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32,468,755 | Grand Knights History | 1,167,116,644 | 2011 role-playing video game | [
"2011 video games",
"Fantasy video games",
"Japan-exclusive video games",
"Marvelous Entertainment",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"PlayStation Portable games",
"PlayStation Portable-only games",
"Tactical role-playing video games",
"Vanillaware games",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games scored by Masaharu Iwata",
"Video games with gender-selectable protagonists"
]
| Grand Knights History is a 2011 tactical role-playing video game developed by Vanillaware and published by Marvelous Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. Following the adventures of a mercenary group in the employ of one of three warring nations, the player engages in turn-based combat while navigating maps. The game originally featured online competitive multiplayer where chosen teams of characters fight for their nation, but this ended when servers shut down in October 2013.
Production began in 2009 following the release of Muramasa: The Demon Blade; Muramasa publisher Marvelous wanted to work with Vanillaware on a PSP title. The game was directed by Tomohiko Deguchi, and GrimGrimoire artist Kouichi Maenou designed the characters. The aim was to blend Vanillaware's artistic style with a turn-based battle system and online multiplayer, both firsts for the company. Music was handled by a team from Basiscape, a frequent collaborator with Vanillaware.
The game was released to strong sales, making a significant contribution to Marvelous's fiscal profits. It also met with positive reviews from critics. Due to Vanillaware focusing on developing Dragon's Crown, a planned localization from Xseed Games and Rising Star Games was cancelled. After leaving Vanillaware, Deguchi used his concepts from Grand Knights History to develop the 2014 video game Grand Kingdom.
## Gameplay
Grand Knights History is a role-playing video game where players take on the role of the player-named leader of a mercenary knight squad in service to one of three kingdoms of the continent of Rystia. Players begin by selecting which nation to support, and are then introduced to the narrative. The player takes control of a group of up to four customised characters from three separate character classes—knight, archer, or wizard—who must travel on missions either for their nation or related to the main narrative. The story is advanced by taking part in quests which require the player to travel across the game world on a map with interconnected areas and towns. As players complete more quests, paths to new areas become available to explore. During exploration, the player party is represented as a chess piece on a large board. Each mission has a limited number of moves, with different spaces housing events, items, or battles.
Battle sequences take place on convex grid-based fighting area known as the "Battle Sphere Reel", which the game's camera pans across when party members or enemies take action. Combat uses a turn-based battle system. At the beginning of each turn, the player selects a character's actions; these include standard attacks, special skills, and healing spells or items. Each move or action uses a portion of the party's Action Point (AP) metre, which is replenished by a set amount each turn or when an enemy is defeated. Using particular skills or weapons repeatedly unlocks new skills for a character. By outfitting characters in new weapons, armor, and ornaments, a player may increase a character's statistics which allow them to become stronger, as well as further impact their appearance. Completing battles rewards experience points which raise the party's attributes, and currency used to buy items or equipment in towns and at the group's base. If a unit of the player is killed, it will be removed from the rest of the battle, receiving half the EXP and returning with 1 HP after the battle. If the entire party is defeated, the game ends.
Making use of the PlayStation Portable's PlayStation Network online function, players could battle each other in groups representing one of the game's three kingdoms. As each group won battles against opposing factions, they expanded their territory within the online environment, granting them access to rewards and a standing on community-based leaderboards. Winning groups could vote on which territory to attack next, and individual players could opt to have their characters controlled by artificial intelligence rather than themselves manually. The servers were shut down on October 31, 2013.
## Synopsis
Grand Knights History is set in the fantasy world of Rystia, which is divided into three warring kingdoms: Logres, the Ancient Kingdom, ruled by King Fausel; Union, the Kingdom of Knights, ruled by King Leon; and Avalon, the Kingdom of Magic, ruled by Queen Muse. The player is the head of a newly-formed group of knights, who allies with one of the warring nations. Upon their employment, the mercenaries are assigned the young assistant Liscia, who aids them on their campaigns for the chosen nation. During their campaigns, the group collect relics known as the Saint's Treasures; cross paths with the witch Mira; and a band commanded by the Masked Knight, who knows Liscia and attempts to take her into hiding against her will. During one mission to rescue Bishop Noyce of Rystia's Saint's Church, an ancient demon called the King of Chaos begins breaking free of its prison. Noyce, recognising Liscia as Lorendina, last descendant of a mythical hero called the Saint, plans to kill her before she can be used as a sacrifice to empower the King of Chaos. The Masked Knight, named Cerueila, was her assigned protector.
The mercenaries defend Liscia from the Church, then from the plans of the Clan of Chaos and their fortune teller ally Stola, who use the search for the Saint's Treasures to weaken seals they were maintaining, and manipulated the Church into destroying the Saint's bloodline. Liscia can embody the Saint and seal the King of Chaos again, but doing so will kill her. The mercenaries, escorting Liscia and the allied Mira, and followed by Cerueila, defeat the Church's forces and demons to reach where the heart of the King of Chaos remains. Cerueila sacrifices herself while protecting Liscia, and to save Liscia the mercenary leader interrupts the ritual. Fulfilling her one vision of a happy future, Stola takes Liscia's place in the ritual. Later Liscia arranges to return to her original place with the mercenaries, and they continue their campaigns against neighbouring nations.
## Development
Production on Grand Knights History began in 2009 and lasted around two years. Following the release by Marvelous Entertainment of Muramasa: The Demon Blade in 2009, producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto contacted Vanillaware about working on a new title together, after hearing Vanillaware's Tomohiko Deguchi wanted to develop for the PSP. The game was Vanillaware's first turn-based RPG, with Deguchi aiming for a war-based RPG that would "connect everyone". Deguchi, acting as the game's director, created the concept for Grand Knights History from his wish to do something new. This concept allowed him to express his wish to use the PSP's wireless communication functions for something unusual. He drew inspiration from his love of tabletop and board games, and video game series including Disgaea.
The game's art director was Kouichi Maenou, who had worked as character designer for GrimGrimoire, an earlier title from Vanillaware. The game was Maenou's first time working as art director. After trial and error, he decided to emulate classic Western fantasy art similar to previous Vanillaware titles, using a style of defined lines and soft colours for characters and backgrounds. He also incorporated blank areas around the edges of displays, as if players were looking at a book illustration. As with other Vanillaware titles, Grand Knights Kingdom made use of 2D graphics, but while this style was preserved it was adapted to turn-based role-playing, departing greatly from the company's previous action-based titles. The character animation used the same techniques as earlier Vanillaware titles.
When choosing the PSP for the platform, the team wanted to distinguish the game from other titles on the platform, many of which had multiplayer elements. Hashimoto described the multiplayer elements as a cross between online game structure and email communication. As players could not be online all the time, the team designed a system that would keep parties synchronised on the server. During production, Hashimoto consulted with the PSP's manufacturer Sony about its online elements, referring to them as "understanding" of the development process.
The music for Grand Knights History was composed by a team from Basiscape, a music company founded by Hitoshi Sakimoto who collaborated with Vanillaware since the company's 2007 debut Odin Sphere. The team consisted of lead composer Mitsuhiro Kaneda, and secondary composers Yoshimi Kudo, Noriyuki Kamikura and Masaharu Iwata. The game was described by Kaneda as an odd RPG to work on. A rock music style was requested for the battle themes, something he was not good at, so the final soundtrack ended up mixing rock and orchestral elements together. A soundtrack album was released in 2011, and was positively received by music critics.
Grand Knights History was revealed in late March 2009. At the time of its announcement, the game was 70% complete. It was released in Japan on September 1, 2011. It was promoted with a commercial featuring the single "Navigation", performed by J-pop artist Fumika. The game was originally planned for a Western release through Xseed Games (North America) and Rising Star Games (Europe). Due to their work on Dragon's Crown, Vanillaware was unable to dedicate any resources to help Xseed Games with the localization, eventually forcing them to cancel it despite the translation being almost complete. Due to Xseed's decision, Rising Star Games also cancelled the European version. An English fan translation was released in 2014. Deguchi would eventually leave Vanillaware and found Monochrome Corporation. There he developed Grand Kingdom, which drew inspiration from both Grand Knights History and other Vanillaware titles.
## Reception
During its week of release, Grand Knights History reached the top of gaming charts as recorded by Media Create, with debut sales of over 64,600 units. It sold through over 90% of its stock. By the end of September, it had sold over 110,000 units. In their fiscal year report, Marvelous Entertainment cited Grand Knights History as a factor in strong financial gains during 2011.
Grand Knights History earned the Platinum Award from Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly. The magazine praised the title's "traditionally-Vanillaware graphics" and character animations as well as its online mode. It also garnered a positive review from the magazine Dengeki PlayStation. In a list of Japanese-exclusive PSP titles, Game Informer noted the general excitement for the game following its announcement. |
44,377,104 | The Boat Race 1897 | 1,154,812,724 | null | [
"1897 in English sport",
"1897 in sports",
"1897 sports events in London",
"April 1897 events",
"The Boat Race"
]
| The 54th Boat Race took place on 3 April 1897. The Boat Race is an annual side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the previous year's race. The crews were almost evenly matched weight-wise, Oxford marginally the heavier, whose crew consisted almost entirely of veterans of the event. In a race umpired by former rower Frank Willan, Oxford won by 2+1⁄2 lengths in a time of 19 minutes 12 seconds, the victory taking the overall record to 31–22 in their favour. It was Oxford's eighth consecutive victory and the third fastest winning time in the history of the event.
## Background
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the boat clubs of University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities, as of 2014 it is followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having beaten Cambridge by two-fifths of a length in the previous year's race, and held the overall lead, with 30 victories to Cambridge's 22 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).
Oxford were coached by G. C. Bourne who had rowed for Oxford in the 1882 and 1883 races, William Fletcher, who rowed for Oxford in the 1890, 1891, 1892 and 1893 races and Douglas McLean (an Oxford Blue five times between 1883 and 1887). There is no record of who coached the Cambridge crew. Oxford were very quick, and set a full course record (on the ebb tide) of 18 minutes and 27 seconds two weeks before the race. Conversely, according to author and former rower George Drinkwater, Cambridge "never fulfilled its early promise ... always slow into the water." The umpire for the race for the ninth year in a row was Frank Willan who won the event four consecutive times, rowing for Oxford in the 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869 races.
## Crews
The Oxford crew weighed an average of 12 st 6.25 lb (78.8 kg), 0.875 pounds (0.4 kg) per rower more than their opponents. The Cambridge boat included four former Blues in their number five William Augustus Bieber who was participating in his third Boat Race. Five of the Light Blues were studying at Trinity Hall. Their number four, American rower Benjamin Hunting Howell, was the only participant in the race registered as non-British, hailing from the New York. All but one of Oxford's crew had rowed in the event prior to 1897, only G. O. C. Edwards was new to the race. Eight of the nine members of the Dark Blue crew were educated at Eton College; four of their crew were studying at New College. George Drinkwater, former Oxford rower and author stated "this year saw the finest Oxford crew that has ever rowed".
## Race
As a result of their impressive performances during the buildup to the race, Oxford were clear favourites to win. Cambridge won the toss and elected to start from the Middlesex station, handing the Surrey side of the river to Oxford. The race was started at 2:24 p.m. in a light breeze from the east on a favourable tide. The Light Blues made the quicker start, with stroke William James Fernie taking his crew off at 41 strokes per minute. Within a quarter of a mile, Cambridge held a half-length lead but the Dark Blues began to draw back into contention and took the lead just before Craven Cottage.
A spurt at the Mile Post from the Light Blues kept them in touch but Oxford rowed away from them, taking a clear water advantage by Hammersmith Bridge, effectively ending the contest. Oxford extended their lead "as they liked" and passed the finishing post two and a half lengths clear of Cambridge, in a winning time of 19 minutes 12 seconds. It was Oxford's eighth consecutive victory and was, at the time, the third fastest winning time in the history of the event. It took the overall record to 31–22 in Oxford's favour. |
447,543 | HMS Cardiff (D58) | 1,168,450,420 | C-class ship built for Royal Navy | [
"1917 ships",
"C-class cruisers",
"Charles I of Austria",
"Ships built in Govan",
"World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom",
"World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom"
]
| HMS Cardiff was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was one of the five ships of the Ceres sub-class and spent most of her career as a flagship. Assigned to the Grand Fleet during the war, the ship participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in late 1917. Cardiff was briefly deployed to the Baltic in late 1918 supporting anti-Bolshevik forces during the British campaign in the Baltic during the Russian Civil War.
She was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in early 1919 and spent most of the rest of the year in the Adriatic Sea. In early 1920, the ship was in the Black Sea supporting the Whites against the Bolsheviks. Cardiff spent most of the rest of her time between the world wars overseas or in reserve. The ship played a minor role in World War II as she was initially assigned to the Northern Patrol, but became a training ship in late 1940 and continued in that role for the rest of the war. Cardiff was sold for scrap in early 1946 and subsequently broken up.
## Design and description
The C-class cruisers were intended to escort the fleet and defend it against enemy destroyers attempting to close within torpedo range. The Ceres sub-class was a slightly larger and improved version of the preceding Caledon sub-class. The ships were 450 feet 3 inches (137.2 m) long overall, with a beam of 43 feet 5 inches (13.2 m) and a mean draught of 14 feet 8 inches (4.5 m). Displacement was 4,190 long tons (4,260 t) at normal and 5,020 long tons (5,100 t) at deep load. Cardiff was powered by two geared Parsons steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, which produced a total of 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW). The turbines used steam generated by six Yarrow boilers which gave her a speed of about 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph). She carried 935 long tons (950 t) tons of fuel oil. The ship had a crew of about 460 officers and ratings.
The main armament of the Ceres-class ships consisted of five BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XII guns that were mounted on the centreline. While identical in number to the Caledons, the layout was considerably improved by moving the gun formerly between the bridge and fore funnel to a superfiring position over the forward gun with wider firing arc than in its old position, one was aft of the rear funnel, and the last two were in the stern, with one gun superfiring over the rearmost gun. The two QF 3-inch (76 mm) 20-cwt anti-aircraft (AA) guns were positioned abreast the fore funnel. The torpedo armament of the Ceres's was identical to that of the Caledons, with eight 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes in four twin mounts, two on each broadside. The Ceres class was protected by a waterline belt: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm) thick and had a protective deck that was 1 in (25 mm) thick over the steering gear. The walls of the conning tower had a thickness of 3 inches.
## Construction and career
Cardiff, the second ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was ordered in March–April 1916 as part of the Repeat War Programme. The ship was laid down by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at their Govan shipyard on 22 July 1916. She was launched on 12 April 1917 and completed on 25 June 1917. She became flagship of the 6th Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet the following month. Cardiff participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight on 17 November 1917. This was a successful attempt by the British to intercept German minesweeping forces that were clearing British minefields in the North Sea. The 6th LCS screened the two light Courageous-class battlecruisers of the 1st Cruiser Squadron during the battle together with the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron. The British lost the German minesweepers in the smoke screen laid by the four German light cruisers and pursued the latter ships for most of the battle, although they inflicted little damage in the poor visibility caused by the German smoke. Cardiff fired the most of any ship in her squadron, but did not hit any German ships. She was, however, hit four or five times herself, killing seven crewmen and wounding thirteen, but was only lightly damaged. Based at Scapa Flow and Rosyth during 1918, the ship spent the remainder of the war escorting convoys and training in the northern portion of the North Sea. By 21 November 1918 the war was over, and Cardiff had the honour of leading the German High Seas Fleet to the Firth of Forth to be interned.
A few days later, the 6th LCS, under the command of Rear-Admiral Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair, was ordered to the Baltic Sea to support the Baltic States as they attempted to secure their independence from Russia. Together with her half-sister Caradoc and five destroyers, the ship bombarded Bolshevik positions east of Reval (Tallinn), Estonia, on 14 December and brought the Russian offensive to a halt after they destroyed the one bridge connecting them with Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), Russia. The next day, her starboard AA gun was dismounted and given to the Estonians. The 6th LCS was recalled in early January 1919 and arrived back in Rosyth on 10 January.
Cardiff arrived at Portsmouth on 11 January to begin a refit that lasted until 27 February. Her conning tower may have been removed at this time and the bridge enlarged. On 10 March, she sailed for Malta to join her squadron, which had been renumbered as the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron (3rd LCS) and assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet while the ship was refitting, where she arrived on six days later. The squadron was assigned peacekeeping duties in the Adriatic for most of 1919 and Cardiff spent the time visiting various Adriatic ports or in Malta. She became the flagship of Rear-Admiral George Hope on 1 September.
By 30 January 1920, the ship was in Constantinople and Cardiff arrived at Odessa on 4 February and Admiral Hope concurred in the decision to evacuate the city in the face of the advancing Bolsheviks. The ship departed the city the next day, but returned on 11 February and Hope assumed command of all British forces in the city. By late March, the ship was stationed in the Crimea until the Whites were forced to evacuate in November. On 6 November, Cardiff picked up Charles I of Austria, the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, and his wife, Zita at Sulina, Romania, and conveyed them to their exile in the Portuguese island of Madeira, where they arrived on 19 November. The ship was present during the Great Fire of Smyrna almost a year later in mid-September 1922, close to the end of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. She remained in the Mediterranean until 1929 when she went home for a lengthy refit. During Cardiff's time in the Mediterranean, she was fitted with a pair of 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk II "pom-pom" AA guns in 1923–24 and her original 9-foot (2.7 m) rangefinders was exchanged for 12-foot (3.7 m) models during the mid-1920s. From 1931 to May 1933, she was assigned to the Commander-in-Chief, Africa as the flagship of the 6th Cruiser Squadron. The ship returned home that month and replaced her half-sister Cambrian as flagship of the Nore Reserve in July. The following year, she was transferred to the Chatham Reserve as their flagship and participated in the Silver Jubilee Fleet review for King George V on 16 July 1935. Cardiff was also present for the Coronation Fleet Review for King George VI on 20 May 1937. The ship was considered for conversion into an anti-aircraft cruiser in June 1938, but programme delays caused the conversion to be pushed back. A month later, Cardiff was recommissioned for service with the 5th Cruiser Squadron on the China Station. The ship departed Hong Kong on 29 April 1939 for the UK where she was again placed in reserve.
### Second World War
On the first day of the war on 3 September 1939, Cardiff was assigned to the 12th Cruiser Squadron which was fruitlessly searching for returning German merchant ships in the North and Norwegian Seas. Several days later, she was assigned to patrol the gaps between the Shetland and Faeroe Islands and between the Faeroes and Iceland as part of the Northern Patrol. In late November, she fruitlessly searched for the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst after they sank the armed merchant cruiser, Rawalpindi, on the 23rd. On 12 June, Cardiff was tasked to suppress the German artillery batteries overlooking Saint-Valery-en-Caux to prevent them from firing on British ships as they evacuated the troops there, but they were no longer visible from the sea when the ship arrived. The cruiser received six wounded men from the coaster Cameo and returned to Portsmouth. Cardiff was converted for use as a gunnery training ship in October and served in that capacity for the rest of the war. The ship was fitted with six 20-millimeter (0.8 in) Oerlikon light AA guns and a Type 290 surface-search radar by April 1942. By late 1943 a Type 273 long-range search radar had also been fitted. Cardiff was paid off on 3 September 1945 and sold for scrap to Arnott Young on 23 January 1946. The ship was broken up in Dalmuir, Scotland, after she arrived there on 18 March. |
17,429,397 | The Gambia at the 2008 Summer Olympics | 1,094,219,467 | null | [
"2008 in Gambian sport",
"Nations at the 2008 Summer Olympics",
"The Gambia at the Summer Olympics by year"
]
| Gambia took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China from 8 to 24 August 2008. It was Gambia's seventh appearance in the summer Olympics since its debut in 1984. The Gambia team included three athletes; runners Suwaibou Sanneh and Fatou Tiyana as well as boxer Badou Jack. Jack, a middleweight at his first Olympics, was selected as flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. None of the Gambia athletes progressed further than the qualifying heats.
## Background
Gambia had participated in six previous Summer Olympics, between its debut in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. At its debut, the country sent ten athletes to the games, all of whom competed in athletics. As of 2012, 10 remains the largest number of Gambian athletes participating in the summer games. No Gambian has ever won a summer Olympics medal. Three athletes from Gambia were selected to compete in the 2008 Olympics: Suwaibou Sanneh in the men's track and field 100 metres, Fatou Tiyana in the women's track and field 100 metres and Badou Jack in the men's middleweight boxing competition.
## Athletics
At the 2008 Olympics, Gambia was represented by one male athlete in athletics, 100 metres sprinter Suwaibou Sanneh. At age 17, Sanneh was the country's youngest competitor, and was competing at his first Olympics. He competed on 15 August in Beijing, and finished 5th out of 8 in heat eight. His time of 10.52 seconds placed him 46th out of 80 competitors overall. The fastest athlete was Tyrone Edgar (10.13 seconds) and the slowest athlete that progressed to the semi-finals was Uchenna Emedolu (10.46 seconds). Youssouf, who was 0.06 seconds behind Emedolu, did not progress to the semi-finals.
Competing at her first Olympics, Fatou Tiyana was the only female competing in the track and field events at the 2008 Summer Olympics for Gambia. She competed in the 100 meters on 19 August. Tiyana was drawn into heat seven for the event. She ran a personal best time of 12.25 seconds and finished seventh in her heat, 0.92 seconds behind the winner, Ivet Lalova. She finished 58th out of 85 athletes overall and was 2.55 seconds faster than the slowest athlete, Robina Muqimyar. Tiyana was 1.12 seconds behind the fastest athlete (Oludamola Osayomi) and 0.60 seconds behind the slowest athlete who progressed to the semi-finals, Thi Huong Vu. Therefore, Tiyana did not progress to the semi-finals.
Men
Women
## Boxing
Gambia's only boxer at the Beijing Olympics, Badou Jack, qualified in the middleweight class at the second African continental qualifying tournament. Jack competed at age 24 and was Gambia's oldest competitor. He was selected as the Gambian flag bearer for the opening ceremony. His first fight was against Indian Vijender Singh. Kumar won the fight 13-2 and Jack was eliminated from the competition. |
16,733,721 | Washington State Route 224 | 1,056,496,812 | Highway in Washington | [
"State highways in Washington (state)",
"Transportation in Benton County, Washington"
]
| State Route 224 (SR 224) is a 10.15-mile (16.33 km) long state highway located entirely in Benton County, Washington, United States. The highway serves to connect SR 225 to Interstate 82 (I-82) and U.S. Route 12 (US 12), and to link Benton City to West Richland and Richland. Before the 1964 state highway renumbering the highway was numbered Secondary State Highway 3R. SR 224 is a lightly traveled rural highway except through Richland, where an average of 16,000 cars traveled the highway daily in 2009. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) rebuilt its southern terminus as a roundabout in 2016, as part of a project to improve traffic congestion near the Red Mountain AVA.
## Route description
SR 224 begins at an interchange with I-82 in southern Benton City. After only 0.05 mi (80 m), SR 224 intersects SR 225 at a roundabout and turns to the east as Kennedy Road. After passing a park and ride lot on the south side of the highway, the road turns back to the north off of Kennedy road, paralleling the Yakima River, slowly turning northeast through a rural area of Benton County. After passing through farmland SR 224 enters West Richland and becomes Van Giesen Street, the main east–west thoroughfare of the city. Exiting the town, the highway passes over the Yakima River and enters Richland, passing through a rural area on the south side of Richland Airport. At the southeast corner of the airport, SR 224 crosses over a single track belonging to the Port of Benton and managed by Tri-City Railroad and terminates at an intersection with SR 240 (the Richland Bypass Highway). Van Giesen Street continues east from the terminus of SR 224 for another 1.7 miles (2.7 km), intersecting SR 240 Business near the western shore of the Columbia River.
The highway is primarily a two-lane road between Benton City and West Richland. The road expands to four lanes in West Richland, a width the highway remains to its terminus in Richland. Speed limits posted on the highway range from 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) to 55 miles per hour (89 km/h). Every year WSDOT conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume. This is expressed in terms of average annual daily traffic (AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2009, WSDOT calculated that as few as 3,200 cars traveled through the intersection at Keene Road, west of West Richland, and as many as 16,000 cars at the eastern terminus.
## History
A roadway has connected Benton City to Richland since at least 1926, while a road with an alignment more similar to that of the current highway first appeared on maps in 1939, with termini at the concurrent highways U.S. Route 410 and PSH 3. The highway now known as SR 224 was numbered Secondary State Highway 3R (SSH 3R) between 1937 and the 1964 state highway renumbering, which abolished the Primary and Secondary highway numbers, replacing them with Sign Route numbers, later renamed State Routes.
The Kiona interchange on I-82 was dedicated and opened on June 26, 1974, and cost \$3 million to construct. The interchange was built as part of the initial construction of I-82 through southern Washington. The current bridge that carries SR 224 over the Yakima River was constructed in 1993, replacing the original bridge on the highway as part of a widening project. Local leaders had been lobbying for a bridge replacement and street widening since the mid-1970s, following floods that damaged sections of SR 224.
The highway's southern terminus, at I-82 and SR 225, was converted into a roundabout in June 2016 to improve traffic flow. The \$4.5 million project was the first project funded by the Connecting Washington tax package, passed in 2015 by the state legislature. A road connecting SR 224 near the Red Mountain AVA to the a new interchange on I-82 is planned to begin construction in 2019 and will cost \$24.9 million.
## Major intersections |
19,442,298 | Ben Amos | 1,166,100,905 | English footballer | [
"1990 births",
"Bolton Wanderers F.C. players",
"Cardiff City F.C. players",
"Carlisle United F.C. players",
"Charlton Athletic F.C. players",
"Crewe Alexandra F.C. players",
"Eliteserien players",
"England men's under-21 international footballers",
"England men's youth international footballers",
"English Football League players",
"English expatriate men's footballers",
"English men's footballers",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Norway",
"Footballers from Macclesfield",
"Hull City A.F.C. players",
"Living people",
"Manchester United F.C. players",
"Men's association football goalkeepers",
"Millwall F.C. players",
"Molde FK players",
"Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players",
"Peterborough United F.C. players",
"Premier League players",
"Wigan Athletic F.C. players"
]
| Benjamin Paul Amos (born 10 April 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Wigan Athletic. Born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, Amos began his career with Crewe Alexandra's youth academy, but joined Manchester United at the age of 11. He has also played for Bolton Wanderers and has spent time on loan at Peterborough United, Molde, and Oldham Athletic. Additionally, Amos is an England youth international, having represented his country at every level from Under-16 to Under-21.
## Club career
### Crewe Alexandra
Amos was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire and was a member of the Crewe Alexandra academy until he was released at the age of 10. While at Crewe, he also played for another local team, Bollington United, as a centre midfielder. One year later, Amos was playing for his local team against the team at the top of the table, and they needed to win the match to win the league. Amos' team's goalkeeper was injured during the game, and as the tallest on the team, Amos was put in goal; however, he had also been the team's regular penalty taker all season, so when they were awarded a penalty, he went all the way up the pitch to take the kick. He scored, and his team went on to win the game 3–2, together with the league title. After the game, his parents told him that a Manchester United scout had been watching him and that he had been invited for trials. Amos joined Manchester United at the age of 11.
### Manchester United
In his first season at Manchester United, Amos became a regular starter for the club's Under-13 team, playing in 19 out of 27 matches in the 2001–02 season. Amos was named as an unused substitute for the Under-18 side for the first time on 8 January 2005, for a league game against Manchester City. His first appearance for the Under-18s came exactly nine months later, on 8 October 2005, coming on as a substitute for Danny Rose after starting goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler was sent off in a 2–0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers. He was regularly named as an unused substitute during the 2005–06 season – including for two reserve team matches – but became a frequent starter for the Under-18s in 2006–07 after signing a trainee contract in July 2006. However, he missed the final of the 2006–07 FA Youth Cup with a dislocated shoulder.
He retained his place in the Under-18 team for 2007–08, in addition to making his debut for the reserve team against Wigan Athletic on 7 November 2007, and during the season he impressed enough to be selected to go on the first-team's 2008 summer tour of South Africa. Amos was named as a substitute for all three matches of the tour, but did not play. En route back from South Africa, United stopped off in Nigeria to play against Portsmouth on 27 July 2008, with Amos replacing Tomasz Kuszczak after 76 minutes. He made his competitive first-team debut on 23 September 2008 in a 3–1 win at home to Middlesbrough in the third round of the League Cup. On 14 December 2008, Amos travelled to Japan with the Manchester United squad for the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup, having been called up as a late replacement for Ben Foster, who had suffered a hand injury while training.
#### Loans to Peterborough and Molde
On 29 October 2009, Amos signed for the Championship team Peterborough United on a month's loan as cover for Peterborough's suspended first-choice goalkeeper Joe Lewis. He made his only appearance on 31 October in a 2–1 defeat against Barnsley. After returning to Manchester United, Amos was again sent out on loan in March 2010, this time to Norwegian side Molde FK, where he remained on loan until 30 June 2010.
#### Return to Manchester United
Following the departure of Ben Foster from Manchester United to Birmingham City, United manager Alex Ferguson declared that Amos would be Manchester United's third-choice goalkeeper for the 2010–11 season behind Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak. He made his first appearance of the season on 26 October 2010, starting in goal for United's 3–2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the fourth round of the League Cup.
In United's final Champions League group match on 7 December 2010, Amos was picked to start against Valencia at Old Trafford. Pablo Hernández scored Valencia's only goal past him after 32 minutes of the match – the first goal United had conceded in the Champions League that season – as the two sides played out a 1–1 draw.
#### Loan to Oldham Athletic
With the signing of Danish goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, Manchester United allowed Amos to join Oldham Athletic on loan for the remainder of the season on 7 January 2011, although he would continue to train with Manchester United once a week. He made his debut against Swindon Town the next day and kept a clean sheet. However, three days later, he conceded all six goals in a 6–0 defeat at home to Southampton; he allowed Adam Lallana's 20-yard shot underneath his body for the second goal, and he was rounded by Lee Barnard for the sixth.
On 15 March 2011, Lindegaard was ruled out for five weeks following a knee injury, so Amos was recalled from Oldham to cover for Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak.
#### Return to Manchester United
Amos made his first start of the 2011–12 season in a third round League Cup tie at Elland Road against Leeds United. He kept a clean sheet as United cruised through to the next round winning 3–0. He played again in the following round away at Aldershot Town, a game which United also won 3–0 and advanced to the quarter finals. He was in goal again for United's League Cup game in a defeat against Championship club Crystal Palace on 30 November. It also seemed that he had moved above last season's second choice Tomasz Kuszczak in the pecking order, but was now third choice behind Anders Lindegaard and David de Gea. He made his first Premier League start in a 2–0 home win against Stoke City on 31 January 2012, keeping a clean sheet on his debut.
On 30 May 2012, Amos signed a three-year contract extension with Manchester United, which kept him at the club until 2015.
#### Loan to Hull City
On 31 July 2012, Amos joined Championship team Hull City on a season-long loan from Manchester United. Before the loan deal was completed, he had joined Hull on their pre-season training camp in Portugal. He made his debut on 11 August 2012 in 7–6 penalty shoot-out victory over Rotherham United in the first round of the 2012–13 Football League Cup. However, after 19 appearances, including two in the League Cup, Amos returned to Manchester United on 3 January 2013.
#### Loan to Carlisle United
On 15 November 2013, Amos joined League One team Carlisle United on a month-long loan from Manchester United.
#### Loan to Bolton Wanderers
On 30 January 2015 he joined Championship club Bolton Wanderers on a month's loan to provide competition for Andy Lonergan after Ádám Bogdán was ruled out with an ankle injury picked up in training. On 21 February 2015 he made his Bolton debut as a substitute for the injured Lonergan as Wanderers lost 4–1 to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. He played nine Championship games for Bolton before his loan expired on 4 April.
#### Return to Manchester United
Ben Amos returned to Manchester United after his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers, but on 10 June 2015, it was announced on Manchester United website that Ben Amos has been released from the club along with four other players.
### Bolton Wanderers
On 1 July 2015, Amos returned to Bolton Wanderers following his release from Manchester United, signing a four-year contract with the club. He returned to the starting line up for Bolton on the opening day against Derby County. He went onto make 44 appearances as Bolton were relegated to third tier.
#### Loan to Cardiff City
After finding himself second choice behind summer signing, Mark Howard, Amos signed a season long loan at Championship side, Cardiff City on 26 August. He was kept out of the starting line-up by Ben Wilson, until 17 September, where he made his debut against Leeds United. He remained first choice until December, eventually losing his place in the side to loanee Allan McGregor.
#### Loan to Charlton Athletic
On 29 July 2017, Amos joined League One side Charlton Athletic on loan for the 2017–18 season.
#### Loan to Millwall
On 13 July 2018, Amos was signed by Championship side Millwall, joining the club for the 2018–19 season.
### Charlton Athletic
On 15 July 2019, Amos returned to Charlton Athletic on a two-year deal. In his first season, Amos was limited to one League Cup appearance, as he was second choice behind Dillon Phillips. After Phillips was sold to Cardiff, Amos played every minute of every league game for Charlton in their 2020/21 League One campaign, as they narrowly missed out on the play-offs. Amos kept 17 clean sheets across the season.
### Wigan Athletic
Having been out of contract at Charlton, Amos agreed a two-year deal at Wigan Athletic on 28 June 2021.
## International career
Amos is an England youth international, having played for his country at the Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-19, Under-20 and Under-21 levels. He was called up to the Under-21 squad in 2011 for their friendly match against Iceland, but he was an unused substitute.
Amos was included on the 80-man shortlist for the Great Britain Olympic football team squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but did not make the final 18.
## Personal life
Amos attended Fallibroome High School, where he earned 11 GCSEs at grade C or above.
## Career statistics
## Honours
Manchester United
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2008
- League Cup: 2008–09
Wigan Athletic
- EFL League One: 2021–22 |
63,191,786 | Irma González (wrestler) | 1,166,492,781 | Mexican female professional wrestler | [
"1936 births",
"20th-century professional wrestlers",
"Living people",
"Mexican National Women's Champions",
"Mexican National Women's Tag Team Champions",
"Mexican female professional wrestlers",
"People from Ciudad Juárez",
"Professional wrestlers from Chihuahua (state)"
]
| Irma Morales Muñoz (born August 20, 1936), best known by her ring name Irma González, is a Mexican retired luchadora (or professional wrestler). During her over forty-year career, from the 1950s to the 1990s, she also competed at various times under the masked characters Flor Negra ("Black Flower"), Rosa Blanca ("White Rose"), La Tirana ("The Tyrant"), La Dama del Enfermero ("The Nurse Lady"), La Enfermera ("The Nurse") and La Novia del Santo ("The Bride of El Santo").
She is one of the pioneers of women's professional wrestling in Mexico, part of the first wave of Mexican women who made their debuts in the early 1950s, at a time where virtually no women's matches were promoted in Mexico. She is a five-time holder of the Mexican National Women's Championship, a two-time winner of the UWA World Women's Championship, and won both a US-based and an Indonesian-based world championship. She and her daughter Irma Aguilar were the first team to win the Mexican National Women's Tag Team Championship when introduced in 1990.
## Professional wrestling
Women's wrestling in Mexico prior to the 1950s was almost non-existent, with no known matches taking place from 1945 on and very few prior to that. In the early 1950s Jack O'Brien began training female wrestlers, including Irma Morales, in his gym in León, Guanajuato. Morales worked under the ring name Irma González alongside other O'Brien trainees such as Chabela Romero, La Enfermera, La Dama Enmascarada, and Rosita Williams. On February 28, 1955, González defeated La Dama Enmascarada to win the Mexican National Women's Championship, becoming the second overall champion. Her reign lasted for 489 days, until Rosita Williams won the championship on June 12, 1956. González regained the championship in 1958, although records are unclear as to whom she defeated to win the title. Her second reign came to an when she lost it to La Dama Enmascarada on September 28, 1958.
The rivalry between González and La Dama Enmascarada led to the first decisive Lucha de Apuestas ("betting match") in Mexico, 18 years after the first one took place. The match saw González defeat La Dama, forcing her to unmask and reveal her real name as required by the rules, making her the first woman to do so in Mexico. González had a third reign with the championship in 1959. Records indicate that she held and defended the championship, but not who she fought to win it or to whom she lost it. In the late 1950s, Ernesto P. Uruchurtu, Regent of Mexico City, banned women's wrestling in the city effectively relegating women to minor shows in other Mexican states. In 1961, La Dama Enmascarada once again wrestled Irma González in a Lucha de Apuestas, but this time won, forcing González to have all of her hair shaved off as a result.
In the early 1960s, Morales became engaged and promised her fiancé that she would stop wrestling. Instead of retiring Morales began working under a mask, using a ring character named "La Novia del Santo" ("The Bride of El Santo"), wearing El Santo's signature silver mask. Morales obtained El Santo's blessing to use the name. She is the only non-family member ever to be given the right to use the Santo name. Morales wrestled as "La Novia del Santo" for seven months until she married and temporarily retired. It is unclear for how long she was retired, but records indicate that Irma González lost the Mexican National Women's Championship to Chabela Romero on an Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) show in Guadalajara, Mexico. She also won the mask of La India on a show in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico. At EMLL's Carnaval de Campeones show, Chabela Romero successfully defended the women's championship against Irma González.
During the 1960s and 1970s Morales worked as various masked wrestlers, including "Flor Negra" ("Black Flower"), "Rosa Blanca" ("White Rose"), "La Tirana" ("The Tyrant"), "La Dama del Enfermero" ("The Nurse Lady"), and "La Enfermera" ("The Nurse"). In the 1970s, she focused more on storyline rivalries instead of championship matches, especially against her longtime rival Chabela Romero. The two met in three separate Lucha de Apuestas matches through the 1970s, in 1971, 1974 and 1979, with González emerging victorious each time.
On May 25, 1980, González defeated US-born Vicky Williams to win the Universal Wrestling Association's Women's World Championship for the first time. Her initial reign lasted 133 days, until October 5, when Williams regained the championship. At some point in 1980 González also won the Mexican National Women's Championship again, but records are unclear who she took the title from; they do indicate that Rossy Moreno won the championship from González in 1980. In 1981, Irma González won the mask of Martha la Sarapera and followed up by winning Martha's hair in 1982. That same year also saw González defeat La Mujer X at a regional show in Xalapa, Veracruz to unmask her. She also won the UWA World Women's Championship for a second time, defeating Lola González on August 27, 1982. Her 210-day reign ended on May 25, 1983, when Lola González regained the championship.
Records indicate that González once again held the Mexican National Women's Championship in 1986, but the details are scarce. Later that year women's wrestling was allowed in Mexico City once more, bringing González and others back to the nation's capital. In August 1990, González and her daughter Irma Aguilar, teamed up to become the first team to win the Mexican National Women's Tag Team Championship, defeating Neftali and Satanakia in the tournament's finals. The mother/daughter duo held the championship for 497 days, until December 20, 1991, when the team of Martha Villalobos and Pantera Sureña defeated them for it. In 1995, at age 59, González, Irma Aguilar and La Sierenita competed in the first match of Triplemanía III-A, AAA's biggest show of the year, losing to La Nazi, Martha Villalobos and Neftali. Her last confirmed match took place on April 13, 1996, at a Promo Azteca show in Mexico City. She teamed up with her daughter to defeat La Chola and La Rebelde.
## Championships and accomplishments
- Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
\*Mexican National Women's Championship (5 times)
\*Mexican National Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time, first) – with Irma Aguilar
- Universal Wrestling Association
\*UWA World Women's Championship (2 times)
- Other
\*World Women's Championship (US version) (1 time)
\*World Women's Championship (Indonesia version) (1 time)
## Luchas de Apuestas record |
66,061,083 | Magnum P.I. (2018 TV series, season 3) | 1,157,619,937 | Third season of the crime and action drama Magnum P.I. on CBS | [
"2020 American television seasons",
"2021 American television seasons",
"Magnum, P.I.",
"Television productions postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic",
"Television shows about the COVID-19 pandemic"
]
| The third season of the crime and action drama Magnum P.I. premiered on December 4, 2020, on CBS, for the 2020–21 United States network television schedule. The series is a remake of the 1980 series of the same name and centers on Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL who works as a private investigator and solves mysteries with his business partner Juliet Higgins and other friends. It stars Jay Hernandez, Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen Hill, Amy Hill, and Tim Kang. The season was ordered on May 8, 2020. It was later revealed that the season would only consist of 16 episodes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Multiple Hawaii Five-0 stars appeared as their Hawaii Five-0 characters in minor crossover events throughout the season and a possible crossover between the series and MacGyver was discussed by the writers. Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, and MacGyver are collectively referred to as the Lenkov-verse.
This is the first season not to feature co-developer Peter M. Lenkov as co-showrunner and executive producer after he was fired over allegations for a toxic work environment. Eric Guggenheim, who also co-developed the series and served as co-showrunner and executive producer alongside Lenkov, took over the main day-to-day operations of the series. In addition, Gene Hong, a writer and executive producer for the series, also became a co-showrunner. Production crew from Hawaii Five-0, including a writer, a line producer, and a cinematographer, moved to the series after Hawaii Five-0's cancellation. The season premiere, "Double Jeopardy," was watched by 5.50 million viewers.
## Cast and characters
### Main
- Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL who is a security consultant for the successful novelist Robin Masters, living in the guest house on his estate, while also working as a private investigator
- Perdita Weeks as Juliet Higgins, a former MI6 agent who is majordomo to Robin Masters; she and Magnum bicker but become allies
- Zachary Knighton as Orville "Rick" Wright, a Marine veteran and former door gunner, who runs his own tiki bar and is also a playboy
- Stephen Hill as Theodore "T.C." Calvin, a Marine veteran and helicopter pilot who runs helicopter tours of Hawaii and is a member of Magnum's team
- Amy Hill as Teuila "Kumu" Tuileta, the cultural curator of Robin Masters' estate
- Tim Kang as Honolulu Police Department (HPD) Detective Gordon Katsumoto, who dislikes Magnum but usually comes to the team's aid when needed
### Recurring
- Jay Ali as Dr. Ethan Shah
- Christopher Thornton as Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg
- Lance Lim as Dennis Katsumoto
- Betsy Phillips as Suzy Madison
### Notable guests
- Paola Nunez as Helen
- Brian Letscher as Bruce
- Juan-Pablo Veizaga as Max Martinez
- Hayden Szeto as Det. Pono Palima
- Dominic Hoffman as USCIS Tenney
- Eric Ladin as Freddie
- Eddie Lee Anderson as HPD SWAT Commander Fong
- Leith Burke as CIA Officer Grayson
- Roger E. Mosley as John Booky
- Janel Parrish as Maleah
- Bobby Lee as Jin Jeong
- Corbin Bernsen as Francis "Icepick" Hofstetler
- Kelen Coleman as Gina Gow
- Steven Michael Quezada as Uncle Bernardo
- Grace Victoria Cox as Chloe Dawson
- Alex Carter as Henry Sellers
### Crossover
- Kimee Balmilero as Dr. Noelani Cunha
- Shawn Mokuahi Garnett as Flippa
- Dennis Chun as HPD Sergeant Duke Lukela
## Episodes
The number in the "No. overall" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series, whereas the number in the "No. in season" column refers to the episode's number within this particular season. Numerous episodes are named after similarly named episodes from the original series. "Production code" refers to the order in which the episodes were produced while "U.S. viewers (millions)" refers to the number of viewers in the U.S. in millions who watched the episode as it was aired.
### Crossovers
Following the cancellation of Hawaii Five-0 in early 2020, numerous actors from the series still made appearances throughout the season, most notably Kimee Balmilero who recurred in the season as Dr. Noelani Cunha. In addition Shawn Mokuahi Garnett appeared in two episodes of the season as Flippa and Dennis Chun appeared as Honolulu Police Department Sergeant Duke Lukela in the seasons fourth episode.
## Production
### Development
`On May 6, 2020, CBS renewed Magnum P.I. for a third season, along with eighteen other series including MacGyver, the second and only other remaining series from the Lenkov-verse after the cancellation of Hawaii Five-0. On July 7, 2020, it was revealed that co-showrunner, executive producer, and co-developer Peter M. Lenkov would not have any involvement in the season after being fired from CBS over toxic work environment allegations. Lenkov was originally expected to continue work on the series for another year after signing a three-year deal with CBS Television Studios in 2018. Lucas Till who portrays the title character of Angus MacGyver on MacGyver stated that Lenkov made him suicidal and constantly body shamed him. Lenkov's lawyers initially denied all allegations. Lenkov later responded to the situation by stating "It's difficult to hear that the working environment I ran was not the working environment my colleagues deserved, and for that, I am deeply sorry. I accept responsibility for what I am hearing and am committed to doing the work that is required to do better and be better." Lenkov still received writing credits for various episodes throughout the season written prior to his termination. Numerous production staff moved to the series also following the cancellation of Hawaii Five-0 including co-showrunner of its final season, David Wolkove, a line producer, and editors. Eight different writers wrote episodes throughout the season. Gene Hong replaced Lenkov as co-showrunner joining other co-showrunner Eric Guggenheim who also co-developed and executive-produces for the series. On October 27, 2020, it was reported that the season would have a reduced episode order of sixteen-episodes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season's main storylines revolved around a post-pandemic world; however, its effects continue to play a part in storylines throughout the season.`
### Filming
On July 1, 2020, it was revealed that the series was eyeing a delayed mid-August start date to begin filming as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous seasons had begun filming in July. In August 2020, it was announced that the series had been given permission to begin filming but had yet to set a start date; September 14, was later stated as a tentative start date to filming. Filming for the season began two days later on September 16, 2020, with a traditional Hawaiian blessing. COVID-19 protocols were required on set including the wearing of masks, social distancing, COVID testing, and reduced cast and crew on set. Due to the limited numbers of extras allowed on the set, crowd replication visual effects were used as a replacement. Kurt Jones, a cinematographer for the season, who also worked on Hawaii Five-0, directed the fifteenth produced episode of the season. Filming on the season concluded on March 4, 2021.
### Casting
On October 16, 2020, it was announced that Jay Ali had been cast in a recurring role for the season as Dr. Ethan Shah, a love interest for the character of Juliet Higgins. It was later revealed that Lance Lim would also recur throughout the season as Dennis Katsumoto, the son of Detective Gordon Katsumoto. Roger E. Mosley, who portrayed Theodore Calvin on the original Magnum, P.I. reprised his role as John Booky from the first season of the rebooted series. Dennis Chun, who portrayed various minor characters on the original series also returned as Honolulu Police Department Sergeant Duke Lukela. Christopher Thornton, Kimee Balmilero, and Shawn Mokuahi Garnett continue to recur in the series after being introduced in the first season. Bobby Lee and Janel Parrish also reprised their roles after both being introduced as characters in the second season.
## Release
When CBS revealed its fall schedule for the 2020–2021 broadcast season it was revealed that Magnum P.I. would keep the timeslot it held in the previous season of Friday's at 9:00 PM ET. In October 2020, CBS announced premiere dates for its scripted series; Magnum P.I. and its Friday evening counterparts Blue Bloods and MacGyver remained absent from the schedule. In November 2020, CBS gave the season a premiere date of December 4, 2020; delayed from its usual late-September premiere date as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season aired three episodes in December 2020 before taking its regular mid-season break and returned in January 2021. "The Lies We Tell," the seasons eleventh episode was originally scheduled to air on March 12, 2021. When CBS chose to air a rebroadcast of Oprah with Meghan and Harry in its place the episode was rescheduled to be broadcast on March 26. In March 2021, CBS announced that the season would conclude on May 7, 2021. In Canada, CTV aired the series in simulcast with CBS. In the United Kingdom, the third season began airing on Sky One on January 3, 2021.
## Ratings
## Home media |
18,675,516 | Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment | 1,154,268,428 | null | [
"1914 establishments in New Zealand",
"History of the Wellington Region",
"Military units and formations disestablished in 1919",
"Military units and formations established in 1914",
"Mounted infantry regiments of New Zealand in World War I",
"New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade"
]
| The Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment from New Zealand, raised for service during the First World War. It was assigned to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
The regiment, with an establishment of twenty-six officers, 523 other ranks and 600 horses, was formed from three squadrons belonging to pre war Territorial Force regiments; the Queen Alexandra's 2nd (Wellington West Coast) Mounted Rifles, the 6th (Manawatu) Mounted Rifles and the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles. It also included a small headquarters and, until 1916, a Maxim machine-gun section. The Maxim guns were withdrawn but the regiment's fire-power increased during the war, by the end of which each squadron had four Hotchkiss machine-guns, one per troop.
As mounted infantry, the regiment rode into battle on their horses, but were expected to dismount for battle, and then fight on foot. The regiment fought predominantly against the forces of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. In the Gallipoli Campaign between May and December 1915, they participated in the largest battle of that theatre at Chunuk Bair, and also in the fighting for Hill 60. Evacuated to Egypt, they then took part in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign from 1916 to 1918. The early battles there included those at Romani, Gaza and Beersheba. Later in the war they were part of the force that occupied the Jordan Valley, and took part in the raid on Amman and the raid on Es Salt. Their final war time operation was in connection with the capture of the Turkish Fourth Army. During the four years of war the regiment had 369 dead and 453 wounded, several of those wounded more than once. After the war, the regiment played a minor role in the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, before being disbanded in June 1919.
## History
### Formation
Raised on 8 August 1914 at the start of the First World War, the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment came from the region around Wellington on the North Island of New Zealand. It was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel William Meldrum, and comprised a headquarters, a machine-gun section, and three squadrons formed from Territorial Force regiments. The New Zealand Territorial Force included a compulsory training system, and the four Military Districts were each required to supply a mounted regiment for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. To meet that obligation the Territorial Force regiments each provided a squadron, which kept their own regimental badges and traditions. The regiment's squadrons came from the Queen Alexandra's 2nd (Wellington West Coast) Mounted Rifles (2nd Squadron), the 6th (Manawatu) Mounted Rifles (6th Squadron) and the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles (9th Squadron). The establishment was fixed at twenty-six officers and 523 other ranks, who used 528 riding horses, seventy-four draught horses and six pack horses. Each squadron, of 158 men, had a field headquarters and four troops. The Machine-Gun Section, with two Maxim Guns, had one officer, twenty-six other ranks, twenty riding horses and sixteen draught horses. Although the regiment used horses, they were not cavalry but mounted infantry, and expected to ride to the battlefield, dismount and then fight as traditional infantry. Attached to, but not part of, the regiment were medical and veterinary officers, an artificer, three more other ranks and another eighteen horses. The regiment was assigned to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, serving alongside two other regiments, the Auckland Mounted Rifles and the Canterbury Mounted Rifles.
### Embarkation
The regiment conducted training until 24 September, when they received embarkation orders. Due to the fear of German warships being in the area, the wait for suitable escort ships delayed their departure until 15 October. With a short stop at Hobart, on 28 October they arrived at Albany, and anchored waiting to be joined by the Australian contingent. The combined convoy sailed on 1 November and reached Colombo on 15 November. Two days later it sailed into the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. They docked at Port Said on 2 December and Alexandria the next day. The regiment disembarked on 4 December and boarded a train for their camp in the Cairo suburb of Zeitoun. There they started a training programme, using the desert for manoeuvres, during both day and night.
In April 1915 the New Zealand and Australian forces, except the mounted troops, were sent to serve in the Gallipoli Campaign. Heavy casualties during the landings provided a need for reinforcements, so the regiment and other mounted troops, without their horses, were ordered to Gallipoli.
## Gallipoli
On 8 May 1915, the regiment, reduced to twenty-five officers and 453 other ranks (some men had to stay behind to look after the horses), with the remainder of the brigade, sailed for Gallipoli and landed three days later, under small arms fire, at ANZAC Cove, as part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).
They relieved elements of the Royal Naval Brigade, with the regiment taking over from the Nelson and Deal Battalions, on the right flank. One squadron occupied the front line, one squadron the support trench, and the third was the reserve. The regiment was on the left, the Auckland Mounted Rifles in the centre, and the Canterbury Mounted Rifles on the right. They spent the next few days improving the fire trenches, constructing communications trenches, and enlarging tracks so men and guns could move forward quickly. This was done under Turkish machine-gun and rifle fire.
### First combat
At midnight on 18 May the Turkish troops opened fire on the regiment until 03:30, then left their trenches and charged the mounted brigade, concentrating on the Auckland Mounted Rifles. The Turkish attackers were engaged by the regiment's machine-guns with enfilade fire and the attack petered out at dawn, leaving hundreds of Turkish dead. Both sides continued shooting at each other with artillery and small arms fire. At 13:25 General Alexander Godley, commanding that section of the beach-head, ordered the regiment to counter-attack the Turkish trenches at "The Nek". Their first trench was one hundred yards (91 m) across no man's land with no cover at all. The regiment prepared to obey the order, but arranged it so that no one squadron would be wiped out. The men were selected in equal proportion from all three squadrons and Captain William Hardham VC was chosen to command them. Brigadier-General Andrew Russell, commanding the brigade, contacted Godley to advise him of the circumstances of such an attack and Russell was told to "use his own judgement" so promptly called it off.
The morning of 20 May started the same way, with Turkish artillery and small arms fire being directed at the regiment's trenches. This lasted until 16:30 when the firing ceased and white flags appeared above the Turkish trenches. The Turkish commander asked for an armistice, so that they could collect their dead and wounded lying in the open. But as it appeared they were using the time to bring forward reinforcements, repair defences and collect arms and ammunition from the dead, the armistice was turned down. Negotiations continued and a truce was agreed for 24 May between 07:30 and 17:00. The regiment sent out men to collect and bury Allied dead. The next day the 3rd Light Horse Brigade relieved the regiment, and they moved to a safer area in the rear. Even when "resting" in the rear, they were not safe as it was constantly shelled, and work details had to be provided to move supplies and construct better defences.
### Defence of No.3 Post
On 28 May the regiment had to man a position just captured by the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, called No.3 Post. The 6th Squadron was chosen and started improving the trenches on arrival. Daylight was at 03:30 and although having worked all night, they had made no real impression on the position and were exposed to Turkish fire all day. However, instead of abandoning the post, at 21:00 they were relieved by the 9th Squadron. An hour later Major Selwyn Chambers, commanding the 9th Squadron reported they were surrounded by about one thousand Turkish troops. At 23:35 communications with the 9th Squadron failed. The squadron were fighting off attacks, but could not stop Turkish troops reaching the edge of their trench and throwing hand grenades into their positions. A troop from the 2nd Squadron, sent as reinforcements, were unable to break through. So at midnight the remainder of the 2nd Squadron attempted to reach them, but instead had to dig in to defend themselves. Even though outnumbered, both squadrons managed to hold out, providing covering fire for each other. At 03:30 another Turkish attempt to capture their trenches began, this time from the south. When Turkish troops got into the left side of the 2nd Squadron trench, Major James Elmslie led a troop in a counter-attack, clearing them out. At 06:30, by using signal flags, communications with regimental headquarters were re-established. Casualties were mounting and supplies of ammunition dwindling, and the defence was becoming untenable. The 6th Squadron managed to reach the 2nd Squadron's position, but in the face of heavy Turkish fire, were unable to advance any further. Around 12:00 Turkish troops got into the 9th Squadrons trenches, forcing one troop to withdraw. After Captain Spragg of 9th Squadron located an abandoned supply of British ammunition, the New Zealanders were able to return fire at will without having to conserve ammunition. Nevertheless, the Turkish force, now numbering about three thousand men, continued their attacks all day.
At 19:00 Turkish troops captured the northern section of the 9th Squadron trench. With no chance of any relief during daylight, the commanding officer was informed that two squadrons from the Canterbury Mounted Rifles would try to relieve the 9th Squadron after 20:00. By this time the 6th Squadron had fought their way round the southern slopes of the hill and got within one hundred yards (91 m) of the 9th Squadron's trench, but could make no further progress. As darkness approached Turkish fire reduced, and at 22:30 the Canterbury Mounted Rifles reached 9th Squadron and took over from them at 23:00. The 9th Squadron moved to the rear followed an hour later by the 2nd and 6th Squadrons. During the battle the squadrons were outnumbered and fighting at close quarters, but their casualties were rather light at nineteen dead and fifty-two wounded.
### Walker's Ridge
The regiment returned to the front on 7 June, relieving the 8th Light Horse Regiment on Walkers Ridge. The 2nd and 9th Squadrons manned the front trench, with the 6th Squadron in reserve. Trench warfare, shelling and sniping continued all month but there was no major attack. The regiment spent their time rotating through the front and resting at the rear. On 1 July reinforcements of four officers and ninety-seven other ranks arrived. On 18 July the regiment returned to the front, relieving the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, each squadron with two troops forward and the other two in reserve. They remained there until 31 July when they were relieved by the 10th Light Horse Regiment. Returning to the rear, the regiment only had twenty-four officers and 338 other ranks, almost 200 men short of full establishment.
### Chunuk Bair
In August Godley planned a new offensive. The brigade was designated as the "Right Covering Force", and allocated several objectives including "No.3 Post", "Big Table Top" and "Destroyer Ridge". The regiment, supported by a Maori pioneer battalion, were given "Destroyer Ridge" and "Big Table Top" to capture. On 5 August the regiment moved to their starting position at "No.1 Post", the attack being planned for the following day. Two troops from 6th Squadron were to capture "Destroyer Ridge", and then clear the route to "Big Table Top", which the remainder of the regiment was to assault at 22:00.
At 21:30 6 August the attack began; after covering around two hundred yards (180 m) the leading troops were discovered by a Turkish sentry. The 6th Squadron charged the trenches, killing the occupants, but it cost them two men dead and one wounded including the squadron commander. The rest of the squadron continued clearing the route for the regiment. Thick impenetrable bush, forced the regiment to move further east to continue. Scaling the north-eastern face of the hill, they reached the summit at 22:55, and attacked the Turks from the rear. The regiment worked to secure the position from attack by the Turkish forces. Their total casualties for the operation were eight dead and nine wounded, but they had captured 158 prisoners, without firing a shot. The next morning, 7 August, the 6th Squadron and Maoris rejoined the regiment, just as they came under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. The next day the regiment, along with the Auckland Mounted Rifles, the New Zealand Infantry Brigade and two British battalions, were combined as No.1 Column commanded by Brigadier-General Francis Johnston. The Column were to hold the ground already occupied and extend their lines to the south and east. Leaving the 9th Squadron defending "Big Table Top", the rest of the regiment, 173 all ranks, reported to Johnstone at "Chailak Dere", where they ordered to hold the position "to the last man" alongside the Otago Infantry Battalion. The regiment spent the night improving the crescent shaped position, on the rear slope of the hill. All during the following day, the attacking Turks, sky-lining themselves at the crest of the hill, became easy targets for the regiment, and were engaged with enfilade fire, from the left and right of the regiment's lines.
At 16:00 the regiment was attacked in force, but the Turks withdrew after suffering heavy casualties. But the British attack elsewhere had failed, and some units had been forced to retire, leaving the regiment exposed. They fought off attacks throughout the night, until 05:00 the next morning. Then for two hours they were harassed with sniper fire and hand grenades. Meldrum asked the brigade for reinforcements and more ammunition. There were no reserves of ammunition available and the only reinforcements were forty men from the 6th Battalion Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) who were sent to assist, but did not arrive until noon. At 14:00 Meldrum reported he could now hold out until nightfall and at 22:30 they were relieved by the rest of the Loyal Regiment and the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. In the day's fighting the regiment, from a total of 173 all ranks, had lost forty-three dead and seventy-four wounded.
Early on 10 August the survivors, less the 9th Squadron, moved into a camp at "No.1 Post". The 9th Squadron, now one hundred men strong, remained at the front defending "Table Top" and "Old No.3 Post". The next day at 19:30 the brigade moved back to man the inner defence line. The regiment, still without the 9th Squadron, occupied the "Camel's Hump" with twelve men, and "Destroyer Ridge" with twenty-five men, the remainder being held in reserve. They remained at the front until relieved on 23 August.
### Hill 60
On 21 August the regiment moved back to "Big Table Top" for the pending assault on Hill 60. The attack, at 15:30, succeeded in capturing around two hundred yards (180 m) of Turkish trenches. Two days later, at 17:15, the regiment was relieved and rejoined the brigade at Kabak Kuyu, but at 19:30, five officers and 125 other ranks had to return to the front to defend the western slopes of Hill 60. The same day, three officers and seventy-seven other ranks arrived as reinforcements for the regiment. On 25 August those men still at the front were relieved by the Canterbury Mounted Rifles and Otago Mounted Rifles, in preparation for a night assault on Hill 60 by the brigade. The assault was postponed for two days to rest the men. Although the brigade was responsible for the centre objective during the assault, it could only provide three hundred men, with another one hundred men coming from the Australian 18th Battalion. The regiment's contribution was five officers and 125 other ranks. The battle commenced with an hour-long artillery bombardment. The Auckland and Canterbury Mounted Rifles formed the first line of attack, the Wellington regiment and the Otago Mounted Rifles the second, and the Australians made up the third line. At 17:00 the attack began, and despite taking heavy casualties crossing no man's land, the first Turkish line was captured. The Wellington regiment and Otago Mounted Rifles continued on, took out a machine-gun post and captured the second Turkish trench, but sustained heavy casualties. On the other flanks the supporting assaults had failed, leaving the regiment and the Otago Mounted Rifles isolated on a narrow front. The brigade therefore consolidated the ground already captured and moved forward their machine-guns to support the defence; the forward defensive line was only forty men. The regiment's casualties during the battle were fifty dead and fifty-nine wounded. That night the remainder of the regiment moved into the front line. They fought off several counter-attacks, losing another man killed and eleven wounded. On 29 August the regiment was relieved by the 163rd (Norfolk & Suffolk) Brigade, but remained in the reserve trenches for the next three days. Even there the number of casualties continued to increase, so that by 2 September there were only six officers and ninety-nine men left in the regiment. Despite this, they still had to supply five officers and thirty-nine other ranks to occupy a trench on "Cheshire Ridge".
### Evacuation
By 13 September the regiment's strength was four officers and eighty other ranks. All of them except fourteen machine-gunners were evacuated to the island of Lemnos. Of the original contingent who had landed in May only twenty-four men were still with the regiment. On 10 November reinforcements increased the regiment's total to nine officers and 363 other ranks, and they returned to Gallipoli, reaching the front line at Hill 60 on 27 November. Lack of manpower meant they could not fully man their trenches, so a system was adopted where six men manned a post, with only two on duty during the day. At night all men were awake and also patrolled between posts and into no man's land.
On 17 December, orders for the complete evacuation of the peninsula were issued. The regiment started leaving the next day, when six officers and 155 other ranks left for Lemnos before dawn. Those left behind had to make it appear that the trenches were fully occupied. At 21:30 two-thirds of the remainder were evacuated. Other smaller parties left the trenches between 01:40 and 02:05, when the last officer and eleven other ranks moved down to the beach and were evacuated. The surviving 375 men of the regiment camped on Lemnos until transport was available to take them back to Egypt. Their involvement in the Gallipoli Campaign had cost the regiment a total of 640 casualties.
## Sinai
### Katia
On 22 December the regiment left Lemnos; they disembarked at Alexandria four days later. On 27 December they arrived back at Zeitoun camp. There they were reunited with their horses, and reinforcements arrived to bring the regiment back up to full establishment, plus another ten percent. At the same time the Machine-Gun Section was doubled from two to four guns. On 23 January 1916 the regiment were deployed in defence of the Suez Canal, reaching Serapeum on 29 January and Ferry Post Rail Head on 5 March where they took over from two infantry brigades. Later that month the brigade was assigned to the newly formed ANZAC Mounted Division, alongside three Australian light horse brigades and a British Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) brigade.
The regiment mixed defending the canal with further training, each man getting used to their arms and equipment. They carried 240 rounds of ammunition in two bandoleers, one around the horse's neck. The horses also carried saddle wallets containing clothing and a blanket or great coat, water, rations, cooking utensils, empty sandbags, and a rope for tethering the horse. On 23 April they were ordered to move into the Sinai Desert to assist the 5th Mounted Brigade who were under attack. Travelling thirty miles (48 km) overnight they reached Kantara at dawn and crossed the canal. However the Turkish force had withdrawn, so the brigade established a chain of observation posts in the desert. The Wellingtons were near Hill 70, in the No.3 Section of the canal's defence zone.
The regiment remained at Hill 70 until 12 May, when they moved twenty-six miles (42 km) north-east to Maler. On arrival they established a line of observation posts and sent reconnaissance patrols further east into the desert. Four days later the 2nd Squadron sent a troop on a reconnaissance to Sabhket El Bardawil. On 18 May the regiment occupied the Katia Oasis, and the next day sent a patrol to Ard sixteen miles (26 km) to the east. They gained their first sight of Turkish forces in the region, but they were too distant to engage. On 29 May the regiment, along with the rest of the brigade, travelled thirty miles overnight to Salmana, and early next morning surprised the Turkish garrison. The main part of the assault was carried out by the Auckland Mounted Rifles. The water supply at Salmana was insufficient for a complete mounted brigade, so they had to return to Maler that night. Between 21 and 23 June the regiment provided flank protection for the 1st Light Horse Brigade on a reconnaissance of Katia. Then, on their return to Maler, they were attached to the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, who gave them the nickname "Well and Trulys". In July the regiment lost its machine-gun section, which was transferred to the newly formed brigade Machine-Gun Squadron. The Maxim guns were replaced by three Lewis guns, one per squadron. The loss of the section also reduced the regiment's establishment to twenty-four officers and 499 other ranks.
### Romani
On 19 July, reconnaissance aircraft located a Turkish force in the desert moving west. The regiment and the 2nd Light Horse Brigade were ordered to establish a line of observation posts in their path. They were to send out patrols to locate them, but withdraw if attacked. If possible, they were to retire towards Romani, enticing the Turks to follow them. At dawn on 20 July the regiment located the Turks digging trenches near Ogratina. Rifle fire was exchanged and some prisoners were captured. The prisoners revealed that the force comprised twelve battalions with artillery support, planning to attack Romani.
Two days later, on 22 July, the regiment again encountered Turkish troops, this time at Sagia. Over the following days they were employed checking the Turkish positions and shadowing their line of march. On 28 July, the 2nd Squadron located a strong Turkish force at Umm Ugba two miles (3.2 km) north of Katia. Covered by artillery and machine-guns, two of the regiment's squadrons carried out a bayonet charge and captured the position. They lost two men dead and three wounded during the battle.
On 3 August, still with the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, the regiment returned to Katia. Forming the vanguard, they came under Turkish fire on their approach, and as Katia appeared to be held in strength by the Turks, the brigade set up a line of observation posts to monitor them until nightfall. They then retired to Maler, unknowingly being followed by the Turks. At 23:30 the 1st Light Horse Brigade reported movement to their front, and thirty minutes later shots were exchanged at Mount Meredith and Hod El Enna. The regiment had just settled down for the night and were ordered to stand to. At 02:15 4 August, fighting broke out along the front line and two hours later the 1st Light Horse Brigade carried out a fighting withdrawal. At dawn the regiment was the brigade reserve behind the 6th and 7th Light Horse Regiments. By 05:00 the Turkish force was outflanking both their defences and the ANZAC Mounted Division headquarters, which was co-located at the regiment's position. Two hours later they were ordered to gallop to the front line. Riding through rifle and machine-gun fire, they moved to the left and rear of the 6th and 7th Light Horse Regiments. Once the regiment's position was established, the Australian regiments pulled back to form a line with them. As the Turks advanced and occupied the ridge line previously held by the light horse, they brought artillery and machine-gun fire down onto the division's rear areas. The situation appeared serious, and the regiment's clerks were ordered to burn all their papers. Just before 10:00 reinforcements, consisting of a yeomanry regiment, two Scottish infantry companies and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, arrived and began attacking the Turkish left. By 18:00 they had captured the position. The regiment's casualties during the day were twenty-four wounded.
Orders were given for a counter-attack the next morning. The assault started at 04:00 on 5 August, and the regiment charged forward on foot with bayonets fixed. Ignoring the machine-gun and rifle fire they broke through the Turkish lines, capturing several hundred prisoners. Meldrum ordered their horses forward and they continued the attack on horseback. They stopped when they came under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire approaching Katia. In the face of such fire they were unable to continue without more support, so dismounted and observed the Turkish positions. Gradually the rest of the division arrived and strengthened the regiment's line. At 09:00 Meldrum was asked by the artillery for assistance. Two batteries following behind the advance were being attacked by Turkish infantry. So Meldrum sent two of his squadrons to help, but the Turkish attackers vanished before they arrived. At 10:00 Meldrum had to take over as temporary commander of the 2nd Light Horse brigade, and Major Spragg became the temporary regimental commanding officer. The next attack was timed for 14:30; the regiment would be part of the force assaulting Katia, on the front left, alongside the 6th Light Horse Regiment. Advancing through artillery and machine-gun fire until they were five hundred yards (460 m) from the Turkish lines, they halted and returned fire. At one stage the regiment had to bend their line, when the unit to their left gave ground and the Turkish forces moved forward trying to outflank them. Heavy fire from the regiment broke that attack, and the counter-attacking Turks withdrew. By nightfall no further move forward was possible, and as the horses needed watering, the attack was called off. The regiment had fought all day, but their casualties were rather light; one officer and nine other ranks wounded, some mortally. They had captured one thousand prisoners.
### Abd
Having not slept for the last three days, the Wellingtons and the 1st and 2nd Light Horse Brigades were rested. Meanwhile, the remainder of the division continued the counter-attack against the Turkish rearguard. On 8 August the Turks were at Abd, and the 1st and 2nd Light Horse Brigades were ordered forward. Reaching Katia later that day, they were ordered to march through the night to take part in the assault at dawn the next morning. Setting out at 23:00, they were in position north-west of Ard by 05:00 on 9 August. Half an hour later the Wellington regiment, in the vanguard, led the 2nd Light Horse Brigade on foot to capture a ridge of high ground half a mile (.8 km) from the Turkish main defence line. Once in position there, they came under constant artillery fire. Later the regiment again led the brigade to capture another ridge four hundred yards (370 m) to their left, with the 2nd Squadron advancing on the left and the 9th Squadron on the right, supported by the 6th Squadron in reserve. The attack, which was covered by the 7th Light Horse Regiment, advanced through machine-gun and rifle fire until the ridge was captured, but the New Zealanders then came under an intense artillery bombardment. At 13:30 the Turks counter-attacked, reaching the 1st Light Horse Brigade who were alongside the Wellingtons, and the 3rd Light Horse Brigade on the other flank who were forced to retire. At 16:30 the division's situation appeared untenable; orders were issued to evacuate the wounded and for the whole line to retire, while remaining in contact with the Turks. By nightfall the regiment had returned to Oghratina. Their casualties were three dead and twenty-nine wounded. The next day the regiment rested as the Turkish force withdrew. On 11 August they moved forward across the battleground; the only Turkish troops they encountered were engaged in burying their dead. The next day the Turkish force had withdrawn to Salmana. On 27 August Meldrum resumed command of the regiment, which then moved back to Kantara, with a strength of twenty-two officers and 407 other ranks.
### El Arish
While at Kantara leave was granted for all ranks in Port Said and Sidi Bishr during September. On 10 October, once more part of the New Zealand brigade, the regiment moved forward to Maler, and reached Geeila, twenty-five miles (40 km) further east, on 24 October. The next phase of the campaign was an advance of fifty miles (80 km) across the desert to El Arish. The regiment continued moving east, reaching Moseifig on 27 October, and a troop from the 9th Squadron located a good water supply at Gererat only fifteen miles (24 km) from El Arish. On 11 November, the regiment advanced another fourteen miles (23 km) east to Mustagidda, establishing outposts at Arnussi and Zoabitia. Overnight 15/16 November the post at Arnussi was attacked by Turkish camel troops, which withdrew before dawn. The Allied attack on El Arish began on 20 December, the New Zealand and 3rd Light Horse Brigades being chosen to carry out the final assault from the south, while the rest of the division cut off any retreat. By dawn the brigade was in sight of its objective, and the town was surrounded. They then discovered that the Turkish forces, aware of the advance, had evacuated the town three days earlier.
### Magdhaba
That night, 22/23 December, the advance continued towards Magdhaba. This village was surrounded on three sides by a wadi, and defended by several redoubts which were covered by artillery and machine-guns. At 05:00 the regiment dismounted four miles (6.4 km) to the north-east of the village. The attack started just before 10:00. The regiment, positioned on the brigade's right, headed towards their objective, Redoubt No.5. They galloped across the open ground, through artillery and machine-gun fire, until they were 1,600 yards (1,500 m) from the Turkish lines, at which point they dismounted and continued on foot. Their Lewis Guns, supported by a section from the Machine-Gun Squadron, pinned down the Turkish defenders, while the assault continued. By 11:00 the 6th and 9th Squadrons were only five hundred yards (460 m) from the objective when Harry Chauvel, who was in command of the ANZAC Mounted Division, asked the Desert Mounted Corps commander, Philip Chetwode, for permission to withdraw because he believed that no progress had been made. Chetwode instead ordered an all out assault. In the meantime, the regiment continued the advance anyway, and at 15:55 they fixed bayonets and charged the redoubt, capturing some of the Turkish defenders. At 16:40 the 10th Light Horse Regiment carried out a mounted charge into the middle of the position, and all resistance ceased. The battle had cost the regiment five dead.
## Palestine
### Rafa
On 9 January 1917, around 01:00, the regiment crossed the Egyptian–Palestine border, and continued northwards undetected until about 15:30, when Turkish observation posts set off flares to alert their troops of the Allied approach. At 08:00 orders for the attack on Rafa were issued; the brigade was to form the right flank. At 09:35 the whole brigade galloped forward to a position two miles east-north-east of their objective. The Auckland and Canterbury Mounted Rifles were to attack "C" Redoubt, while the Wellington Regiment was placed in reserve with a secondary task of providing protection against any attack on the brigade from the area of Khan Yunis. Already low on ammunition, once the assault began the regiment had to be resupplied with 24,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition. At 13:00 two of the regiment's troops went forward to occupy a gap in the line between the New Zealand brigade's position and that of the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade. Just before 14:00 one of the regiment's flank patrols, two miles north-east of Rafa, captured a Turkish officer and three Germans who, during questioning, claimed that the Rafa garrison consisted of 2,000 men, with four mountain artillery guns, and that the 160th Regiment was en route to reinforce the defenders. Another patrol reported that two infantry battalions were heading to Rafa from Abu Khatli, while a third patrol reported that around 2,000 men, about four miles (6.4 km) away, were coming from Khan Younis. Then another Turkish force was seen approaching, about five miles (8.0 km) away, but too far away to make out any details. At 15:45 the brigade was ordered to attack again, and fifteen minutes later another of the regiment's patrols reported 500 Turkish troops approaching from the east.
The approaching Turkish forces convinced Chetwode to call off the attack. But at 16:30, as the other brigades were retiring, the New Zealanders charged and captured their objective. This allowed them to bring enfilade fire onto the rest of the position. The rest of the division then resumed the attack and captured the village. By now the Turkish relief force was about two miles away to the north-east. By 17:15 all the wounded had been evacuated and the covering patrols recalled. As there were no water supplies at Rafa, at 18:30 the brigade was ordered to withdraw back to Sheikh Zowaiid. Although not as heavily involved in the battle as other units, the regiment still had twelve men dead and eighteen wounded.
### Gaza
At 02.30 on 26 March, the regiment set out in thick fog for the assault on the town of Gaza. By 08:00 they had crossed the Wadi Ghuzze and reached Sheikh Abbas, confronted only by enemy aircraft and some Turkish camel patrols. Two hours later they were about three miles (4.8 km) to the east of Gaza, providing a guard force against any reinforcements that might approach from Hareira. The British assault did not go according to plan, and at 14:00 the ANZAC Mounted Division was ordered to attack the town from the north. The regiment galloped forward together with the rest of the New Zealand brigade, and occupied Meshahera Ridge north-east of Gaza at 16:00. Dismounting, the regiment moved into Gaza, with the 6th Squadron leading, followed by the 2nd Squadron, and the 9th Squadron bringing up the rear. At 16:25 they captured a Turkish field ambulance; four officers, 125 other ranks and twenty vehicles. Continuing the assault through artillery and small arms fire, the 2nd and 9th Squadrons reached a cactus hedge. Cutting through it with their bayonets, they engaged the Turkish defenders behind it in hand-to-hand fighting. Two troops then charged across a lagoon, about 18 inches (460 mm) deep, to capture a Turkish trench. To their right they sighted a Turkish artillery emplacement, and Meldrum ordered the position taken without delay. Two troops from the 2nd and one from the 9th Squadron carried out a bayonet charge and captured the guns intact. Back in the regiment's centre they were held up by a strong Turkish defensive position at a cemetery. Instead of trying to attack the position, they held their line while the captured guns were recovered. The regiment was now some distance in front of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade to their left, and in danger of a flanking counter-attack. To assist the defence of their position, they turned one of the captured guns onto the Turkish strong points, the inexperienced gun crew sighting by peering down the barrel until they could see their target.
At 18:35, although Meldrum believed they could at least hold where they were, the regiment was ordered by Chetwode to withdraw. At 19:00 horse teams arrived to recover the guns, and at 19:45 they slowly retired back to the suburbs of Gaza. At 21:40 they rejoined the brigade and left the town. The next morning at 08:30 they arrived at Deir El Belah, where the division was now located. Casualties during the battle had again been rather light, at one dead and nineteen wounded. They had captured 197 prisoners, as well as the guns and field hospital.
The regiment's involvement in the second attempt to capture Gaza began at 18:30 on 16 April. The brigade left Deir El Belah, marched through the night and at 04:30 the next morning were at a ford on the Wadi Ghuzze at Shellal. A Turkish machine-gun post covering the crossing was taken out, and soon after the regiment formed the vanguard on the advance to the Rafa–Beersheba road. By midday, despite being attacked by hostile aircraft, they had established a line of observation posts beside Im Siri. Turkish cavalry patrols were observed in the distance, but they did not attempt an attack on the regiment. By nightfall the brigade was recalled to Shellal, where they camped for the night. The next day was similar, again setting up posts observing Turkish movements, then returning to Shellal after dark. The main assault on Gaza was floundering, and the next day the ANZAC Mounted Division was ordered to assist the Imperial Mounted Division in attacking the Atawineh Redoubt, six miles (9.7 km) to the south-east of Gaza. To get into position for the attack, the brigade marched through the night. Initially held in reserve, the Wellingtons were sent to assist the 5th Mounted Brigade in an attack on "Sausage Ridge", south of the Atawineh Redoubt. Getting into position at 11:30, Meldrum ordered the 6th Squadron to assault along the length of the ridge, with the help of fire support from the 9th Squadron and the Inverness Battery Royal Horse Artillery. The attack was also supported by the 3rd Squadron Auckland Mounted Rifles on the right of the 6th Squadron. At 12:30 the attack had progressed around half way up the ridge, at which point the Leicestershire and half of the Ayeshire Battery Royal Horse Artillery arrived to support the assault. They could not, however, prevent around six hundred Turkish reinforcements reaching the redoubt.
Doubtful of their ability to capture the redoubt alone, at 13:15 Meldrum asked for reinforcements; he was informed there were no more available. The Canterbury Mounted Rifles, advanced into a gap between the Wellingtons and the 5th Mounted Brigade, which eased the pressure. By 15:00 the superior Turkish numbers and their strong defences, forced Meldrum to commit his reserve, the 2nd Squadron and a section of the Machine-Gun Squadron. At the same time, the horses were moved further to the rear so that they would be out of artillery range. At 15:15 the regiment's right was counter-attacked by three or four hundred Turkish troops. Fifteen minutes later Meldrum again asked for reinforcements; he was again refused. Supported by their artillery, the regiment held out until 17:00, when the Turks retired, having suffered heavy losses. An hour later the regiment was ordered to withdraw at nightfall. The 2nd Squadron reported that they had gained a position which allowed them to assault the redoubt. Meldrum, aware that the redoubt would have to be abandoned even if they were successful, refused to allow the assault. At 18:30 the Royal Horse Artillery withdrew. Then, confusingly, the regiment was ordered to remain where they were, until the yeomanry to their left had moved back. So it was not until 20:15 that the regiment left the front line. At 01:00 20 April the regiment reached the night camp at El Jemme. Their casualties during the battle amounted to one dead and twenty-three wounded. The same night, this second attempt to capture Gaza was called off.
### Wadi Ghuzee line
On 27 April Meldrum was promoted to brigadier-general and given command of the New Zealand brigade, although he was temporarily replaced as commanding officer by Major Charles Dick. On 30 April the Wellington regiment returned to the front, manning a line of observation posts in the Weli Sheikh Nuran defence system. They were at the right of the British line, which stretched along the Wadi Ghuzze to the Mediterranean Sea, south of Gaza. As well as manning the trenches, they carried out mounted patrols into no man's land. On 8 June it was their turn to return to the rear rest area at Marakeb, and Lieutenant-Colonel James Whyte assumed command of the regiment. On 8 July, the 9th Squadron captured a Turkish outpost four miles (6.4 km) to the west of Beersheba, from which they could clearly see the village's defences. Ten days later the regiment assaulted what they believed was a strong Turkish position at Khalassa, but discovered the defenders had withdrawn before their approach. On 19 July a Turkish force attacked across the Wadi Imleih towards Karm. The regiment moved forward to occupy a line of observation posts the next day, but again discovered that the Turks had withdrawn. Over the next weeks the regiment carried out numerous patrols around Beersheba, checking on the Turkish defences and dispositions. On 18 August they were sent to Marakeb to rest. Four weeks later, on 18 September, they returned to the front line at Fukhari.
### Beersheba
For the attack on Beersheba the New Zealand brigade was to move around the open Turkish left flank and assault the village from the east-north-east. They moved to Esani, fifteen miles (24 km) to the south-east, on 24 October, then on the next day the Wellingtons established a seven miles (11 km) long observation line between two and three miles (4.8 km) south-west of Beersheba. On 28 October the regiment moved another eight miles (13 km) south-east to Khalassa, then the next day to Asluj, sixteen miles (26 km) to the south of Beersheba.
Over the night of 30/31 October the attack on Beersheba began; the regiment formed part of the vanguard with the 6th Light Horse Regiment. At 00:45, the 9th Squadron lead and the 2nd Squadron provided flank and rear protection as the Wellingtons left the main column to capture a Turkish position at Goz El Shegeib, eight miles (13 km) south-east of Beersheba. At 03:00 the position was secured – it was unoccupied – and the regiment remained there for instructions. Three hours later the 9th Squadron was attacked, from the north, by a squadron of Turkish cavalry. Supported by the 6th Squadron, they counter-attacked and forced the Turks to withdraw towards Beersheba. The regiment then moved to rejoin the brigade, which was now five miles (8.0 km) to the south-east of Beersheba. Continuing to move forward, at 08:00 they captured Salem Irgeig. The regiment now became the brigade reserve; the brigade assaulted the Saba Redoubt and captured it at 14:40. The 2nd Squadron was sent to reinforce the Auckland Mounted Rifles for their attack on Tel el Saba, which they captured at 15:00. The rest of the regiment were not involved in the battle, and Beersheba was eventually captured with a mounted charge by the 4th Light Horse Brigade. The Wellingtons casualties during the battle amounted to one dead and five wounded.
Holding their position overnight, at 07:00 the next morning the regiment advanced towards the crossing at El Likeyeh, seven miles (11 km) to the north of Beersheba. Two hours later, just short of the crossing, the 6th Squadron, leading the regiment, were engaged by around 100 Turkish cavalry and two machine-guns. The squadron, supported by the 9th Squadron, immediately counter-attacked, and captured the position. They then continued on to their objective, where they met up with the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (ICCB) and held the crossing until nightfall, when they were relieved so that they could return and camp at the Saba Redoubt. A shortage of water had affected all the division's operations, so on 2 November the brigade were moved eleven miles (18 km) east to Bir Imshash.
### Ras El Nagb
While the brigade was searching for water, the advance was running into problems. On 4 November the brigade was ordered to relieve the 5th Mounted Brigade at Ras El Nagb, thirteen miles (21 km) north-east of Beersheba. At 17:30 the Canterbury Mounted Rifles arrived, followed by the 6th Squadron of the Wellington Mounted Rifles, who lined up to the left of the Canterbury regiment, facing towards Kheuwelfeh. Their opposition was estimated to be around two thousand men and three artillery batteries. At 03:00 on 3 November the Turks began their attack; five hours later the 9th Squadron relieved the 6th Squadron in the front line. Only two hours later the 6th had to move back into the line, to the west of Ras El Nagb, where they stopped a Turkish attack trying to outflank the position. At 13:30 the 2nd Squadron came under a heavy artillery bombardment and suffered several casualties. After this the Turks carried out a bayonet charge, getting to within two hundred yards (180 m) of the regiment's lines before, under heavy fire, they were forced to withdraw. The regiment managed to hold their position, by the weight of their fire power, until nightfall. The next morning the regiment was relieved by the ICCB. The battle had cost them nine men wounded. Gaza was captured on 7 November, but the regiment remained around Ras El Nagb until the night of 9 November.
### Ayun Kara
On 10 November the regiment returned to Beersheba, and the New Zealand brigade were ordered to move sixty miles (97 km) across the British front to the opposite flank. Four days later, just after 11:00, the 6th Squadron assisted the Canterbury Mounted Rifles in capturing a Turkish post defending the Wadi Hanein. But they could then see Turkish troops gathering in a nearby orange grove, and more Turkish troops to the north. When the rest of the brigade arrived Meldrum ordered an immediate attack. The regiment was to advance along the main road, with the Auckland Mounted Rifles on their left. The Somerset Battery Royal Horse Artillery and the Machine-Gun Squadron would provide fire support. The Canterbury Mounted Rifles would be the reserve. At 13:30, covered by artillery fire, the 9th Squadron started the assault. Their first target was a trench system at the top of the hill. Supported by covering fire from a 6th Squadron troop, they charged and captured the position, also capturing a Lewis Gun and a Turkish machine-gun. As the 2nd Squadron secured the position, the 9th Squadron continued forward for their secondary objective, which they charged and captured; here they captured two more machine-guns. At 14:15 the Auckland Mounted Rifles sighted a strong Turkish force preparing for a counter-attack, which began fifteen minutes later. Part of the assault came up against the left of the 9th Squadron, who fought off the attack with the support of five machine-guns. On the other flank the Auckland Mounted Rifles were under severe pressure and the regiment was ordered to assist them. Two troops from the 2nd Squadron mounted and galloped forward around 200 yards (180 m) across open ground. They then dismounted and charged a machine-gun post on the top of a knoll. Engaging the defenders in hand-to-hand combat, they captured the post and another machine-gun. From the knoll they were able to enfilade the Turkish troops attacking the Aucklanders, and forced them to retire. It was now 16:00 and the 9th Squadron, taking advantage of the Turkish withdrawal, charged and occupied the Turkish position in front of them. The 6th Squadron, on the right, also moved forward to support them. This prompted a general Turkish retirement, and by dusk they had left the battlefield. The Allies evacuated their wounded and, expecting another attack at dawn, prepared their defences. At 23:00 an Australian squadron and a camel squadron arrived to support the brigade. The regiment's casualties during the battle were eleven dead and forty-six wounded. Against that they had captured thirty-four prisoners as well as seven machine-guns and other military supplies.
### River Auja
The next day, 15 November, the Turkish force had completely withdrawn. The brigade continued the advance north, stopping just beyond Richon-le-Zion. The next day, at 09:30, patrols from the regiment entered the port of Jaffa. The town's only inhabitants were the civilian population, the Turkish troops having evacuated the town beforehand. At 11:00 the regiment's commander, Whyte, took formal possession of the Government buildings, posting guards at the German and Austrian Consulates and the post office.
Two days later, on 18 November, the regiment moved into a line of observation posts along the River Auja. The next day a troop from the 2nd Squadron were sent to locate crossing points across the river. They located a dam and a bridge to the north-east. Dismounting and approaching on foot, they had one man wounded, who was later taken prisoner. The following day the regiment was relieved by the other rest of the brigade, and moved to the rear, returning to the front line on 21 November.
The brigade was ordered to mount an assault across the river at 13:00 on 24 November; the regiment's objective being Khirbet Hadrah. First across were the Canterbury Mounted Rifles who crossed by a ford at the rivers mouth. Behind them the 6th and 9th Squadrons crossed and moved along the river bank to the bridge at Jerisheh, which they captured at 15:30, taking twenty-two prisoners. With the bridge secure, the regimental headquarters and the 2nd Squadron moved across to reinforce the attack, which then captured Khirbet Hadrah, capturing twenty-five prisoners and two machine-guns.
With the crossing secured, the 161st (Essex) Brigade moved across the river to reinforce the defence. The Wellingtons established observation posts further to the north. The next morning the 2nd Squadron sent a patrol on a reconnaissance, which located a strong Turkish force approaching. By 05:30 this Turkish force were attacking the 2nd Squadron's posts. At 07:00 the rest of the regiment, still south of the river, moved to support the defenders at Kirbet Hadrah, where they came under an artillery bombardment. At the same time the 2nd Squadron was ordered to fall back to support the infantry at Sheikh Muannis. The Turks continued their assault, and at 08:15 had forced the infantry to withdraw south of the river. Holding out until 09:30, the last unit to cross back over the river was the 2nd Squadron. In an attempt to keep possession of a crossing, the 6th and 9th Squadrons moved to cover the ford at the river mouth where they managed to stop the Turkish advance four hundred yards (370 m) short of the ford. That night the 161st Brigade took over all the defences, but the New Zealanders remained close by to support them. The regiment had twelve men wounded during the fighting. They remained in the area until 4 December, when the brigade left for Ibn Ibrak, to the south-east of Jaffa, relieving the ICCB in the front line. On 11 December the regiment was attached to the 54th (East Anglian) Division at Beit Dejan as the army tactical reserve. Ten days later they were back with the New Zealand brigade, which was now north of the River Auja. The regiment encountered the Turkish rearguard at Ferrekhiyeh, but after locating the Turks' positions, the regiment was ordered back to Beit Dejan. Then they were ordered to move back to Sukereir, arriving on Christmas Day 1917.
## Jordan Valley
### Jericho
On 9 February the regiment started thirty-five miles (56 km) across country to Bethlehem, and by 17 February they were camped north-east of Bethlehem around the Mar Elias Monastery and Ibn Obeid. The same day, Whyte was injured in an aeroplane crash and Major Spragg became the temporary commanding officer. The next day, orders were issued for the capture of Jericho. The regiment were attached to the 60th (London) Division and had to move that night to be in position to begin the advance at 06:00 the next morning. They were tasked to be ready to intercept any retreating Turkish forces from El Muntar, which would be attacked by the infantry division.
That evening, 18 February, the regiment moved out, but before long the width of the track forced them to dismount and lead their horses by hand in single file. At 22:30 the head of the column came under fire from Turkish cavalry. They forced the Turks to withdraw, and later surrounded and captured several prisoners, one being Ali Salem a well-known Turkish spy. Continuing at 06:00 they captured their first objective two miles to the east of Mar Saba. Spreading out to capture any retreating Turkish forces, they advanced north, under fire, and at 10:40 joined up with the 60th Division. Mounted patrols were then sent out, one of which located a strong Turkish position. Located on the "Ancient Road" to Hill 306 and on to Hill 288, the Turkish positions were supported by five artillery pieces at Neba Musa.
At 17:00 the regiment was released from their attachment to the 60th Division, and returned to the command of the New Zealand brigade, which was advancing along the Jordan Valley, joining them an hour later. Problems crossing the mountainous terrain postponed any attack until daylight. At 03:00 the brigade moved out again with the Wellingtons on the right, advancing towards Hill 306, the Canterbury Mounted Rifles on the left towards Hill 288 and the Auckland Mounted Rifles forming the reserve. The 6th Squadron attacked Hill 306 from the south and the 2nd Squadron from the south-west. At dawn they came up against a large group of Turks "in a fortress-like position on the top of a steep hill-face, bristling with machine guns, commanding the surrounding country". With no artillery available, the squadrons were unable to advance with any speed, using only their small arms to support the assault. A gap appeared in the line between the regiment and the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, who had moved further north then had been intended. So the Auckland Mounted Rifles moved forward to assault Hill 288 instead. These galloped forward and captured Hill 288, forcing the Turks to withdraw, and the Wellingtons occupied Hill 306. Turkish artillery bombarded the hill, while their troops retired to the east. Holding an observation line overnight, at 06:00 the next morning the brigade advanced towards Jericho leaving the 9th Squadron to capture Rijm El Bahr, including its stores and boats, on the Dead Sea. Jericho was captured the same day by the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade. As a whole, the operation cost the Wellingtons one killed and four wounded. On 22 February the regiment returned to Bethlehem along the Jericho–Jerusalem road, eventually returning to the Mar Elias Monastery. They met their commanding officer, Whyte, who had now recovered from his injuries. Three days later the brigade crossed back to the west, returning to Richon.
### Amman
A raid on Amman was the next operation for the regiment. The ANZAC Mounted Division, the 60th (London) Division and the ICCB would all take part. On 13 March the regiment started back to the Jordan Valley, through heavy rain. Orders for the raid were issued; the brigade would advance on mountain tracks via the village of Ain Es Sir, then to Amman. The rains continued postponing the raid and it was not until 01:30 on 24 March that the brigade crossed the River Jordan, by pontoon bridge at Hajlah. At 09:30 the regiment, the Canterbury Mounted Rifles and the 181st (2/6th London) Brigade started clearing the area between the river and the foothills. At 11:25 they charged and captured three artillery pieces. The brigade advance continued at 15:00, without the 6th Squadron which remained behind to assist the 181st Brigade in their assault on Es Salt. Still negotiating the mountain track, it started to rain again at 18:00 and the brigade camped for the night; starting again next morning they reached Ain Es Sir just after midday. There they were forced to stop and wait for their supplies to catch up with them.
Early on 26 March the rest of the ANZAC Mounted Division arrived, and the ICCB that evening. To cut off Amman from reinforcements, one of the regiment's troops set out that night and destroyed a section of the Hedjaz rail line to the south of the town. They returned the next morning without loss. Orders were issued for the attack on the town; the brigade would assault from the south. The 2nd Squadron was to provide flank protection, located in the area four miles (6.4 km) south-east of Es Sir. The rest of the regiment, including the headquarters, the 9th Squadron, and half a section of the Machine-Gun Squadron, escorted a demolition party to destroy the railway station at Kissar, just under six miles (9.7 km) to the south of Amman. En route the 9th Squadron located a train carrying around three hundred Turkish troops, stopped in a cutting. When they opened fire the train pulled out towards Kissar, where it ran into a squadron from the Auckland Mounted Rifles and one of the 9th Squadron's troops. Some of the Turks left the train to fight on foot, while the train continued on to Amman, leaving them behind. The regiment's men left the demolition party to be escorted by troops from the ICCB, and returned to the brigade outside Amman.
On 28 March the brigade, reinforced by the 4th (ANZAC) Battalion ICCB, tried to capture Hill 3039 south-west of Amman. The attack failed and further attempts were postponed until after nightfall. The night assault began at 02:00; two troops of the 9th Squadron were involved in the second line to protect the left flank. The attack was successful and the brigade commenced improvements to the defences in order to withstand any counter-attack. The Wellingtons dug in at the centre of the position, with the Aucklands on their right and the Canterburys on the left. The expected counter-attack started at 05:00 with an artillery bombardment. As the Turkish troop approached the brigade lines, at 09:20 an order to withdraw was given. As the regiment, the Canterburys and the cameliers started to retire, it allowed the Turks to reach the crest of Hill 3039. It was then realised the order was mistaken, and the brigade officers rallied their man and charged back, forcing the Turks back down the hill. Further Turkish counter-attacks continued throughout the day, and at 16:00 a troop from the 9th Squadron on the right flank, when the Turkish got close to their lines, had to do a counter-attack of their own. By now it was appreciated that the division could not achieve their objectives, and a withdrawal back towards the Jordan river was ordered. By 22:30 the wounded had been evacuated and the regiment pulled back unopposed, reaching Ain Es Sir at 04:00 the next day. Turkish troops then closed on their position, but that evening the 6th Squadron rejoined the regiment. A line of observation posts were then established to monitor the approaching Turks. The regiment made plans to hold them off until the division passed through the village, and then withdraw back across the river. At 03:45 on 1 April, the 2nd Squadron formed a skirmish line to the north of Ain Es Sir, the 9th Squadron another line to the south-east, while the 6th Squadron were the reserve. By 07:00 the brigade, bringing up the rear, reached the village. Once they had passed them the 6th Squadron joined the end of the line. At 07:45 the 2nd Squadron opened fire on Turkish troops coming from the north, while the 9th Squadron withdrew, followed soon after by the 2nd Squadron. As they entered the village, enemy troops in the hills opened fire on them. The squadron immediately counter-attacked, supported by two troops from the 9th Squadron. The remainder of the regiment stopped three miles (4.8 km) to the south, forming a defensive line. The Turkish troops in the hills were soon dealt with by the 2nd Squadron, and as they withdrew, the regiment was able to provide covering fire. Finally, just after 20:00, they arrived back at Shunet Nimrin, and camped for the night. Their casualties during the raid were fourteen dead and eight wounded. The brigade recrossed the River Jordan at the Ghoraniyeh pontoon bridge on 2 April.
### Ghoraniyeh
As the ANZAC Mounted Division pulled back to the west bank of the Jordan, the Wellingtons remained behind strengthening the defences at the Ghoraniyeh bridge-head. On 18 April, the regiment, less the 6th Squadron, were part of a brigade force that advanced on the village of Shunet Nimrin. The operation was a deception to convince the Turks that further raids on Amman were imminent. The next day patrols from the regiment located a large Turkish force in the foothills around the village. The brigade positioned as if to attack them, then when they reinforced their position, the brigade withdrew. That night they crossed back over the river and camped outside Jericho. The regiment moved again on 23 April, to camp in the foothills to the south of Jericho.
On 30 April the second raid across the Jordan began, their objective this time to capture Es Salt. This time a much larger force was involved, under command of the Desert Mounted Corps. The Wellingtons and the rest of the New Zealand brigade were part of the force assigned to attack the village of Shunet Nimrin. At 03:30 when the brigade crossed over the Ghoraniyeh pontoon, the regiment came under command of the 180th (2/5th London) Brigade, providing protection for their right flank as they advanced on the village. The difficult terrain and the strength of the Turkish defences hindered progress, and by dusk they were still some distance away from their objective. The next day the advance continued, but in the face of growing Turkish resistance, and with the arrival of Turkish reinforcements, they were in danger of being cut off and surrounded. So on 4 May the whole force withdrew back across the River Jordan, leaving the Wellingtons behind to protect the bridge-head.
Many men were infected with malaria, and the regiment was periodically rotated away from the valley bottom to the western hills. Their first move back west was on the 16 May, when they moved to the brigade camp site near Talaat Ed Dumm, remaining there for the next thirteen days. On 30 May they moved to Solomon's Pools, to the south of Bethlehem. On 14 June the regiment returned to the front line at Ain Ed Duk, two miles north of Jericho. There they established observation posts to monitor Turkish activity, remaining until they were relieved on 30 June.
### Abu Tellul
On 9 July Major Charles Dick assumed temporary command of the regiment, while Whyte was on leave and the regiment was in the front line near Abu Tellul. On 13 July the neighbouring sector of the line, a salient defended by the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade, came under a heavy artillery bombardment. Some rounds landed on the regiment's positions, causing casualties. At dawn on 14 July German soldiers attacked the light horse brigade. By 07:00 they had broken the Australian lines in the east, and the Wellingtons came under command of the light horse brigade to support their defence. Thirty minutes later the 9th Squadron advanced, on foot, along the Wadi Aujah, and occupied a position on the west of the salient just before the Germans' Turkish allies attacked. The 9th Squadron managed to hold their line, but because they were engaging a far larger force, the 6th Squadron moved forward on their left to support them. The two squadrons' lines were able to mutually support each other and engage the attacking Turks with a "withering fire". Then the two squadrons and the light horse counter-attacked, forcing back their opposition and capturing 400 prisoners, sixty-one of them taken by the Wellingtons, along with a machine gun and a Bergman automatic rifle. The Turks continued to hold a position in the north until forced to withdraw by the New Zealanders. The regiment's casualties during the battle were four dead and nine wounded. They remained at the front until 19 July when they rotated back to Talaat Ed Dumm.
### Chaytor's Force
In August the brigade formed the divisional reserve located around Jericho. In September they moved forward to form the left (northern) flank of the Jordan Valley defences. At the same time, the brigade took command of the 1st and 2nd Battalions British West Indies Regiment and the 38th and 39th Battalions Royal Fusiliers, which were part of a larger deception force commanded by the divisional commander, Chaytor. They were tasked with convincing the Turks that the next British attack would be from the Jordan Valley, while the forces were actually being realigned to attack in the west. The regiment was heavily involved in the deception, carrying out offensive patrolling, constructing dummy camps, and moving back and forwards behind the lines to give the impression of a much larger force than was actually present.
The British attack in the west began on 19 September; the next day the New Zealand brigade started increasing pressure on the Turkish positions opposite them. The first breakthrough was made on 21 September, by the Auckland Mounted Rifles. At 18:30 the brigade was ordered to advance on Kherbet Fusail, with the objective of securing a position at Damieh. By midnight the brigade had reached Kerbet Fusail, and the Wellingtons were ordered to seize El Makhruk and at the same time occupy the roads leading north and west. The 9th Squadron lead the regiment, and moved along the Wadi Farah towards El Makhruk. As they closed on the village they could hear vehicles moving along the road. Pressing forward they captured four hundred prisoners, including the commander and staff of the Turkish 53rd Division, seventy transport vehicles and a large quantity of supplies. Moving on, at 04:30 they reached and occupied the village. The 2nd and 9th Squadrons remained at El Makhurk, while the 6th Squadron continued north-west for another two thousand yards (1,800 m) to occupy the neighbouring village of Tel El Mazar where they captured even more Turkish supplies and equipment. On 23 September it was apparent that the Turkish Fourth Army was trying to withdraw north. The brigade was ordered to try and intercept them. The 6th Squadron, with a West Indies battalion, were left to guard the Damieh bridge, while the remainder of the brigade moved towards Es Salt, which they occupied at 16:20 the same day.
The next day, 24 September, the brigade continued its advance by heading towards Suweileh, with the Wellingtons protecting the open flank. The next day the ANZAC mounted division was ordered to capture Amman. The Wellingtons provided the vanguard, and at 07:45, two miles north-west of Amman, the 9th Squadron, in the lead, was engaged by machine-gun and rifle fire and could see Turkish cavalry in the distance. At 08:10 the 2nd Squadron moved forward to support the 9th, but came under fire from two redoubts. They took cover and were able to bring enfilade fire onto the redoubts and also onto a force of Turkish reinforcements preparing a counter-attack. At 10:00 the 9th Squadron were relieved by the 2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade. Manoeuvring enabled the division to press forward, forcing the Turkish defenders to retire. At 11:30 the regiment, with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, were ordered to assault Amman. Leaving the 2nd Squadron to deal with concealed machine-gun posts, the rest continued the attack. By 14:40 they had closed on Amman and the 9th Squadron had captured a hill in front of Stone Tower. At 15:00 the Canterbury Mounted Rifles galloped into the town and all resistance there ceased. The regiment pressed forward along the Wadi Amman and captured three artillery pieces. By 16:30 all Turkish positions had been taken, along with hundreds of prisoners. That was the last battle of the campaign fought by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. The regiment camped beside the town until 29 September, when they left for Ziza to assist the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, who had captured five thousand prisoners. On 1 October they set out to return to the Jordan Valley.
## Post war
The regiment's part in the war was now effectively over. On 4 October they camped to the north-west of Jericho for the next four days. They then moved back to their old camp at the Mar Elias monastery, and eventually reached Richon le Zion on 14 October.
By January 1919, the regiment were still waiting to return home, and had begun education courses, continuation training and playing sports. This occupied them until March when a revolt broke out in Egypt, and the regiment drew its equipment back out of storage and headed for the Nile Delta. Posted to Quesna, all of the regiment's squadrons, except the 9th which went to Cairo, began policing the riots and trying to stop looting. Once the rioting had been quelled, the regiment once again waited to return home. Their return finally began on 30 June 1919, when the majority of the brigade left the Suez Canal for New Zealand and the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment ceased to be a unit.
### Casualties
During its service 369 of the regiment's men died from all causes, either killed in action, died of wounds or of disease. Another 453 men were wounded, some more than once. More than half of the dead, 207 men, were killed during the seven months they fought in the static trench warfare of the Gallipoli Campaign; another 129 men were killed during their two years of more mobile warfare in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. Gallipoli also accounted for more than half of the wounded, a total of 258 men compared to 195 men who were wounded in Sinai and Palestine.
Many of the Gallipoli dead have no known grave. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Chunuk Bair Cemetery, constructed on the site where the Turks buried Allied war dead after the evacuation, has 632 graves of which only ten men have been identified. Similarly, the nearby Hill 60 Cemetery has another 788 graves, of which only seventy-six were identified.
### Honours
Several men of the regiment were recognised for their service by the British Empire awards system. The regiment's first commanding officer, Meldrum, was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath, a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). His successor, Whyte, was also invested with a DSO, as well as a Bar as a second award. Another four officers were also invested with a DSO, while seven officers were awarded a Military Cross, one was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, and another a Member of the Order of the British Empire. The regiment's other ranks were awarded five Distinguished Conduct Medals and twenty Military Medals, and there were fifty-nine Mentions in Despatches amongst all ranks, some men being mentioned more than once. |
1,631,497 | Hard Target | 1,170,140,713 | 1993 film by John Woo | [
"1990s American films",
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"American films about revenge",
"American martial arts films",
"Fictional portrayals of the New Orleans Police Department",
"Films based on The Most Dangerous Game",
"Films directed by John Woo",
"Films produced by James Jacks",
"Films scored by Graeme Revell",
"Films set in New Orleans",
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| Hard Target is a 1993 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director John Woo in his U.S. debut. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work homeless Cajun merchant seaman and former United States Force Recon Marine who saves a young woman named Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler) from a gang of thugs in New Orleans. Chance learns that Binder is searching for her missing father (Chuck Pfarrer), and agrees to aid Binder in her search. They soon learn that Binder's father has died at the hands of hunt organisers Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) and Pik van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo), a ruthless businessman and his right-hand mercenary, who arrange the hunting of homeless men as a form of recreational sport. The screenplay was written by Pfarrer and is based on the 1932 film adaptation of Richard Connell's 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game".
Hard Target was Woo's first U.S. film and was also the first major Hollywood film made by a Chinese director. Universal Pictures was nervous about having Woo direct a feature and sent in director Sam Raimi to look over the film's production and to take Woo's place as director if he were to fail. Woo went through several scripts finding mostly martial arts films with which he was not interested. After deciding on Pfarrer's script for Hard Target, Woo wanted to have actor Kurt Russell in the lead role, but found Russell too busy with other projects. Woo then went with Universal's initial choice of having Van Damme star. Woo got along with Van Damme during filming and raised the amount of action in the film as he knew that the actor was up for it.
After 65 days of filming in New Orleans, Woo had trouble with the Motion Picture Association of America to secure the R rating that Universal wanted. Woo made dozens of cuts to the film until the MPAA allowed it an R rating. On its initial release, Hard Target received mixed reviews from film critics but was a financial success. The film later gained a strong cult following especially for the action scenes establishing Hard Target as a cult classic. Some critics noting it as one of Woo’s best American films.
A follow-up, Hard Target 2, was released 23 years later on September 6, 2016.
## Plot
In New Orleans, a homeless United States Force Recon Marine and a Vietnam War veteran named Douglas Binder is the target of a hunt. He is given a belt containing \$10,000 and told that he must reach the other side of the town to win the money and his life. Pursuing him is the hunt organizer and wealthy sportsman, Emil Fouchon, his lead right-hand mercenary Pik van Cleef, a businessman named Mr. Lopacki - Fouchon's client who has paid \$500,000 for the opportunity to hunt a human, and assassins including Stephan and Peterson. Binder fails to reach his destination and is killed by three crossbow bolts. Van Cleef retrieves the money belt.
While searching for her father, Binder's estranged daughter Natasha is attacked by a group of muggers who saw that she had a lot of cash earlier and attempt to rape her. She is saved by a homeless man with exceptional martial arts skills named Chance Boudreaux, a former Force Recon Marine and a sailor, now currently out-of-work. Boudreaux is initially hesitant to involve himself in her mission, but as his merchant seaman union dues are in arrears, he reluctantly allows Natasha to hire him as her guide and bodyguard during her search. Unfortunately, the search goes slowly as the city's police force is on strike, making the hunters' livelihood easier to conduct.
Natasha discovers that her father distributed fliers for a seedy recruiter named Randal Poe who has been secretly supplying Fouchon with homeless men with war experience and no family ties. Natasha questions Randal about her father's death, but they are discovered by an eavesdropping Van Cleef. Fouchon and Van Cleef beat Poe and cut his ear as a punishment for sending them a man with a daughter. New Orleans police detective Marie "May" Mitchell is reluctant to investigate Binder's disappearance until his charred body is discovered in the ashes of a derelict building. The death is deemed an accident, but Boudreaux searches the ruins and finds Binder's other matching dog tag,(as they always are given in pairs) which was pierced by one of the crossbow bolts. Van Cleef's henchmen suddenly ambush Boudreaux and beat him unconscious to scare him and Natasha out of town. When he recovers, he offers Mitchell the dog tag as evidence that Binder was murdered. With the investigation getting closer, Van Cleef and Fouchon decide to relocate their hunting business and begin eliminating "loose ends". The medical examiner who had been hiding the evidence of the hunt is killed along with Poe. Meanwhile, Boudreaux's friend, Elijah Roper, who is also homeless and a former United States Force Recon Marine is the next to participate in Fouchon's hunt and also ends up dead. Mitchell, Natasha and Boudreaux arrive moments later at Randal's car and are ambushed by Van Cleef and several of his men. During the shootout, Mitchell is shot in the chest and dies. Boudreaux kills a handful of the mercenaries and escapes with Natasha. Fouchon and Van Cleef assemble their mercenary team and five hired hunters to continue the chase.
Boudreaux leads Natasha to his uncle Clarence Douvee's house deep in the bayou and enlists his help to defeat the men. Boudreaux, Natasha, and Douvee lead the hunting party to the "Mardi Gras graveyard" (a warehouse of old damaged Mardi Gras floats and statues) and kill off Fouchon's men one by one. Van Cleef is finally gunned down by Boudreaux in a shootout. In the end, only Fouchon is left, but he holds Boudreaux at bay by taking Natasha hostage and stabbing Douvee in the chest with his arrow. Boudreaux charges him, attacking with a flurry of blows, and then drops a grenade in his pants. Fouchon attempts in vain to dismantle the grenade but gets incinerated in the explosion.
It turns out that Douvee is still alive as the arrow Fouchon used only hit Douvee's whiskey flask. Boudreaux, Natasha, and Douvee make their way out of the warehouse.
## Cast
- Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work Cajun United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance veteran, a merchant seaman, a homeless sailor, and a talented martial artist. After Boudreaux saves Natasha Binder, he is hired by her to help search for her missing father.
- Lance Henriksen as Emil Fouchon, a wealthy sportsman who hunts homeless former soldiers for sport. After finding that he is being investigated by Chance and Natasha, Fouchon sends out his gang led by Pik van Cleef to ambush them.
- Arnold Vosloo as Pik Van Cleef, a collaborator and the lead right-hand mercenary of Fouchon who takes part in his sport of hunting men. He leads the crew of men who are sent out to murder Chance and Natasha. Van Cleef's surname is a reference to actor Lee van Cleef.
- Yancy Butler as Natasha Binder, a young woman who comes to New Orleans to search for her estranged father, Douglas, whom she has not seen since she was seven years old. When Natasha is attacked by thugs, she is saved by Chance Boudreaux who agrees to help her find her father.
- Kasi Lemmons as Detective Maria "May" Mitchell, a New Orleans police detective who works in the office while the police are on strike. Mitchell helps Natasha by ordering another autopsy when they show her the pierced dog tags that her father had.
- Chuck Pfarrer as Douglas Binder, Natasha's estranged father and a homeless United States Force Recon Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, who has moved to New Orleans. After Natasha finds that three weeks have passed since she has heard from her father, she goes to New Orleans to find that he has been homeless and has been murdered by Emil Fouchon's crew.
- Willie C. Carpenter as Elijah Roper, Chance Boudreaux's friend who is also homeless and a former United States Force Recon Marine.
- Wilford Brimley as Uncle Clarence Douvee, Chance Boudreaux's uncle who lives deep in the Bayou. Chance and Natasha take shelter at his home as well as have him help during the film's final shoot out.
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Stephan, Fouchon's mercenary wearing a Confederate flag shirt and smoking cigars.
- Jules Sylvester as Peterson, Fouchon's mercenary snake bites him on the cheek.
- Robert Apisa as Lopacki, Fouchon's mercenary uses gun that fires arrows.
- Tom Lupo as Jerome, Fouchon's mercenary tries to kill Boudreaux with a hand grenade.
- David Efron as Billy Bob, Fouchon's mercenary seen wearing a cowboy hat.
- Joe Warfield as Ismael Zenan, Fouchon's mercenary has second thoughts about hunting the homeless.
- Eliott Keener as Randal Poe, a seedy recruiter for Fouchon to find homeless ex-soldiers to hunt.
- Douglas Forsythe Rye as Frick
- Mike Leinert as Frack
- Marco St. John as Dr. Morton
- Lenore Banks as Marie, Binder's Landlady
- Randy Cheramie as Shop Steward
- Jeanette Kontomitras as Madam
- Ted Raimi as Man On The Street
## Production
### Development
After making Hard Boiled in Hong Kong, director John Woo decided to take an offer to work in the United States, where he would find himself happier as a filmmaker with a preferable work pace and more reasonable hours. Woo was first offered this job in the United States by Universal Pictures chairman Tom Pollock after he had seen Woo's film The Killer. Universal was not eager to have Woo direct an entire feature and only agreed after what producer James Jacks called a "difficult period of convincing". Universal was worried about having an Asian director on set who had limited command of English on a large-scale project. They hired American director Sam Raimi to oversee the film's production and to have him on standby if Woo was not able to fulfill his role as a director. Raimi was very excited to work with Woo as he was a fan of his Hong Kong films. Raimi was also confident in Woo's directorial skills, stating that "Woo at 70% is still going to blow away most American action directors working at 100%."
On his arrival in the United States, Woo went through several scripts before deciding on Hard Target. Describing the scripts he received, Woo stated that "Some of them were good—some of them were very good—but the rest were simply martial-arts movies and I told producers that I had no interest in doing those kinds of films anymore. I'd done a lot of them already." One of the scripts offered to Woo at this period was for Face/Off, which he turned down at the time, turned off by the science fiction aspect of the story. The script for Hard Target was written by Chuck Pfarrer. Director Andrew Davis was interested in the script, but ultimately turned it down. Woo read Pfarrer's script for Hard Target appreciating that it was a "simple but powerful story, with a lot of feeling underneath. For a good action film you need a solid structure. Chuck gave me that". Woo also stated that the story is "less John Woo" but the visual aspect would be "very John Woo". Pfarrer wrote the script originally basing it on the film The Naked Prey. After the script did not turn out Pfarrer worked on a script influenced by the film Aliens that became the basis for his comic Virus. The final attempt was a script based on the 1932 film The Most Dangerous Game. Pfarrer had the story take place in New Orleans to give an explanation of Jean-Claude Van Damme's accent.
### Pre-production
Before any director was attached to Hard Target, Universal Pictures saw the film as a potential vehicle for actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme had already been a huge fan of Woo's films and arranged to meet with him in Hong Kong where the two got along despite both Woo and Van Damme's difficulty with their English. Woo originally wanted actor Kurt Russell for the lead role, but found Russell to be booked for two years with other film projects. On working with Van Damme, Woo stated that he was "sure of [my own] abilities and I know how to make an actor look good on screen, make him look like a hero. I thought I could do the same for Van Damme". Despite early misgivings of working with Van Damme, Woo changed many action scenes in the film to make them more spectacular on finding that Van Damme was up for it. While working with Van Damme, Woo stated that Van Damme had "a pretty big ego, but he's still professional and always tries to do a good job." Woo had some control over the film's casting including casting minor characters and finding a cinematographer. Actress Yancy Butler was cast as Natasha Binder in her feature film debut. The role led Butler to other starring roles in action films such as Drop Zone and Fast Money. Actor Lance Henriksen accepted the role of Emil Fouchon stating he was a great fan of Woo, noting that his earlier films "were so creative, so balletic, and had this incredible philosophy in them. The violence was only a container for the philosophy".
### Filming
Filming began on October 1, 1992. Hard Target had 74 days of production time and was shot on location in New Orleans, including sequences shot in the French Quarter. Hard Target was put on a tight schedule by Universal that allowed only 65 days of shooting time. This put a lot of pressure on Woo. Woo was also pressured by Universal to tone-down the violence and body count that they had seen in his Hong Kong films. As Woo had not mastered the English language yet, it took time for the cast and crew to get used to working with him. When Woo could not explain what he wanted with a shot to cinematographer Russell Carpenter, he would resort to simple statements such as "this will be the Sam Peckinpah shot" to get his message across to Carpenter. Actor Lance Henriksen recalled that it was a gradual process that led everyone involved to start seeing the film as a John Woo film rather than a Jean-Claude Van Damme film. Producer James Jacks recalled that Woo was not "the most powerful person on the set but as far as I was concerned, he was certainly the most respected".
The weapon fire on the set was considered dangerous, which led the crew to build a new bulletproof plexiglas shield that could be bolted to the camera. This shield was useful particularly for one sequence in Hard Target where Van Damme empties a magazine of ammo into the camera. These camera dollies were nicknamed by the crew as "the Woo-Woo Choo-Choo". Russell Carpenter found difficulty in filming the huge gunfight scenes. Carpenter specifically noted the Mardi Gras parade warehouse by recollecting that "just the lighting for a space like that, with all those strange shapes and shadows was difficult enough, but John then added the further complication of wanting the scene shot from several angles at once—often with more than one of the cameras moving". Producer James Jacks supported this style of filming finding it the most economical way to shoot these types of action scenes.
### Post-production
The film was edited by Bob Murawski on the set using a then state-of-the-art computerized editing unit that allows the user to edit the film as the movie was being shot. The film was then scored by Graeme Revell who employed Kodo drummers from Japan. Woo was contractually obligated to release a R rating by Universal Pictures. When submitting the film to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), it was judged as too violent and intense for an R rating and received an NC-17 rating. Woo re-edited the film six times for the MPAA as they never indicated what specific scenes they found objectionable. During this editing period, Van Damme commissioned his own edit of the film. Van Damme's version excises whole characters to insert more scenes and close-ups of his character Chance. When asked about this edit, Van Damme replied that "People pay their money to see me, not to see Lance Henriksen". The MPAA accepted the film after Woo had made 20 cuts to the film. Scenes cut include the opening chase sequence and the Mardi Gras warehouse sequence. A non-action scene cut from the film was a romantic scene between Chance and Natasha.
## Release
### Theatrical
Hard Target was tentatively scheduled to open in July 1993. Hard Target was released August 20, 1993 in the United States making it the first film by an Asian director to be released by a Hollywood studio.
Hard Target was the second highest-grossing film release of the week at the American box office on its initial release. Hard Target also became the 49th highest-grossing film in the United States in 1993. Hard Target made US ticket sales of \$32.6 million (worldwide sales were \$74.2 million).
### Home media
Hard Target was released on Laserdisc and VHS in 1994. In the United States, the film was the 14th highest selling laserdisc and the 46th most rented VHS film of 1994. Hard Target was released on DVD for Region 1 on July 1, 1998. A Region 2 DVD of the film was released on March 20, 2000. The American DVD has also been released with DVD bundle packs, that include other films starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. These DVDs included Hard Target, as well as Timecop, Street Fighter, Lionheart, Sudden Death and The Quest.
A longer 116-minute copy of the film has not been released officially, but has been found as a bootleg. This copy is a poor-quality videocassette dub and has a burned-in time code in the corner indicating that the film was not meant for public viewing. The European, Japanese and Australian DVD releases restore three minutes of the violent footage missing from the Region 1 DVD (that was cut for an R rating), making them the versions closest to Woo's original cut.
About the long version, Woo said: "I like the original cut, of course! And I also heard the long version became a cult movie — some people have seen it and liked it a lot, which is so interesting. And I wish the studio would have interest in releasing the movie again. I think it's worth it to do it." The film was released in 2013 in the U.K. and 2015 in the U.S. by Universal Studios. Kino Lorber released it in the United States on 4K Ultra HD and restored Blu-ray in 2021 including the Unrated Director's Cut and U.S. Theatrical Cut. Extra features is a new interview with director John Woo.
## Reception
### Box office
The film premiered in cinemas on August 20, 1993, in wide release throughout the U.S.. During its opening weekend, the film opened in second place grossing \$10,106,500 in business showing at 1,972 locations. The film The Fugitive came in first place during that weekend grossing \$18,148,331.The film earned \$4 million during its opening weekend, ranking in third place behind The Fugitive and Undercover Blues. Hard Target 's revenue dropped by 50% in its second week of release, earning \$5,027,485. For that weekend, the film fell to third place, even with an increased screening count of 1,999 theaters. The Fugitive remained unchallenged in first place grossing \$14,502,865 in box office revenue. During its final week in release, Hard Target opened in a distant eleventh place with \$1,270,945 in revenue. For that particular weekend, Striking Distance starring Bruce Willis made its debut, opening in first place with \$8,705,808 in revenue. The film went on to top out domestically at \$32,589,677 in total ticket sales through a 5-week theatrical run. Internationally, the film took in an additional \$41,600,000 in box office business for a combined worldwide total of \$74,189,677. For 1993 as a whole, the film worldwide would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 23.
### Critical response
Hard Target received mixed reviews on its initial release praising the film's action scenes but noting the poor story and Jean-Claude Van Damme's acting abilities. On the film review television show Siskel & Ebert, Roger Ebert stated that Hard Target is "not very smart and it's not very original, but it is well made on a technical level. The stunts are impressive ... as an action picture, it's well made, but it never becomes more than competent action and I just can't recommend it for that". Gene Siskel also gave the film a thumbs down on the show stating that "John Woo is a good filmmaker ... Van Damme is pretty wooden ... You notice the style in the film because there is not much substance". Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that "Van Damme has still not broken the habit of his own blank-faced posturing, although Mr. Woo films him in the most aggrandizing style imaginable". In Variety, Emanuel Levy wrote that Hard Target was "a briskly vigorous, occasionally brilliant actioner starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. However, hampered by a B-script with flat, standard characters, and subjected to repeated editing of the violent sequences to win an R rating, pic doesn't bear the unique vision on display in Woo's recent "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled." Van Damme and the director's reputation should ensure initial commercial kick on the way to solid if not spectacular box office". Desson Thompson of The Washington Post wrote that "When Van Damme isn't duking it out with the English language, scriptwriter Chuck Pfarrer is filling Henriksen's mouth with villainous pseudo-profundities. Even in a second-rate action picture like this, and despite Henriksen's commendable efforts, they're painful to listen to ... Woo's creative presence is practically stifled. There are some flashes of his deliriously wild style—a slow-motion moment here, a well-chosen freeze-frame there. He also introduces American audiences to his taste for unique motorcycle stunts and very, very loud car explosions. But these Wooisms are disappointingly minimal". Lance Henriksen received a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Emil Fouchon in the film. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 60% from 40 reviews and an average rating of 5.5/10. The consensus summarizes: "Hard Target gets a boost from John Woo's stylish direction, but at heart, it's still another silly, explosion-dependent action thriller in the Jean-Claude Van Damme oeuvre."
In 2013 Den of Geek included it at 4 in a list of the Top 10 Van Damme movies.
### Other response
In 1995, Van Damme said "Hard Target was a bad script, but we had some great action scenes, and John Woo made me look like a samurai with greasy hair."
In retrospect, Arnold Vosloo said: “It's a good movie, and I'm proud of what Lance [Henriksen] and I did as the bad guys. At a screening, a Universal exec said he loved the two bad guys so much, he felt like putting up money just so we could continue their story. John Woo was a pleasure, but while I hate speaking badly about anyone, I don't have anything good to say about Jean-Claude [Van Damme]."
In 1997, Woo looked back on Hard Target, stating that it was "in some ways, quite a troublesome movie to make, but I'm rather happy with the way the action scenes turned out".
About the movie reception, Woo blamed himself and his "style":
> "While we were making Hard Target I did try to make it a little bit more like Hong Kong film style even though it was an American movie. Which didn't work well in the beginning because I found the audience, in general, they were not familiar with Hong Kong style. In the meantime I tried to make the movie a bit more romantic and on the other hand I wanted to make the move look like a modern Western because I'm so crazy about Westerns. Anyways, in Hard Target I was too ambitious, and tried to do everything in one film. This is unlike any traditional films in the States, so the audience didn’t understand what’s going on with these techniques. It’s not a typical Hollywood action movie. And slow motion. And also the violent moments, too, the audience couldn't take it. And some people left the theater in the middle of the movie. Although the film didn’t achieve great success, it sold well."
## Reboot
A second film, simply called Hard Target 2, was released on September 6, 2016 in the U.S. via Universal's 1440 Entertainment label. The new iteration stars Scott Adkins, Robert Knepper, Rhona Mitra, Ann Truong, and Temuera Morrison. It relocates the action to Myanmar, and has alternately been described as a reboot and a sequel.
## See also
- American films of 1993
- Human hunting
- List of action films of the 1990s |
3,663,620 | Harry Lee (cricketer) | 1,170,827,747 | English cricketer | [
"1890 births",
"1981 deaths",
"British Army personnel of World War I",
"British World War I prisoners of war",
"Cricketers from Marylebone",
"England Test cricketers",
"English cricket coaches",
"English cricketers",
"English cricketers of 1919 to 1945",
"London Regiment soldiers",
"Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers",
"Middlesex cricketers",
"Military personnel from London",
"North v South cricketers",
"Players cricketers",
"World War I prisoners of war held by Germany"
]
| Henry William "Harry" Lee (26 October 1890 – 21 April 1981) was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Middlesex County Cricket Club between 1911 and 1934. He made one Test appearance for England, in 1931. An all-rounder, Lee was a right-handed batsman and bowled both off break and slow-medium pace bowling with his right arm. He scored 1,000 runs in a season on thirteen occasions. Part of the County Championship winning sides in 1920 and 1921, Lee aggregated 20,158 runs and took 401 wickets in first-class cricket.
The son of a greengrocer, Lee worked hard to earn himself a place in the Middlesex side in the years before the First World War, eventually getting his chance in 1914 when other players had joined the early war effort. Lee enlisted in the army in September 1914 and served until December 1915; although shot in the leg, declared dead and taken prisoner of war, he survived and returned to play for Middlesex in 1919. He secured his place in the team with three strong all-round seasons, and was twice part of a top four when each batsman scored a century in the same innings—he shares this achievement with Jack Hearne. Less prolific through the mid-1920s, he scored runs heavily once again towards the end of the decade. He made his only Test appearance in 1931, drafted into the England team after injuries and illness depleted the squad. He continued playing county cricket until 1934, when he was released by Middlesex aged 44, to allow the county to develop younger players. He umpired first-class cricket from his retirement until the Second World War, standing in 153 matches.
Lee's career was overshadowed by more attractive, faster-scoring batsmen in the team, such as Hearne and Patsy Hendren. His two younger brothers also played first-class cricket; both Jack and Frank moved to Somerset after failing to break into the Middlesex team. All three brothers scored centuries during the 1931 season, the first instance of three professional brothers doing so in first-class cricket. Two years later, all three were involved in a single dismissal: Harry was caught by Frank off the bowling of Jack in a county match. At the time of his death in 1981, Lee was the second-oldest living Test cricketer.
## Early years
Lee was born in Marylebone, London on 26 October 1890, the eldest of three boys, all of whom progressed to play first-class cricket. His father was a greengrocer and a coal merchant who followed cricket closely in the London evening papers. During Lee's youth, he developed his cricket by playing against lamp-posts, and reflected in his autobiography that: "If a bowler can clean bowl a man nine times out of ten against a lamp-post, he will not miss a full-sized wicket when he gets the chance." His cricketing talent was encouraged at school; he first attended Barrett Street School and then St. Thomas's School in Portman Square. Both schools had headmasters who were sports enthusiasts, and at St. Thomas's the headmaster, Mr. Despicht, offered a penny to any schoolboy who could bowl him out, a feat Lee achieved regularly. Mr. Despicht also taught Lee to concentrate on bowling a good length, and Lee played primarily as a bowler during his school years. During his final year at St. Thomas's, the school reached the final of the local Church School's League Shield, and Lee earned victory for his school with six wickets. When Lee left school, he worked with his father as a greengrocer, a job he liked, but not enough to stop him writing a letter to the Marylebone Cricket Club, asking for a job on the ground staff at Lord's Cricket Ground.
Along with approximately 25 other boys, Lee was invited for a trial at Lord's early in 1906, and bowled under the observation of Alfred Atfield and the head groundsman, Tom Hearne. Lee described his first over as "six of the worst balls that anyone can ever have pitched", but as his nerves calmed, he improved, and was eventually selected as one of the five ground staff boys by Hearne. As a ground boy, Lee had numerous tasks; sweeping, dusting and cleaning the seats, preparing nets, marking the pitch, weeding and similar. On a match day, jobs included selling scorecards, operating the score-board or fielding in the practice nets. All of this left little time for the boys to practise their own game. No formal coaching was in place, but Lee was guided by a few different players; England internationals Teddy Wynyard and Albert Trott among them. In the 1909 and 1910 seasons, Lee started to gain some attention from Middlesex County Cricket Club: he scored 39 runs in a match for the Middlesex Colts in 1909, and 60 runs against Reading Cricket Club in 1910. He was making more appearances for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), collecting runs and wickets regularly, but not prolifically. In 1911, when a number of the Middlesex side were missing due to trial matches for England selection, Lee was invited to join the team for two County Championship matches in the south-west, against Somerset and Gloucestershire. Placed at number eleven in Middlesex's batting order, Lee batted once in a rain-affected match against Somerset, remaining four not out, and was not required to bowl. Lee did bowl against Gloucestershire, but remained wicketless from nine overs in the match.
Lee was given greater opportunities in 1912, appearing seven times for Middlesex in the Championship. The first of these appearances, against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, brought Lee his first wicket in first-class cricket when he caught Charles Baker off his own bowling. He claimed five wickets in the match, and another three against Nottinghamshire a month later, to total eight wickets for the season at 9.50 runs apiece and finish technically at the top of the county's bowling averages for the season. Lee joined the MCC bowling staff in 1913 at the invitation of A. J. Webbe, but he was used sparingly in first-class cricket that season, playing just three times, all for Middlesex. In the first of these matches, Lee scored 35 not out at the end of Middlesex's innings, helping his side to avoid the follow-on. His "plucky knock" was praised by captain Pelham Warner, who promoted him to bat at number five in the fourth innings, by which stage the game was heading for a draw. During 1913, although certainly not a regular in the Middlesex team, Lee asked his captain for his county cap, a request which Warner responded to with surprise that he had not already received it, and promptly asked for one to be sent down.
In the 1914 season, Lee almost doubled his total of first-class appearances. Two early season appearances against Oxford and Cambridge universities brought a few runs, and a match for the MCC against Hampshire saw Lee bat at number six in both innings. He played just twice in the County Championship prior to August, both times against Warwickshire. The start of the First World War in early August initially resulted in the cancellation of Middlesex's tour of the northern counties, Yorkshire and Lancashire, but this decision was later reversed, and Middlesex took a heavily weakened side on the tour. Due to regular opening batsman William Robertson being unavailable, Lee was promoted to open the batting alongside Frank Tarrant. He scored 30 and 16 against Yorkshire, followed by 1 and 44 not out against Lancashire. Lee and Tarrant continued to open for Middlesex for the remainder of the season, and against Nottinghamshire, Lee scored his first century in first-class cricket. Having been dismissed for 17 in the first innings, Lee scored 139 runs in the second, and shared a partnership of 183 runs with Patsy Hendren, who also reached his century.
## First World War
### Prisoner of war
Initially, even after the declaration of war, Lee did not feel that there would be any impact on his life, and was looking forward to playing cricket in the 1915 season. After learning that the MCC and Middlesex County Cricket Club were keen to support the war effort, and encountering members of the Territorial Force marching through London, Lee changed his mind and enlisted into 13th (County of London) Battalion (part of the all-Territorial Force London Regiment) in Kensington (the battalion was usually known as "The Kensingstons" as it recruited largely from that area of London) on 1 September 1914. At this time the pre-war battalion had been split into two, with the "first line", 1/13th Battalion, of men who had volunteered for overseas service then being based in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, this unit would be sent to France in November 1914. The "second line", 2/13th Battalion, of men who had not volunteered for overseas service and new recruits was initially at White City, London prior to moving to Maidstone, Kent in January 1915. In December 1914 a "third line" battalion, 3/13th Battalion, was formed as an additional training unit. This was based at Richmond Park. The surviving portions of Lee's service record are unclear as to which of these units he spent time with during his training.
He was posted to 1/13th (County of London) Battalion on 25 February 1915, and joined them in France just over a week later. Lee participated in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in mid-March, an Allied offensive to regain the French village of Neuve-Chapelle. The village was retaken from the Germans, but the plan to press on and also capture Aubers was abandoned. Following this attack, the Germans heavily refortified the area and were expecting further attacks. The battle, part of a larger offensive known as the Battle of Aubers Ridge, commenced on 9 May. The Kensingtons formed part of 25th Brigade, and were one of the lead infantry units in the northern pincer of the attack, targeting Fromelles. Lee was part of D Company, which along with C Company led the Kensingtons during the assault. During the attack, the initial objectives were achieved, but at heavy cost. However, the attacking forces soon ran out of ammunition and retreated the following morning. Of the 550 men that the Kensingtons had engaged, there were 499 casualties, including 13 officers; in total the British casualties numbered over 11,000 men.
During the attack Lee was shot in the leg; a bullet hit his left thigh and fractured his femur. He lay for three days between the lines having been given up for dead. A memorial service was held after the announcement of his death. After three days, Lee was found by the Germans and transported to hospital in Valenciennes. The ten-hour journey was initially made in the passenger compartment of a train, with sacks of straw, before he transferred to a Red Cross train at Lille. For the first week he was looked after by the French Red Cross, before the Germans took over. He remained in Valenciennes for six weeks, and remained bedridden for the duration of his stay. After this time, he was transferred to a second hospital in Hannover. For the first half of the two-day journey, Lee had to lie on a wooden seat with a blanket under him and his leg in an iron case, which hurt his back significantly, and was provided with no food. The second half of the journey was completed on a Red Cross train. During his stay in Hannover, Lee began to heal quickly, but after receiving advice from a fellow prisoner, he greatly exaggerated the injury, and was selected to be returned to England. He began the journey on 1 October 1915, and boarded the boat for England five days later. Although Lee had amplified the severity of his injury, in England he discovered that one of his legs would be permanently shorter than the other, and he had suffered significant muscle death. He was told that he would neither be able to fight nor play cricket again. He was discharged from the army on 4 December 1915, and was eligible for the Silver War Badge to show that he had served honourably. He later also received the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. After leaving the army, Middlesex paid for Lee to be treated by a specialist, and he was able to play a match for the Army Service Corps against Lancing College in early 1916, in which he scored a century.
### Coaching in India
Having been invalided out of the Army, Lee worked as a filing clerk in the War Office, a position which allowed him plenty of time to play cricket with the MCC and in other wartime matches. Towards the end of the summer in 1916, he met Frank Tarrant's wife, who suggested that Lee should accompany her husband to work in India. He readily accepted, but before he was able to leave, his mother died and Lee felt that he should remain at home to look after his two young brothers. A year later, with the household settled, Lee took Tarrant up on the offer. He was originally booked on the Nyanza, which was sailing to Bombay, but was transferred to the Nagoya at the last minute, which sailed directly to Lee's final destination of Calcutta. The Nyanza was torpedoed 20 miles (32 km) out of Plymouth, and though it returned to port, 49 lives were lost. During the Nagoya's journey, the convoy of which it was part was attacked passing through the Mediterranean Sea by the German U-boat UB-50. One of the ships, the City of Lucknow, an 8,000 ton cargo steamer in the convoy, was sunk. The rest of the journey was completed without incident, despite a rumour that the Emden, a German light cruiser, lay in wait for the convoy.
In India, Lee worked as a football and cricket coach for the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, but was treated more like a guest than a paid retainer. He played a few first-class matches during his time in India, and in his first match in the country, for the Maharaja's XI against Lord Willingdon's XI, Lee claimed his maiden five-wicket haul, taking five wickets and conceding eleven runs. He added another three wickets in the second innings to record the best bowling analysis of the match. In November 1918, Lee played for England against India. The Indian team did not have Test status, which was not attained until 1932, but they had a strong team, and dominated the match against an England side which was far from representative. Lee claimed four wickets in the match for the concession of 177 runs, and made scores of eight and nine with the bat. Lee's highest score, and only century in first-class cricket in India was made in a match he was playing against the Maharaja of Cooch Behar's team. Appearing instead for MC Bird's XI, Lee opened the batting and scored 104 runs. He also claimed seven wickets in the match, which his side won by an innings.
## Return to county cricket
Despite the injury he sustained during the war, when county cricket resumed in 1919, Lee took his leave of the Maharaja and returned to England to resume his career with Middlesex. County Championship matches were played over two days, an experiment which was unpopular with Lee, who described it as a "nightmare season". Even with these shorter matches, Lee passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the first time in his career, and won himself a regular place in the Middlesex side. He scored four centuries during the season, including one in each innings of a charity match played against Surrey at The Oval. During the first innings, he reached 163, sharing a second wicket partnership of 226 with Jack Hearne, and in the second he scored 126. His batting average for the season was 40.76; the first of only three times that it would exceed 40 during his career. The championship reverted to three-day matches for 1920, and Lee enjoyed his greatest successes as a batsman during the season. He scored centuries in successive matches in mid-May, reaching 102 against Warwickshire at Lord's, and then 119 against Sussex at the same venue. Against Sussex, each of Middlesex's top four batsmen scored centuries; in addition to Lee's 119 runs, Pelham Warner scored 139, Nigel Haig 131, and Hearne remained 116 not out when the side declared. This was the first time the feat had been achieved in first-class cricket. Lee also took eleven wickets in the match, taking five in the first innings and six in the second to complete his maiden ten-wicket haul. In doing so, he became one of only eight Middlesex cricketers to have taken ten wickets in the same match as scoring a century. Playing against Hampshire at Southampton the following month, Lee scored his first double century, being 221 not out when Middlesex declared. He was also not out in the second innings, meaning that he was on the pitch for the full duration of the match. In total, Lee scored 1,518 runs at an average of 43.37 in first-class matches in 1920. He ranked third amongst Middlesex batsmen—by both runs scored and batting average—in the County Championship, which the county won narrowly, completing victory in the final session of their final match. In A History of Cricket, H. S. Altham and E. W. Swanton praise Lee's "all-round excellence" during the season: in addition to his runs, he claimed 40 wickets in the Championship at an average of 22.40.
Lee's performances put him in contention for a place on the English touring party to travel to Australia that winter, but he eventually missed out on selection. Instead, he travelled to South Africa for the first of many winters playing and coaching in the country, accepting an invitation from the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg. For the second consecutive season, Lee scored in excess of 1,500 runs in all first-class matches in 1921, aided by his highest career score; 243 not out against Nottinghamshire. Lee batted for over six hours to reach the score in a match which Middlesex won by an innings. He only scored one other century during the season, 121 runs against Sussex, but passed 50 on nine occasions. However, he enjoyed his best season as a bowler, claiming 72 first-class wickets at an average of 19.66, the best of his career. Middlesex won the County Championship once more, and Lee finished third in both the batting and bowling tables, behind Hearne and Hendren amongst the batsmen, and Jack Durston and Haig, the bowlers. After the season, he travelled once more to South Africa, this time to coach at both St. Andrew's School and Grey College in Bloemfontein. His obituary in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack states that by the end of 1921 his best years were over.
Lee was certainly less prolific over the following few years: he averaged under 25 with the bat in each of the years from 1923 to 1925, and only passed 1,000 first-class runs in the first of the three. For the second time in his career, Lee was part of a batting line-up in which each of the top four batsmen scored a century: against Hampshire in Southampton, Lee scored 107, fellow opener Hugh Dales got 103, Hearne reached 232 and Hendren remained 177 not out as Middlesex declared with 642 runs. In 1923, he recorded his best bowling performance, taking eight wickets for the concession of 39 runs in the first innings against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham. He took a further four wickets in the second innings to help Middlesex to an eight wicket victory. He claimed 50 wickets for the third and final time that season, in which he was utilised heavily, being Middlesex's third most used bowler. He did not travel to South Africa in either of 1923–24 or 1924–25, a fact which he describes as the "cause and effect" of his poor form in 1924 and 1925. He travelled to South Africa again in 1926, spending the first of three successive winters in Cape Town, coaching at South African College Schools. This coincided with a revival in his county cricket batting form; in 1926 he passed 1,000 runs after missing out on the total for two years.
Heading toward the twilight of his career, Lee enjoyed a batting renaissance in 1928 and 1929. He averaged over 35 in each season, and scored runs heavily, reaching 1,715 runs in the first year and 1,995 in the second, the most in any season of his career. For the only time in his career, Lee was selected in 1928 to play for the professional "Players" team in the prestigious Gentlemen v Players fixture. Appearing in the contest at The Oval in early June, he opened the batting and scored 56 runs. The match finished as a draw with the final day lost to rain. In 1929, he scored a century in each innings of a match for the second time, making 124 and 105 not out against a strong Lancashire bowling attack. Later that season, he scored his third and final double century, scoring 225 runs against Surrey at The Oval, during which he shared a second wicket partnership of 319 with Gubby Allen. Lee's 1,617 runs for Middlesex in the County Championship in 1929 made him their leading run-scorer, although both Hearne and Hendren topped 1,000 runs with superior averages. The following season saw Lee accumulate 1,485 first-class runs at an average of 26.05, in the season which saw him play more matches than in any other: 34 in total. He reached a century only once, scoring 150 runs against Somerset at Taunton.
## Solitary Test
For the English winter of 1930–31, Lee took on positions at both St. Andrew's College and Rhodes University, both in Grahamstown in South Africa. The MCC were touring that winter, and suffered heavily with injuries and illness. No fewer than seven players were missing at various stages, and the England captain, Percy Chapman, requested that Lee be excused from his coaching duties to join up with the touring party. Having believed he had secured this permission, he made his first appearance against Natal, scoring 14 runs in his only innings. He played in three further tour matches, twice making scores in the forties, but not reaching a half-century during the tour. His only Test appearance came in the fourth Test between England and South Africa. Lee opened the innings alongside Bob Wyatt and scored 18 and 1 in his two innings of the match, which finished a draw. During the match, the MCC were contacted by one of the schools he had been coaching at, which claimed that Lee had broken his contract by leaving without permission. Lee argued vehemently against these claims, citing the fact that the sportsmaster at the school had told Jack White that he had permission to leave, but the MCC were unmoved, and refused to issue Lee his England cap and blazer until he had apologised. Lee felt he had no need to apologise, and never received either cap or blazer, though small compensation came in the form of an England touring tie, which Jack Hobbs gave to him.
## Later career
Though now into his forties, Lee remained a regular in the Middlesex side in the early 1930s, and in 1931 he scored 1,291 runs at an average of 30.02, including two centuries. Both of his brothers, Jack and Frank, also scored a first-class century during the season, Jack scored 113 for Somerset against Northamptonshire, and Frank carried his bat to remain 134 not out for Somerset against Sussex. The feat was the first instance of three professional brothers all scoring first-class centuries in the same season. Two years later, all three brothers were involved in a dismissal: Harry Lee was caught for 82 runs by Frank from the bowling of Jack. Though Lee passed 1,000 first-class runs in each of 1932 and 1933, he did so with averages under 25, and in 1934 he was dropped from the Middlesex side in order to encourage some younger players to break into the team. He continued to appear for the MCC during the season, and scored a century against Cambridge University in early July. He was briefly recalled to the Middlesex team in August, and recorded a final century, reaching 119 against Warwickshire. Although he was successful in the subsequent match against Surrey, making scores of 65 and 38 not out, Middlesex terminated his contract at the end of the season, much to his disappointment. In 437 first-class appearances, Lee scored a total of 20,158 runs at an average of 29.95. He scored 38 centuries and passed 1,000 runs in a season on 13 occasions.
Upon the completion of his playing career, Lee began umpiring almost straight away, standing in non-first-class MCC matches. He petitioned Middlesex to be put forward for first-class duties for the following season, which they duly did. He was approved by the county captains, and umpired first-class cricket from 1935 until 1946. He then returned to coaching, taking on a position at Downside School in Somerset from 1949 until 1953. He was a regular attendee at Lord's throughout the remainder of his life, and by the time of his death in 1981, he was England's second oldest Test cricketer.
## Playing style
In his own words, Lee was not a "brilliant youngster like Jack Hearne or Denis Compton, but an ordinary, average county cricketer". Despite this assertion, Lee's 18,594 first-class runs for Middlesex rank him eleventh in their all-time list, and he is one of only seventeen cricketers to have scored over 5,000 runs and taken over 300 wickets for the county. H. S. Altham and E. W. Swanton suggested that figures alone do show his true worth, as at the time the Lord's pitch did not favour batsmen, and had he played his career on "some other ground where the pitch was a batsman's paradise, his figures would have borne a truer relation to his value." Lee batted with a noticeable crouch, and scored predominantly on the leg side. His style was unattractive to watch, but effective, and although Hearne and Hendren drew most of the plaudits for their more colourful methods, Lee received praise for his toughness and courage. |
26,519,828 | U Smile | 1,163,312,318 | null | [
"2010 singles",
"2010 songs",
"2010s Island Records singles",
"2010s ballads",
"Blue-eyed soul songs",
"Justin Bieber songs",
"MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video",
"Music videos directed by Colin Tilley",
"Song recordings produced by Jerry Duplessis",
"Songs written by Arden Altino",
"Songs written by August Rigo",
"Songs written by Jerry Duplessis",
"Songs written by Justin Bieber",
"Soul ballads"
]
| "U Smile" is a song performed by Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It was written by Jerry Duplessis, Arden Altino, and Dan August Rigo, and produced by Duplessis and Altino. The song was released as the second digital-only single from the latter half of Bieber's first album on March 16, 2010. It was released to mainstream radio in Canada on August 9, 2010, followed by a mainstream and rhythmic release on August 24, 2010, in the United States as the album's third single there.
The song, a piano- and-instrument driven blue-eyed soul ballad, garnered acclaim from critics as a standout track from the album. The song charted at seventeen and twenty-seven respectively in the United States and Canada, and later charted in the United Kingdom. Bieber performed the song as an intro to "Baby" on the ninth season of American Idol and on Saturday Night Live.
## Background
On Twitter, Bieber wrote, "'U Smile' is one of the best songs I have ever recorded ... It really is a throwback to the great records I listened to growing up. ... I wrote it for all my fans who got me here." Bieber explained on his Twitter that his fans "took him from a small town in Canada" to the "amazing opportunity" he is living now, and feels "grateful for everything" and "blessed" for the support. Bieber confirmed he co-wrote the track with August Rigo. He also told his fans to enjoy it as they are the ones who give him his strength in this.
## Composition and critical reception
"U Smile" is a blue-eyed soul ballad, driven by piano and other instruments. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said the song is "the best by far" of My World 2.0, calling it "a shimmery slice of Hall & Oates-style blue-eyed soul". The song has a "Blues" feel, and makes use of metaphors such as "You are my ends and my means/With you there’s no in between." The song composed in the key E Mixolydian and it set in time signature of compound time with twelve eighth note in a bar, with the tempo of 75 beats per minute. Bieber's vocal range span two music from the lowest note A<sub>3</sub> and the highest note E<sub>5</sub>. It follows the chord progression E-D-A.
Bill Lamb of About.com noted the song as a track on My World 2.0 and said it "lets Justin Bieber sway and croon. It is guaranteed to generate warm and fuzzy emotions in millions of young fans" and that it "should not disappoint adults either". Monica Herrera of Billboard commended the song and said that it "should appeal to some older listeners." For Billboard's cover story on Bieber, Herrera said, "Bieber croons, his voice straining as much from puberty as emotion. It's the closest he's come to fulfilling Braun's wish, by sounding like a certain young Motown star. "This is as unconditional as it'll ever get/You ain't seen nothing yet".
## Chart performance
Originally released as a digital-only single, the song debuted at number twenty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100, selling 83,000 downloads in its first week. It also debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at seventeen. "U Smile" was the highest debut on the week on both charts. The song initially stayed on both charts for a weeks' length. Following an official release to mainstream and rhythmic radio, the song re-entered the US Hot 100 at ninety-five on the week ending October 2, 2010. Due to digital sales, the song also reached ninety-eight in the United Kingdom.
## Music video
### Background and reception
On September 30, 2010, the music video for "U Smile" premiered online, it was directed by Colin Tilley, with a cameo appearance by Sandra Bullock. Bieber had stated that the video for "U Smile" was about "letting fans experience the ultimate fantasy for any hard-core Belieber: being Justin's girlfriend", further explaining in a tweet, "I took the opportunity 2 make a video 4 the fans, about a fan, and how we could fall IN LOVE." Mawuse Ziegbe from MTV met the video with a positive review. Ziegbe felt that the video suggested "a more mature Bieber, who appears to relish the quiet moments with his gal pal away from the nonstop fan hysteria." Ziegbe also felt that the video "displayed [Bieber's] skills as an instrumentalist, as he belts out the lyrics from behind a grand piano throughout much of the vid."
### Synopsis
Starting out in a black and white frame (and later incorporating scenes of color), a group of girls are seen standing outside on the street while Bieber is seen exiting a building while trying to walk away without getting noticed. This however, is unsuccessful as the girls run up to Bieber; he then takes pictures and signs autographs with the girls. While this is happening Bieber takes an interest with one particular girl asking her to meet him later on, to which she agrees. As the song starts playing Bieber is seen sitting in an empty auditorium playing the piano and singing. When Bieber's date shows up they sneak into an empty theater where they are seen; holding hands, horsing around on the theater's seats, and sliding down banisters. At the ending of the video they are seen engaging in a playful back-alley water fight and eventually collapse into each other's arms while Bieber is playing the piano back inside the theater.
## Live performances
Bieber performed the song along with "Baby" on the eighteenth episode of season thirty five of Saturday Night Live. He also performed the song in American Idol along with "Baby" on May 19, 2010. It was also released as a single video of the live performance, along with "Baby". Bieber performed the song at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards on August 9, 2010. The performance was pre-recorded because Bieber could not attend the event. The performance was filmed in Los Angeles on his My World Tour. Bieber later performed an a cappella version of the song for the final time during his Washington, DC stop of his Purpose World Tour.
## Slowed version
In August 2010, music producer Varien used the sound processing software PaulStretch to create an 800% slower version of the album track, lasting around 35 minutes, which he made available via SoundCloud. The modified track resembled a minimalist, ambient composition. By September 2 it had been discussed in multiple news articles, linked to from Bieber's website, and downloaded more than one million times.
The slowed version of this song served as inspiration for the Slo-Mo theme in the film Dredd (2012). Alex Garland, the film's writer and producer, said that Portishead instrumentalist Geoff Barrow "sent me a link to a Justin Bieber song slowed down 800 times and it became this stunning trippy choral music." Morgan then recreated the effect based on the modified track, which was used in the finished film. The film used Bieber's music as a temporary placeholder during editing before the score was finalised.
## Credits and personnel
- Songwriting - Jerry Duplessis, Arden Altino, Dan August Rigo
- Production - Jerry Duplessis, Arden Altino
- Vocal recording - Andy Grassi, Serge Tsai, Dave Clauss, Warren Babson, assisted by William Villane
- Vocal production and recording - Kuk Harrell, assisted by Travis Harrington
- Piano and keyboards - Arden Altino, additional by Paul J. Falcone
- Guitar - Bruno J Sutter III, Ben DeFusco
- Harmonica - Frédéric Yonnet
- Mixing - Glen Marchese
- Engineering - Pat Thrall
Source:
## Charts
## Certifications
## Release history |
7,933,978 | Welcome to the Hellmouth | 1,172,632,085 | Pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer | [
"1997 American television episodes",
"American television series premieres",
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 1) episodes",
"Films directed by Charles Martin Smith",
"Television episodes written by Joss Whedon"
]
| "Welcome to the Hellmouth" is the series premiere of the American supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It originally aired on The WB on March 10, 1997 in a two-hour premiere along with the following episode, "The Harvest". The episode was written by the series creator and executive producer Joss Whedon and directed by Charles Martin Smith. "Welcome to the Hellmouth" received a Nielsen rating of 3.4 upon its original airing and received largely positive reviews from critics.
The narrative follows Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) on her first day at a new school in a new town. She hopes to live as a normal teenager, but the duties and fate of the Slayer – to fight vampires, demons, witches and other supernatural beings – will not leave her alone; the ancient vampire the Master (Mark Metcalf) threatens to break free, and Buffy must turn for help to her school librarian and Watcher Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), her new classmates, Willow and Xander (Alyson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendon), and a benevolent stranger named Angel (David Boreanaz).
Joss Whedon developed Buffy the Vampire Slayer to invert the Hollywood formula of "the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie." The series was created after the 1992 film of the same name, in an attempt by Whedon to stay truer to his original ideas. Whedon wrote and directed a 25-minute unaired pilot in 1996, some of the dialogue and story of which was reused in the episode. Many scenes were filmed on location in Los Angeles, California. The high school used for external and some internal scenes in the series is Torrance High School, the same school used for the series Beverly Hills, 90210.
## Plot
The series premiere begins at Sunnydale High School, where a boy named Chris Boal (Carmine Giovinazzo) breaks into the school during the night with a seemingly reluctant girl named Darla (Julie Benz), promising her mischief and therefore fun. Nervous and on edge, Darla says she thinks she heard something and fears someone is in the school, other than the two of them. Chris calls out but gets no response, leading him to assure her that they "are alone". Darla then turns to face Chris, revealing her facial morph into her true identity: a vampire. She then bites Chris' neck.
Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has a nightmare the morning of her first day at school. Her mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), drives her to the school and encourages her to think positive. Inside the building, Principal Bob Flutie (Ken Lerner) sees on Buffy's permanent record that she burned down her previous school's gym; she nearly lets it slip that she did so because there were vampires, but she rapidly changes the end of her statement to "asbestos".
Buffy exits the office and bumps into a male student, spilling the contents of her handbag on the floor. Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) sees this and helps Buffy repack, mainly to introduce himself to her. She unknowingly leaves her stake, which Xander pockets after he unsuccessfully calls out to her. In history class, Buffy is helped by popular girl Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), who afterwards tests her "coolness factor", skipping the written as Buffy had just moved to Sunnydale, California from Los Angeles. To Buffy's horror, Cordelia humiliates an awkward Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) at the water fountain. Inside the library, new librarian Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) places a book titled Vampyr in front of Buffy after recognizing who she is. A stunned Buffy makes a hasty exit.
Buffy, Willow, Jesse McNally (Eric Balfour), and Xander meet during a break, and Xander returns the stake. Buffy claims it is standard self-defense in Los Angeles. Cordelia appears and tells Buffy that gym is cancelled due to the "extreme dead guy" in one student's gym locker. Buffy asks whether there were marks on the body, freaking out Cordelia. Buffy forces her way into the locker room, examines the body, and finds the characteristic puncture wounds of a vampire on the neck. Buffy returns to the library and confronts Giles, who informs her that he is her Watcher. Buffy refuses to accept her calling as a Slayer, since it had gotten her kicked out of her previous school and robbed her of a social life. After they leave the library, Xander emerges from behind the shelves, having overheard the strange conversation.
That night, en route to her first visit to The Bronze, the cool hangout in Sunnydale, Buffy meets a mysterious, handsome stranger (David Boreanaz), who warns her that she is living on a Hellmouth that is about to open, and that "The Harvest" is coming. He also gives her a large silver cross pendant. In The Bronze, Buffy meets Willow and encourages her to seize the moment. She finds Giles and tells him about the stranger. Giles tells her to learn to hone her skills to sense vampires anywhere. Buffy uses her fashion sense to pick out a vampire (J. Patrick Lawlor) in the club and is alarmed to see Willow leave with him. She loses them and is surprised by Cordelia, nearly staking her and scaring her off. While Buffy looks for Willow, Jesse chats up the vampire girl, Darla, at The Bronze. Buffy is stopped by Xander, whom she convinces to help search for Willow.
Meanwhile, under the streets of Sunnydale, the Master (Mark Metcalf), an ancient and powerful vampire king, is woken by lesser vampires from a long sleep to prepare for the Harvest. He sends Luke (Brian Thompson) to fetch young blood. Willow's new acquaintance takes her to a crypt in a cemetery, where they are joined by Darla and Jesse, whom she has bitten. Buffy and Xander arrive. Buffy kills Willow's vampire. Xander and Willow help the weakened Jesse to flee. Luke takes Darla's place in the fight so she can help catch the kids. Luke throws Buffy in a stone coffin and is about to move in for the kill.
## Production
### Background and writing
Writer Joss Whedon says that "Rhonda the Immortal Waitress" was really the first incarnation of the Buffy concept, "just the idea of some woman who seems to be completely insignificant who turns out to be extraordinary". This early, unproduced idea evolved into Buffy, an inversion of the Hollywood formula of "the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie". Whedon wanted "to subvert that idea and create someone who was a hero". He explained, "The very first mission statement of the show was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it".
The idea was first visited through Whedon's script for the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which featured Kristy Swanson in the title role. The director, Fran Rubel Kuzui, saw it as a "pop culture comedy about what people think about vampires". Whedon disagreed: "I had written this scary film about an empowered woman, and they turned it into a broad comedy. It was crushing."
Several years later, Gail Berman, a Fox executive, approached Whedon to develop his Buffy concept into a television series. Whedon explained that "They said, 'Do you want to do a show?' And I thought, 'High school as a horror movie'. And so the metaphor became the central concept behind Buffy, and that's how I sold it." The supernatural elements in the series stood as metaphors for personal anxieties associated with adolescence and young adulthood. Early in its development, the series was going to be simply titled Slayer. Whedon went on to write and partly fund a 25-minute non-broadcast pilot that was shown to networks and eventually sold to the WB Network. Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired on March 10, 1997, as a mid season replacement for the show Savannah on The WB network, and played a key role in the growth of the Warner Bros. television network in its early years. Whedon has declared in June 2003 that the non-broadcast pilot would not be included with DVDs of the series "while there is strength in these bones," stating that it "sucks on ass."
### Music
The episode, being the series premiere, features the first usage of the theme song by pop punk band Nerf Herder. Parry Gripp, the band's songwriter, guitarist, and admitted fan of the show explained that the band created the theme song after "fancy pants Hollywood" failed to write a theme song that the producers approved. Eventually, "they [the producers] asked a bunch of local, small time bands who they could pay very little money to come up with some ideas and they liked our idea and they used it." Several songs by the band Sprung Monkey play during the episode. When Buffy is deciding what to wear, the song "Saturated" is playing faintly in the background. At The Bronze, the band plays their songs "Believe", "Swirl", and "Things are Changing". All of the songs featured in the episode can be found on their 1995 album Swirl. The score for the episode, as well as all first season entries, was created by Walter Murphy.
### Casting and filming
Whedon explained that several of the characters that appeared in the series were based on real life individuals. Cordelia, for instance, was modeled after a girl with whom Whedon's wife attended high school. Xander was based on Whedon himself. Whedon hoped to include actor Eric Balfour in the title credits to shock viewers when his character dies. Unfortunately, the show could not afford the extra set of title credits at the time. However, Whedon's wish was granted in the season six episode "Seeing Red", with the character Tara Maclay (Amber Benson). Brian Thompson, who plays the vampire Luke, returns to the series in season two as a different character, the Judge, in "Surprise" and "Innocence".
In the original, non-broadcast pilot, Willow was portrayed by Riff Regan. However, network executives requested that Regan be replaced. Willow's character demanded that she be shy and unsure of herself, and the casting department encountered some difficulty finding actresses who could portray this effectively and still be likable. After seven auditions, Alyson Hannigan was eventually chosen for the role. She was chosen for being able to spin the character's lines with a self-effacing optimism; she stated, "I didn't want to do Willow as someone who's feeling sorry for herself. Especially in the first season, she couldn't talk to guys, and nobody liked her. I was like, 'I don't want to play somebody who's down on herself.'" Whedon conceived the character as introverted, saying "I wanted Willow to have that kind of insanely colorful interior life that truly shy people have. And Alyson has that. She definitely has a loopiness I found creeping into the way Willow talked, which was great. To an extent, all the actors conform to the way I write the character, but it really stands out in Willow's case."
Nicholas Brendon, who had recently been fired from his job as a waiter and was struggling financially, was attracted to the pilot script for Buffy because of how much he had hated high school. Brendon recognized that Xander was based on Joss Whedon when he had attended high school, accounting for why Xander "gets all the good lines".
Charisma Carpenter had originally planned to read for the role of Buffy, but was late for her audition and instead tried out for Cordelia. Although she had only fifteen minutes to prepare for the character, the producers were "really responsive" to Carpenter's audition, and she left feeling confident she had gotten the part. After Carpenter's audition, Gellar, who had been offered the role of Cordelia before Carpenter, was asked to come back and audition for the part of Buffy. Bianca Lawson originally won the role of Cordelia Chase, but turned it down due to other contractual obligations. Lawson would later be cast as vampire slayer Kendra in the show's second season. Cordelia was originally intended to serve as a dramatic foil to Buffy, and to represent the characteristics of the less mature and shallower Buffy portrayed in the original film.
Julie Benz, who portrayed Darla, originally auditioned for the role of Buffy. However, Benz was later offered the minor role of Darla in the pilot episode. Although the character (originally an unnamed minor vampire) was supposed to die in the pilot, Whedon liked her performance so well that he named her and her character appeared in a few more episodes. Benz went on to portray Darla in several episodes of Buffy's spin-off television series, Angel. She later went on to say:
> For me, I was a new actor to Los Angeles, didn't know the TV business very well so I was just excited to work and play a vampire. I had no clue what I was going to do or how I was going to be scary. Until that is, they put the vampire makeup on me and I went into the trailer and smiled, which I thought was creepy. Joss always said he was intrigued that someone who looked like me and talked like me was like the scariest vampire ever. That's what he wanted, my sweet voice and demeanour until all of a sudden I’m just this vicious vampire."
Veteran character actor Mark Metcalf appeared in heavy prosthetic make-up for the role of The Master, belying his iconic performance in the film National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) as Douglas C. Neidermeyer. In 2011, Metcalf recognized his role on Buffy as one of his favorites. Many actors auditioned for the part, but Whedon felt Metcalf played it with more complexity, bringing a "sly and kind of urbane" sensitivity and a charm to the villainy of the character. Kristine Sutherland was cast as Buffy's mother Joyce. Sutherland, who disliked the horror genre, was not looking for acting jobs when her agent called her with the opportunity to play Joyce. Sutherland auditioned the same day as David Boreanaz, and was impressed with how naturally she felt at ease with the material in the scripts. Bob Flutie, Sunnydale High School's principal, was originally played by Stephen Tobolowsky in the unaired pilot. Ken Lerner was cast as Flutie in the broadcast version.
Certain scenes, such as the argument between Giles and Buffy in the library, and Buffy's first meeting with Angel, were re-shot eight months after the first episode was recorded with both Whedon and Gellar feeling that Buffy was too angry in the original takes. Whedon subsequently teased Gellar that they were going to reshoot the scenes a third time. The high school used for external and some internal scenes in the series is Torrance High, the same school used for the series Beverly Hills, 90210.
### Vampire effects
Joss Whedon created the idea of "vamp faces," which was to have vampires' human features distort to become more demonic. Whedon wanted normal high school students that the other characters could interact with normally, only to have them turn out be vampires, therefore creating a sense of paranoia. He also wanted the vampires to be "clearly monsters," as to not make it seem like a high school girl was killing normal (looking) people. The vampires originally appeared "very white-faced, very creepy, very ghoulish". This was toned down in later episodes as the makeup was too time-consuming. Whedon claims that people thought the white faces to be "funny looking" but personally found it creepier, comparing it to the monsters in zombie movies such as Day of the Dead and The Evil Dead. The character of the Master was designed to be in vamp face permanently to highlight his age and make him appear more animalistic; make-up artist John Vulich based the Master's appearance on a bat, reasoning that the character has devolved to a more primal, demonic state over the years.[^1] It was decided that vampires and their clothes would turn to dust after they died. This was done for practical storytelling reasons, so the characters would not have to spend time cleaning up bodies. This episode introduced the idea that vampires' clothes would resemble the era in which they died, with Buffy identifying one by his dated outfit. Joss Whedon felt this concept was a "charming notion" but ultimately rejected it for the most part because he believed that, if every vampire in the show was dressed in old-fashioned clothes, they would cease to be scary.
## Reception
"Welcome to the Hellmouth" first aired in the United States on March 10, 1997 on The WB. On the original airing of this episode, The WB provided a teaser advertisement briefing the history of past Slayers. It revealed horrific events in towns that were halted when a particular woman arrived. This promotional teaser does not appear in syndication or on DVD. "Welcome to the Hellmouth" earned a Nielsen rating of 3.4, meaning that roughly 3.4 percent of all television-equipped households were tuned in to the episode. It was the 100th most watched episode of television that aired during the week ending March 16.
The episode received largely positive reviews from critics. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club wrote that the episode was "a good introduction to the show, establishing the characters and the premise quickly and cleanly, before ending on a cliffhanger". Murray, however, did note that it contained a "dialogue that sounds more faux-clever than actually clever" and that there was "an overall flatness to the action/horror sequences" that would continue until the second season. John Levesque, writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, called the fledgling series "witty, intelligent and thoroughly entertaining" and dubbed it "the best thing I've seen on The WB". He praised the acting of Sarah Michelle Gellar, noting that she "plays Buffy to perfection". Phil Kloer of The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution called the show a "kicky little mix of camp comedy, high school hi-jinks and monsters" and likened its plot to the Fox sci-fi series The X-Files and the Nickelodeon horror-themed anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark?. He ultimately gave the episode a B. Nikki Stafford, in her book Bite Me!, called the first episode "excellent" and complimented the strengths of the main cast as well as the show's unique approach. She contrasted it with the earlier movie, noting that "the movie version [...] was like Clueless'', but near the end suddenly tried to be a serious film. The television show carries comedy, action, and drama simultaneously and features a far superior ensemble cast."
[^1]: |
98,656 | Llandaff Cathedral | 1,151,146,998 | null | [
"Anglican cathedrals in Wales",
"Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Wales",
"Grade I listed cathedrals in Wales",
"Grade I listed churches in Cardiff",
"Landmarks in Cardiff",
"Llandaff",
"Pre-Reformation Roman Catholic cathedrals"
]
| Llandaff Cathedral (Welsh: Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is an Anglican cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and three Welsh saints: Dubricius (Welsh: Dyfrig), Teilo and Oudoceus (Welsh: Euddogwy). It is one of two cathedrals in Cardiff, the other being the Roman Catholic Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral in the city centre.
The current building was constructed in the 12th century on the site of an earlier church. Severe damage was done to the church in 1400 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, during the English Civil War when it was overrun by Parliamentarian troops, and during the Great Storm of 1703. By 1717, the damage to the cathedral was so extensive that the church seriously considered the removal of the see. Following further storms in the early 1720s, construction of a new cathedral began in 1734, designed by John Wood, the Elder. During the Cardiff Blitz of the Second World War in January 1941, the cathedral was severely damaged when a parachute mine was dropped; blowing the roof off the nave, south aisle and chapter house. The stonework which remains from the medieval period is primarily Dundry stone from Somerset, though local blue lias constitutes most of the stonework done in the post-Reformation period. The work done on the church since World War II is primarily concrete and Pennant sandstone, and the roofs, of Welsh slate and lead, were added during the post-war rebuilding. In February 2007, the organ was damaged during a severe lightning strike, following which there was a successful appeal for £1.5 million for an entirely new organ.
For many years, the cathedral had the traditional Anglican choir of boys and men, and more recently a girls' choir, with the only dedicated choir school in the Church in Wales, the Cathedral School, Llandaff. The cathedral contains a number of notable tombs, including Dubricius, a 6th-century British saint who evangelised Ergyng (now Archenfield) and much of South-East Wales, Meurig ap Tewdrig, King of Gwent, Teilo, a 6th-century Welsh clergyman, church founder and saint, and many Bishops of Llandaff, from the 7th century Oudoceus to the 19th century Alfred Ollivant, who was bishop from 1849 to 1882.
## History
### Legendary origins
There is common consensus that the Norman cathedral was constructed on the site of an ancient Celtic church, but there is little consensus on the original church's age, importance or size.
#### Lucius of Britain
Welsh tradition associates the church's founding with Lucius, the legendary 2nd century King of the Britons and the first Christian convert in Britain. Lucius was believed to have beseeched the Pope (Eleutherius) to convert him to Christianity. The Pope's response was to send a Christian mission to Britain, which would include the building of Britain's first church. The Welsh Triads relate this tradition to Llandaff, stating that Lucius "made the first Church at Llandaf, which was the first in the Isle of Britain." another triad lists ""the three archbishoprics of the Isle of Britain" and states that "the first was Llandaf, of the gift of Lleirwg (Lucius), the son of Coel, the son of Cyllin, who first gave lands and civil privileges to such as first embraced the faith in Christ." Although the Lucius legend is now considered to be pseudohistory, it was recounted by Nennius, Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth, and seems to have been widely accepted in the medieval period.
Four names are associated with the task of executing the Pope's wishes, these include the early Welsh saints Fagan, Deruvian and Elvan. Fagan is sometimes named as "the first Bishop of Llandaff" while all three became patrons of churches and villages throughout the diocese. Iolo Morgannwg also linked these early figures to Llandaff, writing extensively on this supposed early foundation. In the Iolo Manuscripts, he credits Fagan as the second Bishop of Llandaff (succeeding Dyfan, a figure Iolo conflates with Deruvian).
#### Saint Dubricius
In their writings on Lucius of Britain, both Geoffrey of Monmouth and Iolo Morganwg would state that the original Christian community at Llandaff was re-established by Saint Dyfrig (Dubricius) and his successor Saint Teilo. The most notable legends surrounding these two would state that Saint Dyfrig was made Archbishop by Saint Germanus of Auxerre while he travelled through Britain to oppose the Pelagian heresy, and linked both saints with King Arthur.
The Normans considered Dyfrig and Teilo as the cathedral's founders and they, along with their successor Oudoceus, are the modern Cathedral's patron saints. The continuation of a Post-Roman church is supported by the high number of ancient remains at the site (most notably an ancient Celtic cross at the Bishop's Court's well) and both secular and ecclesiastical writings.
### Norman cathedral
The Normans occupied Glamorgan early in the Norman conquest, appointing Urban their first bishop in 1107. He began construction of the cathedral in 1120 and had the remains of Saint Dyfrig transferred from Bardsey. After the death of Urban, it is believed the work was completed some time in the last years of Bishop Nicholas ap Gwrgant, who died in 1183. The cathedral was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, Dubricius, Teilo and Oudoceus.
Bishop Henry de Abergavenny organised the Llandaff Cathedral chapter circa 1214. He appointed fourteen prebends, eight priests, four deacons and two sub-deacons. De Abergavenny also made changes to Llandaff's episcopal seal, giving more detail to the figure of the bishop depicted on it and adding the phrase "by the grace of God" to its inscription. The west front dates from 1220 and contains a statue of St Teilo. By 1266, the structure that Urban began had been altered; the cathedral was dedicated again in 1266.
The Lady Chapel was built by William de Braose, bishop from 1266 to 1287. It was built at the rear of the church constructed by Urban and the old choir area was removed in order to build the chapel. From this time on, it seemed as if the cathedral was in a constant state of repair or alterations at a slow pace. After the Lady Chapel had been completed, the two bays of the north choir aisle were rebuilt.
Severe damage was done to the church in 1400 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr; his forces also destroyed the Bishop's Palace at Llandaff. The damage was extensive enough to cause Bishop Blethyn to notify his fellow clergymen in 1575 that he believed the cathedral to possibly be damaged beyond repair. Most of the other damage was repaired, most notably by Bishop Marshall, whose reredos partly survives. The northwest tower, the one without a spire, was added by Jasper Tudor and is now named after him. He assumed the lordship of Cardiff after the accession to the throne of his nephew, King Henry VII of England.
Late medieval tombs include that of Sir David Mathew of Llandaff (1400–1484). Sir David ap Mathew was appointed "Grand Standard Bearer of England", by King Edward IV, for saving his life at the Battle of Towton 1461 as part of the War of the Roses.
### Post-medieval to Victorian period
During the English Civil War, the cathedral was overrun by Parliamentarian troops. Along with other destruction, the troops seized the books of the cathedral library, taking them to Cardiff Castle, where they were burned along with many copies of the Book of Common Prayer. Among those invited to the castle to warm themselves by the fire on that cold winter day, were the wives of some sequestered clergymen. Also during this time of unrest, a man named Milles, who claimed to be a practising Puritan, appropriated portions of the cathedral for his own gain. Milles set up a tavern in the cathedral, used part of it as a stable, turned the choir area into a pen for his calves and used the font as a trough for his pigs.
The southwest tower suffered major damage in the Great Storm of 1703 and by 1720, was in a state of collapse. The damage to the cathedral was so extensive that the church seriously considered removal of the see to Cardiff in 1717. Between 1720 and 1723 a series of storms proceeded to damage the cathedral further, bringing down sections of the roof as well as other destruction. The collapse of 1723 forced worship services to be confined to the Lady Chapel and closed the western entrance of the cathedral entirely.
Thirty years after the cathedral roof collapsed, the chapter asked an architect, John Wood, the Elder, to prepare estimates and plans to restore the cathedral. In 1734 work began on a new cathedral, designed by Wood. Wood produced an Italian temple style edifice, working only on the eastern portion of the building, while leaving the remaining western half in ruins. What Wood was trying to build at Llandaff was not Italian, but a recreation of Solomon's Temple. Another sixteen years passed before the chapter solicited funds to repair the western half of the building. Wood's plans were to replace the western entrance of the cathedral with a tower and rustic porch. No changes were made to the western entrance until Wyatt and Prichard began their work in 1841, when the damage to the western portion of the structure was repaired and all traces of the Italian temple work by Wood had been removed from the cathedral.
During the 19th century the bishop began to reside in Llandaff for the first time in centuries; no bishops of the see resided in Llandaff for almost 300 years. In 1836 there was another unsuccessful attempt to transfer the see—this time to Bristol. After the attempt at transferring the see, the office of Dean was restored to Llandaff; the position had not been filled in 700 years. The office of Dean was separated from that of the Archdeacon of Llandaff in November 1843. The restoration of the Dean's office was the beginning of better times for the cathedral. The new Dean, William Bruce Knight, was instrumental in bringing about the much-needed restorations.
Enough restoration had been completed to allow the cathedral to be reopened for worship on 16 April 1857. The see of Gloucester lent their cathedral choir for this service, making it possible to hear choral music in Llandaff Cathedral for the first time since 1691. The restoration done up to this point was to remove all traces of the Italian temple and to repair damages caused by the attempt to transform the cathedral by Wood. Arches with beautiful moulding were hidden by walls, Sedilia were removed from their original positions and reredos had been covered with plaster or hidden with walls.
A meeting was held after the service and a detailed restoration plan was announced at the meeting along with a list for those wishing to donate to the work. The Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute were among those who pledged donations sufficient to allow the restoration work to continue immediately. The cathedral was extensively restored, the tower rebuilt and a spire added. Much of the restoration work was completed by local architect John Prichard between 1843 and 1869. A triptych by Dante Gabriel Rossetti was designed for use as a reredos, and a new stained glass window, Shipwreck of St Paul, was designed by Ford Madox Brown. Sir Edward Burne-Jones designed the porcelain panels Six Days of Creation in St Dyfrig's Chapel.
From 1691 until around 1860 there had been no choir at the cathedral. There was also no organ for some time. Browne Willis' 1719 account describes the ruins of an organ given to the cathedral by Lady Kemysh of Cefn Mably found in the organ loft at that time. In 1860, Alfred Ollivant, who was then Bishop of Landaff, published a book, Some Account of the Condition of the Fabric of Llandaff Cathedral, from 1575 to the present time, intended to raise funds to restore the cathedral's choir and to purchase a new organ. A cathedral school of some type has existed since the 9th century. Dean Vaughan reorganised the school in 1888. Since 1978 the cathedral school has accepted female pupils.
### 20th and 21st centuries
On the evening of 2 January 1941 during the Second World War, a parachute mine was dropped near it during the Cardiff Blitz. When it exploded, it blew the roof off the nave, south aisle and chapter house. The top of the spire also had to be reconstructed and there was also some damage to the organ. The Sunday after the bombing, worship took place in the Deanery. Work soon began to clear the Lady Chapel and the Sanctuary and to repair the roof in these areas. This was not completed until April 1942. Further work was not possible until the end of the war and the repaired areas served as a place of worship until 1957. Of British cathedrals, only Coventry Cathedral was damaged more, during the infamous Coventry Blitz. Due to its importance, it received Grade I building status on 12 February 1952.
Major restorations and reconfigurations were carried out under architect George Pace of York, and the building was back in use in June 1958. Elizabeth II attended a service celebrating the completion of the restoration on 6 August 1960. The Welch Regiment Memorial Chapel was constructed, and Jacob Epstein created the figure of Christ in Majesty which is raised above the nave on a concrete arch designed by George Pace.
Pace presented two options to replace the pulpitum which was not part of the cathedral restoration done earlier by Pritchard. One was for a baldacchino having four columns with a suitable painting beneath it. The other was for a double wishbone arch topped by a hollow drum to house the division of the organ. The figure of "Christ in Glory" would be installed on the west face of the drum. This proposal was accepted by the Dean and the cathedral chapter. They approached the War Damage Commission about whether funds initially meant for replacement of stained glass damaged in the bombing could be used for art in other media. This permission helped to finance the Majestas figure.
In February 2007 the cathedral suffered a severe lightning strike. Particular damage was caused to the electrics of the organ, which was already in poor condition. The instrument was not able to be used after the lightning damage. This prompted the 2007 launch of an appeal to raise £1.5 million for the construction of an entirely new organ.
## Architecture
The original pre-Norman church was recorded in the 12th-century Book of Llandaff to have been no more than 28 feet (8.5 m) long, 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and 20 feet (6.1 m) high. It contained low, narrow aisles with an apsidal porticus measuring 12 feet (3.7 m) long. Construction began of a grander building under the orders of the second Norman bishop of Llandaff, Urban, in the 1120s, to administer power over the newly formed diocese. It doesn't appear to have lasted long as an extensive construction was ordered between 1193 and 1218 during the episcopate of Henry of Abergavenny. The western parts replaced those that Urban had built, and the nave and front of this side remain today. The fine craftsmanship and subtlety of the architecture show a clear similarity to those of Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral, so it is probable that several of the leading craftsman of Somerset were hired for the building.
Though some remodeling work was done in the 13th and 14th centuries, with a northwest tower funded by Jasper Tudor, lord of Glamorgan from 1484 to 1495, by the late 16th century the church had fallen into a state of disrepair. In 1594 the bishop complained that the cathedral was "more like a desolate and profane place than like a house of prayer and holy exercises". The church continued to exist in a poor state, so that by 1692 choral services had to be suspended in fear that the roof would collapse. The battlements of the northwestern tower blew away during a storm in 1703, and the southwest tower fell down in 1722. In 1734, John Wood of Bath was hired to restore the cathedral, but his work on the temple was still not complete by 1752 and remained that way. It was not until 1840 that in the wake of industrial development in Cardiff that the cathedral could raise the funds to commence a full restoration.
T. H. Wyatt was hired to restore the Lady Chapel in 1841, but due to other commitments later left much of the work to John Prichard, who worked the most extensively on the church in the 1840s and 1850s. Prichard had restored the sanctuary by 1850, and by 1852 he had begun to work on the nave, largely demolishing much of the temple Wood had built. Together with London-based John Pollard Seddon, who was able to hire pre-Raphaelite artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Thomas Woolner, extensive developments were made. Morris & Co. provided the stained glass in the 1860s. Prichard was responsible for a dramatic redevelopment of the southwest tower in 1867–1869, aided by a number of talented artists and craftsmen.
In 1941, a parachute mine exploded near the south aisle of the cathedral, resulting in the roof of the nave collapsing and the shattering of the windows. Charles Nicholson was hired to rebuild the roof, and made the decision to remove the altarpiece that Rossetti had added to the north aisle. In 1949, Nicholson was replaced with George Pace of York, who in coordination with the dean at the time, Glyn Simon, saw a number of improvements in the modern style, though many fittings were clearly still influenced by the Gothic.
The material of the church which remains from the medieval period is primarily Somerset Dundry stone, though Sutton stone and local blue lias also make up the stonework, with the latter constituting most of the stonework done in the post-Reformation period. The work done on the church since World War II is primarily concrete and Pennant sandstone. The roofs, added in the post-war period, are made of Welsh slate and lead. The West front of the cathedral is gabled along its length and contains the grand central doorway, higher in level than the floor of the nave. It is described as being "double lobed" with an "arched head with continuous chamfer outline, colonnettes and dripmould".
The south side of the nave is characterized by eight bays with stepped buttresses between them, with aisle windows featuring reticulated heads. At the side of the south aisle of the sanctuary is Chapter House, a small, two-story square building. It dates to the mid 13th century and is made from Chipping Camden and Bath limestone, with some local red sandstone from Radyr. The octagonal roof was the brainchild of Prichard, though it was lowered in pitch by Pace and later worked on by Donald Buttress. The buttresses of the building are made from ashlar. The seven stained-glass roundels are of 16th-century Flemish origin. In the interior is a pulpit featuring Moses. Also of note is the St David's Chapel, added by George Pace in 1953–1956, which is accessed through the Norman north door of the cathedral.
## Chapter
As of 28 January 2022, the Chapter — the governing body of the cathedral — consists of:
- The Dean and Canons, the everyday clergy of the church:
- Dean of Llandaff — Richard Peers (since 20 November 2022 installation)
- Canon Precentor — Mark Preece (since 10 February 2019 installation)
- Canon Chancellor — Jan van der Lely (since 5 May 2019 installation)
- Chapter Canons (clergy): Steven Kirk; and Michael Komor, Archdeacon of Margam
- Lay Canons: Gerard Elias KC; Ceri Weatherall; and Paul Bennett
- Chapter Treasurer: Robert Lewis
## Music
### Choirs
For many years, the cathedral had the traditional Anglican choir of boys and men, and more recently the Girl Choristers. The boys and girls are educated at the Cathedral School, the only dedicated choir school in the Church in Wales, .
The Cathedral Choir consists of boys and alto, tenor and bass parts, and sing on Sundays at the Choral Eucharist and at Choral Evensong. The full choir also sings on Thursdays for Evensong, with the boys singing alone on Tuesdays and the lower voices on Fridays. The Girl Choristers and Schola Cantorum keep the choral tradition going through the week, with full SATB services for Evensong on Mondays and Wednesdays, directed by the Master of Choristers of the Cathedral School. The Girl Choristers occasionally sing with the Cathedral Choir, and have sung at large services, including a National Service of Remembrance, on Remembrance Sunday in 2018.
In addition, the parish choir sings at the weekly Parish Eucharist, and is a mixed choir of boys, girls, men and women. The cathedral has a ring of twelve bells (with an additional "flat sixth", to make thirteen in total) hung for change-ringing, located in the Jasper tower. The current bells were installed in 1992, replacing a previous ring of ten. Only one other church in Wales has a ring of twelve bells; the cathedral is the only church in Cardiff with a set of twelve bells.
In December 2013, five days before Christmas, the cathedral chapter announced that all salaried adult members of the choir (altos, tenors and basses) were being made redundant, along with the assistant organist. The cathedral was in the midst of a financial crisis, and the chapter intended to save £45,000 a year by taking these measures.
### Recordings
In 2012 the cathedral premiered its own record label, with a recording called Majestas. The music focuses on the new cathedral organ and the Llandaff Cathedral choir. The recording's title was taken from the Jacob Epstein sculpture in the cathedral's nave that was part of the post-war renewal of the structure. Proceeds from sales of the record were donated to African charities.
In August 2018, a recording of the 2010–13 Nicholson Organ was released. The organ is played by the Director of Music, Stephen Moore, and is called Deo Gracias.
In December 2018, the cathedral launched a recording of its Cathedral Choir called Nadolig yn Llandaf, showcasing seasonal music for Advent to Christmas. This was the first CD of the cathedral's choir since Majestas in 2012.
### Organs
#### Main Organs
The first organ at Llandaff was built in 1861 by Gray and Davison. In the late 1800s, this organ was antiquated, and its pipes were moved to St. Mary's Church, Usk.
The second organ was built in 1900 by Hope-Jones with Norman and Beard. This organ was rebuilt in 1937 by Hill, Norman and Beard. It received significant renovations by its builders after wartime damage to the cathedral; it was never entirely satisfactory from this point onwards, even before a 2007 lightning strike made it unusable. Originally it had been planned to install a new organ at that time, but the costs of about £1,000,000 were deemed to be too high in the austere climate of post-war Britain.
Organ manufacturer Nicholson & Co Ltd began installation of a new organ in autumn 2008 and although not fully completed, it was brought to a playable stage by Easter 2010. Its inaugural performance was the Gloria of Louis Vierne's Messe solennelle, performed at the Easter Vigil service on 3 April 2010. Proceeds from the 2011 Llandaff Festival of Music were donated to the cathedral for the completion of the new organ. The remaining stops were added in the late summer of 2013. It was the first entirely new organ for a British cathedral since the Coventry installation in the 1960s.
#### Lady Chapel Organs
Two chamber organs have been used in the Lady Chapel at the east end of the cathedral. The first, built in 1946 by Hill, Norman and Beard, had two manuals and pedals. This was replaced in 1960 with a single manual chamber organ built by Henry Willis & Sons, which remains there today.
## Burials
- Dubricius, 6th-century saint who evangelised Ergyng (now Archenfield) and much of South-East Wales; his body was transferred to Llandaff Cathedral in 1120
- Teilo, 6th-century clergyman, church founder and saint
- Henry de Abergavenny, Bishop of Llandaff (1193–1218)
- William de Braose, Bishop of Llandaff (1266–1287)
- John of Monmouth, Bishop of Llandaff (1297–1323)
- Edmund de Bromfield, Bishop of Llandaff (1390–1393)
- John Paschal, Bishop of Llandaff (1347–1361)
- John Smith, Bishop of Llandaff (1476–1478)
- Sir David Mathew, (1400–1484), born Dafydd ap Mathew, was Lord of Llandaff and Seneschal of Llandaff Cathedral, and one of the ten Great Barons of Glamorgan, a Marcher Lord. After saving the life of Edward IV at the Battle of Towton in 1461, he was appointed Grand Standard Bearer of England, and the King granted him the use of "Towton" on the Mathew family arms.
- John Marshall (bishop), Bishop of Llandaff (1478–1496)
- Miles Salley, Bishop of Llandaff (1500–1516 or 1517)
- Hugh Lloyd (bishop), Bishop of Llandaff (1660–1667)
- Francis Davies, Bishop of Llandaff (1667–1675)
- Edward Copleston, Bishop of Llandaff (1828–1849)
- Alfred Ollivant, Bishop of Llandaff (1849–1882)
## See also
- List of cathedrals in Wales
- Dean of Llandaff – Chronological list of deans of Llandaff cathedral
- List of works by George Pace
- List of tallest buildings and structures in Cardiff
- Listed buildings in Cardiff |
8,239,941 | Widnes | 1,172,711,986 | Town in Cheshire, England | [
"Borough of Halton",
"Former civil parishes in Cheshire",
"Towns in Cheshire",
"Unparished areas in Cheshire",
"Widnes"
]
| Widnes (/ˈwɪdnəs/ WID-nəss) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021 census had a population of 62,400.
Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn. Upstream 8 miles (13 km) to the east is Warrington, and 4 miles downstream to the west is Speke, a suburb of Liverpool.
Before the Industrial Revolution, Widnes was a small settlement on marsh and moorland. In 1847, the chemist and industrialist John Hutchinson established a chemical factory at Spike Island. The town grew in population and rapidly became a major centre of the chemical industry. The demand for labour was met by large-scale immigration from Ireland, Poland, Lithuania and Wales. The town continues to be a major manufacturer of chemicals, although many of the chemical factories have closed and the economy is predominantly based upon service industries.
Widnes and Hough Green railway stations are on the Liverpool–Manchester line. The main roads through the town are the A557 in a north–south direction and the A562 east–west. The disused Sankey Canal terminates at Spike Island. The Silver Jubilee Bridge crosses the River Mersey west of Warrington. In 2017, the Mersey Gateway Bridge opened to relieve congestion at the older bridge. The Catalyst Science Discovery Centre is the United Kingdom's only museum dedicated solely to the Chemical Industry and is inside Hutchinson's former administrative building. The town's sport stadium hosts Widnes Vikings rugby league club.
The motto of Widnes is the Latin phrase Industria Ditat ("Industry Enriches").
## History
### Toponymy
The most usual explanation for the origin of the name Widnes is that it comes from the Danish words vid, meaning wide, and noese, meaning nose and that it refers to the promontory projecting into the River Mersey. However, the Widnes promontory is not particularly wide and another possible explanation is the first part derives from the Danish ved, meaning a wood and possibly referring to a tree-covered promontory. Earlier spellings of the name have been Vidnes, Wydnes and Wydness.
### Early history
There is little evidence of any early human occupation of the area although a flint arrowhead was discovered at Pex Hill, suggesting there was some human presence in the Stone Age. Pex Hill is a disused quarry, located to the north of the town. Roman roads by-passed the area but some Roman coins were found where the Ditton railway station stands today. In the 9th century Vikings had invaded the country and Widnes was at the extreme south of the Danelaw. The River Mersey derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon maeres ea, which means boundary river, the boundary being that between the Danelaw and the Saxon kingdom of Mercia. At the beginning of the 20th century it was believed that some earthworks on Cuerdley Marsh had been constructed by the Vikings but an archaeological investigation in the 1930s found nothing to confirm this.
Following the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror granted the Earldom of Lancaster to Roger the Poitevin who in turn granted the barony of Widnes to Yorfrid. Yorfrid had no sons and his elder daughter married William fitz Nigel, the second Baron of Halton. On Yorfrid's death the barony of Widnes passed to that of Halton. The current St. Luke's, a Norman church, was built in Farnworth. Its date of origin is uncertain but it is likely to be around 1180. In 1500 the South Chapel was added to the church and in 1507 a grammar school was established in Farnworth; both were endowments from Bishop William Smyth. Until the middle of the 19th century the area consisted of the scattered hamlets of Farnworth, Appleton, Ditton, Upton and Woodend. Nearby were the villages of Cronton and Cuerdley.
In the 1750s the Sankey Canal was constructed. This linked the area of St. Helens with the River Mersey at Sankey Bridges, near Warrington and was in operation by 1757. It was extended to Fiddler's Ferry in 1762 and then in 1833 a further extension to Woodend was opened. In the same year the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was opened. The railway connected St Helens with an area in Woodend which was to become known as Spike Island. The termini of the canal and railway were adjacent and here Widnes Dock, the world's first railway dock, was established. Despite these transport links and the emergence of the chemical industry at nearby Runcorn and elsewhere in the Mersey Valley, the Industrial Revolution did not arrive at Widnes until 14 years later, with the arrival at Spike Island of John Hutchinson.
### Coming of the chemical industry
John Hutchinson built his first factory in 1847 on land between the Sankey Canal and the railway making alkali by the Leblanc process. This was an ideal site for the factory because all the raw materials could be transported there by the waterways and railway, and the finished products could similarly be transported anywhere else in the country or overseas. Further chemical factories were soon built nearby by entrepreneurs including John McClellan, William Gossage, Frederic Muspratt, Holbrook Gaskell and Henry Deacon. The town grew rapidly as housing and social provision was made for the factory workers. Soon the villages of Farnworth, Appleton, Ditton and Upton were subsumed within the developing town of Widnes. Woodend became known as West Bank. The substances produced included soap, borax, soda ash, salt cake and bleaching powder. Other industries developed including iron and copper works. The town became heavily polluted with smoke and the by-products of the chemical processes. In 1888 the town was described as "the dirtiest, ugliest and most depressing town in England" and in 1905 as a "poisonous hell-town".
> Their especial ugliness is, however, never more marked than when the spring is making beautiful every nook and corner of England, for the spring never comes hither. It never comes because, neither at Widnes nor St. Helens, is there any place in which it can manifest itself. The foul gases which, belched forth night and day from the many factories, rot the clothes, the teeth, and, in the end, the bodies or the workers, have killed every tree and every blade of grass for miles around.
The demand for workers meant that, in addition to people from other areas of the United Kingdom, including Ireland, large numbers of workers came from other countries. From the late 1880s significant numbers arrived from Poland and Lithuania who were fleeing from persecution and poverty in their home countries. Immigrants also came from other areas, in particular Wales. In 1890 the chemical companies making alkali by the Leblanc process combined to form the United Alkali Company, later one of the constituent companies of ICI. This involved practically all of the chemical industries in Widnes, which was considered to be the principal centre of the new company. However, during the 1890s the chemical business in Widnes went into decline as more efficient methods of making alkali were developed elsewhere.
### Recent history
During the early decades of the 20th century there was a revival in the local economy, particularly as the United Alkali Company began to manufacture new products. Improvements were being made to the structure of the town, in particular the opening of the Widnes–Runcorn Transporter Bridge in 1905 which gave the first direct link over the Mersey for road traffic. In 1909 the town became the first in Britain to have a regular covered-top double-decker bus service.
By 1919 the health of the residents of the town was improving. In the 1920s, and 1930s there was further diversification of the chemical industry and the products it manufactured. Slums were being replaced by more and better homes. After World War II more slums were cleared and there was ongoing growth and variation in the chemical industry. By the 1950s the town had 45 major chemical factories.
In 1961 the Silver Jubilee Bridge opened as free crossing, replacing the outdated Transporter Bridge. In 2017 a further crossing, the Mersey Gateway Bridge, opened to relieve congestion. This crossing was tolled. When the Mersey Gateway Bridge was opened, the Silver Jubilee Bridge was closed for maintenance. Now both bridges are operating, but as tolled crossings.
In recent years many of the old heavy chemical factories have closed to be replaced by more modern factories. Much of the land previously polluted by the old dirty chemical processes has been reclaimed, and there have been improvements in the cleanliness and environment of the town.
## Governance
From Saxon times Widnes was part of the hundred of West Derby in Lancashire. Modern local government in the town of Widnes commenced with the creation of the Widnes Local Board in 1865, prior to which the town had been part of the administrative district of Prescot. In 1892 the town received a Charter of Incorporation forming the Municipal Borough of Widnes. In 1974, as part of the Local Government Act 1972, Widnes Borough Council was abolished and its territory amalgamated with Runcorn to form the borough of Halton within the county of Cheshire. In 1998 the borough of Halton became a unitary authority. In 2009 the council entered into an agreement with the five metropolitan district councils of Merseyside to form the Liverpool City Region.
In 1885 Widnes became a parliamentary constituency and elected its first Member of Parliament. The UK parliamentary constituency is Halton and the current Member of Parliament is Derek Twigg. The local authority is the borough of Halton and the town is divided into nine electoral wards. For elections to the European Parliament, Widnes was in the North West England constituency.
## Geography
Widnes is situated on the north bank of the River Mersey. The whole town is low-lying with some slightly higher areas in Farnworth and Appleton. To the south of the town a spur projecting into the river forms the West Bank area of Widnes; together with a spur projecting northwards from Runcorn these form Runcorn Gap, a narrowing of the River Mersey. Runcorn Gap is crossed by Runcorn Railway Bridge, carrying the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line, and the Silver Jubilee Bridge, carrying the A533 road which then curves in a westerly direction towards Liverpool becoming the A562. The density of housing is generally high but there are some open green areas, including Victoria Park in Appleton and two golf courses which are geographically near the centre of the urban development. Most of the chemical and other factories are close to the north bank of the River Mersey. A second road bridge, the Mersey Gateway, opened in October 2017, carrying a six-lane road connecting Runcorn's Central Expressway with Speke Road and Queensway in Widnes.
Drainage of the Widnes area is into the Mersey via Ditton, Steward's and Bower's Brooks. The bedrock of the area is rock from the Sherwood sandstone group. There are a few outcrops of sandstone but elsewhere the bedrock is covered by drift. Most of this consists of till except near the bank of the Mersey where it is recent alluvium.
When borings were made in the 1870s prior to the building of chemical works a deep gorge measuring around 100 feet (30 m) was found in the bedrock which was filled with glacial deposits. From this it was concluded that before the Ice Age the Mersey had flowed in a more northerly course, and when it was blocked by glacial deposits it had made a new channel through Runcorn Gap.
Being close to the west coast and the Irish Sea, the climate is generally temperate with few extremes of temperature or weather. The mean average temperature in the years 1971 to 2000 was 9.4 to 9.7 °C, which was slightly above the average for the United Kingdom as was the average amount of annual sunshine at 1391 to 1470 hours. The average annual rainfall was 741 to 870 mm, which was slightly below the average for the UK. The average number of days in the year when snow is on the ground is 0 to 6, which is low for the United Kingdom. The average number of days of air frost is 2 to 39, which is also low.
## Demography
### Population growth
Widnes was a small settlement until industrialisation in the nineteenth century which led to significant population growth.
### Religion
In the 2021 census, of the people living in Widnes, 64.3% declared themselves to be Christian, higher than the national average in England of 46.3% but down from 79.9% in 2011. 29.5% stated that they had "no religion" and 4.7% made no religious claims. Those stating their religions as Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Islam, Sikh or other amounted to 1.5%.
The Anglican churches are administered by the Diocese of Liverpool. The longest established church is St Luke's Church, Farnworth. The other Anglican churches are St Mary's in West Bank, St Paul's in Victoria Square, St John's in Greenway Road and St Ambrose in Halton View Road. The Anglicans share the building of St Michael's in Ditchfield Road with Hough Green Methodist Church. The Anglicans also share the building of All Saints' in Hough Green Road with the Catholic Church of St Basil's.
The Roman Catholic churches in Widnes are part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. There are eight churches in Widnes, namely St Bede's in Appleton, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Mayfield Avenue, St John Fisher in Moorfield Road, St Marie's in Lugsdale Road, St Michael's in St Michael's Road, St Pius X in Sefton Avenue and St Raphael's in Liverpool Road. Owing to a shortage of Catholic Priests and the "Leaving Safe Harbours" project in effect throughout the Archdiocese St Marie's was closed, the last Mass was celebrated on 6 January 2007. The church is a listed building, but it has been placed on the Buildings at Risk list by the campaign group Save Britain's Heritage and was identified by the Victorian Society on their 2008 annual list as being one of the ten most endangered Victorian buildings in Britain.
Trinity Methodist Church is in Peelhouse Lane and there are Methodist churches in Farnworth and Halebank. There is a Baptist church in Deacon Road and an Evangelical Christian church in Ditton. The Foundry in Lugsdale Road is a Pentecostal church and the Jehovah's Witnesses have a Kingdom Hall in Moorfield Road. The Widnes National Spiritualist Church is in Lacey Street.
### Ethnicity
In the 2021 census, of Widnes's 62,400 residents, 96.5% were White. Mixed/multiple ethnic groups made up 1.3%; Asian/Asian British/Asian Welsh 1.2%; Black/Black British/Black Welsh/Caribbean/African 0.4%; and Other ethnic group 0.5%. 97.3% had English as a first language.
## Economy
Widnes is an industrial town and its major industry is still the manufacture of chemicals, although there has been diversification in recent years and the economy predominately relies on service industries. In 2006 a new freight park, known as the 3MG Mersey Multimodal Gateway, was opened in the West Bank area of the town. This provides a link for freight arriving by road, air or sea to be transferred to the rail network. In 2010 the first phase of Stobart Park, a "multimodal logistics service for warehousing and distribution", and part of the Stobart Group, was opened. This consists of a 520,000 square feet (48,000 m<sup>2</sup>) refrigerated warehouse for Tesco.
In 2014 work began on the new Mersey Gateway bridge which was completed and open to the public in October 2017. A new six lane toll bridge over the River Mersey between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes was built to relieve the congested and ageing Silver Jubilee Bridge. The new bridge and access roads are a major strategic transport route linking the Liverpool city-region including Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the Port of Liverpool to North West England.
There has been considerable development of shopping areas in the town. The Greenoaks Centre, a mall which was opened in 1995 is adjacent to the long-established Widnes Market which has both a market hall and an open market. Also adjacent is a Morrisons supermarket. In the Simms Cross area a large Asda superstore opened in 2004, replacing its old store in nearby Ditton. A new shopping development, known as Widnes Shopping Park, opened on 18 March 2010, the flagship store being a Marks & Spencer shop. Other businesses involved in the development are Next, New Look, Boots, River Island and British Home Stores. The Outfit out-of-town chain outlet incorporates fashion brands, including Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Wallis and Burton. Other businesses included in the development are Wilko, Costa Coffee, Halfords, Gala Bingo and KFC.
In Autumn 2011 construction began of a Tesco Extra 24-hour store. The glass fronted 120,000 sq ft store has been built on the old B&Q site next to Ashley Way and was opened in March 2012. The store was built on stilts allowing a car park to be built underneath the store for around 600 cars.
## Landmarks
The Silver Jubilee Bridge is a Grade II listed structure with Historic England. It was opened in 1961 and crosses to Runcorn. With a main arch spanning 330m, for many years it was the only crossing of the River Mersey West of Warrington. In 2017 the new Mersey Gateway bridge was opened to relieve congestion at the older bridge and allow easier road access to the Liverpool City region.
Reclamation of chemical factory sites and areas formerly polluted with chemical waste has given opportunities for developments. These include Victoria Promenade at West Bank, alongside the River Mersey, and Spike Island, now cleared of industry, which forms an open recreation area leading to footpaths along the former towpath of the Sankey Canal. Adjacent to Spike Island occupying John Hutchinson's former Tower Building is the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre.
There are a number of listed buildings, many of them in the more outlying areas but some are scattered throughout the town. The listed churches are the Anglican churches of St Luke's Church, Farnworth (and its adjacent bridewell), and St Mary's, West Bank, the Roman Catholic churches of St Michael's, St Marie's and St Bede's, and the two chapels in the cemetery. The railway stations of Widnes and Hough Green are listed, as are the former Widnes Town Hall and the former power house of the transporter bridge.
## Transport
Widnes is on the southern route of the Liverpool to Manchester railway line. There are two stations in the town, Hough Green and Widnes from which services are operated by East Midlands Railway and Northern. Northern operate frequent services to Liverpool and Manchester city centre from Hough Green and Widnes. East Midlands Railway link Widnes station at hourly intervals throughout the day to Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport, Sheffield, Nottingham and Norwich.
However passengers to and from London, the Midlands and the South are likely to use Runcorn station and make the short journey across the Mersey Gateway Bridge by bus or taxi.
Proposals for Merseyrail to be extended to Warrington have been set as Merseyrail are due some new Battery Electric Trains. This would open up new links as the trains would run on the pre-existing route via Widnes railway station.
The two main bus operators providing local services are Arriva North West and Warrington's Own Buses.
The A562 road passes through Widnes linking Liverpool to the west with Penketh to the east. The A557 road passes through the town linking Runcorn to the south, via the Silver Jubilee Bridge, with the M62 motorway, some 2.5 miles (4 km) to the north. The Mersey Gateway will replace the Silver Jubilee Bridge by mid-October 2017.
Widnes is 6 miles (10 km) from Liverpool John Lennon Airport and 25 miles (40 km) from Manchester Airport.
## Education
There are nineteen primary schools in the town and three nursery schools. The three secondary schools are Saints Peter and Paul Catholic High School, Ormiston Chadwick Academy and Wade Deacon High School. The former colleges, Halton College and Widnes and Runcorn Sixth Form College, merged in 2006 to form Riverside College. There are three special schools. Also in Widnes is the Woodview Child Development Centre in Crow Wood Lane. Kingsway Learning Centre offers opportunities for Adult Learning, Basic Skills and Skills for Success.
As part of the Building Schools for the Future programme, Fairfield High School closed down in 2010 and merged with Wade Deacon High School. The school was founded in 1507 as Farnworth Grammar School by Bishop William Smyth and a school has been on the site since the 16th century. In the 1960s two separate-sex secondary schools amalgamated and the school took the title Fairfield High School from 1974 up until its closure. When it closed in August 2010, the schools pupils were transferred to Wade Deacon High School, though still operating from the same site. This continued until March 2013 when Wade Deacon High School's new build was completed; demolition of the old school began in August 2013 and was completed by the end of that year. The site is currently being developed into a housing estate and a cemetery.
## Sport
The major sporting body in the town is Widnes Vikings Rugby League Football Club. Cup kings of the 1970s, and 1980s, they were World Club Champions in 1989, after defeating Australian side Canberra Raiders at Old Trafford. More recently, they were winners of the Northern Rail Cup in 2007 and 2009. Their home ground is DCBL Stadium in Lowerhouse Lane, which is owned and run by Halton Borough Council. In addition to being a sporting ground it has facilities for conferences and banqueting. In October 2007 the club was defeated in the National League One Grand Final. Following this, and because of the club's financial situation, its board decided to put it into administration. It was subsequently purchased by Steve O'Connor, a local businessman. The Widnes Vikings are in the Betfred Championship.
Widnes Rugby Union Football Club (otherwise known as "the wids"), are an amateur rugby union club based at Heath Rd and administered by volunteers. The players are all club members and pay subscriptions. The club welcomes and encourages the development of rugby within all sections of the local community by promoting links with local schools, local authorities and the Rugby Football Union constituency body.
Widnes Cricket Club was founded in 1865 and has its ground in Beaconsfield Road. Moorfield Sports & Social Club in Moorfield Road hosts sports including football, rugby league, cricket and bowls. At Highfield Road there is a private golf club.
Widnes Tennis Academy is located on Highfield Rd and shares an entrance with St Peter and Pauls School. This is a privately operated facility consisting of 3 in-door courts, six floodlit outside courts and a gym. It is a Beacon facility and has many links with schools, the local authority and the LTA to promote and develop tennis in the area. It is the home of Lane Tennis Club (Est 1876) which has a number of men's, women's and junior teams playing competitively in the Warrington District League.
Widnes is home to a mixed martial arts (MMA) gym, the Wolfslair MMA Academy. This was established in 2004 by MMA fans and Anthony McGann and Lee Gwynn. Since then the academy has trained MMA fighters including former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson.
Widnes F.C. play their home matches at Halton Stadium. The club was founded in 2003 as The Dragons Amateur Football Club (The Dragons A.F.C.) and in 2012 it was acquired by the Rugby League team and became known as Widnes Vikings Football Club. In June 2014 the club became independent of the Rugby League team and changed its name to Widnes Football Club. After promotion to the North West Counties Premier Division at the end of the 2016–2017 season the team gained automatic promotion to the Evo-Stik Western Division at the end of the 2017–18 season, becoming the first side since AFC Fylde to achieve back-to-back promotions from the North West Counties Football League.
Since May 2013 there has been an ice hockey club Widnes Wild based at the Planet Ice ice rink which plays in the National Ice Hockey League Laidler Conference.
## Culture
The Queens Hall opened in 1957, it was originally Victoria Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. It was in use as a theatre and concert hall until the opening of The Brindley in Runcorn in 2004. The Queens Hall was demolished (December 2011 – February 2012). Adjacent to the hall, in Lacey Street, is the Queen's Hall Studio, originally built as a Sunday school in 1879. It was a venue for music and live performance but closed in 2004. After years of campaigning by the volunteer group Loose, and with the support of the Community Assets Fund/Big Lottery Fund and WREN and other donors, it re-opened on 17 April 2010.
There is a tradition that the Simon & Garfunkel song "Homeward Bound" was written by American musician Paul Simon at a Widnes station. A quote from Paul Simon reads as follows: "If you know Widnes, then you'll understand how I was desperately trying to get back to London as quickly as possible. Homeward Bound came out of that feeling." Also, the song "The Stars of Track and Field" by Scottish indie rock band Belle and Sebastian, from the album If You're Feeling Sinister (1996) makes reference to the town of Widnes in the lyrics, as does the song "Watch Your Step" by Elvis Costello from his album Trust (1981).
## Community facilities
The main library in Victoria Square has been refurbished. In addition to the normal services provided by a library, this library holds a large collection of material relating to railways. There is a branch library in the Ditton area of the town.
The Queens Hall Studio, now known as the Studio, is in Lacey Street and is a community venue. Live music and theatre events take place, and the ACCESS ALL AREAS project is based there for young people interested in music and associated creative activities, funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
Victoria Park is in the Appleton area of the town and has a number of attractions, including a cafeteria and refreshment kiosk, a bandstand, model boating lake, tennis and basketball courts, bowling greens, a skateboarding facility, glasshouses with a pets' corner and a butterfly house. Hough Green Park is in the Ditton area of the town. Crow Wood Park is in the eastern part of Widnes and Sunnybank is a large area of open ground also in the eastern part of the town. There are a number of nature reserves. Pickerings Pasture is an area of wildflower meadows overlooking the River Mersey which was built on the site of a former household and industrial landfill. The other nature reserves in the town are Clincton Wood and Hale Road Woodlands.
Kingsway Leisure Centre, has a swimming pool and a gym in addition to a sports hall. There are a number of football, cricket and rugby league clubs in the town. St Michael's Golf Course was a municipal golf course which was built on reclaimed industrial waste land but high levels of arsenic have been found in the soil and at present it is closed. There is a private golf club in Highfield Road.
In October 2011 the Hive Leisure Park opened in a new development as part of the Widnes Waterfront. Its facilities include Reel Cinema, a five-screen multiplex cinema, a Frankie & Benny's bar and restaurant, Super Bowl UK Widnes containing a 16-lane ten-pin bowling centre, a children's play area, licensed bar, a Nando's restaurant, a Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre pub opened in February 2012 and also a brand new Ice Rink operated by Silverblades opened on 21 December 2012
### Health
There is no hospital in Widnes. For acute medical care patients go to Warrington Hospital which is run by Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust or to Whiston Hospital which is run by St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Halton Clinical Commissioning Group is responsible for NHS services in the area. They established the Widnes Urgent Care Centre in 2015 to ease pressure on local accident and emergency units. General practitioner services are provided in health centres and in separate medical practices. There are dental practices providing a mixture of National Health Service and private dental care.
## Notable people
### Religion
Three men born in or near the village of Farnworth achieved prominent positions in the Anglican church. They were William Smyth (c.1460–1514) who became Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, then Bishop of Lincoln and who built the grammar school in the village, Richard Barnes (1532–1587) who became Bishop of Carlisle, then Bishop of Durham, and Richard Bancroft (1544–1610) who became Bishop of London and then Archbishop of Canterbury. John Tiarks (1903–1974) was a vicar in Widnes in the early 1930s and later became Bishop of Chelmsford.
### Science and industry
William Gossage (1799–1877) was a chemical manufacturer who established a soap making business in Widnes. During the late 19th century a number of prominent chemists and industrialists lived in Widnes. Amongst these was Ludwig Mond (1839–1909), co-founder of Brunner Mond. He lived in The Hollies, Farnworth and there his two sons were born, both of whom became notable. There were three generations of Holbrook Gaskell's who were chemical industrialists. The first (1813–1909) was also an art and plant collector. The second (1846–1919) became a director of United Alkali Company and the third (1878–1951) was chief engineer of the United Alkali Company and was knighted.
Henry Deacon (1822–1876) was a chemist and industrialist who established a chemical factory in Widnes. John Hutchinson (1825–1865) was a chemist and industrialist who established the first chemical factory in Widnes in 1847, it manufactured alkali by the Leblanc process. Henry Brunner (1838–1916) was an English chemist employed in 1861 by John Hutchinson in his chemical business. Ferdinand Hurter (1844–1898) was a Swiss industrial chemist who joined Henry Deacon and Holbrook Gaskell at their alkali manufacturing business, Gaskell, Deacon & Co., in Widnes in 1867. Neil Mathieson (1823-–1906) was a Scottish chemist, he set up his own business, Matheison and Company in 1870 with Frederick Herbert Gossage, son of William Gossage. Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet, (1842–1919) was also a British chemical industrialist at Hutchinson's alkali works in Widnes where he rose to the position of general manager.
Vero Charles Driffield (1848–1915) was a chemical engineer, he became an engineer at the Gaskell–Deacon Works in 1871. Sir Robert Mond (1867–1938) became a chemist and archaeologist and his younger brother Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett (1868–1930) became an industrialist, financier and politician serving as a Liberal MP for Chester 1906–1910, for Swansea 1910 to 1918 and for Swansea West from 1918 to 1923.
Sydney Young, FRS (1857 in Farnworth – 1937) was an academic English chemist. Charles Glover Barkla (1877 in Widnes – 1944) was the winner of the 1917 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in X-ray spectroscopy. Charles Suckling CBE FRS (1920–2013) was a British chemist who first synthesised halothane, a volatile inhalational anesthetic in 1951, while working at the ICI Central Laboratory in Widnes. Gordon Rintoul (born 1955) CBE FRSE was Director of the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes between 1987 and 1998.
### Military
Born in the village of Farnworth, Roy Chadwick (1893–1947) was the designer of the Avro Lancaster bomber. Thomas Mottershead (1893–1917), also born in Widnes, joined the Royal Flying Corps during World War I; he was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Conduct Medal posthumously for his gallantry. Another Widnes man, Thomas Wilkinson (1898–1942) of the Royal Naval Reserve, was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously during World War II. Air Marshal Sir Tap Jones, KCB, CBE, DSO, DFC (1914 in Widnes – 2007) was an officer in the Royal Air Force for 34 years, from 1935 to 1969. He commanded a squadron of obsolescent biplane Gladiator fighters during the Battle of Greece in World War II.
### Politics
Arthur Henderson (1863–1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician & MP. In 1919 he won a by-election in Widnes He later achieving the unique feat of being elected five times at by-elections in constituencies where he had not previously been the MP. Jack Ashley (1922–2012) was born in Widnes and was a local councillor there. He was then a Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent for many years. He became a Companion of Honour in 1975 and was invested as a privy councillor in 1979. In 1992 he was made a life peer as Baron Ashley of Stoke, of Widnes in the County of Cheshire. Gordon Oakes (1931–2005) who was born and educated in Widnes became an MP for Bolton West 1964–1970, for Widnes 1971–1983 and for Halton 1983–1997. Derek Twigg (born 1959 in Widnes) has been the Labour MP for Halton since 1997.
### Sport
- Johnny Briggs (1862–1902) a distinguished Victorian cricketer, the only man to have scored a hat trick and a century in Ashes cricket, lived in the town 1877-1890s
- Tommy Magee (1899 in Widnes – 1974) footballer who made over 400 appearances for West Bromwich Albion F.C.
- Tommy McCue (1913 in Widnes – 1994) rugby league player, 339 games for Widnes Vikings
- Nat Silcock Jr. (1927 in Widnes – 1992) rugby league footballer, 458 games
- Alan Prescott (1927 in Widnes – 1998) rugby league footballer, 404 matches for St. Helens
- Vince Karalius (1932 in Widnes – 2008) English rugby league footballer and coach
- Tony Karalius (1943 in Widnes – 2019) rugby league footballer, 394 games mainly for St. Helens
- Doug Laughton (born 1944 in Widnes) professional rugby league footballer, 450 games
- George Nicholls (born 1944 in Widnes) rugby league player, 484 club games and for Great Britain and England
- John Stephens (born 1945 in Widnes) professional rugby league footballer, 393 games
- Eric Prescott (born 1948 in Widnes) rugby union and professional rugby league footballer, 503 games
- David France (born 1948 in Widnes) is an author, Everton football historian and philanthropist.
- Mick Adams (1951 in Widnes – 2017) professional rugby league footballer, 438 games mainly for Widnes Vikings
- Peter Glynn (born 1954 in Widnes) rugby league footballer, 402 games mainly for St. Helens
- Paul Sherwen (born 1956 in Widnes) former Tour de France rider
- Mike O'Neill (born 1960 in Widnes) rugby league footballer, 414 games for Widnes Vikings
- Timothy Bostock (born 1962 in Widnes) former cricketer
- Andy Currier (born 1966 in Widnes) rugby league player 312 games, incl. 248 for Widnes Vikings
- John Bowles (born 1967 in Widnes) is a professional darts player
- Andrew Higginson (born 1977) a professional snooker player, lives in Widnes
- Martin Hewitt (born 1980 in Widnes) a mountaineer, businessman and former Captain in the Parachute Regiment
- Gary Taylor-Fletcher (born 1981 in Widnes) former professional football player, with over 500 pro appearances
- Stephen Myler (born 1984 in Widnes), rugby union player and part of the Myler rugby family
- Lucy Martin (born 1990 in Whiston) retired professional road and track cyclist, grew up in Widnes
### Creative arts
- Nor Kiddie (born 1897 in Widnes) the stage name of Norman Chilton Kiddie, comedian, actor and juggler
- Alan Bleasdale (born 1946) an English screenwriter of social realist drama, went to school in Widnes 1957–64
- Michael Kenna (born 1953 in Widnes) an English photographer best known for his unusual black & white landscapes
- Angela Topping (born 1954 in Widnes) a British poet, literary critic and author
- Ian Finney (born 1966) guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, brought up in Widnes
- Jane Weaver (born 1972) singer, songwriter and guitarist, was brought up in Widnes
- Melanie C (born 1974) singer, Spice Girl known as Mel C or Sporty Spice, went to school in Widnes
- David Dawson (born 1982) actor, born and raised in Widnes
## See also
- Listed buildings in Widnes
## Further bibliography |
50,514,830 | Tammy Abraham | 1,173,267,307 | English footballer (born 1997) | [
"1997 births",
"AS Roma players",
"Aston Villa F.C. players",
"Black British sportsmen",
"Bristol City F.C. players",
"Chelsea F.C. players",
"England men's international footballers",
"England men's under-21 international footballers",
"England men's youth international footballers",
"English Football League players",
"English expatriate men's footballers",
"English expatriate sportspeople in Italy",
"English men's footballers",
"English sportspeople of Nigerian descent",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Italy",
"Footballers from Camberwell",
"Living people",
"Men's association football forwards",
"Premier League players",
"Serie A players",
"Swansea City A.F.C. players",
"UEFA Europa Conference League winning players"
]
| Kevin Oghenetega Tamaraebi Bakumo-Abraham (born 2 October 1997), known as Tammy Abraham, is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Roma and the England national team.
A Chelsea academy graduate, Abraham made his first-team debut for the club in 2016 before spending a season on loan with Championship club Bristol City. There, he enjoyed a successful campaign which culminated in him winning the club's Player of the Season, Young Player of the Season and top goalscorer awards, becoming the first player ever to do so in a single season. A further loan spell at Swansea City followed for Abraham but the season ended with the club suffering relegation from the Premier League. He then joined Aston Villa in 2018 and became the first player since 1977 to score 25 goals in a single campaign for the club.
Formerly an England youth international, Abraham represented the nation from under-18 level, and featured at the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland. He made his senior debut in November 2017.
## Club career
### Chelsea
#### 2004–2016: Youth career
Abraham joined Chelsea at under-eight level and progressed through the club's academy system. He was part of the Chelsea youth team which recorded consecutive triumphs in both the UEFA Youth League and the FA Youth Cup in 2015 and 2016. In the 2015–16 edition of the UEFA Youth League, Abraham pitched in with a return of eight goals in nine matches, making him the tournament's second highest goal scorer behind Roberto. He carried his form into the FA Youth Cup and netted the winning goal in Chelsea's victory over Manchester City in the final in April. During the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, Abraham scored 74 goals in 98 matches across all competitions for Chelsea's various youth teams.
His form at youth level caught the attention of interim manager Guus Hiddink who invited him to train with the first team at the back end of the 2015–16 season. On 11 May 2016, Hiddink handed Abraham his Chelsea debut in a 1–1 Premier League draw with Liverpool, bringing him on to replace Bertrand Traoré in the 74th minute. Abraham then made his home debut at Stamford Bridge the following week, once again coming on as a second-half substitute for Traoré in a 1–1 draw with newly crowned Premier League Champions Leicester City.
#### 2016–17: Loan to Bristol City
On 5 August 2016, Abraham signed for Championship club Bristol City on a season-long loan from Chelsea. He made his debut for the club the following day, coming off the bench for fellow debutant Josh Brownhill to score City's first goal in a 2–1 come-from-behind win over Wigan Athletic, although the goal was later credited to Hörður Magnússon instead. He started in his second game and scored the only goal of the match in a 1–0 win over Wycombe Wanderers, helping Bristol City advance to the Second Round of the EFL Cup. The following week, on 13 August, he scored his first professional brace in a 2–1 victory over newly promoted Burton Albion, including the last-minute winner. In September, Abraham scored his second brace against Sheffield Wednesday, although Bristol City ultimately lost 3–2. He scored a further two goals during the month which saw him named Championship Player of the Month for September. He was also awarded the EFL Young Player of the Month award for September.
On 31 January 2017, Abraham scored his 16th Championship goal in a 2–2 draw against Sheffield Wednesday, which saw him break the record of former Fulham striker Moussa Dembélé for the most goals scored by a teenager since the beginning of the Football League Championship era. Abraham ended the season with 23 goals to his name, second only to Chris Wood of Leeds United, as City completed the campaign in 17th position, thereby avoiding relegation. His performances throughout the season also earned him Bristol City's Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Top Goalscorer awards. In doing so, he became the first ever player to earn all three awards in the same season.
#### 2017–18: Loan to Swansea City
On 4 July 2017, Chelsea announced that Abraham had signed a new five-year contract with the club and later that day he joined fellow Premier League club Swansea City on a season-long loan. He made his debut for the club on 12 August, starting in a 0–0 draw with Southampton. Ten days later, he scored his first goal in a 4–1 League Cup win over League One team Milton Keynes Dons before scoring his first Premier League goal in his next match, opening the scoring in a 2–0 victory over Crystal Palace. On 14 October 2017, he scored his first brace for his club in a 2–0 win over newly promoted Huddersfield Town which secured Swansea their first home win of the season. Both club and player struggled for form thereafter, however, and by the end of the year Abraham had failed to add to his goal tally.
On 6 February 2018, having gone 825 minutes without a goal, Abraham returned to the scoresheet when he netted twice and assisted a further two in an 8–1 FA Cup Fourth Round replay win over Notts County. The result was also Swansea's biggest ever win in the competition. On 7 April, he scored his first league goal since his double in October. His goal earned Swansea a late draw against West Brom and edged the club a point closer to safety from the relegation zone, though they were ultimately relegated on the final day of the season following a defeat to Stoke City. Abraham scored eight goals in 39 appearances across all competitions during his loan spell with the club.
#### 2018–19: Loan to Aston Villa
Following his return from loan at Swansea, new Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri indicated that he planned to keep Abraham at Chelsea and included him in the squad for the club's Community Shield defeat to Manchester City. On 31 August, however, he was sent out on loan once again, returning to the Championship to sign for Aston Villa for the remainder of the season. He made his debut for the club on 15 September, starting in a 1–1 draw with Blackburn Rovers, and scored on his home debut four days later in a 2–0 win over Rotherham United. On 28 November, he scored four goals in a 5–5 draw with Nottingham Forest in the league; the first time a draw of that score had ever been played out to at Villa Park. In doing so, he became the first Aston Villa player to score four goals in a single match in the 21st century. He was later named Championship Player of the Month for November after scoring six goals in four appearances for the month.
By the turn of the year, Abraham had scored 16 goals in 20 appearances and was the joint-top goalscorer in the league. His strong form sparked speculation that he would be recalled by Chelsea, who retained the option until 14 January 2019, given the club's own goal scoring troubles. It later became apparent that Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers had also made an approach for his signature, although FIFA's rules prohibiting a player from representing three clubs in a season cast doubt over any potential move. Following a week of media speculation surrounding his future, he reportedly rejected a loan move to Wolves in favour of staying with Villa for the remainder of the season.
On 26 January, he scored a brace in a 2–1 win over Ipswich Town and in doing so became the first player since Tom Waring in 1933 to score in seven consecutive home games for the club. The following month, he became the first player since Peter Withe in 1981 to score 20 goals for the club in a single season when he scored in a 3–3 come–from–behind draw with Sheffield United. On 30 March, he scored his 50th career league goal when he opened the scoring in a 2–1 win over Blackburn. In April, after scoring in a 2–0 win over Bolton Wanderers, Abraham became the first Villa player to score 25 goals in a season since Andy Gray in 1977. His goal also helped the club equal its record of nine successive wins, set back in 1910. He was later named in the PFA Team of the Year before helping Aston Villa secure promotion to the Premier League, scoring once in the play-off semi-final against West Brom. He ended the campaign with 26 goals in 40 appearances, the second-most by any player in the league behind Norwich City's Teemu Pukki.
#### 2019–20: Return to Chelsea
Following the expiration of his loan, Abraham returned to Chelsea where he was given the No. 9 shirt, previously worn by the likes of Radamel Falcao, Steve Sidwell, Álvaro Morata, Fernando Torres, Gonzalo Higuaín and Chris Sutton.
In the 2019 UEFA Super Cup against Liverpool on 14 August, he won a penalty in extra-time, from which Jorginho scored to level the scores at 2–2 and send the match to a penalty shoot-out. Abraham then took the deciding penalty in the shootout but saw his effort saved by Adrián resulting in Chelsea losing the tie 5–4. Following the match, he was victim of racial abuse on Twitter. Ten days later, Abraham scored his first Chelsea goals when he netted a brace in a 3–2 away win over Norwich City. The following month, during a 5–2 win over Wolves, he scored his first Chelsea hat trick, before netting an own goal during the latter stages of the match. In doing so, at the age of 21 years and 347 days, he became the youngest player to score three goals in a match for the club in the Premier League era. He scored his first Champions League goal in a 2–1 win away to Lille on 2 October.
#### 2020–21 season
On 23 September 2020, Abraham played as a starter for the first time in 2020–21 season and scored his first goal of the season against Barnsley in the third round of the EFL Cup, which ended in a 6–0 win. Abraham scored a goal in two consecutive matches including his most recent against West Brom on 26 September, where he scored a stoppage-time equaliser in a 3–3 draw at The Hawthorns. In November, he scored in three successive games, wins against Sheffield United, Rennes and Newcastle United.
Abraham scored a hat-trick in the fourth round of the FA Cup on 24 January 2021, as Chelsea overcame Championship club Luton Town by a score of 3–1. In doing so, Abraham became the first Englishman to score a hat-trick for Chelsea in the FA Cup since manager Frank Lampard in 2007, and he also became the first Chelsea youth team product to score 10 or more goals in back-to-back seasons since Mike Fillery in 1982–83.
### Roma
Abraham signed for Serie A club Roma on 17 August 2021 on a five-year contract, with the transfer fee reported to be £34 million, with Chelsea including a £68 million buy-back clause which can only be triggered after the player has completed two seasons with Roma.
#### 2021–22 season
Abraham made his Serie A debut on 22 August, assisting twice as Roma defeated Fiorentina 3–1. Four days later, he made his UEFA Europa Conference League debut in a 3–0 home win over Trabzonspor. On 29 August, he scored his first goal for Roma in a 4–0 win against Salernitana. On 16 September, he scored his first goal in the Conference League, completing the Giallorossis 5–1 victory against CSKA Sofia. On 20 January 2022, he made his first appearance in the Coppa Italia, contributing to 3–1 home win over Lecce with a goal and an assist. Three days later, he scored a brace in the victorious away match against Empoli, becoming the first English player in thirty years to score more than 10 goals in a Serie A season. On 25 May, he played in the Conference League final which ended in a 1–0 victory for Roma over Feyenoord.
#### 2022–23 season
On 8 January 2023, in the league match against Milan, Abraham scored in injury time, earning Roma a 2-2 draw against the Serie A champions. A week later on 15 January, he provided two assists for Paulo Dybala in a 2-0 win against Fiorentina in the Serie A. On 31 May, Abraham featured in the Europa League final, which Roma lost against Sevilla 4–1 on penalties after a 1–1 draw; hence, he missed the opportunity to win all existing UEFA competitions. Abraham received criticism for his goalscoring form, having scored only 8 goals in the Serie A compared to 17 the previous season. On the final matchday of the season against Spezia, he suffered a sprain which caused a tear to his anterior cruciate ligament.
## International career
Prior to receiving his first competitive cap for the England senior team in October 2019, Abraham was eligible to represent Nigeria through his paternal lineage and was sounded out by the Nigerian Football Association. Abraham's father is close friends with Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick and on 21 September 2017, Pinnick claimed that Abraham had switched his allegiance to Nigeria. Abraham issued a statement the same day denying the claim and reaffirming his availability for England selection. Upon receiving his first England call-up in November 2017, Abraham stated that there was never any prospect of him choosing to play for Nigeria.
### Youth
Abraham has represented England at both under-18 and under-19 level. He scored his first goals at age group level for England in March 2015, netting a brace as England U18 defeated Switzerland 6–1. Later that year, while representing the U19 team in a friendly against Japan, Abraham and teammate Patrick Roberts played a game of rock paper scissors on the pitch to decide who would take a penalty. Abraham was triumphant but missed the resultant spot-kick. Just a minute later, however, Roberts assisted Abraham for the second goal of the match, which ultimately ended 5–1 in England's favour.
On 6 July 2016, Abraham was one of four Chelsea players named in Aidy Boothroyd's squad for the U19 European Championship. He featured in three out of four matches as England were eliminated by Italy in the semi-final. Abraham also received his first England U21 call-up on 29 September 2016. He made his first appearance for the team on 6 October, coming on as a substitute with eight minutes remaining against Kazakhstan in a qualifier for the U21 European Championships to help England to a 1–0 victory which secured the nation's progression to the tournament proper. He made his full debut for the U21s in their final group stage match against Bosnia and Herzegovina and netted twice in a 5–0 victory for England.
The following year, he was named in the England squad for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland. He scored his first, and only goal for the tournament in the semi-final against Germany. England ultimately lost the match after a penalty shoot-out, with Abraham one of the players who missed his spot-kick.
On 18 May 2018, having been omitted from England's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Abraham was recalled to the under-20 side for the Toulon Tournament in France where they had been drawn in a group alongside Qatar, China and Mexico. On 27 May, England opened their title defence with a 2–1 win over China in which Abraham scored the winning goal. He did not feature in the subsequent match against Mexico but returned to score in a 4–0 win over Qatar which saw England qualify for the semi-finals where they were drawn against Scotland. Abraham was only used as a late substitute as England defeated Scotland but was selected to start in the final where they met Mexico. There he was unlucky not to score, hitting the post in the second half, but helped England claim their third successive title with a 2–1 win.
On 27 May 2019, Abraham was included in England's 23-man squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
### Senior
On 2 November 2017, Abraham was one of three uncapped players called up to the senior England team for friendlies against Germany and Brazil. He made his debut against the former on 10 November, starting in a 0–0 draw at Wembley Stadium.
In October 2019, he said he remained undecided on his international future, as he remained eligible for Nigeria as he had not played a competitive fixture for England's senior side. Later that month he received a call-up to the England squad for forthcoming UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches. On 11 October, Abraham made his first competitive appearance for England against the Czech Republic, appearing as a substitute and committing himself to England in the process. Abraham scored his first goal for England on 14 November 2019 in a 7–0 win over Montenegro in Euro 2020 qualifying.
## Personal life
Abraham was born in Camberwell, Greater London to Nigerian parents. He was an Arsenal fan growing up. He has a younger brother, Timmy Abraham, who is also a footballer and plays for Boreham Wood F.C.
In January 2017, Abraham was involved in a motor vehicle accident while on loan at Bristol City. At the time of the accident, he was alleged to have been driving without a licence or insurance, and was summoned to court as a result. He later obtained his licence, passing the test in March of the same year.
## Career statistics
### Club
### International
England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Abraham goal
## Honours
Aston Villa
- EFL Championship play-offs: 2019
Chelsea
- UEFA Champions League: 2020–21
- UEFA Super Cup: 2021
- FA Cup runner-up: 2019–20
Roma
- UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2022–23
- UEFA Europa Conference League: 2021–22
England U21
- Toulon Tournament: 2018
Individual'
- EFL Championship Player of the Month: November 2018
- Bristol City Player of the Season: 2016–17
- Bristol City Young Player of the Season: 2016–17
- PFA Team of the Year: 2018–19 Championship
- UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season: 2021–22 |
19,609,628 | Utah State Route 101 | 1,030,821,564 | Highway in Utah, United States | [
"State highways in Utah",
"Utah State Routes in Cache County, Utah"
]
| State Route 101 (SR-101) is a 21.811-mile (35.101 km) long state highway located in the U.S. state of Utah. The route serves as a spur route into the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest through the cities of Wellsville and Hyrum, with an intermediate intersection with U.S. Route 89 (US-89) and US-91. SR-101 starts at an intersection of Main Street and SR-23 (Center Street) in Wellsville. Heading generally eastward, the highway terminates at the Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area. SR-101 was first designated in 1931 as a loop off SR-1 from Logan, south to Hyrum, and west to Wellsville.
## Route description
Located entirely in Cache County, SR-101 starts at an intersection of Main Street and SR-23 (Center Street) in Wellsville. The highway heads easterly for the first 0.4 mi (0.64 km) before it turns northeasterly, crossing the Little Bear River and intersects US-89/US-91 at a traffic light controlled at-grade interchange. After the interchange, SR-101 turns to the southeast after entering Hyrum city limits. At 400 West, SR-101 turns south for 3 blocks before turning back to the east, and intersecting SR-165.
After leaving Hyrum, SR-101 dips to the southeast again, entering the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and a canyon formed by the Blacksmith Fork River. The final 13.9 mi (22.4 km) are inside the forest, serving as an access route to several campgrounds, as well as a diversion dam, and electric plant. The route comes to an end at the Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area, a working ranch owned and run by the state of Utah.
For the year 2007, a daily average of 5,075 cars traveled along SR-101 at the intersection with US-89/US-91. This represents only a slight growth from previous years (in 2006, the average was 5,005; in 2005, 4,620). Nineteen percent of this traffic was composed of trucks. The lowest amount of traffic is accounted for on the final stretch of the highway through the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, with an average of 670 cars per day traveling to the Hardware Ranch visitors center. This represents a small increase from previous years, with an average of 635 cars per day in 2006 and 585 cars per day in 2005 traveling to the visitors center.
## History
SR-101 was formed in 1931 as a loop off SR-1 (now US-91) from Logan south to Hyrum and west to Wellsville. The road from Hyrum east to the Hardware Ranch was added to the state highway system in 1949 as State Route 242, and that route was extended south to SR-39 in 1965. The legislature redefined the Hyrum-area routes in 1969, taking SR-101 east from Wellsville to the Hardware Ranch over former SR-242, and returning the extension to SR-39 to local control. The leg of former SR-101 from Hyrum north to Logan became part of a new SR-165 at that time. On March 17, 1972, the roadway connecting the Hardware Ranch Visitors Center to SR-101 was added to the state route system as an addition to SR-101. The connector road was previously designated Collector Road 311.
## Major intersections |
5,089,938 | Australian ringneck | 1,120,705,884 | Species of bird | [
"Birds described in 1805",
"Broad-tailed parrots",
"Endemic birds of Australia",
"Platycercini",
"Taxa named by George Shaw"
]
| The Australian ringneck (Barnardius zonarius) is a parrot native to Australia. Except for extreme tropical and highland areas, the species has adapted to all conditions. Treatments of genus Barnardius have previously recognised two species, the Port Lincoln parrot (Barnardius zonarius) and the mallee ringneck (Barnardius barnardi), but due to these readily interbreeding at the contact zone they are usually regarded as a single species B. zonarius with subspecific descriptions. Currently, four subspecies are recognised, each with a distinct range.
In Western Australia, the ringneck competes for nesting space with the rainbow lorikeet, an introduced species. To protect the ringneck, culls of the lorikeet are sanctioned by authorities in this region. Overall, though, the ringneck is not a threatened species.
## Description
The subspecies of the Australian ringneck differ considerably in colouration. It is a medium size species around 33 cm (11 in) long. The basic colour is green, and all four subspecies have the characteristic yellow ring around the hindneck; wings and tail are a mixture of green and blue.
The B. z. zonarius and B. z. semitorquatus subspecies have a dull black head; back, rump and wings are brilliant green; throat and breast bluish-green. The difference between these two subspecies is that B. z. zonarius has a yellow abdomen while B. z. semitorquatus has a green abdomen; the latter has also a prominent crimson frontal band that the former lacks (the intermediate shown in the box has characteristics of both subspecies). The two other subspecies differ from these subspecies by the bright green crown and nape and blush cheek-patches. The underparts of B. z. barnardi are turquoise-green with an irregular orange-yellow band across the abdomen; the back and mantle are deep blackish-blue and this subspecies has a prominent red frontal band. The B. z. macgillivrayi is generally pale green, with no red frontal band, and a wide uniform pale yellow band across the abdomen.
The calls of the Mallee ringneck and Cloncurry parrot have been described as "ringing", and the calls of the Port Lincoln ringneck and Twenty-eight parrot have been described as "strident". The name of the Twenty-eight is an onomatopoeic derived from its distinctive call, which sounds like "twenty-eight" (or the French equivalent, '"vingt-huit", according to one early description).
## Taxonomy and naming
The Australian ringneck was first described by English naturalist George Shaw and drawn by Frederick Polydore Nodder in the 1805 in their work The Naturalist's Miscellany: Or, Coloured Figures of Natural Objects; Drawn and Described Immediately From Nature. He called it Psittacus zonarius "zoned parrot". A broad-tailed parrot, it is most closely related to the rosellas of the genus Platycercus, and has been placed in that genus by some authorities, including Ferdinand Bauer.
Pre-existing names for the species, derived from the Nyungar language of Southwest Australia, are dowarn [pronounced dow’awn] and doomolok [dorm’awe’lawk]; these were identified from over one hundred records of regional and orthographic variants to supplement the names already suggested by John Gilbert, Dominic Serventy and others.
Currently, four subspecies of ringneck are recognised, all of which have been described as distinct species in the past: (As of 1993, the Twenty-eight and Cloncurry parrot were treated as subspecies of the Port Lincoln parrot and the mallee ringneck, respectively.)
Several other subspecies have been described, but are considered synonyms with one of the above subspecies. B. z. occidentalis has been synonymised with B. z. zonarius. Intermediates exist between all subspecies except for between B. z. zonarius and B. z. macgillivrayi. Intermediates have been associated with land clearing for agriculture in southern Western Australia.
The classification of this species is still debated, and molecular research by Joseph and Wilke in 2006 found that the complex split genetically into two clades—one roughly correlating with B. z. barnardi and the other with the other three forms; B. z. macgillivrayi was more closely related to B. z. zonarius than to the neighbouring B. z. barnardi. The researchers felt it was premature to reorganise the classification of the complex until more study was undertaken.
### Subspecies
## Behaviour
The Australian ringneck is active during the day and can be found in eucalypt woodlands and eucalypt-lined watercourses. The species is gregarious and depending on the conditions can be resident or nomadic. In trials of growing hybrid eucalypt trees in dry environments parrots, especially the Port Lincoln parrot, caused severe damage to the crowns of the younger trees during the research period between 2000–3.
### Feeding
This species eats a wide range of foods that include nectar, insects, seeds, fruit, and native and introduced bulbs. It will eat orchard-grown fruit and is sometimes seen as a pest by farmers.
### Breeding
Breeding season for the northern populations starts in June or July, while the central and southern populations breed from August to February, but this can be delayed when climatic conditions are unfavourable. The nesting site is a hollow in a tree trunk. Generally four or five white oval eggs are laid measuring 29 mm x 23 mm, although a clutch may be as few as three and as many as six. Fledgling survival rates have been measured at 75%.
## Conservation
Although the species is endemic, the species is considered not threatened, but in Western Australia, the Twenty-eight subspecies (B. z. semitorquatus) gets locally displaced by the introduced rainbow lorikeets that aggressively compete for nesting places. The rainbow lorikeet is considered a pest species in Western Australia and is subject to eradication in the wild.
In Western Australia, a licence is required to keep or dispose of more than four Port Lincoln ringnecks. All four subspecies are sold in the Canary Islands and in Australia, and they are traded via the CITES convention. The sale of the Cloncurry parrot is restricted in Queensland. The Australian ringneck can suffer from psittacine beak and feather disease, which causes a high nestling mortality rate in captivity. |
30,631,353 | Tourism in Malta | 1,158,138,806 | Tourism in Malta | [
"Tourism in Europe by country",
"Tourism in Malta"
]
| Tourism in Malta is an important sector of the country's economy, contributing to about 15 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP). It is overseen by the Malta Tourism Authority, in turn falls under the responsibility of the Minister for Tourism, the Environment and Culture. Malta features a number of tourism attractions encompassing elements of the island's rich history and culture, as well as aquatic activities associated with the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, medical tourism has become popular in Malta in recent years, especially since government efforts to market the practice to medical tourists in the United Kingdom.
The number of people who visited Malta in 2009 dropped considerably compared to the figures for 2008 - overall, the country's tourism industry suffered an 8 percent drop from 2008. Visits from non-European Union countries dropped more considerably than visits from European Union countries (and even more so than visits from Eurozone countries), while the average stay length remained the same for both 2008 and 2009. Visitors from most countries require a visa to visit Malta. The nationalities requiring a visa are standardised as per European Union rules. Visitors already holding a valid Schengen Area visa most likely will not need to complete any more formalities to enter Malta, so long as they are already inside the Schengen Area. Visitors holding citizenship of the European Union do not require a visa to enter Malta as they hold the right to free movement within the European Union. In recent years, the country's tourism industry has been faced with a number of issues relating to the nation's small size, both in terms of area and population. These issues include stretched resources and infrastructure (such as water, waste management, beaches and roads), especially during the summer months of July and August.
## Attractions
Malta has a long and rich history, and this is reflected in the island's cultural attractions. The Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Romans and the Byzantines have all occupied Malta at some point in history, leaving a mix of many different architectural styles and artifacts to explore. The sovereignty of the Knights Hospitaller over Malta from 1530 to 1798 resulted in a legacy of elaborate artistry and architecture throughout Malta. The country's modern museums and art galleries feature relics from Malta's history for tourists and Maltese residents alike to enjoy.
There are also a number of aquatic activities to enjoy on Malta as well as Gozo and Comino. Northern Malta is home to the country's beach resorts and holiday areas, with the beaches most popular with holiday-makers being Mellieha Bay, Ghajn Tuffieha and Golden Bay. These beaches are large enough to be able to house cafes, restaurants and kiosks, but small enough to rarely be crowded. Malta's northwest is home to the island's quietest beaches, and it is on these that the main island's neighbouring two are nearest. Gozo and Comino are also popular beach spots for holiday-makers, although these are much more likely to be quieter, rockier and more suitable for snorkelling. The Mediterranean Sea surrounding Malta is popular for diving - while shallow dips may be attractive to beginning divers, more experienced divers may be able to dive deeper to find historical artifacts from World War II or earlier.
## Major event tourism
Major event tourism, especially events centred on Catholicism, is an important segment of the Maltese tourism sector. During Holy Week, processions and religious services dominate the country and food stalls are set up in the village squares of Malta. Another popular major event is Carnival, a five centuries-old traditional celebration lasting for the five days preceding Ash Wednesday. Celebrations for Carnival involve float-based pageants, street parties and street food stalls. They are mostly Roman Catholic.
One of the biggest sporting events held on the island is the Malta Marathon. Held every year in late February or early March, the race attracts a number of international competitors and has been sponsored by Land Rover since 2009, BMW from 2003 to 2008, GoMobile in 2002 and Flora Malta in 2001 and prior. In 2009, the full marathon winner, a Belgian, recorded a time of 2:25:59. In 2010, approximately 1,400 entrants participated.
## Medical tourism
Since 2010, the Malta Tourism Authority has been marketing Malta as a medical tourism destination. Focus areas for medical tourism include "cosmetic surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmic, neurological, urological, oncology, diagnostic, bariatric and cardiac services." The focus target market for medical tourists in Malta is the United Kingdom, followed by North Africa, the Middle East, Russia and North America. Part of the reason for targeting the United Kingdom for medical tourists is that many members of Malta's medical profession were trained in the United Kingdom, increasing the confidence of British patients in those taking care of them. In addition, unlike some medical tourism destinations, Malta has a stable political climate. The Maltese government supports the development of medical tourism on the island but believes that private medical providers should be performing medical procedures, not government-run facilities.
## Educational Tourism in ESL Industry
Educational tourism highly contributes to the number of yearly inbound tourists in Malta. In recent years Malta has successfully become a dominant country in the ESL (English as a Second Language) industry. This can be attributed to the fact that English is an official language in Malta, as well as the congenial climate, cultural and historical heritage, the safe environment and high standard of living.
This has resulted in numerous quality English language schools operating on the islands throughout the year. While most of the English language schools are on Malta, some institutions have a centre on Gozo as well. In addition, there has been an increase in monitoring boards, teacher training courses, conferences and assessment procedures to ensure quality tuition is upheld.
English language schools in Malta are accredited and licensed by various international and local institutions within the ESL industry. Such associations include IALC (International Association of Language Centres), ALTO (Association of language travel organisations), FELTOM (The Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta), ELT Council, Bildungsurlaub, Erasmus, and Malta Tourism Authority.
## Visas
In addition to a valid passport, "documents substantiating the purpose and the conditions of the planned visit" and "sufficient means of support, both for the period of the planned visit and to return to their country of origin," travellers arriving in Malta may be required to have a visa for entry into the country.
European Union citizens have the right to travel freely into Malta without completing any special formalities. The nationals of many countries are not required to hold visas to enter Malta, although many are in accordance with uniform European Union regulations. A full list of nationalities required to hold visas to enter Malta and the Schengen Area is published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' web site.
While Malta cannot unilaterally drop the requirement for nations it makes agreements with to obtain visas to enter the Schengen Area through its border crossing points, it is permitted to offer visa discounts to certain nationalities. At present, Malta has 'visa facilitation agreements' with eight nations: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.
## Statistics
Tourism is a major component of the Maltese economy, constituting about 40 per cent of Malta's GDP in 2003/04. 1,183,012 tourists visited Malta in 2009. Although this is an 8 per cent drop from 2008, the number of tourists is expected to reach 1,300,000 by the end of 2010 (figures are not yet available). For the period January to December 2009, drops were recorded in visits from most countries sending large numbers of tourists to Malta, including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, the Scandinavian countries, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, whilst a 24.7 per cent increase was recorded in visits to and from Libya. Visits from non-European Union countries took the greatest hit, with visits from these countries decreasing by 15 per cent compared to 2008. Comparatively, visits from European Union countries decreased only 7.4 per cent. Visits from the Eurozone dropped by an even smaller proportion, recording a fall of only 5.6 per cent.
The vast majority of visitors to Malta stayed for seven nights or longer, with the average stay length being 8.5 nights. While the number of people staying seven nights or longer in Malta fell by 13.4 per cent in 2009 compared to 2008, the number of people staying four to six nights jumped 7.5 per cent, and one to three nights by 1.5 per cent. Expenditure by tourists to Malta declined 12 per cent when compared to 2008 levels, with a recorded value of EUR 916.4 million.
### Arrivals by country
Most visitors arriving to Malta on short-term basis were from the following countries of nationality:
### Historical trends
Tourism in Malta began to grow beginning in the mid-1960s. During the 1970s, Maltese tourism grew significantly, with numbers growing from 170,800 in 1970 to 705,500 in 1981. From 1981, the figures dropped to approximately 500,000 visitors per year until the late 1980s, when an upward trend began again. In the mid-1990s, figures were as high as 1.2 million tourists per year.
The volatility of the Maltese tourism market in the past has been largely due to trends in the preferences of tourists from the United Kingdom, who comprise Malta's largest tourism market. Although Malta's uniform use of English, its traditional ties to the United Kingdom and low-cost travel options have made it an attractive option to British tourists, changing preferences of these tourists can impact Malta's tourism income quite significantly. For example, the increasing preference of British tourists for Spanish destinations during the 1980s was reflected in a drop in Malta's tourism numbers during that period.
## Market issues
Malta's tourism industry faces a number of issues affecting it now and threatening to affect it in the future. One of the clearest issues facing Malta's tourism industry is overcrowding as a result of the island nation's relatively small size, in terms of both area and population. Malta is a nation of just under 450,000 people, yet its infrastructure is required to support 2.6 million tourists every year. Malta's water works, roads, waste management systems and beaches are stretched to capacity in the summer months of July and August of every year, when tourism numbers are at their peak. This is a challenge facing Maltese tourism operators as it means that they cannot simply pursue the kinds of 'mass tourism' marketing measures taken by operators in other Mediterranean destinations with more space and resources to pursue them. In addition, Maltese tourism operators must balance increased tourism numbers with the needs of the 'native population', as when resources are stretched thin by tourists during the summer season, there are negative impacts on Maltese residents also.
## See also
- List of museums in Malta |
31,608,029 | Brymo | 1,166,471,129 | Nigerian singer and songwriter | [
"1986 births",
"21st-century Nigerian male singers",
"Lagos State University alumni",
"Living people",
"Musicians from Lagos",
"Nigerian male pop singers",
"Nigerian male singer-songwriters",
"Nigerian singer-songwriters",
"Sound artists",
"The Headies winners",
"Yoruba-language singers"
]
| Ọlawale Ọlọfọrọ (born Olawale Ibrahim Ashimi; 9 May 1986), who is better known as Brymo, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, sonic artist, actor and author who was born and raised in Okokomaiko. Brymo started recording music in 1999 while in secondary school. He signed a recording contract with music label Chocolate City in 2010 but was accused of breaching his contract in 2013. Brymo released his debut studio album Brymstone in 2007. His second studio album The Son of a Kapenta was released in 2012, and was supported by the singles "Ara", "Good Morning" and "Go Hard". His third studio album Merchants, Dealers & Slaves, which was released on 20 October 2013, received positive reviews from music critics and was supported by the singles "Down" and "Eko".
In October 2014, Brymo released his fourth studio album Tabula Rasa; its lead single "Fe Mi" was described as a "soft traditional ballad". His eight-track compilation album Trance was released on 8 December 2015. It was primarily targeted at audiences in the U.S., and includes songs from Merchants, Dealers & Slaves and Tabula Rasa. Brymo released his fifth studio album Klĭtôrĭs on 9 May 2016; it was nominated for Best R&B/Pop Album at The Headies 2016 and for Album of the Year at The Headies 2018. In March 2018, Brymo released his critically acclaimed sixth studio album Oṣó, which includes a mixture of alternative folk and Yoruba music, and was supported by the singles "Heya!" and "Bá’núsọ". Brymo teamed up with three members of Skata Vibration to form A.A.A, an alternative rock band whose eponymous debut Extended Play (EP) was released in August 2019.
Brymo's seventh studio album Yellow was released on 1 April 2020; it was nominated for Best Alternative Album and Album of the Year at The Headies 2020. Brymo released his debut EP Libel on 5 November 2020. The five-track EP was produced by Bigfoot and includes guest vocals from Deborah Prest. In September 2021, Brymo simultaneously released 9: Èsan and 9: Harmattan & Winter as his eighth and ninth studio albums, respectively. His tenth studio album Theta was released on 27 May 2022; it has 10 tracks and is sung entirely in Nigerian Pidgin. Brymo exhibited Mansa, his eleventh studio album and debut as a sonic artist, at KAP Hub in March 2023. He has released books Oriri's Plight (2018), Verses (2020) and The Bad Tooth (2022), and starred in the films Price of Admission (2021) and Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman (2022).
## Life and career
### Early life and career beginnings
Olawale Ashimi was born and raised in Okokomaiko, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria; his father is an Awori carpenter and his mother is an Egun petty trader; he is his parents' only child. Ashimi grew up in a multi-faith household and learned to recite the entire Qur'an after being enrolled into an Islamic School. Ashimi attended Aganju Aka Primary School and later enrolled at Japual Primary School.
Ashimi was initially interested in a career playing football after graduating from secondary school. In 1999, while in secondary scholls, Ashimi recorded his first song and titled it "Future". In 2002, Ashimi and some of his friends formed a group called The Aliens; they were active between 2004 and 2005, and disbanded in 2005. Ashimi was inspired to create music after listening to his mother singing fuji songs. Ashimi gained admission to Lagos State University (LASU), where he studied zoology, but after his second year he left to pursue a career in music.
### 2007–2012: Brymstone, "Oleku" collaboration, and The Son of a Kapenta
Brymo released his debut studio album Brymstone in 2007; its lead single "Shawty" was accompanied by a music video. He told Damiete Braide of The Sun, he chose Rhythm and Blues (R&B) after being influenced by the work of R. Kelly and the Backstreet Boys. He also told Braide he sold more than 2,000 copies of the album within six months of its release. In a 2013 interview with The Sun, Brymo said management problems prevented him from getting a marketing deal for the album and that he had a one-million naira offer that failed because of technical issues. Brymo also said Brymstone is his worst body of work but credits it with helping him enter the music business.
Brymo appeared on the hit single "Oleku", which was released as the lead single from Ice Prince's debut studio album Everybody Loves Ice Prince (2011). Brymo told Tony Erhariefe of The Sun his inspiration for recording the hook of "Oleku" came from the passion and energy around him, and from hunger and desperation. He also said the song did not generate money but gave him exposure. In 2010, Denrele Edun, whom Brymo met a few years earlier, asked Brymo if he knew the rapper M.I, who was interested in talking with him. In 2010, Brymo signed to the label Chocolate City after talking with M.I. Prior to his record deal with Chocolate City, Brymo worked with rapper Jesse Jagz on the song "Love You", which appeared on Jagz's debut studio album Jag of All Tradez (2011).
On 15 November 2012, Brymo released his second studio album The Son of a Kapenta, which includes guest appearances from Jesse Jagz, Pryse, M.I, Ice Prince and Efya. The album was recorded in English and Yoruba. On 18 September 2011, Brymo released the Legendury Beatz-produced track "Ara" as the album's lead single. Aje Filmworks directed its music video, which was released on 31 December 2011. Brymo told Damiete Braide of The Sun "Ara" is a slang word that loosely translates to "wonder". In a July 2012 interview with Adeola Adeyemo of BellaNaija, Brymo said he recorded the song while being under pressure from Chocolate City to submit a single. He also said "Ara" was written six months after he recorded "Good Morning".
On 16 April 2012, Brymo released "Good Morning" as the album's second single. Its music video was directed by Aje Filmworks and released on 30 July 2012. In a 2012 interview with newspaper The Punch, Brymo said his father's carpentry profession inspired the album's title, described The Son of a Kapenta as a summary of his life and said each song is a reflection of his energy. Brymo also said he recorded the album to be identified by his body of work as a lead artist rather than as a featured artist. In January 2013, newspaper The Nation included The Son of a Kapenta on its list of Albums that failed commercially in 2012".
### 2013–2015: Merchants, Dealers & Slaves, Tabula Rasa and Trance
On 20 October 2013, Brymo released his third studio album Merchants, Dealers & Slaves, which was produced by Mikky Me and includes guitar work from David. Hard copies of the album were released on 26 March 2014. On 18 October 2013, Brymo revealed the album's track list on Instagram. The album's lead single "Down" was released on 1 October 2013, the day after its music video had been uploaded to YouTube. Brymo dedicated the song to his family and country. In May 2014, Nigerian Entertainment Today reported undergraduate students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale had examined the lyrics of "Down" as part of a case-study project. Brymo was invited to the school to attend the case study presentation. On 21 October 2013, "Eko" was released as the album's second single. Critical reception to Merchants, Dealers & Slaves was positive. Ayomide Tayo of Nigeria Entertainment Today described the album as a "soulful masterpiece that is emotionally charged with amazing production".
On 14 October 2014, Brymo was announced as an ambassador for the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He released his fourth studio album Tabula Rasa on 30 October 2014; earlier that month, his manager Lanre Lawal announced plans for the release during an interview with The Punch. Lawal told The Sun the album would be a fusion of African folk and popular music. Brymo told The Nation he recorded the album to move on from his controversial split with Chocolate City. He decided to name the album Tabula Rasa after hearing the judge use the term in a speech. "Fe Mi" was released as the album's lead single on 18 September 2014; Ayo Onikoyi of Vanguard described the song as "a soft traditional ballad". On 6 March 2015, Brymo released a documentary about the song "1 Pound" that was directed by St. Immaculate; a teaser of the documentary was released four days earlier. On 30 March 2015, Brymo released the music video for the song "Ję Lé O Sinmi"; Godson KC Uma of MaadKreativity Inc directed the video, which runs for 3 minutes and 59 seconds.
On 3 December 2015, Brymo released "Waka Waka", the theme song to the stage musical Wakaa! The Musical. In an interview with newspaper This Day, Brymo said the project's script inspired the song and that he was interested after Wakaa's production team contacted his management. Brymo also told This Day he recorded the song "Viva", which later appeared on the 2016 soundtrack album Wakaa (The Musical). On 8 December 2015, Brymo released an eight-track compilation album titled Trance. It was released by American record label and publishing firm Tate Music Group, and was originally scheduled for a September 2015 release. Trance was primarily targeted at audiences in the U.S., and contains songs from the albums Merchants, Dealers & Slaves and Tabula Rasa. Brymo described Trance as a medley of thoughts based on his experiences. The album contains elements of African folk, soul, pop, and afrobeat.
### Chocolate City departure
In May 2013, Brymo announced on Twitter he had left Chocolate City. Audu Maikori, who was CEO of Chocolate City, refuted Brymo's claims during a press conference at the label's office in Lekki. Maikori said Brymo still had three years left on his contract and still needed to record two albums. According to newspaper Vanguard, during the press conference, Maikori said Brymo had committed an act of insubordination when he refused to remove a picture he posted on Instagram. While speaking to journalists in June 2013, Brymo said Chocolate City cheated him when it to explain how his second studio album was leaked, and that there was no accountability in the way his album was being sold and distributed.
In August 2013, Brymo signed a distribution deal with digital media company Spinlet, enabling it to distribute his next album online. Nigerian Entertainment Today reported Spinlet discontinued the deal after Chocolate City made them aware of the label's existing contract with Brymo. On 14 October 2013, Chocolate City filed an interim injunction against Brymo, restraining him from partaking in musical ventures beyond the confines of his contract. Six days later, Brymo released his third studio album despite reports about the injunction. On 21 October, a judge at the Federal High Court of Lagos restrained Brymo from releasing and distributing any musical work pending Chocolate City's lawsuit against him.
According to The Nation, Brymo and his management met with Chocolate City representatives in October 2013 to discuss mutually-agreeable terms. Chocolate City asked Brymo to sign an agreement during the meeting but failed. On 11 November 2013, Premium Times reported the legal teams of both parties met in court for a hearing and that the case was adjourned to 5 December 2013. Between December 2013 and March 2014, the case was adjourned four times for several reasons. In March 2014, the Federal High Court of Lagos lifted the restraint it put on Brymo. In May 2014, Nigerian Entertainment Today reported the judge presiding over the case withdrew after he was accused of bias. In a radio interview with Toolz in May 2016, Brymo said he did not win the case against Chocolate City, saying: "we had the opportunity to iron it out in court but they fried it up. I don’t know what they did but they definitely spoke to the judge and spoke to the lawyers and scrapped the case, they are lawyers; they can do it."
### 2016–2018: Klĭtôrĭs, Oṣó and Oriri's Plight
Brymo's fifth studio album Klĭtôrĭs was released on 9 May 2016. It was made available for pre-order via iTunes prior to its release. Eleven tracks comprise the album, whose release was preceded by that of the lead single "Happy Memories". Brymo's girlfriend Esse Kakada appears on the song "Naked". Georgi Georgiev of Moonring Art Design designed the album's original artwork. Duks created an edited version of the artwork because iTunes refused to use the original artwork. In an interview with Nigerian Entertainment Today, Brymo said the album's title means key in the Greek language and that the album is an expression of love and the uncertainty of it. He said; "the album is the key to a certain door I have knocked on for years; and yes it was meant to be sensual, there ought to be two sides to the coin". Klĭtôrĭs was nominated for Best R&B/Pop Album at The Headies 2016 and for Album of the Year at The Headies 2018.
In November 2017, Brymo said on Twitter plans were underway for his sixth studio album, whose title he announced as Oṣó (Yoruba: The Wizard), and launched a website titled theosoproject.com dedicated to the project. In August 2017, he released the Jazz-infused Afrobeat single "Do You Know Me". Oṣó was released on 27 March 2018; it has 11 tracks, and was produced and mixed by Brymo's frequent collaborator Mikky Me Joses. The album was mastered at Metalworks Studios in Canada. The following day, Brymo released the lead single "Heya"'s music video, which was filmed and directed by NVMB3R Production. The video features Brymo exposing his buttocks while wearing a loincloth to hide his genitals. The video received mixed reviews; in an e-mail to Pulse Nigeria, Brymo defended his decision to expose his buttocks, saying; "I decided to appear how my forebears dressed before the arrival of civilization to Nubian continent".
In September 2018, Brymo released Oriri's Plight, a self-referential fictional novel centred around a young Nubian man of the Dark Ages. The digital version of the book was published worldwide on all digital book platforms and the physical version was published in Nigeria on 4 October 2018. Clockwyce Publishing published and distributed Oriri's Plight.
### 2019–2021: A.A.A, Yellow, Verses, acting debut, Libel, Èsan, and Harmattan & Winter
In 2019, Brymo teamed up with three members of Skata Vibration to form A.A.A, an alternative rock band that also included guitarist Jad Moukarim, drummer Adey Omotade, and bassist Laughter. The band's five-track eponymous debut EP was released on 5 August 2019; it is a fusion of African folk and psychedelic rock. Mikky Me Joses mixed and mastered the EP, which was recorded at Blackstar Studios in Ikoyi, Lagos. Music critic Kolawole Michael said: A.A.A is a "decent experimental piece, a litmus test that foretells what Brymo’s next project may sound like. It's a show of Brymo tenacity, a testament to his songwriting skill and vocal phrasing."
Brymo's seventh studio album Yellow, whose cover art and track list were unveiled in March 2020, was released on 1 April 2020. Brymo said Yellow is about "love and survival", and that it would be an alternative pop and electronic record. Yellow incorporates elements of sentimental ballad, trap, sophisti-pop, shoegaze, rock, synth-pop, and folk music. The album's cover art is Insight and Frustrations 2020, a painting by Nigerian artist Samuel Olowomeye Ancestor. On Instagram, Brymo said he was drawn to the painting after having several conversations with his friends. Nigerian singer Lindsey Abudei is the only artist featured on the album. With the exception of "Abụ Ya", which was co-produced by Nsikak David and Abudei, Mikky Me Joses produced engineered Yellow. The album explores topics such as love, heartbreak, socio-politics, and mental health. Yellow spans three sides and was initially composed of 17 tracks, six of which were recorded in English, five in Nigerian Pidgin, five in Yoruba, and one in Igbo. The album's three sides were numbered in Arabic, Roman and English numerals, respectively. On 24 March, Brymo cited technical reasons for omitting the tracks "Iya Awele" and "Ife" from the album. Yellow was nominated for Best Alternative Album and Album of the Year at The Headies 2020.
In April 2020, Brymo released the e-book Versus, which is alternatively titled Verses (Musings, Notes and Prose). Brymo made his acting debut in Udoka Oyeka's 2021 short film Price of Admission, in which he played Kola, a musician who struggles to get a record deal and attain fame. The film was screened in Lagos on 24 January and premiered on YouTube in June 2021.
Brymo's debut EP Libel was released on 5 November 2020; the five-track EP was produced by Bigfoot and includes guest vocals by Deborah Prest. Its cover art depicts a pair of women's panties, blood, and a broken glass. On the record, Brymo addresses a rape accusation made on social media by a woman. In a review for YNaija, Kola Muhammed said the EP is a "musical diary bearing tales of anguish" and that Brymo "sought to heal himself from the pain of defamation". Pulse Nigeria's Motolani Alake awarded the EP a rating of 8.2 out of 10, saying it is "largely about Brymo's journey back to life, as aided by love".
In September 2021, Brymo simultaneously released 9: Èsan (Yoruba: Revenge) and 9: Harmattan & Winter, as his eighth and ninth studio albums, respectively. Both albums have nine tracks, and include a mixture of alt-rock, R&B, sentimental ballad, and folk music; and are dedicated to Brymo's romantic partner. Brymo said both albums are an “ode to every 1, to every SIGMA, woman and man, to order!". He also said both records pay homage to karma and to the seasons. All of the songs on Èsan were recorded entirely in Yoruba, and were produced and mastered by Mikky Me Joses. 9: Èsan was nominated for Best Alternative Album and Album of the Year at The Headies 2022. Bigfoot produced 9: Harmattan & Winter, which was recorded entirely in English; its title symbolizes a transition from insufficiency to sufficiency.
### 2022-present: Theta, Ethos, rebranding, Mansa and Macabre
Brymo's tenth studio album Theta was released on 27 May 2022, along with his third book The Bad Tooth. Ten tracks comprise the album, which was recorded entirely in Nigerian Pidgin. Brymo announced the album's track list in a Twitter post; he described it as a "study of humanity's struggles—and a view into what it might have been". Bigfoot produced, mixed, and mastered all of the album's tracks. In a review for The Cable Lifestyle, Fareedat Taofeeq awarded the album seven stars out of 10, calling it a "great piece" and commending Brymo for "maintaining his style and music direction over the years". In a review for Pulse Nigeria, Motolani Alake rated the album 8.2 out of 10, calling it simplistic and noting it often "feels like a fly on the wall". Alake also commended Brymo for not "forcing his opinions, thoughts and views down anybody's throat".
On 12 August 2022, Brymo and rapper A-Q announced on Instagram they would release a collaborative album titled Ethos. Ten tracks comprise the album, which Bigfoot produced. Primarily a hip-hop record, the album contains additional elements of afrobeat, jazz, folk, and R&B. A-Q described the album as "personal stories about life, loss and love". Motolani Alake of Pulse Nigeria rated the album 9.9 out of 10, praising its production and acknowledging both artists for "assuming the positions of philosophers who examined the meaning of life as it relates to self, love, and loss".
In 2022, Brymo starred in Biyi Bandele's Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman, a Yoruba-language Nigerian film that is based on Wole Soyinka's 1975 stage play Death and the King's Horseman. He sang the background music in the film's trailer. The same year, Brymo rebranded himself as a sonic artist. Mansa, his eleventh studio album and debut as a sonic artist, was exhibited at KAP Hub on 3 March 2023. He revealed the album's cover art the previous year and said Mansa would be released in the first quarter of 2023. He also said only one copy of the album would be available for purchase and that it would be sold for \$500,000. In an interview with The Cable Lifestyle newspaper, Brymo said Mansa is the first of a three-part sonic project he plans to release in the next three years.
Brymo's twelfth studio album titled Macabre is scheduled for release in December 2023. He made the announcement about the album's release on 8 September 2022.
## Artistry
Brymo's music is a mixture of fuji, R&B, pop and rock. He told Damiete Braide his music can be called pop due to its ability to communicate with people. Brymo's albums Merchants, Dealers & Slaves and Tabula Rasa comment on social injustice and chaos that are prevalent in Nigerian society. In a 2016 interview with OkayAfrica, Brymo said; "Although my songs reflect many issues which are relevant in my society, I believe that human relations is the site where all issues emerge". Music critic Michael Kolawole said Brymo's music has doses of "profanity couched in intellectualism and philosophical thoughts". Kolawole also called Brymo's music "affirmations of deep-rooted personal ideology, enigmatic and beautiful lyrical poetry, equations of balanced ribaldry and cheekiness".
## Controversy
In January 2023, Brymo announced on Twitter his support for Bola Tinubu in the 2023 Nigerian presidential election and said an Igbo presidency will remain a fantasy as long as there are talks about Biafra in the country's South East. Many of Peter Obi's supporters on Twitter called Brymo's comments offensive and tribalistic. Brymo garnered public support for Tinubu in May 2022. A petition that was launched through Change.org and signed by over 40,000 people called for Brymo's nominations at the eighth annual All Africa Music Awards to be revoked.
## Personal life
Brymo has a son who was born on 27 March 2015. On 12 November that year, Brymo uploaded pictures of his son to his Instagram account for the first time.
## Discography
Studio albums
- Brymstone (2007)
- The Son of a Kapenta (2012)
- Merchants, Dealers & Slaves (2013)
- Tabula Rasa (2014)
- Klĭtôrĭs (2016)
- Oṣó (2018)
- Yellow (2020)
- 9: Èsan (2021)
- 9: Harmattan & Winter (2021)
- Theta (2022)
- Mansa (2023)
- Macabre (2023)
Collaborative albums
- Ethos (with A-Q) (2022)
Compilation and live albums
- Trance (2015)
- Live! at Terra Kulture Arena (2019)
EPs
- A.A.A (with Skata Vibration as A.A.A) (2019)
- Libel (2020)
## Filmography
- Price of Admission (2021)
- Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman (2022)
## Books
- Oriri's Plight (2018)
- Verses (2020)
- The Bad Tooth (2022) |
2,743,117 | Darren Middleton | 1,169,755,752 | Australian musician (born 1971) | [
"1971 births",
"APRA Award winners",
"Australian guitarists",
"Living people",
"Musicians from Brisbane",
"Powderfinger members"
]
| Darren Middleton (born 4 October 1971) is an Australian musician, best known as lead guitarist and songwriter for alternative rock band Powderfinger. He was also lead singer/songwriter for Drag; his current solo tour is 'Splinters', a follow-up to his 2013 solo tour 'Translations.' The 'Splinters' tour is Middleton's tour of Western Australia and Victoria in August and November 2016, respectively.
After Powderfinger's dissolution in 2010, Middleton released his first solo LP, 'Translations' in November 2013, featuring many guests such as Nic Cester (Jet), Bernard Fanning (Powderfinger), Pete Murray, Paul Dempsey (Something for Kate), Clare Bowditch and Amy Findlay (Stonefield).
Middleton attended prestigious private school, Brisbane Boys' College, where he started guitar in high school. He was influenced by Twisted Sister and AC/DC, and began playing in clubs around his hometown of Brisbane as part of his first band, Sonic Tapestry. He went on to form another band, Pirate, with high school friends, and met Powderfinger at a Pirate show. After graduating from Brisbane Boys' College, Middleton was invited to join Powderfinger, and consequently took part in all of Powderfinger's recordings, at the same time writing and releasing an EP and studio album with Drag.
## Musical career
### Early work
Middleton was inspired to learn guitar by Twisted Sister and AC/DC, noting the first songs he wanted to learn could have been "I Wanna Rock" and "We're Not Gonna Take It", or any song by AC/DC. He did not take guitar lessons, and instead taught himself the instrument. Middleton formed a band named Sonic Tapestry with high school friends, and played around Brisbane's "biker-fest circuit". The band's first show was at the Atcherley Hotel, on Wednesday's "Heavy Metal Night", however the band, unaware of the genre, played "80s glam metal stuff".
### Powderfinger (1989–2010)
Middleton first encountered Powderfinger when it consisted of Bernard Fanning, Ian Haug, John Collins, and Jon Coghill. At the time, Middleton had been playing with Sonic Tapestry, and another band named Pirate. After seeing his band perform, Powderfinger invited Middleton to join them, and he accepted. Middleton described Powderfinger's early days as highly influenced by other popular heavy metal bands at the time, especially Pantera. Despite the band's members all having come from casual projects, the band's meetings were highly serious, according to Middleton, although he admitted they were "confused" in exactly what they wanted to do. Powderfinger generally performed covers of The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and Steppenwolf, as well as Neil Young in their early days, in similar clubs to those in which Middleton had first played.
Powderfinger released two early EPs and a debut album, without success, and considered separating, with Middleton contemplating a return to University. However, after Fanning wrote "Pick You Up", the band's mainstream breakthrough, they decided to stick together. From this point on, the band considered themselves to be making "real money".
In 2001, on a tour in the United States, Powderfinger played with Coldplay, in what Middleton described as a highlight. The band also played on the Late Show with David Letterman to promote Odyssey Number Five. After Coldplay cut short the tour, Powderfinger ended up playing numerous US shows themselves, before returning to Australia to play Splendour in the Grass. Middleton's partner gave birth to the couple's first daughter in September 2001. Middleton summarised the year with the comment "This year has been a bit of a blur".
### Drag (2000–2006)
While touring with Powderfinger, Middleton also wrote his own works, occasionally fine tuning them in hotels where the band was staying. These would go on to be the songs he sang for Drag. Middleton formed Drag with drummer and Powderfinger engineer Mark McElligott, Brisbane bass guitarist Sean Hartman, and long-time friend Matt Murphy. Drag released an EP, Gas Food Lodging, on 26 October 2003 through Dew Process. The band followed this up with several gigs in Brisbane; a tour down the East Coast of Australia was canceled when Middleton caught the flu. After completing work on Gas Food Lodging, Powderfinger reunited and went on to record Vulture Street.
Drag reunited in 2005 to produce their debut studio album, The Way Out, which was released on 10 July 2005. In recording the album, Drag spent three weeks at Byron Bay in March 2005, collaborating with each other and producer David Nicholas. The album earned Drag some positive reception; Rave magazine wrote that "Darren Middleton's creative genius absolutely beguiled me with some extremely mature compositions", and David Nicholas won an ARIA Award for his role as producer. The album was also nominated for "Engineer of the Year". Following The Way Out, Drag toured around Australia, playing with UK band Athlete. This culminated with the bands playing at Splendour in the Grass, where it was noted that Middleton needed "to work on his stage presence". Following the tour, Powderfinger reunited, and Dream Days at the Hotel Existence was released in 2007.
### Solo Work (2012-Current)
After Powderfinger called it quits in 2010, Middleton started working on his first solo LP, "Translations". The album was released in November 2013, featuring many guests such as Nic Cester (Jet), Bernard Fanning (Powderfinger), Pete Murray, Paul Dempsey (Something for Kate), Clare Bowditch and Amy Findlay (Stonefield). 2016 sees Darren Middleton return to touring, as he embarks on a four show of Western Australia (three shows) and Victoria (one show) in August and November. This tour is for his newest solo project 'Splinters'.
## Musical style and influences
Middleton rarely takes a singer or songwriter's role for Powderfinger, generally delegating those tasks to Bernard Fanning. However, the song "Over My Head" from Internationalist had Middleton performing vocals. This came about when Middleton did a recording of himself singing the song before Fanning had the chance to do so. Previously, Middleton had written the lyrics to "JC", which was sung by Fanning. However, Middleton sung JC several times throughout the 2007 Upstairs at the Downstairs tour. Despite Middleton's minimal songwriting, he has been praised for it by his bandmates; Jon Coghill told a 1999 interview that "Darren (Middleton) and Bernie (Fanning) are extremely good at writing songs." Middleton agrees with this analysis; telling Undercover'''s Paul Cashmere in 2003 that "We are about writing good music." He commented that the band used their position at the top of the Australian industry to comment and give people ideas to think about, rather than "trying to say people should take it as gospel". Middleton has criticised the "boy band" phenomena, pointing out that "A lot of them can sing well, but they have people writing all their lyrics for them."
Middleton has cited numerous Australian bands, including AC/DC, Crowded House, and Midnight Oil, as ongoing influences in his music, as well as international artists including Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, and Ben Harper. "I went through a bad eighties stage. Bad glam bands. Twisted Sister. Some really bad punk", Middleton comments on the time in which he learned the guitar. Middleton has used a Les Paul guitar, and was praised by Alphonse Leong of Drop-D, described as playing it "as well as any of the seminal axe-noodlers of the hippie era".
## Awards and nominations
### APRA Awards
The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).
\|- \|rowspan="2"\| 2004 \|\| Powderfinger – Bernard Fanning, Jon Coghill, Ian Haug, Middleton, John Collins \|\| Songwriter of the Year \|\| \|- \|"On My Mind" – Bernard Fanning, Middleton, John Collins, Ian Haug, Jon Coghill \|\| Most Performed Australian Work \|\| \|- \|rowspan="2"\| 2008 \|\|rowspan="2"\| "Lost and Running" – Jon Coghill, John Collins, Bernard Fanning, Ian Haug, Middleton \|\| Song of the Year \|\| \|- \|Most Played Australian Work \|\|
## Discography
### With Powderfinger
- Parables for Wooden Ears (1994)
- Double Allergic (1996)
- Internationalist (1998)
- Odyssey Number Five (2000)
- Vulture Street (2003)
- Dream Days at the Hotel Existence (2007)
- Golden Rule (2009)
### With Drag
- Gas Food Lodging (EP) (2002)
- The Way Out (2005)
### Solo
- Translations (2013)
- Splinters (2015)
- Tides (2018)
## Influence
Middleton attended Brisbane Boys College in Brisbane, Queensland. The School established an annual songwriting competition in 2017, which was named for him in 2018. |
42,593,005 | Ayscoghe Boucherett | 1,145,009,955 | British politician | [
"1755 births",
"1815 deaths",
"Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge",
"British MPs 1796–1800",
"Deputy Lieutenants of Lincolnshire",
"Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Great Grimsby",
"Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Great Grimsby",
"People from West Lindsey District",
"UK MPs 1801–1802",
"UK MPs 1802–1806"
]
| Lieutenant-Colonel Ayscoghe Boucherett, JP DL (16 April 1755 – 15 September 1815) was a British landowner, businessman and Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby from 1796 to 1803.
Born into a family of the Lincolnshire landed gentry, Boucherett became involved in local politics in Lincolnshire, and (owing mainly to his marriage) with artistic and mercantile circles in London. He was the chairman of the Grimsby Haven Company, which oversaw the reopening and expansion of Grimsby's first dock. He was a friend of the artist Sir Thomas Lawrence and the proprietor of Willingham, Lincolnshire, where he constructed his country seat, Willingham House, in 1790. For his investment in the Haven Company, he received the support of Lord Yarborough, one of its main investors and a principal land-owner in Grimsby; owing largely to Lord Yarborough's patronage, Boucherett was returned as the Member of Parliament for that borough at the 1796 election. He was not a frequent voter, but used his position to further the interests of his corporation. Nonetheless, the company met with financial difficulties after it opened the Harbour in 1800. In 1803, Boucherett resigned his seat in favour of Yarborough's heir and pursued a quieter political life. He died in a carriage accident in 1815.
## Early life and family connections
Boucherett was born on 16 April 1755, the son of Ayscoghe Boucherett of Willingham and Stallingborough, Lincolnshire, and his wife, Mary White. The elder Boucherett had been the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1754, and was a landed gentleman in Lincolnshire, whose family was descended from Huguenot merchants; they married into the Ayscoghe family and inherited the Willingham estate through this marriage. The elder Boucherett's daughter, Mary, had married Michael Barne of Sotterley, Suffolk, an army officer and a member of parliament for Dunwich.
The younger Boucherett was admitted at Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1773, aged 18, but did not take a degree. He married, on 17 March 1789, Emelia Crockatt, daughter of Charles Crockatt, a merchant, of London and of Luxborough Hall, Essex, and his wife, Anna Muilman, who married, when widowed, the insurance broker and art connoisseur John Julius Angerstein. This union helped the younger Boucherett to garner connexions in London merchant circles. Emilia Boucherett died on 5 February 1837, aged 75. The Boucheretts had one son and three daughters:
- Emilia Mary Boucherett (7 August 1790 – 29 November 1870). Died unmarried.
- Ayscoghe Boucherett, J.P., D.L. (24 September 1791 – 1857), he was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1820. He married, on 11 May 1816, Louisa Pigou, daughter of Frederick John Pigou of Dartford, Kent, and his wife Louisa, née Minchin. They had: Ayscoghe Boucherett (1817–32), Henry Robert Boucherett, J.P. (1818–77), who was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1866, Hugo Boucherett (1819 – c. 1839), Louisa Boucherett (1821–95), and Emilia Jessie Boucherett (1825–1905), who was a noted women's rights campaigner.
- Maria Boucherett (born 30 October 1795). She married, on 15 August 1815, Charles Parker Newdigate Newdegate of Harefield, Middlesex; their only child was the Conservative politician and Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire, Charles Newdigate Newdegate.
- Juliana Boucherett (bapt. 27 April 1798). Died unmarried.
Boucherett paid for the construction of a new family seat in 1790; Willingham House was a larger and grander mansion than the family's previous seat closer to Willingham, and was constructed in the neoclassical style, most likely by Robert Mitchell, two miles west of the earlier house.
## Friendship with Sir Thomas Lawrence
The family's connection with the art connoisseur John Julius Angerstein led to them becoming acquainted with certain artistic circles in the late eighteenth century; most notably, they established a close friendship with the portrait painter Sir Thomas Lawrence, who would go on to be President of the Royal Academy. He visited Willingham House, the Boucherett family's country home, composing a number of studies in pastel of Boucherett's young children, beginning in 1793. The Boucherett family were also painted several times by Lawrence; he painted a group portrait of Emilia Boucherett, and her two eldest children, Ayscoghe and Emilia Maria, alongside Mrs Boucherett's half-sister, Juliana Angerstein; another group portrait, The Children of Ayscoghe Boucherett, depicting the four children of Boucherett and his wife, (painted in 1808 and now held in the Louvre Museum), has been described as "one of Lawrence's most celebrated group portraits". A separate study of the three daughters, Emilia Mary, Maria and Juliana, was sold by the auction house Christie's in 2012 for £121,000.
## Member of Parliament and public service
In the 1790s, Boucherett began to rise through Lincolnshire's civic and mercantile circles, especially in the north of the County, where the family had their seat; his connexions helped him to become involved with a group of businessmen planning to reopen and expand Grimsby's harbour. His rise is charted in his appointments to several civic posts: to be High Steward of Grimsby from 1794 (he remained as such until his death), succeeding Christopher Clayton, and to be High Sheriff of Lincolnshire for 1795–6. As these plans for the harbour came to fruition, he was appointed chairman of the company tasked with performing the required work; it was the Grimsby Haven Company, which was created by an Act of Parliament in 1796 (36 Geo III, chap. 98) for the express purpose of building the dock and repairing the Haven. He secured the friendship and patronage of Charles Anderson Pelham, 1st Baron Yarborough, a prominent local land-owner involved in the Haven Company, and was returned as the Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby in 1796 owing to this friendship.
Yarborough, Boucherett's patron, was an opponent of the administration of William Pitt the Younger and supported the Duke of Portland during the 1790s. Boucherett was an infrequent voter, but he told the diarist Joseph Farington that, when he did vote, he tended to do so with Charles James Fox, rather than Pitt the Younger, although, he later became "disgusted" at Fox's style of opposition; he is also known to have voted against the Ferrol Expedition in 1801. The seat did allow for him to further the interests of the Haven Company, with him proposing a bill to grant more funds in 1799. He found, though, that his funds and the financial success of the company were both in decline by 1801. Although re-elected in 1802, the following year he resigned in favour of Lord Yarborough's eldest son and heir, the Hon. Charles Anderson Pelham, later 1st Earl and 2nd Baron Yarborough.
## Later life
Although opened in 1800 at the cost of £100,000, the new harbour at Grimsby failed to attract the levels of trade the company had projected, caused largely by a lack of inland transport networks. The financial problems facing the Grimsby Haven Company led to factions and difficulty in its running and put strain on Boucherett's relations with Yarborough; having invested much money and time in the now failing company, Boucherett also found it draining of him financially.
Aside from Parliamentary and business commitments, he served as a Deputy Lieutenant for Lincolnshire and a Justice of the Peace. Boucherett was also an officer in the Yeoman volunteers, being a Captain the Market Raisin Yeomanry in 1798 and then a Lieutenant-Colonel in and Commandant of the North Lincolnshire Yeomanry from 1814 until his death. He died in a carriage accident on 15 September 1815. At his death, his assets barely covered the debts he had accrued in his lifetime. He was succeeded as the High Steward of Grimsby by the Hon. George Anderson Pelham, the second son of the first Lord Yarborough. |
27,660,506 | Rwandan Revolution | 1,173,657,996 | 1959–61 period of ethnic violence in Rwanda | [
"1959 in Africa",
"20th-century revolutions",
"Ethnicity-based civil wars",
"History of Rwanda",
"Political and cultural purges",
"Political history of Rwanda",
"Revolution-based civil wars",
"Riot and civil disorder in Rwanda"
]
| The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction (Kinyarwanda: muyaga), was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in Rwanda. The revolution saw the country transition from a Tutsi monarchy under Belgian colonial authority to an independent Hutu-dominated republic.
Rwanda had been ruled by a Tutsi monarchy since at least the 18th century, with entrenched pro-Tutsi and anti-Hutu policies. Germany and Belgium successively controlled Rwanda through the early 20th century, with both European nations ruling through the kings and perpetuating a pro-Tutsi policy. After 1945, a Hutu counter-elite developed, leading to the deterioration of relations between the groups. The Tutsi leadership agitated for speedy independence to cement their power, and the Hutu elite called for the transfer of power from Tutsi to Hutu, a stance increasingly supported by the Catholic Church and the colonial government.
The revolution began in November 1959, with a series of riots and arson attacks on Tutsi homes following the attack of one of the few Hutu sub-chiefs, Dominique Mbonyumutwa, by Tutsi extremists. Violence quickly spread throughout the country. The king and Tutsi politicians attempted a counterattack to seize power and ostracise the Hutu and the Belgians but were thwarted by Belgian colonel Guy Logiest, who was brought in by the colonial governor. Logiest reestablished law and order, beginning a programme to promote and protect the Hutu elite. The Belgians then replaced many Tutsi chiefs and sub-chiefs with Hutu, consigning King Kigeli V to figurehead status; Kigeli later fled the country. Despite continued anti-Tutsi violence, Belgium organized local elections in mid-1960. Hutu parties gained control of nearly all communes, effectively ending the revolution. Logiest and Hutu leader Grégoire Kayibanda declared Rwanda an autonomous republic in 1961, and the country became independent in 1962.
The revolution caused at least 336,000 Tutsi to flee to neighbouring countries, where they lived as refugees. Although the exiles agitated for an immediate return to Rwanda, they were split between those seeking negotiation and those wishing to overthrow the new regime. Some exiles formed armed groups (called inyenzi, or "cockroaches", by the Hutu government), who launched attacks into Rwanda. The largest occurred in late 1963, when a surprise attack approached Kigali. The government fought back, defeating the rebels and killing thousands of the remaining Tutsi in Rwanda. No further threat was posed by the refugees until the 1990s, when a civil war initiated by the Tutsi-refugee Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) forced the Hutu government into negotiations. This led to a rise in Hutu extremism and the 1994 genocide, in which over 500,000 Tutsi were killed before the RPF took control.
## Background
### Precolonial Rwanda
The earliest inhabitants of what is now Rwanda were the Twa, a group of aboriginal pygmy hunter-gatherers who settled the area between 8000 and 3000 BC and remain in the country today. Between 700 BC and 1500 AD, a number of Bantu groups migrated into Rwanda and began clearing forests for agriculture. After losing much of their habitat, the forest-dwelling Twa moved to the mountains. Historians have several theories about the Bantu Migrations. According to one, the first settlers were Hutu; the Tutsi migrated later and formed a distinct racial group, possibly of Cushitic origin. An alternative theory is that the migration was slow and steady, with incoming groups integrating into (rather than conquering) the existing society. In this theory the Hutu-Tutsi distinction arose later as a class distinction, rather than a racial one.
The population coalesced, first into clans (ubwoko) and into about eight kingdoms by 1700. The country was fertile and densely populated, with its kingdoms strictly controlled socially. The Kingdom of Rwanda, ruled by the Tutsi Nyiginya clan, became increasingly dominant beginning in the mid-18th century. From its origins as a small toparchy near Lake Muhazi the kingdom expanded through conquest and assimilation, reaching its zenith under King (Mwami) Kigeli Rwabugiri between 1853 and 1895. Rwabugiri expanded the kingdom west and north, implementing administrative reforms which included ubuhake (where Tutsi patrons ceded cattle—and privileged status—to Hutu or Tutsi clients in exchange for economic and personal service) and uburetwa (a corvée system in which Hutu were forced to work for Tutsi chiefs). Rwabugiri's reforms developed a rift between the Hutu and Tutsi populations.
### Colonisation
The Berlin Conference of 1884 assigned the territory to Germany, with imprecise boundaries. When Gustav Adolf von Götzen explored the country ten years later, he discovered that the Kingdom of Rwanda included a fertile region east of Lake Kivu. Germany wanted this region, which was also claimed by Leopold II as part of his own Congo Free State (annexed by Belgium to form the Belgian Congo in 1908). To justify its claim, Germany began a policy of ruling through the Rwandan monarchy and supporting Tutsi chiefs; this system allowed colonisation with few European troops. Yuhi V Musinga, who emerged as king after a succession crisis following the death of his father Rwabugiri and a struggle with Belgian troops, welcomed the Germans and used them to consolidate his power. The territory became the western border of German East Africa. German rule allowed Rwabugiri's centralisation policy to continue, and the rift between Tutsi and Hutu deepened.
Belgian forces took control of Rwanda and Burundi during World War I, and the country came under Belgian control in a 1919 League of Nations mandate, named Ruanda-Urundi. Although Belgium initially continued the German method of government through the monarchy, in 1926, it began a policy of direct colonial rule in line with the norm in the Congo. Reforms included simplifying the complex three-chieftain system, so one chief (usually Tutsi) instead of three (typically split between Tutsi and Hutu) ruled a local area. Belgian reforms also extended uburetwa (forced labour by Hutus for Tutsi chiefs) to individuals, not just communities, and to regions not previously covered by the system. Tutsi chiefs began a process of land reform with Belgian support; grazing areas traditionally controlled by Hutu collectives were seized by Tutsi and privatised with minimal compensation.
Beginning in the late 1920s, the role of the Catholic Church grew. This was encouraged by the Belgian government, since the priests knew the country well and facilitated its administration. Many Rwandans (including elite Tutsi) converted, since Catholicism was an increasing prerequisite for social advancement. King Musinga refused to convert, and in 1931 he was deposed by the Belgian administration; his eldest son, Mutara III Rudahigwa, succeeded him and eventually became Rwanda's first Christian king. During the 1930s the Belgians introduced large-scale projects in education, health, public works and agricultural supervision, including new crops and agricultural techniques to improve food supply. Though Rwanda was modernised the Tutsis remained in power, leaving the Hutu disenfranchised and subject to large-scale forced labour. In 1935 Belgium introduced identity cards, labelling an individual as Tutsi, Hutu, Twa or Naturalised. Although wealthy Hutu had previously been able to become honorary Tutsi, the identity cards ended further social mobility.
## Prelude
### Hutu counter-elite
Belgium continued to rule Rwanda as a UN Trust Territory after World War II, with a mandate to oversee its eventual independence. The economic landscape had changed considerably during the war; a cash economy grew, and with it the demand for labourers in the Congolese mines of Katanga and the coffee and sugar plantations of Uganda. There was a simultaneous shift in the Catholic Church; prominent figures in the early Rwandan church, who were from a wealthy and conservative background (such as Léon-Paul Classe), were replaced by younger clergy of working-class origin. Of these, a greater proportion were Flemish rather than Walloon Belgians and sympathised with the plight of the Hutu. Economic conditions and the seminary education provided by the church gave the Hutu a social mobility not previously possible, allowing the development of an elite group of Hutu leaders and intellectuals. This group, consisting of Hutu from the precolonial Kingdom of Rwanda, was joined by prominent citizens of kingdoms acquired during colonialism (including the Kiga).
The best-known figure in the movement was Grégoire Kayibanda. Like most of the Hutu counter-elite Kayibanda had trained for the priesthood at the Nyakibanda Seminary, although he was not ordained. After completing his education in 1948, he became a primary-school teacher. In 1952 Kayibanda succeeded Alexis Kagame as editor of the Catholic magazine, L'Ami. During the late 1950s he was a Travail, Fidélité, Progrès (TRAFIPRO) food-cooperative board member, edited the pro-Hutu Catholic magazine Kinyamateka, and founded the Mouvement Social Muhutu (MSM).
The second major figure of the Hutu elite was Joseph Gitera, another ex-seminarian based in the south of the country who had left the seminary to establish a small brickworks. Gitera founded the Association for Social Promotion of the Masses (APROSOMA) party. Religious historians Ian and Jane Linden described him as "more passionate and perhaps compassionate" than Kayibanda and other Hutu ex-seminarians, but "often erratic and sometimes fanatical". Unlike Kayibanda, Gitera called for forceful action against the "oppression" of the monarchy as early as 1957; however, his rhetoric focussed less on the Hutu-Tutsi divide than on the emancipation of the poor.
### Deterioration of Hutu–Tutsi relations
The Hutu counter-elite enjoyed reasonable relations with the king and the Tutsi elite in the early 1950s, as the quest for democracy dominated political life. Young Tutsi and Hutu who had been educated in Catholic seminaries or worked in international commerce, came together as "evolués", working in junior roles in the colonial administration. Hutu–Tutsi relations deteriorated rapidly from 1956, however. In July, Congolese newspaper La Presse Africaine published an article by an anonymous Rwandan priest detailing alleged centuries-long abuses of the Hutu by the Tutsi elite. This article was followed up in La Presse Africaine and other Congolese and Burundian newspapers with a series of other articles detailing the history of relations between the groups and the king's status. King Mutara and the Tutsi elite dismissed the claims, retorting that no ethnic impediment to social mobility existed and that the Hutu and Tutsi were indistinguishable. The next catalyst for the breakdown of relations was the occurrence of the country's first democratic elections under universal male suffrage in September 1956. The populace were permitted to vote for the sub-chiefs, and 66% of those elected were Hutu. Higher positions in the traditional and colonial hierarchies were still appointed rather than elected, and these remained overwhelmingly Tutsi. The imbalance between these two weightings highlighted the perceived unfairness of the system for Hutu.
Before 1956, the monarchy and prominent Tutsi had been relaxed about the timeline of independence, convinced that full power would be transferred to them from the Belgians in due course. Alarmed at the growing influence of the Hutu and the tensions between the groups, they began campaigning in late 1956 for a rapid transition to independence. King Rudahigwa and the Tutsi-dominated Conseil Supérieur proposed new ministries of finance, education, public works and the interior run by them, independent of Belgium, through a manifesto called mise en point. The Hutu counter-elite responded swiftly to this development, denouncing it as a plot by the Tutsi to cement Tutsi preeminence in post-independence Rwanda. Kayibanda, with eight other Hutu leaders, began work on an alternative work known as the Bahutu Manifesto. The authors were assisted in writing this document by young Belgian clergymen sympathetic to the Hutu cause. The Bahutu Manifesto criticised indirect Belgian rule, calling for the abolition of ubuhake and the development of a middle class. It was the first document referring to the Tutsi and Hutu as separate races, labelling the Tutsi as "Hamites" and accusing them of establishing a "racist monopoly". The manifesto called for a transfer of power from the Tutsi to the Hutu based on "statistical law". The release of these competing visions for the country's future brought attention from Belgian politicians and the public to Rwanda's social problems which, up until that point, had only been the concern of sociologists and sections of the colonial administration.
In 1958, Gitera visited the king at his palace in Nyanza. Although Gitera had considerable respect for the monarchy, Rudahigwa treated him contemptuously; at one point he grabbed Gitera's throat, calling him and his followers inyangarwanda (haters of Rwanda). This humiliation prompted the MSM, APROSOMA and the pro-Hutu Catholic publications to take a firmer stance against the monarchy. Kinyamateka published a detailed report of Rudahigwa's treatment of Gitera, refuting his semi-divine image and accusing him of pro-Tutsi racism. The magazine also published stories citing the origin myths of the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, calling the king's policies inconsistent with them. The articles did not immediately challenge the king's authority over the Hutu peasants, but their exposure of Rudahigwa's outburst led to a permanent schism between him, the Hutu counter-elite and Belgian authorities. In 1958 the Belgian colonial ministry tried to strip Rudahigwa of his power, reducing him to a figurehead, but his popularity with the regional chiefs and the Tutsi (who feared the growing Hutu movement) sparked a series of strikes and protests.
### Death of Rudahigwa and formation of UNAR
In early 1959, Belgium convened a parliamentary commission to examine options for democratisation and eventual independence, scheduling elections for the end of the year. With the Belgians and most clergy on his side, Gitera began a campaign targeting Kalinga: the royal drum, one of the monarchy's most potent symbols. Rudahigwa became increasingly fearful, smuggling the drum out of the country and drinking heavily. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in July 1959 while seeking medical treatment in Usumbura, Burundi. Many Rwandans believed that Rudahigwa was lethally injected by the Belgians; although an autopsy was never performed because of objections from the queen mother, an evaluation by independent doctors confirmed the original diagnosis of haemorrhage. There was also speculation in government spheres that he had committed a ritualistic suicide at the behest of his court historians. The Tutsi elite, believing that Rudahigwa was murdered by the church with the help of the Belgians, immediately began a campaign against both. Rudahigwa's brother Kigeli V Ndahindurwa was installed, without Belgian involvement and against their wishes; Linden and Linden have described this succession as a "minor Tutsi coup".
After Kigeli V's coronation, several Tutsi chiefs and palace officials desiring rapid independence formed the Union Nationale Rwandaise (UNAR) party. Although UNAR was pro-monarchy, it was not controlled by the king; the party was anti-Belgian, which attracted support from the Communist bloc. UNAR immediately began a campaign promoting Rwandan nationalism, vowing to replace European history in schools with the study of Rwabugiri's conquests and calling for the removal of whites and missionaries. This rhetoric prompted the Catholic Church (and many of its Rwandan students, who credited the church with raising them from poverty) to call UNAR anti-Catholic. Gitera, in turn, used the church's anti-UNAR stance to falsely claim its support for APROSOMA. The colonial government moved to limit UNAR's power, attempting to depose three chiefs who were prominent in the party and opening fire on protesters at a rally. Kayibanda registered the MSM as an official party, renaming it the Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation Hutu (PARMEHUTU). He began mobilising cells of supporters across the country, calling for an independent Hutu state under a constitutional monarchy. Historian Catharine Newbury described the situation in late 1959 as a "simmering cauldron"; by late October, with the parliamentary report due and elections approaching, tensions had reached the breaking point.
## Revolution
### Attack on Mbonyumutwa and Hutu uprising
On 1 November 1959 Dominique Mbonyumutwa, one of the few Hutu sub-chiefs and a PARMEHUTU activist, was attacked after attending mass with his wife at a church close to his home in Byimana, Gitarama Province. The attackers were nine members of UNAR's youth wing, exacting retribution for Mbonyumutwa's refusal to sign a UNAR protest letter, condemning the Belgian removal of the three Tutsi chiefs. The attackers initially engaged Mbonyumutwa in conversation regarding his increasing influence as a sub-chief, before punching him. Mbonyumutwa fought off the attackers and both he and his wife were able to return safely home, but rumours began to spread that he had been killed; according to American theology professor James Jay Carney, Mbonyumutwa may have started the rumours himself.
The attack on Mbonyumutwa proved to be the catalyst that set off the anticipated violent conflict between Hutu and Tutsi, following the previous months of tension. On 2 November, the day after the attack, a Hutu protest occurred in Ndiza, the home of Athanase Gashagaza, the Tutsi chief who was Mbonyumutwa's direct superior. The protest ended peacefully that day, but on 3 November a larger protest took place in the same location, which turned violent. Hutu vigilantes, declaring themselves "for God, the Church, and Rwanda", killed two Tutsi officials and drove Gashagaza into hiding. Mbonyumutwa was named as his replacement.
The protests quickly turned to riots, with Hutu gangs moving through the district attacking Tutsi homes as they went. The violence at this stage consisting primarily of arson rather than killing, except in cases where the Tutsi tried to fight back. First in Ndiza and then across the country, Hutu burned Tutsi homes to the ground primarily by igniting paraffin, a product widely available in Rwanda for use in lamps. Made homeless, many Tutsi sought refuge in Catholic Church missions and with the Belgian authorities, while others crossed into Uganda and the Congo, beginning what would become a mass exodus by the end of the revolution. The arsonists recruited local peasants to their ranks, ensuring the rapid spread of the revolt. Many Hutu still believed that the king was superhuman, and claimed that they carried out the attacks on his behalf. By 9 November violence had spread across the country, except for Gitera's home province of Astrida (Butare) and the far southwest and east. Rioting was heaviest in the northwest; in Ruhengeri, every Tutsi home was destroyed by fire.
The initial Belgian response to the violence was muted; the colonial government had just 300 troops in Rwanda in early November, despite the threat of civil war that had escalated through the preceding months. Alphonse van Hoof, a Catholic White Father working in the country, described the Belgian forces as "a few jeeps speeding along the road". Some arsonists were arrested, but the Belgians could not contain the spread of the uprising, and were forced to call in reinforcements from the neighbouring Congo. King Kigeli requested permission to form his own army to combat the violence, but the colonial resident, Andre Preud'homme refused this request. Preud'homme was fearful that allowing the Tutsi to arm would escalate the crisis into full-scale civil war.
Despite this refusal, Kigeli launched a counterattack against the rioters on 7 November, Mobilising thousands of loyal militia, Kigeli ordered the arrest or killing of a number of prominent Hutu leaders in the hope of quashing the peasant revolt; Joseph Gitera's brother, a prominent member of APROSOMA, was among the dead. Many of those arrested were brought to the king's palace at Nyanza, where they were tortured by UNAR officials. Gregoire Kayibanda was in hiding at the time, so was not captured. On 9 and 10 November, Kigeli's troops attacked the hill at Save, close to Astrida, aiming to reach Gitera's home and capture the APROSOMA leader. Gitera responded by assembling his own forces to defend the hill. The king's forces lacked the military expertise to win this battle, and eventually the Belgian authorities intervened in Save to prevent bloodshed, leading to Gitera's escape. Although Kigeli and UNAR remained more powerful and better equipped than the Hutu parties, they knew that the Belgians now strongly supported the latter; given enough time, the Hutu would gain the upper hand. Therefore, UNAR sought to ostracise Belgium from power and gain independence as soon as possible.
### Arrival of Guy Logiest
The November 1959 uprising and the subsequent fighting between Hutu and Tutsi began the revolution, but according to Carney it was the Belgian response which ensured that it would result in a permanent reversal in the role of the two groups, with the Hutu emerging in power. The single biggest decision maker in this response was Colonel Guy Logiest, a Belgian army colonel working in the Congo with the Force Publique. Logiest was a personal friend of Ruanda-Urundi governor Jean-Paul Harroy, and had already been asked, before the start of the revolution, to come to Rwanda to evaluate Belgium's military options in the colony. Following the outbreak of violence, Logiest accelerated his departure from the Congo, arriving in Rwanda on 4 November. Logiest arrived with a number of soldiers and paratroopers and was tasked with re-establishing civil order.
A devout Catholic, and politically social democratic, Logiest decided early on to favour the Hutu in his decision making in the country. This was partly for security reasons, as Logiest claimed that the Hutu would continue the violence as long as the Tutsi remained in power, but he also strongly in favour of the revolution on democratic grounds; he saw it as the opportunity for the "oppressed" Hutu peasants to rise up against the Tutsi ruling class. He later wrote in his memoirs: "Some among my assistants thought that I was wrong in being so partial against the Tutsi and that I was leading Rwanda on a road towards democratisation whose end was distant and uncertain"; but he defended his actions, saying "it was probably the desire to put down the morgue and expose the duplicity of a basically oppressive and unjust aristocracy". After Kigeli and UNAR's retaliation against the Hutu, Logiest and his troops prioritised the protection of Hutu leaders (including Gitera).
On 12 November, after Harroy's declaration of a state of emergency, Logiest was appointed Special Military Resident with a mandate to re-establish order in Rwanda. Sensing that independence was imminent, and that UNAR and the Tutsi leadership had the capability of swiftly forcing a Tutsi-dominated independent kingdom, Logiest pushed the country firmly towards a Hutu republic. He did this with Harroy's support, by installing Hutu in senior administrative positions; more than half the country's Tutsi chiefs (and many sub-chiefs) were replaced with Hutu, most from the PARMEHUTU party. Logiest labelled the appointments "temporary", promising that elections would follow. Although many UNAR members were tried and convicted for crimes committed during the Tutsi counter-revolution, their Hutu compatriots from PARMEHUTU and APROSOMA who were guilty of inciting the Hutu arson escaped without charge. In December Logiest was appointed to the new post of special civil resident, replacing more-conservative Preud'homme. The Belgian government empowered him to depose the king and veto his decisions, which meant Kigeli became a constitutional monarch, with Logiest replacing him as the country's de facto leader.
### PARMEHUTU's rise to power
The period following Rudahigwa's death in July 1959, and the subsequent Tutsi "coup" against the Belgians, saw PARMEHUTU gain a decisive lead in popularity over Joseph Gitera's APROSOMA, as well as the Tutsi UNAR. APROSOMA favoured an inclusive approach to Rwandan nationalism, at a time when authoritarian Tutsi rule was fuelling the anti-Tutsi sentiment among the Hutu. PARMEHUTU's ascendancy was further enhanced following the November violence, when Guy Logiest appointed interim leaders primarily from that party, allowing them to set the agenda and control the administration of the forthcoming elections. Despite this, PARMEHUTU claimed it still needed more time for the Hutu people to become "sufficiently emancipated to defend their rights effectively", and successfully lobbied the Belgians to postpone the communal elections scheduled for January 1960. The elections were rescheduled for June of that year. In March 1960, a United Nations delegation visited Rwanda to assess the country's progress towards independence. The major political parties encouraged street demonstrations, which deteriorated into fresh outbreaks of violence, during the UN visit. Tutsi homes were burnt in view of the delegation, leading them to declare in April that Belgian plans for June elections were unworkable. Instead, they proposed a roundtable discussion involving all four political parties to end the violence.
Despite the UN suggestion to postpone the elections, Belgian authorities pressed ahead and they were held in June and July. The result was an overwhelming victory for PARMEHUTU, which took 160 of 229 seats; Tutsi parties controlled only 19. The communal authorities immediately took local power from the traditional chiefs; many implemented feudal policies similar to that of the Tutsi elite, but favouring Hutu rather than Tutsi. Although after the elections Guy Logiest announced that "the revolution is over", tensions remained high and local massacres of Tutsi continued throughout 1960 and 1961. King Kigeli, living under virtual arrest in southern Rwanda, fled the country in July 1960 and lived for several decades in locations across East Africa before settling in the United States.
### Independence
Rwanda settled into the new reality of Hutu dominance after the 1960 elections; Belgium and Logiest supported PARMEHUTU, and Tutsi influence dwindled. The United Nations Trusteeship Commission, dominated by countries allied with Communist ones and favouring the anti-Belgian, Tutsi UNAR party, lobbied for independently monitored elections. The commission sponsored General Assembly resolutions 1579 and 1580, calling for elections and a referendum on the monarchy; Logiest dismissed the efforts as "perfectly useless", and made little effort to implement them. A National Reconciliation Conference was held in Belgium in January 1961, which ended in failure. Logiest and Kayibanda then convened a meeting of the country's local leaders, at which a "sovereign democratic Republic of Rwanda" was proclaimed with Dominique Mbonyumutwa its interim president. The UN published a report that an "oppressive system has been replaced by another one", but its ability to influence events had ended. PARMEHUTU won control of the legislature in September 1961; Kayibanda assumed the presidency, and Rwanda became fully independent on 1 July 1962. The official rhetoric of the government during the independence celebrations placed emphasis on the accomplishments of the revolution, rather than commemorating the end of colonial rule.
## Aftermath
### Tutsi refugees and rebel attacks
As the revolution progressed, many Tutsi left Rwanda to escape Hutu purges. The exodus, which began during the November 1959 arson attacks, continued steadily throughout the revolution. An official, late-1964 total of 336,000 Tutsi settled primarily in the four neighbouring countries of Burundi, Uganda, Tanganyika (later Tanzania) and Congo-Léopoldville. The exiles, unlike the ethnic Rwandans who migrated during the pre-colonial and colonial eras, were seen as refugees by their host countries and began almost immediately to agitate for a return to Rwanda. Their aims differed; some sought reconciliation with Kayibanda and the new regime, some affiliated with the exiled King Kigeli and others wished to oust the new PARMEHUTU regime from power and establish a socialist republic.
Beginning in late 1960 armed groups of Tutsi exiles (called inyenzi or "cockroaches" by the Hutu government) launched attacks into Rwanda from neighbouring countries, with mixed success. The Tutsis in Burundi, supported by that country's newly installed, independent Tutsi republic, caused some disruption in southern Rwanda. The events in Rwanda dramatically worsened Tutsi-Hutu relations in Burundi, and from that point onward the country's Tutsi-led regimes sought to avoid a similar revolution in their own territory. Fear of such a development strongly motivated the Burundian government to massacre thousands of Hutus in 1972 in response to a Hutu uprising, with the participation of some Rwandan Tutsi refugees. Refugees in the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania were less able to organise military operations because of local conditions; exiles in Tanzania were treated well by local authorities and many settled permanently, giving up aspirations to return to Rwanda. The rebel attacks themselves propelled more refugees across the borders, since the government often responded with further attacks on the Tutsi still living in Rwanda.
In December 1963 the Burundi-based rebels launched a large-scale surprise attack, seizing Bugesera and advancing to positions near Kigali. The ill-equipped and poorly-organised invaders were easily defeated by the government, whose response to the attack was the largest killing of Tutsi to date: an estimated 10,000 in December 1963 and January 1964, including all Tutsi politicians still in the country. The international community did little in response, and President Kayibanda's domestic power was reinforced. Infighting and the defeat put an end to the Tutsi rebels, who were of no further threat to Rwanda after 1964.
### Post-revolution Rwanda
After the 1963–64 Tutsi massacre and defeat of the Tutsis, Kayibanda and PARMEHUTU ruled Rwanda unchecked for the next decade, overseeing a Hutu hegemony justified by the mantra of "demographic majority and democracy". The regime did not tolerate dissent, ruling in a top-down manner similar to the pre-revolution feudal monarchy and promoting a deeply Catholic, virtuous ethos. By the early 1970s this policy had isolated Rwanda from the rest of the world, and a rebellion began within the Hutu elite. In 1973 senior army commander Juvénal Habyarimana organised a coup, killing Kayibanda and assuming the presidency.
In 1990 the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed primarily of Tutsi refugees, invaded northern Rwanda; this began the Rwandan Civil War. Although neither side gained a decisive advantage in the war, by 1992 Habyarimana's authority had weakened; mass demonstrations forced him into a coalition with the domestic opposition and to sign the 1993 Arusha Accords with the RPF. The cease-fire ended on 6 April 1994, when Habyarimana's plane was shot down near Kigali Airport and he was killed. Habyarimana's death was the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide, which began a few hours later. In about 100 days, 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi and politically-moderate Hutu were killed in well-planned attacks ordered by the interim government. The Tutsi RPF under Paul Kagame restarted their offensive and methodically regained Rwanda, controlling the whole country by mid-July. As of 2023 Kagame and the RPF remain in control, restoring growth in Rwanda's economy, its number of tourists and the country's Human Development Index.
## See also
- History of Rwanda
- La Violencia
- Congo Crisis (1960–65)
- Kingdom of Burundi
- Burundian Genocides (1972 and 1990–94) |
15,732,918 | The eclipse of Darwinism | 1,108,609,583 | Period when evolution was widely accepted, but natural selection was not | [
"Evolutionary biology",
"History of science",
"Non-Darwinian evolution"
]
| Julian Huxley used the phrase "the eclipse of Darwinism" to describe the state of affairs prior to what he called the "modern synthesis". During the "eclipse", evolution was widely accepted in scientific circles but relatively few biologists believed that natural selection was its primary mechanism. Historians of science such as Peter J. Bowler have used the same phrase as a label for the period within the history of evolutionary thought from the 1880s to around 1920, when alternatives to natural selection were developed and explored—as many biologists considered natural selection to have been a wrong guess on Charles Darwin's part, or at least to be of relatively minor importance.
Four major alternatives to natural selection were in play in the 19th century:
- Theistic evolution, the belief that God directly guided evolution
- Neo-Lamarckism, the idea that evolution was driven by the inheritance of characteristics acquired during the life of the organism
- Orthogenesis, the belief that organisms were affected by internal forces or laws of development that drove evolution in particular directions
- Mutationism, the idea that evolution was largely the product of mutations that created new forms or species in a single step.
Theistic evolution had largely disappeared from the scientific literature by the end of the 19th century as direct appeals to supernatural causes came to be seen as unscientific. The other alternatives had significant followings well into the 20th century; mainstream biology largely abandoned them only when developments in genetics made them seem increasingly untenable, and when the development of population genetics and the modern synthesis demonstrated the explanatory power of natural selection. Ernst Mayr wrote that as late as 1930 most textbooks still emphasized such non-Darwinian mechanisms.
## Context
Evolution was widely accepted in scientific circles within a few years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, but there was much less acceptance of natural selection as its driving mechanism. Six objections were raised to the theory in the 19th century:
1. The fossil record was discontinuous, suggesting gaps in evolution.
2. The physicist Lord Kelvin calculated in 1862 that the earth would have cooled in 100 million years or less from its formation, too little time for evolution.
3. It was argued that many structures were nonadaptive (functionless), so they could not have evolved under natural selection.
4. Some structures seemed to have evolved on a regular pattern, like the eyes of unrelated animals such as the squid and mammals.
5. Natural selection was argued not to be creative, while variation was admitted to be mostly not of value.
6. The engineer Fleeming Jenkin correctly noted in 1868, reviewing The Origin of Species, that the blending inheritance favoured by Charles Darwin would oppose the action of natural selection.
Both Darwin and his close supporter Thomas Henry Huxley freely admitted, too, that selection might not be the whole explanation; Darwin was prepared to accept a measure of Lamarckism, while Huxley was comfortable with both sudden (mutational) change and directed (orthogenetic) evolution.
By the end of the 19th century, criticism of natural selection had reached the point that in 1903 the German botanist, Eberhard Dennert [de], edited a series of articles intended to show that "Darwinism will soon be a thing of the past, a matter of history; that we even now stand at its death-bed, while its friends are solicitous only to secure for it a decent burial." In 1907, the Stanford University entomologist Vernon Lyman Kellogg, who supported natural selection, asserted that "... the fair truth is that the Darwinian selection theory, considered with regard to its claimed capacity to be an independently sufficient mechanical explanation of descent, stands today seriously discredited in the biological world." He added, however, that there were problems preventing the widespread acceptance of any of the alternatives, as large mutations seemed too uncommon, and there was no experimental evidence of mechanisms that could support either Lamarckism or orthogenesis. Ernst Mayr wrote that a survey of evolutionary literature and biology textbooks showed that as late as 1930 the belief that natural selection was the most important factor in evolution was a minority viewpoint, with only a few population geneticists being strict selectionists.
### Motivation for alternatives
A variety of different factors motivated people to propose other evolutionary mechanisms as alternatives to natural selection, some of them dating back before Darwin's Origin of Species. Natural selection, with its emphasis on death and competition, did not appeal to some naturalists because they felt it was immoral, and left little room for teleology or the concept of progress in the development of life. Some of these scientists and philosophers, like St. George Jackson Mivart and Charles Lyell, who came to accept evolution but disliked natural selection, raised religious objections. Others, such as Herbert Spencer, the botanist George Henslow (son of Darwin's mentor John Stevens Henslow, also a botanist), and Samuel Butler, felt that evolution was an inherently progressive process that natural selection alone was insufficient to explain. Still others, including the American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Alpheus Hyatt, had an idealist perspective and felt that nature, including the development of life, followed orderly patterns that natural selection could not explain.
Another factor was the rise of a new faction of biologists at the end of the 19th century, typified by the geneticists Hugo DeVries and Thomas Hunt Morgan, who wanted to recast biology as an experimental laboratory science. They distrusted the work of naturalists like Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, dependent on field observations of variation, adaptation, and biogeography, considering these overly anecdotal. Instead they focused on topics like physiology, and genetics that could be easily investigated with controlled experiments in the laboratory, and discounted natural selection and the degree to which organisms were adapted to their environment, which could not easily be tested experimentally.
## Anti-Darwinist theories during the eclipse
### Theistic evolution
British science developed in the early 19th century on a basis of natural theology which saw the adaptation of fixed species as evidence that they had been specially created to a purposeful divine design. The philosophical concepts of German idealism inspired concepts of an ordered plan of harmonious creation, which Richard Owen reconciled with natural theology as a pattern of homology showing evidence of design. Similarly, Louis Agassiz saw Ernest Haeckel's recapitulation theory, which held that the embryological development of an organism repeats its evolutionary history, as symbolising a pattern of the sequence of creations in which humanity was the goal of a divine plan. In 1844 Vestiges adapted Agassiz's concept into theistic evolutionism. Its anonymous author Robert Chambers proposed a "law" of divinely ordered progressive development, with transmutation of species as an extension of recapitulation theory. This popularised the idea, but it was strongly condemned by the scientific establishment. Agassiz remained forcefully opposed to evolution, and after he moved to America in 1846 his idealist argument from design of orderly development became very influential. In 1858 Owen cautiously proposed that this development could be a real expression of a continuing creative law, but distanced himself from transmutationists. Two years later, in his review of On the Origin of Species, Owen attacked Darwin while at the same time openly supporting evolution, expressing belief in a pattern of transmutation by law-like means. This idealist argument from design was taken up by other naturalists such as George Jackson Mivart, and the Duke of Argyll who rejected natural selection altogether in favor of laws of development that guided evolution down preordained paths.
Many of Darwin's supporters accepted evolution on the basis that it could be reconciled with design. In particular, Asa Gray considered natural selection to be the main mechanism of evolution and sought to reconcile it with natural theology. He proposed that natural selection could be a mechanism in which the problem of evil of suffering produced the greater good of adaptation, but conceded that this had difficulties and suggested that God might influence the variations on which natural selection acted to guide evolution. For Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley such pervasive supernatural influence was beyond scientific investigation, and George Frederick Wright, an ordained minister who was Gray's colleague in developing theistic evolution, emphasised the need to look for secondary or known causes rather than invoking supernatural explanations: "If we cease to observe this rule there is an end to all science and all sound science."
A secular version of this methodological naturalism was welcomed by a younger generation of scientists who sought to investigate natural causes of organic change, and rejected theistic evolution in science. By 1872 Darwinism in its broader sense of the fact of evolution was accepted as a starting point. Around 1890 only a few older men held onto the idea of design in science, and it had completely disappeared from mainstream scientific discussions by 1900. There was still unease about the implications of natural selection, and those seeking a purpose or direction in evolution turned to neo-Lamarckism or orthogenesis as providing natural explanations.
### Neo-Lamarckism
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had originally proposed a theory on the transmutation of species that was largely based on a progressive drive toward greater complexity. Lamarck also believed, as did many others in the 19th century, that characteristics acquired during the course of an organism's life could be inherited by the next generation, and he saw this as a secondary evolutionary mechanism that produced adaptation to the environment. Typically, such characteristics included changes caused by the use or disuse of a particular organ. It was this mechanism of evolutionary adaptation through the inheritance of acquired characteristics that much later came to be known as Lamarckism. Although Alfred Russel Wallace completely rejected the concept in favor of natural selection, Darwin always included what he called Effects of the increased Use and Disuse of Parts, as controlled by Natural Selection in On the Origin of Species, giving examples such as large ground feeding birds getting stronger legs through exercise, and weaker wings from not flying until, like the ostrich, they could not fly at all.
In the late 19th century the term neo-Lamarckism came to be associated with the position of naturalists who viewed the inheritance of acquired characteristics as the most important evolutionary mechanism. Advocates of this position included the British writer and Darwin critic Samuel Butler, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel, the American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Alpheus Hyatt, and the American entomologist Alpheus Packard. They considered Lamarckism to be more progressive and thus philosophically superior to Darwin's idea of natural selection acting on random variation. Butler and Cope both believed that this allowed organisms to effectively drive their own evolution, since organisms that developed new behaviors would change the patterns of use of their organs and thus kick-start the evolutionary process. In addition, Cope and Haeckel both believed that evolution was a progressive process. The idea of linear progress was an important part of Haeckel's recapitulation theory. Cope and Hyatt looked for, and thought they found, patterns of linear progression in the fossil record. Packard argued that the loss of vision in the blind cave insects he studied was best explained through a Lamarckian process of atrophy through disuse combined with inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Many American proponents of neo-Lamarckism were strongly influenced by Louis Agassiz, and a number of them, including Hyatt and Packard, were his students. Agassiz had an idealistic view of nature, connected with natural theology, that emphasized the importance of order and pattern. Agassiz never accepted evolution; his followers did, but they continued his program of searching for orderly patterns in nature, which they considered to be consistent with divine providence, and preferred evolutionary mechanisms like neo-Lamarckism and orthogenesis that would be likely to produce them.
In Britain the botanist George Henslow, the son of Darwin's mentor John Stevens Henslow, was an important advocate of neo-Lamarckism. He studied how environmental stress affected the development of plants, and he wrote that the variations induced by such environmental factors could largely explain evolution. The historian of science Peter J. Bowler writes that, as was typical of many 19th century Lamarckians, Henslow did not appear to understand the need to demonstrate that such environmentally induced variations would be inherited by descendants that developed in the absence of the environmental factors that produced them, but merely assumed that they would be.
#### Polarising the argument: Weismann's germ plasm
Critics of neo-Lamarckism pointed out that no one had ever produced solid evidence for the inheritance of acquired characteristics. The experimental work of the German biologist August Weismann resulted in the germ plasm theory of inheritance. This led him to declare that inheritance of acquired characteristics was impossible, since the Weismann barrier would prevent any changes that occurred to the body after birth from being inherited by the next generation. This effectively polarised the argument between the Darwinians and the neo-Lamarckians, as it forced people to choose whether to agree or disagree with Weismann and hence with evolution by natural selection. Despite Weismann's criticism, neo-Lamarckism remained the most popular alternative to natural selection at the end of the 19th century, and would remain the position of some naturalists well into the 20th century.
#### Baldwin effect
As a consequence of the debate over the viability of neo-Lamarckism, in 1896 James Mark Baldwin, Henry Fairfield Osborne and C. Lloyd Morgan all independently proposed a mechanism where new learned behaviors could cause the evolution of new instincts and physical traits through natural selection without resort to the inheritance of acquired characteristics. They proposed that if individuals in a species benefited from learning a particular new behavior, the ability to learn that behavior could be favored by natural selection, and the end result would be the evolution of new instincts and eventually new physical adaptations. This became known as the Baldwin effect and it has remained a topic of debate and research in evolutionary biology ever since.
### Orthogenesis
Orthogenesis was the theory that life has an innate tendency to change, in a unilinear fashion in a particular direction. The term was popularized by Theodor Eimer, a German zoologist, in his 1898 book On Orthogenesis: And the Impotence of Natural Selection in Species Formation. He had studied the coloration of butterflies, and believed he had discovered non-adaptive features which could not be explained by natural selection. Eimer also believed in Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics, but he felt that internal laws of growth determined which characteristics would be acquired and guided the long term direction of evolution down certain paths.
Orthogenesis had a significant following in the 19th century, its proponents including the Russian biologist Leo S. Berg, and the American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn. Orthogenesis was particularly popular among some paleontologists, who believed that the fossil record showed patterns of gradual and constant unidirectional change. Those who accepted this idea, however, did not necessarily accept that the mechanism driving orthogenesis was teleological (goal-directed). They did believe that orthogenetic trends were non-adaptive; in fact they felt that in some cases they led to developments that were detrimental to the organism, such as the large antlers of the Irish elk that they believed led to the animal's extinction.
Support for orthogenesis began to decline during the modern synthesis in the 1940s, when it became apparent that orthogenesis could not explain the complex branching patterns of evolution revealed by statistical analysis of the fossil record by paleontologists. A few biologists however hung on to the idea of orthogenesis as late as the 1950s, claiming that the processes of macroevolution, the long term trends in evolution, were distinct from the processes of microevolution.
### Mutationism
Mutationism was the idea that new forms and species arose in a single step as a result of large mutations. It was seen as a much faster alternative to the Darwinian concept of a gradual process of small random variations being acted on by natural selection. It was popular with early geneticists such as Hugo de Vries, who along with Carl Correns helped rediscover Gregor Mendel's laws of inheritance in 1900, William Bateson a British zoologist who switched to genetics, and early in his career, Thomas Hunt Morgan.
The 1901 mutation theory of evolution held that species went through periods of rapid mutation, possibly as a result of environmental stress, that could produce multiple mutations, and in some cases completely new species, in a single generation. Its originator was the Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries. De Vries looked for evidence of mutation extensive enough to produce a new species in a single generation and thought he found it with his work breeding the evening primrose of the genus Oenothera, which he started in 1886. The plants that de Vries worked with seemed to be constantly producing new varieties with striking variations in form and color, some of which appeared to be new species because plants of the new generation could only be crossed with one another, not with their parents. DeVries himself allowed a role for natural selection in determining which new species would survive, but some geneticists influenced by his work, including Morgan, felt that natural selection was not necessary at all. De Vries's ideas were influential in the first two decades of the 20th century, as some biologists felt that mutation theory could explain the sudden emergence of new forms in the fossil record; research on Oenothera spread across the world. However, critics including many field naturalists wondered why no other organism seemed to show the same kind of rapid mutation.
Morgan was a supporter of de Vries's mutation theory and was hoping to gather evidence in favor of it when he started working with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in his lab in 1907. However, it was a researcher in that lab, Hermann Joseph Muller, who determined in 1918 that the new varieties de Vries had observed while breeding Oenothera were the result of polyploid hybrids rather than rapid genetic mutation. While they were doubtful of the importance of natural selection, the work of geneticists like Morgan, Bateson, de Vries and others from 1900 to 1915 established Mendelian genetics linked to chromosomal inheritance, which validated August Weismann's criticism of neo-Lamarckian evolution by discounting the inheritance of acquired characteristics. The work in Morgan's lab with Drosophila also undermined the concept of orthogenesis by demonstrating the random nature of mutation.
## End of the eclipse
During the period 1916–1932, the discipline of population genetics developed largely through the work of the geneticists Ronald Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright. Their work recognized that the vast majority of mutations produced small effects that served to increase the genetic variability of a population rather than creating new species in a single step as the mutationists assumed. They were able to produce statistical models of population genetics that included Darwin's concept of natural selection as the driving force of evolution.
Developments in genetics persuaded field naturalists such as Bernhard Rensch and Ernst Mayr to abandon neo-Lamarckian ideas about evolution in the early 1930s. By the late 1930s, Mayr and Theodosius Dobzhansky had synthesized the ideas of population genetics with the knowledge of field naturalists about the amount of genetic diversity in wild populations, and the importance of genetically distinct subpopulations (especially when isolated from one another by geographical barriers) to create the early 20th century modern synthesis. In 1944 George Gaylord Simpson integrated paleontology into the synthesis by statistically analyzing the fossil record to show that it was consistent with the branching non-directional form of evolution predicted by the synthesis, and in particular that the linear trends cited by earlier paleontologists in support of Lamarckism and orthogenesis did not stand up to careful analysis. Mayr wrote that by the end of the synthesis natural selection together with chance mechanisms like genetic drift had become the universal explanation for evolutionary change.
## Historiography
The concept of eclipse suggests that Darwinian research paused, implying in turn that there had been a preceding period of vigorously Darwinian activity among biologists. However, historians of science such as Mark Largent have argued that while biologists broadly accepted the extensive evidence for evolution presented in The Origin of Species, there was less enthusiasm for natural selection as a mechanism. Biologists instead looked for alternative explanations more in keeping with their worldviews, which included the beliefs that evolution must be directed and that it constituted a form of progress. Further, the idea of a dark eclipse period was convenient to scientists such as Julian Huxley, who wished to paint the modern synthesis as a bright new achievement, and accordingly to depict the preceding period as dark and confused. Huxley's 1942 book Evolution: The Modern Synthesis therefore, argued Largent, suggested that the so-called modern synthesis began after a long period of eclipse lasting until the 1930s, in which Mendelians, neo-Lamarckians, mutationists, and Weismannians, not to mention experimental embryologists and Haeckelian recapitulationists fought running battles with each other. The idea of an eclipse also allowed Huxley to step aside from what was to him the inconvenient association of evolution with aspects such as social Darwinism, eugenics, imperialism, and militarism. Accounts such as Michael Ruse's very large book Monad to Man ignored, claimed Largent, almost all the early 20th century American evolutionary biologists. Largent has suggested as an alternative to eclipse a biological metaphor, the interphase of Darwinism, interphase being an apparently quiet period in the cycle of cell division and growth.
## See also
- Coloration evidence for natural selection
- Objections to evolution |
2,379,346 | Colin McCool | 1,127,944,941 | Australian cricketer (1916–1986) | [
"1916 births",
"1986 deaths",
"Australia Test cricketers",
"Australian cricketers",
"Commonwealth XI cricketers",
"Cricketers from Sydney",
"English cricketers of 1946 to 1968",
"New South Wales cricketers",
"North v South cricketers",
"Queensland cricketers",
"Royal Australian Air Force officers",
"Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II",
"Somerset cricketers",
"The Invincibles (cricket)"
]
| Colin Leslie McCool (9 December 1916 – 5 April 1986) was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Test matches between 1946 and 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against spin bowling. He made his Test début against New Zealand in 1946, taking a wicket with his second delivery. He was part of Donald Bradman's Invincibles team that toured England in 1948 but injury saw him miss selection in any of the Test matches.
A good tour of South Africa in 1949–50 was followed by a lack of opportunity in the next two seasons, leading McCool to sign a contract to play professional cricket in the Lancashire League in 1953. Three years later, Somerset County Cricket Club recruited McCool where he was a success, especially as a middle-order batsman; he played five seasons and saw the club achieve its highest place in the County Championship since 1892. He retired from cricket in 1960 and returned to Australia to work as a market gardener. He died in Concord, New South Wales on 5 April 1986.
## Early career
As a child growing up in Paddington, McCool attended Crown Street State School—earlier students included Victor Trumper and Monty Noble. He played his childhood cricket on concrete wickets in Moore Park and learnt to bowl from reading Clarrie Grimmett's instructional book, Getting Wickets. McCool played his early grade cricket with Paddington Cricket Club before coming to the notice of the New South Wales selectors. He made his first-class début for New South Wales against "Rest of Australia" in March 1940, making 19 and 15 and taking one wicket. While the Australian Cricket Board suspended the Sheffield Shield competition at the end of the 1939–40 season, at the request of the Australian government, a series of matches were arranged to raise money for wartime charities in the following 1940–41 season. McCool played in six of these matches for New South Wales, scoring 416 runs at average of 52.00 and taking 24 wickets at an average of 23.50.
McCool enlisted on 12 September 1941 and served as a Pilot Officer with the No. 33 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Stationed in New Guinea, McCool had reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant when he was discharged from the RAAF on 18 September 1945.
After the war, he moved to Toombul District Cricket Club in Brisbane and was selected in the Queensland cricket team. Playing for Queensland, he formed a formidable partnership with wicket-keeper Don Tallon, who also played for Toombul. He was selected in the Australian team to tour New Zealand in 1945–46, making his Test début at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. He made seven runs in Australia's only innings and took a wicket with his second ball in Test cricket; the last man dismissed in the Test, Don McRae.
## Test player
The following season, Wally Hammond's England cricket team travelled to Australia for the 1946–47 Ashes series. In a warm-up match before the series, McCool performed well for Queensland against the English tourists at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (the 'Gabba), taking nine wickets and "the English batsmen seemed like rabbits fascinated in the presence of a snake". He was selected for the First Test at the same ground the following week. He just missed out on a century on his Ashes debut, scoring 95 and only bowling one over as Australia won the Test by an innings and 332 runs. In the Second Test at Sydney, McCool took eight wickets, including the prize wicket of Hammond twice. Australia won by an innings and 33 runs. The Third Test at Melbourne saw McCool make his maiden Test century, 104 not out in a drawn match. The Melbourne businessman and underworld figure, John Wren had promised McCool one pound for every run he made that innings; this was at a time when ten pounds was the average weekly wage in Australia. The cheque—given to McCool the next day—allowed him to place a deposit on a house.
He played in the remaining two Tests, making 272 runs at an average of 54 and taking 18 wickets at just over 27 apiece. He took 5/44 in the Fifth Test. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack wrote that his batting featured "wristy cuts" and "vigorous hooks", opining that there were "few better players of spin bowling on a difficult pitch". Wisden said that his slow and loopy leg spin was "a clever mixture of leg-breaks and googlies".
India toured Australia for the first time in 1947–48. McCool played in three Tests without much success, scoring only 46 runs and taking only four wickets. Nevertheless, he was selected as part of Australian team to tour England in 1948 that would be known as the Invincibles. He took 57 wickets on the tour but bowling for long periods caused him to continually tear a callus on his third finger, used to impart spin on the ball. As a result, his captain, Don Bradman, felt compelled to leave him out of the Test matches, feeling that his finger would not be able to handle the necessarily long bowling spells. This decision was aided by the then existing rule allowing a new ball to be used every 55 overs, allowing Bradman to use his fast bowlers more often. For the rest of his career, McCool was troubled by the skin rubbing off his spinning finger. McCool and his fellow fringe members of the squad, Ron Hamence and Doug Ring, would refer themselves as the "ground-staff" as it was unlikely that the tour selectors would include them in the Test team that tour. The cricket writer Alan Gibson, who knew McCool well in his later cricket career at Somerset, wrote that the omission "distressed him greatly at the time, though he could be philosophical enough about it later".
He played in all five Tests on tour against South Africa. He took 51 wickets in all matches, including 5/41 in the Second Test at Newlands. In 1950–51, McCool was the leading wicket taker in the Sheffield Shield competition, however he was not selected in the Test team against the touring English; nor against the West Indies the following season.
## English cricket
Prior to the 1953 Australian team to tour England, McCool signed a professional contract with Lancashire League team East Lancashire, replacing fellow Australian leg spinner Bruce Dooland. In his first season in the league, he was the leading wicket-taker with 93 wickets at the low average of 10.2 runs per wicket, and he also made 678 runs at an average of 33.9. The following year, he played less often: his 547 runs came at the better average of 42.1 but his 52 wickets cost 13.1 apiece, and East Lancashire, who had finished either first or second in the Championship ten times in the previous twelve seasons, finished 10th out of 14. He did not return to East Lancashire for the 1955 season due to being contracted to play county cricket for Somerset. The cricket writer Alan Gibson, who knew McCool well, wrote that "after he had made the decision to come, an extension of the qualifying period for overseas cricketers kept him waiting even longer".
Delayed by the change to the rules, McCool had a five-year stint from 1956 in English county cricket. Somerset, having finished on the bottom of the County Championship table for the four years between 1952 and 1955, had embarked on a renewal programme. Part of the programme involved a vigorous recruiting campaign, including an offer to McCool that saw him return to first-class cricket at the age of 39.
At Somerset, McCool was an instant success as a batsman, scoring 1,967 runs in his first season, including three centuries and a highest score of 141. After four seasons, Somerset came off the bottom of the County Championship (to 15th out of 17), and Wisden was in no doubt of McCool's influence: "Much of the credit for the all-round improvement went to one man – McCool," it wrote. "At the start of the season it was hoped that the former Australian Test leg-break bowler would lend power and variety to the attack. From that viewpoint his 45 wickets at over thirty runs apiece might be counted disappointing. But with the bat McCool exceeded all expectations. He was one of the most consistent scorers in the country and he failed by only 34 to reach 2,000 runs in his first season of county cricket. McCool was the backbone of a mediocre batting side, and he never departed from his natural attacking style." Against the touring Australians that season he made 90 and 116, the first innings 90 coming out of 139 in two-and-a-half hours and including 15 fours, the second innings century out of 167 in just 95 minutes, with four sixes and 14 fours. Wisden reported that he was "very severe on [Ian Johnson] and [Jack Wilson]".
Over the 1956/57 new year, McCool was one of a party of 12 cricketers, all but one of them Test players, who made a brief trip to India to play two first-class matches in celebration of the silver jubilee of the Bengal Cricket Association in a side raised by the Lancashire secretary Geoffrey Howard. McCool did not play in the first match and in the second, he replaced Jock Livingston, the team's only wicketkeeper, who had been taken ill during the first game. McCool made only 23 and 1 with the bat, but he stumped Vinoo Mankad off the bowling of Dooland, one of only two stumpings in his career as a very occasional wicketkeeper.
Back in England in 1957 he was joined at Taunton by another Australian, Bill Alley, but still finished as the leading scorer for the county with 1,678 runs in all matches, to go with 44 wickets. In the wet summer of 1958 Somerset finished third in the Championship, their highest position since 1892. McCool's contribution was 1,590 runs and 46 wickets at, for him, the low average of 23 runs each. In this season, McCool made his highest score for Somerset – 169 out of a total of 314 against Worcestershire at Stourbridge – and in the last match of the season he produced his best bowling figures of his career, taking eight second-innings Nottinghamshire wickets for 74 runs on what Wisden described as "a sporting pitch".
In contrast to 1958, the 1959 season was hot and dry and McCool's figures improved: he made 1769 runs at an average of more than 40 runs per innings and took 64 first-class wickets, more than in any other Somerset season. McCool's final season with Somerset before his retirement was 1960, and he signed off with 1,222 runs and 29 wickets.
In 138 matches across the five seasons for Somerset, McCool made 7,913 runs at an average of 33.82. He also took 219 wickets at 28.05 but in his five years with the county he was never the first-choice spin bowler: in his first two seasons, Somerset used Australian-born slow left-arm orthodox bowler John McMahon as the main spin bowler, with young off-spin bowler Brian Langford also bowling more than McCool. When McMahon left, Langford took over as the top spin bowler, and by 1960 was bowling four times the number of overs that McCool took. But McCool had also lost some of his control at this stage: "He could do beguiling things with the ball, though length and line seemed to become a decreasing consideration," says the history of Somerset cricket. He also made 146 catches, many of them at first slip, where he stood "rather deeper than usual". His influence on Somerset's recovery from the trough of the early 1950s was considerable. A later Somerset history says: "Occasionally some of the younger pros didn't relish the way he treated them. Maybe they also resented that his salary was well in excess of their own. But their respect for his competitive approach and sheer experience was undeniable."
## Playing style
McCool had a round-arm bowling action, releasing the ball with his arm almost parallel to the ground. Before he developed problems with the skin on his spinning finger, he was, in spite of his unorthodox action, able to generate sharp spin. The cricket writer, Jack Pollard said of McCool, "[McCool] was almost unplayable on badly prepared pitches, so wide and sharp was the turn of his leg-breaks." and that he "made even State [i.e. first-class] batsmen look inept". On the advice of coaches and ex-players, McCool attempted to alter his action to a more orthodox style on several occasions but always returned to his natural style.
A short man but with a strong build, as a batsman he was a vigorous hooker and a wristy cutter, scoring mostly square of the wicket. He was particularly good against spin bowling, even on difficult pitches.
During his time at Somerset, he was known for "[turning] a match with his cracking strokes in an hour." Alan Gibson wrote: "We hardly think of him as a stylist, and he was mostly a back-foot player, getting the greater number of his runs in the segments fanning out from point and square-leg. But he was enjoyable to watch, compact, tidy, combining powerful hitting with delicate placing. In the best Somerset tradition, he was always after the bowling, and in the best Australian tradition, he always relished a fight." But he also adapted his style to suit English pitches: in an early innings for Somerset, he was out trying to hook a ball from Trevor Bailey. "The hook, he decided, was a stroke to be used sparingly on English pitches... McCool was constantly amending his technique that season [1956], whenever he spotted a flaw in his method. Again and again he held the Somerset batting together. Nothing in his previous experience had equipped him for the task of holding up a losing side in a damp English summer."
He was renowned for his catching, often spending an hour at a time practising catching a ball thrown into the side of a roller normally used to prepare the cricket pitch. Journalist and former team-mate Bill O'Reilly said after McCool's death in 1986: "If Colin had played in the last 10 years, he would have been regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders ever in Australian cricket. He was a great batsman, [...] a wonderful bowler and one of the best slips fieldsmen I have ever seen."
## Personality and personal life
Accounts of McCool in his Somerset period portray him as a thoughtful but slightly aloof character. "Off the field he was a quiet man," wrote David Foot. He was "a contemplative pipe-smoker in the corner of the dressing room," says another account, and somewhat intolerant of others who appeared less committed than he was. "Occasionally some of the younger pros didn't relish the way he treated them. Maybe they also resented that his salary was well in excess of their own."
Alan Gibson wrote about him more volubly: "He thought about the game a lot. Many Australian cricketers do, more than English cricketers probably, but McCool was in some ways an untypical Australian. He had a diffidence and gentleness, which do not always spring to mind as familiar Australian qualities: but he had plenty of Australian determination."
Gibson wrote that McCool "did not quite come to terms with the West Country". He went on: "He missed the sunshine. 'There's no winter,' he said, 'and the beer's better. And the f------ off-spinners don't turn.' I think an additional reason was that he found some difficulty in accepting the conventions of English cricket as it was then. There was a Somerset committee member, who liked and admired him, and would greet him with, 'Morning, McCool'. That committee member was seeking to be courteous. He would have thought it pompous to say 'Mr McCool', and impertinent to say 'Colin'. But it infuriated Colin. He thought it a reflection on his status. He would have preferred something like 'Hi, Col, you old bastard.' The worlds were too far apart."
McCool was given a testimonial season by Somerset in 1959 after just three years with county and the circumstances were unusual enough for it to be remarked on in the county's Year Book, published in the winter before the season. "Although Colin McCool has played for the County for three seasons only, this Testimonial is a fitting reward for his valuable services as an all-rounder and off the field, where his influence is most marked."
After retirement from first-class cricket at the end of the 1960 season in England, McCool returned to Australia, taking up market gardening with a specialty in rare blooms at Umina Beach on the Central Coast of New South Wales. He continued playing club cricket in the Newcastle competition for Belmont until rheumatism forced him to retire from all forms of cricket aged 55: "Rheumatism in my right hand made it embarrassing for me to continue. It was alarming to an old pro like me who prided himself on length and directions to have the ball slip out of my fingers out of control."
McCool was the author of two books on cricket: Cricket is a Game, which was an autobiography, and The Best Way to Play Cricket, both published in 1961. John Arlott, reviewing them in Wisden 1962, said the first was "full of trenchant good sense, humour, anecdote and shrewd observation". The second book, Arlott wrote, was "to the best of this reviewer's knowledge, the first cricket book to be initially published in the modern paper-back format". It was, he added, "full of good instruction and ... sets down some genuine cricket wisdom with freshness and vitality".
He married Dorothy Everlyn Yabsley in 1943 in Sydney. His son, Russ McCool, who was born in Taunton, played one first-class match for Somerset in 1982, in addition to playing for New South Wales Colts and New South Wales Country.
## Test match performance |
23,760,865 | Texano Jr. | 1,165,724,280 | Mexican professional wrestler (born 1984) | [
"1984 births",
"20th-century professional wrestlers",
"21st-century professional wrestlers",
"AAA Mega Champions",
"AAA World Tag Team Champions",
"AAA World Trios Champions",
"Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions",
"Living people",
"Mexican National Trios Champions",
"Mexican male professional wrestlers",
"NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Champions",
"NWA World Light Heavyweight Champions",
"People from Mexicali",
"Professional wrestlers from Baja California",
"Professional wrestlers from Mexico City"
]
| Juan Aguilar Leos (born July 31, 1984) is a Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Texano Jr.
Aguilar is the son of Juan Conrado Aguilar Jáuregui, who wrestled under the name El Texano; Aguilar's brother is a wrestler known as Súper Nova / Bengala and he has several uncles and cousins that are professional wrestlers including El Dandy, Mictlán, Pólvora and Inquisidor.
For the early part of his career Aguilar worked for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), during which he also made several tours of Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from 2005 until 2007. While in CMLL member of groups Los Hijos del Averno (Spanish for "the Sons of Hell") and Los Perros del Mal ("the Evil Dogs"), but opted to remain with CMLL when Los Perros left the promotion in 2010. In November 2011, Aguilar left CMLL to join Perros del Mal Producciones.
After signing with AAA under his current ring name, Texano became a two-time AAA Mega Champion, with his 735-day reign being the longest in history until Kenny Omega surpassed it in 2021. Texano has also gone on to become a two-time AAA World Trios Championship and a one-time AAA World Tag Team Championship (with Rey Escorpión). Texano also became the Rey de Reyes 2015 winner.
## Professional wrestling career
### Independent circuit (1999–2003)
Aguilar was trained by his father prior to his professional wrestling debut. In 1999 he began working as the enmascarado (masked wrestler) character "Kempo Kid", hiding his family relationship from the public. Between 1999 and 2002 or 2003 the Kempo Kid would win several Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet matches" where he forced his opponents to unmask as a result. His mask victories included Extasis, Avispón Jr., and Apolo Negro. In late 2002, or early 2003 Kempo Kid lost a Lucha de Apuestas match to Stuka Jr. and was forced to unmask. As part of the tradition wrestlers are supposed to announce their real name, which means that Aguilar revealed that he was the son of El Texano. He subsequently took the ring name "El Texano Jr.", adopting the same cowboy style character that his father used including carrying a Lariat with him to the ring.
### Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2003–2011)
Not long after adopting the new ring name he began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; "World Wrestling Council"), the world's oldest and Mexico's largest wrestling promotion. On October 7, 2005 Texano Jr. won his first professional wrestling championship when he teamed up with El Sagrado and Máximo to defeat Pandilla Guerrera ("Gang of Warriors"; Sangre Azteca, Doctor X and Nitro) to win the Mexican National Trios Championship. Over the next 569 days Texano Jr., Sagrado and Máximo defended the trios championship against teams such as Danger, Infierno, Magnum; deposed champions Doctor X, Nitro, Sangre Azteca and the team of Arkangel, Doctor X and Misterioso II. On April 29, 2007 the team lost the Mexican National Trios Title to the Los Perros del Mal ("The Bad Dogs") faction of Mr. Águila, Damián 666 and Halloween. The title change came about as El Texano Jr. turned on his partners mid-match, giving Los Perros del Mal an easy victory. Not long after turning Rudo (the Lucha Libre term for heel, or villain) Texano Jr. joined Los Perros del Mal and began teaming with El Terrible on a regular basis. On June 13, 2008 Texano Jr. participated in the main event of CMLL's annual Infierno en el Ring show, a multi-man steel cage match where the last man in the ring would have his hair shaved off. The match involved Los Perros del Mal, represented by Texano Jr. Damián 666, Mr. Águila, El Terrible and Perro Aguayo Jr. while the tecnico (Face or good guys in wrestling) side was represented by Alex Koslov, Marco Corleone, Shocker, Negro Casas and Heavy Metal. The match ended up with Texano Jr. and Heavy Metal being the last two in the ring, with Texano pinning Heavy Metal to force Heavy Metal to be shaved bald after the match. On August 26, 2008 Texano Jr. and El Terrible defeated Sagrado and Rayman to win the Occidente Tag Team Championship, a regional tag team title defended mainly in the Mexican stated of Guadalajara.
In late 2008 Perros del Mal leader Perro Aguayo Jr. decided to leave CMLL taking with him most of the Perros del Mal group, but El Texano Jr. and El Terrible decided not to leave CMLL. When Averno and Mephisto formed the group Los Hijos del Averno (The Sons of Hell) both Texano Jr. and El Terrible joined the group. On March 8, 2009 Texano Jr. won his second big "Luchas de Apuestas" match, defeating former teammate Máximo, forcing him to have his head shaved. Texano Jr. continued to be successful as he won his first singles championship, the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship from Atlantis on April 5, 2009. Holding the NWA Light Heavyweight Championship qualified Texano Jr. for the "CMLL Universal Championship" tournament, a single elimination tournament for all male CMLL endorsed champions. El Texano Jr. won block A on June 5 defeating El Hijo del Fantasma (CMLL World Trios Champion), Black Warrior (Mexican National Trios Champion) and La Sombra (CMLL World Tag Team Champion) to qualify for the final. Texano Jr. was defeated by Último Guerrero in the finals of the tournament on June 19, 2009. On July 24, 2009 El Texano Jr. made his first successful NWA World Light Heavyweight Title defense, defeating former champion Shocker. In the fall of 2009 Texano Jr. and El Terrible became involved in a long-running "Mexico vs. Japan" storyline that had been going on since the summer as they began working with the Japanese duo No Limit (Yujiro and Naito).
On December 4, 2009 Terrible and Texano Jr. defeated No Limit in a Luchas de Apuesta hair vs. hair match that was the main event of CMLL's Sin Salida show. After the match both members of No Limit had their heads shaved completely bald per lucha libre traditions. On February 14, 2010 Texano Jr. and Terrible travelled to Japan to challenge No Limit for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but were not able to defeat No Limit in their home country. By virtue of holding the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship El Texano Jr. participated in the 2010 Universal Championship tournament. He was part of "Block A" that competed on the July 30, 2010 Super Viernes show. He co-won the eight-man seeding battle royal, and then won his first round match by defeating Ephesto. The second round was a rematch from the previous year's tournament, only this time La Sombra eliminated El Texano Jr. and not vice versa. On August 12, 2010, El Texano Jr.'s NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was replaced with the new NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship after CMLL had received complaints from the National Wrestling Alliance. In October and November 2010, El Texano Jr. and El Terrible took part in New Japan's 2010 G1 Tag League. After victories over Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano and No Limit, Texano Jr. and Terrible finished fifth in their block and didn't advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On December 14, 2010, El Texano Jr. lost the NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship to Shocker. Texano Jr. and El Terrible defeated the father/son team of Brazo de Plata and Máximo in the main event of the 2011 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas ("Homage to Two Legends") show, forcing La Dinastia Alvarado (Brazo de Plata and Máximo) both to have their heads shaved bald. In April 2011, Texano Jr. and El Terrible left Los Hijos del Averno to form a new group with Rey Bucanero. The following month, the group was named La Fuerza TRT.
### Perros del Mal (2011)
On November 22, 2011, it was reported that El Texano Jr. had left CMLL and joined Perros del Mal Producciones. On November 24, El Texano Jr. appeared at a press conference, where he was officially presented as the newest member of the promotion, appearing alongside his brother Super Nova, who also works for the promotion.
### Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (2011–2021)
On December 8, El Texano Jr. and Toscano appeared at another press conference, where it was announced that they were joining CMLL's rival promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). Later that day at an International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) event, both El Texano Jr. and Súper Nova joined the Perros del Mal stable. El Texano Jr. made his AAA debut on December 16 at Guerra de Titanes, forming the stable El Consejo ("The Council") with former CMLL workers Toscano and Máscara Año 2000 Jr. On January 21, 2012, Mortiz and Semental joined El Consejo as well, establishing it as a group opposing both AAA's tecnicos and rudos alike. On February 10, El Consejo was joined by Argos. El Consejos first big match in AAA took place on March 18 at Rey de Reyes, where El Texano Jr., Máscara Año 2000 Jr. and Toscano defeated AAA representatives Dr. Wagner Jr., Electroshock and Heavy Metal, following interference from the stable's newest member, "El Hombre de Negro" ("The Man in Black"). On May 19, El Texano Jr., Máscara Año 2000 Jr. and Toscano defeated Los Psycho Circus (Monster Clown, Murder Clown and Psycho Clown), following another interference from El Hombre de Negro, to win the AAA World Trios Championship. On June 16, El Hombre de Negro unmasked and revealed that it was Máscara Año 2000 under the mask. On October 7 at Héroes Inmortales, El Texano Jr. won the sixth annual Copa Antonio Peña tournament, scoring the last elimination over AAA Mega Champion El Mesías. However, afterwards the cup was taken away from El Texano Jr. when referee Copetes Salazar found out that Texano Jr. had cheated to win the match. With a shot at the AAA Mega Championship in his future, El Texano Jr. formed an alliance with Dorian Roldán, bringing El Consejo under the umbrella of his La Sociedad stable.
On December 2 at Guerra de Titanes, El Texano Jr. defeated El Mesías to become the youngest AAA Mega Champion in history. On February 18, 2013, El Consejo lost the AAA World Trios Championship to Los Psycho Circus, when Toscano turned on El Texano Jr. during the match. On March 17 at that year's Rey de Reyes ("King of Kings") show, El Texano Jr. successfully defended the AAA Mega Championship against Blue Demon Jr. On June 16 at Triplemanía XXI, El Texano Jr. successfully defended his title against Heavy Metal. On September 3, El Texano Jr. became the longest reigning AAA Mega Champion in its history as he eclipsed Jeff Jarrett's title reign of 274 days. On June 7, 2014, at Verano de Escándalo ("Summer of Scandal"), El Texano Jr. successfully defended the title against Psycho Clown, after former CMLL referee Rafael el Maya turned rudo and joined El Consejo. The rivalry between El Texano Jr. and Psycho Clown culminated on August 17 at Triplemanía XXII, where Psycho Clown was victorious in a Lucha de Apuestas between the two, forcing Texano Jr. to have his head shaved. After a two-year reign, El Texano Jr. lost the AAA Mega Championship to El Patrón Alberto on December 7, 2014, at Guerra de Titanes, ending his record 735-day reign. On March 18, 2015, El Texano Jr. won the 2015 Rey de Reyes tournament. On March 23, 2016, El Texano Jr. defeated El Mesías to win the vacant AAA Mega Championship for the second time. He lost the title to Johnny Mundo on March 19, 2017. On March 4, 2018, at Rey de Reyes lost against El Hijo del Fantasma in a Mask vs Hair match. On July 13, 2021, Texano Jr. was announcing Alberto El Patron's "Hecho en Mexico" event, announcing his departure from AAA after 9 years in his career.
### Lucha Underground (2015–2017)
Texano made his Lucha Underground debut at the January 17, 2015, taping, when he attacked Alberto el Patrón, who was also making his debut at that taping. In Lucha Underground Aguila performed the name "Texano", without the "Junior" suffix. On the March 25 episode Texano unsuccessfully challenged el Patrón for the AAA Mega Championship in a Bullrope match. He would later turn face when LU needed to replace an injured Chavo Guerrero Jr. in a storyline with Blue Demon Jr. The two wrestled in a No Disqualification match at Ultima Lucha where Blue Demon Jr. won the match to cap off the first season. During season two Texano won one of the Aztec Medallions that allowed Texano to fight for the Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Championship, a match he would lose to Chavo Guerrero Jr. For Ultima Lucha Dos he participated in a "Unique Opportunity" tournament, but lost to Son of Havoc in the first round.
He wouldn't appear in Season Four. Famous B explained he sent Texano to Mexico to win titles to justify his absence.
### Impact Wrestling (2017–2018)
Texano made his Impact Wrestling debut, helping El Hijo del Fantasma and Pagano defeat Eddie Edwards and Ethan Carter III, after the match the three deliver a post match beat-down with Texano using a rope to whip before James Storm made the save. at Bound for Glory, Team AAA (Texano, El Hijo del Fantasma and Pagano) lost to Team Impact (Ethan Carter III, Eddie Edwards and James Storm) in a Six-man tag team match. On September 20, 2018 episode of Impact!, Texano unsuccessfully challenged Austin Aries for the Impact World Championship.
## Personal life
Juan Aguilar Leos was born on July 31, 1984, in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico; son of Juan Conrado Aguilar Jáuregui, a luchador or professional wrestler known under the ring name El Texano. Two years later his parents had another son who would later be known under the ring name Súper Nova and in 2016 as Bengala. Juan Aguilar grew up in a family of luchadors as several uncles were in the business as well including El Dandy, Negro Navarro, Apolo Navarro and Drako. Over time several of his cousins also became professional wrestlers such as Mictlán, Trauma I, Trauma II, Pólvora and Inquisidor.
### Lawsuit against Lucha Underground
On February 13, 2019 it was reported that Aguilar had filed a lawsuit in California against the El Rey Network and the Baba-G production company behind Lucha Underground. The lawsuit claimed that the LU contract "Illegally restricted" wrestlers from working in their "lawful profession" by being restricted from working for other companies while under contract with LU, which only paid per match. Also, Aguilar didn't work in the 4th season, claiming he wasn't paid since 2016. The lawsuit was similar to the lawsuit made by King Cuerno, Ivelisse Vélez, Joey Ryan and Melissa Cervantes two weeks before looking to invalidate their contracts.
## Championships and accomplishments
- Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
- AAA Mega Championship (2 times)
- AAA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rey Escorpión
- AAA World Trios Championship (2 times, Current) – with Máscara Año 2000 Jr. & Toscano (1) and La Hiedra, Rey Escorpion and Taurus (1, Current)
- Copa Antonio Peña (2012)
- Guitarra de Oro (2017)
- Rey de Reyes (2015)
- Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
- Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) – with El Sagrado and Máximo
- NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Mexican G1 Junior Climax (2005)
- CMLL Guadalajara
- Occidente Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Terrible
- DDT Pro-Wrestling
- Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
- Invasión Indy
- NWA Mexico Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Super Nova
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him \#48' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013
## Luchas de Apuestas record |
65,580,353 | 1930 Bago earthquake | 1,170,839,352 | Earthquake in Myanmar | [
"1930 disasters in Asia",
"1930 earthquakes",
"1930 in Southeast Asia",
"1930s tsunamis",
"Bago Region",
"Earthquakes in Myanmar",
"History of Yangon",
"Strike-slip earthquakes",
"Tsunamis in Myanmar"
]
| The 1930 Bago (Pegu) earthquake (Burmese: ၁၉၃၀ ပဲခူးတိုင်းငလျင်), also known as the Swa earthquake struck Myanmar on 5 May. The moment magnitude () 7.4 earthquake had a focal depth of 35 km (22 mi) and maximum Rossi–Forel intensity of IX (Devastating tremor). The earthquake was the result of rupture along a 131 km (81 mi) segment of the Sagaing Fault—a major strike-slip fault that runs through the country. Extensive damage was reported in the southern part of the country, particularly in Bago and Yangon, where buildings collapsed and fires erupted. At least 550, and possibly up to 7,000 people were killed. A moderate tsunami was generated along the Burmese coast which caused minor damage to ships and a port. It was felt for over 570,000 km<sup>2</sup> (220,000 sq mi) and as far as Shan State and Thailand. The mainshock was followed by many aftershocks; several were damaging; additional earthquakes occurred in July and December, killing dozens. The December earthquake was similarly sized which also occurred along the Sagaing Fault.
## Earthquake
The earthquake ruptured along the Bago segment of the Sagaing Fault for a length of 131 kilometres (81 mi), extending from the southern coast of Myanmar (Gulf of Martaban) to roughly 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the city of Bago (Pegu). The entire Bago segment is approximately 170 kilometres (110 mi) in length, hence this event was a partial rupture of the segment.
Buildings and pagodas near the fault collapsed in a southeast (in Bago), east and east-southeast (Tawa), and west-northwest (Tongyi) direction. These collapse patterns indicate shaking occurred in an east–west to northwest–southeast direction. At locations far from the fault (Insein, Yangon, Syriam, and Kyauktan), shaking was in a north–south direction. These shaking reports supported a right-lateral rupture.
Widespread ground deformation was reported. Surface ruptures, fault scarps and fissures appeared. A 2009 field study of the Sagaing Fault found vertical displacements up to 20 cm (7.9 in) high which were the product of surface ruptures. Along traces of the Sagaing Fault, right-lateral offsets up to 15 m (49 ft) were measured, caused by the accumulation of displacements during previous earthquakes. The 1930 Bago earthquake produced at least 3 m (9.8 ft) of right-lateral offset.
By estimating a rupture length and width of 120 km (75 mi) and 15 km (9.3 mi), respectively, and averaging the slip to 3 m (9.8 ft), a magnitude of 7.4 was computed. The International Seismological Centre catalogued the earthquake at 7.4 with a depth of 35 km (22 mi).
### Tectonic setting
Myanmar is wedged between four tectonic plates—the Indian, Eurasian, Sunda and Burma plates that interact due to active geological processes. Along the west coast of the Coco Islands, off the Rakhine coast, and into Bangladesh, is a highly oblique convergent boundary known as the Sunda megathrust. This large fault marks the boundary between the Indian and Burma plates. The megathrust emerges from the seafloor in Bangladesh, where it runs parallel and east of the Chin Hills. This boundary continues to north of Myanmar where it ends at the eastern Himalayas.
The Sagaing Fault is a transform fault that runs through Myanmar and connects the Andaman spreading center to a collision zone in the north. It accommodates motion between the Burma and Sunda Plates as they slide past each other at a rate of 18–49 mm (0.71–1.93 in)/yr. It runs the entire length of Myanmar for over 1,400 km (870 mi) and continues its trace into the Andaman Sea. The Sagaing Fault is Myanmar's largest and most active source of seismic threat, running through or close to major cities including Yangon, Nay Pyi Daw and Mandalay. Large and damaging earthquakes occurred along the fault in 1931 ( 7.5), 1946 ( 7.3 & 7.7), 1956 ( 7.0), 1991 ( 6.9) and 2012 ( 6.9). The magnitude of earthquakes on the Sagaing Fault vary across the fault zone, from 7.0 to 8.0. The recurrence interval also vary depending on the location along the fault. The southern segments which ruptured in 1930 have short periods of 100–150 years based on paleoseismological studies.
Destructive earthquakes have affected the area for centuries but there is limited academic research to understand their seismological characteristics. Most earthquakes in Myanmar, including large, surface rupturing events are not well understood. A large 8.5–8.8 earthquake in 1762 ruptured a section of the Sunda megathrust off the Rakhine coast. That earthquake is thought have been the result of the Indian Plate subducting beneath the Burma Plate along the megathrust. Subduction of the Indian Plate also causes intraslab earthquakes beneath central Myanmar. The 1975 Bagan earthquake was caused by reverse faulting within the Indian Plate at an intermediate depth of 120 km (75 mi).
### Intensity
The duration of shaking varied at locations, in Bago, it lasted no more than 30 seconds while in Yangon and Dala, it lasted for 1–1.5 minutes. Survivors recounted two episodes of shaking, separated by a short pause, while the latter was more intense. The first episode lasted 3–4 seconds. The second episode produced shaking in a north-northwest–south-southeast direction. In the meizoseismal area, shaking intensity peaked at IX on the Rossi–Forel scale within a pear-shaped area of 971 km<sup>2</sup> (375 sq mi) along the fault. Within this area, buildings were either partially or totally destroyed. Bago was located at the northern end of this isoseismal area. An eyewitness observed surface waves propagating through a tennis court in Bago. People on the ground were thrown upwards due to the shaking. Shaking was violent enough to create large fissures, and thrusted alluvium was observed during land surveys.
Intensity VIII was experienced in the townships of Kyauktan, Thongwa, Kayan, and Kawa. Many houses suffered significant damage while a few collapsed partially. Many household items reportedly fell towards the north or south, and large almirahs in a hospital and police station were thrown to the floor. Massive cracks appeared in the ground and sections of land fell into a nearby river. The regions of Toungoo and Yangon were within the intensity VI–VII zone. Poorly constructed buildings collapsed in this area. Brick chimneys and walls were thrown down due to the force of the earthquake. A number of buildings were so badly compromised that they were not safe for anyone to enter.
### Subsequent events
Many aftershocks were felt in Bago, Onhne and Kawa after the earthquake. An active aftershock sequence occurred at Pado, located 77 km (48 mi) north of Bago. A strong aftershock on 16 September resulted in the cracking of a brick wall on a police station in Pado. It was also felt in Bago, Myitkyo and Yitkangale.
The Sagaing Fault produced a series of large earthquakes that would rupture more than half its length during the early 20th century. The first earthquake struck on 8 August 1929 and was locally destructive in Swa in the Toungoo. On 18 July 1930, an earthquake killed at least 50 people in the Ayeyarwady Region. In December 1930, another destructive earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck further north along the Sagaing Fault, killing 30 people. The earthquake caused major damage in Pyu—many masonry buildings were levelled and railroads were twisted. Shoddily constructed buildings were destroyed. The December earthquake was triggered by coulomb stress transfer from the previous event in May. It ruptured approximately 120 km (75 mi) of the Sagaing Fault. Subsequent large earthquakes followed in 1931, 1946 and 1956.
## Impact
As many as 7,000 people may have perished in the earthquake. The earthquake left Bago in ruins. Fires erupted, causing further destruction in the city. There were also reports of severe liquefaction in the form of fissures erupting sand and water. Loud rumbling was heard in the city. The death toll was estimated at 500 or higher in Bago. The Shwemawdaw Pagoda, a religious monument in the city, was seriously weakened, and half the structure collapsed to the southeast. People who operated stalls at its base were killed.
The earthquake left Bago's market area in heaps of ruined bricks, twisted metal and charred wood. In the town center, buildings toppled in a southeasterly direction. The minarets of mosques collapsed onto alleys. The city's municipal building was heavily damaged while a ferrocement building at the eastern end of a bridge crossing the Bago River and a high school were razed.
In Yangon, the jewelled hti of the Shwedagon Pagoda, an important religious landmark in the city, was dislodged and left hanging. The earthquake threw people off the ground. More than 50 buildings had to be rebuilt. Conflagrations out and water pipelines ruptured. The confirmed death toll was reported at 50 or 58, but may be as high as 200. Most casualties in Yangon occurred when a mosque and five-storey building collapsed and buried everyone inside. A further 204 were injured by collapsing masonry.
The greatest damage occurred in the southern part of Yangon which sits on a river delta where alluvium is deposited by the Irrawaddy River. The British Geological Survey building along Dalhousie Road was suffered extensive cracks. The interior of the building which housed a laboratory and museum was in shambles. Along China Street, pucca houses caved inwards and numerous buildings were uninhabitable. The High Court Building and Roman Catholic Church suffered heavy damaged. City residents left their homes in a panic and sought refuge in vacant spaces and parks. The city was plunged in the dark due to damaged electrical systems while the fire department searched for victims.
In Tawa, seven people were killed; two buildings totally collapsed; pagodas and roads were destroyed; and subsidence occurred. Many ground cracks appeared—there was a large concentration of them west of the village. At Khayan, various buildings including a mosque and hospital partially collapsed. Fissures and vents ejected enough water and to bury parts of the town and cause floods. Between 12 and 16 deaths were reported in Kayan. Thongwa, which sits atop the Sagaing Fault suffered major destruction. A railway station platform fissured, while abutments of the railway bridge sank and were shifted from their original positions. Like in many other affected towns, most masonry buildings collapsed or were badly damaged.
A surviving eyewitness saw a monastery shift laterally by 1–2 ft (0.30–0.61 m). Ground cracks were up to 10 m (33 ft) long. There were reports that people could not stand due to the extreme ground motion. Surface waves were observed propagating through the ground. At a village in Thanatpin Township, its elevation was raised and construction was offset. Railroads were shifted and some tilted.
## Tsunami
A local tsunami with a run-up height of 1.06 metres (3 ft 6 in) was recorded along the coast. The tsunami travelled up the Sittaung River and flooded several villages along the way. The A.S. Oxfordshire, which was docked at the Rangoon Harbour, was uplifted between 3 ft (0.91 m) and 4 ft (1.2 m) while others began to rock back-and-forth. The waves also caused ships to slam into the wharf resulting in damage to the port. The crews of the S.S. Queda and S.S. Ekma described the vessels rocking violently and shearing off their mooring bolts. No fatalities were reported and tidal gauges in Bangladesh and the coast of India did not record the tsunami.
## Future threat
Seismologists have identified a \~50 km (31 mi)-long seismic gap on the Sagaing Fault which did not rupture during the May and December 1930 earthquakes. This gap is located between the rupture zones of both events and is capable of producing an earthquake up to a magnitude of 7.0. North of Naypyidaw, a \~260 km (160 mi)-long segment of the Sagaing Fault was also identified as a seismic gap. Known as the Meiktila segment, it is capable of producing a magnitude 7.9 earthquake. It stretches from Nay Pyi Taw to Mandalay. The last known earthquake in that area was the 1912 Maymyo earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 however, that involved a rupture along the nearby Kyaukkyan Fault. It is believed that the segment last ruptured in the 1839 Ava earthquake. A recurrence interval of 330 to 460 years was estimated along the Meiktila segment for earthquakes of magnitude 7.8–7.9. To the south, an offshore segment with a length of 180 km (110 mi) in the Andaman Sea has also never been involved in any major earthquake in recent historical records. It is expected that a magnitude 7.7 or greater earthquake could occur there.
In the 1930s, the population of Yangon was about 200,000 to 400,000 residents—which was considered small. However, the population has grown to about 6 million. A 2008 report by the World Agency for Planetary Monitoring and Earthquake Risk stated that there were nine possible earthquake scenarios in Yangon. The Sagaing Fault and other smaller but adjacent faults pose an earthquake threat to the city. The organization said there could be over 100,000 casualties from an earthquake in Yangon. Buildings during the British colonial period were carefully constructed and are earthquake resistant, but newer constructions do not follow seismic codes. The absence of construction-related policies and poor practices have made buildings vulnerable to earthquakes. Although some hazard maps were made in 2005, most developers do not account for earthquakes in building design. A geotechnician for the Myanmar Earthquake Committee described a future major earthquake as "chaos". The impact in Yangon could be similar to that of Kathmandu during the 2015 Nepal earthquake, where 9,000 were killed.
## See also
- List of earthquakes in 1930
- List of earthquakes in Myanmar |
478,224 | 90482 Orcus | 1,173,444,386 | Trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet | [
"90482 Orcus",
"Astronomical objects discovered in 2004",
"Discoveries by Chad Trujillo",
"Discoveries by David L. Rabinowitz",
"Discoveries by Michael E. Brown",
"Dwarf planets",
"Named minor planets",
"Plutinos"
]
| Orcus (minor-planet designation 90482 Orcus, provisional designation ''') is a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet with a large moon, Vanth. It has a diameter of 870 to 960 km (540 to 600 mi), the size of or somewhat smaller than the asteroid Ceres. The surface of Orcus is relatively bright with albedo reaching 23 percent, neutral in color and rich in water ice. The ice is predominantly in crystalline form, which may be related to past cryovolcanic activity. Other compounds like methane or ammonia may also be present on its surface. Orcus was discovered by American astronomers Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz on 17 February 2004.
Orcus is a plutino, a trans-Neptunian object that is locked in a 2:3 resonance with the ice giant Neptune, making two revolutions around the Sun to every three of Neptune's. This is much like Pluto, except that the phase of Orcus's orbit is opposite to Pluto's: Orcus is at aphelion (most recently in 2019) around when Pluto is at perihelion (most recently in 1989) and vice versa. Orcus is the largest known plutino after Pluto itself. The perihelion of Orcus's orbit is around 120° from that of Pluto, while the eccentricities and inclinations are similar. Because of these similarities and contrasts, along with its large moon Vanth that recalls Pluto's large moon Charon, Orcus has been regarded as the anti-Pluto. This was a major consideration in selecting its name, as the deity Orcus was the Roman/Etruscan equivalent of the Roman/Greek Pluto.
## History
### Discovery
Orcus was discovered on 17 February 2004, by American astronomers Michael Brown of Caltech, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory, and David Rabinowitz of Yale University. Precovery images taken by the Palomar Observatory as early as 8 November 1951 were later obtained from the Digitized Sky Survey.
### Name and symbol
The minor planet Orcus was named after one of the Roman gods of the underworld, Orcus. While Pluto (of Greek origin) was the ruler of the underworld, Orcus (of Etruscan origin) was a punisher of the condemned. The name was published by the Minor Planet Center on 26 November 2004 (M.P.C. 53177). Under the guidelines of the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) naming conventions, objects with a similar size and orbit to that of Pluto are named after underworld deities. Accordingly, the discoverers suggested naming the object after Orcus, the Etruscan god of the underworld and punisher of broken oaths. The name was also a private reference to the homonymous Orcas Island, where Brown's wife had lived as a child and that they visit frequently.
On 30 March 2005, Orcus's moon, Vanth, was named after a winged female demon, Vanth, of the Etruscan underworld. She could be present at the moment of death, and frequently acted as a psychopomp, a guide of the deceased to the underworld.
Planetary symbols are no longer much used in astronomy, so Orcus never received a symbol in the astronomical literature. A symbol , used mostly among astrologers, is included in Unicode as U+1F77F. The symbol was designed by Denis Moskowitz, a software engineer in Massachusetts; it is an OR monogram, designed to resemble both a skull and an orca's gape. There is a rarer symbol , an inverted astrological Pluto symbol, reflecting Orcus as the anti-Pluto: it was designed by Melanie Reinhart.
## Orbit and rotation
Orcus is in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, having an orbital period of 245 years, and is classified as a plutino. Its orbit is moderately inclined at 20.6 degrees to the ecliptic. Orcus's orbit is similar to Pluto's (both have perihelia above the ecliptic), but is oriented differently. Although at one point its orbit approaches that of Neptune, the resonance between the two bodies means that Orcus itself is always a great distance away from Neptune (there is always an angular separation of over 60 degrees between them). Over a 14,000-year period, Orcus stays more than 18 AU from Neptune. Because their mutual resonance with Neptune constrains Orcus and Pluto to remain in opposite phases of their otherwise very similar motions, Orcus is sometimes described as the "anti-Pluto". Orcus last reached its aphelion (farthest distance from the Sun) in 2019 and will come to perihelion (closest distance to the Sun) around 10 January 2143. Simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey show that over the next 10 million years Orcus may acquire a perihelion distance (q<sub>min</sub>) as small as 27.8 AU.
The rotation period of Orcus is uncertain, as different photometric surveys have produced different results. Some show low amplitude variations with periods ranging from 7 to 21 hours, whereas others show no variability. The rotational axis of Orcus probably coincides with the orbital axis of its moon, Vanth. This means that Orcus is currently viewed pole-on, which could explain the near absence of any rotational modulation of its brightness. Astronomer José Luis Ortiz and colleagues have derived a possible rotation period of about 10.5 hours, assuming that Orcus is not tidally locked with Vanth. If, however, the primary is tidally locked with the satellite, the rotational period would coincide with the 9.7-day orbital period of Vanth.
## Physical characteristics
### Size and magnitude
The absolute magnitude of Orcus is approximately 2.3. The detection of Orcus by the Spitzer Space Telescope in the far infrared and by Herschel Space Telescope in submillimeter estimates its diameter at 958.4 km (595.5 mi), with an uncertainty of 22.9 km (14.2 mi). Orcus appears to have an albedo of about 21–25 percent, which may be typical of trans-Neptunian objects approaching the 1,000 km (620 mi) diameter range. The magnitude and size estimates were made under the assumption that Orcus is a singular object. The presence of a relatively large satellite, Vanth, may change them considerably. The absolute magnitude of Vanth is estimated at 4.88, which means that it is about 11 times fainter than Orcus itself. The ALMA submillimeter measurements taken in 2016 showed that Vanth has a relatively large size of 475 km (295 mi) with albedo of about 8 percent while Orcus's has a slightly smaller size of 910 km (570 mi). Using a stellar occultation by Vanth in 2017, Vanth's diameter has been determined to be 442.5 km (275.0 mi), with an uncertainty of 10.2 km (6.3 mi). Michael Brown's website lists Orcus as a dwarf planet with "near certainty", Tancredi concludes that it is one, and is massive enough to be considered one under the 2006 draft proposal of the IAU, but the IAU has not formally recognized it as such.
### Mass and density
Orcus and Vanth are known to constitute a binary system. The mass of the system has been estimated to be (6.348±0.019)×10<sup>20</sup> kg, approximately equal to that of the Saturnian moon Tethys (6.175×10<sup>20</sup> kg). The mass of the Orcus system is about 3.8 percent that of , the most-massive known dwarf planet (1.66×10<sup>22</sup> kg). How this mass is partitioned between Orcus and Vanth depends on their relative densities. If Vanth were 0.8 g/cm<sup>3</sup> (typical for a TNO in this size range), it would be about 5% of Orcus's mass; if it had the same density of Orcus (that is, the system density of 1.53 g/cm<sup>3</sup>), then it would be about 20% of Orcus's mass. The low albedo of Vanth compared to Orcus suggests that their compositions are different and that Vanth's density is relatively low. Thus, the mass of Orcus is likely to be close to the system mass.
### Spectra and surface
The first spectroscopic observations in 2004 showed that the visible spectrum of Orcus is flat (neutral in color) and featureless, whereas in the near-infrared there were moderately strong water absorption bands at 1.5 and 2.0 μm. The neutral visible spectrum and strong water absorption bands of Orcus showed that Orcus appeared different from other trans-Neptunian objects, which typically have a red visible spectrum and often featureless infrared spectra. Further infrared observations in 2004 by the European Southern Observatory and the Gemini telescope gave results consistent with mixtures of water ice and carbonaceous compounds, such as tholins. The water and methane ices can cover no more than 50 percent and 30 percent of the surface, respectively. This means the proportion of ice on the surface is less than on Charon, but similar to that on Triton.
Later in 2008–2010 new infrared spectroscopic observations with a higher signal-to-noise ratio revealed additional spectral features. Among them are a deep water ice absorption band at 1.65 μm, which is an evidence of the crystalline water ice on the surface of Orcus, and a new absorption band at 2.22 μm. The origin of the latter feature is not completely clear. It can be caused either by ammonia/ammonium dissolved in the water ice or by methane/ethane ices. The radiative transfer modeling showed that a mixture of water ice, tholins (as a darkening agent), ethane ice and ammonium ion (NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>) provides the best match to the spectra, whereas a combination of water ice, tholins, methane ice and ammonia hydrate gives a slightly inferior result. On the other hand, a mixture of only ammonia hydrate, tholins and water ice failed to provide a satisfactory match. So, as of 2010, the only reliably identified compounds on the surface of Orcus are crystalline water ice and, possibly, dark tholins. A firm identification of ammonia, methane and other hydrocarbons requires better infrared spectra.
Orcus sits at the threshold for trans-Neptunian objects massive enough to retain volatiles such as methane on the surface. The reflectance spectrum of Orcus shows the deepest water-ice absorption bands of any Kuiper belt object that is not associated with the Haumea collisional family. The large icy satellites of Uranus have infrared spectra quite similar to that of Orcus. Among other trans-Neptunian objects, the large plutino and Pluto's moon Charon both have similar surface spectra to Orcus, with flat, featureless visible spectra and moderately strong water ice absorption bands in the near-infrared.
### Cryovolcanism
Crystalline water ice on the surfaces of trans-Neptunian objects should be completely amorphized by the galactic and Solar radiation in about 10 million years. Thus the presence of crystalline water ice, and possibly ammonia ice, may indicate that a renewal mechanism was active in the past on the surface of Orcus. Ammonia so far has not been detected on any trans-Neptunian object or icy satellite of the outer planets other than Miranda. The 1.65 μm band on Orcus is broad and deep (12%), as on Charon, Quaoar, Haumea, and icy satellites of giant planets. Some calculations indicate that cryovolcanism, which is considered one of the possible renewal mechanisms, may indeed be possible for trans-Neptunian objects larger than about 1,000 km (620 mi). Orcus may have experienced at least one such episode in the past, which turned the amorphous water ice on its surface into crystalline. The preferred type of volcanism may have been explosive aqueous volcanism driven by an explosive dissolution of methane from water–ammonia melts.
## Satellite
Orcus has one known moon, Vanth''' (full designation (90482) Orcus I Vanth). It was discovered by Michael Brown and T.-A. Suer using discovery images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on 13 November 2005. The discovery was announced in an IAU Circular notice published on 22 February 2007. A spatially resolved submillimeter imaging of Orcus–Vanth system in 2016 showed that Vanth has a relatively large size of 475 km (295 mi), with an uncertainty of 75 km (47 mi). That estimate for Vanth is in good agreement with the size of about 442.5 km (275.0 mi) derived from a stellar occultation in 2017. Like Charon compared to Pluto, Vanth is quite large compared to Orcus, and is one reason for characterizing Orcus as the 'anti-Pluto'. If Orcus is a dwarf planet, Vanth would be the third-largest known dwarf-planet moon, after Charon and Dysnomia. The ratio of masses of Orcus and Vanth is uncertain, possibly anywhere from 1:33 to 1:12.
## See also
- List of possible dwarf planets
- List of trans-Neptunian objects
- List of Solar System objects by size |
7,286,259 | Ling Woo | 1,164,303,479 | Fictional character from Ally McBeal | [
"Ally McBeal characters",
"American female characters in television",
"Fictional American lawyers",
"Fictional female lawyers",
"Fictional judges",
"Television characters introduced in 1998"
]
| Ling Woo is a fictional character in the US comedy-drama Ally McBeal, portrayed by Chinese-American actress Lucy Liu. A Mandarin-speaking Chinese-American lawyer, Ling has been described as cold and ferocious.
At the time, she was cited as the most famous and only significant representative of Asian women on US television (besides news anchors and reporters). Thus, her characterization has attracted much scholarly attention in the US.
## Background
Ally McBeal is an American television series created by David E. Kelley which ran on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. Set in the fictional Boston law firm of Cage, Fish and Associates, the series explores the relationships among various lawyers working at the firm, often as they relate to gender-specific issues raised in court cases. Ling Woo was a character written by Kelley specifically for actress Lucy Liu after she failed to secure the role of Nelle Porter in the show.
Woo appeared for the first time in the second season as a client suing a Howard Stern-like talk show host named Wick. She was suing because Wick's programs contributed to sexual harassment in her workplace. Wick claimed Woo brought suit because she had a "slutty little Asian thing going", and Woo said that she wanted to sleep with Wick because if she did, she would kill him. The character proved to be a hit, and Liu was signed on as a regular for the series.
Ling became a lawyer with the firm by pressuring Richard Fish, the firm's senior partner, to hire her services as counsel. She remained a regular on the show until 2001, when her role was reduced to four episodes in the upcoming season. Ling's employment history changed that season when the Governor of Massachusetts offers Ling a job as judge after Ling complimented her twin babies. Woo is a graduate of Cornell Law School where she was editor of the Law Review.
Asian women were rarely given prominent roles on American television. In 1994 Margaret Cho had a brief prime-time show called All American Girl, which was not popular with audiences and did not last a full season. When the show aired, there had not been another Asian-American-centered show or an Asian main character at the time the Ling character was created. Unlike the 1970s depictions of docile East Asian women on TV, Ling's character was the opposite, but still a classic stereotype, that of the Dragon Lady. At the time, she was the only significant representative of Asian women on television in the United States (besides news anchors and reporters), leaving no one else to counteract this prominent stereotype. She remains the most memorable Asian TV character of the 1990s.
## Character
Ling Woo's character has been described as the antithesis of Ally McBeal's. For example, Woo is portrayed as evil, McBeal as good; Woo growls, McBeal purrs. At the same time, Woo's verbal assaults present a fantasy of authority that appeals to even McBeal, who says, "She's my hero, she's vicious, I disagree with almost everything she says, she treats me like dirt, and somehow she's my hero."
The character's main function was to inject into the show "sensuality, promise, terror, sublimity, idyllic pleasure, intense energy" - elements long associated with the Orient in Western culture, according to Orientalism author Edward Said. Woo embodies stereotypes of the geisha, the unreadable Oriental, and the dragon lady.
Describing her as "fearsome, devouring, vicious, cool," and with an "exotic sexuality", Georgia State University professor Greg Smith sees Woo as a stereotype of Asian women, a "Dragon Lady".
Her character was frequently used to examine matters related to gender definition and topics. Woo is the only major character in Ally McBeal who does not have an origin story for her particular neurosis, and is exempt from the psychoanalytic focus given to others in the series, which Smith attributes to her Asian "mysteriousness".
### Cold and vicious
Woo is cast as a villain, underscored by her frequent appearance to the theme music that accompanied the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. Unlike a melodramatic villain such as J. R. Ewing, Woo was cast as a remarkably heartless character until well into her second season (Season 3 of the show), when she begins to befriend other characters.
She harasses and belittles people with disabilities. When visiting a hospital, Woo accidentally collides with a man in a wheelchair, and shouts, "Watch where you are going! It's bad enough that you people get all the parking spots!" To an individual with Tourette syndrome, she says, "I think Tourettes is so cool. It would be great to be able to annoy people like that. You get to whoop and twitch. Any other good ones?" A passing blind man accidentally taps her with his cane, and Woo cries, "OW! They're not weapons!...I so prefer the deaf to the blind." Woo also impersonates the blind to get her way. In one episode she puts on sunglasses, extends a telescoping white cane, and walks across a busy street, tires squealing as she hits a couple of cars with her cane. Woo is unapologetic for these affronts. When pointed out that "there are real blind people in the world", she retorts, "It's not like any of them saw me."
Woo is concerned with petty annoyances that disrupt her pleasure or inconvenience her. When a colleague is stuck in an elevator with his feet dangling out of the doors, she asks, "Does this mean I'm going to have to take the stairs?" She is impatient in getting what she wants, for example snapping at a judge to "hurry up" as he reads a verdict. She frequently announces that she is uninterested in proceedings that do not affect her personally. As her co-counsel questions a witness in court, Woo objects to the judge, "I'm bored! As an officer of the court, I have a duty to be open and forthright. I think the witness is tedious and I'm concerned for the jury's attention span."
Smith sees Woo's attacks as pointed and consciously vicious. She attacks because her words have consequences, clearing a path for her own selfish interests. Nelle Porter says, "I admire the way you don't let yourself be pushed around. Too many people when they think they've been wronged just walk away."
Jeff Yang, founding publisher of A Magazine, a New York-based publication on Asian American culture, sees Ling as "a strong Asian woman who's clearly potent, clearly has control. She's not a victim, not somebody who lets anyone come even close to victimizing her."
Even though she coldly tyrannizes virtually everyone around her, she is sometimes hurt and confused over being disliked. She admits, "It's lonely on the bench. I thought I'd like a place where people can't get to you but once in a while..." A colleague completes her thought: "You need to have somebody who can get to you."
### Hypersexual
University of Wyoming Associate Professor Tracey Patton sees Woo as the embodiment of the Asian fantasy woman, the seductive temptress expert in eroticism who is knowledgeable in the art of sexual pleasure unknown to the Western world. In one episode, she agreed to have sex only after her partner signed a health waiver and confidentiality agreement to protect her sexual secrets. In another episode, Woo is hired by Richard Fish as an attorney in his firm, in exchange for sexual favors. Woo's sexual foreplay with Richard Fish included sucking his fingers, dropping hot wax on him, and performing a "hair-tickling massage" on his bare chest. In regards to this encounter, Jeff Yang stated: "What she offered was not too far from an Oriental massage - hair splayed across his chest, his stricken face, the whole interracial thing. It's clearly something that plays off so many deep-seated fantasies about Asian American women."
Woo's attitude to sex is cold and uninterested. While depicted as a sexual predator, she nonetheless "doesn't like sex; it's messy" "and overrated". She is able to keep her boyfriend interested without having to have intercourse with him because she does not like sweat. To Woo, according to Smith, sex is just another arena for her to exert control. To her, "Sex is a weapon", and "a woman hasn't got true control of a man until her hand is on the dumb stick". Woo enjoys using sex as a weapon, opining, "There's nothing I enjoy more than seeing a happy couple and coming between them." As with the "vicious" personality, most of this hyper-sexuality is gone by Season 3 (Woo's second season on the show).
Darrell Hamamoto, Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis, describes Ling as "a neo-Orientalist masturbatory fantasy figure concocted by a white man whose job it is to satisfy the blocked needs of other white men who seek temporary escape from their banal and deadening lives by indulging themselves in a bit of visual cunnilingus while relaxing on the sofa."
Her liaisons are mostly with white men, but are not limited to them. One episode features a dream sequence in which Ally McBeal and Ling Woo go on a date and kiss on screen. The kiss was shot in profile, locked lips clearly visible, rather than using the typical angle for same-sex kisses, in which the partner's head blocks the view of the actual contact. The scene was considered so racy that the episode was banned from being shown in Singapore. The episode won its time slot among young adult viewers during its showing in the November 1999 sweeps, even beating Monday Night Football. Woo made the "damn hot kiss" even hotter because "she's the exotic, erotic experimenter of the group", according to Scott Seomin, media director at that time for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
### Alien
Patton states that Woo's actions, attitudes, and portrayal as an evil manipulator make her the alien of the law firm, and as such many of the lawyers in the firm did not want her hired. Campbell, a white male at the firm stated, "With her as a lawyer, the whole thing [the dynamic make-up of the firm] will change." Her non-white presence and competency are questioned. Even though she was the law review editor in law school, the presumption was she got the job mainly because Fish could not say no to Woo and her sexual promises. Woo is seen as an unwelcome addition to the law team despite her expertise and her success in law school.
Her character is the one most often portrayed on the show using animal effects. She frequently responds with a range of animal growls and snarls and breathes fire like a literal manifestation of dragon lady. Smith sees these effects as reinforcing the bestial undertone of the Asian stereotype, making her appear inhuman. Woo herself admits, "It must be hard being human. I wouldn't know. I never tried it."
In one episode, Woo literally turned into an alien, reminiscent of a scene from the movie Alien. Her transformation into an alien was a reference to her inability to fit in with the other lawyers, as well as a reference to her citizenship. Patton points out that the assumption is often made that a second-generation white immigrant is an American citizen, but that same assumption is not granted to people of color, in this case, Woo. Woo is not constructed as American (because an American is constructed as white), nor is she constructed as human. Woo, the only person of color at the law firm, is instead constructed and seen as foreign or alien.
Ling is not above using her ethnicity as a means of gaining advantage. In one episode, as she delivers her closing arguments to a jury, she says "There's a very old expression in China," and then begins to speak in Chinese. In the subtitles we see her saying, "It really doesn't matter what I say here, because none of you speak Chinese. But you can see from my sad face I'm sympathetic. You hear from my tone it's appropriate to feel sorry for me. As I drop to a faint whisper (which she does), you'll feel the sorrow yourself. I'm going to finish now, pretend to cry", which she does as she walks off.
## See also
- Asian fetish
- Femme fatale
- Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians |
5,115,656 | Chris Beardsley | 1,173,133,331 | English association football player | [
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"Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players",
"Stevenage F.C. players",
"Worksop Town F.C. players",
"York City F.C. players"
]
| Christopher Kellan Beardsley (born 28 February 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the fitness coach at club Burton Albion.
Beardsley played youth football with Mickleover Sports and Derby County before starting his senior career with Mansfield Town. He broke into the first team in December 2002, and spent a brief period on loan at Worksop Town in the 2003–04 season. He left Mansfield in June 2004 and joined Doncaster Rovers a month later. He failed to make an impact, and signed for Kidderminster Harriers in December 2004. He rejoined Mansfield in July 2005, but did not play regularly in his one-and-a-half-year stay, and was loaned out to Conference National club Rushden & Diamonds in January 2007. He signed for the club permanently later that month, but struggled for appearances after a change in management. Beardsley joined York City in June 2007, but suffered a broken jaw in a match against Grays Athletic, and failed to establish himself in the team. He joined Kettering Town in December 2007, initially on loan, and helped the club win promotion to the Conference Premier during the 2007–08 season.
He rejoined Kidderminster on loan in November 2008, making a handful of appearances before being released by Kettering in May 2009. He signed for Stevenage Borough later that month, and helped them earn promotion to League Two in the 2009–10 season. Beardsley was part of the team that earned promotion to League One after winning the 2010–11 League Two play-offs. He left Stevenage when his contract expired in June 2012, and signed for Preston North End two months later. He struggled for appearances after a change in management, and spent most of the 2013–14 season on loan with Bristol Rovers. Beardsley returned to Stevenage in July 2014, and helped them to the 2014–15 League Two play-offs. After being released in May 2015, he started a third spell with Mansfield a month later, where he stayed for one season before his release in May 2016. He joined club Burton Albion as a fitness coach in July 2016, and took charge for one match as caretaker manager in January 2021.
## Early life
He was born in Derby, Derbyshire and attended Allestree Woodlands School from 1995 to 2000 and The Manor Academy from 2000 to 2003.
## Career
### Early career
Beardsley played junior football for Mickleover Sports and aged 11 joined the youth system of hometown club Derby County, where he stayed for five years. He joined Mansfield Town's youth system on a three-year scholarship in June 2000 after leaving school. He missed the second year of his scholarship from a double stress fracture in his back, but within six months of returning to full training made his first-team debut aged 18 as a 57th-minute substitute in a 1–0 away defeat to Brentford on 28 December 2002. Beardsley made five appearances in the 2002–03 season, after which Mansfield were relegated to the Third Division with a 23rd-place finish in the Second Division. He signed a one-year professional contract with the club on 4 July 2003. His first career goal came with a header in Mansfield's 2–0 away win over York City on 11 October 2003.
In January 2004, Beardsley was sent on a one-month loan to Northern Premier League Premier Division club Worksop Town, who had tried to sign him at the start of the 2003–04 season. He made his debut in Worksop's 4–1 home win against Radcliffe Borough on 17 January 2004, in which he was substituted on 80 minutes. In the following match, Beardsley scored the only goal of a 1–0 home win against Blyth Spartans on 7 February 2004 with a volley. His fourth and final appearance for Worksop came in a 1–1 home draw with Whitby Town, playing 76 minutes before being substituted. Beardsley made 17 appearances and scored once for Mansfield during the 2003–04 season, in which they finished in fifth place in the Third Division. He was released by the club in June 2004.
### Doncaster Rovers and Kidderminster Harriers
Beardsley joined newly promoted League One club Doncaster Rovers on 19 July 2004 after a successful trial. He debuted in their 4–3 away loss to Brentford on 10 August 2004, which he entered as a 79th-minute substitute. His only goal for Doncaster came after being assisted by Ben Jackson in the 77th minute of a 1–0 away win over Lincoln City in the Football League Trophy on 28 September 2014. Having struggled to establish himself at Doncaster, Beardsley moved to Kidderminster Harriers of League Two on 9 December 2004 on a contract until the end of the 2004–05 season. He made his debut two days later as a 78th-minute substitute in a 2–1 home win over Rochdale. Beardsley scored his first goal for Kidderminster with a close-range finish in their 3–1 home defeat to Southend United on 3 January 2005. He played 25 times for Kidderminster, scoring 5 goals, but they were relegated to the Conference National after ranking in 23rd place in League Two. He was offered a new one-year contract with the club in May 2005.
### Return to Mansfield and Rushden & Diamonds
Beardsley's former club Mansfield spoke to him about re-signing for them in May 2005, although Kidderminster demanded a £5,000 fee for him, half of which would go his former club Doncaster. He eventually joined Mansfield, now playing in League Two, on 5 August 2005 for a nominal fee. He debuted as an 82nd-minute substitute in their 3–0 home win over Torquay United on 13 August 2005. His 2005–06 season came to an end during a 3–2 home defeat to local rivals Notts County on 29 August 2005, when he collided with goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington and broke his leg. Beardsley had made four appearances that season, which Mansfield finished in 16th place in League Two. He returned to the team almost a year later, on 12 August 2006, as an 88th-minute substitute in a 1–1 home draw with Stockport County. His first two goals of the 2006–07 season came in Mansfield's 3–0 Football League Trophy home victory against Grimsby Town on 31 October 2006.
As he was not playing regularly for Mansfield, Beardsley joined Conference National club Rushden & Diamonds on 19 January 2007 on a one-month loan. He made his debut a day later, when starting in Rushden's 2–1 home victory against Stafford Rangers, and scored his first goal in the following match, with a 75th-minute header in a 3–1 home win over Cambridge United. Having helped Rushden move up the table with two goals from three matches, he signed for the club permanently on 31 January 2007 on a one-and-a-half-year contract on a free transfer. He finished 2006–07 with 13 appearances and 2 goals for Rushden, as they finished the season in 12th place in the Conference National. He was released by the club in May 2007 following a change in management.
### York City and Kettering Town
Beardsley was signed by Conference Premier club York City on 19 June 2007, to provide competition for Richard Brodie, Craig Farrell and Onome Sodje. He made his debut as a starter in their 2–1 home defeat to Cambridge on 11 August 2007, in which he was substituted on 62 minutes. Despite struggling for a place in the team, Beardsley turned down a loan move to Conference North club Tamworth in September 2007, in order to prove his worth at York. He suffered a broken jaw in two places during York's 2–0 away win over Grays Athletic on 22 September 2007, after being elbowed by Jamie Stuart in an off-the-ball incident, which was likely to rule Beardsley out for at least three months. Essex Police confirmed they were making enquiries following the incident. Beardsley returned to the team as a 73rd-minute substitute in York's 1–1 home draw with Crawley Town on 1 December 2007. He finished his York career with nine appearances.
To aid his return from injury, Beardsley joined Conference North club Kettering Town on 31 December 2007 on a one-month loan. He made an immediate impact, scoring two goals in a 6–1 home win over Solihull Moors a day later, after which he was praised in the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph for a "magnificent debut performance". Beardsley continued his scoring form, and had scored five goals from five appearances by the time he joined Kettering permanently on 28 January 2008 on a one-and-a-half-year contract on a free transfer. He played in all of Kettering's remaining fixtures in the 2007–08 season, which he completed with 11 goals from 22 appearances, as the club was promoted to the Conference Premier as Conference North champions.
Beardsley featured regularly for Kettering at the start of the 2008–09 season, and scored his first goal of the season after turning in Jean-Paul Marna's cross in the 82nd minute of a 2–0 away win over Cambridge on 25 August 2008. Having scored four goals in the first two months of 2008–09, he rejoined former club Kidderminster on 27 November 2008 on a one-month loan, with a view to a permanent transfer. He debuted as an 80th-minute substitute in a 3–2 home victory against Salisbury City on 6 December 2008. Beardsley made three appearances while on loan at Kidderminster, and returned to Kettering after being recalled in January 2009. Only weeks after returning, he entered Kettering's 4–2 home loss to Premier League team Fulham in the FA Cup on 24 January 2009 as a 73rd-minute substitute. Beardsley featured mostly as a substitute over the remainder of 2008–09, which he finished with 44 appearances and 5 goals for Kettering. They finished in eighth place in the Conference Premier, and Beardsley was released by the club in May 2009.
### Stevenage
He signed for Conference Premier club Stevenage Borough on 27 May 2009 on a one-year contract, reuniting him with manager Graham Westley, who had previously signed Beardsley for Rushden. He made a scoring debut in Stevenage's 3–0 home victory over Ebbsfleet United on 18 August 2009, with a shot from 12 yards in the eighth-minute. Beardsley featured regularly in the first half of the 2009–10 season, but scored only three goals before the Christmas period, in which he scored twice in two matches against Cambridge. In the first match on 26 December 2009, he scored with a shot from Ronnie Henry's cross in the 85th minute of a 3–1 away win, and in the second match on 1 January 2010, his goal was assisted by Yemi Odubade, as Stevenage won 4–1 at home. The latter result saw Stevenage move to the top of the Conference Premier table. Beardsley's goal tally reached double figures when he scored twice in a 5–1 away win over Kidderminster in the FA Trophy semi-final first leg on 13 March 2010. He started in the final at Wembley Stadium on 8 May 2010, being substituted on 66 minutes, as Stevenage were beaten 2–1 after extra time by Barrow. His 2009–10 season was successful, with Beardsley scoring 10 times from 45 appearances as Stevenage won promotion to League Two after winning the Conference Premier championship. This was the first time in the club's history that Stevenage had been promoted to the Football League.
He made his first appearance of the 2010–11 season in Stevenage's first ever Football League fixture, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute in a 2–2 home draw against Macclesfield Town on 7 August 2010. He scored his first goal of the season in the 50th minute of a 1–1 draw away to Aldershot Town on 28 August 2010, after finishing from Odubade's flick-on. Beardsley suffered a dislocated shoulder in Stevenage's 1–0 home loss to Brentford in the Football League Trophy on 31 August 2010, consequently ruling him out of the team for six weeks. He returned to the team on 16 November 2010, starting the FA Cup win against Milton Keynes Dons, before being substituted in the 81st minute. Stevenage qualified for the play-offs with a sixth-place finish in League Two, and Beardsley scored his second goal of 2010–11 in the second leg 1–0 win away to Accrington Stanley on 20 May 2011. Beardsley's goal was scored in the 90th minute with a shot into the bottom left corner, having come on as a 77th-minute substitute, and ensured Stevenage won the tie 3–0 on aggregate. He came on as an 85th-minute substitute in the final on 28 May 2011, as Stevenage beat Torquay 1–0 at Old Trafford to earn promotion to League One. Beardsley made 32 appearances during the club's first season in the Football League, scoring 2 goals.
Beardsley made his first appearance of the 2011–12 season as a 95th-minute substitute in a 4–3 extra-time defeat at home to Peterborough United in the League Cup, scoring Stevenage's third goal with a header on 117 minutes, although they lost 4–3. He scored twice in Stevenage's 3–0 away win over Stourbridge in the FA Cup on 3 December 2011, scoring the club's first two goals of the match midway through the second half, to ensure Stevenage progressed to the third round for the second consecutive season. Recurring hamstring injuries meant Beardsley struggled for appearances during the second half of the season, scoring one further goal on the last day of the regular season, with a 20-yard shot in a 3–0 home win over Bury on 5 May 2012. With a sixth-place finish in League One, Stevenage qualified for the play-offs, and faced Sheffield United in the semi-final. Beardsley featured in the second leg 1–0 away defeat as a 63rd-minute substitute, as Stevenage were eliminated 1–0 on aggregate. He scored 10 times in 40 appearances during 2011–12, and was Stevenage's top scorer for the season. In June 2012, Beardsley left Stevenage after he failed to agree a new contract with the club.
### Preston North End
Beardsley signed for League One club Preston North End on 12 August 2012 on a free transfer, linking up again with manager Graham Westley. He had spent the pre-season ahead of the 2012–13 season training with the club, although the transfer had been held up while the club waited for confirmation from the Football League in accordance with new financial fair play rules. Beardsley made his Preston debut in a 2–0 home win over Huddersfield Town in the League Cup on 14 August 2012, assisting the club's second goal of the match, with his low cross being scored by Nicky Wroe. He scored his first goal for Preston on 4 September 2012 after converting David Amoo's cross in the third-minute of their 1–1 away draw with Carlisle United in the Football League Trophy, a tie that Preston won 3–1 on penalties. Beardsley scored one further goal that month, heading in Jeffrey Monakana's cross on 64 minutes as Preston came from behind to beat Yeovil Town 3–2 at home. It proved to be Beardsley's last goal for five months, ending his goal drought in a 3–1 away loss to Yeovil on 12 February 2013, in what was Westley's last match in charge of the club. Beardsley made just two appearances under new manager Simon Grayson over the remainder of the season, both as a second-half substitute. Shortly after the season ended, he was told he could leave Preston if a suitable offer was received. He made 22 appearances during the 2012–13 season, scoring 3 times, as Preston ranked in 14th place in League One.
Having failed to make an appearance for Preston at the start of the 2013–14 season, Beardsley joined League Two club Bristol Rovers on a one-month loan on 31 October 2013. He debuted two days later when starting Rovers' 1–0 away defeat to Oxford United, in which he was substituted in the 86th minute. His first goal for the club came in his next appearance, with a header in a 3–3 home draw with York in the FA Cup on 8 November 2015. Having scored two goals from four appearances, Beardsley's loan was extended on 22 November 2013, with the new agreement running until 5 January 2014. Just a day later, he was red carded for a late tackle in Rovers' 1–0 away defeat to Burton Albion, for which he received a one-match suspension. His loan was extended once more on 6 January 2014, until the end of the 2013–14 season, as manager John Ward felt that "Up front Chris gives a little bit more". Beardsley finished the loan with 28 appearances and 3 goals, while Rovers were relegated to the Conference Premier with a 23rd-place finish in League Two. He was released by Preston in May 2014.
### Return to Stevenage and third spell with Mansfield
Beardsley was reunited with Westley when re-signing for Stevenage, now playing in League Two, on 12 July 2014. He missed the start of the 2014–15 season through injury, and only made his debut on 16 September 2014 as a starter in Stevenage's 2–1 away defeat to Bury, in which he was substituted on 62 minutes. Beardsley's first goal came in a 3–2 away defeat to Portsmouth on 21 October 2014, after latching on to a Joe Devera back-header and scoring in the 74th minute. After scoring twice in Stevenage's 5–1 home win over Cheltenham Town on 15 November 2014 he endured a five-month goal drought, his next goal coming with a close-range 89th-minute equaliser in a 2–2 draw away to Accrington on 18 April 2015. Stevenage qualified for the play-offs with a sixth-place finish in League Two, with Southend their opponents in the semi-final. Beardsley started both matches, but Stevenage were eliminated 4–2 on aggregate, ending his season on 32 appearances and 4 goals. He was released by the club in May 2015, but was praised by chairman Phil Wallace, who commented that Beardsley had "proved key to Stevenage establishing itself as a Football League club under Graham Westley".
He re-signed for Mansfield on 5 June 2015, starting a third spell with the League Two club. His debut came after starting a 4–1 away defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup on 11 August 2015. He played regularly at the start of the 2015–16 season, but had a spell out of the team with a stress fracture in his shin. He suffered a broken nose on his return as an 89th-minute substitute in a 3–1 away win over Barnet on 28 November 2015, and continued to struggle with his shin injury. Beardsley's first Mansfield goal in over nine years came on 30 January 2016 with a header from Mal Benning's corner on 60 minutes in a 1–0 away victory over Crawley. He finished the 2015–16 season with 16 appearances and 1 goal as Mansfield ranked in 12th place in League Two. He was released by the club in May 2016.
## Style of play
Beardsley played as a striker, and was described by his Stevenage teammate Mark Roberts as the "perfect man to lead the line", because of his work ethic.
## Coaching career
Beardsley moved into coaching when being appointed the fitness coach at newly promoted Championship club Burton Albion on 7 July 2016. He registered as a player at the club in August 2018 and made one appearance in the 2018–19 season, as an 89th-minute substitute in a 2–2 draw away to Portsmouth on 23 October. He was in joint caretaker charge, alongside Nick Fenton, for Burton's 5–1 home defeat to Oxford on 2 January 2021.
On 30 August 2023, Beardsley's imminent departure from Burton Albion was announced with him set to take up a role as a talent coach with FIFA in the Caribbean, based in Aruba on a two-year contract from 9 September.
## Personal life
Beardsley studied sports journalism at Staffordshire University from 2008 to 2010, graduating with a first-class honours degree. He also wrote frequently for a local newspaper in Stevenage. He supports his hometown club, Derby County.
## Career statistics
## Managerial statistics
## Honours
Kettering Town
- Conference North: 2007–08
Stevenage
- Conference Premier: 2009–10
- FA Trophy runner-up: 2009–10
- Football League Two play-offs: 2011 |
28,948,088 | 2010 Kobalt Tools 500 (Phoenix) | 1,106,348,189 | null | [
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| The 2010 Kobalt Tools 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on November 14, 2010 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 312 laps, it was the thirty-fifth, and the ninth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup during the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The race was won by Carl Edwards, for the Roush Fenway Racing team. Ryan Newman finished second, and Joey Logano clinched third.
Pole position driver Edwards maintained his lead on the first lap to begin the race, as Newman, who started in the second position on the grid, remained behind him. On the seventh lap, Kurt Busch became the leader of the race. Hamlin, the points leader before the race, led the most laps with a total of 190. On lap 298, Hamlin made a pit stop and became a lap behind. He didn't return to the first ten positions afterward. Edwards maintained the lead to win the race.
There were five cautions and 14 lead changes among six different drivers throughout the course of the race. It was Edwards' first win in the 2010 season, and the 18th of his career. The result kept Edwards in fourth in the Drivers' Championship, 264 points behind Denny Hamlin and 47 ahead of Matt Kenseth. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 42 points ahead of Toyota and 88 ahead of Ford, with one race remaining in the season. A total of 75,000 people attended the race, while 4.201 million watched it on television.
## Report
### Background
Phoenix International Raceway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Martinsville Speedway. The standard track at Phoenix International Raceway is a four-turn short track oval that is 1 mile (1.6 km) long. The track's turns were banked at 11 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, was banked at three degrees. The back stretch, which has a dogleg shape instead of a straight, has 9 degrees of banking. The racetrack has seats for 76,800 spectators.
Before the race, Denny Hamlin led the Drivers' Championship with 6,325 points, and Jimmie Johnson stood in second with 6,292 points. Kevin Harvick followed in third with 6,266 points, 258 ahead of Carl Edwards and 266 ahead of Matt Kenseth in fourth and fifth. Jeff Gordon with 5,994 was eight points ahead of Kyle Busch, as Tony Stewart with 5,962 points, was nine ahead of Greg Biffle, and thirty-four in front of Clint Bowyer. Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton were eleventh and twelfth with 5,890 and 5,852 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 249 points, forty points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 158 points, was twenty-six points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Johnson was the race's defending champion.
### Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race — one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. The third and final practice session lasted 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Edwards, for the Roush Fenway Racing team, was quickest ahead of Regan Smith in second and Stewart in the third position. Kyle Busch was scored fourth, and Brad Keselowski managed fifth. Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch, A. J. Allmendinger, Ryan Newman, and Harvick rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.
Afterward, during qualifying, forty-six cars were entered, but only forty-three were able to race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Edwards clinched his seventh pole position during his career, with a time of 26.395, which made a new track record. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Allmendinger. Kurt Busch qualified third, Biffle took fourth, and Jamie McMurray started fifth. Hamlin, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified seventeenth, while Johnson was scored twenty-first. The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Joe Nemechek, Michael McDowell, and Jason Leffler. Once the qualifying session completed, Edwards commented, "The first thing that we’re going to have an advantage Sunday is with our pit stall, that’s going to help us a lot. I think we have an advantage because [the title rivals] have to be a little bit conservative. Guys like myself we’re really battling for fourth in points and battling for wins. We can go out and be a little more aggressive and maybe take advantage of that."
On the next evening, Edwards remained quickest, ahead of Kurt Busch and Gordon in second and third. Kenseth was fourth quickest, and Burton took fifth. Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, Biffle, and Harvick followed in the top-ten. Other drivers in the chase, such as Hamlin, was fifteenth, and Johnson, who was seventeenth. During the third, and final practice session, Edwards, with a fastest time of 27.202, was quickest. Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon followed in second and third with times of 27.328 and 27.337 seconds. Hamlin managed to be fourth fastest, ahead of Harvick and Logano. Johnson was scored seventh, Mark Martin took eighth, David Reutimann was ninth, and Biffle took tenth.
### Race
The race, the thirty-fifth out of a total of thirty-six in the season, began at 3:00 p.m. EST and was televised live in the United States on ESPN. Prior to the race, weather conditions were dry with the air temperature around 63 °F (17 °C). Ken Bowers, chaplain of the race track, began pre-race ceremonies with the invocation. Dr. Jesse McGuire performed the national anthem on his trumpet, and Steve Schultz, regional vice-president of Lowe's, gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
Edwards retained the lead from the pole position throughout the beginning lap. On the second lap, Brendan Gaughan collided into the wall, prompting the first caution to be given. On the lap six restart, Edwards remained the leader. On the following lap, Kurt Busch passed Edwards to become the leader. On lap 7, Biffle had fallen two positions as David Reutimann overtook him. Three laps later, Johnson moved up to the 13th position. By the fourteenth lap, Harvick had moved up eight positions since the beginning of the race. Harvick continued to move forward while Busch maintained the lead. On lap 28, Edwards claimed the first position from Busch. By the 30th lap, Hamlin moved up to fifth on the grid after passing Reutimann. The next lap, Kyle Busch, Kurt's younger brother, hit the wall, but sustained minor damages. On lap 41, Hamlin moved up to third as Edwards maintained a 1.5-second lead. Three laps later, Hamlin passed Kurt Busch to claim second.
Kyle Busch moved up to fourth after passing Allmendinger on lap 54. After 55 laps, Stewart had moved up to eighth while Johnson had moved up to 12th. Three laps later, the second caution was given, after Keselowski developed a flat tire and crashed into the wall. All the front-runners made pit stops during the caution, with most asking for tires and adjustments. At the lap 65 restart, Edwards remained the leader before Hamlin moved past him on the following lap. On the 67th lap, Kurt Busch passed Edwards, moving him down to third. During lap 69, Kenseth passed Busch to move to fifth. Two laps later, Johnson was scored ninth, while Harvick was 12th. Afterward, Kyle Busch fell to the eighth position by the 73rd lap. Stewart moved up to the eighth position three laps later while Hamlin had a lead of 1.3 seconds.
On lap 80, McMurray scraped the wall, sustaining damage to the rear spoiler, which came loose from the rest of the car. Two laps later, McMurray's teammate Montoya moved up to the 14th position after starting 35th. On the 86th lap, Johnson passed Kenseth to move up to the eighth position. Kenseth fell two positions after being passed by Allmendinger and Harvick. By lap 90, Hamlin extended his lead to 2.3 seconds ahead of Kurt Busch. One lap later, Gordon passed Kenseth to move to the 12th position. During the 96th lap, Stewart moved up to fourth after passing Martin Truex Jr. Montoya moved up to 13th on the following lap after passing Biffle. On lap 101, the third caution was given for debris. One lap later, the front runners made pit stops, giving the lead to Bobby Labonte, who didn't come in until the next lap. At the lap 105 restart, Edwards was the leader before Hamlin reclaimed the first position a lap later.
During the 117th lap, Biffle moved up to the eighth position, two laps before Johnson moved up to fifth after overtaking Newman. By lap 123, Hamlin's lead was around eight-tenths of a second ahead of Edwards. Six laps later, Stewart passed his teammate Newman for the sixth position. On the following lap, Hamlin had over a one-second lead over second-placed Edwards. On the 131st lap, Kyle Busch passed his brother Kurt for the second position. Harvick passed Biffle to take over the eighth position six laps later. On lap 140, Kurt Busch fell down to fifth after Johnson passed him. Three laps later, Kurt fell one more position to sixth once Newman overtook him. During lap 147, Truex. passed Biffle for the ninth position. Kenseth passed Biffle four laps later to claim the tenth position.
On lap 156, Truex moved into eighth, after overtaking Kurt Busch. By lap 159, Hamlin had a 2.5-second lead over Edwards in the second position. Three laps later, Kenseth moved up to ninth while Kyle Busch moved to second after passing Edwards. On lap 166, green flag pit stops began as Paul Menard made a pit stop. On the following lap, Elliott Sadler made a pit stop, four laps earlier than Hamlin. During the pit stops, three drivers were able to lead the race, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Kenseth. Once the pit stops concluded, Hamlin was scored the leader. On lap 180, Kyle Busch moved up to the second position after passing Edwards. Six laps later, Mark Martin passed Kurt Busch to move into 13th. By lap 192, Hamlin had a 1.5 second lead over his teammate Kyle Busch. Six laps later, Harvick overtook Johnson to claim the fourth position. At lap 210, Stewart passed Johnson for the fifth position as Jeff Burton moved up to the seventh.
Afterward, Stewart passed Harvick for the fourth position on the 219th lap. Three laps later, Robby Gordon spun sideways, prompting the fourth caution to be given. All the front runners made pit stops during the caution, and Kyle Busch became the leader. At the lap 228 restart, Kyle Busch was first ahead of Hamlin, Edwards, Johnson, and Burton. On the following lap, Hamlin passed Busch for the first position. During the 231st lap, Edwards passed Busch to take over the second position, making Busch fall to third after two laps. Two laps later, the fifth caution was given because Travis Kvapil spun sideways. During the caution, the first eight cars did not pit, while the others did. Hamlin led on the restart ahead of Carl Edwards in second. At lap 242, Kurt Busch moved up to ninth, after passing Stewart. Three laps later, Stewart fell to 12th, after being passed by Martin and Logano. By lap 249, Hamlin had a 0.75 second lead over second. On lap 252, Jeff Burton moved up to the seventh position.
Fourteen laps later, Edwards reclaimed the lead from Hamlin. On lap 268, Montoya moved up to fourth after passing Johnson. By lap 274, Edwards had a one-second lead over Hamlin in second. On the following lap, Newman passed Johnson for fifth as Harvick moved to twelfth. Edwards continued to expand his lead to two seconds on lap 287. At the 292nd lap, Johnson fell to sixth after being passed by Burton. Six laps later, Hamlin made a pit stop for fuel and two new tires, which caused him to fall to nineteenth. On lap 301, Hamlin moved back on the lead lap, after passing Edwards. Logano passed Johnson for fourth as Burton made a pit stop on lap 303. With six laps remaining, Johnson fell to sixth as Harvick moved to seventh. Edwards maintained the lead to win his first race of the 2010 season. Newman finished second, ahead of Logano in third and Biffle in fourth. Johnson clinched the fifth position, after starting twenty-first.
### Post-race
Race winner Carl Edwards appeared in victory lane after his victory lap to start celebrating his first win of the season, in front of a crowd of 75,000 people. After winning the race, he described his happiness saying, "A win is very important to us. It's a very big accomplishment for us." He continued, "I think it's something that we needed for our confidence. We needed it as a payoff for all the hard work the guys have put in at the shop, the engine department."
Hamlin, who led the most laps, described his frustration: "The strategy and what-not at the end just didn't work our way. That's all I can ask for, is to have the better car than those two guys – and we did. But, unfortunately, the strategy bit us. We're just going to have to go there and do it the old-fashioned way next week and try to beat them on the race track." Afterward, Newman, who finished second, commented, "We were saving fuel the whole time. Made more sense to save fuel. We were two laps short. We just did what I thought we needed to do. If Carl made it, Carl made it." Fifth place finisher Johnson described his happiness by saying: "We're going to go home and we're going to make sure we have the best engines, go through our simulation stuff, make sure our car is as fast as it can be and then race. We were in a good situation and could take the risk, take the chance. It worked out for us.
In the Drivers' Championship, Hamlin remained first with 6,462 points, 15 ahead of Johnson in second. Harvick followed in third with 6,416 points. Edwards and Kenseth rounded out the first five positions with 6,198 and 6,151. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained first place with 255 points, 42 ahead of Toyota and 88 ahead of Ford. Dodge remained fourth with 135 points. 4.201 million people watched the race on television. The race took two hours, forty-nine minutes and one second to complete, and the margin of victory was 4.770 seconds.
## Results
### Qualifying
### Race results
## Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings
- Note: Only the top twelve positions are included for the driver standings. These drivers qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. |
904 | Aluminium | 1,173,825,510 | null | [
"Airship technology",
"Aluminium",
"Chemical elements",
"Chemical elements with face-centered cubic structure",
"E-number additives",
"Electrical conductors",
"Native element minerals",
"Post-transition metals",
"Pyrotechnic fuels",
"Reducing agents",
"Rocket fuels"
]
| Aluminium (aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals; about one-third that of steel. It has a great affinity towards oxygen, forming a protective layer of oxide on the surface when exposed to air. Aluminium visually resembles silver, both in its color and in its great ability to reflect light. It is soft, nonmagnetic and ductile. It has one stable isotope: <sup>27</sup>Al, which is highly abundant, making aluminium the twelfth-most common element in the universe. The radioactivity of <sup>26</sup>Al is used in radiometric dating.
Chemically, aluminium is a post-transition metal in the boron group; as is common for the group, aluminium forms compounds primarily in the +3 oxidation state. The aluminium cation Al<sup>3+</sup> is small and highly charged; as such, it is polarizing, and bonds aluminium forms tend towards covalency. The strong affinity towards oxygen leads to aluminium's common association with oxygen in nature in the form of oxides; for this reason, aluminium is found on Earth primarily in rocks in the crust, where it is the third-most abundant element, after oxygen and silicon, rather than in the mantle, and virtually never as the free metal. It is obtained industrially by mining bauxite, a sedimentary rock rich in aluminium minerals.
The discovery of aluminium was announced in 1825 by Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted. The first industrial production of aluminium was initiated by French chemist Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville in 1856. Aluminium became much more available to the public with the Hall–Héroult process developed independently by French engineer Paul Héroult and American engineer Charles Martin Hall in 1886, and the mass production of aluminium led to its extensive use in industry and everyday life. In World Wars I and II, aluminium was a crucial strategic resource for aviation. In 1954, aluminium became the most produced non-ferrous metal, surpassing copper. In the 21st century, most aluminium was consumed in transportation, engineering, construction, and packaging in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan.
Despite its prevalence in the environment, no living organism is known to use aluminium salts for metabolism, but aluminium is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of the abundance of these salts, the potential for a biological role for them is of interest, and studies continue.
## Physical characteristics
### Isotopes
Of aluminium isotopes, only is stable. This situation is common for elements with an odd atomic number. It is the only primordial aluminium isotope, i.e. the only one that has existed on Earth in its current form since the formation of the planet. Nearly all aluminium on Earth is present as this isotope, which makes it a mononuclidic element and means that its standard atomic weight is virtually the same as that of the isotope. This makes aluminium very useful in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), as its single stable isotope has a high NMR sensitivity. The standard atomic weight of aluminium is low in comparison with many other metals.
All other isotopes of aluminium are radioactive. The most stable of these is <sup>26</sup>Al: while it was present along with stable <sup>27</sup>Al in the interstellar medium from which the Solar System formed, having been produced by stellar nucleosynthesis as well, its half-life is only 717,000 years and therefore a detectable amount has not survived since the formation of the planet. However, minute traces of <sup>26</sup>Al are produced from argon in the atmosphere by spallation caused by cosmic ray protons. The ratio of <sup>26</sup>Al to <sup>10</sup>Be has been used for radiodating of geological processes over 10<sup>5</sup> to 10<sup>6</sup> year time scales, in particular transport, deposition, sediment storage, burial times, and erosion. Most meteorite scientists believe that the energy released by the decay of <sup>26</sup>Al was responsible for the melting and differentiation of some asteroids after their formation 4.55 billion years ago.
The remaining isotopes of aluminium, with mass numbers ranging from 22 to 43, all have half-lives well under an hour. Three metastable states are known, all with half-lives under a minute.
### Electron shell
An aluminium atom has 13 electrons, arranged in an electron configuration of 3s<sup>2</sup> 3p<sup>1</sup>, with three electrons beyond a stable noble gas configuration. Accordingly, the combined first three ionization energies of aluminium are far lower than the fourth ionization energy alone. Such an electron configuration is shared with the other well-characterized members of its group, boron, gallium, indium, and thallium; it is also expected for nihonium. Aluminium can surrender its three outermost electrons in many chemical reactions (see below). The electronegativity of aluminium is 1.61 (Pauling scale).
A free aluminium atom has a radius of 143 pm. With the three outermost electrons removed, the radius shrinks to 39 pm for a 4-coordinated atom or 53.5 pm for a 6-coordinated atom. At standard temperature and pressure, aluminium atoms (when not affected by atoms of other elements) form a face-centered cubic crystal system bound by metallic bonding provided by atoms' outermost electrons; hence aluminium (at these conditions) is a metal. This crystal system is shared by many other metals, such as lead and copper; the size of a unit cell of aluminium is comparable to that of those other metals. The system, however, is not shared by the other members of its group; boron has ionization energies too high to allow metallization, thallium has a hexagonal close-packed structure, and gallium and indium have unusual structures that are not close-packed like those of aluminium and thallium. The few electrons that are available for metallic bonding in aluminium metal are a probable cause for it being soft with a low melting point and low electrical resistivity.
### Bulk
Aluminium metal has an appearance ranging from silvery white to dull gray, depending on the surface roughness. Aluminium mirrors are the most reflective of all metal mirrors for the near ultraviolet and far infrared light, and one of the most reflective in the visible spectrum, nearly on par with silver, and the two therefore look similar. Aluminium is also good at reflecting solar radiation, although prolonged exposure to sunlight in air adds wear to the surface of the metal; this may be prevented if aluminium is anodized, which adds a protective layer of oxide on the surface.
The density of aluminium is 2.70 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, about 1/3 that of steel, much lower than other commonly encountered metals, making aluminium parts easily identifiable through their lightness. Aluminium's low density compared to most other metals arises from the fact that its nuclei are much lighter, while difference in the unit cell size does not compensate for this difference. The only lighter metals are the metals of groups 1 and 2, which apart from beryllium and magnesium are too reactive for structural use (and beryllium is very toxic). Aluminium is not as strong or stiff as steel, but the low density makes up for this in the aerospace industry and for many other applications where light weight and relatively high strength are crucial.
Pure aluminium is quite soft and lacking in strength. In most applications various aluminium alloys are used instead because of their higher strength and hardness. The yield strength of pure aluminium is 7–11 MPa, while aluminium alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa. Aluminium is ductile, with a percent elongation of 50-70%, and malleable allowing it to be easily drawn and extruded. It is also easily machined and cast.
Aluminium is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor, having around 60% the conductivity of copper, both thermal and electrical, while having only 30% of copper's density. Aluminium is capable of superconductivity, with a superconducting critical temperature of 1.2 kelvin and a critical magnetic field of about 100 gauss (10 milliteslas). It is paramagnetic and thus essentially unaffected by static magnetic fields. The high electrical conductivity, however, means that it is strongly affected by alternating magnetic fields through the induction of eddy currents.
## Chemistry
Aluminium combines characteristics of pre- and post-transition metals. Since it has few available electrons for metallic bonding, like its heavier group 13 congeners, it has the characteristic physical properties of a post-transition metal, with longer-than-expected interatomic distances. Furthermore, as Al<sup>3+</sup> is a small and highly charged cation, it is strongly polarizing and bonding in aluminium compounds tends towards covalency; this behavior is similar to that of beryllium (Be<sup>2+</sup>), and the two display an example of a diagonal relationship.
The underlying core under aluminium's valence shell is that of the preceding noble gas, whereas those of its heavier congeners gallium, indium, thallium, and nihonium also include a filled d-subshell and in some cases a filled f-subshell. Hence, the inner electrons of aluminium shield the valence electrons almost completely, unlike those of aluminium's heavier congeners. As such, aluminium is the most electropositive metal in its group, and its hydroxide is in fact more basic than that of gallium. Aluminium also bears minor similarities to the metalloid boron in the same group: AlX<sub>3</sub> compounds are valence isoelectronic to BX<sub>3</sub> compounds (they have the same valence electronic structure), and both behave as Lewis acids and readily form adducts. Additionally, one of the main motifs of boron chemistry is regular icosahedral structures, and aluminium forms an important part of many icosahedral quasicrystal alloys, including the Al–Zn–Mg class.
Aluminium has a high chemical affinity to oxygen, which renders it suitable for use as a reducing agent in the thermite reaction. A fine powder of aluminium metal reacts explosively on contact with liquid oxygen; under normal conditions, however, aluminium forms a thin oxide layer (\~5 nm at room temperature) that protects the metal from further corrosion by oxygen, water, or dilute acid, a process termed passivation. Because of its general resistance to corrosion, aluminium is one of the few metals that retains silvery reflectance in finely powdered form, making it an important component of silver-colored paints. Aluminium is not attacked by oxidizing acids because of its passivation. This allows aluminium to be used to store reagents such as nitric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid, and some organic acids.
In hot concentrated hydrochloric acid, aluminium reacts with water with evolution of hydrogen, and in aqueous sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide at room temperature to form aluminates—protective passivation under these conditions is negligible. Aqua regia also dissolves aluminium. Aluminium is corroded by dissolved chlorides, such as common sodium chloride, which is why household plumbing is never made from aluminium. The oxide layer on aluminium is also destroyed by contact with mercury due to amalgamation or with salts of some electropositive metals. As such, the strongest aluminium alloys are less corrosion-resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper, and aluminium's corrosion resistance is greatly reduced by aqueous salts, particularly in the presence of dissimilar metals.
Aluminium reacts with most nonmetals upon heating, forming compounds such as aluminium nitride (AlN), aluminium sulfide (Al<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub>), and the aluminium halides (AlX<sub>3</sub>). It also forms a wide range of intermetallic compounds involving metals from every group on the periodic table.
### Inorganic compounds
The vast majority of compounds, including all aluminium-containing minerals and all commercially significant aluminium compounds, feature aluminium in the oxidation state 3+. The coordination number of such compounds varies, but generally Al<sup>3+</sup> is either six- or four-coordinate. Almost all compounds of aluminium(III) are colorless.
In aqueous solution, Al<sup>3+</sup> exists as the hexaaqua cation [Al(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>6</sub>]<sup>3+</sup>, which has an approximate K<sub>a</sub> of 10<sup>−5</sup>. Such solutions are acidic as this cation can act as a proton donor and progressively hydrolyze until a precipitate of aluminium hydroxide, Al(OH)<sub>3</sub>, forms. This is useful for clarification of water, as the precipitate nucleates on suspended particles in the water, hence removing them. Increasing the pH even further leads to the hydroxide dissolving again as aluminate, [Al(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>2</sub>(OH)<sub>4</sub>]<sup>−</sup>, is formed.
Aluminium hydroxide forms both salts and aluminates and dissolves in acid and alkali, as well as on fusion with acidic and basic oxides. This behavior of Al(OH)<sub>3</sub> is termed amphoterism and is characteristic of weakly basic cations that form insoluble hydroxides and whose hydrated species can also donate their protons. One effect of this is that aluminium salts with weak acids are hydrolyzed in water to the aquated hydroxide and the corresponding nonmetal hydride: for example, aluminium sulfide yields hydrogen sulfide. However, some salts like aluminium carbonate exist in aqueous solution but are unstable as such; and only incomplete hydrolysis takes place for salts with strong acids, such as the halides, nitrate, and sulfate. For similar reasons, anhydrous aluminium salts cannot be made by heating their "hydrates": hydrated aluminium chloride is in fact not AlCl<sub>3</sub>·6H<sub>2</sub>O but [Al(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>6</sub>]Cl<sub>3</sub>, and the Al–O bonds are so strong that heating is not sufficient to break them and form Al–Cl bonds instead:
2[Al(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>6</sub>]Cl<sub>3</sub> Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> + 6 HCl + 9 H<sub>2</sub>O
All four trihalides are well known. Unlike the structures of the three heavier trihalides, aluminium fluoride (AlF<sub>3</sub>) features six-coordinate aluminium, which explains its involatility and insolubility as well as high heat of formation. Each aluminium atom is surrounded by six fluorine atoms in a distorted octahedral arrangement, with each fluorine atom being shared between the corners of two octahedra. Such {AlF<sub>6</sub>} units also exist in complex fluorides such as cryolite, Na<sub>3</sub>AlF<sub>6</sub>. AlF<sub>3</sub> melts at 1,290 °C (2,354 °F) and is made by reaction of aluminium oxide with hydrogen fluoride gas at 700 °C (1,300 °F).
With heavier halides, the coordination numbers are lower. The other trihalides are dimeric or polymeric with tetrahedral four-coordinate aluminium centers. Aluminium trichloride (AlCl<sub>3</sub>) has a layered polymeric structure below its melting point of 192.4 °C (378 °F) but transforms on melting to Al<sub>2</sub>Cl<sub>6</sub> dimers. At higher temperatures those increasingly dissociate into trigonal planar AlCl<sub>3</sub> monomers similar to the structure of BCl<sub>3</sub>. Aluminium tribromide and aluminium triiodide form Al<sub>2</sub>X<sub>6</sub> dimers in all three phases and hence do not show such significant changes of properties upon phase change. These materials are prepared by treating aluminium metal with the halogen. The aluminium trihalides form many addition compounds or complexes; their Lewis acidic nature makes them useful as catalysts for the Friedel–Crafts reactions. Aluminium trichloride has major industrial uses involving this reaction, such as in the manufacture of anthraquinones and styrene; it is also often used as the precursor for many other aluminium compounds and as a reagent for converting nonmetal fluorides into the corresponding chlorides (a transhalogenation reaction).
Aluminium forms one stable oxide with the chemical formula Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, commonly called alumina. It can be found in nature in the mineral corundum, α-alumina; there is also a γ-alumina phase. Its crystalline form, corundum, is very hard (Mohs hardness 9), has a high melting point of 2,045 °C (3,713 °F), has very low volatility, is chemically inert, and a good electrical insulator, it is often used in abrasives (such as toothpaste), as a refractory material, and in ceramics, as well as being the starting material for the electrolytic production of aluminium metal. Sapphire and ruby are impure corundum contaminated with trace amounts of other metals. The two main oxide-hydroxides, AlO(OH), are boehmite and diaspore. There are three main trihydroxides: bayerite, gibbsite, and nordstrandite, which differ in their crystalline structure (polymorphs). Many other intermediate and related structures are also known. Most are produced from ores by a variety of wet processes using acid and base. Heating the hydroxides leads to formation of corundum. These materials are of central importance to the production of aluminium and are themselves extremely useful. Some mixed oxide phases are also very useful, such as spinel (MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>), Na-β-alumina (NaAl<sub>11</sub>O<sub>17</sub>), and tricalcium aluminate (Ca<sub>3</sub>Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>6</sub>, an important mineral phase in Portland cement).
The only stable chalcogenides under normal conditions are aluminium sulfide (Al<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub>), selenide (Al<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub>), and telluride (Al<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>). All three are prepared by direct reaction of their elements at about 1,000 °C (1,800 °F) and quickly hydrolyze completely in water to yield aluminium hydroxide and the respective hydrogen chalcogenide. As aluminium is a small atom relative to these chalcogens, these have four-coordinate tetrahedral aluminium with various polymorphs having structures related to wurtzite, with two-thirds of the possible metal sites occupied either in an orderly (α) or random (β) fashion; the sulfide also has a γ form related to γ-alumina, and an unusual high-temperature hexagonal form where half the aluminium atoms have tetrahedral four-coordination and the other half have trigonal bipyramidal five-coordination.
Four pnictides – aluminium nitride (AlN), aluminium phosphide (AlP), aluminium arsenide (AlAs), and aluminium antimonide (AlSb) – are known. They are all III-V semiconductors isoelectronic to silicon and germanium, all of which but AlN have the zinc blende structure. All four can be made by high-temperature (and possibly high-pressure) direct reaction of their component elements.
Aluminium alloys well with most other metals (with the exception of most alkali metals and group 13 metals) and over 150 intermetallics with other metals are known. Preparation involves heating fixed metals together in certain proportion, followed by gradual cooling and annealing. Bonding in them is predominantly metallic and the crystal structure primarily depends on efficiency of packing.
There are few compounds with lower oxidation states. A few aluminium(I) compounds exist: AlF, AlCl, AlBr, and AlI exist in the gaseous phase when the respective trihalide is heated with aluminium, and at cryogenic temperatures. A stable derivative of aluminium monoiodide is the cyclic adduct formed with triethylamine, Al<sub>4</sub>I<sub>4</sub>(NEt<sub>3</sub>)<sub>4</sub>. Al<sub>2</sub>O and Al<sub>2</sub>S also exist but are very unstable. Very simple aluminium(II) compounds are invoked or observed in the reactions of Al metal with oxidants. For example, aluminium monoxide, AlO, has been detected in the gas phase after explosion and in stellar absorption spectra. More thoroughly investigated are compounds of the formula R<sub>4</sub>Al<sub>2</sub> which contain an Al–Al bond and where R is a large organic ligand.
### Organoaluminium compounds and related hydrides
A variety of compounds of empirical formula AlR<sub>3</sub> and AlR<sub>1.5</sub>Cl<sub>1.5</sub> exist. The aluminium trialkyls and triaryls are reactive, volatile, and colorless liquids or low-melting solids. They catch fire spontaneously in air and react with water, thus necessitating precautions when handling them. They often form dimers, unlike their boron analogues, but this tendency diminishes for branched-chain alkyls (e.g. Pr<sup>i</sup>, Bu<sup>i</sup>, Me<sub>3</sub>CCH<sub>2</sub>); for example, triisobutylaluminium exists as an equilibrium mixture of the monomer and dimer. These dimers, such as trimethylaluminium (Al<sub>2</sub>Me<sub>6</sub>), usually feature tetrahedral Al centers formed by dimerization with some alkyl group bridging between both aluminium atoms. They are hard acids and react readily with ligands, forming adducts. In industry, they are mostly used in alkene insertion reactions, as discovered by Karl Ziegler, most importantly in "growth reactions" that form long-chain unbranched primary alkenes and alcohols, and in the low-pressure polymerization of ethene and propene. There are also some heterocyclic and cluster organoaluminium compounds involving Al–N bonds.
The industrially most important aluminium hydride is lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH<sub>4</sub>), which is used in as a reducing agent in organic chemistry. It can be produced from lithium hydride and aluminium trichloride. The simplest hydride, aluminium hydride or alane, is not as important. It is a polymer with the formula (AlH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>n</sub>, in contrast to the corresponding boron hydride that is a dimer with the formula (BH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>2</sub>.
## Natural occurrence
### Space
Aluminium's per-particle abundance in the Solar System is 3.15 ppm (parts per million). It is the twelfth most abundant of all elements and third most abundant among the elements that have odd atomic numbers, after hydrogen and nitrogen. The only stable isotope of aluminium, <sup>27</sup>Al, is the eighteenth most abundant nucleus in the Universe. It is created almost entirely after fusion of carbon in massive stars that will later become Type II supernovas: this fusion creates <sup>26</sup>Mg, which, upon capturing free protons and neutrons becomes aluminium. Some smaller quantities of <sup>27</sup>Al are created in hydrogen burning shells of evolved stars, where <sup>26</sup>Mg can capture free protons. Essentially all aluminium now in existence is <sup>27</sup>Al. <sup>26</sup>Al was present in the early Solar System with abundance of 0.005% relative to <sup>27</sup>Al but its half-life of 728,000 years is too short for any original nuclei to survive; <sup>26</sup>Al is therefore extinct. Unlike for <sup>27</sup>Al, hydrogen burning is the primary source of <sup>26</sup>Al, with the nuclide emerging after a nucleus of <sup>25</sup>Mg catches a free proton. However, the trace quantities of <sup>26</sup>Al that do exist are the most common gamma ray emitter in the interstellar gas; if the original <sup>26</sup>Al were still present, gamma ray maps of the Milky Way would be brighter.
### Earth
Overall, the Earth is about 1.59% aluminium by mass (seventh in abundance by mass). Aluminium occurs in greater proportion in the Earth's crust than in the Universe at large, because aluminium easily forms the oxide and becomes bound into rocks and stays in the Earth's crust, while less reactive metals sink to the core. In the Earth's crust, aluminium is the most abundant metallic element (8.23% by mass) and the third most abundant of all elements (after oxygen and silicon). A large number of silicates in the Earth's crust contain aluminium. In contrast, the Earth's mantle is only 2.38% aluminium by mass. Aluminium also occurs in seawater at a concentration of 2 μg/kg.
Because of its strong affinity for oxygen, aluminium is almost never found in the elemental state; instead it is found in oxides or silicates. Feldspars, the most common group of minerals in the Earth's crust, are aluminosilicates. Aluminium also occurs in the minerals beryl, cryolite, garnet, spinel, and turquoise. Impurities in Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, such as chromium and iron, yield the gemstones ruby and sapphire, respectively. Native aluminium metal is extremely rare and can only be found as a minor phase in low oxygen fugacity environments, such as the interiors of certain volcanoes. Native aluminium has been reported in cold seeps in the northeastern continental slope of the South China Sea. It is possible that these deposits resulted from bacterial reduction of tetrahydroxoaluminate Al(OH)<sub>4</sub><sup>−</sup>.
Although aluminium is a common and widespread element, not all aluminium minerals are economically viable sources of the metal. Almost all metallic aluminium is produced from the ore bauxite (AlO<sub>x</sub>(OH)<sub>3–2x</sub>). Bauxite occurs as a weathering product of low iron and silica bedrock in tropical climatic conditions. In 2017, most bauxite was mined in Australia, China, Guinea, and India.
## History
The history of aluminium has been shaped by usage of alum. The first written record of alum, made by Greek historian Herodotus, dates back to the 5th century BCE. The ancients are known to have used alum as a dyeing mordant and for city defense. After the Crusades, alum, an indispensable good in the European fabric industry, was a subject of international commerce; it was imported to Europe from the eastern Mediterranean until the mid-15th century.
The nature of alum remained unknown. Around 1530, Swiss physician Paracelsus suggested alum was a salt of an earth of alum. In 1595, German doctor and chemist Andreas Libavius experimentally confirmed this. In 1722, German chemist Friedrich Hoffmann announced his belief that the base of alum was a distinct earth. In 1754, German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf synthesized alumina by boiling clay in sulfuric acid and subsequently adding potash.
Attempts to produce aluminium metal date back to 1760. The first successful attempt, however, was completed in 1824 by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted. He reacted anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam, yielding a lump of metal looking similar to tin. He presented his results and demonstrated a sample of the new metal in 1825. In 1827, German chemist Friedrich Wöhler repeated Ørsted's experiments but did not identify any aluminium. (The reason for this inconsistency was only discovered in 1921.) He conducted a similar experiment in the same year by mixing anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium and produced a powder of aluminium. In 1845, he was able to produce small pieces of the metal and described some physical properties of this metal. For many years thereafter, Wöhler was credited as the discoverer of aluminium.
As Wöhler's method could not yield great quantities of aluminium, the metal remained rare; its cost exceeded that of gold. The first industrial production of aluminium was established in 1856 by French chemist Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville and companions. Deville had discovered that aluminium trichloride could be reduced by sodium, which was more convenient and less expensive than potassium, which Wöhler had used. Even then, aluminium was still not of great purity and produced aluminium differed in properties by sample. Because of its electricity-conducting capacity, aluminium was used as the cap of the Washington Monument, completed in 1885. The tallest building in the world at the time, the non-corroding metal cap was intended to serve as a lightning rod peak.
The first industrial large-scale production method was independently developed in 1886 by French engineer Paul Héroult and American engineer Charles Martin Hall; it is now known as the Hall–Héroult process. The Hall–Héroult process converts alumina into metal. Austrian chemist Carl Joseph Bayer discovered a way of purifying bauxite to yield alumina, now known as the Bayer process, in 1889. Modern production of the aluminium metal is based on the Bayer and Hall–Héroult processes.
Prices of aluminium dropped and aluminium became widely used in jewelry, everyday items, eyeglass frames, optical instruments, tableware, and foil in the 1890s and early 20th century. Aluminium's ability to form hard yet light alloys with other metals provided the metal with many uses at the time. During World War I, major governments demanded large shipments of aluminium for light strong airframes; during World War II, demand by major governments for aviation was even higher.
By the mid-20th century, aluminium had become a part of everyday life and an essential component of housewares. In 1954, production of aluminium surpassed that of copper, historically second in production only to iron, making it the most produced non-ferrous metal. During the mid-20th century, aluminium emerged as a civil engineering material, with building applications in both basic construction and interior finish work, and increasingly being used in military engineering, for both airplanes and land armor vehicle engines. Earth's first artificial satellite, launched in 1957, consisted of two separate aluminium semi-spheres joined and all subsequent space vehicles have used aluminium to some extent. The aluminium can was invented in 1956 and employed as a storage for drinks in 1958.
Throughout the 20th century, the production of aluminium rose rapidly: while the world production of aluminium in 1900 was 6,800 metric tons, the annual production first exceeded 100,000 metric tons in 1916; 1,000,000 tons in 1941; 10,000,000 tons in 1971. In the 1970s, the increased demand for aluminium made it an exchange commodity; it entered the London Metal Exchange, the oldest industrial metal exchange in the world, in 1978. The output continued to grow: the annual production of aluminium exceeded 50,000,000 metric tons in 2013.
The real price for aluminium declined from \$14,000 per metric ton in 1900 to \$2,340 in 1948 (in 1998 United States dollars). Extraction and processing costs were lowered over technological progress and the scale of the economies. However, the need to exploit lower-grade poorer quality deposits and the use of fast increasing input costs (above all, energy) increased the net cost of aluminium; the real price began to grow in the 1970s with the rise of energy cost. Production moved from the industrialized countries to countries where production was cheaper. Production costs in the late 20th century changed because of advances in technology, lower energy prices, exchange rates of the United States dollar, and alumina prices. The BRIC countries' combined share in primary production and primary consumption grew substantially in the first decade of the 21st century. China is accumulating an especially large share of the world's production thanks to an abundance of resources, cheap energy, and governmental stimuli; it also increased its consumption share from 2% in 1972 to 40% in 2010. In the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, most aluminium was consumed in transportation, engineering, construction, and packaging. In 2021, prices for industrial metals such as aluminium have soared to near-record levels as energy shortages in China drive up costs for electricity.
## Etymology
The names aluminium and aluminum are derived from the word alumine, an obsolete term for alumina, a naturally occurring oxide of aluminium. Alumine was borrowed from French, which in turn derived it from alumen, the classical Latin name for alum, the mineral from which it was collected. The Latin word alumen stems from the Proto-Indo-European root \*alu- meaning "bitter" or "beer".
### Origins
British chemist Humphry Davy, who performed a number of experiments aimed to isolate the metal, is credited as the person who named the element. The first name proposed for the metal to be isolated from alum was alumium, which Davy suggested in an 1808 article on his electrochemical research, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. It appeared that the name was created from the English word alum and the Latin suffix -ium; but it was customary then to give elements names originating in Latin, so this name was not adopted universally. This name was criticized by contemporary chemists from France, Germany, and Sweden, who insisted the metal should be named for the oxide, alumina, from which it would be isolated. The English name alum does not come directly from Latin, whereas alumine/alumina obviously comes from the Latin word alumen (upon declension, alumen changes to alumin-).
One example was Essai sur la Nomenclature chimique (July 1811), written in French by a Swedish chemist, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, in which the name aluminium is given to the element that would be synthesized from alum. (Another article in the same journal issue also gives the name aluminium to the metal whose oxide is the basis of sapphire.) A January 1811 summary of one of Davy's lectures at the Royal Society mentioned the name aluminium as a possibility. The next year, Davy published a chemistry textbook in which he used the spelling aluminum. Both spellings have coexisted since. Their usage is regional: aluminum dominates in the United States and Canada; aluminium, in the rest of the English-speaking world.
### Spelling
In 1812, a British scientist, Thomas Young, wrote an anonymous review of Davy's book, in which he proposed the name aluminium instead of aluminum, which he thought had a "less classical sound". This name did catch on: although the -um spelling was occasionally used in Britain, the American scientific language used -ium from the start. Most scientists throughout the world used -ium in the 19th century; and it was entrenched in many other European languages, such as French, German, and Dutch. In 1828, an American lexicographer, Noah Webster, entered only the aluminum spelling in his American Dictionary of the English Language. In the 1830s, the -um spelling gained usage in the United States; by the 1860s, it had become the more common spelling there outside science. In 1892, Hall used the -um spelling in his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903: it is unknown whether this spelling was introduced by mistake or intentionally; but Hall preferred aluminum since its introduction because it resembled platinum, the name of a prestigious metal. By 1890, both spellings had been common in the United States, the -ium spelling being slightly more common; by 1895, the situation had reversed; by 1900, aluminum had become twice as common as aluminium; in the next decade, the -um spelling dominated American usage. In 1925, the American Chemical Society adopted this spelling.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990. In 1993, they recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant; the most recent 2005 edition of the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry also acknowledges this spelling. IUPAC official publications use the -ium spelling as primary, and they list both where it is appropriate.
## Production and refinement
The production of aluminium starts with the extraction of bauxite rock from the ground. The bauxite is processed and transformed using the Bayer process into alumina, which is then processed using the Hall–Héroult process, resulting in the final aluminium metal.
Aluminium production is highly energy-consuming, and so the producers tend to locate smelters in places where electric power is both plentiful and inexpensive. As of 2019, the world's largest smelters of aluminium are located in China, India, Russia, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates, while China is by far the top producer of aluminium with a world share of fifty-five percent.
According to the International Resource Panel's Metal Stocks in Society report, the global per capita stock of aluminium in use in society (i.e. in cars, buildings, electronics, etc.) is 80 kg (180 lb). Much of this is in more-developed countries (350–500 kg (770–1,100 lb) per capita) rather than less-developed countries (35 kg (77 lb) per capita).
### Bayer process
Bauxite is converted to alumina by the Bayer process. Bauxite is blended for uniform composition and then is ground. The resulting slurry is mixed with a hot solution of sodium hydroxide; the mixture is then treated in a digester vessel at a pressure well above atmospheric, dissolving the aluminium hydroxide in bauxite while converting impurities into relatively insoluble compounds:
After this reaction, the slurry is at a temperature above its atmospheric boiling point. It is cooled by removing steam as pressure is reduced. The bauxite residue is separated from the solution and discarded. The solution, free of solids, is seeded with small crystals of aluminium hydroxide; this causes decomposition of the [Al(OH)<sub>4</sub>]<sup>−</sup> ions to aluminium hydroxide. After about half of aluminium has precipitated, the mixture is sent to classifiers. Small crystals of aluminium hydroxide are collected to serve as seeding agents; coarse particles are converted to alumina by heating; the excess solution is removed by evaporation, (if needed) purified, and recycled.
### Hall–Héroult process
The conversion of alumina to aluminium metal is achieved by the Hall–Héroult process. In this energy-intensive process, a solution of alumina in a molten (950 and 980 °C (1,740 and 1,800 °F)) mixture of cryolite (Na<sub>3</sub>AlF<sub>6</sub>) with calcium fluoride is electrolyzed to produce metallic aluminium. The liquid aluminium metal sinks to the bottom of the solution and is tapped off, and usually cast into large blocks called aluminium billets for further processing.
Anodes of the electrolysis cell are made of carbon—the most resistant material against fluoride corrosion—and either bake at the process or are prebaked. The former, also called Söderberg anodes, are less power-efficient and fumes released during baking are costly to collect, which is why they are being replaced by prebaked anodes even though they save the power, energy, and labor to prebake the cathodes. Carbon for anodes should be preferably pure so that neither aluminium nor the electrolyte is contaminated with ash. Despite carbon's resistivity against corrosion, it is still consumed at a rate of 0.4–0.5 kg per each kilogram of produced aluminium. Cathodes are made of anthracite; high purity for them is not required because impurities leach only very slowly. The cathode is consumed at a rate of 0.02–0.04 kg per each kilogram of produced aluminium. A cell is usually terminated after 2–6 years following a failure of the cathode.
The Hall–Heroult process produces aluminium with a purity of above 99%. Further purification can be done by the Hoopes process. This process involves the electrolysis of molten aluminium with a sodium, barium, and aluminium fluoride electrolyte. The resulting aluminium has a purity of 99.99%.
Electric power represents about 20 to 40% of the cost of producing aluminium, depending on the location of the smelter. Aluminium production consumes roughly 5% of electricity generated in the United States. Because of this, alternatives to the Hall–Héroult process have been researched, but none has turned out to be economically feasible.
### Recycling
Recovery of the metal through recycling has become an important task of the aluminium industry. Recycling was a low-profile activity until the late 1960s, when the growing use of aluminium beverage cans brought it to public awareness. Recycling involves melting the scrap, a process that requires only 5% of the energy used to produce aluminium from ore, though a significant part (up to 15% of the input material) is lost as dross (ash-like oxide). An aluminium stack melter produces significantly less dross, with values reported below 1%.
White dross from primary aluminium production and from secondary recycling operations still contains useful quantities of aluminium that can be extracted industrially. The process produces aluminium billets, together with a highly complex waste material. This waste is difficult to manage. It reacts with water, releasing a mixture of gases (including, among others, hydrogen, acetylene, and ammonia), which spontaneously ignites on contact with air; contact with damp air results in the release of copious quantities of ammonia gas. Despite these difficulties, the waste is used as a filler in asphalt and concrete.
## Applications
### Metal
The global production of aluminium in 2016 was 58.8 million metric tons. It exceeded that of any other metal except iron (1,231 million metric tons).
Aluminium is almost always alloyed, which markedly improves its mechanical properties, especially when tempered. For example, the common aluminium foils and beverage cans are alloys of 92% to 99% aluminium. The main alloying agents are copper, zinc, magnesium, manganese, and silicon (e.g., duralumin) with the levels of other metals in a few percent by weight. Aluminium, both wrought and cast, has been alloyed with: manganese, silicon, magnesium, copper and zinc among others. For example, the Kynal family of alloys was developed by the British chemical manufacturer Imperial Chemical Industries.
The major uses for aluminium metal are in:
- Transportation (automobiles, aircraft, trucks, railway cars, marine vessels, bicycles, spacecraft, etc.). Aluminium is used because of its low density;
- Packaging (cans, foil, frame, etc.). Aluminium is used because it is non-toxic (see below), non-adsorptive, and splinter-proof;
- Building and construction (windows, doors, siding, building wire, sheathing, roofing, etc.). Since steel is cheaper, aluminium is used when lightness, corrosion resistance, or engineering features are important;
- Electricity-related uses (conductor alloys, motors, and generators, transformers, capacitors, etc.). Aluminium is used because it is relatively cheap, highly conductive, has adequate mechanical strength and low density, and resists corrosion;
- A wide range of household items, from cooking utensils to furniture. Low density, good appearance, ease of fabrication, and durability are the key factors of aluminium usage;
- Machinery and equipment (processing equipment, pipes, tools). Aluminium is used because of its corrosion resistance, non-pyrophoricity, and mechanical strength.
- Portable computer cases. Currently rarely used without alloying, but aluminium can be recycled and clean aluminium has residual market value: for example, the used beverage can (UBC) material was used to encase the electronic components of MacBook Air laptop, Pixel 5 smartphone or Summit Lite smartwatch.
### Compounds
The great majority (about 90%) of aluminium oxide is converted to metallic aluminium. Being a very hard material (Mohs hardness 9), alumina is widely used as an abrasive; being extraordinarily chemically inert, it is useful in highly reactive environments such as high pressure sodium lamps. Aluminium oxide is commonly used as a catalyst for industrial processes; e.g. the Claus process to convert hydrogen sulfide to sulfur in refineries and to alkylate amines. Many industrial catalysts are supported by alumina, meaning that the expensive catalyst material is dispersed over a surface of the inert alumina. Another principal use is as a drying agent or absorbent.
Several sulfates of aluminium have industrial and commercial application. Aluminium sulfate (in its hydrate form) is produced on the annual scale of several millions of metric tons. About two-thirds is consumed in water treatment. The next major application is in the manufacture of paper. It is also used as a mordant in dyeing, in pickling seeds, deodorizing of mineral oils, in leather tanning, and in production of other aluminium compounds. Two kinds of alum, ammonium alum and potassium alum, were formerly used as mordants and in leather tanning, but their use has significantly declined following availability of high-purity aluminium sulfate. Anhydrous aluminium chloride is used as a catalyst in chemical and petrochemical industries, the dyeing industry, and in synthesis of various inorganic and organic compounds. Aluminium hydroxychlorides are used in purifying water, in the paper industry, and as antiperspirants. Sodium aluminate is used in treating water and as an accelerator of solidification of cement.
Many aluminium compounds have niche applications, for example:
- Aluminium acetate in solution is used as an astringent.
- Aluminium phosphate is used in the manufacture of glass, ceramic, pulp and paper products, cosmetics, paints, varnishes, and in dental cement.
- Aluminium hydroxide is used as an antacid, and mordant; it is used also in water purification, the manufacture of glass and ceramics, and in the waterproofing of fabrics.
- Lithium aluminium hydride is a powerful reducing agent used in organic chemistry.
- Organoaluminiums are used as Lewis acids and co-catalysts.
- Methylaluminoxane is a co-catalyst for Ziegler–Natta olefin polymerization to produce vinyl polymers such as polyethene.
- Aqueous aluminium ions (such as aqueous aluminium sulfate) are used to treat against fish parasites such as Gyrodactylus salaris.
- In many vaccines, certain aluminium salts serve as an immune adjuvant (immune response booster) to allow the protein in the vaccine to achieve sufficient potency as an immune stimulant. Until 2004, most of the adjuvants used in vaccines were aluminium-adjuvanted.
## Aluminized substrates
Aluminizing is the process of coating a structure or material with a thin layer of aluminium. It is done to impart specific traits that the underlying substrate lacks, such as a certain chemical or physical property. Aluminized materials include:
- Aluminized steel, for corrosion resistance and other properties
- Aluminized screen, for display devices
- Aluminized cloth, to reflect heat
- Aluminized mylar, to reflect heat
## Biology
Despite its widespread occurrence in the Earth's crust, aluminium has no known function in biology. At pH 6–9 (relevant for most natural waters), aluminium precipitates out of water as the hydroxide and is hence not available; most elements behaving this way have no biological role or are toxic. Aluminium sulfate has an LD<sub>50</sub> of 6207 mg/kg (oral, mouse), which corresponds to 435 grams (about one pound) for a 70 kg (150 lb) person.
### Toxicity
Aluminium is classified as a non-carcinogen by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. A review published in 1988 said that there was little evidence that normal exposure to aluminium presents a risk to healthy adult, and a 2014 multi-element toxicology review was unable to find deleterious effects of aluminium consumed in amounts not greater than 40 mg/day per kg of body mass. Most aluminium consumed will leave the body in feces; most of the small part of it that enters the bloodstream, will be excreted via urine; nevertheless some aluminium does pass the blood-brain barrier and is lodged preferentially in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Evidence published in 1989 indicates that, for Alzheimer's patients, aluminium may act by electrostatically crosslinking proteins, thus down-regulating genes in the superior temporal gyrus.
### Effects
Aluminium, although rarely, can cause vitamin D-resistant osteomalacia, erythropoietin-resistant microcytic anemia, and central nervous system alterations. People with kidney insufficiency are especially at a risk. Chronic ingestion of hydrated aluminium silicates (for excess gastric acidity control) may result in aluminium binding to intestinal contents and increased elimination of other metals, such as iron or zinc; sufficiently high doses (\>50 g/day) can cause anemia.
During the 1988 Camelford water pollution incident people in Camelford had their drinking water contaminated with aluminium sulfate for several weeks. A final report into the incident in 2013 concluded it was unlikely that this had caused long-term health problems.
Aluminium has been suspected of being a possible cause of Alzheimer's disease, but research into this for over 40 years has found, as of 2018, no good evidence of causal effect.
Aluminium increases estrogen-related gene expression in human breast cancer cells cultured in the laboratory. In very high doses, aluminium is associated with altered function of the blood–brain barrier. A small percentage of people have contact allergies to aluminium and experience itchy red rashes, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, poor memory, insomnia, depression, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, or other symptoms upon contact with products containing aluminium.
Exposure to powdered aluminium or aluminium welding fumes can cause pulmonary fibrosis. Fine aluminium powder can ignite or explode, posing another workplace hazard.
### Exposure routes
Food is the main source of aluminium. Drinking water contains more aluminium than solid food; however, aluminium in food may be absorbed more than aluminium from water. Major sources of human oral exposure to aluminium include food (due to its use in food additives, food and beverage packaging, and cooking utensils), drinking water (due to its use in municipal water treatment), and aluminium-containing medications (particularly antacid/antiulcer and buffered aspirin formulations). Dietary exposure in Europeans averages to 0.2–1.5 mg/kg/week but can be as high as 2.3 mg/kg/week. Higher exposure levels of aluminium are mostly limited to miners, aluminium production workers, and dialysis patients.
Consumption of antacids, antiperspirants, vaccines, and cosmetics provide possible routes of exposure. Consumption of acidic foods or liquids with aluminium enhances aluminium absorption, and maltol has been shown to increase the accumulation of aluminium in nerve and bone tissues.
### Treatment
In case of suspected sudden intake of a large amount of aluminium, the only treatment is deferoxamine mesylate which may be given to help eliminate aluminium from the body by chelation. However, this should be applied with caution as this reduces not only aluminium body levels, but also those of other metals such as copper or iron.
## Environmental effects
High levels of aluminium occur near mining sites; small amounts of aluminium are released to the environment at the coal-fired power plants or incinerators. Aluminium in the air is washed out by the rain or normally settles down but small particles of aluminium remain in the air for a long time.
Acidic precipitation is the main natural factor to mobilize aluminium from natural sources and the main reason for the environmental effects of aluminium; however, the main factor of presence of aluminium in salt and freshwater are the industrial processes that also release aluminium into air.
In water, aluminium acts as a toxiс agent on gill-breathing animals such as fish when the water is acidic, in which aluminium may precipitate on gills, which causes loss of plasma- and hemolymph ions leading to osmoregulatory failure. Organic complexes of aluminium may be easily absorbed and interfere with metabolism in mammals and birds, even though this rarely happens in practice.
Aluminium is primary among the factors that reduce plant growth on acidic soils. Although it is generally harmless to plant growth in pH-neutral soils, in acid soils the concentration of toxic Al<sup>3+</sup> cations increases and disturbs root growth and function. Wheat has developed a tolerance to aluminium, releasing organic compounds that bind to harmful aluminium cations. Sorghum is believed to have the same tolerance mechanism.
Aluminium production possesses its own challenges to the environment on each step of the production process. The major challenge is the greenhouse gas emissions. These gases result from electrical consumption of the smelters and the byproducts of processing. The most potent of these gases are perfluorocarbons from the smelting process. Released sulfur dioxide is one of the primary precursors of acid rain.
Biodegradation of metallic aluminium is extremely rare; most aluminium-corroding organisms do not directly attack or consume the aluminium, but instead produce corrosive wastes. The fungus Geotrichum candidum can consume the aluminium in compact discs. The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the fungus Cladosporium resinae are commonly detected in aircraft fuel tanks that use kerosene-based fuels (not avgas), and laboratory cultures can degrade aluminium.
## See also
- Aluminium granules
- Aluminium joining
- Aluminium–air battery
- Panel edge staining
- Quantum clock |
9,347,404 | Scottish art | 1,162,308,280 | Visual art made in what is now Scotland, or about Scottish subjects, since prehistoric times | [
"British art",
"Scottish art"
]
| Scottish art is the body of visual art made in what is now Scotland, or about Scottish subjects, since prehistoric times. It forms a distinctive tradition within European art, but the political union with England has led its partial subsumation in British art.
The earliest examples of art from what is now Scotland are highly decorated carved stone balls from the Neolithic period. From the Bronze Age there are examples of carvings, including the first representations of objects, and cup and ring marks. More extensive Scottish examples of patterned objects and gold work are found the Iron Age. Elaborately carved Pictish stones and impressive metalwork emerged in Scotland the early Middle Ages. The development of a common style of Insular art across Great Britain and Ireland influenced elaborate jewellery and illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. Only isolated examples survive of native artwork from the late Middle Ages and of works created or strongly influenced by artists of Flemish origin. The influence of the Renaissance can be seen in stone carving and painting from the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century the crown began to employ Flemish court painters who have left a portrait record of royalty. The Reformation removed a major source of patronage for art and limited the level of public display, but may have helped in the growth of secular domestic forms, particularly elaborate painting of roofs and walls. Although the loss of the court as a result of the Union of Crowns in 1603 removed another major source of patronage, the seventeenth century saw the emergence of the first significant native artists for whom names are extant, with figures such as George Jamesone and John Michael Wright.
In the eighteenth century Scotland began to produce artists that were significant internationally, all influenced by neoclassicism, such as Allan Ramsay, Gavin Hamilton, the brothers John and Alexander Runciman, Jacob More and David Allan. Towards the end of the century Romanticism began to influence artistic production, and can be seen in the portraits of artists such as Henry Raeburn. It also contributed to a tradition of Scottish landscape painting that focused on the Highlands, formulated by figures including Alexander Nasmyth. The Royal Scottish Academy of Art was created in 1826, and major portrait painters of this period included Andrew Geddes and David Wilkie. William Dyce emerged as one of the most significant figures in art education in the United Kingdom. The beginnings of a Celtic Revival can be seen in the late nineteenth century and the art scene was dominated by the work of the Glasgow Boys and the Four, led Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who gained an international reputation for their combination of Celtic revival, Art and Crafts and Art Nouveau. The early twentieth century was dominated by the Scottish Colourists and the Edinburgh School. Modernism enjoyed popularity during this period, with William Johnstone helping to develop the concept of a Scottish Renaissance. In the post-war period, major artists, including John Bellany and Alexander Moffat, pursued a strand of "Scottish realism". Moffat's influence can be seen in the work of the "new Glasgow Boys" from the late twentieth century. In the twenty-first century Scotland has continued to produce successful and influential artists such as Douglas Gordon and Susan Philipsz.
Scotland possess significant collections of art, such as the National Gallery of Scotland and National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the Burrell Collection and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Significant schools of art include the Edinburgh College of Art and the Glasgow School of Art. The major funding body with responsibility for the arts in Scotland is Creative Scotland. Support is also given by local councils and independent foundations.
## History
### Prehistoric art
The oldest known examples of art to survive from Scotland are carved stone balls, or petrospheres, that date from the late Neolithic era. They are a uniquely Scottish phenomenon, with over 425 known examples. Most are from modern Aberdeenshire, but a handful of examples are known from Iona, Skye, Harris, Uist, Lewis, Arran, Hawick, Wigtownshire and fifteen from Orkney, five of which were found at the Neolithic village of Skara Brae. Many functions have been suggested for these objects, most indicating that they were prestigious and powerful possessions. Their production may have continued into the Iron Age.
From the Bronze Age there are extensive examples of rock art. These include cup and ring marks, a central depression carved into stone, surrounded by rings, sometimes not completed. These are common elsewhere in Atlantic Europe and have been found on natural rocks and isolated stones across Scotland. The most elaborate sets of markings are in western Scotland, particularly in the Kilmartin district. The representations of an axe and a boat at the Ri Cruin Cairn in Kilmartin, and a boat pecked into Wemyss Cave, are believed to be the oldest known representations of real objects that survive in Scotland. Carved spirals have also been found on the cover stones of burial cists in Lanarkshire and Kincardine.
By the Iron Age, Scotland had been penetrated by the wider La Tène culture. The Torrs Pony-cap and Horns are perhaps the most impressive of the relatively few finds of La Tène decoration from Scotland, and indicate links with Ireland and southern Britain. The Stirling torcs, found in 2009, are a group of four gold torcs in different styles, dating from 300 BC and 100 BC Two demonstrate common styles found in Scotland and Ireland, but the other two indicate workmanship from what is now southern France and the Greek and Roman worlds.
### Middle Ages
In the Early Middle Ages, four distinct linguistic and political groupings existed in what is now Scotland, each of which produced distinct material cultures. In the east were the Picts, whose kingdoms eventually stretched from the River Forth to Shetland. In the west were the Gaelic (Goidelic)-speaking people of Dál Riata, who had close links with Ireland, from where they brought with them the name Scots. In the south were the British (Brythonic-speaking) descendants of the peoples of the Roman-influenced kingdoms of "The Old North", the most powerful and longest surviving of which was the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Finally, there were the English or "Angles", Germanic invaders who had overrun much of southern Britain and held the Kingdom of Bernicia (later the northern part of Northumbria), which reached into what are now the Borders of Scotland in the south-east.
Only fragments of artefacts survive from the Brythonic speaking kingdoms of southern Scotland. Pictish art can be seen in the extensive survival of carved Pictish stones, particularly in the north and east of the country. These display a variety of recurring images and patterns, as at Dunrobin (Sutherland) and Aberlemno (Angus). There are a few survivals of Pictish silver, notably a number of massive neck-chains including the Whitecleuch Chain, and also the unique silver plaques from the cairn at Norrie's Law. Irish-Scots art from the kingdom of Dál Riata is much more difficult to identify, but may include items such as the Hunterston brooch, which with other items such as the Monymusk Reliquary, suggest that Dál Riata was one of the places, as a crossroads between cultures, where the Insular style developed. Early examples of Anglo-Saxon art include metalwork, particularly bracelets, clasps and jewellery, that has survived in pagan burials and in exceptional items such as the intricately carved whalebone Franks Casket, thought to have been produced in Northumbria in the early eighth century, which combines pagan, classical and Christian motifs. After the Christian conversion of what is now Scotland in the seventh century, artistic styles in Northumbria interacted with those in Ireland and Scotland to become part of the common style historians have identified as insular or Hiberno-Saxon.
Insular art is the name given to the common style that developed in Britain and Ireland after the conversion of the Picts and the cultural assimilation of Pictish culture into that of the Scots and Angles, and which became highly influential in continental Europe, contributing to the development of Romanesque and Gothic styles. It can be seen in elaborate penannular brooches, often making extensive use of semi-precious stones, in the heavily carved high crosses found most frequently in the Highlands and Islands, but distributed across the country and particularly in the highly decorated illustrated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, which may have been begun, or wholly created on Iona, the key location in Scotland for insular art. The finest era of the style was brought to an end by the disruption to monastic centres and aristocratic life by Viking raids in the late eighth century. Later elaborate metal work has survived in buried hoards such as the St Ninian's Isle Treasure and several finds from the Viking period.
In the High Middle Ages, Scotland adopted the Romanesque in the late twelfth century and retained and revived elements of its style after the Gothic style had become dominant from the thirteenth century. Much of the best Scottish artwork of the High and Late Middle Ages was either religious in nature or realised in metal and woodwork, and did not survive the effect of time and of the Reformation. However, examples of sculpture are extant as part of church architecture, including evidence of elaborate church interiors such as the sacrament houses at Deskford and Kinkell and the carvings of the seven deadly sins at Rosslyn Chapel. From the thirteenth century, there are relatively large numbers of monumental effigies such as the elaborate Douglas tombs in the town of Douglas. Native craftsmanship can be seen in items such as the Bute mazer and the Savernake Horn, and more widely in the large number of high quality seals that survive from the mid thirteenth century onwards. Visual illustration can be seen in the illumination of charters, and occasional survivals such as the fifteenth-century Doom painting at Guthrie. As in England, the monarchy may have had model portraits of royalty used for copies and reproductions, but the versions of native royal portraits that survive are generally crude by continental standards.
### European Renaissance
Beginning in the fifteenth century, a number of works were produced in Scotland by artists imported from the continent, particularly the Netherlands, generally considered the centre of painting in the Northern Renaissance. The products of these connections included a fine portrait of William Elphinstone; the images of St Catherine and St John brought to Dunkeld; and Hugo van Der Goes's altarpiece for the Trinity College Church in Edinburgh, commissioned by James III and the work after which the Flemish Master of James IV of Scotland is named. There are also a relatively large number of elaborate devotional books from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, usually produced in the Low Countries and France for Scottish patrons, including the prayer book commissioned by Robert Blackadder, Bishop of Glasgow, between 1484 and 1492 and the Flemish illustrated book of hours, known as the Hours of James IV of Scotland, given by James IV to Margaret Tudor and described by D. H. Caldwell as "perhaps the finest medieval manuscript to have been commissioned for Scottish use". Records also indicate that Scottish palaces were adorned by rich tapestries, such as those that depicted scenes from the Iliad and Odyssey set up for James IV at Holyrood. Surviving stone and wood carvings, wall paintings and tapestries suggest the richness of sixteenth century royal art. At Stirling Castle, stone carvings on the royal palace from the reign of James V are taken from German patterns, and like the surviving carved oak portrait roundels from the King's Presence Chamber, known as the Stirling Heads, they include contemporary, biblical and classical figures. James V employed French craftsmen including the carver Andrew Mansioun.
### Reformation
During the sixteenth century, Scotland underwent a Protestant Reformation that created a predominantly Calvinist national Church of Scotland (kirk), which was strongly Presbyterian in outlook. Scotland's ecclesiastical art paid a heavy toll as a result of Protestant iconoclasm, with the almost total loss of medieval stained glass, religious sculpture and paintings. The nature of the Scottish Reformation may have had wider effects, limiting the creation of a culture of public display and meaning that art was channelled into more austere forms of expression with an emphasis on private and domestic restraint.
The loss of ecclesiastical patronage created a crisis for native craftsmen and artists, who turned to secular patrons. One result of this was the flourishing of Scottish Renaissance painted ceilings and walls, with large numbers of private houses of burgesses, lairds and lords gaining often highly detailed and coloured patterns and scenes, of which over a hundred examples survive. These include the ceiling at Prestongrange, undertaken in 1581 for Mark Kerr, Commendator of Newbattle, and the long gallery at Pinkie House, painted for Alexander Seaton, Earl of Dunfermline in 1621. These were undertaken by unnamed Scottish artists using continental pattern books that often led to the incorporation of humanist moral and philosophical symbolism, with elements that call on heraldry, piety, classical myths and allegory. The tradition of royal portrait painting in Scotland was probably disrupted by the minorities and regencies it underwent for much of the sixteenth century, but began to flourish after the Reformation. There were anonymous portraits of important individuals, including the Earl of Bothwell (1556) and George, fifth Earl of Seaton (c. 1570s). James VI employed two Flemish artists, Arnold Bronckorst in the early 1580s and Adrian Vanson from around 1584 to 1602, who have left us a visual record of the king and major figures at the court. In 1590 Anne of Denmark brought a jeweller Jacob Kroger (d. 1594) from Lüneburg, a centre of the goldsmith's craft.
The Union of Crowns in 1603 removed a major source of artistic patronage in Scotland as James VI and his court moved to London. The result has been seen as a shift "from crown to castle", as the nobility and local lairds became the major sources of patronage. The first significant native artist was George Jamesone of Aberdeen (1589/90-1644), who became one of the most successful portrait painters of the reign of Charles I and trained the Baroque artist John Michael Wright (1617–1694). The growing importance of royal art can be seen in the post created in 1702 for George Ogilvie. The duties included "drawing pictures of our [the Monarch's] person or of our successors or others of our royal family for the decorment of our houses and palaces". However, from 1723 to 1823 the office was a sinecure held by members of the Abercrombie family, not necessarily connected with artistic ability.
### Eighteenth century
#### Enlightenment period
Many painters of the early part of the eighteenth century remained largely artisans, such as the members of the Norie family, James (1684–1757) and his sons, who painted the houses of the peerage with Scottish landscapes that were pastiches of Italian and Dutch landscapes. The painters Allan Ramsay (1713–1784), Gavin Hamilton (1723–1798), the brothers John (1744–1768/9) and Alexander Runciman (1736–1785), Jacob More (1740–1793) and David Allan (1744–1796), mostly began in the tradition of the Nories, but were artists of European significance, spending considerable portions of their careers outside Scotland, and were to varying degree influenced by forms of Neoclassicism. The influence of Italy was particularly significant, with over fifty Scottish artists and architects known to have travelled there in the period 1730–1780.
Ramsay studied in Sweden, London and Italy before basing himself in Edinburgh, where he established himself as a leading portrait painter to the Scottish nobility. After a second visit to Italy he moved to London in 1757 and from 1761 he was Principal Painter in Ordinary to George III. He now focused on royal portraits, often presented by the king to ambassadors and colonial governors. His work has been seen as anticipating the grand manner of Joshua Reynolds, but many of his early portraits, particularly of women are less formal and more intimate studies. Gavin Hamilton studied at the University of Glasgow and in Rome, and after a brief stay in London, primarily painting portraits of the British aristocracy, he returned to Rome for the rest of his life. He emerged as a pioneering neo-classical painter of historical and mythical themes, including his depictions of scenes from Homer's Iliad, as well as acting as an early archaeologist and antiquarian.
John and Alexander Runciman both gained reputations as painters of mythological and historical themes. They travelled to Italy, where John died in 1768/9. Alexander returned home to gain a reputation as a landscape and portrait painter. His most widely known work, distributed in etchings, was mythological. More, having trained with the Nories, like his friend Ramsey, moved to Italy from 1773 and is chiefly known as a landscape painter. Allan travelled to Rome from 1764 to 1777, where he studied with Hamilton. He produced historical and mythical scenes before moving to England, where he pursued portraiture. He then returned to Edinburgh in 1780, became director and master of the Academy of Arts in 1786. Here he produced his most famous work, with illustrations of themes from Scottish life, earning him the title of "the Scottish Hogarth".
#### Romanticism
Scotland played a major part in the origins of the Romantic movement through the publication of James Macpherson's Ossian cycle, which was proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical epics. Fingal, written in 1762, was speedily translated into many European languages, and its deep appreciation of natural beauty and the melancholy tenderness of its treatment of the ancient legend did more than any single work to bring about the Romantic movement in European, and especially in German literature, influencing Herder and Goethe. Ossian became a common subject for Scottish artists, and works were undertaken by Alexander Runciman and David Allan among others. This period saw a shift in attitudes to the Highlands and mountain landscapes in general, from viewing them as hostile, empty regions occupied by backwards and marginal people, to interpreting them as aesthetically pleasing exemplars of nature, occupied by rugged primitives, which were now depicted in a dramatic fashion. Produced before his departure to Italy, Jacob More's series of four paintings "Falls of Clyde" (1771–73) have been described by art historian Duncan Macmillan as treating the waterfalls as "a kind of natural national monument" and has been seen as an early work in developing a romantic sensibility to the Scottish landscape. Alexander Runciman was probably the first artist to paint Scottish landscapes in watercolours in the more romantic style that was emerging towards the end of the eighteenth century.
The effect of Romanticism can also be seen in the works of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century artists including Henry Raeburn (1756–1823), Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840) and John Knox (1778–1845). Raeburn was the most significant artist of the period to pursue his entire career in Scotland, born in Edinburgh and returning there after a trip to Italy in 1786. He is most famous for his intimate portraits of leading figures in Scottish life, going beyond the aristocracy to lawyers, doctors, professors, writers and ministers, adding elements of Romanticism to the tradition of Reynolds. He became a knight in 1822 and the King's painter and limner in 1823, marking a return to the post being associated with the production of art. Nasmyth visited Italy and worked in London, but returned to his native Edinburgh for most of his career. He produced work in a large range of forms, including his portrait of Romantic poet Robert Burns, which depicts him against a dramatic Scottish background, but he is chiefly remembered for his landscapes and is described in the Oxford Dictionary of Art as "the founder of the Scottish landscape tradition". The work of Knox continued the theme of landscape, directly linking it with the Romantic works of Scott and he was also among the first artists to take a major interest in depicting the urban landscape of Glasgow.
### Nineteenth century
#### Painting
Andrew Geddes (1783–1844) and David Wilkie (1785–1841) were among the most successful portrait painters, with Wilkie succeeding Raeburn as Royal Limner in 1823. Geddes produced some landscapes, but also portraits of Scottish subjects, including Wilkie and Scott, before he finally moved to London in 1831. Wilkie worked mainly in London, and was most famous for his anecdotal paintings of Scottish and English life, including The Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Dispatch in 1822 and for his flattering painting of the King George IV in Highland dress commemorating the royal visit to Scotland in 1823 that set off the international fashion for the kilt. After a tour of Europe he was more influenced by Renaissance and Baroque painting. David Roberts (1796–1864) became known for his prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced during the 1840s from sketches he made during long tours of the region.
The tradition of highland landscape painting was continued by figures such as Horatio McCulloch (1806–1867), Joseph Farquharson (1846–1935) and William McTaggart (1835–1910). McCulloch's images of places including Glen Coe and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, became parlour room panoramas that helped to define popular images of Scotland. This was helped by Queen Victoria's declared affection for Scotland, signified by her adoption of Balmoral as a royal retreat. In this period a Scottish "grand tour" developed with large number of English artists, including Turner, flocking to the Highlands to paint and draw. From the 1870s Farquharson was a major figure in interpreting Scottish landscapes, specialising in snowscapes and sheep, and using a mobile heated studio in order to capture the conditions from life. In the same period McTaggart emerged as the leading Scottish landscape painter. He has been compared with John Constable and described as the "Scottish Impressionist", with free brushwork often depicting stormy seas and moving clouds. The fashion for coastal painting in the later nineteenth century led to the establishment of artist colonies in places such as Pittenweem and Crail in Fife, Cockburnspath in the Borders, Cambuskenneth near Stirling on the River Forth and Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway.
#### Sculpture
In the early decades of the century, sculpture commissions in Scotland were often given to English artists. Thomas Campbell (c. 1790 – 1858) and Lawrence Macdonald (1799–1878) undertook work in Scotland, but worked for much of their careers in London and Rome. The first significant Scottish sculptor to pursue their career in Scotland was John Steell (1804–1891). His first work to gain significant public attention was his Alexander and Bucephasus (1832). His 1832 design for a statue of Walter Scott was incorporated into the author's memorial in Edinburgh. It marked the beginnings of a national school of sculpture based around major figures from Scottish culture and Scottish and British history. The tradition of Scottish sculpture was taken forward by artists such as Patrick Park (1811–1855), Alexander Handyside Ritchie (1804–1870) and William Calder Marshall (1813–1894). This reached fruition in the next generation of sculptors including William Brodie (1815–1881), Amelia Hill (1820–1904) and Steell's apprentice David Watson Stevenson (1842–1904). Stevenson contributed the statue of William Wallace to the exterior of the Wallace Monument and many of the busts in the gallery of heroes inside. Public sculpture was boosted by the anniversary of Burns' death in 1896. Stevenson produced a statue of the poet in Leith. Hill produced one for Dumfries. John Steell produced a statue for Central Park in New York, versions of which were made for Dundee, London and Dunedin. Statues of Burns and Scott were produced in areas of Scottish settlement, particularly in North America and Australia.
#### Early photography
In the early nineteenth century Scottish scientists James Clerk Maxwell and David Brewster played a major part in the development of the techniques of photography. Pioneering photographers included chemist Robert Adamson (1821–1848) and artist David Octavius Hill (1821–1848), who as Hill & Adamson formed the first photographic studio in Scotland at Rock House in Edinburgh in 1843. Their output of around 3,000 calotype images in four years are considered some of the first and finest artistic uses of photography. Other pioneers included Thomas Annan (1829–1887), who took portraits and landscapes, and whose photographs of the Glasgow slums were among the first to use the medium as a social record. His son James Craig Annan (1864–1946) popularised the work of Hill & Adamson in the US and worked with American photographic pioneer Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946). Both pioneered the more stable photogravure process. Other important figures included Thomas Keith (1827–1895), one of the first architectural photographers, George Washington Wilson (1823–1893), who pioneered instant photography and Clementina Hawarden (1822–1865), whose posed portraits were among the first in a tradition of female photography.
#### Influence of the Pre-Raphaelites
David Scott's (1806–1849) most ambitious historical work was the triptych Sir William Wallace, Scottish Wars: the Spear and English War: the Bow (1843). He also produced etchings for versions of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and J. P. Nichol's Architecture of the Heavens (1850). Because of this early death he was known to, and admired by, the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood mainly through his brother William Bell Scott (1811–1890), who became a close friend of founding member D. G. Rossetti. The London-based Pre-Raphaelites rejected the formalism of Mannerist painting after Raphael. Bell Scott was patronised by the Pre-Raphaelite collector James Leathart. His most famous work, Iron and Coal was one of the most popular Victorian images and one of the few to fulfill the Pre-Raphaelite ambition to depict the modern world.
The figure in Scottish art most associated with the Pre-Raphaelites was the Aberdeen-born William Dyce (1806–64). Dyce befriended the young Pre-Raphaelites in London and introduced their work to John Ruskin. His The Man of Sorrows and David in the Wilderness (both 1860), contain a Pre-Raphaelite attention to detail, but puts the biblical subjects in a distinctly Scottish landscape, against the Pre-Raphaelite precept of truth in all things. His Pegwell Bay: a Recollection of 5 October 1858 has been described as "the archetypal pre-Raphaelite landscape". Dyce became head of the School of Design in Edinburgh, and was then invited to London, to head the newly established Government School of Design, later to become the Royal College of Art, where his ideas formed the basis of the system of training and he was highly involved in the national organisation of art. Joseph Noel Paton (1821–1901) studied at the Royal Academy schools in London, where he became a friend of John Everett Millais and he subsequently followed him into Pre-Raphaelitism, producing pictures that stressed detail and melodrama such as The Bludie Tryst (1855). Also influenced by Millias was James Archer (1823–1904) and whose work included Summertime, Gloucestershire (1860) and who from 1861 began a series of Arthurian-based paintings including La Morte d'Arthur and Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere.
#### Arts and Crafts and the Celtic Revival
The beginnings of the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland were in the stained glass revival of the 1850s, pioneered by James Ballantine (1808–77). His major works included the great west window of Dunfermline Abbey and the scheme for St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. In Glasgow it was pioneered by Daniel Cottier (1838–91), who had probably studied with Ballantine, and was directly influenced by William Morris, Ford Madox Brown and John Ruskin. His key works included the Baptism of Christ in Paisley Abbey (c. 1880). His followers included Stephen Adam and his son of the same name. The Glasgow-born designer and theorist Christopher Dresser (1834–1904) was one of the first and most important, independent designers, a pivotal figure in the Aesthetic Movement and a major contributor to the allied Anglo-Japanese movement.
The formation of the Edinburgh Social Union in 1885, which included a number of significant figures in the Arts and Craft and Aesthetic movements, became part of an attempt to facilitate a Celtic Revival, similar to that taking place in contemporaneous Ireland, drawing on ancient myths and history to produce art in a modern idiom. Key figures were the philosopher, sociologist, town planner and writer Patrick Geddes (1854–1932), the architect and designer Robert Lorimer (1864–1929) and stained-glass artist Douglas Strachan (1875–1950). Geddes established an informal college of tenement flats for artists at Ramsay Garden on Castle Hill in Edinburgh in the 1890s.
Among the figures involved with the movement were Anna Traquair (1852–1936), who was commissioned by the Union to paint murals in the Mortuary Chapel of the Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh (1885–86 and 1896–98) and also worked in metal, illumination, illustration, embroidery and book binding. The most significant exponent was Dundee-born John Duncan (1866–1945), who was also influenced by Italian Renaissance art and French Symbolism. Among his most influential works are his paintings of Celtic subjects Tristan and Iseult (1912) and St Bride (1913). Other Dundee Symbolists included Stewart Carmichael (1879–1901) and George Dutch Davidson (1869–1950). Duncan was a major contributor to Geddes' magazine The Evergreen. Other major contributors included the Japanese-influenced Robert Burns (1860–1941), E. A. Hornel (1864–1933) and Duncan's student Helen Hay (fl. 1895–1953).
#### Glasgow School
For the late nineteenth century developments in Scottish art are associated with the Glasgow School, a term that is used for a number of loose groups based around the city. The first and largest group, active from about 1880, were the Glasgow Boys, including James Guthrie (1859–1930), Joseph Crawhall (1861–1913), George Henry (1858–1943) and E. A. Walton (1860–1922). They reacted against the commercialism and sentimentality of earlier artists, particularly represented by the Royal Academy, were often influenced by French painting and incorporated elements of impressionism and realism, and have been credited with rejuvenating Scottish art, making Glasgow a major cultural centre. A slightly later grouping, active from about 1890 and known as "The Four" or the "Spook School", was composed of acclaimed architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928), his wife the painter and glass artist Margaret MacDonald (1865–1933), her sister the artist Frances (1873–1921), and her husband, the artist and teacher Herbert MacNair (1868–1955). They produced a distinctive blend of influences, including the Celtic Revival, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Japonisme, which found favour throughout the modern art world of continental Europe and helped define the Art Nouveau style.
### Early twentieth century
#### Scottish Colourists
The next significant group of artists to emerge were the Scottish Colourists in the 1920s. The name was later given to four artists who knew each other and exhibited together, but did not form a cohesive group. All had spent time in France between 1900 and 1914 and all looked to Paris, particularly to the Fauvists, such as Monet, Matisse and Cézanne, whose techniques they combined with the painting traditions of Scotland. They were John Duncan Fergusson (1874–1961), Francis Cadell (1883–1937), Samuel Peploe (1871–1935) and Leslie Hunter (1877–1931). They have been described as the first Scottish modern artists and were the major mechanism by which post-impressionism reached Scotland.
#### Edinburgh School
The group of artists connected with Edinburgh, most of whom had studied at Edinburgh College of Art during or soon after the First World War, became known as the Edinburgh School. They were influenced by French painters and the St. Ives School and their art was characterised by use of vivid and often non-naturalistic colour and the use of bold technique above form. Members included William Gillies (1898–1973), who focused on landscapes and still life, John Maxwell (1905–62) who created both landscapes and studies of imaginative subjects, Adam Bruce Thomson (1885–1976) best known for his oil and water colour landscape paintings, particularly of the Highlands and Edinburgh, William Crozier (1893–1930), whose landscapes were created with glowing colours, William Geissler (1894–1963), watercolourist of landscapes in Perthshire, East Lothian and Hampshire, William MacTaggart (1903–81), noted for his landscapes of East Lothian, France and Norway and Anne Redpath (1895–1965), best known for her two dimensional depictions of everyday objects.
#### Modernism and the Scottish Renaissance
Patrick Geddes coined the phrase Scottish Renaissance, arguing that technological development needed to paralleled in the arts. This ideas were taken up by a new generation, led by the poet Hugh MacDiarmid who argued for a synergy between science and art, the introduction of modernism into art and the creation of a distinctive national art. These ideas were expressed in art in the inter-war period by figures including J. D. Fergusson, Stanley Cursiter (1887–1976), William McCance (1894–1970) and William Johnstone (1897–1981). Fergusson was one of the few British artists who could claim to have played a part in the creation of modernism. His interest in machine imagery can be seen in paintings such as Damaged Destroyer (1918). Cursiter was influenced by the Celtic revival, post-impressionism and Futurism, as can be seen in his Rain on Princes Street (1913) and Regatta (1913). McCance's early work was in a bold post-impressionist style, but after World War I it became increasingly abstract and influenced by vorticism, as can be seen in Women on an Elevator (1925) and The Engineer and his Wife (1925). Johnstone studied cubism, surrealism and new American art. He moved towards abstraction, attempting to utilise aspects of landscape, poetry and Celtic art. His most significant work, A Point in Time (1929–38), has been described by art historian Duncan Macmillan as "one of the most important Scottish pictures of the century".
Other artists strongly influenced by modernism included James McIntosh Patrick (1907–98) and Edward Baird (1904–49). Both trained in Glasgow, but spent most of their careers in and around their respective native cities of Dundee and Montrose. Both were influenced by surrealism and the work of Bruegel and focused on landscape, as can be seen in McIntosh Patrick's Traquair House (1938) and more overtly in Baird's The Birth of Venus (1934). Before his success in painting McIntosh Patrick first gained a reputation as an etcher. Leading figures in the field in the inter-war period included William Wilson (1905–72) and Ian Fleming (1906–94).
#### New Scottish Group
The longest surviving member of the Scottish Colourists, J. D. Fergusson, returned to Scotland from France in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, where he became a leading figure of a group of Glasgow artists. Members of Fergusson's group formed the New Art Club in 1940, in opposition to the established Glasgow Art Club. In 1942 they held the first exhibition of their own exhibiting society, the New Scottish Group, with Fergusson as its first president.
The group had no single style, but shared left-wing tendencies and included artists strongly influenced by trends in contemporary continental art. Painters involved included Donald Bain (1904–79), who was influenced by expressionism. William Crosbie (1915–99) was strongly influenced by surrealism. Marie de Banzie (1918–90), was influenced by expressionism and particularity post-expressionist Gauguin. Isabel Babianska (born 1920), was influenced by expressionist Chaïm Soutine. Expressionism can also be seen as an influence on the work of Millie Frood (1900–88), which included vivid colours and brushwork reminiscent of Van Gogh. Frood's urban scenes contain an element of social commentary and realism, influenced by Polish refugees Josef Herman (1911–2000), resident in Glasgow between 1940 and 1943 and Jankel Adler (1895–1949) who was in Kirkudbright from 1941 to 1943. Also influenced by Herman were husband and wife Tom MacDonald (1914–85) and Bet Low (born 1924), who with painter William Senior (born 1927) formed the Clyde Group, aimed at promoting political art. Their work included industrial and urban landscapes such as MacDonald's Transport Depot (1944–45) and Bet Low's Blochairn Steelworks (c. 1946).
## Contemporary art
### Post-War artists
Notable post-war artists included Robin Philipson (1916–92), who was influenced by the Colourists, but also Pop Art and neo-Romanticism. Robert MacBryde (1913–66), Robert Colquhoun (1914–64) and Joan Eardley (1921–63), were all graduates of the Glasgow School of Art. MacBryde and Colquhoun were influenced by neo-Romanticism and the Cubism of Adler. The English-born Eardley moved to Glasgow and explored the landscapes of Kincardineshire coast and created depictions of Glasgow tenements and children in the streets. Scottish artists that continued the tradition of landscape painting and joined the new generation of modernist artists of the highly influential St Ives School were Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (b. 1912–2004), Margaret Mellis (b. 1914–2009).
Paris continued to be a major destination for Scottish artists, with William Gear (1916–97) and Stephen Gilbert (1910–2007) encountering the linear abstract painting of the avant-garde COBRA group there in the 1940s. Their work was highly coloured and violent in execution. Also a visitor to Paris was Alan Davie (born 1920), who was influenced by jazz and Zen Buddhism and moved further into abstract expressionism. Ian Hamilton Finlay's (1925–2006) work explored the boundaries between sculpture, print making, literature (especially concrete poetry) and landscape architecture. His most ambitious work, the garden of Little Sparta opened in 1960.
### Scottish Realism and the Glasgow Pups
John Bellany (1942–2013), mainly focusing on the coastal communities of his birth, and Alexander Moffat (born 1943), who concentrated on portraiture, both grouped under the description of "Scottish realism", were among the leading Scottish intellectuals from the 1960s. The artists associated with Moffat and the Glasgow School of Art who came to prominence in the 1980s are sometimes known as the "new Glasgow Boys", or "Glasgow pups" and included Steven Campbell (1953–2007), Peter Howson (born 1958), Ken Currie (born 1960) and Adrian Wiszniewski (born 1958). Their figurative work has a comic book-like quality and puts an emphasis on social commentary. Campbell and Wiszniewski's post-modern painting adopts a whimsical approach to history. Campbell often employs figures reminiscent characters from 1930s novels confronted by the disorder and confusion of the real world, as in his Young Men in Search of Simplicity (1989). Currie has revived historical painting devoted to the socialist history of Glasgow in a series of paintings for the People's Palace in 1987. Currie also approached the problems of historical painting through his series of prints The Saracen Heads (1988).
### Contemporary sculpture
While sculptors Eric Schilsky (1898–1974) and Hew Lorimer (1907–93) worked in the existing tradition of modelling and carving, sculptor and artist Eduardo Paolozzi (1924–2005) was a pioneer of pop art and in a varied career produced many works that examined juxtapositions between fantasy and the modern world. George Wyllie (1921–2012), produced works of social and political commentary including the Straw Locomotive (1987), an event which raised questions about the decline of heavy industry and the nature of colonialism. New sources of direct government arts funding encouraged greater experimentation among a new generation of sculptors that incorporated aspects of modernism, including Jake Harvey (born 1948), Doug Cocker (born 1945), Ainslie Yule (1941–2022) and Gavin Scobie (1940–2012). In contrast Sandy Stoddart (born 1959) works primarily on "nationalist" figurative sculpture in clay within the neoclassical tradition. He is best known for his civic monuments, including 10 feet (3.0 m) bronze statues of the philosophers David Hume and Adam Smith, on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.
### Photographic renaissance
In the late twentieth century, photography in Scotland enjoyed a renaissance, encouraged by figures including Richard Hough (1945–85) who founded the Stills Gallery for photography in Edinburgh in 1977 and Murray Johnston (1949–90), who was its director (1982–86). Important practitioners in Scotland included the American Thomas Joshua Cooper (born 1946) who founded the Fine Art Photography department in 1982 at The Glasgow School of Art. More recent exponents who have received acclaim include Pradip Malde (born 1957), Maud Sulter (1960–2008) and Owen Logan (born 1963).
### Contemporary artists
Since the 1990s, the most commercially successful artist has been Jack Vettriano (born 1951), whose work usually consists of figure compositions, with his most famous painting The Singing Butler (1992), often cited as the best selling print in Britain. However, he has received little acclaim from critics. Contemporary artists emerging from Glasgow and Dundee include David Mach (born 1960), working in the medium of installation art, Richard Wright (born 1960), noted for his intricate wall paintings, James Lambie (born 1964) who specialises in colourful sculptural installations and Susan Philipsz (born 1965) who works in sound installations. A group that emerged from Glasgow in the early 1990s, and later described as "The Irascibles", includes Roderick Buchanan (born 1965), who works in installations, film and photography, Douglas Gordon (born 1966) working in video art, Christine Borland (1965), whose work focuses on forensic science, and sculptor Martin Boyce (born 1967). In the generation of more recent artists Lucy McKenzie's (born 1977) painting is often sexually explicit, while Sandy Smith (born 1983) has produced installation art that combines video and landscape art.
### Art museums and galleries
Major art galleries in Edinburgh include the National Gallery of Scotland, which has a collection of national and international art. The National Museum of Scotland, was formed by the merger of the Royal Museum of Scotland and the National Museum of Antiquities and includes items from the decorative arts, ethnography and archaeology. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has portraits of major national figures. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, houses the national collection of twentieth-century Scottish and international art. The Dean Gallery houses the Gallery of Modern Art's collection of Dada and Surreal art. The Talbot Rice Gallery houses both old masters and contemporary Scottish works, and the Stills Gallery is the major gallery devoted to Scottish photography. Glasgow galleries include the Burrell Collection, housing the extensive and eclectic collection of art left to the city by shipping magnate Sir William Burrell. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum houses a collection of international art and products of the Glasgow School. The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery houses sixty works by James McNeill Whistler and works by Mackintosh, as well as an international collection of masters from the seventeenth century onwards. Other major collections include the Aberdeen Art Gallery, which houses a major collection of British and international art and Dundee Contemporary Arts, which houses two contemporary art galleries.
### Art schools and colleges
Scotland has had schools of art since the eighteenth century, many of which continue to exist in different forms today. Edinburgh College of Art developed from the Trustees Academy founded in the city in 1760 and was established in 1907. After a long independent history, in 2011 it became part of the University of Edinburgh. Glasgow School of Art grew from the city's School of Design, founded in 1845. Grays School of Art in Aberdeen was founded in 1885. Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design was founded in Dundee in 1909. There are also smaller private institutions such as the Leith School of Art founded in a former Lutheran church in 1988.
### Organisations
Creative Scotland is the national agency for the development of the arts in Scotland. It superseded the Scottish Arts Council, which was formed in 1994 following a restructuring of the Arts Council of Great Britain, but had existed as an autonomous body since a royal charter of 1967. In addition, some local authorities and private interests have also supported to the arts, although this has been more limited since local government reorganisation in 1996. Independent arts foundations that promote the visual arts include the Royal Scottish Academy, founded in 1826 and granted a royal charter in 1837.
## See also
- Art of the United Kingdom |
40,818,758 | La Pausa | 1,164,477,696 | Detached villa in France | [
"French Riviera",
"Houses completed in 1930",
"Houses in Alpes-Maritimes",
"Villas in France",
"Winston Churchill"
]
| La Pausa is a large detached villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. It was designed and built by the French fashion designer Coco Chanel in the early 1930s, and owned by Chanel until 1953. La Pausa was sold by Chanel to the Hungarian publisher Emery Reves. The former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spent roughly a third of each year at La Pausa from 1956 to 1958 with Reves and his wife, Wendy, and wrote and edited part of his History of the English Speaking Peoples there. La Pausa was occupied by Wendy Reves until 2007. The principal rooms of La Pausa and its significant art collection were recreated at the Dallas Museum of Art during her lifetime and under her direction. The Reves wing was opened in 1985.
Situated above the village of Roquebrune, the house enjoys views toward Menton and the French border with Italy on one side, and Monaco on the other. Its name refers to the legend that Mary Magdalene "paused" near here on her journey from Jerusalem following the crucifixion of Jesus.
## Coco Chanel
Chanel bought the five-acre plot on which La Pausa was built for 1.8 million French francs in February 1929. The plot had formerly been part of the hunting grounds of the ruling family of Monaco, the Grimaldis, and contained wild olive and orange groves. The villa was built less than a year later. The final cost of the villa was 6 million francs, a large sum for the time. It is not clear whether Chanel or her lover, Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster financed the building and furnishing of La Pausa. La Pausa was built by architect Robert Streitz, who sought to build 'the ideal Mediterranean villa'.
The design of the house modelled on the 12th-century convent-orphanage in Aubazine, in the department of Corréze, which Chanel spent her childhood. A stone staircase leads up from the main entrance hall and a cloister encloses a courtyard. A design of five windows is repeated throughout the house, in tribute to Chanel's perfume, Chanel No. 5. Chanel ordered more than 20,000 curved handmade tiles to be handmade for the roof, and furnished the house sparsely in shades of white and beige. Each bathroom has a servants entrance. Chanel would take Le Train Bleu from Paris every month to inspect the progress of the building. If Chanel was unable to make the trip, local craftsmen would be sent to Paris to meet her.
The colour scheme of the house was beige, which included a beige piano. Chanel may have been assisted in her design of the interior of La Pausa by Stéphane Boudin, the president of the interior design firm Maison Jansen.
The central villa is 10,000 sq ft (930m<sup>2</sup>) in size, with two smaller villas built for guests. The main house consists of seven bedrooms, with three living rooms, a dining room, two kitchens and staff quarters. Streitz had previously restored another local villa for Chanel's friend, Count Jean de Segonzac.
La Pausa contains three wings that face onto a shaded courtyard, with the rooms containing large fireplaces. The rooms were filled by Chanel with 16th-century English oak furniture, given to her by the Duke of Westminster; English oak was also used for floors and panelling. The large reception rooms were lit by wrought-iron chandeliers from Spain.
The poet Pierre Reverdy stayed at La Pausa for long periods during the 1930s, and the poet Paul Iribe, Chanel's lover, collapsed and died while playing tennis with Chanel at La Pausa in 1935. Guests of Chanel's at La Pausa included Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Luchino Visconti.
La Pausa was profiled by American Vogue magazine in 1938, with the garden described as containing "groves of orange trees, great slopes of lavender, masses of purple iris, and huge clusters of climbing roses." Twenty olive trees from Antibes were replanted in the garden. The designer Roderick Cameron said that at La Pausa, Chanel was the first to cultivate lavender and other flora previously regarded as "poor plants".
The architect of La Pausa, Robert Streitz, was a member of the French Resistance during the German occupation of France in the Second World War. Streitz hid in La Pausa's cellars, from which he transmitted covert messages. Jewish refugees were also able to use La Pausa, using its gardens as a staging post in their escape from France to the Italian border. During the German occupation of France, Chanel made several visits to La Pausa with her lover, the German spy Baron von Dincklage.
The design of La Pausa also influenced Chanel's fashion designs, with her collections evoking the pink and grey palettes of the house and landscape. In 2007 Chanel released a perfume inspired by La Pausa, 28 La Pausa, as part of their "Les Exclusifs" collection. It was created by Chanel's perfumer Jacques Polge.
## Emery and Wendy Reves
Chanel sold La Pausa in 1953 to the Hungarian émigré publisher Emery Reves. Reves bought La Pausa from the proceeds of the foreign-language rights to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's book on the Second World War. Churchill subsequently became a guest of Reves and Reve's wife, Wendy Russell Reves, at La Pausa, often staying for weeks at a time. Churchill found the atmosphere with the Reveses at La Pausa relaxing, with his secretary describing him as seeming "twenty years younger" when at the house, which Churchill nicknamed "Pausaland". Guests hosted by the Reves with Churchill included Noël Coward, Somerset Maugham and Edward Molyneux. However, Churchill's wife, Clementine, found La Pausa claustrophobic, and only stayed with Churchill for four of his eleven visits to the house. Churchill would spend a total of 54 weeks at La Pausa over the three and a half years from his first visit in 1956, spending roughly a third of a year at the house from 1956 to 1958. While at the house Churchill wrote and edited part of his History of the English Speaking Peoples. Churchill would occupy an entire floor when he stayed at La Pausa; his private secretary Anthony Montague Brown, had his own office, and Clementine Churchill had her own suite. Churchill's visits to La Pausa were curtailed in 1960 after Emery Reves declined to host him, apparently because of a perceived snub by Churchill and Wendy's mental health.
Other notable high society guests hosted by the Reves at La Pausa included Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and the actors Greta Garbo, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable.
### Art collection, Dallas Museum of Art
Emery and Wendy Reves created an important collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art at La Pausa, with such artists as Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and Edgar Degas represented in their collection of seventy paintings. In addition to paintings their collection at La Pausa included 300 pieces of Chinese export porcelain, more than 150 silver objects, Medieval ironwork and Arabic and Spanish carpets.
Following Emery Reves's death in 1981, the Dallas Museum of Art in the United States approached Wendy Reves knowing that there was a possibility that her art collection at La Pausa might be given to a museum. In exchange for the 1985 donation Reves insisted that the museum recreate six of the principal rooms at La Pausa, and display the collection there as she had arranged it. The collection of 1,400 objet d'art is displayed at the museum as the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection in a reconstruction of five rooms from La Pausa. The villa's central courtyard and patio were reconstructed at the museum along with the villa's dining room, library, salon, bedroom, and hall, situated in a purpose built 16,500-square-foot wing designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes. Wendy Reves also donated \$3 million to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, to establish the Reves Center for International Studies, and directed that the Reves Foundation benefit that college with 40 percent of annual endowment funding. She also arranged for herself and her husband to be buried at William and Mary.
## 21st century
Wendy Reves continued to occupy the house until her death in 2007. She bequeathed the Reves Foundation including the villa and its contents to the Dallas Museum of Art (which received the largest part), as well as to several charities, and the College of Williams and Mary. La Pausa was closed up after her death; in 2013 the house was described as requiring modernisation, needing new heating, electrical, and plumbing systems, as well as renovations to the kitchen and bathrooms. Repairs were also required to the stone steps and road leading to the house.
Following Reves's death, La Pausa was put up for sale, with the sale of items from the house to benefit the Reves Foundation. In 2012 La Pausa was withdrawn from sale by Sotheby's due to pending litigation. After the legal problems were resolved, Knight Frank put La Pausa up for sale in May 2013 for 40 million euros. In 2013 the French ambassador to Monaco, Hugues Moret, said of the sale that La Pausa was "part of France's heritage," adding that "We have to find a way to keep it in the family."
The villa was bought by the House of Chanel in 2015, and is used for the display of works of jewelry to wealthy buyers.
## Works from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection |
15,998,131 | Who Really Cares (Featuring the Sound of Insanity) | 1,092,549,114 | null | [
"2008 singles",
"2008 songs",
"Powderfinger songs",
"Songs written by Bernard Fanning",
"Songs written by Darren Middleton",
"Songs written by Ian Haug",
"Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)",
"Songs written by Jon Coghill",
"Universal Music Group singles"
]
| "Who Really Cares (Featuring the Sound of Insanity)" is a song by Powderfinger from their sixth album Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. It is the fourth single and final single from the album and was released in Australia in March 2008. The band's publicist, Ms. Fanclub, announced on 27 February that the single would be released to radioplay in the following week, without specifying a date. In her announcement, she also noted that a music video will be released at about the same time. The music video was then released in mid-March; however, the single's release was then announced as 31 March.
A music video was released for the song; however, it features the live version of the song taken from the DVD for the Across the Great Divide tour, whereas the radio single for the song is a radio edit of the studio album version. The music video is directly taken from the DVD; however, it is altered optically with filters and converted into black and white.
## Background
"Who Really Cares (Featuring the Sound of Insanity)" was recorded by Powderfinger for their 2007 album Dream Days at the Hotel Existence at Sunset Sound Studio, Los Angeles, California, in early 2007 with producer Rob Schnapf. The part of the title "Featuring the Sound of Insanity" refers to a sound just after the bridge in which a sitar is played with synthesised effects overlaid. Prior to its release as a single, a live version of "Who Really Cares" appeared on the earlier Dream Days at the Hotel Existence single, "I Don't Remember". Another live version also appears on the group's 2007 DVD Across the Great Divide tour.
## Release
### Cover art
Though the single was never a physical CD release, artwork was created for it. The artwork featured the headless man who is otherwise seen throughout the releases for other singles from Dream Days at the Hotel Existence, however on this cover, the area where his head would be is a fireball, and he appears to be holding a briefcase while walking down the hallway of a hotel, another common theme throughout the artwork for the album. Unlike the last two singles from Dream Days at the Hotel Existence, the artwork doesn't follow the picture-in-picture theme.
### Music video
The music video for "Who Really Cares" is a live performance of the song by Powderfinger for their Across the Great Divide tour in 2007. The music video contains the performance featured on the DVD for the Across the Great Divide tour, filmed in Melbourne in 2007. The performance features a piano solo by the pianist Lachlan Doley, who performed keyboards and piano throughout the tour. The music video, produced by PVC as part of the tour DVD, is completely in black and white and throughout features optical filters that warp and alter the visual display. These filters intensify from the bridge and continue until the end of the clip. The music is performed differently from the original studio recording, with improvised solos, including Ian Haug playing the sitar part on a double necked guitar with synthesised effects to emulate the sitar sound, and the performance of the song ends with a ritardando, where the tempo slows to an end.
## Critical response
Prior to being released as a single, "Who Really Cares" received a mixed response by reviewers when commenting on Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. Melbourne based webzine TheScene.com.au reviewer Andrew Weaver comments on the song's musical layering, coupling the song with "Wishing on the Same Moon" and comments that the layering in the two songs gives the music "genuine depth of sound and taking the veteran group to new places". CitySearch Sydney also made reference to the likeness to "Wishing on the Same Moon", but notes that what sets the two songs apart is "a serviceable fade-out cacophony of keys and guitar". Music journalist Chris Leonard of UK magazine Rock Louder praises the live performance of the song while Powderfinger performed in Glasgow on 11 December 2007. J. Watson of Fasterlouder.com.au comments that the song, when performed live at The Sydney Opera House Forecourt for charity on 31 October 2007, was "another highlight of the evening". Fellow reviewer from Fasterlouder, ShahXerxes, comments on the song's "sparse Pink Floyd-esque sound which echoes through "Who Really Cares", as clever a rock ballad as the band have ever written." Andrew Ramadge of Mess + Noise echoed the comments of similarities to Pink Floyd, and also Neil Young, stating "where psych-gospel organ and wailing guitar billow around Fanning’s vocals like a lost track from Dark Side of the Moon". Though most of the critical response has been positive, the song has also received criticism from UK reviewer Matthias Scherer of Noize Makes Enemies. Scherer notes that the song's title "Who Really Cares" is a question that "should have been asked before recording, not during", though this comment refers both to the song itself, and the whole album of Dream Days at the Hotel Existence.
## Charts
The song's critical response has been mostly positive, though this was also true for the two prior singles from Dream Days at the Hotel Existence, which both performed poorly in the charts. Like these two, "Who Really Cares" was released to radioplay and music video stations, but with little inclusion in circulation, leading speculators to believe the single would follow "I Don't Remember" and "Nobody Sees" with poor charting performance. This speculation proved to be accurate, leading to "Who Really Cares" to be the first single by Powderfinger since their 2004 release "Bless My Soul" to fail to achieve a position on the ARIA Charts. Although B-side "One More Kiss As You Fly Away" was the number 81 on the ARIA Charts.
## Track listing
1. "Who Really Cares (Featuring the Sound of Insanity)"
2. "One More Kiss as You Fly Away"
## Personnel |
411,018 | Hepatitis E | 1,171,082,449 | Human disease caused by Orthohepevirus A | [
"Animal viral diseases",
"Hepatitis",
"Rodent-carried diseases",
"Vaccine-preventable diseases",
"Viral hepatitis",
"Zoonoses"
]
| Hepatitis E is inflammation of the liver caused by infection with the hepatitis E virus (HEV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Hepatitis E has mainly a fecal-oral transmission route that is similar to hepatitis A, although the viruses are unrelated. In retrospect, the earliest known epidemic of hepatitis E occurred in 1955 in New Delhi, but the virus was not isolated until 1983 by Russian scientists investigating an outbreak in Afghanistan. HEV is a positive-sense, single-stranded, nonenveloped, RNA icosahedral virus and one of five known human hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E.
Like hepatitis A, hepatitis E usually follows an acute and self-limiting course of illness (the condition is temporary and the individual recovers) with low death rates in resource-rich areas; however, it can be more severe in pregnant women and people with a weakened immune system, with substantially higher death rates. In pregnant women, especially in the third trimester, the disease is more often severe and is associated with a clinical syndrome called fulminant liver failure, with death rates around 20%. Whereas pregnant women may have a rapid and severe course, organ transplant recipients who receive medications to weaken the immune system and prevent organ rejection can develop a slower and more persistent form called chronic hepatitis E, which is so diagnosed after 3 months of continuous viremia. HEV can be clustered genetically into 8 genotypes, and genotypes 3 and 4 tend to be the ones that cause chronic hepatitis in the immunosuppressed.
In 2017, hepatitis E was estimated to affect more than 19 million people. Those most commonly at risk of HEV are men aged 15 to 35 years of age. A preventive vaccine (HEV 239) is approved for use in China.
## Signs and symptoms
### Acute infection
The average incubation period of hepatitis E is 40 days, ranging from 2 to 8 weeks. After a short prodromal phase symptoms may include jaundice, fatigue, and nausea, though most HEV infections are asymptomatic. The symptomatic phase coincides with elevated hepatic aminotransferase levels. Viral RNA becomes detectable in stool and blood serum during the incubation period. Serum IgM and IgG antibodies against HEV appear just before the onset of clinical symptoms. Recovery leads to virus clearance from the blood, while the virus may persist in stool for much longer. Recovery is also marked by disappearance of IgM antibodies and increase of levels of IgG antibodies.
### Chronic infection
While usually lasting weeks and then resolving, in people with weakened immune systems—particularly in people who have had solid organ transplant—hepatitis E may cause a chronic infection. Occasionally this may result in a life-threatening illness such as fulminant liver failure or liver cirrhosis.
### Other organs
Infection with hepatitis E virus can also lead to problems in other organs. For some of these reported conditions such as musculoskeletal or immune-mediated manifestations the relationship is not entirely clear, but for several neurological and blood conditions the relationship appears more consistent:
- Acute pancreatitis (HEV genotype 1)
- Neurological complications (though the mechanism of neurological damage is unknown at this point.) include: Guillain-Barré syndrome (acute limb weakness due to nerve involvement), neuralgic amyotrophy (arm and shoulder weakness, also known as Parsonage-Turner syndrome), acute transverse myelitis and acute meningoencephalitis.
- Glomerulonephritis with nephrotic syndrome and/or cryoglobulinemia
- Mixed cryoglobulinemia, where antibodies in the bloodstream react inappropriately at low temperatures
- Severe thrombocytopenia (low platelet count in the blood) which confers an increased risk of dangerous bleeding
### Infection in pregnancy
Pregnant women show a more severe course of infection than other populations. Liver failure with mortality rates of 20% to 25% has been reported from outbreaks of genotype 1 and 2 HEV in developing countries. Besides signs of an acute infections, adverse effects on the mother and fetus may include preterm delivery, abortion, stillbirth, and neonatal death.
The pathological and biological mechanisms behind the adverse outcomes of pregnancy infections remain largely unclear. Increased viral replication and influence of hormonal changes on the immune system are currently thought to contribute to worsening the course of infection. Furthermore, studies showing evidence for viral replication in the placenta or reporting the full viral life cycle in placental-derived cells in vitro suggest that the human placenta may be a site of viral replication outside the liver. The primary reason for HEV severity in pregnancy remains enigmatic.
## Virology
### Classification
HEV is classified into the family Hepeviridae, which is divided in two genera, Orthohepevirus (all mammalian and avian HEV isolates) and Piscihepevirus (cutthroat trout HEV). Only one serotype of the human virus is known, and classification is based on the nucleotide sequences of the genome. Genotype 1 can be further subclassified into five subtypes, genotype 2 into two subtypes, and genotypes 3 and 4 have been divided into 10 and seven subtypes. Additionally there are genotypes 5, 6, 7 and 8. Rat HEV was first isolated from Norway rats in Germany, and a 2018 CDC article indicated the detection of rat HEV RNA in a transplant recipient.
#### Distribution
- Genotype 1 has been isolated from tropical and several subtropical countries in Asia and Africa.
- Genotype 2 has been isolated from Mexico, Nigeria, and Chad.
- Genotype 3 has been isolated almost worldwide including Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North and South America.
- Genotype 4 appears to be limited to Asia and indigenous cases from Europe.
Genotypes 1 and 2 are restricted to humans and often associated with large outbreaks and epidemics in developing countries with poor sanitation conditions. Genotypes 3 and 4 infect humans, pigs, and other animal species and have been responsible for sporadic cases of hepatitis E in both developing and industrialized countries.
### Transmission
Hepatitis E (genotype 1 and, to a lesser extent genotype 2) is endemic and can cause outbreaks in Southeast Asia, northern and central Africa, India, and Central America. It is spread mainly by the fecal–oral route due to contamination of water supplies or food; direct person-to-person transmission is uncommon. In contrast to genotypes 1 and 2, genotypes 3 and 4 cause sporadic cases thought to be contracted zoonotically, from direct contact with animals or indirectly from contaminated water or undercooked meat.
Outbreaks of epidemic hepatitis E most commonly occur after heavy rainfalls, especially monsoons because of their disruption of water supplies; heavy flooding can causes sewage to contaminate water supplies. The World Health Organization recommendation for chlorine on HEV inactivation, a free chlorine residual of 0.5 mg/L (6.7×10<sup>−5</sup> oz/US gal) for 30 min (pH, \<8.0) Major outbreaks have occurred in New Delhi, India (30,000 cases in 1955–1956), Burma (20,000 cases in 1976–1977), Kashmir, India (52,000 cases in 1978), Kanpur, India (79,000 cases in 1991), and China (100,000 cases between 1986 and 1988). According to Rein et al., HEV genotypes 1 and 2 caused some 20.1 million hepatitis E infections, along with 3.4 million cases of symptomatic disease, and 70,000 deaths in 2005; however the aforementioned paper did not estimate the burden of genotypes 3 and 4.
According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, evidence indicated the increase in hepatitis E in the U.K. was due to food-borne zoonoses, citing a study that found in the U.K. that 10% of pork sausages contained the hepatitis E virus. Some research suggests that food must reach a temperature of 70 °C (158 °F) for 20 minutes to eliminate the risk of infection. The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency discovered hepatitis E in almost half of all pigs in Scotland.
Hepatitis E infection appeared to be more common in people on hemodialysis, although the specific risk factors for transmission are not clear.
### Animal reservoir
Hepatitis E due to genotypes other than 1 and 2 is thought to be a zoonosis, in that animals are thought to be the primary reservoir; deer and swine have frequently been implicated. Domestic animals have been reported as a reservoir for the hepatitis E virus, with some surveys showing infection rates exceeding 95% among domestic pigs. Replicative virus has been found in the small intestine, lymph nodes, colon, and liver of experimentally infected pigs. Transmission after consumption of wild boar meat and uncooked deer meat has been reported as well. The rate of transmission to humans by this route and the public health importance of this are, however, still unclear. Other animal reservoirs are possible but unknown at this time
A number of other small mammals have been identified as potential reservoirs: the lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis), the black rat (Rattus rattus brunneusculus) and the Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus). A new virus designated rat hepatitis E virus has been isolated.
### Genomics
HEV has three open reading frames (ORFs) encoding two polyproteins (O1 and O2 protein). ORF2 encodes three capsid proteins whereas O1 encodes seven fragments involved in viral replication, among others.
The smallest ORF of the HEV genome, ORF3 is translated from a subgenomic RNA into O3, a protein of 113–115 amino acids. ORF3 is proposed to play critical roles in immune evasion by HEV. Previous studies showed that ORF3 is bound to viral particles found in patient sera and produced in cell culture. Although in cultured cells ORF3 has not appeared essential for HEV RNA replication, viral assembly, or infection, it is required for particle release.
### Virus lifecycle
The lifecycle of hepatitis E virus is unknown; the capsid protein obtains viral entry by binding to a cellular receptor. ORF2 (c-terminal) moderates viral entry by binding to HSC70.
Geldanamycin blocks the transport of HEV239 capsid protein, but not the binding/entry of the truncated capsid protein, which indicates that Hsp90 plays an important part in HEV transport.
## Diagnosis
In terms of the diagnosis of hepatitis E, only a laboratory blood test that confirms the presence of HEV RNA or IgM antibodies to HEV can be trusted. In the United States no serologic tests for diagnosis of HEV infection have ever been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The World Health Organization has developed an international standard strain for detection and quantification of HEV RNA. In acute infection the viremic window for detection of HEV RNA closes 3 weeks after symptoms begin.
### Virological markers
Assuming that vaccination has not occurred, tests may show:
- if the person's immune system is normal, then
- if IgM anti-HEV is negative, then there is no evidence of recent HEV infection
- if IgM anti-HEV is positive, then the person is likely to have a recent or current HEV infection
- if the person's immune system is weakened by disease or medical treatment, as in the case of a person who has received a solid organ transplant, then
- if IgM anti-HEV is negative, then if additional blood testing reveals
- positive HEV RNA then the person has HEV infection
- negative HEV RNA then there is no evidence of current or recent infection
- if IgM anti-HEV is positive, then the person is likely to have a recent or current HEV infection, and HEV RNA may be useful to track resolution
## Prevention
### Sanitation
Sanitation is the most important measure in prevention of hepatitis E; this consists of proper treatment and disposal of human waste, higher standards for public water supplies, improved personal hygiene procedures, and sanitary food preparation. Thus, prevention strategies of this disease are similar to those of many other diseases that plague developing nations. Cooking meat at 71 °C (159.8 °F) for five minutes kills the hepatitis E virus, different temperatures means different time to inactivate the virus.
### Blood products
The amount of virus present in blood products required to cause transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI) appears variable. Transfusion transmission of hepatitis E virus can be screened via minipool HEV NAT (Nucleic acid testing) screening. NAT is a technique used to screen blood molecularly, when blood donations are received; it screens for TTI.
### Vaccines
A vaccine based on recombinant viral proteins was developed in the 1990s and tested in a high-risk population (in Nepal) in 2001. The vaccine appeared to be effective and safe, but development was stopped for lack of profitability, since hepatitis E is rare in developed countries. No hepatitis E vaccine is licensed for use in the United States.
The exception is China; after more than a year of scrutiny and inspection by China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), a hepatitis E vaccine developed by Chinese scientists was available at the end of 2012. The vaccine—called HEV 239 by its developer Xiamen Innovax Biotech—was approved for prevention of hepatitis E in 2012 by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, following a controlled trial on 100,000+ people from Jiangsu Province where none of those vaccinated became infected during a 12-month period, compared to 15 in the group given placebo. The first vaccine batches came out of Innovax's factory in late October 2012, to be sold to Chinese distributors.
Due to lack of evidence, the World Health Organization has not made a recommendation regarding routine use of the HEV 239 vaccine as of 2015. Its 2015 position was that national authorities may decide to use the vaccine based on their local epidemiology.
## Treatment
There is no drug that has established safety and effectiveness for hepatitis E, and there have been no large randomized clinical trials of antiviral drugs. Reviews of existing small studies suggest that ribavirin can be considered effective in immunocompromised people who have developed chronic infection.
Chronic HEV infection is associated with immunosuppressive therapies, and when that happens in individuals with solid-organ transplantation, reducing immunosuppressive medications can result in clearance of HEV in one third of patients.
## Epidemiology
The hepatitis E virus causes around 20 million infections a year. These result in around three million acute illnesses and resulted in 44,000 deaths during 2015. Pregnant women are particularly at risk of complications due to HEV infection, who can develop an acute form of the disease that is fatal in 30% of cases or more. HEV is a major cause of illness and of death in the developing world and disproportionate cause of deaths among pregnant women. Hepatitis E is endemic in Central Asia, while Central America and the Middle East have reported outbreaks. Increasingly, hepatitis E is being seen in developed nations, with reports in 2015 of 848 cases of hepatitis E virus infection in England and Wales.
### Recent outbreaks
In October 2007, an epidemic of hepatitis E occurred in Kitgum District of northern Uganda. This outbreak progressed to become one of the largest known hepatitis E outbreaks in the world. By June 2009, it had resulted in illness in 10,196 persons and 160 deaths. The aforementioned outbreak occurred despite no previous epidemics having been documented in the country, women were the most affected by HEV.
In July 2012, an outbreak was reported in South Sudanese refugee camps in Maban County near the Sudan border. South Sudan's Ministry of Health reported over 400 cases and 16 fatalities as of 13 September 2012. Progressing further, as of 2 February 2013, 88 died due to the outbreak. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it treated almost 4000 people. In April 2014, an outbreak in the Biratnagar Municipality of Nepal resulted in infection of over 6000 locals and at least 9 dead.
During an outbreak in Namibia, the number of affected people rose from 490 in January 2018, to 5014 (with 42 deaths) by April 2019, to 6151 cases (with 56 deaths) by August 2019; the WHO estimated that the case fatality rate was 0.9%.
In Hong Kong in May 2020, there were at least 10 cases of hepatitis E that were transmitted by rats, and possibly hundreds of cases that had a transmission mechanism that is not fully understood.
## Evolution
The strains of HEV that exist today may have arisen from a shared ancestor virus 536 to 1344 years ago. Another analysis has dated the origin of Hepatitis E to \~6000 years ago, with a suggestion that this was associated with domestication of pigs. At some point, two clades may have diverged — an anthropotropic form and an enzootic form — which subsequently evolved into genotypes 1 and 2 and genotypes 3 and 4, respectively.
Whereas genotype 2 remains less commonly detected than other genotypes, genetic evolutionary analyses suggest that genotypes 1, 3, and 4 have spread substantially during the past 100 years. |
5,414,709 | K-32 (Kansas highway) | 1,161,672,478 | State highway in Kansas | [
"State highways in Kansas",
"Transportation in Douglas County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Leavenworth County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Wyandotte County, Kansas",
"Transportation in the Kansas City metropolitan area"
]
| K-32, also known as the Kaw Valley Scenic Highway, is an approximately 32.2-mile-long (51.8 km) east–west state highway in the Kansas City metropolitan area of Kansas. K-32's western terminus is just outside Lawrence at U.S. Route 24 (US-24) and US-40. Its eastern terminus is at US-69, also known as the 18th Street Expressway, in Kansas City. Along the way it intersects several major highways, including K-7 in Bonner Springs as well as Interstate 435 (I-435) and I-635 in Kansas City. In Kansas City, K-32 follows the Turner Diagonal from Kaw Drive to Kansas Avenue. From its western terminus to Bonner Springs, the highway is a two-lane rural highway; the remaining section is a four-lane highway that runs through residential areas.
K-32 was first established as a state highway in 1927. At that time, the highway ran from US-40 northeast of Lawrence to the Missouri border in Kansas City. By 1937, K-32 was realigned off of Kansas Avenue to follow Muncie Bluff Road and Central Avenue through Kansas City. In the early 1950s, the highway was built on a new alignment to the east and west of Linwood. In the late-1960s, K-32 was upgraded to a four-lane highway between Bonner Springs and Kansas City. In the early-1990s, K-132 was decommissioned, at which time K-32 was realigned onto the former section from K-32 eastward. K-32's alignment has not changed since the latter realignment.
## Route description
K-32's western terminus is at U.S. Route 24 (US-24) and US-40 in extreme northeastern Douglas County, northeast of Lawrence. From this intersection, K-32 heads east along Linwood Road and quickly enters Leavenworth County. The highway crosses over Interstate 70 (I-70) and the Kansas Turnpike; however, there is no connection. The roadway proceeds east to Golden Road, where the highway shifts north slightly as it crosses Kent Creek. K-32 continues to an intersection with County Route 1, which connects K-32 with I-70 and the Kansas Turnpike. The roadway continues east and soon enters the northern part of Linwood. The highway exits the city and crosses over Stranger Creek then curves northeast and passes Saroxie Lake. K-32 continues to Hemphill Road, where it curves east, then intersects 170th Street. The highway crosses Little Kaw Creek then intersects North 158th Street south of Basehor.
K-32 crosses into Wyandotte County as it enters Bonner Springs as Kump Avenue. The highway crosses Wolf Creek then intersects K-32 Truck (Scheidt Lane). The roadway curves south then intersects the eastern terminus of K-32 Truck (Front Street). K-32 heads northeast along Front Street, parallel with a BNSF Railway track. The highway transitions to four lanes then reaches a partial cloverleaf interchange with K-7. The roadway curves more east and begins to parallel Mission Creek then enters Edwardsville south of the Lake of the Forest. In Edwardsville, it picks up the name of Kaw Drive. K-32 intersects North 4th Street (former K-107) then crosses Beits Creek.
K-32 continues through the city to a partial cloverleaf interchange with I-435 on the Edwardsville–Kansas City line. The highway curves more northeast and passes through the southwest portion of Kansas City before reaching an interchange with the Turner Diagonal. Here, K-32 turns southeast and crosses the Kansas River. The highway intersects South 55th Street then continues east along the north edge of the BNSF Railway yard. K-32 reaches a partial cloverleaf interchange with I-635 as it enters a heavy industrial area. East of I-635, K-32 crosses the Kansas River again before reaching its eastern terminus at a partial cloverleaf interchange with US-69, also known as the 18th Street Expressway. Past US-69, the highway continues as Kansas Avenue.
The entire length of K-32 is known as the Kaw Valley Scenic Highway. The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) tracks the traffic levels on its highways. On K-32 in 2020, they determined that on average the traffic varied from 2,010 vehicles per day near the western terminus to 16,000 vehicles per day slightly east of I-635. The majority of K-32 is maintained by KDOT; the section in Bonner Springs from the west city limit to the southbound on-ramp for K-7 and the section in Kansas City from South 55th Street to US-69 are maintained by those municipalities. The section of K-32 from K-7 eastward is part of the National Highway System.
## History
K-32 was first established as a state highway by the Kansas State Highway Commission (SHC), now known as KDOT, in 1927. At that time, the highway went from US-40 northeast of Lawrence and through Bonner Springs to the Missouri border in Kansas City, following Kansas Avenue through Kansas City. By 1937, K-32 was realigned to follow Muncie Bluff Road and Central Avenue through Kansas City. In a resolution passed on July 1, 1937, the SHC approved to designate the former section of K-32 along Kansas Avenue as K-132. In a resolution passed on May 8, 1945, it was approved to realign K-32's western terminus slightly northeastward, which eliminated a crossing over Mud Creek. Prior to this, the highway got covered with water every time Mud Creek flooded.
K-32 originally followed Golden Road west of Linwood. East of Linwood it continued east along Golden Road to 170th Street (County Route 3), where it turned north. It continued north to Hemphill Road, where it turned east. In a resolution approved on September 11, 1945, it was approved to realign K-32 to leave Linwood and travel directly northeast to Hemphill Road. Then in a resolution approved on January 10, 1952, that resolution was updated to include the section of K-32 from Linwood west to Golden Road. At the end of August 1952, the SHC asked for bids for grading and a bridge on the new location of K-32 from Linwood northeastward and bids for grading for a new location of K-32 from the Leavenworth-Douglas county line east to Linwood. On October 1, 1952, the SCH approved a \$424,305 (equivalent to \$ in dollars) bid for the two sections. By the end of July 1953, grading work was nearly complete, with work remaining to be done on the bridge over Stranger Creek.
By 1957, the Kansas Turnpike (I-70) had been built through Kansas City, including an exit with K-32. By 1962, US-40 was realigned to follow the Turner Diagonal to K-32 then overlap the latter to I-70. Also, K-32's eastern terminus was extended to the Turnpike.
At the end of August 1967, the SHC asked for bids to add a pair of lanes to K-32 from 88th Street in Kansas City west to K-7 in Bonner Springs. In late September 1967, the SHC accepted bids for grading, pavement, seeding, and four bridges on the project, as well as drainage and surfacing work on K-7 at the interchange with K-32. The project was completed by 1969.
By 1969, the overlap between US-40 and I-70 was extended west to exit 415, which removed the overlap between K-32 and US-40. In the early 1970s, the entire length of K-32 was designated as the Kaw Valley Scenic Highway. By 1981, I-435 had been built from K-32 southward to just south of K-10. By 1984, I-435 had been extended north slightly past K-32. By 1993, K-132 was decommissioned, and K-32 was realigned to follow the section of the former highway east to US-69. By 2011, the exit with County Route 1 was built. This created a connection with I-70 and US-40 north of K-32.
## Major intersections
## Special routes
### Truck route
K-32 Truck is a truck route of K-32 that serves Bonner Springs and bypasses the downtown area. Starting from K-32 west of the city, it begins traveling southeastward along Scheidt Lane. The roadway reaches an intersection with East Front Street, where it turns northeast. The highway reaches an at-grade crossing with a track as it begins to parallel the Kansas River. K-32 Truck proceeds to its eastern terminus at the intersection of Front and Cedar streets, with K-32 continuing east on Front Street. K-32. The truck route was approved on May 1, 2000, in a city council meeting, alongside an ordinance prohibiting trucks on Cedar Street and Kump Avenue.
### Former temporary route
Temporary K-32 was a former temporary route for K-32 that ran along the former section of K-32 along Dan Wilson Road and Kansas Avenue in Kansas City. In a resolution passed on July 1, 1937, K-132 was approved to be established, replacing the entire length of Temporary K-32. |
404,256 | Polish–Russian War of 1792 | 1,164,223,309 | War between the Commonwealth of Poland and the Russian Empire | [
"1792 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth",
"Battles of the Polish–Russian War of 1792",
"Conflicts in 1792",
"Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth–Russian Empire relations",
"Polish–Russian wars",
"Warfare of the early modern period",
"Wars involving Poland",
"Wars involving the Grand Duchy of Lithuania",
"Wars involving the Russian Empire"
]
| The Polish–Russian War of 1792 (also, War of the Second Partition, and in Polish sources, War in Defence of the Constitution) was fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side, and the Targowica Confederation (conservative nobility of the Commonwealth opposed to the new Constitution of 3 May 1791) and the Russian Empire under Catherine the Great on the other.
The war took place in two theaters: a northern in Lithuania and a southern in what is now Ukraine. In both, the Polish forces retreated before the numerically superior Russian forces, though they offered significantly more resistance in the south, thanks to the effective leadership of Polish commanders Prince Józef Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kościuszko. During the three-month-long struggle several battles were fought, but no side scored a decisive victory. The largest success of the Polish forces was the defeat of one of the Russian formations at the Battle of Zieleńce on 18 June; in the aftermath of the battle the Polish highest military award, Virtuti Militari, was established. The Russians' highest success was the Battle of Mir on 11 June (O.S. 31 May). The war ended when the Polish King Stanisław August Poniatowski decided to seek a diplomatic solution, asked for a ceasefire with the Russians and joined the Targowica Confederation, as demanded by the Russian Empire.
## Background
### Decline of the Commonwealth
By the early 18th century, the magnates of Poland and Lithuania controlled the state – or rather, they managed to ensure that no reforms would be carried out that might weaken their privileged status (the "Golden Freedoms"). Through the abuse of the liberum veto rule which enabled any deputy to paralyze the Sejm (Commonwealth's parliament) proceedings, deputies bribed by magnates or foreign powers or those simply content to believe they were living in an unprecedented "Golden Age", paralysed the Commonwealth's government for over a century.
The idea of reforming the Commonwealth gained traction from the mid-17th century; it was however viewed with suspicion not only by its magnates but also by neighboring countries, which had been content with the deterioration of the Commonwealth and abhorred the thought of a resurgent and democratic power on their borders. With the Commonwealth Army reduced to around 16,000, it was easy for its neighbors to intervene directly (The Imperial Russian Army numbered 300,000 troops overall; The Prussian Army and Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire, 200,000 each).
### Attempts at reform
A major opportunity for reform presented itself during the "Great Sejm" of 1788–92. Poland's neighbors were preoccupied with wars and unable to intervene forcibly in Polish affairs. The Russian Empire and Archduchy of Austria were engaged in hostilities with the Ottoman Empire (the Russo-Turkish War, 1787–1792 and the Austro-Turkish War, 1787–1791); the Russians also found themselves simultaneously fighting in the Russo-Swedish War, 1788–1790. A new alliance between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Prussia seeming to provide security against Russian intervention, and on 3 May 1791 the new constitution was read and adopted to overwhelming popular support.
With the wars between Turkey and Russia and Sweden and Russia having ended, Tsarina Catherine was furious over the adoption of the document, which she believed threatened Russian influence in Poland. Russia had viewed Poland as a de facto protectorate. "The worst possible news have arrived from Warsaw: the Polish king has become almost sovereign" was the reaction of one of Russia's chief foreign policy authors, Alexander Bezborodko, when he learned of the new constitution. The Kingdom of Prussia was also strongly opposed to the new Polish constitution, and Polish diplomats received a note that the new constitution changed the Polish state so much that Prussia did not consider its obligations binding. Just like Russia, Prussia was concerned that the newly strengthened Polish state could become a threat and the Prussian Foreign Minister, Friedrich Wilhelm von Schulenburg-Kehnert, clearly and with rare candor told Poles that Prussia did not support the constitution and refused to help the Commonwealth in any form, even as a mediator, as it was not in Prussia's interest to see the Commonwealth strengthened so that it could threaten Prussia in some future. The Prussian statesman Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg expressed the fears of European conservatives: "The Poles have given the coup de grâce to the Prussian monarchy by voting a constitution", elaborating that a strong Commonwealth would likely demand the return of the lands Prussia acquired in the First Partition.
The Constitution was not adopted without dissent in the Commonwealth itself, either. Magnates who had opposed the constitution draft from the start, namely Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, Seweryn Rzewuski, and Szymon and Józef Kossakowski, asked Tsarina Catherine to intervene and restore their privileges such as the Russian-guaranteed Cardinal Laws abolished under the new statute. To that end these magnates formed the Targowica Confederation. The Confederation's proclamation, prepared in Saint Petersburg in January 1792, criticized the constitution for contributing to, in their own words, "contagion of democratic ideas" following "the fatal examples set in Paris". It asserted that "The parliament ... has broken all fundamental laws, swept away all liberties of the gentry and on the third of May 1791 turned into a revolution and a conspiracy." The Confederates declared an intention to overcome this revolution. We "can do nothing but turn trustingly to Tsarina Catherine, a distinguished and fair empress, our neighboring friend and ally", who "respects the nation's need for well-being and always offers it a helping hand", they wrote. The Confederates aligned with Tsarina Catherine and asked her for military intervention. On 18 May 1792, Russian ambassador to Poland, Yakov Bulgakov, delivered a declaration of war to the Polish Foreign Minister Joachim Chreptowicz. Russian armies entered Poland and Lithuania on the same day, starting the war.
## Opposing forces
The Russian army numbered nearly 98,000. It was commanded by generals-in-chief Mikhail Krechetnikov and Mikhail Kakhovsky. The Russians also had an advantage in combat experience. The Russian plan called for Kakhovsky to advance through Ukraine, taking Kamieniec Podolski, Chełm and Lublin, and approach Polish capital of Warsaw from the south. Krechetnikov was to advance through Minsk, Wilno, Brześć Litewski and Białystok, and approach Warsaw from the north, where he was to link with Kakhovsky. Whereas the Russians had good intelligence network in Poland, and were mostly aware of Polish army distribution and strength; the Poles had much less intelligence, receiving contradictory and often erroneous reports, and unsure whether the war would even start up to the point the Russian troops crossed the border.
Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was the commander-in-chief of the Polish forces, but in practice he delegated this position to his nephew, Prince Józef Poniatowski. Poniatowski had in theory at his disposal a 48,000 strong Crown army and the Lithuanian army more than half that size to confront them. In practice, Polish forces, still forming following the reforms of the Constitution of 3 May (which specified an army size of 100,000) numbered only 37,000. The army was in the midst of reorganizing, with key documents on unit numbers and composition passed as recently as in April; it was also short on equipment and experienced personnel.
In the southeast corner of the country – the Ukrainian lands – the Polish forces were initially concentrated separately in three regions of the expected front, under Tadeusz Kościuszko, Michał Wielhorski and Prince Poniatowski herself. The Polish Crown army in Ukraine, led by Prince Poniatowski, and supported by Kościuszko, was about 17,000, 21,000 or 24,000 strong (Derdej distinguishes between the primary force of 17,000 and Prince Michał Lubomirski's reserve division, of 4,500). They were faced on this southeastern war theater with a nearly four times larger enemy army under General Mikhail Kakhovsky, who had about 64,000 men under his command. Kakhovsky's forces were divided into four corps: 1st, 18,000 strong, under the command of General Mikhail Golenishchev-Kutuzov, 2nd, under General Ivan Dunin, 3rd, under General Wilhelm Derfelden, and 4th, under General Andrei Levanidov. The Targowica Confederates did not represent any real strength; and their attempts to gather popular support in Poland upon crossing borders failed miserably, with only few dozens joining at first; later the number would grow but not significantly, and even the Russians saw them as not having any military value, keeping them from the frontlines.
In Lithuania, Commonwealth Lithuanian Army numbered about 15,000, with an additional Crown detachment of about 3,000. They were commanded by Duke Louis of Württemberg. Württemberg made no plans for the war, and the troops were not readied for action by the time the war started. The Russian army in that theatre under General Mikhail Krechetnikov was 33,700 strong or 38,000 strong. The Russian army was also divided into four corps: 1st under one of Targowica Confederate leaders, Szymon Kossakowski 7,300 strong, 2nd under General Boris Mellin, 7,000 strong, 3rd under General Yuri Dolgorukov, 15,400 strong, and 4th under General Ivan Fersen, 8,300 strong.
Additional Polish forces, about 8,000 strong, were to concentrate in Warsaw under command of King Poniatowski as reserve.
Tadeusz Kościuszko proposed a plan where the entire Polish army would be concentrated and would engage one of the Russian armies, in order to assure numerical parity and to boost the morale of mostly inexperienced Polish forces with a quick victory; this plan was however rejected by Prince Poniatowski. (Only a few months before, however, both commanders had the opposite idea – Poniatowski wanted the troops concentrated, and Kościuszko, dispersed). Poniatowski also planned to avoid serious engagements in the first phase of the war, hoping to receive the expected Prussian reinforcements of 30,000 which would bring parity to the two sides.
## War
### Southern theater
The first Russian forces crossed the border in Ukraine on the night of 18/19 May 1792. The Russians in that theater would encounter significantly more resistance than they expected, as Commonwealth's top commanders, Prince Poniatowski and Kościuszko were stationed there. Kościuszko joined Prince Poniatowski near Janów on 29 May. The Crown Army was judged too weak to oppose the four columns of enemy armies advancing into West Ukraine and began a fighting withdrawal to the western side of the Southern Bug River, towards Lubar and Połonne, with Kośiuszko commanding the rear guard. Poniatowski, in face of a significant numerical inferiority of his forces, and promised reinforcements by King Poniatowski, decided to abandon Ukraine and move to Volhynia, where Połonne was to be fortified as a major defensive point, and where Lubomirski was tasked with gathering supplies.
On 14 June Wielhorski's unit was defeated at the Battle of Boruszkowce. On 17 June Poniatowski finally received awaited reinforcements, about 2,000 troops led by Michał Lubomirski. Next day the Poles, led by Prince Poniatowski, defeated one of the Russian formations of general Irakly Morkov at the Battle of Zieleńce on 18 June. The victory was celebrated by King Poniatowski, who sent the new Virtuti Militari medals for the campaign leaders and soldiers, as "the first since John III Sobieski".
The Russian forces, however, kept advancing. The Polish army, under the command of Józef Poniatowski, retreated in good order, yielding to the more powerful enemy as necessary to avoid annihilation. In early July, near Dubno, Prince Poniatowski and Kościuszko were betrayed by Michał Lubomirski, who was tasked with King Poniatowski with resupplying the troops; instead Lubomirski joined the Russian side and either hid the supplies for the Polish army, or outright passed them to the Russians. Lubomirski, however, was a powerful magnate, and it took until late May for the King officially to relieve him of his command. Within about a month of the Russian invasion, the Poles had mostly retreated from Ukraine. On 7 July Kościuszko's forces fought a delaying battle with the Russians at Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Battle of Włodzimierz). Meanwhile, Poniatowski's army retreated to the Bug River, where Kościuszko's units on 18 July fought the Battle of Dubienka, which was a draw. With about 5,300 troops Kościuszko defeated the attack of 25,000 Russians under General Mikhail Kakhovsky. Kośicuszko then had to retreat from Dubienka, as the Russians begun flanking his positions crossing the nearby Austrian border. Although the Poles had to retreat from the Bug River line, they were not defeated so far, and a decisive battle or battles at more favorable locations closer to Warsaw were expected.
### Northern theater
In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania the Russians crossed the Commonwealth border four days later than in the south, on 22 May. Poland's ally, the Kingdom of Prussia, broke its alliance with Poland and the Prussian commander of the Lithuanian army, Duke Württemberg, betrayed the Polish-Lithuanian cause by refusing to fight the Russians. He never reached the frontlines, feigned illness in Wołczyn, and issued contradictory orders to his troops.
Thus the Army of Lithuania did little to oppose the advancing Russians, and kept withdrawing before their advance. Minsk was abandoned, after some skirmishes, on 31 May. Only after a change of commander on 4 June, did the Army, now under General Józef Judycki, try to stand and fight the Russians. The Russians however defeated Judycki at the Battle of Mir on 11 June and kept advancing through the Grand Duchy. The Commonwealth army retreated towards Grodno. On 14 June the Russians took Wilno, after only a small skirmish with local garrison; on 19 June, incompetently defended Nieśwież; and on 20 June, Kaunas, this time without any opposition. Judycki, disgraced, was replaced by Michał Zabiełło on 23 June. Nonetheless, since Mir, no decisive engagements occurred in the northern theater, as Polish army withdrew in relative order towards Warsaw, after minor defeat at Zelwa, eventually taking defensive positions along the Bug river near Brest. Russians took Grodno on 5 July and Białystok on 17 July. On 23 July the Russians took Brest, defeating the local garrison, but on 24 they were defeated near Krzemień-Wieś; this last battle was the first significant Commonwealth victory on the northern front.
### War ends
While Prince Poniatowski and Kościuszko considered the outcome of the war still open, and were planning to use the combined Polish-Lithuanian forces to defeat the still separate Russian forces, King Poniatowski, with the consent of the Guardians of the Laws (cabinet of ministers) decided to ask for a ceasefire. Tsarina Catherine demanded that the King Poniatowski joins the pro-Russian aristocratic faction, the Targowica Confederation; with his cabinet split, he gave in to her demand around 22–23 July, which effectively forced Prince Poniatowski to terminate military resistance. The last military confrontation of the war was fought on 26 July at Markuszów in Lublin province, where an enemy attack was repelled by Polish cavalry led by Poniatowski.
At the time King Poniatowski decided to sue for peace, the Polish army was still in good fighting condition not having suffered from any major defeat nor from lack of supplies. King Poniatowski thought that due to Russian numerical superiority defeat was nonetheless imminent, and more could be gained through negotiations with the Russians, with whom he hoped a new alliance could be formed. Although subsequent events would prove him wrong, the question of whether this could have been foreseen, and prevented through continued military resistance, has been subject to much debate among historians.
The Polish military was widely dissatisfied with the ceasefire; Kościuszko, Prince Poniatowski and many others would criticize the King's decision and many, including Kościuszko, would resign their commission in the coming weeks. Prince Poniatowski even considered rebelling against his uncle's orders, and even issued orders to bring the King to the army's camp by force if necessary, as was postulated by the more radical faction. Ultimately he decided not to continue fighting against his uncle's will, and the order was rescinded at the last moment before the departure of the group charged with capturing the King.
## Aftermath
Most Polish historians agree that the Polish capitulation was a mistake both from the military perspective, and the political one. In the realm of military, the Poles had reasonable chances to defend the Vistula river line, and exhaust the Russian invading forces. From the political one, showing willingness to fight could have persuaded the partitioning powers that their plan was too costly.
King Poniatowski's hopes that the capitulation would allow an acceptable diplomatic solution to be worked out were soon dashed. With new deputies bribed or intimidated by the Russian troops, a new session of parliament, known as the Grodno Sejm, took place in fall 1793. On 23 November 1793, it concluded its deliberations under duress, annulling the constitution and acceding to the Second Partition. Russia took 250,000 square kilometres (97,000 sq mi) of the Commonwealth's territory, while Prussia took 58,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi). This event reduced Poland's population to a third of what it was before the First Partition. The rump state was garrisoned by Russian troops and its independence was strongly curtailed.
This outcome came as a surprise to most of the Targowica Confederates, who had wished only to restore the status quo ante bellum (Commonwealth magnate-favoring Golden Freedoms) and had expected that the overthrow of the 3 May Constitution would achieve that end, and nothing more. The last bid to restore the reformed Commonwealth came with the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. The uprising failed and resulted in the Third Partition in 1795, in which the country lost all its remaining territories and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist.
## See also
- Partitions of Poland |
2,496,256 | Amfleet | 1,171,807,742 | Class of American passenger railroad cars | [
"Amtrak rolling stock",
"Budd Company",
"Rail passenger cars of the United States",
"Train-related introductions in 1975"
]
| Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An initial order for 57 cars in 1973 to supplement the Metroliners on the Northeast Corridor grew to two orders totaling 642 cars, sufficient to reequip all the services on the Northeast Corridor and many other routes around the United States. The first 492 cars, known as Amfleet I and completed between 1975 and 1977, were designed for short-distance service. A second order of 150 cars, known as Amfleet II and completed between 1980 and 1983, were designed for long-distance service. They were the last intercity passenger cars built by Budd.
Car types include both long- and short-distance coaches, cafes, club cars, and lounges. Since the construction of the cars, multiple rebuildings have eliminated the club cars and lounges in favor of business class cars, club-dinettes, and "diner-lite" dining cars. Amtrak experimented with sleeping car conversions in the 1970s, but did not pursue the idea. The Amfleet I has vestibules on both ends of the car for faster unloading, while the Amfleet II has a single vestibule. The Amfleet II also has slightly larger windows.
The Amfleets were the first new locomotive-hauled intercity cars ordered by Amtrak and the first such cars built in the United States since 1965. Their introduction in the mid-1970s led to improved reliability for Amtrak's trains and ridership gains. As of 2023, Amfleet cars are used extensively in the eastern and midwestern United States, forming the backbone of Amtrak's single-level fleet, with 569 out of the original 642 in service as of 2021.
## Background
Amtrak assumed control of almost all private sector intercity passenger rail service in the United States on May 1, 1971, with a mandate to reverse decades of decline. It retained approximately 184 of the 440 trains which had run the day before. To operate these trains, Amtrak inherited a fleet of 300 locomotives (electric and diesel) and 1190 passenger cars, most of which dated from the 1940s–1950s. These cars were aging, in need of maintenance, and in many cases incompatible with each other. The company recognized the need and opportunity to standardize on a single design.
Very few railcars had been built for inter-city service in the United States since the 1950s; the last locomotive-hauled cars were an order of ten coaches built by Pullman-Standard for the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1965. An important exception was the Budd Metroliner electric multiple unit. This fleet of 61 cars had begun operation between Washington, D.C., and New York City on the Northeast Corridor in 1969 under Penn Central and quickly gained acceptance with the traveling public, despite various engineering problems. Writing in the mid-1970s, railroad historian John H. White Jr. described them as "Amtrak's brightest star." In 1973, Budd still had the tooling in place from the Metroliner order, meaning that any new order derived from that design could begin almost at once.
## History
### Amfleet I
Amtrak placed a \$24 million order with Budd on October 12, 1973, for 57 "non-powered Metroliner cars." These, together with new GE E60 electric locomotives, were to provide additional Metroliner service on the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak expanded its plans in June 1974, ordering 200 more cars for \$81 million. On October 25, it added another 35 cars. Finally, in April 1975, with the first deliveries imminent, Amtrak added 200 more cars to the order for \$86 million. This brought the first order to 492 cars, with a total cost of \$192 million. Amtrak intended to use 212 of the cars on Northeast Corridor service between Washington and New York; unlike the electric Metroliners, the Amfleet cars could continue through to Boston, Massachusetts.
A public unveiling took place at the Budd plant in Northeast Philadelphia on June 19, 1975, after which four cars were sent to the High Speed Ground Test Center in Pueblo, Colorado, for evaluation. The first Amfleet cars began running on the Northeast Corridor on August 5, 1975. Amtrak heralded their arrival, calling 1975 "the Year of the Amfleet." As the cars were distributed throughout the system, timetables would note that trains now had "Amfleet Service" and that trains had been "Amfleeted." A 1978 study conducted by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) found that ridership increased 11% on the Amfleet-equipped Northeast Corridor trains, with at least some passengers choosing the slower but more comfortable Amfleets over the faster but less reliable Metroliners.
The rollout of Amfleets throughout the system was restricted by the availability of locomotives with HEP or special generator cars. The first route outside the Northeast Corridor to receive Amfleets was the Washington–Martinsburg Blue Ridge, on December 1. By November 1976, 350 Amfleets had been delivered and 78% of Amtrak's short-haul trains used either Amfleets or equally-modern Turboliner trainsets. Besides the Blue Ridge, routes using Amfleets outside the Northeast Corridor included the New York–Newport News, Virginia Colonial, the Chicago, Illinois–Detroit, Michigan Twilight Limited and Wolverine, the Chicago–St. Louis, Missouri Abraham Lincoln and State House, the Chicago–Quincy, Illinois Illinois Zephyr, the Chicago–Carbondale, Illinois Illini and Shawnee, the Chicago–Dubuque, Iowa Black Hawk, the Los Angeles–Bakersfield, California San Joaquin, the Los Angeles–San Diego, California San Diegan, the Portland, Oregon–Seattle, Washington Mount Rainier and Puget Sound, and the Seattle–Vancouver, British Columbia Pacific International.
The Amfleet's modern HEP system proved invaluable during the unusually harsh winter of 1976–1977, which sidelined many of Amtrak's aging steam-heated coaches. Amtrak suspended numerous routes and pressed the short-distance Amfleet I coaches into long-distance service. The new EMD F40PH diesel locomotive, itself designed for short-haul service, handled many of these trains. Budd completed delivery of the Amfleet I order on June 9, 1977.
### Amfleet II
Amtrak ordered 150 more Amfleet cars from Budd on March 13, 1980, at a cost of \$150 million. These cars, dubbed Amfleet II, were intended to replace rolling stock on Amtrak long-distance trains, and featured larger windows, more legroom, and folding legrests. Budd delivered the first four cars on October 28, 1981; the unveiling took place on November 11. The final cars arrived on June 11, 1983. The Amfleet IIs were the last intercity cars Budd built. The continuing unreliability of the original Metroliners led to refurbished Amfleet I coaches displacing them in Metroliner service in 1981. New EMD AEM-7 electric locomotives pulled the trains.
Unlike the Superliner-equipped trains in the Western United States, Amtrak's eastern long-distance single-level trains never operated with uniform consists. The trains operated with a combination of Amfleet and Heritage Fleet cars, supplemented in the 1990s by Viewliner sleeping cars. In 1990, Amfleets could be found on every long-haul route east of the Mississippi River: the Virginia–Florida Auto Train; the Chicago–New Orleans City of New Orleans; the New York–Florida Silver Meteor and Silver Star, the New York–Chicago Broadway Limited, Cardinal, and Lake Shore Limited; the Washington, D.C.–Chicago Capitol Limited; the New York–New Orleans Crescent; and the Washington, D.C.–Montreal Montrealer. Horizon Fleet coaches replaced Amfleet coaches on most Midwestern and California short-haul routes in 1989–1990. The Superliner II order in the early 1990s would lead to the removal of Amfleets from the Auto Train and Capitol Limited. The Cardinal used Superliners and terminated at Washington, D.C., between 1995 and 2002.
### Replacement
At the end of 2012, 473 Amfleet I and 145 Amfleet II cars were still in service. The Amfleet I cars had traveled an average of 4,125,000 miles (6,638,544 km), the Amfleet II cars 5,640,000 miles (9,076,700 km). The Amfleet I cars continue to be used on corridor services in the Northeastern United States such as the Downeaster, Empire Service, and Northeast Regional, although they can also be found in the Midwest and California. Amfleet IIs continue to be used on single-level long-distance trains. Amtrak announced an overhaul of the Amfleet I interiors in September 2017. The following year, Amtrak began to investigate options to replace the Amfleet I cars altogether.
In January 2019, Amtrak issued a request for proposals to replace the 470 Amfleet I cars and ex-Metroliner cab cars then in use. Proposals were due on May 1, 2019. In May 2020, excursion operator Railexco purchased three Amfleet cars from Amtrak – the first Amfleet cars to be sold for private reuse.
By February 2021, Amtrak planned for the replacements to be trainsets rather than individual cars, with options for diesel, electric, or dual-mode propulsion. Siemens was announced as the preferred bidder in April 2021, with contract execution for 83 trainsets expected midyear. The equipment is expected to be delivered between 2025 and 2035. In July 2021, it was announced that \$7.3 billion would be put towards the new equipment.
In 2022, Amtrak announced that it plans to begin retiring Amfleet I cars by 2027, with all cars to be retired by the end of 2030.
In December 2022, Amtrak reached an agreement with Siemens for 83 "Airo" trainsets for delivery starting in 2026, at which time they would begin by replacing the Amtrak Cascades fleet. After replacing the Cascades fleet, the Airo would begin the process of replacing the Amfleet I fleet in 2027. Procurement for a new overnight fleet, including possible replacement of the Amfleet II cars, began in 2022.
## Design
As designed, the Amfleet I cars could operate at speeds up to 120 mph (193 km/h). Both the Amfleet I and Amfleet II are now rated for 125 mph (201 km/h). Electric heating and air conditioning, operated by head-end power (HEP) from the locomotive, are used to maintain passenger comfort. Budd moved the air vents from the bottom, where they had been on the Metroliner, to the top of the car. The top-mounted vents were less susceptible to clogging during snowfall.
An Amfleet car is 12 feet 8 inches (3.86 m) tall, 10 feet 6 inches (3.20 m) wide, and 85 feet 4 inches (26.01 m) long. The car body itself is built up from spot-welded stainless steel sections. The Budd Pioneer trucks have dual disc brakes on each axle; a later rebuild added tread brakes. The wheels have a diameter of 36 inches (914.40 mm). The cars meet the FRA's buff strength requirement of 800,000 pounds (363,000 kg).
The interior design recalled contemporary jet airliners. In common with airliners the cars featured narrow windows, which inhibited sight-seeing. The windows on the Amfleet I cars were 18 by 64 inches (45.72 by 162.56 cm); this was increased to 22 by 64 inches (55.88 by 162.56 cm) in the Amfleet II. Another factor in choosing small windows was the high incidence of rocks thrown at train windows in the 1970s. Reinforcing the impression of traveling in an airliner, the passenger seats themselves were built by the Amirail division of Aircraft Mechanics Inc. Cesar Vergara, head of car design at Amtrak in the 1990s, criticized the choice to copy the airliner aesthetic:
> Amfleet is a totally American style that was mean to imitate airplanes. That's my quarrel!...The vision for the future of the railroad should be based on defining its own dreams, not appropriating them solely from someone else's experience.
Amfleet I cars can be identified by having vestibules at both ends of the cars; Amfleet II cars have a single vestibule. The Amfleet I has chemical flush toilets, while the Amfleet II has retention toilets. All Amfleet cars have trapdoors, permitting their use at both high- and low-level platforms. The distance from the rail to the bottom step is 17 inches (430 mm); to the floor level is 51+1⁄2 inches (1.31 m).
### Coaches
Budd built 361 Amfleet I coaches; 90 were configured for long-distance use (60 seats) and 271 for short-distance use (84 seats). All 125 Amfleet II coaches were designed for long-distance service and contained 59 seats. In all standard Amfleet coaches seating is 2×2; in the Amfleet II a single accessible seat accounted for the odd number. Amfleet seats have swing-down tray-tables for at-seat food service, as well as overhead and underseat luggage storage. There are two restrooms at one end of the car. There is a baggage rack at the end of the car. On some cars these have been replaced with a bicycle rack.
Under the Capstone refurbishment program most Amfleet I short-distance coaches had three rows of seats removed, reducing their total capacity from 84 to 72 seats. During the 1980s most of the Amfleet I long-distance coaches were refurbished for use on the premium Metroliner service on the Northeast Corridor. All have since been rebuilt, either as 62-seat business class cars or 72-seat short-distance cars.
### Cafés
Budd built 54 Amfleet I "Amcafe" cars and 37 Amfleet I "Amdinette" cars. The cafés had a snack bar in the middle of the car and 53 coach seats; the dinettes had eight booths and 23 coach seats. Each café car weighs about 110,000 pounds (50,000 kg).
The Amcafe design was unpopular and Amtrak rebuilt the cafés into numerous configurations during the 1980s and 1990s. These included all-table dinettes, club cars for use in Metroliner service, and club-dinettes with a mix of tables and club seats. By the 2010s most cafes were configured as club-dinettes; some had been converted into all-table dinettes. Five dinettes were rebuilt for use on the Inter-American, a long-distance train operating between Texas and St. Louis; lounge seats replaced the coach seats. 21 dinettes were also refurbished for Metroliner service. By the 2010s all the remaining dinettes were rebuilt with all-table seating, save two which were converted into short-distance coaches.
### Club cars
Budd built 40 Amfleet I "Amclub" club cars, similar to traditional parlor cars. These cars had a snack bar in the center, 18 club seats in a 2×1 configuration, and 23 coach seats. These cars provided first class service on select trains. Amtrak later referred to these as "split" Amclubs; club cars rebuilt with all-club style seating were called "full" Amclubs.
None of the Amclubs remain in their original configuration. Three of the original club cars were delivered with all club-style seating for a total of 33 seats; five of the original style were rebuilt to match. As the original Metroliners were withdrawn many of the Amclubs were refurbished for use in Metroliner service. Three were rebuilt for use on the Montrealer; booths and lounge seating replaced the coach seating and club seats. These were later rebuilt as all-table dinettes. Most clubs were rebuilt as club-dinette cars, with one half given over to booths and the other having 2×1 business class seating. Others were rebuilt as full-length business class cars, with 62 seats. Still others were converted to 72-seat coaches.
### Lounges
Budd built 25 Amfleet II "Amlounge" lounge cars. They differed from other food-service cars in that the snack-bar was off-center. On the shorter side were 27 seats in varying configurations; the longer side had ten four-seat booths. Amtrak rebuilt 14 of them as smoking lounges between 1998 and 2000: in the short end an enclosed lounge replaced the seating area. All 25 cars were rebuilt as diner-lite cars between 2006 and 2010. In this configuration the short end has 19 seats, arranged in booths; the long end has seven booths and a conductor's office. The Amfleet II lounge weighed 113,000 pounds (51,000 kg).
### Sleeping cars
In the late 1970s Amtrak converted two Amfleet I coaches into sleepers (Nos. 22900 and 22901). Two prototype Superliner roomette modules were installed, displacing twelve seats. The cars were used on the Washington, D.C.–Cincinnati, Ohio Shenandoah. Regular sleepers returned to the Shenandoah in 1979 and the two coaches were returned to a standard configuration. These conversions were termed "Ampad."
## See also
- Budd SPV-2000: a self-propelled diesel multiple unit using the Amfleet shell |
2,225,495 | Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre | 1,169,056,817 | Broadway theater in Manhattan, New York | [
"1927 establishments in New York City",
"Broadway theatres",
"New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan",
"New York City interior landmarks",
"Shubert Organization",
"Theater District, Manhattan",
"Theatres completed in 1927"
]
| The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish style and was built for real-estate developer Irwin S. Chanin. It has 1,100 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks.
The facade is designed in a Spanish style with golden brick, terracotta, and stone and is divided into two sections. The western portion of the facade contains the theater's entrance, with five double-height arched windows and a curved pediment above. The eastern portion is the stage house and is topped by a loggia. The auditorium contains Spanish-style detailing, a large balcony, and an expansive vaulted ceiling. The auditorium's interior features murals by Willy Pogany as well as several box seats.
The Royale, Majestic, and Masque (now John Golden) theaters, along with the Lincoln Hotel, were all developed by the Chanin brothers and designed by Krapp as part of a theater/hotel complex. The Royale was the first of the three theaters to be completed, opening on January 11, 1927. The Shubert family took over the Royale in 1930 but subsequently went into receivership, and producer John Golden leased the theater in 1932. Golden renamed the theater after himself in 1934, but the Shuberts took over in 1936 and leased the theater to CBS Radio. The Royale was restored as a legitimate theater under its original name in 1940. The theater was renamed for longtime Shubert Organization president Bernard B. Jacobs in 2005.
## Site
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is at 242 West 45th Street, on the south side between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The nearly rectangular land lot covers 9,275 sq ft (861.7 m<sup>2</sup>), with a frontage of 88.17 ft (26.87 m) on 44th Street and a depth of 100.42 ft (31 m). The Golden Theatre shares the city block with the Row NYC Hotel to the west. It adjoins six other theaters: the Gerald Schoenfeld and Booth to the east, the Broadhurst and Shubert to the southeast, the Majestic to the south, and the Golden to the west. Other nearby structures include the Music Box Theatre and Imperial Theatre to the north; the New York Marriott Marquis to the northeast; One Astor Plaza to the east; and Sardi's restaurant, the Hayes Theater, and the St. James Theatre one block south.
The Jacobs is part of the largest concentration of Broadway theaters on a single block. The adjoining block of 45th Street is also known as George Abbott Way, and foot traffic on the street increases box-office totals for the theaters there. The Majestic, Masque (Golden), and Royale (Jacobs) theaters and the Lincoln Hotel (Row NYC Hotel) had all been developed concurrently. The site of all four buildings had previously occupied by twenty brownstone residences. The site was part of the Astor family estate from 1803 to 1922, when it was sold to Henry Claman. The plots collectively measured 200 feet (61 m) wide along Eighth Avenue, 240 feet (73 m) along 44th Street, and 250 feet (76 m) along 45th Street.
## Design
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, originally the Royale Theatre, was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish style and was constructed from 1926 to 1927 for the Chanin brothers. It was part of an entertainment complex along with the Lincoln Hotel and the Majestic and Masque theaters, which were also designed by Krapp in a Spanish style. The Royale was designed to be the medium-sized theater of the complex, with about 1,200 seats initially. The Chanin Realty and Construction Company constructed all four structures. The Jacobs is operated by the Shubert Organization.
### Facade
The facade contains two sections. The western section is wider and is symmetrical, containing the auditorium entrance. The eastern section, which contains the stage house, is narrower and taller than the western section. In both sections, the ground floor is clad in rusticated blocks of terracotta above a granite water table. At ground level, the auditorium entrance includes five pairs of glass and aluminum doors, which lead to the ticket office and auditorium. There are also rectangular aluminum-framed sign boards beside the openings. The entrance is topped by a marquee. Four sets of aluminum doors lead from the stage house portion of the facade. A terracotta cornice runs above the base. The stage door is at 270 West 45th Street (next to the Golden Theatre) and is shared with the Majestic and Golden theaters.
The upper stories contain gold-colored, bonded Roman brick. The brick facade was designed to relate to the adjacent theaters and hotel. On the upper stories, the auditorium section has a set of five arches on the second and third stories. The arches rise above terracotta piers that contain Corinthian-style capitals. Each arch contains iron-framed sash windows with multiple panes, separated by horizontal transom bars. A similar, narrower arcade exists on the neighboring Golden Theatre. A sign with the theater's name is placed between the auditorium and stage sections. The parapet of the auditorium facade contains a terracotta coping. Above the center portion of the facade, there is a rounded pediment with finials and an ornamental lunette.
The stage house has five sash windows on each of the second through fifth stories. These windows contain sills made of terracotta. At the fifth story, the three center windows are placed within a loggia, which in turn is placed on brackets. The loggia has paired columns with decorative capitals, which support a Spanish tile roof. There is a pyramidal tile roof above the stage house. The Jacobs's loggia complements a similar one on the Golden Theatre.
### Auditorium
The Jacobs's interior was designed with a red, orange, and gold color scheme. The layout was part of an effort by Irwin Chanin, one of the developers, to "democratize" the seating arrangement of the theater. The Jacobs was designed with a single balcony rather than the typical two, since Chanin had perceived the second balcony to be distant. The Chanin brothers wanted the three theaters' interior designs to be distinct while still adhering to a Spanish motif, in the belief that beautiful and comfortable theaters would be able to compete against other performing-arts venues. Roman Melzer was credited for the overall design, while Willy Pogany painted murals and Joseph Dujat created plasterwork. By the 2010s, the Jacobs was designed with a red and gray color palette.
The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony, boxes, and a stage behind the proscenium arch. The auditorium's width is greater than its depth, and the space is designed with plaster decorations in high relief. According to the Shubert Organization, the auditorium has 1,092 seats, while according to The Broadway League, there are 1,078 seats. The physical seats are divided into 636 seats in the orchestra, 168 at the front of the balcony, 252 at the rear of the balcony, and 16 in the boxes. There are 20 standing-only spots. Below the orchestra are restrooms and drinking fountains. The Jacobs and the neighboring Schoenfeld are two of the most desired theaters among producers because of their good sightlines from the seating areas.
#### Seating areas
The rear of the orchestra contains a promenade with two columns supporting the balcony level. The orchestra floor is raked. The orchestra and its promenade contain walls with paneled baseboards, above which are rough stucco blocks. The side walls contain doors, above which are exit signs within bracketed panels. The rearmost row has a standing rail behind it. Two staircases lead between the orchestra and the balcony. These staircases have metal railings and elaborate balustrades. In front of the orchestra level is an orchestra pit, which is placed below the stage. The orchestra level is wheelchair-accessible but there are no elevators to the balcony.
The balcony level is divided into front and rear sections by an aisle halfway across the depth. The walls consist of paneled stucco blocks. Above the wall is a frieze with rosettes, which forms the wall's cornice. Light fixtures and square panels with arabesques are placed at the front of the balcony's soffit, or underside. Behind this, the center of the soffit is decorated with a medallion containing a light fixture and acanthus-leaf motifs. The outer portions of the soffit are divided into rhombus-shaped panels, which contain latticework and arabesques surrounded by acanthus-leaf and rope moldings. In front of the balcony are moldings of swags and rosettes. The soffit has been modified with the installation of air-conditioning grilles, while lights have been installed in front of the balcony.
On either side of the stage is an elliptically arched wall section with two boxes at the balcony level. The front box on either side is lower than the rear box. Each wall section is surrounded by a rope molding. In front of each box is a railing with shield motifs; the center motif is flanked by griffins. The underside of each box is decorated with a medallion containing a light fixture, as well as acanthus-leaf motifs. The coved ceilings above the boxes contain Spanish-inspired brass chandeliers.
#### Other design features
Next to the boxes is an elliptical proscenium arch. The archway is surrounded by rope moldings, above which is a wide band, consisting of four-part leaves surrounded by a guilloche motif. The proscenium measures about 24 ft (7.3 m) high and 40 ft (12 m) wide. A sounding board curves onto the ceiling above the proscenium arch. The sounding board has a large decorated latticework panel in the center, which is surrounded by a molding that depicts overlapping leaves. The rest of the sounding board was originally decorated with Spanish-style motifs and is surrounded by moldings on all sides. The depth of the auditorium to the proscenium is 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m), while the depth to the front of the stage is 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m).
The ceiling consists of a groin vault that extends over the balcony. The vault is surrounded by a molding with laurel leaves. The ceiling is divided into ribs, containing laurel-leaf and talon moldings. The center of the ceiling contains a latticework grille with arabesques, marking the convergence of the ribs. In addition, there are two arches along the walls on either side of the vault; they contain a set of murals by Willy Pogany, entitled Lovers of Spain. These arches each depict a woman in a procession of musicians. The arches are surrounded by molded acanthus leaves and shells, and there are square panels with rosettes on the arches' outer reveals. According to a contemporary account, the arches measured 45 by 15 ft (13.7 by 4.6 m) across.
## History
Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression. During the 1900s and 1910s, many theaters in Midtown Manhattan were developed by the Shubert brothers, one of the major theatrical syndicates of the time. The Chanin brothers developed another grouping of theaters in the mid-1920s. Though the Chanins largely specialized in real estate rather than theaters, Irwin Chanin had become interested in theater when he was an impoverished student at the Cooper Union. He subsequently recalled that he had been "humiliated" by having to use a separate door whenever he bought cheap seats in an upper balcony level. By October 1926, the Chanins had decided to construct and operate a theatrical franchise "in New York and half a dozen other large cities in the United States". Herbert Krapp had already designed the 46th Street, Biltmore, and Mansfield theaters for the Chanins in 1925 and 1926.
### Development and early years
#### Chanin operation
The Chanin brothers had acquired the Klaman site in May 1925. The Chanins planned to build a hotel on Eighth Avenue and three theaters on the side streets. In March 1926, Krapp filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for the hotel and theaters, which were projected to cost \$4.5 million. Local news media reported that there would be a large theater on 44th Street and a medium-sized theater and a small theater on 45th Street. The brownstones on the site were razed starting in May, and the site was cleared by the next month. That July, the Chanin brothers received a \$7.5 million loan for the four developments from S. W. Straus & Co. Irwin Chanin launched a competition the same month, asking the public to suggest names for the three theaters. The names of the three theaters were announced in December 1926. The large theater became the Majestic; the mid-sized theater, the Royale; and the small theater, the Masque. The following month, the Chanins gave A. L. Erlanger exclusive control over bookings at the three new theaters and their five existing houses.
The Royale Theatre was the first of the three theaters to open, showing the play Piggy on January 11, 1927. The opening of the Majestic, Masque, and Royale signified the westward extension of the traditional Broadway theater district, as well as an expansion of the Chanins' theatrical developments. Each of the Chanin theaters was intended for a different purpose: the 1,800-seat Majestic for "revues and light operas", the 1,200-seat Royale for "musical comedies", and the 800-seat Masque for "intimate" plays. By developing a small, medium, and large theater concurrently, the Chanins were able to lower their development costs. Burns Mantle wrote for the New York Daily News that the Royale had "a handsome auditorium with a Willy Pogany interior, well proportioned stage, and the established atmosphere of a hospitable and well-run theatre". Piggy (renamed mid-run to I Told You So) had a weak script, but comedian Sam Bernard carried the show for 79 performances.
The Royale next hosted Judy with Queenie Smith. This was followed by the short-running Oh, Ernest!, though the Chanins unsuccessfully tried to prevent the producers from relocating prematurely. The Black revue Rang Tang also played at the Royale in 1927, as did three Gilbert and Sullivan works: The Mikado, Iolanthe, and The Pirates of Penzance. The Royale's productions in 1928 included The Madcap, as well as Sh! The Octopus, its first straight play. Later that year, the Royale had its first major hit, the Mae West play Diamond Lil. It was followed in 1929 by the flop Woof, Woof, then by the moderately successful comedy Kibitzer. In July 1929, the Shubert brothers bought the Chanin brothers' half-ownership stakes in the Majestic, Masque, and Royale theaters for a combined \$1.8 million. In exchange, the Shuberts sold a parcel of land on the Upper West Side to the Chanins, who bought several adjacent lots and developed the Century apartment building there.
#### Great Depression and ownership changes
The Shuberts obtained the exclusive rights to operate the Royale in 1930. Under Shubert management, the Royale hosted Second Little Show in 1930, which was followed by Lew Leslie's Blackbirds and Stepping Sisters. Another Mae West play, Constant Sinner, was presented at the Royale in 1931, along with numerous unsuccessful productions. After West unsuccessfully tried to show a revival of Macbeth, the Royale hosted the Chicago Shakespeare Theater for two weeks in late 1931. By then, the Shuberts were in receivership and were forced to give up the Royale, though they kept the Majestic and Masque. In July 1932, producer John Golden granted the right to lease the Royale for 21 months, despite objections from Lee Shubert. That November, Golden officially signed a 21-month lease with the theater's receiver. At the time, Golden had recently lost the right to operate his eponymous theater on 58th Street.
The Royale hosted Golden's comedy When Ladies Meet in late 1932, and the Theatre Guild next hosted two productions: Both Your Houses (1933) and They Shall Not Die (1934). Otherwise, the Royale's productions during this time were largely flops. After the Royale hosted the comedy Every Thursday, Golden renewed his lease in September 1934 and renamed the Royale for himself. The first productions at the renamed theater included Small Miracle and Rain from Heaven. The Irish group Abbey Theatre Players started hosting repertory productions in November 1934, changing the shows every week. This was followed in 1935 by The Bishop Misbehaves and A Touch of Brimstone. Afterward, the Golden (Royale) hosted several short-lived productions in 1936, among them Three Wise Fools, Ghosts, and Double Dummy.
The Broadway theater industry declined during the Great Depression, and the Majestic, Masque, and Golden (Royale) were auctioned in November 1936 to satisfy a \$2 million mortgage against the theaters. A representative of the Shubert family bought the rights to operate the theaters for \$700,000, but the Bankers Securities Corporation retained a half interest. John Golden, undeterred by the auction proceeding, moved his production to the Masque and renamed that theater after himself. The Shuberts leased the former Royale to CBS Radio the following month, and CBS started operating the studio in January 1937 as CBS Radio Theatre No. 1. At the time, CBS had converted several theaters around Times Square into broadcast studios. The studio closed in May 1940 due to a lack of programming, and the theater reverted to the Shuberts. The Magoro Operating Corporation, on behalf of the Shuberts, took over the Royale in October 1940 after CBS's lease ended, and the theater assumed its previous name.
### Shubert operation
#### 1940s to 1970s
The Royale Theatre reopened on October 21, 1940, with Du Barry Was a Lady. The Royale subsequently hosted several productions relocated from other theaters, including Flight to the West and The Corn Is Green in 1941. Some of the subsequent productions were hits with several hundred performances, including Counsellor-at-Law in 1942, as well as Ramshackle Inn with ZaSu Pitts; School for Brides with Roscoe Karns; and Catherine Was Great with Mae West in 1944. Less successful were the 1945 productions of Good Night, Ladies and Strange Fruit, which both ran for less than a hundred performances before ending. In addition, the Shubert brothers bought the Majestic, John Golden (Masque), and Royale theaters from the Bankers Securities Corporation in 1945, giving the family full ownership of these theaters.
The productions in 1946 included The Magnificent Yankee, featuring Louis Calhern and Dorothy Gish; The Glass Menagerie; The Front Page; and Fatal Weakness, featuring Ina Claire. Subsequently, The Importance of Being Earnest, Love for Love, and Medea were all produced in 1947. The comedy Light Up the Sky ran over 200 performances in 1948, and The Madwoman of Chaillot played the Royale the next year. The following decade began with productions of The Devil's Disciple and The Lady's Not for Burning in 1950, as well as a relocated production of Darkness at Noon in 1951. Following that was Borscht Capades and a series of short-lived productions. The Royale then hosted New Faces of 1952, which turned out to be the last popular Broadway revue for several years due to the growing popularity of television.
The Immoralist played at the Royale in 1954, as did The Boy Friend, the latter of which featured Julie Andrews's Broadway debut. The same year saw the shortest production at the Royale on record: a single performance of The Starcross Story, which had premiered just before The Immortalist. In 1955, the Royale featured The Matchmaker, which was adapted from a flop but had 486 performances. Other popular productions during the decade were The Tunnel of Love in 1957 and The Entertainer in 1958. Following a screening of the film Gigi in May 1958, the Royale again hosted theatrical productions that November with La Plume de Ma Tante, which ran over 800 performances.
In the early 1960s, the Royale hosted numerous productions including Becket in 1960, From the Second City in 1961, The Night of the Iguana in 1961, and Lord Pengo in 1962. The Royale additionally presented a four-week engagement of the Karmon Israeli Dancers in May 1963. Following were The Rehearsal in 1963 and The Chinese Prime Minister, The Subject Was Roses, and Hughie in 1964. For much of the rest of the decade, the Royale was taken up by Cactus Flower, which premiered in 1965 and ran for 1,234 performances. Man in the Glass Booth, which premiered in 1968, was the Royale's last major production of the 1960s. The Royale hosted Child's Play in 1970 and Moonchildren in 1972. From 1972 to 1980, the Royale hosted the musical Grease. The production became the longest-running show on Broadway, and the set was peeling by the time Grease stopped playing at the Royale.
#### 1980s and 1990s
In February 1980, Whose Life is it Anyway? opened at the Royale, with Mary Tyler Moore playing what had previously been a male starring role. This was followed the same year by A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine, a double bill with 588 performances. The Royale then hosted Duet for One with Anne Bancroft and Max von Sydow for a month, followed by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which also ran for over a year. Besides Broadway productions, the Royale also held college commencements.
In the mid-1980s, the Royale had some brief runs, including The Human Comedy in 1984 and Home Front and Pack of Lies in 1985. The Royale next presented the two-act show Song and Dance in 1985, which ran for 474 performances. This was followed by a four-performance revival of the play Broadway in 1987 to celebrate George Abbott's 100th birthday. Other flops included Roza in 1987 and the New York Shakespeare Festival's off-Broadway production Serious Money in 1988. The decade ended with two hits: Speed-the-Plow, which opened in 1988 and played 287 performances, and Lend Me a Tenor, which ran for over a year following its opening in 1989. During the 1980s, the Shuberts renovated the Royale as part of a restoration program for their Broadway theaters.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started considering protecting the Royale as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the Royale's facade and interior as a landmark in December 1987. This was part of the LPC's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988. The Shuberts, the Nederlanders, and Jujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Royale, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified. The lawsuit was escalated to the New York Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992.
The first hit at the Royale in the 1990s was the 1992 play Conversations with My Father, which ran for over a year. London's Royal National Theatre presented An Inspector Calls in 1994, which ran 454 performances. The National Actors Theatre was the next occupant of the Royale, presenting a revival of Inherit the Wind. The Royal National Theatre also produced Skylight at the Royale in 1996, and Triumph of Love premiered in 1997. The play Art opened in 1998, running through the following year with 600 performances. The Royale's final production of the 1990s was a revival of The Price in 1999.
#### 2000s to present
The Royale hosted a revival of the play Copenhagen in 2000, which ran 326 performances. The theater then staged One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and John Leguizamo's solo show Sexaholix in 2001, as well as The Elephant Man and Jackie Mason's solo comedy Prune Danish the next year. As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Royale. Also in 2003, the Royale hosted the short-lived revivals Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and "Master Harold"...and the Boys, as well as the more successful Anna in the Tropics. The next year, the Royale held the productions A Raisin in the Sun and 'night, Mother.
In September 2004, the Shubert Organization's board of directors voted to rename the Royale for its longtime president Bernard B. Jacobs, as well as the neighboring Plymouth for then-current president Gerald Schoenfeld. The two theaters were officially renamed with a marquee replacement ceremony on May 9, 2005. While Jacobs's family was "thrilled", the renaming was controversial among producers and theatrical fans, despite the longstanding tradition of renaming Broadway houses after their producers. The play Glengarry Glen Ross opened just before the renaming and had 137 performances. This was followed in 2006 by the short-running drama Three Days of Rain and Martin Short's biographical revue Fame Becomes Me; the Jacobs also hosted a memorial for Lloyd Richards the same year. Further productions of the late 2000s included Frost/Nixon and Rock 'n' Roll in 2007; The Country Girl and 13 in 2008; and God of Carnage in 2009.
The Jacobs hosted Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson in 2010, as well as That Championship Season and The Mountaintop in 2011. The musical Once opened at the Jacobs in 2012 and was a hit, running for nearly three years. Once was followed by the comedy It's Only a Play in 2015. The Jacobs hosted two musicals over the following two years: The Color Purple (2015) and Bandstand (2017). Following were the dramas The Iceman Cometh and The Ferryman in 2018, as well as Betrayal in 2019. The theater closed on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened on November 15, 2021, with previews of Company, which ran until July 2022. Following the closure of Company, the theater hosted Almost Famous from November 2022 to January 2023. New York City Center's production of Parade opened at the Jacobs in March 2023 and ran until August.
## Notable productions
Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. This list only includes Broadway shows; it does not include films screened at the theater, nor does it include shows that were taped there.
### Royale Theatre/John Golden Theatre
- 1927: Rang Tang
- 1927: The Mikado
- 1927: Iolanthe
- 1927: The Pirates of Penzance
- 1928: Diamond Lil
- 1930: Second Little Show
- 1930: Lew Leslie's Blackbirds
- 1931: Dracula
- 1931: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice
- 1933: Both Your Houses
- 1934: Small Miracle
- 1936: Mulatto
- 1936: Star Spangled
- 1936: Ghosts
- 1940: Du Barry Was a Lady
- 1941: The Corn Is Green
- 1942: The Flowers of Virtue
- 1943: The World's Full of Girls
- 1944: Ramshackle Inn
- 1944: Catherine Was Great
- 1945: Strange Fruit
- 1946: The Glass Menagerie
- 1946: The Front Page
- 1947: The Importance of Being Earnest
- 1947: Love for Love
- 1947: Medea
- 1949: The Madwoman of Chaillot
- 1950: The Devil's Disciple
- 1950: Affairs of State
- 1950: The Lady's Not for Burning
- 1952: One Bright Day
- 1952: New Faces of 1952
- 1954: The Immoralist
- 1954: Sabrina Fair
- 1954: The Boy Friend
- 1955: The Matchmaker
- 1957: Miss Isobel
- 1958: The Entertainer
- 1958: La Plume de Ma Tante
- 1960: Becket
- 1961: The Night of the Iguana
- 1964: The Subject Was Roses
- 1964: A Severed Head
- 1964: Hughie
- 1965: All in Good Time
- 1965: And Things That Go Bump in the Night
- 1965: The Owl and the Pussycat
- 1965: Cactus Flower
- 1970: Child's Play
- 1971: How the Other Half Loves
- 1971: The Incomparable Max
- 1972: Moonchildren
- 1972: Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
- 1972: Grease
- 1980: Whose Life is it Anyway?
- 1980: A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
- 1982: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- 1983: You Can't Take It with You
- 1984: The Human Comedy
- 1985: Pack of Lies
- 1985: Song and Dance
- 1987: Sweet Sue
- 1987: Broadway
- 1987: Roza
- 1988: Serious Money
- 1988: Speed-the-Plow
- 1989: Lend Me a Tenor
- 1992: Conversations with My Father
- 1993: The Kentucky Cycle
- 1994: An Inspector Calls
- 1996: Inherit the Wind
- 1996: Skylight
- 1997: Triumph of Love
- 1998: 'Art'
- 1999: The Price
- 2000: Copenhagen
- 2001: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- 2002: The Elephant Man
- 2003: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
- 2003: "Master Harold"...and the Boys
- 2003: Anna in the Tropics
- 2004: A Raisin in the Sun
- 2004: 'night, Mother
- 2005: Glengarry Glen Ross
### Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
- 2006: Three Days of Rain
- 2006: Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
- 2007: Frost/Nixon
- 2007: Rock 'n' Roll
- 2008: The Country Girl
- 2008: 13
- 2009: God of Carnage
- 2010: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
- 2011: That Championship Season
- 2011: The Mountaintop
- 2012: Once
- 2015: It's Only a Play
- 2015: The Color Purple
- 2017: Bandstand
- 2018: The Iceman Cometh
- 2018: The Ferryman
- 2019: Betrayal
- 2021: Company
- 2022: Almost Famous
- 2023: Parade
## Box office record
Once achieved the box office record for the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The production grossed \$1,447,598 over nine performances, for the week ending December 30, 2012.
## See also
- List of Broadway theatres
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets |
62,409,999 | Solovetsky Stone (Saint Petersburg) | 1,142,941,169 | Political repression monument in Russia | [
"1990 in the Soviet Union",
"1990 sculptures",
"2002 sculptures",
"Granite sculptures",
"Individual rocks",
"Memorials to victims of communism",
"Monuments and memorials in Saint Petersburg",
"Russian sculpture"
]
| The Solovetsky Stone is a monument to the victims of political repression in the Soviet Union and to those who have fought and fight for freedom. It stands in Troitskaya (Trinity) Square in Saint Petersburg, near several other buildings directly related to political repression in the Soviet era—the House of Tsarist Political Prisoners; the prison and necropolis of the Peter and Paul Fortress; and the Bolshoy Dom or headquarters of the NKVD, both in the city and the surrounding Leningrad Region. Nowadays, the Stone also serves as a focus for commemorative events and for gatherings related to current human rights issues.
The monument consists of a large boulder brought from the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, where the Solovki prison camp opened in 1923. The camp was the malignant cell which, in Solzhenitsyn's metaphor, metastasized to create the entire Gulag network of forced labour camps. The Stone is a fitting symbol of the Gulag and the related practices of political terror. The Memorial society in Petersburg was behind the creation of the monument. It was designed by Yuly Rybakov and Yevgeny Ukhnalyov, both political prisoners during the Soviet period.
## Design and symbolism
The monument comprises the Solovki Stone, a massive granite slab from the Solovetsky Islands, where the Solovki concentration camp operated in the 1920s and 1930s. The prison camp's diminutive name "Solovki" became shorthand in Russian for a punitive network of camps that already held more than 100,000 inmates in the 1920s. Between the 1930s and 1950, it has been estimated, the number of people who passed through the Gulag (as it later became known) reached 18 million, at least 1,500,000 of whom died in the camps. The Gulag traumatized the population and had a lasting impact on several generations; it left its imprint on many aspects of society and culture.
The granite slab was selected from among the boulders near the Savvatiyev Skethe (hermitage), which was used to house political prisoners in the 1920s. There on 19 December 1923, guards and a special firing squad shot and killed protesting prisoners. The massacre marked a new stage in the repressive measures employed by the Soviet regime, and set an important precedent for resistance. Some sources assert that the stone was taken from Mount Sekirna, a hill in the vicinity of the Skethe. The Voznesensky Skethe (hermitage) on Mount Sekirna was used as a punishment block and execution yard.
As an artefact from "that very place", keeping in touch with "the spirit of our ancestors", the Solovki Stone symbolizes a pre-Christian idea of continuity and the hereditivity of existence. In its designers conception, the stone's rough aesthetics endow it with a "backbone of personality that endures despite confronting faceless evil".
The monument design is minimalist and it has a non-religious, secular character. It features a crude granite slab, 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) high, mounted on a square granite pedestal (0.35 m × 2.35 m × 2.3 m [1 ft 2 in × 7 ft 9 in × 7 ft 7 in]), itself based on a concrete impost surrounded by granite footings.0.2 m (7.9 in) high. The edges are oriented on the four cardinal points of the compass. From a certain angle, the stone resembles an elephant, which in Russian ('слон', 'slon') sounds like the abbreviation S.L.O.N. [Соловецкий лагерь особого назначения], the formal title of the "Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp".
## Inscriptions and location
The monument also conveys its meaning through the inscriptions on the pedestal.
Its north face reads, "To the inmates of the Gulag" [Узникам ГУЛАГа]; the west face reads, "To those who fight for freedom" [Борцам за свободу]; and the east face reads "To the Victims of Communist Terror" [Жертвам коммунистического террора]. The south face carries words from Anna Akhmatova's long poem Requiem: "I would like to recall them all by name". The monument does not list any names, because not all the victims are yet known. Yuly Rybakov, one of the designers, consider the western insscription the most important because it commemorates not only the victims, but also all who have fought against the repressive system. The lines on the east face explicitly name those responsible for the terror, a rare thing among similar monuments in Russia. The direct mention of communism as the reason for this catastrophe, believes historian Alexander Etkind, makes the monument of universal significance. The text on the Solovki Stone says nothing about its background. Its authors believe this should stir the interest of passers-by and make them curious to find out more.
The monument is dedicated to all who were "shot, arrested, exiled, banned, broken by the Communist regime—whose graves are lost and fate unknown". The Memorial Society in St Petersburg, which initiated and sponsored the monument's creation, offered the following description of its significance:
> "This monument is a gift to the city on its 300th Anniversary from former political prisoners, who treasure freedom and human dignity more than personal safety and well-being. The Solovetsky Stone in Troitskaya Square is the symbol of free social thoughts, political and civic liberties. This monument pays tribute to all the victims of purposeless terror, it commemorates our fellow citizens, who suffered from political repression. It honors those who fought for human dignity among triumphant cruelty and didn't succumb to evil, preserving inner personal freedom and remained human in an inhuman world. This monument shows how a strong individual can overcome the totalitarian regime; it rejects violence and xenophobia. We live in an unstable country, which cannot guard our rights and freedom. So let this stone serve our freedom."
The location of the Solovki Stone is itself significant.
The "Former Political Convicts" Residential Home (FPCRH) standing in front of the monument was built by the Soviet government in the early 1930s. It was intended for the revolutionaries and political activists, persecuted by the State police in Imperial Russia. Ironically, many inhabitants of the FPCRH fell victims of the Great Terror in 1937–1938. During the 1917 October Revolution the buildings of the Museum of Political History of Russia (St. Petersburg) to the north of Troitskaya square housed the Bolshevik authorities, who later headed the coup d'etat and initiated State Terror. On the Field of Mars across the Neva there is a memorial necropolis, dedicated to the revolutionaries of 1917. This proximity is a vivid illustration, historian Zuzanna Bogumil believes, of the way in which "the revolution devours its children". Across the Neva to the east is the Bolshoy Dom. The headquarters of the NKVD was built in the 1930s: today it houses its successor, the FSB. To the west, Troitskaya Square adjoins the Peter and Paul Fortress where, since Tsarist times, the Trubetskoy Bastion has been used as a political prison. After the revolution, the Soviet government incarcerated political prisoners here, and it would later become the first location of the Great Terror. A mass grave was discovered beneath the Golovkin Bastion of the fortress in 2007. It contained the bodies of victims of the Red Terror, perhaps even four of the Grand Dukes of Russia [ru]. In 2003 the Holy Trinity Chapel was built northeast of the Solovki Stone, and marks the location of the Old Trinity Cathedral. The Cathedral was demolished in 1933 during the antireligious campaign of the Soviet Government.
The Trinity [Troitskaya] Square, furthermore, is the oldest administrative centre of St. Petersburg. Peter the Great, Zuzanna Bogumil reminds us, established the city and commanded that it develop, no matter what the human cost. Therefore, the Solovki Stone also epitomises the problem throughout Russian history of the inhuman treatment people have received.
## History
### 20th century—1961–1998
The idea of commemorating the victims of Soviet repression was first publicly proposed in October 1961 at the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. When Nikita Khrushchev's program of De-Stalinisation ended in 1964, however, such a concept was abandoned and in the post-Khrushchev era political dissidents were once again repressed. The idea persisted among Soviet dissidents during the 1970s. In the 1980s, during perestroika, the policy of democratization and a relaxation of censorship finally allowed open discussions of the previously forbidden topic of State Terror. At the end of the 1980s, the Memorial society was established. One of its major tasks was to commemorate the victims of political repression. At first it made a start only in Moscow, but after the St. Petersburg branch was founded in 1988 it became an active participant of the society's work.
In June 1989 the Leningrad branch of the Memorial society called on citizens to create a monument in honour of the victims of political repression. As envisioned by the initiators, the monument should also be accompanied by a museum and an archive. Several locations were considered for the future monument: the Levashovo Memorial Cemetery; the Bolshoy Dom, NKVD (and KGB) headquarters in Leningrad; the Kresty Prison; and Troitskaya Square (then called Revolution Square) opposite the Former Political Convicts Residential Home. Memorial invited all citizens to join the discussion of the idea and initiated the fundraising campaign.
On 27 March 1990, the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Congress of People's Deputies announced "an open competition on the best concept, location and design offer of a monument in honour of the victims of Stalin's terror". Troitskaya Square had been chosen as the preferred location. Activists protested and demanded commemoration of all victims of Soviet repression. As a result, on 17 June 1992, the Leningrad City Congress cancelled the competition before it had begun.
Memorial seized the initiative. Instead of the desired monument (which would require serious investments of time and money) a small, temporary sign would be created as a placeholder, the society announced. On 4 September 1990, the last day of an "International Conference on Human Rights" in the city and on the eve of the memorial day for "Victims of the Red Terror" (5 September), a square granite base was installed on Trinity Square. "On this site a monument to the victims of political repression will one day stand," the inscription on its surface read. The base was crowned with a bronze wreath of barbed wire, and words from Akhmatova's Requiem ("I Would like to recall them all by name") were engraved on the south edge of the base. it was designed by the artist Dmitry Bogomolov.
On 1 October 1990, the Leningrad authorities started a new round of the project competition in motion.
This time it considered the demand to widen the monument's message to "condemn all violence and illegality, neglection of political and any other intolerance" without reference to specific historical events. The panel of judges was headed by two persons directly affected by the Red Terror: artist Andrei Mylnikov, whose father was executed in 1918, and art expert Dmitry Likhachov, a survivor of the Solovki camp. In spring 1991, the entries were displayed in the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. On 3 June 1991, the jury discussed them and selected the proposal of Dmitry Bogomolov which depicted a bronze human figure, crushed and crucified between four rocks. The lettering on the rocks was a record of political campaigns of repression in Petrograd-Leningrad. Soon the city administration lost interest, however, and the competition was cancelled.
In 1995–1996 with the help from the Mayor of Saint Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, other memorials to the "victims of political repression" were unveiled in the city: Mihail Chemiakin's "Metaphysical Sphinxes" on the bank of the Neva opposite the Kresty Prison, and the "Moloch of Totalitarianism" by the entrance to the Levashovo Memorial Cemetery. Both were widely criticized by activists and former political prisoners: the message of the monuments was unclear, they said, so was the depiction of evil and violence. In 1996, the municipal authorities announced that they would build a memorial monument based on the ideas of Edward Zaretsky, a Leningrad-based sculptor and a member of local Jewish community. Zaretsky founded the Tsayar artistic association and went on to create such monuments as that to "Jews who fell victim to political repression" (1997) at the Levashovo Memorial Cemetery. In 1998, Memorial's co-founder Veniamin Joffe publicly criticized the city administration for ignoring the future monument's location during the reburial ceremony of the remains of the last Romanovs, even though the procession passed through Troitskaya Square.
For over ten years the city authorities back-pedalled over the proposal. Memorial's wish for a grander monument vanished after the 1998 Russian financial crisis: many similar initiatives across the country then met the same fate. In the late 1990s, the bronze wreath was stolen from the pedestal by vandals.
### 21st century—2002
At the turn of the new millennium, Memorial renewed its efforts to create a monument. The socio-political climate in Russia was again hardly amenable: the country's new president Vladimir Putin was an officer of the KGB. Certain activists did not believe that the St Petersburg authorities would permit construction of the monument. Veniamin Joffe decided, nevertheless, to follow the example of Arkhangelsk and Moscow and requested permission to install a boulder from the Solovki Archipelago. After Joffe's untimely death in 2002 his widow Irina Flige took up the task.
On behalf of Memorial she wrote to the city administration, formulating the main points of the future monument in her letter:
> "The commemoration of the victims of political repression is inseparable from zero tolerance towards any form of ideological violence and political terror. There should be no features associated with evil and death about the monument, of tyranny over the human soul. The absolute political terror which arose throughout all our Soviet history resulted in the deaths of people of various confessions: Orthodox Christians, Muslims, practising Jews, Baptists, and even atheists. For that reason the monument should be non-sectarian. In light of the above, we consider a granite boulder from the Solovki Islands to be the best option, using the present square granite memorial base as a pedestal. The Solovki concentration camp symbolizes the Gulag in the history of our country. The Solovki Stone will become a decent memorial to those whom we lost to indiscriminate terror".
In March 2001, the monument was included in the programme for the tercentenary celebrations of the founding of Saint Petersburg but received no budget allocation.
Petersburg's Solovki Stone was designed by artists Yuly Rybakov and Yevgeny Ukhnalyov (the latter devised Russia's national coat of arms). Both had suffered political repression during the Soviet period. The monument was funded by donations, mostly from former political prisoners and their families. NGOs such as Memorial and Civil Control [grazhdanskaya kontrol], and the Union of Right Forces political party, made substantial contributions. During their expedition to Solovki to select a suitable boulder Rybakov, Ukhnalyov and Flige found a massive granite slab near the former Savvatyev Skethe (hermitage). Transporting the hefty 10,400 kilograms [22,900 lb] boulder to St. Petersburg was a challenge but they were assisted by local fishermen and industrial workers and by the staff of the Solovki museum.
The unhewn stone was successfully transported to St. Petersburg where on 4 September 2002 it was installed on the pedestal. Three more inscriptions were added around the four edges of the base. It was 12 years to the day since the base was put in position. The official inauguration took place on 30 October on the Day in Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression, which coincided with the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg. City Governor Vladimir Yakovlev issued Decree No. 2572-pa, making the Solovki Stone city property as of 15 October 2002.
## Public activities and reactions
Every year on 5 September a ceremony remembering and mourning the loss of victims of "Political Repression and the Red Terror" in Soviet Russia takes place near the Solovki Stone. Among other annual demonstrations is "Restoring the Names", reading aloud the names of victims of political repression in Soviet Russia. The Solovki Stone has also become a focus for public gatherings variously devoted to the victims of political terror, memorable dates in Russia's history, human rights initiatives and against violence and xenophobia. Anna Politkovskaya, Natalya Estemirova, Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, Alexei Devotchenko, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Valeriya Novodvorskaya, Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Bukovsky,
`and others have been commemorated here. `
The first Saturday in June is a Day in Remembrance of the Victims of the Petrograd and Leningrad Prisons; it takes place near the Solovki Stone, followed in early August by gatherings to mark the beginning of the Great Terror. On 17 December, the anniversary of the enactment of Stalin's punitive 1933 law against gay people, LGBT activists lay floral tributes on the pedestal of the monument. There are usually protests each year on 20 December, the "Day of Secret Police Workers" [День работника органов безопасности Российской Федерации]. Gatherings in support of those charged in the Bolotnaya Square case, the Network case and other oppressed people have also been held here.
The Solovki Stone in St. Petersburg has been vandalized several times. Within months of its inauguration it was daubed with swastikas and comments such as "not enough were killed", "slaves", etc. The attacks were repeated in 2003, 2007, 2012, and 2013. In 2013, for the first time, the issue of liability for the monument's condition was raised . Finally Petersburg's ombudsman Alexander Shishlov demanded clarification of the monument's status. In 2015 the traditional December Memorial Day was disturbed by people marching beneath portraits of Adolf Hitler. Neither the city administration or the local police intervened and human rights activists concluded that the march was a provocation staged by the city authorities. In 2018 the Last Address civic initiative and the Solovetsky Stone were publicly criticized by nationalist Aleksandr Mokhnatkin. On 30 October 2018, City Governor Alexander Beglov laid flowers at the monument.
## See also
- Butovo firing range, Moscow.
- Day in Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression. Annual event in Russia (30 October) commemorating the Soviet era.
- Levashovo Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg.
- Mass graves in the Soviet Union
- political repression in the USSR
- Solovetsky Stone, Moscow.
## Comments
Information under Location of the Solovetsky Stone has erroneously listed buildings in St Petersburg instead of Moscow. |
21,845,408 | Blaine Anderson | 1,173,272,112 | Fictional character from the Fox series Glee | [
"Fictional LGBT characters in television",
"Fictional gay men",
"Fictional pianists",
"Fictional singers",
"Glee (TV series) characters",
"Male characters in television",
"Teenage characters in television",
"Television characters introduced in 2010"
]
| Blaine Devon Anderson is a fictional character from the American musical comedy-drama television series Glee. Played by Darren Criss, Blaine was introduced in the sixth episode of the second season as the openly gay lead singer of the Dalton Academy Warblers, a rival show choir to New Directions, the show's primary musical group. Blaine initially served as a mentor for New Directions member Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer). Chemistry between the two, combined with fan support for the couple, led series co-creator Ryan Murphy to pair them romantically. Their relationship has been well received by critics, and they have been named "the most beloved TV couples of the millennium" by Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post. At the beginning of the third season, Blaine transfers to McKinley High and joins New Directions; concurrently, Criss was promoted from recurring guest star to the show's main cast.
Criss auditioned for Glee several times before being cast as Blaine, including for the lead role of Finn Hudson. He believed he would be ill-suited to that character, but identifies with Blaine, having been raised among the "gay community". He plays Blaine as charismatic and confident, and finds his youthful self-acceptance a fitting counterpoint to common media portrayals of gay characters.
As the Warblers' lead vocalist and subsequent New Directions member, Blaine has performed a number of songs on the television series. His first, a cover version of "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry, became the fastest-selling Glee single, reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified gold in the U.S. Tracks by the Warblers have sold over 1.3 million copies. The songs became popular enough to warrant a Warbler soundtrack album, Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers. Blaine has received mostly positive reviews from critics; Criss has been awarded a Rising Star accolade from the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association for his portrayal. While the Blaine–Kurt ("Klaine") relationship has been met with acclaim, an episode storyline in which Blaine questioned his sexuality attracted negative reviews for undermining his previous characterization as a confident gay teenager.
## Storylines
### Season 2
Blaine Anderson is introduced in the episode "Never Been Kissed" as the lead soloist of the Dalton Academy Warblers a cappella musical group. He meets Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), a member of the rival glee club New Directions. When Kurt asks if Blaine is gay, Blaine matter-of-factly says he is; Kurt tells Blaine that he is being bullied at school for being gay, and Blaine reveals that he too was harassed at his old school, so he transferred to Dalton Academy, which enforces a no-bullying policy. Blaine befriends Kurt, and helps him stand up to his tormentor, Dave Karofsky (Max Adler). When the threats and violence against Kurt reach a dangerous level, he transfers to Dalton Academy. He falls in love with Blaine, who is initially oblivious to Kurt's feelings even as their friendship grows. Blaine enlists Kurt's help to serenade his crush Jeremiah (Alexander Nifong), the assistant manager at a local Gap store. Jeremiah is subsequently fired and rebuffs Blaine. Kurt confesses his feelings, and Blaine tells Kurt that he cares for him, but is terrible at romance and does not want to risk damaging their friendship.
Kurt and Blaine attend a party hosted by New Directions co-captain Rachel Berry (Lea Michele). The attendees play spin the bottle, which results in Rachel and Blaine kissing. In the aftermath, Blaine wonders whether he might be bisexual, and goes on a date with Rachel. When she kisses him again while they are both sober, he concludes that he is indeed gay, which relieves Kurt.
After learning of Kurt’s ignorance of sexual matters, Blaine visits Kurt's father, Burt (Mike O'Malley), and prompts him to give Kurt "the talk" about sex. As the Warblers prepare to perform at the Regional show choir competition, Kurt admits that he is jealous of how many solos Blaine gets. At a subsequent group meeting, Kurt arrives late and announces that the group's mascot canary is dead; he sings "Blackbird" in honor of the bird. While Kurt is singing, Blaine has a revelation, and later tells Kurt that he reciprocates his feelings and kisses him. At Regionals, the two sing a duet of "Candles" by Hey Monday. The Warblers lose to New Directions, but while Kurt is very disappointed, Blaine tells him that even though they lost, in reality, they won each other which makes losing Regionals worth it. After Kurt transfers back to McKinley, he invites Blaine to be his date at his junior prom in "Prom Queen"; both are shocked when Kurt wins Prom Queen due to having received an overwhelming number of unwanted write-in votes in the secret balloting. Karofsky, the Prom King, leaves to avoid dancing with a guy in the traditional dance between King and Queen, and Kurt dances with Blaine instead. After Kurt returns from Nationals in New York, he and Blaine admit their love for one another.
### Season 3
In the first episode of the third season, "The Purple Piano Project", Blaine transfers to McKinley High at the beginning of his junior year to be closer to Kurt, who is a senior, and joins New Directions. He later auditions for the role of Bernardo in the school musical West Side Story, so as not to compete against Kurt who wants to play the male lead, Tony, but is cast as Tony himself. In the episode "The First Time", Blaine is pursued by Sebastian Smythe (Grant Gustin), a new Dalton Academy Warbler. Kurt and Blaine meet up with Sebastian at a gay bar, Blaine gets drunk, and afterward tries to get Kurt to have sex with him in the car. Kurt refuses, they have a fight, and Blaine decides to walk home. After the West Side Story opening night, they apologize to each other, and decide to go to Blaine's house. They are later shown in bed together, apparently having just had sex for the first time. When New Directions and the Warblers informally compete in "Michael" to determine which club can perform Michael Jackson's music at the upcoming show choir Regionals, Sebastian throws a slushie containing rock salt at Kurt, but Blaine interposes himself and is hit in the eye; his cornea is badly scratched and requires surgery. His eye heals, and he is back in time for New Directions to defeat the Warblers at Regionals. Blaine's older brother Cooper (Matt Bomer), a successful actor in commercials, visits Ohio, and the two achieve a rapprochement. Blaine's relationship with Kurt is later strained when Kurt text-flirts with a boy he met while preparing for his NYADA audition, and by Kurt's eagerness to leave for New York after graduation, which would separate the two at least until Blaine graduated the following year. The two patch things up, the glee club wins at Nationals, and the pair is still a couple at the end of the school year, though Blaine is still uneasy about the prolonged physical separation facing them.
### Season 4
In the first episode of the fourth season, "The New Rachel", Blaine becomes the lead singer of New Directions and successfully prompts Kurt to follow his New York City dreams. In addition, Blaine successfully runs for senior class president with Sam (Chord Overstreet), and the two subsequently develop a friendship. Kurt inadvertently pulls away from Blaine due to his Vogue.com internship; distraught and feeling isolated from his friends, Blaine cheats on Kurt. After confessing to Kurt of his infidelity, Kurt severs all ties. New Directions' Nationals trophy is stolen by Hunter Clarington (Nolan Gerard Funk), the new captain of the Dalton Academy Warblers. When Blaine goes to Dalton Academy to retrieve it, Hunter and Sebastian attempt to seduce Blaine into returning to the Warblers. Blaine becomes conflicted, believing that he does not belong in New Directions. Sam ultimately convinces him that, despite having done a bad thing to Kurt, Blaine is still a good person and an important member of New Directions.
Kurt begins to mend their relationship in "Thanksgiving", just before New Directions loses at Sectionals to the Warblers, and they spend Christmas together in New York City. Though he and Kurt continue to be on good terms, Blaine finds himself developing a crush on his best friend, Sam, which he knows will come to nothing as he knows Sam is not gay; the two of them team up to find evidence that the Warblers cheated at Sectionals, which means New Directions will be competing at Regionals. He ends up going to the Sadie Hawkins dance with Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), who has developed a crush on him, but as friends only. When Kurt comes to Lima for the wedding of glee club director Will (Matthew Morrison) and Emma (Jayma Mays)—which Emma flees—he and Blaine make out beforehand, and sleep together afterward, though they do not resume a permanent relationship.
Blaine had briefly joined the Cheerios when it looked like New Directions would be disbanding after their Sectionals loss, and cheerleading coach Sue (Jane Lynch) blackmails Blaine into rejoining; Blaine and Sam hatch up a plan to bring Sue down from the inside. Blaine eventually confesses to Sam that he has feelings for him, to which Sam assures him that he is somewhat flattered by Blaine's honesty and attraction, and that it would not change the fact that Blaine is still Sam's best friend. Blaine still loves Kurt and asks Burt for his permission to propose to Kurt, but Burt tells him they're too young to marry, and advises him to wait. Blaine remains determined, however, and while shopping for a ring, he meets Jan (Patty Duke), a lesbian jeweler who has been with her partner Liz (Meredith Baxter) for over thirty years. Jan offers to be a mentor to him, and Blaine and Kurt later have dinner with Jan and Liz, where Jan and Liz explain how their relationship evolved over the years and their experience with the growing mainstream acceptance of gay people. New Directions wins at Regionals, and Will and Emma get married immediately afterward, with the glee club, plus some graduates including Kurt, in attendance. Blaine is shown, after the ceremony is over, holding a jewelry box behind his back.
### Season 5
In the season premiere, "Love Love Love", Blaine and Kurt agree to be boyfriends again. Blaine still wants to marry Kurt, and stages an elaborate and successful marriage proposal at Dalton Academy where he and Kurt first met, accompanied by New Directions, and all their rival show choir groups, including the Warblers. He auditions for NYADA and is accepted. New Directions comes in second at Nationals, and is disbanded by Sue for not being champions. Blaine graduates as class valedictorian, and then moves to New York to be with Kurt. They start off living together, but though they remain engaged, Blaine ultimately moves out because the two of them realize they still need their own space. The relationship between them goes through rocky patches to include: Blaine's insecurity when Kurt becomes popular at school, as well as the time when an influential socialite and NYADA supporter hears Blaine perform, takes an interest in his future career while being thoroughly unimpressed with Kurt. The woman even tries to split them up. In the end, she fails in her efforts and eventually supports them as a couple. Their engagement is strengthened by having weathered these storms, and Blaine moves back in with Kurt.
### Season 6
Blaine returns to Lima after Kurt ended their engagement, having become so despondent that his schoolwork suffered and he was cut by NYADA. He becomes the coach of the Dalton Academy Warblers, and begins dating Dave Karofsky after a chance encounter at the local gay bar. Kurt, having realized he still loves Blaine and regretting that he ended the engagement, arranges for his NYADA off-campus semester to be in Lima, helping Rachel to coach a reinstated New Directions—Will had left McKinley High to coach Vocal Adrenaline. Unfortunately, by the time he arrives, Blaine and Karofsky are already a couple, and there is further strain between Kurt and Blaine as coaches of rival show choirs. In "The Hurt Locker, Part Two", Sue, who "ships Klaine" and is desperate for Kurt and Blaine to reunite, locks them both in a fake elevator and refuses to let them leave until they kiss. After resisting for a great many hours, Blaine and Kurt share a passionate kiss, but do not reunite afterward. In "Transitioning", Blaine sings a duet with Kurt, "Somebody Loves You", and afterward, kisses Kurt. The following day, Blaine, knowing that he is still in love with Kurt, breaks up with Karofsky; however, Kurt is still seeing an older man, Walter. In "A Wedding", Kurt tells Walter that he is going to Brittany and Santana's wedding with Blaine, not him, and on Walter's advice, returns to Blaine; the two again become a couple. At the wedding, Brittany insists that Kurt and Blaine get married alongside her and Santana. Though skeptical at first, Kurt and Blaine agree and get married, with Burt officiating the joint ceremony. Dalton Academy burns down in "The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester", and the Warblers who transfer to McKinley are accepted into New Directions, with Blaine joining Rachel and Kurt as the coaches of the combined glee club. In the series finale, "Dreams Come True", after New Directions wins Nationals, Blaine and Kurt leave for New York, with Blaine attending NYU and Kurt returning to NYADA along with a reinstated Rachel. The episode jumps ahead to 2020, and Blaine and Kurt are shown to be actors and a celebrity married couple; they also visit schools to entertain and talk about acceptance. Rachel, who is married to Jesse, is pregnant with Blaine and Kurt's child.
## Development
### Casting and creation
Blaine is portrayed by actor Darren Criss, who had auditioned for Glee several times for various different roles before the character Blaine was created. He originally auditioned to play Finn Hudson. Criss made several audition videos for Glee, of which he posted only one to the social networking website MySpace where he sang a cover of Bill Withers' song "Lean on Me". Although the series writers have seen them, he considers them supplemental to his main audition, which was for series creator Ryan Murphy. Murphy had not seen any of Criss's previous auditions, but knew he was the right actor for Blaine as soon as he saw this one. The actor cut his long hair before auditioning, to suit the "serious and preppy" role.
Prior to the production of season two, rumors circulated that upcoming episodes would feature a love interest for Kurt. Initial fan and media speculation suggested that Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) was created to fill this role; however, according to Overstreet, Sam's storyline quickly paired him with Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) as a result of the chemistry the producers detected between him and Agron. In September 2010, it was confirmed that Criss would join the show in a "much-talked-about new gay role". Media speculation suggested that Blaine would be Kurt's new love interest. His original character description was: "a cute and charismatic gay student from a rival Glee club named the Dalton Academy Warblers—will maintain a strictly platonic friendship with McKinley High's most out and proud pupil. But could that change as the season progresses? Yes, it could." Murphy stated that Blaine's arc would be a significant one. He explained, "He sort of becomes Kurt's mentor and then maybe love [...] Kurt really admires him and respects him."
Following his first few appearances, it was reported that Criss had been confirmed as a series regular for the remainder of season two and for season three of Glee. This was based on comments by Murphy, who said: "Darren has become such a sensation in one week, which I love. I think there's a hunger for him and a positive relationship role model. He’ll definitely continue through the year and longer." However, the actor later denied that his role had been upgraded and said: "It's never really been officially confirmed to me. I think the option is there and that they want to keep Blaine around." Murphy revealed that Blaine may join New Directions during the third season. Criss hoped that this would not come to pass, as he enjoys being at Dalton Academy, but conceded: "it's not my call. I'm happy to serve whatever story they want." For the third season of Glee, Criss was promoted to a series regular, and Blaine did join New Directions when he transferred to McKinley High to be with Kurt.
### Characterization
Upon Blaine's first appearance, Criss described his character as being a "very charismatic, put-together, composed guy." He stated that although Blaine is gay, he is not "overly queeny, and not too butch either," and that while his sexuality is a "huge part of who he is", it is not a major facet of how he wishes to be perceived. Due to similarities which stem from their shared sexuality, Blaine "sees a lot of himself in Kurt, in terms of experiences and the way they feel about the world around them. He feels the need to impart his knowledge, be a source of strength for him, and really help him through what he's going through." Initially, Criss felt that the most important element of his character was to give Kurt "someone he can relate to", and demonstrate that Kurt could have "a young out male friend, a support system".
Criss discussed his personal connection with Blaine in an interview with Vanity Fair. He explained that he grew up among the "gay community", being with theater performers, so was raised without a concept of sexuality being an issue. Criss stated that, although he identifies as straight, "it really doesn't come into play with me in this role. As an actor, your objective is always to play the scene. And this in case, he happens to be a gay teen." Talk show host and media personality Ellen DeGeneres deemed Blaine "a very confident gay teen, which is something you don't see much on television." However, Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times assessed that "despite the image he projects, he, too, is just a kid trying to figure things out as he goes along." Criss feels that Blaine's confidence is an important aspect of his character, as it is rare for gay teenagers on television to be so "sure of themselves." He hopes that "all the kids struggling with this issue can look to a guy like Blaine and feel [inspired] by his confidence."
### Relationships
The Kurt–Blaine relationship, sometimes referred to by the portmanteau "Klaine" by Glee fans and the media, developed slowly. As the series showrunner, Murphy felt tasked with keeping the two apart as long as possible. He was initially unsure whether the relationship would become a romantic one, and intended to gauge public response to their friendship before planning future developments. He commented, "Part of me thinks he should be the boyfriend, part of me thinks he should just be the mentor. I didn't want to decide that until we got into sort of the middle of the season." In December 2010, Colfer said, "Fans really want it to happen. It's funny how many people want to see these boys hook up. We'll see." Based on the characters' chemistry and the "immediate outcry" from fans who wanted to see them as a couple, Murphy decided to have Blaine become Kurt's love interest. Criss noted: "We all want to see Kurt happy, and like all great love stories, if you have two people that can be together you've got to hold it up."
Considering Blaine and Kurt's potential future together, Murphy planned to treat them the same as all other Glee relationships, by making their pairing "as flawed and as exposed as everyone else's." This sentiment was re-iterated by executive producer Brad Falchuk, after the characters kissed for the first time. He revealed that their relationship would not run smoothly, and observed that once couples start dating, "Everything goes to hell." Colfer suggested that Kurt returning to McKinley may cause difficulties in their relationship, but noted "Distance makes the heart grow fonder, right? That’s what they tell me. So even if they do go through some bumps in the road, it would be very realistic." In a Q&A with Billboard on the day "Born This Way" ran with Kurt's McKinley return, Criss stated that Blaine and Kurt were "in the honeymoon stages" of their relationship, and would still be "at the end of the [second] season".
In a July 2012 interview with E! News, Colfer said, "I would like to do something besides say 'I love you,' and I think Darren [Criss] and I agree on that. We're ready for the next step. They've been together for a while. Let's throw some spice and drama into that." Colfer quipped that he did not know what was in store for the couple, "I hear mixed things. I hear they're still together but then maybe they're breaking up." In September 2012, Criss seconded Colfer, "We're like an old married couple now. Let's shake it up!"
In the second season episode "Sexy", Blaine reveals he has a strained relationship with his father due to his sexuality.
## Musical performances
As Blaine, Criss features in many musical performances, which have been released as singles, available for download. His first performance, "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry, was featured on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 4. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week ending November 27, 2010, and was the best-selling song in the U.S. that week, selling 214,000 copies: the largest figure for a Glee title. It was only the second U.S.-certified gold single in the show's history. Both Billboard's Jillian Mapes and Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone deemed "Teenage Dream" the best song of "Never Been Kissed", the episode in which it featured. The Daily News's Anthony Benigno gave the song an "A", and noted that it was "flawless" and improved on Perry's original. The performance was nominated for the Best Gay Moment of the Year and Favorite Music Video awards at the 2010 AfterElton.com Visibility Awards. A Billboard cover-feature on Criss noted that the performance "arguably ushered in the trend of more current pop hits being reworked by the [Glee] cast."
Later songs performed by Blaine and the Warblers became popular enough to warrant a Warbler soundtrack album, Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers. The tracks had sold over 1.3 million copies as singles by the time the album was released. Blaine performed the lead vocal on covers of Train's "Hey, Soul Sister", which peaked at number 32 in Canada, "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child, which reached number 44 in the U.S., and Robin Thicke's "When I Get You Alone", which got to number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Criss downplayed his performance of "Bills, Bills, Bills", and jested that he ought to issue the group's lead singer, Beyoncé Knowles, an apology for his cover. Blaine also led on "Silly Love Songs" by Wings, and Maroon 5's "Misery", which reached 45 and 52 respectively in the U.S., and Pink's "Raise Your Glass", which peaked at number 30 in Australia.
Blaine duetted with Kurt on Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside", which was included on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album and reached number 53 in Canada. It was reportedly the most downloaded track of the album, and called "by far the gayest thing that has ever been on TV" by Colfer. Murphy expressed his pride in the number for "push[ing] the envelope a bit." Jessica Ronayne of Zap2it called the duet one of the Christmas episode's few saving graces. Blaine and Kurt also duetted on Neon Trees' "Animal" and Hey Monday's "Candles", which peaked at 62 and 71 in the U.S. respectively. In an April 2011 interview, Criss stated that he did not feel established enough within the cast to make song suggestions, but had mentioned liking "Animal" to Murphy, who included it in a script soon thereafter. Blaine shared a duet of "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League with Rachel, which Reiter deemed a musical highlight of the episode "Blame It on the Alcohol". It was included on Glee: The Music, Volume 5, and peaked at number 44 in Australia.
Over the course of the season, Blaine's musical performances leading the Warblers became so prevalent that he was called out for it on-screen. Criss offered the insight: "Blaine definitely had his moment in the sun. I think it's time to focus back on the characters that fans of the show really know and love. Completely objectively from watching the show, I was like, 'Why does Blaine get all these songs? This is ridiculous. I want to hear other people doing stuff.' I think we're focusing a little more back on New Directions and taking a little bit of a break from the Warblers."
In the first episode of season three of Glee, "The Purple Piano Project", Blaine sings "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones when he transfers to McKinley and quits the Warblers for New Directions. After successfully auditioning later in the season for the school's production of West Side Story with "Something's Coming" from the musical, he sings "Tonight" in rehearsal and "One Hand, One Heart" in performance, both with his co-star Rachel. He sings lead or co-lead on several songs with New Directions, including "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"; "Perfect" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" with Kurt; "Control" and "Man in the Mirror" with Artie and others; and his first original song, the duet "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", with Rachel.
In special tribute episode to Michael Jackson, "Michael", Blaine sings "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". Futterman wrote that Blaine's "slick showmanship" made him a "natural for lead vocals", and TVLine's Michael Slezak called it "the best use of Darren Criss' voice on Glee in quite some time" and gave it an "A−". Entertainment Weekly's Joseph Brannigan Lynch also gave it an "A−", and said Criss "captured the excitement and the spunky bravado of the original". MTV's Kevin P. Sullivan was another fan of "the sheer awesomeness of Darren Criss" on the song, and characterized it as "a tribute that's more respectful than any other in the episode". In the fourteenth episode of the third season, "On My Way", Blaine performs "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant, which is sung during the Dave Karofsky suicide sequence. Futterman said Blaine "flawlessly deliver[ed] the vocal". Lynch called it a "chilling rendition" that was "hard to shake" and gave it an "A−", the same grade given by Slezak, who wrote, "taken on its own, Blaine's vocal was strong and passionate—perhaps better than the original". Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle said it was the "best" of the episode, and added that the "scene was really, really well done and carried maximum emotional punch". In the following episode, "Big Brother", Blaine shares a duet of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" with his brother Cooper (Matt Bomer). Crystal Bell of HuffPost TV called it the "highlight of the episode", and it was Hankinson's favorite performance: "Bomer and Criss did a fantastic job bringing it to life". Futterman said that "it was initially disconcerting to envision" two brothers singing about a "former love", but she noted that it "was less weird in context". In its first week, the cover sold 152,000 digital downloads in the US, and was number twenty-six on the Billboard Hot 100.
## Reception
Blaine has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Ellen DeGeneres praised Criss's portrayal, and described him as one of Glee's breakout stars. Entertainment Weekly named him one of the breakout stars of 2010, with the comment: "It took about 2 minutes and 11 seconds on Glee for Darren Criss to turn into a bona fide Gleek phenomenon. [...] And it doesn't hurt that his character Blaine's warm relationship with the show's other openly gay character, Chris Colfer's Kurt, continues to resonate with fans." In November 2010, the publication also named Criss the series' best guest-star to date, and praised him for "seamlessly entering the fold with his charm and great voice." Ronayne deemed him "a much better addition to the show than Chord Overstreet". Following his Glee debut, Criss won the We're Wilde About You Rising Star Award at the 2011 Dorian Awards, presented by the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association. He also won the 2011 Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Star.
Indecision over his sexuality in the episode "Blame It on the Alcohol" drew some negative reviews of Blaine. Reiter noted that, "So much of Blaine's charm has been his certainty about who he is." Though she found his subplot with Rachel "fun", she commented: "Blaine's overwrought speech in the coffee shop after Rachel asks him out just felt off-key. Saying 'bye' to the Blaine sexual-confusion storyline wouldn't make us angry at all." Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club also criticised the storyline, which, she wrote, "seemed like it might be an interesting, complicated look at teenage sexuality and how it can seem formed but might be more fluid than most teens would give it credit for, then lost its nerve and took the easy way out." AfterElton.com's Chris O'Guinn felt that the only aspect of the storyline handled acceptably was Blaine questioning whether he was bisexual, rather than outright straight. He criticized the shallow examination of his feelings, and wrote: "Bisexuality is such a contentious issue that it should not be fumbled this way. For a character to say 'maybe I'm bi' in one scene and then the next say, 'nope, definitely gay' is almost cruel in how dismissive it is toward bisexuals by trivializing the intense confusion that many bisexual people feel in coming to terms with their orientation." In a more positive review, Canning opined that Blaine and Kurt's conversation about sexuality was "great". He was "glad it wasn't an easy talk for either of them" and said that it "felt very real for kids in this situation."
Blaine and Kurt's relationship has been generally well received. They were named Favorite TV Couple at the 2010 AfterElton.com Visibility Awards, and have been lauded for "leading the way" in representing gay teenagers on television by Entertainment Weekly. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post referred to them as "one of the most beloved TV couples of the millennium". When they "finally solidified what their relationship actually is" in the episode "Silly Love Songs", IGN's Robert Canning noted that his opinion of Blaine improved. He commented: "I love that the [serenading of Jeremiah] blew up in Blaine's face. The character has always come off to me as annoyingly arrogant, but "Silly Love Songs" humanized the guy. Guess I may have to like him now." Their first kiss, in the episode "Original Song", was met with critical acclaim. Mark Perigard of The Boston Herald wrote, "It was utterly, sweetly romantic, and Criss sold the hell out of the moment. It's long overdue and it will silence the growing legion of critics out there who were unhappy with the pace of this story." Entertainment Weekly's Mandi Bierly was so impressed with the scene that she was initially concerned it may be a dream sequence, "because we don't get romantic, unapologetic first kisses like that between young gay characters on network TV." She wrote, "Relationships aren't easy. They’ll make mistakes. But if they stay true to themselves, and continue to be as open and honest with each other, we're in for something special." Kevin Fallon of The Atlantic thought the kiss was "sweet", and stated that he was pleased that it attracted no controversy whatsoever. Aly Semigran of MTV praised the interaction between Blaine and Kurt. She called the kiss scene a "sweet, real and, shockingly, un-hyped moment", and praised Criss and Colfer for "handl[ing] it with dignity and honesty".
While Lesley Goldberg of The Hollywood Reporter was pleased Blaine's season three transfer to McKinley in the first episode increased Criss' screen time with Colfer and the New Directions cast, she stated that the move "screams of co-dependency." In contrast, Entertainment Weekly's Abby West found it romantic, and noted: "Blaine and Kurt, with their budding love and witty, pseudo-urbane ways, are my favorite couple to watch. ... I look forward to hearing [Blaine] sing more, watching him bump up against the insular Glee clubbers, and seeing him show off his non-uniform attire". Several reviewers were unhappy with the second episode's revelation that Blaine was a junior, not a senior like Kurt, as had been implied in the previous season. VanDerWerff wrote that Blaine "seems to have simultaneously gotten younger and had a complete personality transplant over the summer", Billboard's Rae Votta noted "the continuity-bending plot point that he's somehow a Junior and not a Senior like his boyfriend", and Samantha Urban of The Dallas Morning News allowed her exasperation to show: "Oh really, Glee? Blaine's a junior? Blaine's younger than Kurt? Fine. FINE."
Kurt and Blaine make the decision to have sex for the first time in "The First Time" episode; many critics were enthusiastic about the fact that a gay couple was being given such a storyline. Canning said that Kurt and Blaine's "attempts to get a little wild", and "trying to grow up faster than they should", were "the better parts of the episode as they felt the most realistic". Futterman praised their departure from the bar as a "very faithful and honest scene". VanDerWerff and BuddyTV contributor John Kubicek both had issues with Blaine's characterization. The latter asserted that he "just behaves however the writers need him to behave in order for the scene to work", while the former said that Blaine's season three storyline "hasn’t been bad by any means, but it does feel like Darren Criss is playing someone who’s quite a bit different from the guy he was playing last season". Bell was impressed by the way the characters' relationship "inspires gay youth in a way that we haven't seen on network television yet" and called them "amazing role models for all teens", and The Atlantic writer Kevin Fallon said it was "remarkable" and a "milestone" that "the decision by gay teen characters to lose their virginities is given equal weight to that of a straight couple".
Discussing public response to his character, Criss stated that he particularly enjoyed comments from "people from parts of the world who are maybe not as exposed to certain ideologies", but had reconsidered their stance on relationships and human rights as a result of the Blaine–Kurt storyline. He called this response "phenomenal", and said: "I was a straight kid growing up in a very gay community and it's something that I've had to watch so many friends have to struggle with and have no place to go to identify in kind of a grander media culture. To be a small piece of that machine is incredibly wonderful." |
602,643 | New World Order (conspiracy theory) | 1,173,770,874 | Conspiracy theory regarding a totalitarian world government | [
"Antisemitic canards",
"Apocalypticism",
"Christian eschatology",
"Conspiracy theories",
"Fictional secret societies",
"Millenarianism",
"World government"
]
| The New World Order (NWO) is a conspiracy theory that hypothesizes a secretly emerging totalitarian world government. The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually achieve world domination and rule the world through an authoritarian one-world government—which will replace sovereign nation-states—and an all-encompassing propaganda whose ideology hails the establishment of the New World Order as the culmination of history's progress. Many influential historical and contemporary figures have therefore been alleged to be part of a cabal that operates through many front organizations to orchestrate significant political and financial events, ranging from causing systemic crises to pushing through controversial policies, at both national and international levels, as steps in an ongoing plot to achieve world domination.
Before the early 1990s, New World Order conspiracism was limited to two American countercultures, primarily the militantly anti-government right, and secondarily the part of fundamentalist Christianity concerned with the eschatological end-time emergence of the Antichrist. Academics who study conspiracy theories and religious extremism, such as Michael Barkun and Chip Berlet, observed that right-wing populist conspiracy theories about a New World Order not only had been embraced by many seekers of stigmatized knowledge but also had seeped into popular culture, thereby fueling a surge of interest and participation in survivalism and paramilitarism as many people actively prepare for apocalyptic and millenarian scenarios. These political scientists warn that mass hysteria over New World Order conspiracy theories could eventually have devastating effects on American political life, ranging from escalating lone-wolf terrorism to the rise to power of authoritarian ultranationalist demagogues.
## History of the term
### General usage (pre-Cold War)
During the 20th century, political figures such as Woodrow Wilson and Winston Churchill used the term "new world order" to refer to a new period of history characterized by a dramatic change in world political thought and in the global balance of power after World War I and World War II. The interwar and post-World War II period were seen as opportunities to implement idealistic proposals for global governance by collective efforts to address worldwide problems that go beyond the capacity of individual nation-states to resolve, while nevertheless respecting the right of nations to self-determination. Such collective initiatives manifested in the formation of intergovernmental organizations such as the League of Nations in 1920, the United Nations (UN) in 1945, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, along with international regimes such as the Bretton Woods system and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), implemented to maintain a cooperative balance of power and facilitate reconciliation between nations to prevent the prospect of another global conflict. These cosmopolitan efforts to instill liberal internationalism were regularly criticized and opposed by American paleoconservative business nationalists from the 1930s on.
Progressives welcomed international organizations and regimes such as the United Nations in the aftermath of the two World Wars, but argued that these initiatives suffered from a democratic deficit and were therefore inadequate not only to prevent another world war but to foster global justice, as the UN was chartered to be a free association of sovereign nation-states rather than a transition to democratic world government. Thus, cosmopolitan activists around the globe, perceiving the IGOs as too ineffectual for global change, formed a world federalist movement.
British writer and futurist H. G. Wells went further than progressives in the 1940s, by appropriating and redefining the term "new world order" as a synonym for the establishment of a technocratic world state and of a planned economy, garnering popularity in state socialist circles.
### Usage as reference to a conspiracy (Cold War era)
During the Second Red Scare, both secular and Christian right American agitators, largely influenced by the work of Canadian conspiracy theorist William Guy Carr, increasingly embraced and spread dubious fears of Freemasons, Illuminati and Jews as the alleged driving forces behind an "international communist conspiracy." The threat of "Godless communism", in the form of an atheistic, bureaucratic collectivist world government, demonized as the "Red Menace", became the focus of apocalyptic millenarian conspiracism. The Red Scare came to shape one of the core ideas of the political right in the United States, which is that liberals and progressives, with their welfare-state policies and international cooperation programs such as foreign aid, supposedly contribute to a gradual process of global collectivism that will inevitably lead to nations being replaced with a communistic/collectivist one-world government. James Warburg, appearing before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1950, famously stated: "We shall have world government, whether or not we like it. The question is only whether world government will be achieved by consent or by conquest."
Right-wing populist advocacy groups with a paleoconservative world-view, such as the John Birch Society, disseminated a multitude of conspiracy theories in the 1960s claiming that the governments of both the United States and the Soviet Union were controlled by a cabal of corporate internationalists, "greedy" bankers and corrupt politicians who were intent on using the UN as the vehicle to create a "One World Government". This anti-globalist conspiracism fueled the campaign for U.S. withdrawal from the UN. American writer Mary M. Davison, in her 1966 booklet The Profound Revolution, traced the alleged New World Order conspiracy to the establishment of the U.S. Federal Reserve in 1913 by international bankers, whom she claimed later formed the Council on Foreign Relations in 1921 as a shadow government. At the time the booklet was published, many readers would have interpreted "international bankers" as a reference to a postulated "international Jewish banking conspiracy" masterminded by the Rothschild family.
Arguing that the term "New World Order" is used by a secretive global elite dedicated to the eradication of the sovereignty of the world's nations, American writer Gary Allen—in his books None Dare Call It Conspiracy (1971), Rockefeller: Campaigning for the New World Order (1974), and Say "No!" to the New World Order (1987)—articulated the anti-globalist theme of contemporary right-wing conspiracism in the U.S. After the fall of communism in the early 1990s, the de facto subject of New World Order conspiracism shifted from crypto-communists, perceived to be plotting to establish an atheistic world communist government, to globalists, perceived to be plotting to implement a collectivist generally, unified world government ultimately controlled by an untouchable oligarchy of international bankers, corrupt politicians, and corporatists, or the United Nations itself. The shift in perception was inspired by growing opposition to corporate internationalism on the American right in the 1990s.
In his speech, Toward a New World Order, delivered on 11 September 1990 during a joint session of the US Congress, President George H. W. Bush described his objectives for post-Cold War global governance in cooperation with post-Soviet states. He stated:
> Until now, the world we've known has been a world divided—a world of barbed wire and concrete block, conflict, and the cold war. Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the genuine prospect of new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a "world order" in which "the principles of justice and fair play ... protect the weak against the strong ..." A world where the United Nations, freed from cold war stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations.
The New York Times observed that progressives were denouncing this new world order as a rationalization of American imperial ambitions in the Middle East at the time. At the same time conservatives rejected any new security arrangements altogether and fulminated about any possibility of a UN revival. Chip Berlet, an American investigative reporter specializing in the study of right-wing movements in the U.S., wrote that the Christian and secular far-right were especially terrified by Bush's speech. Fundamentalist Christian groups interpreted Bush's words as signaling the End Times. At the same time, more secular theorists approached it from an anti-communist and anti-collectivist standpoint and feared for hegemony over all countries by the United Nations.
### Post–Cold War usage
American televangelist Pat Robertson, with his 1991 best-selling book The New World Order, became the most prominent Christian disseminator of conspiracy theories about recent American history. He describes a scenario where Wall Street, the Federal Reserve System, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission control the flow of events from behind the scenes, constantly nudging people covertly in the direction of world government for the Antichrist.
It has been observed that, throughout the 1990s, the galvanizing language used by conspiracy theorists such as Linda Thompson, Mark Koernke and Robert K. Spear led to militancy and the rise of the American militia movement. The militia movement's anti-government ideology was spread through speeches at rallies and meetings, books and videotapes sold at gun shows, shortwave and satellite radio, fax networks, and computer bulletin boards. It has been argued that it was overnight AM radio shows and propagandistic viral content on the internet that most effectively contributed to more extremist responses to the perceived threat of the New World Order. This led to the substantial growth of New World Order conspiracism, with it retroactively finding its way into the previously apolitical literature of numerous Kennedy assassinologists, ufologists, lost land theorists and—partially inspired by fears surrounding the "Satanic panic"—occultists. From the mid-1990s onward, the amorphous appeal of those subcultures transmitted New World Order conspiracism to a larger audience of seekers of stigmatized knowledge, with the common characteristic of disillusionment of political efficacy.
From the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, Hollywood conspiracy-thriller television shows and films also played a role in introducing a general audience to various fringe, esoteric theories related to New World Order conspiracism—which by that point had developed to include black helicopters, FEMA "concentration camps", etc.—theories which for decades previously were confined to largely right-wing subcultures. The 1993–2002 television series The X-Files, the 1997 film Conspiracy Theory and the 1998 film The X-Files: Fight the Future are often cited as notable examples.
Following the start of the 21st century, and specifically during the late-2000s financial crisis, many politicians and pundits, such as Gordon Brown and Henry Kissinger, used the term "new world order" in their advocacy for a comprehensive reform of the global financial system and their calls for a "New Bretton Woods" taking into account emerging markets such as China and India. These public declarations reinvigorated New World Order conspiracism, culminating in talk-show host Sean Hannity stating on his Fox News program Hannity that the "conspiracy theorists were right". Progressive media-watchdog groups have repeatedly criticized Fox News in general, and its now-defunct opinion show Glenn Beck in particular, for not only disseminating New World Order conspiracy theories to mainstream audiences, but possibly agitating so-called "lone wolf" extremism, particularly from the radical right.
In 2009, American film directors Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel released New World Order, a critically acclaimed documentary film which explores the world of conspiracy theorists—such as American radio host Alex Jones—who vigorously oppose what they perceive as an emerging New World Order. The growing dissemination and popularity of conspiracy theories has also created an alliance between right-wing agitators and hip hop music's left-wing rappers (such as KRS-One, Professor Griff of Public Enemy and Immortal Technique), illustrating how anti-elitist conspiracism can create unlikely political allies in efforts to oppose a political system.
## Conspiracy theories
There are numerous systemic conspiracy theories through which the concept of a New World Order is viewed. The following is a list of the major ones in roughly chronological order:
### End time
Since the 19th century, many apocalyptic millennial Christian eschatologists, starting with John Nelson Darby, have predicted a globalist conspiracy to impose a tyrannical New World Order governing structure as the fulfillment of prophecies about the "end time" in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Ezekiel, the Book of Daniel, the Olivet discourse found in the Synoptic Gospels, 2 Esdras 11:32 and Revelation 13:7. They claim that people who have made a deal with the Devil to gain wealth and power have become pawns in a supernatural chess game to move humanity into accepting a utopian world government that rests on the spiritual foundations of a syncretic-messianic world religion, which will later reveal itself to be a dystopian world empire that imposes the imperial cult of an “Unholy Trinity” of Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. In many contemporary Christian conspiracy theories, the False Prophet will be either the last pope of the Catholic Church (groomed and installed by an Alta Vendita or Jesuit conspiracy), a guru from the New Age movement, or even the leader of an elite fundamentalist Christian organization like the Fellowship, while the Antichrist will be either the President of the European Union, the Caliph of a pan-Islamic state, or even the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Some of the most vocal critics of end-time conspiracy theories come from within Christianity. In 1993, historian Bruce Barron wrote a stern rebuke of apocalyptic Christian conspiracism in the Christian Research Journal, when reviewing Robertson's 1991 book The New World Order. Another critique can be found in historian Gregory S. Camp's 1997 book Selling Fear: Conspiracy Theories and End-Times Paranoia. Religious studies scholar Richard T. Hughes argues that "New World Order" rhetoric libels the Christian faith, since the "New World Order" as defined by Christian conspiracy theorists has no basis in the Bible whatsoever. Furthermore, he argues that not only is this idea unbiblical, it is positively anti-biblical and fundamentally anti-Christian, because by misinterpreting key passages in the Book of Revelation, it turns a comforting message about the coming kingdom of God into one of fear, panic and despair in the face of an allegedly approaching one-world government. Progressive Christians, such as preacher-theologian Peter J. Gomes, caution Christian fundamentalists that a "spirit of fear" can distort scripture and history through dangerously combining biblical literalism, apocalyptic timetables, demonization and oppressive prejudices, while Camp warns of the "very real danger that Christians could pick up some extra spiritual baggage" by credulously embracing conspiracy theories. They therefore call on Christians who indulge in conspiracism to repent.
### Freemasonry
Freemasonry is one of the world's oldest secular fraternal organizations and arose in Great Britain during the 18th century. Over the years, several allegations and conspiracy theories have been directed towards Freemasonry, including the allegation that Freemasons have a hidden political agenda and are conspiring to bring about a New World Order, a world government organized according to Masonic principles or governed only by Freemasons.
The esoteric nature of Masonic symbolism and rites led to Freemasons first being accused of secretly practicing Satanism in the late 18th century. The original allegation of a conspiracy within Freemasonry to subvert religions and governments to take over the world traces back to Scottish author John Robison, whose reactionary conspiracy theories crossed the Atlantic and influenced outbreaks of Protestant anti-Masonry in the United States during the 19th century. In the 1890s, French writer Léo Taxil wrote a series of pamphlets and books denouncing Freemasonry and charging their lodges with worshiping Lucifer as the Supreme Being and Great Architect of the Universe. Despite the fact that Taxil admitted that his claims were all a hoax, they were and still are believed and repeated by numerous conspiracy theorists and had a huge influence on subsequent anti-Masonic claims about Freemasonry.
Some conspiracy theorists eventually speculated that some Founding Fathers of the United States, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, were having Masonic sacred geometric designs interwoven into American society, particularly in the Great Seal of the United States, the United States one-dollar bill, the architecture of National Mall landmarks and the streets and highways of Washington, D.C., as part of a master plan to create the first "Masonic government" as a model for the coming New World Order.
Freemasons rebut these claims of a Masonic conspiracy. Freemasonry, which promotes rationalism, places no power in occult symbols themselves, and it is not a part of its principles to view the drawing of symbols, no matter how large, as an act of consolidating or controlling power. Furthermore, there is no published information establishing the Masonic membership of the men responsible for the design of the Great Seal. While conspiracy theorists assert that there are elements of Masonic influence on the Great Seal of the United States and that these elements were intentionally or unintentionally used because the creators were familiar with the symbols, in fact, the all-seeing Eye of Providence and the unfinished pyramid were symbols used as much outside Masonic lodges as within them in the late 18th century. Therefore, the designers were drawing from common esoteric symbols. The Latin phrase "novus ordo seclorum", appearing on the reverse side of the Great Seal since 1782 and the back of the one-dollar bill since 1935, translates to "New Order of the Ages", and alludes to the beginning of an era where the United States of America is an independent nation-state; conspiracy theorists often mistranslate it as "New World Order".
Although the European continental branch of Freemasonry has organizations that allow political discussion within their Masonic Lodges, Masonic researcher Trevor W. McKeown argues that the accusations ignore several facts. Firstly, the many Grand Lodges are independent and sovereign, meaning they act independently and do not have a common agenda. The points of belief of the various lodges often differ. Secondly, famous Freemasons have always held views that span the political spectrum and show no particular pattern or preference. As such, the term "Masonic government" is erroneous; there is no consensus among Freemasons about what an ideal government would look like.
### Illuminati
The Order of the Illuminati was an Enlightenment-age secret society founded by university professor Adam Weishaupt on 1 May 1776, in Upper Bavaria, Germany. The movement consisted of advocates of freethought, secularism, liberalism, republicanism, and gender equality, recruited from the German Masonic Lodges, who sought to teach rationalism through mystery schools. In 1785, the order was infiltrated, broken up, and suppressed by the government agents of Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, in his preemptive campaign to neutralize the threat of secret societies ever becoming hotbeds of conspiracies to overthrow the Bavarian monarchy and its state religion, Roman Catholicism. There is no evidence that the Bavarian Illuminati survived its suppression in 1785.
In the late 18th century, reactionary conspiracy theorists, such as Scottish physicist John Robison and French Jesuit priest Augustin Barruel, began speculating that the Illuminati had survived their suppression and become the masterminds behind the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. The Illuminati were accused of being subversives who were attempting to orchestrate a revolutionary wave secretly in Europe and the rest of the world to spread the most radical ideas and movements of the Enlightenment—anti-clericalism, anti-monarchism, and anti-patriarchalism—and to create a world noocracy and cult of reason. During the 19th century, fear of an Illuminati conspiracy was a real concern of the European ruling classes, and their oppressive reactions to this unfounded fear provoked in 1848 the very revolutions they sought to prevent.
During the interwar period of the 20th century, fascist propagandists, such as British revisionist historian Nesta Helen Webster and American socialite Edith Starr Miller, not only popularized the myth of an Illuminati conspiracy but claimed that it was a subversive secret society which served the Jewish elites that supposedly propped up both finance capitalism and Soviet communism in order to divide and rule the world. American evangelist Gerald Burton Winrod and other conspiracy theorists within the fundamentalist Christian movement in the United States—which emerged in the 1910s as a backlash against the principles of Enlightenment secular humanism, modernism, and liberalism—became the main channel of dissemination of Illuminati conspiracy theories in the U.S.. Right-wing populists, such as members of the John Birch Society, subsequently began speculating that some collegiate fraternities (Skull and Bones), gentlemen's clubs (Bohemian Club), and think tanks (Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission) of the American upper class are front organizations of the Illuminati, which they accuse of plotting to create a New World Order through a one-world government.
### The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an antisemitic canard, originally published in Russian in 1903, alleging a Judeo-Masonic conspiracy to achieve world domination. The text purports to be the minutes of the secret meetings of a cabal of Jewish masterminds, which has co-opted Freemasonry and is plotting to rule the world on behalf of all Jews because they believe themselves to be the chosen people of God. The Protocols incorporate many of the core conspiracist themes outlined in the Robison and Barruel attacks on the Freemasons and overlay them with antisemitic allegations about anti-Tsarist movements in Russia. The Protocols reflect themes similar to more general critiques of Enlightenment liberalism by conservative aristocrats who support monarchies and state religions. The interpretation intended by the publication of The Protocols is that if one peels away the layers of the Masonic conspiracy, past the Illuminati, one finds the rotten Jewish core.
Numerous polemicists, such as Irish journalist Philip Graves in a 1921 article in The Times, and British academic Norman Cohn in his 1967 book Warrant for Genocide, have proven The Protocols to be both a hoax and a clear case of plagiarism. There is general agreement that Russian-French writer and political activist Matvei Golovinski fabricated the text for Okhrana, the secret police of the Russian Empire, as a work of counter-revolutionary propaganda prior to the 1905 Russian Revolution, by plagiarizing, almost word for word in some passages, from The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu, a 19th-century satire against Napoleon III of France written by French political satirist and Legitimist militant Maurice Joly.
Responsible for feeding many antisemitic and anti-Masonic mass hysterias of the 20th century, The Protocols has been influential in the development of some conspiracy theories, including some New World Order theories, and repeatedly appears in certain contemporary conspiracy literature. For example, the authors of the 1982 controversial book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail concluded that The Protocols was the most persuasive piece of evidence for the existence and activities of the Priory of Sion. They speculated that this secret society was working behind the scenes to establish a theocratic "United States of Europe". Politically and religiously unified through the imperial cult of a Merovingian Great Monarch—supposedly descended from a Jesus bloodline—who occupies both the throne of Europe and the Holy See, this "Holy European Empire" would become the hyperpower of the 21st century. Although the Priory of Sion itself has been exhaustively debunked by journalists and scholars as a hoax, some apocalyptic millenarian Christian eschatologists who believe The Protocols is authentic became convinced that the Priory of Sion was a fulfillment of prophecies found in the Book of Revelation and further proof of an anti-Christian conspiracy of epic proportions signaling the imminence of a New World Order.
Skeptics argue that the current gambit of contemporary conspiracy theorists who use The Protocols is to claim that they "really" come from some group other than the Jews, such as fallen angels or alien invaders. Although it is hard to determine whether the conspiracy-minded actually believe this or are simply trying to sanitize a discredited text, skeptics argue that it does not make much difference, since they leave the actual, antisemitic text unchanged. The result is to give The Protocols credibility and circulation.
### Round Table
During the second half of Britain's "imperial century" between 1815 and 1914, English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician Cecil Rhodes advocated the British Empire reannexing the United States of America and reforming itself into an "Imperial Federation" to bring about a hyperpower and lasting world peace. In his first will, written in 1877 at the age of 23, he expressed his wish to fund a secret society (known as the Society of the Elect) that would advance this goal:
> To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.
In 1890, thirteen years after "his now-famous will," Rhodes elaborated on the same idea: establishment of "England everywhere," which would "ultimately lead to the cessation of all wars, and one language throughout the world." "The only thing feasible to carry out this idea is a secret society gradually absorbing the wealth of the world ["and human minds of the higher-order"] to be devoted to such an object."
Rhodes also concentrated on the Rhodes Scholarship, which had British statesman Alfred Milner as one of its trustees. Established in 1902, the original goal of the trust fund was to foster peace among the great powers by creating a sense of fraternity and a shared world view among future British, American, and German leaders by having enabled them to study for free at the University of Oxford.
Milner and British official Lionel George Curtis were the architects of the Round Table movement, a network of organizations promoting closer union between Britain and its self-governing colonies. To this end, Curtis founded the Royal Institute of International Affairs in June 1919 and, with his 1938 book The Commonwealth of God, began advocating for the creation of an imperial federation that eventually reannexes the U.S., which would be presented to Protestant churches as being the work of the Christian God to elicit their support. The Commonwealth of Nations was created in 1949, but it would only be a free association of independent states rather than the powerful imperial federation imagined by Rhodes, Milner, and Curtis.
The Council on Foreign Relations began in 1917 with a group of New York academics who were asked by President Woodrow Wilson to offer options for the foreign policy of the United States in the interwar period. Originally envisioned as a group of American and British scholars and diplomats, some of whom belonging to the Round Table movement, it was a subsequent group of 108 New York financiers, manufacturers, and international lawyers organized in June 1918 by Nobel Peace Prize recipient and U.S. secretary of state Elihu Root, that became the Council on Foreign Relations on 29 July 1921. The first of the council's projects was a quarterly journal launched in September 1922, called Foreign Affairs. The Trilateral Commission was founded in July 1973, at the initiative of American banker David Rockefeller, who was chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations at that time. It is a private organization established to foster closer cooperation among the United States, Europe, and Japan. The Trilateral Commission is widely seen as a counterpart to the Council on Foreign Relations.
In the 1960s, right-wing populist individuals and groups with a paleoconservative worldview, such as members of the John Birch Society, were the first to combine and spread a business nationalist critique of corporate internationalists networked through think tanks such as the Council on Foreign Relations with a grand conspiracy theory casting them as front organizations for the Round Table of the "Anglo-American Establishment", which are financed by an "international banking cabal" that has supposedly been plotting from the late 19th century on to impose an oligarchic new world order through a global financial system. Anti-globalist conspiracy theorists therefore fear that international bankers are planning to eventually subvert the independence of the U.S. by subordinating national sovereignty to a strengthened Bank for International Settlements.
The research findings of historian Carroll Quigley, author of the 1966 book Tragedy and Hope, are taken by both conspiracy theorists of the American Old Right (W. Cleon Skousen) and New Left (Carl Oglesby) to substantiate this view, even though Quigley argued that the Establishment is not involved in a plot to implement a one-world government but rather British and American benevolent imperialism driven by the mutual interests of economic elites in the United Kingdom and the United States. Quigley also argued that, although the Round Table still exists today, its position in influencing the policies of world leaders has been much reduced from its heyday during World War I and slowly waned after the end of World War II and the Suez Crisis. Today the Round Table is largely a ginger group, designed to consider and gradually influence the policies of the Commonwealth of Nations, but faces strong opposition. Furthermore, in American society after 1965, the problem, according to Quigley, was that no elite was in charge and acting responsibly.
Larry McDonald, the second president of the John Birch Society and a conservative Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives who represented the 7th congressional district of Georgia, wrote a foreword for Allen's 1976 book The Rockefeller File, wherein he claimed that the Rockefellers and their allies were driven by a desire to create a one-world government that combined "super-capitalism" with communism and would be fully under their control. He saw a conspiracy plot that was "international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent."
In his 2002 autobiography Memoirs, David Rockefeller wrote:
> For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents ... to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure—one world if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.
Barkun argues that this statement is partly facetious (the claim of "conspiracy" and "treason") and partly serious—the desire to encourage trilateral cooperation among the U.S., Europe, and Japan; for example — an ideal that used to be a hallmark of the internationalist wing of the Republican Party (known as "Rockefeller Republicans" in honor of Nelson Rockefeller) when there was an internationalist wing. The statement, however, is taken at face value and widely cited by conspiracy theorists as proof that the Council on Foreign Relations uses its role as the brain trust of American presidents, senators and representatives to manipulate them into supporting a New World Order in the form of a one-world government.
In a 13 November 2007 interview with Canadian journalist Benjamin Fulford, Rockefeller countered that he felt no need for a world government and wished for the world's governments to work together and collaborate. He also stated that it seemed neither likely nor desirable to have only one elected government rule worldwide. He criticized accusations of him being "ruler of the world" as nonsensical.
Some American social critics, such as Laurence H. Shoup, argue that the Council on Foreign Relations is an "imperial brain trust" which has, for decades, played a central behind-the-scenes role in shaping U.S. foreign policy choices for the post-World War II international order and the Cold War by determining what options show up on the agenda and what options do not even make it to the table; others, such as G. William Domhoff, argue that it is in fact a mere policy discussion forum which provides the business input to U.S. foreign policy planning. Domhoff argues that "[i]t has nearly 3,000 members, far too many for secret plans to be kept within the group. All the council does is sponsor discussion groups, debates, and speakers. As far as being secretive, it issues annual reports and allows access to its historical archives." However, all these critics agree that "[h]istorical studies of the CFR show that it has a very different role in the overall power structure than what is claimed by conspiracy theorists."
### The Open Conspiracy
In his 1928 book The Open Conspiracy British writer and futurist H. G. Wells promoted cosmopolitanism and offered blueprints for a world revolution and world brain to establish a technocratic world state and planned economy. Wells warned, however, in his 1940 book The New World Order that:
> ... when the struggle seems to be drifting definitely towards a world social democracy, there may still be very great delays and disappointments before it becomes an efficient and beneficent world system. Countless people ... will hate the new world order, be rendered unhappy by the frustration of their passions and ambitions through its advent and will die protesting against it. When we attempt to evaluate its promise, we have to bear in mind the distress of a generation or so of malcontents, many of them quite gallant and graceful-looking people.
Wells's books were influential in giving a second meaning to the term "new world order", which would only be used by state socialist supporters and anti-communist opponents for generations to come. However, despite the popularity and notoriety of his ideas, Wells failed to exert a deeper and more lasting influence because he was unable to concentrate his energies on a direct appeal to intelligentsias who would, ultimately, have to coordinate the Wellsian new world order.
### New Age
British neo-Theosophical occultist Alice Bailey, one of the founders of the so-called New Age movement, prophesied in 1940 the eventual victory of the Allies of World War II over the Axis powers (which occurred in 1945) and the establishment by the Allies of a political and religious New World Order. She saw a federal world government as the culmination of Wells' Open Conspiracy but favorably argued that it would be synarchist because it was guided by the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, intent on preparing humanity for the mystical second coming of Christ, and the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. According to Bailey, a group of ascended masters called the Great White Brotherhood works on the "inner planes" to oversee the transition to the New World Order but, for now, the members of this Spiritual Hierarchy are only known to a few occult scientists, with whom they communicate telepathically, but as the need for their personal involvement in the plan increases, there will be an "Externalization of the Hierarchy" and everyone will know of their presence on Earth.
Bailey's writings, along with American writer Marilyn Ferguson's 1980 book The Aquarian Conspiracy, contributed to conspiracy theorists of the Christian right viewing the New Age movement as the "false religion" that would supersede Christianity in a New World Order. Skeptics argue that the term "New Age movement" is a misnomer, generally used by conspiracy theorists as a catch-all rubric for any new religious movement that is not fundamentalist Christian. By this logic, anything that is not Christian is by definition actively and willfully anti-Christian.
Paradoxically, since the first decade of the 21st century, New World Order conspiracism is increasingly being embraced and propagandized by New Age occultists, who are people bored by rationalism and drawn to stigmatized knowledge—such as alternative medicine, astrology, quantum mysticism, spiritualism, and theosophy. Thus, New Age conspiracy theorists, such as the makers of documentary films like Esoteric Agenda, claim that globalists who plot on behalf of the New World Order are simply misusing occultism for Machiavellian ends, such as adopting 21 December 2012 as the exact date for the establishment of the New World Order to take advantage of the growing 2012 phenomenon, which has its origins in the fringe Mayanist theories of New Age writers José Argüelles, Terence McKenna, and Daniel Pinchbeck.
Skeptics argue that the connection of conspiracy theorists and occultists follows from their common fallacious premises. First, any widely accepted belief must necessarily be false. Second, stigmatized knowledge—what the Establishment spurns—must be true. The result is a large, self-referential network in which, for example, some UFO religionists promote anti-Jewish phobias while some antisemites practice Peruvian shamanism.
### Fourth Reich
Conspiracy theorists often use the term "Fourth Reich" simply as a pejorative synonym for the "New World Order" to imply that its state ideology and government will be similar to Germany's Third Reich.
Conspiracy theorists, such as American writer Jim Marrs, claim that some ex-Nazis, who survived the fall of the Greater German Reich, along with sympathizers in the United States and elsewhere, given haven by organizations like ODESSA and Die Spinne, has been working behind the scenes since the end of World War II to enact at least some principles of Nazism (e.g., militarism, imperialism, widespread spying on citizens, corporatism, the use of propaganda to manufacture a national consensus) into culture, government, and business worldwide, but primarily in the U.S. They cite the influence of ex-Nazi scientists brought in under Operation Paperclip to help advance aerospace manufacturing in the U.S. with technological principles from Nazi UFOs, and the acquisition and creation of conglomerates by ex-Nazis and their sympathizers after the war, in both Europe and the U.S.
This neo-Nazi conspiracy is said to be animated by an "Iron Dream" in which the American Empire, having thwarted the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy and overthrown its Zionist Occupation Government, gradually establishes a Fourth Reich formerly known as the "Western Imperium"—a pan-Aryan world empire modeled after Adolf Hitler's New Order—which reverses the "decline of the West" and ushers a golden age of white supremacy.
Skeptics argue that conspiracy theorists grossly overestimate the influence of ex-Nazis and neo-Nazis on American society and point out that political repression at home and imperialism abroad have a long history in the United States that predates the 20th century. Some political scientists, such as Sheldon Wolin, have expressed concern that the twin forces of democratic deficit and superpower status have paved the way in the U.S. for the emergence of an inverted totalitarianism which contradicts many principles of Nazism.
### Alien invasion
Since the late 1970s, extraterrestrials from other habitable planets or parallel dimensions (such as "Greys") and intraterrestrials from Hollow Earth (such as "Reptilians") have been included in the New World Order conspiracy, in more or less dominant roles, as in the theories put forward by American writers Stan Deyo and Milton William Cooper, and British writer David Icke.
The common theme in these conspiracy theories is that aliens have been among us for decades, centuries or millennia. Still, a government cover-up enforced by "Men in Black" has shielded the public from knowledge of a secret alien invasion. Motivated by speciesism and imperialism, these aliens have been and are secretly manipulating developments and changes in human society to more efficiently control and exploit human beings. In some theories, alien infiltrators have shapeshifted into human form and move freely throughout human society, even to the point of taking control of command positions in governmental, corporate, and religious institutions, and are now in the final stages of their plan to take over the world. A mythical covert government agency of the United States code-named Majestic 12 is often imagined being the shadow government which collaborates with the alien occupation and permits alien abductions, in exchange for assistance in the development and testing of military "flying saucers" at Area 51, in order for United States armed forces to achieve full-spectrum dominance.
Skeptics, who adhere to the psychosocial hypothesis for unidentified flying objects, argue that the convergence of New World Order conspiracy theory and UFO conspiracy theory is a product of not only the era's widespread mistrust of governments and the popularity of the extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs but of the far right and ufologists joining forces. Barkun notes that the only positive side to this development is that, if conspirators plotting to rule the world are believed to be aliens, traditional human scapegoats (Freemasons, Illuminati, Jews, etc.) are downgraded or exonerated.
### Brave New World
Antiscience and neo-Luddite conspiracy theorists emphasize technology forecasting in their New World Order conspiracy theories. They speculate that the global power elite are reactionary modernists pursuing a transhumanist plan to develop and use human enhancement technologies to become a "posthuman ruling caste", while change accelerates toward a technological singularity—a theorized future point of discontinuity when events will accelerate at such a pace that normal unenhanced humans will be unable to predict or even understand the rapid changes occurring in the world around them. Conspiracy theorists fear the outcome will either be the emergence of a Brave New World-like dystopia—a "Brave New World Order"—or the extinction of the human species.
Democratic transhumanists, such as American sociologist James Hughes, counter that many influential members of the United States establishment are bioconservatives strongly opposed to human enhancement, as demonstrated by President Bush's Council on Bioethics's proposed international treaty prohibiting human cloning and germline engineering. Furthermore, he argues that conspiracy theorists underestimate how fringe the transhumanist movement really is.
## Postulated implementations
Just as there are several overlapping or conflicting theories among conspiracists about the nature of the New World Order, so are there several beliefs about how its architects and planners will implement it:
### Gradualism
Conspiracy theorists generally speculate that the New World Order is being implemented gradually, citing the formation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System in 1913; the League of Nations in 1919; the International Monetary Fund in 1944; the United Nations in 1945; the World Bank in 1945; the World Health Organization in 1948; the European Union and the Euro in 1993; the World Trade Organization in 1998; the African Union in 2002, and the Union of South American Nations in 2008 as major milestones.
An increasingly popular conspiracy theory among American right-wing populists is that the hypothetical North American Union and the amero currency, proposed by the Council on Foreign Relations and its counterparts in Mexico and Canada, will be the next milestone in the implementation of the New World Order. The theory holds that a group of shadowy and mostly nameless international elites is planning to replace the federal government of the United States with a transnational government. Therefore, conspiracy theorists believe the borders between Mexico, Canada, and the United States are in the process of being erased, covertly, by a group of globalists whose ultimate goal is to replace national governments in Washington, D.C., Ottawa, and Mexico City with a European-style political union and a bloated E.U.-style bureaucracy.
Skeptics argue that the North American Union exists only as a proposal contained in one of a thousand academic and policy papers published each year that advocate all manner of idealistic but ultimately unrealistic approaches to social, economic, and political problems. Most of these are passed around in their circles and eventually filed away and forgotten by junior staffers in congressional offices. However, some of these papers become touchstones for the conspiracy-minded and form the basis of all kinds of unfounded xenophobic fears, especially during times of economic anxiety.
For example, in March 2009, as a result of the late-2000s financial crisis, the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation pressed for urgent consideration of a new international reserve currency and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development proposed greatly expanding the I.M.F.'s special drawing rights. Conspiracy theorists fear these proposals are a call for the U.S. to adopt a single global currency for a New World Order.
Judging that both national governments and global institutions have proven ineffective in addressing global problems that go beyond the capacity of individual nation-states to solve, some political scientists critical of New World Order conspiracism, such as Mark C. Partridge, argue that regionalism will be the major force in the coming decades, pockets of power around regional centers: Western Europe around Brussels, the Western Hemisphere around Washington, D.C., East Asia around Beijing, and Eastern Europe around Moscow. As such, the E.U., the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the G-20 will likely become more influential as time progresses. The question then is not whether global governance is gradually emerging, but rather how will these regional powers interact with one another.
### Coup d'état
American right-wing populist conspiracy theorists, especially those who joined the militia movement in the United States, speculate that the New World Order will be implemented through a dramatic coup d'état by a "secret team", using black helicopters, in the U.S. and other nation-states to bring about a totalitarian world government controlled by the United Nations and enforced by troops of foreign U.N. peacekeepers. Following the Rex 84 and Operation Garden Plot plans, this military coup would involve the suspension of the Constitution, the imposition of martial law, and the appointment of military commanders to head state and local governments and to detain dissidents.
These conspiracy theorists, who are all strong believers in a right to keep and bear arms, are extremely fearful that the passing of any gun control legislation will be later followed by the abolition of personal gun ownership and a campaign of gun confiscation, and that the refugee camps of emergency management agencies such as FEMA will be used for the internment of suspected subversives, making little effort to distinguish true threats to the New World Order from pacifist dissidents.
Before 2000, some survivalists wrongly believed this process would be set in motion by the predicted Y2K problem causing societal collapse. Since many left-wing and right-wing conspiracy theorists believe that the 11 September attacks were a false flag operation carried out by the United States intelligence community, as part of a strategy of tension to justify political repression at home and preemptive war abroad, they have become convinced that a more catastrophic terrorist incident will be responsible for triggering Executive Directive 51 in order to complete the transition to a police state.
Skeptics argue that unfounded fears about an imminent or eventual gun ban, military coup, internment, or U.N. invasion and occupation are rooted in the siege mentality of the American militia movement but also an apocalyptic millenarianism which provides a basic narrative within the political right in the U.S., claiming that the idealized society (i.e., constitutional republic, Jeffersonian democracy, "Christian nation", "white nation") is thwarted by subversive conspiracies of liberal secular humanists who want "Big Government" and globalists who plot on behalf of the New World Order.
### Mass surveillance
Conspiracy theorists concerned with surveillance abuse believe that the New World Order is being implemented by the cult of intelligence at the core of the surveillance-industrial complex through mass surveillance and the use of Social Security numbers, the bar-coding of retail goods with Universal Product Code markings, and, most recently, RFID tagging by microchip implants.
Claiming that corporations and government are planning to track every move of consumers and citizens with RFID as the latest step toward a 1984-like surveillance state, consumer privacy advocates, such as Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, have become Christian conspiracy theorists who believe spychips must be resisted because they argue that modern database and communications technologies, coupled with point of sale data-capture equipment and sophisticated ID and authentication systems, now make it possible to require a biometrically associated number or mark to make purchases. They fear that the ability to implement such a system closely resembles the Number of the Beast prophesied in the Book of Revelation.
In January 2002, the Information Awareness Office (IAO) was established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying information technology to counter asymmetric threats to national security. Following public criticism that the development and deployment of these technologies could potentially lead to a mass surveillance system, the IAO was defunded by the United States Congress in 2003. The second source of controversy involved IAO's original logo, which depicted the "all-seeing" Eye of Providence atop of a pyramid looking down over the globe, accompanied by the Latin phrase scientia est potentia (knowledge is power). Although DARPA eventually removed the logo from its website, it left a lasting impression on privacy advocates. It also inflamed conspiracy theorists, who misinterpret the "eye and pyramid" as the Masonic symbol of the Illuminati, an 18th-century secret society they speculate continues to exist and is plotting on behalf of a New World Order.
American historian Richard Landes, who specialized in the history of apocalypticism and was co-founder and director of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University, argues that new and emerging technologies often trigger alarmism among millenarians. Even the introduction of Gutenberg's printing press in 1436 caused waves of apocalyptic thinking. The Year 2000 problem, bar codes, and Social Security numbers all triggered end-time warnings which either proved to be false or were no longer taken seriously once the public became accustomed to these technological changes. Civil libertarians argue that the privatization of surveillance and the rise of the surveillance-industrial complex in the United States does raise legitimate concerns about the erosion of privacy. However, skeptics of mass surveillance conspiracism caution that such concerns should be disentangled from secular paranoia about Big Brother or religious hysteria about the Antichrist.
### Occultism
Conspiracy theorists of the Christian right, starting with British revisionist historian Nesta Helen Webster, believe there is an ancient occult conspiracy—started by the first mystagogues of Gnosticism and perpetuated by their alleged esoteric successors, such as the Kabbalists, Cathars, Knights Templar, Hermeticists, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, and, ultimately, the Illuminati—which seeks to subvert the Judeo-Christian foundations of the Western world and implement the New World Order through a one-world religion that prepares the masses to embrace the imperial cult of the Antichrist. More broadly, they speculate that globalists who plot on behalf of a New World Order are directed by occult agencies of some sort: unknown superiors, spiritual hierarchies, demons, fallen angels or Lucifer. They believe that these conspirators use the power of occult sciences (numerology), symbols (Eye of Providence), rituals (Masonic degrees), monuments (National Mall landmarks), buildings (Manitoba Legislative Building) and facilities (Denver International Airport) to advance their plot to rule the world.
For example, in June 1979, an unknown benefactor under the pseudonym "R. C. Christian" had a huge granite megalith built in the U.S. state of Georgia, which acts like a compass, calendar, and clock. A message comprising ten guides is inscribed on the occult structure in many languages to serve as instructions for survivors of a doomsday event to establish a more enlightened and sustainable civilization than the destroyed one. The "Georgia Guidestones" has subsequently become a spiritual and political Rorschach test onto which any number of ideas can be imposed. Some New Agers and neo-pagans revere it as a ley-line power nexus while a few conspiracy theorists are convinced that they are engraved with the New World Order's anti-Christian "Ten Commandments." Should the Guidestones survive for centuries as their creators intended, many more meanings could arise, equally unrelated to the designer's original intention.
Skeptics argue that the demonization of Western esotericism by conspiracy theorists is rooted in religious intolerance but also in the same moral panics that have fueled witch trials in the Early Modern period, and satanic ritual abuse allegations in the United States.
### Population control
Conspiracy theorists believe that the New World Order will also be implemented through human population control to more easily monitor and control the movement of individuals. The means range from stopping the growth of human societies through reproductive health and family planning programs, which promote abstinence, contraception and abortion, or intentionally reducing the bulk of the world population through genocides by mongering unnecessary wars, through plagues by engineering emergent viruses and tainting vaccines, and through environmental disasters by controlling the weather (HAARP, chemtrails), etc. Conspiracy theorists argue that globalists plotting on behalf of a New World Order are neo-Malthusians who engage in overpopulation and climate change alarmism to create public support for coercive population control and ultimately world government. United Nations Agenda 21 is condemned as "reconcentrating" people into urban areas and depopulating rural ones, even generating a dystopian novel by Glenn Beck where single-family homes are a distant memory.
Skeptics argue that fears of population control can be traced back to the traumatic legacy of the eugenics movement's "war against the weak" in the United States during the first decades of the 20th century but also the Second Red Scare in the U.S. during the late 1940s and 1950s, and to a lesser extent in the 1960s, when activists on the far right of American politics routinely opposed public health programs, notably water fluoridation, mass vaccination and mental health services, by asserting they were all part of a far-reaching plot to impose a socialist or communist regime. Their views were influenced by opposition to a number of major social and political changes that had happened in recent years: the growth of internationalism, particularly the United Nations and its programs; the introduction of social welfare provisions, particularly the various programs established by the New Deal; and government efforts to reduce inequalities in the social structure of the U.S. Opposition towards mass vaccinations in particular got significant attention in the late 2010s, so much so the World Health Organization listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019. By this time, people that refused or refused to allow their children to be vaccinated were known colloquially as "anti-vaxxers", though citing the New World Order conspiracy theory or resistance to a perceived population control plan as a reason to refuse vaccination were few and far between.
### Mind control
Social critics accuse governments, corporations, and the mass media of being involved in the manufacturing of a national consensus and, paradoxically, a culture of fear due to the potential for increased social control that a mistrustful and mutually fearing population might offer to those in power. The worst fear of some conspiracy theorists, however, is that the New World Order will be implemented through the use of mind control—a broad range of tactics able to subvert an individual's control of their own thinking, behavior, emotions, or decisions. These tactics are said to include everything from Manchurian candidate-style brainwashing of sleeper agents (Project MKULTRA, "Project Monarch") to engineering psychological operations (water fluoridation, subliminal advertising, "Silent Sound Spread Spectrum", MEDUSA) and parapsychological operations (Stargate Project) to influence the masses. The concept of wearing a tin foil hat for protection from such threats has become a popular stereotype and term of derision; the phrase serves as a byword for paranoia and is associated with conspiracy theorists.
Skeptics argue that the paranoia behind a conspiracy theorist's obsession with mind control, population control, occultism, surveillance abuse, Big Business, Big Government, and globalization arises from a combination of two factors, when he or she: 1) holds strong individualist values and 2) lacks power. The first attribute refers to people who care deeply about an individual's right to make their own choices and direct their own lives without interference or obligations to a larger system (like the government), but combine this with a sense of powerlessness in one's own life. One gets what some psychologists call "agency panic," intense anxiety about an apparent loss of autonomy to outside forces or regulators. When fervent individualists feel that they cannot exercise their independence, they experience a crisis and assume that larger forces are to blame for usurping this freedom.
## Alleged conspirators
According to Domhoff, many people seem to believe that the United States is ruled from behind the scenes by a conspiratorial elite with secret desires, i.e., by a small, secretive group that wants to change the government system or put the country under the control of a world government. In the past, the conspirators were usually said to be crypto-communists who were intent upon bringing the United States under a common world government with the Soviet Union, but the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 undercut that theory. Domhoff notes that most conspiracy theorists changed their focus to the United Nations as the likely controlling force in a New World Order, an idea which is undermined by the powerlessness of the U.N. and the unwillingness of even moderates within the American Establishment to give it anything but a limited role.
Although skeptical of New World Order conspiracism, political scientist David Rothkopf argues, in the 2008 book Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making, that the world population of 6 billion people is governed by an elite of 6,000 individuals. Until the late 20th century, governments of the great powers provided most of the superclass, accompanied by a few heads of international movements (i.e., the Pope of the Catholic Church) and entrepreneurs (Rothschilds, Rockefellers). According to Rothkopf, in the early 21st century, economic clout—fueled by the explosive expansion of international trade, travel, and communication—rules; the nation-state's power has diminished shrinking politicians to minority power broker status; leaders in international business, finance, and the defense industry not only dominate the superclass, but they also move freely into high positions in their nations' governments and back to private life largely beyond the notice of elected legislatures (including the U.S. Congress), which remain abysmally ignorant of affairs beyond their borders. He asserts that the superclass' disproportionate influence over national policy is constructive but always self-interested and that across the world, few object to corruption and oppressive governments provided they can do business in these countries.
Viewing the history of the world as the history of warfare between secret societies, conspiracy theorists go further than Rothkopf, and other scholars who have studied the global power elite, by claiming that established upper-class families with "old money" who founded and finance the Bilderberg Group, Bohemian Club, Club of Rome, Council on Foreign Relations, Rhodes Trust, Skull and Bones, Trilateral Commission, and similar think tanks and private clubs, are illuminated conspirators plotting to impose a totalitarian New World Order—the implementation of an authoritarian world government controlled by the United Nations and a global central bank, which maintains political power through the financialization of the economy, regulation and restriction of speech through the concentration of media ownership, mass surveillance, widespread use of state terrorism, and an all-encompassing propaganda that creates a cult of personality around a puppet world leader and ideologizes world government as the culmination of history's progress.
## Criticism
Skeptics of New World Order conspiracy theories accuse its proponents of indulging in the furtive fallacy, a belief that significant facts of history are necessarily sinister; conspiracism, a world view that centrally places conspiracy theories in the unfolding of history, rather than social and economic forces; and fusion paranoia, a promiscuous absorption of fears from any source whatsoever.
Marxists, who are skeptical of right-wing populist conspiracy theories, also accuse the global power elite of not having the best interests of all at heart, and many intergovernmental organizations of suffering from a democratic deficit, but they argue that the superclass are plutocrats only interested in brazenly imposing a neoliberal or neoconservative new world order—the implementation of global capitalism through economic and military coercion to protect the interests of transnational corporations—which systematically undermines the possibility of international socialism. Arguing that the world is in the middle of a transition from the American Empire to the rule of a global ruling class that has emerged from within the American Empire, they point out that right-wing populist conspiracy theorists, blinded by their anti-communism, fail to see that what they demonize as the "New World Order" is, ironically, the highest stage of the very capitalist economic system they defend.
Domhoff, a research professor in psychology and sociology who studies theories of power, wrote in 2005 an essay entitled There Are No Conspiracies. He says that for this theory to be true, it required several "wealthy and highly educated people" to do things that don't "fit with what we know about power structures". Claims that this will happen go back decades and have always been proved wrong.
Partridge, a contributing editor to the global affairs magazine Diplomatic Courier, wrote a 2008 article entitled One World Government: Conspiracy Theory or Inevitable Future? He says that if anything, nationalism, which is the opposite of a global government, is rising. He also says that attempts at creating global governments or global agreements "have been categorical failures" and where "supranational governance exist they are noted for their bureaucracy and inefficiency."
Although some cultural critics see superconspiracy theories about a New World Order as "postmodern metanarratives" that may be politically empowering, a way of giving ordinary people a narrative structure with which to question what they see around them, skeptics argue that conspiracism leads people into cynicism, convoluted thinking, and a tendency to feel it is hopeless even as they denounce the alleged conspirators.
Alexander Zaitchik from the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote a report titled "'Patriot' Paranoia: A Look at the Top Ten Conspiracy Theories", in which he personally condemns such conspiracies as an effort of the radical right to undermine society.
Concerned that the improvisational millennialism of most conspiracy theories about a New World Order might motivate lone wolves to engage in leaderless resistance leading to domestic terrorist incidents like the Oklahoma City bombing, Barkun writes that "the danger lies less in such beliefs themselves ... than in the behavior they might stimulate or justify" and warns "should they believe that the prophesied evil day had in fact arrived, their behavior would become far more difficult to predict."
Warning of the threat to American democracy posed by right-wing populist movements led by demagogues who mobilize support for mob rule or even a fascist revolution by exploiting the fear of conspiracies, Berlet writes that "Right-wing populist movements can cause serious damage to a society because they often popularize xenophobia, authoritarianism, scapegoating, and conspiracism. This can lure mainstream politicians to adopt these themes to attract voters, legitimize acts of discrimination (or even violence), and open the door for revolutionary right-wing populist movements, such as fascism, to recruit from the reformist populist movements."
Hughes, a professor of religion, warns that no religious idea has greater potential for shaping global politics in profoundly negative ways than "the new world order". He writes in a February 2011 article entitled Revelation, Revolutions, and the Tyrannical New World Order that "the crucial piece of this puzzle is the identity of the Antichrist, the tyrannical figure who both leads and inspires the new world order". This has in turn been the Soviet Union and the Arab world. He says that inspires believers to "welcome war with the Islamic world" and opens the door to nuclear holocaust."
Criticisms of New World Order conspiracy theorists also come from within their own community. Despite believing themselves to be "freedom fighters", many right-wing populist conspiracy theorists hold views that are incompatible with their professed libertarianism, such as Christian dominionism, authoritarian ultranationalism, white supremacy and eliminationism. This paradox has led Icke, who argues that Christian Patriots are the only Americans who understand the truth about the New World Order (which he believes is controlled by a race of reptilians known as the "Babylonian Brotherhood"), to reportedly tell a Christian Patriot group, "I don't know which I dislike more, the world controlled by the Brotherhood or the one you want to replace it with."
## See also
- Anti-globalization movement
- Criticisms of globalization
- Zionist Occupation Government conspiracy theory |
59,812,542 | Wish You Were Gay | 1,173,489,909 | 2019 single by Billie Eilish | [
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| "Wish You Were Gay" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and the fourth single from her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). It was released on March 4, 2019, through Darkroom and Interscope Records. Eilish wrote "Wish You Were Gay" with its producer, her brother Finneas O'Connell, when she was 14 years old. A classic pop track, it incorporates an acoustic guitar, a sound of cracking knuckles as percussion, canned laughter, and an applause from an audience. In the song, she seeks a reason for why a male love interest does not like her back; she hopes that he may be attracted only to men.
Music critics had mixed opinions about its themes. Some liked its relatability and honesty, and others deemed it insensitive. It received backlash from some of Eilish's fans, who interpreted the title and lyrics as an act of queerbaiting. In response, she stated the lyrics were not intended to be offensive to the queer community. About the production, some critics appreciated what they deemed an unconventional yet catchy tune, while some thought that "Wish You Were Gay" took an unsuccessful risk sonically.
The song's commercial performance helped to propel Eilish to mainstream fame. It peaked at number 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and it reached the top 5 of singles charts in Australia, Latvia, Lithuania, and New Zealand. It has received several certifications, including a platinum one from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Throughout 2019, Eilish performed "Wish You Were Gay" in two concerts and three music festivals. She embarked on two world tours in support of When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?—one in 2019 and another in 2020—the set lists for which featured the song.
## Background and release
Billie Eilish wrote "Wish You Were Gay" when she was 14 years old, about a boy in whom she took a romantic interest. She introduced the song and previewed a demo of it to her fans through her Instagram account in July 2018. Eilish explained that the boy did not reciprocate her feelings; she felt distraught that he did not love her back. Seeking a rationale for his disinterest in her, she hoped that he was attracted only to men: "[The song] literally means I wish he was gay so that he didn't like me for an actual reason, instead of the fact that he didn't like me." Some time after songwriting, the boy approached Eilish and came out to her as gay. About the situation, she commented that she "wrote the song and made him fuck a dude. I'm fucking proud bro except not really though because I was really into him, like so into him, he's so hot oh my god." She stated that the lyrics were not meant to be offensive to the queer community.
"Wish You Were Gay" is the fourth single from Eilish's debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). It was released as a single on March 4, 2019. Eilish announced in a press release that for the next 48 hours, a portion of proceeds from her online merchandise store would go to The Trevor Project, a crisis and suicide prevention program for queer children. A supplementary YouTube video accompanied the release, in which Eilish and the song's producer, her brother Finneas O'Connell, broke down the inspiration behind "Wish You Were Gay". She explained: "This was a situation where I was fucking all for this kid, like oh my god. It was the kind of love where everything was thrown out there and nothing was latched onto." The next year, on March 25, Eilish posted to Instagram about the songs that inspired each track from the album. For "Wish You Were Gay", she said that she was inspired by "Body Count" by Jessie Reyez, "Eres Tú" by Carla Morrison, and "Boy" by Anne-Marie.
## Music and lyrics
Music critics classified "Wish You Were Gay" as a pop or classic pop song with influences of jazz music. With a runtime of 3 minutes and 41 seconds, it begins with Eilish's voice over acoustic guitar chords. Later, a rhythm consisting of cracking knuckles appears. Canned laughter and the sound of shouting children play as reactions to some lines she sings. "Wish You Were Gay" closes with a round of applause from the crowd; Jon Pareles from The New York Times considered the song's inclusion of an audience an attempt at highlighting its theatrical elements. During an interview with MTV, Finneas shared that he wanted its production to go a "bombastic, triumphant place". He hoped that by using clapping and stomping noises to create a heavy beat, he was able to give it an "exciting" climax. About the laugh track, he remarked: "I don't really have a justification for that. I just thought it would be cool [...] There's something weird about it."
The song centers on Eilish's frustration around her unreciprocated love for a boy, and she sings about how he often ignores her when she tries to interact. To provide herself a reason for his disinterest, she hopes that he lacks any attraction not just for her, but for all girls. She takes a facetious, self-centered tone in the lyrics; to her, any other reason for her unrequited feelings wounds her ego, so she resorts to an explanation that is easier to accept. Eilish makes jokes about her heartbreak to cope with the situation. She summarized "Wish You Were Gay" in an interview with radio personality Zane Lowe: "it's a selfish song. It's a goofy, selfish joke, you know?" Rob Haskell of Vogue analyzed that by singing "I can't tell you how much I wish I didn't wanna stay", Eilish attempts to maintain an impression of ambivalence about her lack of reciprocation through a double negative. The lyrics incorporate a countdown, shown in lines such as "if three's a crowd and two was us, one slipped away".
## Reception
Some music critics praised "Wish You Were Gay" for what they deemed an unconventional yet catchy production, such as Chloe Gilke of Uproxx, who compared it positively to Eilish's previous works. She commended how Eilish and Finneas used "unexpected vocal flourishes and offbeat sounds" to create, in her view, an "immaculate" tune. Meanwhile, a few considered its production risky but found the risk unsuccessful, saying it caused the album to "stumble" midway through its runtime. Pitchfork's Stacey Anderson favored Eilish's vocals, and journalist Robert Christgau shared similar opinions, calling her voice "tunefully cooed". However, Anderson was less positive about the use of a laugh track and self-centered lyrics.
The song received backlash for its lyrics related to homosexual attraction. Some of Eilish's fans—many of whom were queer—expected her to release a gay anthem or come out as being attracted to women based on the title. Once they found out what "Wish You Were Gay" was about, they criticized it for what they perceived as queerbaiting, which is an act of hinting at the possibility of a same-gender romance but never depicting it explicitly to draw attention. A number of fans were mad at Eilish's remark about making the song's subject "fuck a dude". Others suggested that she was objectifying gay men, while some said that critics were misinterpreting "Wish You Were Gay" or should not have expected it to be for the queer community. Eilish responded to the criticisms, clarifying the meaning of the song and stating that detractors might have missed the point of the lyrics. She reiterated that she sought to portray herself as a "selfish ass" and write as inoffensively as possible, but she expressed understanding that to use the word "gay" in such a manner was insensitive. She also commented that listeners could still interpret "Wish You Were Gay" from a queer character's perspective. Eilish cited how her female friend who was attracted to women liked the song because she felt the lyrics resonated with her experiences with same-gender attraction.
Music critics' reactions to the lyrics were mixed. Many appreciated its relatability in spite of childish or problematic undertones some thought were present within it. Sean Ward for The Line of Best Fit wrote that the song "may be problematic in its desire to change someone's sexual orientation, yet the burning teenage frustrations of unrequited lust are captured exceptionally here". Some were positive about the honest and humorous way Eilish handled her situation; one praised the countdown incorporated in the lyrics as clever. On the other hand, Vulture's Craig Jenkins was unimpressed with the song, of the opinion that Eilish had a "silly" way of dealing with her rejection. A few staff members for Atwood Magazine criticized its central theme as insensitive. One of them acknowledged that Eilish meant no offense with "Wish You Were Gay" but argued that if she knew that homosexuality was a sensitive topic to discuss, she should have thought twice about writing lyrics that could be interpreted as trivializing gay life. The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber countered arguments to this effect. He wrote in a review of When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go: "Eilish isn't shading a guy’s effeminacy; she's just treating sexuality as no big deal by wishing that he had an ulterior motive for rejecting her."
## Commercial performance
"Wish You Were Gay" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart a week after its release, at number 74. After another week, it climbed to number 59, making it Eilish's third song to reach the chart's top 60. On April 13, 2019, 14 of Eilish's songs were on the Billboard Hot 100—"Wish You Were Gay" was one of them. The event made her the female artist with the most simultaneous Billboard Hot 100 entries, until Taylor Swift took the record with all 18 tracks from Lover (2019). "Wish You Were Gay" reached its chart peak that day at number 31, placed at number 84 the previous tracking week. By May, the song acquired over 175 million streams on Spotify. It has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting track-equivalent sales of 1,000,000 units in the US based on sales and streams. "Wish You Were Gay" helped to propel Eilish to mainstream success; in 2021, Billboard ranked it as her 10th biggest song on the Hot 100.
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was released on March 29, 2019. After the album's release, during the start of April 2019, "Wish You Were Gay" jumped from number 42 to its peak of number 13 in the UK Singles Chart. It joined other album tracks "Bad Guy" and "Bury a Friend" in the top 20. In the Irish Singles Chart, where the three songs reached the top 10, "Wish You Were Gay" climbed to a new, all-time peak of number 6. By mid-April, the three were also in the top 10 of the singles chart by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). "Wish You Were Gay" placed at number 9 during that time, and it eventually peaked at number 5 in the chart. The song reached the top 20 in Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, and Sweden.
## Live performances
Eilish went on a concert show in London less than 24 hours after the release of "Wish You Were Gay", performing it alongside songs mostly from her debut extended play titled Don't Smile at Me (2017). She shared a video of the performance to YouTube around a month later on April 30. Eilish also sang "Wish You Were Gay" in a concert she hosted in the Greek Theatre of Los Angeles on July 12, 2019. The song was in the set lists of tours in support of When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?: one in 2019 and another in 2020.
Throughout 2019, Eilish performed "Wish You Were Gay" at three music festivals: Coachella in April, Glastonbury in June, and Pukkelpop in August. She performed the song for an episode of BBC Radio 1, which was set at Maida Vale Studios. During a show for MTV Push, Eilish sang it alongside two other tracks from When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, "Xanny" and "When the Party's Over". "Wish You Were Gay" was one of many songs that Eilish played after receiving Artist of the Year during the first annual Apple Music Awards in December 2019.
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal.
- Billie Eilish – vocals, songwriting
- Finneas O'Connell – songwriting, production
- Rob Kinelski – mixing
- John Greenham – mastering
- Casey Cuayo – assistant mixing
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications |
28,148,496 | Kylie Platt | 1,173,794,043 | Fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street | [
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| Kylie Platt (also Turner) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Paula Lane. She was introduced as Becky McDonald's (Katherine Kelly) half-sister, making her on-screen debut on 26 August 2010. Lane landed the role, with executive producer Phil Collinson describing her as a brilliant casting. He also revealed that Kylie would have "major storylines" during her first six months in the serial. Lane created her approach to her portrayal from her own past experiences whilst growing up. Lane impressed the producers and had her contract extended until July 2012.
Kylie's backstory includes growing up in a broken home, living below the poverty threshold, and weak relationships with her estranged mother and sister. Kylie is characterised through her "full on personality" and has a feisty attitude. She has often been described as a "gobby female" who wants a better life and ultimately she is driven by money. Kylie has a son, Max (Harry McDermott), who was placed into foster care. She had the child at a young age and she was not ready for the responsibility. Becky helps Kylie retrieve custody of Max. In one of her first big storyline arcs, Kylie sells her son to Becky for £20,000. The storyline was branded controversial by media outlets and Lane found it hard to compress her emotions whilst filming the plot. Lane said Kylie's sheer audacity was highlighted when she dared to blackmail her barren sister for more cash.
Kylie remained off-screen for episodic blocks in her first six months. Producers devised a storyline to give her permanent residence on Coronation Street, when she was revealed as the fiancée of David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd). The development was to offer viewers "something new" and both actors have praised their pairing as a positive move. The storyline played the resurgence of Kylie's love of money. Kylie has also engaged in feuds with Gail and Tina McIntyre, played by Helen Worth and Michelle Keegan respectively. Gail's attempt to sabotage her son's wedding to Kylie proved unsuccessful. It was a change in direction for the character, with the lure of money insufficient for her to leave "someone she loves". Lane took maternity leave in late 2014 and Kylie was off-screen from December 2014 until June 2015. In February 2016, Lane announced her decision to leave Coronation Street. She filmed her final scenes as Kylie in June 2016 after producers decided to kill the character off. Kylie was murdered by Clayton Hibbs (Callum Harrison) while trying to protect her friend Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell) in the episode broadcast on 15 July 2016. Lane last appeared as Kylie on 20 July 2016, where she appeared as a corpse.
Kylie has been well received by most critics for her image as a "gobby chav". The general reaction to her pairing with David has also been positive. Lane won Best Newcomer at the 2011 National Television Awards for her portrayal. She also garnered other nominations in awards ceremonies oriented to magazines.
## Storylines
Becky confronts Kylie after a bad reference that she provided to an adoption agency. At first, Kylie pretends that she has a privileged life in order to impress Becky but it soon emerges that she is on the streets. She then moves into the Rovers Return Inn and instantaneously sparks a conflict with Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh). Becky and Steve soon discover that she has a four-year-old son called Max, whose custody she seeks. She sells Steve's motorbike and tries to sleep with him. After visiting Max at the foster parents' home, she takes him home. She sleeps with Gary Windass (Mikey North). Kylie is awarded custody of her son. Later she steals money from the till at Roy's Rolls, and jets off to Cyprus on holiday and leaves Max in Becky's care. She returns a couple of weeks later with a new boyfriend, Demetri. She tells Becky that she has come back to take Max to live in Cyprus, leaving Becky heartbroken. Kylie sees Becky's desperation as she cannot have children and offers to give Max to her in exchange for £20,000. Becky complies and Kylie leaves.
Max goes missing when a tram crashes into Coronation Street. Becky is hysterical with worry, after hours of searching, Kylie turns up at the Rovers revealing that she had Max all along. Kylie reveals that she has already spent the £20,000 in "investments" and that if they want to keep Max, they must pay her an extra £5,000. Becky goes behind Steve's back by stealing the money from Dev Alahan's corner shop. She gives the money to Kylie and tells her that if she goes anywhere near Becky or Max again, she will kill her. Kylie returns as the fiancée of David Platt, whom she met in Tenerife. Kylie enjoys winding his mother Gail up. Kylie is delighted when David's grandmother Audrey agrees to sign her salon over to him. Later after a row with her mother-in-law Liz, Becky attacks and beats up both Kylie and her fiancé David Platt in their own home.
On Kylie's hen night, Gail pays her £1,000 of Nick money to not marry David; Gail thinks that it has worked when Kylie does not arrive for the wedding. Just as Gail is about to tell David that Kylie has "cold feet", Kylie bursts into the room "dressed to the nines" in a red and black dress. She and David get married, much to Gail's and Nick's annoyance, and she becomes Mrs David Platt. She keeps the money that Gail has paid her and tells everyone that it was a gift from Gail to pay for her and David's honeymoon. Kylie admits to social services that Becky and Steve paid her £25,000 to keep Max. She later teases Tina because Graeme Proctor (Craig Gazey) dumped Tina for Xin Proctor (Elizabeth Tan) by playing Japanese music, noting Xin's nationality, and Tina attacks Kylie. David goes on a hairdressing course and Kylie causes trouble for his family. She seduces a random man and begins feuding with Gail. She then blackmails Audrey because her boyfriend Marc Selby (Andrew Hall) is a transvestite.
Kylie changes her attitude and forms friendships with David's family. She gets drunk and sleeps with David's brother, Nick. When David discovers the truth he takes revenge by causing a car crash which leaves Nick with brain damage. When the truth is revealed Kylie throws David out and ends their relationship. David makes an effort to change, then proves to Kylie that he can be trusted and they reconcile. Kylie starts taking painkillers more often and begins taking drugs. Her behaviour becomes increasingly out of control and David confronts her. He issues her an ultimatum that she must choose between her family and drugs. Kylie decides to leave and stops all contact with David and her children. Max's father Callum arrives and demands contact with his son. Kylie returns after months living away wanting to make amends and have access to Max and Lily. David lets her move back in to strengthen his claim to Max and prevent Callum from gaining custody. David later decides to forgive Kylie.
Callum's presence causes countless problems for the Platt family. His court proceedings cause the feud to heighten to violence. He also manipulates David's sister Sarah and gets her daughter Bethany into trouble with drugs. Callum attacks Sarah for framing him for a crime. Kylie hits Callum with a tool and kills him. She, Sarah and David bury Callum in a manhole under their home. They pretend to know nothing about Callum's disappearance and try to continue with their lives. A car crash occurs and a large vehicle smashes into their home leading to the discovery of Callum's body. Kylie and David try to convince Sarah to keep up their pretence and deny all knowledge of his murder. Tony Stewart, who had recently died, is blamed for the murder and David helps manipulate the situation so that police also believe the theory. Kylie decides that she cannot bring her children up in the home she killed Callum. She convinces David to permanently move to Barbados to be with her sister, Becky. To celebrate, Kylie goes to the pub to collect champagne. She hears an argument and decides to investigate. She is shocked to find Gemma being attacked by Clayton and decides to intervene. He reacts by stabbing Kylie and she begins to bleed uncontrollably. David rushes to her aid and an ambulance is called. She acknowledges she is dying and says her goodbyes to David and Gail. David refuses to say his goodbyes as Kylie takes her last breaths and promise David to be a good father to Max. She then dies in David's arms, leaving him devastated.
Six years later when David discover Max actions including spiking a drink at Amy, he believe that he let Kylie down by her promise.
## Creation and casting
Kylie was created as the "tearaway" half-sister of established character Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly). Actress Paula Lane was cast in the role and immediately received praise from executive producer Phil Collinson who described her as "brilliant". Lane has stated she draws inspiration from her own past, as an angle to portray Kylie. Lane's first scenes aired on 26 August 2010. Lane later signed a new contract with the serial, which was later extended and meant Kylie would stay into July 2012.
## Development
### Characterisation
Kylie was initially described as having a "full on" personality, similar to Becky. She was also labelled a "firecracker". Lane described her as a "messed up girl, dragged up by an alcoholic mother". In her life she had to "fight for survival". Lane has also expressed her admiration of Kylie's "comedy". She has also said Kylie is "quite witty" and amid confrontation is "quick off the mark and won't let someone stamp her down." Viewers of the serial later observed Kylie to be as evil as Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford). Lane said that the comparison was taken too far because Kylie has not murdered anyone, although she acknowledged that Kylie comes across as evil. She also stated: "Kylie will be a thorn in Becky and Steve's sides for a long time to come".
Kylie and Becky's characterisation and backstory are similar. Lane felt it was important to portray certain differences between the two. This was to prevent the audience becoming bored through repetition. This was done through Kylie making the opposite choice Becky would make. Lane describes Kylie's redeeming qualities the fact she is "bright and she's a grafter."
### Introduction and selling Max
Upon her introduction, Kylie was described as being a big character in her first six months of storylines. When she arrives she ruins Becky and Steve McDonald's (Simon Gregson) plans for adoption. Kylie and Becky violently clash over the incident, and Lane received bruising from filming the scenes. The scenes were so violent that they were toned down before transmission. Lane said that the fight was her favourite set of scenes for Kylie. Kelly described Kylie and Becky as having a love-hate relationship, but at the time Becky "wants to kill her". Lane also sees Kylie as a "mixed-up girl", stating that she feels sorry for her. Lane herself stated that Kylie loves her sister but "feels resentful" that Becky left home when Kylie was only eight. "Becky was like a mother to Kylie."
It is then revealed that Kylie has a son, Max (Harry McDermott), who is in foster care. Lane said that this happened because Kylie "was drinking with his dad and not looking after him". Kylie loves Max but is too "young and naive" too cope with motherhood. Kylie snatches Max while on a visit; Lane opined it was a spur of the moment decision, but "she couldn't bear to lose him". Becky helps Kylie regain custody of him. The "turning point" in the storyline was attributed to scenes in which Kylie stands up in court and vows to change. Lane said that they were "touching" scenes, which included a rare moment in which Kylie applauds Becky for being "a great sister". Lane stated that when she gets Max back, Kylie takes advantage of Becky. In another storyline Kylie makes a pass at Steve. Gregson who plays him opined that in Kylie's mind she thought "that fat bald guy wants a bit". He also said that Steve was "extremely shocked" but was not interested. Steve decides not to say anything to Becky because he doesn't trust Kylie and knows that she will take Max away from Becky. Gregson said that in Steve's opinion "she's been trouble from the start and he's sure that's not going to change."
Kylie plays on the fact that Becky is desperate for a child and offers to sell Max to her. Gregson said that he felt it immoral to buy a child, but stressed "Kylie isn't an ordinary mother – she only cares about herself." He said that Steve believes Max would be better off with Steve and Becky. Steve is the first to take Kylie seriously; Gregson believed this was because Kylie has "proved herself ruthless" and "not the best mum". Lane defended Kylie's actions because she did "love her son", but she makes the money-making scam because she is "immature and irresponsible". Lane herself was so shocked by the storyline that it made her overemotional on set, to the point where she had to take breaks from filming scenes. After selling Max for twenty thousand pounds, Kylie travels abroad, but later reappears during the serial's live episode. She demands more money, which Becky has to steal.
### Marriage to David Platt
In early 2010 Jack P. Shepherd, who plays fellow character David Platt, revealed his desire for more scenes with Lane as he thought that they worked well together. In January 2011 it was announced that Kylie would marry David in a "shock storyline". Revealing the news whilst interviewed on talk show Loose Women, Lane said that the pair would meet off-screen in Tenerife. Though she had not read the scripts, Lane thought they would be "a really good combination". Coronation Street publicity said it would make "exciting viewing" for fans. They further stated: "Kylie and David are trouble as individuals so the thought of the two of them getting together is a nightmare prospect for both their families [...] there is no end to the trouble they will cause for everyone." Lane also revealed that the storyline was implemented because there was no other plausible way for Kylie to return. They did not carry on with the scenario with Becky and Steve, because the viewers needed "something new". Lane was happy with the direction of the storyline because it paved the way for more "explosive" material. Kylie was also tipped to be the one in control of the relationship. She also acknowledged that certain aspects of their relationship would mirror Becky and Steve's relationship, in the sense that when Kylie is with David, a "loved up" nicer side to Kylie surfaces.
David's mother Gail McIntyre (Helen Worth) is shocked to learn the identity of his mystery fiancée, and disapproves of Kylie. The pair repeatedly clash in scenes that serve as comic relief. Gail dislikes Kylie because she "knows her type", and the fact that she is related to Becky does not bode well. Lane said that Gail's reaction was understandable because Kylie is not the epitome of "the perfect daughter-in-law." She added that because Gail is so possessive of David, "it doesn't bode well for the future." Shepherd added that they are "the match made in hell" and revealed that David lets her do as she pleases because he is in love with her. He later said that David appeared obsessed and shared the similar dynamic he had with previous girlfriend Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan). He concluded: "I think he's keener on her than she is on him." David fools Kylie into believing he owns a salon. Lane explained "Kylie sees an opportunity for a better life, but not in a money-grubbing, scheming way. She does love David, and she's not doing anything wrong." Kylie sees the situation as an "added bonus". After Kylie finds out the truth, the pair come up with a plan to "wheedle" his grandmother Audrey Roberts' (Sue Nicholls) salon off her.
Gail tries to use the fact that Kylie gave Max up against her. Lane revealed that it did not work because Kylie revealed her past hardships and gained sympathy from David. The scenes also offered viewers the chance to gain a better perspective on who Kylie is and learn about her past. The night before their wedding, Gail unsuccessfully tries to pay Kylie one thousand pounds to leave for good. Lane said that Kylie had the audacity to come back after "£25K for Max" so "£1000 to give up a salon and someone she loves is nothing", though she still keeps the money. Up until this point Kylie had been "playing the game with Gail", but she was not on "Kylie's radar". Kylie then realises how determined Gail is to ruin her wedding. Lane said "Gail has taken a pretty intense disliking to Kylie, so of course Kylie is going to fight her corner—that's the kind of girl she is."
When the pair marry, Lane described them as still being on the "honeymoon period", equating to more lust than love. She opined that the serial had developed a "lovely relationship" which had "explosive chemistry". David decides Kylie should have Max back. Lane explained that it was not the right time because Kylie still wasn't ready for responsibility. Kylie "doesn't want to mess with the little boy's head anymore" and accepts he is safe with Becky. However David is "inquisitive" about the situation, but Kylie "brushes over" the hurt she really feels.
### Affair with Nick Tilsley
Producers created an infidelity story for the character which involved David's half-brother Nick Tilsley (Ben Price). David discovers the truth but decides not to let Kylie know. Shepherd told Alison Gardner from What's on TV that David thinks if he confronts Kylie their relationship will end. He has to decide who should be punished for the affair. He decides that Nick is to blame and if he is to get revenge on him then Kylie must remain oblivious. He then contemplates committing suicide and then vandalises Nick's flat. The actor concluded that David could forgive Kylie for her infidelity.
David begins by sending poison pen letters to Nick's wife Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson), which state that Nick is having an affair. Nick realises David is behind the letters. Price told Kilkelly (Digital Spy) his character panics and becomes annoyed. Nick is arrogant to his actions and believes David will just forgive him because they are related. He then tells David that they should discuss the affair with Kylie and move on. Price explained that David is worried that Kylie will feel betrayed he knew all along and does not want her to leave him. He decides he must stop Nick and grabs the steering wheel and causes a car crash. Price believed David was not trying to murder Nick, just prevent him from contacting Kylie.
Kylie begins to suspect that David intentionally caused the crash out of revenge. Kylie gain evidence and confronts David over his scheming at Lily's christening. Filipa Jodelka of The Guardian observed that "David's family went on to pronounce him wicked and cast him out into darkness." Writers kept the paternity of Kylie's baby a secret up until birth. On-screen the child, named Lily, has a paternity test taken in which it is revealed that David is her biological father. David then boasts about the result to Nick to cause further trouble. Producer Stuart Blackburn said that he used the story to "push Kylie to the edge". It also created the opportunity for writers to revisit David's bad persona. He said the revelation damages their relationship but his team were keeping the possibility of the pair reuniting. Kylie is angry at herself and David. Blackburn explained "in her head she's a screw-up, and she'll be furious with herself for imagining she could ever have a normal life. If there's hope for Kylie and David, they must accept each other for who they really are."
### Prescription drug addiction
In June 2014, Lane announced that she was pregnant and Kylie would be written out of the show while the actress took maternity leave. Coronation Street producer Stuart Blackburn met with Lane and devised an exit storyline. He had already planned a story for the character and Lane said her departure added more scope and improved the story.
To prepare for the storyline Lane discussed her character's backstory with directors. She recalled that Kylie had previously suffered addiction which adds to the drama. Writers devised "heavy scripts" for Lane and she had to thoroughly research the issue. Lane hoped the story would raise awareness and also convey that ADHD is not a disease. After the story was broadcast, Lane has explained that Kylie blamed herself for Max's ADHD. She believes her past actions have contributed to his behavioural issues and she refuses to listen to reassurance from her family. The actress blamed Kylie's "very low self-esteem" as a mother and she thinks other residents are judging her. Kylie becomes stressed with managing Max's condition and looking after Lily. She wants to feel calm after working herself into a "tired and frustrated" state. She takes his medication thinking it will calm her down but she regrets her actions.
Kylie locates Max's father Callum Logan (Sean Ward) to find answers about his ADHD. She finds it exciting revisiting her old neighbourhood. After the Platt family block her access to Max's medication, Kylie buys amphetamine from Callum. Lane told Kilkelly that the drug gives her a similar effect and she is after a quick drug fix following withdrawals from Max's medication. Off-screen, the actress met with a recovering drug addict and discussed the mental and psychological effects of amphetamine addition, which aided her portrayal of Kylie's struggle. Lane explained that the addiction would intensify and result in "another downward spiral" for the character. She added "I think this is the darkest place that Kylie has ever found herself in." Kylie's addiction begins to effect her home life as she becomes "tired, grumpy and agitated". David notices her strange behaviour and it causes problems. Kylie is caught taking drugs and given an ultimatum to choose her family or her addiction. She tries to abstain but Callum makes it difficult for her by offering her free drugs. He makes it clear he is not interested in Max and just wants Kylie. Lane described Callum as having "a very dark presence" in Kylie's life.
Lane's temporary departure scenes aired on Christmas Day 2014. The festive episode included David witnessing Callum trying to give Kylie drugs. He is furious and throws her out of their home. She decides to leave the area and her family. Blackburn then announced that upon the character's return she would need to change her ways. He explained that the consequences of Kylie's drug taking cause a custody battle for Max between David and Callum. The producer added "she's going to have to get her act together, she really is." Lane returned to filming as Kylie in April 2015. On-screen Kylie returns and reunites with David to strengthen his claim of custody over Max.
### Callum Logan's murder
Coronation Street aired a special live episode to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of ITV. In the episode Callum and Kylie's sister-in-law Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien) argue inside the Platt's home. Callum attacks Sarah, overpowers her and threatens her life. Kylie walks in on the struggle and hits Callum over the head with a wrench. Her actions left Callum bloody and dead on her kitchen floor. The live episode concluded with David returning home to the fatal scene. He decides to help Kylie and Sarah to conceal Callum's murder. He wraps the body up and puts him down a manhole in their garage. The following episode features the trio plotting to dispose of Callum's body in a public space. An ongoing conversion of the garage in a bedroom extension poses a problem and they need to move quickly, but a series of events ruin their plans. Kylie and David are physically sick when they first try to remove the body from the manhole. They are later interrupted by a visit from the police who investigate Callum's abandoned car. Gail then hires Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas) to cover up the manhole with concrete, unaware Callum is concealed inside.
Lane assessed that her character "cracks" during the storyline and each character handles Callum's murder differently. Sarah becomes hysterical, David stays calm and scheming, whereas Kylie remained in a state of shock and she had to "strip [her performance] right back". The story played out with David attempting to help Sarah and Kylie move on. As Lane noted, the characters turn on each other and "it just becomes one big crazy fight for survival, it's a mess." They feel trapped within the secret and the situation get out of control. Writers continued to play on the tense situation, using Kylie and Callum's old friend Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell).
The show planned a dramatic stunt which would lead to the discovery of Callum's body. The scene featured Carla Connor (Alison King) causing a car accident, colliding with Tyrone Dobbs' (Alan Halsall) pick-up truck which smashes into the Platt's home. This causes the floor to give way and a recovery team unearthing Callum's body. Producers decided to conclude the story without Kylie being held accountable for the murder. Instead they used a character that had been recently killed off, Tony Stewart (Terence Maynard), who had publicly feuded with Callum. When Sarah confesses the truth to Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley), he decides to frame Tony for the crime–a scheme which proved successful.
### Departure and death
In February 2016, it was announced that Paula Lane had decided to leave Coronation Street to concentrate on other aspects of her life. Lane said it was a difficult decision to make and expressed her enjoyment of her time with the show. The actress had long been open about her career aspirations away from the show. She explained that six years had been enough time to make an impact on the show but avoided her becoming typecast as Kylie Platt. Lane was pregnant and was scheduled to finish filming in June 2016. Coronation Street's producer Stuart Blackburn described Lane as "talented and dedicated" and expressed his view that she had created an "unforgettable Corrie character".
On 2 July 2016, the show publicised that the character would be killed off. The show's producers decided to keep detail of how Kylie would die a secret. But Kilkelly of Digital Spy described it as "tragic". Kylie decides she can no longer live in the house where Callum died and convinces David that they must move away. The reporter added that the Platt family would not succeed in their move because Kylie would die in a "storyline twist". The following day Coronation Street released promotional images depicting David mourning Kylie over her open coffin. Lane described Kylie's death as one of the "most shocking" ever featured on the show. Shepherd described it as a "harrowing exit" for the character, at which he and Lane cried uncontrollably. He added that writers warned him in advance that it would be "very harrowing and emotional". Newspaper photographs later revealed Kylie would die on Coronation Street. The picture showed her body being clutched in David's arms. Kylie's death scenes occurred following her decision to defend Gemma after she is attacked by Clayton Hibbs (Callum Harrison). He turns on Kylie and stabs her and she dies in the street with David by her side. The death scene led many viewers to mourn the on-screen death of the fictional character, via social media website Twitter. Though some viewers complained about a bloody stabbing airing before the 21:00 broadcasting watershed.
## Reception
Lane won Best Newcomer at the 2011 National Television Awards for her portrayal of Kylie. In February 2011, she was nominated for Best Actress in the 2011 All About Soap Bubble Awards. Kylie was nominated in the category of "Villain of the Year" at the 2011 Inside Soap Awards. Digital Spy chose the moment Kylie reveals Max is her son as their "Picture of the day". Sue Crawford of the Daily Mirror describes Kylie as a "seducer, brawler, thief and seller of her own son" and said that she is "one seriously troubled girl". Tony Stewart of the same publication said that the Kylie and David pairing was "brilliant". He also branded Kylie as "the ultimate chav" and a "gobby girl". Susan Hill of the Daily Star similarly called her a "gobby chav". Mandy Appleyard writing for television magazine Buzz said "conniving Kylie" has done some dreadful things since arriving. She added that between Kylie and David they had "seduced, brawled, lied, blackmailed, stolen and cheated, neither of them are perfect but together, they truly are perfect."
Julie Richardson writing for Orange U.K. said she "loves a good TV scrap" and the serial had "a corker" with Becky and Kylie's fight. She also branded Kylie a "low-life". Tony Stewart of the Daily Mirror said that Kylie was right to taunt Tina as a loser. Though when Tina attacked her, he quipped that she should have kept "her chav trap shut and not wind up the fiery girl". Stewart's Daily Mirror colleague Jim Shelley bemoaned Kylie's return because it "absolutely ruined" Becky's feud with Tracy.
Duncan Lindsay from Metro praised the Kylie's departure and the on-screen events that lead up to the moment. They branded the character's death "harrowing, moving and memorable, the drama proved just how right soaps can get it." Sophie Dainty (Digital Spy) said the scenes were some of the most heart-breaking the show had ever aired. Jade Pike writing for the Liverpool Echo called it a highly anticipated departure with viewers. They described "an emotional roller coaster of a night as Kylie Platt appeared on the cobbles for the last time." A reporter writing for the Inside Soap Yearbook described Kylie and David's "final moments together" as "very emotional". Kym Marsh praised the scenes where Kylie died and described her death as "really sad".
## See also
- List of Coronation Street characters (2010)
- List of soap opera villains |
32,042,555 | North Bank Depot Buildings | 1,150,581,449 | Historic buildings in Portland, Oregon, U.S. | [
"1908 establishments in Oregon",
"Chicago school architecture in Oregon",
"Former railway stations in Oregon",
"National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon",
"Pearl District, Portland, Oregon",
"Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon",
"Railway freight houses on the National Register of Historic Places",
"Railway stations closed in 1931",
"Railway stations in Portland, Oregon",
"Railway stations in the United States opened in 1908",
"Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon",
"Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway",
"Transport infrastructure completed in 1908",
"Transportation buildings and structures in Portland, Oregon"
]
| The North Bank Depot Buildings, in central Portland, Oregon, United States, are a pair of buildings formerly used as a freight warehouse and passenger terminal for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S). Formed in 1905, the SP&S was commonly known as the North Bank Road (or North Bank road, "road" being short for railroad) during the period in which these buildings were in use. The Portland buildings' passenger facilities were also used by the Oregon Electric Railway after that railway was acquired by the SP&S. Located in what is now known as the Pearl District, the buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. They were in use by the SP&S and its successor, Burlington Northern Railroad, from 1908 until the 1980s. Only the east building was used as a passenger station, and this usage lasted from 1908 until 1931.
## Location
The two matching, two-story brick buildings face one another on opposite sides of NW 11th Avenue immediately north of Hoyt Street, the east building being at 1029 NW Hoyt Street and the west at 1101 NW Hoyt. Historically, they were known as the East and West Freighthouses of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway. In references to passenger services, the east building was formally referred to as the North Bank Station (or North Bank Passenger Station), but alternatively was known by various other names, including North Bank depot, Hoyt Street depot, Hoyt Street terminal, 11th & Hoyt Streets depot, 10th & Hoyt depot, or similar. Each building measures 50 feet (15 m) by 200 feet (61 m).
## Background
The SP&S was formed jointly by the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) and Great Northern Railway in 1905, originally as the Portland & Seattle Railway, to build and ultimately operate new railroad lines connecting Portland with Seattle and with Spokane, but was renamed Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway in early 1908, before opening any track sections. The planned new railroad was commonly referred to as the "North Bank road" (road being short for railroad or railroad line), or North Bank line, because the Seattle line would follow the Columbia River's north bank as far as Kelso and the Spokane line would also follow the north bank, running east from Vancouver. East from Portland, the south bank of the Columbia already had a rail line, owned by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (later absorbed by Union Pacific Railroad).
By September 1905, Northern Pacific had already acquired the property for the future terminal buildings and rail yard—a strip of land two blocks wide, from 10th to 12th avenues, and stretching north from Hoyt Street to the Willamette River. Construction of the railroad itself began in early 1906. The new company needed freight storage and handling facilities in Portland, and to this end it built the two "freight houses" at 11th Avenue and Hoyt Street, in 1908. SP&S passenger train service was originally expected to terminate at Union Station, located about 1,600 feet (490 m) to the east, but lengthy negotiations between SP&S and Union Station's operator, the Northern Pacific Terminal Company, eventually reached an impasse. The Terminal Company was only partially owned by SP&S parent Northern Pacific Railway, and partially by competing railroads. With only a few weeks to go until passenger service to Portland was to be started, it was reported that SP&S would instead equip one of its new freight houses for use as a passenger station, in place of access to Union Station, at least temporarily.
## Period of active use
Passenger trains began using the new station—the east building, at 1029 NW Hoyt Street—in November 1908. The west building, used exclusively for freight, came into use at the same time, as SP&S initiated its operations in Portland. Trains operating from this station served routes within the Pacific Northwest, including to Seattle, Spokane and Seaside via Astoria. The Portland–Spokane train, named the Inland Empire Express, connected in Spokane with Great Northern's Oriental Limited to and from Chicago and was advertised as the "Portland–Chicago" service.
SP&S began shifting some of its passenger trains to Union Station in 1920, and additional trains were shifted in 1922, after new platforms and train sheds were constructed at Union Station for that purpose. However, only some trains used Union Station, including the long-distance services to Chicago (which began carrying through sleeping cars, Portland–Chicago, at this time), while other trains continued to use the Hoyt Street station for a time. SP&S inaugurated passenger service between Portland and Vernonia in March 1923, with two round trips per day; a passenger-only train ran to and from Union Station, but a mixed freight-passenger train operated instead from the Hoyt Street station.
In 1912, Oregon Electric Railway (OE) interurban passenger trains began serving the North Bank Depot, after that company laid new track through downtown Portland along Salmon Street and 10th Avenue to reach the terminal. OE was owned by SP&S (acquired in 1910). Electric interurbans departed from this station on journeys west to Hillsboro and Forest Grove, and south through the Willamette Valley to Salem and Eugene.
The last OE service to this station operated on June 19, 1931, after the company requested, and received, permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon that section of route because of declining ridership and worsening traffic congestion. The service was cut back to Front and Jefferson streets the following day, and OE moved its ticket office to that location. The tracks along 10th and Salmon streets were abandoned and soon removed. Just two years later, in May 1933, the Oregon Electric discontinued all its remaining passenger service, becoming exclusively a freight railroad.
SP&S was merged with other railroads in 1970 to form Burlington Northern Railroad (BN). The former North Bank Depot Buildings continued to be used by the railroad for freight purposes until the 1980s, and then were vacant for a time, until at least the mid-1990s.
## Preservation and conversion
During the course of the 1980s, usage of the railroad yards adjacent to and north of the two now-Burlington Northern-owned warehouses declined to the point of their being nearly vacant. Redevelopment of the area as a mixed-use neighborhood with residential and retail uses was envisioned, and in 1989, the Portland Planning Commission approved a rezoning of a 40-acre (16 ha) tract, along with a master plan to foster such change. By then, the Glacier Park Company, a property-development subsidiary of Burlington Resources, had taken over the former North Bank Depot Buildings from BN, and it was reported that the new master plan for the area would include renovation of these two Hoyt Street warehouses.
In November 1990, Glacier Park sold the 40-acre site to a Portland-based development company, Prendergast & Associates. It was determined that extensive clean-up of contaminated soil from decades of industrial use would be needed before most redevelopment could proceed. Prendergast & Associates were predicting an approximately 20-year timeframe for redevelopment of the entire area of former railyards and associated buildings. The two former-SP&S freighthouses were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, as the North Bank Depot Buildings. At that time, they were vacant and had not yet been renovated. In the late 1990s, they were renovated and converted for residential use.
## See also
- Architecture of Portland, Oregon
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Northwest Portland, Oregon
- Rail transportation in the United States |
1,612,834 | The Director's Cut | 1,155,285,010 | null | [
"2001 albums",
"Covers albums",
"Fantômas (band) albums",
"Ipecac Recordings albums"
]
| The Director's Cut is the second studio album by American musical supergroup Fantômas. The album is a collection of cover versions of themes from horror films and television series, performed in a variety of different musical styles. The album was released on July 9, 2001, through Ipecac Recordings, a record label co-owned by the band's vocalist, Mike Patton.
The Director's Cut has been praised by critics, with reviewers highlighting the album's versatility and unusual content; Patton in particular has been singled out for his performances. Since the album's release, Fantômas have performed it in its entirety at live shows in 2008 and 2014.
## Background and development
The Director's Cut was released on July 9, 2001, by Patton's record label Ipecac Recordings. The album's release was presaged by a tour of Europe the preceding May and June, while the album version of "Rosemary's Baby"—the lullaby theme from the film of the same name—was previewed on the Ipecac Recordings website. The Director's Cut is an album of cover versions of the scores and soundtracks of horror films. The songs are not necessarily accurate or faithful to the original versions—for example, "The Godfather" is an adaptation of Nino Rota's stately theme from The Godfather, rendered in a thrash metal style with scat lyrics. The album, described as "genre breaking", blends together multiple genres, sometimes within a single song; it has been noted as demonstrating elements of thrash metal, abstract electronica, grunge, and jazz music. Fantômas performed the album in its entirety live at the London Astoria in 2008, and at the 2014 RockOut festival in Santiago, Chile.
## Critical reception
The album has been met with favorable reviews from critics. Writing for AllMusic, Blake Butler rated the album four stars out of five. Butler described the album as "yet another testament to the unabashed genius of Mike Patton and his co-conspirators" and considered it to be a ground-breaking release. Drowned in Sound's Graham Reed awarded the album a score of nine out of ten, finding it to be "leftfield" but atmospheric. Reed praised the diversity shown by the group, ultimately calling it "one of the most challenging, and rewarding albums of the year". Noel Gardner of NME rated The Director's Cut eight out of ten, finding that it sounded better in practice than in theory. Gardner admitted that the covered themes were vastly different from their original presentations, but praised the drastic divergence as the album's strength. Pitchfork's Brendan Reid gave The Director's Cut a score of 8.4 out of 10. Reid described the album as "obsessively detailed and brutally frenetic", finding Patton's vocals to be the centre of the album's strength. Writing for CMJ New Music Monthly, Tom Mallon described the album as "inventive", finding that its varied approaches to the source material allowed the band members to "step out of [their] normal roles", particularly citing drummer Dave Lombardo's "jazzy" performance on "Experiment in Terror". Mallon felt that the album would not gain the group new admirers, but went "a long way toward cementing [Patton's] reputation as an artist rather than a mere noisemaker".
## Track listing
## Personnel
## Chart performance
The Director's Cut spent two weeks in the Australian Album Chart, reaching a peak position of 18. It dropped to number 41 before leaving the chart entirely. In the United States, the album spent one week in the Billboard Independent Albums chart, at number 30. |
33,393,347 | 34th Street–Hudson Yards station | 1,166,457,958 | New York City Subway station in Manhattan | [
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| The 34th Street–Hudson Yards station is a New York City Subway station in Manhattan's West Side on the IRT Flushing Line, and is the western (railroad south) terminus for the 7 local and \<7\> express services. It has two tracks and one island platform, with two levels of mezzanines: one directly above the platform and the other directly below street level. The station directly serves the Hudson Yards mega-development above it, and is located within the greater Hudson Yards neighborhood. The station contains two entrances along Hudson Boulevard: a primary entrance south of 34th Street, and a secondary entrance south of 35th Street.
The station, originally part of the city's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the failed attempt to build the West Side Stadium, was first scheduled to open in summer 2012. When London was chosen for the Olympics, the opening date was pushed to December 2013. In 2011, the opening was postponed to June 2014, pending the completion of the escalators and elevators in the station. After a series of delays involving escalator, elevator, and fire and safety systems, the station finally opened on September 13, 2015. The 34th Street station was, at the time of opening, the first completely new station in the New York City Subway system since 1989, as well as the first such station funded by the government of New York City since 1950.
The new construction, part of the city's and the MTA's master plan for the Far West Side, extended the IRT Flushing Line west from Times Square to Eleventh Avenue, then south to 34th Street. Although the West Side Stadium plan was rejected by city and state planning agencies, the 7 Subway Extension plan received approval to move ahead, as New York political leaders wanted to see the warehouse district west of Eighth Avenue and north of 34th Street redeveloped as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment, and subway service was to be an essential part of that effort. The extension also serves the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which was expanded in 2008–2014 and is located a block away from the station entrances.
## History
### Planning and construction
Shortly after Javits Center opened as New York City's primary convention center in 1986, New York City transportation commissioner Ross Sandler had suggested the possibility of extending the IRT Flushing Line (then served by the 7 train) or constructing a light-rail line to the convention center. At the time, the neighborhood was largely inaccessible by public transit, and the nearest subway station was about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) away. In response to the City Planning Commission's 1993 proposal to improve access to the Manhattan Central Business District, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began exploring the possibility of an extension of the IRT Flushing Line to New Jersey. In 1999, then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani advocated for a westward extension of the 7 train to the intersection of 11th Avenue and 33rd Street, where he wanted to build a football stadium, the West Side Stadium. The same year, the MTA included \$75 million in its 2000–2004 capital plan for preliminary studies of the 7 train extension.
In 2001, a business and civic group convened by Senator Charles Schumer argued that a westward extension of the Midtown office district could not be accomplished without a subway extension, saying:
> The long blocks along the avenues make the walk as long as 20 minutes to the westernmost parts of the area. In addition, there is no convenient link from Grand Central Station or elsewhere on the east side of Manhattan, making the Far West Side a difficult commute for workers from parts of Manhattan, Queens, Westchester and Connecticut.
A station on the West Side was again proposed as part of the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The city government wanted to get funding before July 2005, at which time the International Olympic Committee would vote on funding. However, due to shortfalls in the MTA's capital program, as well as preexisting funding for the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access, the MTA could not pay to fund the extension. After a proposal for the West Side Stadium, an Olympic stadium to be located above the nearby West Side Yard, was rejected in 2005, New York City lost their Olympic bid.
For then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the extension was still a priority. His December 12, 2006, address to the New York League of Conservation Voters noted that in November 2006, the government began issuing bonds to fund the extension of the 7 subway to Eleventh Avenue and 34th Street. The extension was funded with New York City funds from municipal tax increment financing (TIF) bond sales that are expected to be repaid with property tax revenues from future developments in areas served by the extension. The one-station extension to the burgeoning Hudson Yards area was originally to cost US\$2.1 billion, but eventually grew to US\$2.4 billion, excluding a US\$500 million intermediate station at 10th Avenue that was canceled due to costs.
In October 2007, the MTA awarded a \$1.145 billion contract to build 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of twin-tube tunnel to S3, a joint venture of J.F. Shea, Skanska USA Civil, and Schiavone. The contract was to build tunnel from the 7 train's terminus at Times Square westward underneath 41st Street to Eleventh Avenue, then down to 26th Street. Richard Dattner and Partners, Architects, designed the 34th Street station. After excavating the new terminal's shell and creating the first 1,000 feet (300 m) of tunnel using the drill-and-blast method, S3 placed two tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) in the ground to dig the remaining 6,000 feet (1,800 m); as it dug, each TBM placed precast concrete liner segments to create the tunnel interior.
On December 21, 2009, the MTA said that a tunnel-boring machine broke through the 34th Street station cavern wall. Both tunnel-boring machines were scheduled to finish the required tunneling in the spring of 2010.
In April 2011, the MTA announced that the contract covering the tunnels, the station mezzanine and passenger platform was 85% complete, and that the systems contract, covering mechanical and electrical systems, electric power, lighting and train tracks would be awarded by July 2011. The systems contract was awarded in September 2011. In May 2012, the MTA announced that the extension, now 65% complete, had received the installation of the first set of rails. By August 2013, the extension was 90% complete.
On December 20, 2013, Bloomberg took a ceremonial ride on a train to the nearly complete station, celebrating a part of his legacy as mayor, during a press tour of the extension. Train testing did not commence until June 2015.
### Delays
In January 2012, the station was touted as under-budget and on schedule to open in 2013, before a series of delays plagued the project. The station, originally part of the city's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, was supposed to first open as part of a two-station subway extension, including 10th Avenue station, in summer 2012. When London was chosen for the Olympics, the opening date was pushed to December 2013; the Tenth Avenue station was dropped from construction plans soon after. By June 2012, trains were still expected to run "for test purposes" by the end of 2013. That same month, the station's opening was delayed to June 2014 for completion of the station's fitting-out.
Michael Horodniceanu, chief of MTA Construction Company, told The New York Times in January 2014 that complications in the installation of the inclined elevator would likely cause a further delay of about three months, bringing the opening date to very late summer or early fall of 2014, or to November 2014. By March 2014, the station's tentative opening date was still to be in November 2014.
Then, in May 2014, the opening was delayed again to install the inclined elevators, as they had originally failed a factory test in Como Province, Italy. Officials had insisted that the Italian-manufactured elevators had software and parts made from a variety of different companies in America, rather than from a single foreign company. However, the station was not delayed solely because of the elevators. The station's opening was also pushed to later dates due to "integrated testing for fire protection", which required the completion of all station infrastructure, including escalators, stairs, and elevators. Escalators and tunnel ventilation systems also caused the station to be delayed. At this point, the station was expected to open for service in late 2014, but due to further elevator delays as well as problems with the extension's ventilation systems, it was delayed in October 2014 by a further few months, to February 2015.
At this point, the project was so far delayed that the MTA was offered US\$4.75 million in "incentive" money if the station opened by February 24, 2015. Software changes were made to solve the elevators' problems, and the elevators were installed. Testing would be complete by November. Three ventilation systems were already installed by October 1, 2014, with two more systems to be installed by the end of the month. On November 17, it was confirmed that February 24 would be the opening date for the station; new signs and the southern entrance's canopy started to be erected. However, just a month later, the MTA stated that it was unable to open the subway extension for service until April to July 2015, due to the failure to get the inclined elevators to work properly. The MTA also cited problems with the fire alarm and security systems as another reason for the delay. In addition, the developer of the Hudson Yards mega-development, The Related Companies, also needed to dig caissons for the foundations of 55 Hudson Yards, just above the subway station, and the foundation work needed to be complete before the MTA could proceed with opening the station.
The MTA made another announcement, on March 24, 2015, saying that the station's opening would be delayed again to summer 2015, due to more problems with the fire and security systems. In addition, third rails, public service announcement systems, ventilation fans, escalators, and elevators would need to be tested. By April 2015, the station was complete, but unopened. On June 15, 2015, though, the extension was pushed back again to "before the end of the third quarter" of 2015. A month later, the MTA confirmed that the station would be opened on or before September 13, 2015. The opening date was confirmed on August 28, 2015. By this point, MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast had stated that the myriad delays in both the new station and in the other MTA Capital Construction projects were humiliating.
### Operation
The station opened on September 13, 2015, at 1:00 p.m., in a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, and former deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff. The secondary station entrance at 35th Street, as well as finishing touches within the station itself, was not expected to be completed until 2016.
However, a couple of days after the station opened, there were some problems in and around the station, which multiple news outlets criticized. An escalator broke down on September 14, just a day after the station's opening. In an unrelated September 16 incident, a straphanger got injured while walking up another escalator at the 34th Street station. Earlier that day, the New York Post reported on signal problems in the brand-new tunnels around the station, while riders complained about the delays on Twitter and Reddit. A The Wall Street Journal commentator remarked that "it's only a matter of months (make that weeks) before the gleaming station ... is pockmarked with chewing-gum spots, urban scrawl and litter." Overall, however, the station was received positively during its first few days of service. In an article in several newspapers distributed by NYC Community Media, Lenore Skenazy writes that many riders have praised the station's design, its cleanliness, and its climate-controlled platforms, and noted herself that the station looked and felt "as uplifting as a cathedral".
In March 2016, news sources reported that despite the station's high cost, the station had maintenance problems: there were leaks in the ceiling of the corridors holding the escalators, the station's bathrooms were closed because of flooding from the street, and icicles had formed on the ceiling of the station. The MTA supposedly knew about the issues for several years, even during construction. The MTA board called these issues "unacceptable" and the contractor responsible for waterproofing the station spent \$3 million to fix them. The leaky ceiling was reportedly fixed by May 2016. At least one passenger filed a lawsuit against the MTA because of injuries sustained after falling down an escalator to avoid the leaky ceiling.
In 2017, part of the mezzanine was closed off so the MTA could build a mockup of the proposed R211 subway car. The model was open to the public from November 30 to December 6, 2017. The mockup contained features such as an open-gangway design proposed for this order; digital screens showing next stops and their station layouts; and a blue-and-gold-stripe paint design on its exterior.
A secondary station entrance at the southwest corner of 35th Street and Hudson Boulevard opened on September 1, 2018, nearly three years after the station's opening. The secondary entrance provides access to the north end of the station. In March 2019, the MTA reported that the 34th Street–Hudson Yards station contained three of the ten least reliable subway escalators in Manhattan. Each of the escalators was out of service more than one-sixth of the time. One of these escalators, at the 35th Street entrance, was closed 25 times from October to December 2018. Hudson Yards itself did not open until March 2019.
## Station layout
The approximately 1,200-foot-long (370 m) station, designed by Dattner Architects, has a single wide island platform serving two tracks, as well as eight staircases between the lower mezzanine and the platform. The platform is 35 feet (11 m) wide, which makes it much wider than many other island platforms in the subway system; by comparison, the Chambers Street station in Lower Manhattan has platforms that are 18.5 feet (5.6 m) wide, and the Second Avenue Subway stations are 27.8 feet (8.5 m) wide. The platform, at 585 feet (178 m) long, is among the longest in the IRT system, as well as the longest "column-free" platform of any station in the system. The 7 train stops here at all times, and the train stops here during rush hours in the peak direction. The station is the western terminus of the 7 train; the next stop to the east is Times Square.
The station, which is paid for with tax increment financing property taxes, is the first to be funded by the city since the Jamaica–179th Street station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line opened in 1950, as well as the first new unique station in the New York City Subway since the three stations on the IND 63rd Street Line opened in October 1989. The Hudson Park and Boulevard project was also included with the construction of the station, since the park and station were built concurrently with both station entrances located inside the park.
### Design
The walls adjacent to the tracks have white tiles arranged in sets of three 15-foot (4.6 m) columns of 3 tiles each. There are two-tile-high gray squares containing white "34"s in the middle of each set of columns. They are pre-fabricated porcelain panels, in three-by-five slabs, to allow easy replacement. On the lower mezzanine, the architects used high ceilings and convex railings to make the station seem bigger, thus improving passenger flow. A tiling pattern, similar to that used on platform level, is also used on the lower mezzanine, though electronic advertisement panels are mounted on the walls at certain areas along the lower mezzanine. The cavernous station's design has been compared to that of Washington Metro stations, although early plans for narrow, Washington Metro-like platforms were scrapped. The station has also been compared to stations along London's Jubilee Line Extension; its architecture was inspired by that of the Canary Wharf tube station on that extension.
The station's extreme depth necessitates an upper (fare) mezzanine and a lower (passenger) mezzanine at both entrances. The main entrance, at 34th Street, contains 27.6-foot-deep (8.4 m) fare mezzanine located under the basement of 55 Hudson Yards. Escalators and an incline elevator lead to the lower mezzanine, which is 109 feet (33 m) deep. An additional upper mezzanine at 35th Street is located at the same depth, but is not connected to the 34th Street mezzanine. Both upper mezzanines lead to a full-length passenger mezzanine above the platform. Above the lower mezzanine is a curved, oval-shaped ceiling indentation that helps to cover the ventilation tubes in the station ceiling, and also acts as a skylight. The curved, cavernous ceiling of the lower mezzanine helps the station be energy-efficient via the use of indirect lighting. The Empire Connection and North River Tunnels are both located above the station's lower mezzanine.
The station contains a total of 16 escalators: nine between the upper and lower mezzanine levels, and seven between the street and upper mezzanine levels. Nine of these escalators are only reachable from the main entrance at 34th Street, while seven are only reachable from the secondary entrance at 35th Street. At the main entrance, four escalators and two stairs lead from street level to that entrance's upper mezzanine. Past the main entrance's fare control, which is split into two banks, there are two parallel shafts down to the lower mezzanine. The northern shaft carries four escalators, while the southern shaft carries one up-only escalator and the two incline elevators. The secondary entrance contains an additional three escalators and a stair between the street and that entrance's upper mezzanine. Past the turnstiles, a single bank of four escalators leads to the lower mezzanine. While the main entrance's escalator shaft to the lower mezzanine is column-free, the secondary entrance's corresponding escalator shaft contains supporting columns in the center, between the inner two escalators. The lowermost escalators between the mezzanines are the system's longest and take about one minute and thirty seconds to traverse.
The station also contains four elevators, all of which are only accessible via the main entrance. Two elevators travel vertically: one from street level to the upper mezzanine, and one from the lower mezzanine to platform level. The other two are incline elevators (see ), traveling diagonally in the shaft between the main entrance's upper mezzanine and the lower mezzanine.
### Entrances and exits
The station has two entrances and exits. The main station entrance and ventilation building consists of four escalators and an elevator on the west side of Hudson Boulevard between 33rd and 34th Streets. The main entrance has a turtle shell-shaped glass canopy above it that allows light to shine on the upper mezzanine. The elevator is located south of 34th Street in Hudson Park, while the escalator entrance is located further east, closer to the boulevard. At the time of construction, the ventilation building was designed so developers could build on top of it later. The 55 Hudson Yards skyscraper, whose structure is partially atop the ventilation tower, started construction in January 2015, and pictures in May 2016 showed that the skyscraper had so far been constructed to the height of the ventilation tower.
The secondary entrance consists of escalators on the southwest corner of Hudson Boulevard East and 35th Street, and opened on Labor Day 2018. At both of the exits, the staircases and four escalators each go down 40 feet (12 m) to a fare control area, then another 80 feet (24 m) to the common lower mezzanine.
Both entrances feature the glass canopy design, the first of their kind in the subway system. They are intended to stand out aesthetically. The entrances are interweaved with the Hudson Yards developments, with the main entrance wedged between 50 Hudson Yards to the east and 55 Hudson Yards to the west. The rest of the Hudson Yards development is located very close to the south of the station. Both entrances are based on a design by architect Toshiko Mori, which itself is based on the design of smaller station entrances in the Paris Métro.
In the preliminary plans, there was to be an entrance inside the 3 Hudson Boulevard building, near where the secondary station building is located. However, as both entrances were to use a glass canopy cover independent of any Hudson Yards structures, the 3 Hudson Boulevard entrance was shelved in lieu of a subway entrance directly to the east of 3 Hudson Boulevard. Another plan called for an entrance at the southwest corner of Eleventh Avenue and 36th Street to serve the Javits Center directly. Under this plan, the secondary exit would have been relocated to the north side of 34th Street west of Hudson Boulevard.
### Features
The station includes air-conditioning systems that keeps the station's temperature at 72 to 78 °F (22 to 26 °C) year-round. It also includes the largest ventilation towers in the New York City Subway stations. Originally, the new station was also planned to feature platform screen doors. However, plans for screen doors in New York City Subway stations were dropped in 2012, in part because of concerns over cost and maintenance. A former MTA official said in 2022 that, although the platform is strong enough to support the weight of platform screen doors, such an installation would have further delayed the station's opening. According to an internal study prepared for the MTA in 2020, the 34th Street–Hudson Yards station could theoretically accommodate half-height platform edge doors, though structural modifications would have to be made to the platform. Full-height platform screen doors were also feasible but would necessitate the installation of structural bracing and relocation of several mechanical systems, as well as platform modification.
Unlike most stations in the system, which do not have open public restrooms, there are public restrooms at 34th Street–Hudson Yards. The station also has a stainless steel oval-shaped station agent booth. The station's turnstiles are based on an obsolete design by Cubic Transportation Systems, which had stopped mass-producing subway turnstiles in 1994. The MTA contracted Cubic to manufacture turnstiles specifically for the Hudson Yards station because the MTA's reserve of spare turnstiles had been entirely destroyed during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Materials used in the station were designed to last at least 100 years. They include granite tile, ceramic tile, stainless steel panels on the walls, painted steel panels on the ceilings, energy-efficient fluorescent lamps and LEDs, and mesh. Additionally, the materials were supposed to conform to New York City Transit criteria, including slip-resistance. The station also uses acoustic ceiling tiles to reduce noise, in addition to using indirect lighting. The Hudson Yards station was also designed in accordance with National Fire Protection Association standards, despite its extreme depth, as it can be evacuated in six minutes in case of fire, and the platform can be cleared within four minutes.
The station is the third station in the New York City Subway to have low vibration tracks installed. These tracks are described by the MTA as providing a smoother, quieter ride for passengers, and they eliminate the need for wooden sleepers.
The station was not equipped with Wi-Fi or 3G at the time of opening, but these features were installed later. The station includes displays that accommodate the future inclusion of "countdown clocks" indicating the time until the next train, as well as Help Point emergency intercoms and in-station travel planners. Although the screens originally only displayed which track the next train would depart from, the screens were expected to start displaying countdown clocks when communications-based train control is implemented on the Flushing Line in 2018.
#### Artwork
As part of the MTA's "Arts for Transit" program, three mosaics by Xenobia Bailey, which total approximately 2,788 square feet (259.0 m<sup>2</sup>), were installed in three locations within the station. The artworks, titled Funktional Vibrations, are based on some of Bailey's crocheting patterns. One mosaic is located in an oval-shaped recession in the ceiling of the upper mezzanine at 34th Streets. The other two mosaics are located in the station entrances. The tiles used in Funktional Vibrations were created by mosaic craftsman Stephen Miotto, who manufactured the tiles in his Carmel, New York, studio. Another section of the artwork was installed at the second entrance. This is the only artwork in the station. One Newsweek writer observed that while the station was "very clean but also a little antiseptic", "cool", and "efficient", it was also "lacking all character" with its austere design.
#### Incline elevators
The station is more than 10 stories deep, placing it among the system's deepest. The North River Tunnels and the planned Gateway Program tunnels, which pass under the Hudson River a block to the west of the station, pass over the station by approximately 35 feet (11 m). The station, which is 125 feet (38 m) below street level, and 108 feet (33 m) below sea level in total, is the third deepest subway station in the entire system, behind 190th Street and 191st Street stations; as a result, nine escalators were installed at the station. In addition, passenger access to the station includes a pair of custom-made incline elevators, which are installed in the southernmost of the two shafts between the upper and lower mezzanines, at the 34th Street end of the station. In April 2014, the first of two 172-foot-long (52 m) incline elevators was installed in the station. The elevators are relatively slow in order to discourage unnecessary use by non-disabled riders. These incline elevators make the station the first to be built to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).
The 80-foot (24 m) high incline elevators, which move at 100 feet (30 m) per minute (making an entire trip between the mezzanine levels in less than two minutes) and are sloped at a 27-degree angle, are the first of their kind in the system. Each elevator can hold up to 15 standing passengers or five wheelchair passengers. The inclined elevators were less expensive than vertically traveling elevators, and were installed within the large escalator shaft at 34th Street. However, as the incline elevators had originally failed a factory test by its manufacturer Maspero Elevatori, there were multiple delays in opening the station, and the opening date was eventually delayed from December 2013 to late 2014, then to mid-2015.
The use of inclined elevators was intended to provide wheelchair-using patrons with a shorter, easier path to the train platform as well as to reduce tunneling costs. The two elevators were manufactured by Maspero Elevatori, in Appiano Gentile, Italy, using a controller made on Long Island, speed governors made in Ohio, and buttons and other parts in Queens. The software for the elevator was written in the United States. Maspero Elevatori assembled the elevators in Italy, and they failed an operational test there, prior to being shipped to the United States. The MTA said the manufacturer chose to use American subcontractors in place of local Italian suppliers after reading the specifications the transit agency submitted. The MTA worked with the manufacturer to try to resolve the problems caused by a very high level of customization.
### Track layout
The tracks continue south, down to 25th Street, to allow trains to be stored south of the station during off-peak hours. There are also diamond crossovers at either end of the station. The storage tracks at this location were constructed due to the Corona Yard in Queens lacking space to hold any more trains, and expanding the yard is very difficult due to its location next to the Flushing River. A new storage yard elsewhere would be prohibitively expensive, as it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
## Ridership
### Projected
The station was expected to be very heavily used, due to its location as "the only subway line serving the area west of Ninth Avenue below 59th Street", as well as its status as the main subway station for the Hudson Yards area and the closest station to the busy Javits Center. Originally, the station was projected to serve 27,000 passengers per day, or about 9.855 million passengers per year, when it first opened. After the Hudson Yards is complete, ridership was to grow very heavily, with an average of 35,000 people per hour using the station at its peak by 2020. By September 2015, though, projections had increased to a proposed ridership of 32,000 people per hour. The projected 2025 ridership of 200,000 daily riders is more than at Times Square station, the station with the most ridership as of 2013 with 197,696 riders a day.
Projections predicted that during the morning rush hour alone, 26,000 passengers will be leaving the station, while 15,000 will be simultaneously entering the station. This will make it the busiest New York City subway station that is not a transfer station. The station is built to handle an even higher capacity of 40,000 passengers per hour during peak times and events at the Javits Center. The high projected ridership is despite the fact that it was once described as a station on an "extension to nowhere", given the relative sparseness of the area in 2007.
### Actual
It was reported that only 7,000 daily riders entered the station between September 13–22, 2015, drastically below the MTA's projected ridership of 32,000 passengers upon the station's opening. This was attributed to incompleteness of developments in the area, as well as an unopened entrance to the High Line park, which is nearby. In late October 2015, AM New York found that the average daily ridership was even lower, at only 5,900 passengers per day, except for during the 2015 New York Comic Con on October 8–11, when average daily ridership reached 18,300 daily riders. The station's official ridership between September 13 and December 31, 2015, was 692,165, making it the 392nd busiest station in the city out of 422 total stations.
Ridership at the station increased in 2016 with 2,691,851 riders, making it the 189th busiest station in the city. 2017 saw an increase to 3,098,699 riders, still drastically below predictions, averaging out to about 10,000 per weekday. 2018 saw 3,189,867 riders, a 2.9% increase over 2017. 2019 saw a near doubling to 6,108,384 riders, making it the 69th busiest station.
## Effects
Besides serving Hudson Yards, the area serves the Javits Center; western Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen; and a nearby intercity bus stop that serves passengers who are boarding Megabus and BoltBus routes. The warehouse district west of Eighth Avenue and north of 34th Street was rezoned in 2005 into a commercial and residential area, and the station is part of an effort to accelerate development in the area. The reportedly "transformative" subway extension to 34th Street spurred development in the Hudson Yards area by providing transit access for future tenants of the Hudson Yards development. In addition, the extension fit within the MTA's goal of transit-oriented development, namely to "ensure that all new residential and commercial growth in the MTA region between 2008 and 2030 is concentrated within a half-mile of an MTA station". In addition to providing transit access to residents and tenants of nearby neighborhoods, the construction of the station was expected to bolster the area's commercial growth and, in turn, creating up to 50,000 jobs in the area.
Mitchell Moss, director of New York University's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, states that the development of Hudson Yards, and the related subway extension, were among the benefits of the 2012 Olympic bid, saying that "the \#7 Extension will be one of the largest expansions of the New York City transit system in decades and one of the most significant in terms of its potential impact." Moss says that redevelopment of the west side was a direct result of the new subway station's construction. Kenneth T. Jackson, editor of The Encyclopedia of New York City, described the extension as "very important", but Lois Weiss of Bisnow wrote that the potential number of workers at Hudson Yards could overburden the station's capacity and nearby buses.
Since the station started construction, land prices in the immediate area have nearly doubled. Interest in the surrounding area has also grown, as many development companies are going to Hudson Yards to buy air rights; for instance Related Companies, already the developer of Hudson Yards, entered a contract to buy a \$75 million-plus parcel of land between 35th and 36th Streets and between Eleventh Avenue and Hudson Boulevard, as well as land over a McDonald's to build 50 Hudson Yards. Also as a result of the subway extension, three tenants have already been found for 10 Hudson Yards, and Citigroup is considering moving to the area. Most importantly, however, the \$750 million platform supporting much of Hudson Yards was built starting in January 2013; subway construction for a station that could potentially carry up to 27,000 daily passengers necessitated the construction of more buildings, as 70% of tenants are expected to come to Hudson Yards via the 7 subway extension. Additionally, new restaurants, luxury condominiums, and stores have appeared near the station and along the extension's route, and residential prices along the extension have also increased. A construction boom has occurred in the greater Hudson Yards area as well.
The station is described by the MTA as the centerpiece of the Hudson Park and Boulevard, as well as of the entire Hudson Yards project, which developers say could not have been started without the 7 subway extension. Horodniceanu stated that "this new, modern station will be the lifeline of Manhattan's newest neighborhood. It will make it possible for thousands of residents, employees and visitors to get to Hudson Yards easily and quickly. Without the extension, this new development would not have been possible." The completion of the High Line and the Hudson Boulevard, as well as the Javits Center renovation, are boosting development in the area as well. Although Hudson Yards was not finished at the time of the station's opening, the High Line and the Javits Center immediately became popular destinations for station patrons. |
16,928,009 | Fred Pepper | 1,164,061,971 | English footballer (1887–1950) | [
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"1950 deaths",
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| Frederick "Chiddy" Pepper (1887 – 12 June 1950) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward. Born in Netherfield, Nottinghamshire, Pepper received a basic education before finding vocation as a fireman on the local railway. Joining Notts County F.C. in 1908 aged 21, he found little success playing in the English Football League and subsequently emigrated to Canada in 1913. Settling in Hamilton, Ontario, Pepper was scouted by industrialist Charles M. Schwab from local team Hamilton Lancashire and joined his Bethlehem Steel F.C. in 1914, an important club in the infancy of organized association football in the United States.
Pepper saw much success in playing for Bethlehem; after unimpressive beginnings, he went on to play a major role in securing many titles for the side, including four American Cups, three National Challenge Cups and two National Association Football League triumphs. Becoming captain for the 1918 and 1919 campaigns, success continued until his abrupt departure in 1920. Pepper's career became somewhat volatile, signing for four amateur teams within the space of four years; all of which failed to match his record at Bethlehem. Retirement saw him remain prominent in local sporting and steel-working culture in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, in-time becoming a corn merchant until his death in 1950.
## Early life
Frederick Pepper was born in 1887, one of nine children in Netherfield, Nottinghamshire, a small town prospering from the instalment of the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway. He was educated at the local Ashwell Street Board School, which grew into the Chandos Street School in 1906, eventually amalgamating in 1973 to form Carlton le Willows School. Customarily leaving school at 14, Frederick found employment with London and North Eastern Railway as a fireman; it was around this time he found he had an aptitude for association football, and began playing professionally in 1908 aged 21.
## Playing career
Joining in the 1908–09 campaign, Pepper briefly played with Notts County F.C. in The Football League; his lack of appearances is noted, however, only making 5 total appearances in the 1911–12 season, it would be his last at the club. With his wife, Pepper boarded the RMS Laconia in 1913 and set sail for North America, settling in Hamilton, Ontario. Playing for club Hamilton Lancashire, Pepper became Canada's Western Football Association League's leading scorer and helped secure the team's victory of the 1913 Ontario Cup alongside recurring teammate Sam Fletcher. By the following year, Frederick had attracted the attention of industrialist Charles M. Schwab, who was seeking to recruit international talent for his Bethlehem Steel F.C. Signing for the club and debuting on 23 November 1914, Pepper simultaneously worked for the associated steelworks whilst residing in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Appearances in the 1914–15 campaign, akin to his time at Notts County, were sporadic in nature, seeing time in only six games and scoring a mere three goals. However, Pepper, a talented inside forward, saw more success in the following season, participating in the final of the 1914–15 National Challenge Cup, a 3–1 victory over Brooklyn Celtic. Success for Frederick continued into 1916, when Bethlehem Steel won the year's American Cup in a 3–0 victory over the Kearny Scots; they further defeated the Fall River Rovers 1–0 to the 1915–16 National Challenge Cup, retaining their title. Despite coming runners-up in the 1916–17 Cup in a reversed 1–0 defeat to the Fall River Rovers, Bethlehem Steel went on to win the final of the 1917 American Cup against West Hudson A.A. in a dramatic 7–0 triumph, in which Pepper scored twice. The 1917–18 National Challenge Cup against the Fall River Rovers was subsequently won by Bethlehem Steel on 19 May after an initial match ran out of extra time at 2–2 on the 4th of that month; Pepper scored the second goal of a 3–0 victory.
Joining the National Association Football League in 1917, the top flight of American association football, Pepper captained Bethlehem Steel to title wins in both the 1918-19 and 1919-20 campaigns, as well as to extending their title of the American Cup, winning the 1918 event 1–0 over Babcock & Wilcox and the 1919 trophy in a 2–0 victory over Paterson F.C.; the 1918–19 National Challenge Cup final was won against the same team by the same margin. Despite signing for the club's 1920–21 season, Frederick never made a first-team roster, causing him to leave the club after six successful seasons in which Bethlehem held an impressive record of 149 wins, seven losses, 718 goals for with just 120 against.
Moving to Brooklyn, New York in December 1920, Pepper joined amateur Tebo Yacht Basin F.C., where his successful reputation quickly earned him the captaincy of the team. He led the likes of Jimmy Gallagher, who represented the United States in both the 1930 and 1934 FIFA World Cup finals. He left after just one season when the National Association Football League amalgamated with the Southern New England Soccer League to form the American Soccer League; these changes led to the merger of Tebo Yacht Basin and Brooklyn Robins Dry Dock into Todd Shipyards, the parent corporation of both the Tebo and Robins companies. Refusing to join the newly formed club, Frederick instead played for Harrison S.C., based in Harrison, New Jersey, making 21 appearances and scoring three goals. He would go on to repeat similarly short spells of a single season, firstly at the Fall River F.C. in Fall River, Massachusetts, winning 13 caps and scoring a single goal in the 1922-23 campaign; as well as at the New York Giants, the last signing of his career, making six appearances and scoring thrice in the 1923–1924 season.
## Later life
Pepper settled with his wife in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania in retirement, home to Bethlehem Steel and its eponymous football club. Remaining prominent in the local area's sporting culture, he served as a referee in the Pennsylvania Eastern League, eventually becoming president of the Lehigh Valley Soccer Referees Association. Frederick also held the positions of vice-president at the Eastern Pennsylvania District Soccer Association and as treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Soccer League; he disassociated with the latter in August 1929 due to disagreements over league policy. This prompted regret among the local media, which subsequently described him as "one of the greatest halfbacks that ever played in this country".
Maintaining certain friendships following his playing days, Pepper liaised with the likes of Bethlehem manager William Sheridan, and teammates Johnny Rollo and Robert Morrison well into the 1940s; the latter, according to Morrison's nephew, identified Pepper by his "ugly little mug". Alike his time in England, Frederick was also involved in trade union business, becoming a leading member of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) by at least 1937; he is known to have recruited successfully, given that Bethlehem suffered particular economic depravity during the Great Depression, an event that affected public attendance to matches throughout the 1920s. Following this, he worked as a self-employed corn merchant until his death on June 12, 1950; he was survived by his 20-year old adoptive daughter, his wife died several years before him. |
33,026,757 | St Anne's Pier | 1,145,144,803 | Victorian pier in Lancashire, England | [
"Buildings and structures in the Borough of Fylde",
"Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire",
"Lytham St Annes",
"Piers in Lancashire",
"Transport infrastructure completed in 1885"
]
| St Anne's Pier is a Victorian era pleasure pier in the English seaside resort of St Anne's-on-the-Sea, Lancashire. It lies on the estuary of the River Ribble. The pier, designed by Alfred Dowson, was completed in 1885 and was one of the earliest public buildings in St Anne's, a 19th-century planned town. The pier was originally intended to be a sedate promenading venue for the resort's visitors, but attractions were later added. Changes made to the estuary channels to improve access to Preston Dock left the pier on dry land and ended its steamer services to Blackpool and Liverpool.
A Tudor-style entrance was built in 1899. Early 20th-century additions included a Moorish-style pavilion in 1904 and the Floral Hall in 1910. The Moorish Pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1974, shortly after the town's centenary; the Floral Hall burned down in 1982. Originally 914 feet (279 m) long, the pier was reduced to 600 feet (180 m) by the demolition of the seaward end. English Heritage has designated the pier a Grade II listed building.
## Background
St Anne's-on-the-Sea is a planned seaside resort on the Fylde coast, at the mouth of the River Ribble, in Lancashire. It was developed in the 19th century, largely by the St Anne's Land & Building Company. The company was formed in 1874 and leased land for the new town from the estate of the local Clifton family. Towards the end of the 19th century, pleasure piers became a common feature of English seaside resorts, and by the 1870s there were already two piers in nearby Blackpool (now called North and Central Piers), one in Southport and one 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away in Lytham. The wording of the land company's original lease indicates that a pier was probably planned for St Anne's from its beginning. A subsidiary, the St Anne's-on-the-Sea Pier and Improvements Company was formed in 1877. The company directors believed that a pier at St Anne's would offer visitors better conditions for fishing and boating than those at neighbouring resorts.
## Construction
There was some delay in building the new pier because of an economic downturn. Engineers inspected the site in 1879, and construction began in 1880. The architect was Alfred Dowson. The pier is constructed of cast iron columns and lattice girders with wooden decking and intricate decorative iron-work on the deck. The columns were sunk to a depth of 50 feet (15 m). The original structure was 914 feet (279 m) long and 19 feet (5.8 m) wide. It included a band kiosk built of glass and iron. Construction cost £18,000 and took more than five years. The pier was opened by Frederick Stanley on 15 June 1885, in a ceremony attended by local dignitaries, school children, the Preston Militia band, and the Order of Mechanics. The opening featured the launch of a lifeboat named the Laura Janet, whose crew was lost the following year in the Southport and St Anne's lifeboats disaster.
In 1891 a wooden landing jetty at the end of the pier was extended, in an L shape, by engineering and architecture firm Garlick and Sykes. The new iron extension was three storeys high and measured 120 feet (37 m) long by 90 feet (27 m) wide. After its addition, the pier was 945 feet (288 m) in length. The jetty was used for steamer services from Blackpool and Liverpool. The passing of the Ribble Navigation and Preston Dock Act of 1883 led to dredging of the river channels to improve access to Preston Dock. These changes to the estuary meant that the pier was eventually left on dry land, ruining the resort's steamer trade.
A new entrance building was constructed in 1899 to a design by J. D. Harker. This was built in the Mock Tudor style of red brick with imitation timber framing. In 1901 work began to enlarge the pier and add a Moorish-style pavilion. It had a seating capacity of 920 and measured 84 feet (26 m) by 56 feet (17 m). The width of the pier was increased to 34 feet (10 m). These additions were also undertaken by Garlick and Sykes and opened on 2 April 1904.
In 1910, further additions included the Floral Hall, adjacent to the Moorish Pavilion at the seaward end. The hall—a winter garden and concert hall—had a seating capacity of 850; it was built of steel and plate glass to a design by Arnold England.
## Attractions
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the developers of St Anne's were keen to attract a more refined market than Blackpool's working-class excursionists. The pier was originally intended to provide little more than a sedate promenading facility for the resort's visitors; initially the only other attractions were a band kiosk and a sweet shop.
The pier's Floral Hall hosted concerts and music hall acts. Its first resident orchestra was Miss Kate Erl and Her Ladies Orchestra. Subsequent conductors of the pier's orchestra were Clarice Dunnington, William Rees, Lionel Johns and Norman George. Artists who have performed on the pier include Gracie Fields, Leslie Henson, Russ Conway and George Formby.
In 1954, an amusement arcade was added to the pier; this now occupies three quarters of the length of the structure. Alterations later that decade included the addition of a restaurant and replacement of the decking. By the 1970s the pier's amusements included crazy golf, a miniature zoo and live theatre performances.
## Damage and recent history
In 1962 the holdings of the St Anne's Land & Building Company (including the pier) were bought by the Amalgamated Investment Company, based in London. Some alterations to the pier were made by the new owners, including the addition of an aviary and a reptile house. The Floral Hall was refurbished and turned into a Tyrolean-style beer garden.
A centenary concert for the town by violinist Yehudi Menuhin was held on 7 June 1974 and attended by Anne, Princess Royal. On the night of 20 July, the Moorish Pavilion (known from 1970 as the Sultan's Palace) was destroyed in a fire.
On 6 December 1976, following the liquidation of the Amalgamated Investment Company, the pier was bought by the Webb family for £30,000. They initially planned to repair the fire damage. The Floral Hall, which had been adjacent to the Moorish Pavilion, was destroyed by fire on 23 July 1982; the pavilions were deemed irreparable and the seaward end of the pier was demolished. Following protests against the demolition by campaigners, the local council decided that the final 150 feet (46 m) should be retained to protect the character of the pier, so the remains of the ruined landing jetty still exist. The pier, most of which is enclosed, now ends with an uncovered stretch of deck that opens out into two hexagonal platforms with small pavilions and shelters. The length of the remaining intact structure is 600 feet (180 m). The pier's 21st-century attractions include the amusement arcade, cafés and shops; the seaward end is usually closed to visitors.
English Heritage designated St Anne's Pier a Grade II listed building on 21 September 1973. It is listed as part of a group of promenade structures that includes a bandstand, a lifeboat monument, a pavilion and two shelters. Lynn F. Pearson (1991) writes that the pier's Moorish Pavilion and Floral Hall were "two of the best [pier pavilions] in design terms". According to Chris Mawson and Richard Riding (2008), the pier is "well regarded" for its wrought iron work.
## Visual reporting point
The pier is one of nine visual reporting points (VRPs) for general aviation aircraft in the local Blackpool airspace.
## See also
- Listed buildings in Saint Anne's on the Sea |
68,909,808 | Rise Bar | 1,166,620,083 | Gay bar in Manhattan, New York City | [
"2015 establishments in New York City",
"Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan",
"LGBT drinking establishments in New York City",
"LGBT nightclubs in New York (state)",
"Nightclubs in Manhattan"
]
| Rise Bar, or simply Rise, is a gay bar in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 2015, it is a small establishment surrounded by a number of larger LGBT nightlife venues. The bar is most popular among gay men and some women. It features pop music and hosts weekly entertainment including drag shows, open-mic nights and karaoke. Though Rise's owners invested in soundproofing before it opened, noise concerns from nearby residents initially led the local community board and state liquor authority to require the venue to close at an earlier hour than its competitors. Following a contentious series of applications to modify Rise's operating schedule and liquor license, this requirement was overturned for weekend nights. The establishment has received praise for its welcoming, diverse atmosphere.
## Description
Rise Bar is located in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, a few blocks north of the neighborhood's other gay venues, including Industry Bar and Flaming Saddles Saloon. Its exterior is characterized by heavy wooden doors with large handles. The interior, described by Gothamist as "sleek" and "open", has a white bar, black tables, a glitter ball, a stage and television screens playing music videos. A 2015 New York Times article categorized most of the clientele as gay men in their 30s and 40s, noting that female customers also frequent the bar early in the night. A 2016 Gothamist piece classed one Saturday night crowd as "young, hot twenty-somethings".
The establishment's daily happy hour runs from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and features half-price drinks. Its ambient music consists predominantly of pop and top 40 artists, with Wednesday playlists being rock-themed. According to ShermansTravel, the scene inside "turns into a thumping dance party most nights". The venue regularly hosts nighttime drag shows, karaoke, open-mic nights, Broadway-themed events and weekend drag brunches. Prior to her 2017 appearance on Drag Race, Peppermint hosted one of the bar's weekly shows. In September 2019, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and his husband, Gauthier Destenay, visited Rise to attend a drag performance by Marti Gould Cummings.
## History
Ted Arenas, John Blair and Beto Sutter opened Rise Bar in November 2015. Because noise was an ongoing concern for residents of the nightlife-saturated neighborhood, the trio invested heavily in soundproofing infrastructure ahead of the venue's debut. A 2014 DNAinfo article quoted Blair saying that the owners spent \$70,000 to make sure their neighbors would have "a good quality of life". The publication later reported that the bar's landlord spent \$90,000 on "soundproofing throughout the building" and that Blair spent about \$20,000 "hiring a sound engineer to install paneling and conduct sound checks". Nevertheless, Manhattan Community Board 4 narrowly approved the bar's liquor license, and the state liquor authority (SLA) greenlit the application only on the condition that the venue close daily by 2 a.m. for its first year of operation.
In late 2016, Blair—a former member of the community board—filed to change Rise's closing time to 4 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. He argued that the bar was unable to compete with other LGBT venues nearby—including Industry, Therapy, Fairytail Lounge and Hardware—because they were all allowed to operate until 4 a.m. He presented letters of support from more than 800 people—including 21 living above the bar—and from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Councilman Corey Johnson and Senator Brad Hoylman. Approximately a dozen residents attended board meetings in person to speak in favor of Rise, which some described as a "haven" for the local gay community.
Opponents of the change voiced concerns about "noise, late-night crowds and unruly patrons". Others said that when the owners first applied for the establishment's liquor license, they had misrepresented it as a lounge without live entertainment, and its drag shows and karaoke nights meant that it was, in practice, operating as a nightclub. Some residents of apartments above the bar stated that noise disrupted their sleep. Altogether, the board directly received 66 letters of opposition to the 4 a.m. closing time and 16 e-mails in favor of it. The co-chairman of the 50–51 Block Association objected to the letters of support penned by Brewer, Johnson and Hoylman, stating that they were written without constituent input. However, no "specific problematic instances", such as noise violations or incidents of unruly behavior, were submitted to the board's Business Licenses and Permits committee, which issued preliminary approval to Blair's application. The full board subsequently voted 20–18 to extend the bar's hours, and it issued a request that the SLA "consider asking the operators to ... modify their method of operation, in light of the [live entertainment they host]".
The bar then applied to change its liquor license to include a provision for live piano music, which again provoked opposition from neighbors who felt the owners had not been upfront about their intentions for the space. Rise's lawyer refuted this, asserting that plans for drag shows and karaoke had been disclosed from the beginning and that karaoke should not be classified as live music since no instruments are played on site. The Business Licenses and Permits committee ultimately approved the proposal, "provided the bar wrap up any and all live performances before 1 a.m. and conduct sound tests in the apartments of residents with complaints". The venue presented a compromise by amending its request to the SLA, soliciting a 4 a.m. closing time only on Fridays and Saturdays; it volunteered to keep its 2 a.m. Thursday curfew. A few weeks later, in January 2017, the board voted 24–10 in favor of the license modification.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the business next door to Rise shut down. Rise's owners took over the lease for that space and doubled the venue's size, adding a second bar and dance floor. They also launched a food menu.
## Reception
Gothamist included Rise Bar on its 2016 list of "the 12 best gay bars in NYC". Michael Musto described it as "a warm hangout that is unpretentious yet polished", further stating that its high volume of female customers "[makes] for shocking diversity". During the bar's application process for later operating hours, patrons who attended board meetings commented that Rise was a comfortable place that "fostered a sense of community". ShermansTravel lists the establishment among "the best gay and queer bars in Manhattan". Get Out! Magazine named Rise its Best Bar of the Year in 2022.
## See also
- LGBT culture in New York City |
181,178 | Acer rubrum | 1,169,167,393 | Maple tree native in North America | [
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"Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America)",
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| Acer rubrum, the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant native tree in eastern North America. The red maple ranges from southeastern Manitoba around the Lake of the Woods on the border with Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to Florida, and southwest to East Texas. Many of its features, especially its leaves, are quite variable in form. At maturity, it often attains a height around 30 m (100 ft). Its flowers, petioles, twigs, and seeds are all red to varying degrees. Among these features, however, it is best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn.
Over most of its range, red maple is adaptable to a very wide range of site conditions, perhaps more so than any other tree in eastern North America. It can be found growing in swamps, on poor, dry soils, and almost anywhere in between. It grows well from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft). Due to its attractive fall foliage and pleasing form, it is often used as a shade tree for landscapes. It is used commercially on a small scale for maple syrup production and for its medium to high quality lumber. It is also the state tree of Rhode Island. The red maple can be considered weedy or even invasive in young, highly disturbed forests, especially frequently logged forests. In a mature or old-growth northern hardwood forest, red maple only has a sparse presence, while shade-tolerant trees such as sugar maples, beeches, and hemlocks thrive. By removing red maple from a young forest recovering from disturbance, the natural cycle of forest regeneration is altered, changing the diversity of the forest for centuries to come.
## Description
Though A. rubrum is sometimes easy to identify, it is highly changeable in morphological characteristics. It is a medium to large sized tree, reaching heights of 27 to 38 m (90 to 120 ft) and exceptionally over 41 m (135 ft) in the southern Appalachians where conditions favor its growth. The leaves are usually 9 to 11 cm (3+1⁄2 to 4+1⁄4 in) long on a full-grown tree. The trunk diameter often ranges from 46 to 88 cm (18 to 35 in); depending on the growing conditions, however, open-grown trees can attain diameters of up to 153 cm (60 in). The trunk remains free of branches until some distance up the tree on forest grown trees, while individuals grown in the open are shorter and thicker with a more rounded crown. Trees on poorer sites often become malformed and scraggly. Generally the crown is irregularly ovoid with ascending whip-like curved shoots. The bark is a pale grey and smooth when the individual is young. As the tree grows the bark becomes darker and cracks into slightly raised long plates. The largest known living red maple is located near Armada, Michigan, at a height of 38.1 m (125 ft) and a bole circumference, at breast height, of 4.95 m (16 ft 3 in).
The leaves of the red maple offer the easiest way to distinguish it from its relatives. As with all North American maple trees, they are deciduous and arranged oppositely on the twig. They are typically 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and wide with three to five palmate lobes with a serrated margin. The sinuses are typically narrow, but the leaves can exhibit considerable variation. When five lobes are present, the three at the terminal end are larger than the other two near the base. In contrast, the leaves of the related silver maple, A. saccharinum, are much more deeply lobed, more sharply toothed, and characteristically have five lobes. The upper side of A. rubrum's leaf is light green and the underside is whitish and can be either glaucous or hairy. The leaf stalks are usually red and are up to 10 cm (4 in) long. The leaves can turn a characteristic brilliant red in autumn, but can also become yellow or orange on some individuals. Soil acidity can influence the color of the foliage and trees with female flowers are more likely to produce orange coloration while male trees produce red. The fall colors of red maple are most spectacular in the northern part of its range where climates are cooler.
The twigs of the red maple are reddish in color and somewhat shiny with small lenticels. Dwarf shoots are present on many branches. The buds are usually blunt and greenish to reddish in color, generally with several loose scales. The lateral buds are slightly stalked, and in addition, collateral buds may be present, as well. The buds form in fall and winter and are often visible from a distance due to their large size and reddish tint. The leaf scars on the twig are V-shaped and contain three bundle scars.
The flowers are generally unisexual, with male and female flowers appearing in separate sessile clusters, though they are sometimes also bisexual. They appear in late winter to early spring, from December to May depending on elevation and latitude, usually before the leaves. The tree itself is considered polygamodioecious, meaning some individuals are male, some female, and some monoecious. Under the proper conditions, the tree can sometimes switch from male to female, male to hermaphroditic, and hermaphroditic to female. The red maple will begin blooming when it is about 8 years old, but it significantly varies between tree to tree: some trees may begin flowering when they are 4 years old. The flowers are red with 5 small petals and a 5-lobed calyx, usually at the twig tips. The staminate flowers are sessile. The pistillate flowers are borne on pedicels that grow out while the flowers are blooming, so that eventually the flowers are in a hanging cluster with stems 1 to 5 cm (1⁄2 to 2 in) long. The petals are lineal to oblong in shape and are pubescent. The pistillate flowers have one pistil formed from two fused carpels with a glabrous superior ovary and two long styles that protrude beyond the perianth. The staminate flowers contain between 4 and 12 stamens, often with 8.
The fruit is a samara 15 to 25 mm (5⁄8 to 1 in) long that grows in pairs with somewhat divergent wings at an angle of 50 to 60°. They are borne on long slender stems and are variable in color from light brown to reddish. They ripen from April through early June, before even the leaf development is altogether complete. After they reach maturity, the seeds are dispersed for a 1- to 2-week period from April through July.
## Distribution and habitat
Acer rubrum is one of the most abundant and widespread trees in eastern North America. It can be found from the south of Newfoundland, through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and southern Quebec to the southwest west of Ontario, extreme southeastern Manitoba and northern Minnesota; southward through Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas in its western range; and east to Florida. It has the largest continuous range along the North American Atlantic Coast of any tree that occurs in Florida. In total it ranges 2,600 km (1,600 mi) from north to south. The species is native to all regions of the United States east of the 95th meridian. The tree's range ends where the −40 °C (−40 °F) mean minimum isotherm begins, namely in southeastern Canada. A. rubrum is not present in most of the Prairie Peninsula of the northern Midwest (although it is found in Ohio), the coastal prairie in southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas and the swamp prairie of the Florida Everglades. Red maple's western range stops with the Great Plains where conditions become too dry for it. The absence of red maple from the Prairie Peninsula is most likely due to the tree's poor tolerance of wildfires. Red maple is most abundant in the Northeastern US, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and northeastern Wisconsin, and is rare in the extreme west of its range and in the Southeastern US.
In several other locations, the tree is absent from large areas but still present in a few specific habitats. An example is the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, where red maple is not found in the dominant open plains, but is present along streams. Here the red maple is not present in the bottom land forests of the Grain Belt, despite the fact it is common in similar habitats and species associations both to the north and south of this area. In the Northeastern US, red maple can be a climax forest species in certain locations, but will eventually give way to sugar maple.
A. rubrum does very well in a wide range of soil types, with varying textures, moisture, pH, and elevation, probably more so than any other forest tree in North America. A. rubrum's high pH tolerance means that it can grow in a variety of places, and it is widespread along the Eastern United States. It grows on glaciated as well as unglaciated soils derived from granite, gneiss, schist, sandstone, shale, slate, conglomerate, quartzite, and limestone. Chlorosis can occur on very alkaline soils, though otherwise its pH tolerance is quite high. Moist mineral soil is best for germination of seeds.
Red maple can grow in a variety of moist and dry biomes, from dry ridges and sunny, southwest-facing slopes to peat bogs and swamps. While many types of tree prefer a south- or north-facing aspect, the red maple does not appear to have a preference. Its ideal conditions are in moderately well-drained, moist sites at low or intermediate elevations. However, it is nonetheless common in mountainous areas on relatively dry ridges, as well as on both the south and west sides of upper slopes. Furthermore, it is common in swampy areas, along the banks of slow moving streams, as well as on poorly drained flats and depressions. In northern Michigan and New England, the tree is found on the tops of ridges, sandy or rocky upland and otherwise dry soils, as well as in nearly pure stands on moist soils and the edges of swamps. In the far south of its range, it is almost exclusively associated with swamps. Additionally, red maple is one of the most drought-tolerant species of maple in the Carolinas.
Red maple is far more abundant today than when Europeans first arrived in North America. It only contributed minimally to old-growth upland forests, and would only form same-species stands in riparian zones. The density of the tree in many of these areas has increased six- to seven-fold, and this trend seems to be continuing, all of which is due to human factors, mainly loss of forest management by Native Americans who managed the forests to enhance acorn production and oak tree growth. This loss of management has been further enhanced by continued heavy logging and a recent trend of young, shrubby forests recovering from past human disturbances. Also, the decline of American elm and American chestnut due to introduced diseases has contributed to its spread. Red maple dominates such sites, but largely disappears until it only has a sparse presence by the time a forest is mature. This species is in fact a vital part of forest regeneration in the same way that paper birch is.
Because it can grow on a variety of substrates, has a high pH tolerance, and grows in both shade and sun, A. rubrum is a prolific seed producer and highly adaptable, often dominating disturbed sites. While many believe that it is replacing historically dominant tree species in the Eastern United States, such as sugar maples, beeches, oaks, hemlocks and pines, red maple will only dominate young forests prone to natural or human disturbance. In areas disturbed by humans where the species thrives, it can reduce diversity, but in a mature forest, it is not a dominant species; it only has a sparse presence and adds to the diversity and ecological structure of a forest. Extensive use of red maple in landscaping has also contributed to the surge in the species' numbers as volunteer seedlings proliferate. Finally, disease epidemics have greatly reduced the population of elms and chestnuts in the forests of the US. While mainline forest trees continue to dominate mesic sites with rich soil, more marginal areas are increasingly being dominated by red maple.
## Ecology
Red maple's maximum lifespan is 150 years, but most live less than 100 years. The tree's thin bark is easily damaged from ice and storms, animals, and when used in landscaping, being struck by flying debris from lawn mowers, allowing fungi to penetrate and cause heart rot. Its ability to thrive in a large number of habitats is largely due to its ability to produce roots to suit its site from a young age. In wet locations, red maple seedlings produce short taproots with long, well-developed lateral roots; while on dry sites, they develop long taproots with significantly shorter laterals. The roots are primarily horizontal, however, forming in the upper 25 cm (9.8 in) of the ground. Mature trees have woody roots up to 25 m (82 ft) long. They are very tolerant of flooding, with one study showing that 60 days of flooding caused no leaf damage. At the same time, they are tolerant of drought due to their ability to stop growing under dry conditions by then producing a second-growth flush when conditions later improve, even if growth has stopped for 2 weeks.
A. rubrum is one of the first plants to flower in spring. A crop of seeds is generally produced every year with a bumper crop often occurring every second year. A single tree between 5 and 20 cm (2.0 and 7.9 in) in diameter can produce between 12,000 and 91,000 seeds in a season. A tree 30 cm (0.98 ft) in diameter was shown to produce nearly a million seeds. Red maple produces one of the smallest seeds of any of the maples. Fertilization has also been shown to significantly increase the seed yield for up to two years after application.
The seeds are epigeal and tend to germinate in early summer soon after they are released, assuming a small amount of light, moisture, and sufficient temperatures are present. If the seeds are densely shaded, then germination commonly does not occur until the next spring. Most seedlings do not survive in closed forest canopy situations. However, one- to four-year-old seedlings are common under dense canopy. Though they eventually die if no light reaches them, they serve as a reservoir, waiting to fill any open area of the canopy above.
Trees growing in a Zone 9 or 10 area such as Florida will usually die from cold damage if transferred up north, for instance to Canada, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, even if the southern trees were planted with northern red maples. Due to their wide range, genetically the trees have adapted to the climatic differences.
Red maple is able to increase its numbers significantly when associate trees are damaged by disease, cutting, or fire. One study found that 6 years after clearcutting a 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) Oak-Hickory forest containing no red maples, the plot contained more than 2,200 red maple seedlings per hectare (900 per acre) taller than 1.4 m (4.6 ft). One of its associates, the black cherry (Prunus serotina), contains benzoic acid, which has been shown to be a potential allelopathic inhibitor of red maple growth. Red maple is one of the first species to start stem elongation. In one study, stem elongation was one-half completed in 1 week, after which growth slowed and was 90% completed within only 54 days. In good light and moisture conditions, the seedlings can grow 30 cm (0.98 ft) in their first year and up to 60 cm (2.0 ft) each year for the next few years, making it a fast grower.
The red maple is used as a food source by several forms of wildlife. Elk and white-tailed deer in particular use the current season's growth of red maple as an important source of winter food. Several Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) utilize the leaves as food, including larvae of the rosy maple moth (Dryocampa rubicunda); see List of Lepidoptera that feed on maples.
Due to A. rubrum's very wide range, there is significant variation in hardiness, size, form, time of flushing, onset of dormancy, and other traits. Generally speaking, individuals from the north flush the earliest, have the most reddish fall color, set their buds the earliest and take the least winter injury. Seedlings are tallest in the north-central and east-central part of the range. In Florida, at the extreme south of the red maple's range, it is limited exclusively to swamplands. The fruits also vary geographically with northern individuals in areas with brief, frost-free periods producing fruits that are shorter and heavier than their southern counterparts. As a result of such variation, there is much genetic potential for breeding programs with a goal of producing red maples for cultivation. This is especially useful for making urban cultivars that require resistance from verticillium wilt, air pollution, and drought.
Red maple frequently hybridizes with silver maple; the hybrid, known as Freeman's maple, Acer × freemanii, is intermediate between the parents.
### Allergenic potential
The allergenic potential of red maples varies widely based on the cultivar.
The following cultivars are completely male and are highly allergenic, with an OPALS allergy scale rating of 8 or higher:
- 'Autumn Flame' ('Flame')
- 'Autumn Spire'
- 'Columnare' ('Pyramidale')
- 'Firedance' ('Landsburg')
- 'Karpick'
- 'Northwood'
- 'October Brilliance'
- 'Sun Valley'
- 'Tiliford'
The following cultivars have an OPALS allergy scale rating of 3 or lower; they are completely female trees, and have low potential for causing allergies:
- 'Autumn Glory'
- 'Bowhall'
- 'Davey Red'
- 'Doric'
- 'Embers'
- 'Festival'
- 'October Glory'
- 'Red Skin'
- 'Red Sunset' ('Franksred')
### Toxicity
The leaves of red maple, especially when dead or wilted, are extremely toxic to horses. The toxin is unknown, but believed to be an oxidant because it damages red blood cells, causing acute oxidative hemolysis that inhibits the transport of oxygen. This not only decreases oxygen delivery to all tissues, but also leads to the production of methemoglobin, which can further damage the kidneys. The ingestion of 700 grams (1.5 pounds) of leaves is considered toxic and 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds) is lethal. Symptoms occur within one or two days after ingestion and can include depression, lethargy, increased rate and depth of breathing, increased heart rate, jaundice, dark brown urine, colic, laminitis, coma, and death. Treatment is limited and can include the use of methylene blue or mineral oil and activated carbon in order to stop further absorption of the toxin into the stomach, as well as blood transfusions, fluid support, diuretics, and anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C. About 50% to 75% of affected horses die or are euthanized as a result.
## Cultivation
Red maple's rapid growth, ease of transplanting, attractive form, and value for wildlife (in the eastern US) has made it one of the most extensively planted trees. In parts of the Pacific Northwest, it is one of the most common introduced trees. Its popularity in cultivation stems from its vigorous habit, its attractive and early red flowers, and most importantly, its flaming red fall foliage. The tree was introduced into the United Kingdom in 1656 and shortly thereafter entered cultivation. There it is frequently found in many parks and yards.
Red maple is a good choice of a tree for urban areas when there is ample room for its root system. Forming an association with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi can help A. rubrum grow along city streets. It is more tolerant of pollution and road salt than sugar maples, although the tree's fall foliage is not as vibrant in this environment. Like several other maples, its low root system can be invasive and it makes a poor choice for plantings near paving. It attracts squirrels, who eat its buds in the early spring, although squirrels prefer the larger buds of the silver maple.
Red maples make vibrant and colorful bonsai, and have year around attractive features for display.
### Cultivars
Numerous cultivars have been selected, often for intensity of fall color, with 'October Glory' and 'Red Sunset' among the most popular. Toward its southern limit, 'Fireburst', 'Florida Flame', and 'Gulf Ember' are preferred. Many cultivars of the Freeman maple are also grown widely. Below is a partial list of cultivars:
- 'Armstrong' – Columnar to fastigate in shape with silvery bark and modest orange to red fall foliage.
- 'Autumn Blaze' – Rounded oval form with leaves that resemble the silver maple. The fall color is orange red and persists longer than usual.
- 'Autumn Flame' – A fast grower with exceptional bright red fall color developing early. The leaves are also smaller than the species.
- 'Autumn Radiance' – Dense oval crown with an orange-red fall color.
- 'Autumn Spire' – Broad columnar crown; red fall color; very hardy.
- 'Bowhall' – Conical to upright in form with a yellow-red fall color.
- 'Burgundy Bell' – Compact rounded uniform shape with long lasting, burgundy fall leaves.
- 'Columnare' – An old cultivar growing to 20 metres (66 feet) with a narrow columnar to pyramidal form with dark green leaves turning orange and deep red in fall.
- 'Gerling' – A compact, slow growing selection, this individual only reaches 10 metres (33 feet) and has orange-red fall foliage.
- 'Northwood' – Branches are at a 45 degree angle to the trunk, forming a rounded oval crown. Though the foliage is deep green in summer, its orange-red fall color is not as impressive as other cultivars.
- 'October Brilliance' – This selection is slow to leaf in spring, but has a tight crown and deep red fall color.
- 'October Glory' – Has a rounded oval crown with late developing intense red fall foliage. Along with 'Red Sunset', it is the most popular selection due to the dependable fall color and vigorous growth. This cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
- 'Redpointe' – Superior in alkaline soil, strong central leader, red fall color.
- 'Red Sunset' – is also a recipient of the Award of Garden Merit. The other very popular choice, this selection does well in heat due to its drought tolerance and has an upright habit. It has very attractive orange-red fall color and is also a rapid and vigorous grower.
- 'Scarlet Sentinel' – A columnar to oval selection with 5-lobed leaves resembling the silver maple. The fall color is yellow-orange to orange-red and the tree is a fast grower.
- 'Schlesingeri' – A tree with a broad crown and early, long lasting fall color that is a deep red to reddish purple. Growth is also quite rapid. The original tree grew at the home of Barthold Schlesinger in Brookline, Massachusetts.
- 'Shade King' – This fast growing cultivar has an upright-oval form with deep green summer leaves that turn red to orange in fall.
- 'V.J. Drake' – This selection is notable because the edges of the leaves first turn a deep red before the color progresses into the center.
## Other uses
In the lumber industry Acer rubrum is considered a "soft maple", a designation it shares, commercially, with silver maple (A. saccharinum). In this context, the term "soft" is more comparative, than descriptive; i.e., "soft maple", while softer than its harder cousin, sugar maple (A. saccharum), is still a fairly hard wood, being comparable to black cherry (Prunus serotina) in this regard. Like A. saccharum, the wood of red maple is close-grained, but its texture is softer, less dense, and has not as desirable an appearance, particularly under a clear finish. However, the wood from Acer rubrum while being typically less expensive than hard maple, also has greater dimensional stability than that of A. saccharum, and also machines and stains easier. Thus, high grades of wood from the red maple can be substituted for hard maple, particularly when it comes to making stain/paint-grade furniture. Red maple lumber also contains a greater percentage of "curly" (aka "flame"/"fiddleback") figure, which is prized by musical instrument/custom furniture makers, as well as the veneer industry. As a soft maple, the wood tends to shrink more during the drying process than with the hard maples.
Red maple is also used for the production of maple syrup, though the hard maples Acer saccharum (sugar maple) and Acer nigrum (black maple) are more commonly utilized. One study compared the sap and syrup from the sugar maple with those of the red maple, as well as those of the Acer saccharinum (silver maple), Acer negundo (boxelder), and Acer platanoides (Norway maple), and all were found to be equal in sweetness, flavor, and quality. However, the buds of red maple and other soft maples emerge much earlier in the spring than the sugar maple, and after sprouting chemical makeup of the sap changes, imparting an undesirable flavor to the syrup. This being the case, red maple can only be tapped for syrup before the buds emerge, making the season very short.
Native Americans used red maple bark as a wash for inflamed eyes and cataracts, and as a remedy for hives and muscular aches. They also would brew tea from the inner bark to treat coughs and diarrhea. Pioneers made cinnamon-brown and black dyes from a bark extract, and iron sulphate could be added to the tannin from red maple bark in order to make ink.
Red maple is a medium quality firewood, possessing less heat energy, nominally 5.4 gigajoules per cubic metre (18.7 million British thermal units per cord) , than other hardwoods such as ash: 7.0 GJ/m<sup>3</sup> (24 million British thermal units per cord), oak: 7.0 GJ/m<sup>3</sup> (24 million British thermal units per cord), or birch: 6.1 GJ/m<sup>3</sup> (21 million British thermal units per cord).
## See also
- List of plants poisonous to equines
- List of foods made from maple |
42,462,145 | Twomile Run | 1,007,483,971 | Tributary of Kettle Creek in Clinton County, Pennsylvania | [
"Rivers of Clinton County, Pennsylvania",
"Rivers of Pennsylvania",
"Tributaries of the West Branch Susquehanna River"
]
| Twomile Run is a tributary of Kettle Creek in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) long. Tributaries of the stream include Huling Branch and Middle Branch Twomile Run. The stream flows through Leidy Township and Noyes Township. The stream's watershed has an area of approximately 9 square miles. Coal is mined in the watershed. Most of the acid mine drainage in Kettle Creek comes from Twomile Run.
The discharge of Twomile Run at its mouth ranges from 200 to 10,000 gallons per minute. There are 2.1 to 11.7 milligrams per liter of manganese in the waters at this location. In 2007, the average pH at the mouth of the stream was 3.52, with a range of 3.4 to 3.9. By 2011, the stream's pH had increased slightly upstream of Huling Branch. Rock formations in the watershed include the Huntley Mountain Formation, the Burgoon Sandstone, the Allegheny Group, and the Pottsville Group.
## Course
Twomile Run begins in Sproul State Forest in Leidy Township, Clinton County. The stream flows south and slightly east, leaving Sproul State Forest and Leidy Township and then entering Noyes Township. Soon after entering Noyes Township, it receives the tributary Middle Branch Twomle Run and continues south. The Twomile Run valley begins to get deeper at this point. The stream turns southwest, then southeast, and then southwest again. Shortly after the final bend, it receives the tributary Huling Branch and not long afterwards enters Kettle Creek.
### Tributaries
Named tributaries of Twomile Run include Middle Branch Twomile Run and Huling Branch. Robbins Hollow joins Twomile Run 100 feet (30 m) downstream of Middle Branch Twomile Run. Huling Branch has an unnamed tributary of its own and is significantly longer than Middle Branch Twomile Run, about the same length as Twomile Run. Other tributaries of Twomile Run include Pecking Patch Hollow and MackIntosh Hollow.
## Hydrology
The watershed of Twomile Run experiences significant acid mine drainage, with 2.3 miles (3.7 km) of the stream being affected by it. The acid mine drainage flows in the watershed have a pH of 2.5 to 3.5, an iron concentration of 20 to 50 milligrams per liter, and an aluminum concentration of 20 to 70 milligrams per liter. The acidity concentration in these flows ranges from 200 to 600 milligrams per liter. The stream is the only significant source of acid mine drainage to enter Kettle Creek on its eastern side.
Thirty to fifty percent of the acid mine drainage in the Twomile Run watershed comes from baseflow.
Above the swamp on Twomile Run, the discharge of the stream is 511 gallons per minute. Upstream of Middle Branch Twomile Run, the discharge is 618 gallons per minute and downstream of Robbins Hollow, the discharge is 1402 gallons per minute. Downstream of the sampling site KC121, the discharge is 1893 gallons per minute and upstream of Huling Branch, the discharge is 2258 gallons per minute. The discharge at the mouth of Twomile Run ranges from 200 to 10,000 gallons per minute, which is between 0.6 and 2 percent of the discharge of Kettle Creek.
Upstream of the swamp on the stream, the daily load of iron is 0.9 pounds (0.41 kg) and the load is 7.6 pounds (3.4 kg) per day upstream of Middle Branch Twomile Run. Downstream of Robbins Hollow, the daily iron load is 25.2 pounds (11.4 kg) per day and downstream of KC121, it is 37.9 pounds (17.2 kg) per day.
The load of aluminum above the swamp on Twomile Run is 2.7 pounds (1.2 kg) and the load is 21.0 pounds (9.5 kg) per day upstream of the stream's middle branch. Below Robbins Hollow, the load is 51.0 pounds (23.1 kg) per day and below KC121, the daily load is 67.5 pounds (30.6 kg). Downstream of Huling Branch, the daily load is 85.4 pounds (38.7 kg).
The manganese concentration at the mouth of Twomile Run ranges from 2.1 to 11.7 milligrams per liter. The average concentration is 5.6 milligrams per liter. Upstream of Middle Branch Twomile Run, the concentration is 6.83 milligrams per liter and the daily load is 57.0 pounds (25.9 kg). Above Pecking Patch Hollow, the concentration of manganese is 6.43 milligrams per liter and the daily load is 119.2 pounds (54.1 kg). Downstream of Huling Branch, the manganese concentration is 6.44 milligrams per liter and the load is 296.0 pounds (134.3 kg) per day.
The daily load of acid above the swamp on Twomile Run is 17 pounds (7.7 kg). The load of acid above Middle Branch Twomile Run is 205 pounds (93 kg) per day. Below Robbins Hollow, the daily load is 468 pounds (212 kg); below KC121, the load is 701 pounds (318 kg) per day. Downstream of Huling Branch, the daily load is 957 pounds (434 kg) per day. The pH of Twomile Run at its mouth ranged from 3.4 to 3.9 and the average pH at this location was 3.52 in 2007. However, by 2011, the pH upstream of Huling Branch had increased by 0.4 and the acidity concentration of Twomile Branch had halved. The alkalinity concentration in Twomile Run above Middle Branch Twomile Run is 0.37 milligrams per liter and the daily load is 3.1 pounds (1.4 kg). The concentration of alkalinity in Twomile Run upstream of Pecking Patch Hollow is 1.03 milligrams per liter. The daily load is 19.2 pounds (8.7 kg) at this location. There is no alkalinity downstream of Huling Branch.
The sulfate load upstream of the swamp on Twomile Run is 51 pounds (23 kg) per day and upstream of Middle Branch Twomile Run, the daily load is 1,207 pounds (547 kg). Downstream of Robbins Hollow and KC121, the sulfate load is 2,472 pounds (1,121 kg) and 2,326 pounds (1,055 kg) per day, respectively. Below Huling Branch, the load is 3,433 pounds (1,557 kg) per day.
The sediment load in the Twomile Run watershed is 0.38 pounds (0.17 kg) per acre per year. The phosphorus and nitrogen loads are less than 0.5 pounds (0.23 kg) per acre per year and 2.30 pounds (1.04 kg) per acre per year, respectively.
The conductivity of Twomile Run at its mouth ranges from 291 micro-Siemens to 1091 micro-Siemens, with an average of 663 micro-Siemens.
## Geography, geology, and climate
There are a number of surface mines and deep mine complexes in the Twomile Run watershed. Some of the deep mine complexes extend into adjacent watersheds.
There are several rock formations in the Twomile Run watershed which are visible on the surface. These include the Huntley Mountain Formation, the Burgoon Sandstone, the Pottsville Group and the Allegheny Group. The Huntley Mountain Formation is from Devonian and Mississippian times and the Burgoon Sandstone is from Mississippian times. The other two formations are both from the Pennsylvanian times. The Upper Kittanning and Lower Kittanning coal seams are found in hills with the Allegheny Group. The Pottsville Group also contains coal seams. The elevation of the Upper Kittanning coal seam in the watershed ranges from 1,340 feet (410 m) to 1,600 feet (490 m) in the ridge between Middle Branch Twomile Run and Huling Branch.
The watershed of Twomile Run runs in approximately the same direction as the nearby Clearfield-McIntyre Syncline. To the north of the Clearfield-McIntyre Syncline is the Wellsboro Anticline and to the south is the Hyner Dome. The Huling Branch valley is relatively straight and narrow.
The elevation of Twomile Run at its source is 1,700 feet (520 m), while the elevation at its mouth is 705 feet (215 m). The first acid mine drainage discharge is at 1,240 feet (380 m). The maximum elevation in the watershed is 2,204 feet (672 m). The average basin slope is 8.32 degrees.
At 140 feet (43 m) to 150 feet (46 m) white and orange metal precipitate forms on the banks of Twomile Run at its confluence with Kettle Creek because the waters of the former stream are acidic, while those of the latter are alkaline.
The velocity-depth of Twomile Run is low, but there is an adequate frequency of riffles in the stream. The right bank of the stream is somewhat unstable.
Between 1992 and 2005, the annual precipitation ranged from 30.8 inches (78 cm) to 51.2 inches (130 cm) at the nearby Alvin R. Bush Dam. The average rate of precipitation was 36.2 inches (92 cm) per year.
## Watershed
The watershed of Twomile Run has an area of 9.15 square miles. There are 16.6 miles (26.7 km) of streams in the watershed, of which 8.5 miles (13.7 km) are affected by acid mine drainage. Most of the watershed is forested land. However, there are some areas of grassland, parking areas, and roads. The watershed runs in a northeast-southwest direction.
Most of the land in the watershed is owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Bureau of Forestry, and Sproul State Forest. There are some agricultural lands in the watershed, most of which are in the vicinity of Huling Branch.
Roads in the Twomile Run watershed include Two Mile Run Road. There are between 15 and 20 stream crossings in the stream's watershed.
Twomile Run, Huling Branch, and Middle Branch Twomile Run all have floodplains in their upper reaches.
## History and industries
The first coal mines in the Twomile Run watershed were deep mines, but there are no surviving maps of them. Surface mining of the Lower Kittanning and Upper Kittanning coals began after World War II, with the Lower Kittanning coal being mined to a depth of 60 feet (18 m). By the 1970s, the surface mining had ended. Much of the coal mined in the entire Kettle Creek watershed was in the Twomile Run watershed.
In the 1930s and early 1940s, there was a Civilian Conservation Corps located in the Twomile Run watershed.
A draft for an Operation Scarlift report was written in 1973 for Kettle Creek (which Twomile Run is a tributary of), but was never approved. A number of passive treatment systems were installed in the tributary Robbins Hollow in 2004 and nine have been installed in the main stem.
Timber is produced in the watershed of Twomile Run. Some coal reserves remain in the watershed.
## Biology
Brook trout are found in the upper reaches of the tributary Middle Branch Twomile Run, upstream of the acid mine drainage discharges in its watershed. There are brook trout above the acid mine drainage discharges on Twomile Run, but none below the discharges. The brook trout population is considered to be a "Class A population" and is increasing.
The concentration of brook trout at one location on the tributary Huling Branch is 24.9 kilograms (55 lb) per hectare and at another location the concentration is 13.9 kilograms (31 lb) per hectare.
The confluence of Twomile Run with Kettle Creek was completely devoid of fish in 1967, but by 1997, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission observed two species of fish, white sucker and smallmouth bass in this location. Twomile Run has the highest potential fish biodiversity of all streams in the Kettle Creek watershed, with a Potential Species Richness of 232 to 241 in places.
Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Odonata, and Coleoptera have all been observed on Huling Branch. The stonefly and caddisfly populations on Middle Branch Twomile Run are increasing.
The confluences of Middle Branch Twomile Run and Huling Branch with Twomile Run were considered to be "poor" or "marginal" habitats by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2001. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission assessed the mouth of the stream as 2 out of 10 on their habitability scale in the same year.
## Recreation
Most of the land in the Twomile Run watershed is used for recreation. Deer hunting and bear hunting are often done in the area. There is also a series all-terrain vehicle trails known collectively as the Whiskey Springs ATV trail complex. These are located in the sub-watersheds of Huling Branch and Middle Branch Twomile Run.
## See also
- Cross Fork
- Hammersley Fork
- List of rivers of Pennsylvania |
54,552,212 | Copycat (Billie Eilish song) | 1,149,351,345 | 2017 single by Billie Eilish | [
"2017 singles",
"2017 songs",
"Billie Eilish songs",
"Electronica songs",
"Interscope Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Finneas O'Connell",
"Songs written by Billie Eilish",
"Songs written by Finneas O'Connell"
]
| "Copycat" is a song recorded by American singer Billie Eilish. It was released by Darkroom and Interscope Records as the fourth single from Eilish's debut studio EP, Don't Smile at Me (2017). Eilish and her brother, Finneas O'Connell, co-wrote the song, with the latter solely handling the production. Musically an electronica and pop track with a hip hop-influenced instrumentation, the song was heavily inspired by someone who kept on copying Eilish and what she did.
Commercially, "Copycat" peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and number 100 on the Canadian Hot 100. It has also received several certifications, notably a double platinum award from the Mexican Association of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms, A.C. (AMPROFON). The song was performed live during Eilish's 2019 When We All Fall Asleep Tour and her Where Do We Go? World Tour in 2020. A Sofi Tukker remix was released on January 12, 2018.
## Background and release
"Copycat" was released on July 14, 2017, as the fourth single on Eilish's debut EP Don't Smile at Me. "Copycat" was written by the singer and Finneas O'Connell, her brother and the track's sole producer. Mastering and mixing was handled by the studio personnel, John Greenham, and Rob Kinelski, respectively. In an interview with Genius, Eilish mentioned that she wrote the song with her brother about a girl who copies everything that she does. "I write with my brother mostly. That song, we were just in his room, and I was like, 'Yo! There's this fucking girl and she keeps doing everything that I do. And I want to write about it.' Because it was in my mind." A remix by Sofi Tukker was released on January 12, 2018. Dan Regan of Billboard praised the remix, saying its tone "beefs up [Copycat] with a club-ready rhythm", and has a "flush of colors in its disco cheeks as new layers of synthetic brightness come in waves."
## Music and lyrics
"Copycat" has been described as a hip-hop-influenced electronica and pop track in press reviews. According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Copycat" has a slow and constant tempo of 64 beats per minute (BPM) and is played in the key of E minor. Eilish's vocals span a range of E<sub>3</sub> to G<sub>5</sub>. It features a minimalist production consisting of a bass guitar and piano. Titiana Crisano of Billboard compared the instrumentation to the later work of XXXTentacion and Tyler, the Creator. In an interview with Billboard, Eilish stated that Finneas came up with the "weird, creepy bass sound" and she thought it was cool.
The song is Eilish's response to someone who kept copying everything she is doing: "Copycat trying to cop my manner/Watch your back when you can’t watch mine/Copycat trying to cop my glamour/Why so sad, bunny, you can’t have mine?" As the song reaches the bridge, the instrumentation turns into a piano ballad and Eilish's vocals become somewhat quiet and build into a falsetto and apologizes as she warns the person that they have reached their limit: "You just crossed the line/You've run out of time/I'm so sorry, now you know/Sorry I'm the one that told you so." She then tricks the listener with "psyche" and returns to the original dark lyrics.
## Reception and live performances
Insider's Libby Torres, called the track a "precursor of sorts to 'Bad Guy'" and felt that "Copycat" lacks the "driving bass and increasingly-layered vocals" that made "Bad Guy" a good song. However, Torres concedes it is still a "worthy song that provides a tantalizing glimpse of Eilish's early potential". NME's Thomas Smith commented that "Copycat" was "impossibly swagger" with "scattered beats and energetic live performances making it a welcome entry point for many fans." Niall Byrne of The Irish Times described the ending as a "menacing synth" that reappears to "underscore her sullen demeanour". Kirsten Spruch of Billboard described the track as a "ground-shaking opener". Mike Wass writing for Idolator labeled "Copycat" as a "raised middle-finger to all the fakes and frauds". Katherine Cusumano of W magazine cited the track as a "don't-eff-with-me opening statement".
"Copycat" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, however, it peaked at number 12 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. The song also peaked at number 100 on the Canadian Hot 100. "Copycat" has been awarded notably a double platinum certification award from the Mexican Association of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms, A.C. (AMPROFON). Eilish performed "Copycat" at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, at the Glastonbury Festival in June, and at Pukkelpop in August 2019. "Copycat" was included on the setlist of Eilish's 2019 When We All Fall Asleep Tour, and on her 2020 Where Do We Go? World Tour. A fraction of song was interpolated during a performance of "Oxytocin" during Happier Than Ever, The World Tour (2022).
## Track listing
Digital download / streaming
1. "Copycat" – 3:14
2. "Watch" – 2:57
Digital download / streaming – Sofi Tukker remix
1. "Copycat" (Sofi Tukker remix) – 3:18
## Personnel
- Billie Eilish – vocals, songwriter
- Finneas O'Connell – songwriter, production
- John Greenham – mastering
- Rob Kinelski – mixing
## Charts
## Certifications
## Release history |
17,805,787 | 1992 Nicaragua earthquake | 1,161,635,179 | 1992 earthquake and tsunami centered off the west coast of Nicaragua | [
"1990s tsunamis",
"1992 earthquakes",
"1992 in Nicaragua",
"Earthquakes in Nicaragua",
"September 1992 events in North America",
"Tsunami earthquakes"
]
| The 1992 Nicaragua earthquake occurred off the coast of Nicaragua at 6:16 p.m. on 1 September. Some damage was also reported in Costa Rica. At least 116 people were killed and several more were injured. The earthquake was caused by movement on a convergent plate boundary. It created a tsunami disproportionately large for its surface wave magnitude.
## Tectonic setting
Nicaragua lies above the convergent boundary where the Cocos Plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate. The convergence rate across this boundary is about 73 mm per year. There have been many large earthquakes in this part of the plate boundary, including events in 1982, 2001, 2012 (El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala) and 2014. The 2001 and 2014 events were a result of normal faulting within the subducting Cocos Plate, with the others representing faulting along the plate interface.
## Earthquake
This event was the first tsunami earthquake to be recorded using modern broadband instruments. The initial surface wave magnitude, which uses only waves of a period of 20 seconds, was estimated at 7.0–7.2. The part of the Middle America Trench off Nicaragua contains relatively little sediment, allowing the slip to propagate up-dip all the way to the trench bottom, which tends to generate large tsunamis. The trench sediment here has been subducted and this soft material lies along the plate interface. The rupture speed along such a zone is significantly slower than for most subduction zone thrust earthquakes, while the focus of the earthquake was much shallower than the typical subduction zone earthquake. Using longer period seismic waves, magnitudes have been calculated in the range 7.6–7.7 M<sub>w</sub>, consistent with the size of the observed tsunami.
## Damage and casualties
The first shock of the earthquake occurred at 00:16 GMT and was followed by several strong aftershocks. The quake was most widely felt in the Chinandega and León departments of Nicaragua, though it was also felt elsewhere in Nicaragua at El Crucero, Managua and San Marcos and at San José in Costa Rica. It was the strongest seismic event to hit Nicaragua since the earthquake of 1972.
At least 116 people were killed, most being children sleeping in their beds, with more than 68 missing and over 13,500 left homeless in Nicaragua. At least 1,300 houses and 185 fishing boats were destroyed along the west coast of Nicaragua. Total damage in Nicaragua was estimated at between 20 and 30 million U.S. dollars.
According to the Augusto César Sandino Foundation, the most affected were "inhabitants of small poor communities who live from diverse subsistence activities. Their houses, located beside the sea, were almost entirely destroyed. These people have lost their livelihoods, poor peasants who grow basic grains for their own consumption in marginal areas, and fisherpeople who have lost their fishing equipment, boats, storage sheds and warehouses. Their already extreme poverty has been exacerbated."
## Tsunami
Most of the casualties and damage were caused by a tsunami affecting the west coasts of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and it was one of three tsunamis to occur within a span of six months. Runup heights were measured shortly after the earthquake and reached heights of up to 9.9 meters, though the average height was 3 to 8 meters. The tsunami was disproportionately large for its surface wave magnitude, or , and the duration of the rupture process was 100 s, unusually long for its size. The moment magnitude was 7.6, larger than the 20-second M<sub>s</sub> of 7; this M<sub>s</sub>–M<sub>w</sub> difference is a characteristic of tsunami earthquakes. Tide gauges were set up at Corinto and Puerto Sandino, which showed an impulsive tsunami originating 61 minutes after the earthquake. It ran inland 1,000 meters to Masachapa, the hardest hit major town of all, with nine fatalities.
## Relief efforts
From the onset of the disaster, authorities provided initial assistance. President Violeta Chamorro stated in her speech to the nation on 2 September 1992, that no international assistance was needed. However, the Red Cross did assist in some operations while the National Civil Defence carried out much of the relief operations, with wounded people being transported to the Hospital Leon and Lenin-Fonseca Hospital.
## See also
- List of earthquakes in 1992
- List of earthquakes in Nicaragua |
37,687,163 | Marshal Clarke | 1,162,218,955 | British colonial administrator | [
"1841 births",
"1909 deaths",
"Alumni of Trinity College Dublin",
"British amputees",
"British military personnel of the First Boer War",
"Deaths from pneumonia in the Republic of Ireland",
"Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George",
"Military personnel from County Tipperary",
"Resident Commissioners in Basutoland",
"Resident Commissioners in Southern Rhodesia",
"Resident Commissioners in Zululand",
"Royal Artillery officers"
]
| Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Marshal James Clarke KCMG (24 October 1841 – 1 April 1909) was a British colonial administrator and an officer of the Royal Artillery. He was the first Resident Commissioner in Basutoland from 1884 to 1893; Resident Commissioner in Zululand from 1893 to 1898; and, following the botched Jameson Raid, the first Resident Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia from 1898 to 1905.
For his work in Basutoland, Clarke drew praise from the economist John A. Hobson in his treatise Imperialism for his devotion to the education and development of the native people, while Viscount Bryce noted that his approach fostered goodwill amongst native people towards Britain. In Zululand, Clarke granted considerable authority and special judicial functions to the hereditary chiefs; and was commended by Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of Natal, for his action in the face of potential famine. He recommended to the Imperial Government the return from exile of Dinuzulu, the paramount chief. While in Southern Rhodesia, he was appointed to protect the interests of native people against the overarching ambitions of the British South Africa Company.
He married Annie Stacy Lloyd, daughter of Major General Banastyre Pryce Lloyd in 1880 and had three children. He died suddenly of pneumonia in his home country of Ireland.
## Early life
Reverend Mark Clarke, the Rector and Vicar of Shronell, County Tipperary, married Maria Hill on 6 April 1837. Marshal James Clarke was their eldest son, born on 24 October 1841. He was born in Tipperary, educated at a private school in Dublin and studied at Trinity College, Dublin. He went on to study at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in February 1863.
He served in India, where he lost an arm to a tiger. Moving to Africa, he was Resident Magistrate of Pietermaritzburg in 1874. He was promoted to captain in December 1875. He was Aide-de-Camp to Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the Special Commissioner of South Africa in 1876 on his mission to the Transvaal. He was appointed Special Commissioner to South Africa in 1876. He was Political Officer and Special Commissioner of Lydenburg in 1877. During the First Boer War, Clarke was twice mentioned in despatches. He was brevetted Major in April 1880 in recognition of his services during operations in South Africa. He was Resident Magistrate of Basutoland in 1881. He was promoted to Major in November 1882. He was Commissioner of Cape Police in 1882. He was seconded to the Sultan of Turkey's army in command of a regiment of the Egyptian Gendarmerie in 1882.
He retired from the military in March 1883 with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
## Basutoland (1884–1893)
Clarke was appointed the first Resident Commissioner in Basutoland (today Lesotho) and took office on 16 March 1884. In the preceding years, Basutoland had become unruly. In 1879, an uprising by Chief Morosi was quelled but led to intertribal strife over the partition of his land. The Cape government sought to regain control in 1880 by extending the Cape Peace Preservation Act of 1878 to Basutoland, which provided for the disarmament of natives. Attempts to enforce the law resulted in the Basuto Gun War of 1880 to 1881. Unrest continued until it was agreed in 1884 to place the territory under direct British control.
Under Imperial Administration through Clarke, Basutoland once again demonstrated the loyalty seen under previous Imperial rule and returned to prosperity, supplying neighbouring territories with grain and livestock, as well as labour for the Kimberley Diamond Fields. James Bryce (later Viscount Bryce) noted in his Impressions, after his tour of Southern Africa in 1897, that Clarke combined tactfulness with firmness in order to inspire goodwill towards the British government. While he suppressed the more "noxious" customs of the native people, he did not allow Europeans to own land and mineral prospectors were forbidden: the only whites permitted to reside were officials, missionaries and certain traders. Clarke's policy was to reinstate the tribal institutions and to govern through the recognised chiefs, amongst whom Letsie, son of Moshesh, was paramount. An annual pitso (national assembly) was held to debate questions of welfare. The white authorities only intervened when disturbances occurred between natives.
Clarke served until 1893. John A. Hobson, in Imperialism, A Study (1902), summed up Clarke's work in Basutoland saying that, along with other administrators like Sir George Grey and Lord Ripon, he "...brought sympathy and knowledge to the establishment of careful experiments in self-government." Hobson compares the approach to imperialism in Basutoland with that in Rhodesia and the Cape Colony, noting that "in the former it is devoted to protecting and aiding the education and development of the native people, while in the latter two, the policy allows for the exploitation of the people and lands by white colonists." The Paris Evangelical Missionary Society honoured him in appreciation for his work to bring about peace and good governance.
## Zululand (1893–1898)
Sir Marshal Clarke succeeded Sir Melmoth Osborn as Resident Commissioner and Chief Magistrate in Zululand in June 1893. Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson was appointed successor to Sir Charles Mitchell as Governor of the colony in August 1893, as well as Governor of Natal, which was to gain responsible government two months later.
The conclusion of the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879 had resulted in the imprisonment of the Zulu king Cetshwayo on Robben Island and the division of the Zulu Kingdom into 13 chiefdoms. In 1883, after John Colenso, Bishop of Natal, appealed on his behalf, Cetshwayo was released and restored to power. Zibhebhu kaMaphitha, one of the 13 Zulu chiefs, led a force against Cetshwayo and on 22 July 1883 defeated him in Ulundi. Cetshwayo escaped injured but died in February 1884, leaving his son Dinuzulu to inherit the throne. He ultimately succeeded in driving out Zibhebhu with the help of Transvaal Boers.
Dinuzulu rebelled against the British in 1888 but was defeated and fled to the Transvaal. He gave himself up in November 1888, and he and his uncles Ndabuko and Tshingana were found guilty of high treason in April 1889 and exiled to St Helena. Bishop Colenso's daughter, Harriette, intervened on their behalf in London. On her return to Zululand in August 1893, Clarke invited her to his residence in Etshowe. While there, she was visited by Zulu from across the land. The Zulu people had great affection for Bishop Colenso and his daughter. She persuaded them that Clarke's appointment was beneficial to them and they gave Clarke the nickname 'uKwezi', meaning 'Keeper' or 'Protector'. A sign of this was the release of a number of Dinzulu's followers from prison.
In his first year in office, Clarke established good order in the colony. Unlike Osborn, who treated Colenso's presence at the trials in 1888 as an affront, Clarke took up Colenso's cause and recommended to the Colonial Office in London that Dinuzulu and his uncles be allowed to return from exile, having been sufficiently punished for his supposed offences. Clarke, persuaded by Colenso, argued that Dinuzulu would not cause further trouble so long as the policy of fomenting intertribal strife were discontinued and Dinuzulu be appointed induna. He began the process for the return of Dinuzulu and sought to harness the authority of the Zulu leader to the administration. In January 1895, the exiles received notice of their return to Zululand with an official position for Dinuzulu. Their departure was set for February 1895 but was delayed after Ministers in London recommended that Zululand first be annexed to Natal.
Clarke's tenure marked a difference in policy: instead of trying to divide and rule and undermine the power of the hereditary chiefs, he granted considerable authority to them. He applied a similar approach to that of his previous work in Basutoland. His view was that the native people were "better able to manage their own affairs than we can do it for them, though they need our help in international matters and in matters between white and black." He gave special judicial functions to Hlubi of the Basotho, Mehlokazulu of the Ngobese and Mpiyakhe of the Mdlalose, enabling them to try certain cases referred to them by Resident Magistrates. In 1895, according to Harriette Colenso, the Zulu people approved of direct rule with Clarke as Resident Commissioner. However, when Clarke was appointed Resident Commissioner in Rhodesia in 1898, Charles Saunders replaced him and he bowed to pressure from settlers and officials to minimise Dinuzulu's influence over the Zulu people, especially during the Second Boer War.
Clarke had to deal with four natural disasters during his tenure. An outbreak of smallpox in 1894 was the result of labour migration and men returning from working in Witwatersrand. When it proved too costly for the people, he waived the charge for the vaccination. Locust swarms in 1894 and 1895 caused damage to crops and resulted in famine in 1896. The government response was to offer the chief of each tribe a reward of 3 d for every muid of locusts collected as well as cattle to slaughter when a swarm was eradicated. At the same time, Clarke bought 1,090 muids of quick-growing mealies to be given on payment to families requiring immediate relief, a measure of which Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of Natal, approved: "It is better to err on the side of unnecessary expenditure than to run the risk of exposing the people to starvation." Finally, in 1897, an outbreak of rinderpest killed many cattle and the government responded with a programme of inoculation.
## Southern Rhodesia (1898–1905)
As a result of the debacle of the Jameson Raid in the winter of 1895–1896, the imperial government determined by order in council to appoint a permanent Resident Commissioner to supervise the affairs of the British South Africa Company in Southern Rhodesia. Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, offered the role to Clarke, whose impressive prior administrative career was an indication of the importance being placed on the role. Graham Bower, the imperial secretary, wrote recommending him for the role: "Clarke is far and away the best man in this country". Clarke was in post from 1898 to 1905, reporting directly to Alfred Milner, the High Commissioner for Southern Africa based in Johannesburg, who in turn reported to the Colonial Office in London. His role was to safeguard the interests of the natives and to call on the High Commissioner for interference where he saw fit. The Aborigines Protection Society in London approved of his appointment, stating in its annual report of 1900 that he had a "rare capacity for dealing justly with native communities".
From the outset of his posting, Clarke had to deal with issues regarding land and labour. The latter was of major significance at this time in Southern Rhodesia. In response to questioning by the African Association and the Manchester Society for the Protection of Native Races, Chamberlain in 1898 responded that forced labour was not permitted. A year later, Chamberlain was concerned by a chief native commissioner instructing chiefs at an indaba that it was their duty to supply labour. Clarke's subsequent report accused officials of the administration of requisitioning labour by 'pressure only short of force', causing 'discontent amongst the natives'. Clarke's view was that a mutually beneficial relationship between capital and labour was possible through market forces alone, without additional pressure. Chamberlain agreed, although Milner was in favour of compulsory labour even to the extent of 'recommending the corvée'.
Towards the end of 1899, the Second Boer War gave Clarke cause for concern and he requested aid from Britain for the defence of Rhodesia. He was particularly concerned with the possibility of Africans avenging their recent defeat in the Second Matabele War by joining forces against the government. So, along with the native commissioners, he summoned and addressed indabas around the country to reassure the Africans that they would be protected and would not be called to fight, so could continue to pursue their peaceful occupations as normal. During this time, Africans deserted the mines, keeping their options open and "watching events".
The administration in 1901 proposed a scheme similar to that of the Glen Grey Act, imposing a tax of £2 to induce natives to work. In 1903, Rhodesian capitalists even proposed a £4 tax but Chamberlain preferred the lower rate of £2 and sought Clarke's opinion on its potential to cause trouble. Clarke argued that even £2 was too high. Milner disagreed and wrote to Sir William Milton, the company administrator, saying: 'I am embarrassed by a report form the Resident Commissioner in which he utterly condemns the proposed Native Tax Ordinance'. In 1904, finally, Alfred Lyttelton, Chamberlain's successor refused assent, citing Clarke's reports and an ordinance limited the tax to £1.
In the meantime, in 1902, Scott, a native commissioner, brought to Clarke's attention that many work-seekers were suffering great privation yet were unable to find work while some businesses were short of labour. Clarke took up the cause: 'This indicates the necessity of the organisation of an Association for bringing those wanting labour and those seeking employment into contact and prevent, what I have myself seen, gangs of destitute natives wandering about the country.' In 1903, a Rhodesian Native Labour Bureau was proposed.
Clarke was a critic of migrant labour schemes, which were designed to attract foreign labour to Rhodesia, and in 1900 he defended the rights of indigenous labour against infringement by foreign Africans from Mozambique, Nyasaland, Zambia and South Africa. As early as 1900, the BSAC came to the Colonial Office with a proposal regarding Chinese labour. In London, the Land and Mine Owners Association was formed in 1902 to lobby the Colonial Office and continued to press throughout 1903. The Colonial Office postponed its decision saying that the question concerned not only Rhodesia but all of southern Africa. Milner was lobbied by the BSAC and he promised his support. Clarke, however, dismissed the demands, arguing that 'the introduction of large numbers of Asiatics... will subject the aboriginal natives to unfair competition'. He forecast that the labour shortage was temporary and that the new bureau would satisfy demand. Clarke also argued that most Rhodesians were opposed to the introduction of Chinese labour. The Duke of Marlborough, then Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, recorded that he found Clarke's argument more convincing than Milner's, and the Colonial Office refused the proposal.
After serving in office for an extra year to 1905, Clarke retired, having helped to create a better system for the benefit of all. While the Colonial Office sought to mediate conflicts of interest, its impact was varied due to its desire to avoid expense. Milner was preoccupied with his vision of a new South Africa incorporating Southern Rhodesia, for which he needed the support of the BSAC. He appears to have had respect for Clarke, although he seems to have resented his influence at the Colonial Office, denying him an increase in salary or an official secretary. On Clarke's retirement, Milner wrote 'Personally I hardly think the office of Resident Commissioner any longer necessary'.
Arthur Cripps, the Anglican missionary and supporter of the rights of natives, said at the end of the BSAC era:
> Southern Rhodesian natives have surely had much in past years to thank a succession of Imperial Representatives for, Resident Commissioners, to whom the first of their number, Sir Marshal Clarke, handed on a fine tradition.
## Honours
He was invested as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in April 1880, and promoted to Knight Commander in 1886.
He was granted authority to wear the insignia of the Third Class of the Order of the Medjidieh in November 1883 conferred on him by Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, as authorised by Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in recognition of his services in the employ of the Khedive.
## Personal life
Clarke married Annie Stacy Lloyd, eldest daughter of Major General Banastyre Pryce Lloyd in 1880 and had three children: Elizabeth Clarke (17 June 1885 – 26 July 1952), Admiral Sir Marshal Llewelyn Clarke KBE CB DSC (9 May 1887 – 8 April 1959) and Captain Brian Lloyd Clarke (30 September 1888 – 19 April 1915).
H. Rider Haggard was a friend of Clarke's and he dedicated Swallow, his story of the Boer Great Trek of 1836, to him: "...I hope that you will accept these pages in memory of past time and friendship, and more especially for the providential events connected with a night-long ride which once we took on duty together..."
Clarke died suddenly on 1 April 1909 of pneumonia at The Lodge, Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland.
## See also
- Company rule in Rhodesia
- British South Africa Company
- Administrative posts of the British South Africa Company in Southern Rhodesia
- Basutoland
- Zulu Kingdom |
62,913,308 | WCAE | 1,167,047,847 | TV station in St. John, Indiana (1967–1983) | [
"1967 establishments in Indiana",
"1983 disestablishments in Indiana",
"Defunct mass media in Indiana",
"Defunct television stations in the United States",
"Mass media in Gary, Indiana",
"Television channels and stations disestablished in 1983",
"Television channels and stations established in 1967",
"Television stations in Chicago"
]
| WCAE was a PBS member station on channel 50 at St. John, Indiana, owned by the Lake Central School Corporation. It was the first television station to serve Northwest Indiana and the Calumet Region. The station began experiencing financial and personnel turmoil in the late 1970s; when the early 1980s recession hit the region hard, public support fell, and the school board closed the station in 1983. The license was reactivated in 1987, after more than four years of silence, as WYIN on channel 56.
## History
### Early years
The St. John School Township filed for a construction permit for a new noncommercial educational TV station licensed to St. John on April 23, 1965. Originally seeking channel 66, allocated to nearby Gary, the application was amended that summer to reflect an overhauled table of UHF allocations which set aside channel 50 in place of 66. The Federal Communications Commission approved the application on April 15, 1966. The WCAE call letters, standing for "Calumet Area Education", were the school's third choice, after attempts to secure WLCI and WLCE, representing Lake County, were unsuccessful. Lake Central applied for the station after learning it would be cheaper than installing a closed-circuit system and could be paid for with matching federal grants. Construction proceeded through much of 1967, including the commissioning of a 300-foot (91 m) tower at the school. Lake Central became the first secondary school in the United States to operate a television station when WCAE began broadcasting on September 26, making it the first educational TV station in Indiana.
Early WCAE programming consisted of telecourses for adult audiences and students. Channel 50 immediately demonstrated its interest in serving the Northwest Indiana area—which received stations from Chicago—with a newscast and Friday night sports programming, as well as coverage of the Indiana state high school basketball tournament and Indiana University athletics, a news program focusing on events from area high schools, and other informational programming. In a prank, three teenagers, all students at Lake Central, climbed the tower one day in March and flew a white flag—believed to be a bed sheet—from atop the mast.
Signs were on the horizon of facility and programming improvements, particularly as Indiana began to develop an educational television network and the school worked with Indiana University and Purdue University to be connected to potential educational programming to be produced by the schools. The Gary National Bank donated \$15,000 in equipment—a translator on channel 72—to be installed atop its building in downtown Gary and provide a better signal there. Further translators were planned for Whiting and East Chicago, but none were built.
Channel 50 also slated its first-ever telecast of a Lake Central basketball game in January 1969, and the station also began its annual televised auction, which in later years would become one of WCAE's largest fundraising events. August brought a microwave installation to link the station with the new Indiana Educational Television Network, originating from Indianapolis; that fall, a television vocational class was added to the Lake Central High School curriculum, and the station joined National Educational Television. However, WCAE could only air programming on a 28-day delay to protect WTTW in Chicago until September 1970, right before NET was supplanted by PBS, when the station was promoted to "Class I" affiliation with the network because viewers in some of WCAE's service area could not receive WTTW. WCAE, which shut down over school breaks, was able to broadcast through the summer for the first time in 1971 thanks to increased funding. Channel 50 was also one of two PBS stations that received post office approval to change its address to 123 Sesame Street. The station reinstated a local newscast in 1973.
### New transmitter
The promise of technical improvements for WCAE grew in 1970 when channel 50 was donated five acres of land owned by the American Oil Company in Hammond for a new transmitter site, with plans to convert WCAE to broadcast network shows in color and expand the station's coverage. The station applied again to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for \$231,000 in grant funds. However, it would be several years before the facility was constructed, with one delay occurring because WCAE did not apply to local authorities for the necessary permits, halting work for months. On October 21, 1974, WCAE activated the new tower and color transmitter, including a power increase to 2,372 kilowatts from 14.
The new color transmitter, however, did not come with color cameras and studio equipment, so all of WCAE's local programming remained in black and white. In 1977, the station began to replace some of its equipment in the control room and overhauled its layout.
### Turmoil and full-color conversion
For WCAE, 1978 would prove to be a pivotal year in the history of the station, and ultimately, of public broadcasting in Northwest Indiana. In February, station manager John Nelson announced that WCAE would cut all local programming, including its evening newscast and sports programs, because the station's production equipment needed replacement and repair and the transmitter was behind on maintenance due to lack of funds; Nelson sought to convert WCAE to full-color operation and immediately began a capital development campaign. It was later stated that Nelson did not want to produce more black-and-white shows. The station's financial problems, detailed in a report by Nelson, spurred probes by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, concerned about the state of the WCAE physical plant, which prompted the station to be off the air at times.
At the same time, a critical development took place: a schism between the Lake Central school board and the station advisory board; the latter began to advocate for the transfer of the WCAE license to a nonprofit community group, but compromise was forestalled when the school board fired WCAE's development director. Station board members felt that the operating structure of WCAE did not lend itself to a viable public television station for Northwest Indiana; the school board president proposed replacing the entire advisory board and shutting down channel 50 for 30 to 60 days as an alternative. With a new, more school-board friendly advisory board installed, several former members of the advisory committee formed their own group—Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting—and applied for vacant channel 56. They soon amended their application to specify channel 62 at Hammond after GWWX-TV, Inc., applied for channel 56 as well, proposing Northwest Indiana's first commercial station and part-time subscription television operation.
WCAE remained a pass-through for network programming for more than a year while more than \$200,000 in new color equipment was ordered; the only local production in early 1979, a series of high school basketball tournaments, was done with leased equipment. A new color film chain was inaugurated in June, while money was also spent to add climate and air control at the transmitter site, where air pollution had posed problems for the equipment. Local programming returned that July, with five-minute "Northwest Indiana Newsbriefs". However, structural problems continued to be an issue for WCAE. Inland Steel and other donors shied away from supporting the station because it was off the air frequently; a month-long outage in the winter of 1978–79 occurred due to a failure in a heat exchanger, while a short in several feed lines caused another 17-day shutdown in June. However, support eventually increased, and additional local shows that had been cut in 1978 returned to the schedule in late 1979.
Another high-profile dispute occurred in 1980, when all but one of the station's full-time staffers sent a memo to general manager Lou Iaconetti asking for the dismissal of station manager John Jage, 12 days before he resigned.
### Closure
The beginning of the end for WCAE would come in 1982. In May, the station cut its broadcast day due to financial hardships, crimped by reduced federal contributions and a drop in donations, exacerbated by high unemployment in the Calumet Region. Manager Iaconetti warned that participation in the annual auction had dipped significantly after Lake Central school board member Michael Klausman criticized the station, publicly pleading for it to be transferred from the school corporation. In September, the school board voted 4–1 to allow WCAE to operate in a deficit, with the station not having enough money to make payroll. The Lake Central school board, however, had other financial concerns that were more pressing to its primary functions. In December, a new contract was signed with teachers, assuming that the money in the 1983 budget set aside for WCAE would not be spent for the station. Additionally, the cutbacks in broadcasting hours did not save much money, and cutting further would have endangered the station's eligibility for federal grants.
On February 21, 1983, the Lake Central school board unanimously approved a plan from superintendent Thomas Roman to shutter WCAE by April 1, agreeing that their subsidy for channel 50 could be better used toward teachers and supplies. Only general manager Iaconetti remained employed by the school system. Station personnel noted that despite being based in Northwest Indiana, channel 50 had gotten better support from its viewers in Illinois. A program about the state legislature, Indiana Lawmakers, was the final regular telecast over WCAE, though a handful of college credit courses were still broadcast over the station until they concluded in early May.
WCAE's failure came at a time when financial problems caused pains for many PBS member stations. A 1982 report had considered almost 30 of the nearly 300 PBS member stations as in danger of shutting down, but WCAE was the only one that actually folded by mid-1983.
### Fate of the WCAE license and channel swap
Three groups demonstrated interest in acquiring the WCAE license from the Lake Central School Corporation. One was Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting, the group formed by ex-WCAE advisory board members, which planned to move the facility from St. John to a more accessible site near a highway. A second bidder was religious in nature: the Church of the Cardinal Virtues, a nondenominational Christian church in Gary. As the school board canceled its management contract with Iaconetti, the school board selected NIPB's offer over the church and a theater troupe from Park Forest, Illinois, and approved the transfer of the license to the community group. The FCC approved the license transfer in December 1983. In 1984, Amoco offered to purchase the former WCAE tower, which it used for its own communication needs, from Lake Central.
NIPB faced a steep financial hurdle in obtaining funding to construct its new facility in Merrillville. However, a white knight emerged. Fred Eychaner, owner of Chicago's WPWR-TV on channel 60, acquired the construction permit for Gary's channel 56, bearing the call letters WDAI, from Great Lakes Broadcasting—the former GWWX-TV. Channel 56 could not be used to transmit from the Sears Tower, but channel 50 could. (A previous attempt to build Gary's channel 56 on the John Hancock Center under the aegis of Greater Media Television as WGMI was dismissed in 1968 as short-spaced to allocations for channels 49 and 55 in southeast Wisconsin.) He then proposed to Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting that the two parties seek to switch the commercial and noncommercial allocations, so that the unbuilt WDAI construction permit could be relocated to channel 50 from the Sears Tower, while NIPB would operate on channel 56—neither needing nor desiring to operate from the Sears Tower. The switching of noncommercial and commercial allocations required action at the FCC. In November 1984, Eychaner's Metrowest Corporation, the owner of WPWR, alongside Great Lakes, holder of the WDAI construction permit, and Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting petitioned the commission to allow such swaps. As part of the deal, NIPB received \$684,000 from Metrowest; the group also was happy to shed itself of any association with the prior channel 50 operation of WCAE. The FCC approved such swaps among channels in the same band, as was the case with the two UHF stations, in March 1986, and in August, the commission issued final orders switching the commercial and noncommercial allocations for Gary. This allowed Metrowest to proceed with its plan of moving the WPWR-TV intellectual unit from channel 60 to channel 50 while selling the channel 60 license. WPWR-TV made the move to channel 50 on January 18, 1987.
Using the WCAE license on channel 56, Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting launched its new station as WYIN on November 15, 1987. Iaconnetti later returned to the Lake Central school system, teaching physical education in several elementary schools; he died in 1998 after a battle with cancer. |
16,194,573 | Academic All-America | 1,169,201,012 | null | [
"Awards established in 1952",
"College sports in the United States",
"College sports trophies and awards in the United States",
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| The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are given the honorific "Academic All-American". Since 1952, College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) has bestowed Academic All-American recognition on male and female athletes in Divisions I, II, and III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as well as athletes in the NAIA, other U.S. four-year schools, two-year colleges, and Canadian universities, covering all championship sports. The award honors student-athletes who have performed well academically and athletically while regularly competing for their institution.
It was sponsored by and presented as the Google Cloud Academic All-America® Award from 2018-19, and was previously sponsored by Capital One (2011–18), ESPN The Magazine (2004–2010), Verizon (2000–04) and GTE (1985–2000), and is administered by the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA). The phrases "Academic All-America" and "Academic All-American" are protected trademarks of College Sports Communicators.
Prior to 2011, there were two sets of teams chosen: One for Division I and a College Division that included all other divisions including NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian schools. In 2011-12, the program was expanded to include four sets of honorary teams: one for each of NCAA Divisions I, II and III as well as a "College Division" for NAIA, four-year U.S. schools that are not NCAA or NAIA members, two-year colleges and Canadian schools. The College Division was further split before the 2018-19 school year with the creation of a separate NAIA division and with the College Division now including all two-year colleges, Canadian institutions and any other school not part of the NCAA or NAIA. In each program, Academic All-District honors are given to all student-athletes with a minimum GPA of 3.5 who also are key starters or reserves. The prestigious Academic All-America teams are voted on by College Sports Communicators members.
## Details
### Domain
Currently, College Sports Communicators is responsible for the annual selection of Academic All-Americans in men's soccer, women's soccer, football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's swimming & diving, women's swimming & diving, men's tennis, women's tennis, baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field/cross country. Many other sports are eligible through the At-Large program.
College Sports Communicators has registered a trademark for the name, "Academic All-America" which it uses for its student-athlete recognition program. The Academic All-America program administered by College Sports Communicators is not related to such programs administered or sponsored by coaches' organizations. As a result, cease and desist orders have been granted to protect the trademark at times. Various sports that have similar programs have had to use names such as All-Academic to recognize scholar athletes.
Prior to the relationship with Google Cloud and Capital One, the Academic All-American Award has had other named corporate sponsors such as ESPN, Verizon and Verizon's corporate predecessor GTE who were sponsors from 1985 until the mid-2000s. In 1981, the National Collegiate Athletic Association sponsored the program. From 1985 until the 1999–2000 academic year the honorees were called GTE All-Americans, but during the 2000–01 academic year they became known as Verizon All-Americans when Verizon acquired GTE. Verizon continued to be the named sponsor through the 2003–04 academic year when they did not renew their rights. ESPN the Magazine became the sponsor during the 2004–05 academic year and remained sponsor until September 2010. Fall 2010 teams, continued to bear the ESPN sponsorship name. Capital one took over the sponsorship in January 2011.
### Process
Initially, team selections were composed of both a University Division, made up of Division I participants, and a College Division, made up of Division II, Division III, NAIA, and 2-year colleges. First, second and third team selections are made for both divisions in most Academic All-America programs. However, the football programs only select a first and second team. The football University Division includes both Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision. In 2011, the program was expanded to incorporate four sets of teams: Division I, Division II, Division III and a College Division that included all U.S. four-year institutions outside the NCAA, two-year colleges and Canadian schools. After the 2018 award cycle, the NAIA was spun off from the College Division, with the College Division now consisting of two-year schools, plus four-year schools in the U.S. and Canada that are not members of the NCAA or NAIA.
Nominations must be made on the College Sports Communicators website by a current dues-paying member with a CSC-issued user name and password for the academic year at issue. Formerly, nominations were made by pen and ink and then with typewritten nominations. The CSC members nominate student-athletes only from the academic institution that they are affiliated with. The nominees must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. Nominees must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable). In baseball and softball, pitchers must have at least 10.0 innings pitched. Nominees are ineligible until the completion of one full calendar year at his/her current institution and attainment of sophomore athletic eligibility. Transfers, graduate students and two-year college graduates must have completed one full calendar year at the nominating institution to be eligible. Graduate school nominees must have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better both as an undergraduate and in graduate school. Except for at-large program, there are no limits in the number of athletes an institution may nominate. In the at-large program, nominations are limited to three per school per gender (a total of five men's at-large candidates and five women's at-large candidates). If an institution participates in both the college and the university divisions, it may nominate a total of five men and five women between the two divisions.
In each program, All-District selections are elected by the CSC membership with the resulting first-team All-District selections advancing to the national ballot for Academic All-America team selections. The national ballot is cast by all College Sports Communicators members plus the Academic All-America Committee and the CSC Board of Directors. Each sport program also recognizes a single athlete for both NCAA Division I, II, II and NAIA who are referred to as Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.
In addition, there is an annual selection by the College Sports Communicators and its Academic All-America sponsor of the individual athlete selected as the most outstanding Academic All-America of the approximately 2000 annual selections. Since the start of the 2018–19 school year, one winner has been chosen for each of four divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA. From 2012 to 2018, the non-NCAA division was known as the College Division, and included NAIA members, two-year institutions, U.S. four-year schools that were not NCAA or NAIA members, and Canadian schools. Between 1996 and 2011 one winner each was chosen from both the College and University Divisions' annual selections. Between 1988 and 1995 one winner was chosen per year.
## Team Member of the Year
See: List of Academic All-America Team Members of the Year
During the 1987-88 academic year, College Sports Communicators began selecting one student as the most outstanding team member of the year. In 1996, CSC began selecting two outstanding team members yearly, one each from the college division and the university division. In 2011-12, when the program was expanded to include four sets of teams (Division I, Division II, Division III and a College Division), four winners were chosen, one from each division. Starting in 2018–19, a dedicated NAIA team was added.
## See also
- All-America
- Walter Byers Award
- Elite 90 Award |
2,969,279 | Patrick Kisnorbo | 1,171,242,850 | Australian footballer | [
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"2002 OFC Nations Cup players",
"2004 OFC Nations Cup players",
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"A-League Women managers",
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"Australian expatriate men's soccer players",
"Australian expatriate soccer managers",
"Australian expatriate sportspeople in England",
"Australian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland",
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"Australian people of Italian descent",
"Australian people of Mauritian descent",
"Australian soccer managers",
"English Football League players",
"Expatriate men's footballers in England",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland",
"Heart of Midlothian F.C. players",
"Ipswich Town F.C. players",
"Leeds United F.C. players",
"Leicester City F.C. players",
"Living people",
"Melbourne City FC non-playing staff",
"Melbourne City FC players",
"Men's association football defenders",
"National Soccer League (Australia) players",
"People educated at St. Bernard's College, Melbourne",
"Scottish Premier League players",
"Soccer players from Melbourne",
"South Melbourne FC players",
"Sportspeople of Italian descent"
]
| Patrick Fabio Maxime Kisnorbo (born 24 March 1981) is an Australian professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of club Troyes. He is also known by his nicknames Paddy and PK. As a player, Kisnorbo was a primarily a centre-back, but also played as a defensive midfielder. He made eighteen appearances for the Australia national team.
Kisnorbo was a fans' favourite at Leicester City, accumulating over 100 appearances in his four years at the club. During his time with Leicester, he was at the centre of a number of refereeing controversies in which officiating calls were later shown to be wrong. He has also suffered some injuries that affected his playing ability for a time. Kisnorbo has represented Australia at international level in three tournaments; the 2002 and 2004 Nation Cups and the 2007 Asian Cup. He started his professional career at South Melbourne and later played for the Scottish club Hearts before joining Leicester and then transferring to Leeds United.
Kisnorbo won the 2009–10 fans Player of The Season award and also the Players Player Award for Leeds United in his debut season. During his first two years at Leeds, Kisnorbo wore a headband bandage when playing football as 'a superstition' after initially wearing it following a head injury suffered on his Leeds debut.
## Early life
Kisnorbo was born in Melbourne to a Mauritian father and an Italian mother who was from Trieste. Because of his mother's birth, Kisnorbo holds an Italian passport, which allows him to bypass European Union work permit restrictions. He is fluent in Italian.
## Club career
### Early career
Kisnorbo began playing football as a youth in his hometown with Essendon City and Bulleen. As a 15-Year old, he moved to South Melbourne's youth team, where he stayed for two seasons in the National Soccer League Youth.
### South Melbourne
After a string of stand-out performances for the youth team, Kisnorbo was selected for the senior team, which was competing in the now defunct National Soccer League. Kisnorbo performed like a seasoned veteran and cemented his spot at centre back as a youngster ahead of more experienced players at the club. In his first season, Kisnorbo's performances led to South Melbourne winning the 2000-01 Premiership, 8 points ahead of second place.
In his secondary season, Kisnorbo performances led him to be awarded the Theo Marmaras medal for the best player at South Melbiurne during the 2002 season.
Kisnorbo went on to make 67 appearances for the club and scored on 3 occasions. His big stature and toughness made him a fan-favourite to the Hellas fans and attracted international interest following his performances for the club.
### Hearts
After much speculation, Kisnorbo made his move from South Melbourne to the Edinburgh-based Scottish Premier League club Hearts in July 2003, signing a two-year contract. He was recommended to Hearts by former player Dave McPherson. Kisnorbo quickly became a regular for the first team where he made 48 appearances in two seasons, scoring his only league goal in a 2–1 win over Hibernian on 24 October 2004.
Kisnorbo also played in the UEFA Cup against such clubs as Bordeaux, Feyenoord, Schalke 04 and Ferencváros, and scored a goal against Portuguese club SC (Sporting Club) Braga. He spent 18 months at Hearts, playing a total of 64 competitive games, before his contract expired at the end of the 2004–05 season. It was not renewed by the club.
### Leicester City
Kisnorbo joined Leicester City in April 2005 after leaving Hearts, signing a pre-contract agreement in January. He followed former Hearts boss Craig Levein, teammates Mark de Vries and Alan Maybury across the border to the Midlands club.
Kisnorbo's first goal for Leicester came on 15 October 2005 against Watford at Vicarage Road, which turned out to be the match winner. His initial appearances for Leicester were as a midfielder, and at first he failed to adjust and was booed by his own fans during a 2–1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. However, a move back to defence resulted in a change in fortunes for Kisnorbo, and his partnership with then-teammate Paddy McCarthy was instrumental in helping Leicester avoid relegation to League One that season.
Transfer speculation linked Kisnorbo to Wigan Athletic at the end of the 2005–06 season, but he decided to extend his stay with Leicester by signing a new three-year contract, less than 12 months after joining the club. Kisnorbo began the 2006–07 season well, scoring two goals and putting in fine rear-guard displays against Coventry City and Southend United, helping the club survive relegation yet again. He was linked with a move to Fulham during the January transfer window. His performance in the 2006–07 season earned him the players' player of the season award from his teammates. It was also at this point that he became a fan favourite.
#### 2007–08 season
In the 2007–08 season, Kisnorbo was relegated to League One with the club, but was also on the receiving end of no less than three controversial refereeing decisions. His first was a goal against Scunthorpe United on 20 October, which referee Scott Mathieson ruled out for an offside, depriving Leicester of an away win. Video replay showed that Kisnorbo's disallowed goal was actually onside, greatly frustrating him, while Leicester coach Gerry Taggart commented "We have all seen the replay of Patrick's goal in the dressing room and he is clearly not offside." Kisnorbo's second was a red card by referee Phil Joslin for what the linesman claimed was a foul on Pablo Couñago. Joslin awarded Ipswich Town a penalty kick, and Ipswich won 3–1. Joslin admitted his mistake, and had the ban rescinded the following day after video replays showed Kisnorbo actually won the ball outside the penalty area. Leicester's then-manager Ian Holloway described the sending off as a "complete kerfuffle". The Leicester club was fined £3,000 by The Football Association, however, because of Kisnorbo's teammates' angry appeals to Joslin during the game. Kisnorbo's third was another red card by referee Mike Pike for a foul on Billy Sharp on 5 April 2008. Pike awarded Sheffield United a penalty kick as they won 3–0. Video replays, however, showed no contact between the two, confirming that Sharp was diving. Holloway branded Pike's decision "embarrassing", saying "that was the biggest blunder I've seen in a long time." Leicester also succeeded in their appeal against the second red card.
Further misfortune came when Kisnorbo suffered damaged knee ligaments in 3–1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on 26 April 2008, sidelining him for six months. His injury badly affected Leicester's hopes of surviving in the Championship. He played his 100th game and scored his last ever goal for Leicester in a 2–0 home win over Ipswich on 26 December 2007.
#### 2008–09 season
Kisnorbo returned to action the following season in a 3–0 reserve team win over Rushden & Diamonds on 2 October. He later returned for the first team coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw against Oldham Athletic on 18 October 2008. However, he was struck with another ligament injury to his other knee in a 3–0 FA Cup win over Stevenage Borough on 9 November, putting him out for two more months. Kisnorbo made his competitive return as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 win over Millwall on 14 March 2009, but by then was facing competition in the first team from teammates Wayne Brown, Jack Hobbs, Michael Morrison and Aleksandar Tunchev. He started just three games in the second half of the season, which saw the club secure their promotion as League One champions.
It was reported on 28 April that manager Nigel Pearson told Kisnorbo he could leave on a free transfer the following summer as the club began their preparations for their Championship campaign the following season. Leicester on 29 May released Kisnorbo at the end of his contract, along with Paul Henderson, Marc Edworthy, Bruno Ngotty and Barry Hayles. Kisnorbo stated he was "very disappointed to have been released", and made it clear that he wanted "to show Leicester next season what they are missing because I'm desperate to stay in the Championship." He had trials with Crystal Palace and Derby County, but was unable to secure a move to either club.
### Leeds United
#### 2009–10 season
On 22 July 2009, Kisnorbo signed for Leeds United on a two-year contract. He made his debut in a 2–1 win over Exeter City on 8 August. On his debut Kisnorbo suffered a head wound which required stitches, after receiving stitches to the wound off the pitch he came out wearing a head bandage. After playing for Australia on 12 August, Kisnorbo became Leeds's 100th full international player. Whilst at Leeds he established himself as a fans' favourite for his solid performances and his brave style of play. After suffering the head injury, which required 12 stitches, Kisnorbo wore a protective headband. He rejected plastic surgery to avoid losing his place in the team: "I can't see myself going for [surgery] at the moment because I've got bigger things to worry about than getting this sorted."
Kisnorbo scored his first goal for Leeds against Millwall on his return to the starting lineup after missing the previous game against Norwich City having picked up an illness on international duty. His international call-ups along with other internationals at Leeds resulted in games against Swindon Town and Bristol Rovers being postponed. Kisnorbo missed the games against Kettering Town, Oldham Athletic and local rivals Huddersfield Town through an injury he picked up in training. He had not recovered from injury to be able to have a part in the squad in the FA Cup replay to Kettering. Instead, the Australia international returned to the Leeds starting line up against Brentford.
Kisnorbo played against Manchester United when Leeds won 1–0 away at Old Trafford on 3 January in the FA Cup, during which he and Richard Naylor "bolted the door against the assaults of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov", after which he was described as a hero. Kisnorbo missed the Football League Trophy Northern Section Final first leg loss against Carlisle United with a calf injury. Kisnorbo returned to Leeds' starting lineup, and played the full 90 minutes, in the next game where Leeds earned a 2–2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup.
Kisnorbo was part of the Leeds defence, who were defeated 3–0 by Swindon Town. Kisnorbo was omitted from the Leeds squad in the next game against Colchester United after being ruled out by injury. The injury also forced him to miss the FA Cup replay at Elland Road against Tottenham Hotspur, the League One game against Hartlepool United and the Football League Trophy Northern Section final second leg against Carlisle.
Kisnorbo's season prematurely ended after he suffered a suspected ruptured achilles tendon against Millwall in March, ending his hopes of playing in Leeds's promotion charge, and also his dream of playing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Leeds as a result signed Neill Collins on loan from Preston to cover his absence.
In May 2010, he was selected in the Football League One PFA Team of the Year for the 2009–10 season. On the final day of the season Kisnorbo was named as the fans' Leeds United Player of the Season and also the Players' Player of the Season. Leeds were promoted to the Football League Championship after finishing in 2nd place in League 1 and thus earning automatic promotion.
#### 2010–11 season
Kisnorbo joined the Leeds squad on the pre-season tour of Slovakia despite being injured. Grayson confirmed that Kisnorbo was looking to return from his Achilles tendon rupture injury around December/January time meaning he would miss at least half of the 2010/11 season for Leeds. Manager Simon Grayson revealed contract talks with Kisnorbo would start once the defender returned from injury and managed to prove his fitness. After having another operation on his injury in October 2010, Grayson said that Kisnorbo was looking to return later than planned, with an estimated return around February/March 2011.
On 20 November, Grayson reiterated his desire to keep Kisnorbo but stated that he had to prove his fitness before being offered a new deal at Leeds. Kisnorbo got an infection on his Achilles tendon injury, and stepped up his rehab by going to the US for treatment. Kisnorbo returned to Leeds' training ground Thorp Arch during mid January. However, on 11 March 2011, it was confirmed that he would not play again in the 2010–11 season. As Kisnorbo's contract was set to expire in June 2011, he had to prove his fitness to the coaching staff at Leeds in the hope of earning a new contract, or be free to join another club. In March 2011, Kisnorbo returned to full training with Leeds after his long spell out injured.
In Leeds' penultimate game of the season, against Burnley, Kisnorbo made the provisional squad but failed to make the substitutes bench. On 6 May, Grayson revealed the club were going to offer Kisnorbo a new contract on a short term deal, which, if he accepted, would allow him more time to earn a new long term deal once he proved his fitness. On 7 May, Kisnorbo was named on the bench for Leeds against Queens Park Rangers, the first time he was included in a matchday squad since suffering his ruptured Achilles tendon. Kisnorbo made his first appearance of the season as a second-half substitute against QPR in the final game of the season.
#### 2011–12 season
With Kisnorbo only on a short term contract to prove his fitness, Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion were linked with signing the player. Manager Simon Grayson then claimed that he was looking for Kisnorbo to prove his fitness before offering him a longer term contract. After completing his injury rehab in his native Australia, Kisnorbo returned to pre-season training for Leeds United a week later than his teammates. After returning from his long injury lay off, and proving his fitness, Kisnorbo signed a new two-year contract at Leeds on 10 July. Kisnorbo revealed he wouldn't be wearing his iconic head bandage for the 2011–12 season as he wanted it to represent a new start for him. Kisnorbo scored the opening goal in the pre-season friendly victory against Newcastle United. Kisnorbo started for Leeds on the opening day of the season as they suffered a 3–1 defeat against Southampton. It was his first competitive start for Leeds since picking up his injury against Millwall 17 months earlier.
Kisnorbo was handed the captaincy in the absence of suspended captain Jonny Howson on 16 August against Hull City. Kisnorbo scored an own goal against West Ham United on 21 August. Kisnorbo's poor form continued when he was sent off and gave away a penalty for Leeds in the match against Bristol City on 17 September. As a result of the suspension, Kisnorbo missed the League Cup game against fierce rivals Manchester United. After a spell on the bench due to the partnership of Tom Lees and Darren O'Dea, Kisnorbo came on as a substitute replacing O'Dea in Leeds' 1–1 draw against Cardiff City on 30 October. After starting in the 5–0 loss against Blackpool, Kisnorbo put in an impressive performance against his old side Leicester City on 6 November to help earn Leeds a clean sheet in a 1–0 win.
Due to the knee injury sustained by Captain Jonny Howson, Kisnorbo took over the captain's armband, starting with Leeds' 1–1 draw against Watford on 10 December, in which Kisnorbo gave away a penalty which was saved by Leeds keeper Alex McCarthy with Leeds 1–0 down. The save proved crucial as Leeds scored a last minute equaliser.
Kisnorbo's season was ended on 2 January when he sustained a serious knee injury in Leeds' 2–1 win over Burnley. In April, Kisnorbo revealed he had stepped up in his comeback and had started running again in training, but there was no timescale put on his return.
#### 2012–13 season
Manager Neil Warnock revealed on 3 May that he was hoping that Kisnorbo may return from injury in time for the start of the 2012–13 pre-season. With Kisnorbo missing several pre-season games he wasn't allocated a number for the 2012–13 season, losing his number 3 squad number to Adam Drury. Kisnorbo returned to the Leeds squad on 4 August in the pre-season friendly against Preston North End. Kisnorbo was allocated the squad number 6 for the upcoming season and was named on the bench for the first game of the season against Shrewsbury Town on 11 August.
Kisnorbo made his first start of the season on 28 August 2012 in a League Cup match against Oxford United.
In January 2013, he signed for Ipswich Town on a one-month loan.
On 3 May 2013, it was announced that Kisnorbo, along with 10 other players were being released from the club.
### Melbourne City
On 9 September 2013, it was announced that Kisnorbo had signed a one-year contract with Melbourne City as a replacement for the injured Orlando Engelaar. He was appointed captain of Melbourne City for the 2014–15 season.
### Retirement
On 1 May 2016, Kisnorbo announced his retirement from professional football.
## International career
Kisnorbo was part of Australia's 2001 Youth World Cup campaign, playing five matches for the under-20 team in Oceania qualifiers, including a goal against Papua New Guinea. He remained on the squad for the finals, appearing in all the matches leading up to Australia's second-round elimination at the hands of Brazil. His performances in the under-20 level and his senior career at South Melbourne FC led to his first international appearance on 6 July 2002 against Vanuatu in Australia's first match of the 2002 OFC Nations Cup. He made three appearances in the tournament including the defeat to New Zealand in the final.
In 2004 Kisnorbo was again selected for the squad for the Oceania Cup. In Australia's last group match against Solomon Islands he was sent off for receiving two yellow cards, ending his tournament. He declined to join the "Olyroos" squad for an Olympic preparation tour in July, electing to concentrate on cementing a place at Hearts in the pre-season. This decision harmed his national team aspirations, as he was left out of the squad that eventually lost to Iraq in the quarter-finals.
Kisnorbo made appearances for Australia in friendlies against Ghana, Denmark, China and Uruguay. These performances led to his selection for the Australian 2007 AFC Asian Cup squad, playing in the first two group matches against Oman and Iraq. After Australia tied the first match and lost the second, Kisnorbo was dropped from the starting line-up amongst a host of changes. He played no further part in the tournament as Australia were eventually knocked out by Japan.
It was widely regarded that Kisnorbo's poor performance at the Asian Cup had ruined his chances of ever returning to international level, and he remained outside the Australian national squad for over two years, however, following admirable performances with his new club Leeds United, Kisnorbo regained his international place in 2009 and started in a 3–0 friendly win over Republic of Ireland on 12 August 2009, nearly scoring a goal in the 22nd minute when his header was saved at pointblank range by goalkeeper Shay Given. On 5 September 2009, Kisnorbo scored his first goal for Australia in a game against South Korea. Kisnorbo was subsequently selected in the Australian squad for a friendly against the Netherlands on 10 October 2009.
Kisnorbo's ruptured Achilles tendon injury suffered against Millwall in March 2010 ruled him out of the 2010 World Cup for Australia.
In June 2011, Kisnorbo was recalled to the Australia national side for the first time since recovering from his Achilles tendon injury when he was called up to train with the national side in a non-playing role ahead of the friendly against Serbia.
## Coaching career
### Melbourne City
Upon retiring, Kisnorbo was appointed as an assistant youth coach at Melbourne City under Joe Palatsides, and was also an assistant coach for their W-League team. In July 2017, Kisnorbo was appointed head coach of the W-League team.
In July 2018, Kisnorbo was appointed assistant coach of the Melbourne City men's team, with Rado Vidošić replacing him as manager of the W-League team.
In September 2020, Kisnorbo was appointed head coach of Melbourne City, following the departure of Erick Mombaerts.
In May 2021, Kisnorbo led Melbourne City to their first ever A-League trophy in that team's eleven-year history by claiming the A-League Premiers Plate. There was much admiration for the way Kisnorbo had instilled in the Melbourne City team a level of determination and fighting spirit which many attribute as characteristics that Kisnorbo himself had during his playing days.
In June, Kisnorbo then guided City to their first A-League Championship, winning the double in his debut A-League coaching season. Again, he was credited with instilling a tenacious work-rate and hardened sense of self-belief in a very young team, made up partly of the club's academy graduates.
### Troyes
On 23 November 2022, Kisnorbo was announced as manager of French top division side, and fellow City Football Group club, Troyes. He becomes the first Australian manager of a team in a 'Top 5' European men's league.
## Career statistics
### Club
### International
Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kisnorbo goal.
## Managerial statistics
### Men's teams
## Honours
### Player
South Melbourne
- National Soccer League Premiership: 2000–01
Leicester City
- Football League One: 2008–09
Leeds United
- Football League One runner-up: 2009–10
Australia U20
- OFC U-20 Championship: 2001
Australia
- OFC Nations Cup: 2004
Individual
- League One PFA Team of the Year: 2009–10
- Leeds United Player of the Year: 2009–10
- South Melbourne Player of the Year 2001-2002
### Manager
Melbourne City
- A-League premiership: 2020–21, 2021–22
- A-League championship: 2021 |
31,185,132 | Manor Farm, Ruislip | 1,143,555,604 | Historic site in Greater London, England | [
"Castles in London",
"Farms in London",
"Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Hillingdon",
"Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Hillingdon",
"History of Middlesex",
"Libraries in the London Borough of Hillingdon",
"Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hillingdon",
"Timber framed buildings in London",
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]
| Manor Farm is a 22-acre (8.9 ha) historic site in Ruislip, Greater London. It incorporates a medieval farm complex, with a main old barn dating from the 13th century and a farm house from the 16th. Nearby are the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle believed to date from shortly after the Norman conquest of England. Original groundwork on the site has been dated to the 9th century.
Ownership of the site passed to the King's College, Cambridge in the 15th century. The Great Barn and Little Barn were recognised by a member of the Royal Society of Arts in 1930 as in need of conservation, and in 1931 Manor Farm was included in the sale of Park Wood as a gift to the people of Ruislip. The site continued as a working farm until 1933, and is now run as a community resource by the London Borough of Hillingdon.
Throughout 2007 and 2008, the site was restored with funding from the National Lottery, and has become a heritage area for the London Borough of Hillingdon. Manor Farm is within the Ruislip Village Conservation Area. Events are regularly held within the 13th-century Great Barn and around the rest of the site.
## History
### Origins
What remains of the motte-and-bailey castle can be seen today in part of the moat and bank on the site. Today, the moat on the site is a scheduled monument, believed to have been extended to create an oval area upon which a wooden castle covering 350 foot (110 m) by 200 foot (61 m) was built, presumably for the landowner, Ernulf de Hesdin. He was given control of the manor of Ruislip shortly after the Norman conquest, in recognition of his loyalty to William the Conqueror. The castle is believed to have been built between 1066 and 1087, but does not appear in the 1086 Domesday Book and so could have been demolished or changed significantly. It may never have been finished.
Ruislip parish was owned by the Benedictine Bec Abbey of Normandy between 1096 and 1404 during which time the prior built a home for himself on the site, surrounded by a moat. During the 16th century, the remains of the motte-and-bailey site were used as the gardens of the Manor Farm House when it was built. In 1888 the moat extension was filled in by Henry James Ewer, who farmed on the site. The moat's shape and the presence of traces of a fortified building have allowed this part of the site to be dated to the 11th century. However, the castle is believed to have been built around 1066 then either demolished or changed significantly as it does not appear as a castle in Domesday Book.
The farm buildings date back to the 13th century with the Great Barn the most prominent. The barn is the second largest such structure in Middlesex after another in Harmondsworth. The Great Barn is constructed of English oak from the nearby Ruislip Woods. It was built to a design known as an aisled barn, whereby smaller out-shoots run alongside the main supports underneath one main roof.
### Ownership
Studies by English Heritage have found that the site originally functioned not only as the manorial court hall for Ruislip, but also as a working farm. The main building was built over two existing structures, possibly to accommodate the new lessee of the manor, Robert Drury, a former Speaker of the House of Commons. The study concluded this was most likely achieved by a team of masons and carpenters. Manor Farm was also known as Ruislip Court until the 19th century.
In 1451, ownership of the farm passed with the rest of Ruislip to King's College, Cambridge who remain titular Lords of the Manor. King's completed two surveys of the manor during their ownership, in 1565 and 1750.
The Farm House was built from locally produced bricks, tiles and timber in the 16th century, and served as the manorial court until 1925 when the last court was held. Work in the 18th and 19th centuries saw the windows and doorways replaced, while an extended kitchen was installed. The kitchen extension was replaced in 1958 as part of a general refurbishment of the house.
Manor Farm and Park Wood were nearly demolished in the early 1900s to make way for a new development planned in partnership with King's College and the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council. A town planning competition was won by A & J Soutar from Wandsworth, who suggested a symmetrical design across the parish which would have seen a total of 7,642 new homes built. St. Martin's Church would have been the only example of historical architecture left in Ruislip. An outline map of the new development proposal was made public on 30 November 1910 with few objections. A Local Board inquiry followed on 17 February 1911 which required negotiations with landowners to allow for a full planning scheme to be compiled. This was presented in February 1913 with an adaptation of the original Soutars plan and received approval from the Local Government Board in September 1914. Three roads with residential housing, Manor Way, Windmill Way and Park Way were completed before the outbreak of the First World War when all construction work was halted. It was not resumed until 1919, though the plan was substantially scaled back as work slowed throughout the next decade.
The protection of Manor Farm and the local woods from redevelopment was eventually confirmed in January 1930, after a visit by a member of the Royal Society of Arts to choose buildings that should be conserved. The Great Barn and Little Barn were selected, along with the old Post Office, the Old Bell public house and the Priest's House of the local church. The woods, part of the centre of the manor of Ruislip along with Ruislip village square, were included when King's College sold the land to the district in February 1931. Park Wood was sold for £28,100 with Manor Farm and the old Post Office included as a gift to the people of Ruislip. King's had wished to also present the wood as a gift but was required by the University and College's Act to receive payment as it was the trustee of the land. Middlesex County Council contributed 75% of the cost as the urban district council argued that many of those who would make use of the land would be recreational day trippers from outside the district. Under a 999-year lease, the council agreed to maintain the wood and ensure no new buildings were constructed without the permission of the county council. An area of the wood to the south was not included in the lease agreement and three residential roads were later constructed on it.
In 1932, the two cart sheds on either side of the lane leading into the farm were removed. That year, Councillor T. R. Parker purchased a plot of land on the site from King's College. Manor Farm continued as a working farm until the following year, when the local council began to sell off much of the land surrounding the buildings for housing developments. Councillor Parker presented his land to the Ruislip Village Trust as the site of a future public hall, and the Trust passed it to the urban district council in 1964 stipulating that that would be the sole use. The council obliged and the Winston Churchill Hall was built in 1965.
A smaller barn built in the 16th century, the Little Barn, was converted to a library and opened on 2 November 1937. The original cowbyre was destroyed by fire in 1979 and was rebuilt as an exhibition centre. An archaeological excavation was carried out by the Museum of London Archaeological Service in 1997 around the Farm House. This discovered the remains of the old priory were beneath the house, as this had been the bailey, surrounded by the motte.
### Restoration
The site was refurbished with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund in April 2007 with the work completed in June the following year. This included the renovation of the Grade II listed Manor Farm library as part of a borough-wide programme by the London Borough of Hillingdon. The Duck Pond Market began in the Great Barn in December 2008, following the refurbishment, and runs twice a month. Winston Churchill Theatre, not included in the original restoration work, received a £370,000 grant from Hillingdon Council in March 2011 to enable its refurbishment. The other buildings on the site are used as an Exhibition venue (the Cow Byre Gallery), community spaces (The Stables and the Manor Farm Community Hut) and as a small interpretation centre and base of the Hillingdon Music Service (Manor Farm House).
Since 6 September 1974, all the buildings on the site are Grade II listed, except for the Great Barn, which is Grade II\*.
### Comparable structures
Other moated medieval farm complexes survive in the nearby area at Headstone Manor and (without a surviving moat) at Pinner Park. Traces of a moat survived at Harmondsworth Great Barn until 1968. |
44,255,459 | Renewable energy in Turkey | 1,171,616,137 | None | [
"Renewable energy in Turkey"
]
| Renewables supply a quarter of energy in Turkey, including heat and electricity. Some houses have rooftop solar water heating, and hot water from underground warms many spas and greenhouses. In parts of the west hot rocks are shallow enough to generate electricity as well as heat. Wind turbines, also mainly near western cities and industry, generate a tenth of Turkey’s electricity. Hydropower, mostly from dams in the east, is the only modern renewable energy which is fully exploited. Hydropower averages about a fifth of the country's electricity, but much less in drought years. Apart from wind and hydro, other renewables; such as geothermal, solar and biogas; together generated almost a tenth of Turkey’s electricity in 2022.
Turkey has a long history of wood burning, windmills, and bathing in hot springs. Many dams were built from the mid-20th to early 21st century, but some say that governments have not allowed civil society enough influence on energy policy, leading to protests against building dams, geothermal power plants, and at least one wind farm. Despite Turkey’s sunny climate solar power is underdeveloped. Solar power could be expanded more quickly if the electricity grid was improved faster and energy policy revised, especially by abolishing fossil fuel subsidies.
Many hybrid power plants are planned, and batteries are being integrated. Companies with a lot of renewables include the state electricity generation company (mainly hydro), Aydem, and Kalyon. If renewables could help phase-out coal by 2030, instead of by the national net zero greenhouse gas emissions target year of 2053, that would have significant health benefits. As of 2022 renewables are not suffient to meet that target year. Various electric vehicles are being manufactured, which will use some of the increased renewable generation and help reduce air pollution.
## Sources of renewable energy
### Solar power
### Wind power
### Hydroelectricity
### Geothermal energy
### Bioenergy
## Hybrid projects, storage and integration
Solar is often added to existing power plants, such as geothermal, hydro, and wind. A solar and biomass hybrid is also feasible. Up to 15% of the existing installed capacity can be added without requiring a new licence, provided generation does not exceed that limit, although the extra capacity cannot receive a USD subsidy. There is a virtual power plant which operates with geothermal, wind, solar and hydro. Combining wind and/or solar with storage is also popular. Increasing Turkey's proportion of electric cars in use to 10% by 2030 would help integrate variable electricity.
Transmission and distribution cables are at medium risk from earthquakes and transformers at high risk whereas solar is low risk: Think tank Shura suggests that microgrids of solar and batteries could increase resiliance against earthquakes.
## Future
Wind, and especially solar, could supply much more energy in Turkey. It is estimated that over half of electricity generation could be from renewables by 2026, but Turkey has invested less in solar and wind power than similar Mediterranean countries. More renewable energy could be used to reduce the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, and thus avoid paying other countries' carbon tariffs. Turkey is a net exporter of wind power equipment, but a net importer of solar power equipment. Total non-hydro renewables overtook hydro in 2021. Solar is expected to overtake wind before 2030. The Energy Minister said in 2023 that by 2035 renewables would supply almost a quarter of the nation’s energy. According to one study, by massively increasing solar power in the south and wind power in the west the country's entire electricity demand could be met from renewable sources.
A 2022 simulation by Shura of typical spring 2030 generation shows that wind and nuclear could provide baseload, and solar much of daytime demand, reserving dammed hydro for evening flexibility. Other experts believe that nuclear power will keep the grid stable from fluctuations in variable renewable energy, while some state that more geothermal baseload capacity should be added.
Think tank Ember said in 2022 that Turkey needs to expand renewables at least twice as fast, to decarbonize the electricity sector and lower import bills. In 2023 they said that solar power rollout should be accelerated in the sunny south. Shura states that renewables could generate 70% of electricity by 2030, with coal reduced to 5%. Many new 400kV transmission lines are planned to be built by 2030.
The national energy plan published in 2022 expects an increase in the share of renewable energy and intermittent renewable energy sources in electricity generation to 55% and 34% respectively by 2035. According to the plan by 2035 installed capacity will increase to: 30 GW (25 GW onshore, 5 GW offshore) of wind power, and 53 GW of solar power. The plan is for installed capacity to increase to 35 GW of hydroelectricy and 5 GW total of geothermal and biomass power. The plan expects the share of renewable energy in primary energy consumption, which was 16.7% in 2020, to increase to 23.7% by 2035. The plan expects the share of electricity from variable renewable energy, which was 12% in 2020, to increase gradually to 34% by 2035.
## Economics
The fuel-only cost of fossil gas-fired power in early 2022 was 128 USD/MWh, which was more than double that of the levelized cost of electricity of new utility scale solar PV and new onshore wind. Renewable energy is competitive with domestic coal. However in 2022 wind and solar remained more expensive than energy efficiency measures, which were estimated at 14 USD/MWh.
There are feed-in-tariffs in lira (but partly adjusted to USD) per kWh depending on the source and there may be extra if local components are used. Geothermal and pumped storage get 15 years of this YEKDEM. Otherwise tariffs apply for 10 years and any local bonus for 5 years, and are revised quarterly. Although feed-in tariffs continue to 2030 investors are concerned about the volatility of the lira.
Following the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 the cost of imported fuel soared and the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) was empowered to intervene in the electricity market. According to the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey, the support fee based on source model depends on transferring money from low-cost solar, wind and hydroelectric power plants to those with high operating expenses, examples of which include imported coal and natural gas. Despite some renewables generators calling for it to be scrapped, it was extended into 2023, with the excess used to subsidize all regulated consumers. This applies to both the market exchange price and fixed prices determined by bilateral agreements. EMRA determining such fees has been criticised by some lawyers, who say that the fees are like a tax on low cost generators, and that according to the constitution taxes can only be imposed by parliament.
The World Bank said in 2022 that "the war in Ukraine and attendant energy supply disruptions and price increases highlight risks for countries like Türkiye that rely on fossil fuel imports, underscoring the urgency of climate action in support of energy security and affordability" and proposed a plan to integrate development with action on climate change.
> Türkiye can achieve energy security through an accelerated pace of least-cost investments in domestic solar and wind—building on its track record of tripling renewable energy capacity in the last decade—and investing in energy efficiency, battery and pumped storage, geothermal, and gas generation with carbon capture and storage (as well as completion of the nuclear plant under construction). This would enable the country to meet a doubling of energy demand by 2053 to fuel its growth ambitions, with the added benefit of lowering emissions and improving energy security by reducing reliance on imported coal, gas, and oil.
Earlier reports from other organisations say that such an expansion of renewables benefits employment, industrial production, and balance of trade.
A 2022 study by Ember in advance of the Energy Ministry long-term plan suggested that dependence on imported energy could be reduced from a half to a quarter by 2030 by energy efficiency and increasing solar capacity to 40 GW and wind to 30 GW: this would mean the increase in wind and solar accelerating from 1 GW a year each to 2.5 and 4 GW respectively. They said that domestic solar manufacturing capacity could achieve 8 GW a year. The report was based on 4 modeling studies by: the Istanbul Policy Center, the World Bank’s Climate and Development report, a report from Europe Beyond Coal and other local environmental organizations, and analysis from Turkish energy transition think tank Shura. In 2023 Shura estimated that doubling the capacity of wind and solar compared to 2022 would cut the wholesale cost of electricity by a quarter.
If more renewable energy is generated it may be possible to export green hydrogen to the EU. Another example of such “sector coupling” would be using excess renewable energy for desalination. Eser Özdil at the Atlantic Council said in 2022 that interconnectors with the EU need to be greatly increased, and suggested joint electricity projects with Balkan companies. A green tariff has been offered since 2021. Companies with a lot of renewables include the state electricity generation company (mainly hydro), Aydem, and Kalyon.
Increasing export of electricity to the EU has also been proposed but analyst Kadri Taştan pointed out that this depends on "reliable and solid political relations between the two and an ambitious environmental policy in Turkey". Using renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen for export has also been suggested, but would require substantial investment. The 60% import tariff on Chinese components has been criticised as favouring large companies over SMEs. As of 2023 Chinese companies consider Turkey high risk, in part due to unpredictable and changable regulations. SMEs buy solar parts from Malaysia due to the trade agreement.
## Regulations
Unlicensed (about 2% of supply and over 90% of which is solar) generators must apply to distribution companies or industrial park license holders in their region for technical checks and approval. Production could increase far more quickly if subsidies for coal were abolished and the auction system was improved. In 2022 the Unlicensed Electricity Generation Regulation was amended so that the amount of surplus energy that can be sold may not exceed the total consumption of the consumer the previous year: the excess goes to the Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism. This regulation might be unconstitutional by being retrospective.
## Politics
The Turkish Electricity Industry Association has suggested a taxonomy, including investments in renewable energy, based on the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities. Some academics say that governments have not allowed civil society enough say on energy policy, leading to protests against building hydropower, geothermal power, and at least one wind farm. In 2022 the EU complained about local content requirements, saying that they did not meet World Trade Organization and European Union–Turkey Customs Union rules. Think tank Shura says that renewables could replace coal power by 2035.
## Health
Geothermal power in Turkey is used mainly for heating, and solar water heating is also widespread. However, burning wood for home heating (classified as "traditional biomass" within academic reports) has been causing indoor air pollution throughout history, and still poses such problems.
Possible health benefits of expanding modern renewable energy have been estimated at US\$800 million a year. Health benefits could be greater if renewables suceeded in phasing out coal by 2030.
## History
Neolithic people in the Fertile Crescent burnt dung. The use of wood as "traditional biomass" in pre-republican times particularly affected Turkish forests in central and southeast Anatolia, whereas forests in coastal regions proved somewhat more renewable because these regions receive more precipitation. Due to deforestation in arid regions, poor communities continued to burn dry dung in some remote villages into the late 20th century. In the early 21st century wood was the major source of energy in rural areas.
In late 20th century, biogas became the focus of much research. The first residential heat pump was installed at the turn of the century. Geothermal heat and solar heat were developed early. Hydropower was expanded for many decades with geothermal, wind and solar electricity following. Although there has been some academic research on solar houses since the 1970s this has been criticised as insufficient given the importance of the construction industry.
## See also
- Energy conservation in Turkey
- Greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey |
26,013,071 | Nunca Voy a Olvidarte | 1,169,459,419 | 1993 single by Cristian Castro | [
"1991 songs",
"1993 singles",
"1994 singles",
"Bronco (Mexican band) songs",
"Cristian Castro songs",
"Fonovisa Records singles",
"La India songs",
"RMM Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Sergio George",
"Spanish-language songs"
]
| "Nunca Voy a Olvidarte" (English: "I Am Never Going to Forget You") is a song written by Roberto Belester and first recorded by Mexican grupero band Bronco for their album Salvaje y Tierno (1991). In the song, the protagonist is leaving and vows to never forget the time he spent with his lover. In 1993, Mexican singer-songwriter Cristian Castro covered the song on his album, Un Segundo en el Tiempo. Castro's version peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States became his first number-one single.
The song received a Lo Nuestro and a Billboard Latin Music award for Pop Song of the Year. It earned an award for Latin Pop Song of the Year at the ASCAP Latin Awards of 1994. In the following year, Puerto Rican-American recording artist La India covered the song as the lead single from her album Dicen Que Soy which peaked at number eleven on the Hot Latin Songs chart, number thirteen on the Billboard Latin Pop Songs chart, and number-one on the Billboard Tropical Songs chart.
## Background and recording
"Nunca Voy a Olvidarte" was written by Mexican songwriter Roberto Belester for Bronco's album Salvaje y Tierno (1991). Belester composed songs for several well-known Mexican bands such as Los Yonic's and Los Bukis. The song tells of a protagonist who is leaving his lover and tells her that he is never going to forget her. In 1993, Mexican singer-songwriter Cristian Castro covered the song on his second studio album, Un Segundo en el Tiempo, which was produced by Alex Zepeda and released as the lead single from the album. According to Castro, he bought Salvaje y Tierno after hearing "Que No Quede Huella" on the radio and wanted to cover "Nunca Voy a Olvidarte" when he listened to it on the CD. The music video for Castro's cover was produced by Jorge Guerrero Fox Garza and filmed in Cuernavaca which features shots of Castro alone in an old country house near the fireplace and outside on the field remembering a woman he loved. The visual was nominated Latin Clip of the Year at the 1994 Billboard Music Video Awards, but ultimately lost to "Con Los Años Que Me Quedan" by Gloria Estefan.
## Reception
"Nunca Voy a Olvidarte" debuted in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart at number 31 in the week of 14 August 1993, climbing to the top ten two weeks later. The song peaked atop the chart 18 September 1993, replacing "Mi Tierra" by Gloria Estefan and was succeeded by "Guadalupe", by José & Durval, three weeks later. "Nunca Voy a Olvidarte" ended 1993 as the fourth best performing Latin single of the year in the United States. In Mexico City, the song reached number one on the ballads hit parade chart.
At the 6th Lo Nuestro Awards in 1994, "Nunca Voy a Olvidarte" won the award for Pop Song of the Year. In the same year, it was the Pop Song of the Year at the inaugural Billboard Latin Music awards. "Nunca Voy a Olvidarte" was also the "Song of the Year" at the 1994 Eres Awards. At the ASCAP Latin Awards of 1994, the song was awarded Latin Pop Song of the Year. In 2005, the title was used for a compilation album titled Nunca Voy a Olvidarte...Los Exitos. In 2009, the song was included on the compilation album La Historia de los Exitos by Fonovisa Records to celebrate the record label's 25th anniversary. In 2013, Castro re-recorded the song for his first live album En Primera Fila: Día 1. Four years later, Bronco performed the song live along with Castro on their album Primera Fila.
## Charts
### Weekly charts
#### Year-end charts
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the Allmusic.
- Cristian Castro – vocals
- Roberto Belester – songwriting
- Alejandro "Alex" Zepeda – record producer, arranger
## La India version
In 1994, Puerto Rican-American recording artist La India covered the song on her album, Dicen Que Soy which was produced by Sergio George and released as the album's first single. It was picked by George for India to cover as he felt it was something women could relate to. India's version was included on the soundtrack for The 24 Hour Woman.
### Reception
On the Hot Latin Songs chart, the song debuted at number twenty-one on the week of 15 October 1994 and peaked at number eleven three weeks later. On the Billboard Latin Pop Songs chart, the song debuted at number fifteen on the week of 5 November 1994 and peaked at number thirteen a week later. On the Billboard Tropical Songs, the song peaked at number-one on the week of 29 October 1994 replacing "Quien Eres Tú" by Luis Enrique and was succeeded by "En Las Nubes" by Edgar Joel two weeks later.
An editor for Latina magazine remarked India's cover as "sensational" and that it "flattens" Castro's version of the song.
### Charts
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the Allmusic and Dicen Que Soy liner notes.
- La India – vocals
- Roberto Belester – songwriting
- Sergio George – piano, keyboard programming, drum programming, chorus
- Ruben Rodriguez – bass guitar
- Papo Pepin – congas
- Sammy Garcia – congas
- Richie Bastar – congas
- Bobby Allende – bongos
- Marc Quiñones – timbales
- Ite Jerez – trumpet
- Angie Machado – trumpet
- Luis Bonilla – trombone
- William Cepeda – trombone
- Johnny Rivera – chorus
- Eustace "Huey" Dunbar – chorus
## See also
- Billboard Top Latin Songs Year-End Chart
- List of number-one hits of 1993 (Mexico)
- List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Tracks of 1993
- List of Billboard Tropical Airplay number ones of 1994 and 1995 |
53,997,622 | Carly Pearce | 1,170,596,906 | American singer-songwriter (born 1990) | [
"1990 births",
"21st-century American singers",
"21st-century American women singers",
"American country singer-songwriters",
"American women country singers",
"Big Machine Records artists",
"Country musicians from Kentucky",
"Grammy Award winners",
"Living people",
"People from Kenton County, Kentucky"
]
| Carly Pearce (born Carly Cristyne Slusser; April 24, 1990) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her material contains elements of both traditional and contemporary country-pop music. Pearce began performing professionally in her teens, appearing on several albums of bluegrass material in the 2000s. After moving to Nashville, Tennessee, she began gaining more widespread notice.
Pearce first gained major recognition in 2017 when her self-penned "Every Little Thing" found an audience on satellite radio. The song helped Pearce secure a major label recording contract and became a major hit, reaching number one on the Billboard country chart. Her debut album of the same name debuted in the top five of the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Pearce has since released new material, including the 2020 single "Next Girl" from 29, an EP released on February 19, 2021. On September 17, 2021, she released her third studio album 29: Written in Stone. Pearce is a three-time Country Music Association Award winner, a four-time Academy of Country Music Award winner, has received one CMT Music Award and one Grammy Award. She became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2021.
## Early life
Pearce was born Carly Cristyne Slusser in Taylor Mill, Kentucky to Todd and Jackie Slusser. Pearce developed interest in country music from her grandparents, who regularly played it at home during her childhood. Her stage name is based on her grandfather's last name. In home video saved by her family, Pearce declared that one day she would perform on the Grand Ole Opry. In mid-childhood, she began performing professionally. At age 11, Pearce performed regularly with a bluegrass band. She also performed in church and tent revival shows. At age 14, she performed at a boys prison.
At age 16, Pearce auditioned for the "Country Crossroads" show, a program part of the Dollywood theme park. After being offered the job, she convinced her parents to move to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (the location of Dollywood), and to let her drop out of high school. Reflecting on the experience in 2017, Pearce commented, "Performing at Dollywood was a key part of my journey to finding myself and finding my way." While performing at Dollywood, she enrolled in a homeschooling program. The online course allowed Pearce choices to pursue collegiate opportunities post-graduation if she so desired. Pearce commented that the online program was similar to a college course in that her "parents wouldn't have to do anything". During her time at the park, Pearce performed at Dollywood five times a week, often in several shows per day. Additionally, she contributed her vocals to compilation albums of bluegrass music.
## Career
### 2009–2016: Beginnings
Pearce moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at age 19 to pursue a country music career. She would later describe her early years in Nashville as similar to a "roller coaster" ride. She signed a developmental deal with Sony Music Nashville in 2012. Pearce's producer was fired from the label. With the producer's termination, Pearce lost her deal with Sony. She later said that experience of having an opportunity and then losing it was difficult. In a 2017 interview with Nash Country Daily, Pearce commented, "Of course there were moments that I wanted to quit music. My condo has seen many tears and heard many prayers at night. I've always known I wanted to do this, and like I said a little earlier, when you open your brain to still staying in the game and waiting it out and fighting and really understanding that this is a business." After losing the opportunity, she took a series of part-time jobs to help make ends meet. Among these jobs was cleaning Airbnb's.
While working part-time jobs, Pearce began networking with other performers and executives in the country music industry. Around this time, she met Pete Fisher, who was the vice president and general manager of the Grand Ole Opry. Fisher provided Pearce the opportunity to perform on the Opry in 2015 (which was before she had a recording contract). From their professional relationship, Fisher informed record producer Busbee about her musical abilities and interests. In 2015, Busbee signed her to a developing artist deal.
In 2016, Pearce was featured on the track "Wasn't That Drunk" by the country group Josh Abbott Band. Released as a single that year, it peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Her performance on the song allowed Pearce to gain exposure to country radio stations. She also performed with the Josh Abbott Band on television, including a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The same year, Pearce was being brought to the attention of multiple Nashville record labels. However, all had declined to sign her. In an interview with Forbes, she recalled being told by several industry professionals to move home or pursue other interests. The same year, Busbee produced a track co-written by Pearce entitled "Every Little Thing". Released independently, it was picked up for radio airplay on Sirius XM's The Highway channel, where it received widespread recognition. Following its recognition, Pearce was offered multiple recording contracts. She ultimately chose to sign with Big Machine Records.
### 2017–present: Breakthrough success
"Every Little Thing" was officially released as a single to country radio in February 2017. By November, the song had become a major hit, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. "Every Little Thing" sold over 500,000 copies in the United States, receiving a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Pearce's debut studio album was released the same year, also named Every Little Thing. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard Top Country Albums list short after its release. It also reached number 32 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album received critical acclaim by music writers and critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the release four of five stars calling "polished professionalism", but also contrasting it to the bluegrass musical style of earlier career work. In his concluding statement Erlewine commented, "her showbiz and country roots are inextricably entangled, a singer with a feel for the past but an eye for the present." Jewly Hight of NPR also praised the album, drawing similarities between her vocals and that of artists such as Alison Krauss and Trisha Yearwood.
During this time, Pearce established herself further with further musical projects. This included touring with Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, and Blake Shelton. Her next single release, "Hide the Wine", was spawned from her 2017 album. It became Pearce's second major hit, reaching number 13 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2018. The same year, she issued a single that was to be the lead release of her upcoming second studio album. Entitled "Closer to You", the song was released in November 2018 and reached the top 40 of the Billboard country charts.
In October 2019, Pearce released a second single from her unreleased second studio album. The song, "I Hope You're Happy Now", was a duet with country artist Lee Brice. The song was her second to reach the number one spot on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. After taking time to marry singer Michael Ray, her self-titled second studio album was issued in February 2020. It would be Busbee's final production project before his death in 2019. It debuted at number six on the Top Country Albums list and number 73 on the Billboard 200. Jason Scott of American Songwriter gave it three of five stars and called the album an example that "illustrates an artist learning, growing, and embracing the good, the bad, and ugly."
In June 2020, Pearce revealed that she was recording new music and that her next single will not be a track off of her second album. In September 2020, she released the single, "Next Girl". In February 2021, Pearce released her first extended play collection titled, 29. The album's name was derived from personal setbacks she endured during her twenty ninth year. These events included her divorce from singer, Michael Ray, and the death of her long-time producer, Busbee. The EP received praise from American Songwriter, which called it an "exquisite seven song collection." Rolling Stone noted a "progression" in its seven tracks that ends "in a place of hope." Following its release, "Next Girl" reached the top 15 of the Billboard country airplay chart.
In June 2021, Pearce was invited by Dolly Parton to become a cast member of the Grand Ole Opry. A month later, she announced the release of her third studio album titled 29: Written in Stone alongside the promotional single "Dear Miss Loretta", a tribute to Loretta Lynn featuring Patty Loveless. The album was a continuation of her 2021 EP. It was officially released in September 2021. It reached number nine on the Billboard country albums chart and number 83 on the Billboard 200. The disc received positive reviews from critics, including AllMusic, which praised her "vulnerability" and Variety which highlighted its traditional musical sound. The disc spawned the 2021 single, "Never Wanted to Be That Girl", a duet with Ashley McBryde. It became Pearce's third single to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart. In October 2022, Pearce headlined two sold-out shows at the Ryman Auditorium. The album's third single "What He Didn't Do" reached number one on the Aircheck/Mediabase chart, becoming the first woman in 80 weeks to top the country radio charts with a solo track.
In early 2023, Pearce won her first accolade from the Grammy Awards for her performance on "Never Wanted to Be That Girl". In March 2023, Pearce's first live album was released titled 29: Written in Stone (Live from Music City). It featured the entirety of her previous album, along with several additional tracks and special guests.
## Musical styles
Pearce's musical style is rooted in the contemporary country and bluegrass genres. Her musical experiences included performing as part of a bluegrass band. These early performances influenced the style she would later create. Pearce has also credited notable bluegrass artists for their influence on her. This includes Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, and Rhonda Vincent. Pearce's music has also been described as having elements of contemporary country. When reviewing her 2017 studio album, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that it "still bears all the hallmarks of contemporary country production. It's crisp and nimble, using electronic and R&B as flair that accentuates the songs." In Taste of Country's review of Pearce's 2017 album, it was mentioned that several album tracks (such as "Catch Fire") were "pop-leaning" in their sound.
In addition to bluegrass performers, Pearce has also been inspired by contemporary country artists. She has credited "late 1990s" female artists as major influences, notably Shania Twain and Trisha Yearwood. Pearce was also inspired by the career decisions of female country artists, including Faith Hill. In an interview with Good Morning America, Pearce commented that she wanted her career choices to resemble Hill's: "I really want to be like what Faith Hill was to our genre back then. I love country music so much, and I wanted to do a little bit of that retro, cowhide, kind of throwback to the '90s ... but, like, a new spin on it."
## Personal life
In July 2018, Pearce confirmed that she was dating fellow country singer Michael Ray. They became engaged on December 19, 2018. Ray proposed to Pearce at a beach resort in Tulum, Mexico, alongside Pearce's family who also attended the vacation. The two were married on October 6, 2019, near Nashville, Tennessee. In June 2020, Pearce filed for divorce from Ray after eight months of marriage.
In 2021, she began dating former Minor League Baseball player Riley King. In 2023, it was reported they had separated.
## Discography
Studio albums
- Every Little Thing (2017)
- Carly Pearce (2020)
- 29: Written in Stone (2021)
## Awards and nominations
!Ref. \|- \| rowspan="3"\|2018 \| Academy of Country Music Awards \| New Female Vocalist of the Year \| \| align="center"\| \|- \| rowspan="2" \|CMT Music Awards \| Breakthrough Video of the Year – "Every Little Thing" \| \| align="center" rowspan="2" \| \|- \|Female Video of the Year – "Every Little Thing" \| \|- \| rowspan="3"\| 2019 \| Academy of Country Music Awards \| New Female Vocalist of the Year \| \| align="center"\| \|- \| CMT Music Awards \| Female Video of the Year – "Closer to You" \| \| align="center"\| \|- \| rowspan="5"\| Country Music Association Awards \| rowspan="2"\| New Artist of the Year \| \| align="center" rowspan="5"\| \|- \| rowspan="4"\| 2020 \| \|- \| Song of the Year – "I Hope You're Happy Now" (with Lee Brice) \| \|- \| Musical Event of the Year – "I Hope You're Happy Now" (with Lee Brice) \| \|- \| Video of the Year – "I Hope You're Happy Now" (with Lee Brice) \| \|- \| rowspan="3"\| 2020 \| rowspan="3"\| Academy of Country Music Awards \| Female Artist of the Year \| \| align="center" rowspan="3"\| \|- \| Single of the Year – "I Hope You're Happy Now" (with Lee Brice) \| \|- \| Music Event of the Year – "I Hope You're Happy Now" (with Lee Brice) \| \|- \| rowspan="4"\| 2021 \| CMT Music Awards \| Female Video of the Year – "Next Girl" \| \| align="center"\| \|- \| Grand Ole Opry \| Inducted as a member \| \| align="center"\| \|- \| rowspan="2"\| Country Music Association Awards \| Album of the Year – 29 \| \| align="center" rowspan="2"\| \|- \| Female Vocalist of the Year \| \|- \| rowspan="11"\| 2022 \| rowspan="4"\| Academy of Country Music Awards \| Female Artist of the Year \| \| align="center" rowspan="4"\| \|- \| Album of the Year – 29: Written in Stone \| \|- \| Video of the Year – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" \| \|- \| Music Event of the Year – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Ashley McBryde) \| \|- \| rowspan="2" \| CMT Music Awards \| Collaborative Video of the Year – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Ashley McBryde) \| \| align="center" rowspan="2"\| \|- \| Digital – First Performance of the Year – "Dear Miss Loretta" \| \|- \| rowspan=5\| Country Music Association Awards \| Female Vocalist of the Year \| \| align="center" rowspan=5\| \|- \| Single of the Year – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Ashley McBryde) \| \|- \| Song of the Year – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Shane McAnally and Ashley McBryde) \| \|- \| Musical Event of the Year – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Ashley McBryde) \| \|- \| Video of the Year – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Ashley McBryde) \| \|- \| 2023 \| Grammy Awards \| Best Country Duo/Group Performance – "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Ashley McBryde) \| \| align="center"\|
## Tours
### Headlining
- Way Back Tour (2019) co-headlining with Russell Dickerson
- The 29 Tour (2021-2022)
- Country Music Made Me Do It (2023)
### Supporting
- Caliville Tour (2017) supporting Brett Young
- Back To Us Tour (2018) supporting Rascal Flatts with Dan + Shay
- What Makes You Country Tour (2018) supporting Luke Bryan with Sam Hunt and Jon Pardi
- Ride All Night Tour (2019) supporting Jason Aldean with Kane Brown
- What A Song Can Do Tour (2021) supporting Lady A
- Here and Now Tour (2022) supporting Kenny Chesney with Old Dominion and Dan + Shay
- Back to the Honky Tonk Tour (2023) supporting Blake Shelton |
14,106,128 | Together When... | 1,153,116,557 | null | [
"2000s ballads",
"2007 songs",
"Ayumi Hamasaki songs",
"Songs written by Ayumi Hamasaki"
]
| "Together When..." is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released by Avex Trax on December 5, 2007, and Rhythm Republic on April 9, 2008 as a double A-side with one of Hamasaki's tracks "Game" as the third and final single from her ninth studio album, Guilty (2008). It was released as Hamasaki's first digital single in Japan, and was Avex Trax's first single to be distributed as a digital download only. The track was written by Hamasaki herself, while production was handled by long-time collaborator Max Matsuura. Musically, "Together When..." is a power ballad. The lyrical content is about the finishing and separation of a relationship between lovers.
Upon its release, "Together When..." received positive reviews from most music critics. Some of them selected the track as the best song from the album, while complimenting the composition and Hamasaki's vocals/songwriting. Although it did not enter in Japan's Oricon Singles Chart, it did peak at number one on the Reco-kyō Singles Chart. It was certified in two categories by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ); as of June 2016, it has been downloaded over three million times, making this Hamasaki's highest selling single. An accompanying music video was directed by Takahide Ishii, which displays Hamasaki waiting at a taxi stand, and another scene with her as a marionette. To promote the single, it was included on some of Hamasaki's concert tours including her 2007 and 2010 New Years countdown shows.
## Background and release
"Together When..." was written by Hamasaki herself, while production was handled by long-time collaborator Max Matsuura. The song's instrumentation consists of piano and guitar by musician CMJK, drums by Makoto Izumitani, bass by Chris Chaney, conducting by David Campbell, and string arrangements by the David Campbell Strings Ensemble. It was then composed together and arranged by Kunio Tago and CMJK. "Together When..." was one of the only tracks on Hamasaki's ninth studio album, Guilty (2008), that included instrumentation by Caucasian composers, instead of musicians in Japan. Musically, "Together When..." is a power ballad. Bradley Stern from MuuMuse compared the composition and musical elements to the material from Hamasaki's 2002 album I Am..., and her 2003 EP Memorial Address. According to a staff reviewer at Japanese music magazine CD Journal, the song includes "quiet piano" riffs and "elegant string" arrangements. The lyrical content is about the finishing and separation of a relationship between lovers.
It was released by Avex Trax on December 5, 2007 as the third and final single from Guilty. It was released as Hamasaki's first digital single in Japan, and was Avex Trax's first single to be distributed only on a digital download format. The digital single included the recording and its instrumental version. Then on April 9, 2008, "Together When..." was re-released by Rhythm Republic as a double A-side single, issued on a 12" inch vinyl, with one of Hamasaki's previous songs "Game" (which appeared on her sixth studio album My Story (2004)). The vinyl included two remixes of "Game" by Japanese DJ Yoji, whilst the second side featured two remixes of "Together When..." by Co-Fusion.
## Reception
Upon its release, "Together When..." received positive reviews from most music critics. Bradley Stern, head writer from MuuMuse, awarded the song a maximum of ten points and labelled it one of the best tracks on Guilty. He commented, "Finally, a ballad with feeling!... Call me sadistic, but the best moments in an Ayumi song are the parts where it sounds like she’s about to break ("Memorial Address"). This song is full of those moments." In a similar review, a staff member at Channel-Ai awarded it five stars out of five, and believed that the song is one "of her strongest ballads". The reviewer further explained, "The emotion within the ballad is so infectious that the audience cannot help but feel empathy towards Ayumi." A staff member at CD Journal enjoyed the song, labeling it a "beautiful performance" by Hamasaki; the reviewer also complimented the instrumentation and production, and how it "melted together comfortably".
"Together When..." was unable to chart on Japan's Oricon Singles Chart because of their restriction of digital sales and position. Despite this, it did peak at number one on the Reco-kyō Singles Chart. The single was later certified in two categories by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ); a triple platinum award certifying 750,000 ringtone downloads, and a platinum award certifying 250,000 cellphone downloads. This made it Hamasaki's first and final million selling single since "Blue Bird" in 2006, and her third and final single to sell over one million digital shipments (behind "Carols" and "Heaven"). As of June 2016, it has been downloaded over 3.3 million times, making this Hamasaki's highest selling single.
## Music video
The accompanying music video was directed by Takahide Ishii. It opens with a couple arguing in a taxi, which later has them leaving the car and walk down the street. Behind them has Hamasaki sitting on a bench observing a puppet show, smiling in the distance. The taxi driver questions her smiling, and looks at the show. It then shows several camera angles with Hamasaki singing the song, and then has the second verse with Hamasaki and a male companion as the marionette dolls. As marionette dolls, they both walk past each other in a dark atmosphere, whilst the chorus has Hamasaki singing the song again at the bench. As the second chorus is about to begin, several children start to play with the dolls, to Hamasaki's delight. However, the children decide to purchase the male doll, and leaves the female doll (portrayed by Hamasaki) on the small puppet show's stage.
As the town, where Hamasaki is sitting on the bench, starts to rain, the atmosphere where Hamasaki is the doll starts to rain as well. Just after Hamasaki finishes singing the second chorus, an instrumental break happens and has Hamasaki looking at the now abandoned puppet show. A truck then drives past, which vibrates the puppet show's stage, causing the doll to fall on the ground and its strings become tangled. This happens to Hamasaki as the doll; she faints in the dark atmosphere land, with strings attached to her. Hamasaki, sitting on the bench, starts to cry and sings the remaining of the song. It ends with the taxi driver, who finishes day dreaming about the marionettes dolls, opening the door for Hamasaki to enter.
## Promotion and live performances
To promote the single, Hamasaki performed the song on several concert tours and was used as commercials in Japan. It was used as the commercial track for Gemcerey jewellery, which Hamasaki appeared as the spokeswoman for the company. It was then used for Music.jp in Japan. The song was included on some of Hamasaki's concert tours, including her: 2007-2008 Anniversary Tour, the 2010-2011: Do It Again Tour, and the 2012-2013: Wake Me Up Tour.
## Track listing
## Personnel
Credits adapted from the CD liner notes of Guilty;
Recording
- Recorded at Record Plant Recording Studio, Los Angeles, California; Conway Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California; Clinton Recording Studios, New York City, New York.
Credits
- Ayumi Hamasaki – vocals, songwriting, background vocals
- Max Matsuura – production
- CMJK – programming, acoustic guitar, piano, arranging
- Makoto Izumitani – drums
- Chris Chaney – bass guitar
- David Campbell – conducting, string arrangement
- The David Campbell Strings Ensemble – strings
- Kunio Tago – composing
- Co-Fusion – remixer (on vinyl format)
- Takahide Ishii – music video director
## Charts and certifications
### Monthly charts
### Certification and sales
## Release history |
60,799,278 | Lots of Mommies | 1,155,811,634 | 1983 picture book by Jane Severance | [
"1980s LGBT literature",
"1983 children's books",
"American picture books",
"Children's books with LGBT themes",
"LGBT literature in the United States",
"Lesbian fiction"
]
| Lots of Mommies is a 1983 picture book written by Jane Severance and illustrated by Jan Jones. In the story, Emily is raised by four women. Other children at her school doubt that she has "lots of mommies" but when she is injured, her four parents rush to her aid and her schoolmates accept that she does indeed have "lots of mommies".
The work was Severance's second to be published by Lollipop Power and her second picture book overall. Lots of Mommies has received praise in feminist news outlets since its publication and has attracted debate from children's literature scholars and others as to whether it should be considered a work of LGBTQ children's literature, absent explicit textual confirmation of Emily's mothers' relationships to one another. The work has also been noted for depicting a non-traditional family.
## Background and publication
The first book by Jane Severance, a lesbian preschool teacher living in Denver, was When Megan Went Away, published by the Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based publisher Lollipop Power in 1979. Severance, who penned When Megan Went Away when she was around 21 years old, was interested in writing works for families in her Denver lesbian community who "were raising children in collective households, but it was not as idyllic as the household shown in Lots of Mommies. It was a couple of really fucked up women with lots of kids from previous marriages and the mommies all drank."
Lollipop Power, an independent press founded in 1970 with the goal of counteracting "sex-stereotyped behavior and role models presented by society to young children" published Lots of Mommies, Severance's second picture book, in 1983 as a 35-page paperback illustrated by Jan Jones in green and beige. The book has been recommended for readers four to eight years old.
## Plot
Emily lives with four women: her biological mother Jill, plus Annie Jo, Vicki, and Shadowoman. Annie Jo and Shadowoman drop Emily off at her new school for her first day. Emily decides to stand by a group of children who are discussing who dropped them off; when they ask her about her family, she replies that she has "lots of mommies". As the other children doubt and tease Emily, she walks away and climbs up the jungle gym.
While pretending to drive a school bus atop the playset, Emily falls and dislocates her arm. Various adults nearby all recognize Emily as the child of a different one of her caretakers and rush off in separate directions to find Emily's mothers. Jill, Annie Jo, Vicki, and Shadowoman all rush to Emily's aid at once and the other children realize that she does actually have "lots of mommies". One by one, her moms leave the schoolyard and Jill asks if she should stay with Emily, to which Emily replies that she is fine at school by herself and will tell her four mothers about her day when she gets home that evening.
## Reception and legacy
Although it received no reviews in major industry publications, Ann Martin-Leff in 1984 wrote in New Directions for Women that Lots of Mommies was a well illustrated and "warm and caring book". Melody Ivins wrote in Feminist Bookstore News in 1990 that the work was "wonderfully diverse" and described it as one of just a few works available for the children of lesbians. In 2012, the children's literature researcher Jamie Campbell Naidoo called Lots of Mommies groundbreaking and recommended the work.
Some scholars and authors have disagreed about whether there is enough textual evidence to assert that Emily's parents are lesbians, and consequently whether Lots of Mommies should be construed as an LGBTQ picture book at all. The researcher Virginia Wolf wrote that no evidence in the text of the work that "proves that any or all of the women are lesbians, although clearly their living arrangements raise the possibility." Fellow LGBTQ children's author Lesléa Newman similarly stated that she believed "there's nothing explicit there that shows that any of them are lesbians. I mean they're living in a commune, and they have interesting names. But you know there's nothing that says that any of them are a couple." Researcher Dianna Laurent wrote that the story does not address Emily's caregivers' relationships to one another and describes her parents as being a "communal women's group".
Conversely, Naidoo described the book as "one of the first U.S. picture books to represent a non-traditional lesbian family". The children's literature scholar Thomas Crisp has likewise written in favor of considering Lots of Mommies an LGBTQ picture book, stating "it is the semiotics that make the text queer". According to Crisp, who concedes that none of the characters in the story identify as lesbians, the ambiguity surrounding the text stems from social attempts to normalize two-parent queer families "to offset anxiety about queer desire", leading to critical disavowal of Lots of Mommies and the family structure it depicts.
Regardless of its contested status as a lesbian picture book, Lots of Mommies has also been noted for its depiction of a non-traditional (non-nuclear) family. The English lecturer Jennifer Miller wrote that Lots of Mommies "shows a queer communal model of family" that, like the arrangement depicted in When Megan Went Away, "offer[s] an affirming alternative to the nuclear family." As of the 2010s, the work was out of print and copies often sold for over 40 times the original retail price. |
725,912 | Janice Rand | 1,168,513,910 | Fictional character in Star Trek | [
"Crossover characters in television",
"Fictional characters from the 23rd century",
"Fictional lieutenant commanders",
"Fictional secretaries",
"Star Trek (film franchise) characters",
"Star Trek: The Original Series characters",
"Star Trek: Voyager characters",
"Starfleet lieutenant commanders",
"Starfleet officers",
"Television characters introduced in 1966"
]
| Janice Rand is a fictional character in the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Original Series during its first season, as well as three of the Star Trek films. She is the Captain's yeoman on board the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), and first appeared in the episode "The Man Trap". She had significant roles in the episodes "The Enemy Within", where she fights off an evil version of Captain James T. Kirk; "Charlie X" where a young man with god-like powers falls in love with her; and "Miri" where she is infected with a deadly disease while on an away mission and is kidnapped by jealous children.
Rand was portrayed by American actress Grace Lee Whitney, who had previously worked with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in both The Lieutenant and a pilot for a show he created called Police Story. Whitney as Rand was involved in promoting Star Trek before it aired, but did not appear in the first two pilots. Roddenberry set out the role of Rand to Whitney, saying that she and Kirk were meant to have feelings for one another, but should never act on them. Part way through the first season, Whitney was released from her contract. The official explanation was that the production team wanted to free up Kirk to have relationships with other women, but it was actually necessitated because the series was over budget and was looking to cut costs. It is unclear who suggested that her contract should be terminated, or who made the final decision. Roddenberry later blamed NBC for her release and said he regretted it.
After Whitney was reintroduced to Star Trek through conventions, she came back into contact with Roddenberry, who wanted to include her in the new series in development at the time, Star Trek: Phase II. This was subsequently cancelled, but Rand did reappear in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Whitney made further appearances as Rand in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, as well as scenes in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback" set during the events of the latter film. Whitney made further appearances as Rand in the fan series Star Trek: New Voyages and Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, and Rand was also portrayed by Meghan King Johnson in New Voyages.
Prior to the start of The Original Series, Whitney was used to promote the series and was popular with the media. Critics later called the character a stereotype in her initial appearances, but the expansion of the role in "Flashback" was praised.
## Concept and development
Gene Roddenberry's original pitch for Star Trek featured a female Captain's Yeoman named "Colt". She was described as "blonde and with a shape that even a uniform could not hide." In this first version of Star Trek, she worked as Captain Robert April's "secretary, reporter, bookkeeper, and undoubtedly wishes she could serve him in more personal departments." Roddenberry's description of her ended with "She is not dumb; she is very female, disturbingly so." This character was cast for the first pilot of the series, "The Cage", with Laurel Goodwin cast in that role. A similar character was created for the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", this time called "Smith", and she was played by model Andrea Dromm.
However, during discussions with the casting director on Star Trek, Roddenberry stood up in the casting process for three women he had worked with before – Majel Barrett, Nichelle Nichols and Grace Lee Whitney. Whitney had previously appeared in Roddenberry's The Lieutenant and was then cast in his unsold pilot Police Story where she played Police Lieutenant Lily Monroe. She was available to appear in the series and was promptly cast in the role, being paid \$750 per episode and being guaranteed to appear in seven episodes out of the first thirteen. The casting led to rumours that she and Roddenberry had been previously involved romantically, something she strenuously denied later saying that "I never had a romantic relationship with Gene Roddenberry before Star Trek, during Star Trek, or after Star Trek." She admitted that he had made numerous passes at her, but she wanted their relationship to remain professional only.
Roddenberry explained to Whitney that he wanted Rand to be Captain Kirk's confidante but never wanted them to express their affection for one another; instead he wanted it to be played as an ongoing undercurrent. In the early publicity photos, Whitney was dressed in the same manner that the women had been in the two pilots – a loose gold colored tunic and black trousers. She complained to Roddenberry about them hiding her "dancer's legs", so he had William Ware Theiss design a short skirt and tunic for her to wear, a uniform which was adopted by the other female characters on the series. She said the outfit was "sensational" and that "it stopped traffic". Despite the outfit being designed specifically for Whitney, Theiss was concerned and would tell her to lose weight. She was subsequently prescribed amphetamines by her doctor for the purpose of weight loss. Whitney stated that this was the start of her addiction to them, and in order to come down off them at night, she began drinking in the evening to take away the "edginess".
He also developed her hair styles for the series, which Roddenberry insisted must be unique and futuristic so that the viewers could believe they were seeing the future on television. She originally appeared with straight hair in promotion photos, but this was changed to a beehive, which was so solid looking that Bob Justman joked that "You could hit it with a sledgehammer and never make a dent." It was created by weaving two Max Factor wigs into a mesh cone. Whitney described the application of the wig, saying "they nailed it to my head every morning." It was created by placing a cone on her head and then weaving the blonde hair from two separate wigs together resulting in such an unusual look that Whitney said she was unrecognizable without it. In the press, she explained that on the show, Rand would have stuck her head in a machine which would have made up her hair instantly. The wig was later stolen from the Desilu lot after Whitney was no longer on the series; it was never recovered.
When interviewed by the media at the time, Whitney expressed enthusiasm in the role and about science fiction in general. She described Rand's role on board the Enterprise as "She's in charge of the other women aboard the space ship. She's Miss Efficiency." She also added that the character did not go into space "to catch a man." At the time, the media described Rand's position on the Enterprise as "chief female executive officer" and her image was used to promote the series before it began to air. Whitney enjoyed several of the episodes she appeared in, and found it hard to choose between "The Enemy Within", "Charlie X" and "Miri".
She was particularly affectionate toward the latter because it allowed her to appear on camera with her two children, and said it was her favorite. Certain elements of Rand's characterization were developed by Whitney and Shatner; Whitney would go to Shatner's side when their characters were put in danger – in response, Shatner would put his arms around her, such as in "Balance of Terror". The character was written out of the episode "Dagger of the Mind", which Whitney attributed to the romantic liaison that Kirk has with the female lead in that episode being so overt that it would have caused issues for later plots. This was because the script had Kirk and the female lead sleep with each other. Although Whitney found it difficult to watch as her character had been removed from the episode, she understood why. Part of her outfit was dictated by attempting to increase the duties of the Captain's Yeoman on screen. In order to provide support while part of an away team on a planet, Roddenberry suggested that she could wear a device on an over-the-shoulder strap which she could use as an electronic camera. He also suggested immediately that it could be expanded in order to be sold as a toy for young girls. This was part of the development process that led to the creation of the tricorder.
### Departure
Grace Lee Whitney was released during the filming of the first season. The official reason given for Whitney's departure from the show was that her character limited romantic possibilities for Captain Kirk. This idea was supported by Whitney, saying: "They didn't want to give the fans the idea [Kirk] was in love with Janice Rand. That would limit him. They wanted him to go out and fool around. So, I was axed."
But the real reason was that the production had financial issues, with the acquisition of new crew members and the increase in popularity of Doctor Leonard McCoy meaning that those salaries needed to come out of the original budget. In Justman and Herb Solow's 1996 book Inside Star Trek, they stated that following a discussion between Roddenberry, Solow and Bernie Weitzman in which they discussed her contract, they decided to terminate it because of Whitney's limited appearances and the financial issues that the series was having. The decision was attributed elsewhere in David Alexander's 1995 authorized biography of Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek Creator, which said that during the first batch of episodes, casting director Joseph D'Agosta reviewed the contracts for the main actors due to rising costs.
At the time Whitney was guaranteed to appear in seven of the first 13 episodes, and contracted for four days work on each. However, she was used for nine additional days, leading D'Agosta to suggest to Roddenberry that if guest stars instead played the similar role but with different characters then they "would cost less and hold as much value". He added that they should instead look to using Whitney on a free-lance basis instead of under permanent contract. By September 8, 1966, Whitney's agent had been informed that her contract had been terminated, which was around a week prior to the shoot of her penultimate episode, "The Conscience of the King". Roddenberry told Whitney that he did not want to lose Rand as he wanted her relationship with Kirk to continue. In a memo to Gene Coon on October 27, 1966, Roddenberry suggested bringing Whitney back as Rand, albeit with a different hairstyle similar to the way she wore it in Police Story as this "made her look much younger and softer", but she was never invited back to the series.
Because of Whitney's termination, drafts of the episode "The Galileo Seven" were revised to replace Rand with a new yeoman, Mears. Writer Paul Schneider was not informed of Whitney's departure when he submitted his first draft of "The Squire of Gothos" in early October 1966, so another character, Yeoman Ross, was then subsequently created for that episode. And Robert Hamner's September 1966 outlines for "A Taste of Armageddon" also included Rand; that part was then given to another new character, Tamura.
In Solow and Justman's book, there was also a reference to a "rift" between Whitney and Roddenberry that occurred just prior to her departure and was expected to ensure that she never returned to the series. In her autobiography, Whitney states that an unnamed television executive sexually assaulted her on August 26, 1966, while working on the episode "Miri", and she draws a link between this and her sacking a few days later. Whitney's departure was around the time when she was an alcoholic. In an interview in 1988, Whitney blamed her alcoholism and anorexia at the time for being released by the series. She later explained in an interview with Starlog magazine to promote Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, that due to being adopted, she had a fear of rejection when she was younger which stemmed from her mother giving her away, and linked this to Star Trek saying "when I was let go from Star Trek, it was a psychic pain which pushed me into alcoholism. I couldn't stand the pain, so I drank to get away from it."
### Return
Whitney returned to the set on several occasions during the production of the series, and was also invited to come back for cast parties. But over time these visits decreased gradually as she found it painful to be on set with her friends, but not able to appear on the show. She was continuing to take amphetamines and had developed a drinking problem. Despite this, and despite Whitney being let go from the show, Harlan Ellison wrote the character into his original script for "The City on the Edge of Forever". Roddenberry rewrote the script, resulting in a feud between the writers – but the writer was also very disappointed in general that Rand had been removed from the series. After Whitney had left Star Trek, she dated Ellison for a time.
Whitney had no further involvement with Star Trek until 1976, when she happened to meet DeForest Kelley at an unemployment office in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. He informed her about a Star Trek convention coming up that was organised by Bjo and John Trimble called Equicon. She received such a reception upon making an appearance there that she was inspired to think more about the series and wanted to appear at more events. In 1977, after reading the back cover of the book Letters to Star Trek by Susan Sackett and finding that "Whatever happened to Grace Lee Whitney?" was one of the ten most frequently asked queries, Whitney got in touch with Sackett and was invited to meet at Roddenberry's office at Paramount. When he entered, he was happy and excited to see her and immediately offered to bring back Rand for the new television series Star Trek: Phase II. Roddenberry told her that removing Rand was the biggest mistake he had made, saying that the character should have stayed so that "when Captain Kirk came back from having affairs with all these other women on all these other planets – he'd have to deal with [Rand]. What a great plot-thickener that would have been!" Instead, he blamed the decision on executives at NBC, but apologized for it to Whitney.
When Phase II was discussed in the media, the return of Whitney as Rand was one of the things highlighted. Two weeks before the series was about to shoot, it was canceled by Paramount executives. Instead there was going to be a film. Whitney returned for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with Roddenberry bringing her back as Rand who was now the transporter chief on board the Enterprise. The film reunited the entire main cast of Star Trek. She did not appear in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and was not in the script for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. But for the latter film, Nimoy, who was directing the movie, gave Whitney a cameo as another character who was looking out of a window in spacedock watching the return of the damaged Enterprise at the start of the production. As he was also directing The Voyage Home, he was looking to give Whitney a larger role. By this time, she had hoped that Rand had moved over to become a counselor – an idea originally suggested by a fan. Alongside Majel Barrett as Christine Chapel, the duo were given four pages of dialogue initially which was trimmed down to one scene in the final film. Following the reappearance, Whitney was enthusiastic about returning as Rand, saying "I think Janice Rand is going to be around for a long time, as long as they don't kill our characters off, we have a chance of constantly coming back."
After a further appearance as Rand in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Whitney returned for a final official appearance in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback". She praised the "incredible experience" and enjoyed working with Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ. Following the appearance in Voyager, Whitney was supportive of a new Star Trek series focused on the adventures of the Excelsior with Rand appearing once more alongside George Takei as Captain Hikaru Sulu.
Following the relaunch of Star Trek in 2009 with a new cast playing those roles seen in The Original Series, there was commentary online about the lack of female characters and whether Rand might be appearing in future installments. While the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, was in production, Rand was one of five characters who was stated not to be appearing in the film by writer Roberto Orci. But there was still speculation at the time of the broadcast of the first trailer about who Alice Eve was portraying in the film. The options given by Tor.com was that it was either Janice Rand or Carol Marcus. Daily Variety reported that she was cast as someone new to the franchise, but she was actually cast as Marcus.
## Appearances
Rand's first filmed appearance is in the episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", wherein Captain James T. Kirk is annoyed that he has been assigned a pretty female yeoman and discusses this with McCoy. After Kirk is split into two beings in "The Enemy Within", the evil version of the Captain heads to Rand's quarters and reveals his attraction to her. He kisses her forcefully, but she fights back and scratches him across the face. Crewman Fisher intervenes and fights him off – the duo later explain that it was Kirk who attacked her to a surprised good version of the Captain, along with Spock and Doctor McCoy. In "The Man Trap", she becomes friends with Sulu while refuting the advances of Crewman Green. Kirk admits his feelings for Rand while under the influence of an affliction in "The Naked Time".
When Charlie Evans is brought on board the Enterprise in the episode "Charlie X", he falls for Rand. She is older than the adolescent boy and attempts to dissuade his affections by introducing him to Yeoman Tina Lawton. But he declares his feelings for Rand. Concerned, Rand seeks the advice of the Captain who intervenes and involves Evans in some sparring practice. After he falls over, he reveals his powers to make people disappear when one of the other sparring partners laughs at him. Charlie takes control of the ship, and goes to Rand's quarters with a rose. She refuses his approach; Spock and Kirk arrive but Charlie attacks them, and Rand slaps the boy. In response, he makes her vanish. It is only after a Thasian vessel appears that the Enterprise and Rand are returned to normal, as Charlie is taken away by the aliens.
Rand joins the landing party in the episode "Miri", and is infected by the disease that wiped out all of the adults on the planet. She finds comfort in the arms of Kirk, causing Miri to become jealous and the girl kidnaps the Yeoman to attract the attention of the Captain. Kirk convinces Miri to take him to Rand, but the other children attack him. They realise what they're doing is wrong and allow Kirk and Rand to return to the rest of the landing party – where McCoy has synthesized a cure for the disease. Rand's second to last appearance in The Original Series was in The Conscience of the King, where she has no lines but shoots a jealous look at a woman Kirk is attracted to. Her final appearance in the original TV series was on the episode Balance of Terror.
She next appeared in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture as the chief transporter operator and non-commissioned officer on board the Enterprise. During the events of The Voyage Home, Rand was stationed in San Francisco as a communications officer, but was reunited with the other former members of the Enterprise when they are court-martialed at the end of the film. She subsequently served as a communications officer aboard the USS Excelsior during the events of The Undiscovered Country. The character's final appearance on screen was as part of Tuvok's memories of the events of that final film, as part of the Voyager episode "Flashback". Afterwards, Whitney remained hopeful that a new Captain Sulu based series would be created, allowing her to return to the role of Rand once more.
### Non-canon appearances
Whitney made a further two appearances in Star Trek fan productions as Rand. These included the Star Trek: New Voyages episode "World Enough and Time", where Rand was once again on the bridge of the Excelsior alongside Takei's Sulu. Despite being fan produced, the episode was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. She also returned as Rand in the film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men. It was directed by Tim Russ, who she had worked with on Voyager, and featured a number of other former Star Trek actors. It was produced in association with New Voyages.
Rand was also portrayed by Meghan King Johnson in New Voyages. She was initially going to work on a film with producer Jack Marshall, but when that fell through, he suggested she worked on the Star Trek production. Johnson was first hired to portray Christine Chapel, with Andrea Ajemian playing Rand. However, Ajemian was re-cast to play Onabi in the pilot "Come What May", Johnson was moved to play Rand and Shannon Giles recruited to play Chapel. Johnson said that highlights of the role included taking the conn in the pilot, and later working around her pregnancy in the episode "In Harm's Way".
In print media, Vonda N. McIntyre's non-canon novel Enterprise: The First Adventure expanded on Rand's early history saying that she was originally a refugee, before being sold into slavery and enlisting in Starfleet. But in order to do so, she also had to lie about her age. Once on the Enterprise, she is teased by her new colleagues until her friendship with Uhura helps her to settle in and become the Yeoman that appeared on the television series. During the production of The Original Series, Janice Rand still appeared in the first draft of the script for the episode "The Galileo Seven", but was replaced by Yeoman Mears in later versions. When the comic book series by IDW Publishing based on the 2009 film revisited the events of that episode, this was changed to allow Rand to appear.
## Reception and commentary
In the initial previews for Star Trek when reporting on Rand, the media discussed Whitney's looks. The Independent Press-Telegram went as far as printing her bust/waist/hip measurements. Other newspapers were also complimentary of how Whitney looked, calling her attractive and shapely. Whitney said that she was popular with the media at the time because she was "very glib and very eager", but felt that she may have been seen to be overshadowing other members of the cast with her appearances. Her hairstyle was placed fifth in a list of unforgettable hairstyles in science fiction on Tor.com. It was suggested that when "you think of the 60s and science fiction hairstyles, the first image is probably Rand's beehive hair".
Rand's role is described within Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block's Star Trek 101 as attending to Kirk, and bringing him reports, meals and coffee as well as having developed a crush on him. Jan Johnson-Smith, in her book American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond, said that Rand was one of a number of "recognisable stereotypes" of women who appeared in Star Trek. This was despite an initially progressive agenda towards women in authority by the appearance of Number One in "The Cage", which was rejected by NBC. Johnson-Smith described Rand's position as being a typical example of a female character who was only intended to be a romantic interest for a male lead.
Zack Handlen, while writing for The A.V. Club in 2009, said that Whitney was a "competent actress", but that Rand "represents some of Trek's most egregious offenses against feminism". He criticized her role within the show, and specifically in "Charlie X" when Charlie slaps her bottom and none of the characters can explain why he should not do that. Michelle Erica Green praised the "substantial" role given to Rand in "Flashback" while writing for TrekNation, adding that this was the first time such a role had been given to the character in the franchise. However, she criticized Rand's being written out part way through the episode as she felt that the character could have had more to contribute to the plot.
In 2015, SyFy rated Yeoman Rand as among the top 21 most interesting supporting characters of Star Trek. In 2019, she was listed as one of the underrated characters of the Star Trek universe by CBS.
## Annotations |
14,224,329 | Ayer station | 1,158,219,909 | Railway station in Ayer, Massachusetts | [
"Ayer, Massachusetts",
"MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Middlesex County, Massachusetts",
"Railway stations in the United States opened in 1845",
"Stations along Boston and Maine Railroad lines"
]
| Ayer station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located off Main Street (Route 2A/111) in the Ayer Main Street Historic District of Ayer, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. There are three tracks through the station, two of which are served by a pair of low-level side platforms, which are not accessible. There is a shelter on the inbound platform.
Ayer has been a major railroad interchange since the Fitchburg Railroad opened through South Groton in 1845, followed by the Stony Brook Railroad, Worcester and Nashua Railroad, and Peterborough and Shirley Railroad in 1848. The original depot was replaced with a union station with a large trainshed in 1848. Land speculation and industrial development spurred by the railroad access expanded the tiny farm village into the independent town of Ayer.
A new station was constructed in 1896. By 1900, the town was served by five lines all controlled by the Boston and Maine Railroad, with service to Boston, Worcester, and Lowell plus New York, New Hampshire, and Maine. Passenger service ended on all of the lines except the Fitchburg mainline between 1931 and 1961. After a brief disruption in early 1965, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority began subsidizing commuter rail service to Ayer as part of what would become the Fitchburg Line. The station and part of the line was closed in 1975, but reopened in 1980. CSX Transportation also runs freight trains through the town to various destinations.
Planning began in 2003 for a parking structure to serve park-and-ride commuters at the station. After delays caused by disagreements with a property owner, the property to ensure a public access route to the station was acquired by the town in June 2016, allowing the parking expansion to proceed. The garage opened in 2019, with improvements to the station entrance constructed in 2020–21.
## Station layout
Ayer station is located in downtown Ayer, just south of Main Street (Route 2A/111) adjacent to the Ayer Main Street Historic District. The two-track Fitchburg Route mainline runs east-west, with two side platforms for the Fitchburg Line service bracketing the tracks. The platforms are low-level; the station is not accessible. A bus loop is located near the west end of the platforms, while a 180-space parking garage is about 600 feet (180 m) to the north.
Ayer is a node for CSX Transportation freight service, with the Fitchburg Route serving as part of its main line. A wye on the south side of the station connects the Fitchburg Route to the Worcester Branch. There are layups for freight trains east and west of the station, and a freight yard (known as Hill Yard) about a quarter mile to the south on the Worcester Branch.
The "Wall Track", a freight siding, runs along the north side of the north (outbound) platform; reaching the inbound platform from the town center requires crossing all three tracks. West of the station, the single-track Greenville Branch splits from the Wall Track and curves to the north; it serves a paper plant at Vose near West Groton.
## History
### Railroad construction
The Fitchburg Railroad main line opened on an east-west alignment through the tiny village of South Groton in Groton, Massachusetts in December 1845. Following a town vote the previous year, Groton station was established at Flannigan's Crossing (Groton-Harvard Road). The station was located on the southwest corner of the grade crossing, with a freight house just to its west and a woodshed (to supply early wood-burning locomotives) across the tracks.
Three more railroads followed in short succession. The Stony Brook Railroad opened from Ayer to North Chelmsford with service to in July 1848; it ran parallel to the Fitchburg for several miles east of downtown Ayer before branching to the northeast at Stony Brook Junction. Located at the junction, Willows station (also known as Sandy Pond) was the only other train station in Ayer and served both the Stony Brook and the Fitchburg. The Worcester and Nashua Railroad (W&N) opened between Worcester and Ayer on July 3, 1848; an extension north to Nashua, New Hampshire on December 18, 1848 crossed the Fitchburg on a diamond crossing and a connecting line was built on the southeast corner of the junction. The Peterborough and Shirley Railroad (P&S), opened in February 1848, crossed the northern section of the W&N at grade and ran to the northwest. It was leased to the Fitchburg before opening and fully acquired in 1860. The line had originally been intended to meet the Fitchburg Railroad in Shirley to the west, but the terminus was changed to Groton to connected with the W&N.
### Groton Junction and Ayer Junction
South Groton, until then "about a dozen farms of doubtful prosperity" and hindered by its remoteness, was quickly transformed by the railroads. A new union station known as Groton Junction was constructed in 1848 just east of the diamond crossing. Like many large stations of that era, it had a massive arched trainshed, which spanned the Fitchburg mainline. Smaller secondary arches to either side were intended for the Stony Brook and the P&S, but that arrangement soon proved inconvenient. A temporary wooden building was used while the union station was being constructed, although some W&N trains used the Fitchburg tracks to reach the original station. The temporary station and the original station and freight house were moved and used for other purposes in town; the temporary station burned in the 1872 fire, but the other two buildings lasted at least into the 1890s.
Between 1848 and 1852, land speculators laid out streets and commercial plots surrounding the new station. Industry, made possible by the railroad connections to major cities, soon arrived: a plow company in 1850, a tannery in 1854, and an iron foundry soon after. The city of Ayer, named after Groton-born James Cook Ayer, was incorporated from parts of Groton and Shirley in 1871; the railroad station was then renamed Ayer Junction. The station received a small expansion that year, and a covered island platform was built between the W&N tracks. The roof was rebuilt with new trusses; the former iron supporting pillars were used to construct the upper story of the nearby Spaulding Block.
Ayer was devastated by a fire in 1872, but its industrial connections allowed for a period of rebuilding and even prosperity after. Most buildings in the Ayer Main Street Historic District were built during that time. When the Hoosac Tunnel opened in 1875, trains through Ayer could run on the Fitchburg and the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad as far west as Troy, New York. With service to Troy, Boston, Nashua, Worcester, Lowell, and Greenville, Ayer Junction (soon shortened to Ayer) was a major rail interchange and the most important station on the Fitchburg Railroad between Concord and Fitchburg.
### Consolidation under the B&M
By the late 1880s, Ayer was a major rail junction and service point. Freight houses were located in the northeast and southeast corners of the junction, coal sheds in three locations, another engine house and freight house to the east, and a small roundhouse at Mechanic Street. The Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad, the successor to the W&N, came under control of the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1886, followed by the Boston and Lowell Railroad (which by then owned the Stony Brook) in 1887. The Brookline and Pepperell Railroad opened in 1894 and connected to the P&S in West Groton several miles to the north, with trains run through to Ayer. When the Fitchburg Railroad was acquired by the B&M in 1900, all lines through Ayer (and most of northern Massachusetts) were under its control.
In 1895, the Fitchburg and B&M demolished the 1848-built union station. Three new station buildings opened to replace it: passenger stations in the northeast and southeast corners of the junction, and a freight station along the southeast connecting track to replace the formerly separate freight houses. In 1897, the junction of the P&S was relocated slightly to the west to eliminate angled grade crossings of Main Street and Park Street. An island platform was constructed around that time between the two Fitchburg main tracks east of the diamond crossing to serve commuters to Boston.
In 1906, East Main Street was rerouted onto a bridge east of the station, eliminating traffic problems caused when trains blocked the grade crossing. The old Stony Brook freight house and engine house were removed as part of the construction, while a passenger tunnel was built to connect East Main Street, Faulkner Street, and the Fitchburg Division platform. Two signal bridges built at right angles over the junction in the 1910s and an interlocking tower built in 1929 controlled the various train movements across the complex junction. An American Railway Express Agency building and an extension of the freight house were added in the 1910s.
### Decline of service
Although Camp Devens opening in 1917 briefly increased traffic, competition from interurban streetcars (including a line on Central Street built around 1905) then automobiles in the early 20th century forced the B&M to discontinue service on marginal branch lines, as well as redundant routes built during years of intense competition between railroads. Passenger service on the lightly used Brookline & Pepperell ended in 1931 and on the P&S in 1933. The Stony Brook, with its flatter grades than the W&N, became the preferred route for passenger and freight service to the north, particularly after a wye was constructed at North Chelmsford in 1930 allowing direct service to New Hampshire. Through Worcester-Portland local service ended in 1928; passenger service ended on the W&N north of Ayer in 1934, and part of the route to Nashua was outright abandoned within a decade.
In April 1946, the Stony Brook was connected directly to the Fitchburg at Stony Brook Junction, permitting the removal of its redundant rails between there and Ayer. Willows station had been closed by that time. The overnight New York City–Maine State of Maine used the routing until October 29, 1960; the B&M ran a single Budd RDC car between Worcester and Haverhill until the end of the year by state order.
As rail service and industry declined, Ayer made an awkward transition from a rail-centered town to a car-centered town. The southern depot was demolished around 1960; the former northern depot and surrounding land was sold to a local business owner on September 29, 1960. The provisions of the sale and later transactions included deed restrictions requiring the purchaser to provide an easement for public station access as well as a station facility for 100 years. Service along the Fitchburg main line was cut back to that same year, leaving Fitchburg Line commuter service between Fitchburg and Boston as the sole remaining passenger service through Ayer when the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was created in 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter services.
### MBTA era
The B&M cut service back to on January 18, 1965 as part of its abandonment of commuter rail service outside the MBTA's funding district, but the MBTA established funding for restoration of service back to Ayer and intermediate stops effective June 28 of that year. The northern station building was demolished in 1967, with a USO office and a parking lot with no station facilities built in its place. A small "modern railway depot" – likely just a bus shelter – was built around 1970; it was a noncontributing property to the Historic District.
In December 1973, state subsidies for towns outside the MBTA funding district were halved, resulting in the MBTA needing to renegotiate subsidies from 14 municipalities. Ultimately Ayer, with just 14 daily commuters, refused to pay its \$8200 bill in 1974; Littleton also did not reach an agreement. On March 1, 1975, the line was cut back to , dropping stops at Ayer, , and .
On December 27, 1976, the MBTA bought the B&M's northside commuter rail assets, including the entire length of the Fitchburg Line. The closure of the Lexington Branch the next month represented the limit of the contraction of the northside lines; as a result of the 1970s energy crisis and especially the 1979 energy crisis, a period of rapid expansion began in the end of the 1970s. Service to Ayer returned along with an extension to Gardner on January 13, 1980. Ayer has seen continuous MBTA service since 1980, although service beyond Ayer was cut from Gardner to Fitchburg at the end of 1986. The W&N just north of Ayer was finally abandoned in 1982, and turned into the Nashua River Rail Trail.
The MBTA installed platforms with yellow edge strips for the 1980 return of service. A metal shelter on the inbound platform was added in 2003. No major upgrades to the station were made as part of the Fitchburg Line Improvement Project, though a 2005 report proposed combining Ayer and into a Devens station with additional parking capacity. The plan was unpopular with local residents, who preferred the stations close to the town centers, and the MBTA dropped the consolidation plan.
### Parking issues
Unlike all other stations on the line from west, Ayer had no dedicated station parking. The lots adjacent to the station were privately owned and served local businesses, but were often illegally used by commuters using the station. The 30-space Nashua River Rail Trail parking lot was available for commuters on weekdays; some commuters also used street parking and other business lots. In 2003, the town and the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) began planning how to increase parking capacity. Five studies in six years concluded with plans for an \$11 million, 400-space garage off Park Street, accessibility improvements to the station, and streetscape improvements for pedestrian access. The plans were reduced in scale due to traffic concerns and other issues. \$3.2 million in FTA funds (originally intended for expanded parking at Littleton/Route 495 station but later rejected) was committed to build a \$4 million surface lot. However, the lot was delayed due to conflicts with businesses that would be displaced and the lack of a publicly owned pedestrian entrance (a requirement to use the federal funds).
On April 28, 2014, pedestrian access to the station was partially cut off when the abutting landowner erected a fence on the station's primary access point, forcing riders to walk a short distance along the tracks to a different business lot, in an effort to stop commuters from parking on his business lots. He removed a section of the fence for platform access after meeting with the MBTA, but disputed whether he was required to provide access and station facilities according to the terms of the 1960 land sale. Despite intervention by state legislators and a postcard campaign by residents, an agreement was not reached in 2014. In December 2014, the MBTA rejected a plan that would have created a pedestrian access path and a vehicle dropoff lane, alleging that the landowner had unfairly shifted property lines.
In February 2015, the landowner again blocked station access due to commuters parking on his property after a series of snowstorms. When an agreement had not been reached by March, the MBTA prepared to take the issue to land court. In April 2016, with negotiations between the three parties seemingly at a standstill, the Ayer selectmen voted to begin the eminent domain process, which then went before public vote at a town warrant meeting in May. The public vote had two sections — one for just the access route, and one for the commercial property (the 1960s-built USO building) as well. Because of the delays, the federal funding for the project could have been jeopardized regardless of the vote. The vote was "overwhelmingly" in favor of taking the whole property, valued at \$595,000. On June 2, 2016, the town took ownership of the access route and building. In November 2016, MART agreed to pay for the demolition of the USO building; the town paid relocation costs for the two tenants.
In 2017, plans were changed to again include a \$4.2 million, 180-space garage. A construction contract for the parking structure was issued in January 2019, and construction began with the closure of the rail trail lot that April. The garage opened on December 9, 2019. An accessible sidewalk, kiss-and-ride lane / bus loop, and the Depot Square park were constructed next to the station in 2020–21 at the former USO building site. The project did not include renovations to make the station itself accessible, which would have substantially increased the project cost. However, with the parking issues settled and the accessible entry point in place, Ayer became eligible for a future reconstruction. |
737,711 | 1996 Atlantic hurricane season | 1,167,804,755 | Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean | [
"1996 Atlantic hurricane season",
"Articles which contain graphical timelines"
]
| The 1996 Atlantic hurricane season had the most major hurricanes since 1950, which are Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The season was above-average, featuring a total of thirteen named storms, nine hurricanes, and six major hurricanes. The season officially began on June 1, 1996 and ended on November 30, 1996, dates which conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. The season's first tropical cyclone, Tropical Storm Arthur, developed on June 17, while the final cyclone, Hurricane Marco dissipated on November 26. The most intense hurricane, Edouard, was a powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that affected portions of the Mid-Atlantic states and New England. The season featured nine tropical cyclone landfalls, including six hurricanes, one of which was a major hurricane. In total, six major hurricanes formed during the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season—the highest number produced in a single season since 1950.
The four most notable tropical cyclones of the season were hurricanes Bertha, Cesar, Fran, and Hortense. Bertha made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on the coast of North Carolina, causing a total of 12 deaths and \$335 million (1996 USD) in damage. Hurricane Fran made landfall in the same general area a little over a month later as a Category 3 hurricane, causing 37 deaths and \$5 billion in damage. Hurricane Cesar developed in the east Caribbean during late-July, struck Nicaragua, then crossed into the Pacific as a tropical storm, at which time it was given the name Douglas. The system produced strong winds and flooding, leading to 113 deaths and \$202.96 million in damage. Finally, Hurricane Hortense formed in the east Atlantic during the month of September and crossed Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, causing 39 direct deaths and \$158 million in damage. Collectively, the tropical cyclones of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season caused \$6.52 billion in damage and 256 deaths.
## Seasonal forecasts
### Pre-season forecasts
Forecasts of hurricane activity are issued before each hurricane season by noted hurricane experts such as Dr. William M. Gray and his associates at Colorado State University (CSU) and the Weather Research Center (WRC). A normal season, as defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has 12.1 named storms, of these 6.4 reach hurricane strength, and 2.7 major hurricanes, which are Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Additional, the 1950-2000 CSU average for a normal season is 9.6 named storms, of these 5.9 reach hurricane strength, and 2.3 become major hurricanes.
In December 1995, CSU predicted that only 8 named storms would form and 5 of those would become hurricanes; no specific number of major hurricanes was given. However, in April 1996, CSU revised their forecast, stating that 11 named storms would develop, with seven of those intensifying into a hurricane, and three reaching major hurricane intensity. In June, CSU predicted 10 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The forecast by the WRC in early 1996 was 10 named storms and 6 hurricanes, though there was no prediction on the number of major hurricanes.
## Seasonal summary
The 1996 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, but the first named storm did not form until seventeen days later. It was an above average season in which 13 tropical cyclones formed, with all cyclones attaining tropical storm status. Nine of these sixteen attained hurricane status and six of those reached major hurricane status, which was well above the 1980–2010 average of 2.7 per season. Although there was neither an El Niño or a La Niña, the above average activity in the season was likely due to abnormally warm sea surface temperatures. Six hurricanes and three tropical storms made landfall during the season, causing 256 deaths and \$6.52 billion in damage. Hurricane Edouard and Hurricane Marco also caused damage and fatalities, but neither storm made an official landfall. Additionally, the 1996 season was only the second on record in which than one storm crossed between the Atlantic Pacific basins (Cesar and Dolly).
Tropical cyclogenesis in the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season began with the development of Tropical Storm Arthur on June 17. In the month of July, two tropical cyclones formed, both of which later attained hurricane status. August was the most active month of the season, with a total of four storms developing in that period of time. The month of August also featured the strongest and costliest tropical cyclones of the season, Hurricane Edouard and Hurricane Fran, respectively. Although September is the climatological peak of hurricane season, only two tropical cyclones developed in that month. Despite this, both reached major hurricane status. Three tropical cyclones formed in October, with one attaining hurricane status. Finally, one tropical cyclone developed in November, Hurricane Marco. The storm lasted 10 days before dissipating on November 26.
The season's activity was reflected with an Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index of 166. ACE is, broadly speaking, a measure of the power of the hurricane multiplied by the length of time it existed, so storms that last a long time, as well as particularly strong hurricanes, have high ACEs. It is only calculated for full advisories on tropical systems at or exceeding 39 mph (63 km/h), which is the threshold for tropical storm strength.
## Systems
### Tropical Storm Arthur
An area of increasing convection, possibly associated with a tropical wave, developed into Tropical Depression One on June 17 at 1800 UTC, while located near Grand Bahama. Initially, the depression moved north-northwestward and then northward around the western periphery of an Atlantic subtropical ridge. Despite moderately strong wind shear, the depression strengthened and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Arthur while re-curving northeastward at 0000 UTC on June 19. About 24 hours later, Arthur made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina with winds of 45 mph (72 km/h). The storm weakened to a tropical depression early on June 20, before becoming extratropical the next day.
As the center of Arthur passed east of Cape Romain, South Carolina, minor increases in surf were reported. Rainfall peaked at 5.85 inches (149 mm) in Georgetown, South Carolina, though because it fell gradually, no significant flooding was reported, other than minor ponding of water on roads. In addition, Arthur also brought precipitation to Georgia and Virginia, though amounts rarely exceeded 3 inches (76 mm). In North Carolina, swells ranged as high as 7 ft (2.1 m). A C-Man station located about 35 mi (56 km) southeast of Cape Fear reported sustained winds of 39 mph (63 km/h) and gusts up to 45 mph (72 km/h). Overall, damage caused by Arthur was minimal, totaling only \$1 million.
### Hurricane Bertha
A tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression Two at 0000 UTC on July 5, while located about 575 miles (925 km) east of Cape Verde. Twelve hours later, it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Bertha. Over the next few days, it continued to strengthen, becoming a hurricane on July 7, prior to moving through the northern Leeward Islands. A period of rapid intensification began late on July 8, with Bertha peaking as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) on the following day. Moving around the western periphery of a subtropical ridge, Bertha passed north of the Bahamas as a weakening hurricane before turning towards the north-northeast and re-strengthened. Late on July 12, Bertha made landfall between Wrightsville Beach and Topsail Beach, North Carolina with winds of 90 mph (140 km/h). Gradual weakening ensued the following day as Bertha moved up the Mid-Atlantic states and into New England before becoming extratropical on July 14.
In the United States Virgin Islands, heavy rainfall and hurricane-force winds damaged about 2,500 homes, of which 43 lost their roofs. Many boats were destroyed. Total damage was estimated near \$7.5 million. The storm caused 3 deaths in Puerto Rico. Additionally, damage in Puerto Rico totaled \$7.5 million. Two deaths were confirmed in Saint Martin. The storm caused numerous power outages and damaged 10 homes in Antigua and Barbuda. Four deaths occurred in Florida, three of which due to rip currents. North Carolina bore the brunt of the hurricane in the United States. Storm surge destroyed several fishing piers, marinas, and boats. A combination of storm surge and strong winds damaged over 5,000 homes and buildings, with at least 4 destroyed. There were 2 deaths in the state. The remnants brought local flooding and minor wind damage to the Mid-Atlantic, New England, and Atlantic Canada. One surfer died in New Jersey. Overall, the storm caused 12 deaths and about \$285 million in damage, primarily in eastern North Carolina.
### Hurricane Cesar
A tropical wave emerged into the Atlantic from the west coast of Africa on July 17. It developed into Tropical Depression Three near Isla Margarita of Venezuela on July 24. The depression headed westward, steered by a strong high pressure area over the Bahamas. On July 25, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Cesar. Around that time, it struck Curaçao. Cesar caused minor damage in the ABC islands to roofs and trees; one person drowned in heavy surf on Curaçao. An additional three people drowned offshore Venezuela. In Colombia, heavy rainfall caused 3 deaths, 2 of which were from a mudslide in Pueblo Bello. Strong winds and significant amounts of precipitation lashed the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, unroofing 60 homes, and resulting in 11 fatalities, and resulting in 800 million COP (\$440,00 USD) in damage. The storm continued westward and intensified into a hurricane on July 27.
At 0400 UTC on July 28, Cesar made landfall near Bluefields, Nicaragua, with winds of 85 mph (137 km/h). After weakening to a tropical storm later that day, Cesar moved into the Pacific and was reclassified as Tropical Storm Douglas on July 29. In Nicaragua, the storm wrought about \$50.5 million in losses. More than 2,500 homes, 39 bridges and 25 miles (40 km) of roads were destroyed. The storm killed 42 people and left an estimated 100,000 homeless in Nicaragua. In Costa Rica, river flooding damaged or destroyed 3,874 homes; 150 bridges were also destroyed. The road network was significantly damaged. Across the country, at least 39 people were killed and damage amounted to \$151 million. Additionally, 12 people died in El Salvador. Overall, Cesar caused 113 deaths and \$202.96 million in damage.
### Hurricane Dolly
A tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression Four at 0600 UTC on August 19, while located west-southwest of Jamaica. The system strengthened into Tropical Storm Dolly about twelve hours later. Dolly headed westward and intensified into a Category 1 hurricane late on August 20. It then made landfall near Chetumal, Quintana Roo with winds of 75 mph (121 km/h). The system weakened to a tropical depression on August 21. Later that day or early on August 22, Dolly emerged into the Bay of Campeche and quickly re-strengthened into a tropical storm. The storm deepened further and was upgraded to a hurricane again at 1200 UTC on August 23; Dolly simultaneously peaked with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). Around that time, it struck between Tuxpan, Veracruz and Tampico, Tamaulipas. Dolly quickly weakened to a tropical depression early on August 24, but remained intact while crossing Mexico and dissipated over the eastern Pacific Ocean on August 25.
The storm brought heavy rainfall to much of Mexico, peaking at 37.41 inches (950 mm). In Quintana Roo, flooding destroyed a large amount of farmlands. Widespread flooding occurred after a river in the Pueblo Viejo area overflowed its banks. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, displacing about 35,000 people. Large scale evacuations occurred in San Luis Potosí, while about 6,500 fled their homes in the Tampico area. Communications and power outages were reported as far west as Mazatlán, Sinaloa. Throughout Mexico, there were fourteen fatalities reported, six in Veracruz, three in Nuevo León, and one in Monterrey. Additionally, two people were left missing in Nuevo León. The outer bands of Dolly brought rainfall to southern Texas, which caused minor flooding, but was mostly beneficial due to drought conditions in the state.
### Hurricane Edouard
A tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression Five on August 19, while located about 345 miles (555 km) southeast of Cape Verde. The depression moved westward and strengthened into Tropical Storm Edouard on August 22. Further intensification occurred, with the storm being upgraded to a hurricane on the following day. Early on August 24, the storm re-curved west-northwestward and began to undergo rapid deepening. At 0600 UTC on August 25, Edouard attained its maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (233 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 933 mbar (27.6 inHg); it was the most intense tropical cyclone of the season. The storm remained a major hurricane for nearly eight days. Edouard passed well north of the Lesser Antilles and then began re-curving northward on August 29. Later, the storm passed midway between Cape Hatteras and Bermuda on September 1.
Edouard approached Nantucket, Massachusetts, but turned to the east before reaching land. On September 3, the storm weakened and became extratropical. It was absorbed by a larger system on September 7. Edouard brought rough seas and gusty winds along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina northward. Strong waves in New Jersey drowned 2 people. Minor erosion and coastal flooding also occurred in several states, especially in New York and Massachusetts. In the latter, wind gusts up to 90 mph (140 km/h) left two-thirds of Nantucket, most of Cape Cod, and all of Martha's Vineyard without electricity. Gusty winds in Maine left about 1,900 without power in Portland. Damage in the United States totaled about \$20 million. In Canada, the storm brought rainfall up to 5.35 inches (136 mm) and gusts to 75 mph (121 km/h). Rough seas disrupted ferry service and caused the closure of several beaches.
### Hurricane Fran
A tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression Six on August 23, while located southeast of Cape Verde. The depression moved westward for several days and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Fran on August 27 while 1,035 miles (1,666 km) east of the Lesser Antilles. Fran tracked west-northwestward and intensified into a hurricane on August 29. However, Fran became less organized after a disruption to inflow due to Hurricane Edouard and weakened back to a tropical storm. Fran quickly re-intensified into a hurricane by August 31. While moving west-northwestward and then north-northwestward, the storm slowly strengthened. At 0000 UTC on September 5, Fran peaked as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (190 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 946 mbar (27.9 inHg). Early on the following day, the storm made landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina at the same intensity. Fran weakened and moved inland, becoming extratropical over Ontario on September 8. Its remnants moved over the Great Lakes and were absorbed by a front on September 10.
In South Carolina, the outer bands of Fran produced high winds and light to moderate rainfall, downing numerous trees and power lines. As a result, a number of cars were damaged and over 63,000 people were left without electricity. Damage in South Carolina reached about \$40 million. The state of North Carolina bore the brunt of the storm. Wind gusts as strong as 137 mph (220 km/h) were reported. Additionally, storm tide heights ranging from 8 to 12 feet (2.4 to 3.7 m) lashed the coast. Damage was most severe in the Raleigh area, exceeding \$2 billion. Several hundred thousand falling trees damaged at least 10,000 homes. Throughout the state, approximately 1.7 million people were left without electricity. Damage in North Carolina reached about \$5.1 billion, with about \$2.3 billion to homes and businesses, \$1.1 billion to public property, \$1 billion to forestry and timber, and \$700 million to agriculture. Elsewhere, Fran brought flooding to several states, including Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as Washington, D.C. Outside North Carolina, effects were worst in Virginia, where flooding and winds left 400,000 people without electricity and caused about \$350 million in damage. Hurricane Fran was responsible for 37 deaths, with 24 of them in North Carolina. Property damage in the United States was estimated at \$5 billion.
### Tropical Storm Gustav
An area of disturbed weather, accompanied with a low-level circulation, emerged into the Atlantic from the west coast of Africa on August 24. It organized further over the next few days, becoming Tropical Depression Seven on August 26, while located about 150 miles (240 km) south of Cape Verde. With a ridge to its north, the system moved west-southwestward. Conditions were initially unfavorable for development due to outflow from Hurricane Fran. On August 28, the depression began moving northwestward due to an approaching trough. Around the same time, the influence from Fran decreased, allowing it to intensify into Tropical Storm Gustav on August 28.
At 0000 UTC on August 29, Gustav reached its peak intensity as a 45 mph (72 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 1,005 mbar (29.7 inHg). Thereafter, the trough previously causing the storm's northwestward motion transitioned into an upper-level low, increasing shear across the region. As a result, the storm slowly weakened and was downgraded to a tropical depression late on September 1. Gustav dissipated at 0600 UTC on the following day, while situated about 1,015 miles (1,633 km) east-northeast of the northernmost Lesser Antilles.
### Hurricane Hortense
A tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression Eight on September 3, while located about halfway between the Lesser Antilles and Cape Verde. The depression headed westward and barely strengthened until becoming Tropical Storm Hortense early on September 7. Hortense passed over Guadeloupe on the following day and entered the Caribbean Sea. It strengthened into a hurricane on September 9 and then curved northwestward. The storm intensified slightly further, before making landfall near Guánica, Puerto Rico with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) at 0600 UTC on September 10. It soon moved back offshore and brushed Dominican Republic while crossing the Mona Passage. After re-entering the Atlantic, Hortense substantially strengthened and peaked as a 140 mph (230 km/h) Category 4 hurricane early on September 13. Thereafter, the storm weakened as it tracked rapidly north-northeastward. Early on September 15, Hortense made landfall in Nova Scotia as a minimal Category 1 hurricane. It quickly weakened further to a tropical storm before re-entering the Atlantic and became extratropical later that day.
The storm produced heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it passed through the Lesser Antilles. On Guadeloupe, damage was most significant to crops, with over 50% of banana plantains destroyed. Localized flooding was reported on Martinique. Impact was most significant in Puerto Rico. Across the island, 11,463 houses were severely damaged. About 1.4 million people on Puerto Rico were left without electricity – equivalent to about 40% of the island's population. Damage in Puerto Rico was estimated at \$153.4 million. There were also 19 deaths, most of which due to drowning during flash floods. In the Dominican Republic, strong winds damaged a number of buildings and houses, and downed several power lines. Flooding also forced the closure of several roads and impacted 80% of crops in Samaná Province. At least 3 fatalities were confirmed in that country. The storm brought strong winds to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands, and lesser winds to Bermuda. Later in its duration, Hortense struck Nova Scotia, bringing heavy rainfall and hurricane-force winds to isolated locations. There were many power outages, trees blown down, roofs torn away, and roads damaged in the province. New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island were also impacted, though not as severely as in Nova Scotia. Damage in Atlantic Canada reached approximately \$3.64 million.
### Hurricane Isidore
A tropical wave with a well-defined circulation developed into Tropical Depression Nine at 1200 UTC on September 24, while located south of Cape Verde. Due to an anticyclone to its north, the depression initially moved west-northwestward. After convection wrapped around the circulation and banding features increased, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Isidore on September 25. Isidore deepened further and began developing an eye feature. Early on September 26, the storm was upgraded to a hurricane. About 24 hours later, it reached Category 2 intensity. At 0000 UTC on September 28, Isidore attained its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 960 mbar (hPa; 28.35 inHg).
After reaching peak intensity on September 28, steering current from a quasi-stationary mid- to upper-level low pressure area turned Isidore northward. Later that day, the eye feature disappeared and the storm began weakening due to strong upper-level winds. On September 28, Isidore weakened to a Category 2 hurricane. By the following day, it was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane. Early on September 30, Isidore weakened to a tropical storm. The storm deteriorated further and was downgraded to a tropical depression at 1200 UTC on the following day. Because much of the deep convection diminished, Isidore was declared extratropical at 0000 UTC on October 1, while located about 490 miles (790 km) west-southwest of Flores Island in the Azores.
### Tropical Storm Josephine
Tropical Depression Ten developed from the remnants of a cold front in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on October 6. Moving generally eastward, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Josephine on October 6. The next day, it peaked with winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). Josephine made landfall in Taylor County, Florida near peak intensity early on October 8. Shortly after moving inland, the storm became extratropical. Early in its duration, the system interacted with a ridge, resulting in strong winds and high tides in Texas. The outer bands caused flooding rainfall in southern Texas, and in Louisiana, high tides flooded roads and stranded residents on Grand Isle. In Florida, the storm produced a storm surge reaching 9.3 feet (2.8 m) in Suwannee. High tides flooded about 3,600 houses along the west coast. Strong winds left about 400,000 people without power. The storm also spawned at least 16 tornadoes, one of which damaged 130 homes.
The extratropical remnants of Josephine moved along the eastern coast of the United States, producing wind gusts as strong as 77 mph (124 km/h) in St. Mary's County and in Ocean City, Maryland. The winds caused widespread power outages, including 26,000 in Virginia and 31,000 in New Jersey. Heavy rainfall flooded low-lying areas and rivers along the storm's path, including in North Carolina which had previously been affected by hurricanes Bertha and Fran earlier in the year. In the Southeastern United States, the storm contributed to dozens of traffic accidents, which killed a person each in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. Damage throughout the United States totaled about \$130 million. Josephine later moved offshore, and after passing southeast of Cape Cod, moved through Atlantic Canada with moderate rainfall and gusty winds.
### Tropical Storm Kyle
A tropical wave exited the west coast of Africa on September 27 and crossed the Atlantic and Caribbean before eventually developing into Tropical Depression Eleven on October 11. The depression drifted slowly southwestward and strengthened into Tropical Storm Kyle later that day. Slightly further intensification occurred and Kyle peaked as a 50 mph (80 km/h) tropical storm early on October 12. However, upper-level southwesterly shear caused Kyle to quickly weaken back to a tropical depression later that day. At 1800 UTC on October 12, Kyle made landfall in eastern Guatemala with winds of 30 mph (48 km/h). By early on October 13, the storm had completely dissipated inland.
Portions of the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico were under a tropical storm warning or hurricane watch as Kyle was approaching; however they were cancelled after Kyle weakened back to a tropical depression. Impact from Kyle was minimal and limited to light rainfall in the countries of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. In Belize, rainfall peaked at 2.32 inches (59 mm). Rainfall to the northwest of the center of Kyle was heavier, with some areas of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula receiving over 3 inches (76 mm); precipitation peaked at 5.71 inches (145 mm) in Tulum.
### Hurricane Lili
A tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression Twelve on October 14. After the storm formed, further strengthening of Lili was gradual, first to tropical storm status on October 16 and then to hurricane status on October 17. The next day, Lili made landfall in Matanzas Province, Cuba with winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) and moved across the central portion of the island; it was first hurricane to hit the country since Kate in 1985. After emerging into the Atlantic Ocean, the hurricane accelerated northeastward, briefly peaking as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) near the Bahamas on October 19. For almost an entire week, Hurricane Lili oscillated in intensity while fluctuating several times in forward speed. About two weeks passed before Lili transitioned into an extratropical storm north of the Azores on October 27, which subsequently moved across Ireland and Great Britain.
Early in its duration, Lili caused flooding in Central America that left thousands homeless and killed 14 people. In Cuba, 269,995 people were evacuated in advance of Lili, resulting in no deaths in the country. Damage was heaviest in Cuba, mostly due to the hurricane's heavy rainfall peaking at 29.41 inches (747 mm). The hurricane affected 11 Cuban provinces, damaging 92,542 houses and destroying another 6,369. The rains heavily damaged the sugar cane and banana crops. Overall, damage in the country was estimated at \$362 million. In nearby Florida, one person died after being swept into a drain during the storm's heavy rains. Moisture from Lili also fueled a storm that struck the northeastern United States, which contributed indirectly to a death when a man in Maine tried to drive across a flooded roadway. Damage in the Bahamas was not severe and was limited to some damaged roofs and downed trees. When the remnants of Lili struck Ireland and the United Kingdom, it produced strong winds and high seas that damaged hundreds of houses, causing \$300 million in damage and six deaths.
### Hurricane Marco
A cold front interacted with several tropical waves, eventually spawning Tropical Depression Thirteen late on November 16, while southwest of Jamaica. Initially a tropical depression, it remained weak while tracking southwestward and eventually southward. On November 19, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Marco. It re-curved eastward and continued to strengthen, briefly becoming a hurricane on November 20. Marco weakened back to a tropical storm later that day. The storm turned northeastward toward Hispaniola, but later became stationary before curing eastward. Afterwards Marco doubled-back to the west. After weakening to a tropical depression on November 23, Marco became a tropical storm again on the following day. Thereafter, it tracked northwestward while fluctuating in intensity, before dissipating on November 26.
Although it did not make landfall, Marco produced heavy rainfall in the Greater Antilles and Central America, which caused significant flooding in some areas. In Honduras, 4,000 homes were destroyed, 40 bridges washed away, and nearly 50,000 acres of fruit plantations were flooded. Nine deaths were also reported. Flood damage in other Central American countries was also reported, though affects were less severe. Heavy rainfall was also reported in Cuba. Marco also contributed to an ongoing flood in Jamaica and caused three additional fatalities in Dominican Republic. Overall, Marco caused 15 fatalities and approximately \$8.2 million in damage.
### Other system
On September 13, a rare low-pressure area moved into Lake Huron where it gained subtropical characteristics. It reached its peak intensity of 73 mph (117 km/h) and a central pressure of 993 millibars (29.3 inHg), before making landfall in southwestern Ontario and dissipating soon afterward. The cyclone was dubbed "Hurricane Huron", as it maintained subtropical characteristics while situated over Lake Huron. The Lake Huron cyclone caused heavy rainfall and flooding across Michigan and Eastern Canada, as well as parts of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and the Northeast Coast.
## Storm names
The following lis of names was used for named storms that formed in the North Atlantic in 1996. The names not retired from this list were used again in the 2002 season. This is the same list used for the 1990 season, with the exceptions of Dolly and Kyle, which replaced Diana and Klaus, respectively. The name Kyle was used for the first time this year. The name Dolly was previously used, most recently in 1974.
### Retirement
The World Meteorological Organization retired three names in the spring of 1997: Cesar, Fran, and Hortense. They were replaced in the 2002 season by Cristobal, Fay, and Hanna.
## Season effects
This is a table of all of the storms that formed in the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season. It includes their duration (within the basin), names, intensities, areas affected, damages, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but are still related to that storm. Damage and death include totals while a tropical cyclone was in its pre-formative or post-formative stages.
## See also
- Tropical cyclones in 1996
- 1996 Pacific hurricane season
- 1996 Pacific typhoon season
- 1996 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- South-West Indian Ocean cyclone seasons: 1995–96, 1996–97
- Australian region cyclone seasons: 1995–96, 1996–97
- South Pacific cyclone seasons: 1995–96, 1996–97
- South Atlantic tropical cyclone
- Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone |
42,398,612 | Nirmala (novel) | 1,170,169,862 | 1926 Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand | [
"1927 novels",
"Hindi-language novels",
"Indian novels adapted into television shows",
"Novels about Indian women",
"Novels by Premchand",
"Novels first published in serial form",
"Novels set in British India",
"Novels set in the 1920s"
]
| Nirmala is a Hindi fiction novel written by Indian writer Munshi Premchand. The melodramatic novel is centered on Nirmala, a young girl who was forced to marry a widower of her father's age. The plot unfolds to reveal her husband's suspicion of a relationship between her and his eldest son, a suspicion that leads to the son's death.
A poignant novel first published between 1925 and 1926, Nirmala's reformist agenda is transparent in its theme which deals with the question of dowry, and consequently mismatched marriages and related issues. The story uses fiction to highlight an era of much needed social reform in 1920s Indian society. Nirmala was serialised in Chand, a women's magazine in which the novel's feminist character was represented. Nirmala is somewhat like Godaan (published in 1936) in that it deals with the exploitation of the village poor, and Nandita (2016) in similarities of being shackled by society's narrow expectations of how a woman should be. Nirmala was translated by multiple scholarly translators. It was first translated in 1988 as The Second Wife by David Rubin, and in 1999 as Nirmala by Alok Rai, Premchand's grandson.
## Plot
Udayabhanu Lal, a lawyer, arranged to marry off his 15-year-old daughter Nirmala to Bhuvanmohan Sinha, son of Bhalchadra Sinha. Kalyani, Nirmala's mother advises Lal not to spend too much money on Nirmala's marriage as he also has the duty of getting her second daughter, Krishna married. Angered by Kalyani's words, he decides to teach her a lesson by leaving his old dresses along the riverbank and going out to the next village for sometime to make Kalyani believe that he is dead. Lal was later murdered by his rival Mathayi, who was once tried in court by Lal and sentenced to jail. The death of Lal caused the Sinhas to withdraw from the arranged marriage since there was no longer a large dowry as anticipated prior to Lal's death. Kalyani writes a letter to Rangili bai, Bhuvanmohan sinha's mother telling about her pitiful situation. Rangili bai's effort of making her husband and son understand ends up in vain. With the help of Pandit Motaram, Kalyani searches a groom for Nirmala. Financial hardship forced Nirmala's mother, Kalyani, to marry her off to Totaram, a lawyer 20 years her senior. Totaram tried his best to seduce his beautiful young wife but to no avail. He once tells a false story that he killed two thieves who had big swords with them to make her feel that her husband is full of bravery. But Nirmala who knows that it is a false story, still smiles and acts as though she is happy. She had no feelings for him other than respect and a sense of duty, which fell short of the love he expected to receive from his wife.
Totaram had three sons from his first marriage. His eldest son Mansaram was only a year older than Nirmala. It was not long before Totaram grew suspicious of Nirmala due to his widow sister, Rukmini's words and her relationship with his son Mansaram. Jealousy and suspicion caused him to send Mansaram away to live in a hostel, a decision they all soon came to regret. Mansaram's health soon deteriorated in the hostel environment. It was Bhuvanmohan who treated Mansaram at the hospital. When Mansaram was in need of blood it was Nirmala who donated her blood after which Totaram realises his mistake. Bhuvanmohan learned about Nirmala, he arranged for his brother to marry Nirmala's sister, Krishna, as penance. Bhuvanmohan was haunted by his thoughts of Nirmala and her distress. Mansaram eventually died of tuberculosis.
Totaram was heartbroken and guilt ridden over his role in his son's death. Rukmini fuels the fire in Jiyaram and Siyaram that Nirmala was the reason for their brother's death. They believe in Rukmini's false words. It was not long thereafter when his second son, Jiyaram absconded with Nirmala's jewels and fled from Totaram's house. He later committed suicide. Totaram's third son Siyaram also fled, having been lured away by a false saint. Depressed over the loss of his sons, Totaram set off on a mission to find his only living son, Siyaram.
Meanwhile, Bhuvanmohan was back in Nirmala's life as the husband of her friend, Sudha. He tried to seduce Nirmala, but his wife learned of it and criticised him harshly. Bhuvanmohan became emotionally distressed, and out of sorrow and his love for her, he committed suicide. Depressed by the sad turn of events and her own failing health, Nirmala gave her daughter Asha to Rukhmini and died. A much older Totaram returned home to discover Nirmala had died. Rukmini realised her mistake.
## Characters
- Nirmala the protagonist; a 15-year-old girl, married off to Totaram who is 20 years her senior.
- Totaram Nirmala's husband, a lawyer of 35.
- Mansaram Totaram's eldest son from his first wife; suspected of having a relationship with Nirmala, and forces him out of the house to live in a hostel where he eventually dies.
- Jiyaram Totaram's second son from his first wife; he blames his father for the death of his older brother and flees from home after absconding with Nirmala's jewelry. He eventually commits suicide.
- Siyaram Totaram's third son from his first wife; he is lured away from his father's house by a false saint.
- Asha Totaram and Nirmala's daughter.
- Rukhmini Totaram's widowed sister.
- Udayabhanu Lal Nirmala's father.
- Kalyani Nirmala's mother.
- Krishna Nirmala's younger sister.
- Bhuvanmohan Sinha former fiance of Nirmala. After the death of Nirmala's father, he learns there will not be a dowry and withdraws from the marriage.
- Sudha Bhuvanmohan's wife and the companion of Nirmala.
- Bhalchandra Sinha father of Bhuvanmohan Sinha.
- Rangili bai Bhalchandra sinha's wife and Bhuvanmohan sinha's mother.
- Pandit Motaram a wise priest.
- Bhungi maid in Totaram's house.
- Saros Nirmala Sister
- Sooraj Nirmala's Lover
- Samay Nirmala's uncle
## Background
Set against a background of pre–independent India, Nirmala depicts a realistic and picturesque portrait of the 1920s, the language and milieu of the era. It characterises the evils of the dowry system, and in doing so reflects the author's desire to bring about social reform and raise the status of women in society. The author's words illustrate his country's poor, and paints a picture of rural India consisting largely of a static society, the clashes of castes, its poverty and exploitation, and the rich character of its people. The novel covers a time span of about six years during which time Nirmala transitions from student to wife and thereafter, a mother. It was an era when self-respect and public image were of fundamental importance in the society. Eating meals was observed with an extreme ritualistic importance. In traditional homes, women did not eat with the men, and waited for them to finish before they were permitted to eat. There was also a fear of hospitals [and also of blood transfusion] which explains the hesitation of the character Totaram and his guilt over sending his son to a hospital. The generations that have passed since the novel was first written have seen dramatic changes in "attitude, sensibility and aspiration". Nirmala is a reflection of a time in Indian society when a young girl's "greatest sin was to require a husband who would accept her without a dowry".
## Publication
Nirmala was one of Premchand's most popular novels of its time in India, a time of oppression for women in Indian society that drew increasing attention from writers and poets. Prior to being published in its entirety, Nirmala was serialised in the magazine Chand between November 1925 and November 1926. It was during the time when Premchand first embarked on writing fiction based on contemporary social issues. Unlike his other works, Nirmala has a darker tone and ending, and its characters are less idealised. It was translated into English for the first time in 1988.
## Legacy
Francesca Orsini called it a prime example of Premchand's combination of social realism and drama. Gulzar believed the novel was a little outstretched, and had a tendency to repeat many emotions, but also had its diversions and contradictions. He further explained that Premchand specialised in subjects that revolved around a young girl under 18 years old who suddenly becomes a woman after marrying a man who is much older.
Many films based on the story's theme were also produced, such as Tehreer Munshi Premchand Ki directed by Gulzar and shown in Doordarshan. Nirmala's role was played by the Marathi actress Amruta Subhash who received many accolades.
Ananya Khare played the lead role in the Doordarshan TV serial Nirmala in 1987. |
49,812,319 | The Conquest of Belgrade | 1,084,760,346 | Oil painting by Katarina Ivanović | [
"1840s paintings",
"First Serbian Uprising",
"Serbian paintings"
]
| The Conquest of Belgrade (Serbian: Osvajanje Beograda, Serbian Cyrillic: Освајањe Беoгрaдa) is an oil painting by the romanticist Katarina Ivanović, one of Serbia's first significant female painters. Painted between 1844 and 1845, it depicts the capture of Serbia's capital, Belgrade, by Serbian revolutionaries in late 1806, during the First Serbian Uprising.
Ivanović was inspired to create the painting upon reading a book titled History of the Serb People while studying at the Munich Academy. The painting was poorly received by art critics in the Serbian capital. The art historian Lilien Filipovitch-Robinson suggests this was due to its poor compositional and spatial conception.
By the 1870s, Ivanović's works had largely been forgotten in Serbia. The Conquest of Belgrade was one of four paintings offered by Ivanović to the Gallery of Historical Portraits in 1874. The Gallery went on to form the nucleus of what was to become the National Museum of Serbia. The painting is currently in the possession of the National Museum.
## Background
According to David A. Norris, a scholar specializing in Serbian cultural history, conditions in 19th-century Serbia were unsuitable for the development of visual art. Materials were difficult to come by, studio and exhibition spaces were virtually non-existent, and there were no art patrons willing to financially support painters and purchase their finished works. In the first half of the 19th century, Serbian visual artists dedicated themselves almost exclusively to decorating the walls of churches and producing icons and other religious objects. There were some painters of Serb heritage living outside Serbia, such as Uroš Knežević and Jovan Popović, who resided in the Austrian Empire.
Another one of these artists was the romanticist Katarina Ivanović, who was born in Székesfehérvár in either 1811 or 1817, and was the first significant Serbian female painter. She left Székesfehérvár around 1835 and went to Budapest to study painting under the master Jozsef Pesky. She remained in Budapest for much of 1835. Later that year she found a patron, a baroness by the name of Czacki. In late 1835, the baroness funded Ivanović's move to Vienna. Precisely what her training entailed is unknown, but since women were not admitted into the Academy of Fine Arts at the time, it is likely that Ivanović was classified as a "special student" and tutored privately. Some scholars have suggested that she studied under Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, though this cannot be established with any degree of certainty since most documents pertaining to her time in Vienna were destroyed in subsequent wars.
## Description and history
An oil on canvas, the painting measures 157 by 188.5 centimetres (61.8 by 74.2 in). It depicts the capture of Belgrade by Serbian revolutionaries in late 1806, during the First Serbian Uprising. This proved to be one of the defining battles of the insurrection. On 29 November 1806, Karađorđe's rebels launched their biggest attack on the city. A small force led by Uzun Mirko spearheaded the assault, seizing the city gates that faced the Sava River. According to legend, one of Mirko's men climbed atop an Ottoman cannon by the gate, signalling that the gate was in the rebels' hands and that the main force led by Vasa Čarapić should attack the Stambol Gate. Čarapić was killed in the ensuing charge, but the attack was ultimately successful, and the Ottomans surrendered the city.
Ivanović had left Vienna in 1840 and gone to study at the Munich Academy, possibly owing to Czacki's further generosity. Subsequent statements suggest that Ivanović was inspired to paint The Conquest of Belgrade around this time. Writing in 1873, she recalled how the painting came about:
> While studying at the Munich Academy, I started to read History of the Serb People. I wanted to paint the brave battle of Mirko on my canvas. With seven of his comrades he succeeded in entering the city at night while the Muslims were celebrating Bajram (Eid al-Fitr) and didn't even think about any danger. Mirko and his comrades killed the guards at the town gate. Their rifle shots were the signal for the others.
Ivanović soon travelled to Belgrade, visited the battle site, conversed with some of the participants in the city's capture, and examined period clothing and weaponry used in the battle. The painting was composed between 1844 and 1845. It was painted in Belgrade.
## Legacy
According to the art historian Ljubica D. Popovich, The Conquest of Belgrade is the only known historical composition from the second phase of Ivanović's career, which lasted from 1842 to 1847. The painting was not well received by art critics in the Serbian capital. "It was compositionally and spatially poorly conceived," writes Popovich, "but coloristically quite exciting, in cinnabar, umbre and ocher tones." The art historian Žarko Domljan states that the painting is typical of this phase in Ivanović's career, which saw a substantial decline in the quality of her scene paintings. Dissatisfaction with the way her works were received in the Serbian capital prompted Ivanović to leave Serbia.
Lilien Filipovitch-Robinson, another art historian, compares the work's Romantic presentation to Théodore Géricault's depiction of contemporary shipwreck survivors in The Raft of the Medusa (1818–1819) inasmuch as neither is a reliable documentary piece. This, she asserts, is typical of contemporary Serbian painters who did not have a long Romantic tradition and therefore borrowed elements from other artists, especially those from France. Filipovitch-Robinson further describes the painting as "highly theatrical, emotional and stridently Romantic." "In its complexity, deliberate confusion, slashing diagonals, tenebrism and intense colouration," she writes, "it most resembles the paintings of her French Romantic predecessors Géricault and Antoine-Jean Gros, as well as the more contemporary Eugène Delacroix."
Ivanović painted very little in her final years, and is said to have been largely forgotten in Serbia by the 1870s. In June 1876, she became an honorary member of the Serbian Learned Society, which was later to become the Serbian Royal Academy and eventually the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. She died in Székesfehérvár in September 1882.
## Provenance
In 1874, Ivanović offered four of her paintings to the Gallery of Historical Portraits, the nucleus of what was later to become the National Museum of Serbia. One of these paintings was The Conquest of Belgrade. The work remains in the possession of the National Museum, and is classified under inventory number 413. |
2,715,037 | Girly Edition | 1,168,898,490 | null | [
"1998 American television episodes",
"Fictional television shows",
"The Simpsons (season 9) episodes"
]
| "Girly Edition" is the twenty-first episode in the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 19, 1998. In the episode, Lisa and Bart Simpson must co-anchor a new news program, though when Bart is seen as a more successful news anchor, Lisa becomes jealous and seeks revenge. Meanwhile, in the subplot, Homer Simpson gets a monkey helper because of his laziness.
"Girly Edition" was the first episode written by Larry Doyle and was directed by Mark Kirkland. Much of the subplot was inspired by the film Monkey Shines.
Critics gave the episode positive reviews and it is also one of Yeardley Smith's favorite episodes of the series.
## Plot
After Groundskeeper Willie takes away Bart's skateboard for destroying his leaf pile, Bart fills up Willie's shack with creamed corn as he is sleeping, destroying it. As Willie is taken away for medical attention, he swears revenge on Bart. Meanwhile, Krusty the Clown's show comes under criticism by the Federal Communications Commission for not being educational enough for children. The Channel 6 executive proposes that Krusty cut 10 minutes from his show to make room for a kids' news program, Kidz Newz, where children deliver and report news items. Lisa is recruited as a news anchor along with other Springfield Elementary School children. Bart is not chosen at first, but is made sportscaster after he complains to Marge.
Lisa is deemed to be boring by the channel's staff, though they are impressed by Bart's performance. Bart is then promoted to be the co-anchor, causing Lisa to become jealous and resentful. After Bart hears Lisa talking behind his back, he seeks advice from Kent Brockman, who teaches him about the power of human interest stories. Bart becomes successful after creating a segment called "Bart's People", which Lisa disapproves of due to its sappy, emotionally manipulative content. She attempts to copy the segment, but is twice hampered by the Crazy Cat Lady. In a plot to expose Bart's insincerity, she writes and sends a letter, purportedly from an immigrant living in a junkyard who wants to be featured as one of Bart's People. Bart rushes to the city dump to do a live broadcast but is attacked by Willie, who has been living there since his shack was destroyed. Feeling guilty for putting Bart in danger, Lisa hurries to the dump and saves him by using some of his own methods to appeal to Willie's emotions. Bart and Lisa decide to combine their talents in order to get children to really care about the news, only to have Kidz Newz canceled immediately afterward and replaced by a cartoon show intended to sell candy and toys.
Meanwhile, Homer discovers that Apu has been wounded in a robbery at the Kwik-E-Mart and has obtained a helper monkey to assist in running the store while he recovers. Homer gets a monkey of his own named Mojo to help around the house, but Mojo instead picks up Homer's bad habits and becomes lazy and overweight. At Marge's insistence, Homer returns Mojo to the agency that provided him.
## Production
"Girly Edition" was the first episode Larry Doyle wrote for the show. He conceived both the main plot and the subplot. The subplot about Mojo was inspired by the film Monkey Shines; show runner Mike Scully asked the staff to consult the film for reference when they were making the episode. The animators also studied the behavior of monkeys from other resources, looking at their movements and how they interact with humans. Eric Stefani, a former animator for the show who had left and now was part of the band No Doubt, was called back by episode director Mark Kirkland to animate the scenes with Homer and Mojo. This was the final work Stefani did for The Simpsons. At the end of the episode, an incapacitated Mojo is only able to type "Pray for Mojo" into a computer; this line was written by George Meyer, who cited it as his favorite personal contribution to The Simpsons. Recurring character the Crazy Cat Lady was introduced in this episode.
## Analysis
In his book Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality, Jonathan Gray analyses a scene from the episode in which it is announced that Kidz News has been replaced by the children's cartoon The Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour (a reference to the Mattel toys and the Mars chocolate bar). He says this mocks "how many children's programs have become little more than the ad to the merchandise". Gray also writes that The Simpsons "illustrates how the ad as genre has itself already invaded many, if not all, genres. Ads and marketing do not limit themselves to the space between programs; rather, they are themselves textual invaders, and part of The Simpsons' parodic attack on ads involves revealing their hiding places in other texts."
A real-life journalist named Reid, who Gray interviewed for his book, states that "Girly Edition" mirrors well how some journalists actually work. She said the episode shows "the ludicrous nature of, you know, what we do in a lot of things. The kids news with Bart and Lisa: I mean, you see them do really stupid stories about the news, and 'news you can use,' and 'how to get rid of your sheets when you wet them.' I mean, people really do stories like that." Steven Keslowitz writes in his book The World According to the Simpsons that the episode showcases the fact that "the viewing of attractive newscasters and the use of persuasive tones of voice often do have an impact on the minds of many intelligent members of American society."
## Reception
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 19, 1998. It finished 26th in the ratings for the week of April 13–19, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 8.7, translating to around 8.5 million viewing households. The episode was the third highest rated show on Fox that week, following The X-Files and King of the Hill.
"Girly Edition" was well received by critics.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought well of the episode, calling it "a great episode, full of more than the normal quota of good jokes", adding, "best of all is Lisa's revenge on Bart, and the mad cat-lady who goes around chucking her cats at people."
Ryan Keefer of DVD Verdict gave the episode a B rating and stated that he enjoyed the subplot with Mojo more than the main plot.
Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide commented that "Girly Edition" takes "a clever concept and turns into something more than expected as it digs into the usual Bart/Lisa rivalry. I’m not quite sure why Bart reacts so sadly to Lisa’s comments about his stupidity when 'Lisa the Simpson' just delved into the dumbness of the male Simpsons. There’s enough to like here to make the episode fun, though."
This episode is one of Yeardley Smith's favorite episodes. She says, "I don't actually remember a lot of the episodes because they all blend in together for me, and I don't have a really good memory anyway, but I do remember this one and thinking that it was terrific." |
2,501,702 | 1890 Atlantic hurricane season | 1,152,336,964 | 1890 hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean | [
"1890 meteorology",
"1890 natural disasters",
"1890s Atlantic hurricane seasons",
"Articles which contain graphical timelines"
]
| The 1890 Atlantic hurricane season was among the least active Atlantic hurricane seasons on record. The first tropical cyclone of the season was initially observed on May 27 and the last storm, Hurricane Four, dissipated over Central America on November 1. These dates fall within the period with the most tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic. The first storm moved slowly north-northwestward, bringing heavy rains and extensive flooding to Cuba, which caused at least three fatalities and at least \$1 million (1890 USD) in damage. It dissipated in the Gulf of Mexico on May 29. Tropical cyclogenesis went dormant for nearly two and a half months, until another system was observed near the Windward Islands on August 18. It traversed the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, grazing the Yucatan Peninsula and making landfall in Louisiana before dissipating on August 28. Impact from the storm was minimal.
Of the season's four tropical cyclones, two reached hurricane status. One of these two strengthened into a major hurricane, which are Category 3 or higher on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. The strongest cyclone of the season, the third hurricane, peaked at Category 3 strength, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). Rough seas produced by this storm sunk a ship in the vicinity of the Lesser Antilles, drowning 10 people. The final tropical cyclone was first observed in the southwestern Caribbean Sea on October 31. Peaking as a strong Category 1 hurricane, it headed westward and made landfall in Nicaragua, before being last noted over Central America on November 1. The storm produced only minor damage in Nicaragua. Collectively, the tropical cyclones of this season resulted in at least \$1 million in damage and 14 confirmed fatalities.
## Timeline
## Systems
### Tropical Storm One
According to HURDAT – North Atlantic hurricane database – a tropical depression developed on May 27, while located about 65 miles (105 km) south of Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. The depression moved north-northwestward and did not strengthen before making landfall near Pinar del Río, Cuba, early the following day. It crossed Cuba without weakening and emerged into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on May 28. Later that day, the depression intensified into a tropical storm. The cyclone continued to strengthen and peaked with winds of 60 mph (95 km/h) early on May 29. It was last noted about 125 miles (200 km) west-northwest of Dry Tortugas, Florida at around 1800 UTC.
The storm brought heavy rains to Cuba, with 13.58 inches (345 mm) observed in Havana in a 36-hour period. Flooding and mudslides caused extensive damage to several cities, including Calabazar, Chorrera, Havana, Puentes Grandes, San Antonio de los Baños, and Rincon. Several people had to be rescued. Nearly all telegraphic and railroad services were interrupted by flooding. With damage estimates in the millions of dollars, the event was described as "the most disastrous rains that had ever visited Cuba." At least 4 fatalities were confirmed after a ship capsized, while a "good number" of other persons drowned.
### Tropical Storm Two
After no activity for over two months, the barque Aspatogan encountered "very heavy weather" associated with a tropical storm in the eastern Caribbean Sea on August 18. The system moved west-northwestward across the Caribbean Sea and strengthened slowly. Early on August 24, the storm attained its maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 km/h), while situated about 80 miles (130 km) south-southwest of Grand Cayman. Re-curving northwestward, it brushed the Yucatan Peninsula on August 25, shortly before entering the Gulf of Mexico. The storm again re-curved northward while located in the central Gulf of Mexico. At 1600 UTC, it made landfall near Dulac, Louisiana with winds of 60 mph (95 km/h). The system quickly weakened to a tropical depression and dissipated over northern Mississippi on August 28.
### Hurricane Three
The steamship Haytian encountered a storm equivalent in intensity to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, while located about 470 miles (760 km) east-northeast of Dominica on August 26. The cyclone headed northwestward and strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane early on the following day, becoming the only major hurricane of the season. Later on August 27, the storm attained its maximum sustained wind speed of 120 mph (195 km/h). The ship Portuense recorded a minimum barometric pressure of 965 mbar (28.5 inHg) at 0700 UTC on August 28. However, the ship sunk in the rough seas later that day while situated about 250 miles (400 km) northeast of Anegada, British Virgin Islands, drowning ten people, including the ship's captain and nine crew members.
After peak intensity, the storm began to weaken and fell to Category 2 strength on August 29. Later that day, the hurricane began re-curving northward and then accelerated northeastward on August 30. Although the storm passed well offshore the East Coast of the United States, rough seas caused "great damage" at beaches in New Jersey. While approaching Newfoundland on September 1, the system weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. Late on September 1, it weakened to a tropical storm, shortly before becoming extratropical about 465 miles (750 km) east-northeast of St. Lunaire-Griquet, Newfoundland and Labrador.
### Hurricane Four
The steamship Gussie first encountered a hurricane with winds of 90 mph (150 km/h) early on October 31, while located about 95 miles (153 km) northeast of Providencia Island, Colombia. The cyclone tracked westward and maintained its intensity as a strong Category 1 hurricane. Late on October 31, it made landfall in Nicaragua just south of Cabo Gracias a Dios. At 0000 UTC on November 1, the system weakened to a tropical storm. Six hours later, it was last noted over the Olancho Department of Honduras. Impact from this system in Central America is unknown.
## See also
- Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project
- Tropical cyclone observation |
33,131,930 | Bravely Default | 1,161,273,360 | 2012 video game | [
"2012 video games",
"Bravely Default",
"Fantasy video games",
"Fiction about deicide",
"Japanese role-playing video games",
"Nintendo 3DS eShop games",
"Nintendo 3DS games",
"Nintendo 3DS-only games",
"Nintendo Network games",
"Nintendo games",
"Orphans in fiction",
"Role-playing video games",
"Single-player video games",
"Square Enix franchises",
"Square Enix games",
"Steampunk video games",
"Video games about parallel universes",
"Video games about religion",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games featuring female protagonists"
]
| Bravely Default, known in Japan as Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, is a role-playing video game developed by Silicon Studio for the Nintendo 3DS handheld console. Bravely Default was originally released in 2012 and later rereleased as an expanded edition in 2013 subtitled For the Sequel in Japan. For the Sequel was later released in Europe, Australia, and North America in 2014 simply titled as Bravely Default. This expanded edition used the subtitle Where The Fairy Flies in territories outside of Japan. Square Enix published the game in Japan, while Nintendo handled publishing duties overseas. The gameplay uses a turn-based battle system and job system, in addition to incorporating options to combine job abilities and adjust battle speed and random encounter rates.
Bravely Default is set in the world of Luxendarc, which is kept in balance by four elemental crystals protected by the Crystal Orthodoxy, a religious group with influence across the world. The story follows the adventures of four protagonists: Agnès Oblige, vestal of the Wind Crystal, who was forced out of her duties after the crystals were consumed by darkness; Tiz Arrior, the sole survivor from a destroyed village caused by the crystals' blight; Ringabel, an amnesiac philanderer trying to uncover a mysterious journal in his possession; and Edea Lee, a defector of a large army bent on capturing Agnès. Together, the party aims to reclaim the four crystals from the darkness and confront a greater evil along the way.
Starting development as an action role-playing sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, it retained elements from the Final Fantasy series while having its own story and gameplay elements. The producer of The 4 Heroes of Light, Tomoya Asano, returned to produce Bravely Default. The story's writer was Naotaka Hayashi, who was brought in from 5pb. due to his work on Steins;Gate. The characters designs were handled by multiple artists, including art director Akihiko Yoshida and mangaka Atsushi Ōkubo. The game was influenced by western video games and television series, and individual elements were inspired by aspects of the Dragon Quest series and Higurashi When They Cry. The music, composed by Revo of Sound Horizon, was intended to evoke the feelings of classic series such as Dragon Quest and SaGa.
Bravely Default was announced in September 2011 as part of Nintendo's 2012 lineup for the platform. In the run-up to release, multiple demos were developed, and the team adjusted the game using feedback from players. For the Sequel was the basis for the overseas release, being localized without any subtitle. In both Japan and overseas, Bravely Default met with strong sales and critical acclaim. Common praise went to the gameplay's mixture of traditional mechanics and new elements, along with its storyline, graphics and music. Main points of criticism were its repetitive late-game stages and elements of its social gameplay. Bravely Default spawned multiple media tie-ins and spin-off games. A direct sequel, Bravely Second: End Layer, was released in 2015 in Japan and 2016 overseas for the Nintendo 3DS, while another sequel set in a new world, Bravely Default II, was released worldwide in 2021 on the Nintendo Switch. The Bravely series has shipped over 3 million copies by November 2021.
## Gameplay
Bravely Default is a role-playing video game which features a party of four characters navigating the fantasy world of Luxendarc. Navigation in towns, dungeons, and the world map environments are presented in an angled, third-person overhead view: the character remains still, the camera zooms out to a distant view. These environments are displayed on the top screen of the Nintendo 3DS system, while the bottom screen displays maps of environments, party stats and other information such as item menus. On the world map, a day-night cycle alters the types of enemies present, and after a certain point in the story an airship can be used to speed up travel and access previously inaccessible areas. In towns, players can interact with non-playable characters (NPCs), purchase items or magic at specialized shops, buy or sell weapons and equipment at an armory, or rest at an inn to restore health points (HP) and magic points (MP). In all environments, the party can find chests containing items, weapons or equipment. During certain points, a Party Chat option appears, giving players the option of initiating conversations between the party members. During exploration, standard enemies appear through random encounters: outside battle, the encounter rate can be adjusted from high to nothing. The game features multiple difficulty levels, which can be adjusted freely outside battle.
Outside the main campaign, the game uses networking features powered by the 3DS's StreetPass functionality. A central element is the campaign to reconstruct the village of Norende, destroyed at the beginning of the game. The village is constructed on new ground after obstacles are removed and an area is prepared. The reconstruction incorporates social game elements: friends encountered by the player through StreetPass and online invites become the village's residents, and their efforts are used to create various buildings including houses and shops. The amount of time a project takes to complete depends on the number of friends assigned to it, taking anywhere from days to weeks. Increasing the number of people speeds up the towns' reconstruction. As the reconstruction progresses, the player is awarded with new items and equipment. Individual buildings will gain experience points, granting access to higher-tier rewards, and players have the option of adjusting the types of items rewarded. Special randomly generated optional bosses, known as Nemeses, will appear in the region. Defeating them yields special rewards.
### Battle system
Battles come in two types: random encounters with standard enemies, and staged boss battles. The battle system revolves around turn-based combat: each side is allowed to perform an action or multiple actions, with each character having independent movements and commands: these actions include attacking with the equipped weapon, using magic, or using an item. The party also has the option to escape from most battles. Two new options to the battle system are the Brave and Default options. Brave Points (BP) dictate the number of actions a character or enemy can take within a turn, along with being needed for the execution of certain abilities. Party members can utilize BP down into negative figures, enabling up to four actions within a single turn. When the BP gauge is into negative figures, they must wait for the BP counter to reach zero before they can act again. BP are naturally recovered once per turn. Alternately, any party member can Default, which reduces the damage taken by enemy strikes and accumulates BP. An additional power is "Bravely Second", an ability which freezes time for the enemy, allowing a party member to move four times in a single turn with no cost. Bravely Second requires Sleep Points, or SP, a currency which is either replenished while the Nintendo 3DS is in sleep mode or through buying regenerative SP Drinks through microtransactions. Battle speed during combat can be sped up or returned to normal at the player's discretion.
Tied into the battle system is a Job system: beginning with the Freelancer, the party can gain additional Jobs by obtaining gems called "asterisks" from defeated human bosses. Twenty-four Jobs can be found in the game, ranging from the agile Valkyrie to White and Black Mages that respectively specialize in healing and fighting magic. Each Job has different strengths and weaknesses in battle. Outside battle, characters can be assigned any available Job. In addition to the skills of the equipped Job, the skills of a second Job can be learned, allowing for free customization of parties and the mixing of Job abilities in battle. After obtaining the Summoner Job, characters can use summoned monsters to launch attacks that deal high damage on all enemies. Friend characters can also be summoned from other players' games: the more a friend summon is used, the more effective their actions become. Descriptions of defeated enemies, along with story recaps and descriptions of locations, weapons, and Jobs are included in an item called D's Journal.
Within certain conditions, characters can perform Special Moves, customizable powerful moves tied to Jobs: after a Special Move is performed, the entire party is granted buffs for a limited period. This period is represented with a specific tune that plays over normal battle music. Various elements can be added to Special Moves, such as granting elemental properties, launching status ailments at enemies, recovering HP and MP, and temporary status ailment immunity to the party. The customization of Special Moves is directly tied to the creation of specialist shops during the reconstruction of Norende. Experience points acquired at the end of a battle enable characters and their assigned Jobs to level up, unlocking new abilities and boosting character stats such as available HP and MP. Bonuses are gained if the party fulfilled certain conditions. Job abilities and levels can be borrowed from online friends, in a feature called Abilink. Any Job can be borrowed from available players regardless of their current level.
## Synopsis
Bravely Default is set in the world of Luxendarc, which is kept in balance by four elemental crystals which are protected and venerated by the global religion known as the Crystal Orthodoxy. One day, the crystals are consumed by darkness and the world is thrown into chaos with numerous calamities. Agnès Oblige, vestal of the Wind Crystal, escapes while the rest of the temple's worshipers perish to protect her. At the same time, a great chasm opens up beneath the village of Norende, killing all of its inhabitants except a young shepherd named Tiz Arrior. When he returns to the chasm hoping to find other survivors, he meets Agnès and her fairy companion Airy. The three are then attacked by forces from the hostile Duchy of Eternia, who seek to prevent Agnès from awakening the crystals. After defeating the soldiers, Tiz decides to travel with Agnès as her protector. They return to Caldisla, where they are also joined by Ringabel, an amnesiac vagabond who holds a book predicting future events, and Edea Lee, an Eternian soldier who becomes disillusioned and defects after her commanding officer commits war crimes. The party travels to the Temple of the Wind Crystal first where Airy instructs Agnès on how to awaken the crystals through prayer. The party visits three of the four temples and awaken each of the crystals from darkness, being confronted by the forces of Eternia as they proceed. During their journey, the group is aided by the ancient Sage Yulyana and observed by the immortal Lord DeRosso. The party eventually reaches Eternia, the home of the Earth Crystal, and are forced to defeat the Duchy's leader, Edea's father Braev Lee in battle. A column of light then appears in the ocean in the South East near the desert land of Ancheim once the Earth Crystal is awakened. Airy instructs the others to take her to the Holy Pillar of Light. After the group fend off Edea's close friend Dark Knight Alternis Dim, whose face is identical to Ringabel's, Airy's ritual is completed and the party is blinded by the bright light surrounding them and blacks out.
The group awakens and they find themselves back in the Kingdom of Caldisla where the game started. They quickly learn that Airy's ritual had instead sent them into a parallel world, with Airy unsure of how any of it actually happened. They also start to notice a change in the pattern on Airy's wings which originally resembled the number 5 and now resembles the number 4. They resolve to reawaken the crystals as they have been corrupted again, not knowing what else to do, and the process is repeated multiple times; in each of the five worlds the group travel through. They find and awaken the corrupted crystals, Airy performs her ritual in the Holy Pillar of light, they are thrown into a new parallel world, and the pattern on Airy's wings continues to count down towards 0 with each new world. In each world, they find variations on the situations they encountered in their own world, and gradually learn several truths about themselves and their adversaries. Nearly all of the Eternian elite they face were taken in by Braev out of compassion as they were rejected by the Orthodoxy, and Yulyana and DeRosso are revealed to be Braev's allies and key figures in cleansing the Orthodoxy of its corruption. During the group's travels, both Yulyana and DeRosso give subtle warnings to Tiz and Agnès about Airy's true intentions with Yulyana adding that they should "Have the courage to think and act on their own. And have the courage to disobey". Ringabel, revealed to be a version of Alternis Dim who got dragged into the original group's Luxendarc, slowly regains his memories of pursuing the party of his world before witnessing them being killed by Airy after she turned into a monster. In truth, Airy has been manipulating the party and Agnès to not just awaken the crystals, but to send their power out of control in order to link all of the parallel worlds to enable her master, the demon Ouroboros, to reach and conquer the Celestial Realm. By this point, even the game hints at Airy's true intentions; on the title screen after selecting a save file, most of the letters in the game's sub-title, Flying Fairy/Where the Fairy Flies, vanishes from the screen, eerily leaving behind the message Lying Airy/Airy Lies.
Depending on the player's actions, two different routes could play out. In the normal route, triggered if Agnès chooses to destroy one of the crystals in their awakening after figuring out Airy's scheme ("Have the courage to think and act on your own, and have the courage to disobey."), Airy attacks them in a fit of rage. The group then pursues her to the Dark Aurora, a realm of darkness near the chasm, and defeat her; her final words claim Ouroboros is still a threat to the world. In the canonical true route, should the player awaken the crystals across four different worlds, Airy reveals herself and is defeated by the party. She then retreats to the Great Chasm which now has been shrouded in an eerie fog. The group goes to Yulyana and DeRosso, who reveal a message left by an "angel", a version of Agnès from another world who was betrayed by Airy; the two have been planning for Ouroboros' arrival, and the group resolves to stop the demon. They travel to the Dark Aurora over the Great Chasm and catch up with Airy, who is granted her ultimate form by her master. Despite this, the party defeats Airy, who is then devoured by Ouroboros. After revealing that Tiz is being kept alive by a being from the Celestial Realm, Ouroboros attacks, and DeRosso sacrifices himself to restrain the demon's regeneration. The party are temporarily stopped when Ouroboros begins consuming worlds to regain strength, but alternate versions of them break the links formed by Ouroboros, giving the party a chance to destroy him. Once defeated, the links to the other worlds through the Great Chasm begins to close. Before the path between worlds closes, they return to their own world.
In the epilogue, Agnès and Edea return to their respective groups to better relations between the reformed Orthodoxy and the Duchy; Ringabel returns to his own world and reclaims his identity as Alternis Dim; Tiz is rendered comatose after going to Caldisla's graveyard and releasing the Celestial Being within him. In a special video teasing the second game Bravely Second: End Layer, Tiz wakes in a life support tank in Eternia before being rescued from captivity by the mysterious Magnolia Arch.
## Development
According to producer Tomoya Asano, Bravely Default began development as a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (2009), and would have been part of the Final Fantasy franchise. After completing The 4 Heroes of Light, Asano considered what he wanted to do next. Despite having the option to developing something within Square Enix's core franchises, he wanted to do something new, establishing a new brand. During this initial phase, the original development team reached out to Silicon Studio, whose previous work was mostly related to development middleware. Silicon Studio developed a well-received demo for the project and were assigned to develop the game. Despite moving away from the Final Fantasy series, it retained a battle system and world setting in common with many Final Fantasy games. According to Asano, this was both a leftover of the project's original form and a conscious choice to give players from the Final Fantasy series a sense of comfortable familiarity. In later responses to fan questions, Asano confirmed that he designed the Final Fantasy-style story so players would have little trouble entering the world. The story-telling and gameplay was heavily influenced by western video games and television series. Asano described the result as a "Japanese RPG with American content thrown in". The main challenge for the team was making Bravely Default a traditional RPG without overloading it with nostalgic elements. Despite this, as the team were fans of both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, nostalgic features were added for genre veterans and be appreciated by newcomers. Asano wanted to bring together what he considered the three core elements of RPGs (battles, growth, and connection) in Bravely Default. An important element was creating a casual experience that anyone could enjoy, even if they had never played an RPG.
During development, the team decided to cater for the core Japanese RPG fanbase, as they did not believe the game viable for Western release at the time. At the early stages of development, Bravely Default was going to be an action role-playing game, a genre Silicon Studio had previously worked on with 3D Dot Game Heroes. After developing a prototype build and putting it before Asano, it was decided to make the battle system a traditional turn-based model. The interdependent "Brave" and "Default" mechanics underwent changes during the development process. Initially, Asano envisioned a system akin to the Tension stat used in the Dragon Quest series, but designer Kensuke Nakahara wanted something more exciting for players. He was also annoyed that the majority of bosses in both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy got two or more actions per turn while player characters only got one each. After some consideration, Nakahara decided on a system where characters could bank points by not taking actions during a turn for later use, or create loan points to act multiple times in a current turn. The concept of "D's Journal", which would offer players deeper insights into the world and characters of Bravely Default, was inspired by a similar system from Higurashi When They Cry. During the late stages of the game's development, the team had to make several last-minute tweaks and changes to ensure the game delivered the best possible performance. Due to the game's chosen mechanics, balancing the game became a major part of later development.
The core concept of Bravely Default was defined by Asano as "everyone can play", as he wanted to bring positive elements from the growing social game market into Bravely Default. The social gameplay was made up of three different elements: the ability to employ StreetPass friends to help reconstruct Norende, the ability to summon friends' characters into battle as a summon, and the "Abilink" option which allowed players to borrow each other's job levels. The initial versions of these functions were not as elaborate as they would become in the final product. Norende Village was initially displayed on a single screen, but at a suggestion from Asano it was enlarged so players needed to slide the display around. The summoning option was initially going to be a simple display of the summoned character, but it was decided to make the summoning sequence more elaborate. The summoning text initially shared fonts with other elements, but as Asano wanted it to have more impact, a more florid font was used. This styling was influenced by a sequence featuring Japanese idol group AKB48 in an unspecified television drama. The usage of StreetPass was incorporated to differentiate Bravely Default from other RPGs of the time, forming part of Asano's wish to create something new. A notable feature included in the game were augmented reality (AR) movies. The AR movies were developed using a software development kit provided by Nintendo and implemented into the game by Silicon Studio. A unique gimmick included in the game was using the platform's camera to project the player's image into an area of the arena during the final boss battle.
The game's music was composed by Revo, the leader of Japanese musical group Sound Horizon. Asano contacted Revo concerning a collaboration as he had listened to his 2004 album Chronicle 2nd. During his work, Revo was able to see the game's ROM, then discuss the game's vision and development goals with Asano. While the initially-agreed track number was between 20 and 30, the number of tracks almost doubled during production as Revo saw situations that needed their own music. Revo aimed for a nostalgic musical style, referencing the music and atmosphere of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the SaGa series. During recording, tracks were given descriptive working titles, such as "Scene of Normal Battle" or "Song of Asterisk Holder Warfare". Multiple battle songs were created for the game, each having a faster tempo depending on the escalating battle situation. Revo's recording sessions were closely linked with the creation of the game's sound source, so the music would fit onto the 3DS' limited storage space without losing too much of its quality. Once the music was recorded, a sound environment was created so that it could be heard clearly through the 3DS system's speakers. While there were concerns about the 3DS cartridge's storage space limitations, these ultimately proved to be minimal.
### Scenario and character design
The game's title represented the game's main theme of self-reliance: not blindly following the will of others, and following your own will. "Bravely" symbolized courage, while "Default" symbolized denial. The subtitle was one of many proposed by the team, and was chosen by Asano after it helped give an official name to the character Airy: prior to this point, she had gone unnamed and was generally referred to as a "Navi character". The subtitle was also a coded reference to Airy's true agenda and the game's deliberate removal from the Final Fantasy series. The key words created for the initial draft scenario were "large hole", referring to the Great Chasm beneath Norende, and "parallel world", which referred to the many versions of Luxendarc encountered by players during their journey. The greater majority of the main scenario and side quest storylines were fully voiced, with the main cast having a huge amount of dialogue compared to other characters. The summons were themed after classical elements, modern machinery and multiple world mythologies.
The game's script was written by Naotaka Hayashi, a staff writer at 5pb. whose most notable work at the time was visual novel Steins;Gate. After playing through Steins;Gate on the recommendation of another staff member, Asano decided that Hayashi would be able to create the appealing characters and surprising scenario needed for the story, and asked 5pb. if Hayashi could work on Bravely Default. Another reason Asano wanted Hayashi was due to the plot's heavy use of parallel worlds. Hayashi's work on the game involved creating the plot and character settings. While he wrote the majority of the game's dialogue, more detailed work was given to writers at Square Enix and Silicon Studio. One of the supplementary writers was Silicon Studio's Keiichi Ajiro, who wrote the contents of D's Journal. Ajiro also created the initial story outline with Asano. The initial story concept was kept deliberately simple, but its complexity increased during the writing process. During his work, Hayashi was given guidelines by Square Enix about the characters and story: for instance, Asano wanted the heroes and villains to be equally compelling, along with raising the game's targeted age group. Something that Hayashi needed to remember during the writing process was the need to limit the length of dialogue segments. While visual novels had a high leeway for dialogue quantity, Asano would make requests such as a sentence being within a 22-character limit, and to not overrun into multiple dialogue boxes.
The main character designer and art director was Akihiko Yoshida, whose previous notable works include Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. In contrast to much of his previous artwork, Yoshida created the game's artwork using a stronger design and coloring style. His artwork for Agnès was designed to represent her solitude and knowledge of her fate while also displaying cuteness and motherliness. Tiz's design was designed not to convey a strong personality, as he in part represented the player. For the game's environmental artwork, Yoshida drew on European children's literature. The in-game environments such as towns and the overworld were created using specially drawn art mapped to a pseudo-3D layout. This style was meant to emulate classic picture books. Finalization of the art style took a long period, going through extensive trial and error. Designs for many of the secondary characters were handled by other artists: Atsushi Ōkubo, who had most notably worked on the Soul Eater manga series, designed Einheria and the Valkyrie job outfits. Erutus Profiteur and the Merchant job designed by Hideki Ishikawa, whose work included character designs for Lord of Vermilion arcade game series. Kamiizumi and the Swordmaster job were designed by Dorin Makoto, who had most notably worked on the Sengoku Basara series. Red Mage Flore DeRossa and the Red Mage job was designed by Take, who worked on the Katanagatari light novel series. Qada and the Salve Maker job were designed by Midori Foo, an artist who had worked on multiple light novels and online games.
## Release
Bravely Default was first announced in September 2011 under its original Japanese title as part of Nintendo's 2012 lineup for the 3DS, alongside titles such as Monster Hunter 4 and Fire Emblem Awakening. Between February and September 2012, five different demos were released through Nintendo eShop. The first demo featured Agnès and demonstrated character control. The second, released in March, featured the character Tiz and town exploration. The third demo, released in June, showcased the battle system and introduced Edea. The fourth demo, released in August, featured the character Ringabel and demonstrated the job and character customization systems. The fifth and final demo, released in September, included features from all the previous demos and included elements such as Friend Summons, and the Abilink and Norende reconstruction social elements. With the release of the fifth demo, the sale of the other demos was discontinued. The demos were developed alongside the main game as stand-alone experiences taken from several points within the game. They also ended up providing the team with feedback for gameplay adjustments. Each demo included an AR movie featuring one of the main cast.
Bravely Default released on October 11, 2012. It was published by Square Enix. Along with the standard edition, Square Enix created a collector's edition for exclusive sale through their online store. The collector's edition featured an AR poster, a first print copy of the game's soundtrack, an artbook, and a themed 3DS protective case. Downloadable content in the form of additional character costumes were made available both through promotional codes and post-release content. An updated edition of the game, titled Bravely Default: For the Sequel, was announced in August 2013 in Weekly Shōnen Jump for a release on December 5 that year. For the Sequel was stated to have over a hundred different improvements and adjustments: these included additional save slots, additional difficulty levels, auto saving options, the addition of new subevent scenes, new gameplay elements such as the "Bravely Second" ability, and subtitles in multiple languages. Many of these alterations were based on questionnaires sent out by the company after the original version's release. According to staff, For the Sequel was intended as a "trial version" for its sequel, already in development after the success of Bravely Default.
### Localization
Prior to any official announcement of its Western release, Bravely Default was cited by multiple journalists as a game that should be localized for Western markets. In October 2012, Asano stated that there were no plans to localize the game, but that fans should continue inquiring so that their wishes were made clear. A localization was officially announced in April 2013. Nintendo took charge of publishing duties overseas. The Western version was based on the For the Sequel expanded version. It released in Europe on December 6, 2013. An earlier false report in Nintendo's financial report indicated that its European release would be in 2014, but this was later corrected by Nintendo of Europe. In Australia, it released on December 7. In North America, it released on February 7, 2014. Both in North America and the UK, a collector's edition was created including the soundtrack, an artbook, and over thirty AR cards. The UK edition also included a figurine of Agnès. It was also released in South Korea on April 16, although it was not localized into Korean, placing it in contrast with other Nintendo releases such as Shin Megami Tensei IV.
The localization itself was handled by Bill Black and his company Binari Sonori, whose previous work included Demons' Score for Square Enix and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade for Blizzard Entertainment. Another key staff member was Timothy Law, a localization editor from Square Enix who supervised the translation and voice recording for the title. An element of the localization that provided a challenge was creating a sense of wordplay equivalent with that used in the original Japanese. An example of this was the Performer job and its owner, the latter of which needed to have her first name adjusted while taking into consideration European gender perceptions. Another example from the dialogue was the need to create jokes that would not work in Japanese, such as Agnès commenting on finding a "lucky charm". The subtitle "Flying Fairy" was removed for the Western release as it might have given a false impression of family-friendly content due to different cultural perceptions to Japan. The English voice actors were chosen to sound as similar as possible to their Japanese counterparts, and adjustments were made to characters through the actors' performances: these included making Ringabel more flirtatious, and adjusting Edea's growl of rage between language versions. The game uses both the English and Japanese dubs, along with subtitles in multiple languages. The Western localization of the game contains censorship related to some sexually suggestive material in the original game: the ages of the main characters were increased to no longer be underage by Western standards, with 15-year-olds being changed to be 18-year-olds, and two of the female playable characters' costumes were altered to make them less revealing.
## Reception
The story was met with positive reviews. Famitsu was highly positive about the story, although the reviewers did not go into specifics. Edge Magazine called the narrative "rich and detailed", enjoying the twists put on the present genre tropes and the darker narrative elements despite the experience being undermined by the writing quality. Andrew Fitch of Electronic Gaming Monthly found the story and characters enjoyable, and in some cases "stellar", while Ben Moore of GameTrailers noted the story's aversion to take risks despite interesting twists, and found that it was bogged down by advanced foreshadowing of major plot twists. Game Informer's Jeff Marchiafava found the game's story and characters to be "rife with clichés", and called the dialogue "excessively wordy" despite the late-game developments improving on both aspects. Simon Parkin, writing for Eurogamer, found the story less "unusual" than other aspects, but praised its willingness to send itself up and enjoyed Hayashi's subtle subversion of genre tropes. GameSpot's John Robertson was fairly negative, saying that it started out poorly and never managed to throw off that initial impression. David Evans of IGN praised the characters for their strength, but found that the story's pacing struggled at times. Danielle Riendeau of Polygon, despite finding many characters appealing, called the story "more like a pastiche of tropes than its own unique take [on the genre]". Chandra Nair of Official Nintendo Magazine called story and character development "extremely impressive", while Bradly Halestorm of Hardcore Gamer found the story to be solid and the main cast enjoyable. Alex Fuller of RPGamer found the main cast quite enjoyable, praising their Party Chat interactions, and enjoyed the story despite its initial overly straightforward premise.
The gameplay was praised overall. The Edge reviewer greatly enjoyed the deceptively simple Brave and Default mechanics despite a run time they described as "bloated". Fitch likewise enjoyed the gameplay mechanics, but found the social elements to be less successful despite not actively irritating him. Moore praised the battle system and implementation of the Job system, although the latter necessitated grinding to unlock its full value. He also praised the ability to adjust encounter rates and battle speed, and positively noted the social features as engaging secondary activities. Marchiafava found that the battle and Job systems held up throughout the entire game, and like Moore found the social systems enjoyable. Nair was positive about the depth and strategy the gameplay opened up, despite criticizing the number of options increasing the amount of time spent in battle. Both Evans and Robertson praised the battle system and general gameplay, with Robertson calling the former innovative within the genre. Riendeau found that the battle system's depth and quality gave her feelings of elation when she successfully killed opponents, but also saw the need to grind for experience emerging during the later stages of the game negatively impacted the experience. Parkin referred to the Brave and Default mechanics as the game's "central - and brilliant - conceit". Fuller, while finding the microtransactions a "waste of money", he greatly enjoyed the battle mechanics and multiple user-friendly features. Halestorm shared the positive opinions of other reviewers on the battle system, alongside praising the game's amount and quality of content. Many reviewers positively compared the gameplay and style to earlier Final Fantasy games. Multiple Western reviewers commented negatively on the repetitive late-game section.
The graphics and presentation garnered mixed opinions. Famitsu praised the game's graphics, while Edge admired the art style and monster design, and was glad that the hardware limitations faced by The 4 Heroes of Light were not present in Bravely Default. Marchiafava called the graphics "beautiful" and praised the soundtrack, though called the English voice acting "hit or miss". Fuller was less impressed by the visuals, but found the music to be excellent . Halestorm, while he did not think the graphics were the best to be found on the 3DS, praised their stylized appearance and the well-executed 3D effect, and called the soundtrack "downright hypnotizing". Nair praised the game's audio despite little variety in the musical score, and called its visuals "gorgeous". Evens praised the character art for its "simple and striking" appearance, and its stylized background artwork. Riendeau commented that the game's aesthetic kept her invested when the story failed to do so. Parkin referred to the background artwork as "like nothing else". Robertson referred to the game's art style as "striking and engaging".
### Sales
In its debut week, Bravely Default topped gaming charts with sales of 141,529 units, noted as being an impressive debut for a new game. It had a sell-through rate of over 85%. Its sales and sell-through rate were notably higher than those of its predecessor The 4 Heroes of Light. By late January 2013, shipments and eventually sales of the game reached 300,000 copies in Japan. For the Sequel debuted at \#8 in gaming charts, selling 35,617 units. By 2014, For the Sequel had sold 59,300 units, making it the 160th best-selling game of that year. In North America, Bravely Default met with strong debut sales, reaching \#10 in NPD Group's sales charts and selling 200,000 copies. In July 2014, it was reported that Bravely Default had sold one million copies worldwide: 400,000 units were sold in Japan, while 600,000 were sold overseas.
### Accolades
Famitsu awarded the game its "Rookie Award" at its 2012 Awards event, while it received the 2012 Dengeki Online Consumer Award, the latter award being given while beating Persona 4 Golden (2nd) and Rune Factory 4 (3rd). At the Japan Game Awards, it received the Future Game Award in 2012 and the Excellence Award in 2013. It later won GameSpot's 3DS Game of the Year 2014 award. At the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards, Bravely Default was nominated for the Game, Original Role Playing category. It was ranked by both IGN and GameSpot as one of the best games on the system in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
## Sequels
The game's success, which went against Square Enix's presumptions due to the title's identity as a traditional role-playing game, prompted them to reconsider their game making strategy, which up to that point had been geared towards developing titles tailored for Western markets rather than focusing on the Japanese market. According to the developers, none of them believed that the game would be released overseas, and were overwhelmed by the positive fan feedback they had received. A manga titled Bravely Default: Flying Fairy began serialization online through Famitsu. Two compilation volumes were released in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Two supplementary books, released under the title Bravely Default: The Pocketbook of R, were released in December 2013. In addition to this, two drama CDs containing supplementary stories were released through 2013 and 2014. Music from the game was featured Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as DLC.
A browser game spin-off titled Bravely Default: Praying Brage, began an open beta on November 11, 2012. Developed by NHN Hangame, Praying Brage takes place 200 years after the original game, and includes a new cast of characters aligned to four forces themed after Luxendarc's elemental crystals. Another spin-off, Bravely Archive: D's Report, was released for mobile devices on January 22, 2015. Like Praying Brage, it was set far in the future, followed an alternate scenario stemming from the events of Bravely Default, and featured characters from Praying Brage. By August of that year, D's Report had reached over four million downloads. A sequel was confirmed as being in development as early as 2013. The new game, Bravely Second: End Layer, was officially announced in December 2013. It released in Japan in 2015 and overseas in 2016. In an interview with Japanese magazine Dengeki, Asano said that he would ideally like to release a new Bravely game every year. Following the second game's release, Asano would partner with Square Enix producer Masashi Takahashi and the studio Acquire to develop a new traditional role-playing game that reconsidered their expectations after witnessing the reception to the Bravely series. This game, which would become Octopath Traveler, was announced in January 2017 and initially released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch in July 2018.
A third entry in the Bravely series, Bravely Default II, was announced at The Game Awards 2019 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. Two years prior to the game's announcement on Christmas Day 2017, character designer Akihiko Yoshida posted an image on Twitter of Edea holding a pair of Joy-Con controllers. Additionally after Octopath Traveler sold over 1 million copies, the occasion was celebrated with another illustration on Twitter, with the pose assumed by the eight party members strongly resembling Airy from the first game. Asano stated that the reason for the game's title, Bravely Default II, was due to his belief that Bravely Second did not live up to fans' expectations, and its critical and commercial under-performance made it difficult for the team to continue on the series. Similar to how numbered sequels function in the Final Fantasy franchise, this new installment takes place in a new world separate from the previous games with a brand new cast of characters. The game was released worldwide on February 26, 2021.
## See also
- List of Square Enix video game franchises |
31,083,036 | Love for Sale (Bilal album) | 1,173,687,714 | null | [
"2006 albums",
"Albums produced by Dr. Dre",
"Albums produced by J Dilla",
"Albums produced by Nottz",
"Albums produced by Sa-Ra",
"Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios",
"Bilal (American singer) albums",
"Interscope Records albums",
"Music controversies",
"Progressive soul albums",
"Unreleased albums"
]
| Love for Sale is the unreleased second album by the American singer-songwriter Bilal. It was recorded from 2001 to 2003 at Electric Lady Studios in New York during the height of the Soulquarians era, a period in the studio's history marked by the frequent and innovative recording activity of that musical collective, in which Bilal was a member. Written and produced mainly by Bilal, the album was a departure from the producer-driven, hip hop-influenced neo-soul music of 1st Born Second (2001), his moderately successful debut album for Interscope Records.
Bilal pursued a more raw and independent direction with Love for Sale, which he mostly composed on piano. At Electric Lady, he held improvisatory jam sessions with a live band featuring the trumpeter Leron Thomas, the drummer Steve McKie, and the pianist Robert Glasper, one of several former classmates the singer enlisted from New York's New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. With the assistance of a few select producers, such as Dr. Dre and Soulquarians member J Dilla, Bilal experimented with different recording techniques, longer free-form compositions, and arrangements drawn from jazz and the blues. The resulting music features a densely layered fusion of genres, including soul, funk, and rock, with unconventional song structures and rhythms. Bilal's varied falsetto vocal performances throughout the album include sensual and ecstatic expressions of romantic devotion and lovesickness, with lyrics reflecting a distaste for writing what he called "contrived love songs".
The album's dark and experimental nature was met with resistance from Interscope, who demanded Bilal record new music and delayed the release. The singer refused and continued to lobby Love for Sale while mixing the recordings in the studio. As he neared its completion and a prospective release date, an unfinished mix of the album leaked and circulated widely on the Internet in 2006, becoming one of the most notorious such cases during the rise of digital piracy. Interscope responded by shelving Love for Sale's commercial release indefinitely, which aroused suspicion and controversy among Internet communities and furthered the label's conflict with Bilal, ending in his dismissal.
The leaked album quickly enjoyed an underground popularity and online acclaim, inspiring the distressed singer to tour performing its songs and continue his career in more artistically daring directions. Its growing mystique as an innovative but neglected musical work helped enhance Bilal's profile, as he was sought after for recordings by other artists, while several of the album's contributors went on to work on his future projects. A cult classic among black music fans, Love for Sale has since been considered by some critics to be Bilal's masterpiece and a forerunner of similarly progressive R&B music that developed by the end of the 2000s decade. Interscope retained control of its master recordings, and another company has held the publishing rights, although the songs remain available online.
## Background
Bilal started his music career in 1999 while attending the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, where he studied jazz singing and practiced writing original songs. With his classmate and friend Robert Glasper, he frequented local music clubs such as the Wetlands Preserve, where he met members of the Soulquarians, a rotating collective of experimental black music artists who often collaborated on each other's recordings. A demo recorded with the musician Aaron Comess, who Bilal met at a jam session set up by New School professors, earned the singer a recording contract from Interscope Records and encouraged his exit from the school to concentrate on music professionally, including the projects of the Soulquarians.
Bilal's tenure at Interscope was marked by conflict, beginning when the record label disapproved of the alternative rock-style demos he recorded for his prospective debut album and pressured him into working with more high-profile producers. Featuring contributions from the Soulquarians, the resulting album 1st Born Second was released in 2001 to modest sales but critical acclaim as a pivotal release in neo soul, earning Bilal comparisons to the genre's contemporary D'Angelo. However, Bilal felt uncomfortable with the media's neo-soul categorizations, finding the term restrictive of black musicians. He did not want to be labeled as "the soul guy", according to Glasper, who went on to play piano in his band. As the singer explains, "I was trying to come from a jazz perspective. I was trying to write open-ended kind of tunes that could go in a lot of different directions live." Bilal's concerts featured a backing band and dynamic that departed from contemporary R&B conventions and helped expand his fanbase, although Interscope wanted higher album sales from the singer.
## Writing and recording
While performing on tour in support of 1st Born Second, Bilal and his band developed his music further in the directions of funk, rock, and jazz fusion. This experimentation informed his songwriting for Love for Sale. Mainly a keyboard-oriented composer, Bilal composed most of the songs himself on piano, a process he cites as the beginning of his singer-songwriter experience. He experimented with writing music to different cadences and forms beyond the traditional verse-chorus structure of popular music, in an attempt to deconstruct his composing methods and sensibilities, which he felt were becoming contrived. He tells Vibe magazine that he was feeling "rebellious" and eager at the time to write, produce, and play music on his own.
Bilal's desire for a more independent project was met with some resistance by Interscope. The label allowed him recording time at Electric Lady Studios, where he had previously recorded 1st Born Second. Built in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1970 under the commission of the rock musician Jimi Hendrix, the studio had at this point become a home base for the Soulquarians and their innovative recording sessions, which often drew on the creative freedom of Hendrix's music. According to the music journalist Michael Gonzales, this was at "the height of the Soulquarians' heydey", as members such as D'Angelo, the singer-songwriter Erykah Badu, and the rapper Common were all working on music there when Bilal started his sessions.
Bilal pursued what he described as "a raw, bluesy feeling" for Love for Sale, inspired by the blues singer Howlin' Wolf's recordings, and used more live instrumentation than on 1st Born Second. He worked with several musicians for the first time, such as the hip hop producers Nottz and Denaun Porter, and enlisted former classmates from the New School, including Glasper and the trumpeter Leron Thomas, who had performed in Bilal's touring ensemble. The Philadelphia-based drummer Steve McKie was also recruited for the recording. An unadventurous musician up to that point, McKie felt encouraged to leave his comfort zone and experiment more while working with Bilal, who gave the band freedom to improvise in jam sessions. In his account of the sessions in 2001 and 2002, McKie recalls walking into Electric Lady and seeing only a Rhodes piano and a bass amp in the room with "really great acoustics" intended for drumming: "I felt like I was in [high school] tapping on tables and we just made kick from candle and notepad, put a drum mic on the floor and made a wild acoustic kick."
The majority of the production was done by Bilal. He experimented with recording techniques in the studio, as well as arrangements from jazz and the blues, influenced by Wolf and the bassist-composer Charles Mingus in particular. According to Rachel Swan of the East Bay Express, "he took a very considered approach in making the beats, creating layered melodies and chord voicings that sound as though he had a full band in the studio with him." Bilal also experimented with different methods to manipulating the sound of the recordings, including tape reel distortion and processing them through the Akai MPC 2000 (a music workstation). In another attempt to challenge his songmaking habits, he tried using different carrier signals in the process of modulating the recordings.
Some songs were composed and recorded with a few producers Bilal chose personally, deviating from Interscope's preference for an entirely high-profile production. Nottz and fellow producers J Dilla and Dr. Dre, who had both worked on 1st Born Second, were among those who assisted Love for Sale's production in limited roles. Dilla, a multi-instrumentalist member of the Soulquarians, showed Bilal an approach to arranging songs by way of drum programming. "He had this thing where no matter what he picked up he could bend his will into it ... throw the funk in it", the singer explained. The song "Sweet, Sour U" was produced by Sa-Ra Creative Partners, a trio of producer-musicians working with electro, hip hop, and soul sounds. Common and the vocal group Zap Mama performed with Bilal on "Sorrow, Tears & Blood".
Bilal worked on "Gotsta Be Cool" and "Lord Don't Let It" with McKie, who had begun exploring production at the time. McKie recorded the musicians using a Roland VS-880 digital audio workstation, making adjustments to the drum sounds, and sampled the recordings through the Akai MPC. "My screen went out on me a few times", McKie recalls of the sampler. "It was pretty amazing how we did the stuff ... That was the most bizarre way to do it but when you only have two pieces to work with you figure out how to make things work." Bilal recounts that using such computerized equipment in the studio made him feel "like a wizard". Speaking on the entire process of making Love for Sale, the singer says he "grew a lot" and "felt the most comfortable as an artist there".
## Music
Stylistically rooted in soul, Love for Sale nonetheless features a densely layered fusion of genres, identified by SoulTracks writer L. Michael Gipson as "innovative, sometimes deconstructed soul", funk, and electric rock. Andres Reyes of Shook explains that "this wasn't your typical neo-soul or R&B album", finding Bilal and his band's performance emulative of Howlin' Wolf, the jazz fusion group Return to Forever, and the experimental rock musician Frank Zappa. Gipson adds that it departs from the contemporary hip hop sounds of 1st Born Second in favor of strong experimentation with "progressive jazz", and Smash Gordon, of the Fabric club's blog, recognizes jazz inflections in Bilal's wide-ranging and "colorful" productions. Consequence of Sound writer Chris Coplan also describes the sound as undergoing a "transformation" but closer to blues rock, while A.D. Amorosi of The Philadelphia Inquirer considers it "weirdly rock- and folk-tinged", and Meanwhile, Time Out magazine's Brad Farberman interprets the end result as "haunting, otherworldly funk junkets" alongside "spare, earthy R&B rituals". These include "Something to Hold on To" and what Amorosi describes as its album-opening "tinkling pianos" and "breezy" R&B in the vein of blaxploitation film soundtracks.
The songs feature free-form composition and unorthodox rhythms, deviating from the conventional three-minute song structures of popular music, with Sarah Godfrey of The Washington Post saying that the "genre-bending" and "trippy" tracks are generally lengthier than the average radio single. According to Tom Hull, the "slack and disjointed rhythm" prevalent in contemporary neo-soul is exemplified on Love for Sale in radical form and without the genre's typically glossy production, particularly on songs like "Hollywood". "Something to Hold on To" and "Hollywood" are both "boogied-out anthems", in the words of Indy Week journalist Eric Tullis. In Nottz's production for the former track, DJ Rahdu also detects a sample of the gospel singer Myrna Summers' 1979 recording "Give Me Something to Hold on To (Pt. II)", noting the sample source's opening piano chords, alto vocal, and choir elements. "Sorrow, Tears & Blood", a remake of the Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti's 1977 song of the same name, also samples a portion of Kuti's vocals from the 1981 song "Coffin for Head of State".
### Vocals
Most of Love for Sale's compositions are developed around Bilal's classically trained jazz singing. While he sings in a falsetto register throughout the album, Daniel Cunningham of the Detroit Metro Times notes that he "can often suddenly change the timbre and pitch of his voice", in the manner of a woodwind instrument, and also take on "upbeat hip-hop undertones". In Swan's opinion, his vocals demonstrate a "musical depth" uncommon in modern pop music, while Tullis suggests he performs in a combustible manner comparable to a diesel engine or fireworks.
On "Something to Hold on To", Bilal's singing voice "[ranges] from throatier sensuality to his signature ecstatic falsetto", as LA Weekly's Rebecca Haithcoat writes. For "Make Me Over", he uses various vocal influences in the manner of other "chameleonic" musicians such as Sarah Vaughan, George Clinton, David Bowie, and Prince, according to Emily J. Lordi, a writer and academic of black music: "Bilal makes himself over in the sonic image of about five different singers (to my ear), from John Legend to Sly Stone". Craig D. Lindsey from The Village Voice describes the track as "perhaps the best Prince song Prince never recorded". Bilal sings in a more wail-like manner on ballads such as the sweepingly arranged "All for Love", on which he is accompanied by punchy horn sounds.
### Lyrics
Lyrically, the album's opening track "Something to Hold on To" reflects Bilal's growing dissatisfaction with writing "contrived love songs" at the time, as he tells the lyrics website Genius. According to Haithcoat, the song serves as "the equivalent of foreplay" as the singer declares his devotion to a lover in lyrics resembling "a letter (or text) dashed off after waking at 4:00 a.m. in a lovesick sweat". The line, "And I know that shit sounds corny, but it's the way that I feel", also reflects his self-commentary as he was writing the song. While Godfrey finds that song's lyrics "grounded", more brazen sentiments feature in the sexual slow jam "White Turns to Grey" ("Did I hear you say, 'come harder, baby'") and "Make Me Over", "a manic funk love song" in which Bilal sings of submitting himself wholly for love's sake.
Less successful romances are detailed in "Get Out of My Hair", which addresses an unsuitable partner, and "Lord Don't Let It", in which a "playa" is heartbroken over having found and then lost the woman he feels destined to love. "All for Love" describes the risks of dwelling on past love. One of its lyrics ("No time for regrets, who lives to rehearse?") was inspired by advice Bilal received from Erykah Badu who told him, as he recounts, "never to apologize for any thought you have" as an artist.
## Delays
After the recording's completion in 2003, Bilal presented the album to Interscope executives, who responded negatively to its avant-garde direction. "They really felt the record was kind of dark and not really sexy", he tells The Root. The production company contracting him at the time offered similar doubts. "They kept saying 'It's so fucked up and weird' ... 'This shit is so dark'", the singer explains, noting that only his band had approved of the music at this point. According to the radio journalist Jesse Thorn, Bilal's change of direction from his popular R&B single "Soul Sista" (2000) toward a progressive soul variant frustrated Interscope, who still wanted to market him strictly as a soul singer.
Interscope wanted Bilal to record new songs, particularly a suitable single. Unwilling to start anew, he continued to lobby Love for Sale, leading to several delays and disputes with the record label. Bilal also worked on new parts to some of the recordings, including "Gotsta Be Cool". He composed a string section with Leron Thomas in the style of jazz and opera, while having a friend from the New School's classical department record operatic vocals for the song, the result of which Bilal compared to the singer Jean Carn's collaborations with her pianist husband Doug. "But the label was just like, 'what the hell are you doing?'", he recalls. "I went to battle on that album on a daily basis, which I felt was kind of stupid because I felt the music was really dope, and most people I was playing it for were feeling it and loving it."
Russell Elevado, the audio engineer who mixed a few of the album's songs around 2004, recalls Interscope insisting Bilal return to the studio and record more material. According to Status magazine, a cover of the 1995 Radiohead song "High and Dry" was recorded for the album. Bilal calls this compounding conflict with the label his "lowest point" as an artist.
### Previews
In mid-2005, Bilal premiered a few of the album's songs at an event in Philadelphia hosted by the Beat Society producers showcase. Demonstrating a stylistic departure from 1st Born Second, the premiere started a growing buzz about Love for Sale. In Cunningham's recollection, "the urban music community was ready to embrace it". Around this time, Bilal played the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival's summer concert series, performing "All for Love" from the album. According to Dana Bingham, a music blogger who attended the show and later interviewed Bilal, Love for Sale was expected in September 2005, but the release did not materialize.
In January 2006, Bilal performed "All for Love" again, this time as a guest vocalist for Glasper's Jabane Ensemble at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. According to Elevado, the Blue Note was a five-night series featuring Common, Erykah Badu, and Musiq Soulchild among its nightly guests, with Bilal utilizing a jazz improvisation concept and processing his singing voice through different effects pedals. By this time, the singer was still mixing the album in the studio, nearing its completion. A promotional copy had also been manufactured on vinyl.
## Leak and shelving
> Title was Love for Sale and the shit never went on sale [Laughs]. Love for Free [Laughs]
In early 2006, a preliminary mix of Love for Sale inexplicably appeared on the Internet, originally on a torrent site. According to Swan, the leak occurred "a couple months before the projected release date", and Reyes notes that the album was "only 80% complete" at this point. Copies of the mix were shared on blogs and peer-to-peer networks, with Gipson reporting that there was also a "vinyl leak". Shortly after, Bilal posted a statement on his MySpace profile, expressing concern that the leak could lead to Love for Sale being shelved by his record label. Interscope wanted to abandon the project altogether and have Bilal start from scratch, to which he refused and stopped attending scheduled studio sessions. "I was really happy with the work that I had done, and we just started to go back and forth", he explains.
In September 2006, Adrian Covert reported for Prefixmag that neither Bilal nor Universal Records (Interscope's parent company) had made a statement about Love for Sale in the seven months since its leak while noting the singer's absence from the artist roster at Universal's website. This led Covert to deduce that Love for Sale had been shelved.
Interscope's decision to shelve the album became the subject of much controversy among online communities, with many debating the label's reasons. Rumors circulated that Interscope used the leak as an excuse to abandon a project they deemed too experimental to market, or that it was leaked by the label for this very reason. According to WBUR journalist Arielle Gray, Love for Sale was "shrouded in controversy and eschewed by his label because it deviated from the sound of his previous project". Some said Interscope was "discouraged by the tepid audience reception", writes Swan. Although Gordon regards it as "one of the biggest mysteries in neo-soul history", Bilal believes the rumors to all be "the truth to a certain extent" and adds that he also considered people in his inner circle when initially assessing the leak. Ron Hart of Blurt attributes the leak to "an industry insider" and calls it a "career near-death experience" for the singer, while Bonafide Magazine's Alex Naghshineh says it rendered the album's title "tragically ironic".
Love for Sale's shelving distressed Bilal for some time and made him consider retiring from music. As he explains, "I was really into that music that I was doing, and not being able to release it properly took a lot out of me." According to The Shadow League's music contributor Travis Larrier, it appeared for a moment that he would become another artist from "the soul music vanguard" of the late 1990s and early 2000s to succumb to professional setbacks and fade from the public view, as was the case with D'Angelo and the singer-rapper Lauryn Hill. Interscope released Bilal from his contract soon after, while retaining the masters for all his music.
## Popularity and touring
Widely bootlegged, Love for Sale was eventually downloaded more than 500,000 times as "fans ate it up and passed the album around like [a] viral Internet meme", recounts Larrier. The album received acclaim online and developed a cult following, becoming more popular with Bilal's fans than 1st Born Second while expanding his audience. In Gordon's words, the "hugely-anticipated-and-highly-pirated Love for Sale lit up the internet to [an] unparalleled degree" with a "hype machine righteously making immense waves around it". Mathan Erhardt, a comics journalist for Inside Pulse at the time, reviewed the album in the webzine's music column and confirmed its praises. While prefacing that he is a "fickle" listener who dislikes R&B, Erhardt found it to be far superior to contemporaneous music releases and a "genuine masterpiece" that inspires optimism for both the genre and Bilal. Speaking on its immediate appeal, the music journalist Aliya Ewing explains that it "seemed to be a more authentic and unbridled reflection of who he was as an artist at that point in time", while Gipson says it revealed "Bilal's freaky side and phenomenal range in a way that 1st Born Second only hinted at". According to Tullis, "he had become an unclassifiable soul hero".
With Love for Sale's growing following, Bilal became increasingly in demand for concert performances. He began touring and performing the album's songs, introducing them as "MySpace hits" and "bootleg specials". His live band during this period included Glasper, Conley "Tone" Whitfield on bass, and Chris "Daddy" Dave on drums; this line-up would accompany Bilal for his tenure on the singer Jill Scott's The Real Thing Tour (2008). The concerts were lucrative for Bilal, who witnessed the album's popularity among live audiences singing along verbatim to the songs. "People would have it on their iPods and knew the songs", he says recalling its impact. "It was kind of a blessing in disguise. We were able to tour off of that album which is crazy." In the opinion of AllMusic biographer Andy Kellman, Bilal must have felt conflicted when performing the songs to "appreciative crowds who knew the material – off a technically unreleased album – inside out".
While taking a break from writing music, Bilal focused his artistic ambitions on live performance and quickly developed a reputation for erraticism on stage. As Portland Mercury journalist Jalylah Burrell chronicles, he performed in a "hyper-expressive" manner similarly to Prince and the Rolling Stones, creating a "delirium" in concert that was undercut by "his ostensible unhappiness and occasional erratic behavior"; in her opinion, "he didn't look like a man who enjoyed being on stage despite his deftness at it." "People might've thought I was on drugs or intoxicated, but that wasn't it", Bilal explains to Philadelphia Weekly. "I just didn't give a fuck because I was looking for the art. I wanted to be out, like when John Coltrane started playing with his wife, Alice. I just wanted to rip open music with my voice."
According to Spectrum Culture journalist Chaz Kangas, while Love for Sale became one of the music industry's "worst-kept secrets", Bilal's "unrelenting and awe-inspiring" concerts during this period attracted even those listeners who generally disliked contemporary soul music. Tamara P. Carter, a writer living in London at the time, had felt disillusioned with mainstream music from the U.S. and reluctantly attended Bilal's performance at the Jazz Café in July 2006 with her friends. In her observations, the singer opened the show with a crooning wail resembling "a weeping willow in a summer's breeze", eventually morphing into "electric drum-cracking thunder" that channeled "the cries of his ancestors" or Hendrix's guitar (the Fender Stratocaster). The opening provoked screams and obscenities from some in the audience, as it gravitated toward the stage, and an overflow of emotion in Carter:
> I'm thrashed into the crowd – waves of vengeance unleashing from his microphone. Vengeance on love. On pain. On an industry who may recognize his genius as remotely as 17th-century literature did Nietzsche's. A girl throws her hands into the air and screams. A Rasta yells obscenities. Bilal kicks the mic stand, overwhelmed by his own power. No longer reluctant, I'm pushed with the sea of bodies towards the stage.
The show left Carter "drenched in sweat" and convinced that Bilal is a "sorcerer of modern soul" who can "transform the dead into a living, soulful exuberance", she later wrote in Wax Poetics. Attending his January 2007 show at the Black Cat nightclub in Washington, D.C., Godfrey also observed the ardent fan support for his new songs and was especially impressed by the rendition of "Make Me Over", featuring a break in the bridge section that evoked the music of James Brown. "Bilal's incredible range has never sounded better, and he's never seemed more euphoric", Godfrey concluded in her review for the Post.
## Aftermath and legacy
Love for Sale's widely positive reception among critics and audiences eventually inspired Bilal to begin writing new songs as he was starting a family. "Because the music was so good, it kind of created a life of its own", he tells Gray. "It broke away into a space where I was able to be free to do what I wanted to do." Having matured as an artist from the album's saga, he composed music purely for his own artistic fulfillment. He compares the development to how the rapper 50 Cent had his vocal delivery changed by a shooting to the face: "So in life, I guess, a certain pain, a certain fermentation, the same thing that happens to some good wine, set in." He also changed his business associations and became more prudent about in-studio use and safeguarding of computerized equipment, which had still been relatively new during Love for Sale's recording.
Meanwhile, "the album's mystique and legacy grew as one of the most notable casualties of the digital piracy era" as well as "one of the most stunning and progressive musical statements of its generation", according to Larrier. While remaining obscure in the mainstream, Bilal developed a respected reputation among other artists and was pursued as a featured hook singer for their recordings in the years after the leak, when Love for Sale became what Lindsey describes as "a much-bootlegged favorite amongst R&B enthusiasts" and "the black-music equivalent of Fiona Apple's once-shelved (and also notoriously bootlegged) album Extraordinary Machine". Larrier explains that its genre-defying direction distinguished Bilal artistically from his peers in soul during a creatively stagnant period for the genre, while in Gipson's estimation, it showcased an experimentation outside of soul that would culminate in the singer's next album.
Love for Sale's repute helped create buzz for Bilal's third album, Airtight's Revenge, released in 2010 by Plug Research, an independent record label that the singer was connected to through Sa-Ra's Shafiq Husayn. Bilal titled the album as a reference to him avenging the circumstances of Love for Sale's leak. Experimenting further with rock and electronic sounds as well as darker storytelling, Airtight's Revenge widely impressed fans and critics but failed to eclipse its predecessor's renown. Bilal believes "the real revenge" was how Love for Sale had become such an "underground" triumph in spite of "the whole long, drawn-out standstill" with Interscope, comparing it to the myth of the phoenix rising. Its following continued to be evident through the Little One Tour, his 2011 concert tour supporting Airtight's Revenge. In attendance for one of the concerts in St. Louis, Jerome A. Redding of The St. Louis American observed the venue "filled with cult followers as the audience sang along line for line" to Bilal's opening performances of Love for Sale songs.
Fans of Bilal regard Love for Sale as his masterpiece. Both Cunningham and Kevin C. Johnson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch call it his best album, while Erin E. Evans of The Root describes it as "a near cult classic" and Gipson deems it a "tour de force cult classic". From Gordon's perspective, the album remains "a veritable classic", highly valued by "any self-respecting music collector". Donald "Donwill" Freeman, from the rap group Tanya Morgan, has named it one of his five favorite albums at one point, and the singer-rapper DRAM, who discovered the leak as a teenager, calls it "phenomenal", highlighting the low-tempo "tribal jungle love" song "White Turns to Grey" as his favorite "hidden gem" in music. Hart considers Love for Sale the "great 'lost' [soul] album" of its generation with a continued presence in "online purgatory", while in Kellman's opinion, had it received a commercial release, the album would have been representative of the alternative R&B that developed later in the 2000s.
After the alt-R&B singers Frank Ocean and the Weeknd freely released their own albums online in 2011, The Music magazine's Cyclone Wehner credited Bilal with having "pioneered [this] very promotional strategy" through Love for Sale, "ironically". Reflecting on its impact, Bilal says it was "a bad thing that turned into a – I wouldn't say a good thing because it would've been good if it came out. But it kind of turned into this little, ironic twist to my life". Larrier believes the "tour de force" album's story is crucial to honestly appraising the singer's career.
### Bilal's collaborators
McKie, Glasper, and Husayn all went on to work further with Bilal after Love for Sale, contributing to Airtight's Revenge and 2013's A Love Surreal. McKie considers his production and drumming on Love for Sale among the best of his career and says the album was "wild" and "innovative", as it "crossed a lot of boundaries". Glasper, a frequent collaborator of Bilal's, also believes the singer was innovative in recording the album, predating similar music that André 3000 would record for his hip hop duo OutKast's split double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003).
Common also continued collaborating with Bilal in the years following Love for Sale, beginning with the rapper's 2002 album Electric Circus. In 2011, they reunited for an outdoor concert performance in Los Angeles and were filmed by the multimedia artist Michael Sterling Eaton, who used the footage to create a music video for their original "Sorrow, Tears & Blood" recording.
### Availability
Love for Sale's recording sessions had produced several discarded tracks, including a cover of the soul musician Stevie Wonder's "Rocket Love" (1980). According to McKie, he and Bilal tried to include them on Airtight's Revenge, but "the label erased the file for whatever reason". A live version of "Rocket Love" appeared in 2012 on The Retrospection, a career-spanning mixtape of Bilal's music curated by the DJ Vikter Duplaix. The mixtape also featured the Love for Sale tracks "You're All I Need (Feels Like Heaven)", "Gotsta Be Cool", and "Hollywood", as well as the rapper Jay Electronica's remix of "Something to Hold on To". Bilal says there are nine unheard songs he recorded for Love for Sale that he "loved" and different versions of the original 12 he prefers to the leaked mix, which "maybe one day" Interscope will let go.
Bilal had planned for some time to release Love for Sale through E1 Music, the label that would release A Love Surreal, but the idea fell through for reasons he did not define. Along with Interscope's involvement, he suggests that his previous contract with a music publishing company, from the Love for Sale period, remains an impediment to its release. According to Covert's 2006 report, another label could have acquired publishing rights to the album beginning in 2021. As of 2020, its songs remain available on YouTube.
## Track listing
Information is taken from a promotional pressing of the album.
## See also
- List of alumni of The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music
- Jeanius – an album by Jean Grae, also leaked and controversially shelved
- Kamaal the Abstract – an album by Q-Tip, also originally shelved over commercial concerns and leaked
- Music piracy |
1,683,476 | Laws of Nature (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) | 1,173,261,717 | null | [
"2015 American television episodes",
"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 3) episodes",
"Television episodes directed by Vincent Misiano",
"Television episodes written by Jed Whedon",
"Television episodes written by Maurissa Tancharoen"
]
| "Laws of Nature" is the first episode of the third season of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D., it follows Phil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they hunt for Inhumans, who are also being hunted by the new Advanced Threat Containment Unit (ACTU) and the monstrous Lash. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledges the franchise's films. The episode was written by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, and directed by Vincent Misiano.
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by series regulars Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, and Luke Mitchell. A third season was ordered in May 2015, with new recurring characters portrayed by Constance Zimmer, Matthew Willig, Andrew Howard, and Juan Pablo Raba introduced, the last of these as the first openly gay character in the MCU. William Sadler also guest stars, reprising his role of President Matthew Ellis from Iron Man 3, as the episode references previous MCU films, and provides set-up for future MCU films.
"Laws of Nature" originally aired on ABC on September 29, 2015, and according to Nielsen Media Research, was watched by 7.86 million viewers within a week of its release. The episode received a positive critical response, with praise going to the newly established status quo, including the elevated role of the Inhumans, and the introduction of new characters. The timeliness of the revelation of Simmons' (Henstridge) whereabouts following the second season finale was also praised.
## Plot
Six months after the alien substance Terrigen was released into the ecosystem, Joey Gutierrez developed metal-melting abilities. Unable to control this power, Gutierrez is confronted in the streets by soldiers who are willing to use lethal force to detain him. Gutierrez is saved by S.H.I.E.L.D., and Inhuman agent Daisy Johnson attempts to explain to him that he is also an Inhuman, with a dormant gene within him that was activated by the Terrigen. Struggling to help Gutierrez accept what has happened to him, Johnson seeks the help of Lincoln Campbell, the Inhuman who helped her transition but has now renounced the ways of the Inhumans, wishing to live a normal life.
Agent Leo Fitz, searching for answers concerning a mysterious Kree monolith that has apparently consumed his partner Jemma Simmons, acquires an ancient Hebrew scroll describing it as "Death" (Hebrew: מוות). S.H.I.E.L.D. director Phil Coulson searches for the leader of the soldiers who have been taking new Inhumans, and discovers a woman who has worked for multiple government agencies around the world under different names. He and Agent Lance Hunter are able to confront her in what seems to be a weak point in her security, but is actually a trap. Giving her name as Rosalind Price, she confronts Coulson about his organization's killing of new Inhumans before her group can get to them, which he denies, and the two realize that there is a third party involved.
At the hospital where Campbell works, he, Johnson, and her partner Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie are attacked by the monstrous Inhuman Lash, and Johnson and Campbell barely manage to hold him off. The subsequent arrival of Price's forces causes both Lash and Campbell to flee. Afterwards, President Matthew Ellis officially announces Price's organisation—the Advanced Threat Containment Unit (ATCU)—as a replacement for the now underground S.H.I.E.L.D., and they begin hunting their next target after Gutierrez: Campbell. A computer simulation informs Coulson that the Terrigen may cover the entire world within the next 18 months.
Fitz is unable to accept the fact that Simmons may be dead, despite Coulson urging him to move on, and an end tag reveals that Simmons is alive and on the run on a desolate planet.
## Production
### Development
The series was renewed for a third season on May 7, 2015, and in September 2015, Marvel announced that the premiere episode of the season would be titled "Laws of Nature". The episode is written by executive producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, with Vincent Misiano directing, and introduces a new title graphic for the series, replacing the one that appeared for the first two seasons.
### Casting
In May 2015, all principal cast members from the first and second seasons Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson (no longer going by her previous name of "Skye"), Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons, Nick Blood as Lance Hunter, and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse were confirmed to return for the third. They are joined by Luke Mitchell and Henry Simmons, who recurred as Lincoln Campbell and Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, respectively, throughout the second season, before being promoted to the principal cast for the third. In July 2015, Andrew Howard and Constance Zimmer were cast as Luther Banks and Rosalind Price, and in August 2015, Matt Willig and Juan Pablo Raba were announced as new Inhumans Lash and Joey Gutierrez.
In September 2015, Marvel revealed that Zimmer, Willig, Raba, and Howard would all guest star in "Laws of Nature", along with Ido Mor as Yusef Hadad, Jude B. Lanston as soldier \#1, Daniel Messier as heavy and Kate Hilliard as Tina. Mor, Lanston, Messier, and Hilliard did not receive guest star credit in the episode, while Wen and Dalton, though credited, do not ultimately appear. Additionally, William Sadler reprises his Iron Man 3 role of President Matthew Ellis in the episode.
### Filming
Production on the season began in late July 2015. Filming for the alien planet occurred in a work quarry in Simi Valley and in Northridge, Los Angeles near the Mojave Desert.
### Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins
The episode makes mention of several MCU films, including Marvel's The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, while the appearance of Sadler as President Ellis and his announcement of an anti-superhuman task force are the beginning of the series tying in with Captain America: Civil War. As Whedon says, "When we came into the Marvel [Cinematic] Universe in the first films, there were very, very few people with powers. Now they are in a new world and the rules are going to have to change....a lot of those same themes [from the film] will be addressed on our show. How they tie in is a question mark for all involved, but we would definitely be dealing with some of those same themes." The presidential address was broadcast by the fictional news station WHiH, which has been seen throughout the universe. The reveal in "Laws of Nature" that the Terrigen has spread into the Earth's ecosystem was further set-up for the Inhumans film that Marvel Studios had plans for.
## Release
"Laws of Nature" was first shown at a premiere held for the season on September 23, 2015, at Pacific Theatres at The Grove in Los Angeles. The episode then aired in the United States on ABC on September 29, 2015. On June 16, 2016, the episode began streaming with the rest of the third season on Netflix.
## Reception
### Ratings
In the United States the episode received a 1.7/5 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.7 percent of all households, and 5 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 4.90 million viewers. Within a week of its release the episode had been watched by 7.86 million U.S. viewers, above the season average of 5.52 million.
### Critical response
Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode an 8.5 out of 10, praising the Lincoln and Daisy team up, Zimmer's portrayal of Rosalind and her dynamic with Coulson, Fitz's search for Simmons, and a quick resolution to where Simmons ended up. He also applauded the writing staff for not feeling the need to highlight all members of the team in the episode, noted by the absence of May and Ward. Brian Lowry of Variety was generally positive about the episode, stating, "Television obviously can't compete with the budgets and action found in summer blockbusters... but it has an advantage in being able to explore characters. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. obviously possesses a core audience drawn to those attributes, and showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen have admirably kept the plot moving ahead — engaging in larger serialized narratives — while grappling with the logistics of those ancillary considerations, which include plans for an Inhumans movie," though concluded with "there's still not a whole lot that feels particularly super about it." Kevin Fitzpatrick of ScreenCrush said, ""Laws of Nature" feels at once the show's most confident, ambitious swing yet, its action-packed opening minutes a clear mission statement with an even more specific focus than Season 2."
Writing for Vulture, Scott Meslow gave "Laws of Nature" 4 out of 5 stars, saying "as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten bigger and weirder, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gotten bigger and better, and "Laws of Nature" is a strong premiere that shows off just how much this TV series has evolved." Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B−, with his highlights the reveal that Simmons is on another planet, which would allow the series interesting story opportunities. Conversely, Sava felt elements of the episode were too procedural and "a surplus of infodumps that drag the pacing," and, unlike Goldman, felt leaving out May and Ward was "a big reason why this premiere is an underwhelming reintroduction to this world." He concluded, "There's lots of potential for this season to address the moral complications of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mission, and hopefully the writers will use the themes of Civil War to explore the murky ethics of capturing and holding superpowered people against their will ... the transition into the age of Inhumanity may be a little rocky, but there's enough substance in this premiere to suggest a promising season ahead." Meslow and Sava both indicated their pleasure in the introduction of Joey Gutierrez, who Meslow noted appeared to be the first openly gay character in the MCU.
### Accolades
De Caestecker was named TVLine's "Performer of the Week" for the week of September 27, 2015, for his performance in this episode, particularly the scene at the end of the episode where Fitz yells at the Monolith. |
30,923,907 | Black Thunder (chocolate bar) | 1,171,804,015 | Japanese chocolate bar | [
"Asian chocolate bars",
"Chocolate bars",
"Japanese confectionery",
"Japanese desserts and sweets"
]
| is a chocolate bar made and sold in Japan by the . It contains a cocoa-flavored cookie bar mixed with Japanese-style rice puffs, coated with chocolate. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is 30, before tax. The main advertising slogan translates to "Delicious taste in a flash of lightning!" The story of the Yuraku Confectionery Company and its Black Thunder bar has been treated in the Japanese business press as something of a modern-day rags to riches story.
The Black Thunder bar was conceived as an easily marketable candy bar with three popular components and a reasonable price. The name was partially inspired by the Japanese god of thunder. Black Thunder bars were first made in a factory in the city of Toyohashi in 1994. The target demographic was university students in the Kantō region and sales growth depended mostly on word-of-mouth recommendations. Through a series of marketing deals starting in 2004, sales of Black Thunder gradually climbed. In 2008, the Yuraku Confectionery company sponsored the Men's Gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and brand recognition correspondingly increased.
Starting in 2008, Yuraku Confectionery company began developing and marketing variations on the Black Thunder bar. Similar products in the same line include the Big Thunder, Black Thunder Minibar, "White Black Thunder", and the Morning Thunder breakfast bar. In 2009, Yuraku began collaborative efforts with other agencies to develop related products inspired by the Black Thunder candy bar.
## Product
The original concept was a candy bar that would have three main components, a heavy texture, rich flavor, and a reasonable price; the combination of these qualities would ensure that it would be an easily marketable product. It was later decided it should be appealing to as many demographic groups as possible, including children. A candy bar was developed with a dark cocoa-flavored cookie pieces mixed with Japanese-style crisped rice, and finally coated with dark milk chocolate. The cookie bar is pressed relatively flat on five sides; however, the top of the bar presents an uneven surface, even with the chocolate coating. When it came to a name for the product, it was decided that the keyword should be the color "black", which would allude to the dark chocolate flavor. This is in keeping with other marketing trends in Japan, where the color "black" is associated with dark or bittersweet chocolate, such as the popular Meiji Black chocolate bar. To give the product some "impact" with consumers, it was decided to name it after the Japanese god of thunder, Raijin. Although the name of the product uses the English words "Black Thunder" (pronounced or transliterated as Burakku Sandah), the outer package also carries the Japanese kanji term for the product in a smaller font (黒い雷神kuroi raijin), so that the meaning would not be lost on consumers. An advertising slogan recorded from the development period translates to, "Delicious taste like a flash of lightning!" (おいしさイナズマ級! Oishisa Inazuma-kyū!), but was initially rejected in favor of the basic one-line descriptive "Black cocoa crunch".
## History
During initial development, a chocolate bar with three kinds of nuts was developed, called "ChocoNuts 3". However, it was terminated within a short time, as it was thought it would not appeal to children. The Black Thunder bar was then developed based on the original concept specifications but also with the idea that it would appeal to multiple demographic segments, including children.
In 1994, a small factory with only 20 employees in the city of Toyohashi in Aichi Prefecture began making the Black Thunder chocolate bars. The packaging at that time used alphabetic script that read "Black Thunder", and the suggested retail price was set at 30 yen. By the year 2000, sales were not impressive, but it was decided to keep the product. At the same time, the package design was altered, and the concept slogan was added: "Delicious taste in a flash of lightning!" In August 2003, the package was changed again to its current design, in which alphabetic font for the brand name was replaced with Japanese lettering in katakana. Finally, a new advertising slogan aimed at a specific demographic was added to the front of the package: "A big hit among young women!" Throughout this early period, sales growth was largely dependent on word-of-mouth recommendations.
Though initially distributed only to 7-Eleven stores in the Kantō region, a potential for expanded marketing was realized, and Black Thunder was released for sale through a cooperative business association into more areas. During the 2004 to 2005 sales year, Black Thunder bars saw a sudden surge in popularity in the Kyushu region. During the summer of 2005, Black Thunder bars were distributed in more regions across the country. By the end of the year, over 900,000 units had been sold and Black Thunder bars were the best-selling product of the Yuraku Confectionery Company. In 2006, it was picked up by the Shiraishi-san Co-op and sold over the internet, and product sales received a boost as it gained in popularity among university students. In the first three years after sales commenced over the internet, about ten times the number of Black Thunder bars were sold since its inception eleven years earlier. In 2008, the Yuraku Confectionery company sponsored the Men's Gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team earned the Silver Medal, as did individual gymnast Kōhei Uchimura. After the 19-year-old gymnast actively endorsed the product in news media, brand recognition jumped considerably and from 2008 to 2009, total sales jumped from just under 50 million units to the landmark number of 100 million. By 2010, sales had reached 130 million units.
For the company's 25th anniversary in 2019, Yuraku introduced a mascot named , portrayed by model Matt Kuwata (son of former baseball player Masumi Kuwata). Black Thunder Matt is a 25-year-old android superhero with Black Thunder bars for eyebrows and shoots Black Thunder bars at hungry citizens.
At present, Black Thunder bars are made in four factories located in Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka, and the original factory in Toyohashi. From any of these, Black Thunder bars can be shipped to various convenience stores and discount stores across the country, and they are still distributed to all university student co-operatives in the Kanto area.
## Nutritional information
The following tables presents the nutritional information of a standard Black Thunder chocolate bar.
## Variations
Yuraku has produced a number of variations on the original Black Thunder bar, with different target demographics, or in collaboration with other commercial ventures. This section includes some of the more notable products by Yuraku. Other Black Thunder products may be available to a restricted market or for a limited time period.
### Big Thunder
In 2008, Yuraku branched out with the product in an effort to appeal to a broader demographic. The candy bar was developed, which is about twice the length and width of the original bar, but about half the thickness. The main slogan can be translated to , though the package also bears the slogans and .
### Black Thunder Mini-bar
Black Thunder has also been sold in the form of a "Mini-bar" since 2008. The mini-bars are about half the size and width of the regular size, and sold in packages. It was thought that the greater volume would appeal to cost-conscious families. While the regular Big Thunder bar is sold mainly in convenience stores, the target venue for the Mini-bars has been grocery stores.
### Dear Girl Thunder
In March 2009, in collaboration with the radio show Dear Girl Stories with Hiroshi Kamiya and Daisuke Ono and Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, the "Dear Girl Thunder" candy bar was developed. The flavor of the Dear Girl Thunder bar was advertised as "The Taste of First Love: Salt and Chocolate" (初恋の味・塩チョコ Hatsukoi no aji: Shio-choco). In Japan, chocolate is associated with Valentine's Day and is considered an appropriate gift between sweethearts; salty foods are considered "adult" and are thus associated with maturity. A person's "first love" is, like in other cultures, something of a rite of passage; an episode in life sweet in sentiment, but with maturing results. In July 2009, a limited edition of 480 units of the Dear Girl Thunder bar went on sale and quickly sold out. In October 2010, the Dear Girl Thunder bar went on sale in FamilyMart convenience stores (with the exception of the stores in one region). During 2010, consumers questioned why Black Thunder bars were not distributed to areas of Hokkaido, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa, and the company responded with research into the feasibility of nationwide distribution. In January 2011, it was decided that a second edition of the Dear Girl Thunder bar would be distributed to Animate stores, a retailer that specializes in anime, manga, and video games. It would also be marketed on the mail order website of Cho!A&G+, a branch of Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, Inc., that focuses on digital radio broadcasting. Both deals ensure that consumers across the country can purchase the Dear Girl Thunder bars.
### White Black Thunder
In December 2010, Yuraku Confectionery Company introduced "White Black Thunder" bars, called Shiroi Black Thunder (白いブラックサンダー Shiroi Burakku Sandā), for a limited run of six months. The cookie and rice puff core are the same as Black Thunder, but the outer chocolate coating is white. The package mentions "From Hokkaido", an area which has been associated with white chocolate since its introduction by the Rokkatei Confectionery, based in Obihiro, Hokkaido, in the 1970s. The advertising slogan can be translated as: "Straight descent into deliciousness!" (おいしさ直滑降 Oishisa Chokkakkō), and uses a term distinctly related to the steep slopes of Alpine skiing. Within a short time, the White Thunder bar has proven to be quite popular, as demonstrated by the rapid depletion of stocks.
### Black Black Thunder
`is a variant of Black Thunder with dark chocolate and chocolate chips mixed with three types of cacao mass.`
### Morning Thunder
In January 2011, the Morning Thunder bar was introduced (モーニングサンダー Mōningu Sandā). Intended as a breakfast bar, the Morning Thunder contains a cinnamon-flavored cookie mixed with peanuts and soy bean puffs, fortified with extra protein, and coated in milk chocolate. The slogan on the front of the package states: "Protein and peanuts in a filling chocolate bar" (ブチプロテイン&ピーナッツin満足系チョコバー Buchi Purotein ando Pīnattsu in Manzoku-kei Choko Bā). A limited run of twelve months was planned for the Morning Thunder bar.
### Morning Only Black Thunder
In 2019, a new variant of Morning Thunder called was released. This breakfast bar contains coffee powder, dark chocolate chips, and coconut bits.
### Black Thunder Next Gear
`is a long-form chocolate bar with almonds.`
### Other products
Various other products related to Black Thunder are or have been marketed by Yuraku for limited periods. The list below contains some of the variations on the Black Thunder candy bar, or special editions of the outer package.
Black Thunder variations
- \- Valentine's Day limited edition giant Black Thunder bar with gold sprinkles, rated at 3917 kcal.
- Black Thunder Gold - made with chocolate chips and coconut
- Black Thunder Manjū
- Black Thunder Monaka
- \- mixed with a blend of double fermented French and Hokkaido butter.
- \- Namco Amusement Japan exclusive variant with cola flavor.
- \- a Black Thunder bar with almonds.
- \- strawberry flavored Black Thunder.
- \- a mix of Black Thunder and Calbee Frugra fruit granola cereal.
- \- A mix of Black Thunder with corn potage flavor.
- \- Valentine's Day limited edition variant with French blonde chocolate and golden caramel.
- \- Kyoto exclusive variant with uji matcha and sencha powders. Manufactured in cooperation with Miju Co., Ltd.
- \- Black Thunder with strawberry coating.
- \- Valentine's Day limited edition box of three Black Thunder bars sprinkled with gold powder.
- \- Yuraku Confectionery Tokyo exclusive variant with brown sugar.
Black Thunder Pretty Style Variations
- \- Bite-sized version of Black Thunder.
- \- white chocolate with freeze-dried strawberry flakes.
Big Thunder variations
- Big Thunder Coconut
- Dark Big Thunder – made with dark chocolate
Black Thunder Mini-bar variations
- \- Toyohashi exclusive train packaging.
Mochi-mochi Black Thunder with flavors:
- Azuki flavor
- Kinako flavor
- Matcha flavor
Black Thunder ice cream variations
- \- ice cream bar version produced by Seria Roile.
- \- peppermint ice cream variant.
Others
- Chibi Thunder ("Tiny Thunder") – bite-sized pieces featuring tokusatsu characters
- Granola Thunder
- Ikeman Thunder - a Black Thunder bar with dried ramen
- Kinako Thunder
- Yaki-Tōmorokoshi Thunder ("Roasted Corn" Thunder), released in 2019.
## Related products
In 2009, Yuraku collaborated with Royal Foods Company, which began making Black Thunder ice cream bars and Black Thunder Monaka (similar to an ice cream sandwich). Distribution is restricted to 7-Eleven stores.
In April 2010, it was announced that there would be a collaboration with Guacamole brand clothing designers. The result was a line of swimwear for men and women, and a selection of men's underwear. Most items sport black or gold lightning designs.
In 2011, a hardcover book was published about the history and various trivia related to Black Thunder bars. Released on February 9, 2011, to book stores and convenience stores, the title translates to The Mystery of Black Thunder (謎のブラックサンダー Nazo no Burakku Sandā).
In August 2017, Yuraku announced a collaboration with McDonald's Corporation of Japan. The McFlurry Black Thunder would be added to the McDonald's menu in Japan, and would be available for a limited time, starting 16 August 2017. |
58,850,847 | A Different Pond | 1,173,629,312 | 2017 picture book by Bao Phi and illustrated by Thi Bui | [
"2017 children's books",
"American picture books",
"Caldecott Honor-winning works",
"Children's books set in the United States",
"Fictional Vietnamese-American people",
"Works about fishing"
]
| A Different Pond is a 2017 children's picture book by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui. The book tells the story of a boy and his father going fishing. Phi created the book because of his desire to have books about people like himself to read to his daughter. Bui's detailed illustrations allowed Phi to remove elements of the prose. Bui, who had never illustrated a traditional picture book before, won praise for her use of colors and was recognized with a 2018 Caldecott Honor. The book received positive reviews and appeared on best of 2017 book lists.
## Plot
A boy goes fishing early one Saturday morning with his father, who immigrated to the United States after the Vietnam War. The family depends on catching food to have enough to eat. After they catch a fish, the two return home so that the boy's father can go to work. The boy knows that that night for dinner they will eat the fish they've caught.
## Background
Author Bao Phi had wanted more diverse books to read to his daughter. He decided to adapt an unpublished poem of his into a children's picture book because he thought that there was few picture books that deal directly with the struggles of Southeast Asian refugees in America. Following a blog post he wrote about another one its titles, Capstone Publishers reached out to Phi to ask him to submit a children's book; he then shared with them the "script" to A Different Pond.
After seeing Thi Bui's illustrations, Phi was struck by their beauty and power and decided to remove some of the writing, thinking that the pictures served to describe what he was feeling. Bui was excited to illustrate the book because the similarity between Bui and Phi allowed her to tap into her own immigrant experience.
She also asked Phi for details of his childhood so she could capture them in her illustrations. She was inspired by Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen. Bui had never drawn for a picture book before, nor had she drawn in full color before, and was struck by having to draw at a level of detail unlike her graphic novels, though she was relieved by its length as compared to her 300-page memoir. To overcome this she digitally experimented with colors and textures.
The book was published on August 1, 2017 by Capstone.
## Writing and illustrations
While the story is about a specific Southeast Asian family it also contains more universal elements. The background of the family being refugees due to the Vietnam War, which the father is unable to speak about, is a powerful force in the story, although refugee status is not explicitly stated. The family's poverty is also a major feature. These are referenced through things such as a bologna sandwich the father and son eat while fishing, and the boy's wondering why they need to catch fish to eat when his father works two jobs. The father acts as an excellent parent, working to make life better for his son while also mentoring, guiding, and providing a loving home for him, which helps him mature and grow.
The book could seem, in the words of the Kirkus review, "melancholy", but the way the words and pictures work together instead creates a "gentle[r]" feel. Bui's background in cartoons and elements of graphic novels, helps to capture the mood and feel of the text. For instance, the use of frames helps to keep the story focused on the present even as it flashes back to the past. In the words of Anna Haase Krueger writing for School Library Journal, "The text placement and composition of the illustrations allow each occurrence or observation to be its own distinct event, stringing together the small, discrete moments that make up a life, a memory, and a history into a cohesive whole." Bui's use of blues and the way she contrasts them with other colors such as reds and oranges, drew particular praise. Also drawing praise was the cover illustration which served to both draw readers in and encapsulate the story.
## Reception
The book was well received. It earned starred reviews from Booklist, where reviewer Sarah Hunter described the book as a "wistful, beautifully illustrated story" and recognised the applicability of its central theme to immigrant families, and to struggling families generally; author Minh Lê, writing for The Horn Book Magazine, praised the "powerfully understated picture book" and recognized its ability to shift the focus of the refugee narrative from the painful journey to the reality awaiting the family members once they reach their destination. Kirkus Reviews; Publishers Weekly; and School Library Journal. The book was also named in many end of year best children's books lists including by The Washington Post, the HuffPost, The Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, the New York Public Library, the Chicago Public Library and as an ALA Notable book which summarized, "In this gentle, honest tale of immigrant survival, a young Vietnamese American boy and his father go on an early morning fishing trip."
The book was awarded a Caldecott Honor with the committee praising the book for the way it uses a, "cinematic experience, powerfully capturing facial expressions, mood, and quiet moments" to portray the book's themes. The book was also awarded a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor. In her acceptance speech Bui praised Phi saying he had "one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever met and bravely wearing it openly for everyone to see and learn from. I’m so glad we got to make this book together". |
65,369,561 | Mount Berlin | 1,154,317,737 | Volcano in West Antarctica | [
"Calderas of Antarctica",
"Flood Range",
"Holocene shield volcanoes",
"Pleistocene shield volcanoes",
"Pliocene shield volcanoes",
"Polygenetic shield volcanoes",
"Shield volcanoes of Antarctica",
"Volcanoes of Marie Byrd Land"
]
| Mount Berlin is a 3,478 metres (11,411 ft) high glacier-covered volcano in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, 210 kilometres (130 mi) from the Amundsen Sea. It is a c. 20-kilometre-wide (12 mi) mountain with parasitic vents that consists of two coalesced volcanoes; Berlin proper with the 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide Berlin Crater and Merrem Peak with a 2.5 by 1 kilometre (1.55 mi × 0.62 mi) wide crater, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) away from Berlin. Trachyte is the dominant volcanic rock and occurs in the form of lava flows and pyroclastic rocks. It has a volume of 2,000 km<sup>3</sup> (500 cu mi) and rises from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It is part of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province.
The volcano began erupting during the Pliocene and was active into the late Pleistocene-Holocene. Several tephra layers encountered in ice cores all over Antarctica - but in particular at Mount Moulton - have been linked to Mount Berlin, which is the most important source of such tephras in the region. The tephra layers were formed by explosive eruptions/Plinian eruptions that generated high eruption columns. Presently, fumarolic activity occurs at Mount Berlin and forms ice towers from freezing steam.
## Geography and geomorphology
Mount Berlin lies in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, 100 kilometres (62 mi) inland from the Hobbs Coast of the Amundsen Sea. The volcano was studied during field trips in December 1940, November 1967, November-December 1977 and 1994–1995. The volcano is named after Leonard M. Berlin, who led the 1940 research visit to the mountain.
Mount Berlin emerges 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and rises to 3,478 metres (11,411 ft) above sea level, making it the highest volcano in the Flood Range with slopes of about 12-13°. Berlin Crater, a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide summit crater with an ice-crowned sharply defined margin, lies at the top of Mount Berlin; the highest point of the volcano lies by its southeastern rim. Mount Berlin consists of two overlapping edifices; the other part of the volcano is Merrem Peak, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) west-northwest. Merrem Peak is c. 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) high and has a 2.5 by 1 kilometre (1.55 mi × 0.62 mi) wide crater at its summit. These craters are aligned in east-west direction like other Flood Range calderas. Mount Berlin has variously been described as a composite volcano, shield volcano or stratovolcano with a volume of about 200 cubic kilometres (48 cu mi). The entire edifice has a length of about 20 kilometres (12 mi). The volcano is the western end of the Flood Range; Wells Saddle separates it from Mount Moulton volcano farther east.
The volcano is covered by glaciers, and thus only a few rocky outcrops occur on the mountain although the volcano is considered to be well-exposed compared to other volcanoes in the region. Monogenetic volcanoes on the northern flank of Mount Berlin have generated two outcrops of mafic lava and scoria, one of which is found at Mefford Knoll on a linear vent. On the southeastern flank, a fiamme-rich ignimbrite crops out and is correlated to a flank vent on the northeastern flank. A ridge emanates northwestward from Merrem Peak, with Brandenberger Bluff at its foot. Brandenberger Bluff is a 300 metres (980 ft) high outcrop of lava and tuff that formed phreatomagmatically; it was formerly interpreted as a subglacial hyaloclastite. Other topographical locations on Mount Berlin are Fields Peak on the northern flank, Kraut Rocks at the west-southwestern foot, Walts Cliff on the northeastern flank and Wedemeyer Rocks at the southern foot. The existence of tuyas has been reported from Mount Berlin. According to a 1972 report, tephra overlies ice at some sites. Nonvolcanic features include incipient cirques on the northern and western side.
## Geology
The Marie Byrd Land volcanic province features 18 central volcanoes and accompanying parasitic vents, which form islands off the coast or nunataks in the ice. Many of these volcanoes form distinct volcanic chains, such as the Executive Committee Range where volcanic activity has shifted at a rate of about 1 centimetre per year (0.39 in/year). Such a movement is also apparent in the Flood Range, where activity migrated from Mount Moulton to Mount Berlin. This movement appears to reflect the propagation of crustal fractures, as plate motion is extremely slow in the region. Volcanic activity appears to take place in three phases, an early mafic phase, often followed by a second felsic phase. End-stage volcanism occurs in the form of small cone-forming eruptions. Ignimbrites are rare in Marie Byrd Land; the outcrop on the southeastern flank of Mount Berlin is a rare exception.
Activity began during the middle Miocene and continued into the later Quaternary, with argon-argon dating yielding ages as young as 8,200 years. Four volcanoes in the Marie Byrd Land volcanic province - Mount Berlin, Mount Siple, Mount Takahe and Mount Waesche - were classified as "possibly or potentially active" by LeMasurier 1990, and active subglacial volcanoes have been identified on the basis of aerophysical surveys.
The volcanic province is related to the West Antarctic Rift which is variously interpreted as a rift or as a plate boundary. The rift has been volcanically and tectonically active over the past 30-25 million years. The basement crops out near the coast and consists of Paleozoic rocks with intruded Cretaceous and Devonian granites which were flattened by erosion, leaving a Cretaceous erosion surface on which volcanoes rest. The volcanic activity at Mount Berlin may ultimately relate to the presence of a mantle plume that is impinging onto the crust in Marie Byrd Land.
### Local deposits
Two pyroclastic fallout deposits crop out in the crater rim, reaching thicknesses of 150 metres (490 ft). Merrem Peak crater also has outcrops of fallout deposits. The Mount Berlin deposits reach thicknesses of over 70 metres (230 ft) close to the crater, diminishing to 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) at Merrem Peak. They were formed by pyroclastic fallout during eruptions, which mantled the topography and generated diverse fallout deposits when eruption characteristics changed. Tuff deposits containing lapilli and volcanic ash-rich pyroclastic deposits in the crater rim were erupted during hydromagmatic events.
Some lava flows feature levees. Some fall deposits in the crater rim were confused with lava flows in the past. Hyalotuff, obsidian and pumice have been recovered from Mount Berlin. Both welded and unwelded, pyroclastic and tuffaceous breccias are present. They consist of lava bombs, lithic rocks, obsidian fragments and pumice. Hyaloclastite occurs around the base of Mount Berlin.
### Composition
Most volcanic rocks of Mount Berlin define a trachyte suite, which features both comendite and pantellerite. Phonolite is less common. Mafic rocks have been reported from flank vents, basanite and hawaiite from Mefford Knoll, benmoreite from the southeastern flank at Wedemeyer Rocks, phonotephrite from Brandenberger Bluff and mugearite without any particular locality.
Phenocrysts make up only a small portion of the volume and consist mostly of alkali feldspar, with subordinate apatite, fayalite, hedenbergite and opaque minerals. Benmoreite has more phenocrysts, which include anorthoclase, magnetite, olivine, plagioclase, pyroxene and titanaugite. Groundmass include basanite, mafic rocks, trachyte and trachy-phonolite. Xenoliths are also recorded.
The magma erupted by Mount Berlin appears to originate in the form of discrete small batches rather than in one large magma chamber. The composition of volcanic rocks varied between eruptions and probably also during different phases of the same eruption. Phonolite was erupted early during volcanic evolution and followed by trachyte during the Quaternary. A long term trend in iron and sulfur of the tephras may indicate a long term trend towards more primitive magma compositions.
## Eruption history
Mount Berlin was active from the Pliocene into the Holocene. The oldest parts are found at Wedemeyer Rocks and Brandenberger Bluff and are 2.7 million years old. Activity then took place at Merrem Peak between 571,000 and 141,000 years ago; during this phase eruptions also occurred on the flanks of Mount Berlin. After 25,500 years ago it shifted to Mount Berlin proper and the volcano grew by more than 400 metres (1,300 ft). Over time, volcanic activity on Mount Berlin has moved in south-southeast direction.
Eruptions of Berlin include both effusive eruptions, that emplaced cinder cones and lava flows, and Plinian eruptions/ intense explosive eruptions, which generated eruption columns up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) high. Such intense eruptions would have injected tephra into the stratosphere and deposited it across the southern Pacific Ocean and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The patterns of tephra deposition indicate that westerly winds transported tephra from Mount Berlin over Antarctica. During the last 100,000 years Mount Berlin has been more active than Mount Takahe, the other major source of tephra in the West Antarctic, but activity at Berlin was episodic rather than steady. The volcano underwent a surge in activity between 35,000/40,000 - 18,000/20,000 years ago. Despite their size, the eruptions at Mount Berlin did not significantly impact climate.
The eruption history of Mount Berlin is recorded in outcrops on Mount Berlin, in a blue-ice area on Mount Moulton, 30 kilometres (19 mi) away, at Mount Waesche, in ice cores and in marine sediment cores from the Southern Ocean. A number of tephra layers found in ice cores all across Antarctica have been attributed to West Antarctic volcanoes and in particular to Mount Berlin. Tephras deposited by this volcano have been used to date ice cores, establishing that ice at Mount Moulton is at least 492,000 years old and thus the oldest ice of West Antarctica. So-called "megadust" layers in ice cores have also been linked to Mount Berlin and other volcanoes in Antarctica.
### Chronology
Among eruptions recorded at Mount Berlin are:
- Tephras in the Vostok ice cores deposited 406,000 years ago may come from Mount Berlin.
- 492,400±9,700 years ago, recorded at Mount Moulton. It may correspond to a 443,000±52,000 lava at Merrem Peak.
- Cinder cones at Mefford Knoll have been dated to be 211,000±18,000 years old. Potassium-argon dating there and at Kraut Rocks has produced ages of 630,000±30,000 and 620,000±50,000 years, respectively.
- 141,600±7,500 years ago, recorded at Mount Moulton. It may correspond to a 141,400±5,400 deposit at Merrem Peak. A 141,700 years old tephra layer at Vostok has been related to this Mount Moulton tephra.
- The Marine Tephra B, which has been identified in marine sediment cores and the Dome Fuji ice core, was erupted by Mount Berlin 130,700±1,800 years ago. It is used as a stratigraphic marker for the transition between marine isotope stage 6 and 5.
- 118,700±2,500 years ago, recorded at Mount Moulton and potentially also at Talos Dome. Correlated deposits at Siple Ice Dome indicate that this eruption was intense and deposited tephra over large areas.
- 106,300±2,400 years ago, recorded at Mount Moulton.
- 92,500±2,000 and 92,200±900 years ago, as dated by argon-argon dating of its deposits around Mount Berlin. A tephra layer in Dome C and Dome Fuji ice cores recovered during European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica and dated to be 89,000-87,000 years old has been attributed to this eruption on the basis of its composition. The nature of the trachytic tephra layer indicates that it was produced during an intense, multiphase eruption which may have led to compositional differences between deposits emplaced close and these emplaced far from the volcano. Deposits from this eruption have also been found in the Amundsen Sea, the Bellingshausen Sea, at a Vostok ice core and in marine sediments of the continental margin of West Antarctica ("tephra A").
- A 28,500 year old tephra layer at Mount Erebus and in two ice cores of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
- 27,300±2,300 years ago, recorded at Mount Moulton.
- Ages of 25,500±2,000 years ago have been obtained from two lower welded pyroclastic units that crop out within Mount Berlin crater.
- Unwelded obsidian fallout units that crop out in Mount Berlin crater have been dated to be 18,200±5,800 years old.
- 14,500±3,800 years ago, recorded at Mount Moulton.
- Tephra layers found both close to and away from Mount Berlin and a lava flow appear to have been produced during an extended eruption about 10,500±2,500 years ago.
- 7,768 BCE with an interval of 15 years, as dated in the Siple Dome A ice core. A lava flow on Mount Berlin and tephras at Mount Moulton have a similar composition even if no exact match is found.
A number of tephra layers between 18,100 and 55,400 years old, found in Siple Dome ice cores, resemble these of Mount Berlin, as do tephras emplaced 9,346 and 2,067 BCE (interval 3.0 years) in the Siple Dome A ice core. The marine "Tephra B" and "Tephra C" layers may also come from Mount Berlin but statistical methods have not supported such a relationship at least for "Tephra B". A 694±7 before present tephra layer found in the TALDICE ice core in East Antarctica may come from Mount Berlin or from Mount Melbourne and may have been erupted at the same time as an eruption of The Pleiades.
## Last eruption and present-day activity
The date of the last eruption of Mount Berlin is unclear but the Global Volcanism Program gives 8,350±5,300 years as the date of the last eruption. Because of its Holocene activity, the volcano is considered active and several volcano tectonic earthquakes have been recorded on Mount Berlin.
Mount Berlin is geothermally active, the only volcano in Marie Byrd Land with such activity. Steaming ice towers are found at Mount Berlin on the western and northern rim of Berlin Crater. Their existence was first reported in 1968; ice towers form when fumarole exhalations freeze in the cold Antarctic atmosphere and are a characteristic trait of Antarctic volcanoes. ASTER satellite imaging has not detected these fumaroles presumably because they are hidden within the ice towers. An over 70 metres (230 ft) long ice cave begins at one of these ice towers; temperatures of over 12 °C (54 °F) have been recorded on the cave floor. These geothermal environments may host geothermal habitats similar to these in Victoria Land and at Deception Island, but Mount Berlin is remote and has never been studied in this sense. It has been prospected for the potential to obtain geothermal power.
## See also
- Berlin Crevasse Field
- List of volcanoes in Antarctica |
52,976,682 | Ocean (Goldfrapp song) | 1,122,257,966 | 2018 song by Goldfrapp | [
"2017 songs",
"2018 singles",
"Goldfrapp songs",
"Songs written by Alison Goldfrapp",
"Songs written by Will Gregory"
]
| "Ocean" is a song by English group Goldfrapp from their seventh studio album Silver Eye (2017). It was released as the album's first promotional single on 10 March 2017 through Mute Records. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and William Owen Gregory, with additional production coming from The Haxan Cloak and John Congleton. An electronic and synth-rock song, "Ocean" marks the return of Goldfrapp's heavy use of synths in their music. Written in couplets, the lyrics were described as dark by several commentators. Critics also drew comparisons between "Ocean" and the works of other musicians and groups, such as Shirley Manson, Nine Inch Nails, and Depeche Mode.
The song generated positive feedback from music critics, with most of them acclaiming it for being emotional and dramatic. Others noted that "Ocean" served as a strong album closer to Silver Eye. A remix of "Ocean" was released on 21 May 2018 as the fourth single from Silver Eye and the first from the deluxe edition reissue of the album. It features guest vocals from Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan. A music video for this version of "Ocean" was also released and serves as a continuation to prior music videos created for Silver Eye.
## Background and release
"Ocean" was the first of two promotional singles to be released from Silver Eye, with the other being "Moon in Your Mouth" which was released two weeks later; the song was distributed to digital retailers on 10 March 2017 through Mute Records following its initial debut on Billboard's official website. It was written and produced by members Alison Goldfrapp and William Owen Gregory with The Haxan Cloak and John Congleton serving as additional producers. While creating material for Silver Eye, the duo had trouble writing songs that they actually enjoyed; Goldfrapp claimed that "it always takes about three months to write all the rubbish out of your system before you get something you like". Along with the announcement of "Ocean" as a promotional single, tickets for a promotional tour for Silver Eye were made available for purchase, with show legs in Europe and the United States.
## Composition and lyrics
Speaking on behalf of its sound, Gary Graff from Billboard compared the electronic sound in "Ocean" to Goldfrapp's previous albums Black Cherry (2003) and Supernature (2005). Additionally, he felt that the track is unlike their previous release, Tales of Us (2013), in that it does not contain a "pastoral" sound. Instead, the track contains "heavy electronic beats" and an emphasis on "pulse-pounding synths". Both Goldfrapp and Gregory acknowledged the return to using synths in their music, with the former claiming that it created a "tougher sound" to the track overall. Categorizing the genre of the song as synth-rock, Alexa Camp from Slant Magazine claimed that she could picture Shirley Manson singing the lyrics to "Ocean". Referring to its sound as "dark" and "churning", Spin's Anna Gaca noted the "pounding industrial core and [the] faintly sinister processing effect applied to [her] vocals". Labelling the track as a ballad, Sean T. Collins from Pitchfork declared it the cri de coeur on Silver Eye. He further explained that the lyrics contain imagery depicting nature and that the composition uses "big, echoey washes of sound" in order to produce an "enveloping, absorbing, and suffocating" sound.
In a series of couplets, Goldfrapp sings "I borrowed bones, I borrowed skin / To save me from the hell I'm in, your fantasy / And every time I think of you / I see the dark, I hear their hooves", which registers a theme of transformation, according to Chris White from musicOMH. Towards the song's end, she repeats "they're coming for you" in a "reedy and distorted" voice. The track's sound was compared to the works of Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails by David Chiu of Consequence of Sound. Furthermore, Chris Gerard, a writer for PopMatters, compared the production's sound to being intoxicated.
## Critical reception
"Ocean" generally received praise from contemporary music critics. Heather Phares from AllMusic applauded its role as the closing track on Silver Eye for containing "operatic drama" and an "industrial crunch". Similarly, Anna Gaca from Spin found it necessary for "Ocean" to be the album's final track; she wrote that it "is so heavy and foreboding that is practically has to end the album, for fear of sinking it if were it to appear any earlier in the sequence". Additionally, Gaca claimed that the listener could decipher the outside collaborators that contributed to both "Ocean" and album track "Zodiac Black". Calling it a "rather dramatic close" on the album, Chiu from Consequence of Sound speculated that it may be Goldfrapp's "heaviest and most emotional song" from their recently recorded material. Listing "Ocean" as an example, The Guardian's Alexis Petridis said that the Haxan Cloak's production on several tracks on Silver Eye seemed like a "conscious attempt to meld the two polarities of Goldfrapp's sound". Because of this, she thought that the song "prickle[d] with chilly malevolence". Olivia Riggio, a writer for The Ithacan, complimented Goldfrapp's vocals and the "ominous and powerful" lyrics; she stated that the song should in fact "be called 'Odyssey' because it is an epic". However, Sam Steiger of Hot Press was more negative to the song, stating that although it's interesting, "overall the sensation is of treading water".
## Single version
A remix of "Ocean" featuring guest vocals from English musician Dave Gahan was released as a digital download on 21 May 2018. It is included on the deluxe edition reissue of Silver Eye, which was released on 6 July 2018; the remix was released simultaneously with the pre-order for the album. Regarding the collaboration, the group issued a statement: "Working with Dave Gahan on the new version of 'Ocean' had been a real honor for us as a band." A promotional CD single of "Ocean" was also released in a limited distribution by Mute Records.
Kory Grow from Rolling Stone noted how Gahan's baritone vocals "add[ed] a little warmth to the choruses". Noting influence from synthpop, Stereogum's Tom Breihan compared the remix to the works of Gahan's band Depeche Mode, particularly songs from the group's seventh studio album, Violator (1990).
The remix received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Lauren O'Neill from Noisey wrote in her article that the remix was "the sort of collab that should have happened much sooner". She went on to say that the Goldfrapp and Depeche Mode seem to have chemistry, musically, which made the remix successful. One year later, Kaye wrote an extended review of the new version: "Unsurprisingly, Gahan slips in comfortably, sitting in between the pounding electronics and Alison Goldfrapp’s own vocals like he was always meant to be there."
### Music video
A music video for the remix of "Ocean" was also released on 21 May 2018. It was directed by Alison Goldfrapp and serves as an extension to the various music videos created for Silver Eye, including previous singles "Anymore" and "Everything Is Never Enough". Like the aforementioned videos, the shots of Goldfrapp singing were filmed in Fuerteventura. She appears in a dress and veil while "slow-motion scenes of horses appear" are shown as Gahan sings. He filmed his parts while touring with Depeche Mode in Madrid.
## Track listing and formats |
23,830,656 | Action of 30 May 1798 | 1,096,740,550 | Minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars | [
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"Naval battles involving France",
"Naval battles involving Great Britain",
"Naval battles of the French Revolutionary Wars"
]
| The action of 30 May 1798 was a minor naval engagement between a small British squadron and a small French squadron off the coast of Normandy, France during the French Revolutionary Wars. A British blockading force, which had been conducting patrols in the region in the aftermath of the battle of St Marcou earlier in the month, encountered two French vessels attempting to sail unnoticed between Le Havre and Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Closing with the French, the British commander Sir Francis Laforey sought to bring the French ships to battle as they attempted to turn back to Le Havre before the British squadron could attack. The French were unable to escape, and Laforey's ship, the fifth rate HMS Hydra, engaged the French corvette Confiante, while two smaller British ships chased the Vésuve.
After a brief exchange of fire, their crews ran both French ships onshore close to the mouth of the river Dives, where several of the landing barges that had survived the attack on the British-held Îles Saint-Marcouf were sheltering. Confiante was badly damaged and boarding parties from Hydra and the other ships were able to board and burn her the following morning. Vésuve had suffered less than the Confiante and troops onshore were able to protect her from further attack until her crew could bring her into the nearby harbour of Sallenelles. There she was repaired and eventually she returned to Le Havre.
## Background
By 1798 the British Royal Navy had successfully contained the French Navy within its own harbours, employing a strategy of close blockade to ensure dominance at sea during the French Revolutionary Wars. The strategy was particularly effective in the English Channel, where the proximity of British bases and the importance in limiting the movements of the French invasion forces stationed around Boulogne focused British attention on the Normandy coast. This was essential to prevent the concentration of a large force of invasion barges that had been constructed at various harbours under the guidance of a Captain Muskein. To improve the Royal Navy's ability to observe French movements on the Normandy coast, a force under the command of Captain Sir Sidney Smith seized, garrisoned, and fortified the uninhabited Îles Saint-Marcouf in 1795.
During the spring of 1798, Muskein concentrated over 50 of the landing barges in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and on 6 May launched an attack on the Îles Saint-Marcouf while a combination of wind and tide prevented the blockade squadron from intervening. The fortified islands were too well-defended however and over 900 French soldiers died in the ensuing battle before the French abandoned the attack. The French subsequently dispersed the remaining landing barges to various ports on the Normandy coast. In response the Royal Navy increased its patrols in the region with the intention of intercepting the convoys and destroying the barges. French movements along the coast were not solely confined to landing barges: on 29 May 1798 two warships, the 20 or 24-gun Confiante under captain de vaisseau Etienne Pévrieu, and the 20-gun Vésuve under lieutenant de vaisseau Jean-Baptiste-Louis Lecolier, sailed from Le Havre, travelling westwards across the Baie de la Seine to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, accompanied by a small, armed cutter.
## Battle of 30 May
### Engagement at sea
On the morning of 30 May, a British squadron sailing off La Havre spotted the French ships pulling to the west and gave chase, Captain Laforey leading in the 38-gun HMS Hydra, followed by the bomb vessel HMS Vesuvius, under Captain Robert Lewis Fitzgerald, and the 12-gun cutter HMS Trial, under Lieutenant Henry Garrett. Discovering the British in pursuit, Pevrieux ordered his squadron to retreat towards the shore, tacking in front of Hydra and opening an ineffective fire at long range. Laforey continued his approach, and a 06:00 successfully tacked Hydra into a position between Confiante and Vésuve, which had turned back towards the shore. Although the British frigate came under fire from both French ships, their attacks had little impact. Laforey was able to concentrate his broadside against Vésuve and rapidly forced the French corvette to turn inshore, pursued by Vesuvius and Trial. Laforey then set off in pursuit of Confiante, which was attempting to turn back towards Le Havre. The French cutter was unable to escape the British pursuit and its crew deliberately drove it ashore near the mouth of the river Dives.
At 06:30, Hydra caught up with Pevrieux on the Confiante and began a heavy fire, which the French warship returned when possible. The exchange continued for 45 minutes until 07:15, when Confiante, having suffered serious damage, drove aground on a sandbank near Beuzeval, a village a short distance to the west of the mouth of the Dives. As Confiante struck the sandbank, her mainmast collapsed, rending further manoeuvre under hostile fire impossible. Vésuve too drove ashore to avoid the British attack, Lieutenant Lecolier managing to beach his ship within the Dives estuary itself. As the rising tide brought the corvette off the beach, Lecolier made a brief attempt to escape westwards towards Caen, but Trial and Vesuvius were alert and drove Vésuve back to the shore. There the two small British vessels opened up a distant fire on the corvette, as did Hydra to the west against Confiante. At 09:30, the falling tide forced the British ships to retreat off-shore, Laforey gathering his vessels approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of the beached French convoy.
### Attack by boats
During the day, the French strengthened the positions of both battered ships, soldiers from the surrounding area gathering on the beaches to deter any boat attacks on the grounded vessels. Among the soldiers were men taken from several of Muskein's landing barges that were sheltering in the Dives River. These troops were identified by Trial, which briefly closed with Confiante to determine her condition and was fired on by the remaining guns in operation on the frigate. With their evacuation covered from the shore, most of the crew were removed from Confiante, including all the wounded. The French eventually abandoned the wrecked corvette in the evening. Vésuve was in better condition and remained well protected. Her crew shored up their vessel at low tide to prevent her falling over and prepared to heave the ship off as the tide rose. Due to the strong French military presence, Laforey decided to delay any operation against the beached vessels until circumstances were more favourable.
At 10:00 on the morning of 31 May, Laforey sent the boats from his squadron inshore to attack the grounded Confiante. Coming alongside the wreck at 12:45, the British boarding party, under Lieutenants George Acklom and William J. Simonds, found no one alive on the ship, but counted a large number of French dead still on board. Removing the French colours and paperwork, the boarding party started fires in the bow and stern of the corvette before withdrawing, despite a steady but ineffective musket fire from French troops overlooking the beach and a force of cavalry moving along the shore. The fire rapidly destroyed Confiante and the British boarding party retired without casualties.
As the British attack proceeded against Confiante, the crew of Vésuve succeeded in refloating her and soon had their ship anchored under the protection of gun batteries at Sallenelles. These defences were augmented by additional batteries set up by 200 soldiers under Captain Muskein, drawn from the barges that had been trapped in the town by the British blockade. By the time Confiante had been destroyed, the mouth of the Dives had been heavily fortified and even the arrival of the 38-gun frigate HMS Diamond under Captain Sir Richard Strachan on 1 June was insufficient to counterbalance French numerical superiority. Eventually Laforey was forced to retire from the blockade of Sallenelles, and while he was absent Vésuve managed to get underway and reach Le Havre without further incident.
## Aftermath
French casualties in the engagement are uncertain due to the circumstances of Confiante's destruction, but based on Acklom's report from the boarding party they were believed to be heavy. British losses were negligible, with not one man killed or seriously wounded and only minor damage inflicted on Hydra and none on the smaller vessels. The conduct of Lieutenant Lecolier was the subject of much criticism in France after the battle; in the French history Victories et Conquêtes, Lecolier was accused of failing to support Pevrieux and grounding his ship while the outcome of the battle was still undecided. British historian William James is less critical of Lecolier, focusing much of the blame for the French defeat on the more senior Pevrieux. The restriction of French movement along their own coastline had serious effects for the development of the French forces in the region and played a significant role in the failure of the French to pose a realistic invasion threat to Britain.
## Notes, citations and references |
507,679 | Fantasia 2000 | 1,173,595,645 | 1999 animated film by Walt Disney Feature Animation | [
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"1990s English-language films",
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"1999 films",
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"American dance films",
"American films with live action and animation",
"American musical fantasy films",
"American sequel films",
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"Animated films about birds",
"Animated films about dragons",
"Animated films about rats",
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"Works based on The Steadfast Tin Soldier"
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| Fantasia 2000 is a 1999 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Produced by Roy E. Disney and Donald W. Ernst, it is the 38th Disney animated feature film and the sequel to Disney's 1940 animated feature film Fantasia. Like its predecessor, Fantasia 2000 consists of animated segments set to pieces of classical music. Celebrities including Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller, James Levine, and Angela Lansbury introduce a segment in live action scenes directed by Don Hahn.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to develop a Fantasia sequel, The Walt Disney Company revived the idea shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer in 1984. Development paused until the commercial success of the 1991 home video release of Fantasia convinced Eisner that there was enough public interest and funds for a sequel, to which he assigned Disney as executive producer. The music for six of the film's eight segments is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. The film includes The Sorcerer's Apprentice from the 1940 original. Each new segment was produced by combining traditional animation with computer-generated imagery.
Fantasia 2000 premiered on December 17, 1999, at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of a concert tour that also visited London, Paris, Tokyo, and Pasadena, California. The film was then released in 75 IMAX theaters worldwide from January 1 to April 30, 2000, marking the first animated feature-length film to be released in the format. Its general release in regular theaters followed on June 16, 2000. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised several of its sequences, while also deeming its overall quality uneven in comparison to its predecessor. Budgeted at about \$80–\$85 million, the film grossed \$90.9 million worldwide.
## Program
The film begins with the sound of an orchestra tuning and Deems Taylor's introduction from Fantasia. Panels showing various segments from Fantasia fly in outer space and form the set and stage for an orchestra. Musicians take their seats and tune up as animators and artists draw at their desks before James Levine approaches the conductor's podium and signals the beginning of the first piece.
1. Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Abstract patterns and shapes that resemble hundreds of colorful triangle-shaped butterflies in dozens of magentas, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, cyans, turquoises, blues, indigos, violets, purples, pinks, grays, whites, and browns in various shades, tints, tones, and hues explore a world of light and darkness whilst being pursued by a swarm of dark black pentagon or hexagon-shaped bats. The world is ultimately conquered by light and color. Introduced by surviving archival recordings by Deems Taylor, and later by Steve Martin.
2. Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi. A family of humpback whales are able to fly. The calf is separated from his parents, and becomes trapped in an iceberg. Eventually, he finds his way out with his mother's help. The family join a larger pod of whales, who fly and frolic through the clouds to emerge into outer space. Introduced by Itzhak Perlman.
3. Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. Set in New York City in the 1930s, and designed in the style of Al Hirschfeld's known caricatures of the time, the story follows four individuals who wish for a better life. Duke is a construction worker who dreams of becoming a jazz drummer; Joe is a down-on-his-luck unemployed man who wishes he could get a job; Rachel is a little girl who wants to spend time with her busy parents instead of being shuttled around by her governess; and John is a harried rich husband who longs for a simpler, more fun life. The segment ends with all four getting their wish, though their stories interact with each other's without any of them knowing. Introduced by Quincy Jones with pianist Ralph Grierson.
4. Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Based on the fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Andersen, a broken toy soldier with one leg falls in love with a toy ballerina and protects her from an evil jack-in-the-box. Unlike the original story, this version has a happy ending. Introduced by Bette Midler featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman.
5. The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnival des Animaux), Finale by Camille Saint-Saëns. A flock of flamingoes tries to force a slapstick member, who enjoys playing with a yo-yo, to engage in the flock's "dull" routines. Introduced by James Earl Jones with animator Eric Goldberg.
6. The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas. Based on the 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling" by Goethe, the segment is the only one featured in both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. It tells the story of Mickey Mouse, an apprentice of sorcerer Yen Sid who attempts some of his master's magic tricks before knowing how to control them. Introduced by Penn & Teller rather than using an archived recording of Deems Taylor introducing the segment as in the original film. The scene where Mickey shakes hands with Levine's predecessor Leopold Stokowski is like that in the original film but Mickey is now voiced by Wayne Allwine instead of Walt Disney. This outro leads directly to the intro for Pomp and Circumstance, with Donald Duck and Daisy Duck voiced by Tony Anselmo and Russi Taylor, respectively.
7. Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Edward Elgar. Based on the story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis, Donald Duck is Noah's assistant and Daisy Duck is Donald's girlfriend. Donald is given the task of gathering the animals to the Ark, and misses, loses, and reunites with Daisy in the process. Introduced by James Levine.
8. Firebird Suite—1919 Version by Igor Stravinsky. A Sprite is awoken by her companion, an elk, and accidentally wakes a fiery spirit of destruction in a nearby volcano who destroys the forest and seemingly the Sprite. The Sprite survives and the elk encourages her to restore the forest to its normal state. Introduced by Angela Lansbury.
## Production
### Development
In 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, his third animated feature film, consisting of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music. Initially he planned to have the film on continual release with new segments replacing older ones so audiences would never see the same film twice. The idea was dropped following the film's initial low box office receipts and a mixed response from critics. Following preliminary work on new segments, the idea was shelved by 1942 and was not revisited for the remainder of Disney's life. In 1980, animators Wolfgang Reitherman and Mel Shaw started preliminary work on Musicana, a feature film "mixing jazz, classical music, myths, modern art ... following the old Fantasia format" that was to present "ethnic tales from around the world with the music of the various countries". The project was cancelled in favor of Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983).
The idea of a Fantasia sequel was revived shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company in 1984, when Walt's nephew, vice chairman Roy E. Disney, suggested it to him at a lunch. The idea had first entered Disney's mind ten years earlier, and he recalled Eisner's reaction: "It was as if a big light bulb went on over his head. The idea was enticing, but we didn't have the resources to carry it out". However, Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg showed a lack of interest in the film. He had once asked André Previn to work on a Fantasia film but Previn declined after he learned it was to feature songs by the Beatles rather than classical music. Eisner approached Leonard Bernstein with the same idea, but while he seemed enthusiastic, Bernstein died before production began. It took a further seven years before the film was reconsidered, after the 1990 reissue of Fantasia grossed \$25 million domestically and the announcement of its limited availability on home video in 1991 prompted 9.25 million pre-orders. Disney saw its commercial success as a sign that there was enough public interest in the Fantasia franchise to make a sequel. Eisner finally gave the green-light to the film in 1991, and had Disney serve as executive producer on the basis that its production was funded by the proceeds from the video sales. Disney assigned Donald W. Ernst as producer and Hendel Butoy as supervisory director, having liked his work on The Rescuers Down Under (1990).
During the search for a suitable conductor, Disney and Walt Disney Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher invited Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine and manager Peter Gelb to a meeting in September 1991. Disney recalled: "I asked James what his thought was on a three minute version of Beethoven's fifth symphony. He paused and went 'I think the right three minutes would be beautiful'". In November 1992, Disney, Schumacher, Levine, Gelb, and Butoy met in Vienna to discuss a collection of story reels developed, one of them being Pines of Rome, which Levine took an immediate liking to. Butoy described Levine's enthusiasm toward the film as "like a kid in a candy store". Because Katzenberg continued to express some hostility towards the film, Disney held development meetings without him and reported directly to Eisner instead, something that author James B. Stewart wrote "would have been unthinkable on any other future animation project."
Production began under the working title of Fantasia Continued with a release in 1997. The title was changed to Fantasia 1999, followed by Fantasia 2000 to coincide with its theatrical release in 2000. Disney formed its initial running order with half of the Fantasia program and only "three or four new numbers" with the aim of releasing a "semi-new movie". Realizing the idea would not work, he kept three Fantasia segments—The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Nutcracker Suite, and Dance of the Hours—in the program for "quite a while". Night on Bald Mountain was the most difficult segment for him to remove from his original running order because it was one of his favorites. He had placed it in the middle of the film without Ave Maria, but felt it did not work and scrapped the idea. Later on, Dance of the Hours was dropped and The Nutcracker Suite was replaced by Rhapsody in Blue during the last few months of production following the response from numerous test screenings. Disney kept The Sorcerer's Apprentice in the final program as a homage to Fantasia. The segment underwent digital restoration by Cinesite in Los Angeles. Disney considered using Clair de Lune, a piece originally made for Fantasia that followed two Great white herons flying through the Everglades at night, but thought it was "pretty boring". An idea to have "a nightmare and a dream struggling for a sleeping child's soul" to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff was fully storyboarded, but fell through.
### Segments
#### Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 5 is an abstract segment created by Pixote Hunt with story development by Kelvin Yasuda. In December 1997, after rejecting pitches from four other animators, Disney and Ernst asked Hunt for his ideas. Hunt first thought of the story on a morning walk in Pasadena, California, one depicting a battle of "good" against "evil" and how the conflict resolves itself. It took Hunt approximately two years, from start to finish, to complete the segment. Disney and Ernst decided to go with Hunt's idea; Hunt avoided producing an entirely abstract work because "you can get something abstract on every computer screen" with ease. Hunt divided the segment into 31 mini-scenes, noting down points in which he would employ vivid color when the music was bright and fluid, and then switch to darker hues when the music felt darker and denser. To gain inspiration in how the shapes would move, Hunt and his associates visited San Diego Zoo, a butterfly farm, and observed slow motion footage of bats. The segment combines hand drawn backgrounds using pastels and paint that were scanned into the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), and computer-generated imagery (CGI) of abstract shapes and effects, which were layered on top. Hunt explained that scanning each drawing "was a one-shot deal" as the platen that pressed onto it would alter the pastel once it had been scanned. At one point during production, Hunt and Yasuda completed 68 pastel drawings in eight days. The segment was produced using Houdini animation software.
#### Pines of Rome
Pines of Rome was the first piece Disney suggested for the film, as well as the first to be animated; designs appeared in the studio's dailies as early as October 1993. Butoy served as director with James Fujii handling the story. The opening to the piece gave Disney the idea of "something flying". Butoy sketched the sequence on yellow Post-it notes. The story originally involved the whales flying around from the perspective of a group of penguins, but the idea was scrapped to make the baby whale a central character. The whales were also set to return to Earth but Butoy said it "never felt quite right", leading to the decision to have them break through a cloud ceiling and enter a different world by the supernova. Butoy created a "musical intensity chart" for the animators to follow which "tracked the ups and downs of the music ... as the music brightens so does the color", and vice versa. He explained that because CGI was in its infancy during development, the first third of the segment was hand drawn using pencil to get a feel of how the whales would move. When the drawings were scanned into the CAPS system, Butoy found the whales were either moving too fast or had less weight to them. The drawings were altered to make the whales slow down and "more believable". The eyes of the whales were drawn by hand, as the desired looks and glances were not fully achievable using CGI. Butoy recalled the challenge of having the water appear and move as naturally as possible; the team decided to write computer code from scratch as traditional animation would have been too time-consuming and would have produced undesired results. The code handling the pod of whales was written so the whales would move away if they were to collide and not bump into, overlap, or go through each other. The same technique was used for the stampede scene in The Lion King (1994), which was produced at the same time.
#### Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is the first Fantasia segment with music from the American composer George Gershwin. It originated in 1995 when director and animator Eric Goldberg approached Al Hirschfeld about the idea of an animated short set to Gershwin's composition in the style of Hirschfeld's illustrations, when he was finishing work on Pocahontas, that wasn't last long. It was until December 1998, When production halted on the feature Kingdom in the Sun to rework its story, Eric and Susan Goldberg pitched Rhapsody in Blue to Walt Disney Feature Animation president Tom Schumacher as a down time project. They received the go-ahead to make it as a short. They borrowed the animators from Kingdom were assigned to worked on that segment. Hirschfeld agreed to serve as artistic consultant and allowed the animators to use and adapt his previous works for the segment. Eric and Susan Goldberg and the animation team went on a research trip to the Al Hirschfeld's apartment for Eric and Susan Goldberg learning Al Hirschfeld to designed Eric Goldberg's character designs, Times Square, they visited the NBC Studios to meet the cast of Saturday Night Live, they saw the Christmas lights, tree and they playing ice-skating in at Rockefeller Center, they stayed in The Plaza hotel and Central Park in New York, USA on December 12, 1998, after the production of that segment was began in December 11, 1998. They took a lot of inspiration from that moment that ended up featured in the movie, like the cityscapes, the architecture, and the people. They had a lunch and dinner in Ellen's Stardust Diner, a traditional American diner in New York, USA. They flew from Los Angeles International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Goldberg's wife Susan was art director. Duke is named after jazz artist Duke Ellington. The bottom of his toothpaste tube reads "NINA", an Easter egg referencing Hirschfeld's daughter Nina. Rachel was designed after the Goldbergs' daughter and John is based on animation historian and author John Culhane and Hirschfeld's caricature of Alexander Woollcott. Goldberg took Hirschfeld's original illustration of Gershwin and animated it to make him play the piano. Featured in the crowd emerging from the hotel are depictions of Brooks Atkinson and Hirschfeld, along with his wife Dolly Haas. The segment was completed five months ahead of schedule, from December 11, 1998 to May 8, 1999. Despite this, the sequence was so chromatically complex that the rendering process using the CAPS system delayed work on Tarzan.
#### Piano Concerto No. 2
Piano Concerto No. 2 was directed by Butoy with art director Michael Humphries. It originated in the 1930s when Walt Disney wished to adapt a collection of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales into an animated film. The artists completed a series of preliminary designs based on the stories, including ones for The Steadfast Tin Soldier from 1938 by Bianca Majolie that were stored in the studio's animation research library and used for a 1991 Disney book that retold the story accompanied with the storyboard sketches. When Disney suggested using the Shostakovich piece, Butoy flipped through the book and found the story's structure fit to the music. When Humphries saw the sketches he designed the segment with works by Caravaggio and Rembrandt in mind to give the segment a "timeless" feel, while keeping the colors "as romantic as possible" during the scenes when the soldier and ballerina are first getting acquainted. Live action footage of a real ballerina was used as a guide for the toy ballerina's movements. Butoy found the Jack-in-a-box a difficult character to design and animate with its spring base and how he moved with the box. His appearance went through numerous changes, partly due to the lack of reference material available to the team.
The segment marked the first time the Disney studio created a film's main characters entirely from CGI; only backgrounds, secondary, or tertiary characters had been produced using CGI beforehand. Initially Butoy asked Pixar Animation Studios to handle the computer graphics, but CGI artist Steve Goldberg convinced him to let Disney's own team produce it. The backgrounds were completed by hand. Originally the drain sequence included friendly rats who performed comical gags, but the team found it did not fit the mood of the rest of the segment. The drains became a more scary environment, something that Butoy said was "what the music was telling us to do". Rain animation from Bambi (1942) was scanned into the CAPS system and digitally altered to fit into the segment. The ending was to feature the original ending with the soldier and ballerina melting in the fire, but the music was too upbeat to animate it and was changed. An excerpt of the segment was shown at the 1998 SIGGRAPH conference.
#### The Carnival of the Animals, Finale
The Carnival of the Animals, Finale was directed by Goldberg; his wife Susan was its art director. The idea originated from animator Joe Grant, one of the two story directors on Fantasia who loved the ostriches in Dance of the Hours. When development for Fantasia 2000 began, Grant suggested the idea of having one of the ostriches play with a yo-yo to the last movement of The Carnival of the Animals. The ostriches were later changed to flamingos as Disney wished to avoid reintroducing characters from the original film and thought flamingos would look more colorful on the screen. Goldberg was partly inspired by co-director Mike Gabriel, who would play with a yo-yo as he took a break from working on Pocahontas (1995). The segment was produced with CGI and 6,000 watercolor paintings on heavy bond paper. Susan chose a distinct colour palette for the segment which she compared to the style of a Hawaiian shirt. The Goldbergs and their team visited the zoo in Los Angeles and San Diego to study the anatomy and movement of flamingos.
#### The Sorcerer's Apprentice
#### Pomp and Circumstance
Eisner suggested Pomp and Circumstance as a piece after he attended a graduation and thought its familiarity would be suitable for a Fantasia segment. His idea involved a selection of Disney princesses and heroes in a wedding procession carrying their future children who would then be presented in a ceremony. The animators' preliminary designs depicted a Greco-Roman setting; one of the staff members described the artwork as "an appalling abuse" of the characters. Eisner agreed to drop the story, but insisted that the music be used. After numerous ideas were scrapped due to the difficulty in writing a clear plot, animator and director Francis Glebas came up with the Noah's Ark idea that he titled Donald's Last Roundup!, later retitled as Noah's Duck, and pitched it thinking it was "laden with comic possibilities".
#### The Firebird
To close the film, Disney wanted a piece that was "emotionally equivalent" to the Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria segments that closed Fantasia. Disney chose The Firebird as the piece to use after "half a dozen" others were scrapped, including Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah by Handel. Disney thought of the idea of the Earth's destruction and renewal after passing Mount St. Helens following its eruption in 1980. French twins Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi from Disney's Paris studio were hired to direct the segment. The Sprite is a Dryad-like creature from Greek mythology. Her form changes six times; she is introduced as a Water Sprite who plants flowers as a Flower Sprite. She becomes a Neutral Sprite where her growth trail stops and an Ash Sprite when the forest has been destroyed. The segment ends with her as a Rain-Wave Sprite, followed by the Grass Sprite. The segment originally ended with the Sprite in the form of a flowing river that rises up into the sky and transforms into a Sun Sprite, but this was abandoned. The elk's antlers were produced by CGI and placed on top of its body that was drawn traditionally. The segment was produced using Houdini animation software.
### Music
The music to The Sorcerer's Apprentice was already recorded on January 9, 1938 for the first film at Culver Studios, California with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of session musicians. The recording of Rhapsody in Blue used in the film is an edited version of Ferde Grofé's orchestration of the piece performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra with conductor Bruce Broughton. The shortened version was made by cutting 125 bars of piano solo in three different places. A recording of James Levine conducting both pieces with the Philharmonia appears on the film's soundtrack.
The remaining six pieces were recorded at the Medinah Temple in Chicago, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Levine. Pines of Rome was re-arranged in 1993 by Bruce Coughlin, who reduced the four-movement piece by cutting the second movement and trimming sections of the third and fourth movements. The piece was recorded on March 28, 1994. The second recording involved Symphony No. 5, Carnival of the Animals, and Pomp and Circumstance, on April 25, 1994. Carnival of the Animals, Finale uses two pianos played by Gail Niwa and Philip Sabransky. Pomp and Circumstance was arranged by Peter Schickele and features the Chicago Symphony Chorus and soprano soloist Kathleen Battle. The next recording took place on April 24, 1995 for Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Yefim Bronfman. On September 28, 1996, The Firebird was the final piece to be recorded; its session lasted for three hours. The piece was arranged using four sections from Stravinsky's 1919 revision of the score.
### Interstitials
Disney felt the need to keep interstitials (bridges) as used in Fantasia in order to give audiences a chance to "cleanse their emotional palate" from the previous segment while also providing some information about the next one. Don Hahn directed the live action scenes which were designed by Pixote Hunt. Hahn came up with the set and backgrounds while eating lunch; he proceeded to sketch a rough idea of what he imagined on a napkin. He "wanted to show images on shapes like big sails of a clipper ship. They fly in on the wind and form a sort of Stonehenge concert hall in the middle of a vast, empty, imaginary plain".
Hahn recalled some difficulty in finding someone to host the film, so the studio decided to use a group of artists and musicians from various fields of entertainment. The interstitials were filmed in various locations; the orchestra, Jones, Lansbury, and Bronfman were shot in Los Angeles, Perlman and Midler in New York City, and others in Boston, Massachusetts. Each scene was filmed in front of a green screen to allow shots of the orchestra or the set to be placed behind them. The shots of Levine, the artists, and the orchestra were filmed on October 31, 1998. The piano Grierson plays in his scene with Jones is the same one on which he played Rhapsody in Blue for the soundtrack.
## Release
Fantasia 2000 was officially announced on February 9, 1999 during a Disney presentation at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City which featured a screening of The Carnival of the Animals. The film premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City on December 16, 1999 for three nights as part of a five-city concert tour. The animation was presented on a screen above the stage while Levine conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra with a video auto-cue to time the music to the images. Performances followed at the Royal Albert Hall in London on December 21; the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on December 22; the Orchard Hall in Tokyo on December 27; and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on December 31, where Derrick Inouye conducted as part of a black tie \$2,000-per-head New Year's Eve event. Each of the seven performances cost over \$1 million.
### Home media
Fantasia 2000 was first released on VHS and DVD on November 14, 2000, with both featuring a specially made introduction in which Roy gives a history of key innovations brought by various Disney productions (specifically Steamboat Willie, Flowers and Trees, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story 2 and Dinosaur). While it was available as a single-disc DVD, a three-disc set titled The Fantasia Anthology was released, including a digital copy of the film, a restored print of Fantasia to commemorate its 60th anniversary, and a third disc containing bonus features.
On November 30, 2010, the film was issued for DVD and Blu-ray in a single and two-disc set with Fantasia and a four-disc DVD and Blu-ray combo pack. The Blu-ray transfer presents the film in 1080p high-definition video with DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround sound. The film was withdrawn from release after its return to the "Disney Vault" moratorium on April 30, 2011.
The film, along with Fantasia and the 2018 compilation Celebrating Mickey (containing 13 Mickey Mouse shorts from Steamboat Willie to Get a Horse!), was reissued in 2021 as part of the U.S. Disney Movie Club exclusive The Best of Mickey Collection (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital). Both films were also broadly released for the first time in 2021 on multiple U.S. purchased streaming platforms, including Movies Anywhere and its retailers.
### Soundtrack
Walt Disney Records released 60,000 copies of a limited edition of the film's soundtrack on November 30, 1999 in the United States and internationally under the Sony Classical label. With a running time of 60 minutes, the album features Levine conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra on Rhapsody in Blue and The Sorcerer's Apprentice at AIR Studios in London, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the remaining six tracks using the recordings from the Medinah Temple. The soundtrack went on to reach the number one spot on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart in July 2000. A Fantasia 2000 Deluxe Read-Along cassette and CD followed which contains two tracks telling the stories of Pomp and Circumstance and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, with narration by Pat Carroll. Included in the set is a 44-page book containing some of the film's artwork.
## Reception
### Box office
Fantasia 2000 first opened in IMAX theatres for a four-month run from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film shown in the format. The idea to release it in IMAX first originated from Dick Cook during meetings the studio had about the best way to create "a sense of event" for the film. Roy Disney believed its uniqueness from typical feature films gave it a psychological advantage. A temporary 622-seat theatre costing almost \$4 million was built in four weeks for its Los Angeles run as Disney was unable to reach an agreement to only have the film shown during the four months at the city's sole IMAX theater at the time at the California Science Center. Disney enforced the exclusive screening rule on the other IMAX cinemas that showed the film which limited its release. Each theater was decorated with a museum-like exhibit with educational material and large displays.
After opening at 75 theaters worldwide, the film grossed over \$2.2 million in 54 cinemas in North America in its opening weekend, averaging \$41,481 per theater, and \$842,000 from 21 screens in 14 markets. It set new records for the highest gross for any IMAX engagement and surpassed the highest weekly total for any previously released IMAX film. Its three-day worldwide gross surpassed \$3.8 million, setting further records at 18 venues worldwide. Fantasia 2000 grossed a worldwide total of \$21.1 million in 30 days, and \$64.5 million at the end of its IMAX run.
Following its release in 1,313 regular theatres in the United States on June 16, 2000, the film grossed an additional \$2.8 million in its opening weekend that ranked eleventh at the box office. This followed nearly half a year of release in the IMAX format, possibly blunting the amount earned in the weekends of wide release. Fantasia 2000 has earned a total worldwide gross of over \$90.8 million since its release, with \$60.7 million of that total from the U.S. market, and the rest through foreign box office sales. The film had cost around \$90 million and was viewed by Eisner as Roy Disney's "folly".
### Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Fantasia 2000 holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . Its consensus reads: "It provides an entertaining experience for adults and children alike." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Entertainment Weekly gave a "B−" rating; its reviewer, Bruce Fretts, called Symphony No. 5 "maddeningly abstract", Piano Concerto No. 2 "charmingly traditional" and thought Rhapsody in Blue fit well to the music, but Pomp and Circumstance "inexplicably inspires biblical kitsch". The review ends with a criticism of the inadequate quality of The Sorcerer's Apprentice on the IMAX screen. Todd McCarthy of Variety pointed out that while the original Fantasia felt too long and formal, its "enjoyable follow-up is, at 75 minutes, simply too breezy and lightweight". He summarized the film "like a light buffet of tasty morsels rather than a full and satisfying meal".
In his December 1999 review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of three stars out of four. He described some of the animation (such as Firebird Suite, his favorite segment) as "powerful", though he thought others, like the dance of the abstract triangles in Symphony No. 5, to be "a little pedestrian". He admired Rhapsody in Blue and its interlocking stories, pointing out its style was reminiscent of the Madeline picture books by Ludwig Bemelmans. He thought Pines of Rome presented itself well in the IMAX format and found the Piano Concerto No. 2 played "wonderfully as a self-contained film", while he found The Sorcerer's Apprentice to be "not as visually sharp as the rest of the film". He nonetheless described the film overall as "splendid entertainment". Film critic Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the film "often has the feel of a giant corporate promotion whose stars are there simply to hawk the company's wares" while noting the film "is not especially innovative in its look or subject matter." Firebird Suite was his favorite segment which left "a lasting impression of the beauty, terror, and unpredictability of the natural world". He found The Sorcerer's Apprentice fit well with the rest of the film and the battle in Symphony No. 5 too abbreviated to amount to much. He found the segment with the whales failed in that the images "quickly become redundant". He found Rhapsody in Blue to be the second-best in the film with its witty, hyper-kinetic evocation of the melting pot with sharply defined characters. He found the segment with the flamingos cute and the one with the tin soldier to be romantic. James Berardinelli found the film to be of uneven quality. He felt Symphony No. 5 was "dull and uninspired", the yo-yoing flamingos "wasteful", and the New York City-based story of Rhapsody in Blue interesting but out of place in this particular movie. He found the story of the tin soldier to successfully mix its music with "top-notch animation" and "an emotionally rewarding story". He felt the Firebird section was "visually ingenious", and Pomp and Circumstance the most light-hearted episode and the one with the most appeal to children, in an otherwise adult-oriented film. To him The Sorcerer's Apprentice was an enduring classic.
David Parkinson of British film magazine Empire rates the film three stars out of five, calling it a "curate's egg, with moments of hilarity and beauty alternating with the pompous and the banal". Moments of Symphony No. 5 and The Firebird he thought lacked the "abstract grace" from Toccata and Fugue from the original, and Pines of Rome was "even less successful" due to the computer imagery which affected its quality. He claims Rhapsody in Blue is "guilty of some dubious racial and sexual caricaturing", but hailed the film's IMAX presentation as "a breathtaking spectacle". He summarized the film as "slightly more successful" than the original Fantasia, more child-friendly and a "mixed bag of delights". Richard Corliss of Time magazine wrote a positive review of the film, citing Pines of Rome as "a superb, uplifting flight of the spirit" and Piano Concerto No. 2 "a gorgeous blend of traditional and computer animation". He drew a comparison to The Firebird with the 1997 Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke. Brian Sibley wrote a mostly negative review in Sight & Sound, a monthly magazine published by the British Film Institute, in June 2000. He pointed out that though the film includes moments of comedy and pastoral, "the themes running through the old 'Fantasia' – the struggle between light and dark, the war between chaos and order, the ultimate triumph of goodness – find only a pale equivalent in this new version". He compared the film's orchestra set to scenes from A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and thought the CGI in Symphony No. 5 lacked the technical qualities of Toy Story. Sibley argued the film lacked an even quality, highlighting Pines of Rome with its "breathtaking" opening before "its magic has been overtaken by chronic boredom" when the baby whale reunites with his parents. Pomp and Circumstance, he thought, contained "shamefully sloppy animation" but is saved by Donald's comical gags, but pointed out Rhapsody in Blue, with its "strong lines and vivid, flat colours that are fashionably retro", and the "classic Disneyesque ... exquisite beauty and raw natural violence" in Firebird Suite, as the film's most successful segments as they "ironically, hark back to older times".
### Accolades
## Credits
Note: All segments performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with conductor James Levine, except where noted.
## Short films and cancelled sequel
Development on a third film began in 2002 under the working title Fantasia 2006. Plans were made to include One by One by Pixote Hunt and The Little Matchgirl by Roger Allers in the film before the project was cancelled in 2004 for unknown reasons, with the proposed segments instead being released as standalone short films.
Destino is an animated short film released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion. The project was originally a collaboration between Walt Disney and Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, and features music written by Mexican songwriter Armando Domínguez and performed by Dora Luz. In 1999, Walt Disney's nephew, Roy E. Disney, while working on Fantasia 2000, unearthed the dormant project and decided to bring it back to life. It was later released as a bonus short on the special edition DVD and Blu-ray of Fantasia 2000.
Lorenzo is a 2004 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation about a cat named Lorenzo who is "dismayed to discover that his tail has developed a personality of its own". The short was directed by Mike Gabriel and produced by Baker Bloodworth. It premiered at the Florida Film Festival on March 6, 2004 and later appeared as a feature before the film Raising Helen; however, it did not appear on the DVD release of the film. Work on the film began in 1943, but was shelved. It was later found along with Destino.
One by One is a traditionally animated short film directed by Pixote Hunt and released by Walt Disney Pictures on August 31, 2004, as an extra feature on the DVD release of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Special Edition.
The Little Matchgirl is a 2006 animated short film directed by Roger Allers and produced by Don Hahn. It is based on an original story by Hans Christian Andersen entitled The Little Girl with the Matches or The Little Match Girl, published in 1845. |
65,362,592 | Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader Ginsburg | 1,164,812,313 | 2020 death of a US Supreme Court justice | [
"2020 in American politics",
"2020 in Washington, D.C.",
"2020 in the United States",
"Deaths by person in Washington, D.C.",
"Funerals by person",
"Ruth Bader Ginsburg",
"September 2020 events in the United States",
"State funerals in the United States",
"Women deaths"
]
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87. Her death received immediate and significant public attention; a vigil at the Supreme Court plaza in Washington, D.C., was held that same evening. Memorials and vigils were held in several U.S. cities, including Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco.
Ginsburg became the first woman to lie in repose at the Supreme Court Building, between September 23 and 24, a longer-than-usual period. On September 25, she lay in state at the Capitol, becoming the first woman and first Jew to receive this honor. A private interment service was held at Arlington National Cemetery on September 29.
## Health and death
Ginsburg had previously been diagnosed with colon cancer, which was in remission by 1999, and early-stage pancreatic cancer in 2009. In 2014, she had surgery to implant a stent. Tumors in her lungs were detected in December 2018 while she was being treated for broken ribs from a fall in November 2018. She previously hurt two ribs in June 2012. She had pancreatic cancer in August 2019 and went into remission a few times. She was briefly hospitalized in November 2019 for a fever and chills. Again, she was hospitalized for a gallbladder complication in May 2020. She was also hospitalized in July for an unidentified infection. Ginsburg died from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer at her home in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 2020, aged 87. Days before her death, according to her granddaughter Clara Spera, an attorney, she dictated a statement which reads in part: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."
## Vigils
Hundreds of people began gathering in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., within hours of the news of Ginsburg's death. The Mourners' Kaddish was recited by mourners, along with songs such as "Amazing Grace" and "America the Beautiful". Other gatherings were held in cities across the United States. Online memorials were created on social media platforms. By the following morning, a makeshift memorial had been created on the steps of the court.
On September 19, the tributes at the Supreme Court were removed and a barricade erected in front of the building. About 2,500 people attended a vigil that evening. Among the several speakers at the rally were Democratic Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren drew cheers from the crowd as she criticized the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican. Many speakers made references to abortion access, of which Ginsburg was a proponent; Jasmine Clemons of Planned Parenthood, speaking of her own decision to have an abortion, said "I made the best decision for my life, my future and my body. That was made possible because of women like Justice Ginsburg."
Vigils were also held in other cities across the United States. Some gatherings were promoted by organizers of the Women's March who urged people to gather at their local courthouses. Hundreds of people attended vigils in Chicago, Kingston, New York, Portland, Maine, Minneapolis and San Francisco. An image of Ginsburg and messages reading "thank you" and "rest in power" were projected on the New York State Supreme Court Building in New York City. White jabots (or collars), similar to those worn by Ginsburg, were placed on several statues in New York City, most notably on the Fearless Girl sculpture outside the New York Stock Exchange Building.
## Memorials and tributes
As has been tradition since as early as 1873 on the death of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, the courtroom doors of the Supreme Court, Ginsburg's seat, and the bench in front of her seat were draped in black. On September 18, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the House of Representatives ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half-staff in honor of Ginsburg. On September 19, President Trump also ordered all U.S. flags at federal buildings to be flown at half-staff until Ginsburg's burial.
Shortly after Ginsburg's death, multiple statues and renaming of locations were proposed in her honor. Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City, announced that the Brooklyn Municipal Building in New York City would be renamed in honor of Ginsburg, who was born and raised in Brooklyn. Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, announced that a statue of Ginsburg would be installed in Brooklyn. He said he would appoint a commission to select an artist and location. The statue was completed and installed outside of Albee Square on March 12, 2021.
On September 19, landmarks across the state of New York were illuminated in blue as a tribute to Ginsburg. These included the One World Trade Center, Grand Central Terminal, Kosciuszko Bridge, Niagara Falls, and Mid-Hudson Bridge. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi introduced legislation for a bust of Ginsburg to be created and installed in the Capitol Rotunda. In Minnesota, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Mayor Melvin Carter of Saint Paul issued a proclamation declaring September 21 to be "Ruth Bader Ginsburg Day" in their respective cities. On September 25, the Empire State Building in New York City was lit with red, white and blue in honor of Ginsburg.
## Reactions
### United States
Ginsburg was praised by legal figures including Chief Justice John Roberts who called her a "jurist of historic stature", stating that the Supreme Court had lost a cherished colleague and also had confidence that future generations would remember her as a "tireless and resolute champion of justice." In a viral tweet, Ruth Franklin, an author and book critic, noted that "according to Jewish tradition, a person who dies on Rosh Hashanah ... is a tzadeikes, a person of great righteousness".
Her death was announced while both President Trump and presidential candidate Joe Biden were campaigning in Minnesota; Trump was making a speech during his rally and Biden was on a campaign plane flying back to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, with spotty Wi-Fi connection. As a result, neither made statements immediately after the news was announced; Trump made a statement after his speech concluded while he was heading towards Air Force One, and when Biden landed at New Castle Airport, he too made a statement. Trump, on hearing of Ginsburg's death for the first time, said she "was an amazing woman who led an amazing life". Biden told reporters that Ginsburg's death was "very sad news" and highlighted the need to choose a successor only once the election had concluded. The White House also issued a statement praising Ginsburg, saying, among other things, "Her opinions, including well-known decisions regarding the legal equality of women and the disabled, have inspired all Americans and generations of great legal minds."
Speaker Pelosi used Twitter to express her sympathy, saying that Ginsburg's death was "an incalculable loss for our democracy and for all who sacrifice and strive to build a better future for our children". Governor Cuomo described Ginsburg as someone who "pursued truth and justice in a world of division, giving voice to the voiceless and uplifting those who were pushed aside by forces of hate and indifference". Hillary Clinton, who was the First Lady when Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, said "There will never be another like her." On September 20, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who nominated Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court and also held a public rally with her in Little Rock, Arkansas, just over a year before her death, paid tribute to Ginsburg in a televised interview with Face the Nation's Margaret Brennan. He said, among other things, that "People were really pulling for her and they really gravitated to her because of her sense of equality and fairness, and they thought, unlike much in politics today, she was totally on the level."
Senator Bernie Sanders issued condolences and showed admiration for Ginsburg via social media, as did several celebrities, politicians, and athletes including Mindy Kaling, Meghan Markle, Kate McKinnon, Stacey Abrams, Orlando Jones and Meghan McCain.
During a September 21 appearance on Fox & Friends, President Trump suggested that Ginsburg's dictated statement before her death may have been manufactured by the Democratic political leadership in Congress, including Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer, the Minority Leader who represents New York, and Representative Adam Schiff of California. The Democrats angrily denied Trump's suggestion. The NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg, a reporter covering Supreme Court who published the original report about Justice Ginsburg's last wish, subsequently confirmed that the statement had come from Ginsburg herself. Totenberg stated that there were other witnesses in the room, apart from her granddaughter, including her doctor. Trump's allegation gave birth to a conspiracy theory which spread quickly through social media and was taken up by some conservative public figures. Fox News host Tucker Carlson declared that it would have been "pathetic" for Justice Ginsburg to make such a dying declaration and that he did not believe she had said it. Subsequently, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican from Texas, blocked the U.S. Senate resolution honoring Ginsburg because it contained language referring to her dying wish.
### International
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, described Ginsburg as a "pioneer for women's right, law and justice". Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, wrote: "A profound and fearless advocate for women, equality, and justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's impact will undoubtedly be felt for generations. My thoughts are with her family, colleagues, and all who were inspired by her lifetime of service." Emmanuel Macron, President of France, wrote: "A truly exceptional woman has left us. Throughout her entire life, Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought for justice, gender equality, and respect for fundamental rights. Her outstanding legacy shall be our inspiration for a long time to come." Emily Haber, German Ambassador to the United States, wrote: "Germany has often looked across the Atlantic, not only to the US but to Justice Ginsburg herself – a pioneer for women, a standard-bearer, a fighter." Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, sent his "deepest condolences to her family, to the world of Justice and to the American people."
## Funeral services
### Supreme Court Building
Ginsburg lay in repose at the Supreme Court Building for the two days on September 23–24. Previous ceremonies for Associate Justices were limited to a single day, including the ceremony for Chief Justice William Rehnquist as well as those for Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr., John Paul Stevens, and Antonin Scalia. Her public viewing was held outdoors from 11 am to 10 pm on the first day, and 9 am to 10 pm on the second day. Ginsburg is the first woman to lie in repose at the Supreme Court.
Her funeral began at around 9:30 am on September 23 when her casket arrived at the Supreme Court. More than a hundred of her law clerks from her time as an appellate judge and Supreme Court justice lined the steps. Eight officers from the Supreme Court Police carried the casket up the steps into the Supreme Court and placed it atop the catafalque previously used for the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Adas Israel Congregation, a Conservative Judaism synagogue in Washington, D.C., began the ceremony with a chanting of "Adonai Roi", a song of mourning from Psalm 23, in both Hebrew and English, and ended with "El Malei Rachamim", the prayer about a merciful God traditionally said for the departed. The rabbi, who was an adviser to Justice Ginsburg and is the wife of Ari Holtzblatt, one of Ginsburg's former law clerks, eulogized Ginsburg as "an American hero". She also said, "It's the rare prophet who not only imagines a new world but also makes that new world a reality in her lifetime. This was the brilliance and vision of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg." This was followed by a eulogy from Chief Justice Roberts who described Ginsburg as a "rock star ... tough, brave, a fighter, a winner, but also thoughtful, careful, compassionate, honest." In attendance at the short ceremony inside were all eight remaining justices as well as retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.
At around 11 am, Ginsburg's casket was brought outside and placed near the top of the Supreme Court steps. Hundreds of people stood in line awaiting their turn to pay their respects. A winding metal barricade had been installed on East Capitol Street to accommodate the queue. The crowd filled the blocked-off street from 1st to 2nd Street and extended onto the sidewalk on 2nd Street all the way up to the parking lot of the Thomas Jefferson Building. Some had come from Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Vermont. Several public figures also visited the casket on the first day, including Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence, and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A large group of lawmakers from the Democratic Party also visited the casket, including senators Chuck Schumer of New York, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Chris Coons of Delaware, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, and Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, also paid their respects.
The following day, Ginsburg's casket was again placed at the top of the Supreme Court steps. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited the casket just before 10 am. By then, people had begun gathering to await their turn to approach the casket. A crowd began booing and shouting at President Trump when he appeared behind the casket; chants were heard including: "Vote him out!" and "Honor her wish", a reference to Ginsburg's dictated statement days before her death that a successor not be appointed "until a new president is installed".
### Capitol Building
Ginsburg lay in state at the United States Capitol on September 25; she is both the first Jewish person and the first woman to be thus honored. Ginsburg is the second justice to be honored in this way, the first being Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had been the 27th president before being appointed to the court. Aside from lying in state, only one woman in history, civil rights movement leader Rosa Parks, had lain in honor at the US Capitol, in 2005 — a distinction given to private citizens, as opposed to government officials like Justice Ginsburg. That morning, Ginsburg's casket was placed in a hearse that transported it from the Supreme Court Building across the street to the Capitol. The hearse briefly paused before the Supreme Court before proceeding to the entrance of the Capitol.
At around 10 am, a US military honor guard carried the casket up the steps of the Capitol into the National Statuary Hall. The honor guard was led by Shaye Lynne Haver, one of the first two women to graduate from the US Army Ranger School. After the casket was again placed on Lincoln's catafalque, the military honor guard was replaced by an honor guard of four of the Capitol Police, who stood at the casket's four corners. Speaker Pelosi opened the ceremony with a speech honoring Ginsburg. This was followed by the mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, one of Ginsburg's favorite opera singers, performing the spiritual "Deep River" accompanied by Laura Ward on piano. Holtzblatt, who had eulogized the justice two days earlier at the Supreme Court, gave another eulogy at the Capitol. Graves then sang Gene Scheer's "American Anthem". The ceremony concluded with the current and former lawmakers in attendance approaching the casket to pay their respects. While several Republicans attended the ceremony, McConnell and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy were not present. A US Army veteran who was Ginsburg's physical trainer, Bryant Johnson, later did three push-ups in front of the casket. An honor guard of at least two Capitol Police officers remained with the casket at all times while Ginsburg lay in state. At around 12:50 pm, the military honor guard brought the casket out of the Capitol, down the steps, and placed it into a hearse which, flanked by police vehicles, drove away from the Capitol plaza, thus concluding the publicly held honors for Ginsburg.
### Arlington National Cemetery
On September 29, a private funeral service was held at Arlington National Cemetery where Ginsburg was buried beside her husband, Martin D. Ginsburg, a US Army veteran. The ceremony was officiated by Holtzblatt with only "family, close friends, justices, and Ginsburg's staff" in attendance. The ceremony concluded with a playing of opera singer Leontyne Price singing two songs by Giacomo Puccini. The grave is located in Section 5 where nine other justices are also buried, including three with whom Ginsburg had served.
## Aftermath
In The Washington Post, James Hohmann wrote that the death of Ginsburg, and by proxy the upcoming confirmation hearings for her replacement on the United States Supreme Court, would have a "seismic" effect on the U.S. political landscape in the run-up to the 2020 United States presidential and Congressional elections. The Financial Times described Ginsburg's death as adding "uncertainty to [the] volatile election".
Ginsburg's death opened a vacancy on the Supreme Court about six weeks before the presidential election, causing controversies over the nomination and confirmation of her successor. The issue of abortion became a focal point of the election campaign after Ginsburg's death.
On the Republican side, President Trump's decision to quickly proceed with the nomination of a replacement for Ginsburg on the Supreme Court appeared to bring back together and energize the anti-abortion Evangelicals and conservatives, some of whom had begun to drift away from Trump. As a White House official told The Washington Post shortly after Ginsburg's death: "This is an animating issue for the entire right. It unifies everybody from Mitt Romney to the most hardcore MAGA Trump person out there at a time when Trump needed that."
In the hours following news of her death, more than \$20 million was donated to various Democratic politicians via the ActBlue fundraising hub, more than quintuple the previous record amount. Donations through ActBlue were reported to be around \$80 million within 24 hours and more than \$100 million was donated over the four days immediately following Ginsburg's death. More than \$20 million of that came in donations through a "Get Mitch or Die Trying" online campaign run by former Obama administration officials, who now host Pod Save America.
Many Democrats, angered by Trump's and McConnell's decision to proceed with the confirmation for Ginsburg's replacement so close to the election, especially in view of the promises made during the course of Merrick Garland's denied Supreme Court nomination in 2016, again discussed the possibility of increasing the size of the U.S. Supreme Court if the Democrats took control of the Presidency and the Congress after the November 2020 election.
Biden's presidential campaign sought to link Ginsburg's death with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other healthcare issues, particularly the ongoing Supreme Court case California v. Texas regarding the fate of the Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare), in which the court was set to hear arguments a week after the election date.
Legal analysts also noted that the loss of Ginsburg from the Supreme Court could significantly affect the outcome of various legal challenges related to the presidential election, including those related to absentee and mail voting. President Trump indicated that he specifically wanted Ginsburg's replacement on the Supreme Court to be confirmed by the November 3 election date because he expected the court to resolve the disputes about the election outcome. On September 26, Trump officially announced his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
## See also
- List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
- Thurmond rule |
17,692,494 | No Surrender (2008) | 1,141,705,967 | 2008 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view event | [
"2008 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view events",
"2008 in Ontario",
"Events in Ontario",
"Impact Wrestling No Surrender",
"Professional wrestling in Ontario",
"September 2008 events in Mexico"
]
| The 2008 No Surrender was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion that took place on September 14, 2008 at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It was the fourth event under the No Surrender name, TNA's first PPV to take place outside the United States, and the ninth event in the 2008 TNA PPV schedule. Nine professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card, four of which were for championships.
The main event was a Three Ways to Glory match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship with the champion Samoa Joe defending the title against Christian Cage and Kurt Angle. Joe successfully retained the title at the show. A.J. Styles defeated Frank Trigg in a Mixed Martial Arts match also on the show. The TNA World Tag Team Championship was defended by Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) against The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide). Beer Money, Inc. retained the championship at the event. TNA held a Ladder of Love match for SoCal Val, in which Sonjay Dutt defeated Jay Lethal. The TNA X Division Championship was also defended in a Three Way match by Petey Williams against Sheik Abdul Bashir and Consequences Creed, which Bashir won to become the new champion.
No Surrender is remembered for being the first TNA PPV held outside the United States and for the return of Jeff Jarrett to TNA television. 20,000 was the reported figure of purchasers for the event by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. No Surrender had an attendance of 3,500 people. Jason Clevett of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer rated the show a 3 out of 10, which was lower than the 7 out of 10 given to the 2007 edition by Chris Sokol. In regards to the overall show, Clevett said that "TNA’s pay per view debut in Canada was one of the weakest shows in recent memory, overwhelmed by horrible overbooking by TNA that once again proves that they do not know what their fanbase wants."
In October 2017, with the launch of the Global Wrestling Network, the event became available to stream on demand.
## Production
### Background
The fourth installment under the No Surrender name was announced in January 2008 with a September 14 date attached. In July, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that TNA would hold its first PPV held in Canada with No Surrender in September. The reported location for the event was Oshawa, Ontario, Canada at the General Motors Centre. TNA issued a press release in late-July revealing that No Surrender would be held at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa, Ontario on September 14. Tickets for the show went on-sale on July 25. Early ticket sales for the event were on par with the early sales of TNA's Lockdown PPV event. The General Motors Centre was close to being sold out a few days prior to the show, with only 800 tickets remaining. The arena had a maximum capacity of 5,000 but was configured to have a maximum capacity of 3,500 due to the event layout. Views were positive in TNA towards early ticket sales considering it was TNA's first PPV in Canada. Before any matches were announced, it was suspected that the event would be headlined by a tag team match or a trios bout to set up for a standard match at TNA's next PPV event Bound for Glory IV on October 12. TNA released a poster to promote the show featuring Samoa Joe, while "Soul Crusher" by Operator was the official theme.
### Storylines
No Surrender featured nine professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The main event at No Surrender was a Four Ways to Glory match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, in which the champion Samoa Joe defended the title against three competitors. This match was announced on the August 14 episode of TNA's television program TNA Impact!, with Management Director Jim Cornette stating that three qualification matches would take place to determine the challengers to Joe over the weeks leading to No Surrender. The first qualifying match was on the August 21 episode of Impact!, when Booker T defeated Rhino to take a spot in the match. Kurt Angle defeated Kevin Nash on the August 28 episode of Impact! to qualify for the contest. The final qualifier was Christian Cage, who defeated A.J. Styles on the September 4 episode of Impact!.
TNA held a scripted Mixed Martial Arts match at No Surrender between A.J. Styles and Frank Trigg. This match was the result of a feud between Kurt Angle and Styles. The two had competed against each other at TNA's Slammiversary PPV event on June 8, Victory Road PPV event on July 13, Hard Justice PPV event on August 10, and on several Impact! episodes with Trigg providing commentary for some of the contests and aiding Angle in the feud as they were depicted as on-screen best friends. At one point during the rivalry, Styles mistakenly attacked Trigg on the June 19 episode of Impact!. A couple of months later on the September 4 episode of Impact!, Trigg attacked Styles during his Four Ways to Glory qualifying match with Christian Cage. Trigg hit Styles with a kendo stick and left the ring, which allowed Cage to pin Styles to win the bout. On the September 11 episode of Impact!, Styles challenged Trigg to a bout at No Surrender, which Trigg agreed but only if it was contested under Mixed Martial Arts rules.
The TNA World Tag Team Championship was defended at No Surrender by Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) against The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide; LAX). On the June 12 episode of Impact!, Roode and Storm teamed to face LAX for the World Tag Team Championship. The match was originally won by Roode and Storm before being restarted due to interference. LAX won the restart to retain the championship. After the bout, Roode and Storm assaulted LAX and their manager Héctor Guerrero. Management Director Jim Cornette scheduled a title defense at Victory Road between LAX and Roode and Storm under "Fan's Revenge" Lumberjack rules on the June 19 episode of Impact!. At Victory Road, LAX defeated the newly renamed Beer Money Incorporated to retain the World Tag Team Championship. On the July 17 episode of Impact!, Roode and Storm began assaulting various wrestlers, crew members, and fans in retaliation for their loss at Victory Road. Later in the program, Roode and Storm once again attacked Guerrero, prompting LAX to come to his rescue. On the July 31 episode of Impact!, Roode and Storm defeated the team of Christian Cage and Rhino for a World Tag Team Championship match at Hard Justice. On the August 7 episode of Impact!, the team of Cage, Rhino, and LAX fought the team of Roode, Storm, and Team 3D in an Eight Man Tag Team match, which the latter lost. After the contest, Roode and Storm slammed Homicide through a glass table, injuring his right eye in the storyline. At Hard Justice, Beer Money, Inc. defeated LAX to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship by pinning Homicide after Roode hit Homicide in his injured eye with a beer bottle. TNA scheduled a rematch between the two teams for the championship to take place at No Surrender.
Another rivalry heading into the show was between Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt, who were fighting over the heart of SoCal Val. The storyline behind this rivalry started on the May 15 episode of Impact!, when Lethal proposed marriage to Val in the storyline. With the two being an on-screen couple, she accepted with the planned wedding segment taking place at Slammiversary. Lethal then asked Dutt to be his bestman on the May 29 episode of Impact!, which he accepted despite him being scripted to show feelings for Val. At Slammiversary, Dutt interrupted the wedding proclaiming his love for Val in the storyline and attacked Lethal, which ended with Dutt unconscious as Jake Roberts placed a snake on top of his body. Dutt then defeated Lethal in a bout at Victory Road. Lethal won a rematch in a Black Tie Brawl and Chain match at Hard Justice over Dutt. Leading up to No Surrender, Dutt attacked Lethal after he was defeated by Sheik Abdul Bashir on the August 14 episode of Impact!. On the September 11 episode of Impact!, TNA promoted a Ladder of Love match at No Surrender with the winner becoming engaged to Val.
The TNA X Division Championship was defended by Petey Williams against Sheik Abdul Bashir and Consequences Creed in a Three Way match at the event. At Hard Justice, Bashir attacked Creed with a steal chair during his bout with Williams, which allowed Williams to force Creed's head into the mat with his signature Canadian Destroyer maneuver to retain the X Division Championship. Creed was given a rematch on the August 21 episode of Impact!, with Bashir once again interfering by attacking Creed, resulting in Creed winning by disqualification and Williams retaining the X Division Championship. This match was later advertised on the card for No Surrender.
## Event
The event began with Sting announcing that he would be facing the TNA World Heavyweight Champion for the title at Bound for Glory IV. TNA commentator Mike Tenay also announced that due to Hurricane Ike, Booker T could not make it to the event so the original scheduled Four Ways to Glory match was changed to a Three Ways to Glory match. This was not announced to the live audience in attendance.
### Miscellaneous
No Surrender featured employees other than the wrestlers involved in the matches. Mike Tenay and Don West were the commentators for the telecast. Jeremy Borash and David Penzer were ring announcers for the event. Andrew Thomas, Earl Hebner, Rudy Charles, Mark "Slick" Johnson, and Traci Brooks participated as referees for the encounters. Lauren Thompson and Borash were used as interviewers during the event. Besides employees who appeared in a wrestling role, Raisha Saeed, Johnny Devine, Rhaka Khan, Rhino, Velvet Sky, Cute Kip, Jacqueline, Héctor Guerrero, and Jeff Jarrett all appeared on camera, either in backstage or in ringside segments.
### Preliminary matches
The opening encounter of the show was a Six Person Intergender Tag Team match pitting The Prince Justice Brotherhood (Curry Man, Shark Boy, and Super Eric) against The Rock 'n' Rave Infection (Christy Hemme, Jimmy Rave, and Lance Rock), which lasted 7 minutes and 35 seconds. The Prince Justice Brotherhood won the bout when Curry Man pinned Hemme after a Chummer performed by Shark Boy.
TNA held a Falls Count Anywhere match next between Awesome Kong and ODB. Raisha Saeed accompanied Kong to the ring. The competitors fought throughout the crowd and around the ring before Kong won the match by picking up and slamming ODB back-first through a table at 10 minutes and 23 seconds.
The team of Abyss and Matt Morgan fought Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) in a Tag Team match at the event. The duration of the contest was 11 minutes and 33 seconds. Johnny Devine interfered in the contest on Team 3D's behalf, attacking Morgan with a steel chair before Abyss performed his signature Shock Treatment maneuver on him. Abyss won the bout for his team by slamming Devon back-first against the mat with his trademark Black Hole Slam maneuver.
The TNA X Division Championship was defended in a Three Way match by Petey Williams against Sheik Abdul Bashir and Consequences Creed next. Williams was accompanied by Rhaka Khan. The finish of the match saw Williams force Creed's head into the mat with his signature Canadian Destroyer maneuver. Bashir, who had been knocked to the ringside area, pulled Williams from the ring and threw him into the guardrail, thus preventing a pin attempt by Williams. Bashir then pinned Creed to win the TNA X Division Championship at 8 minutes and 15 seconds.
The fifth match was for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship, in which the champion Taylor Wilde defended against Angelina Love. Wilde was accompanied by Rhino to the ring, while Love was accompanied by Velvet Sky and Cute Kip. The bout lasted 6 minutes and 22 seconds. At one point in the contest, Kip attempted to interefere by aiding Love to only be met by Rhino who tackled Kip with his trademark Gore maneuver. Wilde won the bout by pinning Love following a Northern Lights suplex to retain the Women's Knockout Championship.
### Main Event matches
The Ladder of Love match for SoCal Val followed between Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal, which lasted 13 minutes and 19 seconds. In the bout, the only way to win was to climb a ladder and retrieve an engagement ring that hung above the ring, which symbolized winning SoCal Val's heart in the storyline. Early in the match, TNA commentator Mike Tenay announced that Salinas had been injured in an assault by Jacqueline and was taken to the hospital in the storyline. The competitors set up two ladders in the ring at one point, with one standing upright and the other positioned between two steps of the first and on the top rope. This led to Dutt placing Lethal on the bridged ladder, ascending a turnbuckle, and delivered an aerial senton splash to Lethal. Later, Dutt bridged a ladder over two chairs at ringside, then followed up by forcing Lethal back-first onto the ladder with a neckbreaker. Close to the end of the encounter, Dutt had Lethal positioned on top of two standing ladders when he climbed on top of Lethal and placed Lethal in a Camel Clutch submission hold. Lethal fought out of it and pushed Dutt off the ladder, causing him to land back-first onto the ring mat. Afterwards, Lethal got his leg stuck in between the ladder rungs, causing Val to enter the ring and help release him from his predicament. Dutt then yelled at Val for helping Lethal before climbing the ladder. Lethal checked on a visibly upset Val in the storyline before also climbing the ladder. Val then hit Lethal in the groin as he climbed, allowing Dutt to retrieve the ring and win the contest.
The TNA World Tag Team Championship was defended by Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) against The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide; LAX) in a Tag Team match afterwards. Beer Money, Inc. was accompanied by Jacqueline, while LAX was accompanied by Hector Guerrero. The duration of the contest was 8 minutes and 42 seconds. Early in the bout, Hernandez threw Homicide over the ring ropes to the outside onto a standing Storm and Roode. Later, Storm spat beer in the face of Hernandez and powerbombed him off the top of a turnbuckle to the mat below. Hernandez in return jumped over the rope to the outside onto Storm. The conclusion of the encounter saw Roode attempt to perform his signature Payoff maneuver on Homicide, only for Homicide to counter the move into his signature Gringo Stunner maneuver. Homicide then followed up by attempting to perform his trademark Da Gringo Killa maneuver, however, Jacqueline interfered in the bout throwing powder in Homicide's eyes. Roode performed the Payoff afterwards and pinned Homicide to retain the World Tag Team Championship for his team.
A Mixed Martial Arts match between A.J. Styles and Frank Trigg was the eighth contest of the show. This match lasted 6 minutes and 7 seconds. This bout was contested under mixed martial arts rules, but had a scripted finish. Half way through Round One, Styles and Trigg tumbled to the ringside area and continued to fight until security broke them up. The round ended with Styles having Trigg in an armbar submission hold, causing Styles to release the hold. The system feed broadcasting the show was interrupted at this time, upon its return it displayed a pornographic film, until the broadcast was fixed, returning to No Surrender. The feed returned to Styles and Trigg fighting in Round Two, with Styles grabbing a kendo stick from under the ring and assaulting Trigg with it. It was later shown that the bout was ruled a no contest by the referee due to Styles hitting Trigg in the groin by accident.
The main event was a Three Ways to Glory match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, in which the champion Samoa Joe defended against Christian Cage and Kurt Angle. Mid-way through the encounter, Angle held Joe in his signature Ankle lock submission hold when Cage tried to break up the hold, only to have Angle place Cage in the hold as well, resulting in Angle having both Joe and Cage in the Ankle Lock simultaneously. Both Cage and Joe broke out of the submission, tossing Angle to the outside area. Later, Joe attempted to perform his signature Muscle Buster maneuver on Angle, with Angle countering the move into his signature Olympic slam maneuver. Cage followed by hitting a frog splash aerial maneuver from the top of a turnbuckle onto Joe. He threw Angle from the ring, performed his signature Unprettier maneuver on Joe, and covered Joe for a pin attempt. Angle pulled the referee Earl Hebner from the ring and threw him into a ringside barricade. Angle grabbed a chair and attacked Cage and Joe with it. He knocked out Cage first then placed Joe in the Ankle lock. Jeff Jarrett then returned to TNA television by smashing a guitar over the head of Angle. Joe performed the Muscle Buster on Angle and followed by pinning Angle as the referee returned to the ring at 15 minutes and 27 seconds to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
## Reception
A total of 3,500 people attended No Surrender, while The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that 20,000 people bought the event. The show was reviewed by two contributors of the Canadian Online Explorer's SLAM! Sports, Jason Clevett and Kenai Andrews, with Andrews providing a live attendance review. Clevett rated the entire event a 3 out of 10, which was lower than the 7 out of 10 given to the 2007 edition by Chris Sokol. 7 out of 10 was also given to the 2009 edition by Bob Kapur. Bound for Glory IV also received a 7 out of 10 by Chris Sokol and Bryan Sokol. Compared to rival World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Unforgiven PPV event on September 7, Unforgiven performed better as it received a 7 out of 10 from Matt Bishop. Clevett also rated the matches out of 10, with his highest rating going to the Ladder of Love match, which he gave an 8 out of 10. The main event received a 6 out of 10, the Mixed Martial Arts bout was given a 0 out of 10, the X Division Championship match got a 7 out of 10, while the World Tag Team match received a 5 out of 10.
Overall, Clevett was disappointed by the event, making several comments regarding the quality of the show. In his closing comments, Clevett wrote that he "once considered himself a huge wrestling fan" but shows "like tonight make him question his dedication anymore," before revealing that he wanted "his money and three hours back." When discussing the A.J. Styles versus Frank Trigg encounter, Clevett stated that "the chant “this is b.s.” should never, ever be heard during an A.J. Styles match, the man is far too talented to ever have fans react in such a manner. However, that is exactly what the crowd at GM Place in Oshawa, Ontario, chanted during his “MMA” bout with Frank Trigg. TNA’s pay per view debut in Canada was one of the weakest shows in recent memory, overwhelmed by horrible overbooking by TNA that once again proves that they do not know what their fanbase wants." For the X Division Championship contest, Clevett discussed various issues such as Bashir's entrance music and the match quality: "I watched this show with a friend who moved here from the U.S., and we shared our disgust with Bashir’s theme music opening with the sound of a plane crashing. TNA has probably lost a few viewers at that lame attempt to garner heat." However, he felt the match was a "highlight of the show with some fast paced-solid wrestling" but that it lost a rating point for the "lousy finish." He also believed the Ladder of Love match was another "highlight of the show" despite the "terrible angle that has surrounded the feud between the two over SoCal Val." He said the two competitors "busted their asses" but that the match "should have been showcased in New Jersey last month in front of Lethal’s hometown crowd" at the Hard Justice PPV event. However, he gave credit to the two involved for "coming up with some incredibly creative spots" that got the crowd to cheer and chant "This is awesome" despite the ladder match genre having "become rather tired and overdone." Regarding the World Tag Team match, Clevett thought it "should have been held off a month" since "it really doesn’t mean much so soon after the title change." However, he felt the "four men worked hard and it was a decent tag match, but by this point the show wasn’t salvageable." As for the main event, he commented that the "match itself was solid, but felt like all three men were going through the motions" since the "three have wrestled each other so many times in the past year, it doesn’t feel fresh or exciting." He also said he could not "remember many specifics of the match, and considering the talent level that is surprising." He also expressed his disappointment in the finish, that he tried to remember "the last time a TNA main event ended without some kind of interference, guitar shot, or overbooking" but he could not.
Andrews discussed the experience of witnessing the show live along with the crowd reaction during his review. He did not give any event or match ratings, but did provide comments on the quality of the event. Andrews mentioned that the TNA President Dixie Carter was present "earnestly signed autographs" and interacting "with fans in the pre-amble" which he said they "seemed to love mingling with her and her eyes beamed when told SLAM! Wrestling was present covering the show." He stated the "crowd anticipation was decent, with many fans looking forward to "Four ways to Glory," but wondering if Booker T would show, due to Hurricane Ike making landfall in Houston, Texas, Booker's hometown" with no announcement being "made to the arena crowd about Booker T being there one way or another." Also that the "energy through most of the show had an ordinary quality, bobbing unevenly between good and bland. Sting’s opening promo were greeted warmly and Curry Man’s comical segments with Christy Hemme tickled the crowd. They also gushed over Petey Williams and his Maple Leaf Muscle, The Beautful[sic] People and Taylor Wilde, and the Jay Lethal versus Sonjay Dutt ladder match." Andrews said "the crowd came alive and actively participated throughout" those matches with the energy level being "high." Conversely, he stated that "ODB and Kong’s match was a slow-paced affair, and Beer Money Inc. - LAX tag team title match was notable only for James Storm and Jacqueline's coherent performances given their injuries at the TNA London house show the night before." The Mixed Martial Arts bout "annoyed the action-hungry fans, not wanting to endure the chess style patience that MMA can be known for. It was probably a harsh reaction, as the extremely small vocal minority thought the MMA choreography was well done, mimicking a good blend of both men trying to impose their style on the other. Ultimately, that opinion was squashed, symbolized by Styles beating Trigg with a kendo stick after the match." He felt that Booker T's absence "seemed to dampen any mystique "Four ways to Glory" had going for it" with the main event being "lacklustre[sic]" despite Christian Cage’s entrance maintaining the "aura of the grand spectacle everyone was hoping the match would be." He said it still a "solid match put on by the combatants, but one that was very familiar, prompting one fan to coin the bout "3 the Hard Way." Even Jeff Jarrett’s run-in couldn’t get a notable rise out of the crowd. Not bad and not great." However, he stated that it was "hard to ignore the grumblings about the main event in the tunnels and down Athol St." He concluded his review by writing that the "card from a ringside experience perspective was hurt by the ordinary main event, turning a possibly good and memorable show into an average one."
Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter rated the matches out of five stars in his review of the show. For the main event, Keller gave it 3 1/4 stars and said it was a "good match" and that the "booking made sense within TNA's style, but it's yet another example of a match ending only after obvious outside interference." As for the Styles versus Trigg bout, Keller did not give it a rating and did not comment on the quality of the match, instead focused on the feed interruption, stating that the "brief image of the naked women will be talked about for years as one of the funniest blunders on pro wrestling PPV, and not so funny for parents watching with their kids." He gave the World Tag Team Championship match 1 1/4 stars calling it a "basic match" with "nothing wrong with it" despite the highpoints being late "it felt like a match to cool down the crowd after the ladder match" with another finish that conditioned "viewers to never consider a pinfall attempt a serious potential finish until there's some sort of interference - such as powder from Jackie this time." The Ladder of Love match was given 3 3/4 stars with Keller saying it was a "really good ladder match" with the competitors managing to "really innovate and not rely on the standard ladder spots we've seen so often before" but that the finish "made no sense that Val would save Lethal seconds before turning on him. It's one of those things that's done for drama that doesn't seem the least bit realistic." Lastly, Keller discussed the X Division Championship match, which he gave 2 1/2 stars and also commented on Bashir's entrance music calling it "among the most scummy promoting tactics in history" believing it was "beyond words how absolutely disgusting it is." Also saying that it is "the type of thing that should put a risk their deals with Spike TV and InDemand, it's that bad. Coming three days after the anniversary makes it worse, but it really isn't acceptable on any day."
## Aftermath
Since Sting announced that he would challenge for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound for Glory IV and Samoa Joe retained the championship at No Surrender, TNA scheduled the two to fight for the title. This feud was connected to the company wide narrative involving the rivalry between wrestling veterans and the next generation of wrestlers. Also connected to that narrative was the feud between Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle. Jarrett and Angle became involved after Jarrett accused the veterans in the company of trying to keep the next generation from being stars and refusing to retire. Angle challenged Jarrett to a match at Bound for Glory IV for these comments and for Jarrett assaulting him with a guitar at No Surrender. Jarrett refused at first but later accepted the challenge on the September 25 episode of Impact!. Mick Foley was announced as the Special Ringside Enforcer for the Jarrett versus Angle bout on the October 2 Impact! episode. Meanwhile, Sting and Joe signed the contract for their encounter on the October 9 episode of Impact!, with the stipulation added that there would be no rematch between the two after the event. Sting went on to win the title at the show, while Jarrett defeated Angle.
A.J. Styles, Booker T, and Christian Cage all went on to feud heading into Bound for Glory IV. This bout was also connected to the above narrative, with Cage being neutral in the storyline and both camps trying to recruit him to their group. After various miscommunications in matches involving the three wrestlers, Management Director Jim Cornette announced Booker T versus Styles with Cage as Special Guest Referee as the main event of the October 9 episode of Impact! to settle the issue. Styles defeated Booker T during the show, with Cage assaulting both wrestlers after the contest. Cornette then promoted a Three Way match between the three at Bound for Glory. Booker T won the contest at the event.
The TNA World Tag Team Championship went on to be defended in a Four Way Tag Team Monster's Ball match by Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) against the team of Abyss and Matt Morgan, The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide; LAX), and Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray). On the September 18 episode of Impact!, Matt Morgan announced that TNA were holding a Tag Team Invitational Tournament at Bound for Glory and that he had signed up himself and his partner Abyss for the contest. Team 3D interrupted Morgan and revealed that they were also involved in the tournament. On the same telecast, Beer Money, Inc. and Jacqueline assaulted Héctor Guerrero. On the September 25 episode of Impact!, Team 3D announced that the match between them and the team of Morgan and Abyss was made a Monster's Ball match. On the same telecast, Beer Money, Inc. defeated LAX in a bout with the stipulation that the losing team lost their manager. This meant that Guerrero could no longer manage LAX in the storyline. On the October 2 episode of Impact!, Management Director Jim Cornette announced that the originally scheduled tournament was cancelled. Instead, TNA was holding a Four Way Tag Team Monster's Ball match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship between the above teams at Bound for Glory IV. TNA issued a press release announcing that Steve McMichael would be the Special Guest Referee for this match after it was promoted for the event. Beer Money, Inc. retained the championship during the telecast.
The TNA X Division Championship was defended by Sheik Abdul Bashir against Consequences Creed at Bound for Glory IV. On the October 9 episode of Impact!, Creed won a Four Way match to challenge Bashir for the title at Bound for Glory, defeating Sonjay Dutt, Williams, and Jay Lethal in the process. Bashir retained the title at the event. During the No Surrender telecast, the commentators Mike Tenay and Don West announced that LAX's manager Salinas had been attacked backstage and was sent to the hospital. In reality, Salinas had quit the company and decided against appearing at No Surrender.
## Results
## See also
- 2008 in professional wrestling |
269,883 | John Glenn Columbus International Airport | 1,173,155,143 | Airport in Columbus, Ohio, United States | [
"1929 establishments in Ohio",
"Airports established in 1929",
"Airports in Ohio",
"Buildings and structures in Columbus, Ohio",
"John Glenn",
"Transportation buildings and structures in Franklin County, Ohio",
"Transportation in Columbus, Ohio"
]
| John Glenn Columbus International Airport is an international airport located 6 miles (9.7 km) east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as Port Columbus International Airport, it is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which also oversees operations at Rickenbacker International Airport and Bolton Field. The airport code "CMH" stands for "Columbus Municipal Hangar," the original name of the airport.
John Glenn Columbus International Airport is primarily a passenger airport. It provides 148 non-stop flights to 31 airports via nine airlines daily.
On May 25, 2016, the Ohio General Assembly passed a bill to rename the airport from Port Columbus International Airport to its current name, in honor of astronaut and four-term U.S. senator John Glenn. The name change was unanimously approved by the airport's nine-member board on May 24, 2016. Ohio Governor John Kasich signed the bill into law on June 14, 2016, with the name change becoming official 90 days later. On June 28, 2016, a celebration of the renaming was held and new signage bearing the airport's new name was unveiled.
## History
### Early history
The airport opened July 8, 1929 as the Port Columbus Airport on a site selected by Charles Lindbergh, as the eastern air terminus of the Transcontinental Air Transport air-rail New York to Los Angeles transcontinental route. Passengers traveled overnight on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Airway Limited from New York to Columbus; by air from Columbus to Waynoka, Oklahoma; by rail again on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe from Waynoka to Clovis, New Mexico; and by air from Clovis to Los Angeles. The original terminal building and hangars remain; the hangars are still in use, but the old terminal sits derelict.
During World War II, most of the facility was taken over by the U.S. Navy, which established Naval Air Station Columbus in 1942. NAS Columbus was closed and the facility relinquished back to civilian authorities in 1946. Also, during the war, the government established a government-owned aviation factory on the grounds of the airport known as Air Force Factory 85, eventually operated by North American Aviation. The plant produced the F-100 Super Saber, RA-5 Vigilante, T-2 Buckeye, T-28 Trojan, OV-10 Bronco and T-39 Sabreliner.
The diagram on the February 1951 Coast & Geodetic Survey instrument-approach chart shows runways 006/186 3550 ft long, 052/232 4400 ft, 096/276 4500 ft, and 127/307 5030 ft.
A new \$12 million terminal building opened on September 21, 1958. Jet airline flights (American 707s) started in April 1964.
### Historical airline service
The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 72 airline departures each weekday: 41 TWA, 16 American, 6 Eastern, 6 Lake Central and 3 Piedmont.
The first major airline to fly into Columbus was TWA, and it kept a presence at Columbus over 70 years during the era of airline regulation. TWA offered a club for exclusive passengers up until 2000 when America West took over a gate held by TWA and the club itself due to financial problems. The site of the club is now Eddie George‘s 27 grille.
Columbus was formerly a hub of America West Airlines in the 1990s, but the company closed the hub in 2003 due to financial losses and the post 9/11-decline in air travel.
The airport was the home base of short-lived Skybus Airlines, which began operations from Columbus on May 22, 2007. The airline touted themselves as the cheapest airline in the United States, offering a minimum of ten seats for \$10 each on every flight. Skybus ceased operations April 4, 2008.
### Recent improvements
A \$70 million renovation of airport facilities, designed by Brubaker/Brandt, was initiated in 1979 for the airport's 50th anniversary and completed in 1981. This upgraded the airport's capacity to 250 flights per day by adding what is known today as Concourse B and added fully enclosed jetways at every gate. Ten years later in 1989, a second, \$15.5 million, seven-gate south concourse (now Concourse A) was dedicated. The concourse was used exclusively by US Airways at the time, and later housed hubs for both America West Airlines until 2003, and Skybus Airlines until they shut it down in 2008 due to their bankruptcy. A north concourse was completed in 1996, which is now Concourse C, and was expanded in 2002.
Between 1998 and 2000, numerous airport expansion and renovation projects were completed, including a \$25 million terminal renovation in 1998 that included additional retail shops, new flight information displays, enhanced lighting, upgraded flooring, and a new food court. Also, new hangars and office spaces were completed for NetJets in 1999, as well as a \$92 million parking garage including an underground terminal entrance, new rental car facilities, dedicated ground transportation area, improved eight-lane terminal access on two levels, and a new atrium and entrances in 2000, which were designed by URS Corporation.
On April 25, 2004, a new 195-foot (59 m) control tower directed its first aircraft. This began several major facility enhancements to be constructed through 2025. On October 21, 2010, a new arrivals/departures board replaced the old one in the main entrance area
Columbus began its Terminal Modernization Program in late 2012, which included new terrazzo flooring throughout the airport, new ceilings, new restrooms, more TSA security lanes, and new LED lighting. Construction started on Concourse A in late 2012 and was completed throughout the terminal in early 2016.
In 2013, the airport completed a \$140 million runway improvement that moved the south runway farther from the north runway. This created a buffer distance that enables simultaneous takeoffs and landings on the north and south runways, increasing air traffic volume. Columbus mayor Michael B. Coleman commented, "As the city grows, the airport needs to grow with it."
In 2019, construction began on a new car rental facility at the airport, with an estimated budget of \$140 million. This facility moves car rental out of the parking garage, opening up more spaces for travelers. The new building opened in late 2021, and utilizes electric buses to transport passengers.
### Recent history
Many airlines introduced new routes in the late 2010s, with the addition of Alaska Airlines with one daily flight to Seattle. Occasionally, larger aircraft that the airport is not used to receiving on a regular basis, such as the Boeing 767 and 777, are chartered through John Glenn and serviced by Lane Aviation.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many new, current, and to-be-expanded routes were canceled or reduced. Air Canada temporarily suspended service to Columbus, while airlines such as United, American, and Delta used smaller aircraft for some of their mainline routes. Many of these routes saw an increase of service in mid-2021 as restrictions lifted and demand for air travel grew.
Startup Breeze Airways also selected Columbus as one of its launch destinations in July with five routes. The airline added additional routes from the airport in May 2023. Sun Country Airlines announced a plan to fly to the airport during the 2023 summer season.
Plans have been in development for many years for a new terminal, set to begin construction in 2024 to replace the current, aging building, beginning with the new car rental facility completed in 2021. As such, these plans involve a complete relocation of major on-site facilities, such as Lane Aviation's entire complex, in order to accommodate the project. The new terminal is suggested to house roughly 40 gates, 6 more than the current terminal capacity (2 of which intended for international arrivals), and would be one interconnected structure rather than three separate concourses inaccessible to each other past security.
In spring 2023, the airport prepared for a record travel summer matching traffic levels from before the COVID-19 pandemic.
## Facilities
### Terminal
#### Commercial Terminal
John Glenn Columbus International Airport has one terminal with three concourses, and a total of 34 gates. Non-precleared international flights are processed in Concourse C, which contains the airports customs facility.
- Concourse A contains 7 gates, and is used primarily by Southwest Airlines.
- Concourse B contains 16 gates, and is used primarily by American Airlines, Air Canada, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines.
- Concourse C contains 11 gates, and is used primarily by Alaska Airlines, Breeze Airways, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines.
#### General Aviation Terminals
The airport has two fixed-base operators, which offer fuel (both avgas and jet fuel), aircraft parking, conference rooms, crew lounges, snooze rooms, showers, courtesy transportation, and more.
### Ground transportation
The airport is accessible directly by taking exit number nine on Interstate 670 to International Gateway. Alternatively, drivers can also get to the airport from the east via Hamilton Road, just south of Interstate 270, and enter at Sawyer Road or from the west via Stelzer Road.
Connected to the terminal is a six-story parking garage that provides long-term and short-term parking. Lower cost satellite parking options, with continuous free shuttle service, can be found in the Blue, Red and Green parking lots along International Gateway. The Blue lot is the closest to the terminal and also offers some covered parking. The cost of parking a car in the blue lot is \$9 per 24 hours. The Red Lot costs \$7 per 24 hours and the green lost costs \$5 per 24 hours to park. The Green lot is the furthest away from the terminal. Additionally, there is a free cell phone lot accessed from the outbound side of International Gateway.
The Columbus Metropolitan Area's bus service, the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), has two bus services between the airport and downtown Columbus. AirConnect, a service that began in 2016, stops at the arrival and departure levels every 30 minutes. COTA's 7 Mt. Vernon route is operated from downtown, with every other bus serving either the airport or Easton Transit Center.
The GoBus Rural Inter-City Bus Service operates a thrice daily schedule to Athens, via Lancaster, Logan, and Nelsonville.
Inbound taxi services operate through numerous taxi businesses in the Columbus area. A number of taxi services provide outbound transportation in the taxi lane.
### Other facilities
In 2001, Executive Jet Aviation (now known as NetJets), opened up a 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m<sup>2</sup>) operational headquarters.
In November 2006, Skybus Airlines began leasing 100,000 square feet (9,300 m<sup>2</sup>) of office and hangar facilities at the Columbus International AirCenter adjacent to the airport.
Regional carrier Republic Airways operates a large crew and maintenance base at the airport.
The airport has its own police and fire departments (ARFF-C).
## Airlines and destinations
## Statistics
### Top destinations
### Airline market share
### Airport traffic
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2021, the airport had 98,185 aircraft movements, an average of 269 per day. This was 65% commercial, 19% general aviation, 16% air taxi, and \<1% military. For the same time period, 88 aircraft were based at the airport: 50 jets, 27 single-enigne and 9 multi-engine airplanes, and 2 helicopters.
### Annual passenger traffic
## Accidents and incidents
- On June 27, 1954, an American Airlines Convair CV-240 (N94263) from Dayton International Airport was on approach to Runway 27 at 300 feet (91 m) when the left side of the plane collided with a US Navy Beechcraft SNB-2C Navigator (BuA23773), also on approach. The Convair recovered and landed, though the nose gear collapsed on landing. The Beechcraft crashed short of the runway, killing two on board. The probable cause was attributed to a "traffic control situation created by the tower local controller which he allowed to continue without taking the necessary corrective action. A contributing factor was the failure of both crews to detect this situation by visual and/or aural vigilance."
- On January 7, 1994, United Express Flight 6291, a BAe Jetstream 41 being operated by Atlantic Coast Airlines, was on approach to runway 28L when it entered into a stall at 430 feet (130 m) above runway level. The aircraft collided with a stand of trees and came to rest inside a commercial building 1.2 miles (1.9 km) short of the runway and burst into flames. The accident killed all three crewmembers and two of five passengers. The probable cause was attributed to "(1) An aerodynamic stall that occurred when the flight crew allowed the airspeed to decay to stall speed following a very poorly planned and executed approach characterized by an absence of procedural discipline; (2) Improper pilot response to the stall warning, including failure to advance the power levers to maximum, and inappropriately raising the flaps; (3) Flight crew experience in 'glass cockpit' automated aircraft, aircraft type and in seat position, a situation exacerbated by a side letter of agreement between the company and its pilots; and (4) the company's failure to provide adequate stabilized approach criteria, and the FAA's failure to require such criteria. Member Vogt concluded that the last factor was contributory but not causal to the accident. Additionally, for the following two factors, Chairman Hall and Member Lauber concluded that they were causal to the accident, while Members Vogt and Hammerschmidt concluded they were contributory to the accident: (5) The company's failure to provide adequate crew resource management training, and the FAA's failure to require such training; and (6) the unavailability of suitable training simulators that precluded fully effective flight crew training."
- On April 23, 1998, a Beech 58 was destroyed and consumed by fire after it collided with terrain during approach to the CMH airport. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the pilot's inadequate planned approach and his failure to follow wake turbulence avoidance procedures by not staying above the glide-path of the preceding Boeing 757, which resulted in a vortex turbulence encounter.
- On September 26, 2005, a Cessna 560XL Citation Excel sustained substantial damage when the nose landing gear collapsed during taxi for takeoff at CMH. The cause for the collapse could not be determined.
- On October 7, 2007, a Cessna 210C Centurion sustained substantial damage during a gear-up landing following a loss of hydraulic system fluid. The pilot stated that the landing gear did not extend when he attempted to lower it during landing approach. The pilot then used the "emergency pump system" and noticed that only the main landing gear partially extended. The flaps did not extend. The pilot subsequently reported performing a gear-up landing. The probable cause of the accident was found to be a hydraulic system pump leak, which resulted in the failure of the emergency landing gear system to extend and lock the landing gear for landing and the flap system.
- On December 13, 2010, a Piaggio P180's flight controls became bound during approach to the airport. During descent, the pilots noted that the yaw damper disengaged while the autopilot remained on, and the captain instructed the first officer, who was the pilot flying at the time, to check the freedom of the flight controls; all appeared to be "frozen" in place. The flightcrew exerted enough pressure until the controls broke free with a snap, but even after, the controls remained stiff and sticky for the remainder of the flight. The crew completed a normal approach and landing into CMH. A post flight inspection by maintenance personnel revealed ice in the fuselage belly area of frame 36 and around the primary flight control cables and pulleys in that area. The probable cause of the incident was found to be the failure of water to properly drain through the fuselage drain holes, thus becoming trapped and freezing around the flight control cables, which resulted in the loss of control authority to the airplane's ailerons, elevator, and rudder.
- On August 26, 2012, an EVEKTOR-AEROTECHNIK As Sportstar experienced a brake failure on departure from Columbus. The pilot attempted to correct the turn by applying right rudder pedal, but the airplane veered off onto the grass. The airplane then pivoted 180 degrees, came back onto the taxiway surface and came to rest. he composite fracture surface showed discoloration consistent with a previous crack to that area of the strut. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the failure of the right main landing gear strut due to a preexisting crack.
- On April 23, 2023, an American Airlines Boeing 737 made an emergency landing at the airport after encountering a bird strike during takeoff from the airport.
## See also
- Brushstrokes in Flight |
3,731,271 | Selena Live! | 1,153,001,563 | null | [
"1993 live albums",
"Albums produced by A.B. Quintanilla",
"Albums recorded at Q-Productions",
"EMI Latin live albums",
"Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album",
"Selena live albums",
"Spanish-language live albums",
"Tejano Music Award winners for Album of the Year"
]
| Live! or Selena Live! is a live album by American Tejano pop singer Selena, which was released on May 4, 1993, by EMI Latin. The album was re-released on September 22, 2002, as being part of the Selena: 20 Years of Music collection; which included spoken liner notes by her family, friends and her former band members Selena y Los Dinos. Live! includes three cumbia-influenced studio tracks, while the rest of the album consists of live versions of previously released songs. The album was recorded during a free concert at the Memorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi, Texas, on February 7, 1993. It was certified gold (Latin type) by the Recording Industry Association of America in its first year, double platinum in 1995, and 8× platinum in 2017.
Live! led Selena to win a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Album at the 36th Grammy Awards, the first Tejano musician to do so. It had won two awards from the 1994 Billboard Latin Music Awards, and three awards at the 1994 Tejano Music Awards. Live! peaked at number one on the US Regional Mexican Albums, number two on the Top Latin Albums and number 79 on the Billboard 200. Soon after the release of Live!, the album received mostly positive reviews from music critics who claimed the album was "foreshadowing" Amor Prohibido (1994), and that Selena was the Mexican equivalent of Madonna. The album spawned three singles, which were simultaneously in the top five positions on the Hot Latin Tracks chart.
## Production and development
In early 1993, Abraham Quintanilla Jr.—band manager and father of Selena, A.B. Quintanilla, and Suzette Quintanilla—sent in a request for EMI Latin to release a live album. After the company accepted, Abraham rented out the Memorial Coliseum for February 7, 1993. It was advertised in local newspapers, while an unspecified number of tickets were given to radio programmers and deejays in South Texas for their giveaway promotions.
## Synopsis
The show featured Selena y Los Dinos; Selena as lead vocals along with backup vocalist Pete Astudillo, A.B. on bass, Suzette on drums, the singer's husband Chris Perez on electric guitar, Ricky Vela and Joe Ojeda on keyboards. There was no set list for the show, the band performed live in front of 3,000 and free-flowed with A.B. choosing the songs that the band would perform. The show began with the songs "Como la Flor" and "Baila Esta Cumbia", the singer asked Suzette's fiance Billy Arriaga on stage to perform with her.
According to Perez, the band performed an unspecified number of songs that night that were ultimately left out of the album. He explained in a 2002 interview how one of those songs included the original version of "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom," which was later released on Amor Prohibido in 1994 .
## Song structure and lyrical content
"No Debes Jugar", the lead single from Live!, was written and produced by A.B. Quintanilla, Selena's brother and the producer of her music, lead keyboardist for the band Ricky Vela, and Bebu Silvetti, an Argentine music producer. "No Debes Jugar" is a Mexican cumbia rock song that centers the organ as its musical instrument foundation. Ramiro Burr of the Houston Chronicle stated that Selena blended Mexican polka rhythms with melodic, synth-driven pop hooks in "No Debes Jugar" and "La Llamada". "No Debes Jugar" received a Song of the Year nomination at the 1994 Tejano Music Awards. "No Debes Jugar" is performed on F major with 89 beats per minute. Lyrically the song describes a woman whose life is centered on being unappreciated by her boyfriend. Tired and ready to do anything, she finally stands up for herself announcing that she is done playing around and threatens to leave. It peaked at number three on the US Hot Latin Tracks, Latin Regional Mexican Airplay and the Latin Pop Airplay charts simultaneously.
"La Llamada", the second promotional single released from Live!, was written and produced by Quintanilla III and Astudillo. Howard Blumenthal wrote in his book The world music CD listener's guide that "La Llamada" is an "energetic" song. It is set in A major with 90 beats per minute. "La Llamada" describes a woman telling her boyfriend over the phone that she saw him kissing another girl, while her boyfriend tries to persuade to her that it was not him. It peaked at number five on the Hot Latin Tracks, number six on the Latin Regional Mexican Airplay and number eight on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. "Tú Robaste Mi Corazón" is a duet with "The King of Tejano music" singer Emilio Navaira. It was released as the second promotional single from Live! and was written and produced by Quintanilla III, Vela and Silvetti. Blumenthal wrote in his book that the song is a "great love duet". Paul Verna wrote that Selena's fans were "not growing weary" of "Como Quisiera" (Preciosa) and "Tú Robaste Mi Corazón". He also noted that the two songs were "slow-paced love songs" and were potential singles from the posthumous album Siempre Selena (1996). "Tú Robaste Mi Corazón" is composed in the key F major with 130 beats per minute. The song describes a woman and a man finding harmony and love in each other while also feeling emotions never felt before in their lives. "Tú Robaste Mi Corazón" peaked at number five on the Hot Latin Tracks, number eight on the Latin Regional Mexican Airplay and number six on the Latin Pop Airplay charts.
## Critical reception
Sarah M. Misemer wrote in her book Secular saints: performing Frida Kahlo, Carlos Gardel, Eva Perón, and Selena that Live! and Amor Prohibido (1994) were the two most successful albums of Selena's career. Joey Guerra of Amazon.com wrote that Live! is a "sizzling reminder of [Selena's] electric stage charisma and blossoming talent as a performer". Guerra also stated that the songs performed live had showcased Selena's "uncanny ability to infuse a love song with both girlish innocence and a heated sexuality". He noted that "Como La Flor", "Baila Esta Cumbia" and "La Carcacha" were examples of his claims. He also states that any listener can feel the "heat seeping through your speakers". Guerra ended his review stating that Live! "foreshadows" Amor Prohibido (1994). Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote that Live! had offered proof of Selena being an "energetic [and] exciting performer". Erlewine noted that Selena performed live versions of her "most popular numbers" in front of an "enthusiastic audience". Erlewine ended his review stating that Live! had "capture[d] some of that energy and shows why she was so popular". Shortly after the album's release music critics began calling Selena the Mexican equivalent of Madonna.
### Awards and nominations
Live! was the first Tejano album to have won a Grammy Award. The album won the Best Mexican-American Album at the 1994 ceremony. EMI Latin's president believed Selena was ready to record and release a crossover album that would have catapulted her career into the English-language market. Selena was then signed with SBK Records in November 1993, however, recording for the album would not begin until a year later. In May 1994, Live! was named Album of the Year by the Billboard Latin Music Awards. The album also led Selena to win Regional Mexican Vocalist of the Year. At the 1994 Tejano Music Awards, Selena won Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year – Orchestra and was named Female Entertainer of The Year, while the album was nominated for Record of the Year. At the 1994 Lo Nuestro Awards, it was nominated Regional Mexican Album of the Year.
## Commercial performance
Live! was released on May 4, 1993. It was certified gold (Latin type) by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 100,000 copies in the United States its first year. On April 22, 1995, the album debuted at number 146 on the US Billboard 200 chart following Selena's murder the month prior. The album peaked at number 79 on May 13, 1995, before it slipped off the chart on June 3, 1995. Live! debuted at number four on the Top Latin Albums chart, it then peaked at number three within three months of its release. The album remained on the chart, taking the top 20 spots. Live! temporarily slipped off the charts and re-entered at number 47 in January 1995, before it went off the chart again. The album took the third spot on the chart following Selena's murder. A week later, the album peaked at number two before it hovered the top ten spots and then slipped off the charts a year later. In 1997, Live! was then certified double platinum (Latin type) for shipments of 200,000 copies. Live! debuted at number eight on the Latin Regional Mexican Albums chart, then slipped off the charts for nearly a month. It reentered and peaked at number one for seven consecutive weeks. The album remained in the top 10 for two years. The album went to number two following Selena's murder. Live! sold more than 250,000 copies in Mexico.
## Track listing
- Track listing were adapted from Allmusic.
## Personnel
Credits are taken from the album's liner notes.
Managerial
- A&R – José Behar
- Producer – A.B. Quintanilla III, Bebu Silvetti
- Executive producer – Jorge Alberto Pino, Abraham Quintanilla Jr.
- Marketing – José Behar, Suzette Quintanilla
- Management – José Behar
Performance credits
- Vocals – Selena Quintanilla-Pérez
Visuals and imagery
- Art direction – Lisette Lorenzo
- Clothing design – Selena, Martin Gomez
- Hair stylist – Rosa Sullivan, Mark Duncan
- Make-up – Lisette Lorenzo
- Photography – Maurice Rinaldi
- Stylist – Martin Gomez
Instruments
- Drums – Suzette Quintanilla
- Guitar- Chris Pérez, A.B. Quintanilla III, Henry Gomez
- Keyboards – Joe Ojeda, Ricky Vela
- Accordion- Johnny Saenz
- Trumpet – Rene Gasca
- Trombone – Gilbert Garza
- Bajo Sexto – A.B. Quintanilla III
Technical and production
- Arrangement – Joe Ojeda, Chris Perez, Ricky Vela
- Songwriters – A.B. Quintanilla III, Selena, Ricky Vela, Pete Astudillo, Chris Perez, Jorge Luis Borrego, Chrissie Hynde, Barrio Boyzz, K. C Porter, Miguel Flores, Suzette Quintanilla, Abraham Quintanilla Jr,
- Engineering – Brian "Red" Moore, Malcolm Harper, Ron Morales, Mark Sadler
- Engineering assistants – Suzette Quintanilla, Abraham Quintanilla Jr
- Executive producers – Jorge Alberto Pino
- Mastering - Bob Ludwig
- Mixing – Manny Guerra, Ron Morales, Mark Sadler
- Mixing assistants – A.B. Quintanilla III
- Production – A.B. Quintanilla III, José Behar, Jorge Alberto Pino, Guillermo Johnson Page, Gregg Vickers, Brain "Red" Moore
- Liner notes: Suzette Quintanilla, Nir Seroussi
- Concept: Gregg Vickers
- Reissue Producer: Guillermo J. Page
## Charts and certifications
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
### Certifications and sales
## See also
- 1993 in Latin music |
14,669,183 | Adentro | 1,171,963,705 | null | [
"2005 albums",
"Albums produced by Tommy Torres",
"Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album",
"Latin Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Album",
"Ricardo Arjona albums",
"Sony BMG Norte albums",
"Spanish-language albums"
]
| Adentro (English: Inside) is the tenth studio album by Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona, released on December 6, 2005, by Sony Music Entertainment. Recorded in the United States and Mexico, the album was produced by Arjona himself, as well as Dan Warner and Lee Levin (under their stage name Los Gringos), Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Tommy Torres, and long-time collaborator Carlos Cabral Jr. The album marks the first collaboration between Arjona and Cabral, who would subsequently become a regular contributor in following albums by the singer.
Arjona experimented with prominent Latin sounds for Adentro, such as Mexican and Tejano music on "Mojado", as well as some Colombian and bachata elements on "Adiós Melancolía". Adentro was named "Arjona's most personal album", and his performance style was classified as "confident", with a "relevant-as-ever lyricism". It was named best Latin Pop Album for 2007 at the 49th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
Adentro became Arjona's fifth consecutive album to reach the top ten on the US Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, peaking at number three. On the Latin Pop Albums chart, it attained a peak of number two. Adentro was certified two times Platinum in Mexico, five times Platinum in Argentina and two times Platinum (Latin) in the United States. As of February 2006, the album has sold more than one million copies worldwide.
Five singles were released from the album. American lead single, "Acompañame A Estar Solo", became Arjona's fifth number-one single on the US Billboard Latin Pop Songs chart, and reached number seven on the Latin Songs chart. Mexican lead single "Mojado", featuring Mexican band Intocable, became a moderate success, as well as second American single "Pingüinos En La Cama", which single version features Spanish singer Chenoa. "A Ti" followed as the fourth single, peaking at number three on the Latin Pop Songs chart. "De Vez En Mes" was released as the fifth and final single from the album. To promote the album, Arjona embarked on a world tour, the Adentro Tour.
## Recording and composition
This was the first time Arjona collaborated with Tommy Torres. In an interview with Billboard magazine, the singer commented that he first "tested" Torres by sending him the "hookiest and darkest tracks" on the album, "Acompañame A Estar Solo" and "Iluso". Torres said that he "went all out on the first demo, hiring a full band that included a string orchestra", which grabbed the attention of Arjona. Arjona further commented that Adentro was "a very representative and tremendously complete album," adding that "having different producers made it rich in possibilities."
Evan Gutierrez from AllMusic considered the record's instrumentation, performance, and overall sonic palette to be "minimalist" and "unassuming". Arjona experimented with prominent Latin sounds for Adentro, such as Mexican and Tejano music on "Mojado", a duet with Mexican band Intocable about immigration. Ricky Muñoz, the vocalist of the group, said that the group met Arjona in Monterrey, and that they were in contact with Arjona through Carlos Cabral, one of Adentro's producers, who had also worked with them formerly. Muñoz additionally reflected: "We admire Arjona. We liked the song and then we recorded it [with him]. It is very cool that he invited us [as featured artists]." "Adiós Melancolía" is mainly composed as a bachata song with Colombian influences. "No Te Cambio Por Nada" is intermittently rock-dabbled. The lyrics of "De Vez En Mes" pertain to a woman's menstruation.
## Promotion
In 2006, Arjona commenced the first leg of his world tour, named the Adentro Tour, to promote the album. The tour resumed in 2007 for a second leg, in which he visited more countries. Approximately two million people attended his concerts throughout his world tour. The tour officially closed in front of more than 100,00 people during the International Fair on 14 September 2007, in the mainland city of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. In the United States, the tour had an attendance of 134,000 people, and grossed \$8.2 million. Arjona founded the Fundación Adentro, a charity organization which provides music and singing education for poor children in Guatemala, in July 2008. Arjona commented that the main objective of the organization "isn't becoming an important foundation internationally, but to help child reach their dreams." The organization's development originated in 2005, prior to the release of Adentro, from which the foundation received its name. Its headquarters are located in Mexico City.
"Acompañame A Estar Solo" was released as the lead single from Adentro in October 2005. The song became his fifth chart-topper on the US Billboard Latin Pop Songs chart, reaching its peak in the week of 7 January 2006. It accumulated three consecutive weeks atop the cart. It reached number seven on the Latin Songs chart, becoming his twelfth top ten single on that chart. "Pingüinos En La Cama" was released as the second single in January 2007. Spanish singer Chenoa is featured as a guest artist on the single version of the song. On the Latin Songs chart, it peaked at number 44. The song was more successful on the Latin Pop Songs chart, reaching number 19. "Mojado" was released as the lead single in Mexico, while served as the third single in other music markets. It was the first time Arjona released two lead singles from an album, as it was recommended by his label. It peaked at number 34 on the Latin Songs chart, and number 30 on the Latin Pop Songs chart. "A Ti" was released as the fourth single of the album in March 2006. The song was more successful than its two predecessors, peaking at number 14 on the Latin Songs chart, and number three on the Latin Pop Songs chart. "A Ti" was later included on Arjona's compilation album Quién Dijo Ayer, as a duet with Italian singer Eros Ramazzoti. Arjona released "De Vez En Mes" as the fifth and final single from the album.
## Commercial performance
Adentro became Arjona's third studio album to debut inside the top five of the US Billboard Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums charts, at numbers three and two, respectively. It equaled the peak position of Santo Pecado (2002) on the Latin Albums chart, and bested that album's peak on the Latin Pop Albums chart. Adentro also peaked at number 46 on the Top Heatseekers chart, and debuted at number 126 on the Billboard 200, besting the previous record held by Galería Caribe (2000), which peaked at number 136, among Arjona's albums. The album received a double platinum certification (Latin) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 200,000 copies. In Mexico, Adentro debuted at number one, and was subsequently certified double platinum by the Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON), signifying shipments of 200,000 copies. In Argentina, it was certified five times platinum by Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers (CAPIF) for sales exceeding 200,000 copies in that country. It became Arjona's third album to do so, after Santo Pecado and Historias (1994). As of February 2006, Adentro has sold more than 1,000,000 copies worldwide.
## Critical reception
The album received critical acclaim. AllMusic writer Evan Gutierrez gave it four stars out of five and lauded its "stripped, natural production value", Arjona's "confident" vocal performance, its "relevant-as-ever" lyricism, and the record's sonic palette as brilliantly variant. Gutierrez further opined that the album pleases both Arjona's fans and "the execs at Norte." Leila Cobo of Billboard dubbed it lyrically "Arjona's most personal album", favored its rock elements, and praised its cohesiveness. Cobo concluded: "It is hard to be touching, relevant and musically compelling all at once, but Arjona pulls it off."
## Track listing
## Chart performance
### Weekly charts
### Yearly charts
### Sales and certifications
## See also
- List of best-selling albums in Argentina |
19,458,503 | Charley Wensloff | 1,166,814,832 | American baseball player (1915-2001) | [
"1915 births",
"2001 deaths",
"Baseball players from Marin County, California",
"Cleveland Indians players",
"El Paso Texans players",
"Joplin Miners players",
"Kansas City Blues (baseball) players",
"Major League Baseball pitchers",
"New York Yankees players",
"People from Sausalito, California",
"San Diego Padres (minor league) players",
"Sportspeople from San Rafael, California",
"Tamalpais High School alumni",
"United States Army personnel of World War II",
"United States Army soldiers"
]
| Charles William "Butch" Wensloff (December 3, 1915 – February 18, 2001) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three seasons in the American League with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians. In 41 career games, Wensloff pitched innings and posted a win–loss record of 16–13 and a 2.60 earned run average (ERA).
Wensloff began his career in the Arizona–Texas League before joining the New York Yankees farm system. He played on various minor league teams for the next six seasons and made his debut during the 1943 New York Yankees season. He pitched in 29 games, and after the season ended, he served in the United States Army during World War II. Wensloff rejoined the Yankees in 1947, pitching in 11 regular-season games and in the 1947 World Series. After the season ended, he was sent to the Cleveland Indians and pitched in one game for the team before retiring at the end of the season.
## Minor leagues
Wensloff began his professional career in the Arizona–Texas League, pitching for the Class-D, El Paso Texans, a team not affiliated with any major league squad, in 1937. The team included future Major League players Bill Bevens and Milo Candini, and one former Major League player, Jimmy Zinn. Wensloff pitched 34 games that season, going 17–10 with a 4.67 ERA in 233 innings pitched. At the end of the season, he was the third most successful pitcher in the league in terms of wins and pitched in the eighth highest number of innings.
In 1938, Wensloff spent his first season in the New York Yankees minor league system, playing for the Class-C Joplin Miners of the Western Association. In an exhibition game with the Miners against the St. Louis Browns, Wensloff allowed eight runs and failed to pitch for a full inning as the Miners lost, 12–5. In 28 games for the Miners in 1938, he won and lost 13 games each and finished the season with a 3.48 ERA. Wensloff continued his tenure with the Miners during the 1939 season. By the end of July, he had a win–loss record of 17–2. In his final season at the Class-C level, Wensloff compiled a 26–4 record in 31 games, pitching 249 innings. At the end of the season, Wensloff had the most wins in the league along with Maury Newlin of the Topeka Owls, and was also third in the league in innings pitched.
In 1940, Wensloff was promoted to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association, a higher level of the Yankees' farm system, where he played alongside Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto, among others who later played in the majors. In his first game at the Double-A level, Wensloff allowed only two hits in a game against the Columbus Red Birds. Wensloff pitched in 35 games, 27 starts, going 13–8 with a 3.19 ERA in 178 innings pitched. The Blues went on to play in the American Association playoffs that season. In the second game of three against the Louisville Colonels, Wensloff shut them out as the Blues won the game, 1–0. Wensloff spent his second season with the Blues in 1941, and went 15–8 with a 3.93 ERA in 36 games, 22 of them starts. He finished the season eighth in the American Association in wins.
Wensloff played his third and final season with the Blues in 1942. That season, he was one of five pitchers named to the American Association All-Star Team, which Kansas City hosted. Wensloff won his 19th game of the season on August 24, 1942, pitching the shortest game of the season, which only lasted one hour and 20 minutes. Wensloff had a 21–10 record with a 2.47 ERA in 33 games, had the most wins in the league, and was sixth in ERA during that season. On September 27, 1942, the New York Yankees purchased nine contracts from their minor league teams, including Herb Karpel and Wensloff's contracts from Kansas City, which placed them on the major league roster.
## New York Yankees
Upon signing a contract with the Yankees, Wensloff spent the 1943 season on the Yankees' major league roster. During spring training, Yankees manager Joe McCarthy had heard impressive things about Wensloff, though he had not seen him pitch often. Wensloff made his major league debut for the Yankees on May 2, 1943, against the Washington Senators. In his debut, the second game of a doubleheader, he allowed four earned runs and seven hits in eight innings as the Yankees lost, 4–1. He won his first game in his next pitching appearance on May 7, 1943, against the Philadelphia Athletics, allowing no walks and six hits in a 6–2 victory. By the end of June, he had six complete games in his first six starts. However, he was not receiving the publicity other rookies were, such as pitcher Jesse Flores, and had four wins and four losses despite how well he had been pitching.
During the second half of the season, Wensloff remained a major part of the starting rotation. His losses included a 1–0 defeat in which he only allowed one unearned run on a wild throw against the St. Louis Browns. During the season, Wensloff added a knuckleball to his selection of pitches, which he threw regularly during the season. As the end of the season approached, Wensloff was being promoted as a rookie of the year candidate, due to being second on the team in strikeouts, as well as his 13 wins. Wensloff finished the season with a 13–11 record and a 2.54 ERA in 29 games, 27 of them starts. He did not pitch in the 1943 World Series, though he was on the roster.
## Military service
At the conclusion of the 1943 season, Wensloff enlisted in the United States Army and served in World War II. When the Yankees were preparing for the start of the 1944 season, the team originally had no idea where Wensloff was, as they had not heard from him. He was inactive for the 1944 season. In 1945, Wensloff was traded from the Yankees to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League for Johnny Kreevich, allowing him to simultaneously pitch professionally and continue serving in the war. In 10 games for the Padres, he won three and lost four with a 3.82 ERA. After the 1945 season and the war ended, Wensloff remained in military service, and as a result did not play in 1946.
## Later career
After his service, Wensloff returned to the New York Yankees for the 1947 season. He made his first appearance at the start of June and pitched despite having a sore arm throughout the season, pitching infrequently. In 11 games with the Yankees, Wensloff compiled a record of 3–1 with a 2.61 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 51+2⁄3 innings pitched, and pitched two innings of one game in the 1947 World Series.
As the 1948 season began, Wensloff did not report to spring training, and was holding out for a new contract; the only time he communicated with the club was to inquire about his World Series ring. At the end of March, he was sold by the Yankees to the Philadelphia Phillies for a reported \$30,000. Wensloff refused to join the Phillies because he did not want to play in the National League, and as a result he was sent back to the Yankees. The Yankees were also in trade talks with the New York Giants, but Wensloff refused to play for them for the same reason. The Yankees continued to look for a trading partner, and eventually traded him to the Cleveland Indians for an undisclosed amount. With the Indians, Wensloff pitched only one game, giving up two earned runs in 1+2⁄3 innings pitched on May 4. He was placed on the disabled list on May 20, 1948, with continued arm soreness. This later proved to be a career-ending injury for Wensloff, as he retired at the end of the 1948 season. As part of the deal with Cleveland, Indians' prospect Al Rosen was loaned to the Yankees' Kansas City Blues farm team for the duration of the 1948 season. Rosen was named Rookie of the Year in the American Association for his play with the Blues.
Upon ending his career, Wensloff retired to San Rafael, California, and died on February 18, 2001. |
6,198,502 | North Carolina Highway 54 | 1,172,564,766 | State highway in North Carolina, US | [
"State highways in North Carolina",
"Transportation in Alamance County, North Carolina",
"Transportation in Durham County, North Carolina",
"Transportation in Orange County, North Carolina",
"Transportation in Wake County, North Carolina",
"U.S. Route 70"
]
| North Carolina Highway 54 (NC 54) is a 55.0-mile-long (88.5 km) primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The highway serves the Research Triangle area, between Burlington and Raleigh, connecting the cities and towns of Chapel Hill, Durham, Morrisville and Cary. The highway also links the campuses of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
NC 54 runs from US 70 in Burlington along Chapel Hill Road through the downtown area of Graham. Turning to the southeast the route runs through some of the outskirts of Burlington before moving through a predominantly rural area. Approaching Chapel Hill, the highway follows the NC 54 "Bypass" around the town and runs concurrently with US 15/US 501 until reaching Raleigh Road. At Raleigh Road, NC 54 continues to the east crossing I-40 and running through the outskirts of Durham. The road parallels I-40 as it enters into Research Triangle Park. From Morrisville, NC 54 follows Chapel Hill Road until reaching the downtown area of Cary where it uses Maynard Road as a bypass. On the eastern side of Cary, NC 54 turns back onto Chapel Hill Road and follows the road until reaching Hillsborough Street near Raleigh. At Hillsborough Street, NC 54 turns to the east to follow the street through west Raleigh and along the NC State Fairgrounds. The highway ends at I-440/US 1 west of downtown Raleigh.
NC 54 first appeared as an original state highway running from NC 75 in Pittsboro to Moncure. However, by 1928 the route was recommissioned as a secondary road which remains today as Moncure Pittsboro Road. The current NC 54 was signed in 1929 from Graham to US 70 south of Durham. In 1930 it was further extended through Rockingham to the Virginia border, however in 1940 much of that routing was renumbered as NC 87. The route was further extended in 1953 where it ran concurrent along US 70A until reaching US 1 in Cary. The Chapel Hill Bypass was completed in 1956 and NC 54 was rerouted from its downtown Chapel Hill routing to the new bypass. The last major change to the routing occurred in 1963 when NC 54 was extended along Hillsborough Street to the then-new US 1 freeway (present day I-440).
## Route description
### Burlington to Chapel Hill
NC 54 east begins in western Burlington at the intersection of US 70/NC 62 (Church Street) and Chapel Hill Street. This intersection is a right-in/right-out intersection with US 70 eastbound; access to and from westbound US 70 is provided through South O'Neal Street. NC 54 is also signed along this sub-500-yard (460 m) segment of O'Neal Street.
NC 54 follows Chapel Hill Road to the intersection of NC 49/NC 100 (Maple Avenue) in downtown Graham. NC 54 joins NC 49 north on Harden Street through downtown. The route roughly parallels I-40 to the south as it enters into the downtown area of Graham. NC 49/NC 54 turns to the northeast before intersecting NC 87 (West Elm Street). After the intersection, the road turns east and follows along a concurrency with NC 49 and NC 87. NC 87 turns off at Main Street in downtown Graham. Three blocks to the east, NC 49 exits at East Elm Street. NC 54 begins its turn southeast and crosses I-40/I-85 at its exit 148. NC 54 remains on Harden Street until it crosses the Haw River and is known from that point solely as NC 54.
After crossing the Haw River, NC 54 remains relatively parallel to the river. The route passes east of Swepsonville, where it also passes by a country club along with a large manufacturing plant. Immediately after passing the plant, the road intersects the southern terminus of NC 119 at an intersection with East Main Street. After the intersection the road turns more toward the east and runs through an area which is primarily rural with multiple neighborhoods surrounding the route. After passing through the unincorporated community of Oaks, the road makes a gradual turn from its southeastern direction towards an eastern direction. Several farms lie adjacent to the road as most of the neighborhoods dissipate. NC 54 finishes its eastern turn as it enters another unincorporated community, White Cross. The route briefly turns northeasterly, then turns back to a gradual southeastern direction after passing by a quarry.
As the road nears Carrboro, several neighborhoods and businesses are found adjacent to the highway. Before intersecting Old Fayetteville Road, the highway begins to widen from a two-lane road, to a four-lane divided highway. The highway passes by a strip mall immediately after passing Old Fayetteville Road, and intersects Main Street before turning to the south. NC 54 follows a limited access highway known as the NC 54 Bypass, along the south side of Carrboro and Chapel Hill. The highway has diamond interchanges at Jones Ferry Road, South Greensboro Street, and South Columbia Street, where NC 86 has its southern terminus and US 15/US 501 joins NC 54. The road becomes Fordham Boulevard, where the highway begins to turn north to head toward Durham.
### Chapel Hill to Morrisville
NC 54 exits east on Raleigh Road on the east side of Chapel Hill. Multiple strip malls and neighborhoods are located adjacent to the route as it heads southeast towards Durham. After passing by a developed area east of Chapel Hill, the route turns east and becomes the Nelson-Chapel Hill Highway, a divided highway connecting Fordham Boulevard and I-40. The route crosses I-40 at a partial cloverleaf interchange. After an intersection with Leigh Farm Road, the road narrows to a two-lane road and continues east toward Durham. As NC 54 approaches NC 751 (Hope Valley Road), it widens again to a four-lane road with a turning lane. Once reaching Hope Valley Road, a group of stores are found congregated around the intersection. The road has another immediate intersection with Garrett Road and then begins a slow turn toward the southeast before turning back into a two-lane road and completing its southeasterly turn. After passing Rollingwood Drive, the road again widens up to a four-lane road. Several shopping centers appear as the road nears an intersection with Fayetteville Road. Directly after the intersection, the road narrows back down to a two-lane road and passes under I-40 at a diagonal. The route somewhat parallels the freeway and forms the northern border for the Wellington Forest neighborhood. The route briefly widens at the intersection of Barbee Road before passing by several houses and a park. Just before reaching NC 55 (Apex Highway), NC 54 once again widens to a four-lane road.
Passing NC 55, the road crosses a railroad track before entering into Research Triangle Park. Several office buildings are found both adjacent to and along roads that branch off of NC 54. The road intersects TW Alexander Drive before crossing over NC 147 (Triangle Expressway). NC 54 approaches South Miami Boulevard after crossing under another railroad. At the intersection, NC 54 turns right to follow Miami Boulevard to the south towards Cary. Miami Boulevard crosses Page Road and passes by several office buildings and stores. At Surles Court, the road makes a shift to turn more toward the east, directly paralleling the railroad NC 54 previously crossed under. An interchange with NC 540 marks the road's entrance into Morrisville and the road's name change to Chapel Hill Road.
### Morrisville to Raleigh
Chapel Hill Road begins by running through a primarily residential area of Morrisville. However, after passing McCrimmon Parkway, the area shifts to more industrial-style commerce, including several warehouses. The road intersects Airport Boulevard, which provides access to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The road runs directly through the middle of Morrisville at intersections with Aviation Parkway/Morrisville Carpenter Road. As Chapel Hill Road bears further to the east, the highway splits from the railroad track that it had been previously running alongside of. Entering into Cary, the road serves as access to the Park West Village Shopping Center and the surrounding apartment complexes. Briefly after intersecting Northwest Cary Parkway, the road narrows back down from a four-lane road to a two-lane road. Continuing further, the road meets back up with the railroad that it had previously broken away from and roughly begins to parallel it again. Chapel Hill Road makes a turn towards the east to meet up with Maynard Road. At the intersection, NC 54 turns left to follow along Maynard Road to the east. The four-lane road passes by West Cary Middle School and Robert Godbold Park before entering into a mixed residential/commercial section north of the center of Cary. Continuing east along Maynard Road, the highway runs along a residential area north of downtown Cary. The road turns toward the southeast and meets up with Reedy Creek Road. Maynard Road meets back up with Chapel Hill Road on the eastern side of downtown Cary. NC 54 turns left onto Chapel Hill Road to continue heading east towards Raleigh. Chapel Hill Road intersects Trinity Road briefly before meeting I-40 at exit 290.
Entering into Raleigh, the road name continues as Chapel Hill Road. Chapel Hill Road intersects the southern terminus of Edwards Mill Road, providing access to Carter-Finley Stadium and the PNC Arena. Briefly after the intersection, NC 54 widens to a four-lane divided road and continues that way until reaching Hillsborough Street. At the intersection, NC 54 continues east onto Hillsborough Street and once again closely parallels the same railroad. NC 54 provides multiple accesses to the North Carolina State Fairgrounds before intersecting Blue Ridge Road. Continuing east, NC 54 runs along the south side of NC State's Centennial Biomedical Campus. NC 54 reaches its eastern terminus at I-440/US 1 at exit 3, a folded diamond interchange. Hillsborough Street continues east to access NC State's North Campus and Downtown Raleigh.
## History
The routing for the original NC 54 was included on the 1916 map of the planned state highway system in North Carolina. However, NC 54 was not officially marked on any state highway maps until 1924; it was routed from NC 75 in Pittsboro southeast to NC 50 in Moncure, connecting the town to US 1. By 1929, the first NC 54 was decommissioned and was redesignated as a secondary road.
At the same time, NC 54 was signed along a new routing beginning at US 70/NC 10 in Graham and running along its current routing to US 70/NC 10 in Nelson. In 1930, the route was extended north to Virginia. NC 54 was placed onto a concurrency with NC 100 to Burlington, where it then followed a new routing through Ossipee to NC 703 near Thompsonville. The road followed along a brief concurrency with NC 703 to the west into Thompsonville, where it then was extended back onto a new routing north to Reidsville. It then replaced NC 709 north to the Virginia border. By 1940 the routing of NC 54 north of Graham was replaced by NC 87. The route was then extended along a section of NC 93 to connect with US 70 on the western side of Burlington. NC 54 was extended along US 70A between 1952 and 1953, and then placed onto Chapel Hill Road to Cary where it ended at US 1. By 1955, NC 54 was placed from its routing through downtown Chapel Hill along its current bypass around Carrboro and Chapel Hill. The previous routing was signed as NC 54A and, by 1959, became NC 54 Business before being decommissioned in 1985. The route was extended along Hillsborough Street by 1963 to US 1, which later became Interstate 440. Between 2000 and 2002, NC 54 was routed onto the northern loop of Maynard Road around Cary.
## Future
Currently, the town of Morrisville is building an extension to McCrimmon Parkway along the eastern side of NC 54 and the center of town. The road, which is scheduled to be completed between 2018 and 2021, would serve as a bypass NC 54, which is mostly two lanes through the town. However, there has been no official word from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) if the highway will be routed onto McCrimmon Parkway.
In October 2015, the towns of Cary and Morrisville held a joint meeting over the future of NC 54 between the towns. NC 54 currently has 16,000 to 20,000 vehicles using the road each day. By 2040, the towns project that nearly 45,000 vehicles will be using the road daily. NCDOT, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Town of Morrisville teamed up on the study of the six-mile (9.7 km) corridor from NC 540 to Maynard Road. Ideally, the road would become a four- to six-lane superstreet from the Durham County line southeast into Cary. Besides the study, the NCDOT has yet to allocate money to make improvements to NC 54.
## Major intersections
## Related route
North Carolina Highway 54 Alternate (NC 54A) was a renumbering of NC 54 through Carrboro (via Main Street) and Chapel Hill (via Franklin Street, Columbia Street, South Road and Raleigh Road). The route was commissioned in 1955 after NC 54 was shifted from its downtown Chapel Hill routing to the new Carrboro and Chapel Hill bypass. NC 54A served as a connection into Chapel Hill and to the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The route was redesignated NC 54 Business (NC 54 Bus.) in 1959. In 1985, the route was decommissioned and became secondary streets. |
20,598,172 | 3 East 57th Street | 1,154,797,712 | Commercial building in Manhattan, New York | [
"57th Street (Manhattan)",
"Fifth Avenue",
"Midtown Manhattan",
"New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan",
"Office buildings completed in 1930",
"Office buildings in Manhattan"
]
| 3 East 57th Street, originally the L. P. Hollander Company Building, is a nine-story commercial building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is along the northern side of 57th Street, just east of Fifth Avenue. 3 East 57th Street, constructed from 1929 to 1930, was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in an early Art Deco style.
3 East 57th Street's facade was originally divided vertically into three sections: a two-story base, a six-story shaft, and an attic. While the base has been heavily modified, the remainder of the facade retains its original design, with silver metal spandrels, gray limestone mullions, and a black granite frame. The interior of the building was designed by Jock D. Peters and Elaine Lemaire as a store for the L. P. Hollander Company, a clothing retailer. When completed, the building received an award of architectural merit from the Fifth Avenue Association.
In late 1929, the L. P. Hollander Company decided to build a store on the site, which then was owned by the Stuyvesant family. The store opened in September 1930 but was occupied by the Hollander Company for less than two years. Afterward, the store was occupied by a succession of other tenants, including a Stouffer's restaurant in the 1940s and 1950s, while the upper stories were used as offices. The interior has been remodeled several times over the years by its subsequent tenants. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 3 East 57th Street as an official landmark in 2003, the same year a Yves Saint Laurent store started operating in the building.
## Site
3 East 57th Street is in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, just southeast of Central Park and Grand Army Plaza. It is along the northern sidewalk of 57th Street between Madison Avenue to the east and Fifth Avenue to the west. The land lot covers 4,259 square feet (395.7 m<sup>2</sup>) with a frontage of 42 feet (13 m) on 57th Street and a depth of 100.42 feet (30.61 m). Nearby sites include the Bergdorf Goodman Building and Solow Building to the west, the Crown Building to the southwest, the Tiffany & Co. flagship store and Trump Tower to the south, 590 Madison Avenue to the southeast, the LVMH Tower to the east, and the General Motors Building to the north.
Historically, the site had adjoined "Marble Row", a group of houses on the eastern side of Fifth Avenue from 57th to 58th Streets, built by Mary Mason Jones between 1868 and 1870. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, East 57th Street largely contained homes and structures built for the arts. In 1904, Augustus van Horne Stuyvesant, a member of the Stuyvesant family and a descendant of New Netherland director-general Peter Stuyvesant, acquired the site and built a private residence there. After about 1921, art galleries started to supplant residences on 57th Street, and other art galleries developed on the street in general. With the neighborhood rapidly becoming commercial, Stuyvesant and his family moved to 2 East 79th Street on the Upper East Side in 1930, though he leased the site in 1929 to the Starrett Investing Corporation.
## Architecture
3 East 57th Street was designed by William F. Lamb of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon as a nine-story shop building for the L. P. Hollander Company clothing store. The building is about 100 feet (30 m) tall. Architecture writer Robert A. M. Stern wrote that, with the building's construction, "the pendulum of taste had swung definitively toward a Modernist palette".
### Facade
The 57th Street facade is the only portion of the building's exterior that is visible from the street. As designed, it was divided vertically into three sections: a two-story base, a six-story shaft, and an attic. It used silver-colored aluminum, gray limestone, and black granite. The windows are brought forward to the facade's surface, rather than being set back. The overall design was intended to give the sense of a "weightless plane backed only by insulation", as Stern described the design.
The base, comprising the first and second stories, has been heavily altered from its original design. The base was originally clad with silver. There were two small side doors, one for service and another which acted as a fire exit. At the center was a bronze-framed show window that was intended for displaying fashionable outfits. The show window was topped by a stepped frame evocative of a proscenium, and the mezzanine windows above the ground-story windows had small panes. The doors were designed as "grilles in reverse", with openings to allow light into the ground story. The first and second stories were modified with white-marble cladding following a 1939 renovation. By the early 2000s, the base had black cladding, serving as an entrance to a store for fashion house Saint Laurent. As of 2015, Saint Laurent had changed the base's facade to veined white marble.
The third through eighth stories remain largely as they were originally designed. Most of the casement windows retain the steel frames from the original design. There are five vertical bays of windows, clustered toward the center of the facade. The bays are separated horizontally by the narrow limestone mullions, which rise from the third to the eighth story without interruption. The windows on each story are separated by embossed metal spandrels. The spandrels are decorated with geometric patterns, except those below the eighth story, which have a motif of a flower at the center. Typically, there would be 12 inches (300 mm) of masonry behind the steel curtain wall for insulation, but this was omitted in the design of 3 East 57th Street. Lamb speculated that metal spandrels would replace masonry ones, and his firm went on to design the Empire State Building with 6,000 aluminum spandrels. The outer sections of 3 East 57th Street's facade are framed in black granite. The eighth-story windows are topped by a stone lintel that contain ornamented motifs of fountains and fans.
There are five windows on the ninth story, which are surrounded entirely by black granite, giving the impression that the ninth-story windows comprise a standalone "panel". The ninth-story windows do not contain decoration but are separated horizontally by the limestone mullions. Directly above the ninth story is the building's parapet, which is slightly raised at the center of the facade, directly over the windows. The parapet also has swags, drapery, and stacked panels carved in stone. There is a flagpole on the rooftop above the center of the facade. The stone of the parapet is used to provide a contrast against the black granite.
### Interior
The building has nine full stories, each measuring 4,000 square feet (370 m<sup>2</sup>), as well as a basement. A mezzanine above the first floor dates to 1940, when a 450-seat Stouffer's restaurant opened there. Originally, when the building was a Hollander store, each floor was designed in a different manner. The interiors were designed by Jock D. Peters and Eleanor Lemaire.
Under Hollander's operation, each story was split into smaller divisions to give an impression of a cozy space. The interiors used distinct materials, including aspen wood and lacquer for the display boxes. The first floor sold accessories such as perfume and jewelry. The second floor had a decorative art and gift shop, as well as a nightwear division. The third floor sold sportswear and was decorated with vermillion and zebra-wood; the coat section had cork walls. The fourth floor, devoted to selling hats and furs, included a millinery shop with satin-wood and lacquer tables, as well as a fur shop with leather on the walls. The fur salon had decorative glass panels by Maurice Heaton, composed of both gray and translucent panels. Ready-to-wear clothing was sold on the fifth floor, while a custom-made clothing department was on the sixth floor. The "debonair" department on the seventh floor had English oak cabinetry with lacquer trim. The eighth floor had custom workrooms and the ninth floor had executive offices.
The various subsequent tenants have redesigned the building in different styles. When fashion boutique Joseph's took over the building in 1933, the ground floor was converted to tiny "shops" selling various accessories. The other floors were largely similar to those of Hollander's: lingerie on the second floor, coats and sportswear on the third, footwear on the fourth, ready-to-wears on the fifth, and custom-made clothes on the sixth. The Plummer home-furnishing store, opened in 1961, had a wrought-iron staircase from the first floor, as well as decorative railings on the mezzanine. Silver, china, and crystal was sold on the first floor; yachts on the mezzanine; and lamps on the second floor. When the storefront was converted to a Saint Laurent store during the early 2000s, there was a handbag department in the lobby, a white-decorated shoe salon in the rear of the first floor, and black display niches on the second floor. As of 2015, Saint Laurent has a womenswear department on the first floor and menswear on the second floor.
## History
The L. P. Hollander Company was founded in 1848 by Maria Theresa Hollander (née Baldwin). The company originally sold men's and women's clothes in Boston but subsequently opened branches throughout New England, as well as one in New York City. The branch store in New York City opened on Fifth Avenue in 1890, ultimately relocating to 550–552 Fifth Avenue by 1911. The Hollander family sold the company in April 1929. Its new president Clarence G. Sheffield was planning to move to 57th Street, where the company would erect a new nine-story store.
### Development
In August 1929, the Starrett Investing Corporation signed a 21-year lease for the site at 3 East 57th Street, with the opportunity for two 21-year extensions. The corporation intended to demolish Augustus van Horne Stuyvesant's old house. By that November, the details of the new store had been announced. Shreve, Lamb & Harmon were to be the architects, while Starrett Brothers was to be the general contractor. The store would be designed in a French style, with a facade of granite, aluminum, and steel. This design was selected because 3 East 57th Street would be shorter than an existing 20-story building at 5–7 East 57th Street to the east, as well as the New York Trust Company's new 22-story structure to the west. The site was to be the fourth relocation for the New York City store and the first location that was not on Fifth Avenue.
Augustus Van Horne Stuyvesant Jr. and the estate of Anne W. Stuyvesant agreed to allow the Starrett Investing Corporation to sublease the property to the Hollander Company. The net lease was to be \$90,000 a year. The Hollander Company also leased two floors at 5–7 East 57th Street for its manufacturing division. By August 1930, the Hollander Company was selling all the merchandise at its old location in preparation for its relocation to the new store. The 57th Street building opened on September 25, 1930. The departments in the new store were mostly the same as those in the old location, but the children's department of Hollander's New York City store was discontinued, and a gift shop and a "debonair shop" were added. In 1931, the Fifth Avenue Association awarded its gold medal to 3 East 57th Street for the best structure built in the Fifth Avenue district during 1930.
### 1930s to 1950s
The Hollander Company had been prosperous when it commissioned the new store. However, it declared bankruptcy in February 1932, less than two years after moving into the building, for unknown reasons. After a failed attempt to avoid receivership, the company sold all the products in the store the following month, earning \$23,000 from the liquidation. A new L. P. Hollander Company was established that June at 8 West 56th Street, one block south. In December 1932, the owner of 3 East 57th Street reassigned the lease from the Starrett Investing Corporation to the Zeeland Corporation. The same month, Zeeland subleased the building to fashion boutique Joseph's, which opened a shop there in March 1933. Under Joseph's occupancy, the building hosted events, including a fundraiser for cancer awareness in 1933 and a fundraiser for the Italian Junior League in early 1934.
In December 1939, the Hollander Building was leased for 21 years to Stouffer's for a new unit in its chain of restaurants. Aymar Embury II redesigned the two lower floors with a new white-marble facade. In addition, Embury installed a mezzanine between the first and second floor. It opened in September 1940; soon afterward, a bomb scare forced the addition of a police presence around the restaurant. The Stuyvesant estate transferred the building to St. Luke's Hospital in 1958, and the hospital sold the building to Webb and Knapp in May 1960. The Stouffer's restaurant continued to operate in the building until the expiration of its lease in August 1961.
### 1960s to present
Shortly before Stouffer's lease expired, home-furnishing retailer W. H. Plummer & Co. signed a 30-year net lease for the building. In May 1961, Webb and Knapp sold the building to an investment syndicate for \$465,000. The Plummer store opened in the first floor, mezzanine, and second floor the following month, moving from an adjacent Fifth Avenue building. Other stories were subleased to office tenants, including Laura Dee Advertising Service on the fourth floor and Motion Picture Stages on the sixth floor. Plummer had occupied 3 East 57th Street for less than a year when it went bankrupt in March 1962. Samuel Wechsler acquired Plummer and leased the building that July, with plans to add a shipping department in the basement and offices on the ninth floor, thereby expanding the store to 14,000 square feet (1,300 m<sup>2</sup>). The other 24,000 square feet (2,200 m<sup>2</sup>) of space not used by the store would continue to be subleased. The newly combined Plummer McCutcheon store opened in October 1962.
The Hat Corporation of America, which sold Cavanagh-branded hats and clothing, was planning to open a store in the building by April 1964. The company's new store opened that November after the lowest stories were renovated for \$500,000. By the following month, the building was fully occupied; it was renamed for the Hat Corporation of America, which had a store on the basement through second story, as well as wholesale showrooms and offices on the third through fifth floors. Plummer McCutcheon and Sound Makers Inc. each took a full story, the Mark Century Corporation took one and a half floors, and Florian de Narde took the remaining half-floor.
Cavanagh only operated a store in the building until 1971, when the basement through second story were leased to numismatic dealer Harmer Rooke & Co. By the 1980s, the building's tenants included philatelic publisher Scott Publishing and an Ann Taylor store. The Ann Taylor store held a ten-year lease for four stories at the building's base until 1994. Designs Inc., a store selling Levi Strauss & Co. clothing, then leased the 15,000 square feet (1,400 m<sup>2</sup>) that had been taken up by Ann Taylor.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a landmark on June 17, 2003. Saint Laurent opened in the building the same year, initially taking up two stories. The opening of the Saint Laurent store prompted speculation that its nearby flagship on Madison Avenue would be closed. By 2013, there were plans to redesign the 57th Street store. After a 259-day renovation, Saint Laurent reopened in October 2015. The facade was resurfaced in white granite despite the opposition of the local Manhattan Community Board 5. The renovation expanded Saint Laurent from two to three stories. At the time, it occupied about 14,000 square feet (1,300 m<sup>2</sup>) and was the only three-story Saint Laurent store in the world.
## See also
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets |
45,460,070 | 2015–16 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team | 1,163,440,806 | American college basketball season | [
"2015 in sports in Michigan",
"2015–16 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season",
"2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament participants",
"2016 in sports in Michigan",
"Michigan Wolverines men's basketball seasons"
]
| The 2015–16 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played its home games in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the 49th consecutive year at the Crisler Center, which has a capacity of 12,707. This season marked the program's 100th season and its 99th consecutive year as a member of the Big Ten Conference. The team was led by 9th year head coach John Beilein. Because this was Michigan's 100th season, the team was known as Squad 100 or Team 100
The 2014–15 Wolverines had entered the season coming off the school's winningest two-year stretch in history, but it did not reach the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament after losing starters Caris LeVert and Derrick Walton to season-ending injuries in January. The 2015–16 team follows the first season in five years in which the school did not make the NCAA Tournament. In addition to the season-ending injuries for LeVert and Walton the prior season, the team was coming off an offseason which saw Spike Albrecht and Zak Irvin have surgeries. Albrecht retired from the sport in December, although he later changed his mind. Later that month, Levert had an injury that ended his season. He only played in one conference game. He led the team in many statistical categories at the time of his injury and made midseason watchlists for various major national awards.
The team won two games in the 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament and one in the play-in game versus Tulsa, also known as the First Four. The Wolverines finished the season 23–13. Following the season, Walton and Irvin were among the All-Big Ten conference honorees. Walton was a third team selection by the coaches and honorable mention selection by the media. Irvin was an honorable mention selection by both.
## 2015–16 recruits
On March 11, 2015, Michigan offered a scholarship to German Euroleague player Moritz "Moe" Wagner and he committed to Michigan on April 5. Brent Hibbitts accepted a preferred walk-on role with the class of 2015 over scholarships from Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Vermont, Appalachian State and American University.
## Future recruits
### 2016–17
On August 7, 2014, Jon Teske, who lived in the Grand Rapids, Michigan suburb Grandville until he was 10 and his family moved to Medina, Ohio, committed to Michigan via Twitter. On April 16, 2015, Austin Davis of Onsted, Michigan committed to Michigan. On May 11, Tyus Battle committed to Michigan. At the time of Battle's signing, the entire set of scholarships for the class of 2016 seemed to be allocated. On June 19, Battle decommitted from Michigan. On July 28, Ibi Watson committed to Michigan from Caris LeVert's alma mater Pickerington High School Central. On September 9, Xavier Simpson committed to the team. At the time he was ranked as the number 66 player and number 12 point guard by ESPN, number 55 and number 12 by Scout.com and number 87 player and number 44 guard by Rivals.com, making him the number 69 player and 13 point guard by 247Sports.com. Davis, Teske, Watson and Simpson all signed their National Letters of Intent on November 11, 2015.
Among the accomplishments of the recruits are Simpson earning the 2015 Ohio Associated Press Division I Player of the Year and Davis earning the 2015 Michigan Associated Press Class B Player of the Year awards as juniors as well as Simpson's 2014 Ohio Division III state championship.
### 2017–18
On October 23, 2015, four-star recruit Jordan Poole became the first commitment for the Class of 2017 after a home gym visit from Beilein and assistant coach Jordan and multiple Michigan campus visits. Poole had several competing offers including Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Memphis, Marquette, and Auburn.
## Departures
In June 2015, Max Bielfeldt announced that he had decided to use his redshirt year to play for the 2015–16 Indiana Hoosiers after the Hoosiers dismissed two forwards from the team the month before. Bielfeldt had considered several midwest schools and DePaul, Nebraska and Iowa State were his other finalists.
## Preseason
In April 2015, Spike Albrecht had offseason surgery on his right hip to correct for a genetic condition that may also necessitate left hip surgery. Following the 2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament several pollsters (including ESPN, USA Today, NBC Sports) omitted Michigan from the expected preseason top 25, however some that immediately projected Caris LeVert to return to Michigan included Michigan in the rankings: CBS Sports (#18) and Sports Illustrated (#16). Bleacher Report ranked Michigan at 25 noting lower expectations if LeVert declared himself eligible for the 2015 NBA draft. On April 21, LeVert announced that he would return for his senior season. That same day, Max Bielfeldt was released from his athletic scholarship with one year of eligibility remaining. Despite all 13 of its scholarships being committed at the time, Michigan continued to recruit five-star 2015 McDonald's All-American Jaylen Brown and four-star Kenny Williams for the class of 2015.
A scholarship for one of the potential recruits became available on April 27, when Beilein and rising sophomore Austin Hatch announced that Hatch, who had survived two plane crashes that killed his parents, siblings, and stepmother, would no longer play for the team due to medical issues stemming from injuries he suffered in the second crash. Michigan applied for and received a "medical exemption waiver" from the NCAA for Hatch; the waiver allows a school to keep a student-athlete who has career-ending medical issues on scholarship. Hatch transitioned to being a student assistant coach; as such, he was no longer on the active roster but could otherwise fully participate in the program. However, Brown committed to California on May 1. Williams committed to North Carolina on May 2.
On September 9, Beilein announced that Zak Irvin would be sidelined for 6–8 weeks, but that he was expected to be available near the beginning of the season.
The October 15 Preseason Coaches Poll listed five teams from the 2015–16 Big Ten Conference, while 3 others, including Michigan, were receiving votes. Michigan had the most votes of teams not included in the top 25. Two weeks later the preseason AP Poll included six Big Ten Teams with Michigan listed at number 25. Athlon Sports listed Michigan at 22. Sporting News ranked Michigan at number 18. NBC Sports listed them at 17. ESPN's 10-person panel selected ranked Michigan 22. Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook selected Michigan 17. Sports Illustrated ranked all 351 teams and listed Michigan at 27. The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) ranked Michigan 23.
Caris LeVert was named a preseason All-Big Ten selection, for the second straight year. He was also one of three Big Ten selections to the 20-man Jerry West Award preseason watchlist. He made the initial 50-man John R. Wooden Award watch list on November 17. On December 2, Levert earned recognition on the 50-man Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist and 33-man Oscar Robertson Trophy watchlists. That same day, Albrecht was named an Allstate Good Works Team nominee.
The team hosted its annual media day on October 22. The preseason would wind down with an open practice on November 2 followed by a "Squad 100 Selfie" promotion hour. Then the team had an exhibition game against on November 6, which pitted head coach Beilein's team against that of his son Patrick Beilein. Two days before the exhibition contest, Michigan extended Beilein's contract through the 2020–21 season.
## Schedule
The 2015–16 academic year marked 150 years of intercollegiate athletics for the Michigan Wolverines and the 100th season of intercollegiate men's basketball for Michigan Wolverines men's basketball. Michigan participated in the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis along with Gonzaga, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, UConn, Washington, and Charlotte. Each of these eight teams travelled to the Bahamas for the 3-game tournament from November 25–27, 2015, and each team played one game per day. Michigan played Penn State at the Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2016 as part of "Big Ten Day", a day-night doubleheader featuring a hockey and a basketball matchup between both schools. Michigan hosted Xavier in the inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games on November 20, 2015. As part of a home-and-away with the 2014–15 and 2015–16 SMU teams, Michigan also played SMU in Dallas on December 8, 2015. The Wolverines made a trip to NC State for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, as well.
November
On November 6, Beilein led the Wolverines over his son Patrick's team 74–52 in the team's only exhibition game as LeVert posted 22 points. Michigan began the regular season with a 70–44 victory over on November 13. The team was led by LeVert who posted a game-high 18 points and 5 assists in his return to the lineup and Aubrey Dawkins who added 15 points on 6–of–7. However Irvin remained on the sidelines. On November 16, Michigan defeated Elon as Walton led all players with 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Duncan Robinson added 19 points including all six shot attempts (5 three point shots). Zak Irvin made his first appearance with three assists. On November 20, Michigan suffered its first loss of the season to Xavier in the inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games, despite a game-high 29 points by LeVert. Irvin made his first start of the season, scoring seven points and one rebound. During the game, the team unveiled its new logo, "We 100", on its pregame warmups which matched the team hashtag \#squad100. Before beginning the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas, Beilein noted that Mark Donnal would not be in the starting lineup going forward. On November 25, Michigan lost to (#18 AP Poll/#21 Coaches Poll) UConn at the Battle 4 Atlantis. After getting off to a 12–5 lead, Michigan fell behind by 36–22 at the half and as much as 19 points in the second half. When Michigan defeated Charlotte 102–47 on November 26, the team set Battle 4 Atlantis records for points, margin of victory and shooting percentage (61%). The game featured freshman Moritz Wagner's 19-point performance on 8–9 shooting from the field. Michigan allowed no second chance points. The team's 55-point victory was the largest for the Wolverines since 1946, when the team defeated Chicago by 58. It was also the largest defeat in Charlotte 49ers men's basketball history and the first time Michigan defeated Charlotte in three tries. Michigan defeated Texas 78–72 on November 27 on 14–25 three point shooting including 11 in the first half to jump out to a 12-point lead.
December
Michigan defeated NC State 66–59 in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge on December 1. Walton sprained his left ankle in the first half of the game. Michigan defeated Houston Baptist 82–57 on December 5. With Walton sidelined, LeVert started at point guard. On December 8, Michigan lost 82–58 to (19/-) SMU as LeVert slumped on 1–13 field goal shooting. On December 11, Albrecht announced he was ending his college basketball career due to injuries. On December 12, Michigan defeated Delaware State 80–33, as six Wolverines scored in double figures. The last time Michigan had six players in double figures was January 26, 2002, when the 2001–02 Wolverines did so against . The 33 points allowed by the Wolverines are the lowest since the 2011–12 Wolverines allowed 33 to in its season opener on November 11, 2011. Michigan held Delaware State to just 24-percent shooting from the field, the lowest shooting percentage by any Michigan opponent since shot 22.2 percent on November 13, 2010 against the 2010–11 Wolverines. Robinson made his first start of his career, and Andrew Dakich made his season debut. On December 15, Michigan defeated Northern Kentucky 77–62. LeVert finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the fourth player in Michigan program history to record a triple-double, and the 49th Wolverine to eclipse 1,000 career points. Walton returned from an ankle injury that sidelined him for three games, and posted 16 points, one rebound, one assist and one steal. On December 19, Michigan defeated Youngstown State 105–46. Walton finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, becoming the fifth player in Michigan program history to record a triple-double. This was the first time in program history two players recorded triple-doubles in consecutive games. The win was the second largest in school history, behind only the 67–7 victory over Detroit Naval Station in 1919 and the game marked the second time since at least the 1996–97 season that any team had posted back-to-back triple doubles and the first time by different players. Based on his triple double against Northern Kentucky and a 19-point effort against Youngstown State, LeVert earned Co-Big Ten Player of the Week honors (along with Malcolm Hill) on December 21. On December 23, Michigan completed its preconference schedule with a 96–60 victory over Bryant. Michigan surpassed the single-game school record for three-point field goals made with 17, surpassing the previous record of 16 that the 2010–11 Wolverines had last achieved 5 years before to the day against the . On December 30, Michigan defeated Illinois 78–68 in its Big Ten Conference opener. LeVert posted a 22-point, 10-assist double-double and Mark Donnal had a career night with new career highs in points (26), rebounds (9), blocks (3), and minutes (28).
January
On January 2, Michigan defeated Penn State 79–56. Michigan showed its seventh different starting lineup of the season, as LeVert was out due to a lower left leg injury. The game marked the seventh time this season Michigan had four or more players score in double figures. On January 7, Michigan lost to (#20/#18) Purdue 70–87 in the first of three consecutive games against ranked opponents. Muhammad Ali Abdur Rahkman scored a career-high and game-high 25 points. On January 12 with LeVert still sidelined, Michigan defeated (#3/#3) Maryland 70–67. Irvin posted a season-high and game-high 22 points; Walton had a 12-point/10-rebound double-double and Robinson added 17 points on 5-for-9 three-point shooting. With the win over Maryland, Michigan defeated a top-three nationally ranked opponent at Crisler Center for the first time since the 1997–98 team defeated No. 3 Duke, 81–73, on December 13, 1997. On January 17, Michigan fell to (#16/#19) Iowa 82–71. On January 20, Michigan defeated Minnesota 74–69 behind 22 points by Walton and a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double by Irvin. On January 23, Michigan defeated Nebraska 81–68, behind 21 points by Robinson, and a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double by Walton. Michigan began both halves of the game with hot shooting taking an 18–6 lead in the first half and then building a 33–30 halftime lead into a 54–36 lead by making their first nine shots in the second half. On January 27, Michigan defeated Rutgers, remaining unbeaten in eight all-time meetings against the Scarlet Knights. The win, their 16th victory of the season, matched their total from the 2014–15 season. On January 30, Michigan defeated Penn State 79–72 in the inaugural B1G Super Saturday game at Madison Square Garden. Walton posted 13 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, recording his second double-double in the last three games.
February
After building an early 11-point lead on February 2, Michigan eventually went scoreless for the final 9:05 of the first half as (#22/21) Indiana scored the final 25 points of the half on way to an 80–67 victory. Entering the February 6 rivalry game against (#10/10) Michigan State, Michigan had posted a 1–5 record against top 25 teams, with 5 double digit losses. In the game, Michigan endured back-to-back defeats for the second time this season, losing 89–73 despite a 19–9 turnover margin including a season high 11 steals. On February 10, Michigan defeated Minnesota behind a career-high 26 points by Walton and a perfect shooting night from Abdur-Rakman (5-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from the line) for 16 points. On February 13, Michigan defeated (#18/16) Purdue, 61–56. Irvin scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, as the Wolverines finished the game on an 11–0 scoring run after falling behind 56–50 with three minutes to play. After missing the previous 11 games, LeVert recorded five rebounds and one assist in 11 minutes. Michigan commemorated the 100th anniversary of Wolverines basketball during a celebration at the game. On February 16, Michigan lost to Ohio State 66–76. Irvin finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals, becoming the 50th Wolverine to eclipse 1,000 career points. On February 21, Michigan lost to (#5/6) Maryland 82–86, despite a game-high 25 points and five blocks from Donnal. On February 24, Michigan defeated Northwestern 72–63. Michigan fell behind early after it had a scoring drought of nearly six minutes to open the game, as they missed its first eight shots. They finished the first half shooting 12-of-17 from the field to cut Northwestern's lead from 11 points to one. On February 28, Michigan lost to Wisconsin 57–68, in their final road game of the season. Michigan was held to a season-low for 3-point attempts in going 5-of-13.
March
On March 1, the team announced that LeVert would sit out the remainder of the season to concentrate on his continued recovery after suffering a lower left leg injury at the end of December. On March 5, Michigan lost to (#15/#16) Iowa, 61–71, in their Big Ten Conference finale, to finish the regular season at 20–11 (11–8 Big Ten). Prior to the game for senior night, Michigan celebrated the accomplishments and careers of seniors Spike Albrecht and Caris LeVert, whose senior seasons were both cut short due to injuries. Freshman Fred Wright-Jones, who has been a manager and practice player the entire season, was allowed to suit up for the game.
Postseason
After a bye in the first round of the 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament, Michigan played Northwestern on March 10. Michigan scored 16 consecutive points early to take a 16–3 lead. Northwestern cut the lead to two points before Michigan took a nine-point lead into the half. Michigan opened up a 12-point lead a couple of times in the second half before Northwestern took a 55–54 lead with 3:27 remaining. On Northwestern's final possession of regulation, Alex Olah forced overtime with a rebound and a field goal. In overtime, Robinson made a three-point shot to tie the score at 70 with 46.5 seconds remaining. Irvin scored the game-winning basket in front of his hometown crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse with 3.3 seconds left. Robinson led the way with 21 points; while Irvin added 19 points and eight rebounds and Abdur-Rahkman posted 14 points. This was just the second overtime game in Michigan's Big Ten tournament history. Michigan defeated Purdue, 79–73, on March 14, 1999. The game marked Irvin's 100th career game with Michigan, becoming just the 64th Wolverine to reach the milestone. On March 11, Michigan defeated No. 1-seeded (#10/#10) Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, 72–69. Kameron Chatman scored the game-winning three-pointer as time expired to give the Wolverines the win. Irvin led the way with a team-high 17 points, while Walton set a Big Ten tournament single-game record with 12 assists. Robinson again put Michigan in position to win by tying the score with a three-point shot with 46 seconds remaining. Michigan recorded six three-pointers in the game, to set a new single-season program record for three-pointers in a season with 320, surpassing the previous record of 319 set during the 2013–14 season. On March 12, Michigan lost to (#13/#13) Purdue in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament, 59–76. Purdue opened the game with an 8–0 scoring run and took a 38–30 lead into halftime. After trailing by as many as 17 early in the second half, the Wolverines fought back to within six only to be outscored 16–5 in the last 7:35 of the game. Abdur-Rahkman led the way with 15 points, while Walton added 14 points and Irvin posted 11 points. Michigan recorded six three-pointers in the game to extend their single-season record for three-pointers in a season to 326. With five assists in the game, Walton is now tied for third-most assists in a single Big Ten tournament with 22, with Brent Darby (2003). Robinson recorded his 90th three-pointer of the season, becoming just the fifth Wolverine in history to reach the milestone in a single season. Irvin was selected to the All-Tournament Team.
On March 13, Michigan received an at-large bid to the 2016 NCAA tournament. The Wolverines are the No. 11 seed in the East Region and faced No. 11 Tulsa in the First Four on March 16 in Dayton, Ohio. Michigan is in the tournament field for the fifth time in the last six seasons after missing out on the 2015 tournament field. Beilein's Wolverines advanced to the national title game in 2013 and followed with an Elite Eight performance in 2014. Michigan is one of three Big Ten teams in the east region (along with Wisconsin and Indiana). On March 16 in the First Four, Michigan defeated Tulsa, 67–62, to advance to the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. After falling behind 16–9, Michigan ended the first half on a 19–4 scoring run to take an eight-point lead into halftime. Irvin hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 53 seconds left to put the Wolverines up by two points. Michigan was led by Abdur-Rahkman and Irvin with 16 points, while Robinson recorded his first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. The game was the first-ever meeting between the two teams in program history. Michigan recorded six three-pointers in the game to extend their single-season record for three-pointers in a season to 332. On March 18, Michigan lost to No. 6 seed Notre Dame, 63–70. Michigan finished the first half on a 7–0 run to take a 41–29 lead at halftime. Notre Dame came out with a 15–5 run to start the second half, cutting Michigan's lead to three points. Notre Dame did not take a lead in the game until Beacham's three-pointer with 9:26 left to make it 51–48. From there on there were five lead changes and three ties. Abdur-Rahkman led Michigan in scoring with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal, while Walton recorded a career-high six steals, along with 10 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Michigan recorded 10 three-pointers in the game to extend their single-season record for three-pointers in a season to 342.
\|- !colspan=12 style="background:#242961; color:#F7BE05;"\| Exhibition
\|- !colspan=12 style="background:#242961; color:#F7BE05;"\| Non-conference Regular Season
\|- !colspan=12 style="background:#242961;"\| Big Ten Regular Season
\|- !colspan=12 style="background:#242961;"\| Big Ten tournament
\|- !colspan=12 style="background:#242961;"\| NCAA tournament
## Statistics
The team posted the following statistics:
## Roster
Donnal was reclassified from redshirt sophomore to junior at Michigan at the beginning of the season, indicating that he might not use all of his three remaining years of eligibility at Michigan.
### Coaching staff
Support Staff
Peter Kahler – Director of Basketball Operations
Chris Hunter – Director of Player Personnel
Will Vergollo – Video Analyst
Bryan Smothers – Graduate Manager
## Rankings
## Midseason recognition
LeVert was one of four Big Ten athletes (along with Melo Trimble, Jarrod Uthoff and Denzel Valentine) among the 25 players included in the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List on January 13. On February 2, LeVert was one of two Big Ten athletes (along with Malcolm Hill) named one of 10 finalists for the Jerry West Award, despite having missed the last 8 of Michigan's 22 games.
## Honors
Following the 2015–16 Big Ten season, Walton was listed as a third team All-Big Ten selection by the coaches and an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by the media, while Irvin was an honorable mention selection by both. Max Bielfeldt, who left the team prior to the season, was voted the Sixth Man of the Year by the coaches for his contributions to the regular season champion Indiana Hoosiers. Irvin was selected to the 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament All-Tournament Team. Following the season, Levert was invited to the NBA Draft Combine.
### Team players drafted into the NBA
LeVert was selected with the 20th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers, however his draft rights were traded to the Brooklyn Nets along with a future protected 2nd round pick in return for forward Thaddeus Young. LeVert became Michigan's 5th first round draft selection since 2013 and the fourth player drafted from Michigan's 2012 entering class.
Sources: |
31,607,472 | German torpedo boat T25 | 1,122,100,361 | Type 39 torpedo boat of the Kriegsmarine | [
"1941 ships",
"Maritime incidents in December 1943",
"Ships built by Schichau",
"Ships built in Elbing",
"Type 39 torpedo boats",
"World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean"
]
| The German torpedo boat T25 was one of fifteen Type 39 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in late 1942, she was transferred to France in July 1943. T25 was unsuccessfully attacked by Allied motor torpedo boats and aircraft during her voyage down the English Channel and then came to the aid of a convoy being attacked by Allied destroyers. Later that year she escorted blockade runners and Axis submarines through the Bay of Biscay. T25 also helped to lay minefields in the English Channel in mid-1943. She participated in the Battle of Sept-Îles in October and was sunk two months later by British light cruisers during the Battle of the Bay of Biscay.
## Design and description
The Type 39 torpedo boat was conceived as a general-purpose design, much larger than preceding German torpedo boats. The boats had an overall length of 102.5 meters (336 ft 3 in) and were 97 meters (318 ft 3 in) long at the waterline. They had a beam of 10 meters (32 ft 10 in), a draft of 3.22 meters (10 ft 7 in) at deep load and displaced 1,294 metric tons (1,274 long tons) at standard load and 1,754 metric tons (1,726 long tons) at deep load. Their crew numbered 206 officers and sailors. The Type 39s were fitted with a pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 32,000 shaft horsepower (24,000 kW) which was intended give the ships a maximum speed of 33.5 knots (62.0 km/h; 38.6 mph). They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km; 2,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).
As built, the Type 39 ships mounted four 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32 guns in single mounts protected by gun shields; one forward of the superstructure, one between the funnels, and two aft, one superfiring over the other. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by four 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 AA guns in two twin-gun mounts on platforms abaft the rear funnel, six 2 cm (0.8 in) C/38 guns in one quadruple mount on the aft superstructure and a pair of single mounts on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines; the full complement of 60 mines made the ships top-heavy which could be dangerous in bad weather. For anti-submarine work the boats were fitted with a S-Gerät sonar and four depth charge launchers. The Type 39s were equipped with a FuMO 21 radar and various FumB radar detectors were installed late in the war.
## Construction and career
Originally ordered as a Type 37 torpedo boat on 30 March 1939, T25 was reordered on 10 November 1939 from Schichau. The boat was laid down on 30 November 1940 at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard as yard number 1484, launched on 1 December 1941 and commissioned on 12 November 1942. After working up until June 1943, on 3 July T25 and her sister T24 departed for Western France. On the morning of 5 July, the sisters were unsuccessfully attacked by three Dutch-manned motor torpedo boats and shelled by British coastal artillery. After reaching Boulogne harbor, they were attacked by Hawker Typhoon fighters on 6 July which were equally unsuccessful. The boats sailed shortly after midnight on 7 July, bound for Le Havre where they arrived without being attacked. On the night of 9/10 July, on passage between Saint-Malo and Brest, they were tasked to provide distant cover for a convoy that was escorted by five minesweepers off Ushant. The convoy was attacked by the British destroyers Melbreak, Wensleydale and the Norwegian-manned Glaisdale which sank one of the minesweepers and damaged another before T25 and T24 could arrive. The sisters heavily damaged Melbreak before the Allied ships disengaged. Now assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, the torpedo boats were tasked to help escort U-boats through the Bay. On 2 August T25, T24 and their sister T22, responding to a distress call from another submarine, rescued survivors from the submarine . From 29 to 31 August, the same three boats escorted the Japanese submarine I-8 through the Bay to Lorient.
T25 helped to lay minefields in the Channel from 3 to 5 September. While providing distant cover for a small convoy during the night of 3/4 October, the 4th Flotilla spotted a force of five British destroyers off the Sept-Îles near the coast of Brittany in the Channel and attacked with torpedoes with complete surprise. The first volley of five torpedoes all missed, but the British did not see them and continued on their course. Only when T23 turned on her radar to determine the range for a second volley did they react when one of the British destroyers detected the radar; they altered course just in time for the second volley of torpedoes to miss. Two of the British ships were able to pursue the retreating Germans at high speed, but both were damaged by German gunfire and forced to disengage.
### Battle of Sept-Îles
On 22 October, the 4th Flotilla, now consisting of T25, T22, T23, and their sisters T26 and T27, sortied from Brest to provide cover for the unladen blockade runner Münsterland and her close escort from the 2nd Minesweeping Flotilla as they sailed up the Channel. The British were aware of Münsterland and attempted to intercept her on the night of the 23rd with a scratch force that consisted of the light cruiser Charybdis and the destroyers Grenville, Rocket, Limbourne, Wensleydale, Talybont and Stevenstone. T22's hydrophones detected the British ships off the Sept-Îles at 00:25 and Korvettenkapitän Franz Kohlauf maneuvered his flotilla to intercept them before they could reach Münsterland. Limbourne overheard the radio transmissions about 01:20 as the German ships turned and alerted the other British ships. At 01:36 Charybdis's radar detected the German torpedo boats at a range of 8,100 yards (7,400 m) and she fired star shells in an unsuccessful attempt to spot them visually. About this time, T23 spotted Charybdis silhouetted against the lighter horizon and Kohlauf ordered every boat to fire all of their torpedoes. Two of these struck the cruiser, which sank shortly afterwards, and another blew the bow off Limbourne, which had to be scuttled later. None of these torpedoes were fired by T25 as her partially trained torpedo officer did not react in time. The loss of the flagship threw the British into confusion as they had not worked together before the attack, and the torpedo boats successfully disengaged before the senior surviving British captain realized that he was in command.
### Battle of the Bay of Biscay
On 24–26 December T25 was one of the escorts for the 6,951 GRT blockade runner through the Bay of Biscay. Another blockade runner, the 2,729 GRT refrigerated cargo ship , trailed Osorno by several days and four destroyers of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla and the six torpedo boats of the 4th Flotilla set sail on 27 December to escort her through the Bay. The Allies were aware of these blockade runners through their Ultra code-breaking efforts and positioned cruisers and aircraft in the Western Atlantic to intercept them in Operation Stonewall. A Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber from No. 311 Squadron RAF sank Alsterufer later that afternoon.
The German ships were unaware of the sinking until the following afternoon and continued onward to the rendezvous point. They had been spotted by an American Liberator bomber on the morning of the 28th and the British light cruisers Glasgow and Enterprise, which were assigned to Stonewall, maneuvered to intercept them. By this time, the weather had gotten significantly worse and the German ships were steaming for home, hampered by the rough seas that threw sea spray over their forward guns which made their operation difficult. It also severely reduced visibility and hampered the rangefinders and sights for the guns and torpedoes. Using her radar, Glasgow was the first to open fire at 13:46 at a range of 19,600 meters (21,400 yd) with Enterprise following a few minutes later. About that time, the destroyers began firing back with guns and torpedoes; the latter all missed and one hit was made on Glasgow at 14:05. Kapitän zur See (Captain) Hans Erdmenger, commander of the 8th Flotilla, decided to split his forces and ordered the destroyers Z23, Z27, and T22, T25 and T26 to reverse course to the north at 14:18. The cruisers pursued them with Enterprise crippling Z27 and Glasgow engaging T25. At 14:54 the cruiser began to make multiple hits on T25, killing the crews of the aft torpedo tubes, the quadruple 2 cm gun mount and the 3.7 cm guns. They also stopped one turbine and severed the oil pipes supplying after engine room, causing the boat to lose speed. Another hit blew the foremast and the forward funnel overboard and knocked out electrical power. At 15:10 T25 fired her forward torpedoes without effect. Her captain requested that T22 come alongside and rescue his crew, but Glasgow's intense fire prevented her from complying. The cruiser switched targets to T26 shortly afterwards, leaving T24 drifting by herself with some hope of restarting one turbine. At 16:35 Enterprise reappeared and closed to a range of 3,000 yards (2,700 m), despite sporadic firing from the German guns, which were almost out of ammunition, before firing one torpedo that caused T25 to founder at 16:46 with the loss of 85 crewmen. The survivors were rescued by , which picked up 34 men from T25; several hundred other survivors from Z27, T25 and T26 were rescued by the Irish merchantman , the British minesweeper Seaham and two Spanish destroyers, but the precise breakdown of which survivors belong to which ship is not available. |
778,979 | 1971 Atlantic hurricane season | 1,153,062,772 | Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean | [
"1971 Atlantic hurricane season",
"Articles which contain graphical timelines"
]
| The 1971 Atlantic hurricane season was fairly active with several notable storms. Hurricane Edith, the strongest of the season, was a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the highest category on the scale, even though it was the least intense for that category on record, at 943 mbar. It struck Nicaragua at peak intensity, killing dozens, and later hit southern Louisiana. Until 2003, Hurricane Ginger held the record for the longest known duration of a North Atlantic tropical cyclone, lasting 27.25 days from early September to early October; it is currently the second longest-lasting Atlantic hurricane. Ginger moved ashore in North Carolina, producing heavy rains and damaging winds. An unnamed storm in August attained hurricane status further north than any other Atlantic hurricane. On 11 September, seven tropical cyclones were active at the same time, the record for the Atlantic basin.
The season officially began on June 1, and lasted until November 30, 1971; these dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. With thirteen tropical storms, of which six became hurricanes, the season was active. Despite the activity, damage in the United States totaled about \$235 million (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD), which National Hurricane Center forecaster Paul Hebert noted was "pretty small considering we had five storms in a row strike the U.S." Most of the damage came from Tropical Storm Doria, which affected much of the East Coast of the United States. Hurricane Fern struck Texas after executing an unusual track, dropping heavy rainfall and producing flooding. The first storm, Arlene, developed on July 4 off the coast of North Carolina. Activity was steady through most of the season, and the last storm, Laura, dissipated on November 22.
## Systems
### Tropical Storm Arlene
The origins of Arlene were from a cold front that exited the East Coast of the United States on July 2 and stalled offshore. A frontal wave developed the next day, steadily developing due to thermal instability. On July 4, the system organized into a tropical depression about 120 mi (195 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. While in its formative stages, it dropped rainfall along the coast of the Carolinas, peaking at 4.11 in (104 mm) in Pinopolis, South Carolina. The depression tracked northeastward due to a ridge over New England, and the cyclone passed just southeast of the Outer Banks. After a Hurricane Hunters plane observed gale-force winds, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Arlene late on July 5; in the post-season summary, meteorologist Neil Frank noted, "the surprising element in the development of Arlene was the rapidity of the transformation process."
Upon being named, Arlene continued northeastward, possessing a circular mass of convection with spiral rainbands. Late on July 6, the storm attained peak winds of 65 mph (100 km/h), based on a ship report. It weakened thereafter, and Arlene transitioned into an extratropical cyclone late on July 7 just south of Newfoundland. The cyclone last observed early the following day. The storm capsized a boat in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and the crew of 12 was rescued.
### Hurricane Two
A hybrid-type depression formed east of Bermuda on July 29. It moved rapidly southwestward before turning to a northwest drift. On August 3, it was classified as a tropical depression, and the next day the system passed near Bermuda. The depression accelerated to the northeast, strengthening into a tropical storm on August 5. It intensified further due to baroclinity, or enhanced instability through different levels of the atmosphere caused by temperature and moisture gradients. On August 6, a drilling rig about 230 mi (370 km) southeast of Newfoundland recorded sustained winds of 90 mph (140 km/h) with gusts to 126 mph (204 km/h) at an altitude of 325 ft (99 m); this suggested the storm attained hurricane status at 46° North, which is the northernmost location for a tropical storm to intensify into a hurricane.
Despite the intensity, the cyclone was not purely tropical; although the radius of maximum winds was only 35 mi (56 km), the thermal structure did not resemble a tropical cyclone, and there was no precipitation or convection near the center. It continued northeastward and dissipated on August 7 to the southwest of Greenland. It was not named operationally, but it was later added to the Atlantic hurricane database.
### Hurricane Beth
On August 9, an upper-level low developed off the coast of Florida, and the next day spawned a tropical depression. The newly developed cyclone tracked slowly northeastward, eventually encountering conditions favorable for development. On August 14, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Beth off the coast of North Carolina, and it quickly strengthened into a hurricane by August 15. After reaching peak winds of 85 mph (137 km/h) off the coast of Cape Cod, Beth slightly weakened and later moved ashore near Copper Lake, Nova Scotia. Shortly thereafter, Beth was swept up by a nearby cold front and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone.
The hurricane left extensive damage in its wake, especially to crops and infrastructure. Halifax International Airport reported 10.49 in (266 mm) of rainfall in a 30‐hour span, which caused widespread flooding. Several bridges in the region were washed out, while railways were covered by water, forcing trains to suspend their operation. Overall monetary damage from Beth is estimated up to \$5.1 million (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD). One person was indirectly killed by the hurricane in a traffic accident induced by heavy rainfall.
### Tropical Depression Eight
On August 11, Tropical Depression Eight developed southwest of Fort Myers, Florida. It quickly moved ashore, reaching Lake Okeechobee before looping to the northwest. While moving across the state, it dropped heavy rainfall of around 10 in (250 mm) along the west coast. In Pinellas Park, the heavy rains led to flash flooding that forced 200 families from their house, including one that required evacuation from a helicopter. Damage in the region was estimated at \$250,000 (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD).
The depression emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 15 near Tampa, and later turned to the northeast ahead of an upper-level low. On August 16, it intensified as it moved ashore near Cedar Key, where hurricane-force wind gusts were briefly observed. The depression dissipated on August 17 over South Carolina, although in that state it produced its heaviest rainfall, totaling 14.11 in (358 mm) in Sullivan's Island. In nearby Savannah, Georgia, the rainfall forced about 100 families from their houses in low-lying areas. The remnants continued northeastward through the Mid-Atlantic States and New England, crossing into Canada on August 20.
### Tropical Storm Chloe
A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 13, moving westward for several days before organizing into a tropical depression on August 18 about 460 mi (740 km) east of Barbados. It quickly moved through the Lesser Antilles, where it produced wind gusts up to 58 mph (93 km/h). The cyclone also dropped heavy rainfall up to 6 in (150 mm) on Barbados and Martinique. After entering the eastern Caribbean Sea, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Chloe on August 20. About 18 hours after attaining tropical storm status, Chloe quickly strengthened to peak winds of 65 mph (105 km/h) about 215 mi (345 km) south of the Mona Passage, as reported by reconnaissance aircraft.
After reaching peak intensity, Chloe began weakening as it turned to the west-southwest, and late on August 22, it was downgraded to a tropical depression as a weakening ridge to its north cut off the low-level inflow. For several days it continued generally westward, gradually losing organization. While passing south of Jamaica, the storm prompted the evacuation of the SS Hope, a hospital ship, at Kingston. On August 25, Chloe moved ashore in Belize as a weak tropical depression, and dissipated shortly thereafter without ever having caused significant damage or deaths. The remnants of Chloe later spawned Hurricane Lily in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
### Tropical Storm Doria
Tropical Storm Doria, the costliest storm of the season, developed from a tropical wave on August 20 to the east of the Lesser Antilles, and after five days without development attained tropical storm status to the east of Florida. Doria turned to the north, and reached peak winds of 65 mph (105 km/h) as it was making landfall near Morehead City, North Carolina. It turned to the northeast, and moved through the Mid-Atlantic and New England as a tropical storm before becoming an extratropical storm over Maine on August 29.
In North Carolina, Doria produced moderate rainfall, resulting in localized flooding and damage. The storm spawned a tornado near Norfolk, Virginia, damaging twelve houses and downing hundreds of trees. Tropical Storm Doria dropped heavy precipitation in New Jersey, peaking at 10.29 in (261 mm) in Little Falls. The rainfall led to record-breaking river levels and flooding in several houses, resulting in damage to dozens of houses across the state. Moderate damage and rainfall continued along its path into New England and southeastern Canada. In all, Tropical Storm Doria caused seven deaths and \$147.6 million (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD).
### Hurricane Fern
Hurricane Fern was the first of four tropical systems to develop in association with an extended surface trough across the Gulf of Mexico into the open Atlantic, along with Ginger, Heidi, and a strong tropical depression. Fern developed on September 3 in the central Gulf of Mexico. It moved over southern Louisiana the next day, but due to increased ridging to the north the depression moved southwestward back over water. On September 7, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Fern; it is rare for a tropical depression to move over land in the continental United States (excluding Florida) and later attain tropical storm status. Fern later turned to the northwest, intensifying into a hurricane on September 8. It quickly reached peak winds of 90 mph (140 km/h), but later weakened as it curved to the southwest, moving ashore on September 10 between Freeport and Matagorda, Texas as a tropical storm. Fern dissipated on September 13 over northeastern Mexico.
The precursor of Fern dropped rainfall up to 5 in (130 mm) of rainfall across South Florida, while totals of up to 10 in (250 mm) were reported in southeastern Louisiana where it made its first landfall. As it struck Texas, Fern produced strong winds up to 86 mph (138 km/h), along with 5 to 6 ft (1.5 to 1.8 m) storm tides and heavy rainfall; the highest precipitation total was 26.0 in (660 mm) in Beeville. The heavy rainfall caused severe flash flooding that isolated numerous small towns in the southeastern portion of the state, damaging 7,500 buildings. In all, Fern left two indirect deaths and moderate damage totaling \$30.2 million (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD).
### Hurricane Edith
Hurricane Edith, the strongest storm of the season, developed from a tropical wave on September 5 to the east of the southern Lesser Antilles. It moved quickly across the southern Caribbean Sea, intensifying into a hurricane just off the north coast of South America. Edith rapidly intensified on September 9 and made landfall on Cape Gracias a Dios as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It quickly lost intensity over Central America and after briefly entering the Gulf of Honduras it crossed the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. After moving across the Gulf of Mexico, a trough turned the storm to the northeast and Edith, after having restrengthened while accelerating towards the coast, made landfall on Louisiana with winds of 105 mph (170 km/h) on September 16. Edith steadily weakened over land and dissipated over Georgia on September 18.
The hurricane killed two people when it passed near Aruba. Striking northeastern Central America as a Category 5 hurricane, Edith destroyed hundreds of homes and killed at least 35 people. In Texas high tides caused coastal flooding but little damage. Edith caused moderate to heavy damage in portions of Louisiana due to flooding and a tornado outbreak from the storm. One tornado, rated F3 on the Fujita Scale, damaged several homes and injured multiple people in Baton Rouge. The tornado outbreak extended eastward into Florida. Damage in the United States totaled \$25 million (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD).
### Hurricane Ginger
Hurricane Ginger was thought to be the longest lasting Atlantic hurricane on record until 2003, when the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane was retroactively found to have lasted longer. The eighth tropical cyclone and fifth hurricane of the season, Ginger spent 27.25 days as a tropical cyclone, and lasted from September 6 to October 3. The storm developed in a large region of convection across the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic, and for the first nine days of its duration tracked generally east- or northeastward while gradually strengthening to peak winds of 110 mph (175 km/h). On September 14 Ginger slowed and turned to a general westward track, passing near Bermuda on September 23; there, the hurricane produced gusty winds and high waves, but no damage.
While over the western Atlantic Ocean, Ginger became the last target of Project Stormfury, which sought to weaken hurricanes by depositing silver iodide into tropical cyclone rainbands. The plane dropped silver iodide into the center of Ginger, although there was no effect due to Ginger's large eye and diffuse nature; Ginger was the last seeding done by the project. Ginger ultimately struck North Carolina on September 30 as a minimal hurricane, lashing the coastline with gusty winds that caused power outages across the region. Heavy rainfall flooded towns and left heavy crop damage, with 3 million bushels of corn and 1 million bushels of soybean lost. Damage in the state was estimated at \$10 million (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD). Further north, moderate rainfall and winds spread through the Mid-Atlantic states, although no significant damage was reported outside of North Carolina.
### Tropical Storm Heidi
Tropical Storm Heidi was the last of the four tropical systems to develop from the extended surface trough of low pressure, forming on September 11 northeast of the Bahamas and intensifying into a tropical storm the next day. After initially moving to the northwest, Heidi curved northeastward and attained its peak intensity of 65 mph (100 km/h) on September 14 off the coast of Virginia. The storm failed to become a well-organized system, and it gradually weakened while accelerating north-northeastward. On September 15, shortly after Heidi moved ashore in Maine, it was absorbed by a broad extratropical cyclone over the northern Appalachians.
Heidi did not directly cause any fatalities or severe damage. However, the larger extratropical storm drew in moisture from Heidi, producing rainfall from North Carolina through northern New England, including a peak of 9.38 in (238 mm) in southeastern Pennsylvania. The heavy rains triggered extensive flooding that caused over a dozen fatalities and left thousands of residents homeless in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In Chester, Pennsylvania a stone dam collapsed, forcing hundreds of families to evacuate and damaging homes, businesses, roads, and bridges. Governor Milton Shapp declared a state of emergency in several Pennsylvania counties following the floods.
### Hurricane Irene
A tropical wave spawned a tropical depression on September 11 about 800 mi (1300 km) east of the Windward Islands. The cyclone tracked nearly due westward at a low latitude, passing through the southern Windward Islands and later over northern South America. In the southwest Caribbean Sea, it intensified to a tropical storm and later a hurricane. Irene made landfall on southeastern Nicaragua on September 19, and maintained its circulation as it crossed the low-lying terrain of the country. Restrengthening after reaching the Pacific, Irene was renamed Hurricane Olivia, which ultimately attained peak winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) before weakening and dissipating over northwestern Mexico.
In the Atlantic, Irene produced moderate rainfall and winds along its path, although impact was greatest in Nicaragua where it moved ashore as a hurricane. A total of 96 homes were destroyed, and 1,200 people were left homeless. The rainfall resulted in widespread flooding, killing three people in Rivas. In neighboring Costa Rica, Hurricane Irene caused more than \$1 million (1971 USD, \$ 2023 USD) in damage to the banana crop. The hurricane was the first actively tracked tropical cyclone that moved into the eastern Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic Ocean.
### Tropical Storm Janice
The origins of Janice were from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on September 18. It developed into a tropical depression on September 21 about 1050 mi (1700 km) west-southwest of Cape Verde, which was the easternmost formation of the named storms this season. The next day, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Janice, and quickly reached peak winds of 65 mph (105 km/h). The storm never became well-organized, with its peak winds located east of the broad center. Despite being in a climatologically favored region for further development, Janice weakened due to increased wind shear from Hurricane Ginger. The circulation became elongated and separated from the convection, and on September 24 the storm weakened to a tropical depression. Later that day Janice dissipated just northeast of the Lesser Antilles as it was absorbed by Ginger. Around that time, it produced rainfall in the northeastern Caribbean, reaching 4 in (100 mm) on Saint Kitts; no damage or fatalities were reported.
### Tropical Storm Kristy
The interaction between a tropical wave and an upper-level trough led to the development of a tropical depression on October 18, about 685 mi (1100 km) northeast of Puerto Rico. It moved quickly north-northeastward, followed by a curve to the northeast. On October 20, a ship reported winds of 45 mph (72 km/h), indicating the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Kristy. As it reached this strength, an approaching cold front produced cooler, drier air over the storm. Kristy intensified slightly further to peak winds of 50 mph (85 km/h) before becoming indistinguishable from the cold front. By October 21 it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone before dissipating near the Azores.
### Tropical Storm Laura
The final storm of the season, Laura, formed on November 12 in the western Caribbean Sea, and reached winds of 70 mph (120 km/h) as it approached western Cuba. Across the island, the storm produced heavy rainfall, peaking at 32.5 in (830 mm). The resulting flooding killed one person and caused crop damage, and also forced 26,000 people to evacuate their homes. Initially, Laura was forecast to move across the island and impact the southern United States, but it executed a small loop and turned to the southwest. The storm moved ashore on Belize, one of only four November storms to affect the country. Little impact occurred during Laura's final landfall, and it dissipated on November 22 over central Guatemala.
### Other systems
In addition to the named storms and otherwise notable cyclones, there were several weak depressions during the season. After a June devoid of activity, three tropical depressions developed within the first ten days of July. The first became Tropical Storm Arlene on July 4, and the second formed off the coast of Louisiana on July 6. Tropical Depression Two moved westward due to a ridge to its northeast, and it struck just west of the Texas/Louisiana border before dissipating on July 8. Its precursor dropped 3.90 in (99 mm) near Carrabelle, Florida, but much less along its path. Just two days later, another tropical depression formed in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, quickly moving ashore in southern Texas before dissipating on July 11; it dropped light rainfall along its path.
In August, there were two tropical depressions, in addition to the named storms and the notable Tropical Depression Eight. The first, Tropical Depression Five, developed in the central Gulf of Mexico on August 6. It made landfall in Louisiana three days later, eventually dissipating over Mississippi. The other, designated Tropical Depression Eleven, formed over the Bahamas on August 28. It moved westward, crossing Florida and the Gulf of Mexico before dissipating over southeastern Louisiana on September 1. The depression dropped moderate rainfall along the Gulf Coast, peaking at 6.82 in (173 mm) at Gulf Shores, Alabama.
There were three non-developing tropical depressions in September, the first of which just off the coast of Africa on September 3. It moved west-northwestward, passing near Cape Verde before dissipating on September 8. The next, Tropical Depression Eighteen, originated on September 8 east of Florida from the same trough that also spawned Fern, Ginger, and Heidi. It initially moved northward before curving to the west, making landfall near the Georgia/South Carolina border on September 11 before dissipating the following day. The other, Tropical Depression Nineteen, developed off the coast of Africa on September 10, moving westward before dissipating on September 14.
The final non-developing tropical depression of the season formed on October 6 in the western Caribbean Sea. It crossed the Yucatán Peninsula the next day, dropping heavy rainfall up to 9.09 in (231 mm). The depression turned to the northeast due to an approaching upper-level trough, and it transitioned into a frontal wave on October 10. As the trough advanced ahead of the storm, a ridge built across the southeast United States, causing the cyclone to turn northward and parallel the west coast of Florida. It regained tropical characteristics before moving ashore near Apalachicola and dissipating on October 14.
## Storm names
The following names were used for named storms (tropical storms and hurricanes) that formed in the North Atlantic in 1971. Names that were not assigned are marked in . Storms were named Beth, Kristy and Laura for the first time in 1971.
## Season effects
This is a table of the storms in 1971 and their landfall(s), if any. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but are still storm-related. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical or a wave or low.
\|- \| Arlene \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 998 hPa (29.47 inHg) \|\| The Carolinas, Newfoundland \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Two \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| Texas, Louisiana \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Three \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| Texas \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Unnamed \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 974 hPa (28.76 inHg) \|\| \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Five \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| Louisiana \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Beth \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 977 hPa (28.85 inHg) \|\| Bahamas, Florida, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland \|\| \|\| 0 (1) \|\| \|- \| Eight \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 1006 hPa (29.71 inHg) \|\| Southeastern United States \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Chloe \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 1004 hPa (29.65 inHg) \|\| Leeward Islands, Belize \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Doria \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 989 hPa (29.21 inHg) \|\| East Coast of the United States, Canada \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Eleven \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| Texas \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Sixteen \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Fern \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 979 hPa (28.91 inHg) \|\| Louisiana, Texas, northern Mexico \|\| \|\| 0 (2) \|\| \|- \| Edith \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 943 hPa (27.85 inHg) \|\| Lesser Antilles, northern Venezuela, northern Mexico, Southern United States \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Ginger \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 959 hPa (28.32 inHg) \|\| The Bahamas, North Carolina \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Eighteen \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| Georgia, South Carolina \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Nineteen \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Heidi \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 996 hPa (29.41 inHg) \|\| Northeastern United States \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Irene \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 989 hPa (29.21 inHg) \|\| Windward Islands, northern Venezuela, Central America \|\| \> \|\| \|\| \|- \| Janice \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 1005 hPa (29.68 inHg) \|\| northern Leeward Islands \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Twenty-Two \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| Unknown \|\| Yucatán Peninsula, Florida \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Kristy \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 992 hPa (29.29 inHg) \|\| \|\| \|\| \|\| \|- \| Laura\|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| 994 hPa (29.35 inHg) \|\| Cayman Islands, Cuba, Central America \|\| \|\| \|\| \|-
## See also
- 1971 Pacific hurricane season
- 1971 Pacific typhoon season
- 1971 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Australian region cyclone seasons: 1970–71 1971–72
- South Pacific cyclone seasons: 1970–71 1971–72
- South-West Indian Ocean cyclone seasons: 1970–71 1971–72 |
1,808,725 | 1 Wall Street | 1,165,378,488 | Residential skyscraper in Manhattan, New York | [
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"BNY Mellon",
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"Financial District, Manhattan",
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"Office buildings completed in 1931",
"Ralph Thomas Walker buildings",
"Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan",
"Wall Street"
]
| 1 Wall Street (also known as the Irving Trust Company Building, the Bank of New York Building, and the BNY Mellon Building) is a mostly residential skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City, on the eastern side of Broadway between Wall Street and Exchange Place. 1 Wall Street, designed in the Art Deco style, is 654 feet (199 m) tall and consists of two sections. The original 50-story building was designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of the firm Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker and constructed between 1929 and 1931, while a 36-story annex to the south was designed by successor firm Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines and built between 1963 and 1965.
The facade, made of limestone, contains slight inwardly-curved bays with fluting to resemble curtains. On the lower stories are narrow windows with mullions, as well as ornate entrances. The massing of 1 Wall Street incorporates numerous small setbacks, and the top of the original building consists of a freestanding tower. The corners of the original building consist of chamfers, while the top of the tower has fluted windowless bays. The facade of the annex is designed in a style evocative of the original structure. Inside is an ornate main lobby with colored mosaics.
1 Wall Street had been constructed for Irving Trust, one of the larger banks in New York City in the early 20th century. At the time of its construction, the building occupied what was considered one of the most valuable plots in the city. The building replaced three previous structures, including the Manhattan Life Insurance Building, which was once considered the world's tallest building. After Irving Trust was acquired by The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) in 1988, 1 Wall Street subsequently served as BNY Mellon's global headquarters through 2015. After Harry Macklowe purchased the building, it has been undergoing renovation since 2018, converting the interior to residential use with some commercial space.
The building is regarded as one of New York City's Art Deco landmarks, despite initially remaining ignored in favor of such buildings as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the original portion of the building as a city landmark in 2001. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007.
## Site
1 Wall Street occupies the entire block in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, bounded by Broadway to the west, Wall Street to the north, New Street to the east, and Exchange Place to the south. 1 Wall Street is adjacent to the Adams Express Building, 65 Broadway, the Empire Building, Trinity Church, and Trinity Church's churchyard to the west; the American Surety Company Building to the north; 14 Wall Street to the northeast; the New York Stock Exchange Building to the east; and 52 Broadway to the south. Entrances to the New York City Subway's Wall Street station, served by the , are adjacent to the building.
Because of the curves in the facade, the original structure does not completely occupy its full land lot; instead, 180 square feet (17 m<sup>2</sup>) is used as a sidewalk. At the chamfered corners of the building, the facade is recessed by up to 7.5 feet (2.3 m) from the lot line. Consequently, when 1 Wall Street was built, its main occupant Irving Trust embedded small metal plaques to delineate the boundaries of its lot. Under municipal law, any private land that was adjacent to public property (but not clearly marked as such) would eventually revert to the government of New York City. The presence of the plaques was meant to preclude such a seizure.
## Architecture
The original building was designed by Ralph Walker of the Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the Art Deco style. The annex was designed by Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker's successor firm Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines. Everett Meeks, the dean of the Yale School of Art, was the building's design consultant. The original building reaches 50 stories and stands 654 feet (199 m) tall. The southern annex was originally 28 stories tall with a height of about 391 feet (119 m), but, in 2019, it was expanded to 36 stories with a height of about 494 feet (151 m). Dormer structures of up to two stories are located on the tops of both sections.
Although author Daniel Abramson said 1 Wall Street was "Art Deco in many respects", historian Anthony Robins characterized the building as being "Gothic Modern—a skyscraper reflection of Trinity Church". Walker had designed other Art Deco buildings in the New York City area, mainly telecommunications structures. These included the Barclay–Vesey Building (1927), New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building (1929), 60 Hudson Street (1930), and 32 Avenue of the Americas (1932), as well as telephone buildings in Upstate New York.
### Form and facade
1 Wall Street's facade is made primarily of limestone. This contrasts with the brick facades of Walker's telecommunications buildings, the use of which was likely influenced by Dutch and German Expressionism. At the time of 1 Wall Street's construction, limestone was a relatively expensive material and was rarely used for a building's entire facade, with cheaper brick being used instead. 1 Wall Street also contains numerous setbacks on its exterior. Though setbacks in New York City skyscrapers were mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution in order to allow light and air to reach the streets below, they later became a defining feature of the Art Deco style. The facade contains uninterrupted vertical piers, similar to other Art Deco buildings. Although the piers emphasize the building's height, Walker said this effect was not the main goal of his design.
#### Original building
The original 1931 building is on the northern portion of the site. The first twenty stories occupy almost the entire site. The building contains a series of small setbacks starting at the 21st story and continuing until the 35th story, above which a slender tower rises. The setbacks on the Broadway and Wall Street elevations alternate with each other. The southern portion of the original building rises as high as a dormer on the 37th floor, though the 36th floor is the highest story that also connects to the annex. The original structure measures 179 feet (55 m) on Broadway by 102 feet (31 m) on Wall Street. The tower stories, from the 37th to the 48th floors, measure 60 by 80 feet (18 by 24 m) each. The top two stories constituted an executive penthouse.
Walker emphasized the design of the building's facade, rather than the massing, as was done for other early-20th-century skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan. The facade contains several decorative elements that make it appear as an organic design, rather than a machine-produced design. The facade has indented vertical bays with fluting that are arranged like curtains, although it could also resemble a cliff-like natural shape from different angles. Walker said the building would "have 200 thousand people looking at it from all sides" in a single year, including workers and pedestrians, and he wanted them to have "mental relief and pleasure" when looking at the building. Walker also said he "tried to superimpose one rhythm upon a basic rhythm"; as such, he treated the facade as a series of "rhythmic motifs" in different sizes. The resulting concave bays were angled inward at a pitch of 1:9. Each of the bays is separated by curved, projecting piers that rise to each setback. Several piers also contain vertical incisions for emphasis. The windows of the original building contained custom curved frames to fit into the facade, which added \$40,000 to the construction cost.
The base of the original building is composed of the lowest three stories. The section of the base along Wall Street is eight bays wide, with a double-width entrance in the middle of the Wall Street facade, which is reached by a short flight of stairs and leads to the main lobby. The entryway is framed by a jagged portal. The sections of the base on Broadway and New Street are seventeen bays wide. On the New Street elevation, the name "Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker" is printed in cursive script. There is an exposed granite basement on New Street with a service entrance. On the upper floors, each of the bays has a single sash window on each floor. The northwestern and northeastern corners of the building both contain chamfers, which visually connect the west, north, and east elevations of the facade.
#### Annex
The southern annex, completed in 1965, is also mostly made of limestone. On the New Street side, there are setbacks above the 5th and 10th floors; the building then rises as a slender slab with setbacks on the 29th, 34th, and 35th floors. Along Broadway, the facade of the annex was originally recessed behind that of the original building by two bays.
In 2018, an entrance to the retail space was constructed in front of the annex; the entrance is clad with glass. The entrance structure ranges between one and seven stories high. The facade of the 2018 addition projects forward to the facade of the original structure. Five stories were also built atop the initial portion of the annex. In total, according to zoning documents, the annex measures 180 feet (55 m) on Broadway and 132.5 feet (40.4 m) on Exchange Place.
### Features
The building contains 10 elevators as of 2019, compared with 43 elevators and 14 escalators prior to the residential conversion. When built, 1 Wall Street contained 29 elevators, some of which were near the building's exterior walls. Irving Trust had six private elevators, accessed from Wall Street. The rest of the building contained three groups of elevators, serving the lower, intermediate, or upper floors; these elevators could be reached from Broadway, New Street, or the subway. Because the New Street side of the building was lower than the Broadway side, engineers configured the original elevator shafts so that double-deck elevators could be installed if necessary, but these double-deck elevators were never built. At its completion, 1 Wall Street was the first office structure in Lower Manhattan to use alternating current for electric power. It contained a network of pneumatic tubes for sending documents between floors.
There is 1,165,645 sq ft (108,292 m<sup>2</sup>) of interior space, of which the original building had 500,000 square feet (46,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of floor space. The original building's first through 21st stories each contained 15,000 square feet (1,400 m<sup>2</sup>). There are also five basement levels under the original structure, three of which were below sea level. A corridor inside 1 Wall Street's basement, stretching between Broadway and New Street, provided access to the northbound platform of the Wall Street station, but it was converted to a communications room by 2000. Upon the building's opening, Irving Trust occupied the basements, lowest ten floors, and uppermost three floors of 1 Wall Street. Following its 2018–2021 conversion, 1 Wall Street contained 678,000 square feet (63,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of residential space and 166,000 square feet (15,400 m<sup>2</sup>) of commercial space.
#### Lobby
At ground level is the Red Room, a large space with a ceiling stretching 33 feet (10 m) or 37 feet (11 m) high. The Red Room measures 100 feet (30 m) long, stretching between the western and eastern facades, and 40 feet (12 m) wide. Walker and his associate Perry Coke Smith designed the room, while Hildreth Meière was hired as a "color consultant". The space functioned as a reception room rather than as a banking room, and was accessed primarily from Wall Street. As such, the Red Room had no tellers' counters. Lewis Pierson of Irving Trust described the Red Room as a place "where we shall meet our customers and friends". The eastern wall had desks for the brokers' loan officers, while the western wall contained desks for the officers of Irving Trust's city office.
Just inside the Wall Street entrance is a foyer that runs between Broadway and New Street, with two polygonal piers. The floor was made of red terrazzo tiles. Walker and Smith personally supervised the creation of the floor tiles in Berlin. The walls and ceilings are decorated with 8,911 square feet (827.9 m<sup>2</sup>) of mosaics designed by Meiere and manufactured by the Ravenna Mosaic Company in Long Island City and in Berlin. The color scheme of the mosaic ranges from red-on-blue on the walls to gold-on-black on the ceiling. The mosaic gradually becomes lighter near the ceiling, thus drawing visitors' attention toward the ceiling. The mosaic also contains abstract gold patterns. The remainder of the walls are made of Pyrenees black marble, and the columns are made of Verona red marble; a similar design was used in the Stockholm City Hall. The ceiling had an allegorical painting measuring 20 by 66 feet (6.1 by 20.1 m), depicting the influence of wealth on the creation of beauty. Meiere and Kimon Nicolaïdes designed the painting. When the annex was built, the expanded lobby floor was clad in travertine, and the original lobby's ceiling was covered with a dropped ceiling.
The entrances on Broadway and New Street led to a separate lobby on the ground floor, which in turn connected directly to the building's elevators. This lobby contained walls made of Pyrenees black marble.
#### Upper floors
As with other early-20th-century skyscrapers in the Financial District, the lower stories had large floor areas for the building's primary tenant, Irving Trust, while the upper stories were smaller and were rented to other companies. Irving Trust occupied the first ten stories, using their large floor areas to house its clerical staff. The second floor originally contained Irving Trust's Wall Street office, which served businesses in the Financial District. The third floor was for the bank's corporate and personal trust divisions. The fifth floor contained the bank's executive offices, wainscoted with wood from around the world, while the sixth floor accommodated the out-of-town and foreign divisions and a telephone room for long-distance calls. The 10th through 45th floors were rented to outside tenants. Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker were not responsible for the layout of the offices, instead hiring specialists for that task. Architectural firms also designed some of the offices; for example, the Fiduciary Trust Company's 30th-story offices were designed by Delano and Aldrich, while the offices on the 31st story were designed by Cross & Cross. Generally, law firms and financial firms leased entire stories for themselves. These included brokerage house Bear Stearns, which hired H. J. Horvath & Company and designer W. A. Zwicke to subdivide its 10th-floor space into various offices and other rooms.
Irving Trust's dining room was on the 46th floor. The directors' room, on the 47th floor, contained 18-foot-high (5.5 m) wooden wainscoting, as well as directors' chairs arranged in a semicircle. The stories above it had dining spaces and a three-story observation lounge; these spaces contained Art Deco furnishings. The executive lounge, at the 49th story, had a ceiling made of gold-leaf seashells, as well as walls covered with multicolored patterned fabrics. The executive lounge also had a triple-height ceiling, fluted walls, teak floors, and a fireplace, as well as four full-height windows that faced each of the cardinal directions. The walls were also decorated with depictions of Native American war bonnets.
After 1 Wall Street's residential conversion, there have been 566 condominium apartments, of which 304 are studios and one-bedroom units. Forty-seven of the condominiums have private decks. There are also amenities such as a 75-foot (23 m) indoor swimming pool, 39th-floor observation deck, library, golf simulator, dog spa, and playroom. These amenities are mostly clustered in the annex. The upper three floors were converted into a three-story penthouse apartment with 12,965 square feet (1,204.5 m<sup>2</sup>), four bedrooms and four bathrooms, as well as a private library and chef's kitchen.
#### Vault
Irving Trust's bank vault, weighing 5,000 short tons (4,500 long tons; 4,500 t), was located 69 to 72 feet (21 to 22 m) below ground level. At the time of the building's 1931 completion, the vault was the second-largest in the city and third-largest in the world, behind those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building and the Bank of England. The vault was encased on three sides by a 6-foot-thick (1.8 m) wall composed of iron, steel, and concrete; the fourth side was composed of 3 feet (0.91 m) of concrete and a thick layer of metal. The vault had three stories, of which the top level was used by safe-deposit customers, and the lower floors stored Irving Trust's own fortunes. Each story had 2,700 square feet (250 m<sup>2</sup>) of space. There were six vault doors, each measuring 30 inches (760 mm) thick; the doors were laced with chemicals that reportedly emitted "paralyzing fumes" if a robber tried to open the door using a blowtorch. The two main doors on the upper level, and one door on each of the other levels, weighed 45 short tons (40 long tons; 41 t) each. A tank of water, as well as modern chemical, electrical, and mechanical features, were used to prevent potential break-ins.
## History
### Previous structures
#### Northern portion
Since the settlement of New Amsterdam in the 17th century, only three buildings on the northern portion of the current skyscraper's site had carried the address 1 Wall Street. The first was a 17th-century stone house, and the second was built in the 19th century. The third such structure was an 18-story office building built in 1907 and designed by St. Louis-based firm Barnett, Haynes & Barnett. The structure was known as the "Chimney Building" or the "'chimney corner' building", and its footprint measured only 29 by 39 feet (8.8 by 11.9 m). The Chimney Building was developed by a syndicate from St. Louis, headed by Festus Wade of the St. Louis Mercantile Trust Company. In mid-1905, the company paid \$700,000 for the 1,131-square-foot (105.1 m<sup>2</sup>) plot, or an average of \$576 per square foot (\$6,200/m<sup>2</sup>). The next year, the syndicate announced that it would start erecting an 18-story structure at 1 Wall Street. The Chimney Building was completed in 1907, and for years afterward, its site was regarded as the world's most valuable.
Adjoining the Chimney Building were five other structures: a 20-story building at 74 Broadway, the 15-story Union Trust Building at 80 Broadway, and three other buildings of between 10 and 12 stories. The oldest of these was the Union Trust Building, which was erected in 1889 and had 8-foot-thick (2.4 m) masonry walls because engineers of the time did not know how much steel the building required. One of the twelve-story structures surrounded the Chimney Building, and in 1926, this structure and the Chimney Building were sold to a syndicate of bankers. The writer Washington Irving, the namesake of the Irving Trust Company, had occupied a house at 3 Wall Street several years before the building's development.
#### Southern portion
The southern half of the block contained two structures: the Manhattan Life Insurance Building on the north and the Knickerbocker Trust Company Building to the south. The 18-story Manhattan Life Building, completed in 1894, was located in the middle of the block at 64 Broadway. The Manhattan Life Building was slightly extended north in 1904 to encompass all lots between 64 and 70 Broadway.
The Knickerbocker Trust Company bought the land immediately south of the Manhattan Life Building in early 1906, and finalized building plans the next year. The 22-story Knickerbocker Trust building at 60 Broadway was completed in 1909 and contained a ground-floor banking room, a private penthouse restaurant, and eight elevators. There was a 23-foot-wide (7.0 m) space between the Manhattan Life and Knickerbocker Trust buildings. A 10-inch (250 mm) strip of land on the northern side of the gap was sold to John E. Schermerhorn in 1912. The Schermerhorn family subsequently built an eight-story structure at 62 Broadway, within the gap.
### Development
The idea for the current skyscraper was attributed to Irving Trust president Harry Ward. Irving Trust, founded in 1851, had merged with numerous other banks in preceding years, and had outgrown its offices in 60 Broadway, the Equitable Building, and the Woolworth Building. At the time of the proposal, the bank was known as American Exchange Irving Trust, having merged in 1926 with the American Exchange-Pacific National Bank. During the mid- and late 1920s, many Art Deco office buildings were constructed in New York City, peaking around 1929 and 1930. Additionally, banks in Manhattan were clustering around Wall Street, and the corner of Broadway and Wall Street was seen as a valuable location.
#### Planning
By April 1928, the Central Union Trust Company controlled the buildings from 64 to 80 Broadway, and reportedly planned to build a 36-story structure at the site of the Chimney Building. The following month, American Exchange Irving Trust bought the Chimney Building along with three adjacent structures at 7 Wall Street, and 74 and 80 Broadway, in exchange for \$5.5 million in cash and a \$9 million mortgage. The transaction cost approximately \$725 per square foot (\$7,800/m<sup>2</sup>). Following the sale, the Central Union Trust Company moved to the Manhattan Life Building and modified the structures at 60, 62, and 70 Broadway.
Immediately after the purchase, Irving Trust announced it would erect an office building on the site. This announcement occurred amid an increase in the number of large banks in New York City. The company's board of directors founded a sub-committee for construction oversight, and several Irving Trust employees formed the One Wall Street Unit to coordinate logistical planning for the new skyscraper. Thirty-five potential architects were identified and interviewed extensively. Ultimately, in June 1928, Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker were hired to design the structure, and Marc Eidlitz was hired as builder. Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker filed plans with the Manhattan Bureau of Buildings the next month. The initial plans, known as Scheme B1, called for a 46- or 52-story building on a plot of 178 by 101 feet (54 by 31 m). The plans called for two banking rooms at ground level.
An August 1928 memorandum between the architects and Irving Trust prompted several changes to the plans. Among those were separate elevators for bank employees and rental tenants; the removal of retail spaces and luncheon clubs; and the addition of a common reception lobby. In October 1928, local newspapers reported that Irving Trust had accepted "final plans" for a 44-story building rising 560 feet (170 m). This design resembled the current structure, with setbacks and a curving facade. The actual final plans, filed in June 1929, provided for a 50-story structure. The 1929 plans were released after Irving Trust applied for, and received, a zoning variance that allowed the base's first setback to be higher than would normally be allowed. The variance also allowed for a shallower setback, and the tower was allowed to cover more than 25 percent of the lot, the maximum lot coverage ratio typically allowed under the 1916 Zoning Resolution.
#### Construction
Construction on the site of 1 Wall Street began in May 1929 with the demolition of the four buildings on the northern portion of the site. Several engineering professors from Columbia University were hired as consultants for the demolition process. Work was complicated by the fact that one of the previous buildings on the site had extremely sturdy walls ranging from 4 to 10 feet (1.2 to 3.0 m) thick. Excavations began in July 1930, and work on the building itself began that August. The ceremonial cornerstone was laid on January 15, 1930. During the construction process, nearby structures such as Trinity Church were shored up. In March 1930, Irving Trust signed an agreement with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, at the time one of the operators of the city's subway system, to build three new entrances to the Wall Street station on Broadway and another entrance in 1 Wall Street's basement. The project also employed timekeepers and auditors, who checked employees' attendance, as well as job runners, who delivered architectural drawings and ensured that materials were delivered.
The frame involved the installation of 250,000 rivets and was completed within five months of the groundbreaking without any serious incidents. During December 1929, Ward sent engraved letters to 500 nearby property owners, apologizing for the noise created during the riveting process; this generated positive publicity for the building in both the local and national press. When the steel frame topped out on May 12, 1930, workers hoisted an evergreen tree to the top of the frame. While the workers were securing the final rivets, a hot steel rivet fell from the building's top and hit a truck below, narrowly missing the truck driver's head and causing a small fire on the street. The exterior was completed by August 1930. Several hundred boxcars were used to transport the building's Indiana Limestone to New York City; according to railroad workers, it was the largest-ever such order. Before being used in the building, the limestone blocks went to a workshop in Long Island City, where they were carved to meet the building's specifications.
### Irving Trust use
By December 1930, Irving Trust announced that 80 percent of the space had been leased in the nearly-completed building. Tenants started moving into 1 Wall Street by mid-March 1931, before its formal opening. Among the tenants were several members of the New York Stock Exchange and Curb Exchange. The Irving Trust Company moved into the building on March 23, 1931. Two hundred guards armed with machine guns moved the bank's \$8 billion holdings from its former location at the Woolworth Building. The same day, 1 Wall Street opened to public use, with thousands of visitors. By that time, the building was 90 percent occupied. Shortly afterward, the Fiduciary Trust Company of New York also moved its banking quarters to the 30th floor, making that space the highest banking quarters in New York City. In a 1938 incident, an electrical transformer on the 21st-story setback blew up; though the windows were shaken, nobody was injured. An air-conditioning system was installed at 1 Wall Street in 1953.
The original building soon became too small to accommodate the operations of Irving Trust and its tenants. Accordingly, in 1961, Irving Trust purchased the three buildings at 60, 62, and 70 Broadway from Hanover Bank, thereby giving Irving Trust control of the entire block between Broadway, Wall Street, New Street, and Exchange Place. The company initially anticipated that the annex would cost \$25 million. Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines were hired to design the annex, while Turner Construction was hired as the main contractor. By mid-1963, the site had been cleared; in preparation of the work, Irving Trust took a sublease at 2 Broadway. To finance construction, Irving Trust sold the building to a subsidiary, which then sold \$30 million of secured notes to investors. Renovations also took place in the original building; tenants continued to use 1 Wall Street during construction, but the vault in the basement was emptied. A refrigeration plant was installed on the annex's roof to provide air-conditioning to both buildings, and cooling machinery was also installed in the basement. The project was finished by late 1965.
By 1980, Irving Trust had decided to relocate its operations center to another building near the World Trade Center. Between 1987 and 1988, Irving Trust was negotiating to merge with the Bank of New York, which at the time was headquartered nearby at 48 Wall Street. Irving Trust initially rejected buy-out offers from the Bank of New York because the latter had "undervalued" Irving Trust's assets such as 1 Wall Street. By October 1988, with a merger imminent, Irving Trust placed 1 Wall Street for auction; at the time, the building was valued at \$250 million. The Bank of New York then acquired Irving Trust in December 1988. BNY decided to sell its old headquarters at 48 Wall Street and relocate its headquarters to 1 Wall Street.
BNY Mellon opened a museum on the 10th floor in 1998, which was dedicated to the history of both banks. During the same time, BNY Mellon hired Hoffmann Architects to conduct mortar repair and window replacements. While 1 Wall Street was not damaged following the September 11 attacks at the nearby World Trade Center in 2001, BNY Mellon's operations were disrupted, and 1 Wall Street had to be cleaned up.
### Sale and conversion
By January 2014, BNY Mellon was looking to sell its headquarters, as it was moving to a location with less space. In May 2014, BNY Mellon sold the building to a joint venture led by Harry B. Macklowe's Macklowe Properties for \$585 million, though BNY Mellon continued to occupy the building until September 2015. Macklowe added up to 174,000 square feet (16,200 m<sup>2</sup>) of retail space at the base. He initially planned to make 1 Wall Street a mixed-use residential and office building, and he planned to rent out 65 percent of the residences. In early 2017, Macklowe changed these plans so that it would be almost entirely residential condominiums, since an all-residential building, owned by its tenants, would require less debt. Macklowe Properties partnered with former Prime Minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani in a bid to convert the office property into 566 condos with retail at the base. The renovation was originally supposed to be undertaken by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, though it was replaced by the firm SLCE Architects. Deutsche Bank provided \$750 million in debt for the conversion.
As part of the renovation, 34 elevators and 16 escalators were removed. The original layout of the building included elevators near the perimeter wall, but this took up usable space near windows. As such, Macklowe removed 20 of the elevators that served upper floors and added 10 new elevators in the building core; new stairs were also constructed to replace the existing stairs. The demolition of the interior was completed in November 2018. In addition, the Red Room was restored between 2016 and 2018, in advance of its conversion into a retail space. The Red Room's restoration used tiles that had been placed in storage and unused when the building was originally erected. The third floor was demolished to make a higher ceiling for the retail space. A new entrance was also constructed on Broadway, with a design based on one of Walker's unrealized plans for the building, and five stories were added to the southern annex.
Whole Foods Market leased a 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m<sup>2</sup>) storefront in 2016, and Life Time Fitness signed a 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m<sup>2</sup>) lease for a gym on the lowest four floors in 2019. The residential units, the Red Room, and Whole Foods were then all planned to open in 2021. Macklowe had originally hired Core Real Estate to market the apartments. However, he replaced Core with Compass in December 2020, prompting Core to sue Macklowe for unpaid brokerage fees. The facades of the annex's additions had been completed by mid-2021, and sales of residential units were launched in September 2021. By March 2022, Macklowe and Al Thani planned to refinance 1 Wall Street for \$1.1 billion, using the proceeds to pay off construction costs and outstanding debt. At that point, the renovation was projected to be completed by the end of 2022. The building's retail space was nearly complete by mid-2022, and French retailer Printemps announced it would open a store at 1 Wall Street. In addition, Macklowe Properties began exhibiting model apartments to prospective residents in 2022. By February 2023, the first residents were scheduled to move into the building the next month.
## Critical reception and landmark designation
1 Wall Street received an accolade from the Broadway Association in 1931; the association designated the building as the "most worthy of civic endorsement" out of all structures erected around Broadway in 1930. A writer for the New York Evening Post called Meiere's lobby mural "one of the most costly and beautiful pieces of mural decoration ever attempted in the United States". Eugene Clute of Metal Arts magazine described the walls as "a rich, free-hanging fabric" and "a cage set within the frame of the building and finished with a lining that has no more structural significance than the lining of my lady's work basket".
Architectural critics of the mid-20th century generally ignored the building in favor of more widely renowned structures, such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 40 Wall Street. Lewis Mumford criticized 1 Wall Street's facade for not accurately representing its internal design, saying: "Chaste though that exterior is, it is mere swank, and unconvincing swank at that". Because of Irving Trust's role as a receiver for bankrupt companies, 1 Wall Street was called the "Central Repair Shop for Broken Businesses". Architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930 that 1 Wall Street's proximity to other skyscrapers including 70 Pine Street, 20 Exchange Place, 40 Wall Street, and the Downtown Athletic Club "had reduced the previous generation of skyscrapers to the status of foothills in a new mountain range". Daniel Abramson wrote in 2001 that the "corner and tower treatments appear blocky and conventional" compared to 70 Pine Street, though 1 Wall Street was still distinguished in its massing and the curves in its facade.
There was also praise for what Stern characterized as "Walker's only completed skyscraper". Ada Louise Huxtable of The New York Times wrote in 1975 that 1 Wall Street was "an Art Deco masterpiece". The Times said in 2001 that a "triumvirate of great Art Deco contemporaries" in New York City would include the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 1 Wall Street. Stern stated that in 1 Wall Street's design, "structure became an unseen prop for poetry"; he further called the building's form "a natural precipice of stone shaped by erosion". Architectural writer Eric P. Nash called 1 Wall Street "one of the most delicate, even feminine, skyscrapers ever built".
In 2001, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the original portion of 1 Wall Street as an official city landmark. The designation only included the exterior of the original building and did not extend to the southern annex. The lobby interior was not given a separate interior-landmark designation because such designations at the time were reserved for publicly accessible spaces. Since the lobby could only be used by BNY Mellon workers at the time of the exterior designation, it was legally considered to be closed to the public. As a result of the landmark designation's limited scope, most of the improvements made in the 2010s condominium conversion, such as the glass retail addition, were made to the annex. Changes to designated landmarks required the commission's approval, but the annex was out of the commission's scope. Additionally, in 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district.
## See also
- Art Deco architecture of New York City
- List of buildings and structures on Broadway in Manhattan
- List of tallest buildings in New York City
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street |
21,188,279 | Typhoon Tingting | 1,164,806,839 | Pacific typhoon in 2004 | [
"2004 Pacific typhoon season",
"Retired Pacific typhoons",
"Tropical cyclones in 2004",
"Typhoons"
]
| Typhoon Tingting was a destructive tropical cyclone that produced record-breaking rains in Guam. The eighth named storm of the 2004 Pacific typhoon season, Tingting originated from a tropical depression over the open waters of the western Pacific Ocean. The storm gradually intensified as it traveled northwest, becoming a typhoon on June 28 and reaching its peak the following day while passing through the Mariana Islands. After maintaining typhoon intensity for three days, a combination of dry air and cooler sea surface temperatures caused the storm to weaken as it traveled northward. On July 1, the storm passed by the Bonin Islands, off the coast of Japan, before moving out to sea. By July 4, Tinting had transitioned into an extratropical cyclone. The remnants were last reported by the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center for the western Pacific basin, near the International Date Line on July 13.
While passing through the Mariana Islands, Typhoon Tingting produced torrential rains which triggered flooding and numerous landslides. In Guam, 554.99 mm (21.850 in) of rain fell in 24 hours, breaking the daily and monthly rainfall records for June. Winds gusted up to 212 km/h (132 mph), causing significant structural damage, amounting to \$6 million in losses. One fatality occurred as a result of flooding and nine others resulted from rough seas. In the Mariana Islands, 71 homes were destroyed and hundreds were damaged; losses totaled \$11.2 million. In Japan, two people were killed by rough seas.
## Meteorological history
On June 24, 2004, an area of low pressure associated with developing convection formed about 1,110 km (690 mi) to the east-southeast of Guam. Early the next day, as the system began to intensify, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) began monitoring the low pressure as a tropical depression. With low wind shear and favorable diffluence, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert for the storm at 0000 UTC, classifying it as Tropical Depression 11W twelve hours later. The depression traveled towards the northwest along the edge of a mid-latitude ridge. Outer bands began developing around the system, although the ridge to its north restricted outflow. About 24 hours after the JMA designated the depression, the agency upgraded it to a tropical storm and named it Tingting, which was contributed by Hong Kong and is a fairly common pet name for young girls. At 0600 UTC on June 26, the JTWC also classified Tingting as a tropical storm.
As Tingting tracked northwestward, it continued to develop outflow in all directions. The storm slowly intensified as it traveled towards the Mariana Islands, strengthening into a severe tropical storm early on June 27. Later that day, a ragged eye began to form. The ridge influencing the track of Tingting moved eastward, causing the storm to begin a gradual turn towards the north At 0000 UTC on June 28, the JTWC upgraded the storm to a minimal typhoon, the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, and the JMA followed about six hours later. Several hours later, Tingting passed through the central Mariana Islands, tracking near the small island of Sarigan, while continuing to intensify. At 0900 UTC, the typhoon reached its peak intensity with winds of 150 km/h (93 mph) according to both agencies and a minimum pressure of 955 hPa (955 mbar). With low wind shear, further strengthening was anticipated as it neared the Bonin Islands. However, the typhoon began to weaken due to increasing dry air and decreasing sea surface temperatures. On June 30, Tingting passed within 95 km (59 mi) east of Iwo Jima. Later that day, the storm's eye dissipated as convection around the center of circulation weakened.
On July 1, the JTWC downgraded Tingting to a tropical storm. At 1200 UTC the following day, the JMA downgraded the storm to a severe tropical storm as winds decreased below 120 km/h (75 mph) (10-minute winds). Convection associated with the storm began to diminish as Tingting began to undergo an extratropical transition. Although the storm maintained its intensity as a severe tropical storm, it was moving into increasingly unfavorable conditions and weakening was anticipated. As Tingting tracked towards the northeast into the mid-latitude westerlies, it completed its extratropical transition on July 4. After becoming an extratropical cyclone, Tingting accelerated towards the north before abruptly stalling near the Kamchatka Peninsula. On July 6, the extratropical remnants of Tingting were absorbed by a developing area of low pressure located to the south of the former typhoon. However, the JMA continued to monitor Tingting as a separate system as it executed a counter-clockwise loop though July 10 before heading towards the International Date Line. The storm was last reported on July 13 to the west Aleutian Islands.
### Differences among warning centers
The Japan Meteorological Agency uses 10-minute sustained winds for its tropical cyclone tracking information, while the Joint Typhoon Warning Center uses 1-minute sustained winds. JMA's peak intensity for Tingting was 150 km/h (93 mph) 10-minute sustained, or 160 km/h (99 mph) 1-minute sustained. The JTWC's peak intensity for Tingting was also 150 km/h (93 mph) 1-minute sustained, or 130 km/h (81 mph) 10-minute sustained. The Hong Kong Observatory also assessed Tingting to have winds of 150 km/h (93 mph) 10-minute sustained, or 160 km/h (99 mph) 1-minute sustained. However, Dr. Karl Hoarau of Cergy-Pontoise University near Paris, France proposed that Tingting was stronger than officially reported. He estimated that the storm reached peak 1-minute sustained winds between 160 and 185 km/h (99 and 115 mph) on June 28.
## Preparations and impact
Throughout its track, Tingting was responsible for 12 fatalities, 10 in the Mariana Islands and two in Japan; it also left \$23.7 million in damage behind, \$17.2 million in the Mariana Islands and \$6.5 million in Japan.
### Mariana Islands
An estimated 300 people in Guam evacuated to emergency shelters in advance of Typhoon Tingting. Several schools throughout Guam were being used as shelters. A tropical storm warning and a flash flood warning, which were issued several hours before the typhoon warning, were kept in place for Guam until June 29. A small craft advisory was also issued for rest of the Mariana Islands. A typhoon warning was declared for most of the islands on June 27. The United States Air Force Base in the Mariana Islands was placed under Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness Four, the lowest level of readiness, as Tingting approached.
As Typhoon Tingting approached the Mariana Islands, three Chinese women drowned in rough seas produced by the storm in Saipan. On June 28, Tingting produced strong winds throughout the region. Sustained winds on Guam reached 82 km/h (51 mph) with gusts to 106 km/h (66 mph); a pressure of 994.6 hPa (mbar) was also recorded on the island. Although located closer to the center of Tingting, Rota reported lower winds than Guam; the highest sustained wind reached 70 km/h (43 mph) with gusts of 93 km/h (58 mph). Due to the lack of sufficient observations on Tinian, the highest sustained winds recorded were suspected to be lower than what they really were. Winds of 56 km/h (35 mph) were recorded several times with gusts to 84 km/h (52 mph). Sustained winds on Saipan were recorded up to 100 km/h (62 mph) with gusts to 124 km/h (77 mph); a pressure of 984.9 hPa (mbar) was also recorded. The highest winds during Typhoon Tingting throughout the Mariana Islands were measured on Pagan Island where 106 km/h (66 mph) sustained winds were recorded along with a gust of 212 km/h (132 mph).
Although Tingting passed about 400 km (250 mi) to the northeast of Guam, torrential rains from a monsoonal feeder band produced record-breaking rainfall. In the span of 24 hours, 554.99 mm (21.850 in) of rain fell on Guam, shattering both the record for highest single day rainfall and the monthly rainfall for June at 80.26 mm (3.160 in) and 371.09 mm (14.610 in) respectively. Most of the northern areas of the island received more than 510 mm (20 in) of rain but the southern areas of Guam reported much lower totals. At Anderson Air Force Base, a total of 287.78 mm (11.330 in) of rain was recorded over a 30-hour span. Rota recorded much less rainfall than Guam, having 145.28 mm (5.720 in) during 24 hours and a storm total of 221.99 mm (8.740 in). No rainfall was recorded on both Tinian and Pagan Island due to the lack of observations. On Saipan, a total of 197.61 mm (7.780 in) was measured.
The record-breaking rainfall in Guam produced severe flooding and numerous landslides throughout the island. A total of 57 homes were destroyed and another 624 were damaged. Crop damages on the island amounted to \$500,000 with most of the farmers reporting total crop losses. One person died after being swept away along a flooded road. Total property damages totaled to \$6 million. Most of the damage on Rota resulted from flooding and high seas. The port on the island suffered \$1 million in damages and crop losses amounted to \$500,000. The same day that Tingting made its closest approach to Guam, a 19-year-old was swept off a reef and drowned in rough seas produced by the typhoon. On Tinian and Saipan, unlike Guam and Rota, most of the damage was a result of the winds. A total of 4 homes were destroyed and 24 others sustained major damage on Tinian while another 4 were destroyed, 81 sustained major damage, and another 101 were affected on Saipan. Schools on the two islands sustained a combined \$92,737 in damages. At Saipan's port, an oil tanker sank, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the water.
Throughout the Saipan, 50 power lines, 20 transformers, and 6 power poles were damaged or destroyed, leaving 25 percent of the islands' residents without power and \$300,000 in damages. An estimated 90 percent of the banana trees were knocked down, contributing to the \$518,000 in crop losses. Property losses on the two islands was estimated at \$1.6 million. On the islands of Alamagan, Pagan, and Agrihan all private homes, a total of six, were destroyed, the food stores and crops were lost, and the water supply was contaminated. The main public facility, which was used as a storm shelter on Alamagan, sustained heavy damage. Damages from the three islands amounted to \$500,000. The following day, five people went out kayaking however, the rough seas overturned the kayaks and all five drowned. Numerous water rescues on jet skis had to be made as residents became stranded in their cars after driving into flooded roads. Damages throughout the islands amounted to \$11.2 million.
### Japan
Between June 30 and July 1, Tingting brushed the Bonin Islands with heavy rainfall and high winds. The storm dropped 105 millimetres (4.1 in) of precipitation on Chichi-jima, of which 77 mm (3.0 in) fell in 24 hours. Chichi-jima experienced the strongest winds associated with the cyclone in the Bonin Islands; sustained winds reached 65 km/h (40 mph) and gusts peaked at 146 km/h (91 mph). At 1500 UTC, a pressure of 959.4 hectopascals (28.33 inHg) was recorded on the island. The high winds produced by the storm caused power outages throughout the islands, with Chichi-jima losing power for nearly two hours. No known property damage resulted from the passage of Tingting.
Throughout eastern Japan, large swells produced by Tingting caused moderate coastal damage and killed two people. In Urakawa District, Hokkaidō, the local fishing industry sustained considerable damage, amounting to 20.5 million JPY (US\$240,000). Moisture from the storm also enhanced rainfall in the Shizuoka Prefecture, resulting in a record daily rainfall of 368 mm (14.5 in) in Shizuoka City on June 29. The rains led to significant flooding and several landslides; 921 homes were flooded and an estimated 160,000 residences were without power at the height of the storm. Damage was estimated to be 540 million JPY (US\$6.3 million).
## Aftermath
On July 9, the Government of the Mariana Islands requested that President George W. Bush declare a major disaster area for the commonwealth. Governor Juan N. Babauta reported that the islands needed at least \$2.5 million to repair damages from the typhoon. The cost to repair infrastructure and clean up debris on Rota totaled \$762,000. A helicopter carrying relief supplies was sent to the Pagan and Agrihan, where people had no food. The American Red Cross also provided \$17,000 in assistance. The Government of Guam requested \$6 million in aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to repair the damages from Tingting. On July 29, George Bush approved the request for a disaster declaration and federal aid began to be sent to the Mariana Islands and Guam. Almost a month later, the islands of Agrigan, Alamagan, and Pagan were granted public assistance. In mid-August, Typhoon Chaba caused significant damage in the Mariana Islands. A bill was passed following the storm to allow up to 500 people to be hired as temporary workers on Saipan and Tinian. In mid-September, a request was made by the commonwealth for \$10 million in natural disaster mitigation following the effects of successive typhoons in the region. The funds were to be used for cleanup efforts, aid residents struggling in the wake of the storms and help reduce unemployment.
### Retirement
The typhoon's name originated from Hong Kong; Tingting is a girls' given name (Chinese: 婷婷; Cantonese Yale: Tìng-tìng) from the area. It was part of a series of typhoon names that are reduplicated female, like Yanyan, Shanshan and Lingling. During the 38th session (2005) of the ESCA–WMO Typhoon Committee, Hong Kong requested that Tingting be removed from the lists of typhoon names. It would later be replaced with Lionrock (referring to Lion Rock).
## See also
- Typhoon Yuri (1991) |
8,003,004 | H-33 (Michigan county highway) | 1,167,832,369 | County highway in Mackinac and Luce counties in Michigan, United States | [
"County-designated highways in Michigan",
"Transportation in Luce County, Michigan",
"Transportation in Mackinac County, Michigan"
]
| H-33 is a county-designated highway in the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan between Gould City and McMillan that was previously M-135, a former state trunkline highway. The roadway follows Manistique Lakes Road from Gould City at a junction with US Highway 2 (US 2) near Lake Michigan north to M-28 near McMillan. The northern section of the highway is also called County Road 135 (CR 135) in Luce County.
From 1929 until 1960, the road was part of the state highway system as M-135. The northern end of the highway always contained a section that ran concurrently with M-98, another state highway in the area. For a period in the 1950s, M-135 had a different northern terminus separate from M-98's endpoint. A few years before both highways were removed from the highway system, M-135 was moved to use M-98's terminus with M-28. Since the 1970s, M-135 has been a part of the county-designated highway system and assigned the number H-33, a moniker it has borne since.
## Route description
H-33 begins at an intersection with US 2 just west of Gould City. From there the route travels due north through woodlands on Manistique Lakes Road, passing by Mitten and South Manistique lakes. The road crosses Norton and Strom creeks near South Manistique Lake before entering the community of Curtis. In that town, H-33 intersects the eastern end of H-42. North of Curtis, H-33 passes Manistique Lake as the road crosses the Mackinac–Luce county line. North of the line, H-33 has also been designated CR 135 by the Luce County Road Commission.
Continuing north, the roadway enters the community of Helmer where it meets a junction with the eastern terminus of the eastern H-44 (CR 98, Ten Curves Road) near North Manistique Lake. The roadway also crosses Locke Creek, which flows into that lake. After H-33 leaves Helmer, it continues northward to a junction with North Road Lake Road (CR 438) and Sampsell Road (CR 417). Manistique Lakes Road turns to the east, replacing North Round Lake Road, and H-33 follows suit. The road continues to a junction with M-28 just south of McMillan near East Lake. There H-33 terminates near farms and several small business.
## History
In 1929, M-135 was designated, creating the concurrency along the last several miles of M-98. In late 1949 or early 1950, M-28 was realigned to take an angled route southeasterly out of McMillan. The east–west section of the previous M-28 routing was added to M-98 while the north–south segment was added to M-135. By the middle of 1958, M-135 was shifted to follow M-98, removing the roadway section added to its routing previously; this change made M-98 and M-135 concurrent north of Helmer all the way to M-28 once again. M-135 was removed from the state trunkline system in late 1960 or early 1961, and the designation was decommissioned at that time. The M-135 designation has not been reused since. The routing was then assigned as County Road H-33 after October 5, 1970, The road has retained that designation ever since.
## Major intersections
## See also |
18,501,459 | Alyssa Healy | 1,171,404,035 | Australian cricketer | [
"1990 births",
"Australia women One Day International cricketers",
"Australia women Test cricketers",
"Australia women Twenty20 International cricketers",
"Australian expatriate sportspeople in England",
"Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia",
"Commonwealth Games medallists in cricket",
"Cricketers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games",
"Cricketers from Queensland",
"IPL Trailblazers cricketers",
"Living people",
"Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games",
"New South Wales Breakers cricketers",
"Northern Superchargers cricketers",
"People educated at Barker College",
"Sportspeople from the Gold Coast, Queensland",
"Sportswomen from Queensland",
"Sydney Sixers (WBBL) cricketers",
"UP Warriorz cricketers",
"Wicket-keepers",
"Yorkshire Diamonds cricketers",
"Yorkshire women cricketers"
]
| Alyssa Jean Healy (born 24 March 1990) is an Australian cricketer who plays for the Australian women's national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket, as well as the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL. She made her international debut in February 2010.
A right-handed batter and wicket-keeper, she is the daughter of Greg Healy, who was part of the Queensland squad, while her uncle Ian Healy was Australia's Test wicket-keeper and held the world record for the most Test dismissals. Another uncle, Greg and Ian’s brother Ken Healy, also played cricket for Queensland. Healy first came to prominence in late 2006 when she became the first girl to play among boys in the private schools' competition in New South Wales. She moved up the state age group ranks and made her debut for the senior New South Wales team in the 2007–08 season. She played most of her first two seasons as a specialist batter due to the presence of Leonie Coleman—also a wicket-keeper for Australia—in the state side. Coleman left New South Wales at the start of the 2009–10 season and Healy took up the glovework on a full-time basis for her state. During the same season, she recorded her highest score of 89 not out at faster than a run a ball, and made the most dismissals of any wicket-keeper in the Women's National Cricket League.
Following the injury to Australian captain and wicket-keeper Jodie Fields, Healy was given her international debut in the 2010 Rose Bowl series against New Zealand. She played in the first five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and five Twenty20 (T20) internationals, but was dropped for the last three ODIs during the New Zealand leg of the series. Healy played in every match of the 2010 World Twenty20 as Australia won the tournament after an unbeaten campaign. In October 2018, Healy was named in Australia's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies, she finished as the tournament's leading runs scorer with 225 runs and won player of the tournament.
In December 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named her the T20I Player of the Year. In September 2019, during Australia's series against Sri Lanka, Healy played in her 100th WT20I match. In the same series, Healy set a new record for the highest individual score in a Women's T20I match, with 148 not out. In January 2020, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia. Healy finished second highest runs scorer in the tournament with 236 runs. In the final, she scored a quickfire 75 off 39 balls against India to help Australia win their fifth title and won player of the match. In September 2020, in the second WT20I match against New Zealand, Healy took her 92nd dismissal as a wicket-keeper. As a result, she went past M. S. Dhoni's record of 91 dismissals, to set a new record of most dismissals as a wicket-keeper, male or female, in Twenty20 International cricket.
## Early years
Born on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Healy is the daughter of Greg, who was a member of the Queensland squad, while Greg's younger brother Ian was Australia's Test wicket-keeper from the late 1980s until 1999 and was the world record holder for the most Test dismissals. Another uncle, Ken, played for Queensland. Despite the family heritage, and watching her uncle represent Australia, she said that she did not become interested in cricket until she moved from Queensland to Sydney as a child and was coaxed into taking up the sport by a friend. She attended high school at MLC School and later Barker College.
Her selection at the age of 16 in late 2006 as wicket-keeper for Barker College First XI, the first time a girl had been picked to play among boys in the elite private schools' cricket competition in New South Wales, drew press commentary from various sources. This came about after an anonymous person, believed to be a former male student, circulated an email entitled "Save Barker Cricket Now" in the school community attacking the selection as a "disgrace" and calling for gender segregation of the cricket team. The sportsmaster of Barker College condemned the anonymous writer as "gutless" and maintained that Healy's selection was based on merit. Ian Healy and Alex Blackwell, a cricketer for the Australian women's team and former Barker student, also defended the selection and criticised the email author. The emailer was also criticised, and Alyssa Healy commended, by social commentators in newspapers. In 2010, she reflected "I'd do it all again...I really enjoyed playing school cricket with the boys and it definitely helped lift my skills and tighten my technique." Both she and Australian teammate Ellyse Perry have publicly advocated girls playing against boys.
In January 2007, Healy was selected in the New South Wales team to play in the Under-19 interstate competition. Opening the batting in all three matches and keeping in only the second of these, she scored 47, 73 and 41 in her first three matches, and took one catch. She went on to end with 345 runs at a batting average of 57.50, topping the run-scorers list and was named the best under-17 player at the tournament. The following month, she was selected in the Australia Youth team, composed of under-23 cricketers, to play against New Zealand A, the only player selected before making their senior domestic debut. She scored 10 not out, 41 and 63 in three matches, and made one stumping. Though she top-scored amongst the Australians in the final match with 63 from 84 balls, it was not enough to prevent a 22-run defeat. She played as a wicket-keeper batting in the middle-order in the first match, and opened in the last two matches, playing purely as a batter. The series ended 1–1 after the second match was tied.
## Senior domestic debut
At the start of the 2007–08 season, she made her senior debut for the New South Wales Breakers in the Australian domestic one-day league. She was used as a specialist batter in the top-order, as Leonie Coleman, a wicket-keeper in the Australian squad, also played for New South Wales. She made her debut against South Australia and was unsuccessful to begin with, scoring only 24 runs in her first five innings. After one month at senior level, she broke through with a match-winning performance in her sixth senior game. After Queensland had made 170, Healy came in with the score at 5/99 after 32 overs, with 18 overs remaining. She raised the run rate, scoring 41 not out from 50 balls, with eight fours, shepherding the tail-enders and guiding her state to a two-wicket win with 17 balls to spare.
New South Wales reached the final and were awarded the title because they placed first in the qualifying matches after rain washed out the deciding game. Healy ended the season with 78 runs at 11.14. She also played in two Twenty20 interstate matches. She scored two and made a stumping in the first match, and neither batted nor kept wicket in the latter. New South Wales prevailed in both.
At the end of the season, she was selected for the Under-23 Australian team to play a series against the senior England and Australian teams. She scored 45, 1 and 41 not out in three matches. In the third match, she combined for a second-wicket partnership of 52 with Elyse Villani, hitting six boundaries in 62 balls and guiding her team to an eight-wicket win over the Australian team. Playing as a specialist batter, she also took three catches. The new 2008–09 season started the same way, with the Under-23 national team playing against Australia and India. The first match, against India, was washed out and Healy made a duck [zero] and 9 in the other matches. Playing as a batter, she did not take a catch.
Healy again played as a batter, with Coleman ensconced behind the stumps. In the first four matches of the new domestic season, she batted only once, scoring nine. In these matches she was placed in the lower-order and did not bowl. She was dropped after these four matches.
She then played six matches for the Second XI in the space of a week, mostly as a top-order batter, sometimes opening and as a wicket-keeper. New South Wales won all the fixtures except for one that was abandoned due to inclement weather. She scored 120 runs at 40.00, took six catches and made three stumpings, and was recalled to the senior team after one week in the second-string outfit. In her first three matches back, Healy was placed in the middle-order and not required to bat or keep wickets. In the last league match, she scored 59 from 55 balls in an 89-run partnership at faster than a run a ball with Lisa Sthalekar against Victoria. New South Wales won by three wickets despite losing Healy and three subsequent batters in the closing phase of the run-chase. In the final against the same team the following week, Healy made 11 from 22 balls before being run out, but New South Wales nevertheless won by six wickets with more than 15 overs to spare to claim the title. Healy ended the one-day competition with 79 runs at 26.33. She was named Australia's 30-strong shortlist for the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup, but was not a part of the final squad of 15.
Healy also played in two Twenty20 matches for her state during the season, scoring 35 from 27 balls against South Australia and 16 from 21 balls against Victoria. She was New South Wales' second top-scorer in both matches; the first was won but the second lost.
## Full-time wicket-keeper
After the Women's World Cup held in early 2009, Coleman transferred to play for the Australian Capital Territory, so Healy became New South Wales' wicket-keeper on a full-time basis for the start of the 2009–10 season. After making scores of 11, 12 and 29 in her first three innings of the one-day season, she struck an unbeaten 89 against Victoria. Coming in upon the fall of Leah Poulton with the score at 1/9 after three overs, she hit 13 fours in 82 balls, putting on partnerships of 72 with Blackwell and 82 with Sthalekar. New South Wales reached their target of 187 with more than 13 overs to spare and Healy was named the Player of the Match, having earlier taken a catch and made a stumping. Her season was interrupted by her selection in the Australian Under-21 team to play against the New Zealand Emerging Players. In five matches, she scored 50 runs at 10.00, took five catches and made one stumping as Australia won the series 4–1.
In the final of the one-day competition, she scored 23 from 37 balls batting at No. 3 and took two catches as New South Wales defeated Victoria by 59 runs. Healy ended her first full season as a wicket-keeper with 208 runs at 29.71, the second-highest average in her team behind Blackwell. In 11 matches, she also took 11 catches and completed 9 stumpings, effecting more dismissals than any other player.
She made 52 runs at 13.00 in seven T20 matches. Her best score was an unbeaten 20 from 13 balls in an eight-wicket win over Tasmania. In the final, Victoria batted first and made 5/127, Healy completing a catch and stumping. In reply, Healy made a duck as New South Wales lost four wickets in the first 13 balls and were all out for 75 to lose by 22 runs.
She holds the record for conceding the most number of byes as wicketkeeper in an innings of a WT20I (9), the joint most by any female wicketkeeper along with Tammy Beaumont.
## International debut
Healy was selected in the Australian squad for the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand in February 2010 due to an injury to the incumbent wicketkeeper and captain Jodie Fields. The selection committee released a statement saying "Alyssa has been identified for higher honours for a number of years and now gets the chance to display her wicket-keeping skills and attacking batting on the international stage". Healy made her ODI debut at the Adelaide Oval and played in all five ODIs in the Australian leg of the series. In her first match, she scored 21 from 11 balls in the death overs, hitting four fours as Australia made 241 before bowling out the visitors for 126 to seal a 115-run win. She took one catch, removing Amy Satterthwaite from the bowling of Rene Farrell. Healy made consecutive ducks in the next two matches, and made four in the final match at Junction Oval. She had only brief opportunities with the bat in the closing stages of the innings. She ended the series with 25 runs at 6.25 and a strike rate of 100.00, five catches and a stumping.
She then played in the three T20s held at Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The first of these matches was a curtain-raiser to the match between the Australia and West Indies men teams, and was the first match to be shown live on free-to-air television in Australia. New Zealand batted first and Australian fast bowler Ellyse Perry extracted an outside edge from captain Aimee Watkins from the first ball of the match. The ball flew straight to Healy's mid-riff and she dropped it. Watkins went on to score 44 from 36 balls as New Zealand made 7/117 and Healy's only dismissal was to catch Nicola Browne from Sthalekar's off spin. Healy came to the crease at 6/107 at the end of the 19th over and had scored three runs from as many balls and found herself on strike for the final ball of the match, bowled by Browne, with Australia needing three runs for the win. The delivery was wide outside off and Healy's expansive shot took the outside edge of the bat and flew towards the vacant first slip area. It would have gone for a match-winning four runs but for New Zealand wicket-keeper Rachel Priest diving across and catching the ball one-handed in her right glove, handing the tourists a two-run victory.
Healy had little impact with the bat in the three T20s in Australia and two more at the start of the New Zealand leg of the series, scoring 17 runs at 5.66 and a strike rate of 77.27. Apart from one catch on her debut, she did not make any more dismissals. Australia lost all five matches. She was then omitted for the three ODIs in New Zealand as batter Jess Cameron stood in as a makeshift wicket-keeper.
## 2010 World Twenty20
Healy was selected for the 2010 World Twenty20 in the West Indies and played in every match after Fields was again forced out by injury. In the first warm-up match, she took two catches and did not bat as Australia lost to New Zealand by 18 runs. In the last warm-up match, she was again not required to bat and did not make a dismissal as the Australians defeated Pakistan by 82 runs.
Australia were grouped with England, South Africa and the West Indies. In the first match against England, Healy took one catch to dismiss Danielle Hazell from the bowling of Sthalekar. In pursuit of 105 for victory, Australia were struggling when Healy came to the crease with the score at 7/63 after 14.2 overs. Three wickets had fallen in the space of 16 balls, during which only three runs had been added, and England had the momentum, and 42 runs were needed from 34 balls for victory. Healy then struck three fours, making 15 from 9 balls before being dismissed by Nicki Shaw, ending a stand of 23 from 13 balls with Sthalekar. However, Rene Farrell was run out going for the winning run from the third last ball available, leaving the scores tied.
A Super Over eventuated, and Laura Marsh bowled for England. Healy came in at 1/3 after Leah Poulton fell on the fourth ball. She hit a two from the fifth ball, and was run out by Jenny Gunn while attempting to complete a second run on the sixth and final ball of Australia's Super Over, leaving them at 2/6. England also ended with 2/6 after a run out in an attempt to secure the winning run on the final ball. Australia was awarded the match because they had hit more sixes in the match—Jess Cameron scored the solitary six.
In the next match against South Africa, Healy was promoted two positions to No. 7. Coming in upon the fall of Cameron, her partner Sarah Elliott was then run out without further addition to the score. Healy hit one boundary and was then out for 8 from 6 balls at 7/151. Her dismissal was part of a sudden collapse as Australia lost 6/16 including the last four wickets for four runs to be all out for 155 with three balls unused. Healy did not make a dismissal as Australia completed a 22-run win. In the final group match against the West Indies, Healy came in at 6/111 and hit 12 from 8 balls, before being caught from the final ball of the innings as Australia finished on 7/133. She had put on 22 runs in 16 balls with Sthalekar. She caught Deandra Dottin from the bowling of Perry for a golden duck as Australia won by nine runs to finish the group stage unbeaten at the top of their quartet.
Australia went on to face India in the semi-final. Healy stumped leading Indian batter Mithali Raj from the bowling of Sthalekar and was not required to bat as Australia reached their target of 120 with seven wickets and seven balls to spare. Australia elected to bat first in the final against New Zealand, but the top-order struggled and Healy came to the crease to join Elliott at 5/51 in the 13th over after the fall of two wickets in quick succession. The pair lifted the run rate by adding 21 runs in 18 balls. Healy scored 10 from as many balls, but was then run out attempting a second run after being dropped by Sara McGlashan in the outfield. This left the score at 6/72 in the 16th over, and Australia eventually ended on 8/106.
During the middle of the run-chase, Priest was incorrectly given out stumped by Healy after the television umpire Asad Rauf had pressed the wrong button, and he had to retract his decision. Soon after New Zealand were at 5/36 after 11 overs, leaving them with 71 runs to score from the last 54 balls, and Australia were in the ascendancy. However, New Zealand's chances were revived by Nicola Browne and Sophie Devine, who put on 41 from as many balls. In the 18th over, Healy caught Browne from Perry's bowling, and Australia went on to win by three runs after New Zealand ended on 6/103.
## 2015–present
In June 2015, she was named as one of Australia's touring party for the 2015 Women's Ashes in England.
Healy was named as the wicketkeeper across all forms of the 2017 Women's Ashes series in Australia. She was the leading run-scorer in the ODI leg of the series. The entire series ended 8–8 in points, and as the holders, Australia retained the Ashes.
In April 2018, she was one of the fourteen players to be awarded a national contract for the 2018–19 season by Cricket Australia.
In June 2018, Healy was named as the captain of the New South Wales Breakers for the 2018–19 season after the retirement of the previous captain, Alex Blackwell. She was named ahead of Australian Women's Vice-Captain Rachael Haynes and Sydney Sixers Captain Ellyse Perry.
In October 2018, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies. Ahead of the tournament, she was named as one of the players to watch. She was the leading run-scorer in the competition, with 225 runs, and was named the player of the tournament.
In November 2018, she was named in the Sydney Sixers' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season. In April 2019, Cricket Australia awarded her with a contract ahead of the 2019–20 season. In June 2019, Cricket Australia named her in Australia's team for their tour to England to contest the Women's Ashes.
She was awarded the Belinda Clarke Medal at the Allan Border Medal ceremony by the CA in 2019. In January 2020, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia. In Australia's match against Bangladesh, Healy and Beth Mooney made an opening partnership of 151 runs, the highest partnership for Australia Women for any wicket in a WT20I match. In the final, Healy blasted 75 off 39 balls in a player of the match performance, which saw Australia win their 5th title.
In November 2020, Healy was nominated for the ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Decade award. On 7 April 2021, in the second WODI against New Zealand, Healy played in her 200th international match.
In January 2022, Healy was named in Australia's squad for their series against England to contest the Women's Ashes. Later the same month, she was named in Australia's team for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. In April 2022, she was bought by the Northern Superchargers for the 2022 season of The Hundred in England. The following month, Healy was named in Australia's team for the cricket tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
## Records
Between 21 February and 2 August 2019, Healy held the Guinness World Record for the highest catch of a cricket ball at 82.5m. This was set as part of a campaign to mark one year until the start of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. However, the record has since been surpassed by Kristan Baumgartner, with 114m. Alyssa Healy holds the world record for the most runs in a Women's T20 International with 148\* (61) at North Sydney Oval on 2 October 2019 against Sri Lanka. On 8 March 2020, Alyssa recorded the fastest 50 (off 30 balls) in the history of ICC event finals across formats.
## International centuries
### One Day International centuries
### T20 International centuries
## Honours
### Team
#### International
- ICC Women's World Twenty20/T20 World Cup: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2023
- ICC Women's Cricket World Cup: 2013, 2022
#### Domestic/franchise
- Women's Big Bash League: WBBL\|02, WBBL\|03
- Women's National Cricket League: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
### Individual
- ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year: 2018, 2019
- Belinda Clark Award: 2019
- Cricket Australia Women's ODI Player of the Year: 2019
- ICC Women's Player of the Month: April 2021
- WBBL Team of the Tournament: WBBL\|04
## Personal life
Healy's nickname is "Midge". She has said that "Dad gave it to me when I was little, it just stuck!"
In 2015, Healy became engaged to fast bowler Mitchell Starc. They were married in April 2016. They met each other when they were 9 as Starc started off as a wicketkeeper. Healy and Starc are only the third married couple to play Test cricket, after the English couple the Prideauxs (Roger and Ruth), in the 1950s to 1960, and the Sri Lankan de Alwis couple (Guy and Rasanjali), in the 1980s and 1990s. In March 2020, Starc flew home ahead of the final ODI match against South Africa, so he could watch Healy play in the final of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Healy's brother-in-law is high jumper Brandon Starc.
Healy has a golf handicap of seven (as of 1 Oct 2019) and competes against Starc (handicap of ten) for the annual Steally Cup. |
3,142,190 | Gardermoen Line | 1,149,190,836 | Railway line in Norway | [
"1998 establishments in Norway",
"Airport rail links",
"Electric railways in Norway",
"Flytoget",
"Gardermoen Line",
"High-speed railway lines in Norway",
"Oslo Airport, Gardermoen",
"Railway lines in Oslo",
"Railway lines in Viken",
"Railway lines opened in 1998"
]
| The Gardermoen Line (Norwegian: Gardermobanen) is a high-speed railway line between Oslo and Eidsvoll, Norway, running past Lillestrøm and Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. The line is 64 kilometres (40 mi) long and replaced the older Hoved Line as the main line north-east of Oslo. The older Hoved Line now handles commuter and freight traffic, while the Gardermoen Line handles high-speed passenger trains and freight trains laden with jet fuel for the airport. Both lines are owned by Bane NOR.
The line was opened in 1998, at the same time as the airport that gave the line its name. It is used by the Flytoget airport express train service as well as express trains by Vy. It is the only high-speed railway in Norway, with a maximum permitted speed of 210 km/h (130 mph). Most of the line between Oslo and Lillestrøm is through the 14.580-kilometre-long (9.060 mi; 15,945 yd) Romeriksporten tunnel—the second longest railway tunnel in Norway. The decision to build the line was made in 1992; construction started two years later. The line was subjected to severe criticism during construction when the Romerike Tunnel sprung severe leaks due to hurried construction. As a result, the tunnel was opened a year after the rest of the line.
## History
When the Parliament of Norway decided on 8 October 1992 to build a new central airport for Eastern Norway, they also decided that the main mode of ground transport to the airport should be by railway. While the previous airport, Oslo Airport, Fornebu, was located just outside the city limits; the new Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, would be located some 50 kilometers north of the city, outside the reach of the existing public transport systems. The political agreement to build the airport stated that the costs of construction should not be borne by the tax payers. As a result, the entire airport was financed with money borrowed through Oslo Lufthavn AS, a subsidiary of the Norwegian Airport Administration. The same principle was chosen for the airport rail link. The Norwegian State Railways (NSB) created the subsidiary, NSB Gardermobanen AS, on 24 November 1992 to perform the construction of the line. This company would be able to charge train operators using the railway line; and could use this income to cover its down payments and interest on the debt created to pay for the infrastructure investment. It was planned to give a profit margin of 7.5%.
In 1996 NSB Gardermoen stated that they expected to charge commuter and intercity trains 100 million Norwegian krone per year to use the new line. County politicians in Akershus stated that it was not reasonable for commuters to have to pay for the new railway. Early estimates showed that this would almost double to price from Oslo to Eidsvoll, and that passengers would have different prices, depending on which route they followed. Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk, which was responsible for buses in Akershus, stated that they had no way to influence NSB's prices, but that they would consider starting a coach service along the route, which would not charge the surcharge.
### Construction
Construction of the railway started on 1 August 1994. Gardermoen is located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Oslo, but is not located on the Hoved Line. A different right-of-way had to be chosen north of Kløfta. The Hoved Line has heavy traffic, with many small stops until Lillestrøm, and continues northwards from Lillestrøm as single track. Therefore, an all-new railway would have to be built; it would bypass the intermediate railway until Lillestrøm, running through a tunnel, and continue northwards to the airport and onwards to Eidsvoll. This northernmost part is 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) used to allow trains operating on the Dovre Line to Lillehammer and Trondheim to use the Gardermoen Line.
The Gardermoen Line was the second attempt to build a high-speed railway in Norway. The first was the 35-kilometre (22 mi) line from Ski to Moss on the Østfold Line. However, operational speeds in excess of 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph) could not be achieved due to the short distances and limitations on rolling stock. The Gardermoen Line, therefore, became the first real high-speed railway line in Norway. Due to the domination of single track in Norway, the 64-kilometre (40 mi) Gardermoen Line increased the total length of double track in the kingdom by more than 50%.
The projected costs of the railway line were NOK 4.3 billion ±20%. Total costs ended at NOK 7.7 billion, including 1.3 billion extra used on extraordinary expenditures on the Romeriksporten. On 1 October 1996 it was decided that the construction company, NSB Gardermobanen, would also become the operator of the airport express train. However, due to limited profitability with the company, from 1 January 2001 the ownership of Gardermobanen was transferred to the Norwegian National Rail Administration, who also owns the rest of railway lines in Norway. The operating company changed its name to Flytoget AS.
### Construction challenges
The most challenging part of the construction was the 14,580 metres (47,830 ft) railway tunnel from Etterstad, just east of Oslo S, to Lillestrøm. Romeriksporten is the second longest railway tunnel in Norway, and is underneath the recreational area Østmarka, in geologically highly unstable ground. During the construction in 1997, the water level in some of the lakes above the tunnel, including Lutvann and Nordre Puttjern, fell dramatically. After they were discovered on 3 February 1997 sanctions were initiated by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate requiring leakage prevention measures in the tunnel. At the worst, 3,000 liters of water per minute leaked into the tunnel.
The substance Rhoca-Gil was used to fix the leakages, but the substance failed to work properly. Not only did it fail to polymerize and stop the leaks, it also contaminated the surroundings with acrylamide. The entire process of fixing the leak and cleaning up the toxicity delayed the process of building the tunnel by one year; and it was first opened on 22 August 1999. Further complications arose due to conflicts between NSB Gardermobanen and the construction company. Retrospective surveys showed a lack of control and reporting procedures during incidents that should have been addressed in 1995, and were never taken seriously. About sixty houses received damage due to the construction of the tunnel. An evaluation performed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications showed that NOK 500 million was used on fixing the leaks; however, the report claimed this was, to a large extent, a waste of money due to inefficient engineering procedures. The same report criticized the planning and organization of the entire construction of the railway.
### Opening
When the new airport opened on 8 October 1998, and the Flytoget airport express train service started operations with sixteen Type 71 multiple units. Trains had to use the old Hoved Line from Oslo S to Lillestrøm, but could use the new high-speed line from Lillestrøm to Gardermoen. Regular operations using Romeriksporten started on 22 August 1999. To be able to use the new Gardermoen Line infrastructure, Norges Statsbaner had to buy new trains capable of higher speeds. Twenty-two locomotive designated El 18, based on the Swiss lok 2000, where delivered in 1996. They are capable of speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph). However, the B7 passenger carriages used are not permitted to operate at more than 150 kilometres per hour (93 mph). Full speed utilization of long-distance trains is only possible with the Type 73 units that started operation on the Dovre Line in 2000. These trains are nearly identical to those used by the Flytoget airport express train company, and capable of 210 kilometres per hour (130 mph) on the Gardermoen Line. They are equipped with tilting technology allowing quicker operation on the rest of the line to Trondheim. Other trains used on the line by NSB are only capable of 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph).
### Future expansion
Plans for an expansion of the high-speed line to Hamar have been launched, but have not been incorporated into any specific plans. This suggestion would increase the length of the high-speed rail north of Oslo with 62 kilometres (39 mi)—almost a doubling. The project may or may not incorporate a further high-speed line to Trondheim.
## Operations
The railway is used by both Vy, Flytoget and SJ for their passenger services, as well as freight trains with jet fuel for the airport.
### Airport express train
The Flytoget airport express train service is the largest user of the Gardermoen Line, with six departures from Oslo Central to Oslo Airport per hour. The trains only use the line as far as Gardermoen, and not the northernmost sixteen kilometers. Service is provided using sixteen Type 71 three-car units, which together transported 5.4 million passengers in 2007. Direct services to Oslo S take 19 minutes. Half of the services make an intermediate stop at Lillestrøm, and continue on past Oslo Central to Asker Station. Flytoget has a 34% market share on ground transport to Oslo Airport.
### Vy
Vy (formerly NSB) uses Gardermeon Line for express and some regional trains north of Oslo. This includes five daily departures to Trondheim (including one NSB Night Train). The line is operated by two regional services, the R10 service between Drammen and Lillehammer, the R11 service between Skien/Larvik and Eidsvoll, as well as the local service, L12 between Kongsberg and Eidsvoll. These services is carried out with Type 74 for R10 and R11, and Type 75 for line L12. Both trains are capable of 200 km/h (120 mph) operation. The southernmost part of the line is used by commuter trains heading to the Kongsvinger Line. These trains divert from the Gardermoen Line at Lillestrøm. Also the commuter trains operating to Dal along the Hoved Line use the Gardermoen Line until Lillestrøm.
### Other services
Because there is a parallel line, the Hoved Line running all the way from Oslo S to Eidsvoll, some trains can choose to use this line instead. This is primarily done by some commuter trains, as well as all freight trains. The only exception to this are trains hauling jet fuel to the airport, which have to use the Gardermoen Line from Kløfta. This service is provided by CargoNet.
The Swedish state railways, SJ also operate on the southern part of Gardermoen on their intercity services X 2000. This was for some years provided by Linx, a joint venture between SJ and NSB, using X2 stock, but the company was later dissolved.
## Stations
## See also
- High-speed rail in Norway |
15,999,325 | 1981 Peach Bowl (January) | 1,170,925,018 | null | [
"1980–81 NCAA football bowl games",
"1981 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)",
"January 1981 sports events in the United States",
"Miami Hurricanes football bowl games",
"Peach Bowl",
"Virginia Tech Hokies football bowl games"
]
| The 1980 (season) Peach Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Hurricanes from the University of Miami and the Gobblers from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on January 2, 1981. The game was the final contest of the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams, and ended in a 20–10 victory for Miami. Another game by the same name followed the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season and was played in December, 1981.
Miami finished the regular season with an 8–3 record, including wins over Florida State and Florida. Facing Miami was a familiar post-season opponent-Virginia Tech, whom the Hurricanes had played in the 1966 Liberty Bowl, Tech's last bowl appearance prior to the Peach Bowl. Tech was awarded a bid to the Peach Bowl as a reward for finishing 8–3 during the regular season, a record that included wins over nationally ranked teams such as the Clemson Tigers and the Virginia Cavaliers.
The game kicked off at 3:00 p.m. EST under sunny skies and in temperatures of 46 °F (8 °C). Unlike the 1966 Liberty Bowl, in which Virginia Tech scored first, it was Miami who dominated the game's early going. The Hurricanes scored a touchdown on the first drive of the game and tacked on another touchdown early in the second quarter. Tech was held scoreless in the early going, thanks to two Miami interceptions at the goal line as Virginia Tech was threatening to score. Late in the second quarter, Tech was finally able to get on the scoreboard with a field goal, but at halftime, the Miami Hurricanes led 14–3. After halftime, the Gobblers threatened Miami for the first time all game. Virginia Tech mounted an 80-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown, cutting Miami's lead to 14–10. But the Hurricanes' defense clamped down on any further offensive attempts by Virginia Tech and denied the Gobblers more points. Miami added two field goals: one in the third quarter and one in the fourth quarter that finally put the game out of reach for Virginia Tech. Miami's win was its first bowl victory since the 1966 Liberty Bowl, which also featured a Hurricane victory over Virginia Tech.
## Team selection
### Miami
The Miami Hurricanes came into the 1980 college football season after a 5–6 season in 1979 under head coach Howard Schnellenberger. During that season, the team was nicknamed the "Jet Lag Kids" after they traveled an NCAA-record 28,000 miles (45,000 km), including a trip to the Mirage Bowl in Tokyo, Japan. While impressive, the season wasn't as successful as hoped, and Schnellenberger began his second season as coach hoping to improve upon the 5–6 effort despite what was the toughest schedule—in terms of opponents' winning percentage—in the country.
Miami got off to a good start doing just that as it raced out to four consecutive wins to begin the season, including a victory over nationally ranked rival No. 9 Florida State. On October 11, however, Miami traveled to South Bend, Indiana, to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and suffered its first loss of the season to the undefeated Irish, who would go on to be ranked No. 1 in the country. This defeat was followed in succession by two others, but the Hurricanes were able to stop the slide on November 8 with a homecoming win over East Carolina. Miami added two more wins before the end of the season, and brought the regular season to a close with an overall record of 8–3.
### Virginia Tech
The Virginia Tech Gobblers, like Miami, entered the 1980 season after accumulating a 5–6 record in 1979. Though the Gobblers traveled far less than Miami, they also hoped to improve upon their losing record. Tech was coached by Bill Dooley, who was entering his third season as head coach.
Like Schnellenberger, he got his team off to a fast start. In the season opener, Tech traveled to North Carolina to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Wake Forest had attended the Tangerine Bowl the previous year and was favored in the game against Tech. Despite those facts, the Gobblers won, 16–7. Virginia Tech won its first four games of the regular season before falling to the nationally ranked Clemson Tigers on October 4. Tech recovered from the loss, defeating Rhode Island, then Virginia before a then-state record crowd of 52,000 people, but lost a second game, to Richmond on October 25. The Gobblers split their final three games of the regular season, winning two and losing one, and finished with a regular season record of 8–3. Tech's 6–0 record at Lane Stadium—its home stadium—was the best in school history. Tech's selection by the Peach Bowl was announced in the locker room following the team's final regular season game. The Peach Bowl representative present was mobbed by celebrating players chanting "Peach Bowl! Peach Bowl!" The representative later said, "I've never seen a wilder celebration."
## Pregame buildup
### Miami offense
The Miami Hurricanes entered the Peach Bowl with a record-breaking offense that set the school mark for the most accumulated yards in school history with a total offensive mark of 3,756 yards. Leading the aerial portion of the Miami offense was sophomore quarterback Jim Kelly, who completed 109 of 206 passes for 1,519 yards, 11 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Kelly's 11 touchdowns tied the Miami record for most touchdowns in a season at that time. Kelly's favorite receiver was wide receiver Larry Brodsky, who caught 33 passes for 570 yards and three touchdowns during the regular season. One of Brodsky's touchdowns came on an 81-yard reception that tied the longest pass reception in the history of Miami football to that point.
The Hurricanes' ground offense was led by running back Smokey Roan, who carried the ball 152 times for 669 yards and five touchdowns. Roan was assisted by an able offensive line. Miami offensive tackle John Canei was named as an honorable mention to the Associated Press All-America team, which recognizes the best college football players in the country.
### Miami defense
Miami's defense shut out one opponent, and held six other opponents to single touchdowns or field goals. Middle guard Jim Burt was one of the Hurricanes' defensive leaders, recovering four fumbles in a single game during the regular season. In recognition of this and other performances, Burt was named to the Associated Press All-America list. Also recognized was defensive back Fred Marion, who was named an honorable mention to the All-America list. Marion intercepted seven passes during the regular season, tying him for second in Miami history for the most interceptions in a season.
### Virginia Tech offense
Throughout the regular season, Virginia Tech's offense was led by running back Cyrus Lawrence, who accumulated what was then a school record of 1,221 yards during the regular season. He also set a record for most carries by a Tech player in a season with 271. Tech quarterback Steve Casey was called the "key man in the Tech offense." Casey was Tech's starting quarterback and completed 97 of 176 passes during the regular season for 1,119 yards and 13 touchdowns. At the time, he ranked second among Tech's career passing leaders, and was considered to be an offensive threat.
Casey's favorite target was wide receiver Sidney Snell, who caught a Tech-record eight touchdown receptions during the regular season. Snell accounted for 568 yards on 43 receptions of all types. Tight end Rob Purdham only caught seven passes during the regular season, but four of the catches were for touchdowns.
### Virginia Tech defense
The Tech defense was ranked among the top five in the country during the regular season, and set a school record for fewest points allowed during an 11-game regular season. Tech permitted just 109 points during the season, and allowed only 11 touchdowns in 11 games.
The leading tackler on the Tech defense was freshman linebacker Ashley Lee, who accumulated 95 tackles during the regular season. Lee was one of two freshman linebackers for the Gobblers during their record-breaking defensive season.
Virginia Tech's defense also featured Robert Brown, who accumulated 10 tackles, including two quarterback sacks, in the Gobblers' regular-season finale against the Virginia Military Institute. Tech head coach Bill Dooley lobbied in vain for Brown's inclusion in the annual All-America list recording the best college football players in the country, saying, "Robert Brown is an All-American football player ... but because he was a transfer student, he received no preseason buildup. ... I guarantee the people who have seen him know he's an All-American." Brown finished the regular season with 61 tackles, broke up four passes, and recovered three fumbles.
## Game summary
The 1981 Peach Bowl kicked off at 3 p.m. EST on January 2, 1981, at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia in front of a crowd estimated at 45,384 people. More than 14,000 of those present were estimated to be fans of Virginia Tech. Weather at kickoff was sunny, with a temperature of 46 °F (8 °C) and a north-northwest wind estimated at 14 miles per hour (23 km/h). The game was televised nationally on CBS, with Curt Gowdy, Hank Stram, and Frank Gleiber serving as the announcers for the television broadcast. William Parkinson was the referee, Robert Aebersold was the umpire, and the linesman was Richard Farina. Miami won the traditional pregame coin toss used to decide first possession and elected to receive the ball to begin the game.
### First quarter
After the Virginia Tech kickoff and a short return, Miami began the first drive of the game at its 32-yard line. The game's first play was an incomplete pass from Miami quarterback Jim Kelly. After a one-yard rush, Kelly completed his first pass of the game, an 18-yard toss that drove Miami to the Tech 49-yard line and gave the Hurricanes a first down. Miami then committed a 15-yard penalty, pushing the Hurricanes back into their side of the field. On the second play after the penalty, Kelly completed a 29-yard pass that gave Miami a first down. The Hurricanes were further aided by a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty against Virginia Tech, giving Miami a first down at the Tech 20-yard line. From there, it took Miami just three plays to score a touchdown, the final play being a 15-yard pass from Kelly to Larry Brodsky. With 12:37 remaining in the quarter, Miami took a 7–0 lead.
Following Miami's post-touchdown kickoff, Virginia Tech began its first offensive possession of the game at its 24-yard line. A three-yard rush from fullback Scott Dovel was followed by two rushes from Tech's Cyrus Lawrence: one for eight yards and a second for 17 more. These drove Tech into Miami territory and gave the Gobblers a first down. Once there, however, Miami's defense stiffened and Tech was forced to punt. Miami recovered the ball at its 12-yard line, and the Hurricanes began their second possession of the game. Fullback Chris Hobbs and running back Smokey Roan alternated carries, picking up yardage and first downs before entering Virginia Tech territory. On the Hurricanes' first play on Tech's side of the field, however, Miami committed two penalties, pushing the Hurricanes back 20 yards. Following the penalties, Miami was unable to pick up a first down and punted back to the Gobblers.
Tech recovered the punt at its 30-yard line and began its second possession. Lawrence rushed for five yards, and Miami committed a five-yard offsides penalty, giving Tech a first down by penalty. Dovel and Lawrence then combined for another first down after two plays. Tech was unable to gain another first down and punted the ball away. Attempting to field the ball, Miami's Fred Marion fumbled the ball, which was recovered by a Tech defender at the Miami 25-yard line. Despite beginning with excellent field position, Tech was unable to score. On the first play after the fumble recovery, Tech attempted to run a trick play involving a pass by Lawrence. The pass was intercepted by a Miami defender at the Hurricanes' one-yard line, and Miami's offense returned to the field.
From their one-yard line, the Hurricanes ran a short rush up the middle, then Kelly connected on a 28-yard pass to tight end Mark Cooper for a first down. Three short rushes by fullback Speedy Neal resulted in 12 yards and a first down. With time running out in the quarter, Kelly attempted and completed a 27-yard pass to wide receiver Rocky Belk, driving the Hurricanes to the Tech 30-yard line and bringing the quarter to an end. Miami led, 7–0 at the end of the first quarter.
### Second quarter
Miami began the second quarter in possession of the ball and facing a first down at the Virginia Tech 30-yard line. From there, it took Miami just four plays to score. Roan ran for seven yards, Kelly completed an 11-yard pass, threw an incomplete pass, then Hobbs ran 12 yards for the touchdown. The score and following extra point gave Miami a 14–0 lead with 13:47 remaining before halftime.
Virginia Tech received the post-touchdown kickoff and was promptly penalized 10 yards for an illegal block during the kickoff. Despite the initial setback, Tech made good the penalty with two passes from quarterback Steve Casey. After gaining one first down, the Gobblers gained several more with a combination of passes from Casey and rushes from Lawrence. Tech drove into Miami territory and penetrated the Hurricanes' red zone, in the process gaining a first down after facing a fourth down near midfield. Attempting to pass for a touchdown, however, Casey threw an interception at the goal line to a Miami defender. The Hurricanes thus again denied Tech a scoring opportunity and the Miami offense began anew.
The Hurricanes picked up a first down on one rush each from Hobbs and Roan, but were unable to gain another. After a Miami punt, Tech returned to offense from its 46-yard line. Casey picked up a first down on a pass, then gained another after a seven-yard scramble that followed a three-yard rush by Lawrence. Lawrence then gained a first down on his own after rushing for nine yards and five yards, driving the Gobblers to the Miami 15-yard line in the process. After entering the Miami red zone, however, Tech was unable to gain a first down and Casey was sacked for a loss of 13 yards. Facing a fourth down and needing 20 yards for a first down, Tech coach Bill Dooley sent in kicker Dennis Laury to attempt a 42-yard field goal. The kick was successful, and with 29 seconds left in the first half, Tech cut Miami's lead to 14–3.
Miami was penalized 15 yards for roughing the kicker during the field goal attempt, allowing Tech to kick off from the Miami 45-yard line following the score. Instead of kicking off to Miami, Tech attempted an onside kick, which would allow Tech to retain possession if the ball was recovered by the kicking team after traveling 10 yards from the point at which it was kicked. The ball did not travel the needed 10 yards, however, and Miami began offense at its 37-yard line, where the ball rolled out of bounds. On Miami's first play after the kick, Kelly attempted a long pass into Tech territory, but the ball was intercepted by Tech's Mike Schamus at the Gobblers' 12-yard line. With just 21 seconds remaining in the first half, Tech attempted to gain quick yardage in an effort to close within field goal distance. Though Lawrence picked up 15 yards and a first with a rush, the Gobblers were unable to enter the Miami side of the field before time expired. At the end of the first half, Miami still held a 14–3 lead.
### Third quarter
Because Miami received the ball to begin the game, Virginia Tech received the ball to begin the second half. After Miami's kickoff and a touchback, Tech began the first possession of the second half at its 20-yard line. The Gobblers picked up a quick first down off a rush each by Lawrence, Dovel, and Casey. Lawrence picked up another with two rushes that resulted in 13 yards and drove the Gobblers to their 44-yard line. There, Casey completed his longest pass of the game – a 42-yard throw to tight end Rob Purdham – that gave Tech a first down at the Miami 14-yard line. Tech continued to drive, picking up short yardage with multiple rushes. The Gobblers suffered a near-disaster when Lawrence fumbled the ball, but Tech retained possession when the ball rolled out of bounds at the one-yard line. Two plays after the fumble, Lawrence vaulted over the goal line for Tech's first and only touchdown of the game. Following the extra point, Tech cut Miami's lead to 14–10 with 8:52 remaining in the quarter.
Following the Tech kickoff, Miami began a drive at its 20-yard line and went three and out. Following the Hurricanes' punt, Tech's offense began work at its 22-yard line. Despite having a chance to take the lead with a successful drive, the Gobblers also went three and out, punting back to Miami and allowing the Hurricanes to begin a possession at their 33-yard line. This possession was more successful than Miami's first of the second half. Kelly ran for four yards, then completed a six-yard pass for a first down. Tech committed a 15-yard grabbing-the-facemask penalty, and Kelly completed a 15-yard pass that pushed the Miami offense to the Tech 22-yard line. Young picked up 12 yards and a first down with a rush to the left, but Kelly was sacked for a loss of 13 yards, negating the gain. Unable to gain another first down or a touchdown, Miami was forced to settle for a field goal attempt. The 31-yard attempt was good, and Miami expanded its lead to 17–10 with 29 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Tech received Miami's kickoff for a touchback, and the Gobblers' offense began work at the Tech 20-yard line. Lawrence ran for six yards, and time ran out in the quarter. With one quarter remaining, Miami held a 17–10 lead.
### Fourth quarter
Tech began the fourth quarter in possession of the ball and facing a second down at its 26-yard line. Despite needing just another four yards for a first down, Tech was unable to gain the needed yardage and was forced to punt. During the kick, Miami was penalized five yards, and began its first possession of the fourth quarter at its 18-yard line after the penalty. Kelly completed an 18-yard pass for a first down, but Miami was unable to gain another. After punting to Tech, the Gobblers were likewise unable to gain a first down and went three and out after committing a delay of game penalty.
Tech's punt was short, and Miami began a possession at the Tech 41-yard line. The Hurricanes picked up a first down with two rushes by Roan for a total of 14 yards. Despite further short gains by Roan, the Hurricanes were stopped short by the Tech defense and were unable to gain another. Miami sent in kicker Dan Miller, who kicked a 37-yard field goal to give Miami a 20–10 lead with 6:27 remaining in the game.
Tech received Miami's post-score kickoff needing to score quickly in order to have a chance to have a second opportunity on offense – needed because Tech was now two scores behind. Tech returned the kickoff to the 24-yard line but were penalized 12 yards for an illegal block. Casey passed for an eight-yard gain and ran for three yards for a first down. After that gain, things went against the Gobblers. Casey was penalized 15 yards for intentional grounding, and Tech was unable to gain another first down. The Gobblers punted, and Miami took over on offense at its 46-yard line. In possession of the lead, Miami began to run out the clock, executing multiple rushing plays in succession in order to force the game clock to continue to count down. Tech's defense forced a stop, but because Miami punted the ball with just 2:20 remaining in the game, there was little chance that Tech would be able to make up the needed two scores.
Tech received the ball at its 16-yard line, and Casey completed a quick 14-yard pass to Purdham for a first down. But Tech was unable to gain another first down, and after four plays were stopped short, Tech turned the ball over to Miami after Casey threw an incomplete pass on fourth down. Miami received the ball with 1:24 remaining and ran a series of inconsequential plays to draw down the clock and bring the game to an end. Miami earned the win, 20–10.
## Statistical summary
In recognition of their performances during the Peach Bowl, Miami quarterback Jim Kelly and nose guard Jim Burt were named the game's offensive and defensive most valuable players of the game, respectively. Kelly finished the game having completed 11 of his 22 pass attempts for 179 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Burt, the other MVP, accumulated nine tackles—the second-most of any player in the game—including seven unassisted tackles and one tackle for loss.
Virginia Tech running back Cyrus Lawrence finished the game with 27 carries for 137 rushing yards and a touchdown. The 27 carries remain the most ever recorded by a single Virginia Tech player in a bowl game. Tech quarterback Steve Casey led the Gobblers in passing yardage, completing nine of his 23 pass attempts for 119 yards and one interception.
The Hurricanes' ground offense was led by Smokey Roan, who carried the ball 16 times for 86 yards. Second to Roan for Miami was Chris Hobbs, who contributed 66 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Hurricanes wide receiver Larry Brodsky finished with four catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Miami turned the ball over four times during the course of the game. Tech's 80-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter remains tied for the longest ever recorded by a Tech offense during a bowl game. Conversely, the 99-yard drive allowed to Miami remains the longest scoring drive Tech's defense has ever allowed in a bowl game.
On defense, Virginia Tech linebacker Ashley Lee's 15 tackles remains the most ever recorded by a Tech defender in a bowl game. Three Tech players were tied for second on the team with eight tackles. Behind defensive MVP Burt, Miami had one player with eight tackles and two with seven. Fred Marion, one of the Hurricanes with seven tackles, also intercepted a Tech pass and broke up another pass.
## Postgame effects
In exchange for their participation, each team received \$663,389. Miami's win brought the Hurricanes to a final record of 9–3 for the 1980 college football season. Likewise, the loss dropped Virginia Tech to a final record of 8–4. Miami's win also was its first bowl-game victory since a similar win over Tech in the 1966 Liberty Bowl.
The 1980 Peach Bowl victory is sometimes cited as the turning point in the Miami football program, as the Hurricanes went 9–2 and 7–4 over the next two season before participating in the 1984 Orange Bowl, the championship game of the 1983 college football season. Tech also participated in a 1984 bowl game; the 1984 Independence Bowl, which followed the 1984 college football season. The Gobblers did not win a bowl game until the 1986 Peach Bowl; however, the game had lasting effects on Virginia Tech's football recruiting efforts. Eventual star players Bruce Smith and Jesse Penn signed letters of intent with Virginia Tech following the game.
Miami had a handful of players selected in the 1981 NFL Draft: Cornerback John Swain was picked with the 101st overall selection, Jim Joiner with the 263rd pick, and Pat Walker with the 290th pick. Miami quarterback Jim Kelly, a sophomore during the 1981 Peach Bowl, was selected in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft and went on to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his performance during 10 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. In 2002, Kelly was named to the Peach Bowl Hall of Fame in honor of his performance in the 1980 game.
## Later aftermath
Miami and Virginia Tech would both be charter members of the Big East Conference's football league in 1991, and in 2004, both schools moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference – which now has a tie-in for what is now called the Chick-Fil A Bowl.
## See also
- Miami–Virginia Tech football rivalry |
71,365,659 | Creekfinding | 1,164,298,924 | 2017 nonfiction picture book by Jacqueline Briggs Martin | [
"2017 children's books",
"2017 non-fiction books",
"American picture books",
"Books about environmentalism",
"Children's non-fiction books",
"University of Minnesota Press books"
]
| Creekfinding: A True Story is a 2017 nonfiction picture book written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Claudia McGehee. It tells the story of a stream restoration project by Michael Osterholm, who purchased land in northeastern Iowa where a creek had been diverted decades earlier. As the creek is restored, the wildlife, including the native brook trout, gradually returned to the area and flourished.
The book depicts the restoration of the creek with the help of an excavator, which is introduced as a "creekfinding machine". It was published by the University of Minnesota Press on March 1, 2017, and was well received. Critics praised its focus on environmental conservation as well as McGehee's scratchboard illustrations, and in 2018 it received a Riverby Award, which recognizes nature-related books for children, from the John Burroughs Association.
## Background and publication
In 2002, Michael Osterholm purchased 98 acres (0.40 km<sup>2</sup>) of land near Dorchester, Iowa. Osterholm, an epidemiologist, was told by the previous owner's grandson that his grandfather used to fish in a stream there. He researched the area and confirmed the existence of the stream using old aerial photos. The stream had been diverted in 1949 to make way for planting corn in the fertile soil, and it eventually degraded and was lost. Osterholm, a native of Iowa who had fished in nearby creeks in his childhood, decided to restore the creek.
The restoration of the original 1,280-foot (390 m) stream took place over the next seven years. Osterholm began by clearing out the existing cornfields to uncover the original stream, and replanted native tallgrasses such as big bluestem. Multiple truckloads of boulders were added along the banks of the stream for support. Over time, native plants, insects, and other wildlife returned to the area. In 2009, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources added 500 fingerlings of brook trout, the only surviving native species of trout in the state. The trout flourished in the newly restored creek, which Osterholm named Brook Creek.
Creekfinding: A True Story depicts Osterholm's restoration of Brook Creek and the return of wildlife to the area. The author, Jacqueline Briggs Martin, decided to write a book about Osterholm after reading a November 2011 article about his project published in The Gazette. She spoke with Osterholm as she wrote Creekfinding, although she did not visit Brook Creek in person until after the book was completed. Martin was already friends with the illustrator Claudia McGehee, and asked McGehee to provide the illustrations for the book. According to McGehee, while "traditionally author and illustrator don't connect during the creation of a picture book," the two collaborated throughout the development of the book, including researching the ecosystem of the creek.
Dedicated to "those who take care of our green places", the 36-page book was published by the University of Minnesota Press on March 1, 2017. In addition to the story, the book includes remarks from Martin, McGehee, and Osterholm.
## Synopsis
The book introduces the excavator as a "creekfinding machine" that can help uncover lost creeks. It shows a vibrant creek being diverted as a farmer uses a bulldozer to fill it with dirt for growing corn. Decades later, Mike learns about the former creek and decides to restore it despite the skepticism of others. He marks the creek's former path and an excavator is used to dig into the ground to locate it. Mike waits until the winter to have trucks deliver rocks to line the creek, so that the ground is frozen by then and the trucks do not damage the soil. Plants, insects, and sculpins return to the creek, and the trout are delivered in another truck. Two years later, the trout lay eggs that hatch during the winter. The book concludes with the flourishing ecosystem and a thanks "to Mike and the big machines that found the creek".
## Writing and illustrations
The narrative is organized into discrete sections, with titles such as "Scraping and Digging" and "Time for Trout". Renée Wheeler of The Horn Book Guide described Martin's writing as "vivid" and "descriptive", and throughout the book, questions about the restoration process are asked and then answered to pique the reader's interest. Personification is used to characterize the actions of the excavator as well as the water's return to the area. Martin said she spent several months figuring out how to best describe the ecosystem, and that one of her favorite lines from the book was "a creek is more than water". At one point during the writing process, the draft was as long as 1200 words, but it was trimmed to about 400 words in the final version.
McGehee said that she visited Brook Creek before creating the illustrations because she "wanted to re-create the textures and colors [she] saw, so readers could 'walk' alongside Brook Creek as they learned about its restoration". Her illustrations were created using a scratchboard technique (in which the artist scratches off dark ink to reveal a layer beneath) with watercolor and dyes, with the result resembling painted woodcuts with thick, curving outlines. A reviewer for Kirkus Reviews felt that the omission of color from one spread was particularly effective for creating a sense of anticipation. According to McGehee, machines like the excavators and dump trucks were the most challenging because she had less experience illustrating them, compared to natural scenery. In addition to the main narrative, minor facts about the restoration process and wildlife are contained within elements of the pictures, such as blades of grass.
## Reception
Critics praised Creekfinding for its focus on environmental conservation. Reviewing for School Library Journal, Barbara Auerbach wrote that the book would "inspire the future caretakers of our planet", and several reviewers described it as a "heartening" depiction of the creek's restoration. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly also praised the note from Osterholm at the end of the book that encourages readers to take action and help restore degraded parts of their environment. Reviewers also wrote positively about McGehee's scratchboard illustrations. Kirkus Reviews noted that the detailed pictures, with "curving lines filled with life", would still be visible if the book was read to a small group, and Auerbach described the artwork as "stunning".
The book was listed on the New York Public Library's "100 Best Books for Kids" in 2017. It received a Riverby Award, which recognizes nature-related books for children, from the John Burroughs Association in 2018. |
36,350,591 | Invasion (Grey's Anatomy) | 1,146,161,113 | null | [
"2009 American television episodes",
"Grey's Anatomy (season 6) episodes"
]
| "Invasion" is the fifth episode of the sixth season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, the show's 107th episode overall, and the first of a two-part patient crossover event with Private Practice. It was written by Mark Wilding and directed by Tony Phelan. The episode was originally broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on October 15, 2009. In the episode, the physicians of Seattle Grace Hospital must learn to co-operate with new Mercy West residents, who do not act in a kind manner to them. Other storylines include Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez)'s father returning to the hospital to condemn her bisexuality, and Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) putting her career into jeopardy after administering the wrong treatment to a patient.
The episode was Heigl's last appearance before her five-episode hiatus to film a movie. It is set in a fictional hospital in Seattle, Washington. Héctor Elizondo returned as a guest star, while Sarah Drew, Jesse Williams, Nora Zehetner and Robert Baker made their first appearances. "Invasion" received positive reviews, with critics praising Drew's, Heigl's, Jessica Capshaw's, Ellen Pompeo's and Sandra Oh's performances. Upon its initial airing, the episode in the United States was viewed by 13.79 million people, garnered a 5.0/13 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic and ranked third for the night in terms of viewership
The patient Sarah Freemont (Alexie Gilmore)'s life hangs in the balance after Izzie's dialysis error. Her arc concludes in the second-half, a Private Practice episode titled "Right Here, Right Now", which sees Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) fly Freemont to Addison Montgomery in LA for help.
## Plot
The hospital receives several surgical residents from Mercy West as they enter Seattle Grace, a repercussion of the recent merger. Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is recovering from her liver transplantation surgery, after donating a portion of it to her father. In the residents' lounge, Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) tries to explain to Mercy West resident Dr. Reed Adamson (Nora Zehetner) that she should not use a certain locker, due to it formerly belonging to the deceased Dr. George O'Malley (T. R. Knight). Adamson ignores her wishes, and uses the locker, leading Stevens to threatening to fight her. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Dr. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) are working in the emergency room, when Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) embarrasses Yang by taking Mercy West resident Dr. Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams)' side in a disagreement. Despite her mindset that all Mercy West residents would act in the manner of Adamson, Stevens develops a friendship with Dr. Charles Percy (Robert Baker). After months of the two not speaking, Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez)'s father, Carlos (Héctor Elizondo), shows up to the hospital with a priest, trying to condemn Torres for her concurrence in homosexuality.
Under the supervision of Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), Lexie works with Mercy West resident Dr. April Kepner (Sarah Drew) on a burglar, and the two get in several disagreements, leading Lexie to steal her diary. Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Adamson continuously argue over the course of treatment for a patient, leading the patient's daughter to yell at them in disbelief. Angry about the revelation that Percy (who later apologized saying that they can be friends outside the hospital, but not inside) was using her, Stevens accidentally administers the wrong dialysis to a patient named Sarah Freemont (Alexie Gilmore), making her an unviable candidate for the kidney transplant she was scheduled to receive. After arguing over surgical cases for the entirety of the day, Yang comes to the realization that she needs a cardiothoracic surgeon to work at the hospital. After being mistreated by Kepner, Lexie begins to mock her about what is written in her diary, thus ruining her emotionally, but subsequently apologizes. Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw), Torres' girlfriend, talks to Carlos, and convinces him to accept his daughter's sexuality. Having found out about Stevens' mistake, Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) reprimands her and reports her to the chief of surgery Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). Webber asks Stevens to come into her office, and he fires her from the staff, noting that Hunt, Shepherd, and Karev had concerns with her coming back to work so early. Stevens departs, writing Karev a Dear John letter, causing him to break down in front of Meredith and Yang.
## Production
The episode was written by Mark Wilding and directed by Tony Phelan. Jenny Barak edited the episode's music and Donald Lee Harris served as production designer. Eric Dane (Dr. Mark Sloan) was absent from the episode. Featured music included The Myrmidon's "Clap", Traildriver's "I Want You Now", and Greg Laswell's remake of "Your Ghost". "Invasion" was the last episode Heigl appeared in, before her five-episode hiatus to film the romantic comedy Life As We Know It.
Wilding called the guest stars "a blast to work with". He deemed the theme of the episode "invasion", adding that all the character's lives were being invaded. In the episode, Stevens makes a mistake, following a disagreement with Percy. Wilding commented that Stevens was originally seeking friendship with Percy, because he reminded her of O'Malley. At the conclusion of the episode, Torres ultimately reunites with her father Carlos. Wilding offered his insight on this and the overall episode:
> "Shonda came up with the idea of Mr. Torres showing up with the family priest. I immediately said YES because anytime I can see Hector Elizondo on my TV screen, I'm all for it. In the scene where he's quoting the Bible at Callie, he really is afraid he's going to lose her. He's desperate, yanking out those index cards like her very life depends on it. It was Hector's idea to use the cards. He didn't think his character would know that stuff of the top of his head, which is how I originally wrote it. And he was right. And it worked beautifully. And that final scene when he and Callie are outside the hospital and he's asking her if she'll still get married, still have kids... I really, really liked that scene. And I really, really liked their whole story. All told, I thought the episode came out pretty well."
## Reception
### Broadcasting
"Invasion" was first broadcast on October 15, 2009 in the United States on the American Broadcasting Company. The episode was viewed by a total of 13.79 million people, down 0.34% from the previous episode "Tainted Obligation", which garnered 14.13 million viewers. In terms of viewership, "Invasion" ranked third for the night, just behind CBS's juggernauts CSI and The Mentalist. The episode did not win in viewership, but its 5.0/13 Nielsen rating ranked first in its 9:00 Eastern time-slot and the entire night, for both the rating and share percentages of the key 18–49 demographic, beating out CSI, The Mentalist, Private Practice, and The Office. Although its rating won for the night, it was a decrease from the previous episode, which garnered a 5.4/14 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic.
### Critical reception
The episode received positive reviews among television critics. The Los Angeles Times' Carina MacKenzie's review of the episode was largely positive, though she called it "immature" of the episode's writers to have the characters in constant battle with one another, and deemed the Mercy West residents' orange scrubs unnecessary. MacKenzie highly praised the characterization of Kepner, in addition to Capshaw's performance, commenting: "Jessica Capshaw has an incredible ability to take even the most melodramatic of Grey's [Anatomy] speeches and deliver them with a subtlety and an honesty that makes them come off as sincere instead of overwrought." MacKenzie concluded that Karev, Yang, and Meredith had appropriate reactions to Stevens' departure.
Michael Pascua of The Huffington Post praised the scene in which Yang broke down to Meredith, noting the exceptional chemistry between them. Pascua was positive of the storyline between Torres, Carlos, and Robbins, writing that it was nice to see an emphasis on the gay storyline. Adam Bryant of TV Guide wrote that Baker's character "seems like the only decent guy in the bunch", though PopSugar asserted that Williams' character "proves to be most likable of the new doctors". |
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