brian Roberts, writing for the Daily Mirror, claimed that Wonderland was "tipped to go head to head" for the number one classical album position with releases from Il Divo and Rhydian Roberts.
Wonderland is a concept album loosely based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The album took the title from the book, and was created with the intention of taking listeners on a journey, as well as showcasing Smith's voice. She said that "that's something I like to hear in music. Whether I listen to Beyonce [sic] or Vivaldi, music is supposed to transport you away, escape from the everyday." Smith said that she sometimes felt like Alice chasing White Rabbit, and, for this reason, "Wonderland" was a suitable title track for the album.
## Promotion
Wonderland was released for the Christmas market, and was labelled as a potential Christmas number one. Smith embarked on a promotional tour, beginning at the end of October, with magazine, television and radio appearances. Appearances included Ready Steady Cook, Blue Peter, the BBC News Channel, Sky News Sunrise, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and The Paul O'Grady Show. Speaking about the album's promotion, Smith said "[i]t is always a struggle when a second album comes out because you never know how it is going to do but fingers crossed people will enjoy it. I am very proud of it. ... I am excited about going on all the shows too – especially Ready Steady Cook because I can't cook and I think it will be fun."
## Reception and performance
Critics responded positively to the album. Paul Callan, reviewing the album for the Daily Express, described Wonderland as "a joy"; he compared it to other Christmas albums, saying that "[t]oo many are tired, much-repeated carol selections." He described Smith's "control, tone and warmth" as "very moving". Overall, he gave the album 4 out of 5. A reviewer writing for The Sun described the album as a "lush collection" of songs, and said that Smith's "voice is now stronger, richer and even more musical". Andy Gill, reviewing Wonderland for The Independent, gave a more mixed review. He said that the influence of Alice in Wonderland was often hard to perceive, and said that Cohen and Smith had "sweetened the classical elements". He praised the arrangements of "Adiemus", "Barcarolle", "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence" and "Blow the Wind Southerly", but noted that "on "Close to You" and other tracks, "the lack of emotional weight is telling." Overall, Gill gave Wonderland 3 out of 5.
Local paper the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph reported that Wonderland was selling well; on Amazon.co.uk's charts, it appeared at number one on the symphonies chart, 13 on easy listening and 95 overall. A spokesman for the local HMV store was quoted as saying "Sales of the new Faryl album have got off to a storming start – she is proving hugely popular at HMV. ... We're actually selling as many copies of Faryl's new album as we are Susan Boyle right now." However, the album entered the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for only one week, peaking at 54. It appeared on the Arts & Book Review (Independent Print) classical albums chart for two weeks, peaking at number 6. The album proved less successful than Smith's debut, and, subsequent to its release, Smith's contract with Universal ended.
Having originally released her version of "The Prayer" on Wonderland, Smith and 22 other classical musicians from the UK recorded a version of the song for charity in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The proceeds of the single, which was released on 14 March 2010, went to the Disasters Emergency Committee. Smith said "It's a real honour to be a part of something that is being done for the first time, and I hope that all music lovers get involved and help raise money for the campaign. I really hope that we can make a difference together to help the horrible situation that Haiti is in at the moment." The group, dubbed "Classical Band Aid", recorded the track at Metropolis Studios and were backed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Each vocalist in the group performed their own solo lines, and the entire group came together for the finale.
## Credits
### Music
- Dirk Campbell - Quena and uilleann pipes
- Jon Cohen - Bass, guitar, keyboards and piano
- Charlie Kenny - Drums
- Tom Lewis - Flugelhorn
- Cliff Masterson - Keyboards and trumpet
- Helen Skelton - Vocals
- Mark Read - Vocals
### Administration and production
- Ed Bainton - Assistance
- Stephen Baker - Choir arrangement
- Matt Bartram - Assistance
- Kara Bassett - Product management
- Sylvia Berryman - Vocal coaching
- Marco Canepa - Vocal coaching
- Paul Chessell - Design
- Jon Cohen - Arrangement, mixing, production and programming
- Phil Da Costa - Mixing and programming
- Phillip Doghan - Vocal coaching
- Sandrine Dulermo - Photography
- Olga Fitzroy - Assistance
- Andy Hughes - Assistance
- Michael Labica - Photography
- Darren Lawson - Assistance
- Tom Lewis - Artists and repertoire
- Steve Lowe - Engineering
- Cliff Masterson - Arrangement, choir arrangement, conducting, orchestration and programming
- Steve Price - Engineering
- Ronan Phelan - Assistance
- Maureen Scott - Vocal coaching
- David Temple - Conducting
- Al Unsworth - Engineering
## Track listing
## Charts |
42,555,959 | The Boat Race 1978 | 1,148,423,337 | null | [
"1978 in English sport",
"1978 in rowing",
"1978 sports events in London",
"March 1978 sports events in the United Kingdom",
"The Boat Race"
]
| The 124th Boat Race between crews from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge took place on the River Thames on 25 March 1978. Umpired by former Cambridge rower James Crowden, Oxford won in a time of 18 minutes and 58 seconds. The race was complicated by bad weather, and when faced with choppy water, a strong headwind and horizontal, driving rain, the Cambridge boat, which lacked splashboards, took on water and sank. It was the fifth time a boat had sunk during the event.
In the reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie beat Oxford's Isis by 1+1⁄4 lengths. Cambridge won the 33rd Women's Boat Race.
## Background
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. First held in 1829, the competition is a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) race along the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and is followed throughout the United Kingdom and worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1977 race by seven lengths, with Cambridge leading overall with 68 victories to Oxford's 54 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). The 1978 race was sponsored by Ladbrokes, while the BBC had paid between £10,000 and £20,000 to televise the event.
During training for the race, Oxford had sunk, taking on water in the inclement weather, and had decided to fit splashboards to their boat, while Cambridge opted to leave their boat unchanged. Prior to this year's event, there had been four sinkings in the history of the race. Cambridge sank in 1859, Oxford sank in 1925 and 1951, and both crews sank in 1912.
The first Women's Boat Race took place in 1927, but did not become an annual fixture until the 1960s. Up until 2014, the contest was conducted as part of the Henley Boat Races, but as of the 2015 race, it is held on the River Thames, on the same day as the men's main and reserve races. The reserve race, contested between Oxford's Isis boat and Cambridge's Goldie boat has been held since 1965. It usually takes place on the Tideway, prior to the main Boat Race.
## Crews
Oxford's crew contained three Old Blues in Moran, Shealy and the former lightweight world champion Andy Michelmore, while Cambridge's boat featured five returning rowers in Bathurst, Clegg, Horton, Ross and Cooke-Yarborough. The race also marked the debut of Boris Rankov, who went on to represent Oxford in five further races. The Cambridge crew was marginally heavier per rower, averaging 1.5 pounds (0.68 kg) more than Oxford.
## Race description
Oxford won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station. After a false start, the race commenced at 2.45 p.m. in reasonable weather conditions, and Oxford took a one-length lead to Hammersmith Bridge in a record time of 6 minutes 24 seconds. As the crews turned into the Surrey bend, conditions drastically worsened with a strong headwind and "horizontal rain driving into them". Entering choppy water and in an attempt to push past Oxford, Cambridge made their challenge at Barnes Bridge but began to take on water. Within seconds the boat started to sink; the Oxford crew realised the contest was over and rowed carefully to the finish in a time of 18 minutes 58 seconds. It was Oxford's third victory in a row, and their fourth in the past five years.
In the reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie beat Oxford's Isis by 1+1⁄4 lengths, and in the 33rd running of the Women's Boat Race, Cambridge also triumphed.
## Reaction
Cambridge boat club president Mark Horton immediately challenged the Oxford president Andy Michelmore to a re-row; the challenge was declined. Horton recalls "It was hard to take and is still a painful memory. The Boat Race was supposed to be one of the proudest moments of my life". Cambridge's Mark Bathurst was indignant about the preparation of the boat: "we had taken to the water without fitting any [splashboards] – an act of monumental idiocy". Oxford cox Fail told The Guardian "I was surprised when I heard that Cambridge had sunk. If you keep going steadily you forget about water and ride it out."
Cambridge's sinking was featured as the 79th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments. |
32,147,646 | Merrill Bradshaw | 1,171,271,100 | American composer | [
"1929 births",
"2000 deaths",
"20th-century American composers",
"20th-century American male musicians",
"American Mormon missionaries in Switzerland",
"American male composers",
"Brigham Young University alumni",
"Brigham Young University faculty",
"Harold B. Lee Library-related music articles",
"Latter Day Saints from Illinois",
"Latter Day Saints from Oregon",
"Latter Day Saints from Utah",
"Latter Day Saints from Wyoming",
"People from Lyman, Wyoming",
"University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign School of Music alumni"
]
| Merrill Bradshaw (June 18, 1929 – July 12, 2000) was an American composer and professor at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he was composer-in-residence from 1967 to 1994.
Bradshaw grew up in Lyman, Wyoming; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Portland, Oregon. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He studied music theory at BYU with John R. Halliday and others, after which he continued his studies in composition at the University of Illinois. He became a faculty member at BYU in 1957. He was chairman of composition and theory from 1973 to 1983, and the executive director of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition from 1983 to 1999. From 1973 to 1978 he chaired an LDS Church committee to revise the hymnbook, although the committee was suspended before they published their intended hymnal. A different committee authored the 1985 hymnal.
Bradshaw composed many pieces in an eclectic style, most notably The Articles of Faith (1960), Symphony No. 3 (1967), Symphony No. 4 (1969), "Psalm XCVI" (1979), Four Mountain Sketches (1974), the oratorio The Restoration (1974), and a viola concerto titled Homages (1979). He collaborated closely with BYU ensemble directors Ralph Laycock and Ralph Woodward, who often directed premieres of his works. He condemned music that was sentimental or merely entertaining but acknowledged that Mormon art could encompass many styles.
## Early life and education
Bradshaw was born on June 18, 1929, in Lyman, Wyoming, to Melvin K. Bradshaw and Lorene Hamblin. He went to junior high school in Salt Lake City and high school in Portland, Oregon, while his father oversaw the construction of air landing facilities in the Aleutian Islands. The family moved back to Lyman, where Bradshaw graduated from high school as valedictorian. While in Lyman, Bradshaw traveled 120 miles (190 km) on Saturdays to study piano with Frank Asper.
Bradshaw started undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1947, where he was mentored by John R. Halliday. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Switzerland from 1948–1951. After returning from his mission he was accepted into BYU's A Capella choir, where he met Janet Spilsbury, whom he married in 1953. Besides Halliday, Bradshaw studied with Leon Dallin and Crawford Gates at BYU. He was an assistant director of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps Male Chorus for one year and graduated in music theory in 1954. He continued studying at BYU and received a Master of Arts in music theory and composition.
Bradshaw received both a masters in music and a doctorate of musical arts from the University of Illinois, which he attended from 1955 to 1956 and again from 1961 to 1962. There he studied with pianist Claire Richards. He also studied with Gordon Binkerd, Robert Kelly, Robert Moffat Palmer, and Burrill Phillips. His doctoral dissertation was "Tonal structure in the early works of Anton Webern." He joined the faculty at BYU in 1957.
## Career
Bradshaw was BYU's first composer-in-residence from 1967 to 1994. He was chairman of composition and theory from 1973 to 1983. He worked closely with Ralph Laycock, BYU's orchestra conductor, and Ralph Woodward, the conductor of BYU's A Capella choir, in getting his various compositions performed. Bradshaw was president of the Arts Council of Central Utah and one of its founders in 1968. He also contributed to the State Institute of the Arts. He received the Karl G. Maeser Research and Creativity Award in 1967, and was a Distinguished Faculty Lecturer in 1981.
Bradshaw was the executive director of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition from 1983 to 1999 and directed the Barlow International competitions. The Barlow Endowment became a large commissioning program for both LDS and non-LDS composers.
From 1973 to 1978 Bradshaw served the LDS Church as head of composition for the Church Music Committee and also chaired an LDS Church committee to revise the hymnbook. The committee planned to make some hymns lower to encourage everyone to sing the melody line and to include more international songs. They also planned to exclude many hymns present in the 1950 version of the hymnal, including patriotic hymns and most of the men's and women's arrangements. Some people in church leadership disagreed with the committee's decisions, and the committee stopped meeting in 1977. The committee's efforts were suspended without final result in 1978, and the project was not revisited until 1983. The advisory committee to the Church Music Division, a separate committee, decided on the final 1985 version of the hymnal, which was much more similar to the 1950 version than Bradshaw's committee had planned.
## Compositions
Bradshaw composed in an eclectic style. Ronald Staheli, later longtime director of acclaimed The BYU Singers, wrote that "Dr. Bradshaw's gift was using musical material or styles that had already been employed by others, but fashioning such harmonies, colors, and styles into works that were true and authentic to his own creative instincts and abilities." He composed music in the style of anthems, lyrical music, and music with noise effects and chord clusters, among other styles. He set Mormon texts to styles that were not intended for worship services, as in The Articles of Faith. One critic wrote that Bradshaw softened dissonances and made "tonal allusions." Bradshaw described most of his melodies as "long, somewhat singable," and frequently used chromaticism to "push the bounds of tonality." He often used parallel motion, asymmetric meters, and syncopated rhythms. Bradshaw's work was performed in many orchestras, including the Detroit Symphony, Utah Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Perth Symphony, and Queensland Philharmonic.
Bradshaw won the composer's award while attending the University of Illinois, and Michael Kurkjian performed his piano concerto in 1958. The Articles of Faith (1960) for solo voices used the text from the LDS Articles of Faith and drew on multiple styles of composition. He avoided popular music idioms. According to Bradshaw himself, he used leitmotifs to "establish a bond between [the layman’s] experience and my expression." Daniel McDavitt, writing on Bradshaw for his dissertation, wrote that the work was "rich in symbolism but lacking in overall coherence."
In 1968 the Utah Symphony played Bradshaw's Third Symphony, which the BYU Symphony had premiered in 1967. A local critic wrote that "his usage of the myriad of contemporary compositional devices show him to be a master craftsman." Glenn R. Williams, a professor of music, wrote that the symphony is "a very lyrical outpouring within the framework of the serial or 12-tone composition" and that the scoring "effectively produce[d] an amazing clarity and balance of the orchestral sonorities."
Bradshaw wrote "Feathers" for the 1968 BYU Summer Music Clinic in honor of Bernard Goodman. In 1969, the BYU Symphony premiered his one-movement Fourth Symphony, which he dedicated to Robert F. Kennedy. "Psalm XCVI" (1979), Bradshaw's best-known chorale work other than his later oratorio, is very technically demanding. Staheli stated in 2011 that the works were the most difficult he had ever conducted. The piece employs a chromatic style, with some polyphony, at times dividing into 12 parts, with many differing rhythmic figures.
The BYU Philharmonic played his Four Mountain Sketches in 1974. Critic Donald Dierks noted that the style of the pieces is old-fashioned; he wrote: "the idiom would have been passé in the 1940s." That same year Bradshaw's oratorio The Restoration premiered at the Mormon Festival of Arts. The oratorio was the product of two years of work and incorporated elements of jazz and popular hymns. The performances sold out within two hours and were well received. Additional performances were given in 1976 and 1980. The oratorio was endorsed by apostle Boyd K. Packer. Fellow Mormon leaders and artists congratulated Bradshaw on his oratorio. Assistant to the university president Lorin Wheelwright wrote that the work would "give our Church members a new sense of confidence in our cultural roots and modes of artistic expression." Samuel Adler asked how Bradshaw could write such a work in "this century," to which Bradshaw replied that he wanted to "speak to the people here [in Provo, Utah]." In the Deseret News, Harold Lundstrom wrote that the work was emotionally expressive but "hardly [...] a traditional oratorio." Noting the many styles of music present in the oratorio, he wrote that there was "something for everyone." McDavitt wrote that it was "accessible, but not condescending."
The International Viola Congress commissioned him to write a viola concerto, Homages, in 1979 in honor of William Primrose. Jun Takahira premiered the work in 1980, with David Dalton directing the U.S. Air Force Orchestra.
Bradshaw wrote "We Will Sing of Zion", which is in the 1985 LDS church hymnal. He also wrote two hymns that are in the Children's Songbook: "The Still Small Voice" and "Listen, Listen". These two hymns are the only two that lack chord symbols, which have accompaniments in unusual modes.
## Views on music
In a 1959 column in The Daily Herald, Bradshaw explained that "sentiment and art are miles apart." His distaste for sentiment was apparent in his scathing review of a performance of Mantovani: "Anyone who went to the concert looking for artistic excellence must have come away disappointed unless they were fooled by the 'ballyhoo' and showmanship that preceded the 'concert'." In "Toward a Mormon Aesthetic" he drew comparisons between Plato's ideal and Mormonism's belief in a perfect celestial realm. He wrote that art concentrates on the values of human experience while entertainment seeks to please an audience. In 1995, Bradshaw spoke on the problem of defining a "Mormon style": "Perhaps we have discovered too many successful and inspiring works in too many different styles to be able to commit ourselves irrevocably to a single one. Moreover, I think it neither possible nor desirable to try to set up the parameters for such a style by some sort of manifesto." He encouraged composers to use the style that best expressed their artistic desires.
## Personal life
Merrill and Janet Bradshaw had seven children. Bradshaw died on July 12, 2000, in Bountiful, Utah.
## Selected works
Many of Bradshaw's works are unpublished or are out-of-print, as Bradshaw did not seek publishers for his work.
### Orchestral |
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| X-Men: The Last Stand (also marketed as X3: The Last Stand, or X-Men 3) is a 2006 superhero film based on the X-Men comic books published by Marvel Entertainment Group. It is the sequel to X2 (2003), as well as the third installment in the X-Men film series, and was directed by Brett Ratner. It features an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones and Patrick Stewart. Written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn, the film is loosely based on two X-Men comic book story arcs, "Gifted" and "The Dark Phoenix Saga", with a plot that revolves around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the resurrection of Jean Grey who unleashes a dark force.
Bryan Singer, who had directed the two previous films, X-Men (2000) and X2, decided to leave the sequel to work on Superman Returns (2006). X2 composer and editor John Ottman and X2 writers Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty also left to work on Superman Returns, as did James Marsden, who had very limited screen time in The Last Stand before his character was killed off due to his departure from the film. Singer had not even defined the storyline for a third film. Matthew Vaughn, who was initially hired as the new director, left due to personal and professional issues, and was replaced with Ratner. Filming took place from August 2005 to January 2006 with a budget of \$210 million, and was consequently the most expensive film made at the time of its release. It had extensive visual effects created by 11 different companies.
X-Men: The Last Stand premiered in the Out of Competition section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States on May 26 by 20th Century Fox. It grossed approximately \$459 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2006; it was at the time the highest-grossing film in the series and is currently the fourth-highest-grossing film of the franchise. It received mixed reviews from critics.
## Plot
In 1986, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr meet young Jean Grey at her parents' house to invite her to join their school, the X-Mansion. Ten years later in 1996, industrialist Warren Worthington II discovers his son is a mutant as the latter tries to cut off his wings.
In the present, Worthington Labs announces an inoculation to suppress the X-gene that gives mutants their abilities and offers the "cure" to any mutant who wants it. The cure interests some mutants such as Rogue, who cannot touch anyone without harming them, while others are wary of it. Magneto re-establishes his Brotherhood of Mutants with those who oppose the cure, warning it will be weaponized to exterminate the mutant race. With help from Pyro, Callisto and several other mutants, Magneto attacks a mobile prison and frees Mystique, Multiple Man and Juggernaut. Mystique shields Magneto from a cure dart and loses her mutant abilities. Magneto abandons her.
Scott Summers, still distraught over the loss of Jean Grey, drives to her resting location at Alkali Lake. Jean appears to Scott but, as the two kiss, Jean kills him. Sensing trouble, Xavier sends Logan and Storm to investigate. When they arrive, they find only telekinetically floating rocks, Scott's glasses, and an unconscious Jean.
At the X-Mansion, Xavier explains that when Jean sacrificed herself to save them, she also freed the "Phoenix", a dark alternate personality with godlike destructive potential which Xavier had telepathically repressed. Logan is disgusted to learn of this psychic tampering with Jean's mind but, once she awakens, he discovers that she killed Scott and is not the Jean Grey he once knew. The Phoenix emerges, knocks out Logan, and escapes to her childhood home. Learning of Jean's resurrection, Magneto and the Brotherhood arrive at the Grey home at the same time as the X-Men. Magneto and Xavier go in, and both vie for Jean's loyalty until the Phoenix resurfaces. She destroys the house and disintegrates Xavier, then leaves with Magneto.
Interrogating a depowered Mystique, the FBI discovers Magneto's base in the woods and raids it. However, the detected human heat signatures in the camp are Multiple Man and his copies. Magneto and the Brotherhood attack Alcatraz with the intention to kill a young mutant named Jimmy, whose genome is used to create the cure. They overwhelm the military troops until the remaining X-Men arrive to confront them. During the fight, Kitty Pryde saves Jimmy from Juggernaut. Logan distracts Magneto for Hank McCoy to inject him with the cure, nullifying his powers. The Phoenix awakens and begins destroying anyone within range of her powers. Logan realizes that only he can stop the Phoenix due to his healing factor and adamantium skeleton. When Logan approaches her, Jean momentarily gains control and begs him to kill her. Logan fatally stabs Jean, killing the Phoenix, but mourns her death.
Sometime later, mutant rights are finally obtained and Xavier's school is still operating with Storm as headmistress. The President of the United States appoints McCoy as ambassador to the United Nations. Rogue, having taken the cure, rekindles her relationship with Bobby Drake. Meanwhile, Magneto sits at a chessboard in San Francisco, seemingly human and weak. As Magneto gestures toward a metal chess piece, it wobbles slightly.
Elsewhere, a nurse checking on a comatose patient is startled when he greets her with Xavier's voice.
## Cast
- Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine: A Canadian mutant born with hyper-acute, animal-like senses, claws on his hands, and an accelerated healing factor that made it possible to implant a coating of the indestructible metal alloy adamantium on his skeleton. Jackman was pleased to see that the script allowed Wolverine to expand his character choices, as instead of questioning whether he would remain a loner or join the X-Men, Logan now is asked if he will play a leadership role in the X-Men.
- Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm: A mutant, who is one of Xavier's earlier students and the leader of the X-Men in Cyclops' absence. Storm is a woman with the ability to manipulate the weather. Berry had stated during interviews for X2 that she would not return unless the character had a significant presence comparable to the comic book version, leading to a larger role in The Last Stand's script. Berry declared that her ethnicity made the actress identify with the cure plot: "When I was a child, I felt that if only I could change myself, my life would be better. As I've gotten older, I've come to terms with what utter nonsense that is." The character was given a more modern haircut, and costume designer Judianna Makovsky opted to give Storm more black clothes, a color she only wore in the leather costume for previous films, to make her "tougher and sexier".
- Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: Leader and founder of the Brotherhood, Magneto is a mutant Holocaust survivor who wages war against humanity in the name of mutant superiority. He has the ability to control and manipulate metal, making him one of the most powerful mutants. Well known for his homosexuality, McKellen found a parallel of the cure with many prejudices: "It's abhorrent to me, as it would be if a person said I need curing of my sexuality, or if someone said that black people could take a pill that would 'cure' them of being black." McKellen's shooting schedule had to accommodate his work in both The Da Vinci Code (2006) and the London theatre, going as far as filming the actor in England to later superimpose into the Vancouver plates.
- Famke Janssen as Jean Grey / Phoenix: A mutant former member of the X-Men, a Class 5 mutant who possesses potentially limitless telepathic and telekinetic powers. The X-Men learn that she has survived the flooding dam from the previous film, but when the rest of the team finds her, Grey has given in completely to her aggressive alternate personality of her powers, the Phoenix. Her mutant powers rival those of Xavier. The writers described the multiple personalities as "an Oedipal drama played out", where the Phoenix was "someone embodying [a] Greek goddess", while Jean Grey kept the character as "a human, grounded in Freudian terms, a victim, a schizophrenic. To mark the change of Jean Grey into Phoenix, her wardrobe focused on red colors, and everyday fabric in contrast to the leather costumes of the X-Men. Digital make-up also made Jean's face darker with her skin showing some veins and her eyes turning black, signifying the Phoenix personality of her powers.Haley Ramm plays a young Jean Grey.
- Anna Paquin as Marie / Rogue: A young mutant woman whose power causes her to temporarily take on the powers of anyone she touches, leaving her victims (mutant or human) unconscious; Rogue's lack of control over her power causes a great deal of strain on her relationship with Iceman. Paquin declared that while Rogue did not have "a large physical component in this movie", the "adult decisions" the character was forced to make allowed for more intensity on the emotional side.
- Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast: A mutant former student of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Mutants who is now a member of the U.S. Cabinet as the Secretary of Mutant Affairs, Beast is a brilliant scientist and statesman. He is covered in blue fur and has heightened strength, reflexes and agility, as well as pointed fangs and a lion-like roar. Grammer's make-up took three hours to apply, it involved applying latex prosthetics before painting his eye area and lips blue, applying various hair pieces and wigs, and a muscle suit covered with a hand-punched fur suit.
- James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops: A mutant, who is X-Men's field leader, Cyclops emits powerful energy blasts from his eyes, and must wear specially made glasses to prevent the destruction of anything he looks at. Although he is in a committed relationship with Jean Grey, her Phoenix persona kills him early in the film. Marsden saw no problem in having a smaller role, as the films opted to feature Wolverine as the standpoint character, and feeling that "it's difficult when you have however many new characters that you're trying to introduce to an audience in 90 to 120 minutes, to give everyone their due."
- Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkholme / Mystique: A blue-skinned mutant who possesses the ability to shape-shift to mimic anyone's appearance, as well as fight with incredible agility, reflexes and strength. She is also a woman of few words. She jumps in front of cure darts intended for Magneto and, after she loses her mutant abilities as a result, Magneto abandons her. Romijn described this story as "a traumatic experience" for Mystique, given that the previous movies implied that she and Magneto had "a deep-seated bond", and becoming "a frail mortal would be her worst nightmare".
- Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman: A young mutant, Iceman can create constructs of ice or blasts of cold. Ashmore's commitments to X-Men made him decline Bryan Singer's invitation to play Jimmy Olsen in Superman Returns. The actor was content with his bigger role after Bobby joined the X-Men main team in X2, as during the previous production he wondered "When do I get to freeze something or get into a fight?"
- Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce / Pyro: A mutant who was a student of Xavier's School for Gifted Mutants with a grudge against his former friend Bobby Drake, Pyro has the ability to manipulate fire, generated through wrist-mounted lighters. Stanford stated that with the Brotherhood, Pyro "is allowed to fully explore his power" for lacking moral restraints. The actor was comfortable with returning to the role, particularly for following The Hills Have Eyes, which had an exhausting shoot in the Moroccan desert, while Pyro was nowhere near as physically demanding – "My character's pretty much stand-and-deliver, stand there and throw fire at people. There's no acrobatics."
- Vinnie Jones as Cain Marko / Juggernaut: A mutant criminal recruited by the Brotherhood in a prison truck, Juggernaut is incredibly strong, fast and, once he gains momentum, he is nearly unstoppable. The film's version of Juggernaut is depicted as a mutant and his relation to Charles Xavier was never mentioned. Matthew Vaughn cast Jones, who he met producing the Guy Ritchie gangster movies where Jones began his acting career. The actor had to go through a four-hour make-up process to portray Juggernaut, which included a muscle suit and a prosthetic chin. The costume tried to retain the bullet-shaped helmet of the comics without going excessively over the top.
- Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X: A mutant with uncharted telepathic powers, and founder of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Mutants. Xavier is an authority on genetic mutation and an advocate of peaceful relations between human and mutant kind. Stewart signed to the film without knowing Xavier would die, and not meeting original director Matthew Vaughn – both would meet in Manchester, where Stewart was filming Eleventh Hour, but eventually Brett Ratner called to introduce himself as the new director.
Additionally, Elliot Page appears as Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat: A mutant with the ability to phase through matter and walk through solid objects, her clear affection for Iceman further adds to the tension already present between Iceman and Rogue. Maggie Grace was considered for the role, before Ratner invited Page, who impressed the director with his performance in Hard Candy (2005). The actor initially declined, not wanting to yet jump to Hollywood filmmaking, but accepted after reading the script. Page said part of his motivation was having a new experience: "I thought, well, when else am I going to have a chance to wear a leather suit and run through exploding things? Why not be a superhero for a change?" Daniel Cudmore appears as Peter Rasputin / Colossus: A mutant with the ability to transform his body into an organic steel, while also granting him superhuman strength and a resistance to physical damage while in that form. Cudmore wore a foam latex muscle suit covered with a chrome-plated plastic plus a hard plastic head to have the metal skin on the set, with some digital augmentation being used to enhance the facial expressions. A digital double was used only for stunts that could not be achieved practically, such as the Fastball Special where Colossus throws Wolverine at Magneto., Ben Foster appears as Warren Worthington III / Angel: The mutant son of an industrialist, who has feathered wings which allow him to fly. The static wings were models with a 15 feet (4.6 m) wingspan and 5 feet (1.5 m) height glued to Foster's back, replaced with computer-generated ones when movement was required.
Cayden Boyd appears as young Angel, Michael Murphy appears as Warren Worthington II: The head of Worthington Labs, the corporation developing the "cure", Worthington expects to rid his son of his mutant abilities. The addition of the character allowed to integrate Angel into the cure plot, which also added a parallel between Warren's discovery of his son's mutation with a father finding out about his son's homosexuality., Dania Ramirez appears as Callisto: The leader of the Omegas, Callisto is a mutant with enhanced superhumanly acute senses, who senses mutants and their powers, and possesses superhuman speed and an expert hand-to-hand combatant. The character combined the powers of the comics' Callisto with another of the Morlocks, Caliban, and was written as someone who could be "beautiful, but with a tough persona". Ramirez had originally auditioned to play the mutant prostitute Stacy X, and impressed Brett Ratner so much that he decided to bring her in to play Callisto., Shohreh Aghdashloo appears as Dr. Kavita Rao: A scientist who works at Worthington Labs on the mutant cure, she is killed by Kid Omega. Aghdashloo signed without a completed script, and erroneously said her character would be mutant doctor Cecilia Reyes., Josef Sommer appears as the President: The President of the United States is tolerant of mutants, but fearful of the Brotherhood's threats. While creating the role, the producers felt that a "different" president, like an African American or a woman, had become a cliché in itself and went for a traditional route with an elder caucasian man. Sommer was invited by Ratner following their collaboration in The Family Man. Bill Duke appears as Trask: The head of the Department of Homeland Security, Trask aids the president of the United States during the war against the mutants. The character is probably related to the comic books' Bolivar Trask; however, his first name was never mentioned in the film and he is portrayed as African American. In the comics, Bolivar Trask is the head of Trask Industries and creator of the mutant-hunting Sentinels, and Eric Dane appears as James Madrox / Multipleman: A mutant and thief recruited by the Brotherhood in a prison truck, Madrox has the ability to create a very large number of copies of himself. The writers considered Dane's performance memorable despite being featured in only two scenes. Madrox's wardrobe invoked the symbols worn in his comics costume.
Other actors who portrayed mutants were: Meiling Melançon as Psylocke, a mutant with the ability to teleport herself through areas of shadow, although that depiction differs significantly from the comics; Omahyra Mota as Arclight, a mutant who has the ability to generate shock waves of concussive force; Ken Leung as Kid Omega, a mutant with the ability to eject spikes from his body, most notably his face (though the character resembles the comic books' character Quill and was later confirmed as such however, the official cast credits erroneously read "Kid Omega"); and Cameron Bright as Jimmy / Leech, a mutant who has the ability to neutralize the powers of nearby mutants. Various characters were included at the suggestion of editor Mark Helfrich, who brought Marvel's X-Men Encyclopedia to director Brett Ratner, searching for mutants who could make appearance. These include Phat, a mutant that is a very large man who can slim down to fit in a smaller space (played by two actors, Via Saleaumua – "large mode" – and Richard Yee – "small mode"); Spike (played by Lance Gibson), a mutant who battles Wolverine in the forest by extruding bony spikes from his flesh – the character was added because the editing team felt that the original cut of the scene portrayed Logan as a cold-blooded killer, which could be changed if another mutant attacked Wolverine before he struck the Brotherhood and Glob Herman (played by Clayton Dean Watmough), a mutant with transparent skin. Mark Helfrich portrays an unnamed mutant with ash-gray skin. Various other mutants make cameos at the X-Mansion; Shauna Kain and Kea Wong reprised their cameo roles as Siryn and Jubilee respectively, and three identical girls in the background in one scene are a reference to the Stepford Cuckoos. Olivia Williams portrays Moira MacTaggert. Adrian Hough, who previously voiced Nightcrawler in X-Men appears as John Grey, Jean's father. X-Men co-creator Stan Lee and writer Chris Claremont have cameos in the film's opening scene as the neighbors of young Jean Grey. The sergeant directing defensive preparations before the Brotherhood assaults Alcatraz Island is played by R. Lee Ermey. Lloyd Adams portrays the green-skinned mutant that climbs the guard tower on Alcatraz. Many fans believed this was Toad; however, the credits list him as lizard man and Brett Ratner confirmed it was Anole. Avalanche and Vanisher also appear; however, it is not known who portrayed them.
## Production
### Development
Bryan Singer, the director of the first two 20th Century Fox X-Men films, left the project in July 2004 in favor of developing Superman Returns (2006) for Warner Bros. Pictures. Singer stated that he "didn't fully have X-Men 3 in my mind" in contrast to a fully formed idea for a Superman film and interest in joining that franchise. By the time of his departure, Singer had only produced a partial story treatment with X2 (2003) screenwriters Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, who accompanied him to Superman Returns. The treatment focused on Jean Grey's resurrection, which would also introduce the villainess Emma Frost, a role intended for Sigourney Weaver. Frost was an empath manipulating Jean's emotions in the treatment and, like the finished film, Magneto desires to control her. Overwhelmed by her powers, Jean kills herself, but Jean's spirit survives and becomes a god-like creature, which Dougherty compared to the star child in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
New contracts for returning cast members were made, as the actors and actresses had signed for only two films. Hugh Jackman's contract included the approval of director, initially offering the position to Darren Aronofsky, with whom he had just finished filming on The Fountain (2006). Joss Whedon, whose comic book storyline "Gifted" from Astonishing X-Men which he wrote was integrated into the script's plot, turned down the offer because he was working on a Wonder Woman film. Rob Bowman and Alex Proyas were also rumored to be up for consideration, though Proyas personally turned it down, citing feuds with Fox president Thomas Rothman while producing I, Robot (2004). Zack Snyder was also approached, but he was already committed to 300 (2006). Peter Berg was also considered to direct the film but he too turned down the job. Guillermo del Toro was also offered to direct the film but turned down as he was already committed to Pan's Labyrinth (2006). In February 2005, with still no director hired, Fox announced a May 5, 2006, release date, with filming to start in July 2005 in Vancouver. One month later, the studio signed Matthew Vaughn to direct, and pushed the release date three weeks to May 26, Memorial Day weekend. Vaughn cast Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Dania Ramirez as Callisto, and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, but family issues led him to withdraw before filming began. Vaughn was also cautious of the tight deadlines imposed by Fox, stating that he "didn't have the time to make the movie that I wanted to make".
Brett Ratner, who was previously considered to direct X-Men (2000) in 1996, and John Moore were both in the running to replace Vaughn during pre-production. On June 5, 2005, Ratner was confirmed as Vaughn's replacement. Ratner said he was surprised to get an invitation, as he thought he would have no chance to do a comic-book film after the cancelled Superman: Flyby for Warner Bros. With a limited knowledge of the X-Men mythos, Ratner trusted his writers on doing something faithful to the comics, having the script drawing all of its scenes from the original Marvel publications.
### Writing
Simon Kinberg, who had worked on two other Fox-produced Marvel Comics film adaptations, Fantastic Four (2005) and Elektra (2005), was hired as writer for X-Men 3 in August 2004. X2 co-writer Zak Penn was separately working on his own draft, and the two joined forces for a combined screenplay in January 2005. Kinberg wanted the comic book arc "The Dark Phoenix Saga" from The Uncanny X-Men by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne to be the emotional plot of the film, while "Gifted" by Whedon and artist John Cassaday would serve as the political focus. The duo had seven months to complete The Last Stand's script, and during the first week of work completed the first eighty pages, consisting of the first two-thirds of the plot. This incomplete draft was leaked to Ain't It Cool News, who proceeded to write a negative review. Vaughn later revised all of the major sequences in the film, but he didn't receive a writer's credit.
The writers had to fight Fox's executives to retain the Phoenix plot, as the studio only wanted the cure story as it provided a reason for Magneto's conflict with the X-Men. Still the disputes made them not add much for Jean Grey to do in most of the film's second half, as the executives considered the tone of the Phoenix story too dark for a mainstream summer movie, and that its appeal would be limited to hardcore fans rather than a general audience. Penn defended the divergences from the original Dark Phoenix stories, stating that the Phoenix was not a firebird-shaped cosmic force "because it doesn't fit into the world," and that Cyclops did not have as much screentime as Wolverine because the latter was more popular and "with Cyclops, you can't see his eyes. It's a harder character to relate to for the audience." Killing Cyclops was Fox's decision, based on the availability of actor James Marsden, who was cast in Singer's Superman Returns. The studio considered killing him off-screen with a dialogue reference, but Kinberg and Penn insisted that Jean kill him, emphasizing their relationship. Xavier's death was intended to match the impact of Spock's demise in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), as Fox felt the script called for a dramatic turning point. Kinberg and Penn were originally cautious, but grew to like the idea of killing off Xavier. They decided to write a post-credits scene suggesting the character's return for a sequel.
As the studio was simultaneously developing X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), limitations were set on which mutants could be used for cameo appearances in X-Men 3 in an attempt to avoid risking character development for Wolverine. Gambit was considered for both the convoy scene being freed by Magneto and the Battle of Alcatraz along with the X-Men, but the writers did not want to introduce a fan favorite character and "not be able to do him justice." Kinberg reasoned, "there just wasn't enough space", and considered Gambit would only work with as much screentime as Beast. Alan Cumming had been uncomfortable with the long hours he had to take with the prosthetic makeup as Nightcrawler in X2, but still planned to return for the sequel. The part of Nightcrawler was so minimal, however, that the studio felt it was not worthwhile to go through the long and costly makeup process, and the character was cut. Kinberg felt that "there wasn't much left to do with the character. It also felt like he might tread a little bit on the terrain of Beast, in terms of similarities in the characters and their political standpoints in terms of dealing with their mutancy." Nightcrawler's absence was later explained in the tie-in video game. The introductory scenes tried to emulate the Auschwitz opener for the first film, going with different scenes that resonated later in the plot instead of an action scene like in most blockbusters. Afterwards came a scene in the Danger Room, which was considered for the previous X-Men films but never included for budget and writing concerns. The writers tried to make the simulation not feel extraneous by showcasing some of the character conflicts and abilities in a "Days of Future Past"-inspired battle with a Sentinel. Another repurposed scene was Magneto attacking the convoy to free Mystique, Madrox and Juggernaut, which Penn had previously envisioned for X2.
Ratner collaborated with Penn and Kinberg in rearranging the plot structure of the film. Originally, the Golden Gate Bridge sequence was in the middle of the film, where the moved bridge was used by Magneto to free mutants being held prisoners on Alcatraz, and the climax was set in Washington, D.C. Ratner felt too many recent action films, such as Planet of the Apes (2001) and X2 itself, had their ending in Washington, and the Golden Gate sequence "would be the biggest sequence in my entire career", and suggested to instead put the Worthington laboratory in Alcatraz, along with "creating a face for the cure", which became the character of Jimmy/Leech. Kinberg agreed, as he previously argued with Penn about "blowing so many things early in the movie".
### Filming
X-Men: The Last Stand began shooting in August 2005 and wrapped in January 2006. Much of the film was shot at Vancouver Film Studios, the same location of X2. Locations included the Hatley Park National Historic Site and Royal Roads University, which doubled for the X-Mansion. An old lumber mill next to the Fraser River doubled as Alcatraz Island. The tight schedule made Ratner "begin post-production the day I started shooting," sending the scenes he had just filmed to his editors. The editing team was led by Mark Helfrich, who had edited all of Ratner's films, assisted by Mark Goldblatt in the action scenes and Julia Wong with effects-heavy footage.
According to associate producer Dave Gordon, "This is the biggest production ever filmed in Canada. It used to be X2, now it's X3." The \$210 million budget also made The Last Stand the most expensive film to be made at the time. The film's record would be first broken by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'''s \$225 million budget. The original cinematographer was Philippe Rousselot, who eventually opted to depart the production. Dante Spinotti, a frequent collaborator of Ratner, replaced him, with assistance of J. Michael Muro. Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairmen Thomas Rothman and Jim Gianopulos debated whether Rogue should give Iceman a passionate kiss at the film's end or simply hold his hand. The two executives screened The Last Stand for their daughters, as well as the studio's female marketing executives, and the hand holding prevailed. Gianopulos stated that the kissing "was all about sex, and we didn't want that." A strong campaign of secrecy about the script was enforced by Ratner and the writers. Even the actors had problems with getting full screenplays, the call sheets did not reveal all the characters, and many scenes were shot in varied ways. Both of the ending scenes were not included on the shooting script, with Ratner taking a small crew during one day's lunch time to film the post-credits scene with Xavier, and later going to London to film Magneto in the park.
In 2014, Kinberg said of the wobbling chess piece at the end of the film, "There is a scene before the credits where Magneto's playing chess, and you see that he can just make the chess piece move, so there's a hint that he's starting to regain his powers. The leap from there was that cure from The Last Stand didn't work exactly the way they thought it would, and so we just leaped forward however many years, and he's got his powers back."
In 2017, According to co-star Elliot Page when he was Ellen Page at the time in a 2017 interview during the MeToo and Time's Up movement he accused Ratner of homophobia when he as Ellen came out as lesbian when he was 18 at a cast and crew meet and greet during production, which made him feel violated. Fellow co-star and bisexual actress Anna Paquin expressed support of Page, stating that she was present when Ratner made the comment.
### Visual effects
To make sure the visual effects were made in just one year and without exceeding the budget, special effects supervisor John Bruno shipped the 900 effects shots to eleven companies in four countries – United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Canada – and did extensive previsualization. Their work begun in April 2005, before the director Brett Ratner had even been announced, and Bruno made sure to emphasize practical effects, "shoot as many practical elements as possible, and only use CG when we had to." For instance, complex wirework rigs were employed which enabled the actors to do some stunts without resorting to digital doubles, including a computer controlled flying rig from Cirque Du Soleil for Angel's flight, and one for Halle Berry's flying spins.
Bruno estimates one-sixth of the effects budget was spent on the Golden Gate Bridge scene, which employed both a miniature of the bridge and computer graphics. The miniature was filmed over a period of two months in Santa Clarita, California, just outside of Los Angeles. The effects team would shoot one minute of footage outdoors each day at "golden hour," complete with explosives in order to have enough plates to composite the scene.The effects team had to work without reference footage due to the city of San Francisco vetting any filming in the actual bridge, including aerial shooting as the area has restrictions on flying helicopters. Framestore had further challenges in matching the varied weather conditions across the film's plates. As compositing supervisor Matt Twyford detailed, "the elements consisted of cold, rainy night live-action footage from Vancouver, sunny day miniature elements, traditional misty day background plates of San Francisco, and of course the CG bridge and fx elements." Another miniature was for the Grey home, which had a destructable equivalent matching the Canadian location and also had a digital equivalent. A notable effect was the "digital skin-grafting", which rejuvenated the faces of senior actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, made by the Brothers Strause's Lola Visual Effects. Bruno made sure to ask the atomization made by Phoenix was not too vivid and gruesome, instead resembling oatmeal.
### Music
Ratner, a fan of John Powell's work in The Bourne Identity, invited Powell to write the music for The Last Stand. Powell was unsure if the Bourne work was "the kind of score that would fit the film" and Fox became reluctant on the composer's availability, given he was already scoring Ice Age: The Meltdown at the time of Ratner's contact. However, Powell finished the Ice Age score early to accept the job even if it resulted in a tighter schedule. Powell included references to the score from the previous two films as "it all had to be in the same family, and the same language". The Phoenix theme used lyrics from Benjamin Britten's Requiem Mass for the choir parts. A soundtrack album was released on May 23, 2006.
## Marketing
The marketing for The Last Stand was darker and more ambiguous compared to the two predecessors. Rothman declared that the decision was made so the film would "be different from all of the other movies in the summer," with a campaign that "wanted people to stop and not have it be so immediately apparent that we're selling a movie. We're interested in selling an emotion and an idea." The film's official website was launched in October 2005. The teaser trailer release with King Kong the following December was done in conjunction with the studio releasing the film's first official screen shots of the film to USA Today. Diamond Select Toys created a toy line, scanning the actors from the film with likenesses for the first time in the trilogy. Additional product tie-ins came with Harley-Davidson and 7-Eleven. A seven-minute sneak peek aired on Fox Broadcasting two weeks before the film's theatrical release.
Del Rey Books published a novelization of the film, written by comic book writer Chris Claremont, while Newmarket Press published The Art of X-Men: The Last Stand: From Concept to Feature Film. Claremont also worked on Activision's tie-in video game, X-Men: The Official Game, doing the script along with screenwriter Zak Penn. The game's story bridges the events between X2 and The Last Stand, featuring Wolverine, Iceman and Nightcrawler as playable characters, voiced by their film portrayers Hugh Jackman, Shawn Ashmore, and Alan Cumming. Patrick Stewart also appears as Professor X. The game was released to negative reviews and eventually underperformed commercially.
## Release
### Theatrical
X-Men: The Last Stand premiered at an out-of-competition event of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2006. Two days later, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Kelsey Grammer attended an advance screening at USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), as the ship was en route to New York City for Fleet Week. The film was released in the United States on May 26, 2006, in 3,690 theaters, while also opening in 95 international markets that same weekend.
### Home media
X-Men: The Last Stand was released on October 3, 2006, on DVD and UMD. It was available in three editions: single-disc, two-disc, and a trilogy box set with the previous two films. Extras included three alternative endings, each with optional commentary by director Ratner; 10 deleted scenes; audio commentaries from Ratner, the writers and the producers; and two hidden Easter eggs. The two-disc edition came with a 100-page commemorative comic book with a new story written by X-Men co-creator Stan Lee, his first original Marvel comic book in five years. The DVD sold 2.6 million units in its first day, exceeding Fox's expectations, and sold a total 5 million in its first week. A Blu-ray edition was issued in November 2006.
X-Men: The Last Stand is included in the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set X-Men: 3-Film Collection, which was released on September 25, 2018.
## Reception
### Box office
X-Men: The Last Stand earned \$45.1 million on its opening day and went on to generate \$102.7 million during its three-day opening weekend, making it the fourth-highest opening weekend of all time, behind Shrek 2, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Spider-Man. The film then grossed \$122.8 million during the four-day Memorial Day weekend, which was the highest at that time, surpassing The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Shrek 2. It would hold this record until it was surpassed by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End the next year. The film's release was also a new single-day record for Friday openings. The opening weekend gross was surpassed six weeks later by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, making The Last Stand's opening the second-highest of 2006. Internationally, The Last Stand topped the box office in 26 countries with a total gross of \$76.1 million overall, but suffered competition from The Da Vinci Code, which retained the top spot in most markets, and beat The Last Stand in international gross that weekend with \$91 million. The film's second weekend dropped 67 percent to \$34 million, which was the steepest post-Memorial Day opening drop on record. X-Men: The Last Stand eventually grossed \$234.4 million in the domestic box office and \$225 million internationally, for a worldwide total of \$459.4 million, the fourth-highest in domestic grosses and seventh-highest worldwide for 2006. X-Men: The Last Stand was also the highest-grossing film in the franchise, until it was surpassed by X-Men: Days of Future Past eight years later.
### Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, X-Men: The Last Stand has an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of , . The site's critical consensus reads, "X-Men: The Last Stand provides plenty of mutant action for fans of the franchise, even if it does so at the expense of its predecessors' deeper moments." At Metacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100 based on 38 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Ebert and Roeper gave the film a "two thumbs up" rating, with Roger Ebert saying, "I liked the action, I liked the absurdity, I liked the incongruous use and misuse of mutant powers, and I especially liked the way it introduces all of those political issues and lets them fight it out with the special effects." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com gave it a mixed review, noting that it was "only half a mess", and that Ratner "could have stuck a bit more closely to the 'Dark Phoenix' narrative than he did." However, Zacharek did note that that third act captured some of the original story's "majesty", praising the performances of Jackman, McKellen, Romijn and Janssen. Famke Janssen's performance was praised by critics. Matt Mueller of Total Film was impressed with Janssen's performance and said, "Playing the super-freaky mind-control goddess like GoldenEye's Xenia Onatopp's all-powerful psycho sister, her scenes – particularly that one with the house – crackle with energy and tragedy. If only the rest of X3 had followed suit."
Justin Chang of Variety said the film was "a wham-bam sequel noticeably lacking in the pop gravitas, moody atmospherics, and emotional weight that made the first two Marvel comicbook adaptations so rousingly successful." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called it a "diminished sequel, a brute-force enterprise" and said it was an example of "what happens when movies are confused with sandwich shops as franchise opportunities". The Minneapolis Star Tribune characterized Ratner's approach as "Forget subtlety! Let's blow things up!" David Edelstein of New York magazine called it "just another big-budget B-movie. It's a fast and enjoyable B-movie, though." Foreshadowing X-Men: First Class, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, "Last stand? My ass. Billed as the climax of a trilogy, the third and weakest chapter in the X-Men series is a blatant attempt to prove there is still life in the franchise. And there is: just enough to pull a Star Trek and spawn a Next Generation saga."
X-Men: The Last Stand has been criticized by fans for killing off major characters such as Charles Xavier, Cyclops, and Jean Grey. The 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past has subsequently been viewed by some critics as a revision of those controversial plot elements in X-Men: The Last Stand. Writer Kinberg would later state that "there are a lot of things about 'X3' that I love and there are a lot of things that I regret", detailing that he would have preferred the Dark Phoenix as the main plotline and "I would have fought harder" for that, considering that at the period "the darkness of her story was a little bit daunting on a huge \$200 million studio movie" leading Fox to ask for rewrites. Previous X-Men director Bryan Singer declared that The Last Stand "isn't what I would have done" and he was dissatisfied with the busy plot and excessive character deaths, but Singer still liked some parts of the movie, such as Elliot Page's casting – leading Singer to bring Page back as Kitty Pryde in X-Men: Days of Future Past – and the scenes with Leech, which he described as "really sweet moments". Matthew Vaughn, who was attached as director before dropping out, said that given the limited time they had to make it, the film was "pretty good" but criticized Ratner's direction: "I could have done something with far more emotion and heart. I'm probably going to be told off for saying that, but I genuinely believe it." While promoting his own installment of the franchise, 2011's X-Men: First Class, Vaughn would say regarding The Last Stand that "I storyboarded the whole bloody film, did the script. My X3 would have been 40 minutes longer. They didn't let the emotions and the drama play in that film. It became wall-to-wall noise and drama. I would have let it breathe and given far more dramatic elements to it." Having admitted being unhappy with the way some elements of the film turned out, Kinberg then went on to direct and write the reboot film Dark Phoenix, which retold the events of X-Men: The Last Stand.
### Accolades
## Future
In February 2006, Ratner said that The Last Stand could be the final X-Men film: "We wanted to make sure the audiences knew that this was a trilogy. Even though they weren't made together like Lord of the Rings, this is really closure for the X-Men series. ... This is the last stand for sure."
The next two X-Men films, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and X-Men: First Class (2011) were prequels that took place before the events of the first X-Men movie. The first film set chronologically after The Last Stand was The Wolverine (2013), a standalone sequel, that shows Logan heading for Japan to escape the memories of what occurred during The Last Stand. Jackman and Janssen reprised their roles, while McKellen and Stewart appear in a mid-credits scene.
X-Men: Days of Future Past, the direct sequel to The Last Stand, was released on May 23, 2014, with Jackman, Berry, Stewart, McKellen, Paquin, Page, Ashmore, Cudmore, Grammer, Janssen, and Marsden reprising their respective roles. The plot, inspired by the comic book "Days of Future Past" story arc, begins with a dystopian future set years after The Last Stand. Wolverine's consciousness is sent back in time, to his 1973 body in order to guide the younger Xavier and Magneto into preventing the events that lead to the desolate future. The events of the film end up retroactively changing the continuity of the series, changing some events in films set after First Class'', resulting in an altered timeline where Jean and Cyclops are still alive. |
1,728,669 | Washington Heights, Chicago | 1,137,668,855 | Community area in Chicago | [
"Community areas of Chicago",
"South Side, Chicago"
]
| Washington Heights is the 73rd of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located 12 miles (19 km) from the Loop, it is on the city's far south side. Washington Heights is considered part of the Blue Island Ridge, along with the nearby community areas of Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood, and the village of Blue Island. It contains a neighborhood also known as Washington Heights, as well as the neighborhoods of Brainerd and Fernwood. As of 2017, Washington Heights had 27,453 inhabitants.
Named for the heights which are now part of the adjacent Beverly, the area was settled in the late 19th century at the intersection of two railroad lines. It was incorporated as a village in 1874, and was annexed by Chicago in 1890. During most of the 20th century, Washington Heights was primarily inhabited by Irish, Germans and Swedes; after late-20th-century white flight, it has been mainly inhabited by African-Americans. The area largely retained its middle-class character during its racial transition, declining somewhat in recent years.
Historically influenced by transit, Washington Heights includes the original site of the former Chicago Bridge & Iron Company. The Brainerd Bungalow Historic District and the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, home of the largest collection of African-American history in the midwestern United States, are in the area.
## History
### Etymology
The area was named "Washington Heights" in honor of George Washington when a post office was established in 1869. The eponymous heights split off and became Beverly by 1900. Brainerd was named for E. L. Brainerd, who built a train station at 89th and Loomis Streets in 1887. Washington Heights was also known as Blue Island Ridge, Campbell's Woods, Dummy Junction, and North Blue Island.
### 19th century
What is now Washington Heights was primarily inhabited by farmers from the 1830s to the 1860s. The earliest known non-indigenous settlers in the area were DeWitt Lane in 1832, and Norman Rexford and Jefferson Gardner in 1834. Gardner established a tavern in 1836, which was acquired by William Wilcox in 1844. Wilcox had well water on his farm, which he served to travellers on the Vincennes Trail to Indiana; his tavern (and many others in the area) was popular, since nearby Beverly prohibited the sale of alcohol. John Blackstone purchased the land bordered by modern-day Halsted Street, Western Avenue, 91st and 115th Streets in 1839. Potawatami Indians remained in the area until they were expelled by treaty and settled in modern-day Kansas and Oklahoma in 1844. That year, Blackstone sold his land to Thomas Morgan of Surrey for \$5,450.
Irish, Germans, and native-born Americans settled the intersection of modern-day 103rd Street and Vincennes Avenue in 1860. The incorporation of Calumet Township in 1862 accelerated settlement of the area. Railroad workers began to settle in 1864 and 1865, beginning the dominance of railroads. In 1866, Willis M. Hitt and Laurin P. Hilliard subdivided land in the vicinity; this was followed three years later by the Blue Island Land and Building Company. Settlers and speculators were attracted to the area, which was at the intersection of the Rock Island Railroad and Panhandle Lines; both had been built in 1852. The Blue Island Land and Building Company was led by Frederick Hampden Winston, and among its stockholders was Rock Island Railroad president John F. Tracy. A Washington Heights post office was established in 1869, and Washington Heights was incorporated as a village in 1874. The village was annexed by Chicago in 1890.
The modern community area is a conglomeration of early settlements, particularly the former Brainerd and Fernwood. Fernwood was established in 1883, southeast of Washington Heights. Growth was rapid, and it had over 185 houses by 1885. Brainerd was settled in 1880, northwest of Washington Heights; unlike Fernwood, it grew slowly due to a lack of transportation. Brainerd was annexed by Chicago at the same time as Washington Heights; Fernwood followed in 1891, and was incorporated into Washington Heights. Brainerd and Fernwood continue as neighborhoods to this day.
### 20th century
The Men's Club of Brainerd was formed in 1902, and was renamed the Brainerd Improvement Club in 1903 to admit women. Gas lines were run in 1905, and telephones were installed in 1907. Streetcars were extended into the area in 1912. Loomis Street was paved in 1913, but the remaining roads north of the Rock Island Railroad tracks remained unpaved until 1925; the roads south of the tracks were paved in 1927. Electric streetlights were installed in 1928 and 1929. Brick bungalows were built between 1920 and 1950. Growth slowed during the Great Depression, but rebounded in the 1940s.
Washington Heights was one of the 75 community areas defined by the University of Chicago during the 1920s. The area's residents at this time were predominantly Irish, German and Swedish workers, who had moved from Englewood and Greater Grand Crossing. In 1940, foreign-born whites were 12.5 percent of the population; the top five nationalities were German, Irish, Swedish, Canadian, and English (or Welsh).
African-Americans began moving into the area east of Halsted Street during the 1950s; they had been restricted to certain areas of the city, and expanded into others in search of better homes and jobs. The African-American proportion of the population increased from 12 to 75 percent between 1960 and 1970, a trend encouraged by blockbusting. Despite fears by many whites of decreasing property values, the economic status of the new residents differed little; Washington Heights remained middle-class. Interstate 57 was built through the area, opening in 1967 and forcing many residents to move. The only highway in the city without a nickname, a portion of it was named for the Tuskegee Airmen in 2012.
### 21st century
Median household income declined somewhat during the 2000s; it was \$2,000 less than the citywide median in 2013, and had been \$6,000 above the citywide median in 1989.
The site of the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company foundry became a development of single-family homes. Known as the Renaissance at Beverly Ridge, the original development plan for the site failed due to lack of funds during a housing-market crash after about 25 homes were built. An alderman's wife was responsible for selling the development and received money from tax increment financing (leading to suspicions of impropriety), and a new developer stepped to finish the project. This developer, who had close relations to alderman Carrie Austin, also failed to meet expectations, being unable to produce the promised 91 houses by June 2019 and leading to the city cutting off public funds to the project that December. The project continued during the early 2020s without incident, except on a single block that was beleaguered by problems in home construction and delays in contract closing. Attempts by residents on that block to fix the problems were fruitless until Austin's office was contacted. Given that the block is expected to be renamed in honor of the new developer, a white man, and the neighborhood is majority block was also the source of controversy given the issues.
## Geography and neighborhoods
Washington Heights is community area \#73. It is on Chicago's far south side, 12 miles (19 km) from the Loop. Its northern border is the railroad tracks at 89th Street, and its southern border is West 107th Street. At several points its eastern border is Eggleston and Halsted, and its western border is Beverly Avenue until 103rd Street (when it shifts to Vincennes Avenue). The area contains the neighborhoods of Brainerd, Washington Heights, and Fernwood, and covers an area of 2.1425 square miles (5.549 km<sup>2</sup>). It is geographically divided by the Metra Rock Island Line tracks and Interstate 57.
Washington Heights, Morgan Park, Beverly, Mount Greenwood, and Blue Island are considered part of the Blue Island Ridge. The ridge is a glacial bluff which was named for its color, due to atmospheric conditions or its blue wildflowers. In 2015 the area had 795.8 acres (322.0 ha) of single-family housing, 68.8 acres (27.8 ha) of multifamily housing, 55.3 acres (22.4 ha) of commercial development, 36.6 acres (14.8 ha) of industrial development, 84.5 acres (34.2 ha) of institutional development, and 9.9 acres (4.0 ha) of mixed-use development. An additional 676.5 acres (273.8 ha) was defined as transportation and other.
About three-quarters of the housing stock, 74.3 percent, in Washington Heights consists of single-family detached homes. Most of the houses (57.5 percent) were built between 1940 and 1969. The median number of rooms in an area house is 6.4, compared to 4.8 rooms citywide. 88.6 percent of the housing units were occupied between 2015 and 2019, compared to a 90.1-percent occupancy rate between 2006 and 2010. Of the total number of units, 67.7 percent were owner-occupied and 32.3 percent were renter-occupied between 2015 and 2019, compared to 69.5 percent and 30.5 percent between 2006 and 2010. Between 51 and 100 multifamily buildings in the area were considered affordable in 2016.
### Brainerd
The original Brainerd settlement was bounded by 87th and 91st Streets and Racine and Ashland Avenues. The modern neighborhood is bounded by 89th Street, Princeton Park, 95th Street, and Beverly Boulevard. It contains the Brainerd Bungalow Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The historic district is roughly bounded by 89th Street, 95th Street, Loomis Street, and May Street. It consists of bungalows built between 1915 and 1931, with construction peaking in 1927. The district experienced a construction boom during the 1910s and 1920s, and its construction mirrors that of similar contemporary districts across the United States. Although 42 architects are known to have designed the district's buildings, several (including William E. Sammons, Braucher, McClellan, Joneke, and Johnson) dominated the construction. Almost half of the buildings have no known architect, however, and relied on preexisting building plans. In addition to the bungalows which make up most of the district's buildings, several multi-family residential buildings (duplexes and apartment buildings) are stylistically similar.
### Fernwood
Fernwood is in southeastern Washington Heights. Established in 1883, it was annexed by Chicago in 1891. Parts of Fernwood extend into nearby Roseland, the location of a 1947 race riot over the placement of black veterans in the Fernwood Park Homes housing project. More than 1,000 police officers dispersed over 500 rioters, making 18 arrests in one of the largest dispatches of Chicago police at the time.
### Washington Heights
The community area includes a neighborhood with the same name. The original Washington Heights settlement was centered around 103rd Street and Vincennes Avenue, and was annexed by Chicago in 1890.
## Demographics
In 2020, 25,065 people in 9,538 households lived in Washington Heights. This represents an decrease of 5.4 percent from the 2010 Census, which in turn had represented a 11.2 percent decline from the 2000 Census. The area's racial composition between 2015 and 2019 was 1.3 percent white, 96.1 percent African-American, and 1.5 percent other races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 1.1 percent of the population. The age range during that time was broad, with 23.2 percent under the age of 19, 19.7 percent aged 20 to 34, 17.6 percent aged 35 to 49, 21.3 percent aged 50 to 64, and 18.3 percent aged 65 or older. The median age was 41.9. English was the only language spoken by 97.8 percent of the population aged five and older, compared to a citywide figure of 64 percent.
Between 2015 and 2019, median household income was \$51,800, compared to the citywide median income of \$58,247. Regarding income distribution, 29.4 percent of households earned less than \$25,000 annually; 19.2 percent earned between \$25,000 and \$49,999; 18.4 percent earned between \$50,000 and \$74,999; 12.7 percent earned between \$75,000 and \$99,999; 13.7 percent earned between \$100,000 and \$149,999, and 6.6 percent earned more than \$150,000. This compares with a citywide distribution of 24.3 percent, 19.9 percent, 15.1 percent, 11.2 percent, 13.8 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively. As of September 2015, most census tracts in the area had a median household income between \$36,200 and \$57,900 and were above the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s low-income limit; two tracts had a median household income between \$21,700 and \$36,200, below HUD's low-income limit but above its very-low-income limit.
Hardship index is a metric, used by Chicago, which takes six indicators of public health to quantify the relative amount of hardship in a community area. The indicators generate a score of one to 100, with a higher score indicating greater hardship. With data from 2006 to 2010, Washington Heights's hardship index was 48.
## Economy and employment
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company was founded at 105th and Throop in 1889, and later relocated to Texas. Between 2015 and 2019, 55.7 percent of Washington Heights' population was in the labor force; the unemployment rate was 15.7 percent, compared to the citywide rate of 8.1 percent. Of those employed in 2018, a plurality (35.5 percent) worked outside Chicago; 25 percent worked in the Loop, 7.7 percent on the Near North Side, 5 percent on the Near West Side, and 1.8 percent in Hyde Park. About five percent of those employed in Washington Heights lived there; nearly half lived outside the city of Chicago.
Healthcare was Washington Heights' leading employer, employing 18.7 percent of the area's residents and making up 28 percent of its employees. The next four industries in employment of Washington Heights residents were administration (10.8 percent), education (10.7 percent), retail (9.6 percent), and public administration (9.3 percent). The next four industries in area employment were retail (21.8 percent), education (21.5 percent), accommodation and food service (9.9 percent), and other service (5.6 percent).
In 2019, Ashland Avenue and most of Vincennes Avenue were zoned for commerce, and 95th, 103rd and Halsted Streets and a portion of Vincennes Avenue were zoned for business. Halsted Street south of 103rd Street and 103rd Street east of Halsted Street made up a retail hub, and other retail establishments were scattered along 95th Street, Ashland Avenue, Vincennes Avenue, and elsewhere on Halsted.
## Politics
### Local
In the Chicago City Council, Washington Heights is divided among the 21st Ward on the north (represented by Howard Brookins, who lives in the area), the 34th Ward on the south (represented by Carrie Austin), and the 9th Ward in its southeastern corner (represented by Anthony Beale). In the Cook County Board of Commissioners, it is split between the 5th District (represented by Democrat Deborah Sims) on the south and the 4th District (represented by Democrat Stanley Moore, who lives in the area) on the north.
### State
In the Illinois House of Representatives, most of Washington Heights is in District 27 (represented by Democrat Justin Slaughter); the western part of Brainerd is in District 35, represented by Democrat Frances Ann Hurley. Slaughter lives in the area, and Hurley lives in Mount Greenwood. In the Illinois Senate, most of the area is in District 14, represented by Democrat Emil Jones III; western Brainerd is in District 18, represented by Democrat William Cunningham.
### Federal
Most of Washington Heights is in Illinois's 1st congressional district, represented in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Bobby Rush. The southeast is part of Illinois's 2nd congressional district, represented by Democrat Robin Kelly. A small area north of 97th Street and west of Beverly Boulevard is part of Illinois's 3rd congressional district, represented by Democrat Marie Newman. In 2017, the Cook Partisan Voting Index of the three districts was D+27, D+29 and D+6, respectively.
In the 2016 presidential election, Washington Heights cast 13,709 votes for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and 229 votes for Republican candidate Donald Trump. In the 2012 presidential election, the area cast 16,129 votes for Democratic candidate Barack Obama and 111 votes for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
## Government
### Courts and governance
Washington Heights is in the second subcircuit of the Circuit Court of Cook County. With the rest of Chicago, it is part of the Circuit Court's first municipal district. With the rest of Cook County, it is in the first judicial district of the Supreme Court of Illinois and the state's appellate courts. Washington Heights is in Calumet Township in Cook County. Townships in Chicago were abolished for governmental purposes in 1902, but are still used for property assessment.
### Public safety
Washington Heights is in the Chicago Police Department's 22nd District, whose headquarters is in nearby Morgan Park. Between November 2018 and November 2019 3,165 crimes were committed in Washington Heights, ranking it 32nd in crime; 291 of the crimes were violent, ranking the community 29th in violent crime. Fire Truck 24 is located at 104th Street and Vincennes Avenue. It is notable as the only Chicago fire house to not house a fire engine.
### Postal service
Washington Heights' ZIP Codes are 60620, 60628, and 60643. Washington Heights does not have any post offices, but some are located in nearby Auburn Gresham, Roseland, and Morgan Park.
## Transportation
The area's history has been described as "all about transit", because of its location at the intersection of two rail lines and the construction of Interstate 57. The Panhandle and Rock Island Lines were built in 1852, and Interstate 57 opened in 1967.
### Public transportation
Metra operates three stations on the Rock Island District line, providing daily inbound commuter-rail service to LaSalle Street Station in Chicago and outbound service to the Joliet Transportation Center. The line splits into two branches just north of Washington Heights; one branch is at the area's northern border, and the other cuts through it. The 91st Street station is on the Beverly side of the Washington Heights-Beverly border in the north, and the Brainerd station is on 89th Street between Loomis Boulevard and Bishop Street. The branch which cuts through the area has two stations. The rush-hour-only station, 95th Street–Longwood, is at South Vincennes Avenue and 95th Street; the other is the 103rd Street–Washington Heights station. All stations are in Zone C for fare-collection purposes.
The 95th/Dan Ryan station on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)'s Red Line, the 14th busiest rapid-transit station on the Chicago "L" in June 2019, is in adjacent Roseland. Local buses include the CTA 95, 103, and 112 routes with full-time service, and part-time service on the 108 CTA route and the 352 and 381 Pace routes.
### Private transportation
Between 2015 and 2019, a plurality of occupied housing units (45.2 percent) had one vehicle available, compared to the citywide figure of 44.2 percent; 25.3 percent of units had two vehicles available, compared to the citywide figure of 21.8 percent. Three or more vehicles are available in 11.3 percent of housing units; 18.1 percent of units have none, compared to respective citywide figures of 7.0 and 26.9 percent. Most workers (62.1 percent) drove alone to work, compared to 48.8 percent citywide. The rest used other means of transportation; 22.8 percent took transit (compared to 28.2 percent citywide), 7.7 percent carpool, 1.0 percent walk or bicycle, and 3.0 percent use other modes. This compares with respective citywide figures of 7.7, 8.2, and 1.9 percent. In addition to the commuters, 3.5 percent worked from home compared to 5.2 percent citywide. Highly-walkable areas account for approximately 91 percent of people and jobs; the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning defines such areas by population density, city-block length, tree-canopy cover, fatalities (or serious injuries) to pedestrians and bicyclists, density at intersections, and nearby amenities.
## Education
The area's first public school opened in 1874. J. A. Wadhams, who taught in a small, wood-frame building for the previous two years, was the first principal of the new school. Fort Dearborn School opened in 1928 in southeastern Brainerd, replacing an earlier school on 89th Street which had become overcrowded. The school was designed by Board of Education architect John C. Christensen, who had designed several other schools in nearby neighborhoods. Gilbert Wilkinson was its first principal, remaining there until 1933. The school became overcrowded again during the early 1970s due demographic changes, and an addition was built at that time. The school is a contributing property to the Bungalow Historic District. The Academy of Our Lady, known colloquially (and later officially) as "Longwood Academy", operated in the area from 1874 to 1999.
In the Chicago Public Schools system, Washington Heights contains Julian High School, Fort Dearborn School and the Kipling, Evers, Fernwood, Green, Wacker, Garvey and Mount Vernon Elementary Schools. The Chicago International Charter School, a charter school with locations throughout the city, has its Loomis elementary-school and Longwood high-school campuses in the area. In 2017 13.6 percent of the population aged 25 and older held a bachelor's degree, and 8.1 percent held a graduate or professional degree. A plurality of residents (30.7 percent) had some college education without a degree, and 29.2 percent were high-school graduates; 10.2 percent had not finished high school, and 8 percent had an associate's degree. Respective citywide figures were 22.3, 15.1, 17.7, 22.9, 16.2, and 5.7 percent.
Washington Heights is home to the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, a branch of the Chicago Public Library which opened in 1975. Named for African-American historian Carter G. Woodson, the library contains the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature (the largest collection of African-American history in the midwestern United States) and the sculpture Jacob's Ladder by South Side native Richard Hunt. After a 14-month renovation, it reopened in February 2018.
## Parks and recreation
Portions of Washington Heights were part of the Ridge Park District before the 1934 amalgamation of 22 park districts into the Chicago Park District; other portions were part of the Fernwood Park District. It contains 2.16 accessible park acres (0.87 ha) per 1,000 residents, compared to a citywide figure of 2.42 acres (0.98 ha). The area includes Brainerd, Jackie Robinson, Euclid, Oakdale, and Joseph Robichaux Parks.
Brainerd Park is bounded by 91st and 92nd Streets, Racine Avenue and Throop Street. Although the Ridge Park District tried to purchase the open space for Brainerd Park from the Chicago Board of Education in 1932, the district had only made a down payment on the land by the time the park district was consolidated. The Chicago Park District completed the purchase in 1938, and quickly added athletic facilities and a fieldhouse. The original fieldhouse was demolished during the 1970s, and a new one was built to handle increasing youth needs. Brainerd Park is not a contributing property to the Bungalow Historic District due to its late completion, although it has been noted as always intended for community use. The park contains a water sprayer, tennis courts, a playground, a basketball court, a football and soccer field, a baseball and softball field, meeting rooms and assembly halls, and the fieldhouse. Jackie Robinson Park is on 107th Street. The Chicago Park District purchased land and established the park in 1957, while the Board of Education established Mount Vernon School. Originally named Mount Vernon Park, it was renamed in honor of Jackie Robinson in 1999. The park contains a basketball court, playgrounds, and a fieldhouse.
Euclid Park was acquired by the Fernwood Park District during the late 1920s; originally known as Fernwood Commons, it was renamed Euclid Park after a nearby subdivision named for the mathematician. It contains tennis courts, a baseball field, a basketball court, a spray pool, a playground, a football and soccer field, a clubroom, and a fieldhouse. Oakdale Park is named for a nearby neighborhood named for a grove of oak trees in the vicinity; the site was purchased by the Chicago Park District in 1947, and was developed during the 1950s. It contains a picnic grove, a baseball field, a basketball court, a spray pool, a playground, a football and soccer field, a swimming pool, a clubroom, and a fieldhouse. Joseph Robichaux Park was created in the late 1960s from land adjacent to Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad tracks, and its development began in 1970. The park was named for Joseph J. Robichaux, a local alderman and county commissioner. It contains a tennis court, a playground, a water sprayer, a gymnasium, a basketball court, a baseball field, a clubroom, a fieldhouse, and Dusty Folwarczny's sculpture, Give.
The Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Dan Ryan Woods are in Beverly, adjacent to the northwest corner of Washington Heights, and contains the Calumet Division Maintenance Headquarters. An abandoned stretch of railroad (formerly operated by Conrail) was converted into the 6-mile (9.7 km) Major Taylor Trail during the late 1990s, with the Chicago Park District leasing the trail from the city's Department of Transportation in 2006. The bikeway runs between the Dan Ryan Woods and the Whistler Woods in Riverdale, crossing Interstate 57 and the Calumet River. Part of the Southland Century Bike Network, it was reportedly underutilized in 2016. In 2018 a mural of Taylor and a quote of his was painted on a wall adjacent to the trail by Chicago artist Bernard Williams.
## Notable residents
- Kam Buckner (born 1985), member of the Illinois House of Representatives since 2019. He was raised in Washington Heights.
- Richard Driehaus (1942–2021) was raised in the Brainerd Historic Bungalow District, and was a vocal supporter and financier of preserved bungalow architecture in Chicago.
- Terrance W. Gainer (born 1947), law enforcement official and 38th Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate (2007–2014). Gainer was raised in the Longwood Manor neighborhood.
- Byron Irvin (born 1966), professional basketball player who played for a number of teams (notably as a shooting guard for the Washington Bullets)
- Eddie T. Johnson (born 1960), 62nd Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (2016–2019). His family moved to Washington Heights from the Cabrini–Green Homes when he was nine years old.
- Justin Slaughter, member of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was born in Washington Heights and currently resides in the community area. |
524,726 | HMS Hood (1891) | 1,160,988,782 | Royal Sovereign-class battleship of the Royal Navy scuttled in Portland Harbour | [
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| HMS Hood was a modified Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the early 1890s. She differed from the other ships of the class in that she had cylindrical gun turrets instead of barbettes and a lower freeboard. She served most of her active career in the Mediterranean Sea, where her low freeboard was less of a disadvantage. The ship was placed in reserve in 1907 and later became the receiving ship at Queenstown, Ireland. Hood was used in the development of anti-torpedo bulges in 1913 and was scuttled in late 1914 to act as a blockship across the southern entrance of Portland Harbour after the start of World War I.
## Design
Hood, the last of the eight Royal Sovereign-class battleships to be built, differed significantly from the other ships of her class in that she had a forward freeboard of only 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) compared to 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) of the other ships. The Royal Sovereigns had reverted to a higher freeboard after several classes of low-freeboard vessel had been constructed, the last being the Trafalgar class. Low freeboard had been popular for around ten years since it required less armour and made a smaller target for gunfire to hit, although it had the disadvantage that it reduced seaworthiness. This low freeboard meant that Hood was very wet in rough weather and her maximum speed reduced rapidly as the wave height increased, making her only suitable for service in the relatively calm Mediterranean. This was seen as a vindication of the barbette/high-freeboard design in the rest of her class, and all subsequent British battleship classes had high freeboard.
The lower freeboard was required by her use of armoured gun turrets—a heavy type of rotating gun mounting of the mid-and-late 19th century very different from what would later be known as "turrets". Hood's half-sisters mounted their guns exposed on top of barbettes, a much lighter arrangement that allowed their freeboard to be substantially increased. The heavy, old-fashioned type of turrets added to the amount of weight high up in the ship compared to barbettes and decreased the ship's stability.
Because the stability of a ship is largely due to freeboard at high rolling angles, she was given a larger metacentric height (the vertical distance between the metacenter and the centre of gravity below it) of around 4.1 feet (1.2 m) instead of the 3.6 feet (1.1 m) of the rest of the Royal Sovereigns to make her roll less in rough seas. This had the effect of making her roll period shorter by around 7% compared to her sisters, which in turn made her gunnery less accurate. Bilge keels were fitted in 1894 which improved her manoeuvrability.
### General characteristics
Hood had an overall length of 410 feet 6 inches (125.1 m), a beam of 75 feet (22.9 m), and a draught of 28 feet 6 inches (8.7 m) at deep load. She displaced 14,780 long tons (15,020 t) at normal load and 15,588 long tons (15,838 t) at deep load. Her crew numbered 690 officers and ratings.
The ship was powered by two 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller. Eight water-tube boilers provided steam to the engines, which produced a maximum of 11,000 indicated horsepower (8,200 kW) when forced. This was intended to allow them to reach a speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph). She carried a maximum of 1,490 long tons (1,510 t) of coal, enough to steam 4,720 nautical miles (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
### Armament
The ship was armed with four 32-calibre BL 13.5-inch Mk I–IV guns in two twin gun turrets, one fore and aft of the superstructure. Each gun was provided with 80 shells. Hood's secondary armament consisted of ten 40-calibre 6-inch Mk I-III guns mounted in casemates in the superstructure. A major problem with the four of these guns mounted on the upper deck was that they were mounted low in the ship and were unusable at high speed or in heavy weather. They were removed in 1904. The ship carried 200 rounds for each gun.
Defence against torpedo boats was provided by eight QF 6-pounder guns, although the exact type of gun is not known. Four of these were mounted on the main deck in casemates on the sides of the hull and suffered from the same problems as the six-inch guns. Hood also mounted a dozen QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns mounted in the superstructure and fighting tops. Like her sisters, the ship was fitted with seven 18-inch torpedo tubes. Two of these were mounted in the bow below the waterline, four were placed in the sides of the hull, two on each broadside, and one in the stern. These last five tubes were all above water. She also was fitted with a plough-shaped underwater ram.
In 1897 one of these 3-pounder guns was mounted on each turret top and, three years later, the 3-pounders in the fighting tops were transferred to the forward superstructure. At the same time the above-water torpedo tubes were removed. About 1902–03 the 6-pounders on the main deck were removed; two were remounted on the superstructure, but the other two were not replaced. In 1905 the 3-pounders on the forward superstructure were removed while the 3-pounders in the lower fighting tops were removed while the ship was in reserve from 1907–09.
### Armour
Hood's protection used both compound armour and nickel steel armour. Her waterline main belt ranged in thickness between 14 and 18 inches (356 and 457 mm) thick. It covered the middle 250 feet (76.2 m) of the ship and was 8.5 feet (2.6 m) high of which 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 m) was below the waterline at normal load. Fore and aft bulkheads, 16–14-inch (406–356 mm) thick respectively, closed off the ends of the central citadel at the level of the waterline. The upper strake of 4-inch (102 mm) armour was 150 feet (45.7 m) long and protected the ship's side between the barbette Oblique bulkheads 3 inches (76 mm) thick connected this strake to the armour protecting the bases of the turrets. The gun turrets and their bases were protected by 17 inches (432 mm) of armour that thinned to 16 inches (406 mm) behind the oblique bulkheads. Below the armoured deck their armour was reduced to 11 inches (279 mm). The armour of the main-deck casemates was 6 inches thick and that of the forward conning tower was 14 inches thick. The armoured deck was 3 inches thick over the machinery, but thinned to 2.5 inches (64 mm) outside the central citadel and ran to the ends of the ship. At the bow it dipped down to reinforce the ship's ram.
## Construction and career
Hood was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 12 August 1889 and was launched on 30 July 1891, the Viscountess Hood christening her. She finished her sea trials in May 1893 and was commissioned on 1 June 1893 at the cost of £926,396. Her assignment to the Mediterranean Fleet was delayed when she sprang a leak in her forward compartments on 7 June 1893 as a result of faulty riveting and excessive strain on the hull when she had been docked. Repairs took only two days, and the ship left Sheerness for the Mediterranean on 18 June 1893. She arrived at Malta on 3 July 1893, relieving the battleship Colossus.
In May 1896, Hood steamed from Malta to Crete to protect British interests and subjects there during unrest among Cretan Greeks who opposed the Ottoman Empire′s rule of the island. In 1897 and 1898, the ship served as part of the International Squadron, a multinational force made up of ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, French Navy, Imperial German Navy, Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), Imperial Russian Navy, and Royal Navy that intervened in the 1897-1898 Greek uprising on Crete. The squadron, which formed in February 1897, bombarded insurgent forces, put sailors and marines ashore to occupy key cities, and blockaded Crete and key ports in Greece, actions which brought organized fighting on the island to an end by late March 1897. Thereafter, the squadron maintained order on Crete until the island's status finally was resolved by the evacuation of all Ottoman Army forces from Crete in November 1898 and the establishment of an autonomous Cretan State under Ottoman suzerainty in December 1898.
Captain Alvin Coote Corry was appointed in command of Hood in December 1898. She was ordered to return home in March 1900 and paid off into reserve at Chatham Dockyard on 29 April 1900. Seven months later, on 12 December 1900, Hood recommissioned to relieve the elderly ironclad Thunderer as port guard ship at Pembroke Dock.
The ship rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of 1901, and Captain Robert Lowry was appointed in command on 1 May 1902. She participated in combined exercises with the Channel Squadron and the Cruiser Squadron off the coasts of Cephalonia and Morea in late 1902. Two days before the exercises ended, Hood damaged her rudder on the seabed while leaving Argostoli Harbor on 4 October 1902. She went first to Malta for temporary repairs, then on to England for permanent repairs at Chatham Dockyard, using her twin screws to steer for the entire voyage. The repairs began after she paid off on 5 December 1902 and she transferred to Devonport for a refit upon their completion.
On 25 June 1903 Hood relieved the battleship Collingwood in the Home Fleet. She took part in combined exercises of the Channel Fleet, Mediterranean Fleet, and Home Fleet off the coast of Portugal from 5 to 9 August 1903. The battleship Russell relieved Hood on 28 September 1904. Hood was placed into reserve at Devonport on 3 January 1905, where she remained until February 1907. In April 1909, the ship was refitted and partially stripped at Devonport, after which she began service as a receiving ship at Queenstown, Ireland. In September 1910 Hood recommissioned to serve as flagship of the Senior Naval Officer, Coast of Ireland Station, while continuing as a receiving ship. On 2 April 1911 the ship was in Cork Harbour for the 1911 Census.
Later in 1911, Hood was towed to Portsmouth and listed for disposal. During 1913 and 1914 she was employed as a target for underwater protection experiments and was used in secret tests of anti-torpedo bulges. Subsequently, she was photographed in dry dock at Portsmouth by the crew of Naval Airship No. 18 in June 1914, before being placed on the sale list in August 1914. On 4 November 1914 Hood was scuttled in Portland harbour to block the Southern Ship Channel, a potential access route for U-boats or for torpedoes fired from outside the harbour. Her wreck became known as "Old Hole in the Wall". Despite her 1914 scuttling, the Royal Navy included Hood on its sale list in both 1916 and 1917.
The ship's bell was later used as one of at least two bells on the battlecruiser HMS Hood. Before being installed on the battlecruiser, the bell was inscribed around the base with the words: "This bell was preserved from HMS Hood battleship 1891–1914 by the late rear admiral, The Honourable Sir Horace Hood KCB, DSO, MVO killed at Jutland on 31st May 1916." |
55,717 | Mulan (Disney character) | 1,173,764,001 | Character from Disney's 1998 animated film | [
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| Fa Mulan is a fictional character, inspired by a legendary figure, who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 36th animated feature film Mulan (1998). Her speaking voice is provided by actress Ming-Na Wen, while singer Lea Salonga provides the character's singing voice. Created by author Robert D. San Souci, Mulan is based on the legendary Chinese warrior Hua Mulan from the poem the Ballad of Mulan, making her the first Disney Princess not to be based on a fairytale or folktale but rather a legend. The only child of an aging war veteran, Mulan disregards both tradition and the law by disguising herself as a man in order to enlist herself in the army in lieu of her feeble father.
Disney had originally conceived Mulan as an oppressed young Chinese woman who ultimately elopes to Europe to be with a British prince. However, director Tony Bancroft, who was inspired by the well-being of his own daughters, wanted Mulan to be a different, unique kind of Disney heroine – one who is strong and independent, whose fate does not depend upon a male character. Thus, the relationship between Mulan and Captain Li Shang was relegated to that of a minor subplot, while Mulan's bravery and strength were emphasized in order to ensure that she remained the hero of her own story. She became the eighth Disney Princess and the first one who isn't actually a princess in her film, as she wasn't born of royalty nor did she become one by marrying a prince. While an argument could be made that Pocahontas is still technically a princess since she is a chieftain's daughter, Mulan quite literally is not, but is included in the lineup nonetheless. She also became the first one of Asian descent as well. She is the last Disney Princess to be developed during the Disney Renaissance. Mulan's supervising animator was Mark Henn, who deliberately designed the character so that she would appear less feminine than her predecessors.
Reception towards Mulan's personality has been generally positive, with critics praising her bravery and heroism. However, her romantic relationship with Shang has been accused of compromising Mulan's heroism. Both Wen and Salonga have been awarded Disney Legends for their contributions to the role. Yifei Liu played the live-action version of the character in the 2020 live-action adaptation of the original 1998 film, named Hua Mulan.
## Development
### Conception and writing
Mulan was originally conceived as an animated short in 1994, in which a miserable Chinese girl elopes to the West to be with a British prince. While developing a series of treatments based on traditional stories and folk tales, children's book author Robert D. San Souci discovered the Ballad of Mulan, an ancient Chinese poem about Hua Mulan – a Chinese woman who replaces her ailing father in the army by disguising herself as a man. Fascinated by Hua Mulan's story, San Souci suggested the poem to Disney; the studio hired San Souci himself to write the film's treatment and story.
Mulan explores the age-old theme of remaining true to oneself, with co-director Tony Bancroft summarizing the character's role in the film as "the story of a girl who can't help who she is but she exists in a different society that tells her who she is supposed to be." Because the Ballad of Mulan is such a beloved and well-known story, San Souci longed to maintain the character's integrity. However, certain creative liberties were taken with the story in regards to Mulan's role, such as the character neglecting to ask her parents' permission prior to enlisting herself in the army. Additionally, Mulan's surname was rendered as the Cantonese "Fa." Finally, Mulan's true identity is discovered much earlier in the film, soon after the army's initial encounter with the enemy, whereas her comrades remain ignorant throughout their entire 12 years at war until after Mulan has returned home.
Unlike preceding traditional Disney animated feature films, the developing romantic relationship between Mulan and Li Shang is treated as more of a subplot as opposed to a traditional central plot, as observed by film critic Andy Klein of Animation World Network. Klein commented, "Mulan isn't waiting for her prince to someday come; when he does arrive, having known her primarily as a man, and having learned to admire her for her deeper qualities, the romance is muted and subtle." Throughout the movie they are constantly working towards helping each other change into better and truer versions of themselves in order to achieve their true potential.
### Voice
Mulan's speaking voice is provided by actress Ming-Na Wen. Because the character "represented [traditional] Chinese values" and is depicted as being "dramatic ... close to her father, very respectful," Bancroft believed that Wen possessed the "perfect" voice for Mulan, which he additionally described as "very Chinese." Born and raised in Macau, China, Wen was very much familiar with both the legend of Hua Mulan and the Ballad of Mulan at the time of her audition for the role, having grown up being read the poem by her mother. Wen explained, "I think every Chinese kid grows up with this story," additionally likening the poem's popularity in China to that of the Western Parson Weems fable in which American president George Washington chops down his father's beloved cherry tree.
Mulan served as Wen's first voice-acting role. In an interview with IGN, the actress elaborated on the recording process, specifically the fact that she was required to record the majority of the character's dialogue in isolation, saying, "I just loved the story so much and identified so much with the character of Mulan it was easy for me. I loved using my imagination. I felt like I was a little kid again, being silly with an imaginary sword and riding on an imaginary horse and talking to an imaginary dragon. So it was a lot of fun for me." In spite of the fact that, throughout the film, Mulan shares multiple scenes with her guardian, a miniature Chinese dragon named Mushu who is voiced by American actor and comedian Eddie Murphy, Wen and her co-star never actually encountered each other while working on Mulan due to the fact that they recorded their respective dialogue at separate times in separate locations.
Upon being cast as Mulan's speaking voice, Wen was immediately informed by Disney that she would not be providing the character's singing voice. The actress took no offense to this decision, commenting jokingly "I don't blame them." The directors hired Filipina singer and actress Lea Salonga to dub the character's respective singing voice, heard in the film's songs "Reflection", "I'll Make a Man Out of You" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For", on Wen's behalf. According to Thomas S. Hischak, author of the book Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary, Salonga was originally cast to provide both Mulan's speaking and singing voices. However, the directors eventually felt that her attempt at impersonating a man in the form of Mulan's male alter-ego "Ping" was rather unconvincing, and ultimately replacing Salonga with Wen. Six years prior to Mulan, Salonga provided the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin (1992) on behalf of American actress Linda Larkin. While auditioning for Mulan, Salonga asked jokingly, "Why do I have to audition? ... I was already a princess before. Wasn't that enough?"
### Characterization and design
The film's screenplay was constantly being revised and re-written. Naturally, so was Mulan's characterization and role in the film. The writers wanted Mulan to represent a "different kind of Disney heroine," specifically described as one who "didn't need a tiara, but was still just as much as graceful, strong, and courageous." Between the two, Bancroft and his twin brother Tom, an animator who also worked on Mulan, have a total of seven daughters. This further inspired the filmmakers to portray Mulan as a unique heroine who is "not another damsel in distress" in favor of having her resemble "a strong female Disney character who would truly be the heroine of her own story" instead, essentially a "female role model. The characteristics of strength and courage were a must for Mulan." In an interview with The Christian Post, Bancroft elaborated on the way in which he, as the film's director, continued to consider the well-being of his two young daughters while working on Mulan, having "wanted to make a unique heroine that hadn't been seen before" and provide for them "someone who would be strong on her own, without a prince saving her." Addressing the way in which Mulan differs from traditional Disney heroines and princesses, Bancroft explained, "Most Disney heroines have an outside source that comes in and helps them change. Mulan stays consistent. From the first frame all the way through the end of the movie, her personality, her drive it all stays the same."
Visually, the animators were influenced by both traditional Chinese and Japanese artwork. In the specific case of Mulan, "The characters' simple lines ... resemble classic Asian painting". Chinese artist Chen Yi mentored the animators, "helping [them] to come up with these designs." Mark Henn served as Mulan's supervising animator. Animating the character in her male disguise as "Ping" offered an unprecedented challenge for Henn. In order to solve this unique dilemma, Henn was provided with "the opportunity to adjust her design a little bit so that when she was disguised as Ping, as a soldier, that she was physically a little different in how we drew her than when she was herself as Mulan." Physically, Mulan was also designed to appear less feminine than preceding traditional Disney animated heroines, specifically Pocahontas from Pocahontas (1995) and Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), because "you can't pass as a man in the army with a Barbie-style figure."
Henn revealed that he was drawn to "Mulan's story [because it] was so unique and compelling that it just captivated me from the beginning". Animating the characters' distinct emotions using the traditional Chinese style turned out to be somewhat challenging for Henn. The animator explained, "We don't create realism in the sense that if you're doing a human character, it's not going to look realistic ... the balance is finding an appealing way of drawing using the visual tools that you have in the design to convey the believable emotions that you want to get across." In addition to Mulan, Henn was also responsible for animating Fa Zhou, Mulan's elderly father. He described the complex relationship between the two characters as "the emotional heart of the story". Fathering one daughter himself, Henn drew inspiration from his own emotions as well as past personal experiences while animating several intimate scenes shared by the two characters.
Several film critics have described Mulan as a tomboy. Andy Patrizio of IGN observed, "In this slightly modernized version of the story, Mulan is something of a rebel and a tomboy. She has no interest in being a good little subservient wife, despite her sighing parents' wishes." Jo Johnson, in contribution to the book Queers in American Popular Culture Volume 1: Film and Television, wrote that "Unlike other Disney heroines, Mulan is immediately coded as a tomboy," observing the way in which the character speaks using a full mouth. Johnson additionally noticed several ways in which Mulan's design and personality differ from those typically associated with traditional Disney heroines and princesses, citing the character's clumsy, awkward demeanor; broad shoulders and muscular limbs; unruly single strand of hair; and choice of everyday attire which usually consists of loose, baggy clothing concealing her "traditionally slim Disney waist." Additionally, Mulan's intelligence has been observed in several professional analyses, with critics often citing the character as "brainy."
## Appearances
### Films
#### Mulan
The Huns, led by Shan Yu, invade China by breaching the Great Wall. The Chinese emperor orders that the army protect his citizens over himself, general mobilization, issuing a conscription that one man from each family to join the Chinese army. After Mulan's meeting with the matchmaker goes horribly awry, Chi Fu arrives at her home to enlist her father. Although she protests knowing her veteran father can not survive another war, Mulan is silenced by both Chi Fu and her father. That evening, Mulan takes her father's old armor and disguises herself as a boy named Ping, enlisting in the army on his behalf. Upon learning of Mulan's departure, the ancestors order the small dragon Mushu, a disgraced former guardian, to awaken the "great stone dragon" so that he may retrieve Mulan, only for Mushu to destroy the statue. Mushu decides to join Mulan in the army and help train her in the hopes that the ancestors will crown him a guardian once again.
Reporting to the training camp, Mulan is able to pass as a man, although her military skills are initially lacking. Mushu provides clumsy guidance to Mulan on how to behave like a man. Under the command of Captain Li Shang, she and her fellow recruits Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, gradually become trained warriors. Desiring to see Mulan succeed, Mushu creates a fake order from Shang's father, General Li, ordering Shang to follow the main imperial army into the mountains. The reinforcements set out, but arrive at a burnt-out encampment, where they discover that General Li and his troops have been massacred by the Huns.
As the reinforcements solemnly leave the mountains, they are ambushed by the Huns, but Mulan cleverly uses a cannon to cause an avalanche, which buries most of the invaders. An enraged Shan Yu slashes her in the chest, and after the avalanche subsides, her deception is revealed when the wound is bandaged.
Instead of executing Mulan as the law requires, Shang spares her life, but nonetheless expels her from the army. Mulan is left to follow alone as the recruits depart for the imperial city to report the news of the Huns' destruction. However, it is discovered that six Hun warriors, including Shan Yu, have survived the avalanche, and Mulan catches sight of them as they make their way to the city, intent on capturing the emperor.
At the imperial city, Mulan is unable to convince Shang about Shan Yu's survival; the Huns capture the emperor, and seize the palace. With Mulan's help, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po pose as concubines, and are able to enter the palace. With the help of Shang, they defeat Shan Yu's men; as Shang prevents Shan Yu from assassinating the Emperor, Mulan lures the Hun leader onto the roof, where she engages him in single combat. Meanwhile, acting on Mulan's instructions and signal, Mushu fires a large skyrocket at Shan Yu. The rocket strikes, and propels him into a fireworks launching tower, where he dies in the resulting explosion.
Mulan is praised by the Emperor and the assembled inhabitants of the city, who bow to her in an unprecedented honor. While she accepts the crest of the Emperor, and the sword of Shan Yu as gifts, she politely declines his offer to be his advisor, and asks to return to her family.
Mulan returns home, where she presents these gifts to her father, who is overjoyed to have Mulan back safely. Having become enamored with Mulan, Shang soon arrives under the pretext of returning her helmet, but accepts the family's invitation to stay for dinner. Mushu is reinstated as a Fa family guardian by the ancestors amid a returning celebration. When Mulan thanks Mushu, she kisses him on the forehead, followed by her dog, Little Brother, and a herd of chickens bursting into the Temple, with a Great Ancestor calling Mushu's name, ending the film.
#### Mulan II
One whole month after the events of the original movie, Mulan and Li Shang prepare to marry but are distracted by a task from the Emperor, who wants his three daughters escorted to their own marriage ceremony. Their romantic relationship becomes somewhat strained during the trip, as the romantic couple has differing views on various issues. Meanwhile, Mushu realizes that if Mulan marries Shang, she will not need him anymore as her guardian spirit, and decides to trick the two into breaking up. When bandits attack, Mulan and Shang fight them off, but Mulan is devastated when Shang is seemingly killed trying to save her. To make sure the three princesses are not forced to marry against their will, Mulan takes their place marrying the eldest son of the ruler of the neighboring land. Shang survives the accident and arrives in time to stop the wedding but ultimately Mulan is saved by Mushu who, posing as the mighty Golden Dragon of Unity, frees the three princesses from their vows, and marries Mulan and Li Shang himself causing Mulan to forgive him for his actions. Afterwards, Mulan informs Li Shang of Mushu's existence and he combines the temples of his family and hers, allowing Mushu to keep his position.
#### Ralph Breaks the Internet
Mulan, alongside other Disney Princesses, appeared in the film Ralph Breaks the Internet, as was announced at the 2017 D23 Expo.
#### Live-action film
Yifei Liu portrays Mulan in a live-action adaptation of the 1998 animated film. The character's journey through the live-action movie is mostly the same as the animated film. Although she does have a sister, who was not featured in the original movie, and she reconsiders joining the Emperor's Guard after returning home. A phoenix also serves as a guardian to her instead of Mushu.
### Disney Princess franchise
Mulan is the eighth official member of the Disney Princess franchise, a media franchise marketed towards young girls. For children, Mulan demonstrates the positive aspects of never giving up, not being restricted to gender roles and the importance of family and honor. These aspects of the film are more in keeping with a traditional Chinese perspective on cultural value, such as the importance of family and honor. On the official Disney Princess website, the character's brief biography reads, "Mulan is a loving girl who is always brave and bold. When her country needs it most, she disguises herself as a man and goes off to fight. She uses courage and determination to win the day." Although Mulan is a member of the Disney Princess franchise, she is not a legitimate princess in the traditional sense, as she was neither born the daughter of a king or queen, nor does she become princess consort by marrying a prince. She is the franchise's first and currently only East Asian member.
### Attractions
Mulan appears regularly for meet-and-greets, parades and shows at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, including at the Chinese Pavilion at Epcot. Mulan and Mushu, as a kite, make cameo appearances in the Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Resort versions of It's a Small World. In most of the parks she is most commonly found alongside Li Shang and Mushu in Adventureland. As a tribute, there is a portrait of her along with the other Disney Princesses at the Princess Fairytale Hall at the Magic Kingdom.
On the Disney Cruise Line ships and in Hong Kong Disneyland, Mulan and Li Shang appear in the stage show The Golden Mickeys. Mulan is also known to come out for meet-and-greets on the ships as well. She is also featured in the Disney on Ice shows Princess Classics and Princess Wishes.
### Television
Mulan makes cameo appearances in the House of Mouse television series and the direct-to-video release Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. She was scheduled to appear in the second installment of the Disney Princess Enchanted Tales series of DVDs along with Cinderella. It was to premiere in 2008 but was cancelled due to poor sales of the first DVD.
In August 2014, Ming-Na Wen and Lea Salonga reprise their roles as Mulan for the first time since Mulan II in the Disney Channel show Sofia the First. In the episode "Princesses to the Rescue," Mulan reminds Sofia and her friends Amber and Jun they are "Stronger Than They Know" in song. Mulan is the 7th Disney princess to appear on the show.
### Video games
Mulan appears as a playable character in Disney's Story Studio: Mulan, an action video game released in December 1999 by Disney Interactive Studios exclusively for the video game console Sony PlayStation. Loosely based on the plot of the original animated film, the video game's concept and premise revolves around "Players ... assum[ing] the role of Mulan on her quest to recover the missing scrolls." Mulan also appears as a playable character in Disney's Mulan, a similar video game released the previous year on October 10, 1998, by THQ for Game Boy.
Disney Infinity 3.0 has Mulan as one of the playable characters and figures.
Mulan is a playable character to unlock for a limited time in Disney Magic Kingdoms.
#### Kingdom Hearts series
Mulan appears in the Square Enix and Disney video game Kingdom Hearts II in the Land of the Dragons world, with Ming-Na Wen reprising her role. She aids Sora in battle, taking the place of either Donald or Goofy. She uses a jian called "Sword of the Ancestor" for regular combat, and her combination attacks include Red Rocket and other fire attacks, thanks to Mushu. She goes under her pseudonym (Ping) for the majority of Sora's first visit to her world, which follows the storyline of the film, but has abandoned it by the time of their second visit, which follows a new story where they come into conflict with Xigbar and the Storm Rider Heartless.
### Books
#### Reflection: A Twisted Tale
In the fourth book in the Twisted Tales series, author Elizabeth Lim asks the question What if Mulan had to journey to the Underworld? In the book, Shang dies and Mulan journeys to the Chinese underworld to save Shang's soul and bring him back to life. The book draws heavily on Chinese mythology.
## Reception and legacy
### Critical response
Reception towards Mulan's personality and characterization have been generally positive. Time Out hailed Mulan as "A feisty young go-getter [who] rises above the male-dominated world in which she lives." Ken Fox of TV Guide wrote, "Intelligent and fiercely independent, Mulan ... runs afoul of social expectations that a woman will be always obedient and duty-bound to her husband." Bridget Byrne of Boxoffice wrote that "Mulan ... has pride, charm, spirit and aesthetic appeal which prevents her from being upstaged by the vigorous and exciting action in which she participates." Variety's Todd McCarthy praised the character for inspiring "a turn of the circle from such age-old Disney classics ... in which passive heroines were rescued by blandly noble princes." McCarthy continued, "Here, it's the girl who does the rescuing, saving not only the prince but the emperor himself from oblivion, and this in a distant culture where women were expected to obey strictly prescribed rules." Similarly, Margaret A. McGurk of The Cincinnati Enquirer lauded Mulan for "solv[ing] her G.I. Jane dilemma by proving that brains can do more than brawn." Hailing the character as "Among the strongest heroines in Walt's cartoon canon," Ian Freer of Empire enthused, "Mulan's engaging mixture of vulnerability and derring-do becomes incredibly easy to root for." Hollis Chacona of The Austin Chronicle dubbed Mulan a "winning protagonist." Likewise, the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan wrote, "As a vivacious rebel who has to be true to herself no matter what, Mulan is an excellent heroine, perfect for the young female demographic the studio is most anxious to attract", additionally calling her a "more likable and resourceful role model than Pocahontas".
Although largely well-liked, Mulan's characterization has drawn some mild criticism and speculation, inspiring a series of generally mixed to positive reviews from some film critics. Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman wrote, "Far more than Beauty and the Beast or the stolidly virtuous Pocahontas, Mulan showcases a girl who gets to use her wits ... a testament to the power of mind over brawn." However, Gleiberman continued, "Mulan finally falls a notch short of Disney's best ... because the heroine's empowerment remains ... an emotionally isolated quest." Similarly, Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times hailed Mulan as "a strong, engaging character who, unlike many of her Disney counterparts, needs no one to rescue her from danger," while questioning her personality, asking, "was it really necessary to bestow Mulan with self-esteem problems? Because she seems so confident and intelligent, her sad statement that she wants to 'see something worthwhile' in the mirror comes as a bit of a shock."
Critics were not unanimous in their praise. The Phoenix's Jeffrey Gantz felt that character was unoriginal, inaccurate and Westernized, writing, "[her] costumes (particularly the kimono and obi Mulan wears to the Matchmaker) and hairdos look Japanese ... Give Mulan Native American features and you have Pocahontas." Similarly, James Berardinelli of ReelViews felt that the character's depiction was too "familiar," reviewing, "Although she looks different from Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, and Pocahontas, Mulan is very much the same type of individual: a woman with a strong, independent streak who is unwilling to bend to the customs of her culture, which decree that the role of the female is to be ornamental. The film isn't very subtle in reinforcing the idea of equality between the sexes". Additionally, some critics, such as Alex von Tunzelmann of The Guardian, have criticized Mulan for her violence, writing, "Disney struggles to make Mulan both a killer and a heroine ... Gingerly, the film attempts to tread a middle path, implying that Mulan annihilates most of the Hun army by causing an avalanche, and having her dispatch Shan Yu with a load of fireworks. Very pretty. But still technically killing." However, von Tunzelmann did conclude more positively, "as Disney heroines go, Mulan herself is a clear improvement on the standard-issue drippy princess."
Liu's portrayal as Mulan in the 2020 film was generally well received by critics. Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times described Liu's performance as "star-turning" as well as "a boundaries-shattering, stereotype-defying hero-warrior for her time and for ours." Writing for IndieWire, Kate Erbland found Liu, "engaging" as Mulan and adding, "she delivers, easily inhabiting both the reticent, shy Mulan and her bombastic evolution into unmitigated badass." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Liu is so strong in the role of Mulan that it's only later that you might realize that you were not watching Mulan herself, but someone giving an exceptional performance in a difficult part. In addition to the challenge of portraying Mulan's journey from insecurity to glorious attainment, there were the physical rigors, which Liu had to accomplish with balletic grace." In her review for London Evening Standard, Charlotte O'Sullivan said Liu played, "a Mulan whose fighting skills — and emotional life — dazzle. Liu often looks 13, but is actually 33. She has the kind of face you never get bored of. There's something Meryl Streep-y about her soulfulness and all her moves are magical." While Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com wrote, "Liu's performance might have been more powerful if she'd been a bit more emotive", she still overall described it as "lovely" and that "the steeliness and physicality she displays make her a convincing fighter."
#### Relationship with Shang
Unlike the generally positive reviews received by Mulan, critical reception towards the character's romantic relationship with Li Shang has been largely negative, drawing much speculation from critics who accused Mulan of having "a typical girl-hooks-up-with-boy ending." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed, "The message here is standard feminist empowerment: Defy the matchmaker, dress as a boy, and choose your own career. But Mulan has it both ways, since inevitably Mulan's heart goes pitty-pat over Shang, the handsome young captain she's assigned to serve under. The movie breaks with the tradition in which the male hero rescues the heroine, but is still totally sold on the Western idea of romantic love." The New York Times''' Janet Maslin negatively opined, "For all of Mulan's courage and independence in rebelling against the matchmakers, this is still enough of a fairy tale to need Mr. Right."
Citing Mulan's relationship with Shang as an example of sexism, a film critic writing for Teen Ink wrote:
> "Mulan has been hailed as a feminist Disney movie because it showcases a young woman who leads China to victory using her quick wit, pride, and a strong sense of family honor—all while masquerading as a man named Ping. Even though Mulan (as Ping) gains the respect of the army commander and her comrades, once they discover that she is a woman, her army commander and potential love-interest, Shang, loses respect for her and even hates her. "Ping" had been doing an even better job than Shang, but when Shang finds out Ping is a woman, his stupid male ego breaks on impact. Mulan is sentenced to death, and Shang, the macho man of the film, ultimately gets to decide her fate. The only reason she survives is because Shang decides he'd rather just send her home. Wow. To add insult to injury, at the end of the film, Shang fixes up his shattered ego by claiming Mulan as a suitor. Even as Mulan is being praised and cheered in the Forbidden City after she almost single-handedly saves China (this time, as a woman), at the end of the film, the audience is reminded that Mulan is really just another woman looking for a man. Mulan's real victory isn't saving her country from invasion. No, it's marrying Shang."
Betsy Wallace of Common Sense Media observed that Mulan "doesn't fit the princess mold, and most moviegoers had never heard of her." Conclusively, Wallace wrote, "it's too bad that in the end she still needs to be married off to a 'Prince Charming' who saves the day." In contribution to the book Beyond Adaptation: Essays on Radical Transformations of Original Works, Lan Dong wrote, "Even though Mulan achieves success after she resumes her female self ... it is compromised by Mulan and Li Shang's potential engagement at the end of the film."
### Cultural significance and accolades
Mulan is culturally recognized for her unique role in Mulan specifically in regards to the character's heroism, ethnicity and disinterest in romance, serving as a departure from traditional Disney heroines and princesses because she "challenged gender stereotypes and offered up an animated Disney experience that isn't princess-centric" as "one of the few strong, self-propelled female characters that Disney has." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times observed the way in which Mulan's role in the film as "an independent, not completely boy-crazy heroine is somewhat new for Disney." According to Sara Veal of The Jakarta Post, Mulan "promotes self-reliance, determination and is uninterested in marriage or romance ... the film ends on her saving her country, rather than a romantic resolution." Succeeding non-white Disney Princesses Jasmine and Pocahontas, Mulan's characterization as Disney's first East Asian princess assisted in the diversification of the Disney Princess franchise, introducing "Disney princesses ... portrayed as women of color." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented, "Mulan ... makes a feisty prefeminist," continuing, "She doesn't swoon over Captain Shang, the hunky officer ... which leaves Shang ... frustrated ... Mulan, let the record show, does not put out." PopMatters' Jesse Hassenger wrote that unlike other Disney films, "Mulan holds the advantage of a smart, strong heroine—not just a superhot princess figure." Ryan Mazie of Box Office Prophets felt that Mulan "might be the most important and forward-thinking Disney Princess movie made up until that point where the female character solely takes control over her own destiny without the aid of a mighty Prince."
In 2012, CNN's Stephanie Goldberg recognized Mulan as one of Disney's bravest and most heroic animated heroines to-date in her article "Brave's Merida and other animated heroines," writing, "Mulan bent traditional gender roles when she took her father's place in the Chinese army." The Georgia Institute of Technology ranked Mulan the fourteenth greatest Disney character of all-time. Similarly, in 2013, Mulan was ranked the greatest animated Disney heroine according to a poll conducted by Jim Vejvoda of IGN.
In 1999, Mulan's theme song "Reflection", performed by Mulan, was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 56th Golden Globe Awards, but ultimately lost to Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's "The Prayer" from Quest for Camelot (1998). "Reflection" is often credited with establishing the successful musical career of American recording artist Christina Aguilera, who famously recorded a pop rendition of the ballad prior to the release of her platinum-selling self-titled debut album in 1999, on which the song is featured. Additionally, the song peaked at number nineteen on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In 2011, Salonga was honored with a Disney Legends award in commemoration of her role as Mulan's singing voice. Additionally, Salonga performed a live rendition of "Reflection" at the ceremony. Ming-Na Wen was also named a Disney Legend in 2019 for her role as the speaking voice of Mulan.
### Redesign controversy
The 2013 Disney princess redesigns portrayed Mulan with features that differ from her film appearance. The artwork featured Mulan with blue eyes, bigger lips, noticeably lighter skin, and golden clothing which does not resemble any outfit she has worn in the film. Her new appearance has caused an uproar due to the whitewash of her character. This was particularly troubling as Mulan is one of the few princesses of color. Shavon L. McKinstry of SPARK Movement'' writes that Mulan's redesign "seem to be directly counter to her personality and character in her film", and also notes how all the princesses of color have been "noticeably pushed to the back or left out completely" from the new Disney merchandise which featured the redesigns.
McKinstry argues that Disney "prefers to portray one demographic of princess, simultaneously alienating so much of their fanbase", pointing out that of the "ten Disney Princesses in the brand, six are white". The importance of Mulan and other non-white princesses can be seen in the 2009 study of the effects of children's cartoons on the body image of young girls by doctors Sharon Hayes and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn. The study revealed that in the group of girls ranging from 3 to 6 years old, 30.6% of the group would change their physical appearance if they could. Of these respondents, over half would change their hair and over a quarter would change something about their body, such as skin color. Of all girls surveyed, 8% said they would have to change their hair or skin color to become a princess, stating things like they would "change from brown skin to white skin", for example. The interviewed group was predominantly white.
Disney has since altered the coloration in Mulan's design by changing the blue eye highlight to brown, darkening the color of her skin, and changing her clothing to better resemble her attire in the film. |
51,410,649 | Tajikistan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics | 1,162,026,810 | null | [
"2016 in Tajikistani sport",
"Nations at the 2016 Summer Paralympics",
"Tajikistan at the Paralympics"
]
| Tajikistan sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the fourth consecutive appearance of the country at the Paralympic Games after it made its debut twelve years prior at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. Tajikistan was represented by a single athlete in Rio de Janeiro: sprinter Romikhudo Dodikhudoev. He finished 14th overall in both of the men's 400 metres T47 and the men's 100 metres T47 and these performances meant he did not qualify for the final of both competitions.
## Background
Tajikistan first competed in Paralympic competition at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece, and have competed at every Summer Paralympic Games since. This made Rio de Janeiro the country's fourth 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 (NPC) taking part. Tajikistan sent just one athlete to the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics: sprinter Romikhudo Dodikhudoev. He was accompanied by the chairman of the Tajik Paralympic Committee Safarali Boyev, secretary-general of the committee Abdurauf Olimov and an unnamed translator. The team could not find sponsorship from independent organisations and thus used its own funding to compete in the Games. Dodikhudoev was chosen to be the flag bearer for the parade of nations during 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.
## Athletics
Romikhudo Dodikhudoev began suffering from the bone infection osteomyelitis at the age of five, and was left disabled because the local medical facilities could not provide him with decent treatment and his left arm consequently became shorter than his right arm. He was 26 years old at the time of the Rio Paralympic Games and he was making his debut in the Summer Paralympics. Dodikhudoev was assigned a quota place from the International Paralympic Committee to qualify for the Games because of his performance at the 2015 IWAS World Games in Sochi. He was coached by his trainer Gairat Negmatov. Before the Games, Dodikhudoev said, "My participation at the Paralympic Games is an indication that I have a strong spirit, that I am capable of achieving high goals, despite my physical disability. I want to show all the handicapped people that their physical disabilities should not stop them from achieving their goals." On 10 September, he competed in the heats of the men's 100 metres T47 event. Assigned to the first heat, Dodikhudoev finished the race in a time of 12.89 seconds, seventh and last of all the finishing athletes. The top eight runners advanced to the final and he did not as he was 14th overall out of 16 competitors. Six days later, Dodikhudoev participated in the men's 400 metres T47 competition, and was drawn into heat one. He placed fifth out of six sprinters with a time of 56.34 seconds. As with his previous event, only the top eight progressed to the final, and Dodikhudoev's competition came to an end as he ranked 14th overall out of 17 finishers.
### Men's Track
## See also
- Tajikistan at the 2016 Summer Olympics |
30,204,463 | Thinking of Linking | 1,131,774,849 | Unreleased song by The Beatles | [
"Songs written by Paul McCartney",
"The Beatles songs"
]
| "Thinking of Linking" is one of the first songs written by English musician Paul McCartney. Inspired by a cinema advertisement for Link Furniture, McCartney composed the song in 1958. The lyric consists of only three lines, while the music is influenced by the sound of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, particularly the song "Peggy Sue Got Married".
The predecessor to the Beatles, the Quarrymen, occasionally performed the song in the late 1950s, but no recording of this is known to exist. The Beatles played the song twice during the informal Get Back sessions in January 1969. Ex-Beatles McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr recorded the song in June 1994 for The Beatles Anthology project. This version was not in the final documentary, but was included as a special feature when Apple Corps released the series on DVD in 2003.
## Background and composition
Paul McCartney wrote "Thinking of Linking" at his childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road, likely between January and May 1958. Having written several songs, he began making a conscious effort to listen for interesting phrases that could be used in a new composition. While attending the cinema with his friend and bandmate George Harrison, a commercial advertising Link Furniture caught his attention with its concluding tagline, "Are you thinking of linking?" In a 1987 interview with author Mark Lewisohn, McCartney recalled: "I came out of there thinking 'That should be a song. Thinking of linking, people are gonna get married, gotta write that!'"
Lewisohn writes that the only lyrics to the song are: "Well I've been thinking of linking my life with you / Thinking of linking a love so true / Thinking of linking can only be done by two." In the 1987 interview, McCartney describes the song as "terrible" and the lyrics as "[p]retty corny stuff!" Lewisohn writes that, like most of the music John Lennon and McCartney were writing at that time, its style is heavily indebted to the sound of Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Musicologist Walter Everett and author Richie Unterberger each suggest the Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue Got Married" influenced the song's composition.
Author Chris Ingham writes that the song, along with the other early compositions "Just Fun" and "That's My Woman", has become part of the "mythical 'lost Beatles canon'", while music critic Tim Riley considers it one of the "embryos of the Lennon–McCartney catalogue", mixing "the derivative with the yet-to-come". Author Kenneth Womack calls it "corny, but truly lovable", while author Jonathan Gould opines that the song was "wisely consigned to the dustbin of musical history".
## Recording and release
The group which eventually became the Beatles, the Quarrymen, occasionally performed "Thinking of Linking", though no recording of them playing it is known to exist. In the 1970s, rumours began circulating that there existed a 1962 tape of the Beatles rehearsing several early songs, including "Thinking of Linking", but these claims are unsupported. In a 2005 interview with Lewisohn, Cliff Roberts, a singer and contemporary of the Beatles, recalled a van ride in the summer of 1962 where McCartney began singing "Thinking of Linking" and offered him exclusive use of the song. He further recalled that McCartney wrote the lyrics and chords on a piece of paper, but that he lost it and never performed the song.
The earliest recording of the song is of the Beatles during the January 1969 rehearsals for their planned Get Back project. Throughout the informal sessions, the band played several of their earliest compositions. On 3 January, while Lennon sang Irving Berlin's "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody", McCartney and Harrison began to sing "Thinking of Linking". The song stopped after one line because McCartney either forgot the words or lost interest. The song was next played on 29 January; while Lennon sang "Peggy Sue Got Married", he forgot the lyrics and instead substituted those of "Thinking of Linking".
In 1994, in anticipation of their upcoming project The Beatles Anthology, the three remaining ex-Beatles, McCartney, Harrison and Ringo Starr, planned to record a version of "Let It Be". On 23 June, they assembled at Harrison's Friar Park home, playing in his home studio, FPSHOT (Friar Park Studio, Henley-On-Thames), while being recorded on video with a two camera setup. They abandoned the idea of recording "Let It Be" due to Lennon's absence, instead opting to play several rock and roll oldies, including "Ain't She Sweet", "Love Me Do" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky", among others. They recorded what they could remember of "Thinking of Linking", playing on two acoustic guitars and brushes. The performance did not feature in the finished Anthology documentary series, but was included as a special-feature when Apple Corps released the series on DVD in 2003. McCartney played the song on an acoustic guitar for American record producer Rick Rubin in the 2021 Hulu docuseries McCartney 3, 2, 1. |
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