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89,141	John C. Breckinridge	1,173,874,076	Vice president of the United States from 1857 to 1861	[ "1821 births", "1856 United States vice-presidential candidates", "1875 deaths", "19th-century vice presidents of the United States", "Alcohol-related deaths in Kentucky", "American Presbyterians", "American expatriates in Canada", "American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law", "American people of English descent", "American people of Scottish descent", "American proslavery activists", "Breckinridge family", "Burials in Kentucky", "Candidates in the 1860 United States presidential election", "Centre College alumni", "Confederate States Army major generals", "Confederate expatriates", "Deaths from cirrhosis", "Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees", "Democratic Party (United States) vice presidential nominees", "Democratic Party United States senators from Kentucky", "Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky", "Democratic Party vice presidents of the United States", "Executive members of the Cabinet of the Confederate States of America", "Expelled United States senators", "Iowa lawyers", "Kentucky lawyers", "Lexington in the American Civil War", "Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives", "Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves", "Orphan Brigade", "People of Kentucky in the American Civil War", "Politicians from Danville, Kentucky", "Politicians from Lexington, Kentucky", "Presidency of James Buchanan", "Southern Historical Society", "Transylvania University alumni", "United States senators who owned slaves", "Vice presidents of the United States" ]	John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving from 1857 to 1861, he took office at the age of 36. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and ran for president in 1860 as a Southern Democrat. He served in the U.S. Senate during the outbreak of the American Civil War, but was expelled after joining the Confederate Army. He was appointed Confederate Secretary of War in 1865. Breckinridge was born near Lexington, Kentucky, to a prominent local family. After serving as a noncombatant during the Mexican–American War, he was elected as a Democrat to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1849, where he took a states' rights position against interference with slavery. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851, he allied with Stephen A. Douglas in support of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. After reapportionment in 1854 made his re-election unlikely, he declined to run for another term. He was nominated for vice president at the 1856 Democratic National Convention to balance a ticket headed by James Buchanan. The Democrats won the election, but Breckinridge had little influence with Buchanan, and as presiding officer of the Senate, could not express his opinions in debates. He joined Buchanan in supporting the proslavery Lecompton Constitution for Kansas, which led to a split in the Democratic Party. In 1859, he was elected to succeed Senator John J. Crittenden at the end of Crittenden's term in 1861. After Southern Democrats walked out of the 1860 Democratic National Convention, the party's northern and southern factions held rival conventions in Baltimore that nominated Douglas and Breckinridge, respectively, for president. A third party, the Constitutional Union Party, nominated John Bell. These three men split the Southern vote, while antislavery Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won all but three electoral votes in the North, allowing him to win the election. Breckinridge carried most of the Southern states. Taking his seat in the Senate, Breckinridge urged compromise to preserve the Union. Unionists were in control of the state legislature, and gained more support when Confederate forces moved into Kentucky. Breckinridge fled behind Confederate lines. He was commissioned a brigadier general and then expelled from the Senate. Following the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, he was promoted to major general, and in October, he was assigned to the Army of Mississippi under Braxton Bragg. After Bragg charged that Breckinridge's drunkenness had contributed to defeats at Stones River and Missionary Ridge, and after Breckinridge joined many other high-ranking officers in criticizing Bragg, he was transferred to the Trans-Allegheny Department, where he won his most significant victory in the 1864 Battle of New Market. After participating in Jubal Early's campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley, Breckinridge was charged with defending supplies in Tennessee and Virginia. In February 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him secretary of war. Concluding that the war was hopeless, he urged Davis to arrange a national surrender. After the fall of Richmond, Breckinridge ensured the preservation of Confederate records. He then escaped the country and lived abroad for more than three years. When President Andrew Johnson extended amnesty to all former Confederates in 1868, Breckinridge returned to Kentucky, but resisted all encouragement to resume his political career. War injuries sapped his health, and he died in 1875. Breckinridge is regarded as an effective military commander. Though well liked in Kentucky and other Southern states, he was reviled by many in the North as a traitor. ## Early life John Cabell Breckinridge was born at Thorn Hill, his family's estate near Lexington, Kentucky, on January 16, 1821. The fourth of six children born to Joseph "Cabell" Breckinridge and Mary Clay (Smith) Breckinridge, he was their only son. His mother was the daughter of Samuel Stanhope Smith, who founded Hampden–Sydney College in 1775, and granddaughter of John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Having previously served as speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, Breckinridge's father had been appointed Kentucky's secretary of state just prior to his son's birth. In February, one month after Breckinridge's birth, the family moved with Governor John Adair to the Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, so his father could better attend to his duties as secretary of state. In August 1823, an illness referred to as "the prevailing fever" struck Frankfort, and Cabell Breckinridge took his children to stay with his mother in Lexington. On his return, both his wife and he fell ill. Cabell Breckinridge died, but she survived. His assets were not enough to pay his debts, and his widow joined the children in Lexington, supported by her mother-in-law. While in Lexington, Breckinridge attended Pisgah Academy in Woodford County. His grandmother taught him the political philosophies of her late husband, John Breckinridge, who served in the U.S. Senate and as attorney general under President Thomas Jefferson. As a state legislator, Breckinridge had introduced the Kentucky Resolutions in 1798, which stressed states' rights and endorsed the doctrine of nullification in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. After an argument between Breckinridge's mother and grandmother in 1832, his mother, his sister Laetitia, and he moved to Danville, Kentucky, to live with his sister Frances and her husband, John C. Young, who was president of Centre College. Breckinridge's uncle, William Breckinridge, was also on the faculty there, prompting him to enroll in November 1834. Among his schoolmates were Beriah Magoffin, William Birney, Theodore O'Hara, Thomas L. Crittenden, and Jeremiah Boyle. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in September 1838, he spent the following winter as a "resident graduate" at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Returning to Kentucky in mid-1839, he read law with Judge William Owsley. In November 1840, he enrolled in the second year of the law course at Transylvania University in Lexington, where his instructors included two members of the Kentucky Court of Appeals – George Robertson and Thomas A. Marshall. On February 25, 1841, he received a Bachelor of Laws degree and was licensed to practice the next day. ## Early legal career Breckinridge remained in Lexington while deciding where to begin practice, borrowing law books from the library of John J. Crittenden, Thomas Crittenden's father. Deciding that Lexington was overcrowded with lawyers, he moved to Frankfort, but was unable to find an office. After being spurned by a love interest, former classmate Thomas W. Bullock and he departed for the Iowa Territory on October 10, 1841, seeking better opportunities. Journeying westward, they considered settling on land Breckinridge had inherited in Jacksonville, Illinois, but they found the bar stocked with able men such as Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. They continued on to Burlington, Iowa, and by the winter of 1842–1843, Breckinridge reported to family members that his firm handled more cases than almost any other in Burlington. Influenced by Bullock and the citizens of Iowa, he identified with the Democratic Party, and by February 1843, he had been named to the Democratic committee of Des Moines County. Most of the Kentucky Breckinridges were Whigs, and when he learned of his nephew's party affiliation, William Breckinridge declared, "I felt as I would have done if I had heard that my daughter had been dishonored." Breckinridge visited Kentucky in May 1843. His efforts to mediate between his mother and the Breckinridges extended his visit, and after he contracted influenza, he decided to remain for the summer rather than returning to Iowa's colder climate. While at home, he met Bullock's cousin, Mary Cyrene Burch, and by September, they were engaged. In October, Breckinridge went to Iowa to close out his business, then returned to Kentucky and formed a law partnership with Samuel Bullock, Thomas's cousin. He married on December 12, 1843, and settled in Georgetown, Kentucky. The couple had six children – Joseph Cabell (b. 1844), Clifton Rodes (b. 1846; later a Congressman from Arkansas), Frances (b. 1848), John Milton (b. 1849), John Witherspoon (b. 1850), and Mary Desha (b. 1854). Gaining confidence in his ability as a lawyer, Breckinridge moved his family back to Lexington in 1845 and formed a partnership with future U.S. Senator James B. Beck. ## Mexican–American War A supporter of the Mexican–American War, Breckinridge sought appointment to the staff of Major General William Orlando Butler, a prominent Kentucky Democrat, but Butler could only offer him an unpaid aide position and advised him to decline it. In July 1847, Breckinridge delivered an address at a mass military funeral in Frankfort to honor Kentuckians killed in the Battle of Buena Vista. The oration brought Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, whose son was among the dead, to tears, and inspired Theodore O'Hara to write "Bivouac of the Dead". Breckinridge again applied for a military commission after William Owsley, the governor of Kentucky, called for two additional regiments on August 31, 1847. Owsley's advisors encouraged the Whig governor to commission at least one Democrat, and Whig Senator John J. Crittenden supported Breckinridge's application. On September 6, 1847, Owsley appointed Manlius V. Thomson as colonel, Thomas Crittenden as lieutenant colonel, and Breckinridge as major of the Third Kentucky Infantry Regiment. The regiment left Kentucky on November 1 and reached Vera Cruz by November 21. After a serious epidemic of la Vomito, or yellow fever, broke out at Vera Cruz, the regiment hurried to Mexico City. Reports indicate that Breckinridge walked all but two days of the journey, allowing weary soldiers to use his horse. When the Third Kentucky reached Mexico City on December 18, the fighting was almost over; they participated in no combat and remained in the city as an army of occupation until May 30, 1848. In demand more for his legal expertise than his military training, he was named as assistant counsel for Gideon Johnson Pillow during a court of inquiry initiated against him by Winfield Scott. Seeking to derail Scott's presidential ambitions, Pillow and his supporters composed and published letters that lauded Pillow, not Scott, for the American victories at Contreras and Churubusco. To hide his involvement, Pillow convinced a subordinate to take credit for the letter he wrote. Breckinridge biographer William C. Davis writes that it was "most unlikely" that Breckinridge knew the details of Pillow's intrigue. His role in the proceedings was limited to questioning a few witnesses; records show that Pillow represented himself during the court's proceedings. Returning to Louisville on July 16, the Third Kentucky mustered out on July 21. During their time in Mexico, over 100 members of the 1,000-man regiment had died of illness. Although he saw no combat, Breckinridge's military service proved an asset to his political prospects in Kentucky. ## Political career ### Early political career Breckinridge campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee James K. Polk in the 1844 election. He decided against running for county clerk of Scott County after his law partner complained that he spent too much time in politics. In 1845, some local Democrats encouraged him to seek the Eighth District's congressional seat, but he declined, supporting instead Alexander Keith Marshall, the party's unsuccessful nominee. As a private citizen, he opposed the Wilmot Proviso that would have banned slavery in the territory acquired in the war with Mexico. In the 1848 presidential election, he backed the unsuccessful Democratic ticket of Lewis Cass and William Butler. He did not vote in the election. Defending his decision during a speech in Lexington on September 5, 1860, Breckinridge explained: > But it so happened that there were six or eight gentlemen also accompanying me, all of them belonging to the Whig Party, and they proposed to me that if I would not return to my own town and vote, they would not. If they would, there would be six or seven votes cast for Taylor and but one cast for Cass. I accepted the proposition, and we went hunting; and had every man done as well as myself, we should have carried the State by 40,000 majority. ### Kentucky House of Representatives In August 1849, Kentuckians elected delegates to a state constitutional convention in addition to state representatives and senators. Breckinridge's abolitionist uncles, William and Robert, joined with Cassius Marcellus Clay to nominate slates of like-minded candidates for the constitutional convention and the legislature. In response, a bipartisan group of proslavery citizens organized its own slate of candidates, including Breckinridge for one of Fayette County's two seats in the House of Representatives. Breckinridge, who by this time enslaved five humans, had publicly declared his opposition to "impairing in any form" the legal protection of slavery. Despite his endorsement of slavery protections, he was a member of the Freemasons and the First Presbyterian Church in Lexington, both of which officially opposed slavery. He had also previously represented free blacks in court, expressed support for voluntary emancipation, and supported the Kentucky Colonization Society, which was dedicated to the relocation of free blacks to Liberia. Breckinridge received 1,481 votes in the election, over 400 more than his nearest competitor, making this the first time that Fayette County had elected a Democrat to the state House of Representatives. Between the election and the legislative session, Breckinridge formed a new law partnership with Owsley's former secretary of state, George B. Kinkead, his previous partner having died in a cholera epidemic earlier in the year. He also co-founded the Kentucky Statesman, a semiweekly Democratic newspaper, and visited his cousin, Mary Todd, where he met her husband, Abraham Lincoln, for the first time; despite their political differences, they became friends. When the House convened, Breckinridge received a plurality of votes for speaker, but fell at least eight votes short of a majority. Unable to break the deadlock, he withdrew from the race, and the position went to Whig Thomas Reilly. Breckinridge biographer Frank H. Heck wrote that Breckinridge was the leader of the House Democratic caucus during the session, during which time most of the measures considered were "local or personal and in any case, petty". Breckinridge was assigned to the House's standing committees on federal relations and the judiciary. He supported bills allocating funding for internal improvements, a traditionally Whig stance. As Congress debated Henry Clay's proposed Compromise of 1850, the four Whigs on the Committee on Federal Relations drew up resolutions urging the Kentucky congressional delegation to support the compromise as a "fair, equitable, and just basis" for settlement of the slavery issue in the newly acquired U.S. territories. Breckinridge felt that the resolution was too vague and authored a minority report that explicitly denied federal authority to interfere with slavery in states and territories. Both sets of resolutions, and a set adopted by the Senate, were all laid on the table. On March 4, 1850, three days before the end of the session, Breckinridge took a leave of absence to care for his son, John Milton, who had become ill; he died on March 18. Keeping a busy schedule to cope with his grief, he urged adoption of the proposed constitution at a series of meetings around the state. His only concern with the document was its lack of an amendment process. The constitution was overwhelmingly ratified in May. Democrats wanted to nominate him for re-election, but he declined, citing problems "of a private and imperative character". Davis wrote "his problem – besides continuing sadness over his son's death – was money." ### U.S. Representative #### First term (1851–1853) Breckinridge was a delegate to the January 8, 1851, state Democratic convention, which nominated Lazarus W. Powell for governor. A week later, he announced that he would seek election to Congress from Kentucky's Eighth District. Nicknamed the "Ashland district" because it contained Ashland, the estate of Whig Party founder Henry Clay, and much of the area Clay once represented, the district was a Whig stronghold. In the previous congressional election, Democrats had not even nominated a candidate. Breckinridge's opponent, Leslie Combs, was a former state legislator whose popularity was bolstered by his association with Clay and his participation in the War of 1812; he was expected to win the election easily. In April, the candidates held a debate in Frankfort, and in May, they jointly canvassed the district, making daily speeches. Breckinridge reiterated his strict constructionist view of the U.S. Constitution and denounced the protective tariffs advocated by the Whigs, stating that "free thought needs free trade". His strong voice and charismatic personality contrasted with the campaign style of the much older Combs. On election day, he carried only three of the district's seven counties, but accumulated a two-to-one victory margin in Owen County, winning the county by 677 votes and the election by 537. Democrats carried five of Kentucky's 10 congressional districts, and Powell was elected as the first Democratic governor since 1834. Supporters promoted Breckinridge for Speaker of the House, but he refused to allow his own nomination and voted with the majority to elect fellow Kentuckian Linn Boyd. Despite this, the two were factional enemies, and Boyd assigned Breckinridge to the lightly regarded Committee on Foreign Affairs. Breckinridge's first speech, and several subsequent ones, were made to defend William Butler, again a presidential aspirant in 1852, from charges leveled by proponents of the Young America movement that he was too old and had not made his stance on slavery clear. The attacks came from the pages of George Nicholas Sanders's Democratic Review, and on the House floor from several men, nearly all of whom supported Stephen Douglas for the nomination. These men included California's Edward C. Marshall, who was Breckinridge's cousin. Their attacks ultimately hurt Douglas's chances for the nomination, and Breckinridge's defense of Butler enhanced his own reputation. After this controversy, he was more active in the chamber's debates, but introduced few significant pieces of legislation. He defended the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 against attacks by Ohio Representative Joshua Giddings, and opposed Andrew Johnson's proposed Homestead Act out of concern that it would create more territories that excluded slavery. Despite his campaign rhetoric that federal funds should only be used for internal improvements "of a national character", he sought to increase Kentucky's federal allocation for construction and maintenance of rivers and harbors, and supported bills that benefited his district's hemp farmers. Returning home from the legislative session, Breckinridge made daily visits with Henry Clay, who lay dying in Lexington, and was chosen to deliver Clay's eulogy in Congress when the next session commenced. The eulogy enhanced his popularity and solidified his position as Clay's political heir apparent. He also campaigned for the election of Democrat Franklin Pierce as president. Although Pierce lost Kentucky by 3,200 votes, Breckinridge wielded more influence with him than he had with outgoing Whig President Millard Fillmore. A week after his inauguration, Pierce offered Breckinridge an appointment as governor of Washington Territory. He had initially sought the appointment, securing letters of recommendation from Powell and Butler, but by the time it was offered, he had decided to stay in Kentucky and seek re-election to the House. #### Second term (1853–1855) The Whigs, seeking to recapture Breckinridge's seat, nominated Kentucky Attorney General of Kentucky James Harlan, but some Whig factions opposed him, and he withdrew in March. Robert P. Letcher, a former congressman and governor who had won 14 elections in Kentucky without a loss, was the party's second choice. Both candidates campaigned vigorously throughout the Eighth District, making multiple speeches a day between May and August. Letcher was an experienced campaigner, but his popular, anecdote-filled oratory was unpolished, and he was prone to outbursts of anger when frustrated. By contrast, Breckinridge delivered calm, well-reasoned speeches. Cassius Clay, a political enemy of Letcher's for years, endorsed Breckinridge, despite their differences on slavery. Citing this endorsement and the abolitionism of Breckinridge's uncles, Letcher tried to paint Breckinridge as an enemy of slavery. Breckinridge pointed to his consistent support for slavery and claimed Letcher was actually hostile to the interests of slaveholders. Although the district had gone for Whig candidate Winfield Scott by over 600 votes in the previous year's presidential election, Breckinridge defeated Letcher by 526 votes. Once again, he received a large margin in Owen County, which reported 123 more votes than eligible voters living in the county. Grateful for the support of the reliably Democratic county, he gave his son John Witherspoon Breckinridge the nickname "Owen". Of the 234 members of the House, Breckinridge was among the 80 who were returned to their seats for the Thirty-third Congress. Due to his increased seniority, he was assigned to the more prestigious Ways and Means Committee, but he was not given a committee chairmanship as many had expected. Although he supported Pierce's proslavery agenda on the principle of states' rights and believed that secession was legal, he opposed secession as a remedy to the country's immediate problems. This, coupled with his earlier support of manumission and African colonization, balanced his support for slavery; most still considered him a moderate legislator. An ally of Illinois' Stephen A. Douglas, Breckinridge supported the doctrine of popular sovereignty as expressed in Douglas's Kansas–Nebraska Act. He believed passage of the act would remove the issue of slavery from national politics – although it ultimately had the opposite effect – and acted as a liaison between Douglas and Pierce to secure its passage. During the debate on the House floor, New York's Francis B. Cutting, incensed by a statement that Breckinridge had made, demanded that he explain or retract it. Breckinridge interpreted Cutting's demand as a challenge to duel. Under code duello, the individual being challenged retained the right to name the weapons used and the distance between the combatants; Breckinridge chose rifles at 60 paces. He also specified that the duel should be held at Silver Spring, Maryland, the home of his friend Francis Preston Blair. Cutting, who had not intended his initial remark as a challenge, believed that Breckinridge's naming of terms constituted a challenge; he chose to use pistols at a distance of 10 paces. While the two men attempted to clarify who had issued the challenge and who reserved the right to choose the terms, mutual friends resolved the issue, preventing the duel. The recently adopted Kentucky Constitution prevented anyone who participated in a duel from holding elected office, and the peaceful resolution of the issue may have saved Breckinridge's political career. #### Retirement from the House In February 1854, the Whig majority in the Kentucky General Assembly passed – over Powell's veto – a reapportionment bill that redrew Breckinridge's district, removing Owen County and replacing it with Harrison and Nicholas Counties. This, combined with the rise of the Know Nothing Party in Kentucky, left Breckinridge with little hope of re-election, and he decided to retire from the House at the expiration of his term. Following the December 1854 resignation of Pierre Soulé, the U.S. Minister to Spain, who failed to negotiate a U.S. annexation of Cuba following the controversial Ostend Manifesto, Pierce nominated Breckinridge to the position. Although the Senate confirmed the nomination, Breckinridge declined it on February 8, 1855, telling Pierce only that his decision was "of a private and domestic nature." His term in the house expired on March 4. Desiring to care for his sick wife and rebuild his personal wealth, Breckinridge returned to his law practice in Lexington. In addition to his legal practice, he engaged in land speculation in Minnesota territory and Wisconsin. When Governor Willis A. Gorman of the Minnesota Territory thwarted an attempt by Breckinridge's fellow investors (not including Breckinridge) to secure approval of a railroad connecting Dubuque, Iowa, with their investments near Superior, Wisconsin, they petitioned Pierce to remove Gorman and appoint Breckinridge in his place. In 1855, Pierce authorized two successive investigations of Gorman, but failed to uncover any wrongdoing that would justify his removal. During his time away from politics, Breckinridge also promoted the advancement of horse racing in his native state and was chosen president of the Kentucky Association for the Improvement of the Breed of Horses. ### Vice presidency (1857–1861) As a delegate to the 1856 Democratic National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, Breckinridge favored Pierce's renomination for president. When Pierce's hopes of securing the nomination faltered, Breckinridge joined other erstwhile Pierce backers by throwing his support behind his friend, Stephen Douglas. Even with this additional support, Douglas was still unable to garner two third's majority of the delegates' votes, and he withdrew, leaving James Buchanan as the Democratic presidential nominee. William Alexander Richardson, a Kentucky-born Representative from Illinois, then suggested that nominating Breckinridge for vice president would balance Buchanan's ticket and placate disgruntled supporters of Douglas or Pierce. A delegate from Louisiana placed his name before the convention, and although Breckinridge desired the vice presidential nomination, he declined, citing his deference to fellow Kentuckian and former House Speaker Linn Boyd, who was supported by the Kentucky delegation. Ten men received votes on the first vice-presidential ballot. Mississippi's John A. Quitman had the most support with 59 votes. Eight state delegations – with a total of 55 votes – voted for Breckinridge in spite of his refusal of the nomination, making him the second-highest vote getter. Kentucky cast its 12 votes for Boyd, bringing his third-place total to 33 votes. Seeing Breckinridge's strength on the first ballot, large numbers of delegates voted for him on the second ballot, and those who did not soon saw that his nomination was inevitable and changed their votes to make it unanimous. Unlike many political nominees of his time, Breckinridge actively campaigned for Buchanan and his election. During the first 10 days of September 1856, he spoke in Hamilton and Cincinnati, Ohio; Lafayette and Indianapolis, Indiana; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Covington, Kentucky; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His speeches stressed the idea that Republicans were fanatically devoted to emancipation, and their election would prompt the dissolution of the Union. Breckinridge's presence on the ticket helped the Democrats carry his home state of Kentucky, which the party had not won since 1828, by 6,000 votes. Buchanan and Breckinridge received 174 electoral votes to 114 for Republicans John C. Frémont and William L. Dayton and eight for Know Nothing candidates Millard Fillmore and Andrew Jackson Donelson. Thirty-six years old at the time of his inauguration on March 4, 1857, Breckinridge was the youngest vice president in U.S. history, exceeding the minimum age required under the Constitution by only a year. Buchanan resented the fact that Breckinridge had supported both Pierce and Douglas before endorsing his nomination. Relations between the two were further strained, when upon asking for a private interview with Buchanan, Breckinridge was told to come to the White House and ask for Harriet Lane, who acted as the mansion's host for the unmarried president. Feeling slighted by the response, Breckinridge refused to carry out these instructions; later, three of Buchanan's intimates informed Breckinridge that requesting to speak to Miss Lane was actually a secret instruction to White House staff to usher the requestor into a private audience with the president. They also conveyed Buchanan's apologies for the misunderstanding. Buchanan rarely consulted Breckinridge when making patronage appointments, and meetings between the two were infrequent. When Buchanan and Breckinridge endorsed the Lecompton Constitution, which would have admitted Kansas as a slave state instead of allowing the people to vote, they managed to alienate most Northern Democrats, including Douglas. This disagreement ended plans for Breckinridge, Douglas, and Minnesota's Henry Mower Rice to build a series of three elaborate, conjoined row houses in which to live during their time in Washington, DC. In November 1857, after Breckinridge found alternative lodging in Washington, he sold a slave woman and her young infant, which according to historian James C. Klotter, probably ended his days as a slaveholder. When Breckinridge did not travel to Illinois to campaign for Douglas's re-election to the Senate and gave him only a lukewarm endorsement, relations between them worsened. Functioning as the Senate's presiding officer, Breckinridge's participation in the chamber's debates was also restricted, but he won respect for presiding "gracefully and impartially." On January 4, 1859, he was asked to deliver the final address in the Old Senate Chamber; in the speech, he expressed his desire that the Congress find a solution that would preserve the Union. During its half century in the chamber, the Senate had grown from 32 to 64 members. During those years, he observed, the Constitution had "survived peace and war, prosperity and adversity" to protect "the larger personal freedom compatible with public order." Breckinridge expressed hope that eventually "another Senate, in another age, shall bear to a new and larger Chamber, this Constitution vigorous and inviolate, and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the Representatives of American States, still united, prosperous, and free." Breckinridge then led a procession to the new chamber. Breckinridge opposed the idea that the federal government could coerce action by a state, but maintained that secession, while legal, was not the solution to the country's problems. Although John Crittenden's Senate term did not expire until 1861, the Kentucky General Assembly met to choose his successor in 1859. Until just days before the election, the contest was expected to be between Breckinridge and Boyd, who had been elected lieutenant governor in August; Boyd's worsening health prompted his withdrawal on November 28, 1859. On December 12, the Assembly chose Breckinridge over Joshua Fry Bell, the defeated candidate in the August gubernatorial election, by a vote of 81–53. In his acceptance speech, delivered to the Kentucky House of Representatives on December 21, Breckinridge endorsed the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled that Congress could not restrict slavery in the territories, and insisted that John Brown's recent raid on Harpers Ferry was evidence of Republicans' insistence on either "negro equality" or violence. Resistance in some form, he predicted, would eventually be necessary. He still urged the assembly against secession – "God forbid that the step shall ever be taken!" – but his discussion of growing sectional conflict bothered some, including his uncle Robert. ### Presidential campaign of 1860 Early in 1859, Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina reported to a friend that Breckinridge was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, but as late as January 1860, Breckinridge told family members that he had no desire for the nomination. A New York Times editorial noted that while Buchanan was falling "in prestige and political consequence, the star of the Vice President rises higher above the clouds." Douglas, considered the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was convinced that Breckinridge would be a candidate; this, combined with Buchanan's reluctant support of Breckinridge and Breckinridge's public support for a federal slave code, deepened the rift between the two. Among Breckinridge's supporters at the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, were several prominent Kentuckians. They were former Kentucky Governor and current Senator Lazarus W. Powell, former Kentucky Representative William Preston (a distant relative), law partner James Brown Clay, and James B. Beck. Breckinridge did not attend the convention, but instructed his supporters not to nominate him as long as James Guthrie remained a candidate. Accordingly, when a delegate from Arkansas nominated Breckinridge for president on the 36th ballot, Beck asked that it be withdrawn, and the request was honored. Over the course of 57 ballots, Douglas maintained a wide plurality, but failed to gain the necessary two-thirds majority; Guthrie consistently ran second. Unable to nominate a candidate, delegates voted to reconvene in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 18. Pro-Southern delegates, who had walked out of the Charleston convention in protest of its failure to adopt a federal slave code plank in its platform, did not participate in the Baltimore convention. The delegates from Alabama and Louisiana – all of whom had walked out at Charleston – had been replaced with Douglas supporters from those states, leading to the nomination of Douglas and Herschel Vespasian Johnson for president and vice president, respectively. The protesting delegates convened five days later in Baltimore. On the first ballot, Breckinridge received 81 votes, with 24 going to former senator Daniel S. Dickinson of New York. Dickinson supporters gradually changed their support to Breckinridge to make his nomination unanimous, and Joseph Lane of Oregon was chosen by acclamation as his vice presidential running mate. Despite concerns about the breakup of the party, Breckinridge accepted the presidential nomination. In August, Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis attempted to broker a compromise under which Douglas, Breckinridge, and Tennessee's John Bell, the nominee of the Constitutional Union Party, would all withdraw in favor of a compromise candidate. Both Breckinridge and Bell readily agreed to the plan, but Douglas was opposed to compromising with the "Bolters", and his supporters retained an intense dislike for Breckinridge that made them averse to Davis's proposal. Opponents knew Breckinridge believed in the right of secession and accused him of favoring the breakup of the Union; he denied the latter during a speech in Frankfort: "I am an American citizen, a Kentuckian who never did an act nor cherished a thought that was not full of devotion to the Constitution and the Union." While he had very little support in the northern states, most, if not all, of the southern states were expected to go for Breckinridge. This would give him only 120 of 303 electoral votes, but to gain support from any northern states, he had to minimize his connections with the southern states and risked losing their support to Bell. Some Breckinridge supporters believed his best hope was for the election to be thrown to the House of Representatives; if he could add the support of some Douglas or Bell states to the 13 believed to support him, he could beat Lincoln, who was believed to carry the support of 15 states. To Davis's wife, Varina, Breckinridge wrote, "I trust I have the courage to lead a forlorn hope." In the four-way contest, Breckinridge came in third in the popular vote, with 18.1%, but second in the Electoral College. The final electoral vote was 180 for Lincoln, 72 for Breckinridge, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas. Although Breckinridge won the states of the Deep South, his support in those states came mostly from rural areas with low slave populations; the urban areas with higher slave populations generally went for Bell or Douglas. Breckinridge also carried the border states of Maryland and Delaware. Historian James C. Klotter points out in light of these results that, while Douglas maintained that there was "not a disunionist in America who is not a Breckinridge man", it is more likely that party loyalty and economic status played a more prominent role in Breckinridge's support than did issues of slavery and secession. He lost to Douglas in Missouri and Bell in Virginia and Tennessee. Bell also captured Breckinridge's home state, Kentucky. Lincoln swept most of the northern states, although New Jersey split its electoral votes, giving four to Lincoln and three to Douglas. As the candidate of the Buchanan faction, Breckinridge outpolled Douglas in Pennsylvania and received support comparable to Douglas in Connecticut, although he received very little support elsewhere in the North. It was Breckinridge's duty as vice president to announce Lincoln as the winner of the electoral college vote on February 13, 1861. On February 24, Breckinridge visited Lincoln at Willard's Hotel in Washington, DC, and frequently thereafter he visited his cousin, now the First Lady, at the White House. In the lame duck session following the election, Congress adopted a resolution authored by Lazarus Powell, now in the Senate, calling for a committee of thirteen (Committee of Thirteen on the Disturbed Condition of the Country) "to consider that portion of the President's message relating to the disturbances of the country." Frank Heck wrote that Breckinridge appointed "an able committee, representing every major faction." He endorsed Crittenden's proposed compromise, a collection of constitutional amendments designed to avert secession and appease the South. Breckinridge used his influence as the Senate's presiding officer in an unsuccessful attempt to get it approved by either the committee or the Senate. Ultimately, the committee reported that they were unable to agree on a recommendation. On March 4, 1861, the last day of the session, Breckinridge swore in Hannibal Hamlin as his successor as vice president. Hamlin, in turn, swore in the newly elected senators, including Breckinridge. ### U.S. Senator Seven states had already seceded when Breckinridge took his seat as a senator, leaving the remaining Southern senators more outnumbered in their defense of slavery. Seeking to find a compromise that would reunite the states under constitutional principles, he urged Lincoln to withdraw federal forces from the Confederate states in order to avert war. The congressional session ended on March 28, and in an April 2 address to the Kentucky General Assembly, he continued to advocate peaceful reconciliation of the states and proposed a conference of border states to seek a solution. On April 12, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, ending plans for the conference. Breckinridge recommended that Governor Beriah Magoffin call a sovereignty convention to determine whether Kentucky would side with the Union or the Confederacy. On May 10, he was chosen by the legislature as one of six delegates to a conference to decide the state's next action. The states' rights delegates were Breckinridge, Magoffin, and Richard Hawes; the Unionist delegates were Crittenden, Archibald Dixon, and S.S. Nicholas. Unable to agree on substantial issues, the delegates recommended that Kentucky adopt a neutral stance in the Civil War and arm itself to prevent invasion by either federal or Confederate forces. Breckinridge did not support this recommendation, but he agreed to abide by it once it was approved by the legislature. In special elections in June, pro-Union candidates captured 9 of 10 seats in Kentucky's House delegation. Returning to the Senate for a special session in July, Breckinridge was regarded as a traitor by most of his fellow legislators because of his Confederate sympathies. He condemned as unconstitutional Lincoln's enlistment and arming of men for a war Congress had not officially declared, his expending funds for the war that had not been allocated by Congress, and his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. He was the only senator to vote against a resolution authorizing Lincoln to use "the entire resources of the government" for the war. Asked what he would do if he were president, he replied, "I would prefer to see these States all reunited upon true constitutional principles to any other object that could be offered me in life. But I infinitely prefer to see a peaceful separation of these States than to see endless, aimless, devastating war, at the end of which I see the grave of public liberty and of personal freedom." On August 1, he declared that, if Kentucky sided with the federal government against the Confederacy, "she will be represented by some other man on the floor of this Senate." Kentucky's neutrality was breached by both federal and Confederate forces in early September 1861 (the Federal forces maintained that there had been no breach, as Kentucky was an integral part of the Union). Confederate forces under the command of Major General Leonidas Polk invaded Kentucky on September 3 and occupied the southwestern town of Columbus. They were followed by a Union force commanded by Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, which on the morning of September 6 occupied the town of Paducah on the Ohio River. Soon after, Unionists in the state arrested former governor Charles S. Morehead for his suspected Confederate sympathies and shut down the Louisville Courier because of its pro-Confederate editorials. Word reached Breckinridge that Union General Thomas E. Bramlette intended to arrest him next. To avoid detainment, on September 19, 1861, he left Lexington. Joined in Prestonsburg by Confederate sympathizers George W. Johnson, George Baird Hodge, William Preston, and William E. Simms, he continued to Abingdon, Virginia, and from there by rail to Confederate-held Bowling Green, Kentucky. The state legislature immediately requested his resignation. In an open letter to his constituents dated October 8, 1861, Breckinridge maintained that the Union no longer existed and that Kentucky should be free to choose her own course; he defended his sympathy to the Southern cause and denounced the Unionist state legislature, declaring, "I exchange with proud satisfaction a term of six years in the Senate of the United States for the musket of a soldier." He was indicted for treason in U.S. federal district court in Frankfort on November 6, 1861, having officially enlisted in the Confederate army days earlier. On December 2, 1861, he was declared a traitor by the United States Senate. A resolution stating "Whereas John C. Breckinridge, a member of this body from the State of Kentucky, has joined the enemies of his country, and is now in arms against the government he had sworn to support: Therefore—Resolved, That said John C. Breckinridge, the traitor, be, and he hereby is, expelled from the Senate," was adopted by a vote of 36–0 on December 4. Ten Southern Senators had been expelled earlier that year in July. ## American Civil War ### Service in the Western Theater On the recommendation of Simon Bolivar Buckner, the former commander of the Kentucky State Militia who had also joined the Army of the Confederate States, Breckinridge was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army on November 2, 1861. On November 16, he was given command of the 1st Kentucky Brigade. Nicknamed the Orphan Brigade because its men felt orphaned by Kentucky's Unionist state government, the brigade was in Buckner's 2nd Division of the Army of Mississippi, commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston. For several weeks, he trained his troops in the city, and he also participated in the organization of a provisional Confederate government for the state. Although not sanctioned by the legislature in Frankfort, its existence prompted the Confederacy to admit Kentucky on December 10, 1861. Johnston's forces were forced to withdraw from Bowling Green in February 1862. During the retreat, Breckinridge was put in charge of Johnston's Reserve Corps. Johnston decided to attack Ulysses S. Grant's forces at Shiloh, Tennessee on April 6, 1862, by advancing North from his base in Corinth, Mississippi. Breckinridge's reserves soon joined the Battle of Shiloh as Johnston tried to force Grant's troops into the river. Despite Johnston being killed in the fighting, the Confederates made steady progress against Grant's troops until P. G. T. Beauregard – who assumed command after Johnston's death – ordered his generals to break off the fighting at about 6 o'clock in the afternoon. The next day, the Union forces regrouped and repelled the Confederates. Breckinridge's division formed the Confederate rearguard, stationing itself on the ground that the Confederates held the night before the first day of the battle while the rest of the army retreated. Union troops did not pursue them. Of the 7,000 troops under Breckinridge's command at the battle, 386 were killed and 1,628 were wounded, Breckinridge among the latter. Breckinridge's performance earned him a promotion to major general on April 14, 1862. After his promotion, he joined Earl Van Dorn near Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Confederate forces awaited a Union attack throughout most of July. Finally, Van Dorn ordered Breckinridge to attempt to recapture Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from federal forces. Despite having his forces reduced to around 3,000 by illness and desertions, on the morning of August 5, he attacked the Union garrison, capturing several prisoners, destroying its supplies, and driving it from the city. Union troops were forced to take shelter under cover of their gunboats. The ironclad CSS Arkansas was intended to support Breckinridge's attack by moving down the Red River, but it was immobilized by a mechanical failure and its crew set it on fire before letting it loose downriver to threaten oncoming Union vessels and to prevent its capture. Without naval support, the Confederates were unable to hold the city. Breckinridge withdrew his troops at 10 o'clock. Later that month, Breckinridge served as an independent commander in the lower Mississippi Valley, securing Confederate control of the area by taking Port Hudson, which helped halt the federal advance down the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, General Braxton Bragg, commanding the Army of Mississippi, was preparing an invasion of Kentucky, and Breckinridge was ordered to join him. Confederate leaders believed that Breckinridge's presence in the state could spur enlistments. Van Dorn was reluctant to lose command of Breckinridge and his men, and by the time he relented on October 15, Bragg was already retreating from the state after being defeated at the Battle of Perryville. Breckinridge and his division of 7,000 men met Bragg at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. With Kentucky solidly under Union control, Breckinridge's wife and children moved south and followed his troops as closely as was safely possible. Bragg resented Breckinridge's close ties to Confederate commanders, particularly Joseph E. Johnston, Wade Hampton, John B. Floyd, and William Preston, all of whom were related to Breckinridge. Furthermore, he thought Breckinridge's late arrival for the Kentucky campaign had contributed to the lack of Confederate volunteers he found in the state. In December, Bragg ordered the execution of Kentucky Corporal Asa Lewis after a court martial had convicted him of desertion. Lewis's enlistment had expired, but he continued to serve with the 6th Kentucky Infantry until his impoverished mother and siblings begged him to return home. Although Lewis claimed he was returning to the army at the time of his arrest, Bragg was insistent on reducing desertions by making him an example. After witnessing the execution, Breckinridge reportedly became nauseated and fell forward on his horse, requiring assistance from members of his staff. He protested Bragg's "military murder" and was barely able to prevent open mutiny by his Kentucky soldiers. Relations between Breckinridge and Bragg continued to deteriorate; Breckinridge's opinion that Bragg was incompetent was shared by many Confederate officers. At Murfreesboro, Breckinridge's Division was assigned to Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's Corps and was stationed on the east side of the Stones River. When the Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Major General William Rosecrans, attacked on December 31, 1862, beginning the Battle of Stones River, Bragg's main force initially repelled the attack. Bragg ordered Breckinridge to reinforce him on the west side of the river, but Brigadier General John Pegram, who commanded a cavalry brigade, erroneously reported that a large Union force was advancing along the east bank, and Breckinridge was slow to comply with Bragg's order. When he finally crossed the river, his attacks were ineffective, and Bragg ordered him back across the river. On January 2, a Union division under Brigadier General Horatio P. Van Cleve crossed the river and took a ridge. The position endangered Leonidas Polk's corps, which was positioned ahead of the rest of the Confederate lines in the center of the battlefield. Against Breckinridge's advice, Bragg ordered his division to launch a frontal attack on the federal position. Prior to the attack, Breckinridge wrote to Preston, "if [the attack] should result in disaster and I be among the killed, I want you to do justice to my memory and tell the people that I believed this attack to be very unwise and tried to prevent it." Launching their attack at 4 P.M., Breckinridge's men initially broke the Union line and forced them across the river. Artillery on the opposite side of the river then opened fire on Breckinridge's men, and a fresh Union division under Brigadier General James S. Negley arrived to reinforce the fleeing troops. In just over an hour, nearly one-third of Breckinridge's troops were killed, wounded, or captured. One anecdote holds that, as he rode among the survivors, he cried out repeatedly, "My poor Orphans! My poor Orphans," bringing recognition to the Orphan Brigade. Bragg's official report criticized the conduct of Breckinridge's division and assigned to Breckinridge most of the blame for the Confederate defeat. Breckinridge asserted to his superiors that Bragg's report "fails to do justice to the behavior of my Division"; he requested a court of inquiry, but the request was denied. Several Kentuckians under Breckinridge's command, who already blamed Bragg for the failed invasion of their native state, encouraged him to resign his commission and challenge Bragg to a duel. In May 1863, Breckinridge was reassigned to Joseph E. Johnston, participating in the Battle of Jackson in an unsuccessful attempt to break the siege of Vicksburg. Vicksburg fell to Grant's forces on July 4, and Breckinridge was returned to Bragg's command on August 28, 1863. After seeing no action on the first day of the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia on September 19, he led a division of D.H. Hill's corps in an attack on the Union forces the next morning. The Confederate troops succeeded in breaking the Union line, but the main army, due at least in part to Bragg's hesitation, escaped back to Tennessee. Of Breckinridge's 3,769 men, 166 were killed in the battle; 909 were wounded and 165 were missing. In late November, Breckinridge commanded one of Bragg's two corps during the Confederate defeat at the Battles for Chattanooga. Bragg ordered a significant number of Breckinridge's men to reinforce Hardee's corps, leaving him with insufficient forces to repel the combined attack of Joseph Hooker and George Henry Thomas on Missionary Ridge. His son, Cabell, was captured in the battle. He was later freed in a prisoner exchange. In his official report, Bragg charged Breckinridge with drunkenness at Chattanooga and (retroactively) at Stones River. Historian Lowell H. Harrison noted that, while Breckinridge frequently drank whiskey, he was well known for being able to consume large amounts without getting drunk. Before submitting his own resignation, which was accepted, Bragg removed Breckinridge from command. It would be almost two years – on May 1, 1865 – before the two would reconcile. ### Service in the Eastern Theater On December 15, 1863, Breckinridge took leave in Richmond. Premature rumors of his death prompted The New York Times to print a quite vituperative obituary suggesting that Breckinridge had been a hypocrite for supporting states' rights, then abandoning his home state when it chose to remain in the Union. Confederate leaders were skeptical of Bragg's claims against Breckinridge, and in February 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis assigned him to the Eastern Theater and put him in charge of the Trans-Allegheny Department (later known as the Department of East Tennessee and West Virginia). On May 5, General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, ordered Breckinridge to take command of a reconnaissance mission to scout the federal forces under Franz Sigel near Winchester, Virginia as part of the Lynchburg Campaign. With a force of about 4,800 men, including 261 cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, he defeated Sigel's 6,300 men at the Battle of New Market on May 15, driving them west across the Shenandoah River. In doing so, Breckinridge's troops managed to protect Lee's flank, defend a crucial railroad junction, and protect the valuable wheat supply. Lee had suggested that Breckinridge invade Maryland, but he was unable to do so because floodwaters had made the Potomac River virtually impassable. The victory was considered one of his best performances as a general. Since then, many in the South have viewed him as a "worthy successor" of the late Stonewall Jackson. Breckinridge would draw more comparisons at the Second Battle of Kernstown, the scene of the first fight in Jackson's Valley Campaign two years earlier. In the Second Battle, which occurred on July 24, 13,000 Confederate troops commanded by Lt. Gen. Jubal Early attacked and defeated 10,000 Federal troops under the command of Brig. Gen. George Crook. The victory allowed the Confederates to resume their invasion of the North. Shortly thereafter, Breckinridge's Division reinforced Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and played an important role in halting Grant's advance at the Battle of Cold Harbor. During the battle, his troops repulsed a powerful Union attack. Breckinridge was wounded when a cannonball struck his horse and he was pinned underneath. He was still unable to walk or ride when Lee ordered him to take command of the survivors of the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Piedmont. Traveling by rail to Rockfish Gap on June 10, he marched his forces into the city of Lynchburg, Virginia. He was joined there by General Early's troops, who arrived just in time to save the Confederate forces from an assault by Union forces under David Hunter at the Battle of Lynchburg. After Early and Breckinridge (who was now able to ride a horse) chased Hunter more than sixty miles away from the city, Lee ordered them to clear the Union forces from the Shenandoah Valley, then cross into Maryland and probe the defenses of Washington, D.C. Union forces' only serious attempt to turn back the expedition came at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9. Confederate troops were delayed, but ultimately prevailed and continued toward Washington. They were defeated at the Battle of Fort Stevens on July 11–12, partially with reinforcements brought in by the United States Government with the time gained from the Battle of Monocacy. Since Lincoln was watching the fight from the ramparts of Fort Stevens, this marked only time in American history in which two former opponents in a presidential election faced one another across battle lines. Following the battle, Early decided to withdraw rather than assault the well-fortified federal capital. Early and Breckinridge were able to hold the Shenandoah Valley through July and August, but on September 19, 1864, Philip Sheridan forced their retreat at the Third Battle of Winchester. Responding to General John Brown Gordon's admonition to be careful in the fight, Breckinridge responded, "Well, general, there is little left for me if our cause is to fail." After the death of John Hunt Morgan, Breckinridge again took command of the Department of East Tennessee and West Virginia. He reorganized the department, which was in great disarray. On October 2, 1864, at the First Battle of Saltville, his troops were able to protect critical Confederate salt works from United States forces under Stephen G. Burbridge, despite a lack of resources. The next morning, he discovered that soldiers under his command had begun killing an estimated 45 to 100 wounded black Union soldiers of the 5th United States Colored Cavalry. Hearing the gunfire, he rushed to stop the massacre. Brigadier General Felix Huston Robertson was suspected of involvement and bragged about killing the negroes. General Lee instructed Breckinridge to "prefer charges against him and bring him to trial", but no trial ever took place. In mid-November, Breckinridge led a raid into northeastern Tennessee, driving Alvan Cullem Gillem's forces back to Knoxville at the Battle of Bull's Gap. On December 17–18, he faced a two-pronged attack from Union cavalry under Major General George Stoneman at the Battle of Marion in Virginia. Badly outnumbered on either flank, Breckinridge resisted Stoneman's forces until he ran low on ammunition. Stoneman's forces were able to damage Confederate salt works, lead mines, and railroads in the area, and destroy supply depots at Bristol and Abingdon. Finally restocked with ammunition after three days, Breckinridge was able to drive Stoneman – whose men were now short of ammunition themselves – out of the area. ### Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon resigned his position as the Confederate Secretary of War on January 19, 1865. On February 6, Davis appointed Breckinridge to the vacant position, partially to quiet growing opposition to his administration. Initially opposed by several members of the Confederate Congress because he had waited to join the Confederacy, he eventually gained their support by administering his office more efficiently than his predecessors. With their support, he was able to expand the post's influence to include making officer assignments and promotion recommendations and advising field generals regarding strategy. His first act as secretary was to promote Robert E. Lee to general-in-chief of all Confederate forces. After Lee reported a critical shortage of food, clothing, and supplies among his troops, Breckinridge recommended the removal of Lucius B. Northrop, the Confederate commissary general. Northrop's successor, Isaac M. St. John, improved the flow of supplies to troops in the field. By late February, Breckinridge concluded that the Confederate cause was hopeless. Delegating the day-to-day operations of his office to his assistant, John Archibald Campbell, he began laying the groundwork for surrender. Davis desired to continue the fight, but Breckinridge urged, "This has been a magnificent epic. In God's name let it not terminate in farce." On April 2, Lee sent a telegram to Breckinridge informing him that he would have to withdraw from his position that night, and that this would necessitate the evacuation of Richmond. Ordering Campbell to organize the flight of the Confederate cabinet to Danville, Virginia, Breckinridge remained in the city to oversee the destruction of facilities and supplies to prevent their use by the invading federal forces. However, he did not destroy Confederate archives and records, which were preserved for history. Upon his exit from the city, he ordered that the bridges over the James River be burned. His son Clifton, then serving in the Confederate Navy at Richmond, resigned his post and joined his father as he moved southward to meet Davis. After overseeing the transfer of Richmond, Breckinridge joined Lee's forces at Farmville, Virginia, on the night of April 5 and remained there until April 7. He continued on to Danville, arriving on April 11 to discover that Lee had surrendered on April 9 and the Confederate cabinet had already fled to Greensboro, North Carolina. Arriving in Greensboro on April 13, he advised the cabinet that the remaining Confederate armies should be surrendered; only Davis and Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin disagreed. At Bennett Place, he assisted Joseph E. Johnston in his surrender negotiations with Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman later praised Breckinridge's negotiating skills, and the surrender terms agreed to were later rejected by Washington as too generous, forcing Sherman to offer the same terms as Grant had at Appomattox, which were accepted. On April 18, Breckinridge heard from Sherman and Johnston of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln four days earlier; the President had died in the Petersen House, where Breckinridge briefly resided in late 1852 as a U.S representative. The Kentuckian was visibly devastated. Eyewitness accounts recall him to have said, "Gentlemen, the South has lost its best friend." Breckinridge rode into Abbeville, South Carolina on the morning of April 28. While there, Breckinridge and Brigadier General Basil W. Duke finally convinced Davis that further prosecution of the war was hopeless. Breckinridge was put in charge of the \$150,000 in gold specie remaining in the Confederate treasury; traveling southward by rail toward Washington, Georgia, a group of soldiers in his military escort – unpaid for months – threatened to divide the gold among themselves before it could be captured by federal troops. Breckinridge convinced them to abandon their scheme after paying them their wages from the treasury, but some of them refused to escort Breckinridge and the bullion any further. Breckinridge's party arrived in Washington on May 4 and, after paying out several requisitions from the treasury, deposited the rest in banks there. He also composed a letter to his remaining deputies in which he disbanded the War Department. ## Escape and exile On May 5, the same day that Jefferson Davis officially dissolved the Confederate Government in Washington, Georgia, Breckinridge discharged most of the men escorting him, retaining only a small contingent of Kentuckians under the command of his cousin, William Campbell Preston Breckinridge. Feeling honor bound to protect Davis, he attempted to create a diversion that would allow him to escape. The next day, his party encountered a large Federal force; while his cousin negotiated with the force's commander, Breckinridge and a small detachment escaped. Riding southward across Georgia, they reached Milltown (now Lakeland) by May 11 and remained there for a few days. Learning of Davis's capture, he left Milltown with only a military aide, a personal servant, and his son Cabell. On May 15, 1865, in Madison, Florida, he was joined by fellow fugitive John Taylor Wood, who had been a captain in the Confederate Navy. Breckinridge and Wood decided to flee to the Bahamas, but because Cabell was allergic to mosquito bites, Breckinridge told him to surrender to the nearest federal officer. At Gainesville, Florida, the group found Confederate Colonel John Jackson Dickison, who gave them a lifeboat he had taken from a captured federal gunboat. Traveling down the St. Johns River, they reached Fort Butler on May 29. From there, they continued on the St. Johns to Lake Harney where the boat was loaded on a wagon and hauled about 12 miles (19 km) to Sand Point (today's Titusville) on the Indian River. They reached the river by May 31, but as they followed its course southward, they had to drag the boat across the river's mudflats and sandbars. They stopped at the John C. Houston place on Elbow Creek (Melbourne), where their boat was brought ashore and caulked. When the repairs were completed, Colonel John Taylor Wood, again led the party south. Transferring the boat to the Atlantic Ocean near Jupiter Inlet, they continued along the Florida coast and landed near present-day Palm Beach on June 4. Strong winds prevented them from navigating the small craft out to sea, so they continued southward down the coast. On June 5, the party was spotted by a federal steamer, but convinced the crew they were hunters scavenging the coast. Two days later, they encountered a larger boat with a mast and rigging; chasing it down, they disarmed the occupants and hijacked the craft. As compensation, they gave their old boat and twenty dollars in gold to the owners of the larger craft, and returned some of their weapons after the exchange was complete. With this more seaworthy craft, they decided to flee to Cuba. Departing from Fort Dallas, they survived an encounter with pirates, two significant storms, and a dangerous lack of provisions before arriving in the city of Cárdenas on June 11, 1865. A Kentuckian then living in the city recognized Breckinridge, introduced him to the locals, and served as his interpreter. The refugees were given food and stayed the night in a local hotel. The next morning, they traveled by rail to Havana, where Breckinridge was offered a house. He declined the offer, choosing to travel with Charles J. Helm, a fellow Kentuckian who had been operating as a Confederate agent in the Caribbean, to Great Britain. Arriving in Britain in late July, he consulted with former Confederate agents there and arranged communication with his wife, then in Canada. Re-crossing the Atlantic, he was reunited with his wife and all of his children except Clifton in Toronto on September 13, 1865. The family spent the winter in Toronto, living first in a hotel and then in a rented house. There were quite a number of other Confederate exiles in the city. It was enough, according to Mrs. Breckinridge, "to form quite a pleasant society among ourselves." The family moved to Niagara in May. In August, doctors advised Breckinridge's wife that the climate of France might benefit her ailing health. Cabell Breckinridge returned to the U.S. to engage in business ventures with his brother Clifton, and Mary, just 12 years old, was sent to live with relatives in New York. The remainder of the family journeyed to Europe, where the children attended school in Paris, Versailles, and Vevey, Switzerland. From mid-1866 to early 1868, Breckinridge toured Europe – including visits to Germany, Austria, Turkey, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and the Holy Land; because of her poor health, his wife remained in France until February 1868, when she joined him in Naples, Italy. During their tour of Italy, Breckinridge met with Pope Pius IX in Rome, and also visited Pompeii. Desiring to return to the U.S. but still fearing capture, Breckinridge moved his family back to Niagara in June 1868. Within sight of the U.S. border, he steadfastly refused to seek a pardon, although 70 members of the Kentucky General Assembly had requested one on his behalf from President Andrew Johnson on February 10, 1866. On January 8, 1868, the Louisville City Council instructed the state's congressional delegation to seek assurance that Breckinridge would not be prosecuted on his return. James Beck, Breckinridge's old law partner, was then in Congress and wrote to him on December 11, 1868, that it appeared likely that Johnson would issue a general pardon for all former Confederates; he advised Breckinridge to return to the U.S. before the pardon was issued because he feared it might only apply to those in the country. ## Return to the U.S. and death Johnson proclaimed amnesty for all former Confederates on December 25, 1868. Still in Canada, Breckinridge lingered for a few weeks to receive assurance that it still applied to him even though he had not been in the U.S. when it was issued. Departing Canada on February 10, 1869, he made several stops to visit family and friends along the route to Lexington, where he arrived on March 9. Although he resided in Kentucky for the rest of his life, he never bought a home there after the war, living first in hotels and then renting a home on West Second Street. Many insurance companies in the south asked Breckinridge to join them in various capacities. In August 1868, he became manager of the Kentucky branch of Virginia's Piedmont Life Insurance Company (which soon became the Piedmont and Arlington Insurance Company). Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) offered him a professorship. He was urged to accept by former Confederate Colonel William Preston Johnston, who was already serving as a faculty member, but Breckinridge declined. He resumed his law practice, taking as a partner Robert A. Thornton, a 27-year-old former Confederate soldier. He served as general counsel for the proposed Cincinnati Southern Railway, which would connect Cincinnati to Chattanooga via Lexington. Officials in Louisville tried to block the move, which would break the near-monopoly that the Louisville and Nashville Railroad had on southern trade. On January 25, 1870, he presented his case to the House and Senate railroad committees and, although they rejected it at that time, they approved it two years later. Construction began in 1873. Breckinridge's other railroad ventures were less successful. During his lifetime, he was unable to secure the construction of railroads to his real estate investments in and around Superior, Wisconsin. As president of the newly formed Elizabethtown, Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad company, he secured financial backing from Collis Potter Huntington for a railroad connecting Elizabethtown and Lexington to the Big Sandy River as part of a route linking those cities with the Atlantic Ocean. When Huntington invested in June 1871, he became president of the company, and Breckinridge became vice president. A line from Lexington to Mount Sterling was all that could be completed before the Panic of 1873 dried up the needed investment capital. The proposed line was finally completed in 1881. Breckinridge refused all requests – including one made by President Ulysses S. Grant – to return to politics, insisting, "I no more feel the political excitements that marked the scenes of my former years than if I were an extinct volcano." Under the terms of section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress would have been needed to allow him to hold office because he had sided with the Confederacy. He never expressed interest in seeking such approval. Speaking as a private citizen in March 1870, he publicly denounced the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1872, he supported passage of a state statute which successfully legalized black testimony against whites in court. By 1873, Breckinridge began to experience health problems which he referred to as "pleuro-pneumonia". Repeated surgeries and visits to the New York coast and the Virginia mountains did not improve his condition. In May 1875, he consulted surgeons Lewis Sayre and Samuel D. Gross, who concluded that his ill health was caused by cirrhosis brought on by injuries to his liver suffered during the war. Of more immediate concern was the fluid that filled two-thirds of one of his lungs. On May 11, Sayre attempted to create an artificial opening through which the fluid could drain; although he had to stop before completing the operation, some of the fluid was drained, bringing a measure of relief. Assisted by Beck and Frank K. Hunt, Breckinridge completed his will. Sayre further alleviated Breckinridge's pain via another surgery on the morning of May 17, but by the afternoon, his condition rapidly worsened, and he died at approximately 5:45 p.m. at the age of 54. Basil Duke led the funeral procession to Lexington Cemetery where Breckinridge's body was buried. ## Legacy ### Historical reputation As a military commander, Breckinridge was highly respected by some. Fellow Confederate George M. Edgar, describing Breckinridge's performance, wrote: > General Breckinridge had few if any superiors on the field of battle. Besides being a man of wonderful courage, he had a keen eye to discern the strong and weak points of the enemy's position, skill in using his forces to the best advantage, and a celerity of movement which reminded me of Jackson. On May 20, 1875, the Louisville Courier Journal declared that it was Breckinridge who was "truly representative of the rebellion as an actual force and its underlying causes." He was viewed poorly in the North. The premature New York Times 1863 obituary labelled "him one of the basest and wickedest of traitors." His strengths included a reputation for dignity and integrity, and especially his tall, graceful and handsome appearance, with cordial manner, pleasing voice and eloquent address that was highly appreciated by voters, soldiers, and women alike. He was hailed as the personification of Kentucky chivalry. Observers said he was a "most noble looking man – a ladies man – such piercing blue eyes I never saw before. His very looks show his superiority over most men." ### Monuments and memorials Despite differences in spelling, the towns of Breckenridge, Minnesota, Breckenridge, Missouri, Breckenridge, Texas, and Breckenridge, Colorado were named in Breckinridge's honor. The Colorado town changed the spelling of its name when its namesake joined the Confederacy. Fort Breckinridge, Arizona Territory (1860 to 1865), located at the confluence of the Aravaipa Creek and the San Pedro River, was named in honor of the Vice President. During the Civil War, its name was changed to Fort Stanford in honor of California Governor Leland Stanford, before being changed back to Fort Breckinridge. After the Civil War, the name was changed once again to Camp Grant. Between 1855 and 1862, the county now known as Lyon County, Kansas, was known as Breckinridge County. Breckinridge County, Kentucky is not named in his honor, but rather his grandfather's. Breckinridge was played by Jason Isaacs in the 2014 film Field of Lost Shoes, which depicted the Battle of New Market. A memorial to Breckinridge was placed on the Fayette County Courthouse lawn in Lexington in 1887. In November 2015, a committee, the Urban County Arts Review Board, voted to recommend removal of both the Breckinridge statue and the John Hunt Morgan statue from the Courthouse grounds. Amy Murrell Taylor, the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, claimed that the "statues are not and have never been neutral representations of the Civil War past but instead they are embodiments of a racially charged postwar interpretation of it." The relocation of the memorial to the Lexington Cemetery was completed in July 2018. The bases for the statues, security cameras, and moving costs were funded by private donations. Breckinridge's memorial was placed in his family's burial area in Section G. ## See also - Breckinridge family in the American Civil War - Kentucky in the American Civil War - List of American Civil War generals (Confederate) - List of United States senators expelled or censured
61,357,642	The 1975 (song)	1,161,749,283	2019 song by the 1975	[ "2019 songs", "Ambient songs", "Environmental songs", "Extinction Rebellion", "Songs about climate change", "Songs by Matty Healy", "Spoken word", "The 1975 songs", "Works by Greta Thunberg" ]	"The 1975" is a 2019 song by the English band of the same name from their fourth studio album, Notes on a Conditional Form. It was released on 24 July 2019, and included on the album as the opening track in May 2020. It continues the tradition of the band's albums opening with an eponymous song, but whereas the previous three had a shared set of lyrics sung by Matty Healy, the 2019 song uses different lyrics delivered by the environmental activist Greta Thunberg. She calls for civil disobedience in response to climate change, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in a modified version of her speech "Our House Is on Fire" from the 2019 World Economic Forum. The song was recorded in June 2019. Proceeds went to the grassroots movement Extinction Rebellion and the song's release coincided with measures by the band to reduce their environmental impact. When touring in 2019 and 2020, prior to COVID-19 lockdowns, the band opened their encore with "The 1975". The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its emotional impact, the message and the transition on Notes on a Conditional Form from the song into the lead single "People". ## Background and recording "The 1975" features the Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who began missing school on Fridays in August 2018 to protest outside the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) with a sign reading "Skolstrejk för klimatet" ("School strike for the climate"). In November 2018, this sparked a global movement of climate strikes. Aged 16 at the time of the song's release, she was the first featured artist on a recording by the 1975; the band had previously criticised that guest appearances in music were primarily intended to improve chart positioning. The song was produced under the label Dirty Hit, which was founded by the 1975's manager Jamie Oborne. According to Oborne, the lead vocalist Matty Healy wanted to use his platform to highlight other voices, and named Thunberg as the "most important person in the world". Healy later said that the band wanted to make "the most modern statement" on the opening track, and that he wanted Thunberg—whom he considered "the voice of this generation"—to be documented in pop culture and recorded on vinyl. After Oborne failed to contact Thunberg via Instagram, his publicist introduced him to the environmental editor of The Guardian, who put him in contact with her father Svante Thunberg. Thunberg recorded "The 1975" in Stockholm, Sweden, in late June 2019, as the band were travelling through Sweden to play at festivals. Oborne and Healy stated that more influential artists than them turned down an opportunity to work with Thunberg. Greta Thunberg said of the track, her first musical work, that she appreciated the ability to reach "a broad new audience in a new way". Healy said that meeting Thunberg was "such an inspiration" and that she was "the most punk, the most badass person" he had ever met. ## Composition The band's first three albums begin with a brief self-titled song with the same set of lyrics about oral sex, beginning "Go down / Soft sound", sung by Healy. The musical styles of each version set the tone for that album. On Notes on a Conditional Form, the opening song deviates from the standard set of lyrics. Lasting 4 minutes and 57 seconds, "The 1975" is a protest song and a work of ambient music, where Thunberg delivers a spoken word performance. The lyrics call for civil disobedience to bring about reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in response to climate change, based on the January 2019 speech "Our House Is on Fire", which Thunberg delivered at the World Economic Forum. Thunberg opens: "We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis". She warns that humans are failing to solve the problem, and outlines the consequences of such a failure, but says that it is not too late to change. She says that the rules in place need to be changed and urges rebellion. Thunberg's tone is calm throughout. In the background, minimal ambient music plays, including piano and string instrumentation. According to Healy, they considered a version with no backing music, but they chose to include it to add emotion and make the listener "transported to a different place". He said that "the blend of the music and her truth is the ultimate combination". "The 1975" marks a shift by the band to more explicitly political messages. It follows political songs from A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, such as "Love It If We Made It"—about contemporary political events—and "I Like America & America Likes Me"—about American gun control. Healy described the song as superficially beautiful but also sad and ominous. ## Release and promotion "The 1975" is the opening song on the 1975's fourth album, Notes on a Conditional Form. Healy initially said that the band were choosing between three songs to release on 31 May 2019 as the lead single of the album. However, "The 1975" was the first song to be released, on 24 July 2019, and the lead single "People" debuted on 22 August. As they have done for previous releases, the band deactivated their social media accounts shortly before the publishing of "The 1975". The band initially intended not to release "The 1975" prior to the album, but after its recording, they decided to do so. Oborne said that the song "just wasn't a statement that could wait" and that holding it back would have made it feel like a "vanity exercise". At the time of its release, the 1975 were alternating between touring and working on Notes on a Conditional Form, and "The 1975" was one of four songs that were complete or close to complete, alongside "The Birthday Party", "Frail State of Mind" and "People". Al Horner of The Daily Telegraph observed that the Conservative politician Theresa Villiers—who previously voted against initiatives to limit carbon emissions—became the UK Environment Secretary on the day of the release. According to Oborne, shortly before the release he was contacted by an unusual number of tabloids, and following it they began to run fabricated stories about Healy's relationship and drug usage. The Conservative politician David TC Davies—who has made incorrect claims about climate change in Parliament—called the band hypocritical for their upcoming tour, due to its carbon emission cost. Oborne said in May 2020 that he was still surprised by the "hate and negativity" that Healy received over the collaboration, describing him as "a bit weary of being that guy who fights for the underdog and gets a lot of abuse". At Thunberg's request, proceeds from "The 1975" were donated to the grassroots movement Extinction Rebellion. Spokespeople from Extinction Rebellion praised the track, saying that "music has the power to break through barriers". A BBC journalist noted that the band were scheduled to tour a wide number of countries, flying by plane, at the time of the song's release. However, contemporaneously with the song's debut, the record label and band announced measures to reduce their environmental impact, such as substitution of plastic materials by paper. The band had also hired an eco-management company for performances. The 1975 played recordings of the song to open the band's encore throughout performances in 2019 and 2020. Healy would return to the stage alone and turn his back to the audience as it played. Such performances included some touring for A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2019, the BB&T Pavilion in New Jersey in November 2019, and shows at the Manchester Arena and London O2 Arena during February 2020. Liverpool Echo reported that one audience were told to be quiet for the song. The COVID-19 pandemic led to disruption of planned appearances following Notes on a Conditional Form's release, such as an event at London's Finsbury Park in July 2020, where the 1975 planned to implement a number of environmental measures. ## Critical reception On 27 July 2019, Consequence of Sound named the song their favourite of the week. Sean Lang from the publication approved that Healy let Thunberg give the speech, rather than trying to deliver the message himself, and lauded Thunberg for her communication of a difficult message. Relatedly, Laura Snapes from The Guardian praised the 1975 for using their platform to highlight a woman's voice, and Horner said the music was "careful to never overpower or distract" from Thunberg. Claire Biddles of The Line of Best Fit commented that the "introspective and coy" background music complemented the weight of Thunberg's speech. However, New Statesman's Ellen Peirson-Hagger panned a perceived lack of involvement by the band in their own song, both in its composition and in acting upon its message. A writer for the BBC viewed the song as light on concrete suggestions, but direct on messaging. Jake Kerridge of The Daily Telegraph praised it as the "most terrifying" spoken word pop music since the 1984 anti-nuclear war song "Two Tribes", by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. GQ's Olive Pometsy called the recording "a wake-up call", saying that people need to work together to sustain the planet's habitability. Lang called the song a "surprising, refreshing risk", while Horner found the track inspiring and "brutally, rebelliously stark". Lizzie Manno of Paste believed it made an "unwavering case for radical change". A number of critics felt emotional when listening to the song, including Dillon Eastoe of Gigwise, who had to "pull over and cry" upon first hearing it in the car, and Madison Feller of Elle, who got chills from the song. Mitch Mosk of Atwood Magazine and The Big Issue's Malcolm Jack found it stirring. The recording also received positive commentary in context as the opening song on Notes on a Conditional Form. Several critics enjoyed the transition between "The 1975" and the punk rock song "People", including Claire Shaffer of Rolling Stone and Manno; Insider's Callie Ahlgrim lauded that "the effect is exquisite". Writing for Insider, Courteney Larocca praised that it quickly distinguishes the album from the 1975's previous releases. The SLUG Magazine writer Paige Zuckerman found it "a more mature, evolved iteration" of the 1975's lead tracks, but Manno questioned what purpose it served on the album. At the Reading and Leeds Festivals, the song was followed by "Love It If We Made It"; Adam White of The Independent found this continuation to bring "greater potency" to "The 1975". ## Personnel Credits adapted from the album's liner notes and Pitchfork. - Matthew Healy – keyboards, producing, writing - George Daniel – keyboards, mixing, producing, programming, strings, writing - Jonathan Gilmore – engineering - Robin Schmidt – mastering - Greta Thunberg – vocals, writing ## See also - The 1975 discography - List of songs by Matty Healy
2,527,797	Heathenry (new religious movement)	1,172,432,079	Modern Pagan religion modelled on pre-Christian Germanic traditions	[ "Germanic neopaganism", "Germanic paganism", "Germanic religion", "Modern pagan traditions" ]	Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th century, its practitioners model it on the pre-Christian religions adhered to by the Germanic peoples of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages. In an attempt to reconstruct these past belief systems, Heathenry uses surviving historical, archaeological, and folkloric evidence as a basis, although approaches to this material vary considerably. Heathenry does not have a unified theology but is typically polytheistic, centering on a pantheon of deities from pre-Christian Germanic Europe. It adopts cosmological views from these past societies, including an animistic view of the cosmos in which the natural world is imbued with spirits. The religion's deities and spirits are honored in sacrificial rites known as blóts in which food and libations are offered to them. These are often accompanied by symbel, the act of ceremonially toasting the gods with an alcoholic beverage. Some practitioners also engage in rituals designed to induce an altered state of consciousness and visions, most notably seiðr and galdr, with the intent of gaining wisdom and advice from the deities. Many solitary practitioners follow the religion by themselves. Other Heathens assemble in small groups, usually known as kindreds or hearths, to perform their rites outdoors or in specially constructed buildings. Heathen ethical systems emphasize honor, personal integrity, and loyalty, while beliefs about an afterlife vary and are rarely emphasized. Heathenry's origins lie in the 19th- and early 20th-century Romanticism which glorified the pre-Christian societies of Germanic Europe. Völkisch groups actively venerating the deities of these societies appeared in Germany and Austria during the 1900s and 1910s, although they largely dissolved following Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II. In the 1970s, new Heathen groups established in Europe and North America, developing into formalized organizations. A central division within the Heathen movement emerged surrounding the issue of race. Older groups adopted a racialist attitude—often termed "folkish" within the community—by viewing Heathenry as an ethnic or racial religion with inherent links to a Germanic race. They believe it should be reserved for white people, particularly of northern European descent, and often combine the religion with far right-wing and white supremacist perspectives. A larger proportion of Heathens instead adopt a "universalist" perspective, holding that the religion is open to all, irrespective of ethnic or racial background. While the term Heathenry is used widely to describe the religion as a whole, many groups prefer different designations, influenced by their regional focus and ideological preferences. Heathens focusing on Scandinavian sources sometimes use Ásatrú, Vanatrú, or Forn Sed; practitioners focusing on Anglo-Saxon traditions use Fyrnsidu or Theodism; those emphasising German traditions use Irminism; and those Heathens who espouse folkish and far-right perspectives tend to favor the terms Odinism, Wotanism, Wodenism, or Odalism. Scholarly estimates put the number of Heathens at no more than 20,000 worldwide, with communities of practitioners active in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia. ## Definition Scholars of religious studies classify Heathenry as a new religious movement, and more specifically as a reconstructionist form of modern Paganism. Heathenry has been defined as "a broad contemporary Pagan new religious movement (NRM) that is consciously inspired by the linguistically, culturally, and (in some definitions) ethnically 'Germanic' societies of Iron Age and early medieval Europe as they existed prior to Christianization", and as a "movement to revive and/or reinterpret for the present day the practices and worldviews of the pre-Christian cultures of northern Europe (or, more particularly, the Germanic speaking cultures)". Practitioners seek to revive these past belief systems by using surviving historical source materials. Among the historical sources used are Old Norse texts associated with Iceland such as the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda, Old English texts such as Beowulf, and Middle High German texts such as the Nibelungenlied. Some Heathens also adopt ideas from the archaeological evidence of pre-Christian northern Europe and folklore from later periods in European history. Among many Heathens, this material is referred to as the "Lore" and studying it is an important part of their religion. Some textual sources nevertheless remain problematic as a means of "reconstructing" pre-Christian belief systems, because they were written by Christians and only discuss pre-Christian religion in a fragmentary and biased manner. The anthropologist Jenny Blain characterises Heathenry as "a religion constructed from partial material", while the religious studies scholar Michael Strmiska describes its beliefs as being "riddled with uncertainty and historical confusion", thereby characterising it as a postmodern movement. The ways in which Heathens use this historical and archaeological material differ; some seek to reconstruct past beliefs and practices as accurately as possible, while others openly experiment with this material and embrace new innovations. Some, for instance, adapt their practices according to unverified personal gnosis (UPG) that they have gained through spiritual experiences. Others adopt concepts from the world's surviving ethnic religions as well as modern polytheistic traditions such as Hinduism and Afro-American religions, believing that doing so helps to construct spiritual world-views akin to those that existed in Europe prior to Christianization. Some practitioners who emphasize an approach that relies exclusively on historical and archaeological sources criticize such attitudes, denigrating those who practice them using the pejorative term "Neo-Heathen". Some Heathens seek out common elements found throughout Germanic Europe during the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages, using those as the basis for their contemporary beliefs and practices. Conversely, others draw inspiration from the beliefs and practices of a specific geographical area and chronological period within Germanic Europe, such as Anglo-Saxon England or Viking Age Iceland. Some adherents are deeply knowledgeable as to the specifics of northern European society in the Iron Age and Early Medieval periods; however for most practitioners their main source of information about the pre-Christian past is fictional literature and popular accounts of Norse mythology. Many express a romanticized view of this past, sometimes perpetuating misconceptions about it; the sociologist of religion Jennifer Snook noting that many practitioners "hearken back to a more epic, anachronistic, and pure age of ancestors and heroes". The anthropologist Murphy Pizza suggests that Heathenry can be understood as an "invented tradition". As the religious studies scholar Fredrik Gregorius states, despite the fact that "no real continuity" exists between Heathenry and the pre-Christian belief systems of Germanic Europe, Heathen practitioners often dislike being considered adherents of a "new religion" or "modern invention" and thus prefer to depict theirs as a "traditional faith". Many practitioners avoid using the scholarly, etic term "reconstructionism" to describe their practices, preferring to characterize it as an "indigenous religion" with parallels to the traditional belief systems of the world's indigenous peoples. In claiming a sense of indigeneity, some Heathens—particularly in the United States—attempt to frame themselves as the victims of Medieval Christian colonialism and imperialism. A 2015 survey of the Heathen community found equal numbers of practitioners (36%) regarding their religion as a reconstruction as those who regarded it as a direct continuation of ancient belief systems; only 22% acknowledged it to be modern but historically inspired, although this was the dominant interpretation among practitioners in Nordic countries. ### Terminology No central religious authority exists to impose a particular terminological designation on all practitioners. Hence, different Heathen groups have used different words to describe both their religion and themselves, with these terms often conveying meaning about their socio-political beliefs as well as the particular Germanic region of pre-Christian Europe from which they draw inspiration. Academics studying the religion have typically favoured the terms Heathenry and Heathenism to describe it, for the reason that these words are inclusive of all varieties of the movement. This term is the most commonly used option by practitioners in the United Kingdom, with growing usage in North America and elsewhere. These terms are based on the word heathen, attested as the Gothic haithn, which was adopted by Gothic Arian missionaries as the equivalent of both the Greek words Hellenis (Hellene, Greek) and ethnikós—"of a (foreign) people". The word was used by Early Medieval Christian writers in Germanic Europe to describe non-Christians; by using it, practitioners seek to reappropriate it from the Christians as a form of self-designation. Many practitioners favor the term Heathen over pagan because the former term originated among Germanic languages, whereas pagan has its origins in Latin. Further terms used in some academic contexts are contemporary Germanic Paganism and Germanic Neopaganism, although the latter is an "artificial term" developed by scholars with little use within the Heathen community. Alternately, Blain suggested the use of North European Paganism as an overarching scholarly term for the movement; Strmiska noted that this would also encompass those practitioners inspired by the belief systems of northeastern Europe's linguistically Finnic and Slavic societies. He favored Modern Nordic Paganism, but accepted that this term excluded those Heathens who are particularly inspired by the pre-Christian belief systems of non-Nordic Germanic societies, such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Goths. Another name for the religion is the Icelandic Ásatrú, which translates as "Æsir belief", or "loyalty to the Æsir"—the Æsir being a sub-set of deities in Norse mythology. This is more commonly rendered as Asatru in North America, with practitioners being known as Asatruar. This term is favored by practitioners who focus on the Nordic deities of Scandinavia, however is problematic as many self-identified Asatruar worship entities other than the Æsir, such as the Vanir, valkyries, elves, and dwarfs. Although initially a popular term of designation among practitioners and academics, usage of Ásatrú has declined as the religion has aged. Other practitioners term their religion Vanatrú, meaning "those who honor the Vanir", or Dísitrú, meaning "those who honor the goddesses", depending on their particular theological emphasis. A small group of practitioners who venerate the Jötnar, refer to their tradition as Rokkatru. Although restricted especially to Scandinavia, since the mid-2000s a term that has grown in popularity is Forn Siðr or Forn Sed ("the old way"); this is also a term reappropriated from Christian usage, having previously been used in a derogatory sense to describe pre-Christian religion in the Old Norse Heimskringla. Other terms used within the community to describe their religion are the Northern Tradition, Norse Paganism, and Saxon Paganism, while in the first third of the 20th century, commonly used terms were German, Nordic, or Germanic Faith. Within the United States, groups emphasising a German-orientation have used Irminism, while those focusing on an Anglo-Saxon approach have used Fyrnsidu or Theodism. Many racialist-oriented Heathens prefer the terms Odinism or Wotanism to describe their religion. The England-based racialist group Woden's Folk favored Wodenism and Woden Folk-Religion, while another racialist group, the Heathen Front, favored the term Odalism, coined by Varg Vikernes, in reference to the odal rune. There is thus a general view that all those who use Odinism adopt an explicitly political, right-wing and racialist interpretation of the religion, while Asatru is used by more moderate Heathen groups, but no such clear division of these terms' usage exists in practice. Gregorius noted that Odinism was "highly problematic" because it implies that the god Odin—who is adopted from Norse mythology—is central to these groups' theology, which is often not the case. Moreover, the term is also used by at least one non-racialist group, the British Odinshof, who utilise it in reference to their particular dedication to Odin. ## Beliefs ### Gods and spirits The historian of religion Mattias Gardell noted that there is "no unanimously accepted theology" within the Heathen movement. Several early Heathens like Guido von List found the polytheistic nature of pre-Christian religion embarrassing, and argued that in reality it had been monotheistic. Since the 1970s, such negative attitudes towards polytheism have changed. Today Heathenry is usually characterised as being polytheistic, exhibiting a theological structure which includes a pantheon of gods and goddesses, with adherents offering their allegiance and worship to some or all of them. Most practitioners are polytheistic realists, referring to themselves as "hard" or "true polytheists" and believing in the literal existence of the deities as individual entities. Others express a psychological interpretation of the divinities, viewing them for instance as symbols, Jungian archetypes or racial archetypes, with some who adopt this position deeming themselves to be atheists. Heathenry's deities are adopted from the pre-Christian belief systems found in the various societies of Germanic Europe; they include divinities like Týr, Odin, Thor, Frigg and Freyja from Scandinavian sources, Wōden, Thunor and Ēostre from Anglo-Saxon sources, and figures such as Nehalennia from continental sources. Some practitioners adopt the belief, taken from Norse mythology, that there are two sets of deities, the Æsir and the Vanir. Certain practitioners blend the different regions and times together, for instance using a mix of Old English and Old Norse names for the deities, while others keep them separate and only venerate deities from a particular region. Some groups focus their veneration on a particular deity; for instance, the Brotherhood of Wolves, a Czech Heathen group, center their worship on the deity Fenrir. Similarly, many practitioners in the U.S. adopt a particular patron deity for themselves, taking an oath of dedication to them known as fulltrúi, and describe themselves as that entity's devotee using terms such as Thorsman or Odinsman. Heathen deities are not seen as perfect, omnipotent, or omnipresent, and are instead viewed as having their own strengths and weaknesses. Many practitioners believe that these deities will one day die, as did, for instance, the god Baldr in Norse mythology. Heathens view their connection with their deities not as being that of a master and servant but rather as an interdependent relationship akin to that of a family. For them, these deities serve as both examples and role models whose behavior is to be imitated. Many practitioners believe that they can communicate with these deities, as well as negotiate, bargain, and argue with them, and hope that through venerating them, practitioners will gain wisdom, understanding, power, or visionary insights. In Heathen ritual practices, the deities are typically represented as godpoles - wooden shafts with anthropomorphic faces carved into them, as were used prior to Christianisation, although in other instances resin statues of the divinities are sometimes used. Many practitioners combine their polytheistic world-view with a pantheistic conception of the natural world as being sacred and imbued with a divine energy force permeating all life. Heathenry is animistic, with practitioners believing in nonhuman spirit persons commonly known as "wights" (vættir) that inhabit the world, each of whom is believed to have its own personality. Some of these are known as "land spirits" (landvættir) and inhabit different aspects of the landscape, living alongside humans, whom they can both help and hinder. Others are deemed to be household deities and live within the home, where they can be propitiated with offerings of food. Some Heathens interact with these entities and provide offerings to them more often than they do with the gods and goddesses. Wights are often identified with various creatures from northwestern European folklore such as elves, dwarves, gnomes, and trolls. Some of these entities—such as the Jötunn of Norse mythology—are deemed to be baleful spirits; within the community it is often deemed taboo to provide offerings to them, however some practitioners still do so. Many Heathens also believe in and respect ancestral spirits, with ancestral veneration representing an important part of their religious practice. For Heathens, relationships with the ancestors are seen as grounding their own sense of identity and giving them strength from the past. ### Cosmology and afterlife Heathens commonly adopt a cosmology based on that found in Norse mythology—Norse cosmology. As part of this framework, humanity's world—known as Midgard—is regarded as just one of Nine Worlds, all of which are associated with a cosmological world tree called Yggdrasil. Different types of being are believed to inhabit these different realms; for instance, humans live on Midgard, while dwarfs live on another realm, elves on another, jötnar on another, and the divinities on two further realms. Most practitioners believe that this is a poetic or symbolic description of the cosmos, with the different levels representing higher realms beyond the material plane of existence. The world tree is also interpreted by some in the community as an icon for ecological and social engagement. Some Heathens, such as the psychologist Brian Bates, have adopted an approach to this cosmology rooted in analytical psychology, thereby interpreting the nine worlds and their inhabitants as maps of the human mind. According to a common Heathen belief based on references in Old Norse sources, three female entities known as the Norns sit at the end of the world tree's root. These figures spin wyrd, which refers to the actions and interrelationships of all beings throughout the cosmos. In the community, these three figures are sometimes termed "Past, Present and Future", "Being, Becoming, and Obligation" or "Initiation, Becoming, Unfolding". It is believed that an individual can navigate through the wyrd, and thus, the Heathen worldview oscillates between concepts of free will and fatalism. Heathens also believe in a personal form of wyrd known as örlög. This is connected to an emphasis on luck, with Heathens in North America often believing that luck can be earned, passed down through the generations, or lost. Various Heathen groups adopt the Norse apocalyptic myth of Ragnarök; few view it as a literal prophecy of future events. Instead, it is often treated as a symbolic warning of the danger that humanity faces if it acts unwisely in relation to both itself and the natural world. The death of the gods at Ragnarök is often viewed as a reminder of the inevitability of death and the importance of living honorably and with integrity until one dies. Alternately, ethno-nationalist Heathens have interpreted Ragnarök as a prophecy of a coming apocalypse in which the white race will overthrow who these Heathens perceive as their oppressors and establish a future society based on Heathen religion. The political scientist Jeffrey Kaplan believed that it was the "strongly millenarian and chiliastic overtones" of Ragnarök which helped convert white American racialists to the right wing of the Heathen movement. Some practitioners do not emphasize belief in an afterlife, instead stressing the importance of behaviour and reputation in this world. In Icelandic Heathenry, there is no singular dogmatic belief about the afterlife. A common Heathen belief is that a human being has multiple souls, which are separate yet linked together. It is common to find a belief in four or five souls, two of which survive bodily death: one of these, the hugr, travels to the realm of the ancestors, while the other, the fetch, undergoes a process of reincarnation into a new body. In Heathen belief, there are various realms that the hugr can enter, based in part on the worth of the individual's earthly life; these include the hall of Valhalla, ruled over by Odin, or Sessrúmnir, the hall of Freyja. Beliefs regarding reincarnation vary widely among Heathens, although one common belief is that individuals are reborn within their family or clan. ### Morality and ethics In Heathenry, moral and ethical views are based on the perceived ethics of Iron Age and Early Medieval northwestern Europe, in particular the actions of heroic figures who appear in Old Norse sagas. Evoking a life-affirming ethos, Heathen ethics focus on the ideals of honor, courage, integrity, hospitality, and hard work, and strongly emphasize loyalty to family. It is common for practitioners to be expected to keep their word, particularly sworn oaths. There is thus a strong individualist ethos focused around personal responsibility, and a common motto within the Heathen community is that "We are our deeds". Most Heathens reject the concept of sin and believe that guilt is a destructive rather than useful concept. Some Heathen communities have formalized such values into an ethical code, the Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), which is based largely on the Hávamál from the Poetic Edda. This was first developed by the founders of the UK-based Odinic Rite in the 1970s, although it has spread internationally, with 77% of respondents to a 2015 survey of Heathens reporting its use in some form. There are different forms of the NNV, with the number nine having symbolic associations in Norse mythology. Opinion is divided on the NNV; some practitioners deem them too dogmatic, while others eschew them for not having authentic roots in historical Germanic culture, negatively viewing them as an attempt to imitate the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments. Their use is particularly unpopular in Nordic countries, and has been observed declining in the United States. Within the Heathen community of the United States, gender roles are based upon perceived ideals and norms found in Early Medieval northwestern Europe, in particular as they are presented in Old Norse sources. Among male American Heathens there is a trend toward hypermasculinized behaviour, while a gendered division of labor—in which men are viewed as providers and women seen as being responsible for home and children—is also widespread among Heathens in the U.S. Due to its focus on traditional attitudes to sex and gender—values perceived as socially conservative in Western nations—it has been argued that American Heathenry's ethical system is far closer to traditional Christian morals than the ethical systems espoused in many other Western Pagan religions such as Wicca. A 2015 survey of the Heathen community nevertheless found that a greater percentage of Heathens were opposed to traditional gender rules than in favor of them, with this being particularly the case in northern Europe. The sociologist Jennifer Snook noted that as with all religions, Heathenry is "intimately connected" to politics, with practitioners' political and religious beliefs influencing one another. As a result of the religion's emphasis on honoring the land and its wights, many Heathens take an interest in ecological issues, with many considering their faith to be a nature religion. Heathen groups have participated in tree planting, raising money to purchase woodland, and campaigning against the construction of a railway between London and the Channel Tunnel in Southeastern England. Many Germanic Neopagans are also concerned with the preservation of heritage sites, and some practitioners have expressed concern regarding archaeological excavation of prehistoric and Early Medieval burials, believing that it is disrespectful to the individuals interred, whom Heathens widely see as their ancestors. Ethical debates within the community also arise when some practitioners believe that the religious practices of certain co-religionists conflict with the religion's "conservative ideas of proper decorum". For instance, while many Heathens eschew worship of the Norse god Loki, deeming him a baleful wight, his gender-bending nature has made him attractive to many LGBT Heathens. Those who adopt the former perspective have thus criticized Lokeans as effeminate and sexually deviant. Views on homosexuality and LGBT rights remain a source of tension within the community. Some right-wing Heathen groups view homosexuality as being incompatible with a family-oriented ethos and thus censure same-sex sexual activity. Other groups legitimize openness toward LGBT practitioners by reference to the gender-bending actions of Thor and Odin in Norse mythology. There are, for instance, homosexual and transgender members of The Troth, a prominent U.S. Heathen organisation. Many Heathen groups in northern Europe perform same-sex marriages, and a group of self-described "Homo-Heathens" marched in the 2008 Stockholm Pride carrying a statue of the god Freyr. ## Rites and practices In Anglophone countries, Heathen groups are typically called kindreds or hearths, or alternately sometimes as fellowships, tribes, or garths. These are small groups, often family units, and usually consist of between five and fifteen members. They are often bound together by oaths of loyalty, with strict screening procedures regulating the admittance of new members. Prospective members may undergo a probationary period before they are fully accepted and welcomed into the group, while other groups remain closed to all new members. Heathen groups are largely independent and autonomous, although they typically network with other Heathen groups, particularly in their region. There are other followers of the religion who are not affiliated with such groups, operating as solitary practitioners, with these individuals often remaining in contact with other practitioners through social media. A 2015 survey found that the majority of Heathens identified as solitary practitioners, with northern Europe constituting an exception to this; here, the majority of Heathens reported involvement in groups. Priests are often termed godhi, while priestesses are gydhja, adopting Old Norse terms meaning "god-man" and "god-woman" respectively, with the plural term being gothar. These individuals are rarely seen as intermediaries between practitioners and deities, instead having the role of facilitating and leading group ceremonies and being learned in the lore and traditions of the religion. Many kindreds believe that anyone can take on the position of priest, with members sharing organisational duties and taking turns in leading the rites. In other groups, it is considered necessary for the individual to gain formal credentials from an accredited Heathen organisation in order to be recognised as a priest. In a few groups—particularly those of the early 20th century which operated as secret societies—the priesthood is modelled on an initiatory system of ascending degrees akin to Freemasonry. Heathen rites often take place in non-public spaces, particularly in a practitioner's home. In other cases, Heathen places of worship have been established on plots of land specifically purchased for the purpose; these can represent either a hörg, which is a sanctified place within nature like a grove of trees, or a hof, which is a wooden temple. The Heathen community has made various attempts to construct hofs in different parts of the world. In 2014 the Ásaheimur Temple was opened in Efri Ás, Skagafjörður, Iceland, while in 2014 a British Heathen group called the Odinist Fellowship opened a temple in a converted 16th-century chapel in Newark, Nottinghamshire. Heathens have also adopted archaeological sites as places of worship. For instance, British practitioners have assembled for rituals at the Nine Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire, the Rollright Stones in Warwickshire, and the White Horse Stone in Kent. Swedish Heathens have done the same at Gamla Uppsala, and Icelandic practitioners have met at Þingvellir. Heathen groups assemble for rituals in order to mark rites of passage, seasonal observances, oath takings, rites devoted to a specific deity, and for rites of need. These rites also serve as identity practices which mark the adherents out as Heathens. Strmiska noted that in Iceland, Heathen rituals had been deliberately constructed in an attempt to recreate or pay tribute to the ritual practices of pre-Christian Icelanders, although there was also space in which these rituals could reflect innovation, changing in order to suit the tastes and needs of contemporary practitioners. In addition to meeting for ritual practices, many Heathen kindreds also organize study sessions to meet and discuss Medieval texts pertaining to pre-Christian religion; among U.S. Heathens, it is common to refer to theirs as a "religion with homework". During religious ceremonies, many adherents choose to wear clothing that imitates the styles of dress worn in Iron Age and Early Medieval northern Europe, sometimes termed "garb". They also often wear symbols indicating their religious allegiance. The most commonly used sign among Heathens is Mjölnir, or Thor's hammer, which is worn as a pendant, featured in Heathen art, and used as a gesture in ritual. It is sometimes used to express a particular affinity with the god Thor, however is also often used as a symbol of Heathenism as a whole, in particular representing the resilience and vitality of the religion. Another commonly used Heathen symbol is the valknut, used to represent the god Odin or Woden. Practitioners also commonly decorate their material—and sometimes themselves, in the form of tattoos—with runes, the alphabet used by Early Medieval Germanic languages. ### Blót and sumbel The most important religious rite for Heathens is called blót, which constitutes a ritual in which offerings are provided to the gods. Blót typically takes place outdoors, and usually consists of an offering of mead, which is contained within a bowl. The gods are invoked and requests expressed for their aid, as the priest uses a sprig or branch of an evergreen tree to sprinkle mead onto both statues of the deities and the assembled participants. This procedure might be scripted or largely improvised. Finally, the bowl of mead is poured onto a fire, or onto the earth, as a final libation to the gods. Sometimes, a communal meal is held afterward; in some groups this is incorporated as part of the ritual itself. In other instances, the blót is simpler and less ritualized; in this case, it can involve a practitioner setting some food aside, sometimes without words, for either gods or wights. Some Heathens perform such rituals on a daily basis, although for others it is a more occasional performance. Aside from honoring deities, communal blóts also serve as a form of group bonding. In Iron Age and Early Medieval northern Europe, the term blót was at times applied to a form of animal sacrifice performed to thank the deities and gain their favor. Such sacrifices have generally proved impractical for most modern practitioners or altogether rejected, due in part to the fact that skills in animal slaughter are not widely taught, while the slaughter of animals is regulated by government in Western countries. The Icelandic group Ásatrúarfélagið for instance explicitly rejects animal sacrifice. In 2007 Strmiska noted that a "small but growing" number of Heathen practitioners in the U.S. had begun performing animal sacrifice as a part of blót. Such Heathens conceive of the slaughtered animal as a gift to the gods, and sometimes also as a "traveller" who is taking a message to the deities. Groups who perform such sacrifices typically follow the procedure outlined in the Heimskringla: the throat of the sacrificial animal is slashed with a sharp knife, and the blood is collected in a bowl before being sprinkled onto both participants of the rite and statues of the gods. Animals used for this purpose have included poultry as well as larger mammals like sheep and pigs, with the meat then being consumed by those attending the rite. Some practitioners have made alterations to this procedure: Strmiska noted two American Heathens who decided to use a rifle shot to the head to kill the animal swiftly, a decision made after they witnessed a blót in which the animal's throat was cut incorrectly and it slowly died in agony; they felt that such practices would have displeased the gods and accordingly brought harm upon those carrying out the sacrifice. Another common ritual in Heathenry is sumbel, also spelled symbel, a ritual drinking ceremony in which the gods are toasted. Sumbel often takes place following a blót. In the U.S., the sumbel commonly involves a drinking horn being filled with mead and passed among the assembled participants, who either drink from it directly, or pour some into their own drinking vessels to consume. During this process, toasts are made, as are verbal tributes to gods, heroes, and ancestors. Then, oaths and boasts (promises of future actions) might be made, both of which are considered binding on the speakers due to the sacred context of the sumbel ceremony. According to Snook, the sumbel has a strong social role, representing "a game of politicking, of socializing, cementing bonds of peace and friendship and forming new relationships" within the Heathen community. During her ethnographic research, Pizza observed an example of a sumbel that took place in Minnesota in 2006 with the purpose of involving Heathen children; rather than mead, the drinking horn contained apple juice, and the toasting accompanied the children taping pictures of apples to a poster of a tree that symbolized the apple tree of Iðunn from Norse mythology. ### Seiðr and galdr One religious practice sometimes found in Heathenry is seiðr, which has been described as "a particular shamanic trance ritual complex", although the appropriateness of using "shamanism" to describe seiðr is debatable. Contemporary seiðr developed during the 1990s out of the wider Neo-Shamanic movement, with some practitioners studying the use of trance-states in other faiths, such as Umbanda, first. A prominent form is high-seat or oracular seiðr, which is based on the account of Guðriðr in Eiríks saga. While such practices differ between groups, oracular seiðr typically involves a seiðr-worker sitting on a high seat while songs and chants are performed to invoke gods and wights. Drumming is then performed to induce an altered state of consciousness in the practitioner, who goes on a meditative journey in which they visualise travelling through the world tree to the realm of Hel. The assembled audience then provide questions for the seiðr-worker, with the latter offering replies based on information obtained in their trance-state. Some seiðr-practitioners make use of entheogenic substances as part of this practice; others explicitly oppose the use of any mind-altering drugs. Not all Heathens practice seiðr; given its associations with both the ambiguity of sexuality and gender and the gods Odin and Loki in their unreliable trickster forms, many on the Heathen movement's right wing disapprove of it. While there are heterosexual male practitioners, seiðr is largely associated with women and gay men, and a 2015 survey of Heathens found that women were more likely to have engaged in it than men. One member of the Troth, Edred Thorsson, developed forms of seiðr which involved sex magic utilizing sado-masochistic techniques, something which generated controversy in the community. Part of the discomfort that some Heathens feel toward seiðr surrounds the lack of any criteria by which the community can determine whether the seiðr-worker has genuinely received divine communication, and the fear that it will be used by some practitioners merely to bolster their own prestige. Galdr is another Heathen practice involving chanting or singing. As part of a galdr ceremony, runes or rune poems are also sometimes chanted, in order to create a communal mood and allow participants to enter into altered states of consciousness and request communication with deities. Some contemporary galdr chants and songs are influenced by Anglo-Saxon folk magical charms, such as Æcerbot and the Nine Herbs Charm. These poems were originally written in a Christian context, although practitioners believe that they reflect themes present in pre-Christian, shamanistic religion, and thus re-appropriate and "Heathanise" them for contemporary usage. Some Heathens practice forms of divination using runes; as part of this, items with runic markings on them might be pulled out of a bag or bundle, and read accordingly. In some cases, different runes are associated with different deities, one of the nine realms, or aspects of life. It is common for Heathens to utilize the Common Germanic Futhark as a runic alphabet, although some practitioners instead adopt the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc or the Younger Futhark. Some non-Heathens also use runes for divinatory purposes, with books on the subject being common in New Age bookstores. Some Heathens practice magic, but this is not regarded as an intrinsic part of Heathenry because it was not a common feature of pre-Christian rituals in Iron Age and Early Medieval Germanic Europe. ### Festivals Different Germanic Neopagan groups celebrate different festivals according to their cultural and religious focus. The most widely observed Heathen festivals are Winter Nights, Yule, and Sigrblót, all of which were listed in his Heimskringla and are thus of ancient origin. The first of these marks the start of winter in northern Europe, while the second marks Midwinter, and the last marks the beginning of summer. Additional festivals are also marked by Heathen practice throughout the year. These often include days which commemorate individuals who fought against the Christianization of northern Europe, or who led armies and settlers into new lands. Some Heathen groups hold festivals dedicated to a specific deity. Some Heathens celebrate the eight festivals found in the Wheel of the Year, a tradition that they share with Wiccans and other contemporary Pagan groups. Others celebrate only six of these festivals, as represented by a six-spoked Wheel of the Year. The use of such festivals is criticized by other practitioners, who highlight that this system is of modern, mid-20th century origin and does not link with the original religious celebrations of the pre-Christian Germanic world. Heathen festivals can be held on the same day each year, however are often celebrated by Heathen communities on the nearest available weekend, so that those practitioners who work during the week can attend. During these ceremonies, Heathens often recite poetry to honor the deities, which typically draw upon or imitate the Early Medieval poems written in Old Norse or Old English. Mead or ale is also typically drunk, with offerings being given to deities, while fires, torches, or candles are often lit. There are also regional meetings of Heathens known as Things. At these, religious rites are performed, while workshops, stalls, feasts, and competitive games are also present. In the U.S., there are two national gatherings, Althing and Trothmoot. ## Racial issues The question of race represents a major source of division among Heathens, particularly in the United States. Within the Heathen community, one viewpoint holds that race is entirely a matter of biological heredity, while the opposing position is that race is a social construct rooted in cultural heritage. In U.S. Heathen discourse, these viewpoints are described as the folkish and the universalist positions, respectively. These two factions—which Kaplan termed the "racialist" and "nonracialist" camps—often clash, with Kaplan claiming that a "virtual civil war" existed between them within the American Heathen community. The universalist and folkish division has also spread to other countries, although has had less impact in the more ethnically homogeneous Iceland. A 2015 survey revealed a greater number of Heathens subscribed to universalist ideas than folkish ones. Contrasting with this binary division, Gardell divides Heathenry in the United States into three groups according to their stances on race: the "anti-racist" group which denounces any association between the religion and racial identity, the "radical racist" faction which sees it as the natural religion of the Aryan race that should not be followed by members of any other racial group, and the "ethnic" faction which seeks a middle-path by acknowledging the religion's roots in northern Europe and its connection with those of northern European heritage. The religious studies scholar Stefanie von Schnurbein adopted Gardell's tripartite division, although referred to the groups as the "a-racist", "racial-religious", and "ethnicist" factions respectively. Exponents of the universalist, anti-racist approach believe that the deities of Germanic Europe can call anyone to their worship, regardless of ethnic background. This group rejects the folkish emphasis on race, believing that even if unintended, it can lead to the adoption of racist attitudes toward those of non-northern European ancestry. Universalist practitioners such as Stephan Grundy have emphasized the fact that ancient northern Europeans were known to marry and have children with members of other ethnic groups, and that in Norse mythology the Æsir also did the same with Vanir, Jötun, and humans, thus using such points to critique the racialist view. Universalists welcome practitioners of Heathenry who are not of northern European ancestry; for instance, there are Jewish and African American members of the U.S.-based Troth, while many of its white members have spouses from different racial groups. While sometimes retaining the idea of Heathenry as an indigenous religion, proponents of this view have sometimes argued that Heathenry is indigenous to the land of northern Europe, rather than indigenous to any specific race. Universalist Heathens often express frustration that some journalists depict Heathenry as an intrinsically racist movement, and use their online presence to stress their opposition to far-right politics. Folkish practitioners deem Heathenry to be the indigenous religion of a biologically distinct race, which is conceptualised as being "white", "Nordic", or "Aryan". Some practitioners explain this by asserting that the religion is intrinsically connected to the collective unconscious of this race, with prominent American Heathen Stephen McNallen developing this into a concept which he termed "metagenetics". McNallen and many others in the "ethnic" faction of Heathenry explicitly deny that they are racist, although Gardell noted that their views would be deemed racist under certain definitions of the word. Gardell considered many "ethnic" Heathens to be ethnic nationalists, and many folkish practitioners express disapproval of multiculturalism and the mixture of different races in modern Europe, advocating racial separatism. This group's discourse contains much talk of "ancestors" and "homelands", concepts that may be very vaguely defined. Ethno-centrist Heathens are heavily critical of their universalist counterparts, often declaring that the latter have been misled by New Age literature and political correctness. Those adopting the "ethnic" folkish position have been criticized by both universalist and ethno-centrist factions, the former deeming "ethnic" Heathenry a front for racism and the latter deeming its adherents race traitors for their failure to fully embrace white supremacism. Some folkish Heathens are white supremacists and explicit racists, representing a "radical racist" faction that favours the terms Odinism, Wotanism, and Wodenism. These individuals inhabit "the most distant reaches" of modern Paganism, according to Kaplan. The borders between this form of Heathenry and National Socialism (Nazism) are "exceedingly thin", with its adherents having paid tribute to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, claimed that the white race is facing extinction at the hands of a Jewish world conspiracy, and rejected Christianity as a creation of the Jews. Many in the inner circle of The Order, a white supremacist militia active in the U.S. during the 1980s, called themselves Odinists, and various racist Heathens have espoused the Fourteen Words slogan developed by the Order member David Lane. Some white supremacist organisations, such as the Order of Nine Angles and the Black Order, combine elements of Heathenism with Satanism, although other racist Heathens, such as Wotansvolk's Ron McVan, reject the integration of these differing religions. ## History ### Romanticist and Völkisch predecessors During the late 18th and 19th centuries, German Romanticism focused increasing attention on the pre-Christian belief systems of Germanic Europe, with various Romanticist intellectuals expressing the opinion that these ancient religions were "more natural, organic and positive" than Christianity. Such an attitude was promoted by the scholarship of Romanticist intellectuals like Johann Gottfried Herder, Jacob Grimm, and Wilhelm Grimm. This development went in tandem with a growth in nationalism and the idea of the volk, contributing to the establishment of the Völkisch movement in German-speaking Europe. Criticising the Jewish roots of Christianity, in 1900 the Germanist Ernst Wachler published a pamphlet calling for the revival of a racialized ancient German religion. Other writers such as Ludwig Fahrenkrog supported his claims, resulting in the formation of both the Bund für Persönlichkeitskultur (League for the Culture of the Personality) and the Deutscher Orden in 1911 and then the Germanische-Deutsche Religionsgemeinschaft (Germanic-German Religious Community) in 1912. Another development of Heathenry emerged within the occult völkisch movement known as Ariosophy. One of these völkisch Ariosophists was the Austrian occultist Guido von List, who established a religion that he termed "Wotanism", with an inner core that he referred to as "Armanism". List's Wotanism was based heavily on the Eddas, although over time it was increasingly influenced by the Theosophical Society's teachings. List's ideas were transmitted in Germany by prominent right-wingers, and adherents to his ideas were among the founders of the Reichshammerbund in Leipzig in 1912, and they included individuals who held key positions in the Germanenorden. The Thule Society founded by Rudolf von Sebottendorf developed from the Germanenorden, and it displayed a Theosophically influenced interpretation of Norse mythology. In 1933, the eclectic German Faith Movement (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung) was founded by the religious studies scholar Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, who wanted to unite these disparate Heathen groups. While active throughout the Nazi era, his hopes that his "German Faith" would be declared the official faith of Nazi Germany were thwarted. The Heathen movement probably never had more than a few thousand followers during its 1920s heyday, however it held the allegiance of many middle-class intellectuals, including journalists, artists, illustrators, scholars, and teachers, and thus exerted a wider influence on German society. The völkisch occultists—among them Pagans like List and Christians like Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels—"contributed importantly to the mood of the Nazi era". Few had a direct influence on the Nazi Party leadership, with one prominent exception: Karl Maria Wiligut was both a friend and a key influence on the Schutzstaffel (SS) leader Heinrich Himmler. Wiligut professed ancestral-clairvoyant memories of ancient German society, proclaiming that "Wotanism" was in conflict with another ancient religion, "Irminenschaft", which was devoted to a messianic Germanic figure known as Krist, who was later wrongly transformed into the figure of Jesus. Many Heathen groups disbanded during the Nazi period, and they were only able to re-establish themselves after World War II, in West Germany, where freedom of religion had been re-established. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, there was a social stigma surrounding völkisch ideas and groups, along with a common perception that the mythologies of the pre-Christian Germanic societies had been tainted through their usage by the Nazi administration, an attitude that to some extent persisted into the 21st century. The völkisch movement also manifested itself in 1930s Norway within the milieu surrounding such groups as the Ragnarok Circle and Hans S. Jacobsen's Tidsskriftet Ragnarok journal. Prominent figures involved in this milieu were the writer Per Imerslund and the composer Geirr Tveitt, although it left no successors in post-war Norway. A variant of "Odinism" was developed by the Australian Alexander Rud Mills, who published The Odinist Religion (1930) and established the Anglecyn Church of Odin. Politically racialist, Mills viewed Odinism as a religion for what he considered to be the "British race", and he deemed it to be in a cosmic battle with the Judeo-Christian religion. Having formulated "his own unique blend" of Ariosophy, Mills was heavily influenced by von List's writings. Some of Heathenry's roots have also been traced back to the "back to nature" movement of the early 20th century, among them the Kibbo Kift and the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry. ### Modern development In the early 1970s, Heathen organisations emerged in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Iceland, largely independently from each other. This has been partly attributed to the wider growth of the modern Pagan movement during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the development of the New Age milieu, both of which encouraged the establishment of new religious movements intent on reviving pre-Christian belief systems. Further Heathen groups then emerged in the 1990s and 2000s, many of which distanced themselves from overtly political agendas and placed a stronger emphasis on historical authenticity than their 1960s and 1970s forebears. Heathenry emerged in the United States during the 1960s. In 1969 the Danish Heathen Else Christensen established the Odinist Fellowship at her home in the U.S. state of Florida. Heavily influenced by Mills' writings, she began publishing a magazine, The Odinist, which placed greater emphasis on right-wing and racialist ideas than theological ones. Stephen McNallen first founded the Viking Brotherhood in the early 1970s, before creating the Asatru Free Assembly in 1976, which broke up in 1986 amid widespread political disagreements after McNallen's repudiation of neo-Nazis within the group. In the 1990s, McNallen founded the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), an ethnically oriented Heathen group headquartered in California. Meanwhile, Valgard Murray and his kindred in Arizona founded the Ásatrú Alliance (AA) in the late 1980s, which shared the AFA's perspectives on race and which published the Vor Tru newsletter. In 1987, Stephen Flowers and James Chisholm founded The Troth, which was incorporated in Texas. Taking an inclusive, non-racialist view, it soon grew into an international organisation. In Iceland, the influence of pre-Christian belief systems still pervaded the country's cultural heritage into the 20th century. There, farmer Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson founded the Heathen group Ásatrúarfélagið in 1972, which initially had 12 members. Beinteinsson served as Allsherjargodi (chief priest) until his death in 1993, when he was succeeded by Jormundur Ingi Hansen. As the group expanded in size, Hansen's leadership caused schisms, and to retain the unity of the movement, he stepped down and was replaced by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson in 2003, by which time Ásatrúarfélagið had accumulated 777 members and played a visible role in Icelandic society. In England, the British Committee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite was established by John Yeowell in 1972. In 1992, Mark Mirabello published Odin Brotherhood, which claimed the existence of a secret society of Odinists; most British Heathens doubt its existence. In Sweden, the first Heathen groups developed in the 1970s; early examples included the Breidablikk-Gildet (Guild of Breidablikk) founded in 1975 and the Telge Fylking founded in 1987, the latter of which diverged from the former by emphasising a non-racialist interpretation of the religion. In 1994, the Sveriges Asatrosamfund (Swedish Asatru Assembly) was founded, growing to become the largest Heathen organisation in the country. The first Norwegian Heathen group, Blindern Åsatrulag, was established as a student group at the University of Oslo in the mid-1980s, while the larger Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost was established in 1996; after a schism in that group, the Foreningen Forn Sed, now Forn Sed Norge, was formed in 1998. In Denmark, a small group was founded near to Copenhagen in 1986, however a wider Heathen movement would not appear until the 1990s, when a group calling itself Forn Siðr developed. In Germany, various groups were established that explicitly rejected their religion's völkisch and right-wing past, most notably Rabenclan (Raven's Clan) in 1994 and Nornirs Ætt (Kin of the Norns) in 2005. Several foreign Heathen organisations also established a presence in the German Heathen scene; in 1994 the Odinic Rite Deutschland (Odinic Rite Germany) was founded, although it later declared its independence and became the Verein für germanisches Heidentum (VfgH; Society for Germanic Paganism), while the Troth also created a German group, Eldaring, which declared its independence in 2000. The first organised Heathen groups in the Czech Republic emerged in the late 1990s. From 2000 to 2008, a Czech Heathen group that adopted a Pan-Germanic approach to the religion was active under the name of Heathen Hearts from Biohaemum. Heathen influences were apparent in forms of black metal from the 1990s, where lyrics and themes often expressed a longing for a pre-Christian "Northern past"; the mass media typically associated this music genre with Satanism. The Pagan metal genre—which emerged from the fragmentation of the extreme metal scene in northern Europe during the early 1990s—came to play an important role in the North European Pagan scene. Many musicians involved in Viking metal were also practicing Heathens, with many metal bands embracing the heroic masculinity embodied in Norse mythological figures like Odin and Thor. Heathen themes also appeared in the neofolk genre. From the mid-1990s, the Internet greatly aided the propagation of Heathenry in various parts of the world. That decade also saw the strong growth of racist Heathenry among those incarcerated within the U.S. prison system as a result of outreach programs established by various Heathen groups, a project begun in the 1980s. During this period, many Heathen groups also began to interact increasingly with other ethnic-oriented Pagan groups in Eastern Europe, such as Lithuanian Romuva, and many joined the World Congress of Ethnic Religions upon its formation in 1998. ## Demographics Adherents of Heathenry can be found in Europe, North America, and Australasia, with more recent communities also establishing in Latin America. They are mostly found in those areas with a Germanic cultural inheritance, although they are present in several other regions. In 2007, the religious studies scholar Graham Harvey stated that it was impossible to develop a precise figure for the number of Heathens across the world. A self-selected census in 2013 found 16,700 members in 98 countries, the bulk of whom lived in the United States. In 2016, Schnurbein stated that there were probably no more than 20,000 Heathens globally. Schnurbein noted that, while there were some exceptions, most Heathen groups were 60–70% male in their composition. On the basis of his sociological research, Joshua Marcus Cragle agreed that the religion contained a greater proportion of men than women, but observed that there was a more even balance between the two in northern and western Europe than in other regions. He also found that the Heathen community contained a greater percentage of transgender individuals, at 2%, than is estimated to be present in the wider population. Similarly, Cragle's research found a greater proportion of LGBT practitioners within Heathenry (21%) than wider society, although noted that the percentage was lower than in other forms of modern Paganism. Cragle also found that in every region except Latin America, the majority of Heathens were middle-aged, and that most were of European descent. Many Heathens cite a childhood interest in German folk tales or Norse myths as having led them to take an interest in Heathenry; others have instead attributed their introduction to depictions of Norse religion in popular culture. Some others claim to have involved themselves in the religion after experiencing direct revelation through dreams, which they interpret as having been provided by the gods. As with other religions, a sensation of "coming home" has also been reported by many Heathens who have converted to the movement, however Calico thought such a narrative was "not characteristic" of most U.S. Heathens. Pizza suggested that, on the basis of her research among the Heathen community in the American Midwest, that many Euro-American practitioners were motivated to join the movement both out of a desire to "find roots" within historical European cultures and to meet "a genuine need for spiritual connections and community". Cragle's 2015 survey indicated that 45% of Heathens had been raised as Christians, although 21% had previously had no religious affiliation or been atheists or agnostics. Practitioners typically live within Christian majority societies, however often state that Christianity has little to offer them. In referring to Heathens in the U.S., Snook, Thad Horrell, and Kristen Horton noted that practitioners "almost always formulate oppositional identities" to Christianity. Through her research, Schnurbein found that during the 1980s many Heathens in Europe had been motivated to join the religion in part by their own anti-Christian ethos, but that this attitude had become less prominent among the Heathen community as the significance of the Christian churches had declined in Western nations after that point. Conversely, in 2018 Calico noted that a "deep antipathy" to Christianity was still "quite close to the surface for many American Heathens", with anti-Christian sentiment often being expressed through humor in that community. Many Heathens are also involved in historical reenactment, focusing on the early medieval societies of Germanic Europe; others are critical of this practice, believing that it blurs the boundary between real life and fantasy. Some adherents also practice Heathenry in tandem with other Pagan religions, such as Wicca or Druidry, but many others look unfavorably on such religions for being too syncretic. ### North America The United States likely contains the largest Heathen community in the world. While deeming it impossible to calculate the exact size of the Heathen community in the U.S., in the mid-1990s the sociologist Jeffrey Kaplan estimated that there were around 500 active practitioners in the country, with a further thousand individuals on the periphery of the movement. He noted that the overwhelming majority of individuals in the American Heathen community were white, male, and young. Most had at least an undergraduate degree, and worked in a mix of white collar and blue collar jobs. The Pagan Census project led by Helen A. Berger, Evan A. Leach, and Leigh S. Shaffer gained 60 responses from Heathens in the U.S. Of these respondents, 65% were male and 35% female, which Berger, Leach, and Shaffer noted was the "opposite" of the female majority trend within the rest of the country's Pagan community. The majority had a college education, but were generally less well educated than the wider Pagan community, and also had a lower median income. From her experience within the community, Snook concurred that the majority of American Heathens were male, adding that most were white and middle-aged, but believed that there had been a growth in the proportion of female Heathens in the U.S. since the mid-1990s. Subsequent assessments have suggested a larger support base; 10,000 to 20,000 according to McNallen in 2006, and 7,878 according to the 2014 census. In 2018, the scholar of religion Jefferson F. Calico suggested that it was likely there were between 8000 and 20,000 Heathens in the U.S. ### Europe In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 300 people registered as Heathen in England and Wales. Many Heathens followed the advice of the Pagan Federation (PF) and simply described themselves as "Pagan", while other Heathens did not specify their religious beliefs. In the 2011 census, 1,958 people self-identified as Heathen in England and Wales. By 2003, the Icelandic Heathen organisation Ásatrúarfélagið had 777 members, by 2015, it reported 2,400 members, and by January 2017 it claimed 3,583 members, constituting just over 1% of the Icelandic population. In Iceland, Heathenry has an impact larger than the number of its adherents. Based on his experience researching Danish Heathens, Amster stated that while it was possible to obtain membership figures of Heathen organisations, it was "impossible to estimate" the number of unaffiliated solo practitioners. Conversely, in 2015, Gregorius estimated that there were at most a thousand Heathens in Sweden—both affiliated and unaffiliated—however observed that practitioners often perceived their numbers as being several times higher than this. Although noting that there were no clear figures available for the gender balance within the community, he cited practitioners who claim that there are more men active within Swedish Heathen organisations. Schnurbein observed that most Heathens in Scandinavia were middle-class professionals aged between thirty and sixty. There are a small number of Heathens in Poland, where they have established a presence on social media. The majority of these Polish Heathens belong to the non-racist wing of the movement. There are also a few Heathens in the Slovenian Pagan scene, where they are outnumbered by practitioners of Slavic Native Faith. Exponents of Heathenry are also found on websites in Serbia. In Russia, several far-right groups merge elements from Heathenry with aspects adopted from Slavic Native Faith and Russian Orthodox Christianity. There are also several Heathens in the Israeli Pagan scene. ## See also - Assianism - Celtic neopaganism - Common Germanic deities - Frith - Polytheistic reconstructionism - Roman Polytheistic Reconstructionism - Tengrism
1,587,397	Menkauhor Kaiu	1,173,560,214	Pharaoh of Egypt	[ "24th-century BC Pharaohs", "25th-century BC Pharaohs", "Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt" ]	Menkauhor Kaiu (also known as Ikauhor and in Greek as Mencherês, Μεγχερῆς) was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Old Kingdom period. He was the seventh ruler of the Fifth Dynasty at the end of the 25th century BC or early in the 24th century BC (circa 2399–2390 BC). Menkauhor ruled for possibly eight or nine years, following king Nyuserre Ini, and was succeeded in turn by Djedkare Isesi. Although Menkauhor is well attested by historical sources, few artefacts from his reign have survived. Consequently, his familial relation to his predecessor and successor is unclear, and no offspring of his have been identified. Khentkaus III may have been Menkauhor's mother, as indicated by evidence discovered in her tomb in 2015. Beyond the construction of monuments, the only known activity dated to Menkauhor's reign is an expedition to the copper and turquoise mines in Sinai. Menkauhor ordered the construction of a sun temple, called the "Akhet-Ra", meaning "The Horizon of Ra". The last to be built, this sun temple, known from inscriptions found in the tombs of its priests, is yet to be located. Menkauhor was buried in a small pyramid in Saqqara, which the Ancient Egyptians named Netjer-Isut Menkauhor, "The Divine Places of Menkauhor". Known today as the Headless Pyramid, the ruin had been lost under shifting sands until its rediscovery in 2008. The figure of Menkauhor was at the centre of a long lasting funerary cult until the end of the Old Kingdom period, with at least seven agricultural domains producing goods for the necessary offerings. The cult of a deified Menkauhor, then known by the titles "Strong Lord of the Two Lands, Menkauhor the Justified" reappeared during the New Kingdom period (c. 1550 – c. 1077 BC), and lasted until at least the Nineteenth Dynasty (c. 1292 – c. 1077 BC), some 1200 years after his death. ## Attestations ### Historical Menkauhor is attested by three hieroglyphic sources, all from the much later New Kingdom period. His name is given on the 31st entry of the Abydos King List, which was inscribed on the walls of a temple during the reign of Seti I (1290–1279 BC). He is also mentioned on the Saqqara Tablet (30th entry) and on the Turin canon (third column, 23rd row), both of which were written during the reign of Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC). The Turin canon credits Menkauhor with a reign of eight years. These sources indicate that Menkauhor succeeded Nyuserre Ini and preceded Djedkare Isesi on the throne, making him the seventh pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty. Menkauhor was likely mentioned in the Aegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II (283–246 BC) by the Egyptian priest Manetho, but no copies of the text survive, and it is known only through later writings by Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius. Africanus relates that the Aegyptiaca mentioned a pharaoh "Mencherês" reigning for nine years as the seventh king of the Fifth Dynasty. Mencherês is believed to be a Hellenized form of Menkauhor, and Africanus' nine-year figure fits well with the eight years of reign given to Menkauhor on the Turin canon, the latter figure being considered by some Egyptologists, including Hartwig Altenmüller, as more likely than the former. ### Contemporaneous Relatively few attestations dating to Menkauhor's reign have survived compared to the other kings of the Fifth Dynasty. Nonetheless, Menkauhor's name is well attested in the names and titles of priests and officials of the Fifth Dynasty as well as in the names of the agricultural estates associated with his funerary cult. Surviving artefacts contemporaneous with Menkauhor's reign include two stone vessels inscribed with his name from the mortuary temple of Neferefre – possibly gifts from Menkauhor for the funerary cult of Neferefre– as well as a few sealings from the same temple and from an area known as "Djedkare's Family Cemetery" in Abusir. Cylinder seal impressions showing Menkauhor's Horus name or the name of his pyramid have also been unearthed in the mortuary complex of Nyuserre Ini, and in the necropolises of Giza and Gebelein. A gold cylinder seal bearing Menkauhor's cartouche as part of the name of his pyramid together with the serekh of Djedkare Isesi is now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The seal, purportedly discovered near the Pactolus river valley in western Anatolia, could attest to wide-ranging trade-contacts during the Fifth Dynasty, but its provenance remains unverifiable. The only secure depiction of the king dating to the Old Kingdom that has survived to this day is a rough, possibly unfinished, alabaster statuette showing Menkauhor enthroned and wearing the tight-fitting ceremonial robe of the Heb-sed. The statue was discovered in a cachette built during the late New Kingdom beneath the floor of a room to the west of the sacred lake at the temple of Ptah in Memphis. The Egyptologist Jocelyn Berlandini proposed that another statuette, usually attributed to Teti, belongs instead to Menkauhor Kaiu. Berlandini bases her hypothesis on stylistic grounds, noting the resemblance with Menkauhor's seated statue, as well as the location of the second statue, which was uncovered east of Teti's pyramid, in close proximity to Menkauhor's pyramid. Monumental attestations of Menkauhor are limited to a rock inscription at the Wadi Maghareh in Sinai, showing his titulary and a rough stele inscribed with his cartouche from Mastaba 904 at Saqqara. ## Family ### Name The name of Menkauhor is a departure from those of other kings of the Fifth Dynasty. Menkauhor, whose name means "Eternal are the Kas of Horus", is the first pharaoh in 80 years whose name does not refer to the sun god Ra. The name of Menkauhor instead finds its peers among the princes of the Fifth Dynasty with, for example, prince Khentykauhor "The forces of Horus are at the fore", a son of Nyuserre Ini, and prince Neserkauhor, a son of Djedkare Isesi. ### Filiation Owing to the paucity of contemporaneous sources for Menkauhor, his relation to his predecessor, Nyuserre Ini, and to his successor, Djedkare Isesi, cannot be ascertained beyond doubt. Menkauhor may have been a son of Nyuserre Ini; indeed Nyuserre Ini is known to have fathered a prince Khentykauhor as shown by a relief mentioning the prince from the mortuary complex of queen Khentkaus II, the mother of Nyuserre Ini. The similarity of Khentykauhor's name to that of Menkauhor led the Egyptologists Miroslav Verner and Vivienne Callender to propose that the two are the same person, with Khentykauhor taking the name "Menkauhor" upon ascending the throne. This hypothesis is possibly contradicted by an inscription discovered in 2008 in the mastaba of Werkaure, the eldest son of an unnamed king. The inscription mentions a "Menkauhor", but does not ascribe any royal attributes to him. The Egyptologists Hana Vymazalová and Filip Coppens suggest this might refer to the future pharaoh Menkauhor Kaiu at a time when he was still a prince. They note that Menkauhor might have offered high-quality stone blocks for the construction of the tomb of his (possible) relative, which would explain the inscription. This contradicts the identification of Menkauhor with Khentykauhor; Vymazalová and Coppens theorize that Khentykauhor and Menkauhor were brothers and sons of Nyuserre Ini. The identity of Menkauhor's mother is equally uncertain. In January 2015 the tomb of the "King's wife" and "King's mother", Khentkaus III, was discovered by a team of Czech archaeologists in the necropolis surrounding the pyramid of Neferefre in Abusir. Mud seals in the tomb indicate that Khentkaus III was buried during Nyuserre Ini's reign. Since Nyuserre Ini's own mother is known to have been Khentkaus II, the discovery suggests that she was Menkauhor Kaiu's mother. The position of her tomb close to the pyramid of Neferefre could indicate that she was this king's consort and thus that Neferefre was Menkauhor's father. ### Consorts No queen consort of Menkauhor has been identified for certain. The Egyptologist Wilfried Seipel has proposed that Khuit I was a queen of Menkauhor. Based on the dating of the tombs surrounding Khuit's burial, Seipel argues that she lived during the mid-Fifth Dynasty. By the process of elimination, he attributes known queens to each king of the period, which leaves only Menkauhor as a candidate for her king. These arguments are criticized by the Egyptologist Michel Baud, who observes that pharaohs could have had more than one queen. Queen Meresankh IV has also been suggested as a consort for Menkauhor based on the dating and location of her tomb in Saqqara. It is possible however that she was a wife of Djedkare Isesi. ### Descendants There is no evidence either for or against the hypothesis that Menkauhor's successor Djedkare Isesi was his son. Two sons have been suggested for Menkauhor based on the dating and general location of their tombs in Saqqara: princes Raemka and Kaemtjenent, both believed to be children of Meresankh IV. By the same reasoning, they could instead be sons of Djedkare Isesi. ## Reign ### Duration Given the scarcity of contemporaneous attestations for Menkauhor, modern Egyptologists consider his reign to have been perhaps eight or nine years long, as indicated by the much later historical sources. The small seated statue of Menkauhor wearing the robe of the Sed festival might suggest a longer reign, since this festival was typically celebrated only after a ruler had spent 30 years on the throne. However, Egyptologist Hartwig Altenmüller deems this hypothesis unlikely. Mere depictions of the festival do not necessarily imply a long reign; for example, a relief showing pharaoh Sahure in the tunic of the Sed festival was found in his mortuary temple, although both historical sources and archaeological evidence suggest Sahure ruled Egypt for less than 14 full years. ### Activities Owing to the scarcity of artefacts and inscriptions relating to Menkauhor's reign, few of his activities are known. Menkauhor sent an expedition to Sinai to exploit the mines of turquoise and copper in the Wadi Maghareh. The expedition is evidenced by a damaged rock inscription showing Menkauhor's titulary which is one of the few attestations dating to his lifetime. The mines of Sinai had been exploited since the Third Dynasty (2686 BC–2613 BC), and both Menkauhor's predecessor Nyuserre Ini and successor Djedkare Isesi sent expeditions to the Wadi Maghareh. ## Construction activities Menkauhor Kaiu is known to have ordered the construction of two major monuments during his reign: a sun temple for the veneration of Ra and a pyramid for his burial, known today as the "Headless Pyramid". ### Sun temple Following a tradition which started with Userkaf, the founder of the Fifth Dynasty, Menkauhor built a temple to the sun god Ra. He was the last pharaoh to do so. His successors, Djedkare Isesi and Unas, abandoned this practice as the cult of Ra declined at the expense of that of Osiris. Given the paucity of documents relating to Menkauhor's sun temple, it probably functioned for only a short time or was never completed. Menkauhor's sun temple was called Akhet-Ra, which is variously translated as "The Horizon of Ra" or "The Place where Ra Issues Forth". The temple has yet to be located and could be lying under the sands of Saqqara or Abusir. Its existence is known thanks to inscriptions found in the tombs of Fifth and Sixth Dynasties officials who served as priests of Ra in the temple. These include Hemu, buried in Giza, and Neferiretptah and Raemankh, who were both buried in Saqqara-north. In addition to his service in the Akhet-Ra, Neferiretptah was a priest in Menkauhor's pyramid and held the office of "royal ornament", making him responsible for the precious items in the palace of the king. Besides these inscriptions, a single seal bearing the name of the Akhet-Ra is known from the tomb of princess Khamerernebti, located near the mortuary temple of Niuserre in Abusir. The seal was placed on a large vessel indicating that provisions for the tombs of members of the royal family were dispatched from Menkauhor's temple to Niuserre's pyramid complex. ### Pyramid Menkauhor Kaiu built a pyramid in North-Saqqara, thereby abandoning the royal necropolis of Abusir, where kings of the Fifth Dynasty had been buried since the reign of Sahure, some 80 years earlier. The reason for this choice may be that the Abusir plateau had become overcrowded by the beginning of Menkauhor's reign. Originally named Netjer-isut-Menkauhor by the Ancient Egyptians, meaning "The divine places of Menkauhor", the pyramid is known today as Lepsius XXIX after the number given to it by the archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius who discovered the pyramid in 1843. Owing to the ruined state of the structure, it is known in Arabic as the "Headless Pyramid", a name that has been retained. The pyramid was lost under shifting sands in the early 20th century and its attribution to Menkauhor was consequently debated. Instead, it was proposed that the Headless Pyramid was that of Merikare, a structure dating to the First Intermediate Period and which has yet to be found. In 2008, the structure identified by Lepsius was rediscovered by a team of archaeologists under the direction of Zahi Hawass, and excavations at the site quickly established a Fifth Dynasty date as indicated by the construction techniques used in its making. Although the excavations failed to yield the name of the king who built the pyramid, Menkauhor was the last pharaoh of the dynasty whose pyramid remained undiscovered. Thus, proceeding by elimination, archeologists and egyptologists have formally recognized the Headless Pyramid as that of Menkauhor. The pyramid is estimated to have been around 50–60 m (160–200 ft) at the base, so that the edifice would have stood 40–50 m (130–160 ft) high at the time of its construction, making it one of the smallest royal pyramids of the Old Kingdom. There is evidence that Menkauhor had the time to complete his pyramid, whose small dimensions are thus consistent with his short eight to nine years of reign. On the north side lies the entrance to the underground chamber system, which was sealed by two granite portcullises indicating that a burial took place. A broken sarcophagus lid of blue-grey basalt was found in the burial chamber by Cecil Mallaby Firth during his brief excavations of the pyramid in 1930. ## Funerary cult ### Old Kingdom After his death Menkauhor enjoyed a funerary cult centered on his pyramid complex. The cult lasted at least until the second half of the Sixth Dynasty, nearly 150 years later. Provisions for this cult were produced in dedicated agricultural domains that were established during Menkauhor's lifetime. Products of these domains were delivered to Menkauhor's sun and mortuary temples and distributed to the priests of the cult, who could use them for their sustenance or their own funerary cults. Personified representations of Menkauhor's agricultural domains are depicted bringing offerings on the walls of the mastabas of these priests. Most of the depictions are located in Saqqara North, near the pyramid complex of Djoser. This area comprises the tombs of Neferiretptah, Raemankh, Duare, Iti, Sekhemnefer, Snofrunefer, Akhethotep, Ptahhotep and Qednes, all priests of the funerary cult of Menkauhor. Further tombs of priests of this cult are found to the north, in Abusir South, with the mastaba of Isesiseneb and Rahotep and in Giza. The complete names of at least seven domains of Menkauhor are known: "Ikauhor is perfect in favor" and "the favor of Ikauhor", both mentioned in the tombs of Ptahhotep and Akhethotep; "Ikauhor is perfect of life", from the tomb of Ptahhotep II; "Horus Qemaa causes Ikauhor to live"; "Ikauhor is strong"; "Seshat loves Ikauhor" and "Matyt loves Ikauhor" from the tombs of viziers Senedjemib Inti, Senedjemib Mehi and Hemu in Giza. In addition the Ḥwt domain of the king, which comprises the land holdings of the mortuary temple of Menkauhor, was named "Menkauhor is perfect of appearances". ### New Kingdom The cult of Menkauhor enjoyed a revival during the New Kingdom period (1550–1077 BC). At this point Menkauhor had been deified as a local god of the Saqqara necropolis acting as a divine intercessor, and qualified of "Strong Lord of the Two Lands, Menkauhor the Justified". This cult is evidenced by reliefs showing Menkauhor in the tombs of the "Chief of the artisans and jewelers" Ameneminet and of the physician Thuthu in Saqqara-North, both of whom lived at the time of the late Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1292 BC), during the reigns of Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb. An inscribed block dating to the later Ramesside period (1292–1077 BC) and now in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, was uncovered by Lepsius in a house in Abusir and shows Menkauhor enthroned beside four other deified kings of the Old Kingdom: the name of the first, partially lost, but probably Sneferu is then followed by Djedefre, Menkaure, Menkauhor and finally Neferkare. The owner of the tomb stands before the kings, in worship. Another relief dating to the same period shows a similar scene. It was inscribed on the lintel of the tomb chapel of Mahy buried in Saqqara North. Four deified kings of the Old Kingdom are shown, all of whom built their pyramids at Saqqara: Djoser, Teti, Userkaf and Menkauhor. The persistence of the cult of Menkauhor during the late Eighteenth to Nineteenth Dynasty possibly results from the location of his pyramid, which stood on the way to the necropolis of the Apis bulls, which later became the Serapeum. ## See also - List of pharaohs
43,154,197	Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman	1,164,606,538	American Civil War soldier	[ "1845 births", "1863 deaths", "American Civil War prisoners of war", "American military personnel of Native Hawaiian descent", "Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery", "Deaths from pneumonia in Maryland", "Hawaiian Kingdom people", "People from Hilo, Hawaii", "People from Roxbury, Boston", "People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War", "People of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the American Civil War", "Union Army soldiers", "Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War" ]	Timothy Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman (March 18, 1845 – February 27, 1863) was an American Union Army soldier of Native Hawaiian descent. Considered one of the "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War", he was among a group of more than one hundred documented Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants who fought in the American Civil War while the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was still an independent nation. Born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, he was the eldest son of Kinoʻoleoliliha, a Hawaiian high chiefess, and Benjamin Pitman, an American pioneer settler from Massachusetts. Through his father's business success in the whaling and sugar and coffee plantation industries and his mother's familial connections to the Hawaiian royal family, the Pitmans were quite prosperous and owned lands on the island of Hawaiʻi and in Honolulu. He and his older sister Mary were educated in the mission schools in Hilo alongside other children of mixed Hawaiian descent. After the death of his mother in 1855, his father remarried to the widow of a missionary, thus connecting the family to the American missionary community in Hawaiʻi. However, following the deaths of his first wife and later his second wife, his father decided to leave the islands and returned to Massachusetts with his family in 1861. The younger Pitman continued his education in the public schools of Roxbury, where the Pitman family lived for a period of time. Leaving school without his family's knowledge, he made the decision to fight in the Civil War in August 1862. Despite his mixed-race ancestry, Pitman avoided the racial segregation imposed on other Native Hawaiian recruits of the time and enlisted in the 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a white regiment. He served as a private in the Union Army fighting in the Battle of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign. In his company, Private Robert G. Carter befriended the part-Hawaiian soldier and wrote in later life of their common experience in the 22nd Massachusetts. Compiled decades afterward from old letters, Carter's account described the details surrounding his final fate in the war. On the march to Fredericksburg, Pitman was separated from his regiment and captured by Confederate guerrilla forces. He was forced to march to Richmond and incarcerated in the Confederate Libby Prison, where he contracted "lung fever" from the harsh conditions of his imprisonment and died on February 27, 1863, a few months after his release on parole in a prisoner exchange. Modern historians consider Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman to be the only known Hawaiian or Pacific Islander to die as a prisoner of war in the Civil War. For a period of time after the end of the war, the legacy and contributions of Pitman and other documented Hawaiian participants in the American Civil War were largely forgotten except in the private circles of descendants and historians. However, there has been a revival of interest in recent years in the Hawaiian community. In 2010, these "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War" were commemorated with a bronze plaque erected along the memorial pathway at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. ## Early life and family Timothy Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman was born March 18, 1845, in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, the first son and second child of Benjamin Pitman and Kinoʻoleoliliha. Originally a native of Salem, Massachusetts, Pitman's father was an early pioneer, businessman and sugar and coffee plantation owner on the island of Hawaiʻi, who profited greatly from the kingdom's booming whaling industry in the early 1800s. On his father's side, he was a great-grandson of Joshua Pitman (1755–1822), an English-American carpenter on the ship Franklin under Captain Allen Hallett during the American Revolutionary War. On his mother's side, Pitman was a descendant of Kameʻeiamoku, one of the royal twins (with Kamanawa) who advised Kamehameha I in his conquest of the Hawaiian Islands, and also of the early American or English sea captain Harold Cox, who lent his name to George "Cox" Kahekili Keʻeaumoku II, the Governor of Maui. Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman shared his Hawaiian name with his maternal grandfather Hoʻolulu who, along with his brother Hoapili, helped conceal the bones of King Kamehameha I in a secret hiding place after his death. In the Hawaiian language, the name "Hoʻolulu" means "to lie in the sheltered waters". His siblings were Mary Pitman Ailau (1838–1905), Benjamin Franklin Keolaokalani Pitman (1852–1918) and half-sister Maria Kinoʻole Pitman Morey (1858–1892). Because of his father's success in business and his mother's descent from Hawaiian royalty, the Pitman family was considered quite prosperous and were host to the royal family when they visited Hilo. Besides being one of the leading merchants in town, his father also served the government as district magistrate of Hilo. Henry's mother, Kinoʻole, had inherited control over much of the lands in Hilo and Ōlaʻa from her own father, and King Kamehameha III had granted her use of the ahupuaʻa of Hilo after her marriage. During Henry's early childhood, the family lived in the mansion that Benjamin Pitman had built in 1840, in an area known as Niopola, one of the favored resort spots of ancient Hawaiian royalty. The residence also became known as the Spencer House after Pitman sold it to his business partner Captain Thomas Spencer. The property later became the site of the Hilo Hotel, built in 1888 and torn down in 1956. In the 1850s the family moved to the capital of Honolulu where Benjamin Pitman took up banking and built a beautiful two-story house that he named Waialeale ("rippling water") at the corner of Alakea and Beretania Streets. ## Education While in Hawaiʻi, Pitman and his older sister Mary attended Mrs. Wetmore's children's school in Hilo. The school was located at the Wetmores' residence on Church Street. Taught by Lucy Sheldon Taylor Wetmore, the wife of American missionary doctor and government physician Charles Hinckley Wetmore, who had come to Hawaii in 1848 with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), the two elder Pitman children received their education in English rather than Hawaiian. This was unusual since Hawaiian was the official language of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and all other schools in Hilo were conducted in the Hawaiian language. Mrs. Wetmore taught the children reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and singing, while also reinforcing the curriculum with a strong adherence to the principles of the Protestant faith. Like the Pitman siblings, many of their classmates were also of half-Hawaiian (hapa-kanaka) descent with a majority of them being Chinese-Hawaiians (hapa-pake). After the death of his mother Kinoʻole in 1855, Pitman's father remarried to Maria Louisa Walsworth Kinney, the widow of American missionary Rev. Henry Kinney. The Kinneys were part of the Twelfth Company of missionaries from the ABCFM to arrive in 1848. The marriage aligned the Pitman children with the American missionary community. They were called "cousins" by the children of the missionaries and considered part of the extended missionary family of Hawaiʻi. This first stepmother died in 1858 after giving birth to their father's fourth child, a daughter named Maria Kinoʻole (1858–1892). The Pitman family returned to Massachusetts in 1861 after his father remarried to his third wife Martha Ball Paddock, giving his four children another stepmother. Letters by traveler Sophia Cracroft, niece of Lady Jane Franklin, indicated that the Pitman family left for San Francisco, on June 25, 1861, aboard the ship Comet with Cracroft and Lady Franklin and that the elder Pitman "now has a third wife with a baby [Charles Brook Pitman]." According to an 1887 biography written by Robert G. Carter, a private who would later serve in the same company as Pitman, he was neglected after his mother's death by his father and stepmother, who "subjected [him] to neglect and treatment, that with his sensitive nature he could not bear". He continued his education in the public schools of Roxbury, where the Pitman family lived for a period of time. He have proceeded the family in leaving Hawaii. The 1860 United States Census registered Pitman under his teacher Solomon Adams as residing and presumably being educated in Newton, also in the Boston area. Growing into adolescence, he was said to strongly resemble his Hawaiian mother. His enlistment card during the war noted he had a dark complexion, hazel colored eyes, black hair and stood five feet eight inches. Robert G. Carter gave a brief description of his appearance in wartime letters first published in 1897: > [A] tall, slim boy, straight as an arrow. His face was a perfect oval, his hair was as black as a raven's wing, and his eyes were large and of that peculiar soft, melting blackness, which excites pity when one is in distress. His skin was a clear, dark olive, bordering on the swarthy, and this, with his high cheek bones, would have led us to suppose that his nationality was different from our own, had we not known that his name was plain Henry P. There was an air of good breeding and refinement about him, that, with his small hands and feet, would have set us to thinking, had it not been that in our youth and intensely enthusiastic natures, we gave no thought to our comrades' personal appearance. We can look back now and see the shy, reserved nature of the boy, the dark, melancholy eyes, the sad smile, the sensitive twitching of the lips. ## American Civil War After the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi under King Kamehameha IV declared its neutrality on August 26, 1861. But many Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian-born Americans (mainly descendants of the American missionaries), both abroad and in the islands, volunteered and enlisted in the military regiments of various states in the Union and the Confederacy. Individual Native Hawaiians had been serving in the United States Navy and Army since the War of 1812, and even more served during the Civil War. Many Hawaiians sympathized with the Union because of Hawaiʻi's ties to New England through its missionaries and the whaling industry, and the ideological opposition of many to the institution of slavery. ### Enlistment and service On August 14, 1862, Pitman left school without his family's knowledge and volunteered to serve in the Union Army and fight in the Civil War. He apparently never informed his family in advance about the choice to join the war, because the news of his enlistment was reported back in Hawaiʻi's American missionary community as "Henry Pitman has run away from home and gone [to war]." Carter described Pitman's rationale for enlisting: "In the midst of the clamor of war, when the very air vibrated with excitement, the wild enthusiasm of the crowds, and the inspiring sound of the drum, his Indian nature rose within him. His resolve was made." Pitman was a hapa-haole, of part Hawaiian and part Caucasian descent. His father was white and his native-born mother was also part Caucasian from her own mother, who was the daughter of Captain Cox and a Hawaiian chiefess. Despite his mixed-race ancestry, Pitman avoided the racial segregation imposed on other Native Hawaiian volunteers in this period. Most Native Hawaiians who participated in the war were assigned to colored regiments, but Pitman's fair skin color meant he was able to serve in a white unit, indicating that unit assignment may have been influenced by how dark Hawaiians appeared. Historians Bob Dye, James L. Haley and others claimed Pitman was placed in the colored regiments because of his mixed race, but regiment records indicate otherwise. Pitman served as a private in the 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Company H. This regiment was also named the "Henry Wilson's Regiment" after Colonel and U.S. Senator Henry Wilson, who commanded the unit in 1861. Colonel William S. Tilton was the regimental commander during Pitman's brief term of service. The regiment was part of the V Corps of the Army of the Potomac under the senior command of Major General George B. McClellan. During this period, the regiment fought in the Second Battle of Bull Run and was involved in the Maryland Campaign fighting in the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, and the Battle of Shepherdstown. His regiment was on the march to the Battle of Fredericksburg when Pitman was captured by Confederate troops. ### Imprisonment and death The most detailed account of Pitman's final fate in the war came from Robert G. Carter. In November 1862, Pitman was captured near Warrenton Junction on the march toward Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the weeks prior to the Battle of Fredericksburg. He had fallen behind the group because his feet had blistered and swollen due to the tightness of "a pair of thin, high-heeled and narrow soled boots" he had purchased. One of his comrades temporarily stayed behind to care for him but later decided to move on with the rest of the camp for fear of disciplinary consequences of falling out without authority. He was urged to move on, but without much success. Pitman's last words to his comrade were, "I will be in camp by night, good by." His fellow soldiers never saw him again and considered him missing. Shortly after he was left, a band of Confederate guerrillas under Colonel John S. Mosby captured the weary and defenseless soldier without a struggle. The inscription on his tombstone differs slightly from Carter's account, stating he was captured by J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry instead. After Pitman's capture, he was marched to Richmond in a weak physical state. He was imprisoned in the Confederate Libby Prison and Belle Isle, which were notoriously harsh prisons. Pitman's letters home described his place of incarceration as the "Pen" where "the filthy meat [was] thrown to them as if they were dogs". The condition of his incarceration including the shortage of food, lack of sanitation, overcrowding and his physical weakness made him susceptible to virulent diseases present in the Confederate prisons. Carter described how the prisons "wore out the brave spirit". During a prisoner exchange, Pitman was released by the Confederate Army at City Point, Virginia, on December 12, 1862, and then sent to Camp Parole, Annapolis. Suffering from complications due to the conditions of his imprisonment, he contracted "lung fever", which was perhaps pneumonia. Carter wrote later how his friend had "linger[ed] feebly a few weeks, like the flickering of an expiring flame, then quietly pass[ed] away to an eternal life". Pitman died at Camp Parole on February 27, 1863, just weeks short of his eighteenth birthday. According to historians Anita Manning and Justin Vance, Pitman "has the unfortunate distinction of being the only known Hawaiian or Pacific Islander to die as a prisoner of war in the Civil War". Considering him missing, Pitman's regiment did not discover his final fate until news of his funeral at Roxbury was received in the spring of the following year. His remains were returned to his family in Massachusetts after his death in Camp Parole. Benjamin Pitman, his father, had him buried in a family plot in Mount Auburn Cemetery. On one side of the Pitman family grave marker was placed the inscription: > Timothy Henry Pitman > Born at Hilo, Hawaii > Mar. 18, 1845 > Died at Camp Parole > Annapolis, MD, Feb'y 27, 1863 > Aged 17 years 11 mos. 9 days > > A member of Co. H, 22nd Regiment > Mass. Vols., was with his Regiment in the > battles of South Mountain, Antietam and > Sharpsburg. Was taken prisoner by Stuart's > cavalry on the march to Fredricksburg [sic]; > Imprisoned in Libby Prison, paroled and > sent to Camp Parole, Annapolis, and died in > camp of pneumonia. ## Legacy After his death, the memory of Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman was honored by friends and family members back in Massachusetts and Hawaiʻi. During a return to Hawaiʻi in 1917, his younger brother Benjamin Keolaokalani Pitman and his wife Almira Hollander Pitman discovered a grandson of a nephew was named Kealiʻi i Kaua i Pakoma (meaning "Chief that fought the Potomac") in honor of his deceased older brother. Similarly, Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman Beckley, the second son of his Hawaiian first cousin George Charles Moʻoheau Beckley, a grandson of Captain George Charles Beckley, was also named after him. Shortly after his death, Pitman was eulogized back in Hawaiʻi by Martha Ann Chamberlain, Corresponding Secretary of the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society: > Our cousin, Henry Pitman, the first of Hawaii's sons to fall in the war, died at Annapolis Parole Camp, Feb. 27, of lung fever, serving as a soldier in the Union army. His remains were deposited in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, near Boston, Mass. He died in a just cause. Let his memory be embalmed among our band. After the war, the military service of Hawaiians, including Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman, were largely forgotten, disappearing from the collective memories of the American Civil War and the history of Hawaiʻi. However, in recent years, Hawaiian residents and historians and descendants of Hawaiian combatants in the conflict have insisted on the need to remember "our boys from Hawaii". Renewed interest in the stories of these individuals and this particular period of Hawaiian-American history have inspired efforts to preserve the memories of the Hawaiians who served in the war. On August 26, 2010, on the anniversary of the signing of the Hawaiian Neutrality Proclamation, a bronze plaque was erected along the memorial pathway at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu recognizing these "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War", the more than one hundred documented Hawaiians who served during the American Civil War for both the Union and the Confederacy. Pitman's great-grandniece Diane Kinoʻole o Liliha Pitman Spieler attended the ceremony. Pitman Spieler stated, "I'm very proud of a young man of his age – he was quite young – who served in the Civil War for his family." The title character Dr. Peter Blood of Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood trilogy (1922–1936) and resulting film adaptations is credited as being based on Pitman, imagining an alternate history in which he became a pirate, in place of Henry Morgan, inspired by the work of Alexandre Exquemelin. In 2013, Todd Ocvirk, Nanette Napoleon, Justin Vance, Anita Manning and others began the process of creating a historical documentary film about the individual experiences and stories of Hawaii-born soldiers and sailors of the Civil War, including Pitman, Samuel C. Armstrong, Nathaniel Bright Emerson, James Wood Bush, J. R. Kealoha and many other unnamed combatants of both the Union and the Confederacy. In 2014, Maui-based author Wayne Moniz wrote a fictionalized story based on the lives and Civil War service of Hawaiian soldiers like Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman in his book Pukoko: A Hawaiian in the American Civil War. In 2015, the sesquicentennial of the end of the war, the National Park Service released a publication titled Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War about the service of the large number of combatants of Asian and Pacific Islander descent who fought during the war. The history of Hawaiʻi's involvement and the biographies of Pitman, Bush, Kealoha and others were co-written by historians Anita Manning and Justin Vance. ## See also - Hawaii and the American Civil War - Massachusetts in the American Civil War
15,168,230	This Side of the Moon	1,170,255,642	2004 album by Elizabeth Cook	[ "2004 albums", "Elizabeth Cook albums" ]	This Side of the Moon is the third studio album by American singer Elizabeth Cook, released on May 17, 2005, by Hog Country Production. Cook based the album on her experience with the Warner Bros. record label, which had released her second studio album, Hey Y'all in 2002. Initially signed to AOL-Time Warner, she was transferred to Warner Bros. and experienced problems with the label, including an album delay. Hey Y'all was commercially unsuccessful and was not heavily promoted; its songs were not played on country radio. Cook voluntarily left Warner Bros. in 2003, and used her disappointment working in Nashville's Music Row as inspiration for her follow-up album. A country album, This Side of the Moon features lyrics about love and heartbreak. Before being packaged as an album, the songs were recorded independently, with the assistance of five producers in eight Tennessee recording studios. Most of the songs were written by Cook and songwriter Hardie McGehee, both of whom worked for music publisher Sis 'N Bro Music. Critics likened Cook's vocals to those of country artists such as Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. This Side of the Moon had a limited release in August 2004 before becoming more widely available the following year. Cook promoted it with live performances at the Grand Ole Opry and international music festivals. The album received little airplay and, after its release, Cook worked as a waitress to secure steady pay. Critical response at the time was generally positive and, in retrospective articles, reviewers felt This Side of the Moon helped enhance Cook's musical career. ## Background and recording Elizabeth Cook signed a recording contract with Atlantic after receiving positive reviews for The Blue Album, her 2000 self-released debut studio album. The recording sessions for her second studio album Hey Y'all began in the spring of 2001, but its release would be delayed to 2002 because of record label issues. When AOL-Time Warner – which owned Atlantic – closed its Nashville office, the company transferred Cook's contract to its parent company Warner Bros. Hey Y'all was commercially unsuccessful, and its songs did not receive airplay on country radio. In a 2005 Country Standard Time article, Rick Bell attributed this to Cook receiving "little label support". Cook left Warner Bros. voluntarily to look for another record label in 2003. According to Cook's website, This Side of the Moon was constructed from separate "song experiments". No Depression'''s Grant Alden described the album as a "collection of demos she scraped together" following her Warner Bros. contract. "Funny Side of Love" was one of the first tracks recorded in this process. Five producers, including Randy Scruggs and Sugar Hill's A&R director Steve Fishell, handled the songs which were recorded at eight recording studios throughout Tennessee. Jeff Gordon was the executive producer for This Side of the Moon; along with producing a majority of the album, he mastered all of its songs. Cook had met Gordon when he was looking for a "traditional girl country singer" to re-record his demos. This Side of the Moon was inspired by Cook's departure from Warner Bros., which she described as her "divorce from Music Row" and a "period of extreme frustration". In 2005, Cook told the Country Standard Time that she preferred being an independent artist, saying: "This is much more grass-roots, more real to me." Cook has writing credits on the album's thirteen songs; she co-wrote seven of them with songwriter Hardie McGehee, who she worked with because they were signed to the same music publisher (Sis 'N Bro Music). Cook and McGehee had collaborated on seven songs for Hey Y'all. Following the release of This Side of the Moon, McGehee moved to Birmingham, Alabama, and Cook shifted to writing music by herself. She believed they had "reached a real good stride" with the album, saying: "And I'm not sure where we would go from there." Cook wrote two songs, “Ruthless" and "Heather Are You With Me Tonight", by herself and worked with her then-husband Tim Carroll on "Where the Blue Begins", which they recorded as a duet. ## Composition and lyrics ### Sound This Side of the Moon is a thirteen-track country album, which Rick Bell further defined as "hard-edged country". Kelefa Sanneh, while writing for The New York Times, described the album as "old-fashioned" and likened its simple arrangements to demos. A contributor for The Tennessean noted that Cook often used retro influences in her music. In The Tampa Tribune, Stephen Thompson remarked that the songs had different styles, ranging from a "slow ballad" to a "rollicking mid-tempo number". Critics compared Cook's vocals to those of Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. Alden described Cook's voice as "high [and] clear", saying it was "reminiscent in its quiet moments of Dolly Parton, or of a more burnished Julie Miller". The Philadelphia Inquirer's Nick Cristiano interpreted Cook's vocals as having an "industrial-strength vocal twang" and "Loretta Lynn spunkiness", citing "Cupid", "All We Need Is Love", and "Somebody's Gotta Do It" as examples of this. Although Thompson noted that Cook lacked a "knockout voice" like Patsy Cline, Kelly Willis and Iris DeMent, he wrote that she had a "sincere, unfussy style of singing". While describing Cook's voice as "high" and "agile", Sanneh remarked that unlike other singers' approaches to ballads, Cook "chuckles where others might sob". ### Lyrics Throughout This Side of the Moon, Cook sings about her experiences with Warner Bros. In "Funny Side of Love", she uses humor to process her feelings of "disappointment and sense of lost opportunity" after leaving the label. Cook said that while "Here's to You" and "Hard-Hearted" sound like break-up songs, the lyrics are about her career. The album also focuses on love and heartbreak. Cook warns her partner in the ballad "Before I Go That Far" about what will happen if they break up. In "This Side of the Moon", she sings about the hard work required in a relationship, specifically how it involves "going through struggles and becoming disenchanted with what you started working towards in the first place". The album's final track "Somebody's Gotta Do It" is about satisfying a woman's needs. "Heather Are You With Me Tonight" is a love song about a soldier's loneliness and thoughts of his girlfriend. The lyrics focus on his moral struggle over carrying out an airstrike and his hope that his girlfriend will understand him and remain faithful. Cook wrote the song during the bombing of Baghdad in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Alden viewed it as a war song rather than a protest song, and author Alice Randall and songwriters Carter and Courtney Little compared its message to Glen Campbell's 1969 single "Galveston", saying they both ask a similar moral question: "Can war and love exist in the same heart?" ## Release and promotion This Side of the Moon had a limited release in August 2004. Media outlets described the release as independent. Hog Country Production gave This Side of the Moon a larger release on May 17, 2005 as an audio CD. Before the album's release, Cook had performed its music as part of her live shows. According to a 2005 press release, Cook planned to embark on a summer tour and perform at the Grand Ole Opry to further support This Side of the Moon. Cook also promoted it by performing at international music festivals. The album was later released on streaming services. In 2005, Cook recorded a music video for "Before I Go That Far" in New Mexico. Entertainment company Thirty Tigers uploaded the video to its YouTube channel on April 10, 2007. According to the company's YouTube channel, This Side of the Moon was later licensed to the Orchard Music on behalf of Hog Country Production. This Side of the Moon's tracks received little airplay, and following the album's release, Cook worked as a waitress to secure a steady salary. She recounted taking that job because she was not emotionally attached to it, and she felt comfortable quitting to perform at live shows. In a 2007 CMT interview, Cook said she developed a fanbase from "a small handful of cult country music fans" that she thought were frustrated with her lack of commercial success; she also mentioned reaching a sense of peace about her experiences with different record deals. ## Critical reception This Side of the Moon was met with generally positive reviews from critics. Sanneh included it on his list of 2005's best obscurities, and in an August 2005 article, Thompson named it the best country album by a female artist so far that year. Several reviewers commended the album for its traditional country sound, such as Bell who described it as "a brilliant 13-song collection of hard-edged country sung with steely conviction". Cook's songwriting was also highlighted. Praising the album's cohesion as well as Cook's vocals and songwriting, Alden identified her as "an artist to whom attention must be paid". Describing This Side of the Moon as an improvement over Hey Y'all, Cristiano appreciated how "disappointment obviously didn't dull her artistry". Bell believed she deserved "a hard-earned, well-deserved second chance" to work with another major record label. Cristiano said Cook proved herself to be a "thoughtful and deeply affecting balladeer", pointing out "Before I Go That Far" as an example. In 2006, Randall, Carter, and Little also singled out the track when praising Cook for creating "lush harmonies, traditional arrangements, and simple production". While dismissing the notion that Cook was a guilty pleasure, Cooper praised "Here's to You", "Where the Blue Begins", and "Somebody's Gotta Do It" as "music fit for smiling, humming and other admirable pursuits". Alden highlighted "Heather Are You With Me Tonight" as "the first great song" from the Iraq War years, and said it was his favorite song six years after the album's release. Retrospective reviews of This Side of the Moon remained positive. In a 2006 article, a contributor for The Tennessean described it as Cook's best album. Two years later, an NPR writer said Cook had achieved "some commercial and artistic potential" with the album. Critics identified the album as an important part of Cook's career, such as Louisville's Brent Owen who believed it gave her further exposure in the music industry. A staff writer for the River Cities' Reader attributed This Side of the Moon and Balls to helping establish Cook as a "soulful country singer and impassioned songwriter". ## Track listing Credits adapted from the liner notes of This Side of the Moon: ## Personnel The following credits are adapted from the booklet of This Side of the Moon'' and AllMusic: - Joe Bogan – engineer, mixing - Tom Bukovac – electric guitar - Spencer Campbell – bass guitar - Jimmy Capps – acoustic guitar - T.W. Cargile – engineer, mixing - Tim Carroll – composer, electric guitar, background vocals - Elizabeth Cook – composer, acoustic guitar, primary vocals, background vocals - Heather Dryden – art direction, design - Howard Duck – keyboards - Dan Dugmore – steel guitar - Glen Duncan – fiddle - Steve Fishell – steel guitar, producer - Shannon Forrest – drums - Dave Francis – bass guitar, acoustic guitar - John Gardner – drums - Jeff Gordon – engineer, executive producer, mastering, mixing, producer - Kevin Grantt – bass guitar - Owen Hale – drums - Tony Harrell – keyboards - David Jacques – bass - Fats Kaplin – accordion, fiddle - Suzy Kipp – stylist - Sean Locke – background vocals - Mills Logan – mixing - Steve Marcantonio – engineer, mixing - Jim McBride – composer - Rusty McFarland – engineer - Hardie McGehee – acoustic guitar, keyboards, background vocals - Jim McKell – mixing - Greg Morrow – drums - Duncan Mullins – bass guitar - Billy Panda – acoustic guitar, mandolin - Mike Poole – engineer, mixing - Alison Prestwood – bass guitar - Ron Reynolds – engineer, mixing - Tammy Rogers – fiddle, mandolin - Jerry Salley – composer, producer, background vocals - Rick Schell – drums - Randy Scruggs – composer, acoustic guitar, producer - Michael Severs – electric guitar - Paul Slivka – bass - Stephony Smith – composer, producer, background vocals - Kenny Vaughan – electric guitar - Wanda Vick – fiddle, acoustic guitar
19,961	Manchester United F.C.	1,173,877,729	Association football club in England	[ "1878 establishments in England", "Association football clubs established in 1878", "Association football clubs established in 1902", "Companies established in 1878", "Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange", "Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange", "EFL Cup winners", "English Football League clubs", "FA Cup winners", "FIFA Club World Cup winning clubs", "Football clubs in England", "Football clubs in Greater Manchester", "Football clubs in Trafford", "G-14 clubs", "Intercontinental Cup winning clubs", "Manchester United F.C.", "Premier League clubs", "Publicly traded sports companies", "UEFA Champions League winning clubs", "UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winning clubs", "UEFA Europa League winning clubs", "UEFA Super Cup winning clubs" ]	Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division in the English football league system. Nicknamed the Red Devils, they were founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, but changed their name to Manchester United in 1902. After a spell playing in Clayton, Manchester, the club moved to their current stadium, Old Trafford, in 1910. Domestically, Manchester United have won a record 20 league titles, 12 FA Cups, six League Cups and a record 21 FA Community Shields. In international football, they have won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League three times, and the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup once each. In 1968, under the management of Matt Busby, 10 years after eight of the club's players were killed in the Munich air disaster, they became the first English club to win the European Cup. Sir Alex Ferguson is the club's longest-serving and most successful manager, winning 38 trophies, including 13 league titles, five FA Cups, and two Champions League titles between 1986 and 2013. In the 1998–99 season, under Ferguson, the club became the first in the history of English football to achieve the continental treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. In winning the UEFA Europa League under José Mourinho in 2016–17, they became one of five clubs to have won the original three main UEFA club competitions (the Champions League, Europa League and Cup Winners' Cup). Manchester United is one of the most widely supported football clubs in the world and has rivalries with Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Leeds United. Manchester United was the highest-earning football club in the world for 2016–17, with an annual revenue of €676.3 million, and the world's third-most-valuable football club in 2019, valued at £3.15 billion (\$3.81 billion). After being floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club was taken private in 2005 after a purchase by American businessman Malcolm Glazer valued at almost £800 million, of which over £500 million of borrowed money became the club's debt. From 2012, some shares of the club were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, although the Glazer family retains overall ownership and control of the club. ## History ### Early years (1878–1945) Manchester United was formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) depot at Newton Heath. The team initially played games against other departments and railway companies, but on 20 November 1880, they competed in their first recorded match; wearing the colours of the railway company – green and gold – they were defeated 6–0 by Bolton Wanderers' reserve team. By 1888, the club had become a founding member of The Combination, a regional football league. Following the league's dissolution after only one season, Newton Heath joined the newly formed Football Alliance, which ran for three seasons before being merged with The Football League. This resulted in the club starting the 1892–93 season in the First Division, by which time it had become independent of the railway company and dropped the "LYR" from its name. After two seasons, the club was relegated to the Second Division. In January 1902, with debts of £2,670 – equivalent to £ in 2023 – the club was served with a winding-up order. Captain Harry Stafford found four local businessmen, including John Henry Davies (who became club president), each willing to invest £500 in return for a direct interest in running the club and who subsequently changed the name; on 24 April 1902, Manchester United was officially born. Under Ernest Mangnall, who assumed managerial duties in 1903, the team finished as Second Division runners-up in 1906 and secured promotion to the First Division, which they won in 1908 – the club's first league title. The following season began with victory in the first ever Charity Shield and ended with the club's first FA Cup title. Manchester United won the First Division for the second time in 1911, but at the end of the following season, Mangnall left the club to join Manchester City. In 1922, three years after the resumption of football following the First World War, the club was relegated to the Second Division, where it remained until regaining promotion in 1925. Relegated again in 1931, Manchester United became a yo-yo club, achieving its all-time lowest position of 20th place in the Second Division in 1934. Following the death of principal benefactor John Henry Davies in October 1927, the club's finances deteriorated to the extent that Manchester United would likely have gone bankrupt had it not been for James W. Gibson, who, in December 1931, invested £2,000 and assumed control of the club. In the 1938–39 season, the last year of football before the Second World War, the club finished 14th in the First Division. ### Busby years (1945–1969) In October 1945, the impending resumption of football after the war led to the managerial appointment of Matt Busby, who demanded an unprecedented level of control over team selection, player transfers and training sessions. Busby led the team to second-place league finishes in 1947, 1948 and 1949, and to FA Cup victory in 1948. In 1952, the club won the First Division, its first league title for 41 years. They then won back-to-back league titles in 1956 and 1957; the squad, who had an average age of 22, were nicknamed "the Busby Babes" by the media, a testament to Busby's faith in his youth players. In 1957, Manchester United became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, despite objections from The Football League, who had denied Chelsea the same opportunity the previous season. En route to the semi-final, which they lost to Real Madrid, the team recorded a 10–0 victory over Belgian champions Anderlecht, which remains the club's biggest victory on record. The following season, on the way home from a European Cup quarter-final victory against Red Star Belgrade, the aircraft carrying the Manchester United players, officials and journalists crashed while attempting to take off after refuelling in Munich, Germany. The Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958 claimed 23 lives, including those of eight players – Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Billy Whelan – and injured several more. Assistant manager Jimmy Murphy took over as manager while Busby recovered from his injuries and the club's makeshift side reached the FA Cup final, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers. In recognition of the team's tragedy, UEFA invited the club to compete in the 1958–59 European Cup alongside eventual League champions Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite approval from The Football Association, The Football League determined that the club should not enter the competition, since it had not qualified. Busby rebuilt the team through the 1960s by signing players such as Denis Law and Pat Crerand, who combined with the next generation of youth players – including George Best – to win the FA Cup in 1963. The following season, they finished second in the league, then won the title in 1965 and 1967. In 1968, Manchester United became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4–1 in the final with a team that contained three European Footballers of the Year: Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best. They then represented Europe in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup against Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina, but defeat in the first leg in Buenos Aires meant a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford three weeks later was not enough to claim the title. Busby resigned as manager in 1969 before being replaced by the reserve team coach, former Manchester United player Wilf McGuinness. ### 1969–1986 Following an eighth-place finish in the 1969–70 season and a poor start to the 1970–71 season, Busby was persuaded to temporarily resume managerial duties, and McGuinness returned to his position as reserve team coach. In June 1971, Frank O'Farrell was appointed as manager, but lasted less than 18 months before being replaced by Tommy Docherty in December 1972. Docherty saved Manchester United from relegation that season, only to see them relegated in 1974; by that time the trio of Best, Law, and Charlton had left the club. The team won promotion at the first attempt and reached the FA Cup final in 1976, but were beaten by Southampton. They reached the final again in 1977, beating Liverpool 2–1. Docherty was dismissed shortly afterwards, following the revelation of his affair with the club physiotherapist's wife. Dave Sexton replaced Docherty as manager in the summer of 1977. Despite major signings, including Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, Gary Bailey, and Ray Wilkins, the team failed to win any trophies; they finished second in 1979–80 and lost to Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup final. Sexton was dismissed in 1981, even though the team won the last seven games under his direction. He was replaced by Ron Atkinson, who immediately broke the British record transfer fee to sign Bryan Robson from his former club West Bromwich Albion. Under Atkinson, Manchester United won the FA Cup in 1983 and 1985 and beat rivals Liverpool to win the 1983 Charity Shield. In 1985–86, after 13 wins and two draws in its first 15 matches, the club was favourite to win the league but finished in fourth place. The following season, with the club in danger of relegation by November, Atkinson was dismissed. ### Ferguson years (1986–2013) Alex Ferguson and his assistant Archie Knox arrived from Aberdeen on the day of Atkinson's dismissal, and guided the club to an 11th-place finish in the league. Despite a second-place finish in 1987–88, the club was back in 11th place the following season. Reportedly on the verge of being dismissed, Ferguson's job was saved by victory over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup final. The following season, Manchester United claimed their first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup title. That triumph allowed the club to compete in the European Super Cup for the first time, where United beat European Cup holders Red Star Belgrade 1–0 at Old Trafford. The club appeared in two consecutive League Cup finals in 1991 and 1992, beating Nottingham Forest 1–0 in the second to win that competition for the first time as well. In 1993, in the first season of the newly founded Premier League, the club won their first league title since 1967, and a year later, for the first time since 1957, they won a second consecutive title – alongside the FA Cup – to complete the first "Double" in the club's history. United then became the first English club to do the Double twice when they won both competitions again in 1995–96, before retaining the league title once more in 1996–97 with a game to spare. In the 1998–99 season, Manchester United became the first team to win the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League – "The Treble" – in the same season. Trailing 1–0 going into injury time in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored late goals to claim a dramatic victory over Bayern Munich, in what is considered one of the greatest comebacks of all time. That summer, Ferguson received a knighthood for his services to football. In November 1999, the club became the only British team to ever win the Intercontinental Cup with a 1–0 victory over the strong 1999 Copa Libertadores winners Palmeiras in Tokyo. The Red Devils counted on an unexpected goalkeeper fail by future 2002 FIFA World Cup winner Marcos and a disallowed goal scored by Alex to win the game. Manchester United won the league again in the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons, becoming only the fourth club to win the English title three times in a row. The team finished third in 2001–02, before regaining the title in 2002–03. They won the 2003–04 FA Cup, beating Millwall 3–0 in the final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to lift the trophy for a record 11th time. In the 2005–06 season, Manchester United failed to qualify for the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over a decade, but recovered to secure a second-place league finish and victory over Wigan Athletic in the 2006 Football League Cup final. The club regained the Premier League title in the 2006–07 season, before completing the European double in 2007–08 with a 6–5 penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final in Moscow to go with their 17th English league title. Ryan Giggs made a record 759th appearance for the club in that game, overtaking previous record holder Bobby Charlton. In December 2008, the club became the first British team to win the FIFA Club World Cup and followed this with the 2008–09 Football League Cup, and its third successive Premier League title. That summer, forward Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for a world record £80 million. In 2010, Manchester United defeated Aston Villa 2–1 at Wembley to retain the League Cup, its first successful defence of a knockout cup competition. After finishing as runners-up to Chelsea in the 2009–10 season, United achieved a record 19th league title in 2010–11, securing the championship with a 1–1 away draw against Blackburn Rovers on 14 May 2011. This was extended to 20 league titles in 2012–13, securing the championship with a 3–0 home win against Aston Villa on 22 April 2013. ### 2013–present On 8 May 2013, Ferguson announced that he was to retire as manager at the end of the football season, but would remain at the club as a director and club ambassador. He retired as the most decorated manager in football history. The club announced the next day that Everton manager David Moyes would replace him from 1 July, having signed a six-year contract. Ryan Giggs took over as interim player-manager 10 months later, on 22 April 2014, when Moyes was sacked after a poor season in which the club failed to defend their Premier League title and failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1995–96. They also failed to qualify for the UEFA Europa League, the first time Manchester United had not qualified for a European competition since 1990. On 19 May 2014, it was confirmed that Louis van Gaal would replace Moyes as Manchester United manager on a three-year deal, with Giggs as his assistant. Malcolm Glazer, the patriarch of the family that owns the club, died on 28 May 2014. Under Van Gaal, United won a 12th FA Cup, but a disappointing slump in the middle of his second season led to rumours of the board sounding out potential replacements. Van Gaal was ultimately sacked just two days after the cup final victory, with United having finished fifth in the league. Former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager José Mourinho was appointed in his place on 27 May 2016. Mourinho signed a three-year contract, and in his first season won the FA Community Shield, EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League. Wayne Rooney scored his 250th goal for United, a stoppage-time equaliser in a league game against Stoke City in January 2017, surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton as the club's all-time top scorer. The following season, United finished second in the league – their highest league placing since 2013 – but were still 19 points behind rivals Manchester City. Mourinho also guided the club to a 19th FA Cup final, but they lost 1–0 to Chelsea. On 18 December 2018, with United in sixth place in the Premier League table, 19 points behind leaders Liverpool and 11 points outside the Champions League places, Mourinho was sacked after 144 games in charge. The following day, former United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. On 28 March 2019, after winning 14 of his first 19 matches in charge, Solskjær was appointed permanent manager on a three-year deal. On 18 April 2021, Manchester United announced they were joining 11 other European clubs as founding members of the European Super League, a proposed 20-team competition intended to rival the UEFA Champions League. The announcement drew a significant backlash from supporters, other clubs, media partners, sponsors, players and the UK Government, forcing the club to withdraw just two days later. The failure of the project led to the resignation of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, while resultant protests against Woodward and the Glazer family led to a pitch invasion ahead of a league match against Liverpool on 2 May 2021, which saw the first postponement of a Premier League game due to supporter protests in the competition's history. On the pitch, United equalled their own record for the biggest win in Premier League history with a 9–0 win over Southampton on 2 February 2021, but ended the season with defeat on penalties in the UEFA Europa League final against Villarreal, going four straight seasons without a trophy. On 20 November 2021, Solskjær left his role as manager. Former midfielder Michael Carrick took charge for the next three games, before the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the end of the season. On 21 April 2022, Erik ten Hag was appointed as the manager from the end of the 2021–22 season, signing a contract until June 2025 with the option of extending for a further year. On 23 May 2022, Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren were confirmed as Ten Hag's assistant coaches. Ten Hag won Manchester United the 2022–23 EFL Cup against Newcastle United, winning 2–0. On 5 March 2023, the club suffered their joint-heaviest defeat, losing 7–0 to rivals Liverpool at Anfield. ## Crest and colours The club crest is derived from the Manchester City Council coat of arms, although all that remains of it on the current crest is the ship in full sail. The devil stems from the club's nickname "The Red Devils" inspired from Salford Rugby Club; it was included on club programmes and scarves in the 1960s, and incorporated into the club crest in 1970, although the crest was not included on the chest of the shirt until 1971. In 1975, the red devil ("A devil facing the sinister guardant supporting with both hands a trident gules") was granted as a heraldic badge by the College of Arms to the English Football League for use by Manchester United. In 2023, the Red Devil motif alone, which had been used in promotional items and merchandise previously, was used as the sole badge on the Manchester United third kit. The existing crest remains on the home and away kits. Newton Heath's uniform in 1879, four years before the club played its first competitive match, has been documented as 'white with blue cord'. A photograph of the Newton Heath team, taken in 1892, is believed to show the players wearing red-and-white quartered jerseys and navy blue knickerbockers. Between 1894 and 1896, the players wore green and gold jerseys which were replaced in 1896 by white shirts, which were worn with navy blue shorts. After the name change in 1902, the club colours were changed to red shirts, white shorts, and black socks, which has become the standard Manchester United home kit. Very few changes were made to the kit until 1922 when the club adopted white shirts bearing a deep red "V" around the neck, similar to the shirt worn in the 1909 FA Cup final. They remained part of their home kits until 1927. For a period in 1934, the cherry and white hooped change shirt became the home colours, but the following season the red shirt was recalled after the club's lowest ever league placing of 20th in the Second Division and the hooped shirt dropped back to being the change. The black socks were changed to white from 1959 to 1965, where they were replaced with red socks up until 1971 with white used on occasion, when the club reverted to black. Black shorts and white socks are sometimes worn with the home strip, most often in away games, if there is a clash with the opponent's kit. For 2018–19, black shorts and red socks became the primary choice for the home kit. Since 1997–98, white socks have been the preferred choice for European games, which are typically played on weeknights, to aid with player visibility. The current home kit is a red shirt with Adidas' trademark three stripes in red on the shoulders, white shorts, and black socks. The Manchester United away strip has often been a white shirt, black shorts and white socks, but there have been several exceptions. These include an all-black strip with blue and gold trimmings between 1993 and 1995, the navy blue shirt with silver horizontal pinstripes worn during the 1999–2000 season, and the 2011–12 away kit, which had a royal blue body and sleeves with hoops made of small midnight navy blue and black stripes, with black shorts and blue socks. An all-grey away kit worn during the 1995–96 season was dropped after just five games; in its final outing against Southampton, Alex Ferguson instructed the team to change into the third kit during half-time. The reason for dropping it being that the players claimed to have trouble finding their teammates against the crowd, United failed to win a competitive game in the kit in five attempts. In 2001, to celebrate 100 years as "Manchester United", a reversible white and gold away kit was released, although the actual match day shirts were not reversible. The club's third kit is often all-blue; this was most recently the case during the 2014–15 season. Exceptions include a green-and-gold halved shirt worn between 1992 and 1994, a blue-and-white striped shirt worn during the 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons and once in 1996–97, an all-black kit worn during the Treble-winning 1998–99 season, and a white shirt with black-and-red horizontal pinstripes worn between 2003–04 and 2005–06. From 2006–07 to 2013–14, the third kit was the previous season's away kit, albeit updated with the new club sponsor in 2006–07 and 2010–11, apart from the 2008–09 season, when an all-blue kit was launched to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1967–68 European Cup success. ## Grounds ### 1878–1893: North Road Newton Heath initially played on a field on North Road, close to the railway yard; the original capacity was about 12,000, but club officials deemed the facilities inadequate for a club hoping to join The Football League. Some expansion took place in 1887, and in 1891, Newton Heath used its minimal financial reserves to purchase two grandstands, each able to hold 1,000 spectators. Although attendances were not recorded for many of the earliest matches at North Road, the highest documented attendance was approximately 15,000 for a First Division match against Sunderland on 4 March 1893. A similar attendance was also recorded for a friendly match against Gorton Villa on 5 September 1889. ### 1893–1910: Bank Street In June 1893, after the club was evicted from North Road by its owners, Manchester Deans and Canons, who felt it was inappropriate for the club to charge an entry fee to the ground, secretary A. H. Albut procured the use of the Bank Street ground in Clayton. It initially had no stands, by the start of the 1893–94 season, two had been built; one spanning the full length of the pitch on one side and the other behind the goal at the "Bradford end". At the opposite end, the "Clayton end", the ground had been "built up, thousands thus being provided for". Newton Heath's first league match at Bank Street was played against Burnley on 1 September 1893, when 10,000 people saw Alf Farman score a hat-trick, Newton Heath's only goals in a 3–2 win. The remaining stands were completed for the following league game against Nottingham Forest three weeks later. In October 1895, before the visit of Manchester City, the club purchased a 2,000-capacity stand from the Broughton Rangers rugby league club, and put up another stand on the "reserved side" (as distinct from the "popular side"); however, weather restricted the attendance for the Manchester City match to just 12,000. When the Bank Street ground was temporarily closed by bailiffs in 1902, club captain Harry Stafford raised enough money to pay for the club's next away game at Bristol City and found a temporary ground at Harpurhey for the next reserves game against Padiham. Following financial investment, new club president John Henry Davies paid £500 for the erection of a new 1,000-seat stand at Bank Street. Within four years, the stadium had cover on all four sides, as well as the ability to hold approximately 50,000 spectators, some of whom could watch from the viewing gallery atop the Main Stand. ### 1910–present: Old Trafford Following Manchester United's first league title in 1908 and the FA Cup a year later, it was decided that Bank Street was too restrictive for Davies' ambition; in February 1909, six weeks before the club's first FA Cup title, Old Trafford was named as the home of Manchester United, following the purchase of land for around £60,000. Architect Archibald Leitch was given a budget of £30,000 for construction; original plans called for seating capacity of 100,000, though budget constraints forced a revision to 77,000. The building was constructed by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester. The stadium's record attendance was registered on 25 March 1939, when an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town drew 76,962 spectators. Bombing in the Second World War destroyed much of the stadium; the central tunnel in the South Stand was all that remained of that quarter. After the war, the club received compensation from the War Damage Commission in the amount of £22,278. While reconstruction took place, the team played its "home" games at Manchester City's Maine Road ground; Manchester United was charged £5,000 per year, plus a nominal percentage of gate receipts. Later improvements included the addition of roofs, first to the Stretford End and then to the North and East Stands. The roofs were supported by pillars that obstructed many fans' views, and they were eventually replaced with a cantilevered structure. The Stretford End was the last stand to receive a cantilevered roof, completed in time for the 1993–94 season. First used on 25 March 1957 and costing £40,000, four 180-foot (55 m) pylons were erected, each housing 54 individual floodlights. These were dismantled in 1987 and replaced by a lighting system embedded in the roof of each stand, which remains in use today. The Taylor Report's requirement for an all-seater stadium lowered capacity at Old Trafford to around 44,000 by 1993. In 1995, the North Stand was redeveloped into three tiers, restoring capacity to approximately 55,000. At the end of the 1998–99 season, second tiers were added to the East and West Stands, raising capacity to around 67,000, and between July 2005 and May 2006, 8,000 more seats were added via second tiers in the north-west and north-east quadrants. Part of the new seating was used for the first time on 26 March 2006, when an attendance of 69,070 became a new Premier League record. The record was pushed steadily upwards before reaching its peak on 31 March 2007, when 76,098 spectators saw Manchester United beat Blackburn Rovers 4–1, with just 114 seats (0.15 per cent of the total capacity of 76,212) unoccupied. In 2009, reorganisation of the seating resulted in a reduction of capacity by 255 to 75,957. Manchester United has the second highest average attendance of European football clubs only behind Borussia Dortmund. In 2021 United co-chairman Joel Glazer said that "early-stage planning work" for the redevelopment of Old Trafford was underway. This followed "increasing criticism" over the lack of development of the ground since 2006. ## Support Manchester United is one of the most popular football clubs in the world, with one of the highest average home attendances in Europe. The club states that its worldwide fan base includes more than 200 officially recognised branches of the Manchester United Supporters Club (MUSC), in at least 24 countries. The club takes advantage of this support through its worldwide summer tours. Accountancy firm and sports industry consultants Deloitte estimate that Manchester United has 75 million fans worldwide. The club has the third highest social media following in the world among sports teams (after Barcelona and Real Madrid), with over 82 million Facebook followers as of July 2023. A 2014 study showed that Manchester United had the loudest fans in the Premier League. Supporters are represented by two independent bodies; the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association (IMUSA), which maintains close links to the club through the MUFC Fans Forum, and the Manchester United Supporters' Trust (MUST). After the Glazer family's takeover in 2005, a group of fans formed a splinter club, F.C. United of Manchester. The West Stand of Old Trafford – the "Stretford End" – is the home end and the traditional source of the club's most vocal support. ### Rivalries Manchester United have rivalries with Arsenal, Leeds United, Liverpool, and Manchester City, against whom they contest the Manchester derby. The rivalry with Liverpool is rooted in competition between the cities during the Industrial Revolution, when Manchester was famous for its textile industry while Liverpool was a major port. The two clubs are the most successful English teams in both domestic and international competitions; and between them they have won 39 league titles, 9 European Cups, 4 UEFA Cups, 5 UEFA Super Cups, 20 FA Cups, 14 League Cups, 2 FIFA Club World Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 37 FA Community Shields. Ranked the two biggest clubs in England by France Football magazine based on metrics such as fanbase and historical importance, Manchester United v Liverpool is considered to be the most famous fixture in English football and one of the biggest rivalries in the football world. No player has been transferred between the clubs since 1964. Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said in 2002, "My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch". The "Roses Rivalry" with Leeds stems from the Wars of the Roses, fought between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, with Manchester United representing Lancashire and Leeds representing Yorkshire. The rivalry with Arsenal arises from the numerous times the two teams, as well as managers Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, have battled for the Premier League title. With 33 titles between them (20 for Manchester United, 13 for Arsenal) this fixture has become known as one of the finest Premier League match-ups in history. ## Global brand Manchester United has been described as a global brand; a 2011 report by Brand Finance, valued the club's trademarks and associated intellectual property at £412 million – an increase of £39 million on the previous year, valuing it at £11 million more than the second best brand, Real Madrid – and gave the brand a strength rating of AAA (Extremely Strong). In July 2012, Manchester United was ranked first by Forbes magazine in its list of the ten most valuable sports team brands, valuing the Manchester United brand at \$2.23 billion. The club is ranked third in the Deloitte Football Money League (behind Real Madrid and Barcelona). In January 2013, the club became the first sports team in the world to be valued at \$3 billion. Forbes magazine valued the club at \$3.3 billion – \$1.2 billion higher than the next most valuable sports team. They were overtaken by Real Madrid for the next four years, but Manchester United returned to the top of the Forbes list in June 2017, with a valuation of \$3.689 billion. The core strength of Manchester United's global brand is often attributed to Matt Busby's rebuilding of the team and subsequent success following the Munich air disaster, which drew worldwide acclaim. The "iconic" team included Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles (members of England's World Cup winning team), Denis Law and George Best. The attacking style of play adopted by this team (in contrast to the defensive-minded "catenaccio" approach favoured by the leading Italian teams of the era) "captured the imagination of the English footballing public". Busby's team also became associated with the liberalisation of Western society during the 1960s; George Best, known as the "Fifth Beatle" for his iconic haircut, was the first footballer to significantly develop an off-the-field media profile. As the second English football club to float on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club raised significant capital, with which it further developed its commercial strategy. The club's focus on commercial and sporting success brought significant profits in an industry often characterised by chronic losses. The strength of the Manchester United brand was bolstered by intense off-the-field media attention to individual players, most notably David Beckham (who quickly developed his own global brand). This attention often generates greater interest in on-the-field activities, and hence generates sponsorship opportunities – the value of which is driven by television exposure. During his time with the club, Beckham's popularity across Asia was integral to the club's commercial success in that part of the world. Because higher league placement results in a greater share of television rights, success on the field generates greater income for the club. Since the inception of the Premier League, Manchester United has received the largest share of the revenue generated from the BSkyB broadcasting deal. Manchester United has also consistently enjoyed the highest commercial income of any English club; in 2005–06, the club's commercial arm generated £51 million, compared to £42.5 million at Chelsea, £39.3 million at Liverpool, £34 million at Arsenal and £27.9 million at Newcastle United. A key sponsorship relationship was with sportswear company Nike, who managed the club's merchandising operation as part of a £303 million 13-year partnership between 2002 and 2015. Through Manchester United Finance and the club's membership scheme, One United, those with an affinity for the club can purchase a range of branded goods and services. Additionally, Manchester United-branded media services – such as the club's dedicated television channel, MUTV – have allowed the club to expand its fan base to those beyond the reach of its Old Trafford stadium. ### Sponsorship In an initial five-year deal worth £500,000, Sharp Electronics became the club's first shirt sponsor at the beginning of the 1982–83 season, a relationship that lasted until the end of the 1999–2000 season, when Vodafone agreed a four-year, £30 million deal. Vodafone agreed to pay £36 million to extend the deal by four years, but after two seasons triggered a break clause in order to concentrate on its sponsorship of the Champions League. To commence at the start of the 2006–07 season, American insurance corporation AIG agreed a four-year £56.5 million deal which in September 2006 became the most valuable in the world. At the beginning of the 2010–11 season, American reinsurance company Aon became the club's principal sponsor in a four-year deal reputed to be worth approximately £80 million, making it the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football history. Manchester United announced their first training kit sponsor in August 2011, agreeing a four-year deal with DHL reported to be worth £40 million; it is believed to be the first instance of training kit sponsorship in English football. The DHL contract lasted for over a year before the club bought back the contract in October 2012, although they remained the club's official logistics partner. The contract for the training kit sponsorship was then sold to Aon in April 2013 for a deal worth £180 million over eight years, which also included purchasing the naming rights for the Trafford Training Centre. The club's first kit manufacturer was Umbro, until a five-year deal was agreed with Admiral Sportswear in 1975. Adidas won the contract in 1980, before Umbro started a second spell in 1992. That sponsorship lasted for ten years, followed by Nike's record-breaking £302.9 million deal, which lasted until 2015; 3.8 million replica shirts were sold in the first 22 months with the company. In addition to Nike and Chevrolet, the club also has several lower-level "platinum" sponsors, including Aon and Budweiser. On 30 July 2012, United signed a seven-year deal with American automotive corporation General Motors, which replaced Aon as the shirt sponsor from the 2014–15 season. The new \$80m-a-year shirt deal is worth \$559m over seven years and features the logo of General Motors brand Chevrolet. Nike announced that they would not renew their kit supply deal with Manchester United after the 2014–15 season, citing rising costs. Since the start of the 2015–16 season, Adidas has manufactured Manchester United's kit as part of a world-record 10-year deal worth a minimum of £750 million. Plumbing products manufacturer Kohler became the club's first sleeve sponsor ahead of the 2018–19 season. Manchester United and General Motors did not renew their sponsorship deal, and the club subsequently signed a five-year, £235m sponsorship deal with TeamViewer ahead of the 2021–22 season. ## Ownership and finances Originally funded by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, the club became a limited company in 1892 and sold shares to local supporters for £1 via an application form. In 1902, majority ownership passed to the four local businessmen who invested £500 to save the club from bankruptcy, including future club president John Henry Davies. After his death in 1927, the club faced bankruptcy yet again, but was saved in December 1931 by James W. Gibson, who assumed control of the club after an investment of £2,000. Gibson promoted his son, Alan, to the board in 1948, but died three years later; the Gibson family retained ownership of the club through James' wife, Lillian, but the position of chairman passed to former player Harold Hardman. Promoted to the board a few days after the Munich air disaster, Louis Edwards, a friend of Matt Busby, began acquiring shares in the club; for an investment of approximately £40,000, he accumulated a 54 per cent shareholding and took control in January 1964. When Lillian Gibson died in January 1971, her shares passed to Alan Gibson who sold a percentage of his shares to Louis Edwards' son, Martin, in 1978; Martin Edwards went on to become chairman upon his father's death in 1980. Media tycoon Robert Maxwell attempted to buy the club in 1984, but did not meet Edwards' asking price. In 1989, chairman Martin Edwards attempted to sell the club to Michael Knighton for £20 million, but the sale fell through and Knighton joined the board of directors instead. Manchester United was floated on the stock market in June 1991 (raising £6.7 million), and received yet another takeover bid in 1998, this time from Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting Corporation. This resulted in the formation of Shareholders United Against Murdoch – now the Manchester United Supporters' Trust – who encouraged supporters to buy shares in the club in an attempt to block any hostile takeover. The Manchester United board accepted a £623 million offer, but the takeover was blocked by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission at the final hurdle in April 1999. A few years later, a power struggle emerged between the club's manager, Alex Ferguson, and his horse-racing partners, John Magnier and J. P. McManus, who had gradually become the majority shareholders. In a dispute that stemmed from contested ownership of the horse Rock of Gibraltar, Magnier and McManus attempted to have Ferguson removed from his position as manager, and the board responded by approaching investors to attempt to reduce the Irishmen's majority. In 2023, Manchester United received several bids to purchase the club. Jim Ratcliffe, who owns INEOS, and Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, a Qatari sheikh, were the only bidders who had publicly declared their interest. In March 2023, Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus also made his interest in Manchester United public. ### Glazer ownership In May 2005, Malcolm Glazer purchased the 28.7 per cent stake held by McManus and Magnier, thus acquiring a controlling interest through his investment vehicle Red Football Ltd in a highly leveraged takeover valuing the club at approximately £800 million (then approx. \$1.5 billion). Once the purchase was complete, the club was taken off the stock exchange. Much of the takeover money was borrowed by the Glazers; the debts were transferred to the club. As a result, the club went from being debt-free to being saddled with debts of £540 million, at interest rates of between 7% to 20%. In July 2006, the club announced a £660 million debt refinancing package, resulting in a 30 per cent reduction in annual interest payments to £62 million a year. In January 2010, with debts of £716.5 million (\$1.17 billion), Manchester United further refinanced through a bond issue worth £504 million, enabling them to pay off most of the £509 million owed to international banks. The annual interest payable on the bonds – which were to mature on 1 February 2017 – is approximately £45 million per annum. Despite restructuring, the club's debt prompted protests from fans on 23 January 2010, at Old Trafford and the club's Trafford Training Centre. Supporter groups encouraged match-going fans to wear green and gold, the colours of Newton Heath. On 30 January, reports emerged that the Manchester United Supporters' Trust had held meetings with a group of wealthy fans, dubbed the "Red Knights", with plans to buying out the Glazers' controlling interest. The club's debts reached a high of £777 million in June 2007. In August 2011, the Glazers were believed to have approached Credit Suisse in preparation for a \$1 billion (approx. £600 million) initial public offering (IPO) on the Singapore stock exchange that would value the club at more than £2 billion; however, in July 2012, the club announced plans to list its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange instead. Shares were originally set to go on sale for between \$16 and \$20 each, but the price was cut to \$14 by the launch of the IPO on 10 August, following negative comments from Wall Street analysts and Facebook's disappointing stock market debut in May. Even after the cut, Manchester United was valued at \$2.3 billion, making it the most valuable football club in the world. The New York Stock Exchange allows for different shareholders to enjoy different voting rights over the club. Shares offered to the public ("Class A") had 10 times lesser voting rights than shares retained by the Glazers ("Class B"). Initially in 2012, only 10% of shares were offered to the public. As of 2019, the Glazers retain ultimate control over the club, with over 70% of shares, and even higher voting power. In 2012, The Guardian estimated that the club had paid a total of over £500 million in debt interest and other fees on behalf of the Glazers, and in 2019, reported that the total sum paid by the club for such fees had risen to £1 billion. At the end of 2019, the club had a net debt of nearly £400 million. ## Players ### First-team squad #### Out on loan ### Under-21s and Academy List of under-21s and academy players with articles #### Out on loan ### Player of the Year awards ## Coaching staff ### Managerial history ## Management - Owner: Glazer family via Red Football Shareholder Limited ### Manchester United Limited ### Manchester United Football Club ## Honours Manchester United is one of the most successful clubs in Europe in terms of trophies won. The club's first trophy was the Manchester Cup, which they won as Newton Heath LYR in 1886. In 1908, the club won their first league title, and won the FA Cup for the first time the following year. Since then, they have gone on to win a record 20 top-division titles – including a record 13 Premier League titles – and their total of 12 FA Cups is second only to Arsenal (14). Those titles have meant the club has appeared a record 30 times in the FA Community Shield (formerly the FA Charity Shield), which is played at the start of each season between the winners of the league and FA Cup from the previous season; of those 30 appearances, Manchester United have won a record 21, including four times when the match was drawn and the trophy shared by the two clubs. The club had a successful period under the management of Matt Busby, starting with the FA Cup in 1948 and culminating with becoming the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968, winning five league titles in the intervening years. The club's most successful decade, however, came in the 1990s under Alex Ferguson; five league titles, four FA Cups, one League Cup, five Charity Shields (one shared), one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup. The club has won the Double (winning the Premier League and FA Cup in the same season) three times; the second in 1995–96 saw them become the first club to do so twice, and it became referred to as the "Double Double". United became the sole British club to win the Intercontinental Cup in 1999 and are one of only three British clubs to have won the FIFA Club World Cup, in 2008. In 1999, United became the first English club to win the Treble. In 2017, United won the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, beating Ajax in the final. In winning that title, United became the fifth club to have won the "European Treble" of European Cup/UEFA Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup, and UEFA Cup/Europa League after Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. The club's most recent trophy came in February 2023, with the 2022–23 EFL Cup. - shared record ### Doubles and Trebles - Doubles - League and FA Cup (3): 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99 - League and UEFA Champions League (2): 1998–99, 2007–08 - League and EFL Cup (1): 2008–09 - EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League (1): 2016–17 - Trebles - League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League (1): 1998–99 Short competitions – such as the FA Charity/Community Shield, Intercontinental Cup (now defunct), FIFA Club World Cup or UEFA Super Cup – are not generally considered to contribute towards a Double or Treble. ## Manchester United Women A team called Manchester United Supporters Club Ladies began operations in the late 1970s and was unofficially recognised as the club's senior women's team. They became founding members of the North West Women's Regional Football League in 1989. The team made an official partnership with Manchester United in 2001, becoming the club's official women's team; however, in 2005, following Malcolm Glazer's takeover, the club was disbanded as it was seen to be "unprofitable". In 2018, Manchester United formed a new women's football team, which entered the second division of women's football in England for their debut season. 2023 will see that team enter European competition for the first time.
45,001,871	2015 Vuelta a España	1,158,251,193	70th edition of the Vuelta a España	[ "2015 UCI World Tour", "2015 Vuelta a España", "2015 in Spanish road cycling", "August 2015 sports events in Spain", "September 2015 sports events in Spain", "Vuelta a España by year" ]	The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race. The race was the 70th edition of the Vuelta a España and took place principally in Spain, although two stages took place partly or wholly in Andorra, and was the 22nd race in the 2015 UCI World Tour. The 3,358.1-kilometre (2,086.6 mi) race included 21 stages, beginning in Marbella on 22 August 2015 and finishing in Madrid on 13 September. It was won by Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team), with Joaquim Rodríguez () second and Rafał Majka () third. The early leaders of the race were Esteban Chaves () and Tom Dumoulin (), who exchanged the leader's red jersey several times during the first ten days of racing, with both riders winning summit finishes in the first week. Aru took over the race lead following the mountainous Stage 11, which took place entirely within Andorra. He kept his lead for five stages as the race entered the mountains of northern Spain, but lost it to Rodríguez on Stage 16. Dumoulin took the lead back on Stage 17 – the race's only individual time trial – with Aru three seconds behind in second place. Aru attacked throughout the final stages and, on the penultimate day, finally dropped Dumoulin, who fell to sixth place overall. Aru therefore took the first Grand Tour victory of his career. The points classification was decided during the final stage and was won by Alejandro Valverde (), while Rodriguez won the combination classification. The mountains classification was won by Omar Fraile (). Dumoulin won the combativity award, while Movistar won the team prize. ## Teams The seventeen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to attend the race. The organiser of the Vuelta, Unipublic, was also able to invite five UCI Professional Continental teams – the second tier of professional cycling teams – as wildcards. These were announced on 20 March 2015. , the only Spanish-registered Professional Continental team, was one of those invited, along with two French teams, and . were invited for the second consecutive year after also securing their first ever entry into the Tour de France. The final team to be invited was . One prominent team to miss out on an entry was . The team presentation took place in Benahavís on the evening before the first stage. The number of riders allowed per squad was nine, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. The riders represented 37 different countries, with the largest numbers coming from France (30), Spain (27) and Italy (20). The average age of riders in the Vuelta was 29.13 years, ranging from the 20-year-old Matej Mohorič () to the 38-year-old Haimar Zubeldia (). The teams entering the race were: ## Pre-race favorites The top four riders from the 2015 Tour de France all chose to start the Vuelta. These were Chris Froome (), Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (both ) and Vincenzo Nibali (), all of whom had previously won Grand Tours. The most notable absentee from among the general classification contenders was Alberto Contador (), the winner of the 2014 Vuelta. Oleg Tinkov, the owner of the Tinkoff-Saxo team, had challenged Contador, Froome, Nibali and Quintana to attempt to ride all three Grand Tours in 2015; none of the riders took up the challenge. Froome, Nibali and Quintana all declined to ride the Giro and, as Contador was attempting to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour, he did not aim to ride the Vuelta. Valverde and Nibali were the only two previous winners of the race to start the 2015 edition. Froome, who had been second in the 2011 and 2014 Vueltas, had had a strong season, with victories in the Vuelta a Andalucía, the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France. He was attempting to become the first rider since Bernard Hinault in 1978 to win both the Tour and the Vuelta in the same season, though it was expected that he would be tired following his victory in the Tour. The individual time trial was expected to favour Froome, who is strong in the discipline. Before the race, however, Froome was uncertain about his form and his ability to win the race. Quintana's only stage race victory of the season had come in the Tirreno–Adriatico, but he had performed strongly in the Alps in the Tour's final stages, and the mountainous route of the Vuelta was expected to suit him. Vincenzo Nibali, who had won the Vuelta in 2010, had struggled in the opening stages of the Tour, but had recovered to take a stage victory in the final week. The Astana team also included Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa, second and third respectively at the Giro d'Italia; while this made a strong team, it was unclear which rider would be favoured by the team and given the assistance of his teammates. There was a similar situation at Movistar, as Valverde, who had won the Vuelta in 2009 and had finished on the podium on four other occasions, was also in strong form and was well suited to the course. Also among the general classification contenders were Joaquim Rodríguez (), Rafał Majka () and Tejay van Garderen (). Other notable riders to take part in the race included several sprinters. One of these was Peter Sagan (), four times the winner of the points classification in the Tour de France and winner of three stages in the 2011 Vuelta, who was preparing for the World Championships road race the following month. Sagan was considered particularly strong on the easier uphill finishes in the first week. John Degenkolb () had won four stages and the points classification in 2014 as well as five stages in 2012. Nacer Bouhanni (), who had crashed out of the Tour, was expected to compete with Degenkolb in the flat sprints. ## Route and stages The first announcement of the route for the 2015 Vuelta a España came in October 2014, when Javier Guillén, the race director, announced that the first stage would take place in Puerto Banús near Marbella on 22 August. It had been decided that the stage would be either an individual time trial or a team time trial. More news came the following month, when Guillén revealed that he had been involved in conversations with Chris Froome and had promised him that the race would include a fairly flat individual time trial of around 40 kilometres (25 mi). He also said that the race would feature "explosive finals and summit finishes". The official route announcement came on 10 January 2015 in Torremolinos, along the coast from the start of the first stage in Puerto Banús. The first five stages took place in and around Andalusia in southern Spain; the 2014 Vuelta had also started there. The first stage was a team time trial along the coast from Puerto Banús to Marbella. The next four stages were fairly flat, although Stage 2 finished on a moderately difficult climb. The sixth stage started in Córdoba and finished in Sierra de Cazorla in Jaén on another moderately difficult climb. The seventh stage then returned to Andalusia for the first major difficulty of the race: the first-category summit finish at La Alpujarra. The route then continued along the eastern coast of Spain, with a medium-mountain seventh stage and another first-category summit finish at Benitachell on Stage 9. There was one more medium-mountain stage on Stage 10, taking the riders into the Province of Castellón. This was followed by a transfer that took the riders into Andorra for a three-day spell, beginning with the first rest day. The eleventh stage took place entirely in Andorra; though it was only 138 kilometres (86 mi) in length, it included six categorised climbs, including a summit finish, and was described by Eusebio Unzué (the manager of the Movistar team) as "the toughest Vuelta stage that he has seen in more than 30 years". Stage 12 took the riders back into Spain for a fairly flat stage, before three consecutive stages with summit finishes. These took place in the mountains of Cantabria and Asturias and were followed by the race's second rest day. The final week of the race included no summit finishes: the first stage was a 38.7-kilometre (24.0 mi) individual time trial in Burgos and was then followed by three mixed stages that took the riders nearer to the final stage of the race, a sprint stage in Madrid. For the first time, the race organisers also held a women's race on the same day as the final stage, using the same circuit. This race – called La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta – was won by Shelley Olds. The 2015 Vuelta included nine summit finishes, none of which had previously been used in the race. Unusually, the principal difficulties of the race came in the first two weeks, including all nine summit finishes. It was therefore expected that the climbers would need to attack early in the race, in order to build up a significant lead ahead of the lengthy time trial on Stage 17. The race organisers also hoped to encourage sprinters to take part by including seven fairly flat stages. Each road stage (that is, all the stages except the team time trial and the individual time trial) included an intermediate sprint. This was a point where the leading riders in the stage were awarded points in the points classification and time bonuses in the general classification. Many of the stages also included climbs that were categorised by the race organisers according to their difficulty; the leading riders over each of these climbs were awarded points in the mountains classification, with the most difficult climbs earning the most points. In the days before the beginning of the race, there was controversy over the first stage. On arriving at the start, the teams discovered that the route used a variety of road surfaces, crossed sandy sections and included several ramps. As a result, the race organisers decided to neutralise the stage: the teams therefore competed only for the stage victory and for the team classification, not for the general classification. ## Race overview The team time trial was won by and Peter Velits took the red jersey as the first rider across the line. Since the stage had been neutralised for the general classification, all 198 riders began the second stage on the same time. The stage finished on a moderate climb, where Esteban Chaves () attacked early and took both the stage victory and the lead of the race. A major crash in the final 30 kilometres (19 mi) brought down several riders and most riders in the peloton (the main group) were held up, including Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali (). Aru quickly rejoined the peloton; Nibali was forced to chase for a long time. After the stage, a video emerged of Nibali holding on to his team car as it accelerated him back to the peloton. Nibali was therefore fined and excluded from the race. The next stage was a moderately difficult stage that ended in a bunch sprint. Peter Sagan won his first Grand Tour stage in over two years ahead of Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin). The fourth stage again included an uphill finish. This stage was also decided in a sprint finish, this time won by Alejandro Valverde. Sagan, who came second, took over the lead of the points classification. A third consecutive bunch sprint came on the fifth stage, which ended on a slight incline. The relatively straightforward stage was won by Caleb Ewan (), who was riding his first Grand Tour, ahead of Degenkolb and Sagan. There were splits in the peloton at the finish; Chaves lost six seconds to Tom Dumoulin (), who therefore took over the red jersey of the race leader by one second. This lead did not last long. The sixth stage finished on another moderate climb. Chaves again attacked early in the climb and took his second stage victory, with Dan Martin () second and Dumoulin third. Chaves therefore took back the red jersey. The seventh stage was the most significant uphill finish of the race so far, finishing on the climb of the Alto de Capileira. It was won by Bert-Jan Lindeman () from the breakaway. Most of the general classification favourites finished together, though Fabio Aru gained seven seconds in the final kilometre and Chris Froome lost nearly half a minute. The following stage was a moderately difficult stage: it was too difficult for the pure sprinters to reach the finish line with the main group of riders, but not difficult enough to create gaps between those riding for the overall victory. The most notable event was a large crash 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the finish. Four riders were immediately forced to withdraw from the race with injuries, including Dan Martin, who had been in the top ten. The stage was won in a reduced bunch sprint by Jasper Stuyven (), who had been among the riders injured in the earlier crash. He was forced to withdraw from the race after the stage with a broken scaphoid. Stage 9 ended with a difficult climb. There was a series of attacks on the early part of the mountain, with many riders dropped from the lead group. Tom Dumoulin eventually took a solo win in the stage, two seconds ahead of Chris Froome, and took back the red jersey as Chaves lost significant time. Froome had originally been dropped, but rode at a steady tempo and came close to the stage victory. Stage 10, the final stage before the first rest day, ended in another bunch sprint, which was won by Kristian Sbaragli (). The eleventh stage, the first after the rest day, was the difficult stage in Andorra, with six difficult climbs and almost no flat roads. The stage was won from a breakaway by Mikel Landa (Astana). Fabio Aru, Landa's teammate, took second place and moved into the race lead. Chris Froome fell from his bike at the beginning of the stage and lost several minutes to Aru; the following morning it was revealed that he had broken his foot in the fall and he withdrew from the race. Nairo Quintana also lost several minutes on the stage. The following stage, which took the riders from Andorra back into Spain, was won in a sprint by Danny van Poppel () after the day's breakaway was caught in the final kilometre. Van Poppel won the stage despite puncturing his tyre with 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) remaining. The thirteenth stage – the last one before a series of three consecutive summit finishes – was won from a breakaway by Nelson Oliveira (), with no impact on the general classification. The first of the three summit finishes – Stage 14 – was won by Alessandro De Marchi (), who had been in the day's breakaway. Quintana gained several seconds back, while Aru, Rodríguez, Chaves and Majka all gained time on Dumoulin. Rodríguez attacked strongly on the final climb to win Stage 15 and gained time on all his rivals, putting himself just one second behind Aru. Dumoulin lost further time to Aru, Majka and Chaves. The final stage with a summit finish was Stage 16: it was a difficult stage including seven climbs and was won by Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing). On the final climb, Rodríguez gained two seconds on Aru in the final metres to put himself into the race lead for the final rest day, while Dumoulin lost more time and was nearly two minutes back. After the rest day came the race's individual time trial. It was won by Dumoulin, who was more than a minute ahead of all the other riders in the race. His time was good enough to put him into the overall race lead. Aru rode strongly, and was only three seconds behind Dumoulin in the general classification after the stage. Rodríguez lost over three minutes to Dumoulin. Majka also lost significant time to Aru and Dumoulin and fell to fourth place. Following the time trial, there were three mountainous stages, although none of them had a summit finish. All three were won by riders from breakaways. Nicolas Roche (Sky) won Stage 18, beating Haimar Zubeldia (Trek Factory Racing) in a two-man sprint. After his team had put pressure on the peloton through the whole stage, Aru attacked Dumoulin six times on the final climb, and Valverde put in three more attacks. Dumoulin, however, did not lose any time and retained his three-second lead. Stage 19 ended with a short, cobbled climb into Ávila. It was won by Alexis Gougeard (), who had escaped from the breakaway group on the previous climb. The day's racing also produced another crash: this time Aru fell to the ground. Although he had to make several trips to the medical car, he did not seem seriously injured. At the end of the stage, Dumoulin used his team to put him in a strong position for the cobbled climb and he increased his lead over Aru to six seconds. Stage 20 was the final day of mountainous terrain, including four difficult climbs. It was won by Rubén Plaza (Lampre-Mérida) after a 117-kilometre (73 mi) solo breakaway that lasted over three hours. Aru's Astana team rode hard in the second half of the stage and, with a strong team effort, they were eventually able to drop Dumoulin on the penultimate climb of the day; he dropped further back on the final climb and lost nearly four minutes, dropping to sixth place overall. Quintana and Majka gained nearly a minute on the other general classification rivals. This meant that Aru took the race lead, with Rodríguez second and Majka third. The final stage of the race was a flat stage that finished in Madrid. It was won in a sprint by Degenkolb. During the stage, Valverde took advantage of a puncture for Rodríguez and won the intermediate sprint to give him the points jersey. Although Aru lost a little time in a split in the peloton at the finish line, the rest of the standings were unchanged. Aru therefore won the race, his first Grand Tour victory. ## Classification leadership The 2015 Vuelta a España included four principal classifications. The first of these was the general classification, which was calculated by adding up each rider's times on each stage and applying the relevant time bonuses. These were 10 seconds for the stage winner, 6 seconds for the rider in second, and 4 seconds for the rider in third, and 3, 2 and 1 seconds for the first three riders at each intermediate sprint; no bonuses were awarded on the time trial stages. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Vuelta. The rider leading the classification wore a red jersey. The second classification was the points classification. Riders were awarded points for finishing in the top fifteen places on each stage and in the top three at each intermediate sprint. The first rider at each stage finish was awarded 25 points, the second 20 points, the third 16 points, the fourth 14 points, the fifth 12 points, the sixth 10 points, down to 1 point for the rider in fifteenth. At the intermediate sprints, the first three riders won 4, 2 and 1 points respectively. The rider with the most points won the classification and wore a green jersey. The third classification was the mountains classification. Most stages of the race included one or more categorised climbs. Stages were categorised as third-, second-, first- and special-category, with the more difficult climbs rated higher. The most difficult climb of the race, the Alto Ermita de Alba on Stage 16, was given its own category as the Cima Alberto Fernández. Points were awarded for the first riders across the summit of each climb; the rider with the most accumulated points won the classification and wore a white jersey with blue polka dots. The final individual classification was the combination classification. This was calculated by adding up each rider's position on the other three individual classifications. The rider with the lowest cumulative score was the winner of the classification and wore a white jersey. The final classification was a team classification. This was calculated by adding together the times of each team's best three riders on each stage. The team with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the classification. There was also a combativity prize awarded on each stage; three riders were chosen on each stage by a race jury to recognise the rider "who displayed the most courageous effort". There was then a public vote to decide which rider should be awarded the prize; the rider wore a red dossard (race number) the following day. An identical procedure took place on the final stage to decide the most combative rider of the whole Vuelta. ## Final standings ### General classification ### Points classification ### Mountains classification ### Combination classification ### Team classification ## See also - 2015 in men's road cycling - 2015 in sports
25,374,221	Tawny owl	1,167,437,448	Stocky medium-sized owl species	[ "Birds described in 1758", "Birds of Central Asia", "Birds of West Asia", "Birds of prey of Europe", "Strix (genus)", "Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus" ]	The tawny owl (Strix aluco), also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. It is a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, and whose upper body may be either brown or grey. (In several subspecies, individuals may be of either color.) The tawny owl typically makes its nest in a tree hole where it can protect its eggs and young against potential predators. It is non-migratory and highly territorial: as a result, when young birds grow up and leave the parental nest, if they cannot find a vacant territory to claim as their own, they will often starve. The tawny owl is a nocturnal bird of prey. It is able to hunt successfully at night because of its vision and hearing adaptations and its ability to fly silently. It usually hunts by dropping suddenly from a perch and seizing its prey, which it swallows whole. It hunts mainly rodents, although in urbanized areas its diet includes a higher proportion of birds. It also sometimes catches smaller owls, and is itself sometimes hunted by the eagle owl and the northern goshawk. Although many people assume that the tawny owl has exceptional night vision, its retina is no more sensitive than a human's. Its directional hearing skill is more important to its hunting success: its ears are asymmetrically placed, which enables it to more precisely pinpoint the location from which a sound originates. The tawny owl holds a place in human folklore: because it is active at night and has what many humans experience as a haunting call, people have traditionally associated it with bad omens and death. Many people think that all owl species make a hooting sound, but that is an overgeneralization based on the call of this particular species. In addition, the double hoot, which many people think is the tawny owl’s prototypical call, is actually a call and response between a male and a female. ## Description The tawny owl is a robust bird, 37–46 cm (15–18 in) in length, with an 81–105 cm (32–41 in) wingspan. Weight can range from 385 to 800 g (0.849 to 1.764 lb). Its large rounded head lacks ear tufts, and the facial disc surrounding the dark brown eyes is usually rather plain. The nominate race has two morphs which differ in their plumage colour, one form having rufous brown upperparts and the other greyish brown, although intermediates also occur. The underparts of both morphs are whitish and streaked with brown. Feathers are moulted gradually between June and December. This species is sexually dimorphic; the female is much larger than the male, 5% longer and more than 25% heavier. The tawny owl flies with long glides on rounded wings, less undulating and with fewer wingbeats than other Eurasian owls, and typically at a greater height. The flight of the tawny owl is rather heavy and slow, particularly at takeoff, though the bird can attain a top flight speed of around 50 mph. As with most owls, its flight is silent because of its feathers' soft, furry upper surfaces and a fringe on the leading edge of the outer primaries. Its size, squat shape and broad wings distinguish it from other owls found within its range; the great grey owl (Strix nebulosa), Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) and Ural owl (Strix uralensis) are similar in shape, but much larger. An owl's eyes are placed at the front of the head and have a field overlap of 50–70%, giving it better binocular vision than diurnal birds of prey (overlap 30–50%). The tawny owl's retina has about 56,000 light-sensitive rod cells per square millimetre (36 million per square inch); although earlier claims that it could see in the infrared part of the spectrum have been dismissed, it is still often said to have eyesight 10 to 100 times better than humans in low-light conditions. However, the experimental basis for this claim is probably inaccurate by at least a factor of 10. The owl's actual visual acuity is only slightly greater than that of humans, and any increased sensitivity is due to optical factors rather than to greater retinal sensitivity; both humans and owl have reached the limit of resolution for the retinas of terrestrial vertebrates. Adaptations to night vision include the large size of the eye, its tubular shape, large numbers of closely packed retinal rods, and an absence of cone cells, since rod cells have superior light sensitivity. There are few coloured oil drops, which would reduce the light intensity. Unlike diurnal birds of prey, owls normally have only one fovea, and that is poorly developed except in daytime hunters such as the short-eared owl. Hearing is important for a nocturnal bird of prey, and as with other owls, the tawny owl's two ear openings differ in structure and are asymmetrically placed to improve directional hearing. A passage through the skull links the eardrums, and small differences in the time of arrival of a sound at each ear enables its source to be pinpointed. The left ear opening is higher on the head than the larger right ear and tilts downward, improving sensitivity to sounds from below. Both ear openings are hidden under the facial disk feathers, which are structurally specialized to be transparent to sound, and are supported by a movable fold of skin (the pre-aural flap). The internal structure of the ear, which has large numbers of auditory neurons, gives an improved ability to detect low-frequency sounds at a distance, which could include rustling made by prey moving in vegetation. The tawny owl's hearing is ten times better than a human's, and it can hunt using this sense alone in the dark of a woodland on an overcast night, but the patter of raindrops makes it difficult to detect faint sounds, and prolonged wet weather can lead to starvation if the owl cannot hunt effectively. The commonly heard female contact call is a shrill, kew-wick but the male has a quavering advertising song hoo...ho, ho, hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. William Shakespeare used this owl's song in Love's Labour's Lost (Act 5, Scene 2) as "Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot", but this stereotypical call is actually a duet, with the female making the kew-wick sound, and the male responding hooo. The call is easily imitated by blowing into cupped hands through slightly parted thumbs, and a study in Cambridgeshire found that this mimicry produced a response from the owl within 30 minutes in 94% of trials. A male's response to a broadcast song appears to be indicative of his health and vigour; owls with higher blood parasite loads use fewer high frequencies and a more limited range of frequencies in their responses to an apparent intruder. The vocal activity of tawny owls depends on sex, annual cycle stage and weather, with males being more vocal than females year-round, with peak vocal activity during incubation and post-breeding. ### Geographical variation Although both colour morphs occur in much of the European range, brown birds predominate in the more humid climate of western Europe, with the grey morph becoming more common further east; in the northernmost regions, all the owls are a cold-grey colour. The Siberian and Scandinavian subspecies are 12% larger and 40% heavier, and have 13% longer wings than western European birds, in accordance with Bergmann's rule which predicts that northern forms will typically be bigger than their southern counterparts. The plumage colour is genetically controlled, and studies in Finland and Italy indicate that grey-morph tawny owls have more reproductive success, better immune resistance, and fewer parasites than brown birds. Although this might suggest that eventually the brown morph could disappear, the owls show no colour preference when choosing a mate, so the selection pressure in favour of the grey morph is reduced. There are also environmental factors involved. The Italian study showed that brown-morph birds were found in denser woodland, and in Finland, Gloger's rule would suggest that paler birds would in any case predominate in the colder climate. ## Taxonomy The species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current scientific name. The binomial derives from Greek strix "owl" and Italian allocco, "tawny owl" (from Latin ulucus "screech-owl"). The tawny owl is a member of the wood-owl genus Strix, part of the typical owl family Strigidae, which contains all species of owl other than the barn owls. Within its genus, the tawny owl's closest relatives are Hume's owl, Strix butleri, (formerly considered to be conspecific), the Himalayan owl, Strix nivicolum, (sometimes considered conspecific), its larger northern neighbour, the Ural owl, S. uralensis, and the North American barred owl, S. varia. The Early–Middle Pleistocene Strix intermedia is sometimes considered a paleosubspecies of the tawny owl, which would make it that species' immediate ancestor. The tawny owl subspecies are often poorly differentiated, and may be at a flexible stage of subspecies formation with features related to the ambient temperature, the colour tone of the local habitat, and the size of available prey. Consequently, various authors have historically described between 10 and 15 subspecies. The seven currently recognised subspecies are listed below. ## Distribution and habitat The tawny owl is non-migratory and has a distribution stretching discontinuously across temperate Europe from Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula eastwards to western Siberia. It is absent from Ireland - probably because of competition from the long-eared owl (Asio otus) - and only a rare vagrant to the Balearic and Canary Islands. In the Himalayas and East Asia it is replaced by the Himalayan owl (Strix nivicolum) and in northwest Africa it is replaced by the closely related Maghreb owl (Strix mauritanica). This species is found in deciduous and mixed forests, and sometimes mature conifer plantations, preferring locations with access to water. Cemeteries, gardens and parks have allowed it to spread into urban areas, including central London. Although tawny owls occur in urban environments, especially those with natural forests and wooded habitat patches, they are less likely to occur at sites with high noise levels at night. The tawny owl is mainly a lowland bird in the colder parts of its range, but breeds to 550 metres (1,800 ft) in Scotland, 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in the Alps, 2,350 m (7,710 ft) in Turkey, and up to 2,800 m (9,200 ft) in Myanmar. The tawny owl has a geographical range of at least 10 million km<sup>2</sup> (3.8 million mi<sup>2</sup>) and a large population including an estimated 970,000–2,000,000 individuals in Europe alone. Population trends have not been quantified, but there is evidence of an overall increase. This owl is not believed to meet the IUCN Red List criterion of declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations and is therefore evaluated as being of least concern. In the UK it is on the RSPB Amber List of Concern. This species has expanded its range in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine, and populations are stable or increasing in most European countries. Declines have occurred in Finland, Estonia, Italy and Albania. Tawny owls are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meaning international trade (including in parts and derivatives) is regulated. ## Behaviour ### Breeding Tawny owls pair off from the age of one year, and stay together in a usually monogamous relationship for life. An established pair's territory is defended year-round and maintained with little, if any, boundary change from year to year. The pair sit in cover on a branch close to a tree trunk during the day, and usually roost separately from July to October. Roosting owls may be discovered and "mobbed" by small birds during the day, but they normally ignore the disturbance. Tawny owls are very territorial, and will indicate the location of their chosen territory by their vocalisations, which occur at their greatest frequency during the night, though some owls will continue to call during the day. The owl's home range is determined in early autumn, and the territory is defended throughout the winter and into spring when the breeding season begins. The tawny owl typically nests in a hole in a tree, but will also use old European magpie nests, squirrel drey or holes in buildings, and readily takes to nest boxes. It nests from February onwards in the south of its range, but rarely before mid-March in Scandinavia. The glossy white eggs are 48 mm × 39 mm (1.9 in × 1.5 in) in size and weigh 39.0 g (1.38 oz) of which 7% is shell. The typical clutch of two or three eggs is incubated for 30 days to hatching, and the altricial, downy chicks fledge in a further 35–39 days. Incubation is usually undertaken by the female alone, although the male has rarely been observed to assist. The young usually leave the nest up to ten days before fledging, and hide on nearby branches. This species is fearless in defence of its nest and young, and, like other Strix owls, strikes for the intruder's head with its sharp talons. Because its flight is silent, it may not be detected until it is too late to avoid the danger. Dogs, cats and humans may be assaulted, sometimes without provocation. Perhaps the best-known victim of the tawny owl's fierce attack was the renowned bird photographer Eric Hosking, who lost his left eye when struck by a bird he was attempting to photograph near its nest in 1937. He later called his autobiography An Eye for a Bird. The parents care for young birds for two or three months after they fledge, but from August to November the juveniles disperse to find a territory of their own to occupy. If they fail to find a vacant territory, they usually starve. The juvenile survival rate is unknown, but the annual survival rate for adults is 76.8%. The typical lifespan is five years, but an age of over 18 years has been recorded for a wild tawny owl, and of over 27 years for a captive bird. Predators of the tawny owl include large birds such as Ural owls, eagle owls, northern goshawks, golden eagles, and common buzzards. Pine martens may raid nests, especially where artificial nest boxes make the owls easy to find, and several instances have been recorded of Eurasian jackdaws building nests on top of a brooding female tawny owl leading to the death of the adult and chicks. A Danish study showed that predation by mammals, especially red foxes, was an important cause of mortality in newly fledged young, with 36% dying between fledging and independence. The mortality risk increased with fledging date from 14% in April to more than 58% in June, and increasing predation of late broods may be an important selective agent for early breeding in this species. This species is increasingly affected by avian malaria, the incidence of which has tripled in the last 70 years, in parallel with increasing global temperatures. An increase of one degree Celsius produces a two- to three-fold increase in the rate of malaria. In 2010, the incidence in British tawny owls was 60%, compared to 2–3% in 1996. ### Feeding The tawny owl hunts almost entirely at night, watching from a perch before dropping or gliding silently down to its victim, but very occasionally it will hunt in daylight when it has young to feed. This species takes a wide range of prey, mainly woodland rodents, but also other mammals up to the size of a young rabbit, and birds, earthworms and beetles. In urban areas, birds make up a larger proportion of the diet, and species as unlikely as mallard and kittiwake have been killed and eaten. Prey is typically swallowed whole, with indigestible parts regurgitated as pellets. These are medium-sized and grey, consisting mainly of rodent fur and often with bones protruding, and are found in groups under trees used for roosting or nesting. Less powerful woodland owls such as the little owl and the long-eared owl cannot usually co-exist with the stronger tawny owls, which may take them as food items, and are found in different habitats; in Ireland the absence of the tawny owl allowed the long-eared owl to become the dominant owl. Similarly, where the tawny owl has moved into built-up areas, it tends to displace barn owls from their traditional nesting sites in buildings. ## In culture The tawny owl, like its relatives, has often been seen as an omen of bad luck; William Shakespeare used it as such in Julius Caesar (Act 1 Scene 3): "And yesterday the bird of night did sit/ Even at noon-day upon the market-place/ Hooting and shrieking." John Ruskin is quoted as saying "Whatever wise people may say of them, I at least have found the owl's cry always prophetic of mischief to me". Wordsworth described the technique for calling an owl in his poem "There Was a Boy". > > And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth Uplifted, he, as through an instrument, Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls, That they might answer him.—And they would shout Across the watery vale, and shout again, Responsive to his call,—with quivering peals, And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud Redoubled and redoubled; concourse wild Of jocund din!
21,684,015	Animaniacs	1,173,606,060	American animated television series	[ "1990s American animated television series", "1990s American children's comedy television series", "1990s American musical comedy television series", "1990s American satirical television series", "1990s American sketch comedy television series", "1990s American surreal comedy television series", "1990s American variety television series", "1993 American television series debuts", "1998 American television series endings", "American children's animated comedy television series", "American children's animated education television series", "American children's animated musical television series", "Animaniacs", "Animated television series about mammals", "Animated television series about orphans", "Animated television series about siblings", "Children's sketch comedy", "Crossover animated television series", "DC Comics titles", "Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program winners", "English-language television shows", "Fox Broadcasting Company original programming", "Fox Kids", "Kids' WB original shows", "Metafictional television series", "Peabody Award-winning television programs", "Reading and literacy television series", "Self-reflexive television", "Television series by Amblin Entertainment", "Television series by Warner Bros. Animation", "Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios", "Television series created by Tom Ruegger", "Television shows adapted into comics", "Television shows adapted into video games", "Television shows set in Burbank, California", "The WB original programming" ]	Animaniacs is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, until the series ended on November 14, 1998. It is the second animated series produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Animation, after Tiny Toon Adventures. It initially ran a total of 99 episodes, along with a feature-length film, Wakko's Wish. Reruns later aired on Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2001, Nickelodeon from 2001 to 2003, Nicktoons from 2003 to 2005, and Discovery Family (known as The Hub Network at the time) from 2012 (when Wakko's Wish premiered) to 2014. Animaniacs is a variety show, with short skits featuring a large cast of characters. While the show had no set format, the majority of episodes were composed of three short mini-episodes, each starring a different set of characters, and bridging segments. Hallmarks of the series included its music, satirical social commentary, pop culture references, character catchphrases, and innuendo directed at an adult audience. A revival of the series was announced in January 2018, with a two-season order, to be produced in conjunction with Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, with producer Steven Spielberg, songwriter Randy Rogel, and many of the main voice actors returning. It premiered on November 20, 2020, on Hulu, with a second season premiering on November 5, 2021, and a third and final season premiering on February 17, 2023. ## Background ### Premise The Warner siblings live in the Warner Bros. Water Tower on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California. However, characters from the series had episodes in various places and periods of time. The Animaniacs characters interacted with famous people and creators of the past and present, as well as mythological characters and characters from contemporary pop culture and television. Andrea Romano, the casting and recording director of Animaniacs, said that the Warner siblings functioned to "tie the show together," by appearing in and introducing other characters' segments. Each Animaniacs episode usually consisted of two or three cartoon shorts. Animaniacs segments ranged in time, from bridging segments less than a minute long to episodes spanning the entire show's length; writer Peter Hastings said that the varying episode lengths gave the show a "sketch comedy" atmosphere. ### Characters Animaniacs had a large cast of characters, separated into individual segments, with each pair or set of characters acting in its own plot. The Warner siblings, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, are three 1930s cartoon stars of an unknown species (one Tom Ruegger named "Cartoonus characterus") that were locked away in the WB Tower until the 1990s, when they escaped. After their escape, they often interacted with other Warner Bros. studio workers, including Ralph the Security Guard; Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, the studio psychiatrist; and his assistant, Hello Nurse. Pinky and the Brain are two genetically altered anthropomorphic laboratory mice who continuously plot and attempt to take over the world. Slappy Squirrel is an octogenarian anthropomorphic cartoon star who can easily outwit antagonists and uses her wiles to educate her nephew, Skippy Squirrel, about cartoon techniques. Additional principal characters included three anthropomorphic Italian-American pigeons known as The Goodfeathers, Buttons and Mindy, Chicken Boo, Flavio and Marita (The Hip Hippos) and Katie Ka-Boom. Exclusive to the first season, Rita and Runt, two strays that get into massive trouble and adventures, and Minerva Mink, a young attractive anthropomorphic mink, starred in their own segments. The Pinky and the Brain segment was the only segment, aside from the Warners themselves, to get in the reboot, excluding the episode "Good Warner Hunting", in which all the original characters appeared at the end of the episode, excluding Pinky and the Brain. ## Production ### Conception Prior to Animaniacs, Warner Bros. had been working to get Steven Spielberg to make an animated film for the studio. To help court Spielberg's favor, the head of Warner Bros. Animation Jean MacCurdy brought director Tom Ruegger, who had successfully led A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, to help develop the concept with Spielberg. Ruegger pitched the idea to Spielberg of using younger versions of the Looney Tunes characters while capturing the same wackiness of those cartoons, eventually leading into Tiny Toon Adventures. Tiny Toon Adventures was considered a success, winning a number of Daytime Emmy awards and a Primetime Emmy award and revived the Warner Bros. Animation department. With Tiny Toon Adventures's success, Spielberg and MacCurdy pushed on Ruegger for the next idea for a series, with Spielberg emphasizing the need for something with a marquee name. Ruegger had already envisioned pulling three characters that he had created for his student film The Premiere of Platypus Duck while attending Dartmouth College, a trio of platypuses for this new series, and made a connection to Warner Bros. after walking around the studio lot and seeing its signature water tower. He came up with making this trio the Warner Brothers and their sister Dot (the latter representing the period in the "Warner Bros." name), tying the characters directly to the studio with their approval. Along with reviving the character designs, Ruegger drew characterization for the Warner siblings from his three sons who could be troublemakers at the time. Because the Warners were portrayed as cartoon stars from the early 1930s, Ruegger and other artists for Animaniacs made the images of the Warners similar to cartoon characters of the early 1930s. ### Writing Steven Spielberg served as executive producer, under his Amblin Entertainment label. Showrunner and senior producer Tom Ruegger lead the overall production and writer's room. Ruegger initially brought in Sherri Stoner, who had also contributed to Tiny Toons Adventures, to help expand the series' concept. Producers Peter Hastings, Sherri Stoner, Rusty Mills, and Rich Arons contributed scripts for many of the episodes and had an active role during group discussions in the writer's room as well. Stoner helped to recruit most of the remaining writing staff, which included Liz Holzman, Paul Rugg, Deanna Oliver, John McCann, Nicholas Hollander, Charlie Howell, Gordon Bressack, Jeff Kwitny, Earl Kress, Tom Minton, and Randy Rogel. Hastings, Rugg, Stoner, McCann, Howell, and Bressack were involved in writing sketch comedy while others, including Kress, Minton, and Rogel, came from cartoon backgrounds. The writers and animators of Animaniacs used the experience gained from the previous series to create new characters cast in the mold of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery's creations, following on the back-and-forth of many of the pairings from their classic shorts. The Marx Brothers, particularly with their breaking of the fourth wall, also played heavily into the comic styling they wanted for the show. While the Warner siblings served as the central point of the show, the writing staff worked out developing other pairings or trios so as to make the cartoon more like a variety show with sketch comedy. Executive producer Steven Spielberg said that the irreverence in Looney Tunes cartoons inspired the Animaniacs cast. Just as Ruegger wrote the Warner siblings based on his own sons, other pairings or trios were based on similar personal relations the writing staff had. Ruegger created Pinky and the Brain after being inspired by the personalities of two of his Tiny Toon Adventures colleagues, Eddie Fitzgerald and Tom Minton, who worked in the same office. Ruegger thought of the premise for Pinky and the Brain when wondering what would happen if Minton and Fitzgerald tried to take over the world, and cemented the idea after he modified a caricature of the pair drawn by animator Bruce Timm by adding mice ears and noses. `Deanna Oliver contributed The Goodfeathers scripts and the character Chicken Boo, while Nicholas Hollander based Katie Ka-Boom on his teenage daughter. Stoner created Slappy the Squirrel when another writer and friend of Stoner, John McCann, made fun of Stoner's career in TV movies playing troubled teenagers. When McCann joked that Sherri would be playing troubled teenagers when she was 50 years old, the latter developed the idea of Slappy's characteristics as an older person acting like a teenager. Stoner liked the idea of an aged cartoon character because an aged cartoon star would know the secrets of other cartoons and "have the dirt on [them]". Several additional sets of characters were also created and vetted by Spielberg for inclusion in the show. Among those that were kept included The Hip Hippos, Rita and Runt, Minerva Mink and Buttons and Mindy, the latter of which due to Spielberg's daughter.` Made-up stories did not exclusively comprise Animaniacs writing, as Hastings remarked: "We weren't really there to tell compelling stories ... [As a writer] you could do a real story, you could recite the Star-Spangled Banner, or you could parody a commercial ... you could do all these kinds of things, and we had this tremendous freedom and a talent to back it up." Writers for the series wrote into Animaniacs stories that happened to them; the episodes "Ups and Downs," "Survey Ladies," and "I Got Yer Can" were episodes based on true stories that happened to Rugg, Deanna Oliver, and Stoner, respectively. Another episode, "Bumbie's Mom," both parodied the film Bambi and was based on Stoner's childhood reaction to the film. In an interview, the writers explained how Animaniacs allowed for non-restrictive and open writing. Hastings said that the format of the series had the atmosphere of a sketch comedy show because Animaniacs segments could widely vary in both time and subject, while Stoner described how the Animaniacs writing staff worked well as a team in that writers could consult other writers on how to write or finish a story, as was the case in the episode "The Three Muska-Warners". Rugg, Hastings and Stoner also mentioned how the Animaniacs writing was free in that the writers were allowed to write about parody subjects that would not be touched on other series. Animaniacs was developed following the passage of the Children's Television Act in 1990 that required that programming aimed at children to include educational content. The writers worked this into the show in part by featuring segments involving the characters interacting with historical figures, and creating songs like "Yakko's World", which listed out all the countries of the world at the time, to serve as educational content. ### Cast Animaniacs featured Rob Paulsen as Yakko, Pinky, and Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff, Tress MacNeille as Dot, Jess Harnell as Wakko, show writer Sherri Stoner as Slappy Squirrel, Maurice LaMarche as the Brain, Squit and the belching segments "The Great Wakkorotti" (Harnell said that he himself is commonly mistaken for the role), and veteran voice actor Frank Welker as Ralph the Security Guard, Thaddeus Plotz and Runt. Andrea Romano said that the casters wanted Paulsen to play the role of Yakko: "We had worked with Rob Paulsen before on a couple of other series and we wanted him to play Yakko." Romano said that the casters had "no trouble" choosing the role of Dot, referring to MacNeille as "just hilarious ...And yet [she had] that edge." MacNeille had already been part of Tiny Toons Adventures as Babs Bunny, a role "custom made" for her, and Spielberg encouraged her to audition for the role of Dot in Animaniacs. Before Animaniacs, Harnell had little experience in voice acting other than minor roles for Disney which he "fell into". Harnell revealed that at the audition for the show, he did a John Lennon impression and the audition "went great". For Pinky and the Brain, LaMarche had been a long-time aficionado of Orson Welles, including the infamous Frozen Peas outtake, and when he auditioned for various characters in the show, immediately saw the Brain as having a Welles-like character, adapting his voice for the role. Paulsen took inspiration from British comedy such as Monty Python's Flying Circus for Pinky's voice. Stoner commented that when she gave an impression of what the voice would be to Spielberg, he said she should play Slappy herself. According to Romano, she personally chose Bernadette Peters to play Rita. Other voices were provided by Jim Cummings, Paul Rugg, Vernee Watson-Johnson, Jeff Bennett and Gail Matthius. Tom Ruegger's three sons also played roles in the series. Nathan Ruegger voiced Skippy Squirrel, the nephew of Slappy, throughout the duration of the series; Luke Ruegger voiced The Flame in historical segments on Animaniacs; and Cody Ruegger voiced Birdie from Wild Blue Yonder. ### Animation Animation work on Animaniacs was farmed out to several different studios, both American and international, over the course of the show's production. The animation companies included Tokyo Movie Shinsha of Japan, StarToons of Chicago, Wang Film Productions of Taiwan, Shanghai Morning Sun Animation and Sichuan Top Animation of China, Freelance Animators New Zealand of New Zealand, Seoul Movie (a subsidiary of TMS) and AKOM of South Korea, and most Animaniacs episodes frequently had animation from different companies in each episode's respective segments. Animaniacs was made with a higher production value than standard television animation; the series had a higher cel count than most TV cartoons. The Animaniacs characters often move fluidly, and do not regularly stand still and speak, as in other television cartoons. ### Music Animaniacs utilized a heavy musical score for an animated program, with every episode featuring at least one original score. The idea for an original musical score in every episode came from Steven Spielberg. Animaniacs used a 35-piece orchestra, and seven composers were contracted to write original underscore for the series' run: Richard Stone, Steve Bernstein, Julie Bernstein, Carl Johnson, J. Eric Schmidt, Gordon Goodwin, and Tim Kelly. The use of the large orchestra in modern Warner Bros. animation began with Animaniacs predecessor, Tiny Toon Adventures, but Spielberg pushed for its use even more in Animaniacs. Although the outcome was a very expensive show to produce, "the sound sets us apart from everyone else in animation," said Jean MacCurdy, the executive in charge of production for the series. According to Steve and Julie Bernstein, not only was the Animaniacs music written in the same style as that of Looney Tunes composer Carl Stalling, it was recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage, which was used by Stalling as well as its piano. Senior producer Tom Ruegger said that writers Randy Rogel, Nicholas Hollander, and Deanna Oliver wrote "a lot of music" for the series. ## Hallmarks and humor The humor of Animaniacs varies in type, ranging from parody to cartoon violence. The series made parodies of television shows and films. In an interview, Spielberg defended the "irreverence" of Animaniacs, saying that the Animaniacs crew has "a point of view" and does not "sit back passively and play both sides equally". Spielberg also said that Animaniacs humor of social commentary and irreverence were inspired by the Marx Brothers and Looney Tunes cartoons. Animaniacs, among other Spielberg-produced series, had a large amount of cartoon violence. Spielberg defended the violence in Animaniacs by saying that the series had a balance of both violent humor and educational segments, so the series would never become either too violent or "benign". Animaniacs also made use of catchphrases, recurring jokes and segments, and "adult" humor. ### Recurring jokes and catchphrases Characters on Animaniacs had catchphrases, with some characters having more than one. Notable catchphrases include Yakko's "Goodnight, everybody!" often said following adult humor, Wakko's "Faboo!" and Dot's frequent assertions of her cuteness. The most prominent catchphrase that was said by all three Warners was "Hello-o-o, nurse!" Tom Ruegger said that the "Hello-o-o, nurse!" line was intended to be a catchphrase much like Bugs Bunny's line, "Eh, what's up, Doc?" Before the theme song for each "Pinky and the Brain" segment, Pinky asks, "Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?", to which Brain replies, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to take over the world!" During these episodes, Brain often asks Pinky, "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?" whenever inspiration for a part of his plan has struck him and Pinky replies with a silly non sequitur that changes with every episode. Writer Peter Hastings said that he unintentionally created these catchphrases when he wrote the episode "Win Big", and then producer Sherri Stoner used them and had them put into later episodes. Running gags and recurring segments were very common in the series. The closing credits for each episode always included one joke credit and ended with a water tower gag similar to The Simpsons couch gag. Director Rusty Mills and senior producer Tom Ruegger said that recurring segments like the water tower gag and another segment titled "The Wheel of Morality" (which, in Yakko's words, "adds boring educational value to what would otherwise be an almost entirely entertaining program", and ends with a "moral" that makes absolutely no sense) eased the production of episodes because the same animated scenes could be used more than once (and, in the case of the Wheel segments, enabled the producers to add a segment in where there was not room for anything else in the episode). ### Humor and content intended for adults A great deal of Animaniacs' humor and content was aimed at an adult audience, revolving around hidden sexual innuendo and throwback pop culture references. Animaniacs parodied the film A Hard Day's Night and the Three Tenors, references that The New York Times wrote were "appealing to older audiences". The comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan Pirates of Penzance and H.M.S. Pinafore were parodied in episode 3, "HMS Yakko". The Warners' personalities were made similar to those of the Marx Brothers and Jerry Lewis, in that they, according to writer Peter Hastings, "wreak havoc" in "serious situations". In addition, the show's recurring "Goodfeathers" segment was populated with characters based on characters from The Godfather and Goodfellas, R-rated crime dramas neither marketed nor intended for children. Some content of Animaniacs was not only aimed at an adult audience, it was suggestive in nature; one character, Minerva Mink, had episodes that network censors considered too sexually suggestive for the show's intended audience, for which she was soon de-emphasized as a featured character. Jokes involving such innuendo would often end with Yakko telling "Goodnight, everybody!" as a punchline. ### Parodies Animaniacs parodied popular TV shows and movies and caricatured celebrities. Animaniacs made fun of celebrities, major motion pictures, television series for adults (Seinfeld, Beverly Hills 90210 and Friends, among others), television series for children (such as Barney & Friends and Rugrats), and trends in the U.S. One episode even made fun of competing show Power Rangers, and another episode caricatured Animaniacs' own Internet fans. Animaniacs also made potshots of Disney films, creating parodies of such films as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Bambi, and others. Animaniacs director Russell Calabrese said that not only did it become a compliment to be parodied on Animaniacs, being parodied on the series would be taken as a "badge of honor". ### Songs Animaniacs had a variety of music types. Many Animaniacs songs were parodies of classical or folk music with educational lyrics. These include Yakko's World and the Nations of the World updated in which Yakko sings the names of all 200-some nations of the world at the time to the tune of the "Mexican Hat Dance". "Wakko's America" listed all the United States and their capitals to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw". Another song, titled "The Presidents", named every U.S. president at the time to the tune of the "William Tell Overture" (with brief snippets of the tunes "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" and "Dixie"). Non-educational song parodies were also used, such as "Slippin' on the Ice," a parody of "Singin' in the Rain". Most of the groups of characters had their own theme songs for their segments on the show. The Animaniacs theme song, performed by the Warners, won an Emmy Award for best song. Ruegger wrote the lyrics, and Stone composed the music for the title sequence. Several Animaniacs albums and sing-along VHS tapes were released, including the CDs Animaniacs, Yakko's World, and Animaniacs Variety Pack, and the tapes Animaniacs Sing-Along: Yakko's World and Animaniacs Sing-Along: Mostly in Toon. ## Reception Animaniacs was a successful show, gathering both child and adult fans. The series received ratings higher than its competitors and won eight Daytime Emmy Awards. ### Ratings and popularity During its run, Animaniacs became the second-most popular children's show among both ages 2–11 and ages 6–11 (behind Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). Animaniacs, along with other animated series, helped to bring "Fox Kids" ratings much larger than those of the channel's competitors. In November 1993, Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures almost doubled the ratings of rivals Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop among ages 2–11 and 6–11, which are both very important demographics to children's networks. On Kids' WB, Animaniacs gathered about 1 million child viewers every week. While Animaniacs was popular among younger viewers (the target demographic for Warner Bros.' TV cartoons), adults also responded positively to the show; in 1995, more than one-fifth of the weekday (4 p.m., Monday through Friday) and Saturday morning (8 a.m.) audience viewers were 25 years or older. The large adult fanbase even led to one of the first Internet-based fandom cultures. During the show's prime, the usenet newsgroup alt.tv.animaniacs was an active gathering place for fans of the show (most of whom were adults) to post reference guides, fan fiction, and fan-made artwork about Animaniacs. The online popularity of the show did not go unnoticed by the show's producers, and twenty of the most active participants on the newsgroup were invited to the Warner Bros. Animation studios for a gathering in August 1995. ### Nominations and awards \\|- \\| rowspan="8" scope="row" \\| 1994 \\| 53rd Annual Peabody Awards \\|Peabody Award \\|Warner Brothers Animation, Amblin Entertainment, Fox Children's Network \\|Won \\|- \\| rowspan="4" \\| \\|Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition \\|Richard Stone and Steve Bernstein \\|Won \\|- \\|Outstanding Original Song \\|Richard Stone and Tom Ruegger for "Animaniacs Theme Song" \\|Won \\|- \\|Outstanding Animated Children's Program \\|• Steven Spielberg (executive producer) • Sherri Stoner (producer) • Rich Arons (producer/animation director) • Tom Ruegger (coordinating producer) • Michael Gerard (animation director) • Alfred Gimeno (animation director) • Bob Kline (animation director) • Jenny Lerew (animation director) • Rusty Mills (animation director) • Audu Paden (animation director) • Greg Reyna (animation director) • Lenord Robinson (animation director) • Barry Caldwell (animation director) \\|Nominated \\|- \\|Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program \\|• John P. McCann • Nicholas Hollander • Tom Minton • Paul Rugg • Deanna Oliver • Tom Ruegger • Sherri Stoner • Randy Rogel • Peter Hastings \\|Nominated \\|- \\| \\|Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming \\|Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Entertainment \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="2"\\| \\|Best Animated Television Program \\|Warner Bros. Animation \\|Nominated \\|- \\|Best Achievement for Voice Acting \\|Frank Welker \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="8" scope="row" \\| 1995 \\| rowspan="11" \\| \\|Outstanding Animated Children's Program \\|• Steven Spielberg (executive producer) • Rich Arons (producer) • Sherri Stoner (producer) • Tom Ruegger (senior producer) \\|Nominated \\|- \\|Outstanding Achievement in Animation \\|• Rich Arons (director) • Barry Caldwell (director) • Michael Gerard (director) • Alfred Gimeno (director) • David Marshall (director) • Jon McClenahan (director) • Rusty Mills (director) • Audu Paden (director) • Greg Reyna (director) • Lenord Robinson (director) • Andrea Romano (director) • Peter Hastings (writer) • Nicholas Hollander (writer) • John P. McCann (writer) • Tom Minton (writer) • Deanna Oliver (writer) • Randy Rogel (writer) • Paul Rugg (writer) • Tom Ruegger (writer) • Sherri Stoner (writer) \\|Nominated \\|- \\|Outstanding Music Direction and Composition \\|Richard Stone and Steve Bernstein \\|Nominated \\|- \\| \\|Favorite Cartoon \\|Animaniacs \\|Nominated \\|-\\| rowspan="4" \\| \\|Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition \\|Richard Stone and Steve Bernstein \\|Won \\|- \\|Voice Acting in the Field of Animation \\|Rob Paulsen as the voice of Yakko Warner \\|Nominated \\|- \\|Best Individual Achievement for Music in the Field of Animation \\|Richard Stone (supervising composer) \\|Nominated \\|- \\|Best Animated Television Program \\|Warner Bros. Television Animation \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="7" scope="row" \\| 1996 \\| (Young Artist Awards) \\|Best Family Animated Production \\|Animaniacs \\|Won \\|- \\| \\|Favorite Cartoon \\|Animaniacs \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="3" \\| \\|Outstanding Children's Animated Program \\|• Steven Spielberg (executive producer) • Tom Ruegger (senior producer) • Peter Hastings (producer) • Rusty Mills (producer) \\|Won \\|- \\|Outstanding Achievement in Animation \\|• Gordon Bressack (writer) • Charles M. Howell IV (writer) • Peter Hastings (writer) • Randy Rogel (writer) • Tom Ruegger (writer) • Paul Rugg (writer) • Liz Holzman (director) • Audu Paden (director) • Andrea Romano (director) • Al Zegler (director) • Joey Banaszkiewicz (storyboard artist) • Barry Caldwell (storyboard artist) • Brian Mitchell (storyboard artist) • John Over (storyboard artist) • Norma Rivera (storyboard artist) • Rhoydon Shishido (storyboard artist) • Marcus Williams (storyboard artist) • Mark Zoeller (storyboard artist) \\|Won \\|- \\|Outstanding Music Direction and Composition \\|Steve Bernstein, Carl Johnson, and Richard Stone \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="2" \\| \\|Best Animated Television Program \\|Warner Bros. Television Animation and Amblin Entertainment \\|Nominated \\|- \\|Best Individual Achievement: Music \\|• Richard Stone • Steve Bernstein • Julie Bernstein \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="5" scope="row" \\| 1997 \\|1st Annual Online Film & Television Association Awards \\|OFTA Television Award for Best Animated Series \\|Animaniacs \\|Nominated \\|- \\| \\|Favorite Cartoon \\|Animaniacs \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="2" \\| \\|Outstanding Children's Animated Program \\|• Steven Spielberg (executive producer) • Liz Holzman (producer/director) • Rusty Mills (producer/director) • Peter Hastings (producer/writer) • Tom Ruegger (senior producer/writer) • Charles Visser (director) • Andrea Romano (director) • Audu Paden (director) • Jon McClenahan (director) • Randy Rogel (writer) • John P. McCann (writer) • Paul Rugg (writer) • Nick DuBois (writer) \\|Won \\|- \\|Outstanding Music Direction and Composition \\|• Richard Stone (composer) • Steve Bernstein (composer) • Julie Bernstein (composer) \\|Won \\|- \\| \\|Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a TV Production \\|Charles Visser for episode "Noel" \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="3" scope="row" \\| 1998 \\| rowspan="2" \\| \\|Outstanding Music Direction and Composition \\|• Richard Stone (composer) • Steve Bernstein (composer) • Julie Bernstein (composer) • Gordon Goodwin (composer) \\|Won \\|- \\|Outstanding Children's Animated Program \\|• Steven Spielberg (executive producer) • Tom Ruegger (senior producer/writer) • Rusty Mills (supervising producer/director) • Liz Holzman (producer/director) • Andrea Romano (director) • Mike Milo (director) • Jon McClenahan (director) • Charles M. Howell IV (writer) • Randy Rogel (writer) • Kevin Hopps (writer) • Gordon Bressack (writer) • Nick DuBois (writer) \\|Nominated \\|- \\| \\|Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Daytime Television Program \\|Animaniacs \\|Nominated \\|- \\| rowspan="2" scope="row" \\| 1999 \\| rowspan="2" \\| \\|Outstanding Music Direction and Composition \\|• Richard Stone (composer) • Steve Bernstein (composer) • Tim Kelly (composer) • Julie Bernstein (composer) • Gordon Goodwin (composer) \\|Won \\|- \\|Outstanding Children's Animated Program \\|\\|• Steven Spielberg (executive producer) • Tom Ruegger (senior producer/writer) • Rusty Mills (supervising producer/director) • Liz Holzman • Randy Rogel (writer) • Kevin Hopps (writer) • Nick DuBois (writer) • Charles M. Howell IV (writer) • Earl Kress (writer) • Wendell Morris (writer) • Tom Sheppard (writer) • Andrea Romano (director) • Stephen Lewis (director) • Kirk Tingblad (director) • Mike Milo (director) • Nelson Recinos (director) • Russell Calabrese (director) • Herb Moore (director) • Dave Pryor (director) \\|Nominated \\|- \\|2019 \\|Online Film & Television Association \\|OFTA TV Hall of Fame- Television Programs \\|Animaniacs \\|Won''' ## History ### Fox Kids era: Episodes 1–69 Animaniacs premiered on September 13, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block of the Fox network, and ran there until September 8, 1995; new episodes aired from the 1993 through 1994 seasons. Animaniacs aired with a 65-episode first season because these episodes were ordered by Fox all at once. While on Fox Kids, Animaniacs gained fame for its name and became the second-most popular show among children ages 2–11 and children ages 6–11, second only to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (which began that same year). On March 30, 1994, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot first theatrically appeared in the animated short, "I'm Mad", which opened nationwide alongside the full-length animated feature, Thumbelina. The musical short featured Yakko, Wakko, and Dot bickering during a car trip. Producers Steven Spielberg, Tom Ruegger, and Jean MacCurdy wanted "I'm Mad" to be the first of a series of shorts to bring Animaniacs to a wider audience. However, "I'm Mad" was the only Animaniacs theatrical short produced. The short was later incorporated into Animaniacs episode 69. Following the 65th episode of the series, Animaniacs continued to air in reruns on Fox Kids. The only new episodes during this time included a short, four-episode second season that was quickly put together from unused scripts. After Fox Kids aired Animaniacs reruns for a year, the series switched to the new Warner Bros. children's programming block, Kids' WB. ### Kids' WB era: Episodes 70–99 The series was popular enough for Warner Bros. Animation to invest in additional episodes of Animaniacs past the traditional 65-episode marker for syndication. Animaniacs premiered on the new Kids' WB line-up on September 9, 1995, with a new season of 13 episodes. At this time, the show's popular cartoon characters, Pinky and the Brain, were spun off from Animaniacs into their own half-hour TV series. Warner Bros. stated in a press release that Animaniacs gathered over 1 million children viewers every week. Despite the series' success on Fox Kids, Animaniacs on Kids' WB was successful only in an unintended way, bringing in adult viewers and viewers outside the Kids' WB target demographic of young children. This unintended result of adult viewers and not enough young viewers put pressure on the WB network from advertisers and caused dissatisfaction from the WB network towards Animaniacs. Slowly, orders from the WB for more Animaniacs episodes dwindled and Animaniacs had a couple more short seasons, relying on leftover scripts and storyboards. The fourth season had eight episodes, which was reduced from 18 because of Warner Bros.' dissatisfaction with the series. The 99th and final Animaniacs episode aired on November 14, 1998. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1999 that the production of new Animaniacs episodes ceased and the direct-to-video feature film Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish was a closer to the series. Animation World Network reported that Warner Bros. laid off over 100 artists, contributing to the reduced production of the original series. Producer Tom Ruegger explained that rather than produce new episodes, Warner Bros. instead decided to use the back-catalog of Animaniacs episodes until "someone clamors for more." Animaniacs segments were shown along with segments from other cartoons as part of The Cat&Birdy Warneroonie PinkyBrainy Big Cartoonie Show. Ruegger said at the time the hiatus was "temporary". Following the end of the series, the Animaniacs team developed Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish, which was released on December 21, 1999. In 2016, Ruegger said on his Reddit AMA that the decline of Animaniacs and other series was the result of Warner Bros.' investment in the much cheaper anime series Pokémon. After Warner Bros. gained distribution rights to the cheaper and successful anime, the network chose to invest less in original programming like Animaniacs. ### After Animaniacs After Animaniacs, Spielberg collaborated with Warner Bros. Animation again to produce the short-lived series Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid, along with the Animaniacs spin-off series Pinky and the Brain, from which Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain was later spun off. Warner Bros. also produced two other comedy animated series in the later half of the decade titled Histeria! and Detention, which were short-lived and unsuccessful compared to the earlier series. Later, Warner Bros. cut back the size of its animation studio because the show Histeria! went over its budget, and most production on further Warner Bros. animated comedy series ended. Since 2016, Paulsen, Harnell, and MacNeille have toured as Animaniacs Live!, performing songs from Animaniacs! along with a full orchestra. Among the songs will be an updated version of "Yakko's World" by Randy Rogel that includes a new verse to include nations that have been formed since the song's original airing, such as those from the break-up of the Soviet Union. ## Wakko's Wish The Warners starred in the feature-length direct-to-video movie Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish. The movie takes place in the fictional town of Acme Falls, in which the Warners and the rest of the Animaniacs cast are under the rule of a greedy king who conquered their home country from a neighboring country. When the Warners find out about a star that will grant a wish to the first person that touches it, the Warners, the villagers (the Animaniacs cast), and the king race to get to it first. Although children and adults rated Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish highly in test-screenings, Warner Bros. decided to release it direct-to-video, rather than spend money on advertising. Warner Bros. released the movie on VHS on December 21, 1999; the film was then released on DVD much later on October 7, 2014. ## Merchandise ### Home media Episodes of the show have been released on DVD and VHS during and after the series' run. VHS tapes of Animaniacs were released in the United States and in the United Kingdom. All of these tapes are out of print, but are still available at online sellers. The episodes featured are jumbled at random and are in no particular order with the series. Each video featured four to five episodes each which were accompanied by a handful of shorter skits, with a running time of about 45 minutes. Beginning on July 25, 2006, Warner Home Video began releasing DVD volume sets of Animaniacs episodes in order of the episodes' original airdates. Volume one of Animaniacs sold very well; over half of the product being sold in the first week made it one of the fastest selling animation DVD sets that Warner Home Video ever put out. ### Print An Animaniacs comic book, published by DC Comics, ran from 1995 to 2000 (59 regular monthly issues, plus two Specials). Initially, these featured all the characters except for Pinky and the Brain, who were published in their own comic book series (which ran for a Christmas Special issue and then 27 regular issues from July 1996 to November 1998 before its cancellation), though cameos were possible. The Animaniacs comic book series was later renamed Animaniacs! featuring Pinky and the Brain with issue \#43 and ran for another 16 issues before its cancellation. The Animaniacs comic book series, like the TV series, parodied TV, film and comic book standards such as Pulp Fiction and The X-Files, among others. ### Video games Animaniacs was soon brought into the video game industry to produce games based on the series. The list includes titles such as: - Animaniacs (1994, Genesis, SNES, Game Boy) - Animaniacs Game Pack! (1997, PC, North America only) - Pinky and the Brain: World Conquest (1998, PC) - Animaniacs: Ten Pin Alley (1998, PS1, North America only) - Animaniacs: A Gigantic Adventure (1999, PC) - Animaniacs: Splat Ball! (1999, PC) - Pinky and the Brain: The Master Plan (2002, GBA, Europe only) - Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt (2005, GC, PS2, Xbox) - Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! (2005, GBA, DS). ### Musical collections Because Animaniacs had many songs, record labels Rhino Entertainment and Time Warner Kids produced albums featuring songs from the series. These albums include: - Animaniacs (1993) - Yakko's World (1994) - Animaniacs Variety Pack (1995) Additionally, a book on tape album, A Christmas Plotz, was produced during the show's run and subsequently re-issued on CD as A Hip-Hopera Christmas. After the series' run, two additional discount albums compiling tracks from previous releases were released under Rhino's Flashback label, The Animaniacs Go Hollywood and The Animaniacs Wacky Universe, and the compilation album The Animaniacs Faboo! Collection (1995). ## 2020 revival series A revival series of Animaniacs'' was ordered by Hulu in May 2017 for an initial two-season order, following the popularity of the original series after Netflix had added it to their library in 2016. The first season of 13 episodes was released on November 20, 2020, while the second season was released on November 5, 2021 and the third and final season was released on February 17, 2023. Wellesley Wild served as the showrunner and as executive producer along with Gabe Swarr. According to Wild, Steven Spielberg was heavily involved with bringing the series back and insisting on many of the original voice cast and elements be used for the revival. This includes the return of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot (voiced by Paulsen, Harnell, and MacNeille) and Pinky and the Brain (voiced by Paulsen and LaMarche), and the use of a small orchestra for the musical works composed by Julie and Steven Bernstein, who both composed additional music during the series' original run, as well as other composers trained by Richard Stone and Randy Rogel.
447,499	HMS Cardiff (D108)	1,172,757,927	Type 42 destroyer	[ "1974 ships", "Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom", "Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom", "Gulf War ships of the United Kingdom", "HMS Cardiff (D108)", "Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness", "Ships built on the River Tyne", "Type 42 destroyers of the Royal Navy" ]	HMS Cardiff was a British Type 42 destroyer and the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named in honour of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. Cardiff served in the Falklands War, where she was involved in the 1982 British Army Gazelle friendly fire incident. She also shot down the last Argentine aircraft of the conflict and accepted the surrender of a 700-strong garrison in the settlement of Port Howard. During the 1991 Gulf War, her Lynx helicopter sank two Iraqi minesweepers. She later participated in the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as part of the Royal Navy's constant Armilla patrol, but was not involved in the actual invasion. Cardiff was decommissioned in July 2005, and sent for scrapping despite calls by former servicemen for her to be preserved as a museum ship and local tourist attraction in Cardiff. ## Construction The Type 42 destroyers (also known as the Sheffield class) were made in three batches; Cardiff was built in the first. She cost over £30 million, which was double her original quoted price. Her keel was laid down on 6 November 1972, at Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. The build was interrupted by a labour shortage at Vickers. To solve this problem, she was towed to Swan Hunter's Hawthorn Leslie yard in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear and completed there. Type 42s were designed as anti-aircraft vessels primarily equipped with the Sea Dart, a surface-to-air missile system capable of hitting targets up to 56 kilometres (30 nmi) away. Cardiff's secondary weapon system was a 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun, capable of firing 21-kilogram (46 lb) shells to a range of 22 kilometres (12 nmi). After the Falklands War, in which two Type 42s were sunk by enemy aircraft, the entire class was equipped with the Phalanx close-in weapon system, a Gatling cannon that could fire 3,000 rounds per minute and was designed to shoot down anti-ship missiles. ## Operational history ### Early career Cardiff was launched on 22 February 1974 by Lady Caroline Gilmour. Following fitting-out and sea trials, Cardiff commissioned on 24 September 1979 under command of Captain Barry Wilson. During the next 12 months of active service she steamed over 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) and undertook various duties. She returned to her place of construction, Tyne and Wear, so that the Swan Hunter crew who fitted her out could exhibit the warship to their families. In the spirit of establishing a firm association, Cardiff visited her namesake city and welcomed more than 7,000 people on board. Her crew raised over £1,000 for local charities by participating in sponsored bicycle rides and dinghy rows from Portsmouth and Newcastle upon Tyne. BBC Radio Wales based an entire programme on her and she appeared on the BBC and ITV national television channels. In November 1979, Cardiff coordinated the search for survivors of the , which sank off the Isle of Wight with the loss of most of her crew. In 1980, she attended the annual Navy Days event at Portsmouth and Portland Harbour, receiving a total of 17,300 visitors. In October of the same year, she ventured abroad for the first time on a visit to Ghent, Belgium. She followed this with a fortnight of Sea Dart exercises on a range off Aberporth, in South Wales. Whilst in the region, the destroyer attended celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of Cardiff's city status. ### Falklands War (1982) On 2 April 1982, the disputed British overseas territory of the Falkland Islands was invaded by neighbouring Argentina. The United Kingdom, nearly 13,000 kilometres (8,000 mi) away, assembled and dispatched a naval task force of 28,000 troops to recapture the islands. The conflict ended that June with the surrender of the Argentine forces; the battles fought on land, at sea, and in the air had cost the lives of some 900 British and Argentine servicemen. Just over a month before the start of the war, Cardiff, under the command of Captain Michael Harris, had begun a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf with the Armilla Patrol. Cardiff had relieved her sister ship and class lead Sheffield from this operational tasking, but was herself redeployed to the Falklands effort on 23 April. She sailed alone to Gibraltar and rendezvoused on 14 May with the Bristol group of British warships already heading south to the islands. During the journey, Cardiff's crew performed various training exercises, including defence against air attack (involving simulation runs by friendly Harrier and Jaguar aircraft), nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and Exocet anti-ship missiles. All British Type 42's involved in the war were instructed to paint two vertical black stripes down either side the middle of their ships. This would allow the Royal Navy submarines to distinguish them from the two Argentine Type 42's. On 22 May, an Argentine reconnaissance Boeing 707, no. TC-92 of the Argentine Air Force's Grupo 1, De Transporte Aereo Escuadron II (Spanish for "2nd Air Transport Squadron, Group 1"), was fired on by Cardiff. The aircraft was detected while shadowing the Bristol group, and Cardiff was ordered to drop back and engage. The ship fired two Sea Darts at the aircraft at 11:40 (local time) from maximum range; the first fell short and second missed due to evasive manoeuvres taken by the aircraft's crew. After the attack, TC-92 dropped below radar level and returned to El Palomar. On 25 May, Cardiff was tasked with the recovery of four Special Air Service (SAS) troopers, who had parachuted from a C-130 Hercules passing over the destroyer. The Bristol group met up with the main task force on 26 May. Cardiff's arrival allowed the damaged Glasgow to return to the United Kingdom for repairs. Cardiff's primary role was to form part of the anti-aircraft warfare picket, protecting British ships from air attack and attempting to ambush Argentine aircraft that were re-supplying Port Stanley Airport. She was also required to fire at enemy positions on the islands with her 4.5-inch gun. In one engagement she fired 277 high-explosive rounds. Shortly after arrival, she was involved in the final Exocet raid against the aircraft carrier Invincible. In the early hours of 6 June, Cardiff shot down a friendly Army Air Corps Gazelle helicopter (no. XX377 of 656 Squadron), in the belief it was a low flying enemy C-130 Hercules. All four on board were killed, the factors contributing to the accident were a poor level of communication between the army and navy, and the helicopter's "Identification Friend or Foe" transmitter had been turned off due to it interfering with other equipment. However a board of inquiry recommended that neither negligence nor blame should be attributed to any individual and that no action should be taken against any individual. The number "205" was later painted at the crash site () as a memorial, the significance being that two of the helicopter's passengers were from 205 Signal Squadron. Approximately an hour after the shoot down, Cardiff spotted four landing craft carrying troops from the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards. Having been told there were no other British forces in the area, Cardiff's crew assumed they were Argentine, and fired illuminating star shells over them in preparation to attack. When the Guards saw the star shells and realised Cardiff's intentions, the officer in charge of the landing craft, Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour, moved them to shallow water in an attempt to outrun her. Cardiff, still closing on the craft, signalled to them a single word "friend" via Aldis lamp, Southby-Tailyour responded with "to which side". At this point Cardiff "left them alone", neither attacking or assisting them, nevertheless another "blue on blue" incident was avoided. On the morning of 13 June, two Argentine Dagger aircraft attacked Cardiff's Lynx helicopter, no. 335 of 829 NAS, while it was searching in the Falkland Sound area. Poor weather had forced the Argentine craft to abandon their original mission of bombing Mount Longdon, and the third Dagger of their formation had suffered a mechanical failure and returned to base. The Lynx began evasive manoeuvres and dodged the attacks; the pilot, Lieutenant Christopher Clayton, was mentioned in despatches for his efforts. Later that day, Cardiff shot down what would prove to be the last Argentine aircraft lost during the war, with a Sea Dart missile Canberra bomber B-108 of Grupo de Bombardeo 2 ("Bombing Group 2") en route to bomb Port Harriet House. The pilot, Captain Pastrán, managed to eject but the navigator, Captain Casado, (whose ejection seat may have been damaged by the missile) was killed. The remains of Captain Casado were discovered in 1986, and identified by DNA testing in September 2008. Argentina surrendered on 14 June, and Cardiff was required to accept the surrender of a 700-strong Argentine garrison in the settlement of Port Howard on West Falkland a day later. Five members of Cardiff's crew were used to man a captured Argentine patrol boat, renamed HMS Tiger Bay, in Stanley. Cardiff spent the rest of June acting as the Landing Area Air Warfare Controller (LAAWC) around San Carlos. Over the course of the war, Cardiff fired nine Sea Dart missiles and one Mk 46 torpedo. She returned to the United Kingdom on 28 July 1982, having left the Falklands three weeks earlier along with Exeter and Yarmouth. Captain Michael Harris handed over command on 24 August 1982, after the annual maintenance period. Following the war, all Type 42 destroyers were fitted with Oerlikon 30 mm twin cannons port and starboard, for protection against airborne threats. These were later replaced by the Phalanx close-in weapon system. ### Gulf War (1990–91) When Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, British Secretary of State for Defence Tom King soon announced that the UK military contribution to the region was to be increased. A coalition of nations was formed, and a combined naval force entered the Persian Gulf and sailed north, neutralising the Iraqi Navy as it went, and then began conducting naval gunfire support and mine counter-measure missions in preparation for the main amphibious landing force. Having returned from the Persian Gulf in May 1990, after only a few months in UK Cardiff sailed again, as a reinforcement to Group X-Ray, Brazen, London and Gloucester who had sailed to relieve Armilla Group Whiskey, which consisted of Battleaxe, Jupiter and York. Cardiff and Gloucester were to form part of the air defence barrier along with Bunker Hill, Princeton and Worden protecting three United States aircraft carriers: Midway, Ranger and Theodore Roosevelt. Cardiff had other responsibilities, including surface surveillance and boarding operations, to maintain the security around the task force. Royal Navy Lynxes worked in combination with US Seahawks during the Gulf War. The American helicopters lacked an effective anti-ship missile, but had superior surveillance capability compared to the British Lynx. They would locate hostile boats for the British helicopters, which would then attack the target with its Sea Skua missiles. In total, Lynx helicopters flew nearly 600 sorties during the Gulf War, while their crews and engineers maintained flying rates three times their norm. Despite her parent ship dodging mines and maintaining the air defence line as the closest non-US to Kuwait for the first 4 weeks of the 1991 War, Cardiff's Lynx helicopter, no. 335 of 815 NAS, saw more of the combat in the Gulf War than Cardiff actually did. On 24 January 1991, no. 335 spotted Iraqi minesweepers and landing craft going to support the Iraqi land operations of the Battle of Khafji. 335 attacked and sank one - the first successful British naval engagement of the war. Later that day, Qaruh Island was captured by coalition forces, becoming the first Kuwaiti territory to be liberated. Overnight five days later (30–31 January 1991) with Lynxes from Gloucester and Brazen, no. 335 attacked at least two Iraqi missile firing fast patrol boats vessels exiting the Shatt Al Arab . Cardiff and 335 sank two more Iraqi ships in February. Cardiff and Brazen were relieved in mid February by Group Yankee, comprising Brave, Brilliant, Exeter and Manchester. ### Post Gulf War After the Gulf War, Cardiff's assignments included a deployment with the Standing Naval Force Mediterranean, a post Cold War NATO immediate reaction force in the Mediterranean, and counter-narcotics patrols in the West Indies, during which she also assisted with relief tasks on the island of Eleuthera in the wake of Hurricane Andrew. From 1993 to 1994, she was commanded by Richard Leaman. Cardiff later returned to the Persian Gulf for seven months. On 14 October 1994, in response to renewed Iraqi deployment of troops near the Kuwaiti border, the US-led Operation Vigilant Warrior began. The operation was designed to deter Saddam Hussein's "sabre-rattling" by sending large amounts of allied military forces to Kuwait; Cornwall and Cardiff were the UK contribution. The operation ended on 21 December 1994, when Hussein pulled back his forces. Upon her return to the UK from Operation Vigilant Warrior, Cardiff participated in the 1995 NATO exercise "Strong Resolve", a training exercise conducted every four years in dual crisis management. The ship next underwent Operational Sea Training (OST) at Portland, in preparation for assuming the duty of Fleet Ready Escort, which required a ship to be available to deploy anywhere in the world at short notice. After completing OST, she attended the 50th VE Day anniversary in Copenhagen and Oslo and provided navigational sea training for frigate and destroyer navigating officer candidates. A visit to her namesake city of Cardiff for VJ Day celebrations followed, after which she sailed to Plymouth for a trials and weapon training programme. She then took part in Operation Bright Star, a multi-national exercise conducted every two years in Egypt. In November, Cardiff became the first Royal Navy ship to enter the Lebanese capital of Beirut in 27 years, spurring the creation of the Beirut Phoenicians Rugby Club, followed by visits to Tunisia and Gibraltar. In 2000, as part of the Royal Navy's Atlantic Patrol Task North, Cardiff spent six months in the Caribbean with RFA Black Rover. They provided relief aid to the island of Caye Caulker, near Belize, in the wake of Hurricane Keith. In addition to clearing routes, distributing supplies, and making buildings and electrical cables safe, Cardiff's surgeon and medical team monitored sanitation. In October, they also took part in the NATO exercise "Unified Spirit", held off the east coast of the United States. "Unified Spirit" is a training exercise conducted every four years in NATO-led "out-of-area" UN peace support operations. In the same year she participated in the US Navy Fleet Battle Exercise after her combat system was integrated into the Digital Fires Network. Cardiff conducted her last Armilla patrol in early 2003. During her time in the Persian Gulf, Cardiff prevented more than £2 million of illegal cargo from being smuggled out of Iraq, inspected 178 vessels, and seized more than 25,000 tonnes of oil. The destroyer was relieved by Richmond before the beginning of the Iraq War and returned to Portsmouth on 4 April 2003. In late 2003, the ship was involved in the annual Sea Days demonstration exercise, and in October was used for tests of QinetiQ's Maritime Tactical Network. In 2005, she participated in the Trafalgar 200 International Fleet Review, just two weeks before she was decommissioned. In this post Gulf War period, the Royal Navy's first female chaplain also served on board. ## Decommissioning and fate Cardiff was originally to be replaced in 2009 by Daring, the first of the Royal Navy's next generation Type 45 destroyers. However, it was announced in July 2004 that she would be one of a number of ships withdrawn from service early, in accordance with the "Delivering Security in a Changing World" white paper on the British military. Cardiff was decommissioned on 14 July 2005, after making a final visit to her namesake city, where members of the public were allowed on board. She then stayed in Portsmouth Harbour at Fareham Creek () alongside sister ship Newcastle, where both were heavily cannibalised to keep the remaining Type 42 Destroyers running. On 21 November 2008, the two ships left Portsmouth for the last time for Aliağa, Turkey under tow for scrapping. Following a decommissioning ceremony at Cardiff City Hall, her bell was removed and is now mounted in the north aisle of St John's Parish Church in Cardiff. Calls were made for the conversion of the ship into a Cardiff tourist attraction by a Member of the National Assembly for Wales and former naval servicemen. Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, has been assigned as the current Royal Navy ship to be affiliated with the city of Cardiff. On 1 March 2018, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that the third Type 26 frigate would be named Cardiff. This will be the fourth Royal Navy vessel of its name. ## See also - British naval forces in the Falklands War - 1982 British Army Gazelle friendly fire incident
38,817,412	Cosmic Stories and Stirring Science Stories	1,117,372,238	Two related US pulp science fiction magazines	[ "Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States", "Fantasy fiction magazines", "Magazines disestablished in 1941", "Magazines disestablished in 1942", "Magazines established in 1941", "Magazines published in New York (state)", "Pulp magazines", "Science fiction magazines established in the 1940s" ]	Cosmic Stories (also known as Cosmic Science-Fiction) and Stirring Science Stories were two American pulp science fiction magazines that published a total of seven issues in 1941 and 1942. Both Cosmic and Stirring were edited by Donald A. Wollheim and launched by the same publisher, appearing in alternate months. Wollheim had no budget at all for fiction, so he solicited stories from his friends among the Futurians, a group of young science fiction fans including James Blish and C. M. Kornbluth. Isaac Asimov contributed a story, but later insisted on payment after hearing that F. Orlin Tremaine, the editor of the competing science fiction magazine Comet, was irate at the idea of a magazine that might "siphon readership from magazines that paid", and thought that authors who contributed should be blacklisted. Kornbluth was the most prolific contributor, under several pseudonyms; one of his stories, "Thirteen O'Clock", published under the pseudonym "Cecil Corwin", was very successful, and helped to make his reputation in the field. The magazines ceased publication in late 1941, but Wollheim was able to find a publisher for one further issue of Stirring Science Stories in March 1942 before war restrictions forced it to close again. Other well-known writers who appeared in the two magazines included Damon Knight and David H. Keller. Knight's first published story, "Resilience", appeared in the February 1941 issue of Stirring Stories, but the story was ruined by a misprint in a crucial word in the first sentence. Keller was an established writer in the field, but Wollheim was aware that Keller occasionally donated material to fanzines, and was able to obtain a story from him. The quality of the artwork was variable; it included Elliot Dold's last artwork in the science fiction field, for the cover of the July 1941 issue of Cosmic Stories, and several covers and interior drawings by Hannes Bok, who later became a well-known artist in the field. ## Publication history Although science fiction had been published in the United States before the 1920s, it did not begin to coalesce into a separately marketed genre until the appearance in 1926 of Amazing Stories, a pulp magazine published by Hugo Gernsback. By the end of the 1930s the field was booming, and between 1939 and 1941 a flood of new sf magazines appeared. In late 1940, Donald A. Wollheim, an active science fiction fan and aspiring editor and writer, noticed a new magazine titled Stirring Detective and Western Stories on the newsstands. He wrote to the publishers, Albing Publications, to see if they were interested in adding a science fiction title to their list, and he was invited to their office. Wollheim later recalled the meeting: > It was a father and son, the son in his twenties, and the father in his fifties; they were operating out of a desk in the corner of an advertising office, and what they had was credit from one of the news companies [distributors], Kable or one of those outfits, and they said, 'We don't have any capital, but if you can put the magazine together for nothing, we can go up to fifteen bucks for art, and we can do it. If the magazine succeeds, then we'll be able to pay you a regular salary after the third issue.' My attitude was that at least I'd be getting the experience, and something was better than nothing. Wollheim sent a letter out to his contacts in science fiction fandom, announcing the new magazines. Originally the plan had been to publish a single monthly title, but this was changed by the publisher to two alternating bimonthly magazines, to be called Cosmic Stories and Stirring Science Stories. The first to appear was the February 1941 issue of Stirring Science Stories. Wollheim had announced a planned newsstand date of 15 December 1940, but according to Damon Knight's later recollection the magazine appeared in January 1941. The two titles alternated months until the July 1941 issue of Cosmic Stories (by that time retitled Cosmic Science-Fiction on the cover), after which the magazines were cancelled. Some months later Wollheim was able to find another publisher, Manhattan Fiction Publications, and a fourth issue of Stirring appeared, dated March 1942. Wartime constraints prevented the new publisher from continuing, and there were no more issues of either title. An announcement in the January 1941 Writer's Digest listed the payment rate as half a cent per word. This was a low rate, but it would have been on a par with many other magazines of the era, had Wollheim been able to achieve it. In the event he was able to start paying small amounts to his authors after the first couple of issues; C.M. Kornbluth was paid for several of his later stories for the two magazines, though the rates were well below half a cent per word. ## Contents and reception Stirring Science Stories was presented by Wollheim as if it were two separate magazines bound together; the first half of the magazine was titled "Stirring Science-Fiction", and the second half "Stirring Fantasy-Fiction". An editorial and letters section, titled "The Vortex", separated the two. Wollheim described his approach in the first issue, saying "Stirring Science Stories isn't really one magazine but two. A sort of Siamese twin embracing within its covers for the first time in publishing history a science fiction magazine and a weird-fantasy magazine". Wollheim was a member of the Futurians, a group of New York science fiction fans, many of whom were also starting to be published writers. Some, including Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, C. M. Kornbluth, and James Blish, were later to become very successful in the field. Robert A. W. Lowndes, another Futurian, took on the task of finding free material for Wollheim to fill the first two issues. Two of the Futurians (Lowndes and Pohl) were already working as editors of recently launched sf magazines, and there were many other paying markets for science fiction at that time, but the Futurians were so prolific that Wollheim was able to obtain much of his material from them. Wollheim also published some of his own stories in the two magazines. Kornbluth provided Wollheim with more stories than anyone else, using several aliases, including "Cecil Corwin", "S.D. Gottesman", and "Kenneth Falconer". Other Futurians who contributed material included Blish, Lowndes, Walter Kubilius, David Kyle, and John B. Michel; the stories, often collaborations between two or more of the Futurians, were published under a variety of pseudonyms. Damon Knight's first story, "Resilience", appeared in the February 1941 issue of Stirring with an unfortunate printer's error in the first sentence of the story that rendered the plot incomprehensible. Knight would later become a member of the Futurians, but he was still living in Oregon at the time the story appeared in print. "Thirteen O'Clock", by Kornbluth, is generally regarded as the best story in the first issue of Stirring; Knight describes it as "a delightful screwball fantasy", and adds that it made Kornbluth's reputation. Other stories from later issues that have been well-received include "The Long Wall", by Lowndes; "The City in the Sofa", "What Sorghum Says", "The Golden Road", and "The Words of Guru", all by Kornbluth; "The Real Thrill" by Blish; and "The Goblins Will Get You", by Michel. Isaac Asimov contributed a story, "The Secret Sense", which appeared in the March 1941 issue of Cosmic. After Wollheim acquired the story, Asimov met with F. Orlin Tremaine, the editor of Comet—a competing science fiction magazine—and discovered that Tremaine was irate at the idea of a magazine that might "siphon readership from magazines that paid" by taking stories without paying the authors. Tremaine felt that any author who contributed a story to these magazines should be blacklisted. Asimov acknowledged that a story of his would be appearing in Cosmic, but told Tremaine that he had been paid for it. In Asimov's autobiographical anthology The Early Asimov he recalls that after hearing Tremaine's comments he requested a token payment of \$5 from Wollheim; in Asimov's autobiography In Memory Yet Green the sequence of events is given slightly differently, with Asimov asking Wollheim for payment, or else for the story to be published under a pseudonym, before the story was published. This was requested on the grounds that "even though the story might be worth nothing, my name was worth something". Wollheim reluctantly agreed to a payment of \$5, commenting that it was an effective word rate of \$2.50 per word, since he was paying only for the use of Asimov's name. Wollheim later commented that because of the payment he could sue Asimov for royalties whenever the latter's name appeared in print. In contrast to Tremaine's attitude, John W. Campbell, the editor of the leading science fiction magazine, Astounding Science Fiction, was not concerned by Albing's policy. Campbell felt that any story that an author was willing to give away would be so poor that the new magazines would not be competitive. Although Campbell was correct that the magazine was unable to compete with paying magazines, Wollheim managed to produce, in Damon Knight's words, "a rather surprising level of quality". As well as stories from the Futurians, Wollheim was able to obtain some material from established names in the field, including David H. Keller and Clark Ashton Smith. Keller occasionally gave material to fan magazines, and Wollheim would have been aware of this when he began looking for free stories. Wollheim was fortunate in obtaining a good deal of artwork from Hannes Bok, later to become a popular artist in the field. Bok was enthusiastic enough about Kornbluth's "Thirteen O'Clock" to produce more interior drawings than Wollheim had room for in that issue; they were eventually used to advertise the magazine in later issues. For the February 1941 issue of Stirring Science Stories, the \$15 art budget went to Leo Morey, an established artist. Morey's cover was undistinguished; Damon Knight commented later that the door to the airlock in the picture evidently did not fit, and that at \$15 Morey was overpaid. Wollheim also obtained free art from Roy Hunt, an artist based in Denver. The cover for the July 1941 issue of Cosmic Stories was by Elliott Dold; Dold was at one time regarded as one of the most important sf artists, but this was the last work he did in the science fiction field. The cover has been described by sf historian Mark Rich as "excellent ... [it] accurately illustrates a scene" from "Interference", a story by Kornbluth published under the pseudonym "Walter C. Davies". ## Bibliographic details Donald A. Wollheim was the editor for all issues of both Cosmic Stories and Stirring Science Stories. Cosmic had a single volume of three numbers; Stirring also was numbered in volumes of three issues, but reached volume 2 number 1 with its last issue. Initially the two magazines appeared on an alternating bimonthly schedule, with Stirring's first issue appearing in February 1941 and Cosmic's first issue the following month; after three issues each there was a long delay before a final issue of Stirring appeared in March 1942. Cosmic was titled "Cosmic Science-Fiction" on the cover for the second and third issues, though it remained "Cosmic Stories" on the masthead. The publisher for all issues of Cosmic and the first three issues of Stirring was Albing Publications of New York; the final issue of Stirring was published by Manhattan Fiction Publications of New York. Both magazines were priced at 15 cents throughout. Stirring was pulp format and 128 pages long for the first three issues, and switched to large pulp format with 68 pages for the last issue. Cosmic was 130 pages for the first two issues, and 116 pages for the last issue; all were in pulp format.
584,593	Lake Burley Griffin	1,163,621,072	Man-made lake in Canberra, Australia	[ "1964 establishments in Australia", "Landmarks in Canberra", "Murray-Darling basin", "Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers", "Reservoirs in the Australian Capital Territory", "Rowing venues in Australia", "Tourist attractions in Canberra", "Walter Burley Griffin" ]	Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River, which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle, was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra. Griffin designed the lake with many geometric motifs, so that the axes of his design lined up with natural geographical landmarks in the area. However, government authorities changed his original plans, and no substantial work was completed before he left Australia in 1920. Griffin's proposal was further delayed by the Great Depression and World War II, and it was not until the 1950s that planning resumed. After political disputes and consideration of other proposed variations, excavation work began in 1960 with the energetic backing of Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. After the completion of the bridges and dams, the dams were locked in September 1963. However, because of a drought, the lake's target water level was not reached until April 1964. The lake was formally inaugurated on 17 October 1964. The lake is located in the approximate geographic centre of the city, and it is the centrepiece of the capital in accordance with Griffin's original designs. Numerous important institutions, such as the National Gallery, National Museum, National Library, Australian National University and the High Court were built on its shores, and Parliament House is a short distance away. Its surrounds, consisting mainly of parklands, are popular with recreational users, particularly in the warmer months. Though swimming in the lake is uncommon, it is used for a wide variety of other activities, such as rowing, fishing, and sailing. The lake is an ornamental body with a length of 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) and a width, at its widest, of 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi). It has an average depth of 4 metres (13 ft) and a maximum depth of about 18 metres (59 ft) near the Scrivener Dam. Its flow is regulated by the 33-metre-tall (108 ft) Scrivener Dam, designed to handle floods that occur once in 5,000 years. In times of drought, water levels can be maintained through the release of water from Googong Dam, located on an upstream tributary of the Molonglo River. ## Design history Charles Robert Scrivener (1855–1923) recommended the site for Canberra in 1909, which was to be a planned capital city for the country. One of the reasons for the location's selection was its ability to store water "for ornamental purposes at reasonable cost"; Scrivener's work had demonstrated that the topography could be used to create a lake through flooding. In 1911, a competition for the design of Canberra was launched, and Scrivener's detailed survey of the area was supplied to the competing architects. The Molonglo River flowed through the site, which was a flood plain and Scrivener's survey showed in grey an area clearly representing an artificial lake—similar to the lake later created—and four possible locations for a dam to create it. Most of the proposals took the hint and included artificial bodies of water. ### Walter Burley Griffin's design The American architect Walter Burley Griffin won the contest and was invited to Australia to oversee the construction of the nation's new capital after the judges' decision was ratified by King O'Malley, the Minister for Home Affairs. Griffin's proposal, which had an abundance of geometric patterns, incorporated concentric hexagonal and octagonal streets emanating from several radii. His lake design was at the heart of the city and consisted of a Central Basin in the shape of circular segment, a West and East Basin, which were both approximately circular, and a West and East Lake, which were much larger and irregularly shaped, at either side of the system. The East Lake was supposed to be 6 metres (20 ft) higher than the remaining components. Griffin's proposal was "the grandest scheme submitted, yet it had an appealing simplicity and clarity. The lakes were deliberately designed so that their orientation was related to various topographical landmarks in Canberra. The lakes stretched from east to west and divided the city in two; a land axis perpendicular to the central basin stretched from Capital Hill—the future location of the new Parliament House on a mound on the southern side—north northeast across the central basin to the northern banks along Anzac Parade to the Australian War Memorial (although a casino was originally planned in its place). This was designed so that looking from Capital Hill, the War Memorial stood directly at the foot of Mount Ainslie. At the southwestern end of the land axis was Bimberi Peak. The straight edge of the circular segment that formed the central basin was designated the water axis, and it extended northwest towards Black Mountain. A line parallel to the water axis, on the northern side of the city, was designated the municipal axis. The municipal axis became the location of Constitution Avenue, which linked City Hill in Civic Centre and Market Centre. Commonwealth Avenue and Kings Avenue were to run from the southern side from Capital Hill to City Hill and Market Centre on the north respectively, and they formed the western and eastern edges of the central basin. The area enclosed by the three avenues was known as the Parliamentary Triangle, and was to form the centrepiece of Griffin's work. Later, Scrivener, as part of a government design committee, was responsible for modifying Griffin's winning design. He recommended changing the shape of the lake from Griffin's very geometric shapes to a much more organic one using a single dam, unlike Griffin's series of weirs. Griffin lobbied for the retention of the pure geometry, saying that they were "one of the reasons d'etre of the ornamental waters", but he was overruled. The new design included elements from several of the best design submissions and was widely criticised as being ugly. The new plan for the lake retained Griffin's three formal basins: east, central, and west, though in a more relaxed form. Griffin entered into correspondence with the government over the plan and its alternatives, and he was invited to Canberra to discuss the matter. Griffin arrived in August 1913 and was appointed Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction for three years. The plans were varied again in the following years, but the design of Lake Burley Griffin remained based largely on the original committee's plan. It was later gazetted and legally protected by the federal parliament in 1926, based on a 1918 plan. However, Griffin had a strained working relationship with the Australian authorities and a lack of federal government funding meant that by the time he left in 1920, little significant work had been done on the city. A 1920s proposal to reduce West Lake into a ribbon of water was made on the basis of flood safety. However, the Owen and Peake report of 1929 ruled that the original design was hydrologically sound. ### Political disputes and modifications With the onset of the Great Depression, followed by World War II, development of the new capital was slow, and in the decade after the end of the war, Canberra was criticised for resembling a village, and its disorganised collection of buildings was deemed ugly. Canberra was often derisively described as "several suburbs in search of a city". During this time, the Molonglo River flowed through the flood basin, with only a small fraction of the water envisaged in Griffin's plan. The centre of his capital city consisted of mostly farmland, with small settlements—mostly wooden, temporary and ad hoc—on either side. There was little evidence that Canberra was planned, and the lake and Parliamentary Triangle at the heart of Griffin's plan was but a paddock. Royal Canberra Golf Course, and Acton Racecourse and a sports ground were located on the pastoral land that was to become the West Lake, and people had to disperse the livestock before playing sport. A rubbish dump stood on the northern banks of the location of central basin, and no earth had been moved since Griffin's departure three decades earlier. In 1950, the East Lake—the largest component—was eliminated upon the advice of the National Capital Planning and Development Committee (NCPDC). Today, what would have been the East Lake corresponds to the suburb of Fyshwick. The rationale given was that around 1,700 acres (690 ha) of farmland would be submerged and that the Molonglo would have insufficient water to keep the lake filled. In 1953, the NCPDC excised the West Lake from its plans and replaced it with a winding stream, which was 110 metres (360 ft) wide and covered around a fifth of the original area. As the NCPDC had only advisory powers, this change was attributed to the influence of senior officials in the Department of the Interior who felt that Griffin's plan was too grandiose. Advocates of watered-down scheme thought it was more economical and saved 350 hectares (860 acres) of land for development. However, according to engineering reports that were ignored, the smaller plan would actually cost more money and require a more complicated structure of dams that would in any case be less able to prevent flooding. Initially, there was little opposition during the consultation period before the alterations were made. However, opposition to the reduction of the water area grew. The process that resulted in the alteration was criticised for being non-transparent and sneaky. Some organisations complained that they were not given an opportunity to express their opinion before the change was gazetted, and many politicians and the chief town planner were not informed. Critics bitterly insinuated that politically influential members of the Royal Canberra Golf Club, whose course was situated on the location of the proposed West Lake, were responsible for the change in policy. The Parliamentary Public Works Committee advised the Parliament to restore the West Lake. After an inquiry in late 1954, it concluded that: > The West Lake is desirable and practicable. It was eliminated from the Canberra plan by the Department of the Interior without adequate investigation by the National Capital Planning and Development Committee and replaced by a ribbon of water scheme involving a capitalised cost or nearly 3 million more. The lake should be restored to the plan, and the necessary Ministerial action is recommended as soon as possible. The Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, regarded the state of the national capital as an embarrassment. Over time his attitude changed from one of contempt to that of championing its development. He fired two ministers charged with the development of the city, feeling that their performance lacked intensity. In 1958, the newly created National Capital Development Commission (NCDC), which had been created and given more power by Menzies following a 1955 Senate inquiry, restored the West Lake to its plans, and it was formally gazetted in October 1959. The NCDC also blocked a plan by the Department of Works to build a bridge across the lake along the land axis between Parliament House and the War Memorial contrary to Griffin's plans. A powerful Senate Select Committee oversaw the NCDC and renowned British architect Sir William Holford was brought in to fine-tune Griffin's original plans. He changed the central basin's geometry so that it was no longer a segment of circle; he converted the southern straight edge into a polygonal shape with three edges and inserted a gulf on the northern shore. The result was closer to Scrivener's modified design some decades earlier. ## Final layout The lake contains 33,000,000 cubic metres (27,000 acre⋅ft) of water with a surface area of 6.64 square kilometres (2.56 sq mi). It is 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long, 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) wide at its widest point, has a shoreline of 40.5 kilometres (25.2 mi) and a water level of 555.93 metres (1,823.9 ft) above sea level. The lake is relatively shallow; the maximum depth is 17.6 metres (58 ft) near the Scrivener Dam, and the average depth is 4.0 metres (13 ft). The shallowest part of the complex in the East Basin, which has an average depth of 1.9 metres (6.2 ft). The minimum depth of the water at the walls is around 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) and rock is placed at the toe of the wall to inhibit aquatic plant growth. Lake Burley Griffin initially contained six islands, three unnamed small islands and three larger named islands. Of the larger islands, Queen Elizabeth II Island is located in Central Basin while Springbank and Spinnaker Island are located in the West Lake. Queen Elizabeth II Island is connected to dry land by a footbridge, and is the site of the Australian National Carillon. A seventh island was created as part of the Kingston Foreshore development in the East Basin, where a wide channel was excavated creating an island out of the northern most part of the Kingston Foreshore. ## Construction In 1958, engineers conducted studies into the hydrology and structural requirements needed for the building of the dam. Further studies were done to model water quality, siltation, climate effects and change in land quality. Modelling based on the data collection suggested that the water level could be kept within a metre of the intended level of 556 metres (1,824 ft) above sea level in the case of a flood. In February 1959, formal authority for beginning construction was granted. However, while Menzies was on holiday, some officials from the Department of Treasury convinced ministers to withhold money needed for the lake, so the start of the construction was delayed. Once it started, progress was fast. At its peak, the number of people physically working on the construction in the lakes was between 400 and 500. John Overall, the Commissioner of the NCDC, promised Menzies that the work would be finished within four years, and he succeeded, despite the Prime Minister's scepticism. Equipment was quickly requisitioned. After the lengthy political wrangling over the design had passed, the criticism of the scheme died down. Menzies strongly denounced the "moaning" by opponents of the lake. Most critics decried the project as a waste of money that should have been spent on essential services across Australia. Less strident concerns centred on the potentially negative effects of the lake, such as mosquitoes, ecological degeneration, siltation and the possibility that the lake would create fog. The latter of these concerns has proven to be unfounded. ### Lakes, islands and foreshore The excavation of Lake Burley Griffin began in 1960 with the clearing of vegetation from the floodplain of the Molonglo River. The trees on the golf course and along the river were pulled up, along with the various sports grounds and houses. During major earthworks, at least 382,000 cubic metres (500,000 cu yd) of topsoil was excavated. It was collected for use at several public parks and gardens, including the future Commonwealth Park on the northern shore. It was also used to create the six artificial islands including Springbank Island. The island was named after the former Springbank Farm that was situated there. Land excavated to create a sailing course at Yarralumla was used for the thematically named Spinnaker Island to its north, while excavated stone was moved beside the Kings Avenue Bridge at the eastern edge of the central basin from Queen Elizabeth II Island. Care was taken to excavate the entire lake floor to a depth of at least 2 metres (6.6 ft) to provide sufficient clearance for boat keels. Another reason given for this was that mosquitoes would not breed nor would weeds grow at such a depth. A soil conservation program was launched in the catchment and bed load traps were installed to minimise loss of earth. The traps have been used as a source of sand and gravel for building sites. Drainage blankets were used to prevent the loss of groundwater beneath the lake. During the following phase of work, four types of lake margin were constructed. On the southern side of the Central Basin, low reinforced concrete retaining walls were used, while on the eastern side, grouted rock wall can be seen near Commonwealth Park, as well as much of the East Basin. Sand and gravel beaches were built to cater for lakeside recreational pursuits. These are mostly prevalent on the western half of the lake complex. Rocky outcrops, steeply sloping stable shores with water vegetation such as bullrushes were also used. This treatment is evident in the West Lake in Yarralumla. William Holford and Partners were responsible for the foreshore landscaping, and over 55,000 trees were planted in accordance with a detailed scheme. Eucalypts were preferred so as to maintain the natural colour of the city landscape. ### Bridges Lake Burley Griffin is crossed by Commonwealth Avenue Bridge (310 metres or 1,020 feet), Kings Avenue Bridge (270 metres or 890 feet) and a roadway over Scrivener Dam. The two bridges were constructed before the lake was filled, and replaced wooden structures. Site testing for both the Commonwealth Avenue and Kings Avenue bridges took place during late 1959 to early 1960. The construction of the Kings Avenue Bridge began in 1960, followed by Commonwealth Avenue Bridge the year after. Fortunately for the builders, Canberra was in a drought and the ground remained dry during construction. Both bridges use post-tensioned concrete, reinforced with rustproof steel cables. Both bridges are made of concrete and steel and are dual-carriageway; Commonwealth Avenue has three lanes in each direction while Kings Avenue has two. Instead of traditional lamp post lighting, Kings Avenue Bridge was illuminated by a series of fluorescent tubes on the handrails, a concept known as "integral lighting". The design was deemed a success, so it was introduced to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge also. Both structures won awards from the Illuminating Engineering Society. Kings Avenue Bridge opened on 10 March 1962. Prime Minister Menzies unlocked a ceremonial chain before the motorcade and pageant crossed the lake in front of a large crowd. Commonwealth Avenue Bridge opened in 1963 without an official ceremony. Menzies called it "the finest building in the national capital". ### Dam The dam that holds back the waters of Lake Burley Griffin was named Scrivener Dam after Charles Robert Scrivener. The dam was designed and built by Rheinstahl Union Bruckenbau in West Germany, and utilised state-of-the-art post-tensioning techniques to cope with any problems or movements in the riverbed. This was required because of the quartz porphyry and geological faulting upon which the dam sits. About 55,000 cubic metres (72,000 cu yd) of concrete was used in its construction. The dam is 33 metres (108 ft) high and 319 metres (1,047 ft) long with a maximum wall thickness of 19.7 metres (65 ft). The dam is designed to handle a once in 5,000-year flood event. Construction began in September 1960 and the dam was locked in September 1963. The dam has five bay spillway controlled by 30.5 metres (100 ft) wide, hydraulically operated fish-belly flap gates. The fish-belly gates allow for a precise control of water level, reducing the dead area on the banks between high and low water levels. The five gates have only been opened simultaneously once in the dam's history, during heavy flooding in 1976. The gates hold two-thirds of the lake's volume. They were designed to allow easy flow of debris out of the lake. The dam has the capacity to allow a flow of 5,600 cubic metres per second (200,000 cu ft/s) but can withstand up to 8,600 cubic metres per second (300,000 cu ft/s) before "catastrophic damage" results; A flow of 2,830 m<sup>3</sup>/s (100,000 cu ft/s) can be dealt with without any substantial change in the water level. The highest recorded flow in the Molonglo was 3,400 cubic metres per second (120,000 cu ft/s) during an earlier flood. Lady Denman Drive, a roadway atop the dam wall, provides a third road crossing for the lake. It consists of a roadway and a bicycle path, and allows residents in western Canberra to cross the lake. This was possible because the dam gates are closed by pushing up from below, unlike most previous designs that wherein the gates were lifted from above. ### Lake filling A prolonged drought coincided with and eased work on the lake's construction. The valves on the Scrivener Dam were closed on 20 September 1963 by Minister for the Interior, Gordon Freeth; Menzies was absent due to ill health. Several months on, with no rain in sight, mosquito-infested pools of water were the only visible sign of the lake filling. With the eventual breaking of the drought, the lake reached the planned level on 29 April 1964. On 17 October 1964, Menzies (by now Sir Robert) commemorated the filling of the lake and the completion of stage one with an opening ceremony amid the backdrop of sailing craft. The ceremony was accompanied by fireworks display, and Griffin's lake had finally come to fruition after five decades, at the cost of AUD5,039,050. Freeth suggested that Menzies had "been in a material sense the father of the lake" and that the lake should be named after him. Menzies insisted that the lake should be named after Griffin. In times of severe drought, Lake Burley Griffin's water level can fall unacceptably low. When this happens, a release of water from Googong Dam located upstream can be scheduled to top up and restore the lake water level. The Googong Dam is on the Queanbeyan River which is a tributary of the Molonglo River. The dam whose construction was finished in 1979 is one of three dams—the Cotter and Corin Dams are the others—that meet the water supply needs of the Canberra and Queanbeyan region. The Googong Dam's water carrying capacity is 124,500,000 cubic metres (100,900 acre⋅ft). ## Later history and development Griffin's design made the lake a focal point of the city. In the four decades since the initial construction of the lake, various buildings of national importance were added. According to the policy plan of the government, "The lake is not only one of the centrepieces of Canberra's plan in its own right, but forms the immediate foreground of the National Parliamentary Area." The creation of the lake also gave a water frontage to many prominent institutions that were previously landlocked. The Royal Canberra Hospital was located on the Acton Peninsula between the West Lake and the West Basin on the north shore until its demolition. Government House, the historic Blundell's Cottage—which was built over 50 years before construction of Canberra began—and the newly built Australian National University, on the southern and northern shores of the West Lake, both gained a waterfront. In 1970, two tourist attractions were added to the middle of Central Basin. The Captain James Cook Memorial was built by the government to commemorate the Bicentenary of (then Lieutenant) James Cook's first sighting of the east coast of Australia. It includes a water jet fountain located in the central basin (based on the Jet d'eau in Geneva) and a skeleton globe sculpture at Regatta Point showing the paths of Cook's expeditions. On 25 April 1970, Queen Elizabeth II officially inaugurated the memorial. As part of the same ceremony, Queen Elizabeth also opened the National Carillon on Queen Elizabeth II Island, a set of 53 bronze bells donated by the British Government to commemorate the city's 50th anniversary. The completion of the central basin placed a waterway between Parliament House and the War Memorial and a landscaped boulevard was built along the land axis. Later, various buildings of national importance were built along the land axis in the late-1960s through to the early 1980s. The National Library was opened on the western side of the axis in April 1968. Building of the High Court and National Gallery occurred in the late-1970s and the buildings were opened in May 1980 and October 1982 respectively. The latter two buildings lie on the eastern side of the axis and are connected by an aerial bridge. In 1988, the new Parliament House was built on Capital Hill, thereby completing the most important structure in the Parliamentary Triangle. The current home of the National Museum was built on the former site of the Royal Canberra Hospital in 2001. This occurred after the public were encouraged to watch the controlled demolition of the hospital in 1997, but a girl was killed by flying debris, leading to criticism of the ACT Government. At the start of the 21st century, the layout of the lake was significantly altered for the first time since its construction, through the Kingston Foreshores Redevelopment on southern shore of the East Basin, which was planned in 1997. A bidding process was enacted, multimillion-dollar luxury apartment complexes were built in the suburb of Kingston, driving property values to record-breaking levels. After a dispute over the environmental impact of the development, building works commenced on the previously industrial lakeside area of the suburb. In 2007, work started to reclaim land from the lakebed to form a harbour. The Kingston Powerhouse, which used to provide the city's power supply, was converted into the Canberra Glassworks in 2007, 50 years after the electricity generators stopped. A 25-metre-high (82 ft) tower of glass and light named Touching Lightly was unveiled on 21 May 2010 by Chief Minister and Minister for the Arts and Heritage Jon Stanhope. It was built by Australian artist Warren Langley. In 2007, the government unveiled a proposal to redevelop the area surrounding the historic Albert Hall into a tourist and dining precinct. This included the building of an eight-storey building and the rezoning of some waterfront land currently designated as cultural to commercial. It was met with widespread hostility from heritage activists and the general community, which submitted more than 3,300 signatories in a petition against the scheme. One of the criticisms was that the project was tilted too heavily towards business, and neglected the arts and community events. The proposal was scrapped in 2009. It was proposed that a footbridge, to be named Immigration Bridge, be built between the National Museum of Australia and Lennox Gardens on the south shore, in recognition of the contributions that immigrants have made to Australia. The proposal mostly received negative feedback. An inquiry recommended that the bridge be redesigned or moved to accommodate the needs of other lake users. The proposal was abandoned in March 2010. ## Lakeside recreation The surrounds of Lake Burley Griffin are very popular recreational areas, and is known locally as LBG. Public parks exist along most of the shore line, with free electric barbecue facilities, fenced-in swimming areas, picnic tables and toilets. These parklands form a large part of the area around the lake, and occupy 3.139 km<sup>2</sup> (776 acres) in total. Some of the parks reserved for public recreation include Commonwealth, Weston, Kings and Grevillea Parks, Lennox Gardens and Commonwealth Place. Commonwealth and Kings Park on the northern shore of the Central Basin are among the two most popular. The former is an urban horticultural park and is the location of the Canberra Festival. Commonwealth Park is the location of Floriade, an annual flower festival that is held for around a month in spring and attracts upwards of 300,000 visitors, a number comparable to the city population. The largest flower festival in Australia, the event is a major tourist attraction for the city, and legal action was threatened after another festival in Australia wanted to use the same name. An expansion is being planned to coincide with the centenary of the national capital. The Weston Park to the west is known for its woodland and conifers, while Black Mountain Peninsula is known as a picnicking site with eucalypts. Grevillea and Bowen Parks on the East Basin tend to be little used. Owing to the proliferation of beaches, boat ramps and jetties, the West Lake is the area most used by swimmers and vessels. A bike path also surrounds the lake, and riding, walking or jogging around the lake are a popular activity on the weekends. Fireworks are often held over the lake on New Year's Eve, and a large show called Skyfire has been held at the lake since 1989. ### Water sports Lake Burley Griffin, apart from being ornamental, is used for many recreational activities. Canoeing, sailing, paddleboating, windsurfing and dragon boating are popular. A rowing course is set up at the western end of the lake. The National Championships were held in the lake in 1964, but high winds have deterred organisers. On one occasion, winds swept a boat into a bridge pylon. While not particularly popular, opportunities for swimming have been limited recently because of increasingly frequent lake closures due to concerns about water quality; another deterrent against swimming is the generally cold water temperature. During summer, the lake is used for the swim leg of numerous triathlon and aquathlon events including the Sri Chinmoy Triathlon Festival. Generally, powerboat use on the lake is not permitted. Permits are available for the use of powered boats on the lake for use in rescue, training, commercial purposes or special interest (such as historic steam-powered boats). Molonglo Reach, an area of the Molonglo River just before it enters the east basin is set aside for water skiing. Ten powerboats may be used in this limited area. ### Safety The lake is patrolled by the Australian Federal Police water police. The water police give assistance to lake users, helping to right boats and towing crippled craft to shore. At most swimming locations around Lake Burley Griffin there are fenced-in swimming areas for safety. In the more popular areas, there are also safety lockers with life belts and emergency phones for requesting help. Between 1962 and 1991, seven people died from drowning. For safety and water quality reasons, the lake has different zones for different activities. The eastern extremity is zoned for primary contact water activities such as swimming and water skiing. The East and Central Basins, closer to populated areas, are zoned for secondary contact water sports such as sailing or rowing. West Lake and Tarcoola Reach, which covers the area between Commonwealth Avenue and Kurrajong Point, is the primary recreational area of the lake, and both primary and secondary contact water sports are permitted. Yarramundi Reach near Scrivener Dam has a marked rowing course, and is zoned as secondary, although primary contact activities are also allowed. ## Environmental issues ### Water quality Toxic blue-green algae blooms are a reasonably common occurrence in the lake. Warnings about coming into contact with the water are released when an algal bloom is detected. Attempts are being made to limit the amount of phosphates entering the lake in the hope of improving its water quality. Blue-green algae (more correctly cyanobacteria) produce toxins, which can be harmful for humans and any other animals that come in contact with the contaminated water. There have been several cases of dogs being affected after playing in and drinking the lake water. The water also appears murky due to a high level of turbidity; however, this is not usually a health risk. However, the turbidity, which is caused by wind, prevents photosynthetic stabilisation. Siltation is not considered a major problem and is only a factor in the East Basin, but dredging is not required. The problem has eased with the construction of the Googong Dam, and the spectre of heavy metal pollution has receded, partly due to the closure of some lead mines upstream. However, leaching and groundwater leakage still causes some pollution. Rubbish, oil and sediment traps have been set up at the incoming openings to the lake to minimise pollution. ### Aquatic life and fishing Fishing is quite popular in the lake. The most common species caught is the illegally introduced carp. Annual monitoring is carried out to determine fish populations. Almost equally as common are the introduced redfin European perch, with these being a regular by catch when fishing for golden perch. However, a number of less common species also inhabit the lake, including native Murray cod, western carp gudgeon and golden perch, as well as introduced goldfish, Gambusia, rainbow trout and brown trout. The lake has been stocked annually with a variety of introduced and native species and over half a million fish have been released since 1981. There have been many changes to the fish populations in the lake as well as stocking practices since it was first filled. Regular stocking since the start of the 1980s have re-established reasonable populations of golden perch and Murray cod; native fish that were indigenous to the Molonglo River before the lake was built, but had been lost to mining pollution of the Molonglo River in the first half of the 20th century. The main reason for stocking is to boost fish stocks along the Molonglo, which have been depleted by overfishing, introduced species and habitat destruction. One of the motives for raising the level of Murray cod and golden perch is to balance the ecosystem by having them act as native predators of other fish. Native Silver perch and introduced brown trout were released in 1981–1983 and 1987–1989 respectively, but have not been stocked since. Silver perch stockings resulted in almost no captures. Introduced rainbow trout have been released sporadically, approximately once a decade, but have not been released since 2002–04, due to unacceptably low survival rates. According to a government report, the reason for the low survival rate is unknown, but the dominance of carp in the competition for food is one suggested theory. However, the eutrophic nature and high water temperatures of the lake in summer are more probable reasons. Golden perch and Murray cod have accounted for around four-fifths of the released fish in the last three decades and have been the only fish stocked in the last five years. The government plans to stock only these two species for the five years leading up to 2014. ## Engineering heritage award The lake is listed as a National Engineering Landmark by Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.
3,677,410	2005 Texas Longhorns football team	1,167,204,836	American college football season	[ "2005 Big 12 Conference football season", "2005 in sports in Texas", "BCS National Champions", "Big 12 Conference football champion seasons", "College football undefeated seasons", "Rose Bowl champion seasons", "Texas Longhorns football seasons" ]	The 2005 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season, winning the Big 12 Conference championship and the national championship. The team was coached by Mack Brown, led on offense by quarterback Vince Young, and played its home games at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. The team's penultimate victory of the season, the Big 12 Championship Game, featured the biggest margin of victory in the history of that contest. They finished the season by winning the 2006 Rose Bowl against the USC Trojans for the national championship. Numerous publications have cited this victory as standing among the greatest performances in college football history, and ESPN awarded the 2006 ESPY Award for the "Best Game" in any sport to the Longhorns and the Trojans. The Longhorns finished as the only unbeaten team in NCAA Division I-A football that year, with thirteen wins and zero losses. Owing to its overwhelmingly dominant margins of victory, and its perfect record, this Longhorn team is often considered among the best in college football history. Texas earned its second Big 12 Conference football championship to make 27 conference championships total, including 25 in the Southwest Conference. It was their fourth national championship in football and the ninth perfect season in the history of Longhorn football. The team set numerous school and NCAA records, including their 652 points which set an NCAA record for points scored in a season. After the season ended, six Longhorns from this championship team joined professional football teams through the 2006 NFL Draft. Seven more Longhorns followed suit in the 2007 NFL Draft and they were joined by two free agents. Another nine followed through the 2008 Draft and free-agency to make a total of twenty-four players who entered into the National Football League (NFL). ## Before the season Media and fans of college football consider the UT program one of the great powerhouses of the game because of the school's winning record as well as their previous national championships in 1963, 1969 and 1970. From 1936 to 2004, the team finished the season in the top ten team of the Associated Press Poll 23 times, or one-third of the time. At the start of the 2005 season, the Longhorns were one of the most victorious programs in college football history; they were third in total victories and fourth if measured by winning percentage. In the 2004 season Vince Young led the team to the 2005 Rose Bowl, the school's first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game, and a top 5 finish in the major polls. It should also be noted that Vince Young predicted that the Longhorns would return to the Rose Bowl next season in a post game interview where he proclaimed, "We'll be back!" Young returned for the 2005–2006 season, as did most of the other key players from 2004 to 2005, with the exception of Cedric Benson, Derrick Johnson, and Bo Scaife. Texas was given a pre-season No. 2 ranking (behind the defending National Champions, the University of Southern California) by Sports Illustrated magazine, the Associated Press Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll. During the summer of 2005, a period free of official team practices, Young and his receivers spent extra practice time working on their timing and team-work. The fall Orange and White intra-team scrimmage was held on August 21, 2005, as an event open to the public. Running back Ramonce Taylor returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Young completed five of seven passing attempts for 68 yards and one touchdown. Senior Richmond McGee made two 33-yard field goals and emerged as the top candidate to handle field goals, kickoffs and punts. Brown said of McGee, "We've never had one person do all three, so it's a concern, but right now, he would be the guy." The success of the 2004 team and the efforts during the off-season fueled anticipation by sports writers that Texas would play for the national championship if they could win their away game against Ohio State University and end their five-game losing streak against Oklahoma. The BCS system required any team competing in the championship game to be ranked either number one or number two in the BCS Standings at the end of the season. ## Schedule ## Roster The final roster of the season: Texas had very few problems affecting the roster. Only one defensive starter missed a game due to injury. On offense, starting running back Selvin Young injured his ankle in the game against Louisiana-Lafayette and re-injured it the following week against Ohio State. He did not play in the games against Rice or Baylor. Receiver Jordan Shipley missed the entire season due to a pulled hamstring. The Austin Police Department charged UT receiver Myron Hardy with a Class A misdemeanor for carrying a prohibited weapon, a "'butterfly style knife' that operates like a switchblade, making it a prohibited weapon." Hardy appeared in four games for the 2004 team, catching one pass for four yards. He redshirted in 2005 and returned to the roster for 2006. The police investigated assault allegations against Cedric Griffin and Ramonce Taylor but no charges were filed. The incident allegedly occurred December 10, 2005, near the Sixth Street entertainment district. The UT athletics department found no reason to discipline the players and they both played in the final game of the season. Also in December, the police announced they were investigating a Longhorn player in a separate incident that occurred in September. This incident allegedly involved armed robbery with a handgun. The police did not name the target of the investigation. Three Longhorns, freshman running backs Michael Houston and Jerrell Wilkerson and sophomore defensive back Bobby Tatum, elected to transfer prior to UT's bowl game. All three were reserve players. ## Game summaries ### Louisiana Lafayette This game marked the second meeting of the Texas Longhorns and the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns. In their first meeting in 2000, UT fell behind 10–0 before quarterback Major Applewhite entered the game late in the first quarter and threw for 315 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Longhorns scored 52 unanswered points in a 52–10 victory. Prior to kickoff of the 2005 game, the stadium announcer made an appeal for donations to help those suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated parts of Louisiana five days previously. Donations were not accepted at the game because of a policy against official fund-raising. As the Longhorns entered the field, special teams player Karim Meijer carried a United States flag that was given to the team on Thursday by former Longhorn Nathan Kaspar who flew the flag during missions in southeastern Iraq. For this game only, the Longhorns wore throwback uniforms furnished by Nike as a way of honoring the past. The throwback jerseys were similar to jerseys worn during their 1963 National Championship season under Coach Darrell K. Royal. Football's origins in the Northeastern United States have created an expectation that it is a cold-weather sport, but the temperature at kickoff was 90 °F (32 °C) which is also the average temperature in Austin for the month of September. Texas scored first when Selvin Young ran the ball in for a touchdown. The extra point attempt by Richmond McGee was no good. The Cajuns were able to score three points on a field goal by Sean Comiskey making the score Texas 6, Louisiana Lafayette 3. Texas replied with 54 unanswered points to win the game 60–3. With the win, Texas improved its record in season-opening games to 93–17–3 and 72–2–2 when they open the year at home. That figure includes 11 straight wins and victories in 30 of their last 31 games at home. Their home record under Mack Brown improved to 39 wins and 3 losses. Several new Longhorn players entered the game. True freshman running back Jamaal Charles set the UT rushing record for a debut game with 135 yards and a rushing touchdown alongside one reception for 18 yards, after taking over during the game for injured running back Selvin Young. True freshman running back Henry Melton also saw his first action and scored his first touchdown at the college level. True freshman Quan Cosby got his first college start, and two other true freshmen (Roy Miller and Aaron Lewis) saw action. ### Ohio State According to USA Today, the match-up between the Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes (OSU) was one of the most-anticipated games of the 2005 season. Teams have become increasingly conservative in scheduling highly ranked non-conference opponents, so a meeting of the number 2 and number 4 teams in the country was unusual this early in the season. Because of the significance of the game in the national championship race, ESPN College GameDay chose the game as the site of its weekly broadcast. The American Football Coaches Association brought the national championship trophy to the game and displayed it on the field near Bevo, the UT mascot (photo below). Texas and Ohio State are two of the oldest and "most storied" programs in college football, but this game was the first meeting between the two teams. For Texas, it meant playing a second Big Ten Conference "powerhouse" less than one year after winning the first meeting between Texas and the University of Michigan at the end of the 2004 season. The game was played in Ohio Stadium, also known as "The Horseshoe" or "the Shoe". This stadium is notoriously tough for visiting teams, as its large capacity and structural design focus a tremendous amount of crowd noise that can make it difficult for the visiting team to call audibles at the line of scrimmage. Texas scored first with a 42-yard field goal, which was a career-long for Longhorn kicker David Pino. A five-yard touchdown pass from Vince Young to Billy Pittman gave the Longhorns a 10–0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Buckeyes controlled most of the second quarter. Their first score was a 45 yd field goal by Josh Huston followed by a 36-yard touchdown pass from Troy Smith to Santonio Holmes to tie the score at 10–10. They took the lead with two more field goals from Josh Huston. Texas made a field goal to trim Ohio State's lead to 16–13 at the half. In the third quarter, Texas made one field goal and OSU made two, extending Ohio State's lead to 22–16. In the fourth quarter, Texas regained the lead with a touchdown pass from Young to Limas Sweed. UT's Aaron Harris sacked OSU's Troy Smith for a safety and Texas took a three-point lead, which they held when time expired. Texas' win, by a score of 25–22, was the lowest scoring game Texas would experience all season, both in terms of points scored by Texas and total points. Fourth-ranked OSU became the highest-ranked non-conference opponent the Longhorns had ever beaten at an opponent's home stadium. The previous high came in 1983 when third-ranked Texas pulled off a 20–7 upset versus fifth-ranked Auburn. Texas became the first non-conference opponent to beat the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium since 1990, putting an end to a 36-game home victory string over non-conference opponents. The Longhorns also were the first team to beat the Buckeyes in a night game at The Horseshoe and it was UT's 10th straight victory in a night-game road contest. ESPN and College Football Rivals each named the game one of the best football games of the season. ### Rice The Rice Owls and Texas met in 2005 for the 88th time. Texas held a 65–21–1 lead in the series, which began in 1914. For the Longhorns this series ranks fourth in number of games played, behind Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Baylor. The two schools were once conference foes in the Southwest Conference and have maintained a rivalry despite the fact that Texas enjoys a sizable lead in the series. President John F. Kennedy alluded to the lopsidedness of the rivalry in his 1962 speech on America's space program: "But why, some say, the Moon? ... And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain. Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? ... We choose to go to the Moon ... and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." In addition to continuing a traditional rivalry, playing Rice in a home and away series allows for Texas to play games in Houston, Texas, an important recruiting base for UT, which has a significant Texas Exes alumni population. The Horns took possession of the ball to start the game and used less than two minutes in scoring on a 25-yard carry by Jamaal Charles. Rice advanced to the Texas 43-yard line before punting the ball to Texas' one-yard line, forcing the Longhorns to start from inside their own end zone. UT drove the ball 99 yards in seven plays for a second touchdown. With four seconds left in the first quarter, Vince Young threw a pass that was intercepted by Ja'Corey Shepherd at the UT 20-yard line. Rice lost yardage on their possession and failed to convert on fourth down so they turned the ball over on downs. The rest of the first-half scoring was dominated by the Longhorns as they scored four more touchdowns to take a 42–0 lead. The Owls had four–more possessions in the second–quarter but never advanced the ball past their own 30-yard line. In the second half, each team scored one field goal and one touchdown, although Texas missed their extra point so they won the game 51–10. UT's Jamaal Charles ran for 189 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries in his first start for the Longhorns. After the game, Charles said that his goal was to rush for 200 yards each game but that he was not disappointed to fall short of 200 yards rushing because he hit his goal of rushing for three touchdowns. ### Missouri Sportscasters touted the contest with the Missouri Tigers as a showcase between of the two best dual-threat quarterbacks playing in college football, pitting Missouri quarterback Brad Smith against Vince Young of Texas. The two players combined for 582 yards total offense. Both Young and Smith led their respective team in rushing yards. Young had 108 rushing yards while Smith had 57. Young had 236 passing yards compared to Smith's 181. The Longhorns and the Tigers each scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, though Missouri missed an extra point to let Texas take a 14–13 lead. Texas scored another touchdown and a field goal to make a 24–13 lead at halftime. In the second half, Texas scored four more touchdowns, missing one extra point to increase their lead to 51–13. Missouri was scoreless for 40 minutes of play until they scored a touchdown with 3:54 left to play; it was their only score of the second half. Texas won the game 51–20 to extend its series lead over Missouri to 15–5. ### Oklahoma - Source: ESPN Football fans consider the annual game between Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners (OU) one of the greatest rivalries games in all of college sports. Though officially called the Red River Rivalry, it remains better known by its traditional name, the Red River Shootout; the 2005 match-up was the 100th in the series. Since 1912 the teams have played the game at the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas, Texas, amid the atmosphere of the adjacent Texas State Fair. This is unusual because most college football games alternate between the opponents home stadiums. Dallas was chosen as the neutral site because it is approximately halfway between the two schools. The stadium is divided down the 50-yard line, with half of the stadium predominantly clad in the crimson and cream colors of Oklahoma, and the other half mostly wearing the burnt orange and white of Texas. The game frequently has implications for the conference and national championship races. Since 1945, at least one of the teams was ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation coming into 60 out of 65 games. Prior to the 2005 game, Texas held an advantage in the all-time series 55–39–5, which included a 43–35–4 edge in Dallas, but Oklahoma had won the 5 previous games, including the two worst losses ever for a Texas team in the series. Those losses had helped build a reputation that Mack Brown was not capable of winning in "Big Games". Four times during those five years, Texas' loss to Oklahoma prevented them from playing in the Big 12 Conference Championship Game. One of these two teams appeared in four of the nine BCS national championship games from 1999 to 2007. The Longhorns scored first with a touchdown pass from Vince Young to Ramonce Taylor; this was the first time for Texas to lead Oklahoma since 2002 and Texas' first passing touchdown against Oklahoma since 2000. The Sooners' Garrett Hartley answered with a 52-yard field goal, the longest of his college career, and a 9-yard field goal. Longhorn Jamaal Charles scored next on an 80-yard touchdown run. UT then scored with a 38-yard field goal by Richmond McGee and a 64-yard long bomb from Young to Billy Pittman just before halftime, giving Texas a 24–6 lead at the half. UT made the only score of the third quarter: a 27-yard touchdown pass from Young to Pittman. In the fourth quarter UT scored two touchdowns while OU scored one. UT was favored by 14 points and won the game by 33 points, tying the biggest margin of victory for the Longhorns in the history of the rivalry, a 40–7 victory in 1941. The game also marked the sixth time the Longhorns entered the contest ranked second nationally; they have won all six. With the win, Texas started their season 5–0 for the first time since 1983. ### Colorado Of all the teams on Texas regular season schedule, Colorado had the best historical record against Texas up to the start of the season. The all-time record was tied at 7–7, and the record since the formation of the Big 12 conference was tied at 3–3. Texas established a lead early in the game and never lost it; they led 35–10 at halftime and defeated the 2005 Colorado team by a final score of 42–17. Texas scored touchdowns on all five of their first half possessions; these included three rushing touchdowns by Vince Young, one rushing touchdown by Selvin Young, and one touchdown pass from Vince Young to Limas Sweed. Colorado was scoreless in the first quarter. In the second quarter they scored with a 48-yard field goal by Mason Crosby and a touchdown pass from Joel Klatt to Evan Judge. After neither team scored in the third quarter, each team completed one touchdown pass in the final period. Vince Young had the best statistical performance of his career to date, completing 25 of 29 passing attempts for 336 yards and two passing touchdowns in addition to 58 yards rushing and 3 rushing touchdowns. His 86.2% completion percentage set a new single-game record for UT, breaking his previous record of 85.7% set against Oklahoma State in 2004. After the game, Colorado Head Coach Gary Barnett said of Young's passing performance, "We can't do that in practice against air." meaning that his team would not have been able to complete 86.2% of their passes even if playing unopposed. ### Texas Tech The Texas Tech Red Raiders came into the game undefeated and ranked number 10 in the nation with hopes of beating Texas, winning out the season, and playing for a national championship. The Longhorns scored a field goal on their first possession and Texas Tech answered with a touchdown pass by Cody Hodges. Texas regained the lead when Henry Melton rushed for a touchdown. In the second quarter, the Red Raiders tied up the game with a field goal before Texas regained the lead with two touchdown runs by Selvin Young and a touchdown pass to Billy Pittman. In the third quarter, the Longhorns extended their lead with two touchdowns to one by Texas Tech. Texas' seventh touchdown came with 6:30 left in the game and it was the last points scored in the game. Texas won the game 52–17 and moved into first place in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings for the first time since they were implemented in 1998. The BCS formula took into account strength of schedule so that teams received more credit for beating stronger opponents. This allowed Texas to advance in the rankings since they beat an unbeaten team while University of Southern California, who previously held the number one spot, beat Washington, a 1–6 team. The week following the Texas Tech game Vince Young said he still planned to return for his senior season in 2006. Young, a candidate for the Heisman trophy, also apologized for striking the "Heisman pose" during the win over Texas Tech; this had been viewed as an immodest indiscretion. ### Oklahoma State Texas place at the top of the BCS rankings lasted only one week. On October 29, 2005, Texas initially trailed but rallied to beat an Oklahoma State Cowboys team that had held a losing record through the season so far. Texas retained the top spot in the computer rankings, but not by enough to stay ahead of USC in the overall BCS standings. Oklahoma State scored first, with a surprising 48 yard pass from Al Pena to D'Juan Woods. The Cowboys had lined up tight on 4th and inches as if trying a short, power run, but faked that play and threw a deep pass instead, catching the Longhorn defense off-guard. Texas replied with a touchdown pass from Young to Thomas, but David Pino missed the extra point, allowing the Cowboys to retain the lead. Oklahoma State scored another touchdown and Texas completed a field goal to make the score 21–9 at the end of the first quarter. The Cowboys scored one touchdown in the second quarter off of a pass that was deflected by Texas, and Texas made a field goal near the end to cut into the lead, leaving Oklahoma State ahead 28–12 at halftime. The second half was dominated by Texas as they scored five unanswered touchdowns to win the game. The scores consisted of two rushing touchdowns by Vince Young, two rushing touchdowns by Ramonce Taylor, and a 21-yard touchdown pass to Neale Tweedie. Despite Oklahoma State's 0–4 start to conference play, they led Texas the entire first half, including a lead of as much as nineteen points. It was the third straight year that Texas trailed Oklahoma State at halftime and came from behind to win by a sizable margin (47–28). Vince Young set a school record for total yards in one game with 506 yards (239 passing, 267 rushing). Young also became one of only seven players in NCAA history to have accumulated over 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing in a single game. Over the past three meetings between the two schools (2003–2005), the Longhorns outscored the Cowboys by a combined second-half score of 118–0. TBS announced that the Longhorns' come-from-behind victory scored a record viewership rating of 1.927 million viewers. This represented a 21 percent increase over the previous TBS network record for Southern California vs. Stanford in 2004. ### Baylor The Longhorns first played the Baylor Bears in 1901 and have faced them annually since both were members of the Southwest Conference. In the 95 meetings through 2005, Texas' record was 69 wins, 22 losses, and 4 ties. Only Texas A&M and the University of Oklahoma had faced Texas more often on the football field. Texas was stopped on their first drive due to an unsuccessful fourth down conversion. Baylor's first possession ended when UT's Michael Huff intercepted a pass from Baylor's Terrance Park. Longhorn Jamaal Charles scored a touchdown on the drive but the kick was blocked, giving Texas the only first-quarter score and a 6–0 lead. Texas extended the lead in the second quarter with rushing touchdowns from Henry Melton, Jamaal Charles, and Ramonce Taylor. Taylor made two more touchdowns in the third quarter and Quan Cosby caught a touchdown pass from Young. In the fourth quarter, Taylor scored his fourth touchdown and backup quarterback Matt Nordgren scored on an odd play where he was hit and fumbled while scrambling for the goal line but the ball traveled forward at about the same speed he was running and bounced right back up into his hands. Texas won the 2005 game 62–0 making it the only shutout of the 2005 season for the Longhorns. The 2005 Baylor game was played in Waco, Texas, approximately 100 miles (161 km) north on Interstate 35 from Austin. Since UT home games are usually sold out and Waco is relatively close to Austin, recent games against Baylor have attracted numerous Texas fans driving to Waco to see the game. The Baylor athletic department suspended ticket sales at one point in an effort to limit the number of Longhorn fans who purchased tickets. The average attendance for Baylor's home games for the season was 38,899, but for the UT game the attendance was 44,783 still short of the 50,000 official capacity for Baylor's Floyd Casey Stadium. ### Kansas In order to win the 2004 game against the Kansas Jayhawks, Texas had to convert a 4th-and-18 situation and complete a touchdown pass with only eleven seconds remaining on the clock. The 2005 game provided much less on-field drama, as Texas led 52–0 by halftime and defeated Kansas 66–14. In the first quarter, Texas scored touchdowns on a pass to Limas Sweed, a run by Jamaal Charles, a pass to Quan Cosby, and a punt return by Aaron Ross. In the second quarter, the Longhorns had a touchdown run by Ramonce Taylor and touchdown catches from David Thomas and Peter Ullman. David Pino also kicked a field goal for the Horns. In the third quarter, Kansas opened the scoring with a 59-yard touchdown by Jon Cornish. Taylor scored another touchdown. UT had the only score of the fourth quarter, a touchdown by Selvin Young. UT fans were unhappy with ABC's television coverage of the event. The network elected to stick with the Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M game instead of switching to the Kansas vs. Texas game. ABC stayed with the Oklahoma vs. A&M game through the final down and then ran three full minutes of commercials while the Texas vs. Kansas game continued. By the time they switched over Texas was already leading 14–0. The ABC announcers started their coverage saying "And now, we'll join the game you've been waiting for all week, which has pretty much already been decided." ABC then broke away from their coverage at halftime to broadcast other events. This left thousands of UT fans who assembled to watch the game in Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium stranded without coverage for much of the game. The lopsided victory allowed Texas to play several less-experienced players. Back-up quarterback Matt Nordgren entered the game in the third quarter, replacing Vince Young. Third-string quarterback Matt McCoy replaced Nordgren just past the midpoint of the fourth quarter. Since Colt McCoy was listed third on the UT depth chart, television broadcasters referred to Matt McCoy (no relation) as Colt McCoy, a mistake they repeated over the season. The Longhorns did not play Colt in the 2005 season, choosing to redshirt him instead. After viewing this game as part of a recruiting visit to UT, Jevan Snead – ranked as one of the top high school quarterbacks in the nation, elected to switch his commitment from University of Florida to Texas. ### Texas A&M This game marked the 112th meeting between Texas and the Texas A&M Aggies and the game is part of a multi-sport rivalry called the Lone Star Showdown. It is the longest-running rivalry for both the Longhorns and the Aggies and the football series is the third most-played rivalry in college football. Texas came into the 2005 contest with a 72–34–5 record. During the week before the game, the Longhorns conducted their traditional Hex Rally. As a result of a tragic accident in 1999, the Aggies did not host a school-sponsored version of their traditional Bonfire but an unofficial version called "Student Bonfire" was held November 19, 2005 despite a county-wide ban on bonfires. The game's attendance was 86,616, which was 4,016 more than the official stadium capacity for Kyle Field. Like the contest against Missouri, sportswriters touted the Texas A&M game as showcasing two of the best dual-threat quarterbacks playing in college football. However, Texas A&M's starting quarterback Reggie McNeal missed the game due to an ankle injury; instead, freshman quarterback Stephen McGee made his first start. The game was a back-and-forth affair ultimately won by Texas, 40–29. The eleven point win was their second slimmest margin of victory of the regular season to that point, and they lost points in all three major polls but still remained solidly in second place. The game was the poorest performance of the season by the Longhorns, both offensively and defensively. On offense, Vince Young had only 162 yards of offense, his lowest output of the season. The Associated Press remarked on the poor performance and said that Young, considered one of the nations best quarterbacks and a Heisman trophy candidate coming into the game, was "not even the best quarterback on the field that day". The Daily Texan predicted that the game could hurt Young's chances for the Heisman, but they also quoted UT head coach Mack Brown as saying "Looking at the numbers from what Reggie Bush did last week and Vince did today, Reggie probably leads, but next week, Vince plays at noon, and Reggie at 3, so I think voters will wait and watch to see what happens." UT running backs Henry Melton and Ramonce Taylor also received criticism. Taylor was criticized for running backwards and sideways in an effort to gain yards, instead of moving ahead and breaking tackles. The Daily Texan observed "Five of Taylor's 15 carries resulted in a loss or no gain for a total of minus-17 yards. However, the other 10 carries totaled 119 yards for an average of 11.9 yards per positive running play. The sophomore didn't have a positive gain of fewer than 5 yards and accumulated three runs of 20 yards or longer." Greg Davis, UT's offensive coordinator, said "Ramonce is a darter. The only time that really concerned me was a third-and-two situation. We talked to him on the sideline about a little bit more down and distance awareness." Melton was criticized for "tiptoeing indecisively". and letting himself get tackled near the line of scrimmage. On defense, the Longhorns held A&M to only 118 yards passing but gave up 277 yards rushing; the highest allowed by the Longhorns all season. Despite the poor outing, Texas finished the regular season undefeated. Gene Chizik, UT's defensive coordinator, said "This really is an eye-opening experience. Obviously, we've got to get better. But I'll tell you what, we're all going to drive home 11–0." ### Vs. Colorado – Big 12 Championship The Big 12 Championship Game is held by the Big 12 Conference each year. The championship game pits the Big 12 North Division champion against the South Division champion in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Despite losing the last two games of the regular season, Colorado retained the best record in the North Division of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to the game, Colorado head coach Gary Barnett said, "I do not think anybody expects us to come in here and beat Texas." His team lost the game 70–3, the most lopsided score in any college football conference championship to date. The Longhorns scored ten touchdowns in their first eleven possessions. They started with first-quarter touchdowns by Henry Melton and Jamaal Charles. The Buffaloes got their only score of the game, a field goal, at the start of the second quarter. Vince Young, Limas Sweed, David Thomas, and Jamaal Charles scored touchdowns in the second quarter to give the Horns a 42–3 lead at halftime. In the third quarter, Selvin Young, Charles and Melton each scored rushing touchdowns. Brandon Foster scored a touchdown on defense due to Michael Griffin blocking a Colorado punt. Halfway through the third quarter, Texas already had 70 points, but went on cruise control from that point on and did not score again. Following the victory, the largely UT crowd stayed in the stands to celebrate the Longhorns' return to the Rose Bowl—this time for a shot at a National Championship. As players circled the stadium giving high-fives and handshakes to fans, a section of the railing collapsed and fans spilled onto the sideline. One person suffered injuries and was removed from the field on a stretcher. Texas earned its second Big 12 football championship to make 27 conference championships total, including 25 in the Southwest Conference. The week after the game, Barnett was fired as Colorado's head coach and replaced by Dan Hawkins, the former head coach of Boise State. ### Vs. USC – Rose Bowl For the 2005 season, the Rose Bowl also served as the BCS National Championship Game as a result of the Bowl Championship Series agreement. In the weeks leading up to the 2006 Rose Bowl, the game was described by numerous publications as one of the most-anticipated match-ups in college football history and even as the greatest college football game of all time. This was Texas' second trip to the Rose Bowl in school history, alongside their trip the previous season. Less than three weeks before the game, USC Trojan Reggie Bush won the Heisman trophy—since vacated—ahead of second place finisher Vince Young. Bush had the second highest number of first place votes in Heisman history (behind O. J. Simpson) and the highest percentage of first place votes, while Young had a record number of second place votes. Bush's 933-point margin of victory was the 17th highest in the history of the Heisman voting. The third finalist was USC's Matt Leinart, who won the Heisman trophy in 2004. This Rose Bowl would mark the first time two Heisman trophy winners would ever play in the same backfield. The game's outcome was in doubt until the final minute of play. With 19 seconds left on the game clock, Vince Young ran for a touchdown and regained the lead for the Longhorns. He followed up by running the ball into the end zone for a two-point conversion. Leinart had time to attempt one pass but his pass fell out of bounds as time expired; UT beat USC by the score of 41–38. Young completed 30 of 40 passes for 267 yards and carried the ball 19 times for 200 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. His 467 total yards set a new Rose Bowl and BCS Championship Game record. He won the Rose Bowl "Most Valuable Player" (MVP) award for the second consecutive year, joining Ron Dayne, Bob Schloredt, and Charles White as the only two-time winners but the only player from outside the Big Ten or Pac-10. David Thomas' ten receptions set a UT record for most receptions in a game by a tight end. Prior to the game, commentators had postulated that the 2005 USC team was one of or even the "greatest team of all-time". ESPN analysts were virtually unanimous in their declaration of the 2005 USC Trojans as the best offense in the history of college football, despite the fact that they were in second place behind Texas in terms of points scored during the season. ESPN analysts Mark May and Kirk Herbstreit declared, before the 2005 Rose Bowl had even been played, that the 2005 USC Trojans were the second best college football team of the past 50 years. May placed them behind only the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers; Herbstreit behind only the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. This led to Texas fans at the Rose Bowl mockingly chanting "Best ... Team ... Ever" during the post-game celebration. Stewart Mandell of Sports Illustrated observed, "ESPN spent the better part of Christmas season comparing that Trojans squad to some of the most acclaimed teams of all time only to find out that they weren't even the best team that season." Texas' Rose Bowl win was the 800th victory in school history and it earned the Longhorns their fourth consensus national championship in football. Since the game, the media, coaches, and other commentators have heaped praise upon the Texas team, Young, and the Rose Bowl performance. Both the Rose Bowl win as well as the Longhorns' overall season have both been cited as standing among the greatest performances in college football history by observers such as College Football News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Scout.com, Austin American-Statesman, and Sports Illustrated. ESPN awarded the two teams the 2006 ESPY Award for the "Best Game" in any sport. Texas' win over USC was their ninth consecutive victory when facing a ranked opponent. Texas broke USC's winning streak (then the longest in the nation) at 34 and claimed the longest running winning streak for themselves at 20 wins in a row. Texas' 20-game winning streak was the second-longest winning streak in school history; Texas had 30 wins in a row from 1968 to 1970. Texas extended the winning streak to 21 before a September 9, 2006, loss to Ohio State University. In beating USC, Texas defeated a No. 1 ranked team for the first time since defeating Alabama in the Orange Bowl on January 1, 1965. The Longhorns ended the season ranked third in the all-time list of both total wins and winning percentage (.7143). ## Rankings The pre-season editions of the Associated Press Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll pre-season polls both ranked Texas number two in the nation behind defending National Champion University of Southern California. The two teams maintained those rankings throughout the entire 2005 regular season. Texas was ranked second in each week of the BCS rankings, except for one week where Texas took the top spot with USC falling to number two. The BCS rankings during 2005 were based on a formula which factored in the votes of two human polls (the USA Today coach's poll and the Harris Interactive poll), combined with a variety of computer rankings. The computer rankings favored Texas as the No. 1 team throughout the entire season, due partly to Texas's wins over ranked programs such as Ohio State University and Texas Tech University. On October 24, 2005, Texas passed USC in the BCS rankings due to a strong showing in the computer rankings, which favored the Longhorns because of the overall strength of their opponents as well as the October 22, 2005, win over previously unbeaten Texas Tech. The first-place ranking was the first for UT in the BCS era, and the first top ranking in any major football poll since October 8, 1984, when they were atop both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. The 0.0007% margin separating Texas from USC was the slimmest margin between the top two teams since the inception of BCS rankings. The stay at the top was short-lived. With the October 31, 2005, BCS rankings, Texas remained first in the computer rankings, with Virginia Tech pulling even with USC for number two in the computer rankings. However, USC remained atop both human polls and was able to reclaim the top overall ranking. Texas and USC won the rest of their games and faced each other in the National Championship, which Texas won 41–38. This was only the 35th meeting of the two top-ranked teams in the history of college football, including both regular season and bowl games. The BCS system now ensures that the two top teams in the BCS rankings face each other annually in a national championship game, but the methodology for ranking the teams remains controversial among fans and sportswriters. The 2005 season marks only the eighth time in 50 years that exactly two teams have gone into the bowl season undefeated. This has been a major criticism of the BCS format, which does not use a playoff to determine the national championship. Unless there are exactly two unbeaten teams, both from BCS conferences, the choice of the top two teams can generate controversy. If more than two undefeated teams remain, then one or more of those teams must be left out. If one or fewer undefeated teams remain, then an opponent must be chosen from among the one-loss teams, meaning that other one-loss teams will be left out. In the eight National Championship games through the 2006 Rose Bowl, the team ranked number one prior to the game has won five times, while the number two team has won three times. Up to the 2007 season, no school had won the BCS championship twice. In the final polls after the bowl games, Texas received all 62 first place votes in the Coaches Poll and all 65 first place votes in the AP Poll. ## After the season Analysts labeled the team, their season, and their championship victory as the greatest or among the greatest in the history of the sport. College Football News judged the 2005 Longhorns to have played the greatest college football season ever. Sports-writers at College Football News also consider the 2006 Rose Bowl to be the best college football game ever played. Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said "if there ever has been a greater game, I never saw it, and I've been watching college football games since 1934." Scout.com called it "one of the best national title games ever", while Kevin Hench of Fox Sports called it "perhaps the greatest college football game ever played." ESPN declared the 2006 Rose Bowl Game an instant classic and re-aired it within a week of the original broadcast. ESPN later awarded the 2006 ESPY Award to the Longhorns and Trojans for the 2006 "Best Game" in any sport. Vince Young and Matt Leinart accepted the award on behalf of their teams. ESPN columnist Mark Schlabach ranked the 2005 Texas Longhorns as fourth-best among the first ten BCS-era champions. The championship game drew attention from political figures. Head Coach Mack Brown took a congratulatory call from United States President George W. Bush, who told Brown, "Congratulations on a wonderful moment ... Tell the team congratulations, we're proud of them." White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Bush wished Brown and the Longhorns all the best, and said that he looked forward to having them visit the White House soon. Bush was formerly a Governor of Texas and his daughter Jenna is a UT graduate. On February 14, 2006, Bush did host the team and coaches at the White House. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lost a bet with Texas Governor Rick Perry on the outcome and had to send Perry a basket of "California wines, fruit and other goodies". The food was donated to National Guard troops in Texas. Both governors also offered autographed, handmade cowboy boots that were auctioned to benefit survivors of Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lost a bet with Austin Mayor Will Wynn and had to send a basket of produce, such as avocados, from a local farmers' market; Wynn had bet Texas' finest barbecue. Seconds after Texas beat Southern California 41–38, the university lit the UT tower orange, the traditional signal of victory on the campus. Since this was a national championship, office lights were also left selectively lit in order to form a number "1" on all four sides of the tower (pictured). Texas students and fans spilled onto the streets of Austin and made their way to campus for an impromptu celebration. Though police were out in force, there were no reports of problems. The school commissioned a painting titled The University of Texas National Championship 2005 by Opie Otterstad to commemorate the win in the Rose Bowl and the National Championship. Special editions of magazines and products featured the team. Dave Campbell's Texas Football put out a 45,000-copy special issue titled One for the Ages – Vince Young Leads Longhorns to the Fourth National Title. This issue included a column from Longhorn fan Matthew McConaughey as well as 15 pages of photos from the Rose Bowl. The cover featured Young kissing the "crystal football" national championship trophy. Sports Illustrated held up their regular weekly edition to await the results of the Rose Bowl. They finally went to press with a cover showing Young diving into the end zone with the label "Superman". Analysis inside the issue gave Young a large part of the credit for the win. They also printed a special commemorative issue in the state of Texas with Young on the cover, shouting in triumph amidst a storm of multi-colored confetti after winning the game. Features in the special edition included a story on Vince Young's Glory Days by Tim Layden, as well as a story dissecting How the Rose Bowl was won by Austin Murphy. The issue was on sale alongside the regular edition of the magazine. General Mills produced a commemorative issue Wheaties box featuring Mack Brown and a Texas Longhorns football helmet on the front. The commemorative packaging was sold nationwide. Texas is the first national college football champion to be featured since Nebraska was on the box in 1997. Individual players and coaches also received honors. "Vince Young Day" was proclaimed by Mayor Bill White in Houston on January 10, 2006, to honor the Houston native. White said that Young is "an inspiration to all Houstonians, both young and old." On January 15, 2006, 51,244 Texas fans gathered in Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium to celebrate the team and their victorious season. Mack Brown was named the Paul "Bear" Bryant College Football Coach of the Year, as voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Brown became the first winner of the award from UT since Darrell Royal in 1963. The championship season lifted the reputation of Mack Brown and the offensive coordinator, Greg Davis. Davis was consistently criticized for over-conservative play-calling. After the championship win the criticism quieted down, but did not go away completely. As of 2007 sportswriters continue to debate whether Vince Young and the other talented UT players succeeded despite Davis or because of him. Despite previous statements that he would return for his senior season, redshirt junior quarterback Vince Young announced that he would forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility and made himself eligible for the 2006 National Football League draft. The Tennessee Titans chose him as the third overall draft pick. Besides Young, five other Longhorns from this championship team joined professional teams through the 2006 NFL Draft – Michael Huff (number 7 overall), Cedric Griffin (number 48 overall), David Thomas (number 86 overall), Jonathan Scott (number 141 overall) and Rodrique Wright (number 222 overall). As a result, fullback Ahmard Hall was re-united with his former teammate Vince Young in the NFL, playing for Tennessee. One year later, seven more members of this team were selected in the 2007 NFL Draft – Michael Griffin (number 19 overall), Aaron Ross (number 20 overall), Justin Blalock (number 39 overall), Tim Crowder (number 56 overall), Brian Robison (number 102 overall), Tarell Brown (number 147 overall), Kasey Studdard (number 183 overall). Lyle Sendlein and Selvin Young were not drafted but signed with NFL teams as free agents. In the 2008 NFL Draft, five more Longhorns from this team were selected: Limas Sweed (number 53rd overall), Jamaal Charles (number 73 overall), Jermichael Finley (number 91 overall), Tony Hills (number 130 overall), and Frank Okam (number 151 overall). In addition, Brandon Foster, Marcus Griffin, Nate Jones and Derek Lokey agreed to sign free-agent contracts with NFL teams. For the fiscal year which ended in August 2005, just as the 2005 football season was starting, Texas was the nation's richest and most profitable football program, with revenue of \$53.2 million, and a profit of \$38.7 million. Following the national championship, for the 2005–2006 fiscal year, UT also led the nation in royalties from merchandise sales, setting a new national record at \$8.2 million. These royalties went to the university as a whole, not specifically to the athletics programs. The team topped the merchandise rankings again for the 2006–2007 fiscal year. The official website of UT football posted a special logo (pictured) proclaiming the Longhorns as the national champions. The logo featured the script "National Champions" centered prominently in the center, with "MACKBROWN-TEXASFOOTBALL.COM" in the lower left and "THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LONGHORNS" in the lower right. In the background was an image of a rose, with a small Longhorn symbol appearing in front of the rose and between the two sections of the smaller print. In the upper right-hand side, the years "1963, 1969, 1970, 2005" appear, with the "2005" given special emphasis. These years correspond to the four consensus national championships won by the UT football team. The special logo was removed from the website's home page after a few months, but as of 2007 it is still found on certain portions of the site related to the 2005 season. ## List of accomplishments Longhorn players from both the offense and defense set records for their performance during the season or received national recognition and awards. - Vince Young won the Davey O'Brien Award, presented annually to the quarterback adjudged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National Collegiate Athletic Association quarterbacks. Young also won the Maxwell Award, presented annually to the nation's top college football player as adjudged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club. Furthermore, he won the Manning Award, the only quarterback award which takes into account the athlete's performance in the bowl season, as opposed to being awarded at the end of regular season play. - Young had 1,050 rushing yards and 3,036 passing yards, making him the first player in NCAA Division I-A or I-AA history to rush for 1,000 yards and throw for 2,500 yards in a single season. - In 2007, ESPN compiled a list of the top 100 plays in college football history; Vince Young's game-winning touchdown in the 2006 Rose Bowl ranked number 5. - Michael Huff, Jonathan Scott, Rodrique Wright, and Vince Young were named to first team of the 2005 Associated Press All-American Team; Justin Blalock and Aaron Harris were named to the third team. - Michael Huff won the Jim Thorpe Award, presented annually to the top defensive back in college football as adjudged by the Jim Thorpe Association. The team also set school and NCAA records and received accolades. - UT completed the ninth perfect season in the history of Longhorn football, and the first undefeated season since 1969. - This season marked the first football championship by any university in Texas since the 1970 UT championship season. - The Longhorns finished the season as the only unbeaten team in the nation, going 13–0 overall. Texas won 13 games in a season for the first time in school history. Only five teams have ever won more games (14) and posted a perfect record in a single NCAA Division I-A football season before the College Football Playoff: Ohio State in 2002, Alabama and Boise State in 2009, Auburn in 2010, and Florida State in 2013. Fourteen other teams have scored 13 wins in a season. - With the conclusion of the 2005 season, UT posted five consecutive ten-win seasons and eight consecutive nine-win campaigns for the first time in school history (though seasons are generally longer than in the past). - Texas' 652 points were an NCAA Division I record for points scored in a season (broken by the 716 points scored by the 2008 Oklahoma Sooners). The previous record was 624 points scored by Nebraska in 1983 (under NCAA rules, bowl game statistics count toward the total in 2005. Thus, all thirteen of Texas's games are counted in accumulating the 652 points. The 1983 Nebraska team scored 654 points, including its bowl game, but only its twelve regular season games are counted for statistics, thus the 624 total points). Their 50.2 points per game set a new school record. - The Horns set two new school records for total yardage. The first was a new single-season total-yardage record with 6,657, passing the previous record of 5,709 set in 2003. Of the 6,657 yards, 556 yards were earned in the Rose Bowl. The second record was most total yards per game at 512.1. They also set a school single-season record for yards per rushing play with 5.9. - In total yards per play, 2005 stands second on the UT record list with 7.07. The record for most yards per play is held by the 1993 team with 7.44. - With 5 rushing touchdowns scored in the Rose Bowl, Texas scored 55 for the season, setting a new single-season school record. The old record of 52 touchdowns was set in 1969 and equaled in 1970. - On January 25, 2006, the United States Senate bestowed another honor on the team when Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison presented Senate Resolution 352 commending the team for winning their fourth national championship.
11,573,352	Red-capped robin	1,170,050,908	A small passerine bird native to Australia	[ "Articles containing video clips", "Birds described in 1827", "Endemic birds of Australia", "Petroica" ]	The red-capped robin (Petroica goodenovii) is a small passerine bird native to Australia. Found in drier regions across much of the continent, it inhabits scrub and open woodland. Like many brightly coloured robins of the family Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic. Measuring 10.5–12.5 cm (4.1–4.9 in) in length, the robin has a small, thin, black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. The male has a distinctive red cap and red breast, black upperparts, and a black tail with white tips. The underparts and shoulders are white. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown. This species uses a variety of songs, and males generally sing to advertise territories and attract females. Birds are encountered in pairs or small groups, but the social behaviour has been little studied. The position of the red-capped robin is unclear; it and its relatives are unrelated to European or American robins, but they appear to be an early offshoot of the songbird infraorder Passerida. The red-capped robin is a predominantly ground-feeding bird, and its prey consists of insects and spiders. Although widespread, it is uncommon in much of its range and has receded in some areas from human activity. ## Taxonomy The red-capped robin was described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827, having been collected in the northern Spencer Gulf in South Australia. They named it Muscicapa goodenovii, and placed it among the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The specific epithet goodenovii honours the Reverend Samuel Goodenough, Bishop of Carlisle and first treasurer of the Linnean Society. The red-capped robin was later moved to the genus Petroica. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek words petros 'rock' and oikos 'home', from the bird's habit of sitting on rocks. Within the genus, it is one of five red- or pink-breasted species colloquially known as "red robins", as distinct from the "yellow robins" of the genus Eopsaltria. It is not closely related to the American robin or the European robin; however, it is named after the European robin. Molecular research (and current consensus) places the red-capped robin and its relatives—the Australian robin family Petroicidae—as a very early offshoot of the Passerida, or "advanced" songbirds, within the songbird lineage. No subspecies are recognised, and the only geographic variation recorded in plumage is a tendency for females from more arid regions to have paler plumage. Testing of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests that the red-capped robin's closest relative within the genus is the scarlet robin. Officially known as the red-capped robin, it has also been referred to as redhead, redcap, robin red-breast or red-throated robin. Kuburi is a name used in the Kimberley. Across southwestern Australia, it was known as menekedang by the local indigenous people. In the Arandic languages spoken in Central Australia, the red-capped robin is known as ak-arl-atwe-rre-ye meaning "the head that they hit" from an ancient myth of it being hit on the head and bleeding. ## Description The smallest of the red robins, the red-capped robin is 10.5–12.5 cm (4.1–4.9 in) long with a wingspan of 15–19.5 cm (5.9–7.7 in), and weighs around 7–9 g (0.25–0.31 oz). Males and females are of similar size. It has longer legs than the other robins of the genus Petroica. The male has a distinctive scarlet cap and breast. Its upperparts are jet-black with white shoulder bars, and its tail is black with white tips. The underparts and shoulder are white. All colours are sharply delineated from one another. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown above with a reddish tint to the crown, and paler underneath with dark brown wings and pale buff wing-patch. Some females have a reddish tint to the breast. Both sexes have a small, black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. Immature birds initially resemble the female; it is only with their second moult, which takes place at around a year of age that males adopt their distinctive adult plumage. The red-capped robin moults once a year, after the breeding season, which takes place between December and April. Two red keto-carotenoid pigments, canthaxanthin and adonirubin, are responsible for the redness in the red-capped robin's plumage. The birds are unable to synthesize these compounds themselves, and hence need to obtain them from their food. Carotenoids are costly to metabolise, and are also required for use in immune function, hence red-capped robins need to be in good condition to have enough left for use in red feathers. This makes red plumage a good advertisement to prospective mates. A 2001 field study at Terrick Terrick National Park in Victoria found that males, which had greater reproductive success and were in better condition, moulted into a brighter plumage the following year. However, male age and condition at the time were more likely to predict mating success for the following breeding season. Adult males can breed at one year of age, and may do so while yet in non-breeding plumage, but they are less successful at reproducing at this age. The oldest recorded age is 5 years and 7 months for a bird banded near Beverley, Western Australia, in 1990. A variety of calls have been recorded, described as 'tinkle' and 'blurt' songs. These are similar across mainland Australia but distinct on Rottnest Island; on the isolated island, birds rarely linked successive songs. This species may be confused with the related flame robin (P. phoenicea) and scarlet robin (P. boodang), but the male can be distinguished by its red crown (white in the other two species) and smaller size; furthermore, the male flame robin has dark grey rather than black upperparts. Female and immature birds are harder to distinguish, but can be differentiated by the reddish tinge of the crown and whiter underparts. ## Distribution and habitat The red-capped robin is found across Australia, except for Tasmania, Cape York, the Top End, and most of the Kimberley (there have been occasional sightings in the southernmost parts). Offshore populations exist on Rottnest Island, as well as Greenly and Pearson Islands off the Eyre Peninsula, but it is not found on Kangaroo Island. Although widespread, it is uncommon in many areas; it is rare east of the Great Dividing Range, in coastal regions in the south of the continent, and in the northern parts of its range—it is seldom encountered north of 20°S. Its movements are generally poorly known, particularly outside the breeding season. It is sedentary in much of the southern parts of its range, although the red-capped robin is a spring and summer visitor to the Nullarbor Plain and Adelaide region in South Australia, and central Victoria. It is a winter visitor in the northern parts of its range. The red-capped robin prefers more arid habitat than its relatives, and inhabits drier areas, while the scarlet robin occupies wetter forests, where they co-occur. The red-capped robin's preferred habitat is dry Acacia, Callitris, or mixed scrubland or woodland, dominated by such species as mulga (Acacia aneura), Georgina gidgee (Acacia georginae), raspberry jam (Acacia acuminata), black cypress-pine (Callitris endlicheri), white cypress-pine (C. columellaris), and slender cypress-pine (C. preissii) with understory shrubs, such as Cassinia, hop-bush (Dodonaea), emu bush (Eremophila), and spinifex (Triodia). ### Threats The species has generally fared badly with human change to the landscape. Once common on the Cumberland Plain in Sydney's western suburbs, it has now almost disappeared from the Sydney Basin. It has also disappeared from the vicinity of Rockhampton in Queensland, and declined on Rottnest Island, and in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Field studies in small patches of remnant vegetation indicate reduced survival rates there. The feral cat is known to prey on the red-capped robin, and several bird species, including the Australian raven (Corvus coronoides), grey shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica), grey butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus), and white-browed babbler (Pomatostomus superciliosus) raid nests and take young. There is one record of a brown-headed honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris) feeding on an egg. Predation is the commonest cause of nest failure. ## Behaviour The red-capped robin is generally encountered alone or in pairs, although groups of up to eight birds—a mated pair and their young—may be seen in autumn and winter. The species may join mixed-species flocks with other small insectivorous passerines; species recorded include the willie wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), southern whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis), rufous whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) and black-faced woodswallow (Artamus cinereus) in Queensland, and the chestnut-rumped thornbill (Acanthiza uropygialis), buff-rumped thornbill (A. reguloides) or inland thornbill (A. apicalis) in Western Australia. The red-capped robin typically perches in a prominent location low to the ground, often flicking its wings and tail. It is very active and does not stay still for long. The female has been reported as being fairly tame, while the male is more wary of human contact. The red-capped robin is territorial during the breeding season; the area occupied has been measured between 0.25 and 1.2 ha (0.6–3 acres). A pair lives and forages within their territory before dispersing in autumn. The male proclaims ownership by singing loudly from a suitable perch at the territory boundary, and confronts other males with a harsh scolding call should they make an incursion. Two males have been seen to face one another 30 to 1 m (98.4 to 3.3 ft) apart, flicking wings and manoeuvring for position in a threat display, while the female is incubating her eggs. Both sexes also react to the playback of song recordings. The male will also defend against incursions by male scarlet robins, and conversely avoid foraging in the latter species' territories. Most juvenile red-capped robins are unable to live in territories occupied by adult birds, and need to travel to find unoccupied land; the furthest dispersal recorded to date has been 36 km (22 mi), from Terrick Terrick National Park across farmland to Gunbower National Park in northern Victoria. ### Breeding The breeding season takes place over five months from August to January with up to three broods raised. The male proposes suitable nest sites to the female by rubbing his body over a suitable tree fork, all the while trilling continuously. He may indicate several sites before the female ultimately makes the decision where to build, at which point she constructs the nest alone. The nest is a neat, deep cup, made of soft dry grass and bark. Spider webs, feathers, and fur are used for binding or filling, and the nest is generally placed in a tree fork, or sometimes a mistletoe bush. It may be decorated with lichen and camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings. Two to three dull white eggs tinted bluish, greyish or brownish, and splotched with dark grey-brown, are laid on consecutive days, with each egg measuring 16 mm × 13 mm (0.63 in × 0.51 in). Females alone develop brood patches and incubate, although both sexes feed the young. The male will keep lookout either on the nest or perched on a nearby branch, rather than brood, while the female is foraging; and both parents will feed young and dart off quickly, if there are predators in the vicinity. Extra-pair mating and fertilisation is fairly common, with 23% of nestlings and 37% of broods having a different father to the one rearing them, and there is some evidence that extra-pair couplings are more likely to produce male birds. Like all passerines, the chicks are altricial; they are born blind and covered only by a thin layer of down. By seven days, they are stretching wings and preening, and at two weeks they are able to fly. Parents feed young for at least three weeks after leaving the nest, and have been recorded giving them spiders, and insects, such as flies and moths. Males take over feeding young when females begin renesting for the next brood. In a field study near Cooma, in southern New South Wales, fledglings were observed to disperse from the natal territory after four to six weeks for a single-brood year; and fledglings dispersed in less than a week from the territory of a pair that raised two broods in the season. The long breeding season and multiple broods therein are an adaptation to mild climate and high levels of predation. Despite this, on average, only two young are successfully fledged per year. The brush cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus), pallid cuckoo (C. pallidus), Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis), and black-eared cuckoo (C. osculans) have been recorded as brood parasites of the red-capped robin; female cuckoos lay their eggs in robin nests, which are then raised by the robins as their own. Red-capped robins have been observed to be particularly aggressive in driving Horsfield's bronze-cuckoos from their territories in Terrick Terrick National Park in a field study, and no nests were found parasitised there. ### Feeding The diet consists of insects and other small arthropods. One study of red-capped robin faeces conducted near Kambalda, Western Australia, revealed 96% of their diet was made up of beetles, while ants made up the remainder. Other prey recorded include spiders, and insects such as grasshoppers, including the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera), adult and larval butterflies and moths, including geometer moths, dragonflies and damselflies, mantises, antlions, true bugs, including chinch bugs of the family Lygaeidae and shield bugs, various types of beetles, earwigs, and flies such as blow-flies and horse-flies. The red-capped robin mostly pounces on prey on the ground, although it can swoop and catch creatures while airborne. Less often, it gleans (takes prey while perched) in low-lying vegetation, almost always less than 3 m (9.8 ft) above the ground. The prey is most commonly on the ground when caught, although airborne insects are sometimes taken. A low branch may be used as a vantage point in hunting. ## Cited Texts [red-capped robin](Category:Petroica "wikilink") [Endemic birds of Australia](Category:Endemic_birds_of_Australia "wikilink") [red-capped robin](Category:Birds_described_in_1827 "wikilink") [Articles containing video clips](Category:Articles_containing_video_clips "wikilink")
23,892,976	Cyclone Orson	1,173,910,851	Category 5 Australian region cyclone in 1989	[ "1989 disasters in Australia", "1989 in Australia", "Category 5 Australian region cyclones", "Retired Australian region cyclones", "Tropical cyclones in 1989", "Tropical cyclones in Western Australia" ]	Severe Tropical Cyclone Orson was the fourth most intense cyclone ever recorded in the Australian region. Forming out of a tropical low on 17 April 1989, Orson gradually intensified as it tracked towards the west. After attaining Category 5 intensity on 20 April, the storm began to track southward and accelerated. The following day, the cyclone reached its peak intensity with winds of 250 km/h (160 mph) (10-minute sustained) and a barometric pressure of 904 hPa (mbar). Orson maintained this intensity for nearly two days before making landfall near Dampier. The cyclone rapidly weakened after landfall as it accelerated to the southeast. After moving into the Great Australian Bight on 24 April, the storm dissipated. Despite Orson's extreme intensity, damage was relatively minimal as it struck a sparsely populated region of Western Australia. Five people were killed offshore and damages amounted to (). The storm damaged a new gas platform, delaying the project for nearly two weeks. The most severe impacts took place in Pannawonica, where 70 homes were damaged. Following the storm, cleanup costs reached A\$5 million (US\$4.1 million). Due to the severity of the storm, the name Orson was retired after the season. ## Meteorological history Cyclone Orson originated out of a tropical low, monitored by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, that formed northwest of Darwin, Northern Territory on 17 April 1989. The system tracked southwest throughout the day before turning due west and strengthening into a tropical cyclone, at which time it received the name Orson. At this time, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) also began monitoring the storm as Tropical Storm 28S. The forward motion of the storm gradually slowed as it intensified and on 19 April, Orson attained Category 3 status on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale, classifying Orson as a severe tropical cyclone. Later that day, as the storm attained Category 4 status, an eye developed. By this time, Orson began to turn towards the southwest and on 20 April, the storm intensified into a Category 5 cyclone with winds of 210 km/h (130 mph) (10-minute sustained). The JTWC also reported significant strengthening during the same period. They assessed Orson to have attained an intensity equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale on 22 April with winds of 260 km/h (160 mph) 1-minute sustained). Around this time, the storm tracked directly over the North Rankin gas platform. The platform was in the 40 km (25 mi) wide eye of Orson for roughly 40 minutes. A weather station there recorded a barometric pressure of 904 hPa (mbar; 26.69 inHg) and wind gusts of 250 km/h (160 mph) before the station was damaged. This was, at the time, the lowest pressure ever recorded in the Australian region since records began. It was later surpassed by Severe Tropical Cyclone Gwenda in 1999 when that storm attained a pressure of 900 hPa (mbar). By this time, Cyclone Orson was roughly 555 km (345 mi) in diameter. Continuing on a southerly track, accelerating ahead of an approaching cold front, Cyclone Orson made landfall, near Dampier, around 4:45 am AWST on 23 April (2045 UTC 22 April). with winds of 220 km/h (140 mph) (10-minute sustained). The JTWC also reported that Orson had weakened, with winds at landfall estimated at 230 km/h (140 mph) 1-minute sustained). Tracking at 28 km/h (17 mph), the weakening storm passed over Pannawonica. Less than 12 hours after landfall, the storm weakened below Category 3 status. By this time, the JTWC was no longer monitoring the system. Around 5:00 am AWST on 24 April (2100 UTC 23 April), Orson weakened to a tropical low while situated over southern Western Australia. Continuing to accelerate to nearly 50 km/h (31 mph), the remnants of the storm moved over the Great Australian Bight late on 24 April. Several hours after moving back over water, the storm dissipated. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology uses 10-minute sustained winds, while the Joint Typhoon Warning Center uses one-minute sustained winds. The conversion factor between the two is 1.14. The Bureau of Meteorology's peak intensity for Orson was 250 km/h (160 mph) 10-minute sustained, or 290 km/h (180 mph) one-minute sustained. The JTWC's peak intensity for Orson was 260 km/h (160 mph) one-minute sustained, or 220 km/h (140 mph) 10-minute sustained. ## Preparations and impact As Cyclone Orson approached the coast of Western Australia, residents were urged to prepare for the storm; people proceeded to clean up litter, secure outdoor items and make sure their disaster kits were stocked. All 200 personnel from a A\$1.5 billion gas platform off the coast were evacuated ahead of the storm. Since Cyclone Orson made landfall in a sparsely populated region, its effects were relatively light compared to its intensity. More than 20 fishermen were reported missing during the storm. On 23 April, a rescue mission with three aircraft recovered roughly 20 fisherman, while one was still missing. Offshore, the storm killed four Indonesian fishermen after their ships sank in swells up to 20 m (66 ft) produced by the storm. The North Rankin gas platform sustained minor damage despite wind gusts reaching 270 km/h (170 mph) and waves estimated at 21 m (69 ft). The large swells also delayed the find of a major oil field that contained more than 200 million barrels (32,000,000 m<sup>3</sup>) of oil. The waves knocked a drill rig used to find oil out of position; it would take several days for the drill rig to be repositioned. After an assessment of damage, it was found that the drill rig snapped off and broke the chains of two anchors before drifting nearly 2 km (1.2 mi) from the platform. The repositioning and cleanup of the drill rig delayed the project by nearly two weeks. The damages from Cyclone Orson increased the total cost of the platform to roughly (). Upon making landfall, Orson produced a storm surge of 3.1 m (10 ft). This came during low tide, having a height of 1.6 m (5.2 ft). Severe erosion was recorded along coastal areas, some losing nearly 20 m (66 ft) of rocks. Wind gusts in Dampier reached 183 km/h (114 mph) and a station near where Orson made landfall recorded a wind gust of 211 km/h (131 mph). Harbour officials stated that several ships were knocked off their moorings and washed up onshore. In Karratha, the local weather radar sustained roughly A\$900,000 (US\$760,000) in damages. A nearby airport was also damaged. The jetty at Point Samson was severely damaged and eventually removed. The most severe damage took place in the mining town of Pannawonica, where 70 homes were damaged by the storm. Numerous trees and power lines were downed along the storm's path. Before dissipating, the storm left one additional person missing after contact was lost with his yacht. Later reports confirmed that the missing person drowned during the storm. Twenty people were also injured during the storm, 60 were left homeless and about 1,000 were affected. Total damages from the storm were estimated at A\$20 million (US\$16.8 million) and repair costs reached A\$5 million (US\$4.1 million). Due to the severity of the storm, the name Orson was retired after the season. ## See also - Australian region tropical cyclone - List of cyclones in Western Australia - List of the most intense tropical cyclones - Cyclone Ilsa (2023) – another powerful tropical cyclone which took a similar path to Orson.
40,183,571	Grace Sherwood	1,173,850,091	American woman, convicted and posthumously pardoned for witchcraft	[ "1660 births", "1740 deaths", "17th-century farmers", "17th-century women farmers", "18th-century American farmers", "18th-century women farmers", "American midwives", "American women farmers", "Date of birth unknown", "Farmers from Virginia", "Herbalists", "History of Virginia Beach, Virginia", "History of women in Virginia", "People convicted of witchcraft", "People from Virginia Beach, Virginia", "People who have received posthumous pardons", "Virginia colonial people", "Witch trials in North America" ]	Grace White Sherwood (1660–1740), called the Witch of Pungo, is the last person known to have been convicted of witchcraft in Virginia. A farmer, healer, and midwife, she was accused by her neighbors of transforming herself into a cat, damaging crops, and causing the death of livestock. She was charged with witchcraft several times. The court ordered that Sherwood's guilt or innocence be determined by ducking her in water. If she sank, she was innocent; if she did not, she was guilty. Sherwood floated to the surface and may have spent almost eight years in jail before being released. Sherwood lived in Pungo, Princess Anne County (today part of Virginia Beach), and married James Sherwood, a planter, in 1680. The couple had three sons: John, James, and Richard. Her first case was in 1697; she was accused of casting a spell on a bull, resulting in its death, but the matter was dismissed by the agreement of both parties. The following year she was accused of witchcraft by two neighbors; she supposedly bewitched the hogs and cotton crop of one of them. Sherwood sued for slander after each accusation, but her lawsuits were unsuccessful and her husband had to pay court costs. In 1706 she was convicted of witchcraft and was incarcerated. Freed from prison by 1714, she recovered her property from Princess Anne County (her husband had died in 1701). She did not remarry, and lived on her farm until her death in 1740 at the age of about 80. On July 10, 2006, the 300th anniversary of Sherwood's conviction, Governor Tim Kaine granted an informal pardon to "officially restore [her] good name", recognizing that she was wrongfully convicted. A statue depicting her was erected near Sentara Independence on Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach, close to the site of the colonial courthouse where she was tried. She is sculpted alongside a raccoon, representing her love of animals, and carrying a basket containing garlic and rosemary, in recognition of her knowledge of herbal healing. ## Family background Sherwood was born in 1660 to John and Susan White. John White was a carpenter and farmer of Scottish descent; it is uncertain whether he was born in America. Susan was English by birth; their daughter Grace was born in Virginia, probably in Pungo. In April 1680 Grace White married a respected small-farm landowner, James Sherwood, in the Lynnhaven Parish Church. The couple had three sons: John, James, and Richard. John White gave the Sherwoods 50 acres (20 ha) of land when they married, and on his death in 1681 left them the remainder of his 145 acres (59 ha) farm. The Sherwood family was poor, and lived in an area inhabited by small landowners or those with no land at all. In addition to farming, Grace Sherwood grew her own herbs, which she used to heal both people and animals. She also acted as a midwife. When James died in 1701, Grace inherited his property. She did not remarry. No drawings or paintings of Sherwood exist, but contemporary accounts describe her as attractive and tall and possessing a sense of humor. Sherwood wore trousers instead of a dress while working on her farm. This was unusual for the time, as was her herb growing. The combination of clothing and good looks was said to attract men and upset their wives. Sherwood biographer and advocate Belinda Nash suggests that Sherwood's neighbors may have been jealous of Sherwood, and that the witchcraft tales may have been conjured up in an effort to remove her from, and subsequently get, her property. Sherwood was a party to at least a dozen lawsuits, in which she had to defend against accusations of witchcraft, or in which she sued her accusers for slander. ## Witchcraft and Virginia The existence of witches and demonic forces was taken for granted by the American colonists—witchcraft was considered the work of the Devil. Colonists believed that witches could be identified by their strange behavior. As early as 1626, nineteen years after the founding of the Jamestown colony, a grand jury in Virginia sat to consider whether Goodwife Joan Wright was a witch—she had supposedly predicted the deaths of three women and had caused illness as revenge for not hiring her as midwife. No record of the outcome is extant. Nevertheless, Virginia did not experience events of mass hysteria such as the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692–1693, in which 19 people were executed on allegations of sorcery, some years before the first accusations against Sherwood. Ecclesiastical influence in the courtroom was much less a factor in Virginia, where the clergy rarely participated in witchcraft trials, than in New England, where ministers took an active part. People's fears of witchcraft in Virginia were not based on their religious beliefs as much as they were rooted in folklore, although the two often intermingled. New England's Puritans had settled in towns, and community pressure helped contribute to witchcraft convictions. There were few such towns in Virginia, where the population mostly lived on farms and plantations, connected by water transport and scattered over a large area. Virginia's lay and religious leaders were more interested in prosecuting offenses such as gossip, slander, and fornication, seeing them as threats to social stability. They wished to avoid witchcraft prosecutions, which were divisive. Virginia courts were reluctant to hear accusations of witchcraft and were even more reluctant to convict. Unlike the Salem witch trial courts, where the accused had to prove her innocence, in Virginia courts the accuser carried the burden of proof. Further, Virginia courts generally ignored evidence said to have been obtained by supernatural means, whereas the New England courts were known to convict people based solely on it. Virginia required proof of guilt through either searches for witch's marks or ducking. Judges and magistrates would dismiss unsubstantiated cases of witchcraft and allow the accusers, who found themselves "under an ill tongue", to be sued for slander. Frances Pollard of the Virginia Historical Society states: "It was pretty clear that Virginia early on tried to discourage these charges being brought of witchcraft because they were so troublesome." The southeastern corner of Virginia, around present-day Norfolk and Virginia Beach (where Pungo is located), saw more accusations of witchcraft than other areas. According to Leslie M. Newman, this may have been due to local poverty as there was no cultural elite to restrain such prosecutions. Although few Virginia records survive from that era, 19 known witchcraft cases were brought in the colony during the 17th century, all but one of which ended in acquittal. The one conviction was a 1656 case of a man convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to 10 stripes and banishment from the county. There were no executions for witchcraft in Virginia. Nonetheless, as late as in 1736, Virginia's justices of the peace were reminded that witchcraft was still a crime, and that first offenders could expect to be pilloried and jailed for up to a year. In 1745, John Craig, a Presbyterian minister in Augusta County, made assertions of witchcraft after his child and several of his animals died, and was in response accused of using evil arts to divine who was responsible. Neither he nor those who accused him brought their claims to court to face "unsympathetic magistrates", though prosecution for witchcraft was still possible in Virginia. The last Virginia witchcraft trial took place in 1802 in Brooke County, which is now in West Virginia. In that case, a couple claimed that a woman was a witch, an accusation ruled slanderous. The trial by ducking (immersing the accused, bound, in water, to see if she would float) appears to have been used only once in Virginia, to try Sherwood. It was believed that, as water was considered pure, it would reject witches, causing them to float, whereas the innocent would sink. ## Accusations against Sherwood ### Initial claims of witchcraft The first accusation against Sherwood came to court in early 1697. Richard Capps alleged that she had used a spell to cause the death of his bull. The court made no decision, and the Sherwoods filed a defamation suit against Capps that was resolved by a settlement. In 1698, Sherwood was accused by her neighbor John Gisburne of enchanting his pigs and cotton crop. No court action followed this accusation, and another suit for defamation by the Sherwoods failed. In the same year Elizabeth Barnes alleged that Sherwood had assumed the form of a black cat, entered Barnes' home, jumped over her bed, drove and whipped her, and left via the keyhole. Again the allegation was unresolved, and again the subsequent defamation action was lost. For each of the failed actions, Sherwood and her husband had to pay court-related costs. According to Richard Beale Davis in his journal article on witchcraft in Virginia, by this time "Princess Anne County had obviously grown tired of Mrs. Sherwood as a general nuisance". In 1705, Sherwood was involved in a fight with her neighbor, Elizabeth Hill. Sherwood sued Hill and her husband for assault and battery, and on December 7, 1705, was awarded damages of twenty shillings (one pound sterling). ### Trial by water On January 3, 1706, the Hills accused Grace Sherwood of witchcraft. She failed to answer the charge in court, and on February 7, 1706, the court ordered her to appear on a charge of having bewitched Elizabeth Hill, causing a miscarriage. In March 1706 the Princess Anne County justices sought to empanel two juries, both made up of women. The first was ordered to search Sherwood's home for waxen or baked figures that might indicate she was a witch. The second was ordered to look for "demon suckling teats" by examining her. In both instances, reluctance on the part of the local residents made it difficult to form a jury and both juries refused to carry out the searches. On March 7, 1706, Sherwood was examined by a jury of 12 "ancient and knowing women" appointed to look for markings on her body that might be brands of the Devil. They discovered two "marks not like theirs or like those of any other woman". The forewoman of this jury was the same Elizabeth Barnes who had previously accused Sherwood of witchcraft. Neither the colonial authorities in Williamsburg nor the local court in Princess Anne were willing to declare Sherwood a witch. Those in Williamsburg considered the charge overly vague, and on April 16 instructed the local court to examine the case more fully. For each court appearance, Sherwood had to travel 16 miles (26 km) from her farm in Pungo to where the court was sitting. On May 2, 1706, the county justices noted that while no particular act of maleficium had been alleged against Sherwood, there was "great cause of suspicion". Consequently, the Sheriff of Princess Anne County took Sherwood into custody, though Sherwood could give bond for her appearance and good behavior. Maximilian Boush, a warden of Lynnhaven Parish Church, was the prosecutor in Sherwood's case. On July 5, 1706, the justices ordered a trial by ducking to take place, with Sherwood's consent, but heavy rains caused a postponement until July 10, as they feared the wet weather might harm her health. Sherwood was taken inside Lynnhaven Parish Church, placed on a stool and ordered to ask for forgiveness for her witchery. She replied, "I be not a witch, I be a healer." At about 10 a.m. on July 10, 1706, Sherwood was taken down a dirt lane now known as Witchduck Road, to a plantation near the mouth of the Lynnhaven River. News had spread, and the event attracted people from all over the colony, who began to shout "Duck the witch!" According to the principles of trial by water, if Sherwood floated she would be deemed guilty of witchcraft; if she did not, she would be innocent. It was not intended that Sherwood drown; the court had ordered that care be taken to preserve her life. Five women of Lynnhaven Parish Church examined Sherwood's naked body on the shoreline for any devices she might have to free herself, and then covered her with a sack. Six of the justices that had ordered the ducking rowed in one boat 200 yards (180 m) out in the river, and in another were the sheriff, the magistrate, and Sherwood. Just before she was pushed off the boat Sherwood is said to have stated, under clear skies, "Before this day be through you will all get a worse ducking than I." Bound across the body—her right thumb to her left big toe and her left thumb to her right big toe – she was "cast into the river", and quickly floated to the surface. The sheriff then tied a 13-pound (5.9 kg) Bible around her neck. This caused her to sink, but she untied herself, and returned to the surface, convincing many spectators she was a witch. As Sherwood was pulled out of the water a downpour reportedly started, drenching the onlookers. Several women who subsequently examined her for additional proof found "two things like titts on her private parts of a black coller [color]". She was jailed pending further proceedings. ### Aftermath What happened to Sherwood after her ducking is unclear as many court records have been lost. She served an unknown time in the jail next to Lynnhaven Parish Church, perhaps as long as seven years and nine months. She was ordered to be detained "to be brought to a future trial", but no record of another trial exists, so it is possible the charge was dismissed at some point. On September 1, 1708, she was ordered to pay Christopher Cocke 600 pounds (270 kg) of tobacco for a reason not indicated in surviving records, but there is no mention of the payment. She appears to have been released some time in or before 1714, since in that year she paid back taxes on her 145-acre (59 ha) property—which Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood helped her to recover from Princess Anne County—on the banks of Muddy Creek off what is now Muddy Creek Road. She lived the remainder of her life quietly until her death in 1740, aged about 80. She is believed to have died in August or September 1740. Her will was proved on October 1, 1740; it noted that she was a widow. She left five shillings each to her sons James and Richard and everything else to her eldest son John. According to legend, Sherwood's sons put her body near the fireplace, and a wind came down the chimney. Her body disappeared amid the embers, with the only clue being a cloven hoofprint. Sherwood lies in an unmarked grave under some trees in a field near the intersection of Pungo Ferry Road and Princess Anne Road in Virginia Beach. Stories about the Devil taking her body, unnatural storms, and loitering black cats quickly arose after her death, and local men killed every feline they could find; this widespread killing of cats might have caused the infestation of rats and mice recorded in Princess Anne County in 1743. Her home on Muddy Creek stood for over 200 years. After being burned several times in the 20th century by vandals, all that was left in 2002 were the brick chimneys, which were bulldozed in November 2002. All that remains are a few bricks and part of the foundation, which is overgrown. The property is now owned by the Federal Government as part of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. ## Legacy Grace Sherwood's case was little known until Virginia Beach historian and author Louisa Venable Kyle wrote a children's book about her in 1973. Called The Witch of Pungo, it is a collection of seven local folk tales written as fiction, although based on historical events. Sherwood's story was adapted for Cry Witch, a courtroom drama at Colonial Williamsburg, the restored early capital of Virginia. A statue by California sculptor Robert Cunningham depicting Sherwood with a raccoon and a basket of rosemary was unveiled on April 21, 2007, on the site of the present-day Sentara Bayside Hospital, close to the sites of both the colonial courthouse and the ducking point. The raccoon represents Sherwood's love of animals and the rosemary her knowledge of herbal healing. A Virginia Department of Historic Resources marker (K-276) was erected in 2002, about 25 yards (23 m) from Sherwood's statue. The place of her watery test and the adjacent land are named Witch Duck Bay and Witch Duck Point. A portion of Virginia State Route 190 in Virginia Beach, a north–south thoroughfare on its western side which traverses Interstate 264 at exit numbers 14–16, has been named "Witchduck Road". Other commemorations in Virginia Beach include Sherwood Lane and Witch Point Trail. In 2014, a memorial marker was placed at a herb garden of the Old Donation Episcopal Church, Sherwood's former parish church, which is in Virginia Beach. A local legend in Virginia Beach states that all of the rosemary growing there came from a single plant Sherwood carried in an eggshell from England. Belinda Nash, in addition to writing a biography of Sherwood, worked tirelessly to get her pardoned. Governor Tim Kaine granted an informal pardon to "officially restore the good name of Grace Sherwood" on July 10, 2006, the 300th anniversary of her conviction. Annual reenactments of the ducking have taken place since 2006. No one is actually ducked in these events, which embark from a spot across from Ferry Plantation House along Cheswick Lane, which is very close to Witch Duck Bay. According to local residents, a strange moving light, said to be Sherwood's restless spirit, still appears each July over the spot in Witch Duck Bay where Sherwood was thrown into the water.
10,158,081	Green rosella	1,172,938,260	Species of parrot native to Tasmania and the Bass Strait Islands	[ "Birds described in 1788", "Broad-tailed parrots", "Endemic birds of Tasmania", "Parrots of Oceania", "Platycercus", "Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin" ]	The green rosella or Tasmanian rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) is a species of parrot native to Tasmania and Bass Strait islands. It was described by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, and named on the mistaken assumption it came from New Caledonia. At 14.5 in (37 cm) long it is the largest species of the rosella genus, Platycercus. Two subspecies are recognised. The green rosella's underparts, neck and head are yellow, with a red band above the beak and violet-blue cheeks. The back is mostly black and green, and its long tail blue and green. The sexes have similar plumage, except the female has duller yellow plumage and more prominent red markings, as well as a smaller beak. Juvenile and immature birds have predominantly green plumage. Found in a wide range of habitats with some form of tree cover, the green rosella is predominantly herbivorous, consuming seeds, berries, nuts and fruit, as well as flowers, but may also eat insect larvae and insects such as psyllids. Nesting takes place in tree hollows. Common and widespread across Tasmania, the green rosella is rated as least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species. The King Island subspecies has been classed as vulnerable as its population has declined after much of its habitat on King Island was cleared. ## Taxonomy A green rosella specimen was collected in Adventure Bay, Tasmania, by ship's surgeon William Anderson on the third voyage of James Cook between 26 and 30 January 1777. Cook wrote of seeing "yellowish paroquets" in the woods there. Anderson collected many bird specimens while tasked as the expedition's naturalist, although he died of tuberculosis in 1778 before the return home. Many collection localities were incorrect, and notes were lost or pieced together many years later. The specimen, along with many others, ended up in the collection of British naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. English naturalist John Latham saw it there and wrote about the green rosella in his 1780s work A General Synopsis of Birds. He called it the Caledonian parrot as he assumed (incorrectly) it came from New Caledonia. He even suspected it might be the female of the horned parakeet, which he also saw in Banks' collection. Latham did not give them binomial names, however. It was left to German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin to describe the species, which he did as Psittacus caledonicus in the 13th edition of Systema Naturae in 1788. In 1820, German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl described a specimen that Robert Brown had collected from northwestern King Island on 23 April 1802 during Matthew Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia, naming it Psittacus brownii in honour of its collector. He based it on the description of la Perruche à large queue, "the long-tailed parrot" by French naturalist François Levaillant in his 1805 work Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets. Kuhl's name also took priority over Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck's published name of Psittacus flavigaster, which was published in 1822. Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors established the genus Platycercus in 1825, based on the distinctive architecture of the feathers in the tail and wing, including P. flavigaster and P. brownii within it. English naturalist James Francis Stephens named it Platycercus xanthogaster in 1826, though there was no need for a new binomial name. Australian amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews noted that the name Platycercus flaviventris was commonly used in the 19th century, but highlighted the priority of both P. brownii and P. caledonicus over this, positing the last as the most senior name. He believed the specimens used for P. brownii had come from Derwent in Tasmania. Mathews did feel the King Island form was distinctive, being larger and having more red in the plumage than Tasmanian populations and so described it as P. c. henriettae in 1915. This has since been reclassified as a synonym of P. c. brownii as its status has been recognized as distinct from the Tasmanian mainland taxon—now known as P. c. caledonicus. Mathews also described P. c. flindersi from Flinders Island in 1917, on the basis of darker plumage. It is now considered as not distinct from the Tasmanian mainland subspecies. "Green rosella" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). Alternative common names include Tasmanian rosella, yellow-breasted parakeet and mountain parrot. English zoologist John Gould called it the yellow-bellied parakeet, and early Tasmanian settlers knew it as the hill parrot. One of six species of rosella in the genus Platycercus, the green rosella and related crimson rosella make up a "blue-cheeked" lineage. A 1987 genetic study on mitochondrial DNA found that the green rosella was basal to the other blue-cheeked forms, with the north Queensland population of the crimson rosella (P. elegans nigrescens) divergent from other subspecies of crimson rosella. In 2015, Ashlee Shipham and colleagues published a molecular study based on nuclear DNA finding that the North Queensland crimson rosella diverged earlier than the green rosella. They also estimated that the green rosella had diverged from the main crimson rosella lineage around 0.5 million years ago. ## Description The green rosella is the largest member of the rosella genus. Measuring from 29 to 36 cm (11 to 14 in) in length, an adult has long narrow wings with a wingspan of 44–54 cm (17–21 in), and a long tail with twelve feathers, the central two of which are wider. The adult male is heavier, averaging around 150 g (5.3 oz) to the female's 120 g (4.2 oz), and has a larger bill. The adult green rosella has a yellow head and underparts with blue cheeks and red band on the forehead and upper lores. The yellow feathers of the forecrown, lower lores, cheeks, chest and thighs can have red markings, while the yellow feathers of the sides and rear of the head and neck, and the underparts have dark brown bases. The edges of the feathers on the underparts can be pale brown, resulting in a faint scalloping, which disappears with wear. Some of the yellow feathers of the nape have white bases and when worn, the bird can have a whitish patch on their nape. The yellow of the back of the head merges indistinctly into the dark plumage of the hindneck, mantle and back, which is black or dark brown with green margins. The feathers of the shoulders are blackish with yellow tips. These margins and tips are often worn by the finish of breeding season, leaving the plumage more solid black. The blue-violet feathers of the chin, throat and cheeks have brown-black bases. The blackish plumage of the back extends to the rump, and the long tail is dark green with brown shafts and dark blue outer feathers and tips. The wings are mostly black and green, with violet-blue marginal coverts, primary coverts, and alula, and blue-tinted dark brown primaries and outer secondaries. Underneath the feathers of the wings are dark brown with blue-violet tips. The iris is brown with a dark grey orbital ring, and the bill is pale-grey, with a dark grey cere. The legs are grey. The yellow plumage of the female is duller and more likely marked with red than that of the male, and the green edges to the black plumage of the upperparts are more prominent. Young birds leaving the nest have juvenile plumage in their first year of life. Juveniles have a dark green head and neck, upperparts and underparts. The feathers all have dark brown bases. The wings are predominantly dark brown and black with a blue sheen. The wings and tail are shorter than those of adult birds. The bill may have a buff sheen. They have an under-wing stripe, which is not present in the adults. Moulting generally takes place between January and April for birds of all ages. Juvenile birds then adopt immature plumage, which is similar but with patches of yellow feathers on the underparts of adult plumage as well as some adult-coloured wing feathers. Some green juvenile feathers remain until the bird is in its second year of age, though are very worn by this time. ## Distribution and habitat Found across Tasmania and Bass Strait islands, the green rosella is one of the commonest birds encountered. It also occurs on offshore islands such as Maria, Bruny, De Witt and Maatsuyker Islands. Its movements have not been much studied. Although possibly locally nomadic in places, the green rosella is sedentary; even birds at higher altitudes do not migrate. It has become rare on King Island, due to land clearing and possibly competition with the introduced common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) for nesting sites. During breeding season there it is restricted to the Pegarah forest, though may venture elsewhere at other times. It lives in most habitats with some form of tree cover up to 1500 m (5000 ft) above sea level. These include temperate Southern beech rainforest (where it generally keeps to the canopy), wet and dry sclerophyll forest, woodland, Melaleuca shrubland, coastal heath, dwarf alpine conifer forest, sedgeland, buttongrass moors, tussock grassland, as well as fields, orchards and urban parks and gardens. ## Behaviour Green rosellas are generally encountered in pairs or small groups, though young birds may gather in groups of 20 or more outside the breeding season. They sometimes share the company of eastern rosellas. They fly in a straight line, making rapid shallow wingbeats and gliding briefly in between. The green rosella has a repeated two-syllable contact call, which has been written as kussik kussik or cossack cossack and is heard in flight. When perched, it utters a rising kwik-kweek kwik-kweek contact call. Birds also make a chattering call during courtship. They can screech shrilly when alarmed. ### Breeding The green rosella generally breeds at two years of age, though younger birds may pair up and look for nests. The breeding season is September to January, with one brood. The nesting site is usually a hollow over 1 m (3 ft) deep in a tree trunk anywhere up to 30 m (100 ft) above the ground. The tree chosen is generally a eucalypt such as Tasmanian bluegum, manna gum or mountain ash (E. regnans), or myrtle beech. Chimneys, holes in walls and even the vertical pipes of tennis court fences have been used. Green rosellas nested in a wall cavity at Port Arthur convict prison site in 1958 and 2009. Laying takes place in September and October. A clutch of four or five white and slightly shiny eggs, measuring 30 x 24 mm, is laid. The incubation period has been recorded as anywhere from 19 to 23 days, with the female performing this duty alone. Newly hatched chicks are covered with long white down, and are largely helpless (nidicolous). They leave the nest four to five weeks after hatching and join up with other young birds in flocks, though rely on their parents for food for another fortnight after fledging. ### Feeding The green rosella is predominantly herbivorous, with the seeds of grasses and trees—especially eucalypts—forming the bulk of its diet; other items eaten include the seed of the soft tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica), cranberry heath (Astroloma humifusum), myrtle beech (Lophozonia cunninghamii), Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), silver wattle (Acacia dealbata) and buttercups (Ranunculus), berries, nuts and fruit, as well as flowers and new buds of southern sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum), mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium), shining tea-tree (Leptospermum nitidum), swamp honey-myrtle (Melaleuca squamea), Tasmanian bluegum (Eucalyptus globulus), Smithton peppermint (Eucalyptus nitida), messmate stringybark (Eucalyptus obliqua), snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora), manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis), small-fruit hakea (Hakea microcarpa) and native plum (Cenarrhenes nitida). The green rosella has at times partaken of the berries of the common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), as well as Coprosma and Cyathodes, and even leaf buds of the common osier (Salix viminalis). It may eat insect larvae and insects such as psyllids of the genus Schedotrioza, which they extract from leaf galls on the black peppermint (Eucalyptus amygdalina). Green rosellas generally forage in the canopy or understory of forested areas, or in hedges, shrubs and trees in more open areas. They come to the ground to eat fallen fruit or spilt grain in orchards or farmland. They keep quiet while on the ground, and are quite noisy when in trees. Green rosellas forage in pairs or small groups of under 20 individuals, though larger groups of 50 to 70 have been observed at stands of blackberries or thistles in fields. When feeding, they generally hold food items in their left feet and extract edible parts or break and discard nut shells with their beaks. ## Status and conservation Gould noted that early Tasmanian settlers regarded the abundant green rosella highly as food; he agreed that it was very tasty after trying it himself. Many farmers saw the species as a pest of orchards, and green rosellas were shot. In 2016, the green rosella was rated as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered species. This was on the basis of its large range—greater than 20,000 km<sup>2</sup> (7700 mi<sup>2</sup>)—and small rate of decline in population. The King Island subspecies is listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as vulnerable, and its population thought to number fewer than 500 birds. Around 70% of King Island's native vegetation has been cleared, and the remainder is highly fragmented and at risk of too-frequent bushfires. Like most species of parrots, the green rosella is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) with its placement on the Appendix II list of vulnerable species, which makes the import, export, and trade of listed wild-caught animals illegal. ## Aviculture Green rosellas were regularly captured and kept as pets until the early 20th century. The species is reported to be hardier and easier to keep in captivity than other rosellas. However, it is not a popular bird in the aviary trade, possibly on account of its subdued colours. The species has a reputation for being apathetic and vulnerable to weight gain in captivity; hence it is recommended to be kept in a large aviary of at least 5 m (15 ft) long to keep it active, and to be fed little or no sunflower seeds. As it breeds late in the season, chicks are often small in the heat of summer and can suffer as a result.
854,159	Russulaceae	1,172,236,176	Family of fungi in the order Russulales	[ "Basidiomycota families", "Russulales", "Taxa described in 1907", "Taxa named by Johannes Paulus Lotsy" ]	The Russulaceae are a diverse family of fungi in the order Russulales, with roughly 1,900 known species and a worldwide distribution. They comprise the brittlegills and the milk-caps, well-known mushroom-forming fungi that include some edible species. These gilled mushrooms are characterised by the brittle flesh of their fruitbodies. In addition to these typical agaricoid forms, the family contains species with fruitbodies that are laterally striped (pleurotoid), closed (secotioid or gasteroid), or crust-like (corticioid). Molecular phylogenetics has demonstrated close affinities between species with very different fruitbody types and has discovered new, distinct lineages. An important group of root-symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi in forests and shrublands around the world includes Lactifluus, Multifurca, Russula, and Lactarius. The crust-forming genera Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma, all wood-decay fungi, have basal positions in the family. ## Systematics and taxonomy The family Russulaceae was first validly named in 1907 by Dutch botanist Johannes Paulus Lotsy, who included three genera: Russula, Lactarius, and Russulina (now considered a synonym of Russula). He emphasised features such as the granular flesh, thick gills, spiny spores, and milky hyphae and rounded cells (sphaerocytes). A prior usage of "Russulariées" by French mycologist Ernst Roze in 1876 is not considered a valid publication, since the proper Latin termination for the family rank specified in article 18.4 of the nomenclature code was not used. Synonyms of Russulaceae include: Ernst Albert Gäumann's Lactariaceae (1926), Fernand Moreau's Asterosporaceae (1953), and David Pegler and Thomas Young's Elasmomycetaceae (1979). The latter family was proposed to contain species with statismosporic (non-forcibly discharged) and symmetric spores, including the gasteroid genera Elasmomyces, Gymnomyces, Martellia, and Zelleromyces. Calonge and Martín reduced the Elasmomycetaceae to synonymy with the Russulaceae when molecular analysis confirmed the close genetic relationship between the gasteroid and agaricoid genera. ### Placement of the family Historically, the gilled mushrooms of the family Russulaceae were classified with other gilled species in the order Agaricales, but microscopical studies of spore and fruitbody flesh features raised the possibility that they were more closely related with certain "lower fungi" presenting nongilled, crust-like fruitbodies. The use of molecular phylogenetics confirmed that these morphologically diverse fungi form a distinct lineage, first termed the "russuloid clade" and today classified as order Russulales in the class Agaricomycetes. The family's sister group within the order appears to be the crust-like Gloeocystidiellaceae. ### Internal systematics A 2008 molecular phylogenetic study clarified the relationships among the mushroom-forming species of the family. The authors demonstrated the existence of four distinct lineages of gilled mushrooms, which led to the description of Multifurca as a new genus separated from Russula and the segregation of Lactifluus from Lactarius. Genera with closed fruitbodies within the family are form taxa instead of natural groups: Arcangeliella, Gastrolactarius, and Zelleromyces are phylogenetically part of Lactarius, while Cystangium, Elasmomyces, Gymnomyces, Macowanites, and Martellia belong to Russula. Nevertheless, some of these genus names are still in use, as many of the concerned species have not yet formally been synonymised with Lactarius or Russula. The crust-like genera Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma, formerly placed in the Corticiaceae or Gloeocystidiellaceae, are now classified in the Russulaceae and basal to the clade of mushroom-forming species described above. Studies have so far failed to clearly circumscribe and place these genera within the family. Boidinia in its current extent is polyphyletic, with some species not falling into the Russulaceae. ### Species diversity Altogether, the Russulaceae comprise around 1,900 accepted species. Russula is by far the largest genus with c. 1100 species, Lactarius has c. 550, Lactifluus c. 120, Boidinia 13, Multifurca 6, Gloeopeniophorella 6, and Pseudoxenasma 1 species. Closed-fruitbody species not yet synonymised with Lactarius or Russula (see above) account for some 150 species. New species in the Russulaceae continue to be described from various regions, such as the US, Guyana, Brazil, Patagonia, Togo, Sri Lanka, or Thailand. It has been estimated that the real number of Russula species in North America alone (currently around 400 described) might be as high as 2000. Cryptic species may increase true diversity: some morphologically well-defined species, especially in Lactifluus, have been shown to actually encompass several phylogenetic species. ## Description ### Macroscopic characteristics Three major types of fruitbodies occur in the Russulaceae: agaricoid and pleurotoid forms with a cap, gills, and a stipe; forms with closed (gasteroid) or partially closed (secotioid) fruitbodies, and corticioid, crust-like forms. The agaricoid species in Lactarius, Lactifluus, Multifurca, and Russula are readily distinguished from other gilled mushrooms by the consistency of their flesh, which is granular, brittle and breaks easily, somewhat like a piece of chalk. Russulaceae never have a volva, but a partial veil can be found in some tropical species. Gills are adnate to decurrent, and the colour of the spore print ranges from white to ochre or orange (with the brown-spored Lactarius chromospermus as an exception). Caps can be dull to very colourful, the latter especially in Russula; their size ranges from 17 mm diameter or less in Russula campinensis to 30 cm (12 in) in Lactifluus vellereus. Concentrically ringed (zonate) caps occur in all Multifurca and several Lactarius species. Laterally striped (pleurotoid) fruitbodies exist in some, mainly tropical Lactifluus and Russula species. Taste is a distinguishing characteristic in many species, from mild to very acrid. A conspicuous feature of the "milk-caps" in Lactarius, Lactifluus, and Multifurca furcata is the latex or "milk" their fruitbodies exude when bruised. The secotioid and gasteroid species in Lactarius and Russula are derived from agaricoid forms. Secotioid species still have a stipe but the cap does not open fully, while in gasteroid species, fruitbodies are completely closed and the stipe is reduced; in both cases, the spore-bearing structure is made up of convoluted gills that are more or less crowded and anastomosed. These closed-fruitbody species represent a continuum of secotioid to gasteroid, above-ground to below-ground fruitbodies, with spores forcibly discharged or not. Secotioid or gasteroid Lactarius exude latex just like their agaricoid relatives. The corticioid species of Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma develop crust-like fruitbodies with a smooth, porous, or flaky surface and grow on tree logs or dead branches. ### Microscopic characteristics All Russulaceae, including the corticioid species, are characterised by spherical to elliptic basidiospores with a faint to very distinct (e.g. warty, spiny, or crested) ornamentation that stains bluish-black with Melzer's reagent (an amyloid stain reaction). Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are usually club-shaped and four-spored. Russulaceae species do not have clamp connections. Characteristic cells with an oily content (gloeocystidia) are found in the hymenium. In Russulaceae, these show a positive colour reaction when treated with sulfoaldehydes (sulfovanillin is mostly used). They are also present in the hyphal sheath of ectomycorrhizal roots colonised by Russulaceae. The feature responsible for the brittle fruitbody structure in the mushroom-forming species are globular cells, called sphaerocytes or sphaerocysts, that compose the flesh (trama) alongside the usual hyphae. Sometimes, these cells are clustered, and the position and arrangement of these clusters differs among genera. Another particular trama cell type are lactiferous hyphae (also lactifers). These are hyphae carrying the "milk" or "latex" exuded by the milk-caps; they react positively with sulfoaldehydes, form an abundantly branched system in the trama and end as pseudocystidia in the hymenium. In general, only Lactarius, Lactifluus and Multifurca furcata possess lactifers. In Russula, similar hyphae can sometimes be observed in the trama, but these are not as abundantly branched as real lactifers and do not extend into the hymenium as pseudocystidia. This traditional distinction line between the "milk-caps" and Russula is however less evident in some tropical species presenting intermediate states. ### Genera distinction Some characteristics of the mushroom-forming genera (marked with \* below) can be less obvious or absent in tropical species. Distinguishing between Lactarius and Lactifluus based on morphology alone is quite difficult, as clear synapomorphies for both genera have yet to be identified. Most field guides treat the two genera together, often because Lactifluus is not yet recognised as a separate genus. - Boidinia: corticioid; loose texture; surface smooth, with pores, or flaky; spores spherical with spiny to warty ornamentation. Note that the genus is polyphyletic and needs to be redefined. - Gloeopeniophorella: corticioid; surface almost smooth; hyphae without clamp connections; thick-walled cystidia (metuloids) and gloeocystidia present; spores with wrinkled (rugose) ornamentation. - Lactarius: agaricoid or gasteroid; exuding latex\; caps sometimes zonate, viscose or glutinate, but never annulate; rarely thick-walled cells in cuticles of the cap (pileipellis) and the stipe (stipitipellis) and sphaerocytes in the gills. - Lactifluus: agaricoid or pleurotoid; exuding latex\; caps never zonate, viscose or glutinate, but sometimes annulate; thick-walled cells in cap and stipe cuticles; often sphaerocytes in the gill trama. - Multifurca: agaricoid; caps zonate (also visible in cut through trama); gills regularly forked; only M. furcata exuding latex; spore print orange; spores very small; microscopical trama and hymenium features very variable. - Pseudoxenasma: corticioid; wax-like texture; gloeocystidia with spherical apical appendices; basidia developing laterally on hyphae (pleurobasidia); spores broadly ellipsoid to roughly spherical, with warty ornamentation. - Russula: agaricoid, gasteroid or pleurotoid; never exuding latex; caps often brightly coloured with stipe and gills much paler; caps not zonate\; spore print white, cream, ochre, or orange; no true lactiferous hyphae\; sphaerocytes abundant in gill, cap, and stipe trama. ## Distribution The Russulaceae as a whole have a worldwide distribution, but patterns differ among genera. Russula is the most widespread, found in North, Central and South America, Europe, temperate and tropical Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It is the only Russulaceae genus that occurs in the Nothofagus zone of temperate South America. Lactarius is mainly known from the north temperate zone, but some species also occur in tropical Asia and Africa. Lactifluus has a more tropical distribution than Lactarius, with most species known from tropical Africa, Asia, South America, and Australasia, but some also occurring in the north temperate zone. Multifurca is the rarest among the four mushroom genera, known only from some punctual records in North and Central America, Asia, and Australasia. Species of Lactarius, Lactifluus, and Russula have repeatedly been introduced with trees outside their native range: An overview article lists introductions in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, the US, Great Britain, the Faroe Islands, South Africa, China, Thailand, and New Zealand. Among the corticioid genera, Pseudoxenasma is only known from Europe. In contrast, Boidinia species have been found in Europe, Taiwan, and Japan, and Gloeopeniophorella species in North America, South America, Europe, West Africa, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. ## Ecology ### Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis The genera Lactarius, Lactifluus, Multifurca and Russula form a mutualistic ectomycorrhizal root symbiosis with trees and shrubs, exchanging mineral nutrients for photosynthetic sugar. They are one of several fungal lineages that have evolved such a lifestyle and are sometimes referred to as the "/russula-lactarius" clade in the scientific literature. Worldwide, they are one of the most frequently encountered lineages on ectomycorrhizal roots. While some tropical species were initially believed to be parasitic, the observation that species fruiting on tree trunks do form ectomycorrhiza in tropical Guyana supports the view of an exclusively symbiotic lineage. Associations are known with several plant families. In the Northern Hemisphere, these are essentially the well-known ectomycorrhizal trees and shrubs in the Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Pinaceae and Salicaceae, but in arctic and alpine habitats, Russulaceae also associate with Bistorta vivipara (Polygonaceae), Kobresia (Cyperaceae), and Dryas octopetala (Rosaceae), ectomycorrhizal plants untypic in their respective families. In the tropics, known plant partners include Dipterocarpaceae, Fabaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Phyllanthaceae, Polygonaceae (Coccoloba), Sarcolaenaceae, and the gymnosperm Gnetum gnemon, and in the Southern Hemisphere, Nothofagaceae, Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus and Leptospermum), and Rhamnaceae (Pomaderris). Some Russulaceae are quite specialised in their ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, such as Lactarius and Russula species that only grow with Cistus shrubs in the Mediterranean basin. The different plant partners are reflected in the wide variety of habitats worldwide. Ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae have been observed in arctic and alpine tundra, boreal and alpine forest, north temperate forest, mires, mediterranean forests and scrub (maquis), miombo woodland, tropical lowland rainforest, tropical cloud forest, tropical dry forest, Australian eucalypt woodlands, and south temperate forests. Where they are introduced, they typically grow in plantations of their native host species, e.g. with pine in South Africa, Eucalyptus in Thailand, or birch in New Zealand. ### Other types of mycorrhiza Some of the ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae are also involved in other types of root symbioses with plants. A mutualistic association similar to ectomycorrhiza but with some hyphae penetrating into the plant root cells, termed arbutoid mycorrhiza, is formed by Russulaceae with shrubs of the genera Arbutus and Arctostaphylos, both in subfamily Arbutoideae of the Ericaceae. Some Russulaceae are associated with myco-heterotrophic plants of the Ericaceae subfamily Monotropoideae, forming monotropoid mycorrhiza. This is an epiparasitic relationship, where the heterotrophic plant ultimately derives its carbon from the primary, ectomycorrhizal plant partner of the fungus. The association is often very specific, with the heterotrophic plants only associating with selected fungus partners, including Russulaceae. Russulaceae are also an important group of orchid mycorrhizal fungi. This symbiosis is mutualistic in the case of green orchids, but a partly or fully epiparasitic relationship in the case of myco-heterotrophic and mixotrophic orchids, respectively. In some cases, the association with Russulaceae is, as in monotropoid mycorrhiza, very specific: the Mediterranean orchid Limodorum abortivum predominantly associates with Russula delica and closely related species; in Corallorhiza maculata, different genotypes of the same species have distinct Russula partners. ### Wood decay species The corticioid species in Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma are saprotrophic, wood-degrading fungi that develop on dead wood. Their early-branching positions in the phylogeny suggests this has been the ancestral trophic mode of the Russulaceae, and that the mycorrhizal lifestyle (see above) evolved later. The saprotrophic nature of these species has been questioned, based on the observation that other inconspicuous, crust-forming fungi are ectomycorrhizal; a subsequent author reaffirms nevertheless that "[n]one of the corticioid species in the family shows any sign of mycorrhizal activity." ### Hypogeous fruiting Hypogeous fruitbodies, or fruitbodies developing below ground, occur in Lactarius and Russula and have previously been considered as distinct genera (see Systematics and taxonomy: Internal systematics). As such species are especially diverse in some warm and dry regions, e.g. in Spain, California, or Australia, below-ground fruiting has been interpreted as an adaptation to drought. However, hypogeous Russulaceae are also known from cold temperate regions and tropical rainforest. The fact that hypogeous species in the Russulaceae do not form their own lineages but are scattered in Russula or Lactarius shows that this type of fruiting evolved several times. It is believed that these changes are evolutionarily quite recent. ### Parasites Russulaceae fruitbodies are subject to parasitisation by other fungi. The genus Asterophora develops on old fruitbodies of the mushroom species in the family, as does Dendrocollybia racemosa on at least Russula crassotunicata. Fruitbodies of Lactifluus or Russula species otherwise hot-tasting and unpalatable are regarded as choice edibles in North America when infected by the "lobster mushroom" Hypomyces lactifluorum. Heterotrophic plants, including orchids or monotropoids, also parasitise ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae and their plant partners – see above, Other types of mycorrhiza. ### Threats and conservation As with most fungi, little information is available on the threat of extinction for Russulaceae species, and they have not been assessed in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List. However, national lists contain some species of Lactarius, Lactifluus and Russula, indicating that they have small populations and are endangered, e.g. in Great Britain, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand. Although data on Russulaceae themselves are scarce, more is known about the habitats they occur in, especially for the ectomycorrhizal species which depend on their host plants: Several of these habitats are affected by loss or degradation, such as peatlands, Mediterranean forests and scrub or tropical African dry woodland. Similarly, dead wood, the habitat of the corticioid Russulaceae, is rare in many exploited forests and needs special management. Recent studies have found some traditional Russulaceae species to comprise several cryptic species (see Systematics and taxonomy: Species diversity). This may imply that distribution range and population size for each of such distinct species are smaller than previously thought. ## Edibility Several species of Lactarius, Lactifluus and Russula are valued as excellent edible mushrooms. This is the case for example for the north temperate species Lactarius deliciosus, Lactifluus volemus, or Russula vesca, and other species are popular in other parts of the world, e.g. Lactarius indigo in Mexico, or Lactifluus edulis in tropical Africa. Some species, like Russula vesca, can even be eaten raw. The brittle texture of Russula fruitbodies makes them different from other mushrooms and is not appreciated by some. Several species have a hot to very acrid taste and can cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Despite this, such species are eaten in some regions, e.g. Lactarius torminosus in Finland or Russia. Often, they are parboiled or pickled to make them palatable, and sometimes, they are used as spice, for example Russula emetica in Eastern Europe. Some species are however truly poisonous: the East Asian and North American Russula subnigricans causes rhabdomyolysis and is potentially lethal, and Lactarius turpis from Eurasia contains a mutagenic substance. Cultivation of edible Russulaceae, as in other ectomycorrhizal fungi, is challenging, since the presence of host trees is required. In spite of this difficulty, the European Lactarius deliciosus has been successfully grown in "mushroom orchards" in New Zealand. ## Chemistry Fruitbodies of Russulaceae have been the subject of natural product research, and different classes of organic compounds have been isolated from them. Aroma compounds are responsible for the particular odour or taste in some species, e.g. sotolon in the fenugreek-smelling Lactarius helvus, or the similar quabalactone III in Lactarius rubidus which causes a maple syrup-like odour in dried specimens. Pigments have been isolated from brightly coloured species, e.g. (7-isopropenyl-4-methylazulen-1-yl)methyl stearate from the blue Lactarius indigo or russulaflavidin and a derivative from the yellow Russula flavida. Some Russula species contain pigmented pteridine derivatives called russupteridines that are not found in the milk-caps. Sesquiterpenes are characteristic secondary metabolites of many Russulaceae, especially milk-caps which have been quite intensively studied. They are thought to be responsible for the hot taste in many species and may have deterrent, antifeeding functions in nature. Other metabolites isolated from different species include dibenzonaphtyridinone alkaloids, prenylated phenols, benzofurans, chromenes, natural rubber (polyisoprene), sterols, and the sugar alcohol volemitol. Among toxic substances, Lactarius turpis contains the mutagenic alkaloid necatorin, and the small compound cycloprop-2-ene carboxylic acid has been identified as the toxic agent in Russula subnigricans. Some secondary metabolites showed antibiotic properties in laboratory tests. An ethanolic extract of Russula delica was antibacterial, and a lectin from Russula rosea showed antitumor activity.
73,331	Abu Nidal	1,171,390,053	Palestinian militant, founder of Fatah (1937–2002)	[ "1937 births", "2002 deaths", "2002 suicides", "Abu Nidal", "Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region politicians", "Articles containing video clips", "Palestinian Arab nationalists", "Palestinian Muslims", "Palestinian mercenaries", "Palestinian militants", "Palestinian nationalists", "Palestinian refugees", "Palestinian revolutionaries", "People from Jaffa", "People of the Lebanese Civil War", "People of the Stasi", "Suicides by firearm in Iraq", "Unsolved deaths" ]	Sabri Khalil al-Banna (Arabic: صبري خليل البنا; May 1937 – 16 August 2002), known by his nom de guerre Abu Nidal, was the founder of Fatah: The Revolutionary Council (Arabic: فتح المجلس الثوري), a militant Palestinian splinter group more commonly known as the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO). At the height of its militancy in the 1970s and 1980s, the ANO was widely regarded as the most ruthless of the Palestinian groups. Abu Nidal ("father of struggle") formed the ANO in October 1974 after a split from Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Acting as a freelance contractor, Abu Nidal is believed to have ordered attacks in 20 countries, killing over 300 and injuring over 650. The group's operations included the Rome and Vienna airport attacks on 27 December 1985, when gunmen opened fire on passengers in simultaneous shootings at El Al ticket counters, killing 20. Patrick Seale, Abu Nidal's biographer, wrote of the shootings that their "random cruelty marked them as typical Abu Nidal operations". Abu Nidal died after a shooting in his Baghdad apartment in August 2002. Palestinian sources believed he was killed on the orders of Saddam Hussein, while Iraqi officials insisted he had committed suicide during an interrogation. "He was the patriot turned psychopath", David Hirst wrote in the Guardian on the news of his death. "He served only himself, only the warped personal drives that pushed him into hideous crime. He was the ultimate mercenary." ## Early life ### Family, early education Sabri Khalil al-Banna was born in May 1937 in Jaffa, on the Mediterranean coast of what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. His father, Hajj Khalil al-Banna, owned 6,000 acres (24 km<sup>2</sup>) of orange groves situated between Jaffa and Majdal, today Ashkelon in Israel. The family lived in luxury in a three-storey stone house near the beach, later used as an Israeli military court. Muhammad Khalil al-Banna, Abu Nidal's brother, told Yossi Melman: > My father ... was the richest man in Palestine. He marketed about ten percent of all the citrus crops sent from Palestine to Europe - especially to England and Germany. He owned a summer house in Marseilles, France, and another house in İskenderun, then in Syria and afterwards Turkey, and a number of houses in Palestine itself. Most of the time we lived in Jaffa. Our house had about twenty rooms, and we children would go down to swim in the sea. We also had stables with Arabian horses, and one of our homes in Ashkelon even had a large swimming pool. I think we must have been the only family in Palestine with a private swimming pool. Khalil al-Banna's wealth allowed him to take several wives. According to Sabri in an interview with Der Spiegel, his father had 13 wives, 17 sons and eight daughters. Melman writes that Sabri's mother was the eighth wife. She had been one of the family's maids, a 16-year-old Alawite girl. The family disapproved of the marriage, according to Patrick Seale, and as a result Sabri, Khalil's 12th child, was apparently looked down on by his older siblings, although in later life the relationships were repaired. In 1944 or 1945, his father sent him to Collège des Frères de Jaffa, a French mission school, which he attended for one year. When his father died in 1945, when Sabri was seven years old, the family turned his mother out of the house. His brothers took him out of the mission school and enrolled him instead in a prestigious, private Muslim school in Jerusalem, now known as Umariya Elementary School, which he attended for about two years. ### 1948 Palestine War On 29 November 1947, the United Nations resolved to partition Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state. Fighting broke out immediately, and the disruption of the citrus-fruit business hit the family's income. In Jaffa there were food shortages, truck bombs and an Irgun militia mortar bombardment. Melman writes that the al-Banna family had had good relations with the Jewish community. Abu Nidal's brother told Melman that their father had been a friend of Avraham Shapira, a founder of the Jewish defense organization, Hashomer: "He would visit [Shapira] in his home in Petah Tikva, or Shapira riding his horse would visit our home in Jaffa. I also remember how we visited Dr. Weizmann [later first president of Israel] in his home in Rehovot." But it was war, and the relationships did not help them. Just before Israeli troops took Jaffa in April 1948, the family fled to their house near Majdal, but Israeli troops arrived there too, and the family fled again. This time they went to the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, then under Egyptian control. Melman writes that the family spent nine months living in tents, depending on UNRWA for an allowance of oil, rice and potatoes. The experience had later a powerful effect on Abu Nidal. ### Move to Nablus and Saudi Arabia The al-Banna family's commercial experience, and the money they had managed to take with them, meant they could set themselves up in business again, Melman writes. Their orange groves had gone, now part of the new state of Israel. The family moved to Nablus in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control. In 1955, Abu Nidal graduated from high school, joined the Arab nationalist Ba'ath party, and began a degree course in engineering at Cairo University, but he left after two years without a degree. In 1960, he made his way to Saudi Arabia, where he set himself up as a painter and electrician, and worked as a casual laborer for Aramco. His brother told Melman that Abu Nidal would return to Nablus from Saudi Arabia every year to visit his mother. It was during one of those visits in 1962 that he met his wife, whose family had also fled from Jaffa. The marriage produced a son and two daughters. ### Personality Abu Nidal was often in poor health, according to Seale, and tended to dress in zip-up jackets and old trousers, drinking whisky every night in his later years. He became, writes Seale, a "master of disguises and subterfuge, trusting no one, lonely and self-protective, [living] like a mole, hidden away from public view". Acquaintances said that he was capable of hard work and had a good financial brain. Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad), the deputy chief of Fatah who was assassinated by the ANO in 1991, knew him well in the late 1960s when he took Abu Nidal under his wing. He told Seale: > He had been recommended to me as a man of energy and enthusiasm, but he seemed shy when we met. It was only on further acquaintance that I noticed other traits. He was extremely good company, with a sharp tongue and an inclination to dismiss most of humanity as spies and traitors. I rather liked that! I discovered he was very ambitious, perhaps more than his abilities warranted, and also very excitable. He sometimes worked himself up into such a state that he lost all powers of reasoning Seale suggests that Abu Nidal's childhood explained his personality, described as chaotic by Abu Iyad and as psychopathic by Issam Sartawi, the late Palestinian heart surgeon. His siblings' scorn, the loss of his father, and his mother's removal from the family home when he was seven, then the loss of his home and status in the conflict with Israel, created a mental world of plots and counterplots, reflected in his tyrannical leadership of the ANO. Members' wives (it was an all-male group) were not allowed to befriend each another, and Abu Nidal's wife was expected to live in isolation without friends. ## Political life ### Impex, Black September In Saudi Arabia, Abu Nidal helped found a small group of young Palestinians who called themselves the Palestine Secret Organization. The activism cost him his job and home: Aramco fired him, and the Saudi government imprisoned then expelled him. He returned to Nablus with his wife and family, and joined Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO. Working as an odd-job man, he was committed to Palestinian politics but was not particularly active, until Israel won the 1967 Six-Day War, capturing the Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Melman writes that "the entrance of the Israel Defense Forces tanks into Nablus was a traumatic experience for him. The conquest aroused him to action." After moving to Amman, Jordan, he set up a trading company called Impex, which acted as a front for Fatah, serving as a meeting place and conduit for funds. This became a hallmark of Abu Nidal's career. Companies controlled by the ANO made him a rich man by engaging in legitimate business deals, while acting as cover for arms deals and mercenary activities. When Fatah asked him to choose a nom de guerre, he chose Abu Nidal ("father of struggle") after his son, Nidal. Those who knew him at the time said he was a well-organized leader, not a guerrilla; during fighting between the Palestinian fedayeens and King Hussein's troops, he stayed in his office. In 1968 Abu Iyad appointed him as the Fatah representative in Khartoum, Sudan; then, at Abu Nidal's insistence, to the same position in Baghdad in July 1970. He arrived two months before "Black September", when over 10 days of fighting King Hussein's army drove the Palestinian fedayeens out of Jordan, with the loss of thousands of lives. Abu Nidal's absence from Jordan during this period, Seale writes, when it was clear that King Hussein was about to act against the Palestinians, raised suspicion within the movement that he was interested only in saving himself. ### First operation Shortly after Black September, Abu Nidal began accusing the PLO, over his Voice of Palestine radio station in Iraq, of cowardice for having agreed to a ceasefire with Hussein. During Fatah's Third Congress in Damascus in 1971, he joined Palestinian activist and writer Naji Allush and Abu Daoud (leader of the Black September Organization responsible for the 1972 Munich Massacre) in calling for greater democracy within Fatah and revenge against King Hussein. In February 1973, Abu Daoud was arrested in Jordan for an attempt on King Hussein's life. This led to Abu Nidal's first operation, using the name Al-Iqab ("the Punishment"). On 5 September 1973, five gunmen entered the Saudi embassy in Paris, took 15 hostages and threatened to blow up the building if Abu Daoud was not released. The gunmen flew two days later to Kuwait on a Syrian Airways flight, still holding five hostages, then to Riyadh, threatening to throw the hostages out of the aircraft. They surrendered and released the hostages on 8 September. Abu Daoud was released from prison two weeks later; Seale writes that the Kuwaiti government paid King Hussein \$12 million for his release. On the day of the attack, 56 heads of state were meeting in Algiers for the 4th conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. According to Seale, the Saudi Embassy operation had been commissioned by Iraq's president, Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr, as a distraction because he was jealous that Algeria was hosting the conference. Seale writes one of the hostage-takers admitted that he had been told to fly the hostages around until the conference was over. Abu Nidal had carried out the operation without the permission of Fatah. Abu Iyad (Arafat's deputy) and Mahmoud Abbas (later President of the Palestinian Authority), flew to Iraq to reason with Abu Nidal that hostage-taking harmed the movement. Abu Iyad told Seale that an Iraqi official at the meeting said: "Why are you attacking Abu Nidal? The operation was ours! We asked him to mount it for us." Abbas was furious and left the meeting with the other PLO delegates. From that point on, Seale writes, the PLO regarded Abu Nidal as under the control of the Iraqi government. ### Expulsion from Fatah Two months later, in November 1973 (just after the Yom Kippur War in October), the ANO hijacked KLM Flight 861, this time using the name Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. Fatah had been discussing convening a peace conference in Geneva; the hijacking was intended to warn them not to go ahead with it. In response, in March or July 1974, Arafat expelled Abu Nidal from Fatah. In October 1974 Abu Nidal formed the ANO, calling it Fatah: The Revolutionary Council. In November that year a Fatah court sentenced him to death in absentia for the attempted assassination of Mahmoud Abbas. Seale writes that it is unlikely that Abu Nidal had intended to kill Abbas, and just as unlikely that Fatah wanted to kill Abu Nidal. He was invited to Beirut to discuss the death sentence, and was allowed to leave again, but it was clear that he had become persona non-grata. As a result, the Iraqis gave him Fatah's assets in Iraq, including a training camp, farm, newspaper, radio station, passports, overseas scholarships and \$15 million worth of Chinese weapons. He also received Iraq's regular aid to the PLO: around \$150,000 a month and a lump sum of \$3–5 million. ## ANO ### Nature of the organization In addition to Fatah: The Revolutionary Council, the ANO called itself the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, Black June (for actions against Syria), Black September (for actions against Jordan), the Revolutionary Arab Brigades, the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims, the Egyptian Revolution, Revolutionary Egypt, Al-Asifa ("the Storm," a name also used by Fatah), Al-Iqab ("the Punishment"), and the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The group had up to 500 members, chosen from young men in the Palestinian refugee camps and in Lebanon, who were promised good pay and help looking after their families. They would be sent to training camps in whichever country was hosting the ANO at the time (Syria, Iraq or Libya), then organized into small cells. Once in, As\`ad AbuKhalil and Michael Fischbach write, they were not allowed to leave again. The group assumed complete control over the membership. One member who spoke to Patrick Seale was told before being sent overseas: "If we say, 'Drink alcohol'", do so. If we say, 'Get married,' find a woman and marry her. If we say, 'Don't have children,' you must obey. If we say, 'Go and kill King Hussein,' you must be ready to sacrifice yourself!" Seale writes that recruits were asked to write out their life stories, including names and addresses of family and friends, then sign a paper saying they agreed to execution if discovered to have intelligence connections. If suspected, they would be asked to rewrite the whole story, without discrepancies. The ANO's newspaper Filastin al-Thawra regularly announced the execution of traitors. Abu Nidal believed that the group had been penetrated by Israeli agents, and there was a sense that Israel may have used the ANO to undermine more moderate Palestinian groups. Terrorism experts regard the view that Abu Nidal himself was such an agent as "far-fetched". ### Committee for Revolutionary Justice There were reports of purges throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Around 600 ANO members were killed in Lebanon and Libya, including 171 in one night in November 1987, when they were lined up, shot and thrown into a mass grave. Dozens were kidnapped in Syria and killed in the Badawi refugee camp. Most of the decisions to kill, Abu Daoud told Seale, were taken by Abu Nidal "in the middle of the night, after he [had] knocked back a whole bottle of whiskey." The purges led to the defection from the ANO in 1989 of Atif Abu Bakr, head of the ANO's political directorate, who returned to Fatah. Members were routinely tortured by the "Committee for Revolutionary Justice" until they confessed to disloyalty. Seale writes that reports of torture included hanging a man naked, whipping him until he was unconscious, reviving him with cold water, then rubbing salt or chili powder into his wounds. A naked prisoner would be forced into a car tyre with his legs and backside in the air, then whipped, wounded, salted and revived with cold water. A member's testicles might be fried in oil, or melted plastic dripped onto his skin. Between interrogations, prisoners would be tied up in tiny cells. If the cells were full, Seale writes, they might be buried with a pipe in their mouths for air and water; if Abu Nidal wanted them dead, a bullet would be fired down the pipe instead. ### Intelligence Directorate The Intelligence Directorate was formed in 1985 to oversee special operations. It had four subcommittees: the Committee for Special Missions, the Foreign Intelligence Committee, the Counterespionage Committee and the Lebanon Committee. Led by Abd al-Rahman Isa, the longest-serving member of the ANO—Seale writes that Isa was unshaven and shabby, but charming and persuasive—the directorate maintained 30–40 people overseas who looked after the ANO's arms caches in various countries. It trained staff, arranged passports and visas, and reviewed security at airports and seaports. Members were not allowed to visit each other at home, and no one outside the directorate was supposed to know who was a member. Abu Nidal demoted Isa in 1987, believing he had become too close to other figures within the ANO. Always keen to punish members by humiliating them, he insisted that Isa remain in the Intelligence Directorate, where he had to work for his previous subordinates, who according to Seale were told to treat him with contempt. ### Committee for Special Missions The job of the Committee for Special Missions was to choose targets. It had started life as the Military Committee, headed by Naji Abu al-Fawaris, who had led the attack on Heinz Nittel, head of the Israel-Austria Friendship League, who was shot and killed in 1981. In 1982 the committee changed its name to the Committee for Special Missions, headed by Dr. Ghassan al-Ali, who had been born in the West Bank and educated in England, where he obtained a BA and MA in chemistry and married a British woman (later divorced). A former ANO member told Seale that Ali favoured "the most extreme and reckless operations." ## Operations and relationships ### Shlomo Argov On 3 June 1982, ANO operative Hussein Ghassan Said shot Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to Britain, once in the head as he left the Dorchester Hotel in London. Said was accompanied by Nawaf al-Rosan, an Iraqi intelligence officer, and Marwan al-Banna, Abu Nidal's cousin. Argov survived, but spent three months in a coma and the rest of his life disabled, until his death in February 2003. The PLO quickly denied responsibility for the attack. Ariel Sharon, then Israel's defence minister, responded three days later by invading Lebanon, where the PLO was based, a reaction that Seale argues Abu Nidal had intended: The Israeli government had been preparing to invade and Abu Nidal provided a pretext. Der Spiegel put it to him in October 1985 that the assassination of Argov, when he knew Israel wanted to attack the PLO in Lebanon, made him appear to be working for the Israelis, in the view of Yasser Arafat. He replied: > What Arafat says about me doesn't bother me. Not only he, but also a whole list of Arab and world politicians claim that I am an agent of the Zionists or the CIA. Others state that I am a mercenary of the French secret service and of the Soviet KGB. The latest rumor is that I am an agent of Khomeini. During a certain period they said we were spies for the Iraqi regime. Now they say that we are Syrian agents. ... Many psychologists and sociologists in the Soviet bloc tried to investigate this man Abu Nidal. They wanted to find a weak point in his character. The result was zero. ### Rome and Vienna Abu Nidal's most infamous operation was the 1985 attack on the Rome and Vienna airports. On 27 December, at 08:15 GMT, four gunmen opened fire on the El Al ticket counter at the Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Rome, killing 16 and wounding 99. In Vienna International Airport a few minutes later, three men threw hand grenades at passengers waiting to check into a flight to Tel Aviv, killing four and wounding 39. According to Seale, the gunmen had been told the people in civilian clothes at the check-in counter were Israeli pilots returning from a training mission. Austria and Italy had both been involved in trying to arrange peace talks. Sources close to Abu Nidal told Seale that Libyan intelligence had supplied the weapons. The damage to the PLO was enormous, according to Abu Iyad, Arafat's deputy. Most people in the West and even many Arabs could not distinguish between the ANO and Fatah, he said. "When such horrible things take place, ordinary people are left thinking that all Palestinians are criminals." ### United States bombing of Libya On 15 April 1986, the US launched bombing raids from British bases against Tripoli and Benghazi, killing around 100, in retaliation for the bombing of a Berlin nightclub used by US service personnel. The dead were reported to include Hanna Gaddafi, the adoptive daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi; two of his other children were injured. British journalist Alec Collett, who had been kidnapped in Beirut in March, was hanged after the airstrikes, reportedly by ANO operatives; his remains were found in the Beqaa Valley in November 2009. The bodies of two British teachers, Leigh Douglas and Philip Padfield, and an American, Peter Kilburn, were found in a village near Beirut on 17 April 1986; the Arab Fedayeen Cells, a name linked to Abu Nidal, claimed responsibility. British journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped the same day. ### Hindawi affair On 17 April 1986—the day the bodies of the teachers were found and McCarthy was kidnapped—Ann Marie Murphy, a pregnant Irish chambermaid, was discovered in Heathrow airport with a Semtex bomb in the false bottom of one of her bags. She had been about to board an El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv via London. The bag had been packed by her Jordanian fiancé Nizar Hindawi, who had said he would join her in Israel where they were to be married. According to Melman, Abu Nidal had recommended Hindawi to Syrian intelligence. Seale writes that the bomb had been manufactured by Abu Nidal's technical committee, who had delivered it to Syrian air force intelligence. It was sent to London in a diplomatic bag and given to Hindawi. According to Seale, it was widely believed that the attack was in response to Israel having forced down a jet, two months earlier, carrying Syrian officials to Damascus, which Israel had supposed was carrying senior Palestinians. ### Pan Am Flight 73 On 5 September 1986, four ANO gunmen hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 at Karachi Airport on its way from Mumbai to New York, holding 389 passengers and crew for 16 hours in the plane on the tarmac before detonating grenades inside the cabin. Neerja Bhanot, the flight's senior purser, was able to open an emergency door, and most passengers escaped; 20 died, including Bhanot, and 120 were wounded. The London Times reported in March 2004 that Libya had been behind the hijacking. ### Relationship with Gaddafi Abu Nidal began to move his organization out of Syria to Libya in the summer of 1986, arriving there in March 1987. In June that year the Syrian government expelled him, in part because of the Hindawi affair and Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking. He repeatedly took credit during this period for operations in which he had no involvement, including the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing, 1985 Bradford City stadium fire, and 1986 assassination of Zafer al-Masri, the mayor of Nablus (killed by the PFLP, according to Seale). By publishing a congratulatory note in the ANO's magazine, he also implied that he had been behind the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, writes Seale. Abu Nidal and Libya's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, allegedly became great friends, each holding what Marie Colvin and Sonya Murad called a "dangerous combination of an inferiority complex mixed with the belief that he was a man of great destiny". The relationship gave Abu Nidal a sponsor and Gaddafi a mercenary. Seale reports that Libya brought out the worst in Abu Nidal. He would not allow even the most senior ANO members to socialize with each other; all meetings had to be reported to him. All passports had to be handed over. No one was allowed to travel without his permission. Ordinary members were not allowed to have telephones; senior members were allowed to make local calls only. His members knew nothing about his daily life, including where he lived. If he wanted to entertain, Seale writes, he would take over the home of another member. According to Abu Bakr, speaking to Al Hayat in 2002, Abu Nidal said he was behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988; a former head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines was later convicted. Abu Nidal reportedly said of Lockerbie, according to Seale: "We do have some involvement in this matter, but if anyone so much as mentions it, I will kill him with my own hands!" Seale writes that the ANO appeared to have no connection to it; one of Abu Nidal's associates told him, "If an American soldier tripped in some corner of the globe, Abu Nidal would instantly claim it as his own work." ### Banking with BCCI In the late 1980s British intelligence learned that the ANO held accounts with the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in London. BCCI was closed in July 1991 by banking regulators in six countries after evidence emerged of widespread fraud. Abu Nidal himself was said to have visited London using the name Shakar Farhan; a BCCI branch manager, who passed information about the ANO accounts to MI5, reportedly drove him around several stores in London without realizing who he was. Abu Nidal was using a company called SAS International Trading and Investments in Warsaw as cover for arms deals. The company's transactions included the purchase of riot guns, ostensibly for Syria, then when the British refused an export licence to Syria, for an African state; in fact, half the shipment went to the police in East Germany and half to Abu Nidal. ### Assassination of Abu Iyad On 14 January 1991 in Tunis, the night before US forces moved into Kuwait, the ANO assassinated Abu Iyad, head of PLO intelligence, along with Abu al-Hol, Fatah's chief of security, and Fakhri al-Umari, another Fatah aide; all three men were shot in Abu Iyad's home. The killer, Hamza Abu Zaid, confessed that an ANO operative had hired him. When he shot Abu Iyad, he reportedly shouted, "Let Atif Abu Bakr help you now!", a reference to the senior ANO member who had left the group in 1989, and whom Abu Nidal believed had been planted within the ANO by Abu Iyad as a spy. Abu Iyad had known that Abu Nidal nursed a hatred of him, in part because he had kept Abu Nidal out of the PLO. But the real reason for the hatred, Abu Iyad told Seale, was that he had protected Abu Nidal in his early years within the movement. Given his personality, Abu Nidal could not acknowledge that debt. Seale writes that the murder "must therefore be seen as a final settlement of old scores". ## Death After Libyan intelligence operatives were charged with the Lockerbie bombing, Gaddafi tried to distance himself from terrorism. Abu Nidal was expelled from Libya in 1999, and in 2002 he returned to Iraq. The Iraqi government later said he had entered the country using a fake Yemeni passport and false name. On 19 August 2002, the Palestinian newspaper al-Ayyam reported that Abu Nidal had died three days earlier of multiple gunshot wounds at his home in Baghdad, a house the newspaper said was owned by the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi secret service. Two days later, Iraq's chief of intelligence Taher Jalil Habbush handed out photographs of Abu Nidal's body to journalists, along with a medical report that said he had died after a bullet entered his mouth and exited through his skull. Habbush said Iraqi officials had arrived at Abu Nidal's home to arrest him on suspicion of conspiring with foreign governments. After saying he needed a change of clothes, he went into his bedroom and shot himself in the mouth, according to Habbush. He died eight hours later in hospital. Jane's reported in 2002 that Iraqi intelligence had found classified documents in his home about a US attack on Iraq. When they raided the house, fighting broke out between Abu Nidal's men and Iraqi intelligence. In the midst of this, Abu Nidal rushed into his bedroom and was killed; Palestinian sources told Jane's that he had been shot several times. Jane's suggested Saddam Hussein had him killed because he feared Abu Nidal would act against him in the event of an American invasion. In 2008 Robert Fisk obtained a report written in September 2002, for Saddam Hussein's "presidency intelligence office," by Iraq's "Special Intelligence Unit M4". The report said that the Iraqis had been interrogating Abu Nidal in his home as a suspected spy for Kuwait and Egypt, and indirectly for the United States, and that he had been asked by the Kuwaitis to find links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. Just before being moved to a more secure location, Abu Nidal asked to be allowed to change his clothing, went into his bedroom and shot himself, the report said. He was buried on 29 August 2002 in al-Karakh's Islamic cemetery in Baghdad, in a grave marked M7. ## See also - List of unsolved deaths
73,670	A Christmas Carol	1,167,813,460	1843 novella by Charles Dickens	[ "1840s fantasy novels", "1843 British novels", "A Christmas Carol", "Articles containing video clips", "Books illustrated by Arthur Rackham", "Books illustrated by John Leech", "British fantasy novels", "British novellas", "British novels adapted into films", "British novels adapted into plays", "British novels adapted into television shows", "Chapman & Hall books", "Christmas novels", "English-language novels", "Ghost novels", "Novels about time travel", "Novels adapted into ballets", "Novels adapted into operas", "Novels by Charles Dickens", "Novels set in London", "Novels set in the 19th century", "Victorian novels", "Works about atonement" ]	A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as cards and Christmas trees. He was influenced by the experiences of his own youth and by the Christmas stories of other authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Dickens had written three Christmas stories prior to the novella, and was inspired following a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several establishments for London's street children. The treatment of the poor and the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself by transforming into a more sympathetic character are the key themes of the story. There is discussion among academics as to whether this is a fully secular story, or if it is a Christian allegory. Published on 19 December, the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844 thirteen editions had been released. Most critics reviewed the novella favourably. The story was illicitly copied in January 1844; Dickens took legal action against the publishers, who went bankrupt, further reducing Dickens's small profits from the publication. He went on to write four other Christmas stories in subsequent years. In 1849 he began public readings of the story, which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870, the year of his death. A Christmas Carol has never been out of print and has been translated into several languages; the story has been adapted many times for film, stage, opera and other media. A Christmas Carol captured the zeitgeist of the early Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday. Dickens acknowledged the influence of the modern Western observance of Christmas and later inspired several aspects of Christmas, including family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit. ## Plot The book is divided into five chapters, which Dickens titled "staves". ### Stave one A Christmas Carol opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him to provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom. That night Scrooge is visited at home by Marley's ghost, who wanders the Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has a single chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three spirits and must listen or be cursed to carry much heavier chains of his own. ### Stave two The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of Scrooge's boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The scenes reveal Scrooge's lonely childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, who died young while giving birth to Fred, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr Fezziwig, who treated him like a son. Scrooge's neglected fiancée Belle is shown ending their relationship, as she realises that he will never love her as much as he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-married Belle with her large, happy family on the Christmas Eve that Marley died. Scrooge, upset by hearing Belle's description of the man that he has become, demands that the ghost remove him from the house. ### Stave three The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a joyous market with people buying the makings of Christmas dinner and to celebrations of Christmas in a miner's cottage and in a lighthouse. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party. A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit's family feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want. He tells Scrooge to beware the former above all and mocks Scrooge's concern for their welfare. ### Stave four The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a Christmas Day in the future. The silent ghost reveals scenes involving the death of a disliked man whose funeral is attended by local businessmen only on condition that lunch is provided. His charwoman, laundress and the local undertaker steal his possessions to sell to a fence. When he asks the spirit to show a single person who feels emotion over his death, he is only given the pleasure of a poor couple who rejoice that his death gives them more time to put their finances in order. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness connected with any death, the ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. The ghost then allows Scrooge to see a neglected grave, with a tombstone bearing Scrooge's name. Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to change his ways. ### Stave five Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He makes a large donation to the charity he rejected the previous day, anonymously sends a large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner and spends the afternoon at Fred's Christmas party. The following day he gives Cratchit an increase in pay, and begins to become a father figure to Tiny Tim. From then on Scrooge treats everyone with kindness, generosity and compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas. ## Background The writer Charles Dickens was born to a middle-class family which got into financial difficulties as a result of the spendthrift nature of his father John. In 1824 John was committed to the Marshalsea, a debtors' prison in Southwark, London. Dickens, aged 12, was forced to pawn his collection of books, leave school and work at a dirty and rat-infested shoe-blacking factory. The change in circumstances gave him what his biographer, Michael Slater, describes as a "deep personal and social outrage", which heavily influenced his writing and outlook. By the end of 1842 Dickens was a well-established author, having written six major works, as well as several short stories, novellas and other pieces. On 31 December that year he began publishing his novel Martin Chuzzlewit as a monthly serial; the novel was his favourite work, but sales were disappointing and he faced temporary financial difficulties. Celebrating the Christmas season had been growing in popularity through the Victorian era. The Christmas tree had been introduced in Britain during the 18th century, and its use was popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Their practice was copied in many homes across the country. In the early 19th century there had been a revival of interest in Christmas carols, following a decline in popularity over the previous hundred years. The publication of Davies Gilbert's 1823 work Some Ancient Christmas Carols, With the Tunes to Which They Were Formerly Sung in the West of England and William Sandys's 1833 collection Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern led to a growth in the form's popularity in Britain. Dickens had an interest in Christmas, and his first story on the subject was "Christmas Festivities", published in Bell's Weekly Messenger in 1835; the story was then published as "A Christmas Dinner" in Sketches by Boz (1836). "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton", another Christmas story, appeared in the 1836 novel The Pickwick Papers. In the episode, a Mr Wardle describes a misanthropic sexton, Gabriel Grub, who undergoes a Christmas conversion after being visited by goblins who show him the past and future. Slater considers that "the main elements of the Carol are present in the story", but not yet in a firm form. The story is followed by a passage about Christmas in Dickens's editorial Master Humphrey's Clock. The professor of English literature Paul Davis writes that although the "Goblins" story appears to be a prototype of A Christmas Carol, all Dickens's earlier writings about Christmas influenced the story. ### Literary influences Dickens was not the first author to celebrate the Christmas season in literature. Among earlier authors who influenced Dickens was Washington Irving, whose 1819–20 work The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. included four essays on old English Christmas traditions that he experienced while staying at Aston Hall near Birmingham. The tales and essays attracted Dickens, and the two authors shared the belief that returning to Christmas traditions might promote a type of social connection that they felt had been lost in the modern world. Several works may have had an influence on the writing of A Christmas Carol, including two Douglas Jerrold essays: one from an 1841 issue of Punch, "How Mr. Chokepear Keeps a Merry Christmas" and one from 1843, "The Beauties of the Police". More broadly, Dickens was influenced by fairy tales and nursery stories, which he closely associated with Christmas, because he saw them as stories of conversion and transformation. ### Social influences Dickens was touched by the lot of poor children in the middle decades of the 19th century. In early 1843 he toured the Cornish tin mines, where he was angered by seeing children working in appalling conditions. The suffering he witnessed there was reinforced by a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several London schools set up for the education of the capital's half-starved, illiterate street children. In February 1843 the Second Report of the Children's Employment Commission was published. It was a parliamentary report exposing the effects of the Industrial Revolution upon working class children. Horrified by what he read, Dickens planned to publish an inexpensive political pamphlet tentatively titled, An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child, but changed his mind, deferring the pamphlet's production until the end of the year. In March he wrote to Dr Southwood Smith, one of the four commissioners responsible for the Second Report, about his change in plans: "you will certainly feel that a Sledge hammer has come down with twenty times the force—twenty thousand times the force—I could exert by following out my first idea". In a fundraising speech on 5 October 1843 at the Manchester Athenaeum, Dickens urged workers and employers to join together to combat ignorance with educational reform, and realised in the days following that the most effective way to reach the broadest segment of the population with his social concerns about poverty and injustice was to write a deeply felt Christmas narrative rather than polemical pamphlets and essays. ### Writing history By mid-1843 Dickens began to suffer from financial problems. Sales of Martin Chuzzlewit were falling off, and his wife, Catherine, was pregnant with their fifth child. Matters worsened when Chapman & Hall, his publishers, threatened to reduce his monthly income by £50 if sales dropped further. He began A Christmas Carol in October 1843. Michael Slater, Dickens's biographer, describes the book as being "written at white heat"; it was completed in six weeks, the final pages being written in early December. He built much of the work in his head while taking night-time walks of 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) around London. Dickens's sister-in-law wrote how he "wept, and laughed, and wept again, and excited himself in a most extraordinary manner, in composition". Slater says that A Christmas Carol was > intended to open its readers' hearts towards those struggling to survive on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and to encourage practical benevolence, but also to warn of the terrible danger to society created by the toleration of widespread ignorance and actual want among the poor. George Cruikshank, the illustrator who had earlier worked with Dickens on Sketches by Boz (1836) and Oliver Twist (1838), introduced him to the caricaturist John Leech. By 24 October Dickens invited Leech to work on A Christmas Carol, and four hand-coloured etchings and four black-and-white wood engravings by the artist accompanied the text. Dickens's hand-written manuscript of the story does not include the sentence in the penultimate paragraph "... and to Tiny Tim, who did not die"; this was added later, during the printing process. ## Characters The central character of A Christmas Carol is Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly London-based businessman, described in the story as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" Kelly writes that Scrooge may have been influenced by Dickens's conflicting feelings for his father, whom he both loved and demonised. This psychological conflict may be responsible for the two radically different Scrooges in the tale—one a cold, stingy and greedy semi-recluse, the other a benevolent, sociable man. The professor of English literature Robert Douglas-Fairhurst considers that in the opening part of the book covering young Scrooge's lonely and unhappy childhood, and his aspiration for money to avoid poverty "is something of a self-parody of Dickens's fears about himself"; the post-transformation parts of the book are how Dickens optimistically sees himself. Scrooge could also be based on two misers: the eccentric John Elwes, MP, or Jemmy Wood, the owner of the Gloucester Old Bank and also known as "The Gloucester Miser". According to the sociologist Frank W. Elwell, Scrooge's views on the poor are a reflection of those of the demographer and political economist Thomas Malthus, while the miser's questions "Are there no prisons? ... And the Union workhouses? ... The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" are a reflection of a sarcastic question raised by the philosopher Thomas Carlyle, "Are there not treadmills, gibbets; even hospitals, poor-rates, New Poor-Law?" There are literary precursors for Scrooge in Dickens's own works. Peter Ackroyd, Dickens's biographer, sees similarities between the character and the elder Martin Chuzzlewit character, although the miser is "a more fantastic image" than the Chuzzlewit patriarch; Ackroyd observes that Chuzzlewit's transformation to a charitable figure is a parallel to that of the miser. Douglas-Fairhurst sees that the minor character Gabriel Grub from The Pickwick Papers was also an influence when creating Scrooge. It is possible that Scrooge's name came from a tombstone Dickens had seen on a visit to Edinburgh. The grave was for Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, whose job was given as a meal man—a corn merchant; Dickens misread the inscription as "mean man". This theory has been described as "a probable Dickens hoax" for which "[n]o one could find any corroborating evidence". When Dickens was young he lived near a tradesman's premises with the sign "Goodge and Marney", which may have provided the name for Scrooge's former business partner. For the chained Marley, Dickens drew on his memory of a visit to the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in March 1842, where he saw—and was affected by seeing—fettered prisoners. For the character Tiny Tim, Dickens used his nephew Henry, a disabled boy who was five at the time A Christmas Carol was written. The two figures of Want and Ignorance, sheltering in the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present, were inspired by the children Dickens had seen on his visit to a ragged school in the East End of London. ## Themes The transformation of Scrooge is central to the story. Davis considers Scrooge to be "a protean figure always in process of reformation"; Kelly writes that the transformation is reflected in the description of Scrooge, who begins as a two-dimensional character, but who then grows into one who "possess[es] an emotional depth [and] a regret for lost opportunities". Some writers, including Grace Moore, the Dickens scholar, consider that there is a Christian theme running through A Christmas Carol, and that the novella should be seen as an allegory of the Christian concept of redemption. Dickens's biographer, Claire Tomalin, sees the conversion of Scrooge as carrying the Christian message that "even the worst of sinners may repent and become a good man". Dickens's attitudes towards organised religion were complex; he based his beliefs and principles on the New Testament. Dickens's statement that Marley "had no bowels" is a reference to the "bowels of compassion" mentioned in the First Epistle of John, the reason for his eternal damnation. Other writers, including Kelly, consider that Dickens put forward a "secular vision of this sacred holiday". The Dickens scholar John O. Jordan argues that A Christmas Carol shows what Dickens referred to in a letter to his friend John Forster as his "Carol philosophy, cheerful views, sharp anatomisation of humbug, jolly good temper ... and a vein of glowing, hearty, generous, mirthful, beaming reference in everything to Home and Fireside". From a secular viewpoint, the cultural historian Penne Restad suggests that Scrooge's redemption underscores "the conservative, individualistic and patriarchal aspects" of Dickens's "Carol philosophy" of charity and altruism. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in response to British social attitudes towards poverty, particularly child poverty, and wished to use the novella as a means to put forward his arguments against it. The story shows Scrooge as a paradigm for self-interest, and the possible repercussions of ignoring the poor, especially children in poverty—personified by the allegorical figures of Want and Ignorance. The two figures were created to arouse sympathy with readers—as was Tiny Tim. Douglas-Fairhurst observes that the use of such figures allowed Dickens to present his message of the need for charity, without alienating his largely middle-class readership. ## Publication As the result of the disagreements with Chapman and Hall over the commercial failures of Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens arranged to pay for the publishing himself, in exchange for a percentage of the profits. Production of A Christmas Carol was not without problems. The first printing was meant to have festive green endpapers, but they came out a dull olive colour. Dickens' publisher Chapman and Hall replaced these with yellow endpapers and reworked the title page in harmonising red and blue shades. The final product was bound in red cloth with gilt-edged pages, completed only two days before the publication date of 19 December 1843. Following publication, Dickens arranged for the manuscript to be bound in red Morocco leather and presented as a gift to his solicitor, Thomas Mitton. Priced at five shillings (equal to £ in 2023 pounds), the first run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve. Chapman and Hall issued second and third editions before the new year, and the book continued to sell well into 1844. By the end of 1844 eleven more editions had been released. Since its initial publication the book has been issued in numerous hardback and paperback editions, translated into several languages and has never been out of print. It was Dickens's most popular book in the United States, and sold over two million copies in the hundred years following its first publication there. The high production costs upon which Dickens insisted led to reduced profits, and the first edition brought him only £230 (equal to £ in 2023 pounds) rather than the £1,000 (equal to £ in 2023 pounds) he expected. A year later, the profits were only £744, and Dickens was deeply disappointed. ## Reception According to Douglas-Fairhurst, contemporary reviews of A Christmas Carol "were almost uniformly kind". The Illustrated London News described how the story's "impressive eloquence ... its unfeigned lightness of heart—its playful and sparkling humour ... its gentle spirit of humanity" all put the reader "in good humour with ourselves, with each other, with the season and with the author". The critic from The Athenaeum, the literary magazine, considered it a "tale to make the reader laugh and cry – to open his hands, and open his heart to charity even toward the uncharitable ... a dainty dish to set before a King." William Makepeace Thackeray, writing in Fraser's Magazine, described the book as "a national benefit and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness. The last two people I heard speak of it were women; neither knew the other, or the author, and both said, by way of criticism, 'God bless him!'" The poet Thomas Hood, in his own journal, wrote that "If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were ever in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease." The reviewer for Tait's Edinburgh Magazine—Theodore Martin, who was usually critical of Dickens's work—spoke well of A Christmas Carol, noting it was "a noble book, finely felt and calculated to work much social good". After Dickens's death, Margaret Oliphant deplored the turkey and plum pudding aspects of the book but admitted that in the days of its first publication it was regarded as "a new gospel", and noted that the book was unique in that it made people behave better. The religious press generally ignored the tale but, in January 1884, Christian Remembrancer thought the tale's old and hackneyed subject was treated in an original way and praised the author's sense of humour and pathos. The writer and social thinker John Ruskin told a friend that he thought Dickens had taken the religion from Christmas, and had imagined it as "mistletoe and pudding – neither resurrection from the dead, nor rising of new stars, nor teaching of wise men, nor shepherds". There were critics of the book. The New Monthly Magazine praised the story, but thought the book's physical excesses—the gilt edges and expensive binding—kept the price high, making it unavailable to the poor. The review recommended that the tale should be printed on cheap paper and priced accordingly. An unnamed writer for The Westminster Review mocked Dickens's grasp of economics, asking "Who went without turkey and punch in order that Bob Cratchit might get them—for, unless there were turkeys and punch in surplus, someone must go without". Dickens had criticised the US in American Notes and Martin Chuzzlewit, making American readers reluctant to embrace his work, but by the end of the American Civil War, the book had gained wide recognition in American households. In 1863 The New York Times published an enthusiastic review, noting that the author brought the "old Christmas ... of bygone centuries and remote manor houses, into the living rooms of the poor of today". ## Aftermath In January 1844 Parley's Illuminated Library published an unauthorised version of the story in a condensed form which they sold for twopence. Dickens wrote to his solicitor > I have not the least doubt that if these Vagabonds can be stopped they must. ... Let us be the sledge-hammer in this, or I shall be beset by hundreds of the same crew when I come out with a long story. Two days after the release of the Parley version, Dickens sued on the basis of copyright infringement and won. The publishers declared themselves bankrupt and Dickens was left to pay £700 in costs. The small profits Dickens earned from A Christmas Carol further strained his relationship with his publishers, and he broke with them in favour of Bradbury and Evans, who had been printing his works to that point. Dickens returned to the tale several times during his life to amend the phrasing and punctuation. He capitalised on the success of the book by publishing other Christmas stories: The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846) and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848); these were secular conversion tales which acknowledged the progressive societal changes of the previous year, and highlighted those social problems which still needed to be addressed. While the public eagerly bought the later books, the reviewers were highly critical of the stories. ## Performances and adaptations By 1849 Dickens was engaged with David Copperfield and had neither the time nor the inclination to produce another Christmas book. He decided the best way to reach his audience with his "Carol philosophy" was by public readings. During Christmas 1853 Dickens gave a reading in Birmingham Town Hall to the Industrial and Literary Institute; the performance was a great success. Thereafter, he read the tale in an abbreviated version 127 times, until 1870 (the year of his death), including at his farewell performance. In the years following the book's publication, responses to the tale were published by W. M. Swepstone (Christmas Shadows, 1850), Horatio Alger (Job Warner's Christmas, 1863), Louisa May Alcott (A Christmas Dream, and How It Came True, 1882), and others who followed Scrooge's life as a reformed man – or some who thought Dickens had got it wrong and needed to be corrected. The novella was adapted for the stage almost immediately. Three productions opened on 5 February 1844, one by Edward Stirling, A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future, being sanctioned by Dickens and running for more than 40 nights. By the close of February 1844 eight rival A Christmas Carol theatrical productions were playing in London. The story has been adapted for film and television more than any of Dickens's other works. In 1901 it was produced as Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost, a silent black-and-white British film; it was one of the first known adaptations of a Dickens work on film, but it is now largely lost. The story was adapted in 1923 for BBC radio. The story has been adapted to other media, including opera, ballet, animation, stage musicals and a BBC mime production starring Marcel Marceau. Davis considers the adaptations have become better remembered than the original. Some of Dickens's scenes—such as visiting the miners and lighthouse keepers—have been forgotten by many, while other events often added—such as Scrooge visiting the Cratchits on Christmas Day—are now thought by many to be part of the original story. Accordingly, Davis distinguishes between the original text and the "remembered version". ## Legacy The phrase "Merry Christmas" had been around for many years – the earliest known written use was in a letter in 1534 – but Dickens's use of the phrase in A Christmas Carol popularised it among the Victorian public. The exclamation "Bah! Humbug!" entered popular use in the English language as a retort to anything sentimental or overly festive; the name "Scrooge" became used as a designation for a miser and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as such in 1982. In the early 19th century the celebration of Christmas was associated in Britain with the countryside and peasant revels, disconnected to the increasing urbanisation and industrialisation taking place. Davis considers that in A Christmas Carol, Dickens showed that Christmas could be celebrated in towns and cities, despite increasing modernisation. The modern observance of Christmas in English-speaking countries is largely the result of a Victorian-era revival of the holiday. The Oxford Movement of the 1830s and 1840s had produced a resurgence of the traditional rituals and religious observances associated with Christmastide and, with A Christmas Carol, Dickens captured the zeitgeist while he reflected and reinforced his vision of Christmas. Dickens advocated a humanitarian focus of the holiday, which influenced several aspects of Christmas that are still celebrated in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit. The historian Ronald Hutton writes that Dickens "linked worship and feasting, within a context of social reconciliation". The novelist William Dean Howells, analysing several of Dickens's Christmas stories, including A Christmas Carol, considered that by 1891 the "pathos appears false and strained; the humor largely horseplay; the characters theatrical; the joviality pumped; the psychology commonplace; the sociology alone funny". The writer James Joyce considered that Dickens took a childish approach with A Christmas Carol, producing a gap between the naïve optimism of the story and the realities of life at the time. Ruth Glancy, the professor of English literature, states that the largest impact of A Christmas Carol was the influence felt by individual readers. In early 1844 The Gentleman's Magazine attributed a rise of charitable giving in Britain to Dickens's novella; in 1874, Robert Louis Stevenson, after reading Dickens's Christmas books, vowed to give generously to those in need, and Thomas Carlyle expressed a generous hospitality by hosting two Christmas dinners after reading the book. In 1867 one American businessman was so moved by attending a reading that he closed his factory on Christmas Day and sent every employee a turkey, while in the early years of the 20th century Maud of Wales – the Queen of Norway – sent gifts to London's crippled children signed "With Tiny Tim's Love". On the novella, the author G. K. Chesterton wrote "The beauty and blessing of the story ... lie in the great furnace of real happiness that glows through Scrooge and everything around him. ... Whether the Christmas visions would or would not convert Scrooge, they convert us." Analysing the changes made to adaptations over time, Davis sees changes to the focus of the story and its characters to reflect mainstream thinking of the period. While Dickens's Victorian audiences would have viewed the tale as a spiritual but secular parable, in the early 20th century it became a children's story, read by parents who remembered their parents reading it when they were younger. In the lead-up to and during the Great Depression, Davis suggests that while some saw the story as a "denunciation of capitalism, ...most read it as a way to escape oppressive economic realities". The film versions of the 1930s were different in the UK and US. British-made films showed a traditional telling of the story, while US-made works showed Cratchit in a more central role, escaping the depression caused by European bankers and celebrating what Davis calls "the Christmas of the common man". In the 1960s, Scrooge was sometimes portrayed as a Freudian figure wrestling with his past. By the 1980s he was again set in a world of depression and economic uncertainty. ## See also - List of Christmas-themed literature - Dickens Christmas fair - The Man Who Invented Christmas
53,330,484	Cyclone Althea	1,151,848,070	1971 natural disaster in Australia	[ "1971 in Australia", "1971–72 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season", "Category 3 Australian region cyclones", "Disasters in Queensland", "Retired Australian region cyclones", "Tropical cyclones in Queensland" ]	Severe Tropical Cyclone Althea was a powerful tropical cyclone that devastated parts of North Queensland just before Christmas 1971. One of the strongest storms ever to affect the Townsville area, Althea was the fourth system and second severe tropical cyclone of the 1971–72 Australian region cyclone season. After forming near the Solomon Islands on 19 December and heading southwest across the Coral Sea, the storm reached its peak intensity with 10-minute average maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h (80 mph) – Category 3 on the Australian cyclone scale. At 09:00 AEST on Christmas Eve, Althea struck the coast of Queensland near Rollingstone, about 50 km (30 mi) north of Townsville. Although early weather satellites provided only occasional glimpses into the cyclone's formative stages, its landfall was monitored closely by land-based radar that depicted an ongoing eyewall replacement cycle. Althea produced copious rainfall over central and western Queensland as it turned toward the southeast, and on 26 December the cyclone emerged over open waters. After briefly re-intensifying, the system dissipated on 29 December. While moving ashore, Althea generated wind gusts as high as 215 km/h (134 mph) that wrought significant destruction around Townsville and left nearby Magnetic Island in a state of ruin; almost all of the buildings on the island were damaged to some degree. A significant 3.66 m (12.0 ft) storm surge battered the mainland, while high waves destroyed roads and seawalls. Beaches receded by up to 15.8 m (52 ft) due to coastal erosion. In Townsville, thousands of homes were damaged and many were destroyed. The most widespread damage was to roofs, which were often poorly or not at all secured. The damage from Althea prompted Queensland to develop its first statewide building codes, requiring new homes to be cyclone-resistant. Townsville was the first community to adopt the enhanced construction standards. In addition to the coastal effects, Althea triggered extensive river flooding in interior Queensland. Most major roads in western portions of the state were cut off by floodwaters, and hundreds of families had to leave their homes for higher ground. In the aftermath of the cyclone, 600 Australian Army soldiers aided recovery efforts in Townsville and Magnetic Island, while both state and federal governments contributed disaster relief funds. Three people were killed and damage totaled \$120 million (1971 AUD). ## Meteorological history Cyclone Althea originated in an expanding area of thunderstorm activity near the Solomon Islands in mid-December 1971. Although little is known about the storm's genesis because of sparse reports and infrequent weather satellite images, the disturbance is thought to have organised into a tropical low on 19 December as it tracked slowly southwestward into the Coral Sea. According to the Bureau of Meteorology's (BoM) Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre (TCWC) in Brisbane, the system reached tropical cyclone status around 06:00 UTC on 20 December, less than 300 km (200 mi) southwest of Honiara. Just after 23:00 UTC on 21 December, imagery from the United States ESSA-8 satellite showed the first indications of an emerging eye feature. Althea tracked southwest toward the coast of Queensland around a subtropical ridge to the south, and steadily strengthened. Near 18:00 UTC on 22 December, it reached its peak intensity with 10-minute maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h (80 mph); this made it a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. The cyclone's central barometric pressure of 952 hPa (28.1 inHg) was estimated using the lowest recorded air pressure, 971.5 hPa (28.69 inHg) at Townsville Airport, a 32 km (20 mi) radius of maximum wind, and environmental air pressures. Late on 22 December, the eye remained obscured to satellite imagery by a canopy of cirrus clouds while the cyclone passed north of Lihou Reef. Early the next day, it tracked just south of the automated weather station on Flinders Reef. Althea likely continued to organise until landfall, which occurred at 23:00 UTC on 23 December – 09:00 AEST on Christmas Eve – near Rollingstone, about 50 km (30 mi) north of Townsville. The landfall point placed Townsville and nearby Magnetic Island in the cyclone's powerful left-front quadrant. Because of the tight pressure gradient between Althea and the high pressure area to the south, gale-force winds extended well to the south of the cyclone's centre. While the system was moving ashore, land-based radar imagery identified an ongoing eyewall replacement cycle, with two distinct, concentric eyewalls – rings of intense thunderstorms surrounding the centre. The strongest winds were found under the contracting outer ring, which shrank from 55 to 39 km (34 to 24 mi) between 21:00 and 23:00 UTC to become the dominant eyewall as the inner ring dissipated. Consequently, extreme winds initially extended relatively far from the centre. The storm quickly weakened as it continued southwest, passing just north of Charters Towers City, though it continued to produce heavy rainfall over interior Queensland. Curving southeastward, Althea re-emerged over open waters between Maryborough and Double Island Point on 26 December and began to intensify once again. At 00:00 UTC on 28 December, the cyclone reached a third peak with 10-minute winds of 110 km/h (70 mph), but as it turned more toward the south, increasingly cooler sea surface temperatures weakened the cyclone. On 29 December, Althea lost its tropical characteristics over the Tasman Sea. ## Preparations In the hours leading up to landfall, the TCWC in Brisbane issued 17 cyclone warnings for coastal areas. According to the BoM, residents received 20 hours of advance warning in which to complete preparations. By late on 23 December, police and state emergency service workers were on alert for the approaching storm. High public preparedness and a relatively low loss of life were attributed to BoM cyclone awareness initiatives in the wake of 1970's deadly Cyclone Ada. However, storm victims still criticised the agency and local radio news stations for unclear, untimely, or conflicting broadcasts that caused widespread confusion. Significant delays between the issuance of warnings from TCWC Brisbane and local broadcast in the Townsville area raised some question about the need for a warning centre closer to North Queensland. ## Impact Total damage from Cyclone Althea amounted to just under A\$120 million (1971), and the normalised damage total for 2012, which accounts for growth and inflation, was estimated at \$648 million. Throughout the affected region, 257 people were treated for storm-related injuries, mostly inflicted by airborne debris; three people were killed. In Townsville, ten people were reported missing during the cyclone: nine on three boats that were unaccounted for, and one whose car was found in a swollen creek. They were all found safe. ### Magnetic Island An estimated 90% of the buildings on Magnetic Island were damaged to some degree by 215 km/h (134 mph) wind gusts, and there was "not a tree left with leaves on it". The island's main town of Picnic Bay was hit particularly hard. About 100 people endured the cyclone in the dining room of a Picnic Bay hotel that ultimately sustained severe structural damage; 65 would remain sheltered there through Christmas Day. Around 60% of houses in Nelly Bay and 40% in Arcadia were demolished. In the village of Horseshoe Bay, one woman died in a building collapse, and reportedly only 8 out of 150 houses in the community survived the cyclone. The island suffered a nearly total power outage, and after the water pipeline from the mainland was damaged, strict usage rations were put in place until repairs could be made. About 30 people on Magnetic Island were treated for injuries sustained during the storm, and damage reached \$2 million. ### Coastal Queensland At the time, Althea was one of the strongest tropical cyclones to strike the coast of Queensland; it still stands as the most intense ever in the Townsville area. Gusts as high as 196 km/h (122 mph) and sustained winds of 139 km/h (86 mph) were recorded at Townsville Airport, though the anemometer was somewhat sheltered by upwind Castle Hill, so stronger winds may have occurred. The storm bent large steel utility poles and lifted houses off their foundations, while entirely stripping trees of their leaves. Pieces of dislodged debris acted as projectiles, penetrating fibre cement walls. In some cases, entire roofs crashed down on vehicles and other property. Power outages were extensive. One post-storm survey of 6,000 houses in Townsville found around 0.7% totally demolished, 1.7% with critical but repairable damage, and 13.3% with minor damage. Other estimates placed the share of damaged or destroyed houses at 60%. Several months after the storm, the Townsville City Council reported that about 200 houses had been leveled – about 1 in every 100 – with 600 more rendered uninhabitable, and as many as 4,000 damaged. Among the structures damaged or destroyed were 200 Queensland Housing Commission homes and roughly 500 of the 700 War Service Homes Commission dwellings in Townsville. Overall, Althea wrought at least \$6 million in damage to government-owned buildings. The cyclone killed two people in Townsville: one man was crushed when his home collapsed, and another suffered a stress-related heart attack. Although the worst of the storm struck near low tide, the combination of a large storm surge and high waves caused widespread damage along the coast. Storm surge values reached 2.9 m (9.5 ft) in Townsville Harbour; the Ross River experienced a 2.7 m (9 ft) water level rise that submerged streets in the city. Shipping interests in the river suffered extensively when a barge broke free of its moorings and collided with numerous smaller vessels. An estimated peak storm surge of 3.66 m (12.0 ft) occurred at Toolakea. In addition to the surge, wave action was highly destructive. Seawalls and coastal roadways were crushed by the pounding surf in places such as the Strand and Cape Pallarenda. The violent onshore flow generated severe beach erosion from Townsville to Toolakea, while north of the storm's center, in the Greater Palm group of islands, substantial erosion resulted from southwesterly winds. Beaches receded by as much as 15.8 m (52 ft) between Pallarenda and Rowes Bay, and by up to 12 m (39 ft) at Balgal Beach near the cyclone's landfall point. Storm surge values tapered off sharply to the north of the storm centre, but remained high well to the south, with above-normal water levels extending as far south as Mackay. At Pallarenda, the storm surge swept vehicles off roads and inundated homes; around 40% of dwellings were rendered uninhabitable. Trees and power lines in the community were mangled, nearly every building was unroofed, and damage amounted to approximately \$1 million. In Saunders Beach, wind-blown sand debarked trees and buffeted paint from houses. Althea generally dropped 145 to 200 mm (5.7 to 7.9 in) of rain in the Townsville area, much of it falling after the cyclone moved inland. As so many roofs had been damaged, many home interiors were left exposed to the elements. As a result, the deluge caused significant water damage to interior walls, electrical wiring, and personal belongings. Storage facilities at RAAF Garbutt were seriously damaged by the combined wind and rain, and four helicopters at the base were destroyed. In the weeks following the cyclone's passage, further downpours plagued Townsville and triggered flooding when storm drains clogged with debris were unable to handle the runoff. Severe flooding from Althea in the Burdekin River delta was exacerbated by rainfall from Cyclone Bronwyn in early January. ### Interior Queensland Farther inland, up to 250 mm (9.8 in) of rain fell in 12 hours, the most substantial rainfall in 15 years. In some drought-stricken parts of the state, the rain proved beneficial to farmers, but there was also widespread flash flooding over western and southern Queensland. Numerous communities were isolated by rising floodwaters, and hundreds of families were forced to evacuate their homes. In some cases, residents had to be moved to higher ground by boat, along with any food and provisions they were able to salvage. The overflowing Warrego River washed out parts of the Mitchell and Warrego highways near Charleville, and most of the major roads in western portions of the state were blocked by flooding. Several hundred homes in South West Queensland were inundated. In addition to damaging highways, the cyclone disrupted rail and air transportation. Railroads traveling out of Townsville were submerged under as much as 1.5 m (5 ft) of water, while several airfields were forced to close. Later, as the storm approached open water once again, it dropped over 200 mm (7.9 in) of precipitation along the southern coast of Queensland. As runoff from the heavy rains traveled downstream, southern areas continued to experience flooding into early January. Two tornadoes embedded within the cyclone's outer bands touched down in Bowen, causing damage to buildings and vegetation. Damaging thunderstorms in the suburbs of Sydney, on 25 December were broadly attributed to the weather pattern associated with Althea. ## Aftermath A state of emergency was declared for the Townsville area, making an initial \$7,000 in emergency aid available for distribution among 84 individuals left homeless. Immediately after the storm, the Salvation Army began collecting and distributing donated clothing, while providing hot meals to hundreds of destitute storm victims. Australian Prime Minister William McMahon soon traveled to Townsville to assess the damage and authorise the distribution of emergency grants for affected residents. At the end of December, officials announced that the state and federal governments would jointly issue individual rebuilding grants, ranging from \$1,000 to as high as \$4,000 for pensioners; for the latter, higher allocations to cover the full cost of rebuilding homes were soon considered. The Townsville City Council received a special \$25,000 grant with the goal of repairing schools for the start of the new academic year. By 27 December, \$150,000 in private donations had arrived as organisations and radio stations throughout Queensland sought assistance for the disaster area. Western Australia provided \$72,000 of relief funding, while Tasmania contributed \$2,000. The Australian federal government reimbursed Queensland for an estimated \$5.5–6 million spent by the state on recovery. About 600 Australian Army soldiers, including 130 engineers, were recalled from Christmas leave and stationed at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville for relief efforts around the area. The troops were then split into 30 crews and assigned to different parts of the disaster area. In response to a request by Premier of Queensland Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment spent 10 days on Magnetic Island assisting in cleanup and recovery. Emergency vehicles, specialised personnel, electric generators, refrigerators, food rations, and other critical supplies were ferried to the island, and medical officers rushed there to limit the spread of gastroenteritis after several cases were reported. To recognise the efforts of the Australian Army in the aftermath of Althea, a commemorative plaque was later erected in Townsville's Anzac Memorial Park. Initial recovery work was delayed by persistent flooding of roadways, but within a few days of the cyclone, residents received around 2,000 tarpaulins to protect their damaged homes and building materials to begin repairs. By early January, the Royal Australian Air Force had airlifted 225,000 kg (500,000 lb) of emergency supplies into the Townsville area. Isolated instances of looting were reported after the disaster, and multiple local merchants were investigated for alleged price gouging. After the season ended, the name Althea was retired from the Australian tropical cyclone naming list due to the cyclone's severe impact. Many of the damaged houses were of poor construction, and in the wake of Althea, engineering studies of the destruction resulted in a new understanding of the structural design loads necessary to withstand severe winds. In particular, inadequate roof cladding and fastening systems were among the primary points of failure. Consequently, much stricter building codes were explored in Queensland and Australia as a whole. Three years later, Cyclone Tracy's devastation in Darwin, Northern Territory, bolstered the trend of more rigorous construction specifications in the country. Many of the buildings destroyed by Tracy were government housing units constructed according to new guidelines based on findings after Althea, showing the need for further study. The severe cyclones prompted Queensland to develop its first statewide building regulations in 1975; the new Queensland Home Building Code was fully adopted in the mid-1980s. Under the new regulations, roofs had to be more securely anchored than before using bolts and reinforced fastenings. Having seen the dangers of deficient construction first-hand, Townsville was the first community to enact the enhanced building standards, and served as a testing ground for further revisions. The Cyclone Testing Station, a wind damage research organisation housed within James Cook University's Townsville campus, was established in 1977 in response to cyclones Althea and Tracy. ## See also - 1998 Townsville floods - Climate of Australia - Cyclone Tessi - Cyclone Yasi
63,854,090	Five Go Down to the Sea?	1,173,622,335	Irish band	[ "1978 establishments in Ireland", "1989 disestablishments in Ireland", "Five Go Down to the Sea?", "Irish alternative rock groups", "Irish punk rock groups", "Musical groups disestablished in 1989", "Musical groups established in 1978", "Musical groups from Cork (city)", "Setanta Records artists" ]	Five Go Down to the Sea? were an Irish post-punk band from Cork, active between 1978 and 1989. Vocalist and lyricist Finbarr Donnelly, guitarist Ricky Dineen and brothers Philip (bass) and Keith "Smelly" O'Connell (drums) formed the band as Nun Attax while teenagers. They became known for Donnelly's absurdist, surreal lyrics and stage presence, Dineen's angular guitar and bass parts and their Captain Beefheart-style rhythm section. The group changed their name to Five Go Down to the Sea? after moving to London in 1983. Their line has at times included guitarists Mick Finnegan, Giordaí Ua Laoghaire, Mick Stack, and the cellist Úna Ní Chanainn. Dineen was influenced by bands such as the Mekons and the Fire Engines and wrote most of the riffs. After achieving a following in Ireland in the early 1980s, they changed their name in 1983 and recorded the Knot a Fish EP. Five Go Down to the Sea? moved to London later that year, where they developed a live following. Although they never secured a recording contract for an album, they released further EPs. They found no commercial success or manager; in 1985, disillusioned with the music scene, they split up. Donnelly and Dineen re-formed in 1988 as Beethoven, and released the EP Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem the following year. Their re-formation was short-lived, as Donnelly drowned accidentally on 18 June 1989, aged 27. Although Five Go Down to the Sea? only released four EPs and did not sell many records, their reputation has grown over time. They influenced later generations of Irish musicians, especially a number of later dryly humorous Cork bands. In 2001, broadcaster Paul McDermott produced Get That Monster Off the Stage, a radio documentary about Finbarr Donnelly and his bands. In a 2017 interview, writer Mark McAvoy acknowledged that Donnelly "probably would have been the most influential musician and songwriter in terms of the Cork music scene and the bands that stemmed from it." A compilation album Hiding from the Landlord was released in 2020. ## History ### Cork The band was formed by childhood friends Ricky Dineen and brothers Philip and Keith O'Connell, who grew up in Churchfield, Gurranabraher, on Cork city's north side. Dineen met Finbarr Donnelly in 1978, and introduced him to the other members of the fledgling group. Donnelly had moved from Belfast to The Glen, Cork, aged 12, yet spoke with a heavy Cork accent. Dineen had been a fan of hard rock and Pink Floyd until Donnelly introduced him to post-punk and John Peel's BBC radio show. Donnelly named the band Nun Attax, and they began playing covers of punk rock songs such as "Teenage Kicks", "Pretty Vacant" and tracks by the Damned in Keith O'Connell's bedroom. According to Philip O'Connell, "The punk thing was about doing your own thing and not following what went before, not doing the 12-bar blues that everybody else seemed to be doing ... Loads of people around us were into Status Quo, but we thought they were a bunch of muppets." While other emerging Cork bands centred on University College Cork, the members of Nun Attax mostly came from the working-class north side, having attended what they sardonically termed "University College Churchfield". They developed a following among Cork's students and residents of the middle-class south-side suburbs. According to Dineen, their fans "were from college and everything like that. We were actually ... working-class snobs ... we thought we were above all them kind of people ... and they were trying to be like us. [But] they were all probably being collected by their daddies at the end of the night." Most of the early Nun Attax material was written in Ballinora, Cork; according to Sean O'Hagan of fellow Cork band Microdisney, they rehearsed in a Gaelic Athletic Association hall in the countryside, and people would "pile into a bus" to go and watch them rehearse. Nun Attax played their first gig in February 1979 at Mayfield community school. They soon became leaders in a punk movement that grew around the Arcadia ballroom, next to Kent station. Also known as the Arch or the Downtown Kampus, the Arcadia was one of the few Irish venues that favoured punk over blues bands, and was managed by Elvera Butler and Andy Foster. Soon after, Nun Attax began playing at Sir Henry's on South Main Street, Cork. They later began to perform nationwide, including gigs in Dublin and Dundalk. Mostly under Dineen's guidance, who was influenced by bands such as the Mekons and the Fire Engines, Gang of Four and Siouxsie and the Banshees, the band formed a densely structured and noisy sound that developed from their punk influences. Typically, Dineen would bring a riff that the band would jam on, before Donnelly added vocals. Donnelly was the sole lyricist, and developed a capacity for spontaneous, vernacular and surreal lyrics. Although the band members were self-taught musicians, Dineen was an inventive guitarist, while Keith O'Connell's drumming added a Captain Beefheart influence. Mick Finnegan joined in early in 1979 as a second guitarist, but left after a few months. He was replaced that September by Giordaí Ua Laoghaire, originally from Ovens, County Cork. According to Dineen, Ua Laoghaire was a more accomplished musician and took the band forward in their sound; Dineen has said that until then, the band had been "playing to their abilities". Ua Laoghaire was hired in part because Dineen, who wanted to improve the band's musicianship, had seen him attend an XTC concert at the Arcadia, and noticed that he did not dress like a typical punk fan. Ua Laoghaire recalled of his first rehearsal with the band, "Nun Attax walked in and there was Donnelly. I'd been avoiding him around town for ages because I was afraid of him." Ua Laoghaire left in May 1980 to join Microdisney. In 1981 three of Nun Attax's songs were featured on the live compilation album Kaught at the Kampus, alongside tracks by Mean Features, Urban Blitz and Microdisney. The album was recorded at the Arcadia on 30 August 1980, and released by Reekus Records. Philip O'Connell left in 1980; after which Dineen temporarily played bass on recordings. They hired guitarist Mick Stack in 1982 and renamed as Five Go Down to the Sea? They made radical changes to their sound, recruiting cellist Úna Ní Chanainn, from Glanmire and later of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, who took over the bass parts from Dinnen. They recorded the 1983 EP Knot a Fish released on Garreth Ryan's London-Irish label Kabuki, best known for the tracks "Elephants For Fun And Profit" and "There's a fish on top of Shandon (swears he's Elvis)". Ní Chanainn was with the band for around a year, but stayed in Cork when the group moved to England, becoming again a four-piece. ### London Five Go Down To The Sea? moved to Rotherhithe, London, in 1983. This was in part due to the lack of job prospects resulting from the economic recession that hit Cork in the early 1980s, which lead to high levels of emigration from the city. Their first year was difficult. They lived on the breadline, staying in squats and working as manual labourers. They signed a record contract with Abstract Sounds in 1984 and released the Glee Club EP, produced by Jon Langford and described by McDermott as "an incredibly powerful record that captures the band at the height of its powers". Langford later said of the recordings that "they were hugely entertaining. I thought they were smart and really clever, they all had an amazing wit. A razor sharp, surreal fucking wit. It was like being within someone else's world, they were their own family." Abstract arranged a series of gigs, including a night where the Jesus and Mary Chain played support. The tour helped them develop a cult following, especially in the North of England. In 1985, they met Alan McGee and producer Joe Foster of Creation Records, a label which the band admired. McGee asked them to play a number of gigs at his Living Room club night on Conway Street, Camden. He remembered; "They were bananas. They would bite Joe's head, Donnelly would lick my ears. But they were good to have in the club if there was ever any threat of violence." According to writer David Cavanagh, during band's gigs at the Living Room, "Donnelly...snatched pints from the hands of people in the crowd, and shouted surreal, Flann O'Brien-esque lyrics while his colleagues clonked out ramshackle, all-elbows rhythms." The EP Singing in Braille was released on Creation in August 1985, but sold only 600 copies. Cavanagh believes that a long term relationship with Creation was never likely, and that doing business with them would have been extremely difficult. The label's art director Peter Fowler remembers visiting them in Rotherhithe where he said "they were living with ten builders...They invited us around for tea, and they brought out a tray of jelly babies. Then they turned the TV and sat down. [We] thought 'this is a joke – the hamburgers will be coming out any minute.' But they just sat there with a knife and fork and ate jelly babies. I've spoken since to people who've said "No they weren't doing it for show. That's what they did." Nevertheless, Dineen was unhappy with the Creation recording and said in 2014 that while he liked Foster, the band was trying to do something that they weren't suited to and "were trying to be over the top a bit...and it was a disappointment". The band members often had difficulty interacting with English record labels. Dineen recalled that they found it hard to compromise artistically and "couldn't talk to these people, in the way they wanted us to talk to them, because it wasn't in our way. These record people, they wanted a certain way ... and I couldn't, definitely Donnelly couldn't." Ua Laoghaire suggests that Donnelly may have secretly wanted success, but was unwilling to let other people know. Coughlan believes that they were primed for success and could have been as commercially successful as Echo & the Bunnymen, but were too hesitant to talk to people they did not know, including A&R contacts. He described them as a "bit of a closed shop", which hindered their dealings with record companies. Journalist Fergal Keane agrees, and suggests they would have been more successful with a manager who Donnelly would listen to and who would take care of their business needs. Keane, however, reflects that Donnelly was drinking heavily at the time and "wasn't going to listen to anyone". The band split up at the end of 1985. They were frustrated that they had not secured a longer record contract, disillusioned with the live circuit, and tired of living in poverty. Stack had tired of the constant heavy drinking, and wanted to move to America, while Keith O'Connell disliked life on the road and wanted to move back to Ireland. Donnelly and Dineen played a number of gigs with a drum machine early in 1986, but did not attract industry interest. ### Beethoven Donnelly and Dineen remained in London after the split. Early in 1988 they recruited Dublin-born bassist Maurice Carter and Swiss drummer Daniel Strittmatter and reformed under the name Beethoven Fucking Beethoven, later abbreviated as simply Beethoven. After a debut gig at the Mean Fiddler, the band came to the attention of Keith Cullen, owner of Setanta Records, and for a period he acted as their manager and booked their gigs. The band released an EP, Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem, in early June 1989, produced by Jon Langford of the Mekons and the Three Johns. It was Setanta's first release, and contained five tracks, including a cover of "Day Tripper" by the Beatles. The EP was the NMEs "Single of the Week" in their 3 June 1989 edition. In his review, NME writer Steven Wells called it a "jewel of a record" and wrote that "the centre-stone....is the kidnapping, tarring and feathering, mugging, shagging and destruction of "Day Tripper"." Melody Maker journalist David Stubbs gave a less favourable review, describing Donnelly's vocals as "a wail of 'WHOOOAAAS', like brickies on a roller coaster". Ua Laoghaire found that the new songs lacked the outward humour of Five Go Down To The Sea?, reflecting the bitterness of Donnelly and Dineen's experience with the music industry, but felt they had retained their edge. Cullen later said that while he liked the band, by then "it was all about drinking really. Donnelly and Ricky were always drunk. It was a laugh basically. I think that's the best way to put it." A few weeks later, on 18 June 1989, Donnelly drowned while swimming in Hyde Park's Serpentine Pond, aged 27. Dineen was there with two other friends. He said "It was just an accident. It was one of those boiling hot days that you get in London...and it was a natural thing for Donnelly to take of his clothes down to his jocks and go for a swim. He took off and the lifeguard people came out on a boat and tried to get him out. Mischievous person that Finbarr was, he tried to go under the boat, and he didn't come up. I think he got caught in the undergrowth underneath the water." Dineen had been drinking with him earlier that day, and they had planned to meet at a pub later in the evening. He was deeply affected by his friend's death, and later said: "If you went out for the craic with your friends on a Sunday afternoon and one of them didn't come back, it's surreal-like. Even though we were both 27, you're still young. It changes your whole life because we went from planning our future, thinking we were going to be in England for a while, to the next minute being on the flight back to Ireland." A second EP, planned to feature a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", was never recorded. Grief-stricken and with his career at a sudden end, Dineen returned to Cork, where he said he "drank [his] way through the 90s". ## Legacy and influence Donnelly has been described as charismatic and having a magnetic personality, but was sometimes intimidating in person. Membranes vocalist John Robb said of Donnelly's eccentric stage persona: "Over the years I've heard all manner of tedious bastard bands yapping on about how they broke all the rules and how wild they were – perhaps they never saw Five Go Down to the Sea?". According to Keith O'Connell, Donnelly "was fine during rehearsals, but he used to go off on his own then, especially in London ... We wouldn't know what he was getting up to. He was a big bloke ... people used to be afraid of him." Cathal Coughlan, songwriter and vocalist for Microdisney and the Fatima Mansions, said that he would "not have ended up doing music if I hadn't met Donnelly, and ... would have ended up as a malcontented alcoholic civil servant working in a food factory somewhere in County Offaly". In 2020, Quietus critic Eoin Murray wrote that "listening ... now, almost 40 years later, it's with a mixture of nausea and awe that we hear so much of young Ireland's modern experience in Donnelly's words – in his frustration and frantic determination". Five Go Down to the Sea?, and Donnelly in particular, are credited for influencing the dry humour of Cork bands in later decades. According to critic Des O'Driscoll, Donnelly "helped unleash the quirky originality that became a feature of the Cork music scene". Mick Lynch of Stump agreed, saying that "he gave the rest of us permission to be loopy". Morty McCarthy of The Sultans Of Ping also agreed, saying in 2020 that the band are "the sacred cow of Cork music; they're almost the untouchable band. Every band whose heard of them looks up to [them]." In 2020, Sally Timms of the Mekons said the band were "so funny and so talented and strange", and that Donnelly was the "funniest, most talented and strangest of them all". The English songwriter Pete Astor wrote the song "Donnelly" in memory of the singer. It appears on his album Paradise, released on Danceteria records. Astor said in 2016 that he wrote the song because he had "an incredibly strong memory of Donnelly and the band. The song had to do with the idea that Donnelly was the unsung hero. He was like a complete hero, a total legend, just like Shaun Ryder was and is, and years later just like Richie Edwards was and is. But Finbarr was unsung." In 2001, radio documentary producer and broadcaster Paul McDermott with the assistance of Kieran Hurley and Conor O'Toole produced "Get That Monster off the Stage", a radio documentary about Finbarr Donnelly and his bands. First broadcast on Cork Campus Radio 98.3FM, it has since been revised to include additional contributions and music, and broadcast on RTÉ. To mark the 20th anniversary of Donnelly's death, a tribute night was held at the Pavilion in Cork on 18 June 2009. Featuring covers of their songs, the lineup included Mick Lynch and John Spillane. As of 2020, Dineen is the guitarist and co-songwriter in Big Boy Foolish. A 24-track compilation album, Hiding from the Landlord, was released in April 2020 on Allchival Records, an imprint of AllCity Records. It contains the first official release of "Knocknaheeny Shuffle", which was recorded live during the Knot a Fish sessions, but had only survived on cassette copies. The album was accompanied by a 20-page fanzine with contributions from musicians including Cathal Coughlan, Pete Astor, John Robb, and Virgin Prunes singer Gavin Friday, and writers Kevin Barry, Declan Lynch and Cónal Creedon. Five Go Down to the Sea? were commemorated in August 2020 by a mural on Cork's Grand Parade. The installation was a collaboration between Cork City Libraries and Cork City Council to mark the 40th anniversary of the recording of "Kaught at the Kampus". The two panel mural contained a full size photograph of the band, as well as a reprint of a fanzine interview with them. Writing for the Irish Examiner, Mike McGrath-Bryan said that the mural recognises a "record that has come to be regarded as a document of the Cork music scene at an important juncture, helping to set the tone for the city's subsequent musical reputation, with many of the musicians and personalities involved becoming cult figures in their own right." ## Band members - Finbarr Donnelly – lead vocals, lyrics (1978–1989) - Ricky Dineen – guitar, bass (1978–1989) - Philip O'Connell – bass (1978–1980) - Keith "Smelly" O'Connell – drums (1978–1985) - Mick Finnegan – guitar (1979) - Giordaí Ua Laoghaire – guitar (1979–1980) - Mick Stack – guitar and bass (1982–1985) - Úna Ní Chanainn – cello (1982–1983) - Maurice Carter – bass (1988–1989) - Daniel Strittmatter – drums (1988–1989) ## Discography The following are the band's official releases. They also recorded three Fanning sessions for RTÉ between 1982 and 1984. Nun Attax - Kaught at the Kampus, various artists recorded live at the Arcadia ballroom on 30 August 1980, Reekus Records, 1981 Five Go Down to the Sea? - Knot a Fish, Kabuki Records, 1983. EP - The Glee Club, Abstract Sounds, 1984. EP - Singing in Braille, Creation Records, August 1985, EP - Hiding from the Landlord, All City Records, 2020, career retrospective album Beethoven''' - Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem'', Setanta Records, June 1989. EP
60,651,589	2020 World Snooker Championship	1,171,944,997	Professional snooker tournament	[ "2020 in English sport", "2020 in snooker", "2020s in Sheffield", "August 2020 sports events in the United Kingdom", "July 2020 sports events in the United Kingdom", "Sports competitions in Sheffield", "Sports events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic", "World Snooker Championships" ]	The 2020 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 July to 16 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 44th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible. The final ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season, the tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 18 April to 4 May 2020, but both the qualifying stage and the main rounds were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was one of the first to allow live audiences since the onset of the pandemic, but on the first day it was announced that the event would be played behind closed doors for subsequent days. A limited number of spectators were allowed in for the final two days of the championship. The tournament was organised by the World Snooker Tour, a subsidiary of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and was broadcast by the BBC, Eurosport and Matchroom Sport. The event had a total prize fund of £2,395,000, with the winner receiving £500,000. Qualifying for the tournament was due to be held between 8 and 15 April 2020 but instead took place from 21 to 28 July at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. There were 128 participants in the qualifying rounds, with a mix of professional and invited amateur players, 16 of whom reached the main stage of the tournament where they played the top 16 players in the snooker world rankings. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred. Judd Trump was the defending champion, having won his maiden world title at the previous year's event, defeating John Higgins 18–9 in the final. He lost in the quarter-final stage to Kyren Wilson, falling to the Crucible curse. Ronnie O'Sullivan won his sixth world title, defeating Wilson 18–8 in the final. This was O'Sullivan's 37th ranking event win of his career, the most of any player. Higgins made a maximum break in the 12th frame of his second-round loss to Kurt Maflin. This was Higgins' tenth career maximum break and his first at the World Championship; aged 45, he became the oldest player to make a maximum in a professional competition. ## Background The World Snooker Championship features 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each match played over several . The 32 players for the event are selected through a mix of the snooker world rankings and a pre-tournament qualification round. The first World Snooker Championship took place in 1927, with the final held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England, and the title was won by Joe Davis. Since 1977, the event has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. As of 2022, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the event's most successful participants in the modern era, having both won the championship seven times. The 2019 championship had been won by England's Judd Trump, who defeated Scotland's John Higgins in the final 18–9 to win his first world title. The winner of the 2020 championship received £500,000, from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The event is organised by World Snooker in partnership with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. ### Format The tournament was scheduled to take place between 18 April and 4 May 2020 in Sheffield, England, but was postponed to between 31 July and 16 August as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event featured a 32-player main draw that was contested at the Crucible Theatre, as well as a 128-player qualifying draw played at the English Institute of Sport. Qualifying was originally due to take place from 8 to 15 April but was also delayed, eventually taking place from 21 to 28 July 2020 and finishing three days prior to the start of the main draw. In May 2019, the World Snooker Tour announced the event's qualifying format would be changed from the previous year, with seeding given to players with a higher ranking, and played over four rounds instead of three. The tournament was the last of 17 ranking events in the 2019–20 season on the World Snooker Tour. This was the 44th consecutive year that the tournament had been held at the Crucible, and the 52nd successive world championship to be contested through the modern knockout format. The tournament was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred, as it had been since 2015. The top 16 players in the latest 2019–20 snooker world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players. Defending champion Judd Trump was automatically seeded first overall. The remaining 15 seeds were allocated based on the latest world rankings, released after the 2020 Tour Championship which was the penultimate event of the season. Matches in the first round of the main draw were played as the best of 19 frames, second-round matches and quarter-finals were played as the best of 25 frames, and the semi-finals were played over a maximum of 33 frames. The final was played over two days as a best-of-35-frames match. ### Coverage The tournament was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Television and BBC Online, as well as Eurosport. Internationally, the event was broadcast by Eurosport in Europe and Australia; by Superstars Online, Zhibo.tv, Youku and CCTV in China; by NowTV in Hong Kong; and by DAZN in Canada, the United States, and Brazil. In all other countries, Matchroom Sport broadcast the main tournament, as well as the qualifying rounds, via their new online subscription service. The World Snooker Championship was intended to be one of the first sporting events to allow spectators after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. A reduced audience was to be admitted to allow for social distancing. The event, along with the Glorious Goodwood Festival and two county cricket matches, was being used as a trial for live audiences by the UK Government, ahead of restrictions being lifted in October. On the first day of the event, UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced that the sporting pilots were being ended, and spectators would no longer be allowed inside the venue. The World Snooker Tour confirmed an hour later that fans would be admitted for the rest of the first day, but matches were to be played behind closed doors for the remainder of the tournament. During the semi-final stages, the UK Government announced that the previously postponed sporting event pilots would resume. This meant that the reduced capacity crowd from the start of the tournament would be allowed back for both days of the final. ### Prize fund The winner of the event received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below. - Winner: £500,000 - Runner-up: £200,000 - Semi-finalists: £100,000 - Quarter-finalists: £50,000 - Last 16: £30,000 - Last 32: £20,000 - Last 48: £15,000 - Last 80: £10,000 - Last 112: £5,000 - Highest break (qualifying stage included): £15,000 - Maximum break (main stage): £40,000 - Maximum break (qualifying stage): £10,000 ## Tournament summary ### Qualifying stage Qualifying for the event was held between 21 and 28 July 2020 over four separate rounds, with 16 players progressing into the main draw. James Cahill, who defeated five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the main stage in 2019, lost in the opening round to amateur player Ben Mertens. Mertens, aged 15, became the youngest player to win a match at the event. Mertens lost in the second round to Sam Baird. Allan Taylor won the Challenge Tour play-off to gain a two-year professional tour card prior to qualifying, and won both of his first two matches 6–1. In these matches he scored four century breaks, including a career-high 145 – the highest break in qualifying. Six-time runner-up Jimmy White won his first two qualifying matches over Ivan Kakovskii and Michael Georgiou, but lost in the third round to Robert Milkins. Gary Wilson, who reached the semi-finals in the 2019 event, lost in the third round of qualifying to Swiss player Alexander Ursenbacher 3–6. Twice runner-up Ali Carter started in round three, but lost his opening match to Louis Heathcote. This was the first time since 2002 that Carter did not play in the main stage of the event. The final round of qualifying was played on 27 and 28 July, with matches played as the best of 19 frames over two . Ursenbacher became the first Swiss player to play the main stage of the tournament, after defeating Andrew Higginson 10–8. Ursenbacher led 6–2 after the first session, but the lead was cut to 9–8 before he won frame 18. Alan McManus qualified for the main stage for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2016 after defeating Heathcote 10–5. Elliot Slessor won the final nine frames of the match to defeat Martin O'Donnell 10–3. Slessor had promised to plan a wedding with his girlfriend if he made it through the qualifying rounds. Liang Wenbo led Fergal O'Brien 5–2, but won just two frames of the next eight to trail 7–8. The match went to a at 9–9 which Liang won with a break of 141. Anthony McGill lost only one frame in his win over Baird, whilst Norwegian player Kurt Maflin defeated Matthew Selt by the same scoreline, 10–1, to qualify for the first time since 2015. Slessor and Ursenbacher made their debuts in the main draw of the World Championship. Other debutants in the main draw were Jamie Clarke, Ashley Carty and Jordan Brown. Anthony Hamilton qualified for the main draw for the first time since 2008, but withdrew because of health concerns over COVID-19. As an asthmatic, he had criticised the decision to allow a limited number of spectators into the Crucible. Defending champion Judd Trump said Hamilton should have made his decision earlier, as by participating in the qualifiers despite knowing there would be spectators in the final stages he had denied a place to another player. ### First round The first round took place between 31 July and 5 August, each match played over two sessions as the best of 19 frames. Defending champion Judd Trump played Tom Ford in the opening match. Ford won the first frame, and was on track for a maximum break but missed the pot on the 13th . Ford won the second and third frame as well, before Trump won the next two. Ford won the following two frames, including a break of 140 to lead 5–2, but lost the last two to lead 5–4 after the first session. Ford won the opening frame on the resumption of play, but Trump won the next three frames to take the lead for the first time in the match. Ford won frame 14, before Trump made a break of 131 in the next – his 100th century break of the season. Trump also won the next frame to lead 9–7. Ford won frame 17, but Trump won the match in the next 10–8. Trump became only the second player to make 100 century breaks in a season, after Neil Robertson in the 2013–14 snooker season. The 2015 winner Stuart Bingham met qualifier Ashley Carty and led 5–4 after the first session. Bingham then won the next four frames, including a maximum attempt that fell apart on 12 black balls, and a 109 to lead 9–4. Carty then won the next three frames, before Bingham won frame 17 with a break of 82 to win 10–7. The 2019 UK Championship winner Ding Junhui played Mark King. Ding had not played in any tournaments since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but took a 5–4 lead after the first session. The pair were tied at 5–5 to 7–7 before Ding won two frames to lead 9–7. Two long frames were won by King to tie the match at 9–9 and force a deciding frame. Ding won the frame after potting a mid-range to win 10–9. Three-time champion Mark Williams was drawn against Alan McManus. After the first session of play, McManus led 5–4, despite losing the first two frames. In the second session, Williams won six straight frames to win the match 10–5. After the victory, Williams said "he outplayed me and I was happy to be 5–4 down because it could have been 7–2" after the first session, and added that in the second session he "put pressure on [McManus], then he got frustrated and I knew I had him as long as I didn't make silly mistakes". Four-time champion John Higgins met Matthew Stevens, and held a 6–3 lead after the first session. Stevens won frame 10 with a break of 138, before Higgins won the next two frames to lead 8–4. Stevens won frame 13 but Higgins won the next two frames, including requiring in frame 14 to win 10–5. The 2010 winner Neil Robertson, met Liang Wenbo and led 5–4 after the first session after breaks of 140, 123 and 87. Liang won the opening frame of the second session to tie the match at 5–5, before Robertson won the next five frames to win the match 10–5. The previous year's semi-finalist David Gilbert played Kurt Maflin, who had not qualified since the 2015 event. Maflin led 3–1 and later 5–4 after the first session. Between frames 9 and 13 there were four century breaks in a row. Maflin attempted a maximum break, scoring 105 in frame 16 to tie the match at 8–8. After running out of position for the 14th black, he gave "the finger" to the table, and received a warning from referee Tatiana Woollaston. Maflin then won the next two frames to win 10–8. Five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan averaged less than 14 seconds per shot as he opened an 8–1 lead in the first session against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. This was quicker than any player's average during the season. In the second session, O'Sullivan clinched the next two frames in less than half an hour to win the match 10–1. With a match time of 108 minutes, O'Sullivan's victory set a new record for the fastest best-of-19-frames match; this was 41 minutes faster than the previous record set by Shaun Murphy in his 10–0 victory over Luo Honghao in 2019. Yan Bingtao played debutant Elliot Slessor, and led 8–1 after the first session. Yan also led 9–2, before Slessor won five frames in a row. Yan won the match 10–7. Anthony McGill took a 5–4 lead after the first session over Jack Lisowski. McGill led 9–6 before Lisowski won three frames to force a deciding frame. The frame was fought over the final , which was potted by McGill to win 10–9. The 2005 champion Shaun Murphy was defeated by Noppon Saengkham 10–4 in a match Murphy described as "the worst two days of my snooker years". Three-time champion Mark Selby struggled for form as he defeated Jordan Brown 10–6. In his match against Jamie Clarke, Mark Allen scored two century breaks in the first two frames, and made three other century breaks but lost the match 8–10. Alexander Ursenbacher won the first frame in his match against Barry Hawkins, but won only one other frame and lost 2–10. The final match of the first round was held between Stephen Maguire and Martin Gould. Maguire had won the preceding event at the Tour Championship. Gould made three breaks of 103 and a break of 100 to open a 7–2 lead after the first session, and eventually won the match 10–3. ### Second round The second round took place between 5 and 9 August, each match played over three sessions as the best of 25 frames. Kurt Maflin took on John Higgins, with Higgins taking the first two frames. Maflin responded by winning the next four frames in a row, before Higgins won frame seven with a break of 101. The final frame of the session was won by Maflin with a break of 81 to lead 5–3. Higgins won frame nine, but Maflin won the next two frames to take a 7–4 lead. In frame 12, Higgins made the highest break of the tournament, a maximum break of 147. The last maximum break at the event was made by Stephen Hendry in 2012. This was Higgins' tenth career maximum break and his first at the event; aged 45, he became the oldest player to make a maximum in a professional competition. They shared frames 13 and 14, however, Higgins won the next two frames to tie the match at 8–8. Maflin won the next two frames, before Higgins took the lead by winning the next three. Maflin, however, also won the three frames to win the match 13–11. Mark Williams won the first frame in the match against Stuart Bingham, with Bingham winning the next two frames. In frame four, Bingham was seven points ahead, but missed potting the black ball off the . Williams potted the black, and also the to win the frame. Williams then took the next three frames, and led 5–3 after the first session. Williams took frame nine, before Bingham won four straight frames to lead 7–6. Williams won the next two frames, but missed a in frame 16 allowing Bingham to tie the match at 8–8. Bingham won frame 17 with a break of 70, before Williams won the next two frames. With the scores later tied at 11–11, Williams won the next two frames to win the match 13–11. Judd Trump won the first frame against Yan Bingtao, while Yan scored a break of 133 in frame two, before Trump won frame three. Yan then won the next four frames to lead 5–2. Yan missed the final in frame eight, allowing Trump to make a and finish the session 3–5 behind. Trump won the second session 6–2, to carry a 9–7 lead into the final session, which he won 13–11 with a break of 127. Mark Selby and Noppon Saengkham were tied at 8–8 after the first two sessions of their match, with three-time champion Selby taking a 12–10 lead. Noppon won the next two frames, however, to force a deciding frame. In frame 25, Selby made a century break to win the match 13–12. Kyren Wilson met Martin Gould in the second round; this was Wilson's first match of the main draw, having received a bye through the first round when Anthony Hamilton withdrew from the event at the end of qualifying. Wilson won five of the first six frames of the match, before Gould won the final two of the session. At 5–3 ahead, Wilson won the next five frames in a row to lead 10–3. Gould won the next two frames, but Wilson won the final frame of the second session to lead 11–5. In the final session, Gould won the first three frames, and had won the fourth barring foul shots. In a snooker, Gould missed and conceded a , allowing Wilson enough points to win the frame. Wilson won the match in the 22nd frame, 13–9. Barry Hawkins trailed 2010 champion Neil Robertson 3–5 after the first session of their match, with Robertson winning frame nine to lead by three frames. Hawkins won the next four straight frames to take the lead 7–6. Robertson won the next two frames to lead again, but Hawkins tied the match at 8–8 after two sessions. Robertson won the next two frames, before Hawkins scored a century break in frame 19. Robertson won the next three frames to win 13–9. Ronnie O'Sullivan, making a record 28th consecutive appearance at the event, was level with Ding Junhui after the first session 4–4. O'Sullivan won frame nine, before Ding won three frames with a 64 and two century breaks to lead 7–5. O'Sullivan also won three frames in a row, before Ding won frame 16 to level at 8–8. O'Sullivan won the match 13–10 to reach a record 19th quarter-final at the event. The final match of the second round was played between two qualifiers – Anthony McGill and debutant Jamie Clarke. Clarke led 7–2; but was reprimanded by McGill for standing in his line of sight during a shot. The pair were reprimanded by referee Jan Verhaas, however, McGill followed Clarke out of the arena. Clarke later tweeted "You want to dance, let's dance". McGill won the remaining five frames of the session to trail 7–8. The pair were tied at 11–11 before Clarke took frame 23 and missed a shot on the to win in the next allowing McGill to tie the scores at 12–12. In the deciding frame, Clarke failed to escape from a snooker, and left a free ball, which was enough for McGill to win the match 13–12. ### Quarter-finals The quarter-finals took place from 9 to 11 August, each match played over three sessions as the best of 25 frames. Mark Selby played Neil Robertson, with the first frame lasting over 58 minutes. Selby took the frame, and all of the first five of the match. Robertson won the next three frames, including a four-ball in the final frame of the session. Selby then won the second session of the match 6–2 to lead 11–5, winning four frames in a row. He also won frame 17 with a break of 91 to lead 12–5, but Robertson won the next two frames. Selby won the match 13–7 when Robertson missed a black ball from the spot. Afterwards, Robertson praised Selby's consistent defensive , whilst Selby acknowledged he had lacked confidence that he could reach that stage of the tournament again. Defending champion Judd Trump played Kyren Wilson in the second quarter-final. Wilson led 5–3 after the first session, but Trump pulled to one behind twice in the second session. Wilson, however, extended the lead to 10–6 by winning the last three frames of the second session. Trump made breaks of 72, 100 and 62 to trail by one frame, but Wilson won three frames of his own to win the match 13–9. As a first-time champion, Trump was facing the Crucible curse, where since 1977 no player had successfully defended a maiden world title. Trump finished the season with the highest number of ranking events won in a single season (six), and the most century breaks made by any player in the 2019–20 season (102), just one short of Neil Robertson's record in 2013–14. Two former world champions, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams, met in the quarter-finals. O'Sullivan was asked before the match about the players meeting in 2020, as both players turned professional in 1992. He commented that the younger players were "so bad", and that he would have to "lose an arm and a leg" to be outside the top 50 in the snooker world rankings. Williams later reflected that O'Sullivan's remarks had also been aimed at him, and they were "disrespectful". O'Sullivan took a 2–1 lead, but Williams won five straight frames to lead the session 6–2. O'Sullivan missed in frame nine and went five behind, before he won six of the next seven to tie the match 8–8 after two sessions. Williams won two of the next three frames to lead 10–9, before O'Sullivan made breaks of 104, 61, 65 and 133 to go ahead 12–10, one frame from victory. In frame 23, O'Sullivan missed the blue, which was the only ball he required to win the match, with Williams making a clearance to force a respotted black. Williams missed a shot on the black, then O'Sullivan potted it to win the match 13–10. Two qualifiers, Anthony McGill and Kurt Maflin contested their first quarter-finals at the World Snooker Championship. McGill won the first three frames of the match with breaks of 53, 63 and 78. Maflin won frame four, and was 54 points ahead in the fifth until he missed a routine pot on the red ball, allowing McGill to win the frame. McGill finished the first session 7–1 ahead. Maflin won five of the next seven frames of the match, before McGill won the final frame of the second session to stay 10–6 ahead. While McGill won the first frame of the final session to lead 11–6, Maflin then won four of the next five frames before McGill wrapped up a 13–10 win. ### Semi-finals The semi-finals took place from 12 to 14 August, each of the two matches played over four sessions as the best of 33 frames. The first semi-final was between Kyren Wilson and Anthony McGill. McGill won the first two frames with breaks of 83 and 78, before winning frame three after Wilson missed a pot on the green. Wilson won frame four, before McGill won the next two to lead 5–1, with the session ending 6–2 to McGill. In the second session, Wilson won three of the next four frames including a century break to trail 5–7. McGill won frame 13, but Wilson won the final three frames of the second session with three breaks over 75 to tie the match 8–8. Wilson made breaks of 99 and 116 to lead 13–10, but the final frame of the third session was won by McGill. McGill made his first two century breaks of the tournament in the final session to tie the match at 14–14, and then took the lead at 16–15. McGill became trapped in a snooker in the penultimate frame, leaving the final red available for Wilson to make a clearance and set up a deciding frame. In the final frame, McGill was snookered behind the , and conceded 35 penalty points, missing the shot on eight occasions. This was enough points for McGill to require snookers to remain in the competition. In the next shot, Wilson played a safety shot, and went allowing McGill enough points to be able to win. With the final red ball being slightly above the middle pocket, both players missed shots from the cushion, before McGill potted the red, but ran out of position. Wilson then the green, which won the match. The deciding frame lasted 62 minutes and made a new record for the most combined points scored in a single frame at the Crucible, 103–83. After fluking the match winning ball, Wilson became emotional, and apologised to McGill. He stated afterwards, "I didn't want it to end that way, I have dreamed of this situation and I didn't want to win the match on a fluke." McGill commented, "I feel as if the match was stolen from me – not by Kyren [Wilson] but by the snooker gods". After the deciding frame, 1991 champion John Parrott remarked, "I have never, in 44 years of playing this wonderful game, seen a frame of snooker like that. It was unbelievable." The second semi-final was between Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan won four of the first five frames with there being a lot of in the session, the balls being replaced to counteract the number of bad contacts. Selby trailed 2–5, but won the final frame of the session to trail 3–5. Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry suggested that Selby may have felt he had "almost won" the session after claiming the final frame and avoided been 6-2 down. Selby then won the next four frames of the match to lead 7–5, before winning two more frames to win the second session 6–2. In the final frame of the session, O'Sullivan rapped his hand on the table in frustration before Selby made a break of 76. Selby took frame 17 with a break of 97, and shared the first four frames to lead 11–9. Selby then won the next frame to lead 13–9, having won 12 out of 17 frames. O'Sullivan then won the last two frames of the session. He also won the next two frames of the final session, including a break of 114, the first century of the match. Selby won the next two frames to lead 16–14, with O'Sullivan playing attacking shots, "hit-and-hope" snooker escapes and "going for broke". O'Sullivan then won the next two frames with breaks of 138 and 71 to also go to a deciding frame. In the decider, O'Sullivan potted a long red, from which followed a 64 break, but he broke down when he missed a long range red to the green pocket. Selby cleared until the final red, and a series of safety shots were played, with O'Sullivan playing one more erratic escape from a snooker, and he potted match ball after Selby failed to leave the red safe. Post-match, Selby said "I felt he was being a bit disrespectful to me and the game, not many players would just get down and hit them at 100 mph when you put them in a snooker. Some would look to work it out or put you in trouble. It just felt like he was doing that throughout the match..." O'Sullivan, however, responded to all questions stating that his was poor, and that he had been struggling to play during the tournament. He also stated that his shot choice was due to his inability to control shots out of snookers the same way Selby did. ### Final The final was played on 15 and 16 August as a best-of-35-frames match held over four sessions. German referee Marcel Eckardt took charge of his first World Championship final. The two players in the final were five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and first-time finalist Kyren Wilson. Although O'Sullivan had won four of their six previous meetings, Wilson had won their latest encounter in the semi-finals of the 2020 Welsh Open. O'Sullivan took a 3–1 lead in the first session after a number of missed shots by his opponent. He left the pink ball over the pocket in the fifth frame, allowing Wilson to take advantage and move within a single frame at 2–3. O'Sullivan won the next three frames, including the first century break of the match in frame seven, to lead 6–2 after the first session. BBC pundit Stephen Hendry commented, "I tend to think the match is over. I hope I'm wrong, but I think 6–2 is too far for Kyren to come back from". Wilson made a break of 53 in frame nine but then made a tactical error and lost the frame, before O'Sullivan took the next to lead 8–2. Wilson won the next four frames, compiling breaks of 92, 50, and 58, to trail 6–8. In frame 15, he unintentionally a red ball on going into the after potting the blue, allowing O'Sullivan to take the frame. Wilson compiled a century break in the next frame, but missed a red in the final frame of the second session to trail 7–10 overnight. The 1997 champion Ken Doherty suggested that failing to pot the red was a missed opportunity for Wilson, whilst O'Sullivan would be "over the moon" to lose only five frames in the session. Six-time champion Steve Davis observed that O'Sullivan's body language during the session might suggest he was "struggling" and "deteriorating". Wilson made a long pot in frame 18, before taking the frame with a break of 73. O'Sullivan responded by winning all of the next seven frames to finish the third session 17–8 ahead. The final session lasted just 11 minutes and contained only a single frame, as O'Sullivan won the match 18–8 with a break of 96. This was O'Sullivan's sixth world title and his 37th ranking event victory, a record number of ranking titles. He revealed afterwards that he had doubted his form was good enough to win the event: "There was a part of me that decided that I didn't play enough – and I still probably don't play enough – to justify winning a tournament of this stature". ## Main draw Numbers given in brackets after players' names show the seedings for the top 16 players in the competition. Players in bold denote match winners. ## Qualifying Qualifying for the 2020 World Snooker Championship took place from 21 to 28 July 2020 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, using an eight-table set-up. Starting with a pool of 128 players, the qualifying competition consisted of four knock-out rounds. Although all matches were originally organised to be the best of 19 frames, the first three rounds were played as the best of 11 frames, with only the final round being played as the best of 19. The 16 winners of the fourth-round matches progressed to the main stage of the tournament at the Crucible Theatre. The 128 qualifiers included 94 tour players ranked outside the top 16, who were joined by 34 wildcard amateur players. The amateur players were selected as follows: - WSF Open semi-finalists: Ashley Hugill, Iulian Boiko, Dylan Emery, Ross Muir - 2019–20 Challenge Tour – top ranked player: Lukas Kleckers - WSF Junior Open semi-finalists: Sean Maddocks, Aaron Hill, Wu Yize - World Women's Snooker Tour – top ranked player: Reanne Evans - EBSA European Snooker Championship winner: Andrew Pagett - EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championship semi-finalists: Hayden Staniland, Ben Mertens, Brian Ochoiski - EBSA European Under-18 Snooker Championship semi-finalist: Connor Benzey - 2019–20 Challenge Tour Play-off competitors: Dean Young, Adam Duffy, Oliver Brown, Allan Taylor, Patrick Whelan, Rory McLeod, Jake Nicholson, Tyler Rees - Q School Order of Merit: Ross Bulman, Ian Preece, Paul Davison, Hamza Akbar, Chae Ross, Christopher Keogan, Robin Hull, Sydney Wilson, Daniel Womersley - Austrian national champion: Florian Nüßle - Polish national champion: Antoni Kowalski - Russian national champion: Ivan Kakovskii A total of 17 professional players – 13 from mainland China – chose not to participate in the event due to COVID-19 safety concerns: Zhou Yuelong, Xiao Guodong, Zhao Xintong, Li Hang, Yuan Sijun, Marco Fu, Mei Xiwen, Zhang Anda, James Wattana, Zhang Jiankang, Chang Bingyu, Andy Lee, Chen Zifan, Xu Si, Bai Langning, Lei Peifan and Steve Mifsud. The 2002 champion Peter Ebdon vacated his qualifying position after retiring in April 2020. Two invited players from the World Women's Snooker Tour, Ng On-yee and Nutcharut Wongharuthai, also declined to participate due to COVID-19 safety concerns. The qualifying draw was released on 10 July 2020. The first qualifying round consisted of 64 players. Professional tour players ranked 81–112 were seeded 65–96, with the remaining tour players and invited amateurs being unseeded. The second qualifying round consisted of players seeded 33–64 against first round winners. The third qualifying round consisted of players seeded 1–32 against second round winners. The fourth qualifying round was played out between the 32 third round winners. ### Qualifying draw The results from qualifying are shown below. Players in bold denote match winners. ## Century breaks ### Main stage centuries A total of 79 century breaks were made by 27 players during the main stage of the 2020 World Snooker Championship. - 147, 101 – John Higgins - 140, 132, 122, 105 – Neil Robertson - 140 – Tom Ford - 138, 133, 117, 115, 114, 112, 106, 105, 104, 101, 101, 101 – Ronnie O'Sullivan - 138 – Matthew Stevens - 136, 122, 105, 105, 104 – Mark Allen - 136, 122 – Anthony McGill - 136 – Jamie Clarke - 133, 130, 119 – Yan Bingtao - 131, 127, 104, 100 – Judd Trump - 131, 102 – David Gilbert - 130 – Mark Williams - 129, 103, 103, 103, 100 – Martin Gould - 125, 119, 118, 104, 101 – Ding Junhui - 124, 120, 119, 102 – Mark Selby - 124, 105, 102, 101 – Kurt Maflin - 123 – Elliot Slessor - 122, 105 – Noppon Saengkham - 118 – Ashley Carty - 117, 111, 104 – Barry Hawkins - 116, 116, 113, 109, 105, 104, 100, 100 – Kyren Wilson - 115, 109 – Stuart Bingham - 113 – Liang Wenbo - 111 – Mark King - 107, 102 – Jack Lisowski - 105 – Alan McManus - 101 – Shaun Murphy ### Qualifying stage centuries A total of 51 century breaks were made by 32 players during the qualifying stage of the 2020 World Snooker Championship. - 145, 134, 120, 112 – Allan Taylor - 141 – Liang Wenbo - 141 – Alexander Ursenbacher - 139, 124 – Robert Milkins - 134 – Wu Yize - 133, 111, 101 – Tom Ford - 133, 105 – Hossein Vafaei - 133 – Liam Highfield - 131, 110, 104 – Ricky Walden - 131, 109 – Anthony Hamilton - 130, 124, 111, 101 – Elliot Slessor - 127, 114, 102 – Luca Brecel - 127, 109 – Jordan Brown - 127 – Martin Gould - 125 – Mark King - 123, 108 – Ryan Day - 123, 108 – Anthony McGill - 121 – Michael Georgiou - 120 – Michael White - 114, 111 – Barry Pinches - 112 – Oliver Lines - 110 – Sam Baird - 109 – Chen Feilong - 109 – Craig Steadman - 104 – Hammad Miah - 103 – Kurt Maflin - 102 – Sunny Akani - 102 – Si Jiahui - 101 – Aaron Hill - 101 – Jackson Page - 100 – Gerard Greene - 100 – Robbie Williams
43,359,294	All About That Bass	1,172,553,155	null	[ "2014 debut singles", "2014 songs", "American hip hop songs", "Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles", "Body image in popular culture", "Bubblegum pop songs", "Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles", "Doo-wop songs", "Epic Records singles", "Irish Singles Chart number-one singles", "Meghan Trainor songs", "Music controversies", "Music videos directed by Fatima Robinson", "Number-one singles in Australia", "Number-one singles in Austria", "Number-one singles in Denmark", "Number-one singles in Germany", "Number-one singles in Hungary", "Number-one singles in New Zealand", "Number-one singles in Poland", "Number-one singles in Scotland", "Number-one singles in Spain", "Number-one singles in Switzerland", "Songs written by Kevin Kadish", "Songs written by Meghan Trainor", "UK Singles Chart number-one singles" ]	"All About That Bass" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, released on June 11, 2014, through Epic Records. The song was included on Trainor's debut extended play (EP), Title (2014), and her debut studio album of the same name (2015). Written by Trainor and producer Kevin Kadish, "All About That Bass" is a bubblegum pop, doo-wop and hip hop track. Trainor, who as a teenager struggled with her negative body image, was inspired to write the song to promote self-acceptance. Some music critics praised "All About That Bass"'s production and memorable message, while others called it a novelty song and criticized the failure of its lyrics to empower every body type. The song was nominated for awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. It was the best-selling song by a female artist during the 2010s in the United States, and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also reached number one in 58 countries and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom, becoming the fourth best-selling song of 2014 with 11 million copies sold worldwide. Fatima Robinson directed the song's music video, which features 1950s-inspired aesthetics and a pink pastel backdrop. The video was released on June 10, 2014, and played an important role in the song's rise to prominence. "All About That Bass" inspired parodies and cover versions. Trainor performed the song on television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Country Music Association Awards, and The X Factor UK, and included it on the set lists of her concert tours That Bass Tour and MTrain Tour (2015), and The Untouchable Tour (2016). ## Background After independently releasing three albums herself between 2009 and 2010, Meghan Trainor decided to write songs for other singers because she considered herself "one of the chubby girls who would never be an artist". In 2012, she signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music, a Nashville, Tennessee-based music publishing firm, and moved to Nashville the following November. American songwriter Kevin Kadish met Trainor in June 2013 at the request of Carla Wallace, a co-owner of Big Yellow Dog. Kadish liked Trainor's voice and booked a writing session with her the following month. He said it was "like a blind date" because they had a strong song-writing affinity and a mutual love of pop music from the 1950s and 1960s. Kadish read a list of potential song titles to Trainor, of which "All Bass, No Treble" was her favorite. Trainor was inspired by her teenage problems with self-acceptance and body image, and suggested these as a basis for the lyrics. She told Rolling Stone Kadish had experienced similar problems during his childhood and could relate to these themes. She suggested a booty theme with "it's about the bass, not the treble". Trainor was also inspired by Bruno Mars's "Just the Way You Are" (2010), and criticized the use of electronically edited images in beauty magazines. Kadish played a drum beat while Trainor sang the hook, "I'm all about that bass, 'bout the bass, no treble". Kadish and Trainor wanted to incorporate influences of 1950s doo-wop, a genre Trainor found catchy, into the song, which they wrote within 40 minutes. According to Kadish, he and Trainor equally contributed to the lyrics and melody, and Kadish finished the demo of "All About That Bass" two to three days later. Although both were satisfied with the song, they doubted its commercial prospects. They pitched it to several record labels, who said it would not be successful because of its retro-styled composition and wanted to rerecord it using synthesizers, which Kadish and Trainor refused. Trainor sang "All About That Bass" for Paul Pontius, who was the A&R manager for Epic Records chairman L.A. Reid. She performed the song the following week using a ukulele for Reid, who signed her with the record label 20 minutes later. Reid decided that the demo, with additional mastering, should be the song's final cut. Speaking in 2015, he said he considered it "lightning in a bottle" and realized at their first meeting Trainor "was going to explode". ## Composition and lyrical interpretation "All About That Bass" is three minutes and eight seconds long. The song was produced, engineered, programmed, sound designed, and mixed by Kadish—who also played drums, electric guitar, and bass guitar—at the Carriage House studio in Nolensville, Tennessee. David Baron played the piano, baritone saxophone, and Hammond organ. Trainor provided the track's clapping and percussion, and Dave Kutch mastered the recording at the Mastering Palace in New York City. "All About That Bass" is a bubblegum pop, doo-wop and hip hop song. Kelsey McKinney of Vox characterized it as retro-R&B pop, while Slate's Chris Molanphy described its style as "vintage white-girl, Italo-Latin soul". The track has a 1950s-inspired throwback soul beat, and influences from 1960s genres—soul-pop, groove, Motown bounce and girl group pop. "All About That Bass" includes syncopated handclaps and bass instrumentation. In the song's outro, Trainor alternates between wordless vocal ad-libs and a pitched-down echo of "bass, bass, bass" at the end of the chorus mark. She raps some of the lyrics. According to Molanphy, it has "a scatting tempo and shimmying melody", which has been compared with South Korean group Koyote's song "Happy Mode" (2006) and American band Phish's song "Contact" (1989). The lyrics of "All About That Bass" are a call to embrace inner beauty, and to promote positive body image and self-acceptance. The line "I'm bringing booty back" references Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" (2006). In her song, Trainor criticizes the fashion industry for creating unreachable beauty standards. She affirms the listeners their bodies are flawless, and asks them to "move along" if they are only attracted to thin women. Kevin O'Keeffe of The Atlantic compared its lyrical message to those of Kesha's "We R Who We R" (2010), Pink's "Fuckin' Perfect" (2010), and Sara Bareilles' "Brave" (2013), among others. The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan called "All About That Bass" a 2014 version of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" (2002). ## Release "All About That Bass" was released as the lead single from Trainor's debut extended play (EP) Title in 2014 and her studio album of the same name the following year. Epic Records released the song for digital download in several countries on June 30, 2014, as Trainor's debut single, and serviced it to radio stations in the United States on the following day. In the United Kingdom, it became available to stream on August 14, and for download on September 28. Sony Music sent the track to radio stations in Italy on September 5 and the United Kingdom's BBC Radio 1 added it to its playlist three days later. An EP titled "All About That Bass" was released in Austria, Germany and Switzerland on October 3; it also included the tracks "Title", "Dear Future Husband", and "Close Your Eyes". On the same day, "All About That Bass" was released as a CD single in Germany with only "Title" as its b-side. As "All About That Bass" began rising in popularity, Radio Disney's vice president of programming Phil Guerini asked Epic to send it a family-friendly version of the song with lyrics suitable for all audiences. The record label agreed to this because it wanted to maximize airplay and reach as many radio formats as possible. In the bowdlerized version, the line "But I can shake it, shake it, like I'm supposed to do" was replaced with "But Imma make it, make it, like I'm supposed to do"; and the line "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night" became "Boys like the girls for the beauty they hold inside"; it was also used on adult contemporary radio stations. Trainor and Kadish refused to make this version available for digital download because they believed it would "water down" the original. ## Critical reception Some music critics viewed "All About That Bass" as a novelty song. MTV News named it the sixth-best track of 2014, while Time named it the sixth-worst of that year. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called it a "shimmery" and "cheeky [...] hit" but criticized Trainor's unenthusiastic and drawn-out delivery, and accused her of imitating black music. Molanphy described the lyrics as "effortlessly memorable" and complimented the production, but worried the misuse of the word "treble" in its lyrics might ruin the word's meaning for a whole generation. The lyrics of "All About That Bass" caused controversy; some critics called the song anti-feminist and accused Trainor of shaming thin women. Kris Ex of Complex said Trainor imitated body standards often used to stereotype black women and appropriated colloquialisms that are associated with African-American Vernacular English. Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine called the song "faux empowerment" and criticized Trainor for encouraging women to rely on men's opinions for validation. McKinney said some of its lyrics promote a body-positive attitude and high self-worth while others contradict those values by denigrating other women. The Independent writer Yomi Adegoke argued the track's substitution of conventional beauty standards with new ones is a poor representation of body positivity, and was insulted by its statement men find only curvy women attractive. In response, Trainor said; "I didn't work this hard to hate on skinny people, I wrote the song to help my body confidence—and to help others". Writing for The Guardian, Sullivan and Beejoli Shah defended "All About That Bass"; Shah suggested critics were reading too much into its lyrics and that "this isn't an academic polemic on modern womanhood: it's a pop song". Ashley White of Florida Today thought the song did not shame thin women, instead interpreting its lyrical message as "no one—skinny, fat or in between—should have to feel uncomfortable or imperfect in their skin". Entertainment Weekly's Melissa Maerz named "All About That Bass" one of the two best tracks on Title, describing it as a "boomin' booty ode". Shah praised its lyrics and bassline but felt it did not signal a long career for Trainor. Writing for Spin, Dan Weiss called the song a "fluke hit" but noted it was historic and would uplift more listeners than it offended. Sullivan stated that while the track's palatable nature and retro-inspired "cuteness" contributed to its success, the unwavering body-positive message of its lyrics was its biggest appeal. Stereogum's Chris DeVille considered criticisms of the lyrics valid but praised the "pleasant swagger" in Trainor's expressionless delivery and its joyful nature, finding it a clever update on its retro influences. Yahoo! writer Paul Grein called "All About That Bass" one of the greatest and most successful contemporaneous "message songs". Evan Sawdey of PopMatters called the song optimistic, lively, and "absolutely delightful", and concluded that it was one of the most enjoyable songs of 2014. ## Accolades "All About That Bass" reached number 23 on The Village Voice's annual year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll of 2014. The song was nominated for Best Song with a Social Message at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards and for Favorite Song at the 41st People's Choice Awards. At the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, it received three nominations, winning Top Hot 100 Song and Top Digital Song. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, "All About That Bass" was nominated in the categories Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The song was also nominated for the Dorian Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards, LOS40 Music Awards, Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, Radio Disney Music Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards. ## Chart performance "All About That Bass" was a sleeper hit; it debuted at number 84 on the US Billboard Hot 100 issued for July 26, 2014, and reached number one on September 20, making Trainor the 21st female artist in Billboard Hot 100 chart history to do so with her debut single. "All About That Bass" spent eight consecutive weeks at number one, the longest run for a female artist in 2014, and any Epic Records artist in the chart's history. During the first six weeks at number one, the song led an all-female top five, breaking the record for the longest time women occupied the top five. It was also the first debut single to spend at least 15 weeks in the top two and the 10th song to spend 25 weeks in the top 10. "All About That Bass" was the best-selling song by a female artist in the 2010s, selling 5.8 million digital downloads in the United States. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the song Diamond, which denotes 10 million units based on sales and track-equivalent on-demand streams. On the Canadian Hot 100, "All About That Bass" peaked at number one, sold 408,000 copies in the country, and was certified 8× Platinum by Music Canada. In the United Kingdom, "All About That Bass" accumulated 1.17 million local streams and reached number 33 on the singles chart, becoming the first song in the chart's history to reach the top 40 based on streams alone. Following its release for digital download, the song peaked at number one and sold 884,000 copies; the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it 2× Platinum. It also reached number one in Australia and New Zealand, attaining 9× Platinum and 3× Platinum certifications respectively, and peaked at number one in 58 other countries, including 12 in Europe. The song also peaked at number two in Belgium (Wallonia), Czech Republic, Israel, Norway, and South Africa; number three in the Netherlands and Sweden; number five in Belgium (Flanders) and Italy; number six in Romania; number eight in Finland and France; and number 10 in Japan. The song received a 4× Platinum certification in Mexico, 3× Platinum in Norway, Sweden, 2× Platinum in Denmark, Italy, Spain, and Platinum in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), "All About That Bass" was the fourth best-selling song of 2014 with 11 million copies sold worldwide. ## Music video ### Background and concept Fatima Robinson directed the music video for "All About That Bass". Trainor described Robinson as "the best of the best" and that Robinson made her "a rock star in two days". Trainor wanted to make the video enjoyable to reflect the fun nature of the song. To that end, Robinson suggested using subdued pastel colors, which would popularize the video during summer, and depicting Trainor as an ingénue doing "booty-bumping dance moves and just shaking it up". Trainor told The Boston Globe she considered the caricature "a cartoon" that she only ever intended to portray in the video. She felt pressured to retain the look after the video became popular. The first time Trainor watched the video, she cried because she felt insecure about her appearance in it. As a result, Trainor "edited the crap out of it", changing the scenes in which she thought her face looked awkward, and said the final version made her "look like a pop star". Music website Idolator premiered it on June 10, 2014. Social media played an important role in the video's creation and marketing. Robinson cast Sione Kelepi as a dancer after discovering his popular dance videos on social media platform Vine. Kelepi shared the music video with his followers, which led to initial public interest in the video and it being recommended to more YouTube users. ### Synopsis The music video has a 1950s visual theme. Trainor is dressed in a pink sweater and long, white socks; she sings and dances in front of a pink backdrop. In following scenes, she dances with female dancers and exaggerates her facial expressions. Kelepi appears throughout the video; in one scene he pirouettes and performs a full split. Two girls are shown playing with dolls in a dollhouse, dancing in a bedroom, and riding bicycles. During a repetition of the line "I won't be no stick-figure, silicone Barbie doll", Trainor throws away a doll. Writing for Out, Stacy Lambe stated the video delivers a "retro pop world" that "makes you want to dance in your seat". ### Reception Jim Farber of the New York Daily News said the discourse about Trainor's weight in the video's YouTube comment section "had taken on a life of its own". YouTube was instrumental in the success of "All About That Bass"; the video was Vevo's second-most streamed music video of 2014 while YouTube ranked it as the ninth-most popular upload of the year based on "views, shares, comments, likes", and other factors. Entertainment Weekly's Miles Raymer wrote the video's dance sequence and colorful sets were perfectly designed to attain online popularity. Grein suggested the video was most likely to win Best Video with a Social Message at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. Sawdey called the video "fun and buoyant" but said the song's lyrics were responsible for its popularity. Caramanica felt the video complemented the song. USA Today writer Brian Mansfield described the clip's theme as a fusion of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" (1992) and "Beauty School Dropout" from the 1971 musical Grease. DeVille said despite its flaws, the visuals are endearing and effective. Billboard writer Andrew Hampp interpreted the video as "slyly satirical". Julie Zeilinger of the same magazine criticized it for drawing inspiration from the thin women Trainor criticizes in the song's lyrics, and noted that Trainor failed to acknowledge body diversity as a spectrum and instead depicted only its extremities. Emma Garland of Vice found the video enjoyable, cautious, and easily digestible but she criticized its choreography. Diana Cook of Cracked.com felt it displayed a double standard, saying there would be much more of a backlash if Taylor Swift created a song about men preferring smaller bodies and mocked an overweight woman eating a cupcake in its video. Robin James and Kat George of Vice found cultural appropriation in the scene where Trainor is surrounded by black women twerking; according to James, Trainor appropriates "respectable chubbiness" to improve her own body image. The Fader's Larry Fitzmaurice shared a similar opinion and placed the video third in his list of "Music's 8 Most Cringe-Worthy Acts Of Cultural Appropriation In 2014". ## Live performances Trainor performed an acoustic rendition of "All About That Bass" at an Emily West concert in Nashville on July 16, 2014, after West saw Trainor in the audience and insisted she perform. Trainor reprised the song on Live! with Kelly and Michael on August 7. She sang an acoustic ukulele version of the song on Entertainment Tonight that was posted to their website the following month. Two days later, Trainor performed "All About That Bass" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with Fallon and The Roots, who used classroom instruments. Rolling Stone writer Ryan Reed commented the unlikely arrangement maintained the quality of the original version with its "sparse percussion and intimate doo-wop harmonies" supporting her impassioned delivery. On September 11, Trainor reprised the song on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. On September 15, she sang it on The X Factor Australia. Trainor performed a mashup of "All About That Bass" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" (2014) for Australian radio station 2Day FM; Billboard published this performance on September 18. A journalist from the magazine, Erin Strecker, wrote it was unsurprising a mashup of "two super-catchy tracks" was also catchy. Trainor reprised "All About That Bass" as a duet with American singer Miranda Lambert at the Country Music Association Awards on November 5; the two singers wore little dresses and Trainor wore a Nasty Gal jacket over hers. Lambert praised the song's message in an interview and recalled playing it before every performance on her Platinum Tour (2014–2016). On November 26, Trainor sang a medley of "All About That Bass" and "Lips Are Movin" (2014) on the finale of the nineteenth season of American television series Dancing with the Stars. She included the former song in her set list for the Jingle Ball Tour 2014. On the final episode of The X Factor UK's eleventh series, Trainor performed the song with finalists Andrea Faustini, Fleur East and Ben Haenow. She included "All About That Bass" on the setlists of her 2015 That Bass and MTrain concert tours, as well as her 2016 The Untouchable Tour. Trainor reprised the song on November 22, 2018, while wearing "a glittery jersey and sparkly blue pants" at a Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins game, which launched The Salvation Army's 128th annual Red Kettle Campaign. She also performed it while headlining the Philadelphia Welcome America Festival as part of the 2019 Fourth of July celebrations. On January 8, 2020, Trainor sang the lyrics of "All About That Bass" over the "creeping, insidious beat" of Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy" (2019) for BBC Radio 1's game "Your Lyrics Different Song", which Billboard's Glenn Rowley considered an impressive and successful rendition. ## Cultural impact Josh Duboff of Vanity Fair stated "All About That Bass" achieved "pop-cultural touchstone-status" while The New York Times's Joe Coscarelli called it "a cultural phenomenon". Vogue cited the song's impact and said in a 2014 article; "We're Officially in the Era of the Big Booty". Steven J. Horowitz of Billboard wrote "All About That Bass", along with Jennifer Lopez's "Booty" (2014), helped "booty records" make a commercial return to the mainstream. The song's stay at number one in the United Kingdom coincided with the number-three debut of Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda", which The Guardian and The Independent dubbed "the battle of the booty songs". Rolling Stone's Steve Knopper wrote; "if we assume the latest sing-about-your-butt trend in pop music has finally reached its, uh, conclusion, the unquestionable winner is Meghan Trainor's 'All About That Bass'". According to Sullivan, the three songs reflect a change in pop culture, in which female artists frequently endured criticism from society for their weight, while Adegoke wrote the songs helped curves reach culture's forefront. In November, American company Booty Pop reported a 47% increase in demand; New York doctor Matthew Schulman told Billboard demand for Brazilian buttock augmentation surgery had risen by 25% at his practice in 2014, and Boston entrepreneur and gym instructor Kelly Brabants stated she experienced a waiting list for her Booty by Brabants class because "it's not about being stick-thin anymore, every girl now wants a booty"; Billboard attributed this to the three songs. According to Sullivan, "All About That Bass" resulted in Trainor being viewed as "the poster girl for the larger woman" and "pop's emblem of self-acceptance". Billboard wrote the song's success made Trainor a "breakthrough star virtually overnight" and one of the "biggest breakout stars" of 2014. In a press release, Trainor recalled meeting female fans who told her: "I've hated myself. I hated life. I didn't want to go to school. I get bullied. And then I heard your song and I cried". The song's success led Sony/ATV Music Publishing to sign Kadish in October; the publishing company's CEO Martin Bandier stated the track is "clearly one of the biggest songs of the year and we know there is a lot more to come from him". ### Parodies The success of "All About That Bass" spawned viral parody music videos. In November, a Thanksgiving-themed parody of the song called "All About That Baste" accumulated over four million views in its first month of release by The Holderness Family. The lyric "no treble" was replaced with "more butter", which Fox News interpreted as a reference to the original song's message about body positivity. On December 1, 2014, the cast of Canadian television comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes made a parody version titled "Just a Pretty Face", which was released as a Conservative Party political advertisement that criticized the Federal Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau. On December 7, 2014, Nerdist Industries released a parody titled "All About That Base: No Rebels", which was performed by Team Unicorn. The video, which has a Star Wars theme, depicts men dressed as stormtroopers dancing with cheerleaders whose costumes were inspired by the Star Wars character Darth Vader. Mitchell Peters of Billboard said it is memorable and humorous. On December 12, 2014, a parody music video by NASA entitled "All About That Space" went viral. The video, which depicts NASA interns dancing and includes images of the Johnson Space Center, accrued over one million views within four days and was dubbed "wonderfully a-dork-able" by Lee Moran of the New York Daily News. The many parodies and homages led to Time publishing an article titled "No More 'All About That Bass' Parodies, Please" on December 15, 2014. In it, Daniel D'Addario attributed the song's popularity among parodists to its hook's emphasis on the words "bass" and "treble", which are easy to rhyme, and Trainor's impassioned delivery on it. In early 2016, on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Trainor and Corden performed a parody of "All About That Bass" about failed New Year's resolutions. ## Cover versions The Roots covered "All About That Bass" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on August 20, 2014; Chris Payne of Billboard called the performance "angelic". Maejor's remix of the song featured Justin Bieber, and it was released on October 15. In September, Kate Davis released a 1940s-jazz-style version of the song, on which she played double bass with pianist Scott Bradlee; within three months, it had received 8 million views on Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox YouTube channel. On October 24, Avi Kaplan, a member of the American group Pentatonix, released his cover version of "All About That Bass"; James Grebey of Spin gave the cover a positive review and said the song "sounds very different a few octaves lower" and that Kaplan's rendition "might just be an improvement". Jamaican-American singer Anita Antoinette covered the song on the seventh season of the American talent television series The Voice, receiving praise by the show's judges Pharrell Williams and Adam Levine. Ashley Lee of Billboard wrote Antoinette provided the song with "a reggae twist". Cover versions of the song recorded by Power Music Workout and Meghan Tonjes reached number 13 and number 70 on the UK Singles Chart, respectively. ## Formats and track listings - Digital download 1. "All About That Bass" – 3:08 - CD single 1. "All About That Bass" – 3:08 2. "Title" – 2:54 - Digital EP 1. "All About That Bass" – 3:09 2. "Title" – 2:54 3. "Dear Future Husband" – 3:04 4. "Close Your Eyes" – 3:40 ## Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Title. Locations - Recorded and engineered at The Carriage House, Nolensville, Tennessee - Mastered at The Mastering Palace (New York City) - Published by Year Of The Dog Music (ASCAP), a division of Big Yellow Dog, LLC / Over-Thought Under-Appreciated Songs (ASCAP) Personnel - Meghan Trainor – songwriter, vocals, clapping, percussion - Kevin Kadish – songwriter, producer, drum programming, electric guitar, bass, sound design, mixing, recording, engineering - David Baron – piano, baritone saxophone, Hammond organ - Dave Kutch – mastering ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ### Decade-end charts ## Certifications ## Radio and release history ## See also - List of best-selling singles - List of Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles of 2014 - List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2014 - List of Billboard Mainstream Top 40 number-one songs of 2014 - List of highest-certified singles in Australia - List of number-one hits of 2014 (Austria) - List of number-one hits of 2014 (Denmark) - List of number-one hits of 2014 (Germany) - List of number-one hits of 2014 (Scotland) - List of number-one hits of 2014 (Switzerland) - List of number-one singles from the 2010s (New Zealand) - List of number-one singles of 2014 (Australia) - List of number-one singles of 2014 (Ireland) - List of number-one singles of 2014 (Poland) - List of number-one singles of 2014 (Spain) - List of number-one songs of 2014 (Mexico) - List of top 10 singles in 2014 (France) - List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 2010s
53,027,133	Gothic boxwood miniature	1,164,038,446	Early 16th-century wood carving of the Low Countries	[ "Early Netherlandish painting", "Gothic art", "Gothic boxwood miniature", "Woodcarving" ]	Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small Christian wood sculptures produced during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Low Countries, at the end of the Gothic period and during the emerging Northern Renaissance. They consist of highly intricate layers of reliefs, often rendered to nearly microscopic level, and are made from boxwood, which has a fine grain and high density suitable for detailed micro-carving. There are around 150 surviving examples; most are spherical rosary beads (known as prayer nuts), statuettes, skulls, or coffins; some 20 are in the form of polyptychs, including triptych and diptych altarpieces, tabernacles and monstrances. The polyptychs are typically 10–13 cm in height. Most of the beads are 10–15 cm in diameter and designed so they could be held in the palm of a hand, hung from necklaces or belts, or worn as fashionable accessories. Boxwood miniatures were highly prized in the early 16th century. Their iconography, form, and utility can be linked to medieval ivory carvings, as well as contemporary illuminated miniatures, altarpieces, panel paintings, sculpture, woodcuts, and engravings. They typically contain imagery from the life of Mary, the Crucifixion of Jesus, or vistas of Heaven and Hell. Each miniature's production required exceptional craftsmanship, and some may have taken decades of cumulative work to complete, suggesting that they were commissioned by high-ranking nobles. A number of the miniatures appear to have come from a workshop led by Adam Dircksz, who is thought to have produced dozens of such works. Almost nothing is known about him or the artisans who produced the miniatures. Some of the original owners can be identified from markings, usually initials or coats of arms, emplaced by the sculptors. Important collections of boxwood miniatures are in the Art Gallery of Ontario, in the British Museum as part of the Waddesdon Bequest, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Because of their rarity and the difficulty in discerning their intricacy from reproductions, boxwood miniatures have not been as widely studied as other forms of Netherlandish visual art. ## Production Boxwood is a dense hardwood with fine grain, resistant to splitting and chipping—ideal for wood carving. In the 16th century, woodcut blocks used for woodblock printing were usually made of boxwood. Uses for boxwood were similar to those for ivory in medieval carvings, but boxwood was a far less expensive option than ivory. Designs were overseen by master craftsmen who must have had access to prints and woodcuts of contemporary works of art, and who were apparently influenced by diptych and triptych panel paintings. Boxwood grows slowly, so the trunk remains fairly narrow, a fact that limits the size of any carvings made from any single piece. The wood assumes an even, soft and tactile surface if polished or frequently handled, such as was the case for prayer nuts. The wood loses its tactility when painted, explaining why most of the miniatures are in monochrome. Polychromy reduced the legibility of the carvings, "quite apart from the difficulty of effectively coloring such tiny and complex scenes" as the art historian Frits Scholten has noted. The tools used in production were similar to those used in the production of larger altarpieces; they included saws, planes, card scrapers, chisels, augers, braces, and gimlets. Wood was cut into the required dimensions as blocks, after which the joints were carved out. Prayer beads were turned on a lathe. The woodcutters carved a single block of boxwood into a sphere, cut it in half, hollowed it out, and attached a fastening hinge and carrying loops. The carvings in the interiors were typically made separately from the smaller hemispheres and later fitted onto an outer shell. In some cases, these wooden shells were placed in silver housing. Because of the diminutive scale of the pieces, magnifying glasses were used in their production. The very small wood pieces were difficult to brace (hold in place) during carving. They were likely positioned on a bench, between two posts, so that they could be turned around. Domed spaces, intended to evoke church architecture, were drilled or carved, and these were divided using compasses and a straightedge into pie-shaped segments. A surface plane was established onto which the reliefs were added. These were created from multiple separate wood sheets, individually produced before being joined in layers. Major figures, usually saints, were carved from single blocks of wood. Relief components were either glued into prefixed niches, or they were bound with pegs, which were sometimes functional and obviously visible or implanted into the relief form. Because of this layered structure, they are often fragile. An example of this layering technique is in the Last Judgement prayer bead (AGO 29365) attributed to Adam Dircksz and now located at the Art Gallery of Ontario, where some thirty minuscule, individually carved spikes are set into the ceiling vault and around Christ to suggest rays of light. Punctuations in the wood suggesting stars were added to the ceiling via tiny drilled holes. The level of detail indicates the use of magnification in their production, probably with the same instruments used by contemporary jewellers. Describing these intricacies, the art historian Eve Kahn writes that the works can be so rich that "individual feathers are visible on angel wings, and dragon skins are textured with thick scales. Crumbling shacks are shown with shingles missing from their gabled roofs. Saints' robes and soldiers' uniforms are trimmed with buttons and embroidery, and there are minute representations of jewelry and rosary beads". ## Attribution and dating Only one miniature is explicitly dated, a triptych (WB.232) in the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum is inscribed with "1511". A minority bear a coat of arms or other indications of origin or the source of commission. A carving in the Musée de Cluny, Paris, contains the letter "M", and must have been completed before the 1524 inventory of Margaret of Austria. Approximate dates for other examples can be inferred from the inventories of their owners. The rosary beads owned by Henry VIII of England must have been produced between his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in 1509 and his earliest efforts to separate from her in 1526. Most surviving boxwood miniatures are attributed to Northern Renaissance artisans working in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Due to their quality and stylistic similarities to the full sized Flemish and Brabantine altarpieces, they were for centuries assumed to originate from Southern Netherlands, however more recent research has found that a majority of the early owners came from the northern provinces of Holland and Zeeland. There are examples from Italy, although according to Wilhelm Bode, "The broad monumental tendency of Italian art, especially in sculpture, seems to exclude a taste for daintily executed small works". German examples include a carving encased in a miniature skull, now in the Art Gallery of Ontario, which contains branchwork (Astwerk) of a type often found in contemporary German sculpture. That a majority of the miniatures share technical, stylistic, and thematic similarities, and could be considered as a near homogeneous group was first noted by the art historian Jaap Leeuwenberg. Such stylistic traits include broad and densely populated animated scenes, often placed, in the words of the art historian William Wixom, on "steeply angled ground planes of tiled floors". Other shared features include spatial devices, figures in contemporary dress, and draperies arranged in angular folds. On this basis Leeuwenberg attributed a large number of the objects to Dircksz, around 35–40, although that estimate has been revised down in more recent years. The art historians Lisa Ellis and Alexandra Suda estimate that the more complex boxwood miniatures may have taken decades of work to complete, a period equivalent to the entire career of a medieval master carver. Production was organised between different workshops of specialised artisans. Because the miniatures are so intricate, only a small number of workshops were likely involved in their production. Due to this high degree of artistry, art historians presume they were intended as luxury items and status symbols for a high-born and sophisticated European elite; Henry VIII and Catherine, Emperor Charles V and Albert V of Bavaria are known to have owned individual boxwood miniatures. ### Adam Dircksz Because of shared characteristics, including common use of horror vacui, similar spatial approaches and use of depth, as well as similar hinges and methods of construction, Leeuwenberg has suggested that production of a number of the miniatures was overseen by a single master named Adam Dircksz, Dircksz was first identified through a signature on a prayer nut now in the Statens Museum Copenhagen, reading "Adam Theodrici me fecit" (Adam Dircksz has made me). The Latin name "Adam Theodrici" may be translated into English as "Adam of Theodoric", but art historians usually use the Dutch version of his name, Adam Dircksz. Although it was rare in the 16th century for artists to sign a work, when done, it usually took the "me fecit" (made me) form, in effect of making the object speak. Almost nothing is known about Dircksz except that the works were produced 1500–30. The signature may indicate that he was a woodcutter, sculptor, medallist, or just simply the patron. Dircksz is thought to have been active between 1500 and 1530, and responsible for some sixty of the surviving examples. He may have led a workshop in the southern Netherlands, given that Flemish inscriptions appear on some of the carvings. Alternatively, it was located more northerly, possibly in the north of Brabant or at Delft in Holland. In any case, apart from Henry VIII and Catherine, all of the original owners come from the Netherlands. Regardless of the number of works that Dircksz or his workshop can be attributed with, art historians often debate what the artistic and technical precedents for the miniatures might be. Scholten observes how, to a large extent, it seems "as if this exquisite sculpture was born ex nihilo around 1500", but points out that "giant strides are rarely made in art history", pointing to affinities with silversmith's art, especially the miniature architectural elements often found in ecclesiastical silver and ornaments. ## Iconography Boxwood miniatures follow in the tradition of earlier Christian sculptures, including ivory diptychs, sculptures of the Virgin and Child, and relief carvings. They are similar in style to larger scale contemporary artworks, especially Flemish panel paintings, altarpieces, and sculpture, and they were conceived with similar religious outlook and conviction. Their iconography is often a mix of Old and New Testament scenes, with depictions of the Nativity and Passion being the most common. Although the central subject matter may be similar across many pieces, there are considerable differences in composition. Expansive depictions, such as of the Crucifixion, were sometimes influenced by contemporary literature. The objects' dramatic and incongruous impact, being both tiny and hugely expansive at the same time, are particularly suited to depictions of Heaven and Hell. ## Formats The Metropolitan Museum of Art broadly categorises boxwood miniatures into two groups, those with simple reliefs and those with complex designs. Of the 150 surviving examples, most are single prayer beads, often with extravagant combinations of carving, Gothic tracery, and inscriptions on the outer shells. They often take the form of two hemispheres joined by a girdle with hinges and clasps, with the interiors hollowed out to accommodate the elaborate carvings. Apart from the more usual prayer nuts and polyptychs, other formats include statuettes, round pendants, coffins, statuettes, perfume flasks, and memento mori in the form of skulls (this latter format was also used for contemporary fruitwood carvings with equally dramatic and intense results). Owing to the commonality of materials, production techniques, and the general absence of paint application, the miniatures had similar original colouring. This diverged over the centuries, given various storage and handling methods, as well as different restorations and coating applications. The tracery used for geometric decoration on the exteriors can be categorised into three different styles. One style superimposes intersecting circles around the head of the dome. A second uses small circles to punctuate and divide the dome into segments. The third style is a combination of the first two, but far more complex, and uses the arcs of the circles to link the first style's looping circles with the second style's repeating patterns. Yet all of the works are similar in proportion, circumference and the size of the hinge and clasps. ### Prayer nuts The English term Prayer nut comes from the equivalent Dutch word gebedsnoot, and took on common usage in the 18th century. The use of the word "nut" may be derived from the fact that some of the beads were actually carved from nuts or pits, and although no such miniatures survive, it was a known practice in medieval southern Germany. They are mostly the same shape (deliberately designed to resemble apples), decorated with carved openwork Gothic tracery and flower-heads, and of a size suitable for holding in the palm of a hand. Prayer nuts often contain central scenes depicting episodes from the life of Mary or the Passion of Jesus. Some are a single bead; more rare are those consisting of up to eleven beads, including the "Chatsworth Rosary" gifted by Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon, which is one of only two surviving boxwood rosaries. The figures are often dressed in fashionable contemporary clothing. The level of detail extends to the soldier's shields, their jacket buttons, jewellery, and candles. In some instances, they contain carved inscriptions usually related to the meaning of the narrative. There are more modest examples, such as the two medallions making up the "Half of a Prayer Bead with the Lamentation" (MS 17.190.458a, b) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which shows the Virgin and Child alongside a kneeling nun holding a string of beads, and a Pietà. The two images are unusually simple for the type; only a small portion of the available surface of the borders contain inscriptions. The beads are quite uniform in size and shape, with a diameter ranging from around 30 to 65 millimetres. Suda notes how their "spiritual impact...[was] curiously...in inverse proportion to their size". They were often made as two half-shells that could be opened to reveal intricate interior detail. According to the art historian Dora Thornton, when the prayer nut was opened out, it "revealed the representation of the divine hidden inside. The interiors range considerably in complexity and detail, with the more simple consisting of a low relief cut into a disc that has been rounded off at the back. At their most detailed and complex, Suda describes how the beads "played out like a grand opera on a miniature stage, complete with exotic costumes, elaborate props and animals large and small" and observes how they have an "Alice in Wonderland" quality, wherein "one tumbles headlong into the tiny world created by the carver...into the world they reveal beyond one's immediate surroundings." Scholten notes that the tracery may have been intended to suggest that the object contained a small relic, "so that the object took on the character of a talisman and was deemed to have an apotropaic effect". A number contain a wooden loop in the middle of one half so they could be worn hanging from a belt, or carried in a case. A fragrant substance was sometimes placed inside the shell, which diffused when the beads were opened, making them comparable to the then fashionable pomanders. The shape of a prayer nut likely carried deep significance; with the outer sheath representing Christ's human flesh; the bead stand, his cross; and the interior reliefs, his divinity. According to Thornton, "unfolding the nut is in itself an act of prayer, like opening up a personal illuminated prayer book, or watching the leaves of a large scale altarpiece being hinged back in a church service". However, Scholten questions their use for private religious devotion, noting how their diminutive scale made them impractical for meditation, as their imagery was not discernible without a magnifying glass or strong spectacles. ### Polyptychs Miniature boxwood triptychs, diptychs, and other polyptychs are typically altarpieces, with tabernacles and monstrances more rare. The multi-paneled works exist in both horizontal and landscape formats, usually formed from a single block of wood with components hinged together. Triptychs generally followed the format and style of their larger-scale counterparts, with a central panel with major saints and two ancillary wings. The polyptychs usually served as portable devices for laypersons, used for private devotion, and their popularity reflects the growing affluence of merchants living in the major northern European ports. Their iconography often follows contemporary larger scale panel altarpieces, with depictions of Christ Carrying the Cross, and the Entry into Jerusalem as common subjects. The altarpieces typically consist of three major elements; an architectural housing, interior reliefs, and a base or predella, which may be fixed or detachable. In turn, each of these elements may have several components, which were either pinned or bound with glue. They usually contain folding wings, carved in low relief and with smaller figures and scenes around the borders of the central pictorial space. Typically, the larger fixed elements were connected with interlocking mortise and tenon joins cut into the slabs. A triptych altarpiece (MMA 17.190.453) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a compartment (receptacle) for holding relics which is covered by a hinged disc. An especially detailed and complex 25.1 cm high triptych catalogued as WB.232 in the British Museum, credited to the workshop of Adam Dircksz, contains two triptychs on upper and lower registers. The upper, far larger register consists of a central panel with a background Crucifixion and numerous foreground figures; a Resurrection, Entombment and other scenes are on the right-hand wing, while depictions of Christ Carrying the Cross and the Sacrifice of Isaac are the main features of the left wing. The reliefs are typically positioned on a horizontal plane, allowing a long space between the tops of the figures and the ends of the typically rounded overhead arches. The panels are usually quite shallow, with just enough depth in the niche to position the figures, which can be either free-standing or carved in high relief. The niches vary in profile, with dome or mushroom shapes being most common. Other features, including architectural or landscape elements, were similarly inserted fully formed; in more elaborate and detailed examples, the reduced scale was too constrained to create all of the elements in relief. The approach also mirrors the practice employed by contemporary northern European artists working on full-scale altarpieces. Many of the features of the miniatures resemble contemporary northern Gothic style architecture. Only the example, in the British Museum, contains an Italian Renaissance influence, evident in its baluster shafts and the pilasters containing prophets on either side of the Crucifixion. The late 15th-century veneration for the Passion of Jesus and the Sorrows of Mary had a strong bearing on the design and form of many of these types of altarpieces. Part of the appeal of the Passion was the contrast between relatively simple scenes from the Life of Christ, juxtaposed against more complex scenes with detailed vistas, such as the Crucifixion or depictions of Heaven and Hell. ## Collections Boxwood miniatures seemed to have served three original functions: aids to private devotion, luxury objects of status, and novel playthings. Later they became precious family heirlooms passed from generation to generation, but as medieval art fell out of fashion in the early modern period, their provenance was often lost. The earliest record of a collection is the 1598 inventory of the dukes of Bavaria, which contain several boxwood miniatures. Of the surviving works, over one hundred re-emerged in the 19th century Parisian antiquarian market, then the leading market for medieval art. During this period, they were acquired by collectors such as the British collector Richard Wallace (1818–1890), who purchased Count van Nieuwerkerke's (1811–1892) entire collection, including two boxwood prayer nuts, the Vienna-born collector of objets d'art Frédéric Spitzer (1815–1890), and Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898). Spitzer was not a purist and commissioned metalsmiths to produce modern versions, or copies, of a variety of medieval artworks. Today, there are four surviving boxwood carvings he had augmented for the market. When the American financier J. P. Morgan purchased Baron Albert Oppenheim's collection in 1906, he acquired four boxwood miniatures, including a triptych with the Crucifixion and Resurrection, and a prayer nut showing the Carrying of the Cross, all of which are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Canadian publishing magnate Kenneth Thomson was an important collector for over 50 years, and his collection included the world's largest gathering of boxwood miniatures, including two skulls, two triptychs, and six prayer beads. These were bequeathed to the Art Gallery of Ontario, along with three other works collected by his family after his death. ## Study and conservation Objects of this scale are difficult to view with the naked eye, and, even when held in hand, the true level of intricacy is not easily recognised. The difficulty of producing magnified reproductions contributes to the fact that there has been comparatively little research into the format. Even traditional photography can fail to convey the true level of detail. Meaningful reproduction can only be achieved by computer modelling, where a series of photographs at various focal depths are stacked to attain consistent sharpness. Modern imaging technology has greatly improved the study of the objects since the late 20th century, including the use of x-ray. Micro CT scanning, using technology similar to medical scanning, allows the capture of thousands of images which can then be assembled into a three-dimensional model. ## Gallery
628,683	Science Fantasy (magazine)	1,107,391,332	British science fiction magazine (1950–1964)	[ "1950 establishments in the United Kingdom", "1967 disestablishments in the United Kingdom", "Defunct digests", "Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom", "Fantasy fiction magazines", "Magazines disestablished in 1967", "Magazines established in 1950", "Science fiction digests", "Science fiction magazines established in the 1950s" ]	Science Fantasy, which also appeared under the titles Impulse and SF Impulse, was a British fantasy and science fiction magazine, launched in 1950 by Nova Publications as a companion to Nova's New Worlds. Walter Gillings was editor for the first two issues, and was then replaced by John Carnell, the editor of New Worlds, as a cost-saving measure. Carnell edited both magazines until Nova went out of business in early 1964. The titles were acquired by Roberts & Vinter, who hired Kyril Bonfiglioli to edit Science Fantasy; Bonfiglioli changed the title to Impulse in early 1966, but the new title led to confusion with the distributors and sales fell, though the magazine remained profitable. The title was changed again to SF Impulse for the last few issues. Science Fantasy ceased publication the following year, when Roberts & Vinter came under financial pressure after their printer went bankrupt. Gillings had an inventory of material that he had acquired while editing Fantasy, and he drew on this for Science Fantasy, as well as incorporating his own fanzine, Science Fantasy Review, into the new magazine. Once Carnell took over, Science Fantasy typically ran a long lead novelette along with several shorter stories; prominent contributors in the 1950s included John Brunner, Ken Bulmer, and Brian Aldiss, whose first novel Nonstop appeared (in an early version) in the February 1956 issue. Fantasy stories began to appear more frequently during the latter half of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s Carnell began to publish Thomas Burnett Swann's well-received historical fantasies. Carnell felt that the literary quality of Science Fantasy was always higher than that of New Worlds, and in the early 1960s his efforts were rewarded with three consecutive Hugo nominations for best magazine. Under Bonfiglioli more new writers appeared, including Keith Roberts, Brian Stableford and Josephine Saxton. In the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley, the final year of Impulse, as it was titled by that time, included some of the best material ever published in a British science fiction magazine. ## Publication history ### Gillings and Carnell In early 1946, John Carnell launched a new science fiction magazine titled New Worlds, published by Pendulum Publications. The first issue appeared in July 1946 and failed to sell well. The second issue, that October, sold better, but Pendulum went out of business before the end of 1947 with only one more issue released. A group of sf fans, including Carnell and Frank Cooper, decided to restart the magazine under their own control, and formed Nova Publications Ltd. The fourth issue appeared in April 1949. At the same time that the first issue of New Worlds appeared, a separate British magazine called Fantasy was launched by Walter Gillings, a science fiction fan and a reporter by profession. Fantasy lasted for only three issues before closing in 1947, but Gillings had accumulated a substantial inventory of stories—enough to fill nine issues. Gillings followed the demise of Fantasy by publishing a fanzine, titled Fantasy Review, beginning in March 1947. In 1950, with New Worlds on a stable quarterly schedule, Nova Publications decided to launch a companion, Science Fantasy. They chose Gillings as the editor, and his fanzine, which had been retitled Science Fantasy Review in 1949, was incorporated in the new magazine as a department. The first issue was dated Summer 1950, but printing disputes meant that the second issue was delayed until winter. Paper rationing delayed the third issue to Winter 1951, but before it appeared, Nova decided that it could no longer afford to have separate editors for New Worlds and Science Fantasy, and Gillings was let go. According to Carnell, there were also "fundamental differences of opinion" that led to the decision to replace him. After the Spring 1953 issue, Nova Publications decided to switch printers, in order to cut costs and bring the cover price down from 2/- (10 p) to 1/6 (7.5 p). The new printers, The Carlton Press, failed to keep to the agreed printing schedule, and produced poor quality work; there were also printers' strikes, and this disruption caused extended delays in the appearance of the seventh issue. While the dispute with the printers was going on, Carnell and Maurice Goldsmith, a journalist acquaintance of Carnell's, put together a small conference of well-known science fiction authors, including Arthur C. Clarke and John Wyndham. Goldsmith covered the conference for Illustrated, a weekly magazine, and the article caught the attention of Maclaren & Sons Ltd, a technical trade publisher interested in launching a new sf magazine. Carnell turned down the offer because of his loyalty to Nova Publications, but subsequent discussions ultimately led to Maclaren taking control of Nova Publications, with a commitment to produce New Worlds on a monthly basis and Science Fantasy on a bimonthly schedule. Maclaren's legal department was helpful in resolving the dispute with The Carlton Press, and the seventh issue of Science Fantasy finally appeared with a cover date of March 1954. In 1958, Nova decided to launch a British reprint of the American magazine Science Fiction Adventures, under the same title. The British Science Fiction Adventures lasted until May 1963, when it was felled by declining sales. New Worlds, Nova's flagship title, and Science Fantasy were also suffering from poor sales, with circulation estimated at about 5,000, though a change from bimonthly to a monthly schedule was also considered that year for Science Fantasy. In September Nova decided to close down both remaining titles, and in preparation for the change Carnell signed a contract in December 1963 to edit an original anthology series, New Writings in SF, for publisher Dennis Dobson. Readers' responses to news of the planned demise of the magazines included a letter from Michael Moorcock, published in the April 1964 New Worlds, asking how the British market would now be able to train writers to sell to the higher-paying US magazines. ### Roberts & Vinter In early 1964, David Warburton of Roberts & Vinter, an established publisher, heard from the printer of Science Fantasy and New Worlds that the magazines were going to fold shortly. Warburton decided that having a respectable magazine would help him in getting good distribution for Roberts & Vinter's books: Science Fantasy and New Worlds both had distribution arrangements with the two main British newsagents of the time, John Menzies and W.H. Smith. Carnell did not want to continue to edit the magazines in addition to New Writings in SF, and recommended Moorcock to Warburton; Kyril Bonfiglioli, an Oxford art dealer who was a friend of Brian Aldiss, also expressed an interest. Warburton gave Moorcock the choice of which magazine to edit; Moorcock chose New Worlds, and Bonfiglioli became the new editor of Science Fantasy. Roberts & Vinter changed the format from digest to paperback, and the first issue under Bonfiglioli's control was number 65, dated June–July 1964. The schedule was initially somewhat irregular, with each issue dated with two months even when two issues were only a month apart—for example, June–July 1964 was followed by July–August 1964. From March 1965 a regular monthly schedule was begun. Bonfiglioli often bought material from writers without an established reputation; he did not make any special effort to acquire stories from well-known names. He was known for writing long and helpful rejection letters to newcomers, but he also had a reputation for laziness, and much of the day-to-day editorial work was done by assistants—first James Parkhill-Rathbone, and then Keith Roberts. Bonfiglioli disliked the title of the magazine, feeling that it "promised the worst of both worlds"; he proposed Caliban as the new title, but the publisher dissuaded him. He settled on Impulse instead, and the magazine appeared under the new title starting with the March 1966 issue. The paperback format was unchanged, but the volume numeration was restarted at volume 1 number 1, to "sever all connections with Science Fantasy", in the words of sf historian Mike Ashley. The name change proved to be disastrous; there was already a magazine called Impulse, and this caused distribution problems. In addition, treating Impulse as a new magazine meant a fresh distribution contract was needed. Bonfiglioli attempted to repair the damage by changing the name to SF Impulse starting in August 1966, but the result was a dramatic drop in circulation. By late 1966 Bonfiglioli had made enough money from his antiques dealing to be able to retire to Jersey. J. G. Ballard was briefly involved with the magazine in an editorial role, but his aims for the magazine were too far from the publisher's goals and he was quickly replaced by Harry Harrison. Harrison almost immediately had to leave England and handed over much of the day-to-day management of the magazine to Keith Roberts. Despite the setback from Bonfiglioli's title change, the magazine was still profitable, but in July 1966 Roberts & Vinter's distributor, Thorpe & Porter, went bankrupt while owing Roberts & Vinter a substantial sum. The resulting financial pressure led Roberts & Vinter to decide to focus on their more profitable magazines, and the February 1967 issue of SF Impulse was the last, though New Worlds, the sister magazine, survived via an Arts Council grant obtained by Brian Aldiss's efforts. The title was merged with New Worlds with effect from the March 1967 issue, but nothing of SF Impulse's content was retained. ## Contents and reception ### 1950s In the first issue, Gillings declared that he was interested in science fantasy "in all its forms: with its significant ideas, its surprising prophecies, its sheer fictions, its evolution as a fascinating literature". Stories in the first issue, drawn from Gillings' inventory of material acquired for Fantasy, included "The Belt", by J.M. Walsh; "Time's Arrow", by Arthur C. Clarke; and "Monster", by John Christopher, writing as Christopher Youd. Gillings also included several non-fiction features, such as his fanzine, Science Fantasy Review, incorporated into Science Fantasy as a department, and condensed to a few pages. In the first issue Gillings reviewed an article about science fiction by Jacob Bronowski which had appeared in the Continental Daily Mail. There were also three book review columns: two by Gillings, writing under pseudonyms, and one by John Aiken, the son of poet Conrad Aiken. When Carnell took over, he planned to distinguish Science Fantasy from its sister magazine, New Worlds, by adding more fantasy, while printing nothing but sf in New Worlds, though it took some time for the two magazines to develop separate personalities. Carnell dropped the non-fiction features and instead published a series of guest editorials, starting with Gillings in the third issue and H.J. Campbell in the fourth issue. The acquisition of Nova Publications by Maclaren gave Carnell access to the publishing facilities of a well-established company, and to established distribution channels, which freed him to focus on his editorial duties. Carnell tended to put longer stories in Science Fantasy than in New Worlds, and Science Fantasy typically ran a long lead novelette with several short stories. Stories that would not have suited New Worlds began to appear, such as William F. Temple's "Eternity" (February 1955), in which aliens mysteriously provide haloes to thousands of people, and Dal Stiven's "Free Will", which featured robot ghosts. Stories in the whimsical fantasy tradition that had been started by Unknown did not often appear in Science Fantasy. Many of the lead novelettes in the 1950s were provided by John Brunner and Ken Bulmer. Brunner's first appearance was in September 1955 with "The Talisman"; over the next few years he wrote both science fiction and fantasy for Science Fantasy, including "A Time to Read" (December 1956), an alternate-world fantasy, and "Lungfish" (December 1957), a generation starship story. Bulmer's first appearance in Science Fantasy was in June 1955, with "Psi No More"; he contributed regularly thereafter. A short version of Brian Aldiss's first novel, Nonstop, appeared in the February 1956 issue, and Aldiss subsequently contributed some experimental stories. From 1956 onwards the magazine contained substantially more fantasy than sf. In Carnell's opinion, the literary quality of Science Fantasy was "far higher" than that of New Worlds, but New Worlds was always the better-selling of the two magazines. Carnell's determination to keep the quality high led him to delay publishing issue 20 for two months because of a "lack of suitable material". His efforts were rewarded by frequent appearances of stories from Science Fantasy in the annual Year's Greatest SF anthology series edited by Judith Merril. Carnell occasionally used reprints, often selecting stories in line with the magazine's focus on offbeat fantasy, such as Fritz Leiber's "Space-Time for Springers", and Theodore Sturgeon's "The Graveyard Reader". Towards the end of the 1950s Carnell began to reintroduce non-fiction, and starting in 1959 he printed a series of articles by Sam Moskowitz on key figures in the early history of science fiction, such as Edgar Allan Poe; these articles, which had first appeared in American magazines such as Satellite Science Fiction, were later collected as Explorers of the Infinite. The artwork was of variable quality, in the opinion of critic Brian Stableford; among the better covers Stableford cites the work of Brian Lewis, who supplied almost all Science Fantasy's cover art from 1958 through 1961. Historian David Kyle commented on the "remarkable" cover by R.M. Bull for the third issue, which he regarded as "strikingly reminiscent of the work of Margaret Brundage for Weird Tales in the thirties." ### 1960s In the early 1960s, Thomas Burnett Swann became strongly associated with Science Fantasy. He had published a couple of genre short stories before beginning to sell to Carnell with "The Dryad-Tree" in the August 1960 issue. Swann's speciality was historical fantasy, and Where Is the Bird of Fire?, his retelling of the Romulus and Remus myth, which was serialised in Science Fantasy in 1962, "received more praise than any other [novelette] in recent years", according to Carnell. Swann was one of the three mainstays of Science Fantasy in the early 1960s: the others were Michael Moorcock and J.G. Ballard. Ballard's first story in Science Fantasy was "Prima Belladona", which appeared in the December 1956 issue; his work over the next few years was ideally suited to Science Fantasy and he became a regular contributor. He published some conventional stories in the British magazines, but over the next few years Ballard's more traditional science fiction material appeared mostly in the American market, with Science Fantasy and New Worlds reserved for more experimental material that was a harbinger of New Wave science fiction. Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné series, about a sword and sorcery anti-hero, began with "The Dreaming City" in the June 1961 Science Fantasy, and Moorcock appeared frequently thereafter: he had either a story or an essay (and sometimes both) in all but four of the remaining issues edited by Carnell. Terry Pratchett's first story, "The Hades Business", appeared in the August 1963 issue. Ashley regards the early 1960s as one of the high points of the magazine; it was nominated for the Hugo Award for each of the last three years in which Carnell edited it, from 1962 to 1964, but it never won. When Kyril Bonfiglioli took over in 1964, he complained in his first editorial that he had "just read through a quarter of a million words of ms [manuscript] and half of it was so bad it made me blush". He asked Brian Aldiss to help; the only unsold stories Aldiss had were from his early days, "written before I got the hang of things", but Bonfiglioli told Aldiss, "They can't possibly be worse than the rubbish that's being submitted". Aldiss provided four stories for the first two issues, under his own name and two pseudonyms, "Jael Cracken" and "John Runciman". Bonfiglioli's third issue included Keith Roberts' first two stories: "Escapism", a time travel tale, and "Anita", the first in a series about a witch; Roberts became a frequent contributor both under his own name and as "Alistair Bevan", and also provided the artwork for several covers. The Day of the Minotaur, another historical fantasy by Thomas Burnett Swann, began serialisation in the same issue under the title The Blue Monkeys. Swann's novel The Weirwoods was also serialised in the magazine, with no change of title. Other new writers who began to appear under Bonfiglioli's editorship included Josephine Saxton and Brian Stableford. Bonfiglioli's focus on stories that he liked personally, rather than on a specific editorial policy, led author Christopher Priest to describe Science Fantasy under Bonfiglioli's editorship as "a literate and charmingly eccentric magazine, with an atmosphere all its own". At the World Science Fiction Convention in 1965, held in London, Bonfiglioli persuaded several well-known writers to appear in an "all-star issue ... with specially written stories round the theme of 'sacrifice'". The issue in question was the first one under the new title of Impulse, in March 1966; it included fiction by James Blish, Brian Aldiss, Harry Harrison, J.G. Ballard, Poul Anderson, Jack Vance, and Keith Roberts, who contributed "The Signaller", the first story in his Pavane sequence. The second issue was also high quality, with another Pavane story and a short story by John Brunner from his "Traveller in Black" series. Subsequent issues did not sustain this high level, but overall, in Ashley's opinion, the twelve issues of Impulse contained "some of the best SF and fantasy ever published in British magazines". Christopher Priest's first story, "The Run", appeared in the May 1966 issue, and Chris Boyce's second story, "George", was published in June 1966. Two novels were serialised in Impulse, both well-received: Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room! (later made into the movie Soylent Green), and Moorcock's The Ice Schooner. Other stories listed by Ashley include Thomas Disch's "The Roaches" and "The Number You Have Just Reached", and Aldiss's "The Eyes of the Blind King". Stableford also praises the covers for the last few issues, which were mostly done by Keith Roberts in a semi-abstract style unlike conventional genre art. ## Bibliographic details The editorial succession at Science Fantasy was as follows: - Walter Gillings: Summer 1950 – Winter 1950. - John Carnell: Winter 1951–1952 – April 1964. - Kyril Bonfiglioli: June–July 1964 – September 1966. - Harry Harrison and Keith Roberts: October 1966 – February 1967. The publisher was Nova Publications until April 1964, and Roberts & Vinter Ltd thereafter. Science Fantasy was digest-sized for its first two issues. The size increased to a large digest for the next four issues, but with issue seven it returned to a small digest again, and remained in that format until the June–July 1964 issue, which was issued in paperback format. The remaining issues, including all those under the Impulse title, were published as paperbacks. It initially was priced at 2/-; the price was cut to 1/6 for the third issue, but returned to 2/- with the seventh issue. With issue 11 (December 1954) the price returned to 2/-, and it rose to 2/6 with issue 46 and to 3/- with issue 61. When the format changed to paperback with issue 65 the price dropped again to 2/6, and remained there until the title change to Impulse. All the twelve Impulse issues were priced at 3/6. The page count began at 96, and rose to 128 with issue 7. Issues 36 through 63 were 112 pages, and the final digest-sized issue was 124 pages. The paperback issues were 128 pages under the Science Fantasy title, and 160 pages for the Impulse issues. Volume numbering began with two volumes of three issues, but the second volume began with volume 2, number 4 instead of restarting the issue number at 1 as would usually be done. From issue 7 the volume number was dropped completely. The schedule was initially quite irregular, with the first two issues, in Summer and Winter 1950, followed almost a year later by a Winter 1951–52 issue. Spring and Autumn 1952 were followed by Spring 1953 and then another long delay to the seventh issue which was dated 1954, without a month or season given. The schedule became more regular thereafter, with May 1954 inaugurating a bimonthly schedule that lasted till November 1955, except that September 1954 was followed by a December issue, and June 1955 was followed by September. After February, May and August 1955, the December 1956 issue began a regular bimonthly sequence that was marred only by the appearance of a November 1959 issue between the August and December issues. After the switch to paperback, the sequence ran as follows: June–July 1964, July–August 1964, September–October 1964, December 1964 – January 1965, January–February 1965, and then monthly from March 1965 to the end. There have been no anthologies drawn solely from the pages of Science Fantasy, but Weird Shadows From Beyond, edited by John Carnell, and published by Corgi Books in 1965, drew eight of its ten stories from the magazine. In 2013, a 371-page volume written by John Boston and curated by Damien Broderick, titled Strange Highways: Reading Science Fantasy, 1950–1967 was published by Borgo/Wildside in the US. It discusses, sometimes in detail, every issue, story, writer, cover, and even advertisement of the magazine.
5,689,733	Banksia grossa	1,161,817,911	Shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Australia	[ "Banksia taxa by scientific name", "Endemic flora of Southwest Australia", "Eudicots of Western Australia", "Plants described in 1981", "Taxa named by Alex George" ]	Banksia grossa is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to Southwest Australia. It is one of fourteen species of banksia of the series Abietinae, all of which bear predominantly cylindrical or oval inflorescences. Collected in 1965, it was first formally described in 1981 by Alex George. Its thick leaves and large seeds distinguish it from other members of the Abietinae, and are the basis of its species name. Found in sand or sand over laterite among heath between Eneabba and Badgingarra in Western Australia, the species grows as a many-stemmed shrub to 1 m (3.3 ft) high with narrow leaves and oval brownish flower spikes up to 10 cm (4 in) high, composed of hundreds of individual flowers. Flowering occurs throughout the cooler months of March to September. Flower spikes develop woody follicles which bear the seeds. After bushfire, Banksia grossa regenerates from its woody lignotuber; bushfires also stimulate the release of seeds, which germinate after disturbance. Visitors to (and likely pollinators of) inflorescences include insects and a nocturnal mammal, the white-tailed dunnart. ## Description Banksia grossa grows as a bushy shrub, generally 0.7 to 1 m (28 to 39 in) high, or occasionally up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) high. Its many stems rise from a woody lignotuber. Young stems have a coating of woolly hairs, while older stems are covered in flaky pale brown bark. Borne on 3 to 5 mm long petioles, the somewhat fleshy leaves are needle-like. Although they are between 4 and 12 cm (1.5 and 4.5 in) long and only 2 to 3 mm wide, they are still thicker than those of other members of the series Abietinae. The margins of the leaves are straight with no teeth and rolled over, and the upper surfaces are sparsely hairy when young, but later hairless. New growth occurs in the spring and early summer. ### Flowers Flowers occur in a typical Banksia flower spike: an inflorescence made up of hundreds of small individual flowers, or florets, densely packed around (and completely obscuring) a woody cylindrical axis. In B. grossa, this axis is 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3 in) high with a diameter of 0.7–0.9 cm (0.28–0.35 in). From this, the florets radiate out laterally, giving the inflorescence a diameter of 8 or 9 cm (3 or 3.5 in). Flowers are rusty brown to golden brown, and consist of a hairy 3.4–4.5 cm (1.3–1.8 in) long tubular perianth which opens at maturity (anthesis) to release the dark red to purple style. 3.8–4.8 cm (1.5–1.9 in) long, the style extends past the perianth and is curved at the tip. The flower spikes arise from short thick branchlets running off larger stems, though some flower spikes are terminal (located at the ends of branches and more prominently displayed in the foliage). Flowering occurs between March and September, though early flowering in December has been recorded. It takes five to eight weeks for a flower to develop from bud to the end of flowering. About three weeks before the flowers open, they develop a strong musky smell. The opening of flowers occurs sequentially, starting at the bottom of the inflorescence and sweeping through to the top over a period of around two weeks. At anthesis, the flowers produce copious quantities of nectar; indeed, some flowers produce so much that it drips to the ground. After flowering, the old florets wither and curl against the spike, giving it a hairy appearance. Now known as an infructescence, it is roughly ellipsoidal, 6 to 10 cm high (2.2–4 in) and 4 to 8 cm (1.5 to 3 in) wide. Up to 25 smooth, elliptical follicles develop on the spike, each containing up to two wide wedge-shaped winged seeds. One field study revealed, on average, eight follicles for each fertile cone. Initially covered in fine fur, these are 2 to 4.5 cm (0.79 to 1.77 in) long, 1–1.8 cm (0.39–0.71 in) high and jut out by 1–1.8 cm (0.39–0.71 in). The fur rubs off and they become smooth with wear, and generally remain closed until opened by fire. ### Seeds The seeds of Banksia grossa are the largest of all the species of the series Abietinae. Measuring 2.8–3.9 cm (1.1–1.5 in) long, they are made up of a cuneate (wedge-shaped) seed body, 1.4–1.8 cm (0.55–0.71 in) long by 0.4–0.9 cm (0.16–0.35 in) wide, and a 2.7–3.3 cm (1.1–1.3 in) wide wing. The woody separator is the same shape as the seed, with an impression where the seed body lies next to it. The bright green cotyledons are obovate and can be either convex or concave, measuring 1.6 to 2.2 cm long by 0.9 to 1.2 cm wide. These arise from a stocky seedling stem, known as the hypocotyl, which is reddish and covered in short hairs. The auricles of the cotyledons are 2 mm long. Seedling leaves arise 0.6 to 0.8 cm beyond the cotyledons and are oppositely arranged. Linear, they are 1.4 to 1.6 cm long with recurved margins and are covered in white hair. The stem remains reddish. Subsequent leaf pairs are successively longer. ## Taxonomy The first known specimen collection of B. grossa was made by botanist Fred W. Humphreys in 1965. Alex George has expressed surprise that it was not collected by earlier visitors to the area, speculating that "perhaps they were diverted by its similarity to B. leptophylla and B. sphaerocarpa." George formally described the species in his 1981 monograph "The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)", based on a specimen collected by him on the Brand Highway, 76 km north of Regans Ford, on 14 May 1969. He placed it in subgenus Banksia because of its flower spike; section Oncostylis because its styles are hooked; and the resurrected series Abietinae, which he constrained to contain only round-fruited species. It was placed in phyletic order between B. micrantha and B. leptophylla. The specific epithet is from the Latin grossus ("coarse") and refers to the leaves, flowers, and fruit, all of which George observed were more coarse than other members of B. ser. Abietinae. George's arrangement remained current until 1996, when Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published an arrangement informed by a cladistic analysis of morphological characteristics. They retained George's subgenera and many of his series, but discarded his sections. Banksia ser. Abietinae was found to be very nearly monophyletic, and so was retained. It further resolved into four subclades, so Thiele and Ladiges split it into four subseries. Banksia grossa appeared as the most basal member of the second of these: This clade became the basis for the new subseries Sphaerocarpae, which Thiele defined as containing those species with lignotubers, styles loosely curling around the infructescence (although this trait was reversed in B. micrantha), and "transversely aligned cells of the seed wing inner face". The species other than B. grossa also have shouldered follicles. Questioning the emphasis on cladistics in Thiele and Ladiges' arrangement, George published a slightly modified version of his 1981 arrangement in his 1999 treatment of Banksia for the Flora of Australia series of monographs. The placement of B. grossa was the same as in 1981, except that B. telmatiaea was moved to set between it and B. leptophylla. The placement of B. grossa in George's 1999 arrangement may be summarised as follows: Banksia : B. subg. Banksia : : B. sect. Banksia (9 series, 50 species, 9 subspecies, 3 varieties) : : B. sect. Coccinea (1 species) : : B. sect. Oncostylis : : : B. ser. Spicigerae (7 species, 2 subspecies, 4 varieties) : : : B. ser. Tricuspidae (1 species) : : : B. ser. Dryandroideae (1 species) : : : B. ser. Abietinae : : : : B. sphaerocarpa (5 varieties) : : : : B. micrantha : : : : B. grossa : : : : B. telmatiaea : : : : B. leptophylla (2 varieties) : : : : B. lanata : : : : B. scabrella : : : : B. violacea : : : : B. incana : : : : B. laricina : : : : B. pulchella : : : : B. meisneri (2 subspecies) : : : : B. nutans (2 varieties) : B. subg. Isostylis (3 species) Since 1998, Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae. His analyses suggest a phylogeny that is very different from George's arrangement. Banksia grossa was inferred to be sister to a polytomous clade consisting of B. leptophylla, B. telmatiaea, B. scabrella and B. lanata: Early in 2007, Mast and Thiele initiated a rearrangement of Banksia by merging Dryandra into it, and publishing B. subg. Spathulatae for the taxa having spoon-shaped cotyledons. They foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of Dryandra was complete; in the meantime, if Mast and Thiele's nomenclatural changes are taken as an interim arrangement, then B. grossa is placed in B. subg.. Spathulatae. ## Distribution and habitat Banksia grossa mainly occurs from west of Yandanooka in the north, south to Badgingarra National Park, and east almost to Coorow. It grows in shallow sand over laterite, in deep sand, and occasionally atop lateritic rises, on flat or gently undulating land, among kwongan shrubland. Around 40% of plants occur on road verges. ## Ecology Banksia grossa resprouts from its woody lignotuber after bushfire. Shrubs carry relatively low numbers of seeds compared with plant species that regenerate by seed after bushfire. A field study in Eneabba showed shrubs bore anywhere from 30 to 90 seeds per plant. Seeds borne on plants, however, are less likely to be eaten by animals than seed lying dormant in the soil, and hence survive to produce future seedlings. Populations of resprouting plants, like B. grossa, benefit more from longer intervals between fires as their stored seedbank takes longer to accumulate than reseeding species. The follicles generally open after bushfire, releasing seeds which germinate after disturbance. Species with persistent flowers on old spikes often require higher temperatures for follicles to open after burning; laboratory testing resulted in 50% opening after exposure to 270 °C and 90% after 400 °C. The leaves of B. grossa are adapted to a dry climate. The lower surfaces are protected by the strongly revolute shape of the leaf, the leaf margins curling around underneath almost to the mid-vein. The trichomes (leaf hairs) run along the mid-vein and the margins, further protecting the surface where the stomates are located, thus minimising water loss. Cladistic analysis suggests this species and its relatives in the series Abietinae developed long narrow leaves with inrolled margins as they invaded drier climates in Australia's southwest, having evolved from ancestors with broad leaves. The inflorescences are highly attractive to insects. The rare bee species Hylaeus globuliferus is a recorded visitor. Large numbers of ladybirds have been reported drinking the nectar of this species, while ignoring nearby Banksia attenuata inflorescences. The white-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis granulipes) has been observed visiting flower spikes. Pollen has been found on the snouts and in the scat of several species of dasyurid marsupials, which suggests these animals are likely pollinators of Banksia species in general. No pollinators of this species were recorded in The Banksia Atlas survey. Banksia grossa is one of five closely related Banksia species that have highly unusual flower nectar. Whereas other Banksia species produce nectar that is clear and watery, the nectar of these species is pale yellow initially, but gradually becomes darker and thicker, changing to a thick, olive-green mucilage within one to two days of secretion, and eventually becoming "an almost black, gelatinous lump adhering to the base of the flowers". It was first noted by Byron Lamont in 1980; he attributed it to cyanobacteria that feed off the nectar sugars. Noting that many of these cyanobacteria had heterocysts, he speculated that they aid the plant by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, which is then washed off the flower heads by rain, and absorbed by the proteoid root mat. This purported symbiosis was investigated by Barrett and Lamont in 1985, but no evidence of nitrogen fixing was found. Further investigation by Markey and Lamont in 1996 suggested that the discolouration is not caused by cyanobacteria or other microorganisms in the nectar, but is rather "a chemical phenomenon of plant origin". Their analyses indicated that the nectar had unusually high levels of sugar and free amino acids, but three of these species, including B. sphaerocarpa, have since been shown to have normal nectar sugar compositions. The purpose of coloured nectar is unclear, especially as pollinators such as nocturnal mammals are not thought to forage by sight. However, nectar that becomes more obvious by appearance or smell as it ages might encourage pollinators to prioritise it over newer nectar. It is possible the colour change is unrelated to pollination. ## Use in horticulture Banksia grossa is cultivated for its attractive needle-like leaves and rusty-brown flower spikes, both of which can be quite variable in colour. This species favours well-drained sandy or loamy acidic soils with a pH of 5.5 to 7, and a sunny aspect. Once established, it tolerates dry spells. It can be pruned heavily as it resprouts from its lignotuber. Propagation is by seed. The seeds do not require any treatment before sowing, and take around 14 days to germinate. This is a slow-growing plant, taking 5 to 7 years to reach maturity and begin flowering. ## Cultural references This banksia was featured on an Australian postage stamp in 2018.
44,613	Thomas F. Bayard	1,171,089,675	American lawyer, politician and diplomat (1828–1898)	[ "1828 births", "1898 deaths", "19th-century American Episcopalians", "19th-century American diplomats", "19th-century American politicians", "Ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom", "American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law", "Bayard family", "Bourbon Democrats", "Burials in Delaware", "Candidates in the 1876 United States presidential election", "Candidates in the 1880 United States presidential election", "Candidates in the 1884 United States presidential election", "Civil service reform in the United States", "Cleveland administration cabinet members", "Copperheads (politics)", "Delaware Democrats", "Delaware lawyers", "Democratic Party United States senators from Delaware", "Members of the American Antiquarian Society", "People from Wilmington, Delaware", "Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate", "United States Attorneys for the District of Delaware", "United States Secretaries of State" ]	Thomas Francis Bayard (October 29, 1828 – September 28, 1898) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat from Wilmington, Delaware. A Democrat, he served three terms as the United States Senator from Delaware and made three unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. In 1885, President Grover Cleveland appointed him Secretary of State. After four years in private life, he returned to the diplomatic arena as Ambassador to Great Britain. Born in Delaware to a prominent family, Bayard learned politics from his father James A. Bayard Jr., who also served in the Senate. In 1869, the Delaware legislature elected Bayard to the Senate upon his father's retirement. A Peace Democrat during the Civil War, Bayard spent his early years in the Senate in opposition to Republican policies, especially the Reconstruction of the defeated Confederate states. His conservatism extended to financial matters as he became known as a staunch supporter of the gold standard and an opponent of greenbacks and silver coinage which he believed would cause inflation. Bayard's conservative politics made him popular in the Southern United States and with financial interests in the Eastern United States, but never popular enough to obtain the Democratic nomination for president which he attempted to win in 1876, 1880 and 1884. In 1885, President Cleveland appointed Bayard Secretary of State. Bayard worked with Cleveland to promote American trade in the Pacific while avoiding the acquisition of colonies at a time when many Americans clamored for them. He sought increased cooperation with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, working to resolve disputes over fishing and seal-hunting rights in the waters around the Canada–United States border. As ambassador, Bayard continued to strive for Anglo-American friendship. This brought him into conflict with his successor at the State Department Richard Olney, when Olney and Cleveland demanded more aggressive diplomatic overtures than Bayard wished in the Venezuelan crisis of 1895. His term at the American embassy ended in 1897 and he died the following year. ## Early life and family Bayard was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1828, the second son of James A. Bayard Jr. and Anne née Francis. The Bayard family was prominent in Delaware as Bayard's father would be elected to the United States Senate in 1851. Among Bayard's ancestors were his grandfather James A. Bayard, also a Senator; and great-grandfather Richard Bassett, who served as Senator from and Governor of Delaware. Several other relatives served in high office, including Bayard's uncle Richard H. Bayard, another Delaware Senator; and his great-great-uncle Nicholas Bayard, who was Mayor of New York City. On his mother's side, Bayard descended from Philadelphia lawyer and financier Tench Francis Jr. Bayard was educated in private academies in Wilmington and then in Flushing, New York, when his father moved to New York City for business reasons. Bayard's father returned to Delaware in 1843, but he remained in New York, working as a clerk in the mercantile firm of his brother-in-law August Schermerhorn. In 1846, his father secured him a job in a banking firm in Philadelphia and he worked there for the next two years. Bayard was unsatisfied with his progress at the firm and returned to Wilmington to read law at his father's office. Bayard was admitted to the bar in 1851, the year his father was elected to the United States Senate. Thomas took on greater responsibilities in the family law office and rose quickly in the legal profession. In 1853, after the election of Democratic President Franklin Pierce, Bayard was appointed United States Attorney for Delaware. He spent only a year in the position before moving to Philadelphia to open a practice with his friend William Shippen, a partnership that lasted until Shippen's death in 1858. While in Philadelphia, Bayard met Louise Lee, whom he married in October 1856. The marriage produced twelve children. ## Civil War and Reconstruction Bayard's return to Wilmington in 1858 brought greater involvement in the political scene. James Bayard was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention, and Thomas attended with him. The elder Bayard supported Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia for the nomination. When the convention deadlocked and the Southern Democrats split from the main party, James Bayard adhered to the regular Democrats, but told Thomas that he thought the nominee, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, was untrustworthy. The subsequent election of Republican Abraham Lincoln and secession of the seven states of the Deep South led both Bayards to fear for the future of the Union, and the elder Bayard to propose a convention of all the states to resolve their differences. In the meantime, as four more Southern states seceded, James Bayard encouraged his son to help organize an independent militia unit, the Delaware Guard; Thomas Bayard was commissioned as its First Lieutenant. In 1860, Delaware occupied an unusual position in the free state-slave state divide; nominally a slave state, Delaware's slave population had been in steep decline for decades and represented just 1.6% of the state's people. Opinion on secession was mixed in Delaware, but the Bayards were Peace Democrats and leaned to the Southern perspective. They blamed the war on abolitionist Republicans and believed that secession, while unwise, should not be suppressed with military force. Thomas Bayard spoke at a public meeting in Dover in June 1861, saying that "with this secession, or revolution, or rebellion, or by whatever name it may be called, the State of Delaware has naught to do." Even after the Civil War's first battles erupted in Virginia, Bayard continued to hope for peace. By early 1862, the Delaware Guard came under suspicion of Southern sympathies, and Major General Henry du Pont, commander of the state militia, ordered it disarmed. When Bayard refused to comply, he was briefly arrested before being released on parole. Bayard's father was reelected to the Senate in 1862, but resigned shortly thereafter in protest of the new oath of office, which demanded that Senators swear they had never borne arms against the United States nor given aid and encouragement to its enemies. Bayard and his father continued in private law practice through the war. Both were pleased with the Democrats' peace platform in 1864, but disappointed in the choice of nominee, Major General George B. McClellan, a War Democrat. In 1866, Thomas Bayard successfully represented four South Carolinians in habeas corpus cases against the military. The following year, Senator George R. Riddle died and the legislature elected James Bayard to fill the remainder of the term, which ended in 1869. Bayard became more politically active, speaking at a public meeting in September 1867 against constitutional proposals for ending racial discrimination in voting rights. The following year, he condemned the impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson, who had succeeded to the presidency in 1865 after Lincoln's assassination and had threatened the Republican Congress's plans for Reconstruction of the Southern states. Both Bayards attended the 1868 Democratic National Convention and, although they were unenthusiastic about the nominee, Horatio Seymour, supported the unsuccessful ticket that year. ## United States Senator ### Reaction to Reconstruction Bayard's father retired from the Senate when his term ended in 1869, and the legislature elected his son to the seat with little opposition. Bayard entered a Senate in which his fellow Democrats were greatly outnumbered by Republicans; the new president, Ulysses S. Grant, was also a Republican. In the Reconstruction Era, Bayard took up the cause of the defeated South, speaking against the continued military rule of the conquered states and advocating a return to civilian (and conservative) government. He protested the requirement that readmitted Southern states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed equal protection of the laws to all Americans. Bayard also inveighed against the continued presence of federal troops in the South. He spoke against each of the three Enforcement Acts, which increased the federal government's power to protect black Southerners' civil and political rights in the face of rising violence by the Ku Klux Klan and other groups. Although his protests were to little effect, Bayard continued to voice opposition to the majority party's plans for reconstructing the South. In 1871, he was named to a joint committee sent by Congress to investigate conditions in the South. The committee, like the Congress, had a Republican majority, and their report detailed many of the Klan's outrages against the newly freed slaves. Bayard dissented, questioning the veracity of the witnesses' testimony and stating that there were few incidents of lawlessness and that the South was generally at peace. The majority disagreed, and their findings were the basis for the Third Enforcement Act later that year. As more Democrats returned to the Senate, and as Republican goals shifted elsewhere, Bayard's ideas gained some traction, but were still largely in vain. In 1873, the Senate passed a resolution he introduced that demanded that Grant disclose how much government money was being expended in enforcing Reconstruction laws in the South, and to whom it was paid; the President ignored the resolution. The next year, Bayard opposed a Republican bill authorizing federal supervision of the upcoming election in Louisiana, attacking the Republican administration there as corrupt; he was unsuccessful, and the election was supervised by federal troops. He spoke forcefully against the proposed Civil Rights Act of 1875, which was to be the last such act for nearly a century. Again, he was unsuccessful and the bill, which guaranteed equal treatment in public accommodations regardless of race, passed Congress and became law. Although ultimately unsuccessful, Bayard's actions endeared him to his conservative constituents, and he was elected to another six-year term in 1874. ### Specie resumption From the start of his congressional career, Bayard was an advocate of hard money, i.e., a dollar backed by gold. During the Civil War, Congress had authorized a new form of currency, redeemable not in specie (gold or silver coin) but in 6% government bonds. These United States Notes, popularly known as "greenbacks," had helped to finance the war when the government's gold supply did not keep pace with the expanding costs of maintaining the armies. When the crisis had passed, many in Congress (including Bayard) wanted to return the nation's currency to a gold standard as soon as possible. The process of retiring the greenbacks had already begun when Bayard was elected, but stopped when many congressmen thought the fiscal contraction too severe, and likely to be harmful to the economy. In 1869, Congress passed the Public Credit Act of 1869, which required that the government pay its bond holders in gold, not greenbacks. Bayard thought the bill not strong enough, since it did not require removing greenbacks from circulation, and he voted against it. In 1873, a business depression (known as the Panic of 1873), increased the pressure for retaining greenbacks, as some in Congress believed that inflating the currency would ease the economic problems. Grant's Treasury Secretary, William Adams Richardson, reissued \$26 million of the redeemed greenbacks, reversing the administration's previous policy of removing them from circulation. This ignited a four-month debate in the Senate over whether and when the government should return to backing all of its currency with gold—including the remaining greenbacks. The majority, including Bayard, favored resumption, but in wording the resolution that passed the Senate, Republican John Sherman of Ohio left vague the exact timing; Bayard feared it would be put off indefinitely. The Sherman bill also proposed to remove greenbacks from circulation by exchanging them for bonds payable in gold; in response, Bayard proposed an amendment limiting the amount of debt the government could incur. When the amendment was rejected, Bayard voted against the bill (known as the Specie Payment Resumption Act), believing that it was likely to cause inflation. ### Election of 1876 Bayard's popularity with his party had grown during his time in the Senate, and by 1875 he was seen as a contender for the presidency. His advocacy of hard money had won him friends in some of the Northern cities, and his stance against Reconstruction made him popular throughout the South. Competing for those same factions of the Democratic party was New York governor Samuel J. Tilden, who had gained national fame for fighting the political corruption of William M. Tweed's Tammany Hall machine in New York City. Other contenders included Governor Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana and Major General Winfield Scott Hancock. Tilden's wealth and national renown helped gather delegates to his cause, and in June 1876, he entered the convention with 4041⁄2 votes; Bayard placed fifth with 33. Tilden was nominated on the second ballot. Displeased with the result, Bayard nonetheless supported the Democratic nominee against Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, the Republican candidate, speaking to large crowds in cities across the North and Midwest. On election day, the vote was close, but appeared to favor a Tilden victory. Three days later, Tilden looked to have won 184 electoral votes, one short of a majority, while Hayes appeared to have 166 votes, with the votes of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina still in doubt. Each party sent their people to observe the vote in the disputed states. Abram Hewitt, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, asked Bayard to travel to Louisiana along with several others, but Bayard refused to go. The counts of the disputed ballots were inconclusive, with each state producing two sets of returns, one signed by Democratic officials, the other by Republicans, each claiming victory for their man. There was debate about which person or house of Congress was authorized to decide between the competing slates of electors, with the Republican Senate and the Democratic House each claiming priority. By January 1877, with the question still unresolved, Congress and President Grant agreed to submit the matter to a bipartisan Electoral Commission, which would be authorized to determine the fate of the disputed electoral votes. Bayard supported the idea, and visited Tilden in New York to convince him that it was the only alternative to stalemate and possible renewed civil war. The bill passed, with Bayard's vote, and provided for a commission of five representatives, five senators, and five Supreme Court justices. To ensure partisan balance, there would be seven Democrats and seven Republicans; the fifteenth member was to be a Supreme Court justice chosen by the other four on the commission (themselves two Republicans and two Democrats). Justice David Davis, an independent respected by both parties, was expected to be their choice. Bayard was among the seven Democrats chosen. Davis upset the careful planning by accepting election to the Senate by the state of Illinois and refusing to serve on the commission. The remaining Supreme Court justices were all Republicans and, with the addition of Justice Joseph P. Bradley to the place intended for Davis, the commission had an 8–7 Republican majority. The commission met and considered all of the disputed ballots, awarding each to Hayes by an 8–7 party-line vote. Bayard and his fellow Democrats were outraged, and the Democratic majority in the House threatened to filibuster to prevent the results from being accepted. As the March 4 inauguration day approached, leaders of both parties met at Wormley's Hotel in Washington to negotiate a compromise. Republicans promised that, in exchange for Democratic acquiescence in the committee's decision, Hayes would order federal troops to withdraw from the South and accept the election of Democratic governments in the remaining "unredeemed" states there. The Democrats agreed and the filibuster ended. Tilden later blamed Bayard, among others, for his role in creating the Electoral Commission, but Bayard defended his position, believing that the only alternative to the result was civil war. ### Gold standard In 1873, Congress had passed a Coinage Act that regulated which coins were legal tender. The list of legal coins duplicated that of the previous coinage act, leaving off only the silver dollar and three smaller coins. The rationale in the Treasury report accompanying the draft bill was that to mint a gold dollar and a silver dollar with different intrinsic values was problematic; as the silver dollar did not circulate and the gold did, it made sense to drop the unused coin. The bill passed easily, with Bayard's support, but quickly thereafter became unpopular. Opponents of the bill would later call this omission the "Crime of '73," and would mean it literally, circulating tales of bribery of Congressmen by foreign agents. Over the next few years, pressure to reintroduce silver coinage grew, and cut across party lines. In 1877, Republican Senator Stanley Matthews of Ohio introduced a resolution to pay the national debt in silver instead of gold. Bayard joined several Republicans in speaking and voting against the measure, calling it "folly," but it passed the Senate 42 to 20. Meanwhile, Democrat Richard P. Bland of Missouri furthered the silver cause from the House, proposing a free silver bill that would require the United States to buy as much silver as miners could sell the government and strike it into coins, a system that would increase the money supply and aid debtors. In short, silver miners would sell the government metal worth fifty to seventy cents, and receive back a silver dollar. William B. Allison, a pro-silver Republican from Iowa, offered an amendment in the Senate requiring the purchase of two to four million dollars per month of silver, but not allowing private deposit of silver at the mints. Thus, the seignorage, or difference between the face value of the coin and the worth of the metal contained within it accrued to the government's credit, not private citizens. Bayard saw the whole effort as the path to inflation and economic ruin. Again, he spoke against the bill, but like the Matthews resolution, the Bland–Allison Act passed both houses of Congress in 1878. President Hayes shared Bayard's fear of inflation, and vetoed the bill, but Congress mustered the two-thirds vote necessary to overturn the veto, and it became law. ### Clashes with Hayes The elections of 1878 returned control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats for the first time since before the Civil War. The new Democratic majority passed an army appropriation bill in 1879 with a rider that repealed the Enforcement Acts. Those Acts, passed during Reconstruction, made it a crime to prevent someone from voting because of his race and allowed the use of federal troops to supervise elections. Bayard supported the effort, which passed both houses and sent to the President. Hayes was determined to preserve the law to protect black voters, and he vetoed the appropriation. Bayard spoke in favor of the bill, believing the time had come to end the military's involvement in Southern politics. The Democrats did not have enough votes to override the veto, but they passed a new bill with the same rider. Hayes vetoed this as well, and the process was repeated three times more. Finally, Hayes signed an appropriation without the rider, but Congress refused to pass another bill to fund federal marshals, who were vital to the enforcement of the Force Acts. The election laws remained in effect, but the funds to enforce them were cut off. Bayard also clashed with Hayes on the issue of Chinese immigration. In 1868, the Senate had ratified the Burlingame Treaty with China, allowing an unrestricted flow of Chinese immigrants into the country. Bayard criticized the treaty because it treated Americans and the Chinese as equal races, when he believed the latter was inferior. As the economy soured after the Panic of 1873, Chinese immigrants were blamed for depressing workmen's wages. During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, anti-Chinese riots broke out in San Francisco, and a third party, the Workingman's Party, was formed with an emphasis on stopping Chinese immigration. Bayard favored some restriction on Chinese immigration and voted in favor of a Chinese Exclusion Act in 1879, which passed both houses that year. Hayes vetoed the bill, believing that the United States should not abrogate treaties without negotiation. The veto drew praise among some New England Republicans, but was bitterly denounced in the West. After the veto, Assistant Secretary of State Frederick W. Seward suggested that both countries work together to reduce immigration. Congress passed a new law to that effect, the Chinese Exclusion Act, in 1882. Bayard supported this new act, which became law with President Chester A. Arthur's signature that year. ### Election of 1880 As the election of 1880 drew near, Bayard was again regarded as a likely candidate. Hayes had pledged himself to a one-term presidency, which meant the Republicans would not have the advantage of incumbency. On the Democratic side, Tilden was regarded as the natural choice, as many Democrats were still convinced he had been robbed of the office in 1876. Tilden's supporters saw Bayard as a rival, and sought to smear him by suggesting he had colluded with Republicans to defeat Tilden in 1876. Meanwhile, in the House, Tilden supporter Clarkson Nott Potter of New York began an investigation into the 1876 election, hoping that evidence of Republican malfeasance would harm that party's candidate in 1880. In fact, the Potter committee's investigation had the opposite effect, uncovering telegrams from Tilden's nephew, William Tilden Pelton, that offered bribes to Southern Republicans in the disputed states to help Tilden claim their votes. The telegrams doomed Tilden's hopes for the nomination, and boosted Bayard's chance among the erstwhile Tilden supporters. As Tilden's star began to fade, many Democrats looked to Bayard. He remained popular in the Eastern cities for his conservatism and hard money beliefs, but many in the South, including Senator Augustus Hill Garland of Arkansas, advised Bayard to embrace silver to help halt the defections of Southern and Western Democrats to the new Greenback Party. Bayard declined to do so. He was also reluctant to strike a deal with John Kelly of New York, whose Tammany faction of the Democratic party was currently at odds with the Tilden machine there. After the party rift caused the defeat of the Democratic governor in New York's 1879 election, many Tilden adherents began to think their candidate could not win his home state, and drifted to Bayard, among others. Tilden's supporters attempted to weaken Bayard in February 1880 by publishing the speech he gave in Dover in 1861, in which he said that the United States should acquiesce in Southern secession. At the same time, Bayard's uncompromising stance on the money question pushed some Democrats to support Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, who had not been identified with either extreme in the gold-silver debate and had a military record that appealed to Northerners. Leading up to the convention in Cincinnati, Tilden remained ambiguous about his intentions. George Gray, Delaware's attorney general, placed Bayard's name in nomination, calling the senator "a veteran, covered in scars of many a hard-fought battle, where the principles of constitutional liberty have been at stake ... Bayard is a statesman who will need no introduction to the American people." When the convention took its first ballot on June 23, Bayard placed second with 1531⁄2 votes, trailing only Hancock, who had 171. On the second ballot, the delegates broke for Hancock, and he was nominated. The Southern delegates, whom Bayard thought would be most loyal to him, were among the first to desert him. The convention nominated William Hayden English of Indiana, a Bayard supporter and hard-money man, for vice president, and then closed. Bayard's supporters were disappointed, but he supported the ticket as usual, in the interest of party unity. Hancock and English fought to a near-draw in the popular vote, but lost the electoral vote to James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur by 214 to 155. ### Budget surplus and civil service reform The Delaware legislature re-elected Bayard to the Senate for a third term in 1881 without serious opposition. The Senate in the 47th Congress was evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, with the new vice president, Arthur, holding the tie-breaking vote. After spending the special session of March 1881 in an intra-Republican Party fight over the confirmation of Garfield's cabinet nominees, the Senate went into recess until October. By that time, Garfield had been assassinated and Arthur was president. When the Senate reconvened, the Democrats held the majority briefly, and Bayard was elected president pro tempore on October 10; Republicans regained the majority three days later as Republican latecomers arrived and were sworn in, and David Davis took over the office. Among the issues confronting the Senate was the surplus of government funds. With high revenue held over from wartime taxes, the federal government had collected more than it spent since 1866; by 1882 the surplus reached \$145 million. Opinions varied on how to balance the budget; the Democrats wished to lower tariffs, in order to reduce revenues and the cost of imported goods, while Republicans believed that high tariffs ensured high wages in manufacturing and mining. They preferred the government spend more on internal improvements and pensions for Civil War soldiers while reducing excise taxes. Bayard did not oppose some veterans' pensions, but worried that pensions would require continued high tariffs, which he opposed. He supported the movement for a commission to examine the tariff and suggest improvements, but opposed the resulting Tariff of 1883, which reduced tariffs by an average of 1.47%. Congressional Republicans also sought to deplete the surplus through a Rivers and Harbors Act that increased spending on internal improvements; Bayard opposed the bill and was gratified when Arthur vetoed it against his own party's wishes. Bayard and Arthur also agreed on the need for civil service reform. Garfield's assassination by a deranged office seeker amplified the public demand for civil service reform. Leaders of both parties, including Bayard, realized that they could attract the votes of reformers by turning against the spoils system and, by 1882, a bipartisan effort began in favor of reform. In 1880, Democratic Senator George H. Pendleton of Ohio introduced legislation that required selection of civil servants based on merit as determined by an examination, but the bill did not pass. After the 1882 congressional elections, in which Democrats campaigned successfully on the reform issue, the Pendleton bill was proposed again, and again Bayard supported it, saying that "the offices of this Government are created ... for the public service and not for the private use of incumbents." The Senate approved the bill 38–5 and the House soon concurred by a vote of 155–47. Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act into law on January 16, 1883. ### Election of 1884 Despite his rebukes at the Democratic national conventions in 1876 and 1880, Bayard was again considered among the leading candidates for the nomination in 1884. Tilden again was ambiguous about his willingness to run, but by 1883 New York's new governor, Grover Cleveland, began to surpass Tilden as a likely candidate. After Tilden definitively bowed out in June 1884, many of his former supporters began to flock to Bayard. Many Democrats were concerned with Cleveland's ability to carry his home state after he, like Tilden before him, became embroiled in a feud with the Tammany Hall wing of the party. At the same time, the Tammany Democrats became more friendly to Bayard. By the time the Democrats had assembled in Chicago on July 8, 1884 to begin their convention, the Republicans had already picked their nominee: James G. Blaine of Maine. Blaine's nomination turned many reform-minded Republicans (known as Mugwumps) away from their party. Bayard and Cleveland, seen as honest politicians, were the Democrats most favored by the renegade Republican faction. Bayard was optimistic at the start of the convention, but the results of the first ballot ran heavily against him: 170 votes to Cleveland's 392. The reason was the same as in 1880: as Congressman Robert S. Stevens of New York said, "I believe if he were President his Administration would be one in which every American citizen would take pride. I believe he is a patriot, but it would be a suicidal attempt to nominate him. His [1861] Dover speech would be sent into every household in the North." The voting the next day demonstrated the point, as Cleveland was nominated on the second ballot. The resulting campaign between Cleveland and Blaine focused more on scandal and mudslinging than the issues of the day. In the end, Cleveland eked out a narrow victory. Carrying New York was crucial for the Democrat; a shift of just 550 votes in that state would have given the election to Blaine. Instead, Cleveland carried his home state and a Democrat was elected president for the first time since 1856. ## Secretary of State Cleveland recognized Bayard's status in the party hierarchy by offering him the top spot in his cabinet, Secretary of State. Bayard did not think himself an expert in foreign affairs and enjoyed the sixteen years he had spent in the Senate; even so, he accepted the post and joined the administration. Washington journalist Benjamin Perley Poore described Bayard's personality and habits at that time: > Mr. Bayard has no appreciation of humor or fondness for political intrigue, and department drudgery would be intolerable to him were it not for his passionate fondness for out-door exercise. A bold horseman, an untiring pedestrian, and enthusiastic angler, and a good swimmer, he preserves his health, and gives close attention to the affairs of his Department. ### Samoa and Hawaii Among the first foreign policy challenges Bayard and Cleveland faced was that concerning American influence in the Samoan Islands. The United States, Great Britain, and Germany all had treaties with the Samoan government that guaranteed their right to trade and establish naval bases there. In the 1880s, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck began to increase German influence in Samoa, and attempted to replace the Samoan king, Malietoa Laupepa, with Tamasese Titimaea, a claimant to the throne who favored German suzerainty. Bayard and Cleveland opposed any change that would undermine Samoan independence, as did the British government. Bayard filed a note of protest with the German government, and the three powers agreed to meet for a conference in Washington in June 1887, but they failed to achieve any agreement. Shortly thereafter, Tamasese's unpopularity led another claimant, Mata'afa Iosefo, to start a rebellion that led to the Samoan Civil War. When Tamasese's German guards were killed, Bismarck considered it an attack on Germany, and sent warships to Samoa. Cleveland dispatched three American warships, Nipsic, Trenton, and Vandalia, in response, and a British warship joined them. As the threat of war grew, Bismarck backed down and agreed to another conference in 1889; two weeks later, a hurricane struck the harbor and all of the German and American warships were damaged or sunk. As tempers cooled, the parties met in conference in Berlin. By that time, Cleveland had been defeated for re-election and James G. Blaine took Bayard's place as Secretary of State. The three powers agreed to a tripartite protectorate of Samoa with Malietoa Laupepa restored as king; that situation prevailed until 1899, when renewed civil war led to a second convention partitioning the islands between Germany and the United States. In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Bayard and Cleveland pursued a similar goal of maintaining the Hawaiian kingdom's independence while expanding access for American trade. As a Senator, Bayard had voted for free trade with Hawaii, but the treaty was allowed to lapse in 1884. As Secretary of State the following year, Bayard hoped to again have free trade with Hawaii, and also endorsed the idea of establishing an American naval base there, although he preferred Midway Atoll to the eventual location, Pearl Harbor. A treaty to that effect passed the Senate in 1887 by a 43–11 vote. As in Samoa, the administration sought to curb foreign influence, encouraging the Hawaiian government to reject a loan from Britain that would have required pledging future government revenues toward its repayment. ### Relations with Britain Despite their agreement on Samoa, much of Bayard's term of office was taken up in settling disputes with Great Britain. The largest of these concerned the Canadian fisheries off the Atlantic coasts of Canada and Newfoundland. The rights of American fisherman in Canadian waters had been disputed since American independence, but the most recent disagreement stemmed from Congress's decision in 1885 to abrogate part of the 1871 treaty that governed the situation. Under that treaty, American fishermen had the right to fish in Canadian waters; in return, fishermen from Canada and Newfoundland had the right to export fish to the United States duty-free. Protectionists in Congress thought the arrangement hurt American fisherman, and convinced their colleagues to repeal it. In response, Canadian authorities fell back on an interpretation of the earlier Treaty of 1818, and began to seize American vessels. In 1887, the lame duck 49th Congress then passed the Fisheries Retaliation Act, which empowered the president to bar Canadian ships from American ports if he thought Canadians were treating American fishermen "unjustly;" Cleveland signed the bill, but did not enforce it and hoped he and Bayard would be able to find a diplomatic solution to the escalating trade war. Britain agreed to negotiate, and a six-member commission convened in Washington in June 1887. Bayard led the American delegation, joined by James Burrill Angell, president of the University of Michigan, and William LeBaron Putnam, a Maine lawyer and international law scholar. Joseph Chamberlain, a leading statesman in the British Parliament, led their delegation, which also included Lionel Sackville-West, the British ambassador to the United States, and Charles Tupper, a future Prime Minister of Canada. By February 1888, the commission agreed on a new treaty, which would create a mixed commission to determine which bays were open to American fishermen. Americans could purchase provisions and bait in Canada if they purchased a license, but if Canadian fisherman were allowed to sell their catch in the United States duty-free, then the Americans' licenses to fish in Canada would be free. Bayard believed that the treaty, "if observed honorably and honestly, will prevent future friction ... between the two nations." The Senate, controlled by Republicans, disagreed, and rejected the treaty by a 27–30 vote. Aware of the risk that the treaty might be rejected, Bayard and Chamberlain agreed on a two-year working agreement, allowing Americans to continue their fishing in Canadian waters by paying a fee. This arrangement was renewed every two years until 1912, when a permanent solution was found. A similar dispute with Britain arose in the Pacific, over the rights of Canadians to hunt seals in waters off the Pribilof Islands, a part of Alaska. While only Americans had the right to take seals on the islands, the right to hunt in the waters around them was less well-defined, and Americans believed foreign sealers were depleting the herd too quickly by hunting off-shore. Bayard and Cleveland believed the waters around the islands to be exclusively American, but when Cleveland ordered the seizure of Canadian ships there, Bayard tried to convince him to search for a diplomatic solution instead. The situation remained unresolved when the administration left office in 1889, and remained so until the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911. Relations with Britain were also impaired when Sackville-West intervened in the 1888 election. A Republican, posing as a British immigrant to the United States, asked Sackville-West whether voting for Cleveland or his Republican opponent, Benjamin Harrison, would best serve British interests. Sackville-West wrote that Cleveland was better for Britain; Republicans published the letter in October 1888, hoping to diminish Cleveland's popularity among Irish-Americans. Cleveland's cabinet discussed the matter and instructed Bayard to inform the ambassador his services would no longer be required in Washington. Bayard attempted to limit the electoral damage, and gave a speech in Baltimore condemning Republicans for scheming to portray Cleveland as a British tool. Cleveland was defeated for re-election the following month in a close election. ## Return to private life Bayard's term as Secretary of State ended in March 1889 after Cleveland's defeat, and he returned to Wilmington to resume his law practice. He lived in "very comfortable circumstances" there, with a fortune estimated at \$300,000, although his income from the law practice was modest. His wife having died in 1886, Bayard remarried in 1889 to Mary Willing Clymer, the granddaughter and namesake of the Philadelphia socialite Mary Willing Clymer. Bayard remained involved with Democratic politics and stayed informed on foreign affairs. When Cleveland was re-elected in 1892, many assumed Bayard would resume his position in the cabinet. Instead, Cleveland selected Judge Walter Q. Gresham of Indiana for the State Department and appointed Bayard Ambassador to Great Britain, the first American envoy to Britain to hold that rank (his predecessors had been envoys). Bayard accepted the appointment, which the Senate quickly confirmed. ## Ambassador to Great Britain On June 12, 1893, Lord Rosebury, the British Foreign Secretary, received Bayard in London. Bayard began his tenure as ambassador with an "instinctive feeling of friendship for England," and a desire for peace and cooperation between the two nations. That desire was quickly impaired when Cleveland took the side of Venezuela when that nation insisted on taking a boundary dispute between it and British Guiana to international arbitration. The exact boundary had been in dispute for decades, but Britain had consistently denied any arbitration except over a small portion of the line; Venezuela wished the entire boundary included in any arbitration. Bayard spent mid-1894 in the United States conferring with Gresham. The tension in the Venezuelan boundary dispute continued to escalate, while British disagreements with Nicaragua also threatened to involve the United States. Britain had once ruled the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua (the Mosquito Coast) but had abandoned it in 1860. Nicaragua had annexed the area while guaranteeing the inhabitants (the Miskito people) a degree of autonomy. When Nicaragua expanded their control of the area in 1894, the Miskito chief, Robert Henry Clarence, protested with the support of the British ambassador. Bayard agreed with Cleveland and Gresham that the British were not attempting to reestablish their colony, but Nicaraguans (and many Anglophobic Americans) saw a more sinister motive, including a possible British-controlled canal through Nicaragua. Returning to England, Bayard met with the new Foreign Secretary, Lord Kimberley, to emphasize Nicaragua's right to govern the area. The tension over Nicaragua soon abated, but the May 1895 death of Secretary Gresham, who like Bayard had favored cooperation with the British, led to increased disagreement over the Venezuela issue. Cleveland appointed Richard Olney to take over the State Department, and Olney soon proved more confrontational than his predecessor. Olney's opinion, soon adopted by Cleveland, was that the Monroe Doctrine not only prohibited new European colonies, but also declared an American national interest in any matter of substance within the hemisphere. Olney drafted a long dispatch on the history of the problem, declaring that "to-day the United States is practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law upon the subjects to which it confines its interposition ..." Bayard delivered the note to the British Prime Minister (Lord Salisbury, who was also serving as Foreign Secretary) on August 7, 1895. Olney's note was met with vehement disagreement and delay, but when tempers cooled, the British agreed to arbitration later that year. Bayard disagreed with the bellicose tone of the message, which he attributed to an effort to satisfy Anglophobia among "Radical Republicans and the foolish Irishmen." Olney, for his part, thought Bayard soft-pedaled the note and asked Cleveland to remove Bayard from office, which Cleveland declined. The House of Representatives agreed with Olney, and passed a resolution of censure against Bayard in December 1895. Britain and Venezuela formally agreed to arbitration in February 1897, one month before the Cleveland administration came to an end. The panel's final judgement, delivered in 1899, awarded Britain almost all of the disputed territory. ## Death and legacy Bayard remained in London until the arrival of his successor, John Hay, in April 1897. He returned to Wilmington that May and visited ex-President Cleveland at his home in Princeton the following month, remaining friendly with him despite their differences on the Venezuela question. Bayard's health had begun to decline in England, and he was often ill after his return to the United States. He died on September 28, 1898, while visiting his daughter Mabel Bayard Warren in Dedham, Massachusetts. Bayard was buried in the Old Swedes Episcopal Church Cemetery at Wilmington. He was survived by his second wife and seven of his twelve children, including Thomas F. Bayard Jr., who would serve in the United States Senate from 1922 to 1929. Thirteen years after his death, the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica said of Bayard that "his tall dignified person, unfailing courtesy, and polished, if somewhat deliberate, eloquence made him a man of mark in all the best circles. He was considered indeed by many Americans to have become too partial to English ways; and, for the expression of some criticisms regarded as unfavorable to his own countrymen, the House of Representatives went so far as to pass ... a vote of censure on him. The value of Bayard's diplomacy was, however, fully recognized in the United Kingdom where he worthily upheld the traditions of a famous line of American ministers." In 1929, the Dictionary of American Biography described Bayard, as a Senator, as being "remembered rather for his opposition to Republican policies ... than for constructive legislation of the successful solution of great problems", and said that he had "the convictions of an earlier day ... and was never inclined, either politically or socially, to seek popularity with the country at large." Charles C. Tansill, a conservative historian, found much to praise in Bayard; he published a volume on Bayard's diplomatic career in 1940 and another about his congressional career in 1946, the only full-length biographies to appear since Bayard's death. Later historians took a dimmer view of Bayard's diplomatic career; in a 1989 book, Henry E. Mattox numbered Bayard among the Gilded Age foreign service officers who were "demonstrably incompetent." In 1924, Mount Bayard, a mountain in southeast Alaska was named in his honor. ## See also - Electoral history of Thomas F. Bayard
25,292,523	2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl	1,154,309,160	College football bowl game	[ "2009–10 NCAA football bowl games", "2010 in sports in Alabama", "Birmingham Bowl", "January 2010 sports events in the United States", "South Carolina Gamecocks football bowl games", "UConn Huskies football bowl games" ]	The 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game between the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Connecticut Huskies (UConn) of the Big East Conference, on January 2, 2010, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The game was the final contest of the 2009 NCAA Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-FBS) football season for both teams, and it ended in a 20–7 victory for Connecticut. South Carolina had a 7–5 regular-season, highlighted by wins over then-No. 4 Mississippi and then-No. 15 Clemson. The Gamecocks faced Connecticut. The Huskies were selected to play in the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl following a tumultuous 7–5 regular season that included five losses by a total of just fifteen points, a double-overtime victory at Notre Dame, and the murder of cornerback Jasper Howard. Pregame coverage focused on the tragedy that marked the Huskies' season, as well as on head coaches Steve Spurrier of South Carolina and Randy Edsall of Connecticut. Connecticut scored twice in the first quarter: on a one-handed 37-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Kashif Moore and then on a 33-yard field goal after South Carolina failed to convert a fourth-down play at its 32-yard line. Running back Andre Dixon scored for UConn on a 10-yard rush early in the fourth quarter. South Carolina scored its sole touchdown after the game had effectively been decided, on a two-yard run by Brian Maddox. Dixon was named player of the game, and finished with 126 rushing yards and one touchdown. Connecticut wide receiver Marcus Easley and South Carolina linebacker Eric Norwood were among four players from the teams to be selected in the subsequent 2010 National Football League (NFL) Draft. ## Team selection In 2010, the PapaJohns.com Bowl selection committee had a contractual arrangement with the Big East and SEC conferences that allowed the committee to pick one team from each conference. The Big East had a contractual bowl bid to the game since its inception in 2006. The SEC agreed to send its ninth bowl-eligible team to the bowl starting in 2008, but did not have enough bowl-eligible teams in either 2008 or 2009 to take advantage of the bid. In 2010, the SEC received \$900,000 for sending a team to the game, while the Big East received \$600,000. The Big East's contract with the bowl committee stated that the group would make its selection in coordination with the International Bowl and the St. Petersburg Bowl after other Big East-affiliated bowl games made their selections. Conference champion Cincinnati was awarded an automatic Bowl Championship Series (BCS) berth in the 2010 Sugar Bowl. The Gator Bowl had the first pick after the BCS, and selected West Virginia. The Meineke Car Care Bowl, which had the next selection, considered both Pittsburgh, which had the better regular-season record, and Rutgers, whose fans had a better traveling reputation; it selected Pittsburgh. Three bowl-eligible Big East teams remained: Connecticut, Rutgers, and South Florida. The previous two years, Rutgers had played in the 2008 International Bowl and the 2008 PapaJohns.com Bowl. In the same period, South Florida played in the 2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl and the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl. Connecticut had played in the 2009 International Bowl the previous year. In general, bowl games and conferences prefer to have different teams play in each game each year. Partly because of this, Rutgers went to the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl, South Florida to the 2010 International Bowl, and Connecticut to the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl. For Connecticut's opponent, the PapaJohns.com Bowl had the right to select a SEC team, but only after all other bowls with contracts with the SEC made their selections. Conference champion Alabama finished No. 1 in the BCS standings and earned a berth to the 2010 BCS National Championship Game. Conference championship game loser Florida took the SEC champion's automatic slot in the 2010 Sugar Bowl, vacant since Alabama was selected to appear in the national championship game. The Capital One Bowl had the next selection and opted for Louisiana State University (LSU). The Cotton Bowl and Outback Bowl selected Ole Miss and Auburn respectively. The Chick-fil-A Bowl, which had the next pick, selected Tennessee. The next selections were shared by the Liberty Bowl and Music City Bowl, which opted for Arkansas and Kentucky, respectively. The Independence Bowl, with the next-to-last selection, picked Georgia, leaving the PapaJohns.com Bowl with the last available bowl-eligible SEC team, South Carolina. The game was the first meeting between the two schools and the first PapaJohns.com Bowl appearance for each. The game was the 30th anniversary of South Carolina's last postseason game at Legion Field, in the December 1979 Hall of Fame Classic, and it was the 20th anniversary of head coach Steve Spurrier's last Legion Field bowl game, with Duke in the December 1989 All-American Bowl. ### South Carolina The South Carolina Gamecocks went 7–6 in 2008, losing their final three games, including the 2009 Outback Bowl against Iowa, by a combined score of 118–30. Steve Spurrier was named head coach of the Gamecocks in 2005; in his four seasons in charge of the program, the team had a combined record of 28–21 and was bowl-eligible every year. #### Early season South Carolina opened its 2009 season with a win against North Carolina State. Their next game, against No. 21 Georgia, featured a kickoff returned for a touchdown, an interception returned for a touchdown, a safety, a blocked extra point attempt, and 24 penalties. In the end, quarterback Stephen Garcia's pass on 4th-and-4 from the 7-yard line with 22 seconds remaining was batted down by the defense and fell incomplete, preserving a 41–37 win for Georgia. South Carolina proceeded to beat Florida Atlantic 38–16. In their next contest, South Carolina faced No. 4 Mississippi, and came away with a 16–10 upset; the Gamecocks had lost their previous 22 games against AP top 5 teams. Next up was a win against in-state Division I-FCS opponent South Carolina State With the victory, the Gamecocks earned their first Top 25 ranking of the 2009 season, appearing in the AP Poll at No. 25. South Carolina finished the first half of their season against SEC opponent Kentucky. Defensive end Cliff Matthews knocked down Kentucky's pass attempt on what would have been a game-tying two-point conversion to preserve the 28–26 win. After six games, the Gamecocks had a record of 5–1 overall, 2–1 in the SEC, and were a consensus No. 22 in the AP, Coaches', and Harris polls. #### Late season After winning five of their first six games, the Gamecocks proceeded to lose four of their next five. Against No. 2 Alabama, eventual Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mark Ingram II ran for a then-career record 246 yards and a touchdown; South Carolina lost 20–6. The defeat dropped the Gamecocks to No. 23 in the AP and Coaches' polls, and out of the Harris poll altogether; in the first BCS standings released that week, the Gamecocks were ranked 24th. South Carolina came back to beat Vanderbilt 14–10; the Gamecocks rose to No. 21 in all three polls, and No. 22 in the following week's BCS standings. The next game, against Tennessee, was never close; South Carolina fell behind 21–0 early in the second quarter and lost 31–13. The loss caused the Gamecocks to fall out of all three polls as well as the BCS standings. South Carolina then faced Arkansas, who scored 23 unanswered points on their way to delivering the Gamecocks a 33–16 loss. The following game was against No. 1 Florida, who was undefeated. South Carolina was within three points of Florida as the fourth quarter began, but Garcia was subsequently sacked four times and intercepted twice; Florida won 24–14. The Gamecocks' record fell to 6–5 overall, 3–5 within the SEC. After a bye week, South Carolina closed out their regular season with a game against their fierce in-state rivals, the No. 15 Clemson Tigers, who had already clinched a berth in the 2009 ACC Championship Game the next week. Clemson star running back C. J. Spiller returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown; he was held to 18 yards rushing the rest of the game. The Gamecocks scored 24 unanswered points to take a 24–7 lead through three quarters, and matched the Tigers the rest of the way to win 34–17. This win gave South Carolina a final regular season record of 7–5 overall, 3–5 in the SEC. ### Connecticut The Connecticut Huskies finished 8–5 in 2008, ending the season with a victory in the 2009 International Bowl. The departure of running back Donald Brown—the NCAA rushing leader in 2008—as well as three other Huskies selected in the first two rounds of the 2009 NFL Draft, was expected to hurt the team. In the Big East preseason media poll, the Huskies were picked to finish sixth in the conference. #### Early season The Huskies opened the 2009 season at Ohio University, and never trailed in the game, winning 23–16. UConn's next game was its home opener, versus No. 19 North Carolina. Connecticut led 10–0 through three quarters, but North Carolina tied the game with 2:36 left and took the lead when UConn was called for a holding penalty in its end zone, which by rule resulted in a safety. North Carolina won the game 12–10. Connecticut rebounded in its next game at Baylor, winning 30–22; they then faced Division I-Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-FCS) opponent Rhode Island, an historic rival of the team, and defeated them 52–10. The Huskies opened Big East conference play at the Pittsburgh Panthers. UConn held a 21–6 lead with less than four minutes left in the third quarter, but Pittsburgh rallied to win with a field goal as time expired. Connecticut closed the first half of its season versus Big East opponent Louisville on homecoming weekend. In the third quarter, with UConn leading 21–13, Louisville running back Bilal Powell ran off left tackle near the end zone. He was caught by cornerback Jasper Howard, who forced a fumble. Connecticut kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive and won the game 38–25, giving the Huskies a 4–2 overall record, 1–1 within the Big East conference. #### Jasper Howard murder Later that night, Howard and several other UConn football players were at a dance at the Student Union Center on the Connecticut campus. At 12:26 am a fire alarm sounded, forcing the evacuation of the building. As the students exited, an altercation broke out between a group of UConn football players and a group of non-students. The attackers brandished knives and stabbed Howard before fleeing. Howard was taken by ambulance to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, and then evacuated by helicopter to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where he was pronounced dead. Coach Randy Edsall was summoned to identify the body. Howard's murder was the first homicide on UConn's campus in more than thirty years. Connecticut's next game, one week after Howard's death, was at West Virginia. In a close-run game, Connecticut lost 28–24 after West Virginia responded to the Huskies' late go-ahead score with one of its own. Two days after the game, the entire UConn team traveled to Howard's hometown of Miami, Florida, for his funeral. The next game, the first at Rentschler Field since Howard's death, was against Rutgers. Connecticut came back in the fourth quarter to take a 24–21 lead with 38 seconds remaining; Rutgers completed an 81-yard touchdown pass one play later to win 28–24. UConn also lost the following game, 47–45, at undefeated No. 5 Cincinnati. After three straight losses, the Huskies' record dropped to 4–5 overall; 1–4 in the Big East. The losses to this point were by a combined total of 15 points. #### Late season Connecticut's next game was a nationally televised appearance at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish scored two touchdowns early but the Huskies responded with a touchdown and a field goal. Notre Dame expanded its lead to 17–10 in the third quarter, but Todman ran back the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a game-tying touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Notre Dame once again took the lead on a 23-yard field goal; after two touchdown-scoring running plays were negated by holding penalties, Connecticut tied the score on a 29-yard field goal with 1:10 left, sending the game into overtime. The teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, and the Huskies won the game with a touchdown in the second overtime. Edsall said the game was the "best win" in UConn football history. Connecticut finished the regular season by beating Syracuse and South Florida at home. The South Florida game, played as snow fell on Rentschler Field, was won on a last-second 42-yard field goal by kicker Dave Teggart. The two wins gave UConn a final regular season record of 7–5 overall, 3–4 in the Big East. They finished in a three-way tie with Rutgers and South Florida for fourth place in the conference. ## Pregame buildup In the weeks preceding the game, media coverage focused on the tragic circumstances surrounding the Huskies' season. On December 21, 2010, the team was declared the winner of the 2009 FedEx Orange Bowl/FWAA Courage Award, given to a person or team who displayed courage on or off the field, overcame injury or physical handicap, prevented a disaster, or lived through hardship. The award was presented at the 2010 Orange Bowl on January 5, 2011, following the PapaJohns.com Bowl. Edsall was praised for coaching the Huskies to a successful season despite the off-field distractions. By appearing in the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl, UConn made its third straight bowl appearance and fourth since joining the Big East for the 2004 season. There were rumors that Edsall was a candidate for the Notre Dame head coaching position, vacated by the firing of Charlie Weis. On December 11, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly was given the Notre Dame job; Edsall remained with Connecticut. Pregame coverage also discussed the performance of Steve Spurrier as head coach of South Carolina. His Gamecock teams had been competitive in the SEC, but were unable to win championships; during his tenure to that point, they had finished no higher than second in the SEC East division. Nevertheless, analysts described him as one of "the game's better minds and motivators" and "still one of the craftiest coaches around". The 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl marked Spurrier's return to Birmingham; in the United States Football League he competed against the local Birmingham Stallions as head coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits from 1983 to 1985. Legion Field was also the home of the 1992 and 1993 SEC Championship Games; teams coached by Spurrier participated in both contests. ### Offensive matchups #### South Carolina offense The Gamecocks struggled offensively for most of 2009, ranking only 76th in total offense and 96th in scoring. Their offense was quarterbacked by Stephen Garcia. A highly touted prospect coming out of high school, Garcia had a breakout season in 2009, finishing second in the SEC with 2,733 passing yards—more than former Heisman Trophy-winning Florida quarterback Tim Tebow—and 17 touchdowns against nine interceptions. Freshman wide receiver Alshon Jeffery was Garcia's most frequent passing target; he caught 43 passes for 735 yards and six touchdowns. Although South Carolina's passing attack had success, its running game was the worst in the SEC and 91st nationally. The Gamecocks' offensive line struggled, ranking 104th in sacks allowed. It did not help matters that Eric Wolford, the running game coordinator and offensive line coach, left the team before the bowl game to become head coach at Youngstown State. #### Connecticut offense The Connecticut offense was led by the rushing attack of running backs Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon, who were described as "one of the best running-back tandems in the nation". The two combined for 27 touchdowns and more than 2,100 rushing yards during the regular season. South Carolina linebacker Eric Norwood described Todman as a speedy back, with "that burst and that breakaway speed to go with it", and compared him to Clemson running back C. J. Spiller. In contrast, Norwood described Dixon as a "taller, more downhill back, vertical guy". In previous seasons, UConn had been largely dependent on running the ball; the team developed more balance in 2009, ranking 41st of 120 Division I FBS teams nationally in rushing offense and 46th in passing. Marcus Easley's emergence as a productive wide receiver was key to the development of the Huskies' passing attack. A former walk-on who entered the season with only five career receptions, he led Connecticut in receiving in 2009 with 44 catches for 853 yards and eight touchdowns. Quarterback Zach Frazer was inconsistent in the early season. He was injured in the game against North Carolina, but regained his starting role after backup Cody Endres was hurt in the Rutgers game later in the season. In UConn's four games before the bowl, Frazer performed well; he threw six touchdown passes against only two interceptions and helped the Huskies score an average of 41 points per game. Experts felt Frazer would need to have a good performance for Connecticut to have a chance to win. ### Defensive matchups #### South Carolina defense South Carolina had a strong defense, especially against the pass; the Gamecocks were 15th in the nation in total defense, 22nd in scoring defense, 46th in run defense, and 12th in passing defense. The Gamecock defense was led by linebacker Eric Norwood. Described as "one of the most disruptive defenders in the country", Norwood was a three-time All-SEC selection and had compiled seven sacks on the season, tied for third-best in the conference. He was South Carolina's all-time leader in both sacks and tackles-for-loss. #### Connecticut defense Connecticut had a weaker defense in 2010 than in previous seasons. The Huskies were 72nd in total defense, 60th in scoring defense, 48th against the run, and 94th against the pass. UConn's pass defense was hurt by the loss of Jasper Howard; following his death, freshman cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson was forced into the starting lineup alongside senior Robert McClain. Top performers for the Connecticut defense included defensive end Lindsey Witten, who led the Big East with 11.5 sacks, and linebacker Lawrence Wilson, who led the Big East and was fourth in the nation with 136 tackles, averaging over 11 per game. ## Game summary The game started at 1:04 pm CST on Saturday, January 2, 2010, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Official attendance for the game was 45,254. The Gamecocks sold 8,593 tickets of their 10,000-ticket allotment; South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier estimated about 30,000 of the fans in attendance supported the Gamecocks. UConn sold or distributed only 4,500 of its 10,000 tickets for the game. The game was telecast on ESPN, with Dave Neal and Andre Ware in the broadcasting booth and Cara Capuano reporting from the sidelines. The temperature at kickoff was around 35 °F (2 °C), abnormally cold for Birmingham at that time of year. Game officials were: ### First quarter Connecticut kicked off to South Carolina to begin the game. The Gamecocks gained only a single yard in three plays on their first possession, forcing them to punt. UConn proceeded to also gain only one yard and punt. After another Gamecock punt, the Huskies took over at their own 34 and made a first down—the first of the game—after three consecutive Dixon rushing plays. Two completed passes to Marcus Easley earned Connecticut a second first down, moving them to the South Carolina 39-yard line. After a two-yard Jordan Todman run and an incomplete pass, Zach Frazer threw a pass down the right sideline ahead of Kashif Moore. Reaching out, Moore made a one-handed running catch into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. After the extra point conversion, Connecticut led 7–0 with 6:37 left in the quarter. South Carolina regained possession on their 26-yard line following the kickoff, but was only able to advance nine yards in three plays. Rather than punt, the Gamecocks attempted to gain a first down on 4th-and-1 at the 32-yard line. Steven Garcia's quarterback sneak was stopped for no gain by the UConn defense, returning the ball to Connecticut on loss of downs. The Huskies began their next drive in a favorable position due to the Gamecocks' turnover on downs. A 16-yard run by Todman advanced the ball to the South Carolina 16-yard line, where Connecticut's offense was stymied by South Carolina's defense. Dave Teggart made a 33-yard field goal, giving the Huskies a 10–0 lead with 3:35 left in the quarter. On the ensuing possession, South Carolina again went three-and-out, punting the ball to Connecticut. The Huskies began driving down the field, collecting two first downs before the first quarter ended. At the end of the first quarter, UConn held a 10–0 lead. ### Second quarter Beginning the second quarter with a 1st-and-10 at their 44-yard line, Connecticut failed to make progress and punted. After the Gamecocks again went three-and-out and punted, the Huskies tried a trick pass from Todman to Easley that fell incomplete. After that, the Huskies advanced the ball off short runs by Dixon and Todman, and passes from Frazer to Easley and Moore. South Carolina stopped UConn's drive at the 27-yard line; Connecticut settled for a 44-yard field goal that extended its lead to 13–0. Garcia led the Gamecocks on their next drive, either passing or rushing himself on every play except the last. After a first-down sack by Kendall Reyes pushed South Carolina back to its 18-yard line, the Gamecocks advanced the ball to the Connecticut 35-yard line. On 4th-and-10, Stephen Flint was tackled nine yards behind the line of scrimmage, returning the ball to UConn on loss of downs. The two teams traded punts until halftime; Connecticut still held a 13–0 lead. ### Third quarter The Huskies received the ball to start the half, but were unable to obtain a first down after three straight running plays. UConn punted; South Carolina was called for roughing the kicker, giving Connecticut a first down after the penalty. After two plays netted no yardage, UConn threw a pass on 3rd-and-10 that fell incomplete. The Gamecocks were called for a personal foul, again giving the Huskies a first down. Connecticut advanced the ball to the South Carolina 26-yard line, but Frazer fumbled; the ball was recovered by South Carolina. The Gamecocks responded with a drive that earned two first downs. After a sack on third down by Lawrence Wilson, South Carolina punted. The Gamecocks got the ball back on their 8-yard line after the Huskies went three-and-out. After two first downs and a 15-yard personal foul penalty against it, South Carolina faced a 1st-and-10 on its 26-yard line. Garcia fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Scott Lutrus of UConn at the 35-yard line. Four Dixon rushing plays advanced the ball to the 24-yard line; the quarter expired with the Huskies leading 13–0 and in good position to expand their margin. ### Fourth quarter Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, UConn struck again. On his fifth run of the quarter, Dixon rushed into the end zone from ten yards out, giving Connecticut a 20–0 lead and effectively putting the game away as South Carolina would need three scores to take the lead. The two teams exchanged three-and-outs before South Carolina began a drive that penetrated Connecticut territory; however, South Carolina was soon pushed back to its 47-yard-line. On 4th-and-19, Garcia threw a deep pass that was intercepted by safety Robert Vaughn on the UConn 7-yard line. After three Dixon runs failed to get a first down, Connecticut punted; the kick by Desi Cullen was partially blocked, and South Carolina recovered the ball at the UConn 40-yard line. Garcia promptly completed his deepest pass of the game, a 38-yard connection to wide receiver D.L. Moore. The Gamecocks scored on the next play, a two-yard run by Brian Maddox, which ended the Huskies' bid for a shutout. South Carolina attempted an onside kick to retain possession, but Connecticut recovered the ball. Dixon drove UConn to within the Gamecock 2-yard line; rather than running up the score, the Huskies were content to run out the clock. Connecticut won the game 20–7. ### Scoring summary ## Final statistics For his performance in the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl, Connecticut running back Andre Dixon was named the player of the game. Dixon rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries, giving him 1,093 rushing yards on the year; he became the 12th UConn player to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. Jordan Todman carried the ball nine times for 36 yards; his 1,118 rushing yards on the season made Connecticut one of three teams in Division I-FBS to have at least two players rush for over 1,000 yards in 2009. Wide receiver Kashif Moore was credited with one rushing attempt for one yard, while quarterback Zach Frazer carried the ball twice for a loss of 13 yards. In the UConn passing game, Frazer completed 9 of 21 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. Todman attempted one pass that fell incomplete. Marcus Easley caught four passes for 40 yards; Moore caught two passes for 40 yards and a touchdown. Moore had two pass receptions for 26 yards, while Todman caught one pass for a single yard. For South Carolina, quarterback Stephen Garcia completed 16 of 38 passes for 129 yards and no touchdowns. He threw one interception, to Connecticut safety Robert Vaughn; this was the fifth consecutive game in which Garcia had thrown an interception. He turned over the ball a second time on a fumble recovered by UConn. Garcia was also the Gamecocks' leading rusher; he ran the ball 15 times for 56 yards. The South Carolina rushing attack was supplemented by running backs Kenny Miles, who had six carries for 24 yards; Bryce Sherman, who had two carries for three yards; and Brian Maddox, who had two carries for two yards and scored the Gamecocks' only touchdown. Wide receiver Stephen Flint lost nine yards on one rushing attempt. In the receiving game, wide receiver D. L. Moore led the team in yardage, with 38 yards on one reception. The leading Gamecock receiver of the season, Alshon Jeffery, had three catches for 28 yards, all in the first half. Running back Kenny Miles had four receptions for 23 yards, while wide receiver Jason Barnes had two catches for 21 yards. Garcia's remaining passes were caught by wide receiver Tori Gurley, who had three catches for 14 yards; Moe Brown, who caught one pass for 12 yards; and tight end Weslye Saunders, who lost seven yards on two receptions. South Carolina did not gain a first down until its second drive of the second quarter, when Garcia completed a 19-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery on 3rd-and-16. Maddox's late touchdown allowed the Gamecocks to avoid their first shutout in three seasons. UConn did not commit a single penalty. ## Aftermath With the win, Connecticut finished the season with a final record of 8–5; South Carolina fell to 7–6. Financially, both teams roughly broke even on the game: the Huskies were given an expense allowance of about \$1.2 million from the Big East and spent just over \$1 million, while the Gamecocks received just under \$1 million from the SEC and spent about \$900,000. In the postgame press conference, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said: > "The first thing I want to do, and hopefully half the team does, is apologize to about 30,000 Gamecocks that came down here to see a football game, and we couldn't put one on. I thought we were ready to play. I thought we practiced pretty well. But obviously our offense was very sad, our defense not as good as it's been most of the time. We thoroughly got beat by a better team, a better-disciplined team." Throughout the offseason, Spurrier apologized for his team's performance, held himself accountable for the loss, and promised the team would perform significantly better the next season. Acknowledging that the team had underperformed expectations, he promised he would resign or retire rather than let the program degenerate to the point where he might be fired or forced out. Both teams made assistant coaching changes in the offseason. Less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the PapaJohns.com Bowl, South Carolina announced new offensive line coach Shawn Elliott, who previously worked at Appalachian State. Two Connecticut assistants left for other jobs: defensive backs coach Scott Lakatos went to Georgia, while tight ends coach Dave McMichael departed for West Virginia. They were replaced with new defensive backs coach Darrell Perkins, who previously coached at Louisiana-Monroe, and new tight ends coach Jonathan Wholley, a member of the UConn football team between 2001 and 2004 who most recently coached at Fordham. The Gamecocks performed better in 2010. With a 36–14 win over Florida, South Carolina won the SEC East division and clinched a spot in the SEC Championship Game for the first time in school history. South Carolina finished 2010 on a down note, however, as they lost the championship game 56–17 to eventual 2011 BCS National Championship Game winner Auburn and then lost the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl 26–17 to Florida State. Connecticut began the 2010 season with a 30–10 loss at Michigan. They dropped to 3–4 after seven games with losses to Temple, Rutgers, and Louisville as Zach Frazer was benched and Cody Endres was dismissed from the team. Frazer returned as the starter and the Huskies turned their season around by winning five straight games, good enough to win a share of the Big East conference championship and the right to play in a BCS bowl, even though they were not ranked in the final BCS standings. UConn played in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, losing 48–20 to Oklahoma. Following the game, coach Randy Edsall left the Huskies to take the head coaching position at Maryland. Multiple players from the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl went on to play professional football; both teams had two players selected in the 2010 National Football League (NFL) Draft. For UConn, wide receiver Marcus Easley was selected in the fourth round by the Buffalo Bills, and cornerback Robert McClain was selected in the seventh round by the Carolina Panthers. Gamecock linebacker Eric Norwood was selected in the fourth round by the Panthers. Defensive end Clifton Geathers, selected in the sixth round by the Cleveland Browns, was the other South Carolina player drafted. The 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl was the final game by that name. Although Papa John's had an option to renew its sponsorship for two years, it decided not to because of rising costs. The company instead opted to refocus its marketing dollars on the NFL and its sponsorship of Louisville's home field, Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The game's name changed to the BBVA Compass Bowl starting with the 2011 contest. Per the bowl's website, the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl remains the game in the bowl series with the greatest economic impact, at \$18.4 million. ## See also - Glossary of American football - American football positions
1,553,629	Brian Booth	1,173,918,357	Australian cricketer and field hockey player (1933–2023)	[ "1933 births", "2023 deaths", "Australia Test cricket captains", "Australia Test cricketers", "Australian Anglicans", "Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire", "Australian male field hockey players", "Cricketers from New South Wales", "Field hockey players at the 1956 Summer Olympics", "New South Wales cricketers", "Olympic field hockey players for Australia", "People from the Central Tablelands", "Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal", "Sportsmen from New South Wales", "St George cricketers" ]	Brian Charles Booth MBE (19 October 1933 – 19 May 2023) was an Australian cricketer who played in 29 Test matches between 1961 and 1966, and 93 first-class matches for New South Wales. He captained Australia for two Tests during the 1965–66 Ashes series while regular captain Bob Simpson was absent due to illness and injury. Booth was a graceful right-handed middle order batsman at No. 4 or 5, and occasionally bowled right arm medium pace or off spin. He had an inclination to use his feet to charge spin bowlers. Booth was known for his sportsmanship on the field and often invoked Christianity while discussing ethics and sport. Born near the New South Wales country town of Bathurst, Booth moved to Sydney in 1952 and played in the grade cricket competition while training to become a teacher. He made his first-class debut for the New South Wales cricket team and came to prominence in dramatic circumstances in his second match, against the touring Englishmen in 1954–55. Due to late withdrawals, Booth was selected at late notice and had to be called from work on the morning of the match. After arriving after the start of the match, he scored 74 following a batting collapse. Booth struggled to make an impression early in his career and missed a season to train with the Australian field hockey team for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. Upon returning to first-class cricket in 1957–58, he held down a regular position in the state team while the Test players were touring overseas. Booth gradually progressed and gained selection on the 1959–60 Australian Second XI tour to New Zealand. Booth was selected for the Australian team that toured England in 1961 and played in the final two Tests. Upon his return to Australia, Booth made two centuries in the 1962–63 home Test series against England, establishing himself in the Test team. He made two further centuries the following summer against South Africa and was named the Australian player of the year. Following the retirement of Richie Benaud, Booth was appointed vice-captain under Simpson as Australia embarked on a successful 1964 tour of England, which saw the retention of the Ashes. Booth played his final Test series in 1965–66 against England, captaining Australia in the First and Third Tests because Simpson was sidelined with a broken wrist and chickenpox respectively. The First Test was drawn but Australia fell to its first innings defeat in almost ten years in the Third Test. As he was also in a form slump, Booth was dropped as the Australian selectors made mass changes, ending his career. In retirement, Booth returned to his teaching duties and served as a Baptist lay-preacher. He was inducted into the Cricket NSW Hall of Fame in 2014. ## Early years The son of "Snowy" Booth, a market gardener and talented country cricketer, Booth was born in Perthville, located 9 km (5.6 mi) outside the New South Wales regional town of Bathurst. His father hung pictures of Don Bradman and Stan McCabe on the wall and told him that "these are the two greatest living cricketers". Booth represented Bathurst High School at the age of 13 and played first grade cricket in Bathurst at 15. He was selected for a New South Wales youth countryside at the age of just 14. In 1950, Booth represented New South Wales Country against a combined Sydney team, and moved to St. George to play on a weekly basis two years later. He made the first grade team at the age of 19 and began a four-year course at Sydney Teachers College. Booth also played hockey in Perthville and began playing for St George upon his arrival in Sydney. Booth made his first-class debut for New South Wales against Queensland in the 1954–55 Sheffield Shield. He made a duck in the first innings before adding 19 in the second. New South Wales won, but Booth was dropped when the Test players returned from international duty. Booth was recalled a month later for a match against Len Hutton's English cricket team at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Arthur Morris and Bill Watson had to withdraw at late notice and Booth was asked to play, having already started his day's work as a teacher at Hurlstone Agricultural College. He caught a train and arrived at the ground more than half an hour after the start of play, by which time New South Wales had collapsed to 3/12. New South Wales fell further to 5/26 before Booth came in with a borrowed cap and bat to join Peter Philpott. They put on an 83-run partnership, and Booth eventually finished the innings unbeaten on 74 as the hosts folded for 172. Booth made a duck in the second innings and took his maiden first-class wicket as New South Wales defeated Hutton's men. It was only the tourists' second loss for the campaign, and the last match in Booth's debut season. Booth had a low key season in 1955–56, struggling to find a regular position in the New South Wales team. As there were no international matches during the summer, the Test players were available for the whole campaign. He played in six matches and had few opportunities, managing only 157 runs at 31.40, passing fifty on only one occasion. New South Wales went on to claim a hat-trick of Sheffield Shield titles. Booth was selected for the New South Wales hockey team in 1955 and toured New Zealand in 1956. Good performances on this tour led to his selection in the Australian Olympic squad for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, but he had an anxious wait following media claims that he had received out-of-pocket expenses for playing cricket, which would make him a professional and therefore ineligible to participate in the Olympics. Eventually, Booth and fellow first-class cricketers Ian Dick and Maurice Foley were cleared to play for Australia. Booth then missed the 1956–57 Sheffield Shield season because he was part of the Australian field hockey team that finished fifth at the Olympics. Booth was selected as an inside left but was not utilised in any of Australia's matches. In his absence, New South Wales won a fourth consecutive Sheffield Shield. In 1957–58, the Australian Test team toured South Africa during the southern hemisphere summer, opening up opportunities in the Shield competition back in Australia. Booth established himself at first-class level with 503 runs at 50.30. After scoring two fifties, he broke through for his maiden first-class century against Victoria at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in his last match of the season. He put on a partnership of 325 with future Test teammate Norm O'Neill in fewer than four hours. It was his fifteenth first-class match, and helped his state secure a fifth successive title with a ten-wicket win over their arch-rivals. With the Test players returning to Australia in 1958–59, Booth again faced more competition for places. He struggled, playing six matches and aggregating only 190 runs at 31.66. He only had six innings for the entire season, and in his only opportunity against Peter May's touring Englishmen, he made a duck. Booth passed 50 on two occasions during the season, making 75 and 85. In one high-scoring match against South Australia, he took 0/97 with his part-time off spin. ## First-class consolidation The national team toured the Indian subcontinent during the 1959–60 Australian season, opening up more vacancies at a domestic level. Booth had a strong first-class season, scoring 718 runs at 65.27 with two centuries to place third on the run-scoring aggregates. He started the season with 168 as New South Wales defeated Queensland by an innings before scoring 177 two matches later in an innings win over South Australia. His state completed a seventh Sheffield Shield triumph in succession. Booth's performances saw him selected for a second choice Australian team that toured New Zealand under the captaincy of Ian Craig. He scored 105 in his first innings for his country, in a victory over Auckland. Booth scored 184 runs at 30.66 and took three wickets at 25.00 in the four international matches against New Zealand. Booth considered retiring after the season, feeling that the time needed for first-class cricket was impinging on his work as a lay preacher and a Christian youth worker. Booth brought himself into contention for the Test selection with a series of strong displays in 1960–61. He aggregated 981 runs at an average of 65.40, with three centuries. Only five players scored more runs, all at lower averages. Two of the centuries were in combined Australian XI matches at the end of the season for expected Test squad members. In a match against Tasmania, Booth struck a breezy 100 from 104 balls in 90 minutes. Another highlight was an 87 against the touring West Indies, helping New South Wales to complete an innings win. Booth's productivity helped his state to another Sheffield Shield win. ## Test career Booth was then selected for the Ashes tour of England in 1961; he and Victorian opening batsman Bill Lawry, the two uncapped batsmen in the team, were regarded as the last two players chosen. Booth quickly gained a reputation for his attention to physical fitness. He led the Australians in their morning exercises during the sea voyage, which captain Richie Benaud made optional. After scoring 37 and seven against Worcestershire in his first match on English soil, Booth broke through for his first century for Australia, scoring 113 against Cambridge University in his fifth match. He made 59 against the Marylebone Cricket Club, but was overlooked for the first three Tests. Booth scored 127 not out against Somerset, and in the next match against Lancashire, he was caught behind for 99 from the bowling of another Brian Booth. He played consistently, with two more half-centuries to earn his debut in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford in place of Colin McDonald. The series was evenly poised at 1–1, and Australia batted first on a pitch that initially assisted fast bowling. The surface was tinged with green and England fielded a pace line-up that included Brian Statham and Fred Trueman. Booth was struck in the torso by his first ball, a bouncer that did not rise as high as he expected. He managed to repel a spearing yorker on the second ball and compiled a battling 46, the second highest score on the difficult pitch, featuring in a partnership of 46—the highest in Australia's innings—with Bill Lawry. Australia managed only 190 on the bowler-friendly pitch. Booth only managed nine in the second innings before Australia retained the Ashes after an English collapse on the final day resulted in a 54-run win. In the drawn Fifth and final Test at The Oval, Booth came in with the score at 4/211 after the dismissal of Norm O'Neill for 117. He featured in a 185-run partnership with Peter Burge. Booth was dismissed for 71 while attempting to loft the spin of Tony Lock over the infield, as captain Richie Benaud needed quick runs; observers felt the need to attack cost Booth his maiden Test century. Booth added three more 70s in the closing tour matches before the team returned to Australia. The 1961–62 season was entirely a domestic season. Booth scored 507 runs at 42.25 with two centuries, against Queensland and South Australia. He placed 13th on the run-scoring aggregates, helping New South Wales to win its ninth consecutive Sheffield Shield. After scoring 72 in the opening match of the season and adding 41 against the touring Englishmen for New South Wales, Booth retained his place in the Test team for the 1962–63 Ashes series. He scored his maiden Test century in the First Test at the Gabba, compiling 112 in the first innings of a high scoring draw. Thirteen players reached fifty, but Booth was the only player to reach three figures. English captain Ted Dexter attempted to shut down Booth's scoring by employing leg theory. In the Second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Fred Titmus bowled outside leg stump with five men on the one side, but Booth completed consecutive centuries with 103 in the second innings. As a result of Dexter's defensive field placings, Booth scored at only half the rate he managed in the First Test. Booth took six hours to reach triple figures and hit only four boundaries. His innings was not enough to prevent England from completing a seven-wicket victory. Booth was unable to maintain his form for the rest of the season, with 34 and 77 in the Fourth Test in Adelaide being the only other times that he passed 20. Australia won the Third Test, drawing the series, and Booth ended the series with 404 runs at 50.50. He added a further three fifties in the Sheffield Shield as Victoria ended New South Wales' nine-year winning streak. Booth started the 1963–64 season strongly. He scored centuries in his first two innings, recording 121 and 169 not out against Queensland and Western Australia respectively. In his rapid innings against Western Australia at the SCG, which took only 165 minutes, Booth reached 100 in 94 minutes during the second session of the day. In the lead-up to the Tests, Booth scored 63 for his state against South Africa but was unable to prevent defeat. In the Tests, he began the way he did in the previous season, with a century. Coming to the crease with Australia at 3/88 in the first innings of the First Test in Brisbane, Booth withstood an opening burst of bouncers from South African spearhead Peter Pollock. He went on to accumulate his Test best of 169 from 81 overs of batting, in a display that gained wide praise because of his elegant stroke-making. One newspaper proclaimed that his innings had "more Grace than the Princess of Monaco." Ray Robinson said "it was a tailored innings, fit to be put on display in a showcase and unrumpled by a single chance". South African skipper Trevor Goddard later said, "We didn't mind the leather chasing, when he played so charmingly." Booth's innings was the highlight of a match that was uneventful in terms of cricket but notorious for the no-balling of Ian Meckiff. A broken finger sidelined Booth for a month and prevented him from playing in the Second Test, but he returned for the Third Test in Sydney, and began a sequence of 75, 16, 58 and 24. He finished the series in the Fifth Test in his hometown, top-scoring in both of Australia's innings, with 102 not out and 87 in a draw. It capped off a productive fortnight for Booth; he had scored 162 not out against South Australia before the final Test. In four Tests, he aggregated 531 runs at 88.50. For the entire first-class season, Booth had struck five centuries and totaled 1,180 runs. According to Gideon Haigh, he had "played exquisitely" throughout the season, which was his career peak and saw him named the Australian Cricketer of the Year for 1963–64. ### Vice-captaincy Captain Richie Benaud retired at the end of the South Africa series — he had already relinquished the leadership after the First Test—and Booth was elevated to the vice-captaincy under Bob Simpson for the 1964 tour of England. Along with Simpson and Lawry, Booth was one of three on-tour selectors. Some observers felt that the personable Booth would have been more popular among the playing group than Simpson, while others thought that he would not have been hard-nosed enough in pursuing his team's competitive interest. While Simpson was known for being relentlessly hard-nosed, he was also abrasive and sometimes irritated others by making derogatory comments towards teammates. Booth again ran daily fitness classes during the voyage, and on this occasion, Simpson made them compulsory for the players. Booth started the tour well, scoring 109 not out in his third match for the summer, against Surrey. He passed 50 three more times before the start of the Tests, when his form waned. Booth failed to pass 20 in the first six innings of the Test series. With Australia 1–0 up after three Tests, a draw in the Fourth Test was sufficient to retain the Ashes. Booth regained his touch with three scores beyond fifty in four innings leading up to the Fourth Test, including 132 against Middlesex. When the teams reconvened at Old Trafford for the Fourth Test, Booth made a "courtly" 98 in a 219-run partnership with Simpson. The Australians batted for more than two days to burn off any chance of an England victory. Booth then scored 193 not out, his highest for the summer, in Australia's 7/315 declared against Yorkshire, setting up the tourists' victory. He made 74 in the Fifth Test and ended the series with 210 runs at 42.00. Along with Simpson and Lawry, Booth was one of three Australians to accumulate more than 1,500 first-class runs for the English summer. Three Tests against India and one against Pakistan lay ahead of Booth as the Australians visited the Indian subcontinent on the late-1964 voyage back to Australia. He had a mediocre time, passing fifty only once, with 74 in the Second Test at Bombay's Brabourne Stadium. That innings was terminated when Indian wicketkeeper KS Indrajitsinhji fumbled a stumping opportunity and the ball rolled back down the pitch. Despite breaking the stumps with his hand while the ball was not in close proximity, Indrajitsinhji's appeal for a stumping was upheld. According to Gideon Haigh, "It seemed like ten men [one of the Australians was ill] were pitted against thirteen [eleven Indian players and two umpires]". In the four Tests Booth compiled 127 runs at 21.17 and took the only three wickets of his Test career on the spin-friendly subcontinental surfaces. He took 2/33 in the drawn Third Test in Calcutta, before capturing his final wicket in the second innings of the only Test against Pakistan in Karachi. At the time, cricket matches in Australia and England were typically interrupted by the Sunday rest day, and Booth used these for religious observances. However, this custom was not observed on the subcontinent. Booth wanted to withdraw for personal reasons but decided to play due to injuries and illnesses to other players. He made 57 in a Test against Pakistan in Melbourne upon arrival in Australia. It was the only home Test of the season before the hosts embarked upon a tour to the Caribbean. Booth scored 115 for his state against the Pakistanis and ended the Australian season with 327 runs at 46.71. Australia arrived in the West Indies in 1964–65 for five Tests against the emerging power of the 1960s, who were led by the hostile express pace bowling of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith. After narrowly evading a bouncer at the start of his innings, Booth made a battling top-score of 56 in the First Test loss at Sabina Park in Jamaica. He then made 117 in the Second Test at Port of Spain in Trinidad, an innings that included a stand of 228 with Bob Cowper, which helped Australia hang on for a draw. It was to be Booth's last Test century, an innings he regarded as his "most satisfying", having collected a series of bruises, on a ground with no sightscreen. Booth did not pass 40 in the last three Tests and ended with 234 runs at 29.25 as Australia lost 2–1, their first series loss since the 1956 Ashes series and their first series loss against a team other than England, excluding a one-off Test against Pakistan in 1956. He had particular trouble with the pace of Griffith, and on one occasion, the paceman hit him on the nose before yorking him on the next ball; Booth maintains that he did not see the ball. Booth added two more fifties in the four first-class matches outside the Tests. ### Temporary captain At the start of the 1965–66 season, Booth scored fifties in three consecutive matches, including an 80 against the MCC tourists. The 1965–66 Ashes series saw Booth captain Australia for the first time in a Test. Simpson sustained a broken wrist, leaving Booth to lead the hosts in the First Test in Brisbane. Booth prepared quietly, leaving Simpson to handle the press. He won the toss and elected to bat; fewer than two hours of play was possible on a rain-shortened first day, and the second day was entirely washed out. Booth made only 16 before being caught and bowled by Fred Titmus on the third morning, but after centuries to Lawry and debutant Doug Walters, Booth declared at 6/443. Booth rotated his spinners and dismissed the tourists for 280; the match ended in a draw with England at 3/186 after being forced to follow on. When Geoff Boycott pushed a ball from leg spinner Peter Philpott away with his hand, Booth refused to appeal for handling the ball. After the drawn Second Test, Simpson contracted chickenpox, so Booth was again captain for the Third Test in front of his home crowd at the SCG. It was an extra burden, as Booth had made only 49 runs in the first two Tests; his teammates felt that their captain had been too anxious following his struggles against Griffith in the Caribbean. However, there was to be no fairytale for Booth, who later admitted to being in psychological disarray; he was unaware if the rolling done on the pitch after the toss was legal, and Philpott arrived late and ran onto the field just as play was starting. England batted first and their openers, Boycott and Bob Barber, immediately seized the initiative, putting on 234 for the first wicket in four hours. The tourists made 488 and Booth scored eight as Australia replied with 221 and were forced to follow on. He made 27 in the second innings before being bowled by David Allen as the hosts fell to an innings defeat. It was Australia's biggest defeat at home since the Fourth Test of the 1911–12 Ashes series when they lost by an innings and 225 runs. After the match, England captain Mike Smith told Booth that he looked forward to seeing him in the Fourth Test, but Booth prophetically predicted his downfall. With Australia 0–1 down, the selectors took drastic action and dropped Booth, Cowper, Philpott, McKenzie and David Sincock. The revamped team won the next Test by an innings, and Booth never played for Australia again. If he had played another Test, Booth would have been eligible for the New South Wales Cricket Association's retirement bonus of AUD50 a Test. Booth's last five Test innings had netted only 84 runs. After the match, he received a letter from Sir Don Bradman, then a member of the selection panel and the Australian Board of Control: > Never before have I written to a player to express my regret at his omission from the Australian XI. In your case I am making an exception because I want you to know how much my colleagues and I disliked having to make this move. Captain one match and out of the side the next looks like ingratitude, but you understand the circumstances and will be the first to admit that your form has not been good. Booth ended the first-class season with 596 runs at 29.80, including four half-centuries. He continued to play for New South Wales before retiring during the 1968–69 season. ## Final first-class seasons In the 1966–67 Australian season, Booth scored 638 runs at 49.07, ranking fifth in the run-scoring aggregates. He scored 149 against Queensland, and added four fifties, including two scores in the 90s. As a result, Booth was made vice-captain of an Australian team that toured New Zealand under the leadership of Les Favell, while the national team was in South Africa. After failing to pass 26 in his first five innings, Booth made his highest first-class score, 214 not out, against Central Districts, and was Australia's leading run-scorer for the tour. After scoring only 62 runs in the first four innings in the opening three international matches against New Zealand, Booth made 179 in the fourth and final match. Booth was less successful in his penultimate season in 1967–68, with only 426 runs at 23.66, including two half-centuries, both against Victoria. A decision by administrators to introduce Sunday play into the Sheffield Shield ended his career, as he refused to make himself available for games that involved Sunday play. He played in only one match in his final season in 1968–69, scoring a duck and 15 as New South Wales lost to South Australia by three wickets. Booth continued to play grade cricket for the St. George club until 1976–77, leading the batting averages and aggregates in 1974–75. With 10,674 runs at 45.42, he was fifth on the all-time run-scoring aggregates in Sydney grade competition at the time of his retirement but has now dropped to ninth. ## Style and the place of religion in sport > Brian Booth, that model of a man and of a batsman who tends to be under-rated and forgotten because both he and his cricket were so blamelessly self-effacing. Tall, upright, correct in method, ever-patient, he repeated the hundred he had got at Brisbane, and so gave England a target to go for while all around him were failing. > > > –E. W. Swanton Booth was regarded as an elegant batsman who had an erect stance at the crease. He was known for not hitting the ball hard but for having an easy and relaxed style. In hockey, a player is not allowed to lift his stick above the shoulders; this background strengthened Booth's forearms and wrists and enabled him to impart momentum on the ball without a large swing of the bat. He was particularly known for his late cut and cover drive, which he played in a manner not dissimilar to Mark Waugh. He was also known for his quick footwork against spin bowling and was rarely stumped, and he had the ability to change his batting tempo. He quickly got into position and typically moved onto the back foot to cover his stumps. A lean player, Booth stood 181 cm, weighed 66 kg and refrained from smoking, gambling and drinking. He was known for his efficient out-fielding, and on the second day of the Second Test against the West Indies in Trinidad in 1964–65, he ran out Gary Sobers and Basil Butcher with strong throws from the outfield. Booth started as a part-time leg spinner before converting to off spin. Booth had a reputation for walking when he knew that he was out, without waiting for the umpire's decision, and he was regarded as a player and leader of the highest principles. He was known for his record of instilling high standards of conduct into his players and prevented them from showing dissent towards unfavourable umpiring decisions. Robinson said that "if a prize were offered for sportsmanship among Australia's post-war cricketers Brian Booth ought to win it hands down". Lawry regarded Booth as one of the most gentlemanly cricketers that he knew. A committed Christian, Booth was an Anglican lay-preacher, and often invoked religious and ethical arguments while talking about issues such as sportsmanship. Booth became intensely religious in the 1950s after befriending Pastor Roy Gray, a colleague in district cricket and a classmate at Sydney Teachers College. Gray challenged his friend's faith, and Booth reflected that "Until that point, sport had really been my God". During Booth's career, the media made much of his religious convictions. After scoring his maiden Test century, he was asked whether he felt that God was with him. He replied in the affirmative, and the next day, a newspaper printed the headline "England can't win. God is on Brian Booth's side." Booth co-authored Cricket and Christianity with Paul White and his autobiography, Booth to Bat, also with Paul White, and also wrote Hockey Fundamentals. In 1998 he wrote Sport and sportsmanship: a Christian perspective towards 2000 for the Australian Christian Forum on Education. He believed that the foundations of sport were courtesy and fairness, and he condemned the prevalence of verbal jousting in the modern game. During his career, he often spoke at religious functions in combination with other Christian cricketers. He appeared with the English Test opener Reverend David Sheppard at Sydney Town Hall and preached with Conrad Hunte in the West Indies. Despite Booth's views being more genteel than those of most of his teammates, there was little friction. Early in his state career, Booth declined to join a Melbourne Cup gambling sweep organised by captain Keith Miller. However, Miller included Booth in the event by assigning him to look after the money. Booth said "That was typical of Keith. That he was able to turn something that might have been a problem into something positive, giving me a responsibility, making me feel part of the team." He added, "The boys just accepted me for what I was. If they didn't share the strength of my convictions, they were quite happy for me to hold them." Simpson said that Booth never attempted to impose his beliefs on his teammates and never gave any inkling that he disapproved of their behaviour. ## Outside cricket After retirement, Booth resumed full-time duties as a Sydney schoolmaster. He spent 12 years as a teacher in government secondary schools in New South Wales before becoming an instructor in physical education at Sydney Teachers College in 1967. Before retiring in 1989, Booth served as the head of the Health and Human Movement Studies Department at the Sydney Institute of Education—the successor of the STC—for five years. In 1958, he married Judith Williams, whom he met at STC. They had four daughters, the first being born in 1961, and six grandchildren. Booth was the uncle of hammer thrower Brooke Krueger-Billett, who represented Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In 1967, Booth was appointed the founding chairman of the Youth Advisory Council, a body that sought to address community issues such as hooliganism. Booth was made a life member of the New South Wales Cricket Association (NSWCA) in 1974 and served as a vice-president for four years from 1973–74 onwards. He was awarded life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club, the home of cricket. Booth had remained involved in grassroots cricket with St George. He had served as the club president among other positions on the executive committee, and served as a coach for many years. The Booth Saunders pavilion at the club's home ground, Hurstville Oval, is jointly named in his honor. He was also the patron of the St George Randwick Men's Hockey Club and the St George Women's Hockey Club. In the 1974 Federal Election, Booth gained preselection as the Liberal candidate for the Division of St George, standing against Science Minister William Morrison of the ruling Australian Labor Party. The seat, which had changed hands at several elections in the past, was held by Morrison for Labor, who were returned to office. In 1982, Booth was awarded the MBE for "services to the community and sport". In 2002, Booth returned to the public spotlight when he condemned the sledging, or verbal intimidation tactics, that are used in modern cricket. He stated, "I can't remember in the games that I played in, I can't ever remember being sledged, and I can't ever remember sledging anybody", in reference to Steve Waugh's Australian team, which was perceived as being too hostile to opposing players. In the Australian edition of the 2002 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, he wrote a chapter titled "The Curse of Sledging". Booth was inducted into the Cricket NSW Hall of Fame in 2014 alongside Geoff Lawson and Margaret Peden. He was further honoured by the St George District Cricket Club in December 2020 as one of sixteen original inductees to the club's Hall of Fame. Booth's contribution to his home town was recognised alongside Norma Johnston in October 2022, with the announcement that the pair would each have a sightscreen named after them at the redeveloped Bathurst Sportsground. ## Death On 19 May 2023, Cricket Australia announced that Booth had died at age 89.
581,051	Midtown Madness	1,170,856,866	1999 racing game	[ "1999 video games", "Microsoft franchises", "Microsoft games", "Multiplayer and single-player video games", "Open-world video games", "Racing video games", "Video games about police officers", "Video games developed in the United States", "Video games set in Chicago", "Windows games", "Windows-only games" ]	Midtown Madness (also known as Midtown Madness: Chicago Edition) is a 1999 racing game developed by Angel Studios and published by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows. The demo version was released in April 1999. Two sequels followed, with Midtown Madness 2 released in September 2000 and Midtown Madness 3 released in June 2003 for the Xbox. The game is set in Chicago; the object is for the player to win street races and obtain new cars. Unlike racing games that restrict the player to a race track, Midtown Madness offers an open world recreation of Chicago. This setting was said to provide "an unprecedented degree of freedom to drive around in a virtual city". Players can explore the city using one of several modes and can determine the weather and traffic conditions for each race. The game supports multiplayer races over a local area network or the Internet. The game received generally positive reviews from gaming websites. Angel Studios developed another video game featuring open-world recreations of cities, Midnight Club: Street Racing. ## Gameplay Midtown Madness features four single-player modes: Blitz, Circuit, Checkpoint, and Cruise. In Blitz mode, the player must swing through three checkpoints and drive to the finish line within a time limit. Circuit mode curtains off most of the city to resemble race tracks and pits the player against other cars. Checkpoint mode combines the features of Blitz and Circuit modes and has the player race against other cars to a destination—but also adds the complication of other traffic, such as police cars and pedestrians. In Cruise mode, the player can simply explore the city at their own pace. Each mode except Cruise is divided into missions—completing one unlocks the next. Environmental conditions found in each mode include: weather (sunny, rainy, cloudy, and snowy), time of day (sunrise, afternoon, sunset, and night-time), and the density of pedestrians, traffic, and police vehicles. The heads-up display includes information about the race and a detailed map, but this display can be turned off. Players start off with five vehicles; five more are unlockable. The available vehicles range from a Volkswagen New Beetle and a Ford F-350 to a city bus and a Freightliner Century truck. Unlocking vehicles requires completing goals such as placing within the top three in any two races. If the player has previously won a race mission, they can change the race's duration and the weather when replaying it. The Checkpoint mode allows players to set the frequency of traffic, police cars, and pedestrians. Vehicles can accrue damage from collisions, and can be disabled if excessive damage is accrued, resulting in premature failure of Blitz or Checkpoint races, or several seconds of time lost before the vehicle is immediately restored in Circuit races and Cruise. The game's city environment is modeled after Chicago, including many of its landmarks, such as the 'L', the Willis Tower (then known as the Sears Tower), Wrigley Field, and Soldier Field. The streets feature a number of objects the player can crash into including trash bins, parking meters, mailboxes and traffic lights. In Checkpoint mode other vehicles move in accordance with traffic lights, but the player is under no obligation to obey them. Midtown Madness supports multiplayer games on a local area network, the Internet, or by serial cable connection. The Multiplayer mode was originally supported by Microsoft's MSN Gaming Zone, but this service was retired on June 19, 2006. It is now supported by similar services such as GameSpy Arcade and XFire, via DirectPlay. The Multiplayer mode includes a Cops and Robbers mode, a capture the flag-style game in which players form two teams and each team tries to steal the opposing team's cache of gold and return it to their own hideout. ## Development Midtown Madness was one of the first games that Angel Studios developed for the PC. Microsoft planned to publish sequels to racing computer games with the word Madness in the title, including Motocross Madness and Monster Truck Madness. According to project director Clinton Keith, the concept behind the game came to two Microsoft employees during an attempt to cross a crowded Paris street. They proposed their idea to Angel Studios, which had tried to sell Microsoft a 3D vehicle simulator. Initially, Angel Studios was hesitant to accept Microsoft's offer given the magnitude of the proposed undertaking. They ultimately agreed and decided to use Chicago for the setting because the city was featured in several famous car chases in films, including The Blues Brothers. The development team asked Chicago residents to playtest the game to ensure that the city was recreated faithfully. PC Gamer reported that the re-creation was mostly accurate, although certain landmarks were moved to enhance gameplay. 8 to 15 people were working on the game at any one time. Angel Studios and Microsoft included regular cars in addition to the "overpowered Italian sports cars" often seen in racing games. The developers obtained permission from manufacturers to use the likenesses of selected vehicles. Microsoft received authorization from Volkswagen for the New Beetle, and Ford, for the Mustang and the F-350 Super Duty. The decision to make only half the cars available at the outset was intended to promote a sense of competition. The audio team affixed microphones to cars and had Kiki Wolfkill, one of the few developers with track racing experience, drive around the track while they recorded. Microsoft staff asked Angel Studios employees to prevent players from hitting pedestrians. Angel Studios (after deciding against rendering pedestrians in two dimensions) developed 3D pedestrian models that could run and jump out of the way. Midtown Madness included an option to remove pedestrians, as they do not alter gameplay but may affect system performance when in a group; consequently, the game does not require a 3D graphics card. Microsoft's marketing team expressed interest in including Taco Bell restaurants in the game to run promotions that would involve giving away free burritos, according to project director Clinton Keith, but the feature was requested too late in development for Angel Studios to make the change. A demo version was released for download on May 1, 1999. It featured three vehicles (a Mustang, a Panoz Roadster, and a bus), and all driving modes except Circuit. The demo also included features that were scrapped in the full version, such as the ability to send billboards flying. In December 1999, Angel Studios reported that they were considering a race designer for players, but ultimately this feature was not added. The finished game was released on May 27. Midtown Madness is distinct from other racing games of its time, especially those influenced by the Need for Speed series, in providing an open environment rather than a closed circuit. Project director Clinton Keith said that an open world makes the gameplay more diverse and adds "element[s] of discovery" such as finding shortcuts. Gary Whitta described the game as open world racing: "[Y]ou still have checkpoints to hit, [but] you don't have to follow the A-B-C-D standard to do it". ## Reception The game received favorable reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. The IGN review noted that the game "doesn't rely heavily on driving authenticity; this game's all about fun." The review also praised the simplicity whereby players can "pick a real-world car and go." GameSpot's reviewer wrote that "it's fun to be able to drive like a maniac [...] because you know you can't in real life." Computer and Video Games' review remarked on the game's humor, provided by other drivers, police, and competitors (described as maniacs), praising the "carnage that unfolds before your windscreen." PC Zone's Steve Hill recommended the game, calling it highly refreshing; Total Video Games reviewer said the game seemed a good choice, but suggested that it would be outdone by GT Interactive's Driver, released soon after. The AllGame reviewer called it a "must-buy for the driving game enthusiast" and said that it would also appeal to players who are not necessarily fans of the racing car genre. Next Generation Magazine concluded its review by stating that Midtown Madness was not innovative, but that "it'll stay on your hard drive for a while and keep you playing." IGN's Tal Blevins gave high marks to the game's graphics, saying that "the downtown portion of Chicago is portrayed very accurately" even though other parts of the city looked more generic. Next Generation Magazine's reviewer said the graphics were impressive and praised the "thoroughly detailed" random occurrences of "cars hurtling in front of you" and "cringing pedestrians when you lurch onto the sidewalks". GameSpot's reviewer approved of the variety in third-person, the first-person dashboard, and the widescreen driving views. However, they complained of the game suffering from "choppy frame rates" and unconvincing visual effects. PC Zone''s Hill praised Angel Studios for avoiding gimmicks, instead presenting "accurately modeled cars and a meticulously recreated city" to the player. AllGame's review said Midtown Madness "possesses superb, immersive graphics", using the different times of day and weather as an example. Conversely, it complained that cars not controlled by the player were lacking in detail. Randell said that as well as being "structurally and visually consistent", the Chicago setting in Midtown Madness was "brought to life"—for instance, a "city bus legitimately pulling out at a four-way junction" can end the race for a player by destroying their car. Total Video Games' review called the game's presentation "far from optimal" even with the recommended system requirements. Reviewer Noel Brady pointed out "a serious lack of detail" and called the screen "blocky", especially without a graphics card. He was critical of the AI, declaring that cars often drive "without noticing [the player] at all". In his book AI Game Engine Programming, Brian Schwab described Midtown Madness' gameplay as "arcade style" and "fast and loose", and said the in-game traffic was satisfactory. IGN's review described the in-game narration as "a nice touch", but noted some glitches among the otherwise "distinctive engine and horn sounds". Calling the game's sounds exceptional, GameSpot's review praised the variety of car noises such as the back-up beeper for the bus. PC Zone's Hill praised the in-game radio system and the support for external media players. AllGame's review said players "get a dose of reality" with other drivers and pedestrians "hurling insults and exclamations your way". The game sold 100,805 copies in the U.S. by April 2000. The staff of PC Gamer US nominated the game for their 1999 Best Racing Game award, which ultimately went to Re-Volt. They wrote that the game "lays down a racing milestone by creating a living, breathing 3D city — and then letting you trash it". It was also a nominee for Computer Gaming World's Racing Game of the Year award, and for CNET Gamecenter's "Best Racing Game" award, but lost both of them to Need for Speed: High Stakes. ## Legacy Midtown Madness spawned a three-title series of the same name, the second entry of which, Midtown Madness 2, was developed by Angel Studios and released in September 2000. Another sequel, Midtown Madness 3, was developed by Digital Illusions CE for the Xbox and published in June 2003. The games' most-acclaimed elements were the detailed open-world environment, distinct visual presentation and sophisticated artificial intelligence. In 2000, Angel Studios and Rockstar Games created Midnight Club: Street Racing, a PlayStation 2 video game also featuring open world recreations of urban cities. Its critical and commercial success spawned the Midnight Club series of street racing-themed games.
1,073,708	Buruli ulcer	1,170,864,836	Infectious tropical disease	[ "Bacterial diseases", "Mycobacterium-related cutaneous conditions", "Tropical diseases", "Wikipedia infectious disease articles ready to translate", "Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate" ]	Buruli ulcer (/bəˈruːli/) is an infectious disease characterized by the development of painless open wounds. The disease is limited to certain areas of the world, most cases occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia. The first sign of infection is a small painless nodule or area of swelling, typically on the arms or legs. The nodule grows larger over days to weeks, eventually forming an open ulcer. Deep ulcers can cause scarring of muscles and tendons, resulting in permanent disability. Buruli ulcer is caused by skin infection with bacteria called Mycobacterium ulcerans. The mechanism by which M. ulcerans is transmitted from the environment to humans is not known, but may involve the bite of an aquatic insect or the infection of open wounds. Once in the skin, M. ulcerans grows and releases the toxin mycolactone, which blocks the normal function of cells, resulting in tissue death and immune suppression at the site of the ulcer. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends treating Buruli ulcer with a combination of the antibiotics rifampicin and clarithromycin. With antibiotic administration and proper wound care, small ulcers typically heal within six months. Deep ulcers and those on sensitive body sites may require surgery to remove dead tissue or repair scarred muscles or joints. Even with proper treatment, Buruli ulcer can take months to heal. Regular cleaning and dressing of wounds aids healing and prevents secondary infections. In 2018, WHO received 2,713 reports of Buruli ulcer globally. Although rare, it typically occurs in rural areas near slow-moving or stagnant water. The first written description of the disease is credited to Albert Ruskin Cook in 1897 at Mengo Hospital in Uganda. Fifty years later, the causative bacterium was isolated and identified by a group at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. In 1998, WHO established the Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative to coordinate global efforts to eliminate Buruli ulcer. WHO considers it a neglected tropical disease. ## Signs and symptoms The first sign of Buruli ulcer is a painless swollen bump on the arm or leg, often similar in appearance to an insect bite. Sometimes the swollen area instead appears as a patch of firm, raised skin about three centimeters across called a "plaque"; or a more widespread swelling under the skin. Over the course of a few weeks, the original swollen area expands to form an irregularly shaped patch of raised skin. After about four weeks, the affected skin sloughs off leaving a painless ulcer. Buruli ulcers typically have "undermined edges", the ulcer being a few centimeters wider underneath the skin than the wound itself. In some people, the ulcer may heal on its own or remain small but linger unhealed for years. In others, it continues to grow wider and sometimes deeper, with skin at the margin dying and sloughing off. Large ulcers may extend deep into underlying tissue, causing bone infection and exposing muscle, tendon, and bone to the air. When ulcers extend into muscles and tendons, parts of these tissues can be replaced by scar tissue, immobilizing the body part and resulting in permanent disability. Exposed ulcers can be infected by other bacteria, causing the wound to become red, painful, and foul smelling. Symptoms are typically limited to those caused by the wound; the disease rarely affects other parts of the body. Buruli ulcers can appear anywhere on the body, but are typically on the limbs. Ulcers are most common on the lower limbs (roughly 62% of ulcers globally) and upper limbs (24%), but can also be found on the trunk (9%), head or neck (3%), or genitals (less than 1%). The World Health Organization classifies Buruli ulcer into three categories depending on the severity of its symptoms. Category I describes a single small ulcer that is less than 5 centimetres (2.0 inches). Category II describes a larger ulcer, up to 15 centimetres (5.9 in), as well as plaques and broader swollen areas that have not yet opened into ulcers. Category III is for an ulcer larger than 15 centimeters, multiple ulcers, or ulcers that have spread to include particularly sensitive sites such as the eyes, bones, joints, or genitals. ## Cause Buruli ulcer is caused by infection of the skin with the bacterium Mycobacterium ulcerans. M. ulcerans is a mycobacterium, closely related to Mycobacterium marinum which infects aquatic animals and, rarely, humans. It is more distantly related to other slow-growing mycobacteria that infect humans, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis, and Mycobacterium leprae, which causes leprosy. Buruli ulcer typically occurs near slow-moving or stagnant bodies of water, where M. ulcerans is found in aquatic insects, mollusks, fish, and the water itself. How M. ulcerans is transmitted to humans remains unclear, but somehow bacteria enter the skin and begin to grow. Ulceration is primarily caused by the bacterial toxin mycolactone. As the bacteria grow, they release mycolactone into the surrounding tissue. Mycolactone diffuses into host cells and blocks the action of Sec61, the molecular channel that serves as a gateway to the endoplasmic reticulum. When Sec61 is blocked, proteins that would normally enter the endoplasmic reticulum are mistargeted to the cytosol, causing a pathological stress response that leads to cell death by apoptosis. This results in tissue death at the site of infection, causing the open ulcer characteristic of the disease. At the same time, Sec61 inhibition prevents cells from signaling to activate the immune system, leaving ulcers largely free of immune cells. Immune cells that do reach the ulcer are killed by mycolactone, and tissue examinations of the ulcer show a core of growing bacteria surrounded by debris from dead and dying neutrophils (the most common immune cell). ### Transmission It is not known how M. ulcerans is introduced to humans. Buruli ulcer does not spread from one person to another. In areas endemic for Buruli ulcer, disease occurs near stagnant bodies of water, leading to the long-standing hypothesis that M. ulcerans is somehow transmitted to humans from aquatic environments. M. ulcerans is widespread in these environments, where it can survive as free-living or in association with other aquatic organisms. Live M. ulcerans has been isolated from aquatic insects, mosses, and animal feces; and its DNA has been found in water, soil, mats of bacteria and algae, fish, crayfish, aquatic insects, and other animals that live in or near water. A role for biting insects in transmission has been investigated, with particular focus on mosquitoes, giant water bugs, and Naucoridae. M. ulcerans is occasionally found in these insects, and they can sometimes transmit the bacteria in laboratory settings. Whether these insects are regularly involved in transmission remains unclear. Pre-existing wounds have been implicated in disease transmission, and people who immediately wash and bandage open wounds are less likely to acquire Buruli ulcer. Wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts is associated with a lower risk of Buruli ulcer, possibly by preventing insect bites or protecting wounds. ### Genetic susceptibility While Buruli ulcer is not contagious, susceptibility sometimes runs in families, suggesting genetics could play a role in who develops the disease. Severe Buruli ulcer in a Beninese family was attributed to a loss of 37 kilobases of chromosome 8 in a region that included a long non-coding RNA and was near the genes for beta-defensins, which are antimicrobial peptides involved in immunity and wound healing. Broader studies have focused on genes involved in susceptibility to other mycobacterial infections, finding susceptibility to Buruli ulcer may be linked to variants in six immunity-related genes: SLC11A1, PRKN, NOD2, ATG16L1, iNOS, and IFNG, as well as in two long non-coding RNAs. A genome-wide association study linked resistance to Buruli ulcer to a variant of ATG16L1 associated with susceptibility to Crohn's disease. ## Diagnosis As Buruli ulcer most commonly occurs in low-resource settings, treatment is often initiated by a clinician based on signs and symptoms alone. Where available, diagnosis may then be confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect M. ulcerans DNA or microscopy to detect mycobacteria. The gold standard test is real-time PCR to detect a DNA sequence termed IS2404 that is unique to M. ulcerans. This method detects M. ulcerans in 54–84% of infected people, and is highly specific to M. ulcerans. In wealthier healthcare settings, diagnosis is routinely based on PCR results. In low-resource settings, PCR is often unavailable, or can only be performed later at a centralized diagnostic laboratory. For microscopy, fluid is typically taken from the ulcer's edge by fine-needle aspiration or by swabbing the edge of the ulcer. The fluid is then stained with the Ziehl–Neelsen stain which makes mycobacteria visible. In practice microscopy detects M. ulcerans in just 30–40% of infected people, making it a relatively insensitive diagnostic test. For many bacterial infections, the gold standard for diagnosis is isolating and growing the infective organism in laboratory media. M. ulcerans can be grown in laboratory media, but its extremely slow growth rate prevents this from being used diagnostically; even under optimal growth conditions, the bacteria must grow for 9 to 12 weeks before they can be easily detected and identified. Another method of diagnosis is to take a tissue sample from the ulcer and examine it under histological stains. This requires more invasive sampling and review by a trained pathologist, and is rarely used in places where Buruli ulcer is endemic. Other ulcerative diseases can appear similar to Buruli ulcer at its various stages. The nodule that appears early in the disease can resemble a bug bite, sebaceous cyst, lipoma, onchocerciasis, other mycobacterial skin infections, or an enlarged lymph node. Skin ulcers can resemble those caused by leishmaniasis, yaws, squamous cell carcinoma, Haemophilus ducreyi infection, and tissue death due to poor circulation. More diffuse lesions can resemble cellulitis and fungal infections of the skin. ## Treatment Buruli ulcer is treated through a combination of antibiotics to kill the bacteria, and wound care or surgery to support the healing of the ulcer. The most widely used antibiotic regimen is once daily oral rifampicin plus twice daily oral clarithromycin, recommended by the World Health Organization. Several other antibiotics are sometimes used in combination with rifampicin, namely ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, ethambutol, amikacin, azithromycin, and levofloxacin. A 2018 Cochrane review suggested that the many antibiotic combinations being used are effective treatments, but there is insufficient evidence to determine if any combination is the most effective. Approximately 1 in 5 people with Buruli ulcer experience a temporary worsening of symptoms 3 to 12 weeks after they begin taking antibiotics. This syndrome, called a paradoxical reaction, is more common in those with larger ulcers and ulcers on the trunk, and occurs more frequently in adults than in children. The paradoxical reaction in Buruli ulcer is thought to be due to the immune system responding to the wound as bacteria die and the immune-suppressing mycolactone dissipates. Small or medium-sized ulcers (WHO categories I and II) typically heal within six months of antibiotic treatment, whereas larger ulcers can take over two years to fully heal. Given the long healing times, wound care is a major part of treating Buruli ulcer. The World Health Organization recommends standard wound care practices: covering the ulcer to keep it moist and protected from further damage; regularly changing wound dressings to keep the ulcer clean, removing excess fluid, and helping prevent infection. Treatment sometimes includes surgery to speed healing by removing necrotic ulcer tissue, grafting healthy skin over the wound, or removing scar tissue that can deform muscles and joints. Specialized wound dressings developed for non-infectious causes of ulcer are occasionally used for treating Buruli ulcer, but can be prohibitively expensive in low-resource settings. ## Prevention Buruli ulcer can be prevented by avoiding contact with aquatic environments in endemic areas, although this may not be possible for people living in these areas. The risk of acquiring it can be reduced by wearing long sleeves and pants, using insect repellent, and cleaning and covering any wounds as soon as they are noticed. There is no specific vaccine for preventing Buruli ulcer. The BCG vaccine typically given to children to protect against tuberculosis offers temporary partial protection from Buruli ulcer. ## Epidemiology Buruli ulcer is relatively rare, with 2,713 cases reported to the World Health Organization in 2018. Most countries do not report data on Buruli ulcer to the World Health Organization, and the extent of its spread is unknown. In many endemic countries, health systems likely do not record each case due to insufficient reach and resources, and so the reported numbers probably underestimate the true prevalence of the disease. Buruli ulcer is concentrated in West Africa and coastal Australia, with occasional cases in Japan, Papua New Guinea and the Americas. In West Africa, the disease is predominantly reported from remote, rural communities in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and Ghana. Other countries in the region also have Buruli ulcer to some degree; a 2019 systematic review of prevalence studies found a clear consensus that it is present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Nigeria, Togo, and South Sudan, as well as "strong" or "very strong" evidence of the disease in the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, Guinea, and Uganda. Buruli ulcer is regularly reported from Australia, where it occurs in coastal clusters—two in Queensland (near Rockhampton and north of Cairns) and two in Victoria (near Bairnsdale and Melbourne). It is more rarely reported from Japan, Papua New Guinea, and the Americas. Japan reports a few locally acquired cases per year scattered across the main island, Honshu. Papua New Guinea sporadically reports cases to the World Health Organization, typically less than a dozen per year. In the Americas, most Buruli ulcer is reported from French Guiana, with few cases described in surrounding countries. A 2019 review found "strong" evidence for the presence of Buruli ulcer in French Guiana and Peru, and "moderate" evidence in Brazil, Mexico and Suriname. Within affected countries, Buruli ulcer tends to occur in rural areas near slow-moving or stagnant water. In particular, the disease tends to appear near water that has experienced human intervention, such as the building of dams or irrigation systems, flooding, or deforestation. Within endemic communities, few characteristics predict who will acquire Buruli ulcer. Males and females are equally likely to be infected. Ulcers can appear in people of all ages, although infections are most common among children between 5 and 15 years in West Africa, and adults over 40 in Australia and Japan. ## Other animals M. ulcerans infection can cause Buruli ulcer-like lesions in some non-human animals. Natural non-human infections have only been described in coastal Victoria, near Melbourne. There, M. ulcerans-positive lesions have been described in koalas, common ringtail possums, and common brushtail possums, with lesions typically on the face, limbs, and tail. Ulcers have also been reported on domesticated animals, namely dogs, horses, alpacas, and a cat. In laboratories several species of animals have been infected with M. ulcerans in an attempt to model the course of Buruli ulcer. Injection of M. ulcerans can cause ulcers in several rodents (mice, guinea pigs, greater cane rats and common African rats), larger mammals (nine-banded armadillos, common brushtail possums, pigs, and Cynomolgus monkeys), and anole lizards. ## Society and culture In endemic areas, particularly rural communities in Africa, people may be aware of Buruli ulcer's association with the environment, yet simultaneously associate it with witchcraft or other supernatural causes. This dual understanding of disease—combined with poor access to conventional medicine—drives many to seek traditional healers for primary care. Traditional healers often treat Buruli ulcer with two simultaneous approaches: herbs and sometimes burning or bleeding to treat the physical wound; and confession, ritual purification, and prohibitions on food, interpersonal contact, or sex to treat the spiritual component of the disease. Those with Buruli ulcer report feeling shame and experiencing social stigma that could affect their relationships, school attendance, and marriage prospects. Buruli ulcer is known by several other names in different parts of the world. In southeastern Australia, it was originally called "Searls' ulcer" after the physician J. R. Searls who saw the first Australian patients at the Bairnsdale Clinic and sent material to Peter MacCallum's group for further examination. The disease later became more generally known as "Bairnsdale ulcer" after the district where it was described. In northeastern Australia, north of Cairns, the disease is called "Daintree ulcer" or "Mossman ulcer" after the nearby Daintree River and the town of Mossman. In Papua New Guinea, the disease is called "Kumusi ulcer" after the Kumusi River along which villages with Buruli ulcer were originally described. ## History The first written description of Buruli ulcer is credited to a British missionary doctor, Albert R. Cook. In 1897, at Mengo Hospital in Uganda, Cook noted several patients with slow-healing ulcers. The cause of these slow-healing ulcers was identified 50 years later in 1948, when Peter MacCallum, Jean Tolhurst, Glen Buckle, and H. A. Sissons at The Alfred Hospital's Baker Institute described a series of cases from Bairnsdale, Victoria, isolated the causative mycobacterium, and showed it could cause ulcers in laboratory rats. Over the following decades, more cases were described in Africa. A particularly high prevalence in Uganda's Buruli County led to the disease becoming more widely known as "Buruli ulcer". In 1998, the World Health Organization started the Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative with the aim of coordinating global efforts to control the disease. This was followed in 2004 by World Health Organization Resolution WHA57.1 calling upon member countries to support the Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative and increase research on Buruli ulcer diagnostics and treatment. Interest in Buruli ulcer has been encouraged by its branding as a "neglected tropical disease", first in a 2005 PLOS Medicine article, and later by both the World Health Organization and PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. From the time the disease was described, Buruli ulcer was treated with surgery to remove all affected tissue, followed by prolonged wound care. This treatment regimen was expensive, sometimes disfiguring, and often ineffective, ulcers recurring in up to a third of cases. Treatment dramatically improved in 2004, when the World Health Organization recommended an eight-week course of daily oral rifampicin and injected streptomycin. The introduction of antibiotics reduced the rate of ulcer recurrence to fewer than 2% of cases. However, streptomycin can be toxic to the ears and kidneys, and administering daily injections is challenging in low-resource settings. In 2017, the World Health Organization updated its recommendation to replace streptomycin with the oral antibiotic clarithromycin. ## Research Buruli ulcer has been the subject of scientific research since the description of M. ulcerans in 1948, and the demonstration that the bacteria could cause ulcers in laboratory animals. While several animals are susceptible to M. ulcerans ulcers, mice (particularly BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice) are most commonly used to model Buruli ulcer in modern laboratories. Since M. ulcerans can only grow in relatively cool temperatures, mice are typically infected in furless parts of the body: the ear, tail, or footpad. After injection into the mouse, bacteria double every three to four days, and the first signs of skin disease appear after three to four weeks. This mouse model of Buruli ulcer has primarily been used to test antibiotics. The antibiotic combinations, dose frequencies, and treatment durations currently in use were first tested in laboratory-infected mice. Some vaccine platforms have been tested in M. ulcerans-infected mice, mostly based on the Mycobacterium bovis strain used in the BCG vaccine. The BCG vaccine and versions of the vaccine that also express M. ulcerans antigens prolong the survival of mice after M. ulcerans infection. As of 2019, no vaccine tested completely protects mice from infection. M. ulcerans can be grown in laboratory media, although its slow growth makes it challenging to study. Bacteria plated on laboratory media can take up to three months to form visible colonies. Strains of M. ulcerans used in laboratories are less standardized than the mice they infect; different laboratories use different strains based on convenience and accessibility. Three M. ulcerans strains are particularly common, each isolated from an infected person: "Cu001" from Adzopé, Côte d'Ivoire in 1996; "Mu1615" from Malaysia in the 1960s; and "S1013" from Cameroon in 2010.
56,060,616	British logistics in the Normandy campaign	1,166,989,925	Supplies services during World War II	[ "Military logistics of World War II", "Military logistics of the United Kingdom", "Operation Overlord" ]	British logistics played a key role in the success of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France in June 1944. The objective of the campaign was to secure a lodgement on the mainland of Europe for further operations. The Allies had to land sufficient forces to overcome the initial opposition and build them up faster than the Germans could respond. Planning for this operation had begun in 1942. The Anglo-Canadian force, the 21st Army Group, consisted of the British Second Army and Canadian First Army. Between them, they had six armoured divisions (including the Polish 1st Armoured Division), ten infantry divisions, two airborne divisions, nine independent armoured brigades and two commando brigades. Logistical units included six supply unit headquarters, 25 Base Supply Depots (BSDs), 83 Detail Issue Depots (DIDs), 25 field bakeries, 14 field butcheries and 18 port detachments. The army group was supported over the beaches and through the Mulberry artificial port specially constructed for the purpose. During the first seven weeks after the British and Canadian landings in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944, the advance was much slower than anticipated, and the lodgement area was much smaller. The short lines of communication provided an opportunity to accumulate reserves of supplies. Two army roadheads were created. No. 1 Army Roadhead for I Corps and No. 2 Army Roadhead for XXX Corps, these being the two corps ashore at the time. When the Canadian First Army assumed control of the British I Corps on 21 June, the No. 1 Army Roadhead also passed into its control. No. 2 Army Roadhead formed the nucleus of what became the Rear Maintenance Area (RMA) of the 21st Army Group. By 26 July, 675,000 personnel, 150,000 vehicles and 690,000 tonnes (680,000 long tons) of stores and 69,000 tonnes (68,000 long tons) of bulk petrol had been landed. Ammunition usage was high, exceeding the daily allocation for the 25-pounder field guns by 8 per cent and for the 5.5-inch medium guns by 24 per cent. Greater priority was given to ammunition shipments, with petrol, oil and lubricant (POL) shipments cut to compensate. On 25 July, the US First Army began Operation Cobra, the break-out from Normandy. On 26 August, the 21st Army Group issued orders for an advance to the north to capture Antwerp, Belgium. After a rapid advance, the British Guards Armoured Division liberated Brussels, the Belgian capital, on 3 September and the 11th Armoured Division captured Antwerp the following day. The advance was much faster than expected and the rapid increase in the length of the line of communications threw up logistical challenges that, together with increased German resistance, threatened to stall the Allied armies. By mid-September, the Allies had liberated most of France and Belgium. The success of the 21st Army Group was in large part due to its logistics, which provided the operational commanders with enormous capacity and tremendous flexibility. ## Background Between the world wars the British Army developed a doctrine based on using machinery as a substitute for manpower. In this way, it was hoped that mobility could be restored to the battlefield and the enormous casualties of the Great War could be avoided. The Army embraced motor transport and mechanisation as a means of increasing the tempo of operations. The wholesale mechanisation of the infantry and artillery was ordered in 1934 and by 1938, the British Army had only 5,200 horses, compared with 28,700 on the eve of the Great War in 1914. In the Second World War, the Army relied entirely on motor transport to move supplies between the railheads and the divisional depots. France was occupied by Germany in June 1940 following the German victory in the Battle of France. An important factor in the defeat was the failure of the logistical system of the British Expeditionary Force, which responded too slowly to the rapid German advance. In the aftermath, the prospect of a British army invading and liberating France was remote, and the British Army concentrated on repelling rather than mounting a cross-channel attack. On 19 June 1940, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), General Sir John Dill, ordered that all line of communications units not required for home defence be disbanded and no further units be raised. In the event of an invasion of the UK, the Home Forces planned to rely on civilian resources for transportation, communications and maintenance. In March 1941, the War Cabinet decided that the Army had reached its maximum size. Henceforth, although the manpower "ceiling" was to be raised a little, this meant that raising more logistical units required the conversion of other units. By this time, Home Forces divisions had a divisional slice (the personnel of the division plus the supporting operational and logistical units at corps and army level) of 25,000, but overseas operations required one of 36,500 to 39,000. The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 drew German forces away from the west, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, while having the immediate effect of diverting troops from the war against Germany, brought the United States into the war, with the prospect of substantial resources over the longer term. This made realistic planning for an invasion of France possible. A War Office staff study in May 1942 for Operation Sledgehammer, an assault on France in 1942, revealed that an expeditionary force of six divisions would require all the logistical units in the UK, but not until 18 December 1942 was a final decision taken that a German invasion of the UK in 1943 was highly unlikely, and the reorganisation of the forces in the UK for an invasion of France could begin. Operation Sledgehammer was superseded by Operation Roundup, a plan for an invasion of France in 1943. In January 1943, the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, General Sir Bernard Paget, estimated that an expeditionary force of eleven British and five Canadian divisions could be assembled by August 1943, but the diversion of resources to the Mediterranean theatre meant that by August there were only enough logistical units to support five divisions, and the full force would not be assembled until April 1944. By November 1943, the force earmarked for France had dropped to twelve British and Canadian divisions, but the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, felt that as the Americans were contributing fifteen divisions, this should be matched. Three divisions were therefore withdrawn from the Mediterranean. The British Army's administrative doctrine was honed in the Western Desert Campaign, where lessons were learnt and administrative staff and logistical units developed effective procedures through trial and error. Doctrine based on fighting in Europe where there was a temperate climate and well-developed road and rail infrastructure was set aside and new organisational and logistical structures such as the Field Maintenance Centre (FMC) were developed. By 1944, the skill of the British Army in the field of logistics had been brought to a high state of efficiency and support from the United States through Lend-Lease made enormous quantities of materiel available. Mechanisation and overwhelming firepower demanded a great deal from the Army's logistical infrastructure. Fortunately, the British Army had 200 years' experience of fighting campaigns far from home. ## Planning A plan for a cross-channel invasion was drawn up by a staff led by the designated Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC), and approved at the Quebec Conference in August 1943. It was codenamed Operation Overlord. COSSAC also inherited and developed plans for Operation Rankin, a contingency plan for a sudden German collapse. Home Forces headquarters was divided in two in May 1943 to create an expeditionary headquarters, the 21st Army Group. From January 1944, the army group, consisting of the British Second Army and the Canadian First Army, was commanded by General Bernard Montgomery. The two armies comprised six armoured divisions (including the Polish 1st Armoured Division), ten infantry divisions, two airborne divisions, nine independent armoured brigades and two commando brigades. Although it contained personnel from many nations, the logistical support was British. There was virtually no separate Canadian supply organization other than what existed within First Canadian Army itself. The great majority of Canadian requirements were drawn from British sources. The total strength of the British and Canadian components of the 21st Army Group was about 849,000, of which 695,000 were British Army, 107,000 were Canadian Army and 47,000 were members of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Of the British troops in the 21st Army Group, 56 per cent were in the combat and combat support arms, artillery, infantry, armour, engineers and signals. The 44 per cent in the services included 15 per cent in the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), 10 per cent in the Pioneer Corps, 5 per cent in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), 4 per cent in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) and 10 per cent in other services, such as the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) and the Corps of Military Police (CMP). Logistical units included six supply unit headquarters, 25 Base Supply Depots (BSDs), 83 Detail Issue Depots (DIDs), 25 field bakeries, 14 field butcheries and 18 port detachments. This was less than the planners called for, as fewer logistical units returned from the Mediterranean than anticipated. In April 1944, the RASC, the corps of the British Army responsible for most forms of supply and transport, was about 15,000 men short of its requirements. About 9,000 men were transferred from anti-aircraft units, 1,000 from Home Forces and 1,000 from units in the Middle East. This meant that they were still 4,000 men short at the end of May and this had to be accepted. Units intended for beach work received additional training at Combined Operations training centres. Eleven general transport companies were equipped with DUKWs and were trained at the RASC Amphibious Training Centre at Towyn in Wales. The United States First Army was also assigned to the 21st Army Group for the assault phase of the campaign and although the United States Army maintained a separate supply organisation, an American brigadier general was assigned as a deputy to the Major-General Administration (MGA) of the 21st Army Group and representatives of the American G-1 and G-4 sections were attached to their opposite numbers at 21st Army Group, the A and Q staffs. The MGA, Major-General Miles Graham, had three principal subordinates: a Deputy Quartermaster General (DQMG) for plans and maintenance, Brigadier Randle (Gerry) Feilden; a DQMG for movements and transportation, Brigadier L. L. H. McKillop; and a Deputy Adjutant General (DAG), Brigadier Cyril Lloyd, responsible for personnel and administrative services. A Headquarters (HQ) Line of Communications was formed from that of the disbanded 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division. Most of its component areas and sub areas were formed for the campaign. This was commanded by Major-General Frank Naylor, formerly the Vice QMG at the War Office. In the assault, 101 and 102 Beach Sub Areas would support I Corps while 104 Beach Sub Area supported XXX Corps. Each beach sub area controlled two beach groups. These were tri-service formations with units from the Royal Engineers, RAMC, REME, RAOC, RASC, Pioneer Corps and Military Police. The Royal Navy provided each with a Royal Navy Beach Commando and a signal unit; the RAF provided beach anti-aircraft defence. Each beach group also had an infantry battalion to mop up any opposition and then act as a labour force. A beach group had a complement of about 3,000 men. The beach sub-areas would come under 11 Line of Communications Area when Second Army HQ arrived in Normandy and it in turn came under HQ Line of Communications when the 21st Army Group HQ arrived. Plans called for four days' supply of ammunition, 50 miles (80 km) of fuel for all vehicles and two days' supplies for the troops ashore by D+3 (i.e. three days after D-Day), which would be gradually increased to a fortnight's reserves of all commodities by D+41. At first, casualties would be evacuated to the UK by landing ships or small hospital ships. Once hospitals were established ashore, only casualties requiring more than seven days' treatment would be returned to the UK. This would be increased later as more hospitals were established on the continent. Numbers were forecast based on War Office tables known as Evetts rates, after Major-General John Evetts, the Assistant Chief of the General Staff, who devised them. For planning purposes, it was assumed that casualties on D-Day would be at an exceptionally high ("double intense") rate. In the event, this was not the case. A special feature was the provision of "survivor's kits" at the beach dumps. These were bags packed with a full set of soldier's equipment and clothing, which could be issued to individuals who had lost all their kit through the sinking of their ship or landing craft. Prisoners of war (POWs) were to be evacuated to camps in England. Two important coordinating bodies were created. The Build-Up Control Organisation (BUCO) was formed on 20 April 1944 at Combined Operations Headquarters (although it was not part of it). It was charged with responsibility for regulating the build-up of vehicles and personnel by allocating priorities for the available shipping. Once the final plans for the landing were drawn up, all further alterations had to be implemented by BUCO. Movement Control (MOVCO) was responsible for the movement of units to the coastal areas and ports from which they would embark. Like BUCO, it had separate staffs for the American and British zones which operated independently. There was also the Turnaround Control Organisation (TURCO), which controlled the turnaround of shipping at the ports of loading; the Combined Operations Repair Organisation (COREP), which handled repairs to damaged ships and landing craft; the Combined Tugboat Organisation (COTUG) managed a fleet of tugboats. The objective of the campaign was to secure a lodgement on the mainland of Europe from which further operations could be conducted. The lodgement area had to be large enough and have sufficient port facilities to maintain between twenty-six and thirty divisions, with additional divisions arriving at the rate of three to five a month. The Allies had to land an assault force sufficient to overcome the initial opposition and build it up faster than the Germans could respond. The campaign plan involved a landing in Normandy, followed by an advance to the south. The ports in Brittany would be captured, and the Allied armies would then turn east and cross the Seine River. For administrative planning purposes, it was assumed that the Breton and Loire ports would be captured by D+40 and the Seine reached by D+90. Montgomery did not expect that the campaign would unfold according to plan and did not commit himself to a timetable. "Whether operations will develop on these lines", he noted on 8 May, "must of course depend on our own and the enemy situation which cannot be predicted accurately at the present moment". The assault had to be postponed for 24 hours but there were contingency plans that covered both this and a 48-hour postponement. ## Assault The landings on D-Day, 6 June, were successful. Some 2,426 landing ships and landing craft were employed by Vice-Admiral Sir Philip Vian's Eastern Naval Task Force in support of the British and Canadian forces, including 37 landing ships, infantry (LSI), 3 landing ships, dock (LSD), 155 landing craft, infantry (LCI), 130 landing ships, tank (LST) and 487 landing craft, tank (LCT). While the fighting was fierce in some places, it was not as severe as had been feared. The slope of the beaches was not steep; gradients varied from 1:100 to 1:250, with a tidal range of about 6 metres (20 ft). It was difficult for landing craft to discharge motor vehicles at low tide, or to beach during an ebbing tide. This meant that except at high tide, landing craft and LSTs were beached. Causeways were constructed to allow them to discharge. Ships carrying stores had to anchor up to 5 miles (8 km) from shore, resulting in lengthy turnaround times for the DUKWs and other unloading craft. Gold Beach was the objective for 104 Beach Sub Area, landed with the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. King Beach was supposed to be developed by 9 Beach Group but its peat and soft clay was found to be too soft and was abandoned, except for a pontoon causeway for landing personnel. Landing beaches were divided into red and green landing areas. An LCT landing point was established at Love Green beach. Item Red and Jig Green Beaches were developed by 10 Beach Group, as planned. The main dumps were not ready to receive stores until 8 June, so in the meantime, stores were accumulated in temporary locations near the beach. The landing of 102 Beach Sub Area with the 3rd Canadian Division on Juno Beach was delayed by rough seas and the development of Mike Beach by 7 Beach Group was delayed by fire from Vaux-sur-Aure. The German stronghold there was eliminated on 8 June by 7 Beach Group, supported by armour. Bad weather delayed the arrival of four coasters from England on D-Day and seven more on 7 June. This was offset when the tiny port of Courseulles-sur-Mer was captured intact on D-Day, allowing 1,000 tonnes (1,000 long tons) per day to be unloaded there, but it proved unsuitable for coasters and was abandoned on 10 June. At Sword Beach, 101 Beach Sub Area landed with the British 3rd Division, 5 Beach Group with its assault brigade and 6 Beach Group with its follow-up brigade. Four LCTs, each loaded with 200 tonnes (200 long tons) of high-priority stores were beached and rapidly unloaded into temporary dumps near the beaches. These had been intended for use on D-Day only but the intended beach maintenance area had not been captured and was not ready to receive stores until 9 June. Although it was captured intact on D-Day, the small port of Ouistreham could not be used due to German shellfire from around Caen. There were some attacks by E-boats and a German air raid on 8 June struck the beach maintenance area, destroying 450,000 litres (100,000 imp gal) of petrol and 410 tonnes (400 long tons) of ammunition. Replacements were ordered with a high priority. Due to this interference, 101 Beach Sub Area posted the lowest receipt-of-stores rates; Sword Beach was closed on 12 July. Minesweeping did not commence at Ouistreham until 21 August and it was not opened to shipping until 3 September. ## Build-up Bayeux was captured on 7 June but the lodgement area was smaller than anticipated, with determined German resistance being encountered. Between 16 and 30 June, the British Second Army mounted a series of operations to capture Caen, but it remained in German hands. Finally, after a bombardment by 420 heavy bombers from RAF Bomber Command on 7 July, Caen was taken on 9 July. Operation Goodwood was launched on 18 July and to contain the British and Canadian forces, almost all the German armour was concentrated east of the Orne River, paving the way for a successful advance in the American sector. ### Organisation Corps and divisional administrative staffs landed on D-Day. The Second Army staffs began landing the following day, allowing it to assume administrative control on 11 June, but the restricted lodgement area made the corps headquarters reluctant to relinquish control of the depots and dumps around the beaches. The beach sub area commanders found themselves answerable to corps, army and when it arrived, 11 Line of Communications Area. On 14 June, with the lodgement area 8 to 12 miles (13 to 19 km) deep with a front 50-mile (80 km) long, Second Army assumed command of the beach sub areas, marking the end of the assault phase of Overlord. Two army roadheads were created: No. 1 Army Roadhead for I Corps, and No. 2 Army Roadhead for XXX Corps. When the Canadian First Army assumed control of the British I Corps on 21 June, No. 1 Army Roadhead also passed to its control. Henceforth odd numbered roadheads served the Canadian First Army and even numbered ones the British Second Army. No. 2 Army Roadhead formed the nucleus of what became the Rear Maintenance Area (RMA) of the 21st Army Group. At the RMA, there was a Commander, RASC (CRASC) Supply units, who had eight BSDs, eight DIDs, 13 field bakeries and two field butcheries. There was also a CRASC Petrol Installation, whose command included 28 petrol depots and twelve mobile petrol filling centres (MPFCs). Each MPFC could refill up to 8,000 jerry cans per day. On 15 June, 151 Forward Maintenance Area was opened by XXX Corps. The FMA concept, which had been used with success in the Mediterranean theatre, was not part of British doctrine. Unlike divisions, which incorporated logistics units, a corps was a purely operational formation and not part of the logistical plan. Doctrine called for the use of pack trains, railway trains which would deliver days' supplies direct to a division. These had worked well in the Great War but had been found to be impractical in the Middle East and were never seriously considered for Overlord. The FMA was only a few miles from No. 2 Army Roadhead but the XXX Corps staff considered that it knew best, given its combat experience in the North African Campaign and the Allied invasion of Sicily. The other corps of Second Army followed suit and established their own FMAs. Under the FMA scheme, divisions drew maintenance from the FMA rather than the roadhead. The FMA allowed a corps to train newly arrived administrative units, to control the usage of ammunition by the divisions and alleviate the traffic congestion around Bayeux. The British Second Army gave tacit support for the practice, issuing an order that FMAs be called Field Maintenance Centres (FMCs), the original nomenclature in the Mediterranean. Henceforth, Second Army stocked the army roadhead and left the FMCs to the corps. The FMCs were manned using corps resources; each had two DIDs, a petrol depot, a transport company and two RASC composite platoons drawn from corps troops composite companies. Where possible, an MPFC was attached to each FMC. Occasionally they had to be reinforced with some additional transport platoons from Second Army. This organisation allowed an FMC to be operated while another was established. Each FMC held two days' rations and one day's maintenance stocks, two or three days' petrol, which was about 910,000 litres (200,000 imp gal) and 3,600 tonnes (3,500 long tons) of ammunition. Corps services such as the reinforcement centre, salvage unit, tank delivery squadron and ordnance field park tended to cluster around the FMC. By 26 July, 675,000 personnel, 150,000 vehicles, 690,000 tonnes (680,000 long tons) of stores and 69,000 tonnes (68,000 long tons) of bulk petrol had been landed. There was 23 days' reserves of stores and 16 days' reserves of petrol, with a day's supply of petrol being taken as enough to drive every vehicle 30 miles (48 km). Confronted by German defences in depth, the British forces relied on air and artillery firepower. Any German artillery battery, once detected, could expect 20 long tons (20 t) of shells on average. Ammunition reserves varied from five days' supply for the 5.5-inch medium guns to 30 days' supply for the 17-pounder anti-tank guns. Usage exceeded the seventy rounds per gun per day allocation for the 25-pounder guns by six rounds per gun per day and the allocation of fifty rounds per gun per day for the 5.5-inch guns by twelve per gun per day. Fears that the crowded lodgement area would prove a tempting target for the Luftwaffe led to an overstock of anti-aircraft ammunition. Later shipments of anti-aircraft ammunition were cancelled and other types of artillery ammunition were substituted. The requirement for tank and anti-tank ammunition was also over-estimated. While it seemed to the Germans that the British Army had an unlimited supply of ammunition, this was not the case and a reason why heavy bombers were used to augment the artillery in Operation Goodwood. ### Mulberry harbour No major ports were expected to be captured in the early stages of Overlord except Cherbourg. The capture was expected to take three weeks and the port was not large enough to meet the Allied needs. Until a major port could be captured, maintenance would have to be over open beaches that were at the mercy of the weather. Two artificial Mulberry harbours were planned: Mulberry A for the American sector and Mulberry B for the British sector. Work commenced in 1942 and prototypes were tested in 1943. Mulberry A was to have a capacity of 5,100 tonnes (5,000 long tons) per day and Mulberry B of 7,100 tonnes (7,000 long tons). Each would handle 1,200 vehicles daily, and provide shelter for small craft. Mulberry breakwaters consisted of blockships, concrete caissons known as Phoenix breakwaters and floating breakwaters known as Bombardon breakwaters. Their construction consumed tens of thousands of tons of steel and cost £25 million. Each harbour had three piers, a barge pier and an LST pier, each with one roadway, and a stores pier with two floating roadways. When the Overlord plan was expanded in 1944, it was too late to enlarge the Mulberry harbours, so additional small craft shelters known as Gooseberries were provided, one for each invasion beach. The British Gooseberries were No. 3 at Arromanches on Gold Beach, No. 4 at Courseulles on Juno Beach and No. 5 at Ouistreham on Sword Beach. Construction of Mulberry B commenced near Arromanches on Gold Beach on 9 June and coasters began discharging inside the breakwaters on 11 June. The first coaster discharged over the store pier roadway on 18 June. A severe storm—the worst recorded in June in forty years—swept over the channel between 19 and 22 June. The storm halted discharge of personnel and supplies for 24 hours, destroyed Mulberry A and severely damaged Mulberry B. Components of Mulberry A were salvaged and used to repair and complete Mulberry B. Phoenix caissons were filled with sand to give them greater stability. The second roadway to the stores pier was opened on 6 July. By this time the sheltered area designed for 16 coasters was in use by seven Liberty ships and 23 coasters. It exceeded its designed daily capacity of 6,100 tonnes (6,000 long tons), averaging 6,874 tonnes (6,765 long tons). The ships discharged over their sides into DUKWs and Rhino ferries. Ten of the eleven DUKW companies worked Mulberry B. Some 36 DUKWs were lost in the first five days. DUKWs were able to operate safely inside the harbour every day except during the storm. Due to it, the LST pier planned to service twenty LSTs per day from 18 June was not opened until 20 July and LSTs had to be dried out—beached and left stranded at low tide while unloading continued. Royal Navy misgivings about drying out store carrying LCTs had been overcome during the planning stages, but it now became necessary to dry out LSTs as well, with considerable consequent damage that was beyond the capacity of the naval repair teams, which slowed LST turnaround. Because of the storm, only 19,446 tonnes (19,139 long tons) of stores were landed by 29 June instead of the planned 39,870 tonnes (39,240 long tons). The main effect was a shortage of ammunition, particularly for the 25-pounders and 5.5-inch guns, for which demand had been unexpectedly heavy. A high priority was given to additional shipments, with petrol, oil and lubricant (POL) shipments cut to compensate. On 20 June, the Navy agreed to allow ammunition ships to enter Mulberry B, even though this was acknowledged to be very dangerous. An additional 10,000 tonnes (10,000 long tons) arrived by 27 July, averting a crisis. ### Minor ports In addition to the Mulberry, small ports were used; Courseulles, which was mainly used by fishing boats, had a draught of 2.9 metres (9 ft 6 in), making it suitable only for shallow-draught vessels, such as barges. A daily average of 860 tonnes (850 long tons) was unloaded there in June, rising to 1,500 tonnes (1,500 long tons) in July and August. Operations ceased on 7 September. Port-en-Bessin was operated as a bulk petroleum terminal, servicing both the British and American forces. Shallow-draught oil tankers drawing up to 4.3 metres (14 ft) could enter the port and larger tankers up to 5,000 gross register tons (14,000 m<sup>3</sup>) could discharge using Tombolas, floating ship-to-shore lines. Two ship-to-shore lines were in operation by 25 July, and six tanker berths were in operation, with pipelines connected to the bulk petroleum storage terminal, which had a capacity of 10,000 tonnes (9,800 long tons) of petrol and 2,000 tonnes (2,000 long tons) of aviation fuel. The port was opened to store ships on 12 June, and to tankers on 24 June. Some 87,000 tonnes (86,000 long tons) of petrol was discharged by 31 July, and a daily average of 11,304 tonnes (11,125 long tons) of stores were discharged until the port was closed on 25 September. Cherbourg was captured by the Americans on 27 June but it was very badly damaged and was not opened to shipping until 16 July. Some 510 tonnes (500 long tons) of its daily capacity was allocated to the British. It contained the only deep-water berths in Allied hands and was useful in reducing the load on Port-en-Bessin. The railway line from Cherbourg to Caen commenced operation on 26 July, using rolling stock captured near Bayeux. The lack of deep water berths meant that a large proportion of the supplies shipped went in coasters that could discharge at the small ports rather than in large, ocean-going Liberty ships. It was hoped that Cherbourg could handle large and awkward loads, but it had been so badly damaged that it was not sufficiently rehabilitated to do so until late August. In the meantime, they were shipped already loaded on transporters, or unloaded from lighters by cranes at Courseulles or Port-en-Bessin. Although manifests were flown across each day, there was still trouble identifying cargo. A commendable but misplaced desire to use all available cargo space often led to one type of stores overlaying another. The result was mixed loads of stores being unloaded into the DUKWs, with a slowing of their turnaround time if they had to deliver to two different inland dumps. To reduce turnaround time and wear on the DUKW tyres, which were in short supply, transshipment areas were established where the DUKWs could transfer their loads to ordinary lorries. There were timber platforms with a mobile crane at one end. DUKWs were loaded by depositing supplies on them over the side of ships in a cargo net. Each DUKW had been equipped with two of these in the UK. A control tower overlooking the port area used a loud hailer to direct the DUKWs to numbered platforms where a crane would remove the load. The DUKW would be given a replacement cargo net and head back out to the ship. The platform was large enough to permit some sorting of the stores. They would be loaded onto lorries backed up to the other side of the platform, either by hand or using roller runways. Because the shipping plan was so detailed, with everything carefully planned and scheduled in advance, timely and frequent alterations could not be tolerated. To make up for this, a system of "express coasters" was provided, which could carry a known tonnage of whatever was required on a given day. These carried unexpected and unforeseen demands, such as baling wire to help French farmers with their harvests. The British beaches were closed on 3 September 1944. By this time 221,421 tonnes (217,924 long tons) had been discharged through small ports, 615,347 tonnes (605,629 long tons) over open beaches, and 458,578 tonnes (451,335 long tons) through Mulberry B. This meant that 25 per cent of the total tonnage had been landed through Cherbourg and the small ports, 12.5 per cent through Mulberry B, and 62.5 per cent over the beaches. The tonnage handled over the beaches greatly exceeded the expectations of the planners; but it is unlikely that the invasion would have been launched in the first place without the reassurance provided by the Mulberry. ### Ordnance In the first four weeks, stores were landed in Landing Reserve packs, each made up of about 8,000 cases containing a mix of stores intended to support a brigade group or the equivalent for thirty days. After that, Beach Maintenance Packs were used. These were similar, but contained a wider variety of stores to support a division for thirty days. Each contained about 12,000 cases, weighing about 510 tonnes (500 long tons). Six Ordnance Beach Detachments landed on D-Day, along with two ammunition companies, two port ammunition detachments and a port ordnance detachment. The vessel carrying the recce party of 17 Advanced Ordnance Depot was torpedoed and most of the party was lost. A new party was organised, which arrived with the advance party on 13 June. The planned site for the depot near Vaux was satisfactory but at first, the area was occupied by two infantry divisions and the depot opened on 2 July. A vehicle park was established in the vicinity by 17 Vehicle Company on 13 June, mobile baths and laundries landed on 18 June and an industrial gas unit on 24 June to produce oxygen and acetylene for the workshops. The recce party of 14 Advanced Ordnance Depot landed on 28 June, and established the main RMA at Audrieu. The area was drained and 200 steel framed huts were erected. On 11 June, 17 Base Ammunition Depot arrived and began co-ordinating the stores and ammunition depots. When 15 Base Ammunition Depot arrived on 18 June, it took over those in 104 Beach Sub Area, while 17 Base Ammunition Depot took over those in 101 and 102 Beach Sub Areas. The average daily tonnage handled by the two base ammunition depots in the first two months of the campaign was 8,360 tonnes (8,230 long tons). Special "drowned" vehicle parks were established on the beaches for vehicles affected by water. Most swampings were caused not by faulty waterproofing but by landing craft discharging vehicles into more than 1.2 metres (4 ft) of water. The recovery of vehicles on the beaches was a hazardous enterprise owing to shellfire, mines and aircraft. Some 669 vehicles were brought in for repair by XXX Corps workshops between 8 June and 19 June, of which 509 were repaired, the remainder being written off. I Corps workshops established a "help yourself" park of written off vehicles from which spare parts could be salvaged, the process being faster than obtaining them from the Beach Maintenance Packs, where correctly identifying parts was difficult. When the Americans developed the Rhino tank attachment, the REME were asked to produce two dozen for British units. These were made in three days from steel salvaged from German beach obstacles. Seven British field artillery regiments were equipped with M7 Priest self-propelled guns, which required scarce American 105 mm ammunition and replaced them with Sexton 25-pounder self-propelled guns, delivered from Britain by 15 Advanced Ordnance Depot. For Operation Totalize, the Canadians converted the surplus Priests into armoured personnel carriers, known as Kangaroos, by removing the guns and welding over the front apertures. The conversion was carried out by Canadian and REME workshops. ### Subsistence In the Overlord planning, the 14-man ration pack that had proved satisfactory in the North African Campaign was adopted for use after the initial assault until bulk rations could be issued. The problem was how to feed the troops in the first 48 hours, as the assault packs used in Madagascar and Operation Torch had been found to be too heavy and bulky proportional to their nutritional value. A new 24-hour ration pack was therefore devised for Overlord. Two proposed ration packs were tested under field conditions in June 1943 and a new 24-hour ration was produced that combined the merits of both. The resulting 24-hour ration pack was a 17-kilojoule (4,000 cal) ration that weighed 990 grams (35 oz) and at 1,500 cubic centimetres (90 cu in) could fit into the standard British Army mess tin. The War Office then ordered 7.5 million of them, with a delivery date of 31 March 1944. Only by strenuous efforts was this achieved. The field service (FS) bulk ration was in general use by 21 July, although combat units continued using the ration packs for certain operations. The FS ration was entirely composed of preserved components but it was supplemented by shipments of fresh meat, fruit and vegetables. Hospital patients began to receive fresh bread on 13 June, and it was in general issue by 5 August. The mixture of tea, sugar and powdered milk in the ration packs was widely disliked and advantage was taken of an order authorising the issue of tea, sugar and milk to troops engaged in "heavy and arduous" night work. As a result, a large proportion of the 21st Army Group became engaged in such activities, unbalancing the reserve ration stocks. There were also large unforeseen demands for tommy cookers, compact portable stoves fuelled by hexamine tablets that could provide men in a front line trench with a hot cup of tea. ### Construction Engineering works were initially the responsibility of the Chief Engineer, Second Army. Engineer store dumps were established at Tailleville (No. 1 Roadhead), Bayeux (No. 2 Roadhead), Ver-sur-Mer and Luc-sur-Mer, with the engineer base workshop at Le Bergerie. Some 9,000 construction personnel and 43,000 tonnes (42,000 long tons) of engineer stores were earmarked for shipment to Normandy by 25 July, but owing to the Channel storm and lack of demand due to the restricted lodgement area, only 6,000 personnel and 22,000 tonnes (22,000 long tons) of engineer stores were landed. The main engineering tasks were the rehabilitation of the road network, the construction of airfields, the building of bridges, and the development of the bulk POL installation. By 26 July, the 21st Army Group had 152,499 vehicles in a lodgement area just 20 miles (32 km) wide and 10 miles (16 km) deep. Despite little or no maintenance during the war, the roads were found to be in better condition than expected but soon deteriorated under constant heavy military traffic. Potholes were filled in and bypasses constructed around villages with narrow streets that were suitable for one-way traffic only. Some additional bridges were erected to remove bottlenecks. A lack of timber was foreseen by the planners and 12,000 tonnes (12,000 long tons) was earmarked for shipment. This included 18,000 piles 18 to 37 metres (60 to 120 ft) long and 47,000 pieces of squared timber. Five Canadian and two British forestry companies were in Normandy by the end of July, but the only sizeable source of timber in the lodgement area was the Cerisy Forest, where there was about 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of beech and oak. As in the Great War, much trouble was experienced with trees that had been hit by shrapnel; mine detectors were used on them with mixed results. By 26 September, the forestry companies had produced 24,000 tonnes (24,000 long tons) of sawn timber and 15,000 tonnes (15,000 long tons) of firewood; five companies produced 5,400 cubic metres (7,000 cu yd) of gravel for construction purposes from ten quarries. Five Royal Engineers airfield construction groups and an RAF airfield construction wing were active by the end of June. By the end of July, they had established seventeen airfields in the lodgement area, of which eight were surfaced with square meshed steel and one with bitumised hessian runways. Thirteen of these airfields were in operation by the RAF on 26 July. Problems were encountered with dust, which caused aircraft not fitted with air intake filters to suffer from excessive engine wear. The problem was largely overcome by wet weather in July. ### Salvage A field salvage unit and field collecting unit arrived on 14 June. Prior to that, small dumps of salvaged equipment were established by the beach groups under the direction of the Second Army salvage officer. By 29 June, six salvage dumps were operational and those at No. 2 Roadhead had handled over 1,000 tonnes (1,000 long tons) of materiel. The base salvage dump was opened in the RMA on 24 July. A major task was retrieving airborne equipment that lay strewn about the landing and drop zones, including gliders. Souvenir hunters were responsible for the loss of instruments and fittings from many gliders. Large numbers of parachutes were not recovered, owing to their being prized by soldiers and civilians alike for their silk. By 25 July, 7,446 tonnes (7,328 long tons) of stores had been returned to ordnance. ### Casualties Field ambulances landed with the assault brigades and each beach group had a self-contained medical organisation with two field dressing stations, two field surgical units and a field transfusion unit; most were operational within 90 minutes of H-Hour. Casualty clearing stations and hospitals began arriving on 8 June, and these were concentrated in three medical areas, around Hermanville-sur-Mer, Reviers and Ryes. On 12 June the installations in the Hermanville area moved to Douvres-la-Délivrande to make way for an expansion of the nearby ammunition depot. In late June the area around Bayeux was developed as the main Line of Communications hospital area. When HQ Line of Communications assumed administrative command on 13 July, it took over the Bayeux and Reviers groups, while responsibility for the Délivrande group passed to the First Canadian Army. The fighting was less severe than anticipated and casualties were lower. By 26 July, 44,503 British and 13,323 Canadian reinforcements had been dispatched to the 21st Army Group. By the same date, 38,581 casualties had been evacuated by sea. Air evacuation began on 13 June and by 26 July 7,719 casualties were evacuated to the UK. Because of doubts about the availability of water in the lodgement area, large quantities of packaged potable water was shipped, particularly for the wounded on the beaches. The lower than expected casualties resulted in an accumulation of filled water containers which were not required. Casualties among the infantry were particularly severe; although infantrymen made only 20 per cent of the 21st Army Group, the infantry suffered 70 per cent of its casualties. On 16 August it was decided to disband the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division and the 70th Infantry Brigade of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division to provide infantry reinforcements for other units. The reinforcement section of the Rear HQ of 21st Army Group became overwhelmed by personnel matters unrelated to reinforcements, like transfers and psychiatric cases and the Organisation and Selection of Personnel Branches of GHQ Second Echelon were sent out, arriving on 16 September. ### Provost Six POW camps were placed at the disposal of 21st Army Group. Each was staffed to cater for 200 officers and 2,000 other ranks. The first of these arrived on 7 June, and was employed as a collection and transit centre. The next arrived on 11 June, and established a POW camp near Arromanches. Camps had been established in the UK for up to 25,000 prisoners but only 12,153 were captured by 26 July. Most were German but there were also Russians, Poles and other nationalities. Most were taken to the UK, but some were retained for labour duties. POW escorts were provided by the War Office and were based at Southampton. They crossed to Normandy on LSTs, collected the prisoners and took them back to the UK. This procedure did not work as well as planned, because the prisoners were not always ready to move when required, and the LSTs were unable to wait for them. The first CMP units to arrive landed on D-Day. These were three divisional provost companies, six beach provost companies, and two corps provost companies, which were used for traffic control. During the build-up phase, an additional company arrived with each division; four provost companies, four traffic control (TC) companies, and a vulnerable points (VP) company for each army and seven provost, seven TC and three VP companies for the Line of Communications Area. The VP companies were used to guard POWs. Delays in getting provost units ashore allowed traffic congestion to occur on the first two days, but the Line of Communications Area was established faster than planned when traffic congestion became a problem. One check point saw 18,836 vehicles pass it in a day, roughly one every four seconds. Despite all efforts, key towns like Courseulles and Bayeux soon became bottlenecks. Bypasses were built, and strict movement control was instituted. Under this regime, operational vehicles operated at night when the volume of administrative traffic was lighter. Five movement control groups, Nos 6, 17, 18, 19 and 20, were assigned to 21st Army Group. They did not operate as units, but were dispersed among the different headquarters. ## Breakout and pursuit On 25 July, the US First Army began Operation Cobra, the breakout from Normandy. The US 12th Army Group became active on 1 August with the US First and Third Armies under its command, all still commanded by the 21st Army Group HQ. This remained the case until General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) opened at Jullouville on 1 September. The rear headquarters of 21st Army Group joined the advanced headquarters at Vaucelles on 11 August. Falaise was captured on 16 August, and three days later the Canadians and Americans linked up, closing the Falaise Pocket. On 26 August, the 21st Army Group issued orders for an advance to the north to capture Antwerp. After a rapid advance (The Swan), the British Guards Armoured Division liberated Brussels on 3 September and the 11th Armoured Division captured Antwerp the following day. As the armies moved forward, No. 3 Army Roadhead was established for the First Canadian Army at Lisieux on 24 August and No. 4 Army Roadhead for the British Second Army near L'Aigle on 26 August. This was soon so far behind the advancing units that intermediate dumps known as "cushions" were established to which supplies required by the corps were sited forward of the roadhead in the direction in which the next roadhead would be established. The first of these, No. 1 Cushion, was established at Falaise on 21 August to support the First Canadian Army. No. 2 Cushion was established near Beauvais on 1 September and No. 3 near Doullens the next day. No. 5 Army Roadhead was sited on the road between Dieppe and Abbeville on 3 September, No. 6 Army Roadhead near Brussels on 6 September and No. 7 Army Roadhead near Béthune on 15 September. The 21st Army Group headquarters moved to Brussels on 23 September, and SHAEF moved to Versailles around the same time. Each army roadhead had a CRASC Supply Unit, who controlled two BSDs, four DIDs and four mobile field bakeries, and a CRASC Petrol Installation, who controlled five petrol depots. About 26,000 tonnes (26,000 long tons) of packaged fuel in jerry cans was held at a roadhead. In mid-September, 12 Line of Communications Area became responsible for logistical activities south of the Seine, while 11 Line of Communications Area became responsible for those to the north. ### Transport With the establishment of No. 6 Army Roadhead, the 21st Army Group line of communications was 400 miles (640 km) long, with the main depots still at the RMA and few stocks between them and the FMCs. A crucial decision was taken on 30 August to gamble on the early capture of Le Havre, Dieppe and Boulogne, and slash receipts from 16,300 to 7,100 tonnes (16,000 to 7,000 long tons) per day, to free transport, which would have been used to clear the beaches, for moving supplies forward of the RMA. Vehicle maintenance was neglected but this presented few problems as most of the vehicles were new. An exception was 1,400 Austin K5 three-ton lorries, along with all their replacement engines, which were found to have faulty pistons and gave trouble. Additional general transport companies were shipped urgently from the UK and some new companies were formed in Normandy, increasing the number of companies for the British Second Army from six to thirty-nine. The War Office agreed to loan another 12 general transport companies to the 21st Army Group but only five had arrived by 26 September. These were formed from Anti-Aircraft Command and Mixed Transport Command. A new headquarters called TRANCO was created on 10 September and all road and railway transport was withdrawn from the armies and assigned to it, with the mission of moving supplies from the RMA to the army roadheads. The First Canadian Army converted a tank transporter trailer into a load carrier by welding on steel plank normally used for airfield construction to form a base and sides. The experiment was successful and the modified tank transporters could carry 16.8 tonnes (16.5 long tons) of supplies, 37 tonnes (36 long tons) of ammunition, or 10 tonnes (10 long tons) of POL, except on narrow roads. The British Second Army converted a whole company in this manner. The 21st Army Group initially had only two companies of tank transporters, and these were required in the UK until additional tank transporters arrived from the United States. Another expedient was to issue 30 additional lorries to four general transport companies that had enough relief drivers to man them. Two 10-ton companies were equipped with surplus 5-ton trailers. There were also eight DUKW companies, one of which was on loan to the US Army, and was involved in working Utah Beach. Two other companies were retained as DUKW companies and the remaining five were re-equipped with regular 3-ton lorries. In addition to the DUKW company, a 6-ton and a 3-ton general transport company were loaned to the US Army. These two companies were returned to the 21st Army Group on 4 September. During the advance from the Seine, the Second Army employed only six of its eight infantry divisions, so the transport of two could be used to help maintain the other six. While the railway lines in northern France and Belgium had suffered damage, this was much less than of the lines south of the Seine. Commencing on 10 September, trains were loaded in the RMA and supplies shipped to a railhead near Beauvais, where they were loaded onto lorries that took them across the Seine. On the other side, they were loaded onto trains for the final journey to No. 6 Army Roadhead. Work began on a new 161-metre (529 ft) bridge over the Seine at Le Manoir on 8 September and it was opened a fortnight later. Some bridges over the Somme were also down but were bypassed by a diversion at Doullens. A bridge at Halle in Belgium was repaired by the Belgian authorities. Provision had been made in the Overlord plans for supply by air. Apart from supplying the Polish 1st Armoured Division for a short time, little use had been made of this, with the RAF freight service accounting for less than 200 tonnes (200 long tons) per week. In August, demand doubled from 12 to 25 long tons (12 to 25 t) per day. In the week ending 9 September 1,000 tonnes (1,000 long tons) of petrol and 300 tonnes (300 long tons) of supplies were delivered to airfields around Amiens, Vitry-en-Artois and Douai. The following week, 2,200 tonnes (2,200 long tons) of ammunition, 810 tonnes (800 long tons) of POL and 300 tonnes (300 long tons) of supplies were delivered. Evere Airport, the main airport at Brussels, was brought into use and 18,000 tonnes (18,000 long tons) was landed there over the next five weeks. After the liberation of Paris, it had become apparent that the Germans had stripped the capital of its food and other resources for themselves before their capitulation. Many Parisians were desperate and Allied soldiers even used their own meagre rations to help. The Civil Affairs of SHAEF therefore requested an urgent shipment of 3,000 tonnes (3,000 long tons) of food. A supply earmarked for just this purpose had been set aside at Bulford long before and on 27 August the first 510 tonnes (500 long tons) were delivered by RAF. This convoy labelled "Vivres Pour Paris" entered a day later, following which 450 tonnes (500 short tons) were delivered a day by the British. USAAF Dakotas were flown in which also delivered 500 tons a day. Along with French civilians outside Paris bringing in local resources, within ten days the food crisis in Paris was overcome. A minor crisis developed due to a shortage of jerry cans. Discipline regarding the return of containers was lax during the advance, resulting in the Second Army's path through France and Belgium becoming strewn with discarded cans, many of which were quickly appropriated by the civilian population. As the advance continued, the time taken for cans to be returned lengthened, and a severe shortage developed which took some time to overcome. The result was a depletion of stocks at the depots, and the imposition of petrol rationing. ### Ports Antwerp was captured on 4 September but the port was unusable until 29 November because the Scheldt estuary remained in German hands until after the Battle of the Scheldt. In the meantime, a port construction and repair company arrived on 12 September and began the rehabilitation of the port. The quays were cleared of obstructions and the Kruisschans Lock was repaired by December. The port was opened to coasters on 26 November and deep draught shipping on 28 November when the Royal Navy completed minesweeping activity. After crossing the Seine, I Corps had swung left to take Le Havre. Although Saint-Valery-en-Caux was captured on 2 September, a full-scale assault was required to take Le Havre on 10 September, with support from the Royal Navy and RAF Bomber Command, which dropped almost 5,100 tonnes (5,000 long tons) of bombs. By the time the garrison surrendered on 12 September, the port was badly damaged. Unexpectedly, the port was allocated to the American forces. Le Tréport and Dieppe were captured by the Canadians on 1 September. Although the port facilities were almost intact, the approaches were extensively mined and several days of minesweeping were required; the first coaster docked there on 7 September. The rail link from Dieppe to Amiens was ready to accept traffic the day before. By the end of September, it had a capacity of 6,100 to 7,100 tonnes (6,000 to 7,000 long tons) per day. Le Tréport became a satellite port of Dieppe. Boulogne was captured on 22 September and Calais on 29 September. Both were badly damaged and Boulogne was not opened until 12 October. Ostend was captured on 9 September and in spite of extensive demolitions it was opened on 28 September. ### Salvage Enormous quantities of salvage were left at Falaise, and the HQ of the 197th Infantry Brigade was given responsibility for collecting it. Prisoners of war were used for labour. Depots for captured enemy stores were established at Cormelles-le-Royal for the area south of the Seine and at Amiens for north of the Seine. Top priority for collection was given to collecting jerry cans, which were in short supply. About 5,000 horses were captured, which were given to French farmers. By 26 September, 22,190 tonnes (21,840 long tons) of salvage had been collected and turned over to ordnance depots. ### Prisoners Only small numbers of prisoners, mostly medical personnel who were used to care for wounded POWs, were retained for labour by 21st Army Group until August, when HQ Line of Communications was authorised to employ up to 40,000 of them. By 24 August, some 18,135 were being held and this climbed to 27,214 by 4 September. Thousands of prisoners were taken during the rapid pursuit phase and efforts were made to reduce prisoner numbers, shipping them to the UK via Arromanches, and later Dieppe. Numbers continued to increase, and exceeded 50,000 at the end of September, by which time over 90,000 prisoners had been shipped to the UK. ## Outcome By mid-September, the Allies had liberated most of France and Belgium. During the first seven weeks the advance had been much slower than anticipated, and the short lines of communication had provided an opportunity to accumulate reserves of supplies. This had been followed by a breakout and pursuit in which the advance had been much faster than contemplated and the rapidity of the advance and the length of the line of communications had thrown up severe logistical problems that, together with increased German resistance, threatened to stall the Allied armies. The success of the 21st Army Group was in large part due to its logistics. The supply system developed by the British Army in the desert had become standard procedure, and the staffs and units serving the line of communications "reached a high degree of efficiency in their own particular task". The support of the army group over the beaches and through the artificial Mulberry port constructed for the purpose was a logistical feat. So too was the rapid advance across France and Belgium, which exploited the success achieved in Normandy. This was made possible only by the enormous capacity and tremendous flexibility of the logistical system. "No Army or Navy", Eisenhower wrote, "was ever supported so generously or so well". The logistical performance of the 21st Army Group even outstripped that of the neighbouring US 12th Army Group, as the challenges facing the 21st Army Group were not as great; its lines of communications were shorter, fewer divisions were involved and some of the Channel ports had been captured, whereas the Breton ports intended to support the Americans, except for Saint-Malo, had not. Montgomery remained confident that it was still possible to end the war in 1944 but he was wrong as things were not carried out the way he wanted them.
2,033,102	Lions (album)	1,173,173,742	null	[ "2001 albums", "Albums produced by Don Was", "The Black Crowes albums", "V2 Records albums" ]	Lions is the sixth studio album by American rock band The Black Crowes. It was released in 2001 as their first album on V2 Records following their departure from Columbia, and is their only studio album to feature guitarist Audley Freed. Lions was recorded in New York City in January and February of that year, and was produced by Don Was. Bass guitar duties were shared by Rich Robinson and Was, as Greg Rzab had left the band and was not replaced until the tour that followed the release of the album. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at its peak position of 20, selling more than 53,000 copies in its first week. Lions received mixed reviews; although the overall sound of the album generally garnered praise, a frequent complaint was the lack of "memorable" songs. The critics who rated Lions lowest considered it a poor imitation of the band's influences, such as Led Zeppelin. The band supported Lions with two North American tours (one with Oasis co-headlining), and a short tour of Europe and Japan in between. Soundboard recordings of several concerts were available for download to those who owned the album. Following the tour, the band went on hiatus until 2005. ## Background The Black Crowes began writing songs for the follow-up to their 1999 album By Your Side as free agents, having left Columbia Records through a loophole in their contract. The decision to leave was driven by Columbia's promotion of By Your Side. According to band member Rich Robinson, "That record was destined to fail because ... [Columbia executives] just said, 'It's not going to do well ... It's no use wasting time or money.' " The band also was frustrated by the label's request for albums sounding similar to their first, 1990's Shake Your Money Maker. In late 1999, lead vocalist Chris Robinson began a relationship with Kate Hudson, which would influence subtly the lyrics on Lions. The pair met at a Friday night party in Manhattan, which led to a Saturday stroll through Central Park and a Sunday move-in. Their wedding at the Aspen, Colorado, ranch of Kurt Russell and Kate's mother, Goldie Hawn, followed on December 31, 2000. Before the 2000 tour with Jimmy Page, bassist Sven Pipien was fired after arriving late for a performance and missing the return flight. Rich said it was not enough to warrant termination, but Pipien's defensiveness when confronted about the incident was too much to handle. Greg Rzab and Andy Hess were considered as replacements; the band chose Rzab because he had more touring experience than Hess. Rzab, however, departed before the recording of Lions. In mid-2000, the band signed with Richard Branson's V2 Records. Rich explained, "The cool thing about V2, the reason that we chose them, is that they told us, 'You guys go make the record you want to make. Then give it to us and we'll sell it.' That's what we needed to hear." The freedom V2 afforded through its hands-off approach influenced not only the music, but the album title as well. According to Chris, "Lions is a symbol that stands for the fierce feeling and freedom that music allows you." ## Writing and production Chris Robinson granted that the experience of playing Led Zeppelin songs with Jimmy Page influenced Lions, but not on a song-by-song basis. "Led Zeppelin's music is very dramatic and very dynamic. That's something we've attempted to do with our style also. I think it definitely affected how we make our music." Funk and R&B were bigger influences than on past albums, and "Miracle to Me" was influenced by Nick Drake. Chris claimed Kate Hudson's influence on his lyrics was subtle: "More so than a literal reference to her, it's the vantage point from where I'm writing. It's the reasons that I'm singing and it's the feeling. That is an influence far greater than the literal influence." He did grant, however, that "Soul Singing" and "Miracle to Me" were written with Hudson in mind, and explained that the album's track order roughly follows a path from confusion to clarity that mirrored his own. Producer Don Was said of Chris, "I realized he was taking on something that was significant. He was writing about becoming a man ... There's a lot of old man/young man symbolism that's a self-conversation ... I don't know that anyone has actually chronicled being 33 [years old] as well as this album." Heated discussions during the writing of Lions were rare, owing to the Robinson brothers' usual method in which Rich writes the music and Chris writes the lyrics. "Soul Singing" was the only song to cause disagreement; "I'd written this part where although the vocals changed the music stayed the same throughout. I thought we should add something or just not finish it, but Chris thought it was already a song, and a good one. So we talked about that one for a while", Rich recalled. The Black Crowes had previously sent Was demos to interest him in producing By Your Side, but Was believed the demos were good enough to be the album. Columbia Records disagreed with Was' assessment, however, leading to Kevin Shirley's hiring. With complete artistic control under V2 Records, the band was free to hire Was for Lions. Recording took place in January and February 2001 at Montana Rehearsal Studios and Theater 99 Recording in New York City. The recording sessions progressed as smoothly as the writing; only "Come On" caused conflict between the band and Was. Rich acknowledged, "We must have recorded 'Come On' about five times in different ways ... Then [Was] just took it away with him and came back with this different mix", which impressed the band, leading to its inclusion on the album. The band ultimately was satisfied by the recording experience, finding that Was was devoted to helping realize their vision for the album rather than imposing his own. The sessions were recorded on tape and Pro-Tools simultaneously; the band ultimately chose to use the tape version, as they preferred its sound quality. Most songs were recorded live with the band members playing together in one room, and microphones set up to capture the overall sound rather than that of individual instruments. Was felt this approach best approximated the feel of a Black Crowes concert, later noting that the Lions songs debuted at a private show in February 2001 "sounded exactly like the record." Most of the recordings that comprise the album were recorded during preproduction, the purpose of which was to test arrangements. "[W]e didn't think we were recording the record. And it turned out to be great" said Rich. Audley Freed played guitar on only three tracks because Rich did not want "the meat of the song, which is the riff", to get lost in a "wall of sound". Though Rich brought his entire collection of guitars and a number of amplifiers, he mostly recorded with a 1954 Fender Esquire through a Harry Joyce amp. To achieve a resonator-like tone on "Soul Singing", he used a James Trussart metal-bodied electric. The distinctive guitar riff on "Lickin'" was achieved by Rich using the pickup selector on a Les Paul as a kill switch - by turning down the volume on the neck pickup and then switching between the bridge and neck pickups he was able to achieve a staccato effect when playing the riff with just his fretting hand. Since Andy Hess did not join The Black Crowes until the above private show, the band did not have a bassist during the recording sessions; Rich thus played bass on most tracks. On "Lay It All on Me", however, Rich played piano, leaving the bass guitar duties to Don Was. A total of 20 songs were recorded during the Lions sessions. Of the seven cut from the album, four were mixed and mastered for potential release; three ("Last Time Again," "Love Is Now" and "Sleepyheads") appeared as B-sides, and the other ("The Pretty Gurl Song") circulates on a bootleg recording. ## Promotion and release Soon after the Lions sessions, V2 Records threw a "completion party" at The Bank in New York City, at which The Black Crowes performed four songs from the new album, five songs from their catalog and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well". The band then played scattered dates in the U.S. and UK, including an appearance on Later... with Jools Holland, ahead of Lions release. During this sequence of concerts, every song from the album was performed except "Losing My Mind" and "Ozone Mama"; the remaining two would be played on the album-supporting tour. Lions was released on May 7, 2001, in the UK and a day later in the U.S.; it subsequently debuted at its peak position of number 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, and sold over 53,000 copies in its first week. As of January 2002, the album had sold 192,000 copies in the U.S. Around the album's release, band members made numerous promotional appearances. Chris Robinson guested on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart the day before the album was released in the U.S., and Chris and Steve Gorman appeared on The Howard Stern Show the following day. The band performed "Soul Singing" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 10, and was inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk four days later. A second late night television performance of "Soul Singing" took place on June 6, this time on the Late Show with David Letterman. "Lickin'" was the first single from the album; it peaked at number 9 on Billboard'''s Mainstream Rock Tracks on May 19. The song's promotional video was a compilation of various takes of a static, low-angle shot of the band performing the song on a tiny stage. Second single "Soul Singing" peaked at number 12 on the same chart on August 18; its promotional video featured the band playing in a grassy field as the sun rises in the sky. A third single, "Miracle to Me", was canceled, but not before a promotional video was shot of the band ostensibly recording the song in a studio. Videos also were filmed for "Come On", "Greasy Grass River" and "Cypress Tree". Despite not playing on the album, Andy Hess appears in some of these videos, all of which are available as streaming media on the band's official website. ## Critical reception Media reviews of Lions were mixed. Numerous writers detected a Led Zeppelin influence (which was praised by some, but panned by others) and attributed it to The Black Crowes' recent tour with Jimmy Page. Dave McKenna, writing for The Washington Post, compared Steve Gorman's drumming to that of John Bonham and found analogs to specific guitar and keyboard tones in Led Zeppelin albums. Nigel Williamson of The Times found similarities in Chris Robinson's voice on "Come On" to that of Robert Plant, and wrote that the song "could almost be a Led Zeppelin II cast off." Other reviewers noted similarities to Aerosmith; Howard Cohen of The Miami Herald called "Lickin'" "the best Aerosmith single that band hasn't recorded in years." The perceived lack of originality, though, turned off some critics. The Herald Suns Andrew McUtchen inferred "The Black Crowes are unaware it's no longer the '70s and after one listen to Lions ... it's clear someone should tell them." Everett True of Playlouder concurred, writing "It's blindingly obvious the Crowes are imitators, and always will be", though Elysa Gardner, writing for USA Today, recognized the band "exhibit an energy and dexterity that compensate—at least somewhat—for their lack of invention." Many reviewers praised the sound of Lions but felt the songs were weak. Writing for dotmusic, John Mulvey highlighted the "gutsy, no-messing sound", but appreciated "Cosmic Friend" for being "as impressively mad as you'd hope, too, beginning like Beatles psychedelia, taking in massive Brazilian drumming and a touch of pedal steel, before coalescing into furious heavy rock." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described Lions as a "powerful, textured hard rock record that covers a lot of ground, surging from powerful riffs to gospel choruses and funkier-than-expected riffs", though he also complained that "the songs can seem incomplete." Critics disagreed on which songs were lacking, though. "Losing My Mind" and "Young Man, Old Man" were called "highlights" by Jane Stevenson of the Toronto Sun, though elsewhere the former was called "woeful" and the latter a "'Freddie's Dead' vamp" that should have been skipped. The lyrics of Lions were another target for the critics. Mark Beaumont of NME stated that the eloquence ends at the "Come awn come awn!/Everyone!" chorus of "Come On", and Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club bemoaned that "hoary tropes abound". ## Concert tours Shortly after the release of Lions, The Black Crowes and Oasis, with opening band Spacehog, embarked on a co-headlining tour of North American theaters and amphitheaters. The Black Crowes had previously met Liam and Noel Gallagher and hit it off; "... so we called them and asked them if they were interested [in touring together]. And so they were like, 'Yeah, we'd love to!'" said Rich. The Black Crowes performed last each night, and their seventy-five-minute set always included numerous songs from Lions. Members of Oasis typically would join them for an encore cover such as "Lucifer Sam", "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" or "Road Runner". The Black Crowes followed the tour with one-off dates and festivals across Europe and Japan, including shows opening for Neil Young. Most of these shows, as well as most of the dates with Oasis, were made available by V2 Records as soundboard recordings. With Lions loaded in a CD-ROM drive, one could stream each show, as well as download one live track per week and one show in its entirety. Following a month-long break, the group returned to the road in late August for their Listen Massive Tour, with Beachwood Sparks as the opening band. The tour was billed as a return to two-hour shows featuring a rotating set list. The September 11 show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles was canceled, but the band performed the next evening in Tucson, Arizona, as scheduled. All profits and merchandise sales from the following week's three shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York City were donated to the New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund and the New York City Public/Private Initiative. While in New York City, Chris and Rich performed "By Your Side" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. The Listen Massive Tour concluded with a 140-minute show at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 31. This would be Andy Hess and Audley Freed's last show as band members, as The Black Crowes went on hiatus shortly thereafter. ## Track listing All songs written by Rich and Chris Robinson. 1. "Midnight from the Inside Out" – 4:21 2. "Lickin'" – 3:42 3. "Come On" – 2:58 4. "No Use Lying" – 4:57 5. "Losing My Mind" – 4:26 6. "Ozone Mama" – 3:54 7. "Greasy Grass River" – 3:20 8. "Soul Singing" – 3:54 9. "Miracle to Me" – 4:42 10. "Young Man, Old Man" – 4:14 11. "Cosmic Friend" – 5:23 12. "Cypress Tree" – 3:41 13. "Lay It All on Me" – 5:29 Japanese version 1. <li value=14> "Love Is Now" – 4:22 ## Personnel The Black Crowes - Chris Robinson – vocals, harmonica - Rich Robinson – guitar, bass guitar, piano on "Lay It All on Me", vocals - Steve Gorman – drums, percussion - Ed Harsch – keyboards - Audley Freed – guitar Additional musicians - Don Was – bass guitar on "Come On" and "Lay It All on Me" - Teese Gohl – string arrangement - Craig Ross – lead guitar on "Greasy Grass River" - Maxine Waters, Oren Waters, Rose Stone and Julie Waters – background vocals on "Soul Singing" Production - Don Was – producer - Pete Angelus – personal manager - Amy Finkle – management - Chris Ribando – recording (Montana Rehearsal Studio and Theater 99) - Ray Martin – recording (Theater 99) - Raeann Zschokke – recording assistant - The Sickamore Avenue High School Mixing Squad – mixing (The Record Plant and Electric Lady Studios) - Don Was - Chris Ribando - Adam Olmstead - Steve Mandel – mixing assistant - Chris Lord-Alge – mixing ("Come On", "Losing My Mind" and "Soul Singing") - Derek Phelps – guitar tech - John "Noodles" Weber – drum tech - Jane Oppenheimer – minister of information - Jennifer Gunderson – production coordinator - Ron Kimball Studios – cover photograph - Zoren Gold – photography - Minori – retouching - V2 Image Control – art direction ## Charts
1,211,562	Elizabeth Canning	1,173,473,773	English maidservant who claimed to have been kidnapped	[ "1734 births", "1750s missing person cases", "1773 deaths", "18th-century English people", "English domestic workers", "English perjurers", "Formerly missing people", "Kidnapped British people", "Maids", "Missing person cases in England", "People from the City of London", "Unexplained disappearances" ]	Elizabeth Canning (married name Treat; 17 September 1734 – June 1773) was an English maidservant who claimed to have been kidnapped and held against her will in a hayloft for almost a month. She ultimately became central to one of the most famous English criminal mysteries of the 18th century. She disappeared on 1 January 1753 and returned almost a month later to her mother's home in Aldermanbury in the City of London, emaciated and in a "deplorable condition". After being questioned by concerned friends and neighbours, she was interviewed by the local alderman, who then issued an arrest warrant for Susannah Wells, the woman who occupied the house in which Canning was supposed to have been held. At Wells' house in Enfield Wash, Canning identified Mary Squires as another of her captors, prompting the arrest and detention of both Wells and Squires. London magistrate Henry Fielding became involved in the case, taking Canning's side. Further arrests were made and several witness statements were taken, and Wells and Squires were ultimately tried and found guilty—Squires of the more serious and potentially capital charge of theft. However, Crisp Gascoyne, trial judge and Lord Mayor of London, was unhappy with the verdict and began his own investigation. He spoke with witnesses whose testimony implied that Squires and her family could not have abducted Canning, and he interviewed several of the prosecution's witnesses, some of whom recanted their earlier testimony. He ordered Canning's arrest, following which she was tried and found guilty of perjury. Squires was pardoned, and Canning sentenced to one month's imprisonment and seven years of transportation. Canning's case pitted two groups of believers against one another: the pro-Canning "Canningites", and the pro-Squires "Egyptians". Gascoyne was openly abused and attacked in the street, while interested authors waged a fierce war of words over the fate of the young, often implacable maid. She died in Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1773, but the mystery surrounding her disappearance remains unsolved. ## History ### Background Canning was born on 17 September 1734 in the City of London, the eldest of five surviving children born to William (a carpenter) and Elizabeth Canning. The family lived in two rooms in Aldermanbury Postern (a northern extension of Aldermanbury that formerly ran from a postern gate on London Wall to Fore Street; it no longer exists) in London. Aldermanbury was a respectable but not particularly wealthy neighbourhood. Canning was born into poverty. Her father died in 1751 and her mother and four siblings shared a two-room property with James Lord, an apprentice. Lord occupied the building's front room, while Canning's family lived in the back room. Her schooling was limited to only a few months at a writing school, and aged 15 or 16 she worked as a maidservant in the household of nearby publican John Wintlebury, who considered her an honest but shy girl. From October 1752 she lived at the neighbouring home of a carpenter Edward Lyon, who shared Wintlebury's opinion of the young maidservant. Canning was described as a plump 18-year-old, about 5 feet (1.5 m) tall with a face pitted by smallpox, a long, straight nose, and wide-set eyes. ### Disappearance Canning disappeared on 1 January 1753. With no work that day, she spent time with her family and made plans to go shopping with her mother after visiting her aunt and uncle (Alice and Thomas Colley), but changed her mind and instead remained with them for the evening. At about 9 pm, accompanied by her aunt and uncle for about two-thirds of the journey, she left to return to her lodgings in Aldermanbury. When she failed to return to her lodgings at Edward Lyon's house, her employer twice went looking for her at her mother's home. Mrs Canning sent her other three children to Moorfields to search for her, while James Lord went to the Colleys, who told him that they had left Elizabeth at about 9:30 pm near Aldgate church in Houndsditch. The next morning Mrs Canning also travelled to the Colleys' house, but to no avail, as Elizabeth was still missing. Neighbours were asked if they knew of her whereabouts, and weeks passed as Mrs Canning searched the neighbourhood for her daughter, while her relatives scoured the city. An advertisement was placed in the newspapers, prayers were read aloud in churches and meeting houses, but other than a report of a "woman's shriek" from a hackney coach on 1 January, no clues were found as to Elizabeth's disappearance. ### Reappearance Canning reappeared at about 10 pm on 29 January 1753. At the sight of her daughter, whom she had not seen for almost a month, Elizabeth Canning fainted. Once recovered she sent James Lord to fetch several neighbours, and inside only a few minutes the house was full. Elizabeth was described as being in a "deplorable condition"; her face and hands were black with dirt, she wore a shift, a petticoat, and a bedgown. A dirty rag tied around her head was soaked with blood from a wounded ear. According to her story she had been attacked by two men near Bedlam Hospital. They had partially stripped her, robbed her and hit her in the temple, rendering her unconscious. She awoke "by a large road, where was water, with the two men that robbed me" and was forced to walk to a house, where an old woman asked if she would "go their way" (become a prostitute). Canning had refused, and the woman cut off her corset, slapped her face and pushed her upstairs into a loft. There the young maidservant had remained for almost a month, with no visitors and existing only on bread and water. The clothing she wore she had scavenged from a fireplace in the loft. Canning had eventually made her escape by pulling some boards away from a window and walking the five-hour journey home. She recalled hearing the name "Wills or Wells", and as she had seen through the window a coachman she recognised, thought she had been held on the Hertford Road. On this evidence, John Wintlebury and a local journeyman, Robert Scarrat, identified the house as that of "Mother" Susannah Wells at Enfield Wash, nearly 10 miles (16 km) distant. Her reappearance and subsequent explanation (including the assumption that she had been held at Wells's house) were the following day printed in the London Daily Advertiser. She was visited by the apothecary, but with her pulse faint, and so weak she could scarcely speak, she vomited up the medicine he gave her. He administered several clysters until satisfied with the results, following which Canning was taken by her friends and neighbours to the Guildhall to see Alderman Thomas Chitty, to ask that he issue a warrant for Wells's arrest. #### Enfield Wash Chitty issued the warrant and on 1 February Canning's friends took her to Enfield Wash. Despite her poor physical condition, Canning's supporters wanted her to identify her captors and the room she claimed to have been held in. Although worrying she might die before then, they took the risk of moving her. Wintlebury, Scarrat and Joseph Adamson (a neighbour) were the first to arrive, on horseback. They met the warrant officer and several peace officers, and waited for Susannah Wells to appear. Wells' house had served a variety of functions, including that of a carpenter's shop, a butcher's, and an ale-house. The old woman kept animals in the house and occasionally had lodgers. She had twice been widowed; her first husband was a carpenter and her second had been hanged for theft. She had also been imprisoned in 1736 for perjury. Sarah Howit, her daughter by her first husband, had lived there for about two years. Howit's brother John was a carpenter like his father, and lived nearby. When at about 9 a.m. Wells entered her house, the officers immediately moved to secure the building. Inside they found Wells, an old woman named Mary Squires, her children, Virtue Hall, and a woman they supposed was Wells' daughter. Another woman, Judith Natus, was brought down from the loft to be questioned with the rest. The warrant officer who searched the loft was puzzled when he discovered that it did not resemble the room described by Canning, nor could he find evidence of her having jumped from the window. The rest of the party, who had by then arrived in a hired coach and chaise, were similarly surprised. Canning, who had arrived in the chaise with her mother and two other people, was carried into the house by Adamson. There she identified Mary Squires as the woman who had cut off her stays, and claimed that Virtue Hall and a woman presumed to be Squires' daughter had been present at the time. Canning was then taken upstairs where she identified the loft as the room in which she had been imprisoned —although it contained more hay than she recalled. Boards covering the window appeared to have only recently been fastened there. With such damning evidence against them, the suspects were taken to a nearby justice of the peace, Merry Tyshemaker, who examined Canning alone, and then those from Wells's house. Squires and Wells were committed, the former for removing Canning's stays and the latter for "keeping a disorderly house". George Squires and Virtue Hall, who both denied any involvement in the kidnapping, were set free; Canning and her supporters were allowed home. #### Fielding's investigation Assault in 18th-century England was viewed by the authorities not as a breach of the peace, but rather as a civil action between two parties in dispute. The onus therefore was on Canning to take legal action against those she claimed had imprisoned her, and she would also be responsible for investigating the crime. This was an expensive proposition and she would therefore require the help of her friends and neighbours to pursue her case. An additional complication was that rather than send such matters to trial, justices preferred to reconcile the parties concerned. Therefore, although it was the state in which she returned to them on 29 January which most offended Canning's friends, it was the theft of her stays—valued then at about 10 shillings—that was the most promising aspect of the case. The theft could be tried under a capital statute, making the assault charge less worthy of legal attention. While Canning's medical treatment continued, her supporters, mostly men, prepared the case against Squires and Wells. They took legal advice from a solicitor, a Mr Salt, who advised them to consult the Magistrate and author Henry Fielding. Fielding was 45 years old, and after years of arguments with other Grub Street authors and a lifetime of drink, was approaching the end of his life. Since "taking the sacrament" four years earlier and becoming a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and Westminster, he had, with "volcanic energy", concerned himself with the activities of criminals. In December 1751 he had published Amelia, a story of a young woman dragged into vice and folly by her abusive husband. Although the book was poorly received, with his experience of criminology Fielding believed he understood the depths to which humans could descend. Thus when Salt divulged the case to him on 6 February Fielding's curiosity was piqued, and he agreed to take Canning's sworn testimony the next day. Although Fielding was disinclined to believe a simple servant-girl he was impressed with her modesty and genteel manner, and issued a warrant against all the occupants of Wells's house, "that they might appear before me, [and] give Security for their good Behaviour". Virtue Hall and Judith Natus were thus seized, but George Squires, his sisters, and Wells's daughter Sarah Howit, had by then left the house and remained at large. #### Early press reports The London Daily Advertiser, a Grub Street publication, reported on 10 February: > The house of that notorious woman well known by the name of Mother Wells, between Enfield Wash and Waltham Cross, was immediately suspected; and from many Circumstances appears to be the dismal Prison of the unhappy sufferer, whose melancholy Situation since her miraculous Escape is worthy of Compassion and Charitable contributions of all public-spirited people, and anyone who has any regard for the Safety of their Children and Relations, who are equally liable to the same inhuman and cruel Usage...all these circumstances being duly considered, it is not doubted but a Subscription or Contribution will soon be raised, to enable the Persons who have undertaken to detect this notorious Gang to prosecute their good Intentions with the utmost Vigour, as such a nest of Villains is of the greatest Danger to the Safety of his Majesty's good Subjects. Meanwhile Canning's supporters were soliciting donations through the Case of Elizabeth Canning, an independently printed pamphlet designed to raise support for the prosecution of her captors. In the Case of, Wells was clearly identified as "that Monster of a Woman", and in an edited version which appeared a week later in the Public Advertiser it was revealed that Canning had suffered a fit after being struck on the head. Squires was called an "old Gypsy Woman", who "robbed the girl of her stays; and then in a miserable naked Condition, because she would not become a common Prostitute, confined her in an old Back Room or loft". Although Squires was often referred to as a gypsy this identification had, on occasion, been called into question. Being named a gypsy could carry certain legal penalties and although these were rarely applied, gypsies were nevertheless treated as pariahs. Moore (1994) described Squires as a "dark, tall, but stooping, elderly woman, with an estimated age ranging from sixty to eighty, sometimes depicted as exceptionally hearty", continuing "all accounts do agree that she was an exceptionally ugly woman, with a very large nose and a lower lip swollen and disfigured by scrofula." Therefore, for a while, the public were firmly on Canning's side. An 18-year-old servant girl threatened with prostitution and held captive by a remarkably ugly old gypsy of bad repute, having escaped, emaciated, to return to her loving mother; it was a story that the vast bulk of general public as well as the gentry, found irresistible. #### Virtue Hall's confession Fielding prided himself upon his fairness—no matter what the social standing of the witness—he subjected Hall to repeated questioning and, frustrated at her contradictory answers, threatened her with imprisonment. This had the desired effect because on 14 February Hall stated that John Squires (son of Mary) and another man had brought Canning to Wells's house early on the morning of 2 January. There, before the two kidnappers, Lucy Squires and Hall, the old woman had assaulted Canning and forced her upstairs, where she remained until her escape. Hall said that Fortune Natus and his wife Judith had been at the house for some weeks but were moved into the loft to make it appear as though they had stayed there throughout January. Hall's and Canning's evidence now tallied almost perfectly, and Fielding turned to Judith Natus. Although she corroborated Hall's claim that she and her husband had slept in Wells's loft throughout January, Fielding was unconvinced and urged her to reconsider her statement. Although not charged with any crime, Hall meanwhile was committed to the Gatehouse Prison in Westminster, her stay paid for by the Canningites. Fielding left London for a short while before returning to interview Squires, Wells and the others. Wells and Squires denied any knowledge of Canning or her travails, and strongly protested their innocence. This had little credence, due to the long-standing habit of the accused of breaking the law and lying about it. The story as it had appeared in the London Daily Advertiser had already aroused the public's interest. Fielding had left London believing that he had "ended all the trouble which I thought it necessary for me to give myself in this affair", but on his return he learnt that during his brief absence, amongst others, several "Noble Lords" had attempted to contact him. On 15 February a reward was offered for the capture and conviction of John Squires and his unnamed associate. Also listed were the locations at which donations could be left, "either applied to the carrying on of the Prosecution, or given to the poor Girl as a Recompence [sic] for her Virtue, and Miseries she has gone through". A rather embellished account of the story was later sent to the press. George Squires could not be found. ### Trial of Squires and Wells Squires, charged with assault and theft, and Wells, with "well-knowing" what her accomplice had done, were tried on 21 February at the Session House of the Old Bailey. The Lord Mayor of London Sir Crisp Gascoyne presided over the court with a panel of other justices, including Martin Wright (Justice of the King's Bench), Nathaniel Gundry (Justice of the Common Pleas), Richard Adams (Baron of the Exchequer since 1753; formerly Recorder of London), and William Moreton (appointed Recorder of London in 1753). The gallery was packed with interested spectators. The charge of theft was extremely serious; the value of Canning's stays (about 10 shillings) meant that if she was found guilty, Squires would almost certainly be hanged at the Tyburn Tree. As she arrived at the court Canning was cheered by the large crowd gathered outside the building. Inside, she testified that she was taken by two men "to the prisoner Wells's house" at about 4 a.m. on the morning of 2 January. In the kitchen, the old woman (Squires) was sat in a chair and asked her "if I chose to go their way". Canning's refusal had prompted Squires to cut off her stays, slap her face, and push her up the stairs into a darkened room. She told the court she "saw nothing brought up[, but w]hen day-light appeared, I could see about the room; there was a fire-place and a grate in it, no bed nor bedstead, nothing but hay to lie upon; there was a black pitcher not quite full of water, and about twenty-four pieces of bread ... about a quartern loaf". She claimed to have escaped by removing a board from a window at the north end of the loft, climbing out, and jumping down to the soft clay below. She fled along a lane behind the house, through some fields, and on finding a road set out for London. When asked if she had seen or spoken to anyone on the way back, she replied that she had not, explaining that she had shied away from contact for fear of meeting somebody from the house she had escaped from. Canning was cross-examined by William Davy, who questioned her recollection of events in the house. Asked why she had not attempted escape earlier she replied: "Because I thought they might let me out; it never came into my head till that [Monday] morning." Squires, who had been quietly muttering to herself in the dock, shouted "I never saw that witness in my lifetime till this day three weeks". Next to appear on the stand was Virtue Hall, who recounted much of her earlier statement to Fielding. Squires again interrupted, asking "What day was it that the young woman was robbed?" The answer came back, from the court: "She says on the morning of the 2nd of January", and Squires replied "I return thanks for telling me, for I am as innocent as the child unborn". Susannah Wells used the opportunity to ask how long Squires and her family were supposed to have been at the house, and was answered by Hall "They were there six or seven weeks in all; they had been there about a fortnight before the young woman was brought in". Amongst others, Thomas Colley and Mrs Canning also gave testimony. Canning's former employer, John Wintlebury, told the court how he had deduced that it was Wells's house where Canning had been held. Mary Myers and James Lord also claimed to have heard Canning say "Wills or Wells", as did Robert Scarrat, a hartshorn-rasper and previously a servant in nearby Edmonton who had visited Wells's house on previous occasions. Although both were subpoenaed as witnesses neither Fortune nor Judith Natus were called to the stand, the attorney responsible later explaining that the mob outside may have intimidated several witnesses. Susannah Wells's neighbours were turned away by the mob and her daughter and half-brother were quickly recognised and stopped. However, three witnesses found in Dorset by George Squires, to testify for his mother, passed by unrecognised. The first, John Gibbons, said that the Squires had visited his house in Abbotsbury "with handkerchiefs, lawns, muslins, and checks, to sell about town" from 1–9 January. This was corroborated by his neighbour, William Clarke. Squires's last witness, Thomas Greville, claimed that he had accommodated Mary and "her sister and her brother" under his roof in Coombe, on 14 January, where they sold "handkerchiefs, lawns, and such things". This was contradicted by John Iniser, a fishmonger around Waltham Cross and Theobalds. Insier claimed he knew Squires by sight and that in the three weeks before her arrest he had seen her telling fortunes in the neighbourhood of Wells's house. Wells, whose witnesses had been unable to pass by the mob outside, was able to offer only two sentences in her defence. She told the court that she had not seen Canning before 1 February, and that "as to Squires, I never saw her above a week and a day before we were taken up." According to a contemporary report in the London Daily Advertiser, as the three witnesses left the court the mob, waiting in the yard, "beat them, kicked them rolled them in the Kennel and otherwise misused them before they suffered them to get from them". #### Verdict Character witnesses in 18th-century English trials were, according to author Douglas Hay, "extremely important, and very frequently used ... in character testimony too, the word of a man of property had the greatest weight. Judges respected the evidence of employers, farmers and neighbouring gentlemen, not mere neighbours and friends." The jury were apparently unimpressed by the defence's case and pronounced both defendants guilty. They were sentenced on 26 February; Wells would be branded in her hand and spend six months in prison. For stealing Canning's stays, Squires was to be hanged. By March 1753 pamphlets on Canning's story were being read in the coffee-houses of London. There was widespread outrage over Squires' treatment of her, exacerbated when Little Jemmy, "a poor man who cries sticks about the streets" was supposedly robbed and then stamped on by five gypsies. Canning was celebrated by the mob and gentry, several of whom contributed to her purse, enabling her to move to better accommodation in the house of a Mr Marshall, a cheesemonger in Aldermanbury. #### Gascoyne's investigation Not everybody was satisfied with the verdict. The trial judge Sir Crisp Gascoyne and some of his colleagues on the bench found Canning's story extremely unlikely. Gascoyne had been disgusted by Canning's supporters, who while outside the court had prevented witnesses from giving evidence, and he was particularly sympathetic to Mary Squires, whom he named "the poor creature". Then 52 years old, Gascoyne had started life as a Houndsditch brewer before he married the daughter of a wealthy physician. He had progressed through the ranks to become Master of the Brewer's Company, then served as Alderman of Vintry Ward, Sheriff of London, and been knighted after presenting an address to the king. He had argued on behalf of the city's orphans and was known for his benevolence in Essex, where he owned large estates. Gascoyne at once began a private enquiry and wrote to the Anglican minister at Abbotsville, James Harris. He thought it unlikely that the three witnesses found by George Squires would travel so far "to foreswear themselves on behalf of this miserable object" and Harris did not disappoint. The Reverend was able to corroborate Gibbons's testimony and offer new witnesses who could claim to have seen Squires well away from Enfield Wash. Gascoyne also thought that some of the Canningites doubted the girl's veracity and had colluded in her version of events to spite him; this, he thought, was a political attack on a public official and he refused to let the matter rest. He justified his activities by comparing his apparent compassion for the victim, Mary Squires, with his outrage for the deceit of her accuser, Elizabeth Canning, but his fervour was influenced in part by the attitudes of the time. He considered the behaviour of the Canningites inappropriate for their low station and was more impressed by the assurances of people such as Alderman Chitty and Reverend Harris, who as gentlemen and public advocates were presumed more reliable. Gascoyne's colleague on the bench, Mr Justice Gundry, had written to the Undersheriff of Dorset, who knew John Gibbons and William Clarke. The Undersheriff wrote back claiming that they "would not have given evidence had it not been true". Clarke may have been in a relationship with Lucy Squires, and claimed that he had stayed with the Squires in Ridgeway. Fifteen prominent residents of Abbotsbury, including churchwardens, Overseers of the Poor, a schoolmaster and a tithing man swore that the Squires were in Dorset in January and that their witnesses were trustworthy men. A further six Abbotsbury men walked 20 miles (32 km) to sign an affidavit corroborating their neighbours' evidence. Fielding and Gascoyne had each issued contradictory pamphlets on the case, but it was Virtue Hall's testimony, fundamental in the prosecution of Squires and Wells, which became central to Gascoyne's investigation. Hall had given her testimony to Fielding under threat of imprisonment and when by chance the Grub Street writer John Hill heard from a Magistrate that she had showed signs of remorse, he was presented with a perfect opportunity to settle an old score. A prodigious writer and author of a renowned newspaper column, The Inspector, Hill had squabbled with several of his peers, notably so in Fielding's case, as Fielding had closed that argument in his Covent Garden Journal by stating that "this hill was only a paltry dunghill, and had long before been levelled with the dirt." Supported by the Canningites, Hall was by then staying at the Gatehouse Prison, although still not charged with any crime. Hill immediately communicated his concerns to Gascoyne, who sent for the young woman. Accompanied by a contingent of Canningites, her answers were at first noncommittal, but once isolated from Canning's friends she soon admitted to Gascoyne that she had perjured herself. She was committed to the Poultry Compter, where the Canningites continued to support her until they learnt that "particular persons only" were allowed to visit. Hall was again questioned on 7 March, by both Gascoyne and Canning's supporters. When asked why she had lied to the court, she said "when I was at Mr Fielding's I at first spoke the truth, but was told it was not the truth. I was terrified and threatened to be sent to Newgate, and prosecuted as a felon, unless I should speak the truth." She was asked by one of her supporters if she was still lying, but her replies were deemed inconclusive and having confessed to and denied most of the things about which she was questioned, each side began to see her as a liability. ### Perjury Reverend Harris had several of his witnesses sent to London, where they were interviewed by Gascoyne. In Newgate Prison on 9 March, Gascoyne also interviewed Susannah Wells, who confirmed Hall's new version of events. He then performed several interviews from 12–13 March, including Fortune and Judith Natus, and a witness who could cast doubt on John Iniser's testimony. Gascoyne also asked George and Lucy Squires about their travels early in 1753; George was unable to recall all the places they had visited, and so Gascoyne sent him to Dorset to help him remember. Gascoyne then met with Elizabeth Long (Wells's daughter), who had been prevented by the mob from testifying for her mother, and on 23 March three of Canning's former witnesses expressed to Gascoyne their doubts about the young maid's story. Another witness, who swore that Squires had been in Abbotsbury in January, was interviewed two days later. Gascoyne instructed him to visit Squires in Newgate, where the two recognised one another immediately. Meanwhile, John Myles, who had replaced Salt and who now led the Canningites, had been gathering witnesses who could claim they had seen Mary Squires in the vicinity of Enfield Wash. One said he had seen two men dragging a woman towards Enfield early in January. Others told him they had on 29 January seen "a miserable poor wretch" travelling toward London. Myles found witnesses who claimed they had seen Squires at Enfield Wash in December and January. Myles unwittingly made Gascoyne aware of his investigation when he asked a John Cooper of Salisbury his opinion of seven of Gascoyne's witnesses, who claimed they had seen Squires in Coombe. Cooper wrote back affirming the good character of Thomas Greville (who had testified for Squires at her trial), but later sent the same information to Gascoyne, offering his support. At this point it appeared certain to Gascoyne that Canning had not told the truth. Through January, he thought, the Squireses had very likely been travelling through Dorset, Hampshire, and then London, and had not been in Enfield Wash to kidnap Canning. On 13 March, he therefore ordered Canning arrested, for perjury. #### Public spats Gascoyne's investigation caused a press frenzy. The output of the writers and publishers of Grub Street emboldened opinions about the case, and in some instances reinforced long-held stereotypes of "wicked Gypsies and a poor innocent girl refusing to yield her honour". The Canningites stirred up anti-gypsy sentiment with a range of pamphlets and advertisements, one of which named the now deeply unpopular Gascoyne "the King of the Gipsies". Reports began to emerge, of sinister goings-on; one such claimed that several men on horseback threatened that "they would burn all the people's houses, barns and corn thereabouts", should Squires be hanged. Canning's honesty (or lack of it) and Fielding's handling of the case were raised in a deeply critical attack printed by The London Daily Advertiser. On the same day that Gascoyne ordered Canning's arrest an advertisement appeared in the Public Advertiser, asking its readers "to suspend their judgement in the Case of the Gypsy Woman till a full State of the whole, which is now being prepared by Mr. Fielding, is published." Fielding had learnt of Hall's questioning by Gascoyne and had brought Canning to his house in Bow Street, to "sift the truth out of her, and to bring her to confession if she was guilty." Satisfied with her account, and unconcerned with Hall, his critique of Squires' supporters was published as A Clear Statement of the Case of Elizabeth Canning, in which he espoused the virtuous nature of the young maid and attacked those of her detractors. Copies sold so quickly that a second print run was ordered two days later. John Hill saw A Clear Statement as a direct attack on Gascoyne, and blasted Fielding with The Story of Elizabeth Canning Considered, which ridiculed his enemy with such comments as: "Who Sir, are you, that are thus dictating unto the Government? Retire into yourself and know your station." Fielding, however, played little part in the saga from thereon, believing that Canning's supporters had begun to see him as an obstacle to their case. About half of those condemned to death during the 18th century went not to the gallows, but to prison, or colonies abroad. Although pardons were not common, it was possible to bypass the judge and petition the king directly, and although Gascoyne had some concerns about the character of the witnesses upon whom he was able to call, he nevertheless wrote to George II to request that Squires be pardoned. On 10 April 1753 therefore the king granted a stay of execution of six weeks, while new evidence on both sides of the case was sent to the Lord Chancellor Lord Hardwicke and the Attorney and Solicitor-General. Squires would receive her pardon on 30 May 1753, but Wells was less fortunate; she served her sentence and was released from Newgate on 21 August. #### Trial of the Abbotsbury men While Squires's eventual pardon was being deliberated upon, Myles was busy building Canning's defence. He was far from complacent; on 20 April he was in Dorchester with a warrant for the arrest of Gibbons, Clark and Greville, the three Abbotsbury men who had testified for Squires. With a small armed party he captured Gibbons and Clarke at the local inn and took them back to Dorchester, but his warrant was incorrectly worded and Gibbons was released by the justice. Clarke was taken to London and interrogated by Myles at his house, for two days, but the cordwainer refused to cooperate. He was granted bail and returned to Abbotsbury. The three were charged with "wilful corrupt perjury" and tried on 6 September 1753 at the Old Bailey. As Lord Mayor, and fearing accusations of bias, Gascoyne excused himself from the case. The defendants were represented by William Davy, who had earlier defended Squires and Wells. Over 100 people were present to testify on their behalf, but the Canningites stayed away; they were unaware of Gascoyne's withdrawal and feared an embarrassing release of evidence to the public from an appearance by Canning. They also kept their witnesses away; with the exception of one of Mrs Canning's neighbours, none were present. Myles had not been paid by his employers, and to delay proceedings, his brother Thomas sent a clerk to deliver to the court a selection of writs, but nevertheless Gibbons, Clark, and Greville were found not guilty, and released. At this point Canning had not been seen publicly for some time, and she was proclaimed an outlaw. When in November 1753 a new Lord Mayor was installed she remained out of sight, but at the February Sessions in 1754 she reappeared at the Old Bailey and presented herself to the authorities. #### Canning's trial Canning's trial began at the Old Bailey on Monday 29 April 1754, continuing on Wednesday 1 May, 3–4 May, 6–7 May and ending on 8 May—an unusually long trial for the time. During jury selection the defence objected to three potential jurors (much less than the Crown's 17 objections) but were too late to argue the choice of foreman, who, it was claimed, had publicly called Canning "a LYING B——H, a CHEAT, or an IMPOSTER". Presiding over the courtroom was the new Lord Mayor, Thomas Rawlinson (Crisp Gascoyne's successor Edward Ironside having died in office in November 1753), with Edward Clive (Justice of the Common Pleas), Heneage Legge (Baron of the Exchequer), William Moreton (Recorder of London), and Samuel Fludyer, alderman. Canning was represented by three attorneys, George Nares, John Morton and a Mr Williams. Prosecuting was Gascoyne's son Bamber, Edward Willes and William Davy. After her indictment was read by the Clerk of Arraigns the story of Canning's supposed abduction and imprisonment was retold by Bamber Gascoyne. Then Davy spoke at length. He attacked Canning's story and told how Squires and her family had travelled through England with smuggled goods to sell. He offered new evidence to support Squires' alibi and rubbished Canning's description of her prison, before questioning her account of her escape. He concluded with Virtue Hall's recantation of her earlier testimony. Willes was the next to speak, picking over the discrepancies between the various accounts offered by Canning of her disappearance. Canning's defence began with opening statements from Williams and Morton. The latter emphasised her misfortune at twice being subjected to such anguish, firstly for prosecuting her assailants and secondly for being punished for doing so. He complimented the jury and poured scorn on Davy's allegations, and seized upon the prosecution's unwillingness to call Virtue Hall to the stand. Morton highlighted how unlikely it was that Canning could so profoundly fool her supporters and countered the prosecution's complaint about Canning's description of the loft. The third attorney, George Nares, concentrated on the societal problems of prosecuting Canning for perjury, implying that other victims of crime would be less likely to pursue their assailants, for fear of being prosecuted themselves. Morton questioned George Squires, who could not recall with absolute certainty the path he claimed his family took through the south of England while Canning was missing. His sister Lucy was not called to the stand, as she was considered "rather more stupid than her brother, and has not been on the road since their coming to Enfield Wash". Robert Willis, who had accompanied Squires to retrace the gypsy family's steps, was also called to testify; his evidence was judged as hearsay and ruled inadmissible. As in the trial of Squires and Wells, the reliability of the prosecutor's witnesses was considered dependent upon their character. Three men from Litton Cheney testified that they had seen the Squires family enter the village on 30 December. The three Abbotsbury men then stepped up and gave their evidence. 39 witnesses for the prosecution were heard on the first day alone; most of them establishing briefly the Squires family's alibi. At the end of the first day's proceedings the mob outside, expecting a short trial and a not guilty verdict, were presented not with the young maid but rather with Crisp Gascoyne. Infuriated, they threw dirt and stones at him, forcing him to retreat to a nearby inn, before returning to the court to escort Canning away from the building. On 1 May therefore the trial continued not with a resumption of the first day's examination, but with concern over the attack on Gascoyne. A guard was found to protect him and the jury, a member of Canning's defence was forced to apologise, and the Canningites later that day printed a notice appealing to the crowd to not interfere. Alderman Thomas Chitty was sworn in and, guided by Bamber Gascoyne, gave his account of his first meeting with Canning on 31 January 1753. Davy questioned several witnesses, who described the discrepancies in Canning's account of her prison. One of them told of his disgust at Virtue Hall's testimony against Squires. Along with several other witnesses including Sarah Howit, Fortune and Judith Natus testified that Canning had never been in the loft before 1 February and that it was in fact Howit and Virtue Hall who had been in the loft in January. The end of the day's proceedings was again overshadowed by the mob outside, and Gascoyne was accorded an escort of "a Body of Constables". Friday saw yet more witnesses for the prosecution, bringing the total brought by Davy to about 60. The defence questioned several of those present at the original search of Wells's house. Canning's uncle, Thomas Colley, was cross-examined about what his niece ate on her visit of New Year's Day, the prosecution apparently seeking to establish whether or not she could have been sustained for a month by the bread she claimed to have been given. On the third day of the trial, Mrs Canning was brought to the stand. One possible line of defence for her daughter was simply that she was too stupid to have ever invented the tale, but under cross-examination by Davy Mrs Canning demonstrated that her daughter was capable of writing "a little". This, in Davy's view, was sufficient to demonstrate that she was certainly no imbecile. Scarrat was questioned next, and admitted that he had been to Wells's house before Canning had disappeared. Two of Canning's neighbours testified to her "deplorable condition". Her employer was questioned, as was her apothecary, who thought that Canning would have been quite able to survive on the pitcher of water and crusts of bread she claimed to have been given. The defence responded with three witnesses, who each believed that they had encountered a "poor, miserable wretch" at the end of January, when she claimed to have escaped. On 6 May more witnesses for the prosecution were called. As Squires and her family watched, several of Wells's neighbours insisted they had, about the beginning of 1753, seen the old gypsy in the area. More witnesses claimed to have seen her in various places around Enfield Wash, including one woman who swore she had seen her on Old Christmas Day. Britain's calendar had in September 1752 changed from the old-style Julian calendar, to the Gregorian calendar, and the woman was unable to discern the exact day on which she claimed to have seen Squires. She was not alone; several of the defence's witnesses were also unable to manage the 11-day correction required by the calendar change. Others were illiterate, and struggled similarly. The court also heard from three witnesses present solely to discredit the testimony offered by the Natuses. The final day's proceedings were taken up by Davy, who produced more prosecution witnesses, and proceeded to pick apart the testimony of those who claimed to have seen Squires in Enfield Wash, in January. He summarised the prosecution's case by telling the jury that Canning was guilty of "the most impious and detestable [crime] the human heart can conceive". The recorder, William Moreton, stated the defence's case, and asked the jury to consider if they thought that Canning had answered the charges against her to their satisfaction, and if it was possible she could have survived for almost a month on "no more than a quartern-loaf, and a pitcher of water". ### Verdict, repercussions, later life The jury took almost two hours to find Canning "Guilty of perjury, but not wilful and corrupt." The recorder refused to accept the verdict as it was partial, and the jury then took a further 20 minutes to find her "Guilty of Wilful and Corrupt Perjury." Crisp Gascoyne was not present when the verdict was delivered; he had been advised to leave earlier, to avoid any trouble outside the court. The defence tried unsuccessfully for a retrial. Canning, held at Newgate prison, was sentenced on 30 May. By a majority of nine to eight, she was given a month's imprisonment, to be followed by seven years' transportation. According to the State Trials, Canning spoke, and "hoped they would be favourable to her; that she had no intent of swearing the gypsey's life away; and that what had been done, was only defending herself; and desired to be considered unfortunate". The verdict did nothing to assuage the ferocity of the debate. Transcripts of the trial were extremely popular, and portraits of the implacable young maid were offered for sale from shop windows. A reward was offered for information on anyone who had attacked Gascoyne, but mainly the Grub Street press concerned itself with the fallout from the affair. The Gazeteer was filled with satirical letters between such authors as Aristarchus, Tacitus, and T. Trueman, Esq. One such, a Canningite called Nikodemus, complained that without gypsies, "what would become of your young nobility and gentry, if there were no bawds to procure young girls of pleasure for them?" Those on Squires's side were not the only ones to come under such attacks; John Hill wrote a short song celebrating his and Gascoyne's role in the affair, and pictures of Canning in the loft, her bodice loosened to reveal her bosom, were readily available. Another showed Wells and Squires held aloft by a broomstick, an obvious allusion to witchcraft. Gascoyne had stood for Parliament during Canning's trial, but came bottom of the poll. To justify his pursuit of Canning, he wrote An Address to the Liverymen of the City of London, from Sir Crisp Gascoyne, and suffered not only literary but physical attacks, as well as death threats. The Canningites published several responses to Gascoyne's thoughts, including A liveryman's reply to Sir Crisp Gascoyne's address, and A refutation of Sir Crisp Gascoyne's of his conduct in the cases of Elizabeth Canning and Mary Squires, the latter presenting the trial as the culmination of a Gascoyne vendetta against Canning. Canning, held at Newgate, was reported to be in the presence of Methodists, an unfortunate accusation for her side. On the same day this report appeared, handbills were circulated asserting that the Rector of St Mary Magdalen had visited her and was satisfied that she was still a member of the Church of England. Among her visitors was Mr Justice Ledinard, who had helped deliver Virtue Hall to Gascoyne. Ledinard asked Canning to confess but was told by Canning that "I have said the whole truth in court, and nothing but the truth; and I don't choose to answer any questions, unless it be in court again." Despite calls for clemency, she was taken to the convict ship Tryal for her voyage to British America. Several threats made by the ship's crew, however, meant she eventually sailed on board the Myrtilla in August 1754. Canning arrived in Wethersfield, Connecticut, and by arrangement with her supporters went to live with the Methodist Reverend Elisha Williams. She was not employed as a servant, but was taken in as a member of Williams's family. Williams died in 1755, and Canning married John Treat (a distant relation of the former governor Robert Treat) on 24 November 1756, had a son (Joseph Canning Treat) in June 1758, and a daughter (Elizabeth) in November 1761. She had two more sons (John and Salmon), but died suddenly in June 1773. ## Views and theories For Georgian Britain, the story of Elizabeth Canning was fascinating. Little attention was paid in the trial to Squires's request for Canning to "go their way"; according to Moore (1994), overtly the saga questioned Canning's chastity, while covertly it questioned whether someone of her social standing had any right to be taken notice of. The author Kristina Straub compares the case with the more general debate over the sexuality of female servants; Canning may have been either a "childlike innocent, victimized by brutally criminal outlaws", or "a wily manipulator of the justice system who uses innocent bystanders to escape the consequences of her own sexual misdeeds". The Case of Elizabeth Canning Fairly Stated posited that Canning either suffered imprisonment to protect her virtue, or lied to conceal "her own criminal Transactions in the Dark". Straub opines that the debate was not merely about Canning's guilt or innocence, but rather "the kinds of sexual identity that were attributable to women of her position in the social order." The partisan nature of the Canningites and the Egyptians ensured that the trial of Elizabeth Canning became one of the most notorious criminal mysteries in 18th-century English law. For years the case was a regular feature in such publications as The Newgate Calendar and the Malefactor's Registers. Artist Allan Ramsay wrote A Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of — Concerning the Affair of Elizabeth Canning, which was the inspiration for Voltaire's Histoire d'Elisabeth Canning, et de Jean Calas (1762), who shared Ramsay's opinion that Canning had gone missing to hide a pregnancy. The case was revisited in 1820 by James Caulfield, who retold the story but with several glaring mistakes. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries several authors offered their own interpretations of the case. Caulfield's essay was followed in 1852 by John Paget's Elizabeth Canning. Paget's apt summary of the case read: "in truth, perhaps, the most complete and most inexplicable Judicial Puzzle on record". Canning's trial was marked by the prosecution's inability to find any evidence whatsoever that she had been anywhere but in Wells's home, and where Canning was in January 1753 remains unknown. Similarly, mystery surrounds the precise movements of the Squires family, when it was supposed they were travelling through Dorset early in 1753. The writer F. J. Harvey Darton suspected that the family were smugglers, and that it was significant they had passed through Eggardon, where Isaac Gulliver operated (although Gulliver was, at the time, a child). The 18th-century artist Allan Ramsay claimed that Canning's initial story was "exceedingly stupid", and false. He viewed the lack of detail in her testimony as unsurprising to a more analytical mind. The US author Lillian Bueno McCue theorised that she was an amnesiac, and that her former employer, John Wintlebury, was to blame for her imprisonment at the Wells house. Treherne (1989) considers this theory very unlikely however, and instead concludes that Canning was almost certainly at Enfield Wash, but was not kept prisoner at Wells's home. He suggests that Robert Scaratt implanted the suggestion that Canning had been held at the Wells's house, as a useful decoy, and that he had somehow been involved in an unwanted pregnancy. Treherne also suggests that Canning was suffering from partial amnesia, and that she may not have lied intentionally at the trial of Squires and Wells. He calls Canning "the first media product." Although some early authors adopted the same stance as Fielding or Hill, who actively took sides in the affair, most later writers believe that Canning did not tell the truth. Moore (1994), however, believes that Canning was probably innocent. Moore explains discrepancies between Canning and the Squires' testimonies as understandable omissions and modifications, and placing much emphasis on the ability of those men in power to follow their own pursuits—often at the expense of others. ## See also - Josephine Tey's The Franchise Affair (1948), based on the Canning case, and set in a modern garb. Tey regarded the whole story as a tissue of lies from start to end, and her book reflects this. - List of kidnappings - List of solved missing person cases
12,866	Globular cluster	1,173,592,944	Spherical collection of stars	[ "Globular clusters", "Star clusters" ]	A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars. Their name is derived from Latin globulus (small sphere). Globular clusters are occasionally known simply as "globulars". Although one globular cluster, Omega Centauri, was observed in antiquity and long thought to be a star, recognition of the clusters' true nature came with the advent of telescopes in the 17th century. In early telescopic observations globular clusters appeared as fuzzy blobs, leading French astronomer Charles Messier to include many of them in his catalog of astronomical objects that he thought could be mistaken for comets. Using larger telescopes, 18th-century astronomers recognized that globular clusters are groups of many individual stars. Early in the 20th century the distribution of globular clusters in the sky was some of the first evidence that the Sun is far from the center of the Milky Way. Globular clusters are found in nearly all galaxies. In spiral galaxies like the Milky Way they are mostly found in the outer spheroidal part of the galaxy – the galactic halo. They are the largest and most massive type of star cluster, tending to be older, denser, and composed of lower abundances of heavy elements than open clusters, which are generally found in the disks of spiral galaxies. The Milky Way has more than 150 known globulars, and there may be many more. The origin of globular clusters and their role in galactic evolution are unclear. Some are among the oldest objects in their galaxies and even the universe, constraining estimates of the universe's age. Star clusters were formerly thought to consist of stars that all formed at the same time from one star-forming nebula, but nearly all globular clusters contain stars that formed at different times, or that have differing compositions. Some clusters may have had multiple episodes of star formation, and some may be remnants of smaller galaxies captured by larger galaxies. ## History of observations The first known globular cluster, now called M 22, was discovered in 1665 by Abraham Ihle, a German amateur astronomer. The cluster Omega Centauri, easily visible in the southern sky with the naked eye, was known to ancient astronomers like Ptolemy as a star, but was reclassified as a nebula by Edmond Halley in 1677, then finally as a globular cluster in the early 19th century by John Herschel. The French astronomer Abbé Lacaille listed NGC 104, NGC 4833, M 55, M 69, and NGC 6397 in his 1751–1752 catalogue. The low resolution of early telescopes prevented individual stars in a cluster from being visually separated until Charles Messier observed M 4 in 1764. When William Herschel began his comprehensive survey of the sky using large telescopes in 1782, there were 34 known globular clusters. Herschel discovered another 36 and was the first to resolve virtually all of them into stars. He coined the term globular cluster in his Catalogue of a Second Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (1789). In 1914 Harlow Shapley began a series of studies of globular clusters, published across about forty scientific papers. He examined the clusters' RR Lyrae variables (stars which he assumed were Cepheid variables) and used their luminosity and period of variability to estimate the distances to the clusters. It was later found that RR Lyrae variables are fainter than Cepheid variables, causing Shapley to overestimate the distances. A large majority of the Milky Way's globular clusters are found around the galactic core. In 1918 Shapley used this strongly asymmetrical distribution to determine the overall dimensions of the galaxy. Assuming a roughly spherical distribution of globular clusters around the galaxy's center, he used the positions of the clusters to estimate the position of the Sun relative to the Galactic Center. He correctly concluded that the Milky Way's center is in the Sagittarius constellation and not near the Earth. He overestimated the distance, finding typical globular cluster distances of 10–30 kiloparsecs (33,000–98,000 ly); the modern distance to the Galactic Center is roughly 8.5 kiloparsecs (28,000 ly). Shapley's measurements indicated the Sun is relatively far from the center of the galaxy, contrary to what had been inferred from the observed uniform distribution of ordinary stars. In reality most ordinary stars lie within the galaxy's disk and are thus obscured by gas and dust in the disk, whereas globular clusters lie outside the disk and can be seen at much greater distances. The count of known globular clusters in the Milky Way has continued to increase, reaching 83 in 1915, 93 in 1930, 97 by 1947, and 157 in 2010. Additional, undiscovered globular clusters are believed to be in the galactic bulge or hidden by the gas and dust of the Milky Way. For example, most of the Palomar Globular Clusters have only been discovered in the 1950s, with some located relatively close-by yet obscured by dust, while others reside in the very far reaches of the Milky Way halo. The Andromeda Galaxy, which is comparable in size to the Milky Way, may have as many as five hundred globulars. Every galaxy of sufficient mass in the Local Group has an associated system of globular clusters, as does almost every large galaxy surveyed. Some giant elliptical galaxies (particularly those at the centers of galaxy clusters), such as M 87, have as many as 13,000 globular clusters. ### Classification Shapley was later assisted in his studies of clusters by Henrietta Swope and Helen Sawyer Hogg. In 1927–1929 Shapley and Sawyer categorized clusters by the degree of concentration of stars toward each core. Their system, known as the Shapley–Sawyer Concentration Class, identifies the most concentrated clusters as Class I and ranges to the most diffuse Class XII. In 2015 astronomers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile proposed a new type of globular cluster on the basis of observational data: Dark globular clusters. ## Formation The formation of globular clusters is poorly understood. Globular clusters have traditionally been described as a simple star population formed from a single giant molecular cloud, and thus with roughly uniform age and metallicity (proportion of heavy elements in their composition). Modern observations show that nearly all globular clusters contain multiple populations; the globular clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibit a bimodal population, for example. During their youth, these LMC clusters may have encountered giant molecular clouds that triggered a second round of star formation. This star-forming period is relatively brief, compared with the age of many globular clusters. It has been proposed that this multiplicity in stellar populations could have a dynamical origin. In the Antennae Galaxy, for example, the Hubble Space Telescope has observed clusters of clusters – regions in the galaxy that span hundreds of parsecs, in which many of the clusters will eventually collide and merge. Their overall range of ages and (possibly) metallicities could lead to clusters with a bimodal, or even multiple, distribution of populations. Observations of globular clusters show that their stars primarily come from regions of more efficient star formation, and from where the interstellar medium is at a higher density, as compared to normal star-forming regions. Globular cluster formation is prevalent in starburst regions and in interacting galaxies. Some globular clusters likely formed in dwarf galaxies and were removed by tidal forces to join the Milky Way. In elliptical and lenticular galaxies there is a correlation between the mass of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at their centers and the extent of their globular cluster systems. The mass of the SMBH in such a galaxy is often close to the combined mass of the galaxy's globular clusters. No known globular clusters display active star formation, consistent with the hypothesis that globular clusters are typically the oldest objects in their galaxy and were among the first collections of stars to form. Very large regions of star formation known as super star clusters, such as Westerlund 1 in the Milky Way, may be the precursors of globular clusters. Many of the Milky Way's globular clusters have a retrograde orbit (meaning that they revolve around the galaxy in the reverse of the direction the galaxy is rotating), including the most massive, Omega Centauri. Its retrograde orbit suggests it may be a remnant of a dwarf galaxy captured by the Milky Way. ## Composition Globular clusters are generally composed of hundreds of thousands of low-metal, old stars. The stars found in a globular cluster are similar to those in the bulge of a spiral galaxy but confined to a spheroid in which half the light is emitted within a radius of only a few to a few tens of parsecs. They are free of gas and dust and it is presumed that all the gas and dust was long ago either turned into stars or blown out of the cluster by the massive first-generation stars. Globular clusters can contain a high density of stars; on average about 0.4stars per cubic parsec, increasing to 100 or 1000stars/pc<sup>3</sup> in the core of the cluster. In comparison, the stellar density around the Sun is roughly 0.1 stars/pc<sup>3</sup>. The typical distance between stars in a globular cluster is about one light year, but at its core the separation between stars averages about a third of a light year – thirteen times closer than the Sun is to its nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri. Globular clusters are thought to be unfavorable locations for planetary systems. Planetary orbits are dynamically unstable within the cores of dense clusters because of the gravitational perturbations of passing stars. A planet orbiting at one astronomical unit around a star that is within the core of a dense cluster, such as 47 Tucanae, would survive only on the order of a hundred million years. There is a planetary system orbiting a pulsar (PSRB1620−26) that belongs to the globular cluster M4, but these planets likely formed after the event that created the pulsar. Some globular clusters, like Omega Centauri in the Milky Way and Mayall II in the Andromeda Galaxy, are extraordinarily massive, measuring several million solar masses () and having multiple stellar populations. Both are evidence that supermassive globular clusters formed from the cores of dwarf galaxies that have been consumed by larger galaxies. About a quarter of the globular cluster population in the Milky Way may have been accreted this way, as with more than 60% of the globular clusters in the outer halo of Andromeda. ### Heavy element content Globular clusters normally consist of Population II stars which, compared with Population I stars such as the Sun, have a higher proportion of hydrogen and helium and a lower proportion of heavier elements. Astronomers refer to these heavier elements as metals (distinct from the material concept) and to the proportions of these elements as the metallicity. Produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, the metals are recycled into the interstellar medium and enter a new generation of stars. The proportion of metals can thus be an indication of the age of a star in simple models, with older stars typically having a lower metallicity. The Dutch astronomer Pieter Oosterhoff observed two special populations of globular clusters, which became known as Oosterhoff groups. The second group has a slightly longer period of RR Lyrae variable stars. While both groups have a low proportion of metallic elements as measured by spectroscopy, the metal spectral lines in the stars of Oosterhoff typeI (OoI) cluster are not quite as weak as those in typeII (OoII), and so typeI stars are referred to as metal-rich (e.g. Terzan 7), while typeII stars are metal-poor (e.g. ESO 280-SC06). These two distinct populations have been observed in many galaxies, especially massive elliptical galaxies. Both groups are nearly as old as the universe itself and are of similar ages. Suggested scenarios to explain these subpopulations include violent gas-rich galaxy mergers, the accretion of dwarf galaxies, and multiple phases of star formation in a single galaxy. In the Milky Way the metal-poor clusters are associated with the halo and the metal-rich clusters with the bulge. In the Milky Way a large majority of the metal-poor clusters are aligned on a plane in the outer part of the galaxy's halo. This observation supports the view that typeII clusters were captured from a satellite galaxy, rather than being the oldest members of the Milky Way's globular cluster system as was previously thought. The difference between the two cluster types would then be explained by a time delay between when the two galaxies formed their cluster systems. ### Exotic components Close interactions and near-collisions of stars occur relatively often in globular clusters because of their high star density. These chance encounters give rise to some exotic classes of stars – such as blue stragglers, millisecond pulsars, and low-mass X-ray binaries – which are much more common in globular clusters. How blue stragglers form remains unclear, but most models attribute them to interactions between stars, such as stellar mergers, the transfer of material from one star to another, or even an encounter between two binary systems. The resulting star has a higher temperature than other stars in the cluster with comparable luminosity and thus differs from the main-sequence stars formed early in the cluster's existence. Some clusters have two distinct sequences of blue stragglers, one bluer than the other. Astronomers have searched for black holes within globular clusters since the 1970s. The required resolution for this task is exacting; it is only with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) that the first claimed discoveries were made, in 2002 and 2003. Based on HST observations, other researchers suggested the existence of a (solar masses) intermediate-mass black hole in the globular cluster M15 and a black hole in the Mayall II cluster of the Andromeda Galaxy. Both X-ray and radio emissions from MayallII appear consistent with an intermediate-mass black hole; however, these claimed detections are controversial. The heaviest objects in globular clusters are expected to migrate to the cluster center due to mass segregation. One research group pointed out that the mass-to-light ratio should rise sharply towards the center of the cluster, even without a black hole, in both M15 and Mayall II. Observations from 2018 find no evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in any globular cluster, including M15, but cannot definitively rule out one with a mass of . Finally, in 2023, an analysis of HST and the Gaia spacecraft data from the closest globular cluster, Messier 4, revealed an excess mass of roughly in the center of this cluster, which appears to not be extended. This could thus be the best kinematic evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole (even if an unusually compact cluster of compact objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars or stellar-mass black holes cannot be completely discounted). The confirmation of intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters would have important ramifications for theories of galaxy development as being possible sources for the supermassive black holes at their centers. The mass of these supposed intermediate-mass black holes is proportional to the mass of their surrounding clusters, following a pattern previously discovered between supermassive black holes and their surrounding galaxies. ## Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams (H–R diagrams) of globular clusters allow astronomers to determine many of the properties of their populations of stars. An H–R diagram is a graph of a large sample of stars plotting their absolute magnitude (their luminosity, or brightness measured from a standard distance), as a function of their color index. The color index, roughly speaking, measures the color of the star; positive color indices indicate a reddish star with a cool surface temperature, while negative values indicate a bluer star with a hotter surface. Stars on an H–R diagram mostly lie along a roughly diagonal line sloping from hot, luminous stars in the upper left to cool, faint stars in the lower right. This line is known as the main sequence and represents the primary stage of stellar evolution. The diagram also includes stars in later evolutionary stages such as the cool but luminous red giants. Constructing an H–R diagram requires knowing the distance to the observed stars to convert apparent into absolute magnitude. Because all the stars in a globular cluster have about the same distance from Earth, a color–magnitude diagram using their observed magnitudes looks like a shifted H–R diagram (because of the roughly constant difference between their apparent and absolute magnitudes). This shift is called the distance modulus and can be used to calculate the distance to the cluster. The modulus is determined by comparing features (like the main sequence) of the cluster's color–magnitude diagram to corresponding features in an H–R diagram of another set of stars, a method known as spectroscopic parallax or main-sequence fitting. ### Properties Since globular clusters form at once from a single giant molecular cloud, a cluster's stars have roughly the same age and composition. A star's evolution is primarily determined by its initial mass, so the positions of stars in a cluster's H–R or color–magnitude diagram mostly reflect their initial masses. A cluster's H–R diagram, therefore, appears quite different from H–R diagrams containing stars of a wide variety of ages. Almost all stars fall on a well-defined curve in globular cluster H–R diagrams, and that curve's shape indicates the age of the cluster. A more detailed H–R diagram often reveals multiple stellar populations as indicated by the presence of closely separated curves, each corresponding to a distinct population of stars with a slightly different age or composition. Observations with the Wide Field Camera 3, installed in 2009 on the Hubble Space Telescope, made it possible to distinguish these slightly different curves. The most massive main-sequence stars have the highest luminosity and will be the first to evolve into the giant star stage. As the cluster ages, stars of successively lower masses will do the same. Therefore, the age of a single-population cluster can be measured by looking for those stars just beginning to enter the giant star stage, which form a "knee" in the H–R diagram called the main-sequence turnoff, bending to the upper right from the main-sequence line. The absolute magnitude at this bend is directly a function of the cluster's age; an age scale can be plotted on an axis parallel to the magnitude. The morphology and luminosity of globular cluster stars in H–R diagrams are influenced by numerous parameters, many of which are still actively researched. Recent observations have overturned the historical paradigm that all globular clusters consist of stars born at exactly the same time, or sharing exactly the same chemical abundance. Some clusters feature multiple populations, slightly differing in composition and age; for example, high-precision imagery of cluster NGC 2808 discerned three close, but distinct, main sequences. Further, the placements of the cluster stars in an H–R diagram (including the brightnesses of distance indicators) can be influenced by observational biases. One such effect, called blending, arises when the cores of globular clusters are so dense that observations see multiple stars as a single target. The brightness measured for that seemingly single star is thus incorrect – too bright, given that multiple stars contributed. The computed distance is in turn incorrect, so the blending effect can introduce a systematic uncertainty into the cosmic distance ladder and may bias the estimated age of the universe and the Hubble constant. ### Consequences The blue stragglers appear on the H–R diagram as a series diverging from the main sequence in the direction of brighter, bluer stars. White dwarfs (the final remnants of some Sun-like stars), which are much fainter and somewhat hotter than the main-sequence stars, lie on the bottom-left of an H–R diagram. Globular clusters can be dated by looking at the temperatures of the coolest white dwarfs, often giving results as old as 12.7 billion years. In comparison, open clusters are rarely older than about half a billion years. The ages of globular clusters place a lower bound on the age of the entire universe, presenting a significant constraint in cosmology. Astronomers were historically faced with age estimates of clusters older than their cosmological models would allow, but better measurements of cosmological parameters, through deep sky surveys and satellites, appear to have resolved this issue. Studying globular clusters sheds light on how the composition of the formational gas and dust affects stellar evolution; the stars' evolutionary tracks vary depending on the abundance of heavy elements. Data obtained from these studies are then used to study the evolution of the Milky Way as a whole. ## Morphology In contrast to open clusters, most globular clusters remain gravitationally bound together for time periods comparable to the lifespans of most of their stars. Strong tidal interactions with other large masses result in the dispersal of some stars, leaving behind "tidal tails" of stars removed from the cluster. After formation, the stars in the globular cluster begin to interact gravitationally with each other. The velocities of the stars steadily change, and the stars lose any history of their original velocity. The characteristic interval for this to occur is the relaxation time, related to the characteristic length of time a star needs to cross the cluster and the number of stellar masses. The relaxation time varies by cluster, but a typical value is on the order of one billion years. Although globular clusters are generally spherical in form, ellipticity can form via tidal interactions. Clusters within the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are typically oblate spheroids in shape, while those in the Large Magellanic Cloud are more elliptical. ### Radii Astronomers characterize the morphology (shape) of a globular cluster by means of standard radii: the core radius (r<sub>c</sub>), the half-light radius (r<sub>h</sub>), and the tidal or Jacobi radius (r<sub>t</sub>). The radius can be expressed as a physical distance or as a subtended angle in the sky. Considering a radius around the core, the surface luminosity of the cluster steadily decreases with distance, and the core radius is the distance at which the apparent surface luminosity has dropped by half. A comparable quantity is the half-light radius, or the distance from the core containing half the total luminosity of the cluster; the half-light radius is typically larger than the core radius. Most globular clusters have a half-light radius of less than ten parsecs (pc), although some globular clusters have very large radii, like NGC 2419 (r<sub>h</sub> = 18 pc) and Palomar 14 (r<sub>h</sub> = 25 pc). The half-light radius includes stars in the outer part of the cluster that happen to lie along the line of sight, so theorists also use the half-mass radius (r<sub>m</sub>) – the radius from the core that contains half the total mass of the cluster. A small half-mass radius, relative to the overall size, indicates a dense core. Messier 3 (M3), for example, has an overall visible dimension of about 18 arc minutes, but a half-mass radius of only 1.12 arc minutes. The tidal radius, or Hill sphere, is the distance from the center of the globular cluster at which the external gravitation of the galaxy has more influence over the stars in the cluster than does the cluster itself. This is the distance at which the individual stars belonging to a cluster can be separated away by the galaxy. The tidal radius of M3, for example, is about forty arc minutes, or about 113 pc. ### Mass segregation, luminosity and core collapse In most Milky Way clusters the surface brightness of a globular cluster as a function of decreasing distance to the core first increases, then levels off at a distance typically 1–2 parsecs from the core. About 20% of the globular clusters have undergone a process termed "core collapse". In such a cluster the luminosity increases steadily all the way to the core region. Models of globular clusters predict core collapse occurs when the more massive stars in a globular cluster encounter their less massive counterparts. Over time, dynamic processes cause individual stars to migrate from the center of the cluster to the outside, resulting in a net loss of kinetic energy from the core region and leading the region's remaining stars to occupy a more compact volume. When this gravothermal instability occurs, the central region of the cluster becomes densely crowded with stars, and the surface brightness of the cluster forms a power-law cusp. A massive black hole at the core could also result in a luminosity cusp. Over a long time this leads to a concentration of massive stars near the core, a phenomenon called mass segregation. The dynamical heating effect of binary star systems works to prevent an initial core collapse of the cluster. When a star passes near a binary system, the orbit of the latter pair tends to contract, releasing energy. Only after this primordial supply of energy is exhausted can a deeper core collapse proceed. In contrast, the effect of tidal shocks as a globular cluster repeatedly passes through the plane of a spiral galaxy tends to significantly accelerate core collapse. Core collapse may be divided into three phases. During a cluster's adolescence, core collapse begins with stars nearest the core. Interactions between binary star systems prevents further collapse as the cluster approaches middle age. The central binaries are either disrupted or ejected, resulting in a tighter concentration at the core. The interaction of stars in the collapsed core region causes tight binary systems to form. As other stars interact with these tight binaries they increase the energy at the core, causing the cluster to re-expand. As the average time for a core collapse is typically less than the age of the galaxy, many of a galaxy's globular clusters may have passed through a core collapse stage, then re-expanded. The HST has provided convincing observational evidence of this stellar mass-sorting process in globular clusters. Heavier stars slow down and crowd at the cluster's core, while lighter stars pick up speed and tend to spend more time at the cluster's periphery. The cluster 47 Tucanae, made up of about one million stars, is one of the densest globular clusters in the Southern Hemisphere. This cluster was subjected to an intensive photographic survey that obtained precise velocities for nearly fifteen thousand stars in this cluster. The overall luminosities of the globular clusters within the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy each have a roughly Gaussian distribution, with an average magnitude M<sub>v</sub> and a variance σ<sup>2</sup>. This distribution of globular cluster luminosities is called the Globular Cluster Luminosity Function (GCLF). For the Milky Way, M<sub>v</sub> = −7.29 ± 0.13, σ = 1.1 ± 0.1. The GCLF has been used as a "standard candle" for measuring the distance to other galaxies, under the assumption that globular clusters in remote galaxies behave similarly to those in the Milky Way. ### N-body simulations Computing the gravitational interactions between stars within a globular cluster requires solving the N-body problem. The naive computational cost for a dynamic simulation increases in proportion to N<sup>2</sup> (where N is the number of objects), so the computing requirements to accurately simulate a cluster of thousands of stars can be enormous. A more efficient method of simulating the N-body dynamics of a globular cluster is done by subdivision into small volumes and velocity ranges, and using probabilities to describe the locations of the stars. Their motions are described by means of the Fokker–Planck equation, often using a model describing the mass density as a function of radius, such as a Plummer model. The simulation becomes more difficult when the effects of binaries and the interaction with external gravitation forces (such as from the Milky Way galaxy) must also be included. In 2010 a low-density globular cluster's lifetime evolution was able to be directly computed, star-by-star. Completed N-body simulations have shown that stars can follow unusual paths through the cluster, often forming loops and falling more directly toward the core than would a single star orbiting a central mass. Additionally, some stars gain sufficient energy to escape the cluster due to gravitational interactions that result in a sufficient increase in velocity. Over long periods of time this process leads to the dissipation of the cluster, a process termed evaporation. The typical time scale for the evaporation of a globular cluster is 10<sup>10</sup> years. The ultimate fate of a globular cluster must be either to accrete stars at its core, causing its steady contraction, or gradual shedding of stars from its outer layers. Binary stars form a significant portion of stellar systems, with up to half of all field stars and open cluster stars occurring in binary systems. The present-day binary fraction in globular clusters is difficult to measure, and any information about their initial binary fraction is lost by subsequent dynamical evolution. Numerical simulations of globular clusters have demonstrated that binaries can hinder and even reverse the process of core collapse in globular clusters. When a star in a cluster has a gravitational encounter with a binary system, a possible result is that the binary becomes more tightly bound and kinetic energy is added to the solitary star. When the massive stars in the cluster are sped up by this process, it reduces the contraction at the core and limits core collapse. ### Intermediate forms Cluster classification is not always definitive; objects have been found that can be classified in more than one categories. For example, BH 176 in the southern part of the Milky Way has properties of both an open and a globular cluster. In 2005 astronomers discovered a new, "extended" type of star cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy's halo, similar to the globular cluster. The three new-found clusters have a similar star count as globular clusters and share other characteristics, such as stellar populations and metallicity, but are distinguished by their larger size – several hundred light years across – and some hundred times lower density. Their stars are separated by larger distances; parametrically, these clusters lie somewhere between a globular cluster and a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The formation of these extended clusters is likely related to accretion. It is unclear why the Milky Way lacks such clusters; Andromeda is unlikely to be the sole galaxy with them, but their presence in other galaxies remains unknown. ## Tidal encounters When a globular cluster comes close to a large mass, such as the core region of a galaxy, it undergoes a tidal interaction. The difference in gravitational strength between the nearer and further parts of the cluster results in an asymmetric, tidal force. A "tidal shock" occurs whenever the orbit of a cluster takes it through the plane of a galaxy. Tidal shocks can pull stars away from the cluster halo, leaving only the core part of the cluster; these trails of stars can extend several degrees away from the cluster. These tails typically both precede and follow the cluster along its orbit and can accumulate significant portions of the original mass of the cluster, forming clump-like features. The globular cluster Palomar 5, for example, is near the apogalactic point of its orbit after passing through the Milky Way. Streams of stars extend outward toward the front and rear of the orbital path of this cluster, stretching to distances of 13,000 light years. Tidal interactions have stripped away much of Palomar5's mass; further interactions with the galactic core are expected to transform it into a long stream of stars orbiting the Milky Way in its halo. The Milky Way is in the process of tidally stripping the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy of stars and globular clusters through the Sagittarius Stream. As many as 20% of the globular clusters in the Milky Way's outer halo may have originated in that galaxy. Palomar 12, for example, most likely originated in the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal but is now associated with the Milky Way. Tidal interactions like these add kinetic energy into a globular cluster, dramatically increasing the evaporation rate and shrinking the size of the cluster. The increased evaporation accelerates the process of core collapse. ## Planets Astronomers are searching for exoplanets of stars in globular star clusters. A search in 2000 for giant planets in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae came up negative, suggesting that the abundance of heavier elements – low in globular clusters – necessary to build these planets may need to be at least 40% of the Sun's abundance. Because terrestrial planets are built from heavier elements such as silicon, iron and magnesium, member stars have a far lower likelihood of hosting Earth-mass planets than stars in the solar neighborhood. Globular clusters are thus unlikely to host habitable terrestrial planets. A giant planet was found in the globular cluster Messier 4, orbiting a pulsar in the binary star system PSR B1620-26. The planet's eccentric and highly inclined orbit suggests it may have been formed around another star in the cluster, then "exchanged" into its current arrangement. The likelihood of close encounters between stars in a globular cluster can disrupt planetary systems; some planets break free to become rogue planets, orbiting the galaxy. Planets orbiting close to their star can become disrupted, potentially leading to orbital decay and an increase in orbital eccentricity and tidal effects. ## See also
35,397,147	Uncle David	1,136,969,892	2010 film by David Hoyle	[ "2010 comedy-drama films", "2010 films", "2010s British films", "2010s avant-garde and experimental films", "British LGBT-related films", "British avant-garde and experimental films", "British comedy-drama films", "British independent films", "Films about suicide", "Films set in Kent", "Incest in film", "Isle of Sheppey", "LGBT-related comedy-drama films" ]	Uncle David is a 2010 British black comedy film directed by David Hoyle, Gary Reich, and Mike Nicholls. It was produced by Reich and stars Hoyle, an English performance artist, in the titular role alongside English pornographic actor Ashley Ryder. Developed collectively under the banner of the Avant-Garde Alliance, it was filmed in October 2009. Created without a script, every scene was improvised and filmed in a single take. Set in a caravan park on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, South East England, a young man with a childlike mind named Ashley (Ryder) arrives to stay with his Uncle David (Hoyle). Escaping from his abusive mother, Ashley enters into a sexual relationship with his uncle who offers his insights into the world and the nature of reality. Eventually Ashley tells David that he wants to die, and David agrees to carry out the killing. The film premiered on 25 March 2010 at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival held in the BFI Southbank in central London. Reviews were mixed, but the film won several awards at international film festivals. It was released on DVD by Peccadillo Pictures in 2011. ## Plot Late one night, Ashley (Ashley Ryder) – a young man with a childlike mentality – arrives at the caravan home of his Uncle David (David Hoyle) on the Isle of Sheppey. Ashley confides in his uncle that his mother has been physically abusing him by stubbing cigarettes out on his hand. David lambasts the mother and society in general; the two embrace in a kiss before going to bed together. The next morning, they awake and have breakfast in bed before David bathes Ashley in the bathtub, telling him a story about an unhappy nuclear family. Going to a local café and then a park bench, David continues to explain his anti-establishment opinions about society. Ashley reveals that he wants to die, and the two express their love for one another. The pair snort cocaine before playing in the local entertainment arcade. Returning to the caravan, they engage in sexual strangulation and anal sex. Putting on make-up, they then drink wine and dance to a remix of the Muse song "Uprising", while same-sex pornography starring Ashley plays on the television set. While Ashley puts on drag, David encourages him to kill himself, telling him that he is "too nice for this Earth" and needs to escape the world's problems. The next morning, Ashley plays on the beach and builds sand castles. When Ashley's drunken mother phones, demanding to know where her son is, Uncle David feigns ignorance, telling her that he himself is not in Sheppey but in Manchester. Taking Ashley to an abandoned military bunker, he injects an unknown substance into his nephew's vein as they kiss. Ashley enters an altered state of consciousness, and David guides him back to the caravan as they smoke marijuana. Once there, David gives Ashley a second injection, as they sit and look out at the shore. After dark, David places his near-catatonic nephew in a dog bed, showing him a copy of a picture book titled Is Britain Great?. He proceeds to give him a third and final injection, which he remarks will make Ashley lose consciousness and suffer organ failure. As Ashley dies, David professes that he has never loved anyone else as much before. The next morning, he goes onto the beach to place his nephew's body in a shallow grave, tearfully kissing the body goodbye before it is swept away by the sea. ## Production ### Background According to The Guardian, Hoyle became "something of a legend" on the British cabaret circuit during the 1990s, initially under the alter-ego of "The Divine David". The Divine David was an "anti-drag queen" who combined "lacerating social commentary" with "breathtaking instances of self-recrimination and even self-harm." Taking this character to television, Hoyle produced two shows for Channel 4, The Divine David Presents (1999) and The Divine David Heals (2000), before killing off the character at a farewell show at Streatham Ice Arena, south London, titled The Divine David on Ice (2000). Independently, Hoyle appeared in the film Velvet Goldmine (1998) and the television series Nathan Barley (2005). Ryder had hoped to be a fashion designer, undertaking a course at Central Saint Martins which he did not complete; from there he worked in retail, first for Prowler and then for the designer Vivienne Westwood. Subsequently, appearing in gay pornography as a twink bottom for production companies like Eurocreme and UK Naked Men, he starred in such films as Drunk on Spunk and Stretch that Hole, winning numerous awards for his work. By the time he made Uncle David, he was also running his own weekly gay wrestling night in London. Hoyle and Ryder met at a performance art event, after which the former asked Ryder if he would appear in one of his stage shows. Ryder was busy at the time, but agreed to the request several years later. Staged at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), a gay bar in Vauxhall, South London, the duo constructed a piece in which Ryder played the role of Hoyle's nephew in an ad-lib performance. Hoyle played a department store Santa Claus while Ryder portrayed a misbehaving nine-year-old. The performance ended in Hoyle's Santa character pulling Christmas tinsel from the child's anus before strangling him. Reich – who had known Hoyle since the late 1990s – was in the audience, and enjoyed the chemistry between the two actors, suggesting that they appear in a feature film together. Over the course of a day, he filmed three shorts starring Hoyle and Ryder, in which they explored some of the scenarios and themes that made it into Uncle David. In these shorts Hoyle wore a wig and makeup, which were omitted from the later feature. The two actors continued to develop their characters through a series of text messages and phone conversations. ### Development Uncle David was filmed over five days in October 2009 on the Isle of Sheppey, a location chosen for its proximity to London. Hoyle commented that the profusion of barbed wire fences there made him wonder if they were "keeping people out or keeping people in?". Reich said that he had been "obsessed" with Sheppey, a place he had considered "a truly Godforsaken wasteland" since working on a television show there ten years previously. He remarked that the "trailer trash setting" of the film was influenced by Harmony Korine's Gummo (1997) and John Waters' Female Trouble (1974). He also said that the filming budget of under £1000 was a homage to "the spirit of John Waters." All the extras featured in the film were real inhabitants of Sheppey, and to film a scene in a local cafe, they walked in and asked the proprietors if they could shoot there. Although they had planned to tell any enquirers who approached them that they were shooting a horror film, during the shoot none of the locals expressed any interest in the crew's activities. The caravan park was largely empty at the time, and closed for winter several days after filming ended. Both actors and crew slept in the same caravan in which the film was set. Ryder later commented on the extreme cold and the crowded nature of the caravan, which had eight people inside it during filming; he felt that it was "quite hectic but [had] a great atmosphere". Throughout filming, Hoyle and Ryder remained in character, improvising their scenes around a basic narrative structure rather than using a script. Hoyle told a reporter that they "wanted everything to feel like real time... As soon as you woke up, the cameras would be on you. I look knackered." During filming, he contracted swine flu, but insisted that all he needed was a 30-minute break before filming, attributing his ability to continue acting to adrenaline. He noted that "I just said, 'No, no, no. We'll carry on. I'll just stop eating.' I was completely purged during the making of that film. Afterwards, during the edit, I started to feel a lot calmer." Hoyle felt that the process of making the film had been cathartic, noting that "When I was 14, I had – let's call it an existential crisis. I wondered if [Uncle David] was a case of me destroying that part of me. If you do have a breakdown that young, for the rest of your life you're very aware of it. It can make you feel your foundations are a little bit shaky. It's a devastating experience but we revisited it. I just went with my instincts and intuition." The footage was captured on two Sony HVR-Z1 camcorders. Costumes had been purchased at an Oxfam charity shop in Dalston, East London, while a wig worn by Ashley in one scene was purchased from a Dalston wig store. Knowing that he would appear nude in several scenes, Ryder went to the gym regularly in the weeks proceeding filming to gain greater muscle tone. He decided to include footage from one of his pornographic videos in Uncle David, inspired to do so after learning that serial killers Fred and Rosemary West screened pornography throughout the day in their home. The composer Richard Thomas, co-creator of the controversial Jerry Springer: The Opera, agreed to produce a musical score for the film, having long been a fan of Hoyle's work. After the cast and crew listened to a Muse album while driving between locations, they decided to include the band's work as they felt it was "empowering". They had also planned to include a song by Antony and the Johnsons in the film, but this was scrapped, to be replaced by a track by Boy George. After the film was screened for Boy George, the first person outside the Avant-Garde Alliance to see it, he commented "well it ain't The Sound of Music". ## Release Uncle David premiered on 25 March 2010 at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival held in the BFI Southbank in central London. Attending the screening was Steve Marmion, the boss of Soho Theatre, who suggested to Reich and Hoyle that they produce a theatrical adaptation of the film. They initially showed an interest in the project; Reich commented that "It was a very mischievous concept, doing an upbeat, life-affirming song-and-dance musical with that storyline and subject matter." However, the theatrical adaptation never surfaced, something Thomas attributed to the difficulty in obtaining funding for a musical on such a "dark subject." Instead, Hoyle and Thomas teamed up to produce Merrie Hell, an "alternative Christmas celebration" that appeared at the Soho Theatre in December 2012. A two-man cabaret that differed every night, it featured Thomas on a piano, accompanying Hoyle's rendition of various songs about Christmas and Britain's societal problems; Thomas described it as "David Hoyle at Christmas – the Musical". One of the songs featured in Merrie Hell, "It's Alright to Want to Die", carried a pro-suicide theme influenced by Uncle David. ### Home media In December 2011, Uncle David was released as a Region Free DVD by the company Peccadillo Pictures, a UK based film distributor of art house, gay and lesbian, independent and world cinema. The release contained several extras, including the three preparatory shorts detailing the relationship between the characters of Ashley and Uncle David and a cast commentary track voiced by Hoyle, Ryder, Reich and Nicholls. Reviewing the DVD release for the Sex Gore Mutants website, Stuart Willis noted that the disc contained periods of "murkiness or softness in the picture" and a few "(infrequent) instances of muffling", all of which he put down to the original production values of the film. British gay magazine Attitude celebrated the DVD's release with a competition to win one of three copies; they described the film as "a bit surreal, but totally amazing." ## Reception ### Awards The film received a number of awards at international film festivals. At the 2010 Paris International LGBT Film Festival it won the best film award and Hoyle and Ryder shared the best actor award. It also won best film at the 2011 Berlin Porn Film Festival, and best film at the 2011 Erotic Awards. Reich expressed surprise at the Erotic Award, because he did not consider the film to be a work of erotica, but discovered that they'd won because they had explored "an extreme fetish that to be honest we'd not actually heard of nor knew we were exploring." ### Reviews Reviews of Uncle David were mixed. Writing in The Guardian, Ben Walters noted that "suspense and dread accumulate as the low-key naturalism and the characters' obvious affection for one another play off against the enormity of what looms ahead." Comparing Uncle David to Hoyle's earlier stage work, he felt that the two were "consistent", but that in the film Hoyle abandoned the "fireworks of his performance persona", opting for a "controlled, beguiling style". He believed that Ryder's familiarity with being filmed meant that he carried a "disarmingly ingenuous presence, by turns determined and naive." Walters opined that the film's "menacing" use of British seaside locations was similar to that in Brighton Rock and London to Brighton, while he also drew comparisons to Badlands, Bonnie and Clyde and The Talented Mr. Ripley, in that in all of them, the viewers' sympathy for the characters eclipses moral judgement of their actions. Walters would follow this with another review published in Time Out, in which he awarded the film five stars out of five. "Not to everyone's taste, granted, [Uncle David] is nevertheless an original and disturbing take on modern love stories" was the view of Stuart Willis writing for the Sex-Gore-Mutants website. Believing that the film was a "pleasant surprise", he praised the improvised nature of the work, believing that it created believable scenes and allowed the viewer to get to know the characters "almost without realising." He considered the acting to be very good, and particularly praised Hoyle's ability to portray a paedophile grooming a young man in a way that was both "pathetic and truly sinister all at once". Rather than falling into "tasteless exploitation", Willis thought that the film was saved by a lack of sensationalism. Praising the exterior scenes as "beautifully atmospheric" and the music as "fitting the laconic mood and sense of ill-foreboding well", he considered the film to be a good example of low-key filmmaking, akin to that produced in Britain during the early 1980s. Other reviewers were far more critical. Writing for the So So Gay website, Damien Ryan gave Uncle David a rating of 0.5 out of 5, describing it as "terrible". Believing that the film simply intended to shock viewers with its taboo subject matter, he felt offended by the story's "sheer inelegance". Opining that it reminded him of "the very worst attempt of a first-year film student", he questioned the description of Uncle David as a "black comedy", arguing that it wasn't at all funny, instead labelling it "the most vapid, transparent attempt at shock this side of a Lady Gaga performance." Criticising the acting, he said that Ryder "shouldn't quit his porn day job any time soon" and that Hoyle's character was simply a "marriage of wannabe Holden Caulfield-style outsider and mincing paedophile." Cleaver Patterson was similarly critical in his review on the Cine-Vue website, awarding the film one out of five stars. He questioned the purpose of the film, arguing that it will only serve to alienate the gay population by portraying them as "sad, perverted and ultimately lonely individuals." More positively, he praised the appearance of the film with its "muted colours of the shingle beaches and piercing blue skies".
73,103,035	The Kinks' 1965 US tour	1,167,648,186	1965 concert tour by the Kinks	[ "1965 concert tours", "1965 in American music", "Concert tours of the United States", "July 1965 events in the United States", "June 1965 events in the United States" ]	The English rock band the Kinks staged their first concert tour of the United States in June and July 1965. The sixteen concerts comprised the third stage of a world tour, following shows in Australasia, Asia and in the United Kingdom and before later stages in continental Europe. Initially one of the most popular British Invasion groups, the Kinks saw major commercial opportunity in the US, but the resultant tour was plagued with issues between the band, their management, local promoters and the American music unions. Promoters and union officials filed complaints over the Kinks' conduct, prompting the US musicians' union to withhold work permits from the band for the next four years, effectively banning them from US performance. The programme was in the package-tour format typical of the 1960s, with one show per day, several support acts on the bill and the Kinks' set lasting around 40 minutes. Concerts were characterised by screaming fans and weak sound systems. The US press, which still largely viewed rock music as simple teenage entertainment, generally avoided reporting on the tour. Some shows were poorly attended due to a lack of advertising and promotion, leaving local promoters sometimes unable to pay the band the full amount. A payment disagreement led to the band refusing to perform at the Cow Palace near San Francisco, and an argument over a union contract before a television appearance resulted in bandleader Ray Davies physically fighting a union official. The relationship between Ray and the Kinks' personal manager, Larry Page, was marked by continual friction. Bothered by Ray's behaviour, Page departed to England in the tour's final week, an action that the Kinks viewed as an abandonment. The band's subsequent efforts to dismiss Page led to a protracted legal dispute in English courts. Unable to promote their music in the US via tours or television appearances, the Kinks saw a decline in their American record sales. Cut off from the American music scene, Ray shifted his songwriting approach towards more overt English influences. Ray resolved the ban in early 1969, and the Kinks staged a comeback tour later that year, but they did not achieve regular commercial success in the country again until the late 1970s. ## Background Larry Page, the Kinks' personal manager, announced in April 1965 the band's intention to tour the United States. Initially planned to begin on 11 June, the tour would run for three weeks and would be the band's first in the country. The shows formed the third leg of a world tour, following concerts in January and February in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore and concerts in the United Kingdom in April and May. Page began co-managing the Kinks in November 1963, around two months after the band's two other managers, Grenville Collins and Robert Wace, operating in a complicated three-manager set-up. After witnessing the enormous commercial success the Beatles experienced in the US in 1964, Page hoped to break the Kinks into the American market before their contemporaries the Rolling Stones, who he felt had been underpromoted. Like their contemporaries, the Kinks were part of the British Invasion, a cultural phenomenon where British pop acts experienced sudden popularity in the US. A second wave of British acts, including the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and Them, entered the American charts in early 1965, and the Kinks were initially the most popular of these. Two of their earliest US singles – "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night", issued in September and December 1964, respectively – had each reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while their first US album was moderately successful, reaching number 29 in the magazine's Top LPs chart in March 1965. Major American success appeared close for the Kinks, and the band and their management viewed a US tour as the next pivotal step in their career. From 10 to 14 February 1965, while returning to Britain from the first leg of their world tour, the Kinks visited the US for the first time. The original plan had the band appearing on two musical variety programmes – Hullabaloo in New York and Shindig! in Los Angeles – along with two concert dates, but only the Hullabaloo appearance went forward. When the band appeared on the programme, they drew the ire of trade union officials for initially refusing to sign paperwork with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the US performers' union. Joining the union was a requirement of the Kinks' appearance, but the band were sceptical that it was necessary. Two weeks after the band's visit, their US label Reprise Records issued "Tired of Waiting for You" as a single in the US. It subsequently reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the Kinks' third consecutive top ten single in the US. To capitalise on the nationwide publicity the band were experiencing, Reprise rushed out a second album in late March, Kinks-Size, which peaked at number 13 in the third week of June, the same week the US tour commenced. By early 1965, the Kinks had developed a reputation for violence and aggression, both on and off the stage. The band's concerts were characterised by hysterical fans, whose swarming attempts occasionally left the group bruised, concussed and with torn clothing. A concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 9 April which devolved into a riot between fans and police was covered by the Associated Press newswire and reported on in newspapers across the US. The band sometimes broke into physical altercations during rehearsals, recording sessions and concerts, with infighting common between brothers Ray and Dave Davies and between Dave and drummer Mick Avory. Tensions within the group were more elevated than usual following a violent inter-band dispute on 19 May at a concert in Cardiff, Wales, where Avory struck Dave in the head with a hi-hat stand. Dave was briefly hospitalised, and the four remaining dates of the band's UK tour were cancelled. Britain's national press covered the incident in Cardiff in detail, leading hoteliers across the country to impose an unofficial ban against the Kinks. The band initially considered replacing Avory with another drummer, but their management forced them to downplay the incident to both avoid police charges and so they could fulfil their commitments, including the upcoming US tour. After agreeing to regroup, the band performed one concert and made four British television appearances in the first week of June. ## Repertoire, tour personnel and equipment The US shows were in the package-tour format typical of the 1960s. The Kinks and contemporary English rock band the Moody Blues were set to be joint headliners, but when the Moody Blues were unable to enter the country after having been denied US visas, they were replaced with different acts throughout the tour, including the Supremes, the Dave Clark Five and Sonny & Cher. Local groups and musicians performed as support acts, including Paul Peterson, Dick and Dee Dee, the Hollywood Argyles, the Rivieras and Dobie Gray, among others. The 3 and 4 July shows in California were instead headlined by the American rock band the Beach Boys, the Kinks serving as one of ten and sixteen support acts, respectively. Shows ran several hours, and the Kinks' set generally lasted around 40 minutes. On Page's recommendation, they based their shows around their first hit single "You Really Got Me". To generate anticipation, they played the opening bars of the song at the start of each concert before abruptly switching to a different number. They performed a complete version of the song midway through the set and repeated it during their encore. The Kinks wore matching red jackets, frilly shirts, black trousers and Chelsea boots, all of which were custom-ordered from Bermans & Nathans, a major theatrical costumier in London. Page commissioned the outfits in April 1964 as part of his early efforts to rework the band's image, providing them a distinctive look like the collarless suits the Beatles wore in 1963. Though not historically accurate to the Victorian era, the look emphasised the band's Englishness, especially to an American audience who knew little about English culture. The band were regularly taunted by Americans during the tour over their appearance, especially their long hair, which when paired with their outfits gave them a more androgynous and less masculine appearance than that of other contemporary pop acts. Sound quality at the band's shows was poor, as the venues' often weak PA systems struggled to compete against the loud screams of fans. Drums were typically not miked, and Avory later recalled struggling to hear himself play at larger venues. A contemporary news article recounting a show at one of the smaller venues reported that the band's vocals were "lost in an array of electric guitars". Dave began the tour with his main guitar, a black Guild archtop electric with two Guild humbucking pick-ups and a Bigsby tailpiece, a custom-built instrument originally meant for Beatle George Harrison. An airline lost it as the band flew to Los Angeles, and as the band did not carry extra guitars, Dave went to a local music shop to find a replacement. He bought a 1958 Gibson Flying V, which he debuted on Shindig! on 1 July. Dave played the guitar at chest-height, placing his arm through the cut-out V shape at the guitar's base. The Kinks were accompanied on tour by Page and road manager Sam Curtis, who was hired two months earlier, before the band's recent UK tour. Page saw his own role as mainly promotional, dealing with stage management and public relations, while Curtis handled custodial duties, such as organising transport, meals and sleeping arrangements. In the US tour's final week, California businessman Don Zacharlini served as temporary tour manager in Page's place. Collins and Wace, who generally focused on office work, remained in the UK for the duration of the tour. The band were regularly visited by their publisher Edward Kassner, who took time to promote Ray's songwriting catalogue; the band's publicist Brian Sommerville and booking agent Arthur Howes arrived three weeks beforehand to perform advance work. The tour was booked through Ken Kendall Associates in New York City. ## Tour ### Final preparations After announcing the tour, Page made several changes to the itinerary. He announced different dates in press releases before delaying the start by a week to 17 June, something necessitated by Dave's head injury in Cardiff. Early plans included different locations, including a Canadian show, probably for Vancouver, on 11 July. By 16 June, five of 16 finalised shows were cancelled, prompting the addition of hastily arranged concerts in downstate Illinois, Denver and Honolulu. The Kinks signed contracts for the tour on 16 June at Denmark Productions, the London offices of Page and Kassner. Among the forms were applications to join the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), the US musicians' union. The union's main purpose was to regulate the movement and placement of professional musicians in America, and joining was a requirement for working in the country. Concerned that foreign workers would take away jobs from American citizens, the AFM in 1964 initially opposed allowing any British rock musicians to perform in the US. British groups often found the regulations of the AFM and AFTRA overly complicated, and some complained about the requirements to pay hundreds of dollars in fees for each visit. Ray initially expressed reservations about signing the necessary paperwork; after working a union job as a teenager, he had come to see trade unions as needlessly corrupt and militant. Page instead ascribed Ray's hesitance to his tendency towards prima donna-like behaviour. Each of the Kinks had held romantic notions about the US since they were young, but Ray was apprehensive about visiting the country, having become more cynical after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. He worried in part how American police would respond to the Kinks' sometimes violent inter-band disputes, especially since only a month had passed since the incident in Cardiff. He was further disappointed by the poor financial returns of the band's February visit and was unhappy about leaving his wife Rasa at home with their first-born child, who was born weeks earlier in mid-May. Ray agreed to go after receiving assurances from his father that he would help Rasa take care of the baby. ### Arrival and first week The Kinks departed London at midday on 17 June and arrived in New York City early that afternoon. The same day of their arrival, the band appeared on The Clay Cole Show to promote their latest single "Set Me Free", which entered the Hot 100 the week before and peaked a month later at number 23. The tour's first show occurred the following day at the Academy of Music, a cinema in New York City. The appearance was beset by issues; the band were disappointed by the old venue's facilities and the theatre's employees, who showed open contempt to those in the rock and roll business. The venue's marquee initially incorrectly advertised "The Kings", and a dispute arose when the Kinks, the Supremes and the Dave Clark Five realised that promoter Sid Bernstein had promised each group that they would be topping the bill. Problems continued at the following day's performance in Philadelphia, where Page was arrested and briefly jailed for failing to pay a local tax as demanded by a union official. The Kinks' audience, many of whom were teenage girls, were prone to fanatical behaviour. Curtis recalled women following the band throughout the tour out of sexual interest, especially for Dave. Upon their arrival in New York, the band were unable to enter their hotel for about two hours due to a large crowd, and on other nights fans clung to the side of their moving vehicle or smashed its windows with their fists. After fans rushed the Kinks at the conclusion of their concert in Chicago, police and security guarded the stage at a show two nights later in Springfield, Illinois. To keep the fans further at bay during the tour, police escorted the band throughout the day and were posted at their hotel. Tensions among the Kinks remained high during the tour. Since the incident in Cardiff, Dave and Avory had generally stopped speaking to one another, and Page later recalled separating the group to prevent more fighting. He further recalled that bassist Pete Quaife was generally a calming influence among his bandmates, but he remained hesitant to take sides. Throughout the tour, Page experienced regular issues from Ray, who often pestered his manager to amuse himself. Page described Ray as behaving like a prima donna, and Curtis suggested that Ray regularly sought to annoy anyone whose interest in him was entirely financial. While the other Kinks went out to clubs, Ray spent much of his free time during the tour alone in his hotel room, disappointed he was not at home with Rasa and their newborn. The Kinks' shows received little to no coverage in local newspapers, as most journalists viewed the band and rock music more broadly as simple teenage entertainment. In contrast with the effective publicity work done by the Beatles and their management, the Kinks were aloof with the press in interviews. Ray was apprehensive about his role as the band's frontman and he was typically nervous in front of cameras. The band often tried to make interviewers look foolish or feel uncomfortable, something which regularly drew consternation from Page. Band biographer Jon Savage writes that compared to the British Invasion's "packaged pop groups", like the Dave Clark Five and Herman's Hermits, the Kinks instead presented as "brooding, dark, androgynous mutants" whose attitudes seemed anarchic to Middle America. The band later described sometimes feeling resentment from Americans during the tour, especially as they proceeded into the American Midwest, where attitudes skewed more conservative. Ray further sensed disgust on the part of those in the American music business, whose unhappiness with disruption of their industry by British acts was compounded when the Kinks' appearances were drawing less money than originally expected. A week before the band's 27 June show in Stockton, California, promoter Betty Kaye cancelled the concert due to poor advance-ticket sales, an action she expected to lose her around US\$3,500 (). The Kinks were disappointed by the tour's early financial returns, which left them staying in inexpensive hotels and travelling mostly by coach. The band and their management experienced regular issues with local promoters, who often looked for reasons to avoid paying the full amount required by contract. Having been hastily arranged only weeks earlier, the band's shows in downstate Illinois were poorly advertised and poorly run, contributing to a growing feeling among the band that the tour was not meeting their original expectations. The band's 25 June concert in Reno, Nevada, was poorly attended due to both a lack of advertising and because it conflicted with the opening day of the popular Annual Reno Rodeo. Kaye offered the band half of the agreed payment upfront, promising them the rest after the next night's performance in Sacramento, California. In retaliation, Page threatened to sue her, and the Kinks only performed for 20 minutes rather than the 40 minutes originally contracted. At the Sacramento show, Kaye was further offended when the Kinks played for 45 minutes but filled much of their set with a prolonged version of "You Really Got Me". ### Promotional work From 27 June to 2 July, the Kinks had a week off from concerts, during which time they mostly did promotional work in Hollywood, California. The band lip-synched performances on the television programmes Shivaree, The Lloyd Thaxton Show, Shindig! and Dick Clark's variety show Where the Action Is. At the same time, Kassner promoted Ray's songwriting catalogue around Los Angeles. By the end of the week he had secured four agreements, including from Peggy Lee, who recorded "I Go to Sleep" as a single. The same week, Page met Cher as she finished sessions for her debut album at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, and he convinced her to record "I Go to Sleep" as well. Cher's recording inspired Page, who booked studio time for the Kinks at Gold Star on 30 June. The band were normally produced by Shel Talmy, whose contract with Pye Records specified that he was to supervise all of their recording sessions. Talmy anticipated Page attempting to usurp his role and had filed a legal notice before the band left England advising them to not record in the US without him, but the session proceeded anyway. The Kinks were enthusiastic at the prospect of recording in an American studio for the first time, especially after plans to do so the day before at Warner Brothers Studios failed to materialise. During the session, they recorded Ray's composition "Ring the Bells". Page hoped to issue the recording as their next single, but Talmy again served the band legal papers to prevent it, leaving the recording unissued. The Kinks were the featured performers on Shindig! for the week of 1 July, and the band selected "Long Tally Shorty" to play as the show's closing number. Rather than have the band mime to the version they recorded for their first LP, AFM requirements dictated that a new backing track be made, which the show's house band the Shindogs recorded at a separate evening session on 30 June. The Kinks attended the session, but Dave was the only one of them who appeared on the recording, contributing rhythm guitar. Among the Shindogs was lead guitarist James Burton, whom the Kinks were especially excited to meet, having known him for his guitar solos on many of Ricky Nelson's hits; Ray later recalled that getting to play with Burton was both "the biggest thrill" and "the only good thing" to happen during the tour. On 2 July, the Kinks appeared at the Cinnamon Cinder club in North Hollywood for a daytime shoot of Where the Action Is. While waiting beforehand in the band's dressing room, Dave refused to sign a contract presented to the band by AFTRA. The refusal prompted a union official to threaten to have the Kinks banned from ever playing in the US again. After a further exchange of words, a physical altercation occurred between the official and Ray, which ended when Ray punched him in the face. Ray later said the worker taunted the Kinks by calling them "communists", "limey bastards" and "fairies". He also recalled: > I remember a guy came down – they kept on harassing us for various reasons ... and this guy kept going on at me about, "When the Commies overrun Britain you're really going to want to come here, aren't you?" I just turned around and hit him, about three times. I later found out that he was a union official. ### Final week Ray's fight with the union official on 2 July marked a low point on the tour for him, a depression exacerbated by the absence of Rasa. The following day, after the afternoon soundcheck at the Hollywood Bowl, Ray informed Page that he was not going to perform the evening's show. Advertised as "The Beach Boys Summer Spectacular", the concert had the Kinks billed highest among the Beach Boys' ten support acts. Page regarded the concert as the pinnacle of the tour and an opportunity to present the Kinks as a second Beatles, and he later recalled trying to convince Ray to perform: "I spent all day pleading, begging, grovelling – and this was after a very heavy tour ... it was totally degrading for me." Ray demanded of Page that Rasa and Quaife's girlfriend Nicola be flown out to see them, and Page contacted Collins back in London to arrange the flight. Ray agreed to perform, and the concert proceeded as normal in front of around 15,000 concertgoers. Rasa and Nicola arrived in Los Angeles after the show and joined the group for the remainder of the tour. After weeks of being agitated by Ray's behaviour, Page lost his patience at the Hollywood Bowl. He abruptly departed back to London on the morning of 4 July. In his place, he arranged for the band to be led by both Curtis and temporary tour manager Don Zacharlini, a local businessman who owned a chain of laundromats. Page advised Dave, Quaife and Avory of his intentions but did not tell Ray, who learned of Page's absence later that day. Ray was incensed by what he saw as an abandonment of the band; after expressing his feelings to his bandmates, the group decided that they would extricate Page from their business dealings upon their return to the UK. The same day as Page's departure, the Kinks arrived at the Cow Palace near San Francisco for an afternoon show as part of "The Beach Boys' Firecracker". The promoter, again Kaye, lost a significant amount of money when only 3,500 tickets were sold out of 14,000. The Kinks demanded to be paid upfront, but a lack of cash receipts meant that she was only able to offer a cheque. In light of their earlier pay disputes with her in Reno and Sacramento, the band refused to perform the San Francisco show. Despite the absence of Page, the final week of the tour proceeded generally without incident. The band arrived in Hawaii on 5 July and held two concerts in Honolulu the following day, including a show for US Army troops at Schofield Barracks. Ray had expected Hawaii to be overly commercialised, but he was charmed by the islands' quiet beaches; he later named it his best holiday ever, and Rasa described her time there with Ray as like a second honeymoon. After an off-day spent in Waikiki, the band flew to Washington state and held three concerts, concluding the tour in Seattle on 10 July. ## Aftermath ### Return to England and dismissal of Larry Page Quaife and Avory remained in the US for an extra ten days sightseeing southern California with Zacharlini; Ray and Dave arrived home in London on 11 July and immediately conveyed their angry feelings about Page to Wace. Page was initially unaware of the others' plans to oust him, and though Ray and Wace continued to be friendly in their interactions with him, the two met with a solicitor on 2 August to begin planning the separation. The following day, Ray arrived unannounced at a Sonny & Cher recording session at which Page was present, angrily objecting to the duo recording one of his compositions, "Set Me Free", while also expressing his wish for Page to terminate involvement with the Kinks. The Kinks resumed their world tour in Sweden on 1 September, accompanied only by Curtis. The following day, Wace and Collins' firm Boscobel Productions served a legal notice advising Page and Kassners' firm Denmark Productions that the Kinks intended to terminate their existing contract. Page filed litigation in November over his subsequent remuneration, leading to a protracted legal dispute between the two parties in London's High Court in May and June 1967, followed by the Court of Appeal from March to June 1968. Key aspects of each of the hearings centred on whether Page's departure to London in the final week of the US tour constituted a legal abandonment, something which generated disagreement among the three justices hearing the appeal. Page was only partially successful, when both courts awarded him compensation up to 14 September 1965. The management dispute ended on 9 October 1968, when a final appeal filed by Page was rejected. ### American performance ban Following the issues between the Kinks and promoter Betty Kaye in Reno, Sacramento and San Francisco, she filed a formal complaint with Local 6, the San Francisco branch of the AFM. Union officials in Los Angeles and likely San Francisco filed further complaints. In response, the AFM withheld future work permits from the Kinks, in effect banning the band from future US performance. The AFM made no public statements regarding their action against the Kinks, nor did they communicate to the band an explanation or possible duration. The Kinks hoped to return to the US soon after, but four tours booked for between December 1965 and December 1966 were each cancelled a month beforehand after the band proved unable to obtain work visas. Anticipating further visa issues, they declined an invitation to the Monterey International Pop Festival, a June 1967 Californian music festival which elevated the American popularity of several acts. Plans to tour the US in December 1967 and December 1968 similarly fell through after more visa denials. The AFM's ban on the Kinks persisted for four years. Ray negotiated with the union to lift it when he visited Los Angeles in April 1969. As part of the agreement, the AFM required the Kinks and their management to write apologies to Kaye and refrain from discussing the matter publicly. Ray, Dave and the band's management were vague in explaining the situation in interviews over ensuing decades. Asked for comment in December 1969 by Rolling Stone magazine, the union stated that it had no official paperwork regarding a ban on the Kinks but added that the reciprocity agreement between the AFM and the British Musicians' Union allowed either organisation to withhold permits from acts which "behave badly on stage or fail to show for scheduled performances without good reason". Other AFM officials subsequently said that the Kinks were banned on the grounds of "unprofessional conduct". The biographer Thomas M. Kitts alternatively suggests that the AFM's sanctions against the Kinks were motivated by a desire "to make an example of some young English musicians who, the union believed, were taking work from Americans". Kitts adds that the Kinks proved an easier target than the Rolling Stones, who, despite their presentation as one of teenage rebellion, often remained on agreeable terms with officials and promoters. In later interviews, Ray regularly cited the ban as producing a pivot in his songwriting towards English-focused lyrics. The situation left the Kinks comparatively isolated from American influence and changes in its music scene, guiding the band away from their earlier blues-based riffing towards a distinctly English style. While American songwriters explored the emerging drug culture and genre of psychedelia, Ray focused on English musical influences like music hall. Ray later suggested that visiting America ended his envy of the country's music, leading him to abandon attempts to "Americanise" his accent while withdrawing into what he later termed "complete Englishness and quaintness". The American ban hampered the development of the Kinks' career. Unable to promote their music in the US via tours or television appearances, they saw a decline in their American record sales. The band experienced continued success in the UK, but only two of their singles entered the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 while the ban remained active. By late 1967, after a string of poor performing singles, American record shops had generally stopped stocking the band's releases. The band steadily lost American fans, but they retained a cult following and received favourable coverage from America's nascent underground rock press. After the ban was lifted, Reprise and Warner Bros. Records initiated a promotional campaign to re-establish the Kinks' commercial standing before their return tour, held from October to December 1969, which the promotional campaign and some contemporary newspapers described as the band's first American tour. Other than their single "Lola", which reached number nine in the US in October 1970, the Kinks did not achieve regular commercial success in the country again until the late 1970s. ## Set list The Kinks played for around 40 minutes, but no complete set lists from the US tour are known to band biographers. Below are examples of set lists from the second and fifth legs of the world tour, roughly two months before and three months after the US tour, respectively: 30 April 1965, Adelphi Cinema, Slough, UK 1. "You Really Got Me" 2. "Beautiful Delilah" 3. "It's Alright" 4. "Tired of Waiting for You" 5. "Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy" 6. "It's All Over Now" 7. "All Day and All of the Night" 8. "Hide and Seek" 1 October 1965, Hit House, Munich, West Germany 1. "You Really Got Me" 2. "Beautiful Delilah" 3. "Tired of Waiting for You" 4. "Got Love If You Want It" 5. "Come On Now" 6. "All Day and All of the Night" ## Tour dates According to band researcher Doug Hinman: Note - The above table includes neither those shows which were cancelled before the tour began nor those dates which were not finalised. The cancelled shows were in Indianapolis, Louisville, Rockford, San Jose and San Diego, planned for 20, 22, 23 June and 2 and 5 July, respectively. Tentative dates planned for 9–16 June but never finalised included Manchester, Wappingers Falls, Boston, Providence, New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford and Youngstown, as well as Vancouver on 11 July.
16,079,667	Lightning Bar	1,111,540,388	Quarter Horse stallion	[ "1951 racehorse births", "1960 racehorse deaths", "AQHA Hall of Fame (horses)", "American Quarter Horse racehorses", "American Quarter Horse sires" ]	Lightning Bar (1951–1960) was an American Quarter Horse who raced and subsequently became a breeding stallion. He was bred by his lifelong owner Art Pollard of Sonoita, Arizona, and was the offspring of Three Bars, a Thoroughbred, and Della P, a Quarter Horse mare from Louisiana, then noted for the breeding of sprint horses. Lightning Bar raced ten times, achieving four victories and four other top-three finishes. His racing career was cut short by illness after only one year, following which he spent two years as a show horse. As a breeding stallion he sired seven crops, or years, of foals, among whom Doc Bar was the best known. In 1960 Lightning Bar died of an intestinal infection at the age of nine. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association's (AQHA) Hall of Fame in 2008. ## Early life Foaled, or born, in 1951, Lightning Bar was bred to be a race horse, but injuries and bouts of illnesses kept him from racing past the age of two. His breeder, Art Pollard, owned him for the horse's entire life. Lightning Bar was sired by Three Bars, a Thoroughbred stallion later inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. His dam was Della P, a daughter of the Thoroughbred stallion Doc Horn. His second dam, or maternal grandmother, was a mare who was never given a name, sired by Old D. J. Art Pollard purchased Della P from "Dink" Parker for \$1,750 () in the late 1940s. Della P was bred in Louisiana, a leader in breeding short distance racehorses between 1900 and 1940, and was taken to Arizona by Parker. When Lightning Bar was about five days old Pollard was afraid that he had leg problems and was buck-kneed, and considered putting the colt to sleep. He sought Parker's advice, and as Pollard later related the story, "Dink just looked at me and shook his head. 'Ain't you ever gonna learn nothing? That colt's just what you're looking for.' " When mature, the sorrel-colored Lightning Bar stood tall and weighed about 1,250 pounds (570 kg). ## Racing and show career Lightning Bar started on the racetrack ten times, winning four races, coming in second three times, and third once. Among those finishes, he ran second and third in two stakes races, a type of race for higher quality horses with a higher payout. His total earnings on the track were \$1,491 (), and his highest speed index, or comparative rating of his speed, was AAA, the highest achievable at the time. Lightning Bar raced for only one year, as he suffered from bouts of pneumonia, strangles, and leg injuries. He equalled one track record for two-year-olds at the Los Angeles County Fair race meeting in Pomona, California, running 330 yards (300 m) in 17.2 seconds. After his racing career Lightning Bar went on to become a show horse, earning 18 open halter points with the AQHA, and an AQHA Champion award in 1955. He won one grand championship and one reserve championship in halter classes at recognized AQHA shows. ## Breeding career The first year Lightning Bar stood as a breeding stallion his stud fee, the amount charged to breed a mare to him, was \$250 () but only nine mares were bred to him. The next year, he bred 11 mares, but in 1956, he bred 102 mares at \$500 () each. One of Pollard's attempts to advertise his stallion involved letting one of his ranch hands take the horse to a local jackpot roping. Pollard assumed that the hand would just ride Lightning Bar around and show him off, but he later discovered that more was involved. Pollard said later that "I should have been suspicious when he (the ranch hand) returned with Lightning Bar that afternoon, with a sheepish grin on his face. I asked him how the horse was received and he said 'The stud did good and I won the jackpot!' After congratulating him, I asked which rope horse he had used. He replied, 'The stud.' " Pollard said of Lightning Bar that "I always had to be careful about the kind of latch I used on a gate with that horse. He could figure them out faster than I could. He would open a gate, and go for a stroll." Lightning Bar sired 148 foals in his seven breeding seasons, and 118 of those foals went on to either race or show careers. Of his foals, 108 started races, and 77 won, earning a total of \$476,949. The most successful of his foals, Lightning Belle, earned \$60,134 (). Five of Lightning Bar's foals earned AQHA Championships: Cactus Comet, Crash Bang, Lightning Rey, Pana Bar and Relampago Bar; Lightning Rey earned a Supreme Championship. In addition, Lightning Bar's offspring earned \$1,163.32 in National Cutting Horse Association sanctioned cattle cutting competitions, and four earned a Superior Halter Horse title from the AQHA. ## Death and legacy Lightning Bar died in June 1960 from colitis-X, a disease of unknown origin that can kill rapidly and without warning. It infected many of Pollard's horses; of those affected only three survived. Heartbroken, Pollard sold his remaining stock and did not return to the Quarter Horse business for 15 years. He said later that "it was a nightmare when they were wiped out. Even now, we can still feel the sadness of losing those horses." Another time, Pollard remarked that "Someone once said that a man deserves one good woman and one good dog in his lifetime. To that quip I would add one good horse. I certainly had one in Lightning Bar." Lightning Bar was inducted into the AQHA's American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2008. His most famous son was Doc Bar, who was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. Lightning Bar's daughter Glamour Bars was the dam of Impressive, who became well known as one of the leading sires of halter horses. Two stakes races were run in Lightning Bar's memory, the first at Los Alamitos Race track in California for one year in 1961. The second ran from 1962 to 1966 at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. ## Pedigree
39,833	Charles I of Anjou	1,172,192,876	King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285	[ "1227 births", "1285 deaths", "13th century in the Kingdom of Albania", "13th-century monarchs of Naples", "Albanian monarchs", "Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis", "Capetian House of Anjou", "Characters in The Decameron", "Charles I of Anjou", "Children of Louis VIII of France", "Christians of the Eighth Crusade", "Christians of the Seventh Crusade", "Counts of Anjou", "Counts of Maine", "Counts of Malta", "Counts of Provence", "Princes of Achaea", "Prisoners and detainees of the Abbasid Caliphate" ]	Charles I (early 1226/1227 – 7 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–1285) and Forcalquier (1246–1248, 1256–1285) in the Holy Roman Empire, Count of Anjou and Maine (1246–1285) in France; he was also King of Sicily (1266–1285) and Prince of Achaea (1278–1285). In 1272, he was proclaimed King of Albania, and in 1277 he purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile, Charles was destined for a Church career until the early 1240s. He acquired Provence and Forcalquier through his marriage to their heiress, Beatrice. His attempts to restore central authority brought him into conflict with his mother-in-law, Beatrice of Savoy, and the nobility. Charles received Anjou and Maine from his brother, Louis IX of France, in appanage. He accompanied Louis during the Seventh Crusade to Egypt. Shortly after he returned to Provence in 1250, Charles forced three wealthy autonomous cities—Marseille, Arles and Avignon—to acknowledge his suzerainty. Charles supported Margaret II, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, against her eldest son, John, in exchange for Hainaut in 1253. Two years later Louis IX persuaded him to renounce the county, but compensated him by instructing Margaret to pay him 160,000 marks. Charles forced the rebellious Provençal nobles and towns into submission and expanded his suzerainty over a dozen towns and lordships in the Kingdom of Arles. In 1263, after years of negotiations, he accepted the offer of the Holy See to seize the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufens. This kingdom included, in addition to the island of Sicily, southern Italy to well north of Naples and was known as the Regno. Pope Urban IV declared a crusade against the incumbent Manfred of Sicily and assisted Charles in raising funds for the military campaign. Charles was crowned king in Rome on 5 January 1266. He annihilated Manfred's army and occupied the Regno almost without resistance. His victory over Manfred's young nephew, Conradin, at the Battle of Tagliacozzo in 1268 strengthened his rule. In 1270 he took part in the Eighth Crusade organised by Louis IX, and forced the Hafsid Caliph of Tunis to pay a yearly tribute to him. Charles's victories secured his undisputed leadership among the Papacy's Italian partisans (known as Guelphs), but his influence on papal elections and his strong military presence in Italy disturbed the popes. They tried to channel his ambitions towards other territories and assisted him in acquiring claims to Achaea, Jerusalem and Arles through treaties. In 1281 Pope Martin IV authorised Charles to launch a crusade against the Byzantine Empire. Charles's ships were gathering at Messina, ready to begin the campaign when the Sicilian Vespers rebellion broke out on 30 March 1282 which put an end to Charles's rule on the island of Sicily. He was able to defend the mainland territories (or the Kingdom of Naples) with the support of France and the Holy See. Charles died while making preparations for an invasion of Sicily. ## Early life ### Childhood Charles was the youngest child of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. The date of his birth has not survived, but he was probably born posthumously in early 1227. Charles was Louis' only surviving son to be "born in the purple" (after his father's coronation), a fact he often emphasised in his youth, as the contemporaneous chronicler Matthew Paris noted in his Chronica Majora. He was the first Capetian to be named for Charlemagne. Louis VIII died in November 1226 and his eldest son, Louis IX, succeeded him. The late King willed that his youngest sons were to be prepared for a career in the Roman Catholic Church. The details of Charles's tuition are unknown, but he received a good education. He understood the principal Catholic doctrines and could identify errors in Latin texts. His passion for poetry, medical sciences, and law is well documented. Charles later said that his mother had a strong impact on her children's education; in reality, Blanche was fully engaged in state administration, and could likely spare little time for her youngest children. Charles lived at the court of a brother, Robert I, Count of Artois, from 1237. About four years later he was put into the care of his youngest brother, Alphonse, Count of Poitiers. His participation in his brothers' military campaign against Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, in 1242 showed that he was no longer destined for a Church career. ### Provence and Anjou Raymond Berengar V of Provence died in August 1245, bequeathing Provence and Forcalquier to his youngest daughter, Beatrice, allegedly because he had given generous dowries to her three sisters. The dowries were actually not fully discharged, causing two of her sisters, Margaret (Louis IX's wife) and Eleanor (the wife of Henry III of England), to believe that they had been unlawfully disinherited. Their mother, Beatrice of Savoy, claimed that Raymond Berengar had willed the usufruct of Provence to her. The Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II (whom Pope Innocent IV had recently excommunicated for his alleged "crimes against the Church"), Count Raymond VII of Toulouse and other neighbouring rulers proposed themselves or their sons as husbands for the young Countess. Her mother put her under the protection of the Holy See. Louis IX and Margaret suggested that Beatrice should be given in marriage to Charles. To secure the support of France against Frederick II, Pope Innocent IV accepted their proposal. Charles hurried to Aix-en-Provence at the head of an army to prevent other suitors from invading Provence, and married Beatrice on 31 January 1246. Provence was a part of the Kingdom of Arles and so of the Holy Roman Empire, but Charles never swore fealty to the emperor. He ordered a survey of the counts' rights and revenues, outraging both his subjects and his mother-in-law, who regarded this action as an attack against her rights. Being a younger child, destined for a church career, Charles had not received an appanage (a hereditary county or duchy) from his father. Louis VIII had willed that his fourth son, John, should receive Anjou and Maine upon reaching the age of majority, but John died in 1232. Louis IX knighted Charles at Melun in May 1246 and three months later bestowed Anjou and Maine on him. Charles rarely visited his two counties and appointed baillies (or regents) to administer them. While Charles was absent from Provence, Marseille, Arles and Avignon—three wealthy cities, directly subject to the emperor—formed a league and appointed a Provençal nobleman, Barral of Baux, as the commander of their combined armies. Charles's mother-in-law put the disobedient Provençals under her protection. Charles could not deal with the rebels as he was about to join his brother's crusade. To pacify his mother-in-law he acknowledged her right to rule Forcalquier and granted a third of his revenues from Provence to her. ### Seventh Crusade In December 1244 Louis IX took a vow to lead a crusade. Ignoring their mother's strong opposition, his three brothers—Robert, Alphonse and Charles—also took the cross. Preparations for the crusade lasted for years, with the crusaders embarking at Aigues-Mortes on 25 August 1248. After spending several months in Cyprus they invaded Egypt on 5 June 1249. They captured Damietta and decided to attack Cairo in November. During their advance Louis's biographer Jean de Joinville noted Charles's personal courage which saved dozens of crusaders' lives. Robert of Artois died fighting against the Egyptians at Al Mansurah. His three brothers survived, but they had to abandon the campaign. While withdrawing from Egypt, they fell into captivity on 6 April 1250. The Egyptians released Louis, Charles and Alphonse in exchange for 800,000 bezants and the surrender of Damietta on 6 May. During their voyage to Acre, Charles outraged Louis by gambling while the king was mourning Robert's death. Louis remained in the Holy Land, but Charles returned to France in October 1250. ## Wider ambitions ### Conflicts and consolidation Charles's officers continued the survey of the counts' rights and revenues in Provence, provoking a new rebellion during his absence. On his return he applied both diplomacy and military force to deal with them. The Archbishop of Arles and the Bishop of Digne ceded their secular rights in the two towns to Charles in 1250. He received military assistance from his brother, Alphonse. Arles was the first town to surrender to them in April 1251. In May they forced Avignon to acknowledge their joint rule. A month later Barral of Baux also capitulated. Marseilles was the only town to resist for several months, but it also sought peace in July 1252. Its burghers acknowledged Charles as their lord, but retained their self-governing bodies. Charles's officials continued to ascertain his rights, visiting each town and holding public enquiries to obtain information about all claims. The count's salt monopoly (or gabelle) was introduced in the whole county. Income from the salt trade made up about 50% of state revenues by the late 1250s. Charles abolished local tolls and promoted shipbuilding and grain trade. He ordered the issue of new coins, called provencaux, to enable the use of the local currency in smaller transactions. Emperor Frederick II, who was also the ruler of Sicily, died in 1250. The Kingdom of Sicily, also known as the Regno, included the island of Sicily and southern Italy nearly as far as Rome. Pope Innocent IV claimed that the Regno had reverted to the Holy See. The Pope first offered it to Richard of Cornwall, but Richard did not want to fight against Frederick's son, Conrad IV of Germany. Then the Pope proposed to enfeoff Charles with the kingdom. Charles sought instructions from Louis IX, who forbade him to accept the offer, because he regarded Conrad as the lawful ruler. After Charles informed the Holy See on 30 October 1253 that he would not accept the Regno, the Pope offered it to Edmund of Lancaster. Queen Blanche, who had administered France during Louis' crusade, died on 1 December 1252. Louis made Alphonse and Charles co-regents, so that he could remain in the Holy Land. Margaret II, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut had come into conflict with her son by her first marriage, John of Avesnes. After her sons by her second marriage were captured in July 1253, she needed foreign assistance to secure their release. Ignoring Louis IX's 1246 ruling that Hainaut should pass to John, she promised the county to Charles. He accepted the offer and invaded Hainaut, forcing most local noblemen to swear fealty to him. After his return to France, Louis IX insisted that his ruling was to be respected. In November 1255 he ordered Charles to restore Hainaut to Margaret, but her sons were obliged to swear fealty to Charles. Louis also ruled that she was to pay 160,000 marks to Charles over the following 13 years. Charles returned to Provence, which had again become restive. His mother-in-law continued to support the rebellious Boniface of Castellane and his allies, but Louis IX persuaded her to return Forcalquier to Charles and relinquish her claims for a lump sum payment from Charles and a pension from Louis in November 1256. A coup by Charles's supporters in Marseilles resulted in the surrender of all political powers there to his officials. Charles continued to expand his power along the borders of Provence in the next four years. He received territories in the Lower Alps from the Dauphin of Vienne. Raymond I of Baux, Count of Orange, ceded the title of regent of the Kingdom of Arles to him. The burghers of Cuneo—a town strategically located on the routes from Provence to Lombardy—sought Charles's protection against Asti in July 1259. Alba, Cherasco, Savigliano and other nearby towns acknowledged his rule. The rulers of Mondovì, Ceva, Biandrate and Saluzzo did homage to him. Emperor Frederick II's illegitimate son, Manfred, had been crowned king of Sicily in 1258. After the English barons had announced that they opposed a war against Manfred, Pope Alexander IV annulled the 1253 grant of Sicily to Edmund of Lancaster. Alexander's successor, Pope Urban IV, was determined to put an end to the Emperor's rule in Italy. He sent his notary, Albert of Parma, to Paris to negotiate with Louis IX for Charles to be placed on the Sicilian throne. Charles met with the Pope's envoy in early 1262. Taking advantage of Charles's absence, Boniface of Castellane stirred up a new revolt in Provence. The burghers of Marseilles expelled Charles's officials, but Barral of Baux stopped the spread of the rebellion before Charles's return. Charles renounced Ventimiglia in favour of the Republic of Genoa to secure her neutrality. He defeated the rebels and forced Castellane into exile. The mediation of James I of Aragon brought about a settlement with Marseilles: its fortifications were dismantled and the townspeople surrendered their arms, but the town retained its autonomy. ### Conquest of the Regno Louis IX decided to support Charles's military campaign in Italy in May 1263. Pope Urban IV promised to proclaim a crusade against Manfred, while Charles pledged that he would not accept any offices in the Italian towns. Manfred staged a coup in Rome, but the Guelphs elected Charles senator (or the head of the civil government of Rome). He accepted the office, at which a group of cardinals requested that the Pope revoke the agreement with him, but the Pope, being otherwise defenceless against Manfred, could not break with Charles. In the spring of 1264 Cardinals Simon of Brie and Guy Foulquois were sent to France to reach a compromise and start raising support for the crusade. Charles sent troops to Rome to protect the Pope against Manfred's allies. At Foulquois' request, Charles's sister-in-law Margaret (who had not abandoned her claims to her dowry) pledged that she would not take actions against Charles during his absence. Foulquois also persuaded the French and Provençal prelates to offer financial support for the crusade. Pope Urban died before the final agreement was concluded. Charles made arrangements for his campaign against Sicily during the interregnum; he concluded agreements to secure his army's route across Lombardy and had the leaders of the Provençal rebels executed. Foulquois was elected pope in February 1265; he soon confirmed Charles's senatorship and urged him to come to Rome. Charles agreed that he would hold the Kingdom of Sicily as the popes' vassal for an annual tribute of 8,000 ounces of gold. He also promised that he would never seek the imperial title. He embarked at Marseilles on 10 May and landed at Ostia ten days later. He was installed as senator on 21 June and four cardinals invested him with the Regno a week later. To finance further military actions he borrowed money from Italian bankers with the Pope's assistance, who had authorised him to pledge Church property. Five cardinals crowned him king of Sicily on 5 January 1266. The crusaders from France and Provence—reportedly 6,000 fully equipped mounted warriors, 600 mounted bowmen and 20,000 foot-soldiers—arrived in Rome ten days later. Charles decided to invade southern Italy without delay, because he was unable to finance a lengthy campaign. He left Rome on 20 January 1266. He marched towards Naples, but changed his strategy after learning of a muster of Manfred's forces near Capua. He led his troops across the Apennines towards Benevento. Manfred also hurried to the town and reached it before Charles. Worried that further delays might endanger his subjects' loyalty, Manfred attacked Charles's army, then in disarray from the crossing of the hills, on 26 February 1266. In the ensuing battle, Manfred's army was defeated and he was killed. Resistance throughout the Regno collapsed and towns surrendered even before Charles's troops reached them. The Saracens of Lucera—a Muslim colony established during Frederick II's reign—paid homage to him. His commander, Philip of Montfort, took control of the island of Sicily. Manfred's widow, Helena of Epirus, and their children were captured. Charles laid claim to her dowry—the island of Corfu and the region of Durazzo (now Durrës in Albania)—by right of conquest. His troops seized Corfu before the end of the year. ### Conradin Charles was lenient with Manfred's supporters, but they did not believe that this conciliatory policy could last. They knew that he had promised to return estates to the Guelph lords expelled from the Regno. Neither could Charles gain the commoners' loyalty, partly because he continued enforcing the subventio generalis despite the popes declaring it an illegal charge. He introduced a ban on the use of foreign currency in large transactions and made a profit of the compulsory exchange of foreign coinage for locally minted currency. He also traded in grain, spices and sugar, through a joint venture with Pisan merchants. Pope Clement censured Charles for his methods of state administration, describing him as an arrogant and obstinate monarch. The consolidation of Charles's power in northern Italy also alarmed Clement. To appease the Pope, Charles resigned his senatorship in May 1267. His successors, Conrad Monaldeschi and Luca Savelli, demanded the re-payment of the money that Charles and the Pope had borrowed from the Romans. Victories by the Ghibellines, the imperial family's supporters, forced the Pope to ask Charles to send his troops to Tuscany. Charles's troops ousted the Ghibellines from Florence in April 1267. After being elected the Podestà (ruler) of Florence and Lucca for seven years, Charles hurried to Tuscany. Charles's expansionism along the Papal States' borders alarmed Pope Clement and he decided to change the direction of Charles's ambitions. The Pope summoned him to Viterbo, forcing him to promise that he would abandon all claims to Tuscany in three years. He persuaded Charles to conclude agreements with William of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, and the titular Latin Emperor Baldwin II in late May. According to the first treaty, Villehardouin acknowledged Charles's suzerainty and made Charles's younger son, Philip, his heir, also stipulating that Charles would inherit Achaea if Philip died childless. Baldwin confirmed the first agreement and renounced his claims to suzerainty over his vassals in favour of Charles. Charles pledged that he would assist Baldwin in recapturing Constantinople from the Byzantine emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologos, in exchange for one third of the conquered lands. Charles returned to Tuscany and laid siege to the fortress of Poggibonsi, but it did not fall until the end of November. Manfred's staunchest supporters had meanwhile fled to Bavaria to attempt to persuade Conrad IV's 15-year-old son Conradin to assert his hereditary right to the Kingdom of Sicily. After Conradin accepted their proposal, Manfred's former vicar in Sicily, Conrad Capece, returned to the island and stirred up a revolt. At Capece's request Muhammad I al-Mustansir, the Hafsid caliph of Tunis, allowed Manfred's former ally, Frederick of Castile, to invade Sicily from North Africa. Frederick's brother, Henry—who had been elected senator of Rome—also offered support to Conradin. Henry had been Charles's friend, but Charles had failed to repay a loan to him. Conradin left Bavaria in September 1267. His supporters' revolt was spreading from Sicily to Calabria; the Saracens of Lucera also rose up. Pope Clement urged Charles to return to the Regno, but he continued his campaign in Tuscany until March 1268, when he met with the Pope. In April, the Pope made Charles imperial vicar of Tuscany "during the vacancy of the empire", a move of dubious legality. Charles marched to southern Italy and laid siege to Lucera, but he then had to hurry north to prevent Conradin's invasion of Abruzzo in late August. At the Battle of Tagliacozzo, on 23 August 1268, it appeared that Conradin had won the day, but a sudden charge by Charles's reserve routed Conradin's army. The burghers of Potenza, Aversa and other towns in Basilicata and Apulia massacred their fellows who had agitated on Conradin's behalf, but the Sicilians and the Saracens of Lucera did not surrender. Charles marched to Rome where he was again elected senator in September. He appointed new officials to administer justice and collect state revenues. New coins bearing his name were struck. During the following decade, Rome was ruled by Charles's vicars, each appointed for one year. Conradin was captured at Torre Astura. Most of his retainers were summarily executed, but Conradin and his friend, Frederick I, Margrave of Baden, were brought to trial for robbery and treason in Naples. They were sentenced to death and beheaded on 29 October. Conrad of Antioch was Conradin's only partisan to be released, but only after his wife threatened to execute the Guelph lords she held captive in her castle. The Ghibelline noblemen of the Regno fled to the court of Peter III of Aragon, who had married Manfred's daughter, Constance. ## Mediterranean empire ### Italy Charles's wife, Beatrice of Provence, had died in July 1267. The widowed Charles married Margaret of Nevers in November 1268. She was co-heiress to her father, Odo, the eldest son of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy. Pope Clement died on 29 November 1268. The papal vacancy lasted for three years, which strengthened Charles's authority in Italy, but it also deprived him of the ecclesiastic support that only a pope could provide. Charles returned to Lucera to personally direct its siege in April 1269. The Saracens and the Ghibellines who had escaped to the town resisted until starvation forced them to surrender in August 1269. Charles sent Philip and Guy of Montfort to Sicily to force the rebels there into submission, but they could only capture Augusta. Charles made William l'Estandart the commander of the army in Sicily in August 1269. L'Estandart captured Agrigento, forcing Frederick of Castile and Frederick Lancia to seek refuge in Tunis. After L'Estandart's subsequent victory at Sciacca, only Capece resisted, but he also had to surrender in early 1270. Charles's troops forced Siena and Pisa—the last towns to resist him in Tuscany—to sue for peace in August 1270. He granted privileges to the Tuscan merchants and bankers which strengthened their position in the Regno. His influence was declining in Lombardy, because the Lombard towns no longer feared an invasion from Germany after Conradin's death. In May 1269 Charles sent Walter of La Roche to represent him in the province, but this failed to strengthen his authority. In October Charles's officials convoked an assembly at Cremona, and invited the Lombard towns to attend. The Lombard towns accepted the invitation, but some towns—Milan, Bologna, Alessandria and Tortona—only confirmed their alliance with Charles, without acknowledging his rule. ### Eighth Crusade Louis IX never abandoned the idea of the liberation of Jerusalem, but he decided to begin his new crusade with a military campaign against Tunis. According to his confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, Louis was convinced that al-Mustansir of Tunis was ready to convert to Christianity. The 13th-century historian Saba Malaspina stated that Charles persuaded Louis to attack Tunis, because he wanted to secure the payment of the tribute that the rulers of Tunis had paid to the former Sicilian monarchs. The French crusaders embarked at Aigues-Mortes on 2 July 1270; Charles departed from Naples six days later. He spent more than a month in Sicily, waiting for his fleet. By the time he landed at Tunis on 25 August, dysentery and typhoid fever had decimated the French army. Louis died the day Charles arrived. The crusaders twice defeated Al-Mustansir's army, forcing him to sue for peace. According to the peace treaty, signed on 1 November, Al-Mustansir agreed to fully compensate Louis' son and successor, Philip III of France, and Charles for the expenses of the military campaign and to release his Christian prisoners. He also promised to pay a yearly tribute to Charles and to expel Charles's opponents from Tunis. The gold from Tunis, along with silver from the newly opened mine at Longobucco, enabled Charles to mint new coins, known as carlini, in the Regno. Charles and Philip departed Tunis on 10 November. A storm dispersed their fleet at Trapani and most of Charles's galleys were lost or damaged. Genoese ships returning from the crusade were also sunk or forced to land in Sicily. Charles seized the damaged ships and their cargo, ignoring all protests from the Ghibelline authorities of Genoa. Before leaving Sicily he granted temporary tax concessions to the Sicilians, because he realised that the conquest of the island had caused much destruction. ### Attempts to expand Charles accompanied Philip III as far as Viterbo in March 1271. Here they failed to convince the cardinals to elect a new pope. Charles's brother, Alphonse of Poitiers, fell ill. Charles sent his best doctors to cure him, but Alphonse died. He claimed the major part of Alphonse's inheritance, including the Marquisate of Provence and the County of Poitiers, because he was Alphonse's nearest kin. After Philip III objected, he took the case to the Parlement of Paris. In 1284 the court ruled that appanages escheated to the French crown if their rulers died without descendants. An earthquake destroyed the walls of Durazzo in the late 1260s or early 1270s. Charles's troops took possession of the town with the assistance of the leaders of the nearby Albanian communities. Charles concluded an agreement with the Albanian chiefs, promising to protect them and their ancient liberties in February 1272. He adopted the title of King of Albania and appointed Gazzo Chinardo as his vicar-general. He also sent his fleet to Achaea to defend the principality against Byzantine attacks. Charles hurried to Rome to attend the enthronement of Pope Gregory X on 27 March 1272. The new pope was determined to put an end to the conflicts between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. While in Rome Charles met with the Guelph leaders who had been exiled from Genoa. After they offered him the office of captain of the people, Charles promised military assistance to them. In November 1272 Charles commanded his officials to take prisoner all Genoese within his territories, except for the Guelphs, and to seize their property. His fleet occupied Ajaccio in Corsica. Pope Gregory condemned his aggressive policy, but proposed that the Genoese should elect Guelph officials. Ignoring the Pope's proposal, the Genoese made alliance with Alfonso X of Castile, William VII of Montferrat and the Ghibelline towns of Lombardy in October 1273. The conflict with Genoa prevented Charles from invading the Byzantine Empire, but he continued to forge alliances in the Balkan Peninsula. The Bulgarian ruler, Konstantin Tih, was the first to conclude a treaty with him in 1272 or 1273. John I Doukas of Thessaly and Stefan Uroš I, King of Serbia, joined the coalition in 1273. However, Pope Gregory forbade Charles to attack, because he hoped to unify the Orthodox and Catholic churches with the assistance of Emperor Michael VIII. The renowned theologian Thomas Aquinas died unexpectedly near Naples on 7 March 1274, before departing to attend the Second Council of Lyon. According to a popular legend, immortalised by Dante Alighieri, Charles had him poisoned, because he feared that Aquinas would make complaint against him. The historian Steven Runciman emphasises that "there is no evidence for supposing that the great doctor's death was not natural". Southern Italian churchmen at the council accused Charles of tyrannical acts. Their report reinforced the Pope's attempt to reach a compromise with Rudolf of Habsburg, who had been elected king of Germany by the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. In June, the Pope acknowledged Rudolf as the lawful ruler of both Germany and Italy. Charles's sisters-in-law, Margaret and Eleanor, approached Rudolf, claiming that they had been unlawfully disinherited in favour of Charles's late wife. Michael VIII's personal envoy announced at the Council of Lyon on 6 July that he had accepted the Catholic creed and papal primacy. About three weeks later, Pope Gregory again prohibited Charles from launching military actions against the Byzantine Empire. The Pope also tried to mediate a truce between Charles and Michael, but the latter chose to attack several smaller states in the Balkans, including Charles's vassals. The Byzantine fleet took control of the maritime routes between Albania and southern Italy in the late 1270s. Gregory only allowed Charles to send reinforcements to Achaea. The organisation of a new crusade to the Holy Land remained the Pope's principal object. He persuaded Charles to start negotiations with Maria of Antioch about purchasing her claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The High Court of Jerusalem had already rejected her in favour of Hugh III of Cyprus, but the Pope had a low opinion of Hugh. The war with Genoa and the Lombard towns increasingly occupied Charles's attention. He appointed his nephew Robert II of Artois as his deputy in Piedmont in October 1274, but Artois could not prevent Vercelli and Alessandria from joining the Ghibelline League. The following summer, a Genoese fleet plundered Trapani and the island of Gozo. Convinced that only Rudolf I could achieve a compromise between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Pope urged the Lombard towns to send envoys to him. He also urged Charles to renounce Tuscany. In the autumn of 1275 the Ghibellines offered to make peace with Charles, but he did not accept their terms. Early the next year the Ghibellines defeated his troops at Col de Tende, forcing them to withdraw to Provence. ### Papal elections Pope Gregory X died on 10 January 1276. After the hostility he experienced during Gregory's pontificate, Charles was determined to secure the election of a pope willing to support his plans. Gregory's successor, Pope Innocent V, had always been Charles's partisan and he rapidly confirmed Charles as senator of Rome and imperial vicar of Tuscany. He also mediated a peace treaty between Charles and Genoa, which was signed in Rome on 22 June 1276. Charles restored the privileges of the Genoese merchants and renounced his conquests, and the Genoese acknowledged his rule in Ventimiglia. Pope Innocent died on 30 June 1276. After the cardinals assembled in the Lateran Palace, Charles's troops surrounded it, enabling only his allies to communicate with other cardinals and with outsiders. On 11 July the cardinals elected Charles's old friend, Ottobuono de' Fieschi, pope, but he died on 18 August. The cardinals met again, this time at Viterbo. Although Charles was staying in the nearby Vetralla, he could not directly influence the election, because his vehement opponent, Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, dominated the papal conclave. Pope John XXI, who was elected on 20 September, excommunicated Charles's opponents in Piedmont and prohibited Rudolf from coming to Lombardy, but did not forbid the Lombardian Guelph leaders swearing fealty to Rudolf. The Pope also confirmed the treaty concluded by Charles and Maria of Antioch on 18 March which transferred her claims to Jerusalem to Charles for 1,000 bezants and a pension of 4,000 livres tournois. Charles appointed Roger of San Severino to administer the Kingdom of Jerusalem as his bailiff. San Severino landed at Acre on 7 June 1277. Hugh III's bailiff, Balian of Arsuf, surrendered the town without resistance. Although initially only the Knights Hospitaller and the Venetians acknowledged Charles as the lawful ruler, the barons of the realm also paid homage to San Severino in January 1278, after he had threatened to confiscate their estates. The Mamluks of Egypt had already confined the kingdom to a coastal strip covering 2,600 km<sup>2</sup> (1,000 square miles) and Charles had ordered San Severino to avoid conflicts with Egypt. Pope John died on 20 May 1277. Charles was ill and could not prevent the election of Giovanni Gaetano Orsini as Pope Nicholas III on 25 November. The Pope soon declared that no foreign prince could rule in Rome and reminded Charles that he had been elected senator for ten years. Charles swore fealty to the new pope on 24 May 1278 after lengthy negotiations. He had to pledge that he would renounce both the senatorship of Rome and the vicariate of Tuscany in four months. On the other hand, Nicholas III confirmed the excommunication of Charles's enemies in Piedmont and started negotiations with Rudolf to prevent him from making an alliance against Charles with Margaret of Provence and her nephew, Edward I of England. The negotiations with Rudolf lay behind Nicholas' refusal to renew Charles's vicariate in Tuscany, to which Rudolf had appointed his own vicar. Charles announced his resignation from the senatorship and the vicariate on 30 August 1278. He was succeeded by the Pope's brother, Matteo Orsini, in Rome, and by the Pope's nephew, Cardinal Latino Malabranca, in Tuscany. To ensure that Charles fully abandoned his ambitions in central Italy the Pope started negotiations with Rudolf about the restoration of the Kingdom of Arles for Charles's grandson, Charles Martel. Margaret of Provence sharply opposed the plan, but Philip III of France did not stand by his mother. After lengthy negotiations, in the summer of 1279 Rudolf recognised Charles as the lawful ruler of Provence without demanding his oath of fealty. An agreement about Charles Martel's rule in Arles and his marriage to Rudolf's daughter, Clemence, was signed in May 1280. The plan disturbed the rulers of the lands along the Upper Rhone, especially Duke Robert II and Count Otto IV of Burgundy. Charles had meanwhile inherited the Principality of Achaea from William II of Villehardouin, who had died on 1 May 1278. He appointed the unpopular senechal of Sicily, Galeran of Ivry, as his baillif in Achaea. Galeran could not pay his troops who started to pillage the peasants' homes. John I de la Roche, Duke of Athens, had to lend money to him to finance their salaries. Nicephoros I of Epirus acknowledged Charles's suzerainty on 14 March 1279 to secure his assistance against the Byzantines. Nicephoros also ceded three towns—Butrinto, Sopotos and Panormos—to Charles. Pope Nicholas died on 22 August 1280. Charles sent agents to Viterbo to promote the election of one of his supporters, taking advantage of the rift between the late Pope's relatives and other Italian cardinals. When a riot broke out in Viterbo, after the cardinals had not reached a decision for months, Charles's troops took control of the town. On 22 February 1281 his staunchest supporter, Simon of Brie, was elected pope. Pope Martin IV dismissed his predecessor's relatives and made Charles the senator of Rome again. Guido I da Montefeltro rose up against the Pope, but Charles's troops under Jean d'Eppe stopped the spread of the rebellion at Forlì. Charles also sent an army to Piedmont, but Thomas I, Marquess of Saluzzo, annihilated it at Borgo San Dalmazzo in May. ### End of the Church union Pope Martin excommunicated Emperor Michael VIII on 10 April 1281 because the Emperor had not imposed the Church union in his empire. The Pope soon authorised Charles to invade the empire. Charles's vicar in Albania, Hugh of Sully, had already laid siege to the Byzantine fortress of Berat. A Byzantine army of relief under Michael Tarchaneiotes and John Synadenos arrived in March 1281. Sully was ambushed and captured, his army put to flight and the interior of Albania was lost to the Byzantines. On 3 July 1281 Charles and his son-in-law, Philip of Courtenay, the titular Latin emperor, made an alliance with Venice "for the restoration of the Roman Empire". They decided to start a full-scale campaign early the next year. Margaret of Provence called Robert and Otto of Burgundy and other lords who held fiefs in the Kingdom of Arles to a meeting at Troyes in the autumn of 1281. They were willing to unite their troops to prevent Charles's army from taking possession of the kingdom, but Philip III of France strongly opposed his mother's plan and Edward I of England would not promise any assistance to them. Charles acknowledged that his wife held the County of Tonnerre and her other inherited estates as a Burgundian fief, which appeased Robert of Burgundy. Charles's ships started to assemble at Marseilles to sail up the Rhone in the spring of 1282. Another fleet was gathering at Messina to start the crusade against the Byzantine Empire. ## The empire's collapse ### Sicilian Vespers Always in need of funds, Charles could not cancel the subventio generalis, although it was the most unpopular tax in the Regno. Instead he granted exemptions to individuals and communities, especially to the French and Provençal colonists, which increased the burden on those who did not enjoy such privileges. The yearly, or occasionally more frequent, obligatory exchange of the deniers—the coins almost exclusively used in local transactions—was also an important, and unpopular, source of revenue for the royal treasury. Charles took out forced loans whenever he needed "immediately a large sum of money for certain arduous and pressing business", as he explained in one of his decrees. Purveyances, the requisitioning of goods, increased the unpopularity of Charles's government in southern Italy and Sicily. His subjects were also liable to be forced to guard prisoners or lodge soldiers in their homes. The restoration of old fortresses, bridges and aqueducts and the building of new castles required the employment of craftsmen, although most of them were unwilling to participate in such lengthy projects. Thousands of people were forced to serve in the army in foreign lands, especially after 1279. Trading in salt was declared a royal monopoly. In December 1281, Charles again ordered the collection of the subventio generalis, requiring the payment of 150 per cent of the customary amount. Charles did not pay attention to the island of Sicily, although it had been the centre of resistance against him in 1268. He transferred the capital from Palermo to Naples. He did not visit the island after 1271, preventing Sicilians from directly informing him of their grievances. Sicilian noblemen were seldom employed as royal officials, although he often appointed their southern Italian peers to represent him in his other realms. Furthermore, having seized large estates on the island in the late 1260s Charles almost exclusively employed French and Provençal clerics to administer them. Popular stories credited John of Procida—Manfred of Sicily's former chancellor—with staging an international plot against Charles. Legend says that he visited Constantinople, Sicily and Viterbo in disguise in 1279 and 1280 to convince Michael VIII, the Sicilian barons and Pope Nicholas III to support a revolt. On the other hand, Michael VIII would later claim that he "was God's instrument in bringing freedom to the Sicilians" in his memoirs. The Emperor's wealth enabled him to send money to the discontented Sicilian barons. Peter III of Aragon decided to lay claim to the Kingdom of Sicily in late 1280: he did not hide his disdain when he met with Charles's son, Charles, Duke of Salerno, in Toulouse in December 1280. He began to assemble a fleet, ostensibly for another crusade to Tunis. Rioting broke out in Sicily after a burgher of Palermo killed a drunken French soldier who had insulted his wife before the Church of the Holy Spirit on Easter Monday (30 March), 1282. When the soldier's comrades attacked the murderer, the mob turned against them and started to massacre all the French in the town. The riot, known since the 16th century as the Sicilian Vespers, developed into an uprising and most of Charles's officials were killed or forced to flee the island. Charles ordered the transfer of soldiers and ships from Achaea to Sicily, but could not stop the spread of the revolt to Calabria. San Severino also had to return to Italy, accompanied by the major part of the garrison at Acre. Odo Poilechien, who succeeded him in Acre, had limited authority. The burghers of the major Sicilian towns established communes which sent delegates to Pope Martin, asking him to take them under the protection of the Holy See. Instead of accepting their offer, the Pope excommunicated the rebels on 7 May. Charles issued an edict on 10 June, accusing his officials of having ignored his instructions on good administration, but he failed to promise fundamental changes. In July he sailed to Sicily and laid siege to Messina. ### War with Aragon Peter III of Aragon's envoy, William of Castelnou, started negotiations with the rebels' leaders in Palermo. Realizing that they could not resist without foreign support, they acknowledged Peter and Constance as their king and queen. They appointed envoys to accompany Castelnou to Collo where the Aragonese fleet was assembling. After a short hesitation, Peter decided to intervene on the rebels' behalf and sailed to Sicily. He was declared king of Sicily at Palermo on 4 September. Thereafter two realms, each ruled by a monarch styled king (or queen) of Sicily, coexisted for more than a century, with Charles and his successors ruling in southern Italy (known as the Kingdom of Naples) while Peter and his descendants ruled the island of Sicily. In the face of the Aragonese landing, Charles was compelled to withdraw from the island, but the Aragonese moved swiftly and destroyed part of his army and most of his baggage. Peter took control of the whole island and sent troops to Calabria, but they could not prevent Charles of Salerno from leading an army of 600 French knights to join his father at Reggio Calabria. Further French troops arrived under the command of Charles's nephews, Robert II of Artois and Peter of Alençon, in November. In the same month, the Pope excommunicated Peter. Neither Peter nor Charles could afford to wage a lengthy war. Charles made an astonishing proposal in late December 1282, challenging Peter to a judicial duel. Peter insisted that the war should be continued, but agreed that a battle between the two kings, each accompanied by 100 knights, should decide the possession of Sicily. The duel was set to take place at Bordeaux on 1 June 1283, but they did not fix the hour. Charles appointed Charles of Salerno to administer the Regno during his absence. To secure the loyalty of the local lords in Achaea, he made one of their peers, Guy of Dramelay, baillif. Pope Martin declared the war against the Sicilians a crusade on 13 January 1283. Charles met with the Pope in Viterbo on 9 March, but he ignored the Pope's ban on his duel with Peter of Aragon. After visiting Provence and Paris in April, he left for Bordeaux to meet with Peter. The duel turned into a farce; the two kings each arriving at different times on the same day, declaring a victory over their absent opponent, and departing. Skirmishes and raids continued to occur in southern Italy. Aragonese guerrillas attacked Catona and killed Peter of Alençon in January 1283; the Aragonese seized Reggio Calabria in February; and the Sicilian admiral, Roger of Lauria, annihilated a newly raised Provençal fleet at Malta in April. However, tensions arose between the Aragonese and the Sicilians and in May 1283 one of the leaders of the anti-Angevin rebellion, Walter of Caltagirone, was executed for his secret correspondence with Charles's agents. Pope Martin declared the war against Aragon a crusade and conferred the kingdom upon Philip III of France's son, Charles of Valois, on 2 February 1284. Charles started to raise new troops and a fleet in Provence, and instructed his son, Charles of Salerno, to maintain a defensive posture until his return. Roger of Lauria based a small squadron on the island of Nisida to blockade Naples in May 1284. Charles of Salerno attempted to destroy the squadron, but most of his fleet was captured, and he himself was taken prisoner after a short, sharp fight on 5 June. News of the reverse caused a riot in Naples, but the papal legate, Gerard of Parma, crushed it with the assistance of local noblemen. Charles learnt of the disaster when he landed at Gaeta on 6 June. He was furious at Charles of Salerno and his disobedience. He allegedly stated that "Who loses a fool loses nothing", referring to his son's capture. Charles left Naples for Calabria on 24 June 1284. A large army—reportedly 10,000 mounted warriors and 40,000 foot-soldiers—accompanied him as far as Reggio Calabria. He laid siege to the town by sea and land in late July. His fleet approached the coast of Sicily, but his troops could not land in the island. After Lauria landed troops near Reggio Calabria, Charles had to lift the siege and retreat from Calabria on 3 August. ### Death Charles went to Brindisi and made preparations for a campaign against Sicily in the new year. He dispatched orders to his officials for the collection of the subventio generalis. However, he fell seriously ill before travelling to Foggia on 30 December. He made his last will on 6 January 1285, appointing Robert II of Artois regent for his grandson, Charles Martel, who was to rule his realms until Charles of Salerno was released. He died in the morning of 7 January. He was buried in a marble sepulchre in Naples, but his heart was placed at the Couvent Saint-Jacques in Paris. His corpse was moved to a chapel of the newly built Naples Cathedral in 1296. ## Family All records show that Charles was a faithful husband and a caring father. His first wife, Beatrice of Provence, gave birth to at least six children. According to contemporaneous gossips, she persuaded Charles to claim the Kingdom of Sicily, because she wanted to wear a crown like her sisters. Before she died in July 1267, she had willed the usufruct of Provence to Charles. - Blanche, the eldest daughter of Charles and Beatrice, became the wife of Robert of Béthune in 1265, but she died four years later. - Beatrice, her younger sister, married Philip, the titular Latin emperor, in 1273. - Charles II, Charles's eldest son and namesake was granted the Principality of Salerno in 1272. Charles the Lame (as he was called) and his wife, Maria of Hungary, had fourteen children, which secured the survival of the Capetian House of Anjou. - Philip, Charles and Beatrice's next son, was elected king of Sardinia by the local Guelphs in 1269, but without the pope's consent. He died childless in 1278. - Robert, Charles's third son, died in 1265. - Elisabeth, Charles's youngest daughter, was given in marriage to the future Ladislaus IV of Hungary in 1269, but Ladislaus preferred his mistresses to her. The widowed Charles first proposed himself to Margaret of Hungary. However, Margaret, who had been brought up in a Dominican nunnery, did not want to marry. According to legend, she disfigured herself to prevent the marriage. Charles and his second wife, Margaret of Nevers, had several children, but none survived to adulthood. ## Legacy The works of two 13th-century historians, Bartholomaeus of Neocastro and Saba Malaspina, strongly influenced modern views about Charles, although they were biased. The former described Charles as a tyrant to justify the Sicilian Vespers, the latter argued for the cancellation of the crusade against Aragon in 1285. Charles had continued his imperial predecessors' policies in several fields, including coinage, taxation, and the employment of unpopular officials from Amalfi. Nevertheless, the monarchy underwent a "Frenchification" or "Provençalistion" during his reign. He donated estates in the Regno to about 700 noblemen from France or Provence. He did not adopt the rich ceremonial robes, inspired by Byzantine and Islamic art, of earlier Sicilian kings, but dressed like other western European monarchs, or as "a simple knight", as it was observed by the chronicler Thomas Tuscus who visited Naples in 1267. Around 1310, the Florentine historian, Giovanni Villani, stated that Charles had been the most powerful Christian monarch in the late 1270s. Luchetto Gattilusio, a Genoese poet, compared Charles directly with Charlemagne. Both reports demonstrate that Charles was regarded almost as an emperor. Among modern historians, Runciman says that Charles tried to build an empire in the eastern Mediterraneum; Gérard Sivéry writes that he wanted to dominate the west; and Jean Dunbabin argues that his "agglomeration of lands was in the process of forming an empire". The historian Hiroshi Takayama concludes that Charles's dominion "was too large to control". Nevertheless, economic links among his realms strengthened during his reign. Provençal salt was transported to his other lands, grain from the Regno was sold in Achaea, Albania, Acre and Tuscany, and Tuscan merchants settled in Anjou, Maine, Sicily and Naples. His highest-ranking officials were transferred from their homelands to represent him in other territories: his senechals in Provence were from Anjou; French and Provençal noblemen held the highest offices in the Regno; and he chose his vicars in Rome from among southern Italian and Provençal nobles. Although his empire collapsed before his death, his son retained southern Italy and Provence. Charles always emphasised his royal rank, but did not adopt "imperial rhetoric". His renowned justiciar, Marino de Caramanico, developed a new political theory. Traditional interpretators of Roman law were convinced that the Holy Roman Emperors had a monopoly on law-making. In contrast with them, Caramanico stated that an emperor could not claim sovereignty over a king and emphasised Charles full competence to issue decrees. To promote legal education Charles paid high salaries—20–50 ounces of gold in a year—to masters of law at the University of Naples. Masters of medicine received similar remunerations, and the university became a principal centre of medical science. Charles's personal interest in medicine grew during his life and he borrowed Arabic medical texts from the rulers of Tunis to have them translated. He employed at least one Jewish scholar, Moses of Palermo, who could translate texts from Arabic to Latin. Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi's medical encyclopaedia, known as Kitab al-Hawi, was one of the books translated at Charles's order. Charles was also a poet, which distinguished him from his Capetian relatives. He composed love songs and a jeu-parti (the latter with Pierre d'Angicourt). He was requested to judge two poetic competitions in his youth, but modern scholars do not esteem his poetry. The Provençal troubadours were mostly critical when writing of Charles, but French poets were willing to praise him. Bertran d'Alamanon wrote a poem against the salt tax and Raimon de Tors de Marseilha rebuked Charles for invading the Regno. The trouvère Adam de la Halle dedicated an unfinished epic poem, entitled The King of Sicily, to Charles and Jean de Meun glorified his victories in the Romance of the Rose. Dante described Charles—"who bears a manly nose"—singing peacefully together with his one-time rival, Peter III of Aragon, in Purgatory. Charles also showed interest in architecture. He designed a tower in Brindisi, but it soon collapsed. He ordered the erection of the Castel Nuovo in Naples, of which only the palatine chapel survives. He is also credited with the introduction of French-style glassed windows in southern Italy.
2,346,133	A Streetcar Named Marge	1,159,950,079	null	[ "1992 American television episodes", "Animation controversies in television", "Community theatre", "Television controversies in the United States", "The Simpsons (season 4) episodes", "Works about musical theatre" ]	"A Streetcar Named Marge" is the second episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 1, 1992. In the episode, Marge wins the role of Blanche DuBois in a community theatre musical version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Homer offers little support for his wife's acting pursuits, and Marge begins to see parallels between him and Stanley Kowalski, the play's boorish lead male character. The episode contains a subplot in which Maggie Simpson attempts to retrieve her pacifier from a strict daycare owner. The episode was written by Jeff Martin and directed by Rich Moore. Jon Lovitz made his fourth guest appearance on The Simpsons, this time as musical director Llewellyn Sinclair, as well as Llewellyn's sister, who runs the daycare. The episode generated controversy for its original song about New Orleans, which contains several unflattering lyrics about the city. One New Orleans newspaper published the lyrics before the episode aired, prompting numerous complaints to the local Fox affiliate; in response, the president of Fox Broadcasting issued an apology to anyone who was offended. Despite the controversial song, the episode was well received by many fans, and show creator Matt Groening has named it one of his favorite episodes. ## Plot Marge announces to the Simpson family that she intends to audition for the role of Blanche DuBois in Oh! Streetcar!, a local musical production of A Streetcar Named Desire. The family ignores her, and she leaves for her audition, feeling especially unappreciated by Homer. The director, Llewellyn Sinclair, immediately rejects Marge, explaining that Blanche is supposed to be a "delicate flower being trampled by an uncouth lout". However, as a dejected Marge calls home and takes Homer's dinner order, Llewellyn realizes that she is perfect for the role. At Llewellyn's suggestion, Marge enrolls Maggie at the Ayn Rand School for Tots, a daycare centre run by Llewellyn's sister, Ms. Sinclair. Ms. Sinclair immediately confiscates Maggie’s pacifier. Aided by the other toddlers at the daycare, Maggie manages to get her pacifier back, and redistributes all the other toddlers' confiscated pacifiers. The day before the performance, Marge and Ned, who is playing Stanley Kowalski, rehearse the scene in which Blanche breaks a glass bottle and attacks Stanley, which Marge has been struggling with. Homer repeatedly interrupts the rehearsal. Imagining that Stanley is Homer, Marge takes out her frustration--she smashes the bottle and lunges at Ned, injuring him. The Simpson family attends the musical, and Homer is moved by Marge's performance. After the show, Homer apologizes to Marge for being careless toward her, and declares his intentions to be the husband that Marge deserves—someone to have in her life who loves her—not like Stanley, who neglects and mistreats his wife. Marge is moved by Homer's sincerity and impressed that he understood the musical so well, and the two happily leave the theater. ## Production ### Writing and music "A Streetcar Named Marge" was conceived about two years before it aired on television. Jeff Martin first pitched the idea of Homer being in a theatrical production of 1776; producer James L. Brooks then suggested that Marge could play Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Brooks saw that Marge's relationship with Homer was similar to Blanche's relationship with Stanley, and he wanted to use that fact to build the emotional arc for an episode. The estate of Tennessee Williams would not let the show use large excerpts from the actual play, since the work was copyrighted. However, Fox lawyer Anatole Klebanow said that original songs based on the play were acceptable. According to producer Mike Reiss, Klebanow even promised to "take [their] case to the Supreme Court to get [the] episode aired." Martin later explained that while the songs made the episode funnier, they also made it harder to write. The Maggie subplot was present in Martin's episode pitch. The music in the sequence is Elmer Bernstein's march theme from The Great Escape. Simpsons composer Alf Clausen secured the rights to the score, along with the original orchestra charts. The Great Escape had been Martin's favorite film as a child, and he said "it was so exciting and so stirring" to hear the music being performed by the Simpsons' studio orchestra. ### Animation "A Streetcar Named Marge" posed a challenge to the show's animation directors. The episode contains many long set pieces, especially during the third and final act, which includes the end of the Maggie subplot and the performance of the musical. Several scenes required the animators to draw dozens of background characters. Rich Moore, the head director, initially feared the episode would not be completed in time. David Silverman, the supervising director, also had doubts; according to Martin, Silverman sent back a cartoon of himself reading the script with his eyes popping out, and his jaw dropped. Producer Al Jean said that Moore "worked himself to death" to produce the episode's most elaborate sequences. A number of scenes that appeared in the storyboard and animatic were reordered or dropped altogether in the final version of the episode. Much of the Maggie subplot, for example, was modified before the episode aired. A scene in which the babies lock Ms. Sinclair in her office is missing from the final version of the episode. This was the last episode of the series to be animated by Klasky Csupo. ### Voice acting All the main Simpsons cast members lent their voices to the episode, along with semi-regulars Maggie Roswell and Phil Hartman. Assistant producer Lona Williams also had a minor speaking role. Comedian Jon Lovitz, who played Llewellyn Sinclair and Ms. Sinclair, made his fourth guest appearance on The Simpsons; he had previously voiced characters in "The Way We Was", "Brush with Greatness", and "Homer Defined". Lovitz later worked with Al Jean and Mike Reiss in the animated sitcom The Critic, and returned to The Simpsons for the episodes "A Star Is Burns", "Hurricane Neddy", "Half-Decent Proposal", "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" and "Homerazzi". In 2006, Lovitz was named the eighth-best Simpsons guest star by IGN. ## Cultural references Though Oh! Streetcar! is based on A Streetcar Named Desire, the title of the musical alludes to the theatrical revue Oh! Calcutta! Besides Blanche and Stanley, characters from A Streetcar Named Desire who appear in Oh! Streetcar! include Stella (played by Helen Lovejoy), the Young Collector (played by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon), Mitch (played by Lionel Hutz), the Doctor (played by Chief Wiggum), Steve (played by Jasper Beardley, although Apu originally said he was playing Steve), and Pablo (originally played by Otto Mann but taken over by Llewellyn prior to curtain). The musical's closing song, "Kindness of Strangers", is a reference to Blanche's last line in the original play: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." However, the song is very cheery in tone, intentionally missing the point of Blanche's line, which is meant by the playwright Tennessee Williams to be ironic. The episode contains multiple references to Ayn Rand's novels and Objectivist philosophy. Maggie's daycare center is called the "Ayn Rand School for Tots", and Ms. Sinclair can be seen reading a book called The Fountainhead Diet, a reference to Rand's novel The Fountainhead. On the wall of the daycare is a poster that reads "Helping Is Futile", an allusion to Rand's rejection of the ethical doctrine of altruism. Another wall sign reads "A Is A", the law of identity, which plays a central role in Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. The Ayn Rand School for Tots is seen again in the 2012 short film "The Longest Daycare". The Maggie subplot uses the musical score of The Great Escape and contains several other allusions to the film. At one point, Ms. Sinclair punishes Maggie by sending her to a playpen called "the box", a play on the solitary confinement facility called "the cooler" from the 1963 film. Maggie even bounces a ball against the wall of the playpen, as Steve McQueen's character Virgil Hilts does throughout the film while he is in confinement. In the scene when Homer, Bart and Lisa pick up Maggie from the daycare center, babies are perched all over the building, staring at the family and quietly sucking on pacifiers. This is a parody of the final shot of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Indeed, a cartoon-version of Hitchcock can be seen walking his dogs past the daycare, a reference to his own cameo appearance in the film. The episode also contains an allusion to the opera scene in Citizen Kane, in which Homer plays with a shredded playbill while he watches his wife in the musical. ## Merchandise All the songs from "A Streetcar Named Marge" were released on Rhino Records' 1997 album Songs in the Key of Springfield. The episode was included in the 1999 VHS set The Simpsons Go Hollywood and released on DVD in 2004 as part of The Simpsons Complete Fourth Season. Jon Lovitz participated in the DVD's audio commentary, alongside Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jeff Martin, and Hank Azaria. ## Reception In its original broadcast, "A Streetcar Named Marge" finished 32nd in ratings for the week of September 27 – October 4, 1992, with a Nielsen rating of 11.8, equivalent to approximately 11.0 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Married... with Children. Since airing, it has received very positive reviews from fans and television critics. Michael Moran of The Times ranked the episode as the seventh best in the show's history. Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross lauded it as "the show's best ever musical episode", while Dave Kehr of The New York Times called it a "brilliant ... parody of Broadway musicals that should be required viewing for every Tony voter." In a list of his favorite episodes, Kevin Williamson of Canadian Online Explorer added, "As pitch-perfect eviscerations of community theatre go, this tops Waiting for Guffman." In 2019, Consequence ranked it number four on its list of top 30 Simpsons episodes. Series creator Matt Groening has listed it as one of his own favorites, calling the subplot "Maggie's finest moment", and future Simpsons guest star Trey Anastasio said the episode "may have been the best TV show ever". Executive producer James L. Brooks also listed it as one of his favorites, saying it "showed we could go into areas no one thought we could go into". Following the episode, the Ayn Rand Society called Groening to say they were amazed at the references to Rand. They also asked him if the show was making fun of them. In 1993, "A Streetcar Named Marge" and "Mr. Plow" were submitted for the Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Comedy Series". Before this season, the series had only been allowed to compete in the "Outstanding Animated Program" category, winning twice, but in early 1993 the rules were changed so that animated television shows would be able to submit nominations for "Outstanding Comedy Series". However, the Emmy voters were hesitant to pit cartoons against live action programs, and The Simpsons did not receive a nomination. The Simpsons' crew submitted episodes for Outstanding Comedy Series the next season, but again these were not nominated. Since then, the show has submitted episodes in the animation category and has won seven times. ### Controversy The musical within the episode includes a controversial song depicting the New Orleans which existed during the period in time A Streetcar Named Desire was set in, referring to the city as a "home of pirates, drunks and whores", among other things. Jeff Martin, the writer of the episode, intended for the song to be a parody of a song in Sweeney Todd, which speaks of Victorian Era London in unflattering terms ("There's No Place Like London"). Al Jean later explained that two Cajun characters were supposed to walk out of the theater in disgust, but none of the voice actors could provide a convincing Cajun accent. An early version of the scene can be seen in an animatic included in the DVD boxset. Before the premiere of the fourth season, the producers sent two episodes to critics: "Kamp Krusty" and "A Streetcar Named Marge". A New Orleans critic viewed "A Streetcar Named Marge" and published the song lyrics in his newspaper before the episode aired. Many readers took the lyrics out of context, and New Orleans' then-Fox affiliate, WNOL-TV (then-owned by musician Quincy Jones; the Fox affiliation for the area later moved to WVUE), received about one-hundred fifty to two-hundred calls on the day the episode aired. The station manager noted that not all the calls they received were complaints, stating, "Half of them were very negative and half of them were very positive. Quite a few of them actually agreed with the lyrics." Several local radio stations also held on-air protests in response to the song. At the urging of WNOL, Fox president Jamie Kellner released a statement on October 1, 1992: > It has come to our attention that a comedic song about New Orleans in tonight's episode of "The Simpsons" has offended some city residents and officials. Viewers who watch the episode will realize that the song is in fact a parody of the opening numbers of countless Broadway musicals, which are designed to set the stage for the story that follows. That is the only purpose of this song. We regret that the song, taken out of context, has caused offense. This was certainly not the intention of "The Simpsons" production staff or Fox Broadcasting Company. The Simpsons' producers rushed out a chalkboard gag for "Homer the Heretic", which aired a week after "A Streetcar Named Marge". It reads, "I will not defame New Orleans." The gag was their attempt to apologize for the song and hopefully bring the controversy to an end. "We didn't realize people would get so mad", said Al Jean. "It was the best apology we could come up with in eight words or less." The issue passed quickly, and a person in a Bart Simpson costume even served as Krewe of Tucks Grand Marshal at the 1993 New Orleans Mardi Gras. The episode generated further controversy in September 2005, when Channel 4 in the United Kingdom decided to air the episode a week after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Arguing that the episode was an insensitive choice, given recent events, several viewers filed complaints with Ofcom. Two days later, Channel 4 apologized on-air and directly contacted all those who had complained. Channel 4 had screened the episode for offensive content, but the reviews focused on the main content of the episode, and the song was not considered a key part of the plot. Channel 4 promised to update their review process to ensure that similar incidents would not occur.
28,890,366	Mothers of the Disappeared	1,147,640,927	1987 song by U2	[ "1987 songs", "Protest songs", "Song recordings produced by Brian Eno", "Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois", "Songs about Argentina", "Songs about Chile", "Songs about El Salvador", "Songs about Nicaragua", "Songs about mothers", "Songs based on actual events", "Songs written by Adam Clayton", "Songs written by Bono", "Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr.", "Songs written by the Edge", "U2 songs" ]	"Mothers of the Disappeared" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the eleventh and final track on their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. The song was inspired by lead singer Bono's experiences in Nicaragua and El Salvador in July 1986, following U2's participation in the Conspiracy of Hope tour of benefit concerts for Amnesty International. He learned of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children had "forcibly disappeared" at the hands of the Argentine and Chilean dictatorships. While in Central America, he met members of COMADRES, a similar organization whose children had been abducted by the government in El Salvador. Bono sympathized with the Madres and COMADRES and wanted to pay tribute to their cause. The song was written on a Spanish guitar, and the melody lifted from a piece Bono composed in Ethiopia in 1985 to help teach children basic forms of hygiene. The lyrics contain an implicit criticism of the Reagan Administration, which backed two South American regimes that seized power during coups d'état and which provided financial support for the military regime in El Salvador. Thematically it has been interpreted as an examination of failures and contradictions in US foreign policy. The drum beat provided by Larry Mullen Jr. was processed through an effects unit that gave it a drone-like quality, which bassist Adam Clayton described as "evocative of that sinister death squad darkness". "Mothers of the Disappeared" was favourably received by critics, who variously described it as "powerful", "a moving tribute", and containing "stunning beauty and sadness". The song was played seven times on the 1987 Joshua Tree Tour, and some recordings were considered for the ending sequence of the 1988 film Rattle and Hum. It was revived for four concerts on the 1998 PopMart Tour in South America, and for two of them, the Madres joined the band onstage for the performance, one of which was broadcast on television in Chile. Bono used the opportunity to ask former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet to reveal to the Madres the locations of their children's bodies. The song was played a further three times on the U2 360° Tour; one performance was dedicated to Fehmi Tosun, an ethnic Kurd who forcibly disappeared in Turkey in 1995. Bono re-recorded the song a cappella in 1998 for the album ¡Ni Un Paso Atras! (English: Not One Step Back!). ## Inspiration, writing, and recording Recording sessions for The Joshua Tree began in January 1986 in Danesmoate House in Dublin and continued throughout the year. U2 briefly interrupted these sessions in June to join Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope tour of benefit concerts. Following the first concert in San Francisco, lead singer Bono met René Castro, a Chilean mural artist. Castro had been tortured and held in a concentration camp for two years by the dictatorial Chilean government because his artwork criticised the Pinochet-led regime that seized power in 1973 during a coup d'état. Castro showed Bono a wall painting in the Mission District that depicted the ongoing plight in Chile and Argentina. He also learned of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children were forcibly disappeared by the Argentine government. The Madres' children were usually young people who had opposed the government during the Dirty War, and the coup d'état that brought Jorge Rafael Videla to power. The Madres joined together to campaign for information regarding the locations of their children's bodies and the circumstances of their deaths, believing them to have been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. Inspired by the mural, Bono took an extended break from recording into July, traveling to Nicaragua and El Salvador with his wife, Alison Hewson, to see first-hand the distress of peasants bullied by political conflicts and US military intervention. While there, they worked with the Central American Mission Partners (CAMP), a human rights and economic development organization. In El Salvador they met members of the Comité de Madres Monsignor Romero (COMADRES: Committee of the Mothers Monsignor Romero), an organization of women whose children were forcibly disappeared by the Salvadoran government during the Civil War because they opposed the military regime that was in power. At one point during the trip, Bono, Alison, and a member of CAMP were shot at by government troops while on their way to deliver aid to a group of farmers. The shots were a warning and, according to author John Luerssen, the incident made Bono realize that "they didn't care for their intrusion and they could kill them if they felt compelled." In 2006, Bono recounted another experience he had in El Salvador, where he had seen a body thrown from a van into the road. He remarked, "People would just disappear. If you were part of the opposition, you might find an SUV with the windows blacked out parked outside your house.... If that didn't stop you, occasionally they would come in and take you and murder you; there would be no trial." Bono understood the cause of the Madres and COMADRES and wanted to pay tribute to it. His experiences in Central America inspired the lyrics of "Mothers of the Disappeared" and another track from The Joshua Tree, "Bullet the Blue Sky". "Mothers of the Disappeared" was created and mixed at guitarist the Edge's newly-bought home, Melbeach, which U2 used as a recording studio. Bono wrote the song on his mother-in-law's Spanish guitar; the melody came from a song that Bono wrote in Ethiopia in 1985 to teach children about basic methods of hygiene. The drums, played by Larry Mullen Jr., were sampled and looped from another song by producer Brian Eno and subsequently slowed down and treated with "a canyon load of reverb". The Edge added a guitar part using a Bond Electraglide guitar, which he abused to produce a sound that he liked. Producer Daniel Lanois was the principal mixer of the song. Bono, likening the studio itself to an instrument, described Lanois's mix as a "performance". At the conclusion of the lyrics sheet for the song in the liner notes of The Joshua Tree, U2 listed addresses for several branches of Amnesty International, and proceeds from the song were donated to the organization. In 1998, Bono re-recorded the song a cappella in English and Spanish for the album ¡Ni Un Paso Atras! (English: Not One Step Back!), along with a recitation of the William Butler Yeats poem "The Mother of God". The album was created by the Madres in commemoration of the disappearance of their children. The tracks were also recorded for the 1999 film 20 Años... 20 Poemas... 20 Artistas (20 Years... 20 Poems... 20 Artists). ## Composition and theme "Mothers of the Disappeared" runs for 5:14 (5 minutes, 14 seconds). It is played in common time in a key of A. The song begins with the sound of rain hitting a roof, which fades in over the first fourteen seconds alongside the bass and a processed drum loop beat by Mullen which reverberates in the background. Thirty-two seconds into the song, Mullen's drums enter, playing a sporadic beat every four to five seconds. At the fifty-second mark the drums play a more regular beat, and the Edge's guitar, accompanied by Eno's synthesizer, enters. The first verse begins at 1:28, and introduces the chord progression of A<sub>5</sub>–E<sub>5</sub>–Fm–D–A<sub>5</sub>, which is played in the verses. At 2:41 Eno's keyboards enter, and the song begins to follow a D–D<sub>5</sub>–A<sub>5</sub> chord progression, while Bono begins falsetto vocals. The second verse then begins at 3:01. The lyrics end at 3:37, and the song returns to the chord progression of D–D<sub>5</sub>–A<sub>5</sub>. The harmony gradually grows in volume until 4:33, at which point the song enters into a coda; the keyboards come to a finish and the guitar returns to playing A notes before fading over the next eight seconds alongside the bass. The synthesizer, drums, and drum loop conclude the song, fading out slowly over the last thirty-one seconds. Eno used a piano as a percussive instrument and mixed the result with the drum loop through a PCM70 effects unit to create a sound that bassist Adam Clayton called "eerie and foreign and scary". Lanois stated that the processing of Mullen's beat, which resulted in a drone-like sound, became the song's backbone and personality. Clayton described it as "evocative of that sinister death squad darkness". Colm O'Hare of Hot Press felt it was "the key sonic element" because it "[evokes] an abstract sense of evil and dread". In December 1986, Bono stated that he had a love–hate relationship with America, and that this influenced his work on the album. Speaking of his encounter with COMADRES in El Salvador and their impact on the song, he said, "There's no question in my mind of the Reagan Administration's involvement in backing the regime that is committing these atrocities. I doubt if the people of America are even aware of this. It's not my position to lecture them or tell them their place or to even open their eyes up to it in a very visual way, but it is affecting me and it affects the words I write and the music we make." In 2007, Clayton said "'Mothers of the Disappeared' was not just a reflection on what had happened under the military government in Chile but also at the US which had supported that government", and described Bono's vocals as "prehistoric", saying "it connects with something very primitive." Greg Garrett, an English professor at Baylor University, saw the song as an effort to "[respond] to growing interests in doing justice—and calling to attention American failures in that regard", noting that the regimes in South America had been supported by the United States because of their anti-communist positions, even though their tactics were in opposition to the democratic values that "America claims to champion around the world". Lisa Hand of the Sunday Independent noted the influence of America on the track, remarking, "[it] does not confine itself simply to the music, but also extends to some of the lyrics. However, far from being a tribute to the star-spangled banner, the words highlight the political untruths and ambiguities which exist within the U.S. 'Mothers of the Disappeared' and 'Bullet the Blue Sky' both take a hard look at the American involvement in South America". Richard Harrington of The Washington Post described the song as "a simple lament of great beauty and sadness pleading for the realization that ideological battles about right and left obscure the more important issue of right and wrong." Author David Kootnikoff described it as a "[portrait] of the American Dream gone rancid". ## Live performances U2 debuted "Mothers of the Disappeared" on 14 April 1987 in San Diego, California, on the first leg of the Joshua Tree Tour, where it closed the concert in place of the band's long-time finale "40". It was performed three more times on the leg; twice to open the encore and once to conclude the main set. U2 revived the song seven months later on the third leg, playing it in the encore at three of the final four concerts on the tour. The final two performances were held in Tempe, Arizona on 19 and 20 December 1987 and were filmed for the 1988 film Rattle and Hum. U2 sang the refrain "el pueblo vencerá", which means "the people will overcome" in Spanish, at the conclusion of the song. Bono noted that the Madres use the phrase for motivation. The Edge said "we're so close to a Spanish speaking part of the world, we felt that maybe people at the concert might pick up on this lyric." Bono added that they had closed every concert since 1983 with the song "40", and so they were looking to replace it with "Mothers of the Disappeared" from that point on. He explained, "If the people of Arizona sing this, and if it goes into the film and onto the record, wherever we go in a way for the next few years, that will be taken up again. It'll be an interesting experiment ...". The footage was considered for the closing sequence of the film, but the band eventually decided against including it. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" was used as the final live song, and "All I Want Is You" was chosen to play over the credits. Following the seven performances on the Joshua Tree Tour, U2 did not perform "Mothers of the Disappeared" until 1998, on the fourth leg of the PopMart Tour. It was played at three concerts in Argentina and once in Chile, concluding all four shows. Bono sang "el pueblo vencerá" at the end of each performance. The first rendition was on 5 February 1998 in Buenos Aires, where it was performed with the Madres accompanying them onstage. The song was played by just Bono and the Edge and was set against footage of the Madres on the video screen. At the conclusion of the song, the band members faced the Madres and applauded, an act in which the rest of the audience joined. Part of the performance was later included on the television documentary Classic Albums: The Joshua Tree. The cost of the tickets was too high for many fans in South America, so the band broadcast the 11 February concert in Chile live on television. Knowing that many people in the country would be watching, they played "Mothers of the Disappeared" in place of "Wake Up Dead Man". The stadium in which the concert was held had been used as a prison camp by Pinochet's regime following the coup d'état. Again it was performed solely by Bono and the Edge against footage of the Madres, and they invited the women to join them onstage a second time. The Madres held up photographs of their children and spoke about them briefly during the performance, an act which received a mixed reception from the audience. Bono made a plea to Pinochet, asking him to "tell these women where are the bones of their children." "Mothers of the Disappeared" was performed again on the fourth leg of the Vertigo Tour, on 26 February 2006 in Santiago and 2 March in Buenos Aires. Although it was rehearsed by the full band, it was played only by Bono and the Edge in an arrangement similar to the one from the PopMart Tour. The Edge performed the song on a charango that Chilean President Ricardo Lagos had given to Bono earlier that day. It was played at three concerts on the third leg of the U2 360° Tour in place of "MLK". One performance in Istanbul, Turkey was dedicated to Fehmi Tosun, an ethnic Kurd who was kidnapped in October 1995 and subsequently disappeared. The abduction was witnessed by his wife and daughter; no information regarding his disappearance has ever been released. For the first time in 30 years, a full band arrangement of "Mothers of the Disappeared" returned to U2's live set for the Joshua Tree Tours 2017 and 2019. The two tours featured 51 concerts in mid-2017 and 15 concerts in late-2019, each of which featured a performance of the entire Joshua Tree album in running order. Eddie Vedder and Mumford & Sons accompanied U2 on-stage for a performance of the song during a May 2017 show in Seattle, and Patti Smith performed the song with the band in July 2017 in Paris. ## Reception "Mothers of the Disappeared" was favourably received by critics. Steve Morse of The Boston Globe called the song "powerful" and described the backing vocals as tender and choirlike. Don McLeese of the Chicago Sun-Times described it as a "hymn to human rights". Adrian Thrills of NME called it "a simple, plaintive lament of stunning beauty and sadness". Nicholas Jennings of Maclean's felt that it was The Joshua Tree's "most topical song". Music journalist Andrew Mueller felt the track was a "wilfully downbeat finale". In Rolling Stone, Steve Pond said "'Mothers of the Disappeared' is built around desolate images of loss, but the setting is soothing and restorative—music of great sadness but also of unutterable compassion, acceptance and calm." Lennox Samuels of The Dallas Morning News stated that there was "an ineffable sadness in Bono's vocals and images where 'Night hangs like a prisoner / Stretched over black and blue' ", calling it "a moving tribute" to people around the world who had lost loved ones to warfare and conflict. He added "[w]hat's remarkable about the song is that despite the intrinsic pain, it remains eerily cleansing. Even in the midst of decay and excess and horror, Bono can find hope and absolution." In 2006 Bono described it as "a beautiful end to the album", saying, "That song means as much to me as any of the songs on that album, it's right up there for me," and noting that it is a song "I'm very proud of to this day." Barbara Jaeger of The Bergen Record likened "Mothers of the Disappeared" to "New Year's Day" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)", stating that the band used all three to "stir political consciousness and to urge social commitment." Thirteen years later, Ryan Jones, in his review of U2's 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind for the same publication, said the song "Peace on Earth" contained echoes of "Mothers of the Disappeared" in its lyrics and the tone of the instrumental prelude. In reviewing the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, Mueller said the closing "Cedars of Lebanon" "maintains this essentially optimistic group's counter-intuitive tradition of ending their albums with rueful comedowns", likening it to "Mothers of the Disappeared". McLeese believed that the song had its roots in "the folklike purity of traditional Irish music". According to Luerssen the song is "notorious" in Central and South America, and it is often "played as an act of defiance" by the Madres. Art for Amnesty cited the song, and the effect it had in spreading Amnesty International's human rights message, as one of the reasons why U2 were awarded the Ambassador of Conscience Award by the organization in 2005. Reflecting on the applause given to the Madres during the PopMart concert in Buenos Aires, the U2 magazine Propaganda called the result "about the most moving thing I've ever seen on a rock stage. It was one of those ideas that really could have gone either way, but the obvious empathy of the audience towards these women made it an unforgettable moment." Following the televised concert in Chile, Bono said "it was amazing and confounding to discover that on our most 'pop' of tours some of the best shows were in political hotspots like Santiago, Sarajevo, Tel Aviv ... anywhere music meant more than entertainment". He added "to be able to address General Pinochet from the stage on live television in Chile and say, 'Give the dead back to the living. Please, General Pinochet, tell these women where the bones of their sons and daughters are.' That was an extraordinary moment ... certainly in my life and U2's." When asked if the negative reaction from some of the audience had disappointed the band Bono said it had not, stating "it's proof to me that a rock 'n' roll audience are not lemmings.... If they don't agree with you, they will let you know – but that doesn't mean they're not fans.... I was flattered that we weren't just playing to people who agreed with us." U2's performance was later credited with inspiring a protest in the Chilean Parliament against Pinochet, who was in the process of becoming a Senator for life after relinquishing his position as head of the armed forces. The opposition party brought in the Madres, who again held pictures of their disappeared children and asked for information on the location of their bodies. "Mothers of the Disappeared" has been covered several times. The Vitamin String Quartet included it on their 2004 tribute album The String Quartet Tribute to U2's The Joshua Tree. Paddy Casey recorded a version for the tsunami relief album Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 3 in 2005. ## Credits and personnel U2 - Bono – lead vocals - The Edge – guitar, backing vocals - Adam Clayton – bass guitar - Larry Mullen Jr. – drums Additional performers - Brian Eno – keyboards, synthesizer Technical - Daniel Lanois – mixing - Flood – recording ## See also - "They Dance Alone" – a song by Sting that treats the same subject
4,276,475	The Dark Knight	1,172,762,250	2008 superhero film by Christopher Nolan	[ "2000s American films", "2000s British films", "2000s English-language films", "2000s crime action films", "2000s superhero films", "2008 action thriller films", "2008 crime drama films", "2008 films", "American action thriller films", "American crime drama films", "American films about revenge", "American neo-noir films", "American sequel films", "American superhero films", "BAFTA winners (films)", "British action thriller films", "British crime drama films", "British sequel films", "Films about bank robbery", "Films about kidnapping in the United States", "Films about organized crime in the United States", "Films about security and surveillance", "Films about ship hijackings", "Films about terrorism", "Films directed by Christopher Nolan", "Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance", "Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance", "Films produced by Charles Roven", "Films produced by Christopher Nolan", "Films produced by Emma Thomas", "Films scored by Hans Zimmer", "Films scored by James Newton Howard", "Films set in Hong Kong", "Films set in bunkers", "Films set on fictional islands", "Films shot at Pinewood Studios", "Films shot in Chicago", "Films shot in Hong Kong", "Films shot in London", "Films shot in Los Angeles", "Films shot in the United Kingdom", "Films that won the Best Sound Editing Academy Award", "Films with screenplays by Christopher Nolan", "Films with screenplays by Jonathan Nolan", "IMAX films", "Legendary Pictures films", "Live-action films based on DC Comics", "Syncopy Inc. films", "The Dark Knight Trilogy", "United States National Film Registry films", "Warner Bros. films" ]	The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay co-written with his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and the second installment in The Dark Knight Trilogy. The plot follows the vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, who form an alliance to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City. Their efforts are derailed by the Joker, an anarchistic mastermind who seeks to test how far the Batman will go to save the city from chaos. The ensemble cast includes Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman. Warner Bros. Pictures prioritized a sequel following the successful reinvention of the Batman film series with Batman Begins. Christopher and Batman Begins co-writer David S. Goyer developed the story elements, making Dent the central protagonist caught up in the battle between the Batman and the Joker. In writing the screenplay, the Nolans were influenced by 1980s Batman comics and crime drama films, and sought to continue Batman Begins' heightened sense of realism. From April to November 2007, filming took place with a \$185 million budget in Chicago and Hong Kong, and on sets in England. The Dark Knight was the first major motion picture to be filmed with high-resolution IMAX cameras. Christopher avoided using computer-generated imagery unless necessary, insisting on practical stunts such as flipping an 18-wheel truck and blowing up a factory. The Dark Knight was marketed with an innovative interactive viral campaign that initially focused on countering criticism of Ledger's casting by those who believed he was a poor choice to portray the Joker. Ledger died from an accidental prescription drug overdose in January 2008, leading to widespread interest from the press and public regarding his performance. When it was released in July, The Dark Knight received acclaim for its mature tone and themes, visual style, and performances—particularly that of Ledger, who received many posthumous awards including Academy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actor, making The Dark Knight the first comic-book film to receive major industry awards. It broke several box-office records and became the highest-grossing 2008 film, the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time, and the highest-grossing superhero film. Since its release, The Dark Knight has been assessed as one of the greatest superhero films ever made, one of the best movies of the 2000s, and one of the best films ever made. It is considered the "blueprint" for many modern superhero films, particularly for its rejection of a typical comic-book movie style in favor of a crime film that features comic-book characters. Many filmmakers sought to repeat its success by emulating its gritty, realistic tone to varying degrees of success. The Dark Knight has been analyzed for its themes of terrorism and the limitations of morality and ethics. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2020. A sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, concluded The Dark Knight trilogy in 2012. ## Plot A gang of masked criminals robs a mafia-owned bank in Gotham City, each betraying and killing each other until the sole survivor, the Joker, reveals himself as the mastermind and escapes with the money. The vigilante Batman, district attorney Harvey Dent, and police lieutenant Jim Gordon ally to eliminate Gotham's organized crime. The Batman's true identity, the billionaire Bruce Wayne, publicly supports Dent as Gotham's legitimate protector, as Wayne believes Dent's success will allow the Batman to retire, allowing him to romantically pursue his childhood friend Rachel Dawes, despite her relationship with Dent. Gotham's mafia bosses gather to discuss protecting their organizations from the Joker, the police, and the Batman. The Joker interrupts the meeting and offers to kill the Batman for half of the fortune their accountant, Lau, concealed before fleeing to Hong Kong to avoid extradition. With the help of Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, the Batman finds Lau in Hong Kong and returns him to the custody of Gotham police. His testimony enables Dent to apprehend the crime families. The bosses accept the Joker's offer, and he kills high-profile targets involved in the trial, including the judge and police commissioner. Although Gordon saves the mayor, the Joker threatens that his attacks will continue until the Batman reveals his identity. He targets Dent at a fundraising dinner and throws Rachel out of a window, but Batman rescues her. Wayne struggles to understand the Joker's motives, but his butler Alfred Pennyworth says "some men just want to watch the world burn." Dent claims he is the Batman to lure out the Joker, who attacks the police convoy transporting him. The Batman and Gordon apprehend the Joker, and Gordon is promoted to commissioner. At the police station, the Batman interrogates the Joker, who says he finds the Batman entertaining and has no intention of killing him. Having deduced the Batman's feelings for Rachel, the Joker reveals she and Dent are being held separately in buildings rigged to explode. The Batman races to save Rachel while Gordon and the other officers go after Dent, but they discover the Joker has switched their positions. Rachel is killed in the explosion, while Dent's face is severely burned on one side. The Joker escapes custody, extracts the fortune's location from Lau, and burns all of it, killing Lau in the process. Wayne Enterprises accountant Coleman Reese deduces the Batman's identity and attempts to expose it, but the Joker threatens to blow up a hospital unless Reese is killed. While the police evacuate hospitals and Gordon struggles to keep Reese alive, the Joker meets with a disillusioned Dent, persuading him to take the law into his own hands and avenge Rachel. Dent defers his decision-making to his half-scarred, two-headed coin, killing the corrupt officers and the mafia involved in Rachel's death. As panic grips the city, the Joker reveals two evacuation ferries, one carrying civilians and the other prisoners, are rigged to explode at midnight unless one group sacrifices the other. To the Joker's disbelief, the passengers refuse to kill one another. The Batman subdues the Joker but refuses to kill him. Before the police arrest the Joker, he says although the Batman proved incorruptible, his plan to corrupt Dent has succeeded. Dent takes Gordon's family hostage, blaming his negligence for Rachel's death. He flips his coin to decide their fates, but the Batman tackles him to save Gordon's son, and Dent falls to his death. Believing Dent is the hero the city needs and the truth of his corruption will harm Gotham, the Batman takes the blame for his death and actions and persuades Gordon to conceal the truth. Pennyworth burns an undelivered message to Wayne from Rachel, who said she chose Dent, and Fox destroys the invasive surveillance network that helped the Batman find the Joker. The city mourns Dent as a hero, and the police launch a manhunt for the Batman. ## Cast - Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A wealthy socialite who as a child was traumatized by his parents' murder. Wayne secretly operates as the heroic vigilante Batman. - Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth: Wayne's father-figure, trusted butler, and confidant - Heath Ledger as the Joker: A criminal mastermind and anarchist who is determined to sow chaos and corruption throughout Gotham - Gary Oldman as James Gordon: One of the few honest officers in the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) who assists the Batman's war on crime - Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face: Gotham's noble district attorney-turned-violent vigilante - Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes: Gotham's assistant district attorney and Wayne's childhood friend, who is divided between her feelings for him and for Dent. - Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox: Wayne Enterprises' CEO who supplies technology and equipment for the Batman's campaign Additionally, Eric Roberts, Michael Jai White, and Ritchie Coster appear as crime bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol, and the Chechen, respectively; while Chin Han portrays Lau, a Chinese criminal banker. The GCPD cast includes Colin McFarlane as commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, Keith Szarabajka and Ron Dean as detectives Stephens and Wuertz, Monique Gabriela Curnen as rookie detective Anna Ramirez and Philip Bulcock as Murphy. The cast also features Joshua Harto as Wayne Enterprises employee Coleman Reese, Anthony Michael Hall as news reporter Mike Engel, Néstor Carbonell as mayor Anthony Garcia, William Fichtner as a bank manager, Nydia Rodriguez Terracina as Judge Surrillo, Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr. as a prisoner, Beatrice Rosen as Wayne's Russian ballerina date, and David Dastmalchian as the Joker's paranoid schizophrenic henchman Thomas Schiff. Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, and Hannah Gunn portray Gordon's wife Barbara, his son James Jr., and his daughter, respectively. The Dark Knight features several cameo appearances from Cillian Murphy, who reprises his role as Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow from Batman Begins; musical performer Matt Skiba; as well as United States Senator and life-long Batman fan Patrick Leahy, who has appeared in or voiced characters in other Batman media. ## Production ### Development Following the critical and financial success of Batman Begins (2005), the film studio Warner Bros. Pictures prioritized a sequel. Although Batman Begins ends with a scene in which Batman is presented with a joker playing card, teasing the introduction of his archenemy, the Joker, Christopher Nolan did not intend to make a sequel and was unsure Batman Begins would be successful enough to warrant one. Christopher, alongside his wife and longtime producer Emma Thomas, had never worked on a sequel film but he and co-writer David Goyer discussed ideas for a sequel during filming. Goyer developed an outline for two sequels, but Christopher remained unsure how to continue the Batman Begins narrative while keeping it consistent and relevant, though he was interested in utilizing the Joker in Begins's grounded, realistic style. Discussions between Warner Bros. Pictures and Christopher began shortly after Batman Begins's theatrical release, and development began following the production of Christopher's The Prestige (2006). ### Writing Goyer and Christopher collaborated for three months to develop The Dark Knight's core plot points. They wanted to explore the theme of escalation and the idea that the Batman's extraordinary efforts to combat common crimes would lead to an opposing escalation by criminals, attracting the Joker, who uses terrorism as a weapon. The joker playing card scene in Batman Begins was intended to convey the fallacy of the Batman's belief his war on crime would be temporary. Goyer and Christopher did not intentionally include real-world parallels to terrorism, the war on terror, and laws enacted to combat terrorists by the United States government because they believed making overtly political statements would detract from the story. They wanted it to resonate with and reflect contemporary audiences. Christopher described The Dark Knight as representative of his own "fear of anarchy" and Joker represents "somebody who wants to just tear down the world around him." Although he was a fan of Batman (1989), starring Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Goyer did not consider Nicholson's portrayal scary and wanted The Dark Knight's Joker to be an unknowable, already-formed character, similar to the shark in Jaws (1975), without a "cliché" origin story. Christopher and Goyer did not give their Joker an origin story or a narrative arc, believing it made the character scarier; Christopher described their film as the "rise of the Joker". They felt the threat of cinematic villains such as Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader had been undermined by subsequent films depicting their origins. With Christopher's help, his brother Jonathan spent six months developing the story into a draft screenplay. After submitting the draft to Warner Bros., Jonathan spent a further two months refining it until Christopher had finished directing The Prestige. The pair collaborated on the final script over the next six months during pre-production for The Dark Knight. Jonathan found the "poignant" ending the script's most interesting aspect; it had always depicted the Batman fleeing from police but was changed from him leaping across rooftops to escaping on the Batpod, his motorcycle-like vehicle. The dialogue Jonathan considered most important, "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", came late in development. Influenced by films such as The Godfather (1972) and Heat (1995), and maintaining Batman Begins's tone, their finished script bore more resemblance to a crime drama than a traditional superhero film. Comic-book influences included writer Frank Miller's 1980s works, which portray characters in a serious tone, and the limited series Batman: The Long Halloween (1996–1997), which explores the relationship between the Batman, Dent, and Gordon. Dent was written as The Dark Knight's central character, serving as the center of the battle between the Batman, who believes Dent is the hero the city needs, and the Joker, who wants to prove even the most righteous people can be corrupted. Christopher said the title refers to Dent as much as the Batman. He considered Dent as having a duality similar to the Batman's, providing interesting dramatic potential. Focusing on Dent meant Bruce Wayne / Batman was written as a generally static character who did not undergo drastic character development. Christopher found writing the Joker the easiest aspect of the script. The Nolans identified the traits common to his media incarnations and were influenced by the character's comic-book appearances as well as the villain Dr. Mabuse from the films of Fritz Lang. Writer Alan Moore's graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke (1988), did not influence the main narrative but Christopher believed his interpretation of the Joker as someone partially driven to prove anyone can become like him when pushed far enough helped the Nolans give purpose to an "inherently purposeless" character. The Joker was written as a purely evil psychopath and anarchist who lacks reason, logic, and fear, and could test the moral and ethical limits of the Batman, Dent, and Gordon. Christopher and Jonathan later realized they had inadvertently written their version similarly to Joker's first appearance in Batman \#1 (1940). The final scene, in which the Joker states he and the Batman are destined to battle forever, was not intended to tease a sequel but to convey the diametrically opposed pair were in an endless conflict because they will not kill each other. ### Casting Describing how his character had evolved from Batman Begins, Christian Bale said Wayne had changed from a young, naive, and angry man seeking purpose to a hero who is burdened by the realization his war against crime is seemingly endless. Because the new Batsuit allowed him to be more agile, Bale did not increase his muscle mass as much as he had for Batman Begins. Christopher had deliberately obscured combat in the previous film because it was intended to portray the Batman from the criminals' point of view. The improved Batsuit design let him show more of Bale's Keysi-fighting method training. Christopher was aware Nicholson's popular portrayal of the Joker would invite comparisons to his version, and wanted an actor who could cope with the associated scrutiny. Ledger's casting in August 2006 was criticized by some industry professionals and members of the public who considered him inappropriate for the role; executive producer Charles Roven said Ledger was the only person seriously considered, and that Batman Begins's positive reception would help alleviate any concerns. Christopher was confident in the casting because discussions between himself and Ledger had demonstrated they shared similar ideas regarding the Joker's portrayal. Ledger said he had some trepidation in succeeding Nicholson in the role but that the challenge excited him. He described his interpretation as a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy", and avoided humanizing him. He was influenced by Alex from the crime film A Clockwork Orange (1971), and British musicians Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. Ledger spent about a month secluding himself in a hotel room while reading relevant comic books. He developed the character's voice by mixing a high-pitch and low-pitch, which was inspired by ventriloquist performances. His fighting style was designed to appear improvised and erratic. Ledger spent a further four months creating a "Joker diary" containing images and elements he believed would resonate with his character, such as finding the disease AIDS humorous. Describing his performance, Ledger said: "It's the most fun I've had with a character and probably will ever have ... It was an exhausting process. At the end of the day, I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I was absolutely wrecked." In a November 2007 interview, Ledger said when committing himself to any role, he had difficulty sleeping because he could not relax his mind, and often slept only two hours a night during filming. Christopher wanted to cast an actor with an all-American "heroic presence" for Harvey Dent, something he likened to Robert Redford but with an undercurrent of anger or darkness. Josh Lucas, Ryan Phillippe, and Mark Ruffalo were considered, as well as Matt Damon, who could not commit due to scheduling conflicts. According to Christopher, Eckhart had the all-American charm and "aura ... of a good man pushed too far". Eckhart found portraying conflicted characters to be interesting; he said the difference between Dent and the Batman is the distance they are willing to go for their causes, and that after Dent's corruption he remains a crime fighter but he takes this to an extreme because he dislikes the restrictions of the law. Eckhart's performance was influenced by the Kennedy family, particularly Robert F. Kennedy, who fought organized crime with a similarly idealistic view of the law. During discussions on the portrayal of Dent's transformation into Two-Face, Eckhart and Christopher agreed to ignore Tommy Lee Jones's "colorful" portrayal in Batman Forever (1995), in which the character has pink hair and wears a split designer suit, in favor of a more realistic, slightly burnt, neutral-toned suit. Describing his role as GCPD sergeant James Gordon, Oldman said Gordon is the "moral center" of The Dark Knight, an honest and incorruptible character struggling with the limits of his morality. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, as Holmes chose to star in the crime comedy Mad Money (2008) instead. Gyllenhaal approached Rachel as a new character and did not reference Holmes's previous performance. Christopher described Rachel as the emotional connection between Wayne and Dent, ultimately serving as a further personal loss to fuel Wayne's character. Gyllenhaal collaborated with Christopher on the character's depiction because she wanted Rachel to be important and meaningful in her relatively minor role. Musician Dwight Yoakam turned down a role as the bank manager or a corrupt police officer because he was recording his album Dwight Sings Buck (2007). ### Pre-production In October 2006, location scouting for Gotham City took place in the UK in Liverpool, Glasgow, London, and parts of Yorkshire, and in several cities in the U.S. Christopher chose Chicago because he liked the area and believed it offered interesting architectural features without being as recognizable as locations in better-known cities such as New York City. Chicagoan authorities had been supportive during filming of Batman Begins, allowing the production to shut stretches of roads, freeways, and bridges. Christopher wanted to exchange the more natural, scenic settings of Batman Begins such as the Himalayas and caverns for a modern, structured environment the Joker could disassemble. Production designer Nathan Crowley said the clean, neat lines of Chicagoan architecture enhanced the urban-crime drama they wanted to make, and that the Batman had helped improve the city. The destruction of Wayne Manor in Batman Begins provided an opportunity to move Wayne to a modern, sparse penthouse, reflecting his loneliness. Sets were still used for some interiors such as the Bat Bunker, the replacement for the Batcave, on the outskirts of the city. The production team considered placing it in the penthouse basement but believed it was too unrealistic a solution. Much of The Dark Knight was filmed using Panavision's Panaflex Millennium XL and Platinum cameras but Christopher wanted to film about 40 minutes with IMAX cameras, a high-resolution technology using 70 mm film rather than the more-commonly used format 35 mm; the finished film includes 15–20% IMAX footage, running for about 28 minutes. This made it the first major motion picture to use IMAX technology, which was generally employed for documentaries. Warner Bros. was reluctant to endorse the use of the technology because the cameras were large and unwieldy, and purchasing and processing the film stock cost up to four times as much as typical 35 mm film. Christopher said cameras that could be used on Mount Everest could be used for The Dark Knight, and had cinematographer Wally Pfister and his crew begin training to use the equipment in January 2007 to test its feasibility. Christopher particularly wanted to film the bank heist prologue in IMAX to immediately convey the difference in scope between The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. ### Filming in Chicago Principal photography began on April 18, 2007, in Chicago on a \$185 million budget. For The Dark Knight, Pfister chose to combine the "rust-style" visuals of Batman Begins with the "dusk"-like color scheme of The Prestige (cobalt blues, greens, blacks, and whites), in part to address over-dark scenes in Batman Begins. To avoid attention, filming in Chicago took place under the working title Rory's First Kiss but the production's true nature was quickly uncovered by media publications. The Joker's homemade videos were filmed and mainly directed by Ledger. Caine said he forgot his lines during a scene involving one video because of Ledger's "stunning" performance. The first scene filmed was the bank heist, which was shot in the Old Chicago Main Post Office over five days. It was scheduled early to test the IMAX procedure, allowing it to be refilmed with traditional cameras if needed, and it was intended to be publicly released as part of the marketing campaign. Pfister described it as a week of patience and learning because of the four-day wait for the IMAX footage to be processed. Filming moved to England throughout May, returning to Chicago in June. Filming took place in the lobby of One Illinois Center, which served as Wayne's penthouse apartment; bookcases were built to hide the elevators. A floor of Two Illinois Center was decorated for Wayne's fundraiser. The crew was described as excited as this scene depicted the first meeting between the Batman and the Joker. The windows in both settings were covered in green screen material, allowing Gotham City visuals to be added later. In July, three weeks were spent filming the truck chase scene, mainly on Wacker Drive, a multi-level street that had to be closed overnight. During filming, Christopher added a set-piece of a SWAT van crashing through a concrete barricade. The sequence continued on LaSalle Street, which was also used for the GCPD funeral procession, for a practical truck-flip stunt and helicopter sequence. Additional segments were filmed on Monroe Street and Randolph Street, and at Randolph Street Station. Navy Pier, along the shore of Lake Michigan, served as Gotham Harbor in a climactic ferry scene. Scouts spent over a month searching for suitable vessels but were unsuccessful, so construction coordinator Joe Ondrejko and his team built ferry facades atop barges. The entire sequence was filmed in one day and involved 800 extras, who were moved through makeup and clothing departments in shifts. Exterior footage of the Gotham Prewitt Building, the site of the Batman's and the Joker's final confrontation, was filmed at the in-construction Trump International Hotel and Tower. The owners refused permission to film a stunt in which the Batman suspends a SWAT team from the building, so this was filmed from the fortieth floor of a separate building site. A former Brach's candy factory on Cicero Avenue scheduled for demolition was used to film the Gotham General Hospital explosion in August 2007. Filming in Chicago concluded on September 1, ending with scenes of Wayne driving and crashing his car, before the production returned to England. The Dark Knight includes Chicago locations such as Lake Michigan, which doubled as the Caribbean Sea where Wayne boards a seaplane; Richard J. Daley Center (Wayne Enterprises exteriors and a courtroom); The Berghoff restaurant (GCPD arresting mobsters); Twin Anchors restaurant; the Sound Bar; McCormick Place (Wayne Enterprises interiors); and Chicago Theatre. 330 North Wabash served as offices used by Dent, mayor Garcia, and commissioner Loeb; and its thirteenth floor appears as Wayne Enterprises' boardroom; Pfister enhanced its large, panoramic windows and natural light with an 80-foot (24 m) glass table and reflective bulbs. A Randolph Street parking garage is where the Batman captures Scarecrow and Batman impersonators. Christopher wanted several Rottweiler dogs in the scene but locating a dog-handler willing to simultaneously manage several dogs was difficult. A scene of the Batman surveying the city from a rooftop edge was filmed atop Willis Tower, Chicago's tallest building. Stuntman Buster Reeves was due to double as the Batman, but Bale persuaded the filmmakers to let him perform the scene himself. The thirteen weeks of filming in Chicago was estimated to have generated \$45 million for the city's economy and thousands of local jobs. ### Filming in England and Hong Kong Many interior locations for The Dark Knight were filmed on sets at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, and Cardington Airfield, Bedfordshire; these locations include the Bat Bunker, which took six weeks to build in a Cardington hangar. The Bat Bunker was based on 1960s Chicago building designs, and was integrated into existing concrete floor, and used the 200-foot (61 m) long, 8 ft (2.4 m) tall ceiling to create a broad perspective. The 160-foot (49 m) tall hangar was unsuitable for suspending the bunker roof, and an encompassing gantry was built to hold it and the lighting. After moving from Chicago in May, scenes filmed in the UK also include Criterion Restaurant, where Rachel, Dent, and Wayne share dinner, and a Gotham News scene that was filmed at the University of Westminster. The GCPD headquarters was rebuilt in the Farmiloe Building. During the interrogation scene, Ledger asked Bale to actually hit him, and although he declined, Ledger cracked and dented the walls by throwing himself around. After returning to England in the middle of September, scenes were filmed for the ferry, hospital, and Gotham Prewitt building interiors. By mid-October, interior and exterior scenes of Rachel being held hostage surrounded by barrels of gasoline were filmed at Battersea Power Station. To avoid damaging the power station, a listed building, a false wall was built in front of it and lined with explosives. Nearby residents contacted emergency services believing the explosion was a terrorist attack. Filming in England concluded at the end of October with a variety of green-screen shots for the truck-chase sequence, and shots of Rachel being thrown from a window were filmed on a set at Cardington. The final nine days of production took place in Hong Kong and included aerial footage from atop the International Finance Centre, as well as filming at Central to Mid-Levels escalator, The Center, Central, The Peninsula Hong Kong, and Queen's Road; and a stunt involving the Batman catching an in-flight C-130 aircraft. Despite extensive rehearsals of Reeves jumping from the McClurg Building in Chicago, a planned stunt to depict the Batman leaping from one Hong Kong skyscraper to another was canceled because local authorities refused permission for helicopter use; Pfister described the officials as a "nightmare". Christopher disputed a report that said a scene of the Batman leaping into Victoria Harbour was canceled because of pollution concerns, saying it was a script decision. The 127-day shoot concluded on November 15, on time and under budget. ### Post-production Editing was underway in January 2008 when Ledger, aged 28, died from an accidental overdose of a prescription drug. A rumor his commitment to his performance as the Joker had affected his mental state circulated, but this was later refuted. Christopher said editing the film became "tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day [during editing] ... but the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish". Because Christopher preferred to capture sound while filming rather than re-recording dialogue in post-production, Ledger's work had been completed before his death, and Christopher did not modify the Joker's narrative in response. Christopher added a dedication to Ledger and stuntman Conway Wickliffe, who died during rehearsals for a Tumbler (Batmobile) stunt. Alongside lead editor Lee Smith, Christopher took an "aggressive editorial approach" to editing The Dark Knight to achieve its 152-minute running time. Christopher said no scenes were deleted because he believed every scene was essential, and that unnecessary material had been cut before filming. The Nolans had difficulties refining the script to reduce the running time but after removing so much material they believed it had become incomprehensible, they had added more scenes. ### Special effects and design Unlike the design process of Batman Begins, which was restrained by a need to represent Batman iconography, audience acceptance of its realistic setting gave The Dark Knight more design freedom. Chris Corbould, the film's special effects supervisor, oversaw the 700 effect shots Double Negative and Framestore produced; there were relatively few effects compared to equivalent films because Christopher only used computer-generated imaging where practical effects would not suffice. Production designer Nathan Crowley designed the Batpod (Batcycle) because Christopher did not want to extensively re-use the Tumbler. Corbould's team built the Batpod, which is based on a prototype Crowley and Christopher built by combining different commercial model components. The unwieldy, wide-tired vehicle could only be ridden by stuntman Jean Pierre Goy after months of training. The Gotham General Hospital explosion was not in the script but added during filming because Corbould believed it could be done. Hemming, Crowley, Christopher, and Jamie Rama re-designed the Batsuit to make it more comfortable and flexible, developing a costume made from a stretchy material covered in over 100 urethane armor pieces. Sculptor Julian Murray developed Dent's burnt-facial design, which is based on Christopher's request for a skeletal appearance. Murray went through designs that were "too real and more horrifying" before settling on a more "fanciful" and detailed but less-repulsive version. Hemming designed Joker's overall appearance, which he based on fashion-and-music celebrities to create a modern and trendy look. Influence also came from the 1953 painting Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Francis Bacon—suggested by Christopher—and the character's comic-book appearances. The outfit consists of a purple coat, a green vest, an antique shirt, and a thin, 1960s-style tie that Ledger suggested. Prosthetics supervisor Conor O'Sullivan created Joker's scars, which he partly based on a scarred delivery man he met, and used his own technique to create and apply the supple, skin-like prosthesis. John Caglione Jr designed Joker's "organic" makeup to look as though it had been worn for days; this idea was partly based on more of Bacon's works. Caglione Jr used a theatrical makeup technique for the application; he instructed Ledger to scrunch up his face so different cracks and textures were created once the makeup was applied and Ledger relaxed. Ledger always applied the lipstick himself, believing it was essential to his characterization. ### Music Composers James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, who had also worked on Batman Begins, scored The Dark Knight because Christopher believed it was important to bridge the musical-narrative gap between the films. The score was recorded at Air Studios, London. Howard and Zimmer composed the score without seeing the film because Christopher wanted them to be influenced by the characters and story rather than fitting specific on-screen elements. Howard and Zimmer separated their duties by character; Howard focused on Dent and Zimmer focused on the Batman and the Joker. Zimmer did not consider the Batman to be strictly noble and wrote the theme to not seem "super". Howard wrote about ten minutes of music for Dent, wanting to portray him as an American who represents hope, but undergoes an emotional extreme and moral corruption. He used brass instruments for both moral ends but warped the sound as Dent is corrupted. Zimmer wanted to use a single note for the Joker's theme; he said, "imagine one note that starts off slightly agitated and then goes to serious aggravation and finally rips your head off at the end". He could not make it work, however, and used two notes with alternating tempos and a "punk" influence. The theme was influenced by electronic music innovators Kraftwerk and Zimmer's work with rock band The Damned. He wanted to convey elements of the Joker's corrosion, recklessness, and "otherworldliness" by combining electronic and orchestral music, and modifying almost every note after recording to emulate sounds including thunder and razors. He attempted to develop original sounds with synthesizers, trying to create an "offputting" result by instructing musicians to start with a single note and gradually shift to the second over a three-minute period; the musicians found this difficult because it was the opposite of their training. It took several months to achieve Zimmer's desired result. Following Ledger's death, Zimmer considered discarding the theme for a more traditional one but he and Howard believed they should honor Ledger's performance. ## Release ### Marketing and anti-piracy The Dark Knight's marketing campaign was developed by alternate reality game (ARG) development company 42 Entertainment. Christopher wanted the team to focus on countering the negative reaction to Ledger's casting and controlling the revelation of the Joker's appearance. Influenced by the script and the comic books The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween, and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (1989), 42 Entertainment paced the ARG over annual events, although Warner Bros. rejected their ideas to use Jokerized Santas at Christmas, coffins filled with chattering teeth on Mother's Day (mocking Wayne's late mother), and Batman actors on rooftops due to safety concerns. The ARG began in May 2007 with campaign posters for Dent and Joker playing cards bearing the phrase "I believe in Harvey Dent" were hidden inside comic books at stores around the U.S. This led people to a website where they could submit their e-mail addresses to reveal a pixel of a concealed Joker image; about 97,000 e-mail addresses and 20 hours were required to reveal the image in full, which was well received. At the San Diego Comic-Con, 42 Entertainment modified 11,000 one-dollar bills with the Joker's image and the phrase "Why So Serious?" that led finders to a location. 42 Entertainment's initial plan to throw the bills from a balcony was canceled due to safety concerns, so the bills were covertly distributed to attendees. Although the event was expected to attract a few thousand people, 650,000 arrived and participated in activities that included calling a number taken from a plane flying overhead and wearing Joker makeup to commit disruptive acts with actors. Globally, fans photographed letters on signs to form a ransom note. A U.S.-centric effort involved people recovering cellphones made by Nokia—a brand partner to the film—from a cake, which led to an early screening of the film's bank-heist prologue before its public release in December. Ledger's appearance in the prologue was well-received and positively changed the discourse around his casting. Following Ledger's death, the campaign continued unchanged with a focus on Dent's election, which was influenced by the ongoing 2008 United States presidential election. Warner Bros. was concerned public knowledge of Dent's character was poor; the campaign included signs, stickers, and "Dentmobiles" visiting U.S. cities to raise his profile. The campaign concluded in July with displays of the Bat-Signal in Chicago and New York City that were eventually defaced by the Joker. Industry professionals considered the campaign innovative and successful. Warner Bros. dedicated six months to anti-piracy methods; the film industry lost an estimated \$6.1 billion to piracy in 2005. Delivery methods of film reels were randomized and copies had a chain of custody to track who had access. Some theater staff were given night-vision goggles to identify people recording The Dark Knight, and one person was caught in Kansas City. Warner Bros. considered its strategy a success, delaying the appearance of the first "poorly-lit" camcorder version until 38–48 hours after its earliest global release in Australia. ### Context Compared to 2007's \$9.7 billion box-office take, in 2008, lower revenues were expected due to the large number of comedies competing against each other and the release of films with dark tones, such as The Dark Knight, during a period of rising living costs and election fatigue in the U.S. Fewer sequels, which generally performed well, were scheduled and only four—The Dark Knight, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull—were predicted to be blockbusters. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the only film expected to easily earn over \$300 million. The Dark Knight was expected to sell well based on high audience anticipation, positive pre-release reviews, and a record \$3.5 million in IMAX pre-sales. Predictions placed its opening-weekend take above that of Iron Man's \$102.1 million but below that of Spider-Man 3's (2007) record \$151.1 million. Analysts said its success would be influenced by the lengthy running time that limited the number of screenings per day, and counter-programming from the romantic comedy Mamma Mia!—which surveyed well with women—and the family comedy Space Chimps. There was also a perceived limit on financial success for Batman films; the 1989 installment remained the franchise's highest-grossing release. The Dark Knight's premiere took place on July 14, in IMAX in New York City. A block in Broadway was closed for the event, which included a live performance of the film score by Howard and Zimmer. The Hollywood Reporter said Ledger received several ovations, and that during the after-party, Warner Bros. executives struggled to maintain a balance between celebrating the successful response and commemorating Ledger. ### Box office On July 18, 2008, The Dark Knight was widely released in the U.S. and Canada in a record 4,366 theaters on an estimated 9,200 screens. It earned \$158.4 million during the weekend, a per-theater average of \$36,282, breaking Spider-Man 3's record and making it the number-one film ahead of Mamma Mia! (\$27.8 million) and Hancock (\$14 million) in its third weekend. It set further records for the highest-grossing single-day (\$67.2 million on the Friday), Sunday (\$43.6 million), midnight opening (\$18.5 million, from 3,000 midnight screenings), and IMAX opening (\$6.3 million from about 94 locations), as well as the second-highest-grossing Saturday (\$47.7 million) behind Spider-Man 3, and contributed to the highest-grossing weekend on record (\$253.6 million). The film benefited from repeat viewings by younger audiences and had broad appeal, with 52% of the audience being male and an equal number of those under 25 years old, and those of 25 or older. The Dark Knight broke more records, including for the highest-grossing opening week (\$238.6 million), and for three-, four-, five-, six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, and ten-day cumulative grosses, including the highest-grossing non-holiday Monday (\$24.5 million) and non-opening Tuesday (\$20.9 million, as well as the second-highest-grossing non-opening Wednesday (\$18.4 million), behind Transformers (\$29.1 million). It retained the number-one position in its second weekend with a total gross of \$75.2 million, ahead of the debuting Step Brothers (\$31 million), giving it the highest-grossing second weekend. It retained the number-one position in its third (\$42.7 million) and fourth (\$26.1 million) weekends, before falling to second place in its fifth, with a gross of \$16.4 million, behind the debuting Tropic Thunder (\$25.8 million). The Dark Knight remained in the top-ten highest-grossing films for ten weeks, and became the film to surpass \$400 million soonest (18 days) and \$500 million (45 days). The film was playing in fewer than 100 theaters when it received a 300-theater relaunch in late January 2009 to raise its profile during nominations for the 81st Academy Awards. This raised its total box office to \$533.3 million before it left theaters on March 5 after 33 weeks, making it the highest-grossing comic-book, superhero, and Batman film; the highest-grossing film of 2008; and the second-highest-grossing film ever (unadjusted for inflation), behind the 1997 romantic drama Titanic (\$600.8 million). The Dark Knight was released in Australia and Taiwan on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, and opened in twenty markets by the weekend. It earned about \$40 million combined, making it second to Hancock (\$44.8 million), which was playing in nearly four times as many countries. The Dark Knight was available in sixty-two countries by the end of August, although Warner Bros. decided not to release it in China, blaming "a number of pre-release conditions ... as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film". The Dark Knight earned about \$469.7 million outside the U.S. and Canada, its highest grosses coming from the United Kingdom (\$89.1 million), Australia (\$39.9 million), Germany (\$29.7 million), France (\$27.5 million), Mexico (\$25 million), South Korea (\$24.7 million), and Brazil (\$20.2 million). This made it the second-highest-grossing film of the year behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film had grossed \$997 million worldwide by January 2009. Its reissue in the run-up to the Oscars enabled the film to exceed \$1 billion in February, and it ultimately earned \$1.003 billion. It was the first superhero film to gross over \$1 billion, the highest-grossing film of 2008 worldwide, the fourth film to earn more than \$1 billion, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (\$1.066 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (\$1.119 billion), and Titanic (\$1.842 billion). As of September 2022, rereleases have further raised its box-office take to \$1.006 billion. ## Reception ### Critical response The Dark Knight received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a approval rating from the aggregated reviews of critics, with an average score of . The consensus reads; "Dark, complex and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Several publications called The Dark Knight the best comic-book hero adaptation ever made. Roger Ebert said it, alongside Iron Man, had redefined the potential of superhero films by combining comic-book tropes with real world events. Some appreciated its complex moral tale about the effects of vigilantism and terrorism on contemporary society. Emanuel Levy and Manohla Dargis praised the depiction of the characters as possessing both positive and negative aspects, such as the Batman's efforts to end crime provoking unintended consequences and a greater response from criminals; Dargis believed The Dark Knight's exploration of chaos, fear, and death, following the September 11 attacks in 2001, represented "that American movies have entered a new era of ambivalence when it comes to their heroes or maybe just superness." Others criticized the dark, grim, intense, and self-serious tone as lacking any elements of fun or fantasy. David Denby said The Dark Knight was a product of a "time of terror", but focused on embracing and unleashing it while cynically setting up a sequel. Stephanie Zacharek and David Edelstein criticized a perceived lack of visual storytelling in favor of exposition, and aspects of the plot being difficult to follow amid the fast pace and loud score. Christopher's action direction was criticized, especially during fight scenes where it could be difficult to see things clearly, although the prologue bank heist was praised as among the film's best. Ledger's performance received near-unanimous praise with the caveat that his death made the role both highly anticipated and difficult to watch. Dargis, among others, described Ledger as realizing the Joker so convincingly, intensely, and viscerally it made the audience forget about the actor behind the makeup. The Village Voice wrote the performance would have made Ledger a legend even if he had lived. Other reviews said Ledger outshone Nicholson's "magnificent" performance with macabre humor and malevolence. Reviews generally agreed the Joker was the best-written character, and that Ledger commanded scenes from the entire cast to create one of the most mesmerizing cinematic villains. Zacharek, however, lamented that the performance was not in service of a better film. Bale's reception was mixed; his performance was considered to be alternately "captivating" or serviceable, but ultimately uninteresting and undermined by portraying an immovable and generally unchanged character who delivers the Batman's dialogue in a hoarse, unvarying tone. Eckhart's performance was generally well received; reviewers praised his portrayal of Dent as charismatic, and the character's subsequent transformation into a sad, bitter "monster", although Variety considered his subplot the film's weakest. Stephen Hunter said the Dent character was underwritten and that Eckhart was incapable of portraying the role as intended. Several reviewers regarded Gyllenhaal as an improvement over Holmes, although others said they found difficulty caring about the character and that Gyllenhaal, while more talented than her predecessor, was miscast. Peter Travers praised Oldman's skill in making a virtuous character interesting and he, among others, described Caine's and Freeman's performances as "effortless". Ebert surmised the entire cast provided "powerful" performances that engage the audience, such that "we're surprised how deeply the drama affects us". ### Accolades The Dark Knight appeared on several lists recognizing the best films of 2008, including those compiled by Ebert, The Hollywood Reporter, and the American Film Institute. At the 13th Satellite Awards, The Dark Knight received one award for Sound Editing or Mixing (Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo). A further four wins came at the 35th People's Choice Awards: Favorite Movie, Favorite Cast, Favorite Action Movie, and Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (Bale and Ledger), as well as Best Action Movie and Best Supporting Actor (Ledger) at the 14th Critics' Choice Awards. Howard and Zimmer were recognized for Best Motion Picture Score at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Ledger won the film's only awards at the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, 62nd British Academy Film Awards, and 66th Golden Globe Awards, for Best Supporting Actor. At the 14th Empire Awards, The Dark Knight received awards for Best Film, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), and Best Actor (Bale). Ledger received the award for Best Villain at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, and at the 35th Saturn Awards, The Dark Knight won awards for Best Action or Adventure Film, Best Supporting Actor (Ledger), Best Writing (Christopher and Jonathan Nolan), Best Music (Howard and Zimmer), and Best Special Effects (Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul J. Franklin, Timothy Webber). Before The Dark Knight's release, film industry discourse focused on Ledger potentially earning an Academy Award nomination at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, making him only the seventh person to be nominated posthumously, and if the decision would be influenced by his passing or performance. Genre films such as those based on comic books were also generally ignored by Academy voters. Even so, Ledger was considered a favorite to earn the award based on praise from critic groups and his posthumous Golden Globe award. Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him only the second performer to win an award posthumously (after Peter Finch in 1977), and The Dark Knight the first comic book adaptation to win an academy acting award. The Dark Knight also won an award for Best Sound Editing (King), and received six nominations for Best Art Direction (Crowley and Peter Lando), Best Cinematography (Pfister), Best Film Editing (Smith), Best Makeup (Caglione Jr. and O'Sullivan), Best Sound Mixing (Hirschberg, Rizzo, and Ed Novick), and Best Visual Effects (Davis, Corbould, Webber, and Franklin). Despite the success of The Dark Knight, the lack of a Best Picture nomination was criticized and described as a "snub" by some publications. The response was seen as the culmination of several years of criticism toward the academy ignoring high-performing, broadly popular films. The backlash was such that, for the 82nd Academy Awards awards in 2010, the academy increased the limit for Best Picture nominees from five to ten, a change known as "The Dark Knight Rule". It allowed for more broadly popular but "respected" films to be nominated, including District 9, The Blind Side, Avatar, and Up, the first animated film to be nominated in two decades. This change is seen as responsible for the first Best Picture nomination of a comic book adaptation, Black Panther (2018). Even so, The Hollywood Reporter argued the academy mistook the appeals to recognize important, "generation-defining" genre films with just nominating more films. ## Other releases ### Home media The Dark Knight was released on DVD and Blu-ray in December 2008. The release has a slipcover box-art that revealed a "Jokerized" version underneath, and contains featurettes on the Batman's equipment, the psychology used in the film, six episodes of the fictional news program Gotham Tonight, and a gallery of concept art, posters, and Joker cards. The Blu-ray disc version additionally offers interactive elements describing the production of some scenes. A separate, limited-edition Blu-ray disc set came with a Batpod figurine. The Dark Knight sold 3 million copies across both formats on its launch day in the U.S., Canada, and the UK; Blu-ray discs comprised about 25–30% of the sales—around 600,000 units. The film was released at the beginning of the Blu-ray disc format; it was considered a success, breaking Iron Man's record of 250,000 units sold and indicating the format was growing in popularity. In 2011, it also became the first major-studio film to be released for rent via digital distribution on Facebook. A 4K resolution remaster, which was overseen by Christopher, was released in December 2017 as a set containing a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray disc, and digital download, as well as special features from earlier releases. ### Merchandise and spin-offs Merchandise for The Dark Knight includes statuettes, action figures, radio-controlled Tumbler and Batpod models, costumes, sets of Batarangs, a limited-edition Grappling Launcher replica, board games, puzzles, clothing, and a special-edition UNO card game. A novelization written by Dennis O'Neil was released in 2008. A direct-to-DVD animated film, Batman: Gotham Knight, was released in July 2008. Executive produced by Bruce Timm and Nolan's wife Emma Thomas, with Goyer as one of the writers, it includes veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy reprising his role. Originally there was interest in bringing Bale and other actors from the live-action films to voice their respective characters, but it was not possible due to scheduling conflicts. Gotham Knight presents six vignettes, each of which are animated in a different artistic style, set between the events of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. A video game adaptation, Batman: The Dark Knight, was canceled due to development problems. The Dark Knight Coaster, an indoor roller coaster, opened in May 2008 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Costing \$7.5 million, the 1,213-foot (370 m) long attraction places riders in an imitation of Wayne Central Station in Gotham City as they move through areas that are vandalized or controlled by the Joker. ## Themes and analysis ### Terrorism and escalation A central theme of The Dark Knight is escalation, particularly the rise of the Joker in response to the Batman's vigilantism. The Batman's vigilante operation arms him with high-tech military equipment against common criminals, and the Joker is the inevitable response and escalation of lawlessness to counter the Batman. Critic Siddhant Adlakha considered the Joker an analog for countries such as Iraq, Somalia, and Lebanon, which were targeted by U.S. military campaigns and responded with escalation using terrorism. The Batman also inspires copycat vigilantes, further escalating lawlessness. Film studies professor Todd McGowan said the Batman asserts authority over these copycats, telling them to stop because they do not have the same defensive equipment as himself, reaffirming his self-given authority to act as a vigilante. The film has been analyzed as an analog for the war on terror, the militaristic campaign the U.S. launched following the September 11 attacks. The scene in which the Batman stands in the ruins of a destroyed building, having failed to prevent the Joker's plot, is reminiscent of the World Trade Center site after September 11. According to historian Stephen Prince, The Dark Knight is about the consequences of civil and government authorities abandoning rules in the fight against terrorism. Several publications criticized The Dark Knight for a perceived endorsement of "necessary evils" such as torture and rendition. Author Andrew Klavan said the Batman is a stand-in for then-U.S. president George W. Bush and justified the breaching of "boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that [the Batman] will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past". Klavan's interpretation was criticized by some publications that considered The Dark Knight anti-war, proposing society must not abandon the rule of law to combat lawlessness or risk creating the conditions for escalation. This is exemplified in the covert alliance formed between the Batman, Dent, and Gordon, leading to Rachel's death and Dent's corruption. Writer Benjamin Kerstein said both viewpoints are valid, and that "The Dark Knight is a perfect mirror of the society which is watching it: a society so divided on the issues of terror and how to fight it that, for the first time in decades, an American mainstream no longer exists". The Batman and Dent resort to torture or enhanced interrogation to stop the Joker but he remains immune to their efforts because he has a strong belief in his goals. When Dent ineffectually attempts to torture Joker's henchman, the Batman does not condemn the act, only being concerned about public perception if people discover the truth. This conveys the protagonists' gradual abandonment of their principles when faced with an extreme foe. The Joker meets Dent in a hospital to explain how expected atrocities, such as the deaths of several soldiers, and societal failings are tolerated but when norms are unexpectedly disrupted, people panic and descend into chaos. Although the Joker wears disguising makeup, he is not hiding behind a mask and is the same person with or without makeup. He lacks any identity or origin, representing the uncertainty, unknowability, and fear of terrorism, although he does not follow any political ideology. Dent represents the fulfillment of American idealism, a noble person who can work within the confines of the law and allow the Batman to retire, but the fear and chaos embodied by the Joker taints that idealism and corrupts Dent absolutely. In The Dark Knight's final act, the Batman employs an invasive surveillance network by co-opting the phones of Gotham's citizens to locate the Joker, violating their privacy. Adlakha described this act as a "militaristic fantasy", in which a significant violation of civil liberties is required through the means of advanced technology to capture a dangerous terrorist, reminiscent of the 2001 Patriot Act. Lucius Fox threatens to stop helping the Batman in response, believing he has crossed an ethical boundary, and although the Batman agrees these violations are unacceptable and destroys the technology, the film demonstrates he could not have stopped the Joker in time without it. ### Morality and ethics The Dark Knight focuses on the moral and ethical battles faced by the central characters, and the compromises they make to defeat the Joker under extraordinary circumstances. Roger Ebert said the Joker forces impossible ethical decisions on each character to test the limits of their morality. The Batman represents order to the Joker's chaos and is brought to his own limit but avoids completely compromising himself. Dent represents goodness and hope; he is the city's "white knight" who is "pure" of intent and can operate within the law. Dent is motivated to do good because he identifies himself as good, not through trauma like the Batman, and has faith in the legal system. Adlakha wrote Dent is framed as a religious icon, his campaign slogan being "I believe in Harvey Dent", and his eventual death leaves his arms spread wide like Jesus on the Cross. Eckhart described Dent as someone who loves the law but feels constrained by it and his inability to do what he believes is right because the rules he must follow do not allow it. Dent's desire to work outside the law is seen in his support of the Batman's vigilantism to accomplish what he cannot. Dent's corruption suggests he is a proxy for those looking for hope because he is as fallible and susceptible to darkness as anyone else. This can be seen in his use of a two-headed coin to make decisions involving others, eliminating the risk of chance by controlling the outcome in his favor, indicating losing is not an acceptable outcome for him. Once Dent experiences a significant traumatic event in the loss of Rachel and his own disfigurement, he quickly abandons his noble former self to seek his own form of justice. His coin is scarred on one side, introducing the risk of chance, and he submits himself to it completely. According to English professor Daniel Boscaljon, Dent is not broken; he believes in a different form of justice in a seemingly unjust world, flipping a coin because it is "Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair." The Joker represents an ideological deviancy; he does not seek personal gain and causes chaos for its own sake, setting a towering pile of cash ablaze to prove "everything burns". Unlike the Batman, the Joker is the same with or without makeup, having no identity to conceal and nothing to lose. Boscaljon wrote the residents and criminals believe in a form of order and rules that must be obeyed; the Joker deliberately upends this belief because he has no rules or limitations. The character can be considered an example of Friedrich Nietzsche's "Superman", who exists outside definitions such as good and evil, and follows his own indomitable will. The film, however, leaves open the option to dismiss his insights because his chaos ultimately leads to death and injustice. Christopher described the Joker as an unadulterated evil, and professor Charles Bellinger considered him a satanic figure who repels people from goodness and tempts them with things they supposedly lack, such as forcing the Batman to choose between saving Dent—who is best for the city—and Rachel, who is best for Wayne. The Joker aims to corrupt Dent to prove anyone, even symbols, can be broken. In their desperation, Dent and the Batman are forced to question their own limitations. As the Joker states to the Batman: > Their morals, their code ... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. You'll see—I'll show you ... when the chips are down, these civilized people ... they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster ... I'm just ahead of the curve. The ferry scene can be seen as the Joker's true defeat, demonstrating he is wrong about the residents turning on each other in an extreme scenario. According to writer David Chen, this demonstrates, individually, people cannot responsibly handle power but by sharing the responsibility, there is hope for a compassionate outcome. Although the Batman holds to his morals and does not kill the Joker, he is forced to break his code by pushing Dent to his death to save an innocent person. The Batman chooses to become a symbol of criminality by taking the blame for Dent's crimes and preserving him as a symbol of good, maintaining the hope of Gotham's residents. Critic David Crow wrote the Batman's true test is not defeating the Joker but saving Dent, a task at which he fails. The Batman makes his own Christ-like sacrifice, taking on Dent's sins to preserve the city. Although The Dark Knight presents this as a heroic act, this "noble lie" is used to conceal and manipulate the truth for what a minority determines is the greater good. McGowan considered the act heroic because the Batman's sacrifice will leave him hunted and despised without recognition, indicating he has learned from the Joker the established norms must sometimes be broken. According to professor Martin Fradley, among others, the Batman's "noble lie" and Gordon's support of it is a cynical endorsement of deception and totalitarianism. Wayne's butler Alfred also commits a noble lie, concealing Rachel's choice of Dent over Wayne to spare him the pain of her rejection. ## Legacy ### Cultural influence The Dark Knight is considered an influential and often-imitated work that redefined the superhero/comic-book film genre, and filmmaking in general. In 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected The Dark Knight to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Before The Dark Knight, superhero films closely emulated their comic-book source material, and though the genre had seen significant successes such as Superman (1978), Batman (1989), X-Men (2000), and Spider-Man (2002), they were often considered disposable entertainment that did not garner much industry respect. A 2018 retrospective by The Hollywood Reporter said The Dark Knight taught filmmakers "comic book characters are malleable. They are able to be grounded or fantastic, able to be prestigious or pure blockbuster entertainment, to be dark and gritty or light, to be character-driven or action-packed, or any variation in-between." The Dark Knight is considered a blueprint for the modern superhero film that productions either attempt to closely emulate or deliberately counter. Its financial, critical, and cultural successes legitimized the genre with film studios at a time when recent films, such as Daredevil, Hulk (both 2003), Fantastic Four (2005), and Superman Returns (2006) had failed to meet expectations. The genre became a focus of annual studio strategies rather than a relatively niche project, and a surge of comic-book adaptations followed, in part because of their broad franchising potential. In 2008, Ebert wrote; "[The Dark Knight], and to a lesser degree Iron Man, redefine the possibilities of the 'comic-book movie'". The Atlantic wrote Iron Man's legacy in launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) could not have happened without the financial and critical success of The Dark Knight, which made comic book adaptations a central focus of film studios. Retrospective analysis has focused on the way studios, eager to replicate its performance, released tonally dark, gritty, and realistic films, or reboots of existing franchises, many of which failed critically or commercially. Some publications said studios took the wrong lessons from The Dark Knight, treating source material too seriously and mistaking a dark, gritty tone for narrative depth and intelligent writing. The MCU is seen as a successful continuation of what made The Dark Knight a success, combining genres and tones relevant to each respective film while treating the source material seriously, unlike the DC Extended Universe, which more closely emulated the tone of The Dark Knight but failed to replicate its success. Directors including Sam Mendes (Skyfall, 2012), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), and David Ayer (Suicide Squad, 2016), have cited it as an influence on their work, and Steven Spielberg listed it among his favorite films. The film has been referenced in a variety of media including television shows such as Robot Chicken, South Park, and The Simpsons. U.S. President Barack Obama used Joker to explain the growth of Islamic State (IS) military group, saying " ... the gang leaders of Gotham are meeting ... they were thugs, but there was a kind of order ... the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. [IS] is the Joker." Joker's appearance became a popular Halloween costume and also influenced the 2009 Barack Obama "Joker" poster. ### Retrospective assessments Since its release, The Dark Knight has been assessed as one of the greatest superhero films ever made, among the greatest films ever made, and one of the best sequel films. It is also considered among the best films of the 2000s, and in a 2010 poll of thirty-seven critics by Metacritic regarding the decade's top films, The Dark Knight received the eighth most mentions, appearing on 7 lists. In the 2010s, a poll of 177 film critics by the BBC in 2016 listed it as the 33rd-best film of the 21st century, and The Guardian placed it 98th on its own list. In 2020, Empire magazine named it third-best, behind The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). As of 2022, it remains the highest critically rated Batman film according to Rotten Tomatoes, and is often ranked as the best film featuring the character. The Dark Knight remains popular with entertainment industry professionals, including directors, actors, critics, and stunt actors, being ranked 57th on The Hollywood Reporter's poll of the best films ever made, 18th on Time Out's list of the best action films, and 96th on the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest American Films. The Dark Knight is included in the film-reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and film critics James Berardinelli and Barry Norman included it in their individual listings of the 100 greatest films of all time. In 2012, Total Film named it the sixth-most-accomplished film of the preceding fifteen years, and a 2020 article by Empire named The Dark Knight as one of the films that defined the previous three decades. In 2020, Time Out named it the seventy-second-best action movie ever made. Ledger's Joker is considered one of the greatest cinematic villains; several publications placed his portrayal second only to Darth Vader. In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter named Ledger's Joker the second-best cinematic superhero performance ever, behind Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and Collider listed him as the greatest villain of the 21st century. In 2022, Variety listed him as the best superhero film performance of the preceding 50 years (Eckhart appears at number 22). Entertainment Weekly wrote there had not been another villain as interesting or "perversely entertaining" as Joker, and Ledger's performance was considered so defining that future interpretations would be compared against it. Michael B. Jordan cited the character as an inspiration for his character Erik Killmonger in Black Panther. The "pencil trick" scene, in which Joker makes a pencil disappear by slamming a mobster's head on it, is considered an iconic scene and among the film's most famous. Similarly, the character's line "why so serious?" is among the film's most famous and oft-quoted pieces of dialog, alongside "everyone loses their minds," and Dent's line "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", as well as Pennyworth's line "some men just want to watch the world burn"; the lines also became popular internet memes. The Dark Knight remains popular with audiences in publicly voted rankings. Over 17,000 people voted the film into the top ten of American Cinematographer's "Best-Shot Film of 1998–2008" list, and listeners of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra named it their eighth-favorite film. Readers of Empire have alternatively voted it the fifteenth (2008), third (2014), and the fourth-greatest film ever made (2020). The Dark Knight was also voted the greatest superhero movie by readers of Rolling Stone (2014), and as one of New Zealand's favorite films (2015). ## Sequel The Dark Knight was followed by The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the conclusion of The Dark Knight Trilogy. In the film, the Batman is forced out of his self-imposed retirement following the events of The Dark Knight; he allies with Selina Kyle / Catwoman to take on Bane, a physically imposing revolutionary allied with the League of Shadows that is featured in Batman Begins. The Dark Knight Rises was a financial success, surpassing the box-office take of The Dark Knight, and was generally well received by critics but proved more divisive with audiences.
33,769,420	Typhoon Gay (1992)	1,170,627,215	Pacific typhoon in 1992	[ "1992 Pacific typhoon season", "1992 in Guam", "Typhoons", "Typhoons in Guam" ]	Typhoon Gay, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Seniang, was the strongest and longest-lasting storm of the 1992 Pacific typhoon season and most intense globally in 1992. It formed on November 14 near the International Date Line from a monsoon trough, which also spawned two other systems. Typhoon Gay later moved through the Marshall Islands as an intensifying typhoon, and after passing through the country it reached its peak intensity over open waters. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) estimated peak winds of 295 km/h (183 mph) and a minimum barometric pressure of 872 mb (25.8 inHg). However, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), which is the official warning center in the western Pacific, estimated winds of 205 km/h (127 mph), with a pressure of 900 mbar (27 inHg). Gay weakened rapidly after peaking because of interaction with another typhoon, and it struck Guam with winds of 160 km/h (99 mph) on November 23. The typhoon briefly re-intensified before weakening and becoming extratropical south of Japan on November 30. The typhoon first affected the Marshall Islands, where 5,000 people became homeless and heavy crop damage was reported. The nation's capital of Majuro experienced power and water outages during the storm. There were no fatalities among Marshall Islands citizens, although the typhoon killed a sailor traveling around the world. When Gay struck Guam, it became the sixth typhoon of the year to affect the island. Most of the weaker structures had been destroyed during Typhoon Omar earlier in the year, resulting in little additional damage from Gay. Because of its substantial weakening, the typhoon had a disrupted inner-core and produced minimal rainfall. However, strong winds scorched the plants on Guam with saltwater, causing extensive defoliation. Further north, high waves from the typhoon destroyed a house on Saipan, and heavy rainfall in Okinawa, Japan, caused flooding and power outages. ## Meteorological history The origins of Typhoon Gay were from a tropical disturbance east of the International Date Line along a monsoon trough that extended west to the South China Sea in mid-November 1992. The same trough had earlier spawned Tropical Storm Forrest and would later create Typhoon Hunt. The tropical disturbance moved westward across the dateline and gradually became better organized with increased convection. On November 14, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert. At 1800 UTC that day, the agency initiated advisories on Tropical Depression 31W, located to the east of the Marshall Islands. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) also assessed that the depression had developed by that time. The next day, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Gay. For most of Typhoon Gay's existence, a strong anticyclone to its north steered the storm to the west or west-northwest. The JTWC upgraded the storm to typhoon status early on November 17, and the JMA followed suit the next day. Gay first affected Mejit Island and eventually crossed the central portion of the Marshall Islands. Owing to favorable sea surface temperatures and upper-level wind patterns, the storm entered a phase of rapid deepening similar to other November typhoons near that location. On November 19, the JTWC upgraded Gay to a super typhoon, which is a typhoon with 1-minute sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph). Gradual intensification ensued, and based on satellite estimates, the JTWC estimated that Typhoon Gay attained peak winds of 295 km/h (183 mph) at 0000 UTC on November 21. The agency also estimated that the typhoon reached a minimum barometric pressure of 872 mb (25.8 inHg), which would have made Gay the most intense typhoon since Typhoon Tip in 1979, tying with Hurricane Patricia in 2015 for the second-strongest tropical cyclone worldwide. At the same time, the JMA estimated peak 10-minute sustained winds of 205 km/h (127 mph), with a pressure of 900 mbar (27 inHg). After Gay attained its peak intensity, outflow from Typhoon Hunt to its northwest increased the wind shear over the typhoon. The wind shear deteriorated Gay's northern eyewall, causing the typhoon to weaken. In the 24 hours after Gay reached its peak intensity, the JTWC estimated that the winds had decreased by 65 km/h (40 mph) to below super typhoon status; such rapid weakening is uncommon for a storm over open waters. Tropical cyclone forecast models had anticipated Gay to make a turn to the north and northeast, but it maintained a west-northwest track toward Guam. Despite weakening steadily, the typhoon maintained a large size with a wind diameter of 1,480 km (920 mi). Around 0000 UTC on November 23, Gay made landfall on Guam, becoming the third typhoon in three months to strike the island—the others were Typhoon Omar in August and Typhoon Brian in October. Both the JTWC and the JMA estimated the typhoon to have had winds of 160 km/h (99 mph) at landfall. The influence from Typhoon Hunt diminished after Gay affected Guam, allowing it to begin restrengthening. Late on November 25, the JTWC estimated that the typhoon attained a secondary peak intensity of 215 km/h (134 mph). Gay subsequently slowed while moving along the western periphery of the subtropical ridge, and it turned north while gradually weakening. On November 28, the JMA downgraded Gay to a tropical storm, and the JTWC followed suit the next day. The JMA assessed that Gay became an extratropical cyclone at 0000 UTC on November 30; however, the JTWC continued issuing advisories until December 1, making it the longest-lasting typhoon of the season with 63 advisories. The remnant of Gay accelerated and turned to the northeast, passing to the southeast of Japan and crossing the International Date Line. ## Preparations and impact ### Marshall Islands Typhoon Gay first affected the Marshall Islands, striking several atolls in the archipelago with typhoon-force winds. On Mejit Island, the first island to be affected, the typhoon destroyed every wooden structure and left most of the islanders homeless. High winds downed all of the island's trees and destroyed 75% of the crops. Nearby, Ailuk Atoll experienced similar winds, though house damage was minor despite similar crop losses. The large wind field extended to the south, affecting Maloelap and Aur atolls with winds that damaged 30% of the houses and crops. Further south, the Marshall Islands capital city of Majuro experienced lightning strikes from the typhoon, which caused an island-wide power outage and cuts to the water supply and radio communication. Debris from the storm closed the Marshall Islands International Airport for two days. On Ujae Atoll, the typhoon destroyed an automated meteorological observing station that had been installed in 1989. The typhoon left over 5,000 people homeless across the country, but there were no native deaths and only one injury in the archipelago owing to well-executed warnings and preparations. However, large waves from the typhoon sank a boat in a small lagoon, killing one of the boat's two sailors. ### Guam and Northern Marianas After affecting the Marshall Islands, Gay tracked toward Guam and became the fifth typhoon to come within 110 km (68 mi) of the island in six months. Extensive preparations were made, including the sending of ships to mitigate damage and flying United States Air Force planes to other bases in the region. The schools, government buildings, airport, and port were closed, and about 4,300 people evacuated to storm shelters. Further north, 1,639 people evacuated to storm shelters on Saipan, which set the record for the most storm evacuees at the time. Despite weakening greatly from its peak intensity, Gay struck Guam with sustained winds of 160 km/h (99 mph), with gusts to 195 km/h (121 mph) on Nimitz Hill. The winds were strong enough to disrupt power and water utilities, as well as destroy a few houses. As a result of its weakening, Gay had a disrupted inner-core with little precipitation, which prompted the JTWC to label it as a "dry typhoon"; rainfall totals on the island ranged from only 40–90 mm (1.6–3.5 in). Despite the extreme winds, little wind-thrown trees or snapped branches were observed. The combination of the winds and light rainfall, however, sprayed saltwater over the island's vegetation, leading to near island-wide loss of leaves. Majority of the local dicots withered and lost their leaves within two days after the storm, while other plants such as palms, cycads and gymnosperms retained their foliage but turned brown. The defoliation led to significant losses for crop farmers; in some locations, the crops did not recover for four years. Along the east coast of Guam, Gay produced a storm surge of 1.2–1.8 m (3.9–5.9 ft). The surge reached 3.4 m (11 ft) on Cabras Island in northern Guam, washing sand and water onto coastal roads and breaking a boat from its moorings. The JTWC estimated that damage would have been worse had Typhoon Omar not destroyed the weaker structures three months earlier; little additional damage occurred to the island's capital of Hagåtña. The typhoon destroyed four iron roofs on Tinian Island, located north of Guam. On Saipan to its north, the storm surge destroyed one house and threatened the foundation of several others; twelve families required rescue by emergency workers. The storm caused power outages, and one house sustained fire damage due to candles and kerosene lamps. ### Japan While Gay was becoming extratropical, Okinawa Prefecture experienced heavy rainfall. The highest total was 322 mm (12.7 in), and one station recorded 27 mm (1.1 in) in a ten-minute period. The rains flooded four buildings and inundated crop fields. Rough winds with gusts peaking at 82 km/h (51 mph) caused isolated power outages and the cancellation of two airline flights. ## Aftermath Marshall Islands president Amata Kabua declared nine islands as disaster areas. United States president George H. W. Bush also declared the Marshall Islands a disaster area on December 16. Despite being an independent nation, the Marshall Islands were eligible to the same funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a U.S. state or territory. The United States provided a loan of \$508,245 (1994 USD) for emergency assistance and to train locals to mitigate future events. After the storm, workers near Majuro planted seeds to regrow the damaged crops. The rapid succession of typhoons in 1992 caused a significant drop in tourism in Guam. During typhoons Omar and Gay, there was little communication between residents on the island. As a result, the Guam Communications Network was created to facilitate future relief efforts during storms. A research paper published ten years after the storm suggested that Gay could have been stronger than Typhoon Tip, which attained the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded. While at its peak intensity, Gay registered a rating of 8.0 for nine consecutive hours using the Dvorak technique, indicating sustained wind speeds of at least (315 km/h (196 mph). In addition, the cyclone had a significantly colder band of clouds around the eye. Typhoon Angela in 1995 presented similar features and could have been stronger than Gay. Neither of the two had direct observations into their eyes, however, making it impossible to confirm such intensity. ## See also - Other storms named Gay - Typhoon Angela
140,795	Calgary Stampede	1,171,975,367	Annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival in Calgary, Canada	[ "1912 establishments in Alberta", "Culture of Calgary", "Equestrian sports competitions in Canada", "Events in Calgary", "Events of National Historic Significance (Canada)", "Exhibitions in Canada", "Festivals established in 1886", "Festivals in Calgary", "Music festivals in Calgary", "Parades in Canada", "ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees", "Recurring events established in 1912", "Recurring sporting events established in 1912", "Rodeo in Canada", "Rodeo venues in Canada", "Rodeos", "Sport in Calgary", "Summer events in Canada", "Summer festivals" ]	The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing, and First Nations exhibitions. In 2008, the Calgary Stampede was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. The event's roots are traced to 1886 when the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair. In 1912, American promoter Guy Weadick organized his first rodeo and festival, known as the Stampede. He returned to Calgary in 1919 to organize the Victory Stampede in honour of soldiers returning from World War I. Weadick's festival became an annual event in 1923 when it merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition to create the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. Organized by thousands of volunteers and supported by civic leaders, the Calgary Stampede has grown into one of the world's richest rodeos, one of Canada's largest festivals, and a significant tourist attraction for the city. Rodeo and chuckwagon racing events are televised across Canada. However, both have been the target of increasing international criticism by animal welfare groups and politicians concerned about particular events as well as animal rights organizations seeking to ban rodeo in general. Calgary's national and international identity is tied to the event. It is known as the "Stampede City", carries the informal nickname of "Cowtown", and the local Canadian Football League team is called the Stampeders. The city takes on a party atmosphere during Stampede: office buildings and storefronts are painted in cowboy themes, residents don western wear, and events held across the city include hundreds of pancake breakfasts and barbecues. ## History The Calgary and District Agricultural Society was formed in 1884 to promote the town and encourage farmers and ranchers from eastern Canada to move west. The society held its first fair two years later, attracting a quarter of the town's 2,000 residents. By 1889, it had acquired land on the banks of the Elbow River to host the exhibitions, but crop failures, poor weather, and a declining economy resulted in the society ceasing operations in 1895. The land passed briefly to future Prime Minister R. B. Bennett who sold it to the city. The area was called Victoria Park, after Queen Victoria, and the newly formed Western Pacific Exhibition Company hosted its first agricultural and industrial fair in 1899. The exhibition grew annually, and in 1908 the Government of Canada announced that Calgary would host the federally funded Dominion Exhibition that year. Seeking to take advantage of the opportunity to promote itself, the city spent C\$145,000 to build six new pavilions and a racetrack. It held a lavish parade as well as rodeo, horse racing, and trick roping competitions as part of the event. The exhibition was a success, drawing 100,000 people to the fairgrounds over seven days despite an economic recession that afflicted the city of 25,000. Guy Weadick, an American trick roper who participated in the Dominion Exhibition as part of the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Real Wild West Show, returned to Calgary in 1912 in the hopes of establishing an event that more accurately represented the "wild west" than the shows he was a part of. He initially failed to sell civic leaders and the Calgary Industrial Exhibition on his plans, but with the assistance of local livestock agent H. C. McMullen, Weadick convinced businessmen Pat Burns, George Lane, A. J. McLean, and A. E. Cross to put up \$100,000 to guarantee funding for the event. The Big Four, as they came to be known, viewed the project as a final celebration of their life as cattlemen. The city built a rodeo arena on the fairgrounds and over 100,000 people attended the six-day event in September 1912 to watch hundreds of cowboys from Western Canada, the United States, and Mexico compete for \$20,000 in prizes. The event generated \$120,000 in revenue and was hailed as a success. Weadick set about planning the 1913 Stampede, promoting the event across North America. However, the Big Four were not interested in hosting another such event. Businessmen in Winnipeg convinced Weadick to host his second Stampede in their city, but the show failed financially. A third attempt held in New York State in 1916 suffered the same fate. Weadick returned to Calgary in 1919 where he gained the support of E. L. Richardson, the general manager of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. The two convinced numerous Calgarians, including the Big Four, to back the "Great Victory Stampede" in celebration of Canada's soldiers returning from World War I. ### Calgary Exhibition and Stampede While the 1919 Stampede was successful, it was again held as a one-time event. Richardson was convinced that it could be a profitable annual event but found little support for the concept within the board of directors of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. However, declining attendance and mounting financial losses forced the exhibition board to reconsider Richardson's proposals at their 1922 annual meeting. Richardson proposed merging the two events on a trial basis. Weadick agreed, and the union created the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. The combined event was first held in 1923. Weadick encouraged the city's residents to dress in western clothes and decorate their businesses in the spirit of the "wild west". Civic leaders truly supported the event for the first time: Mayor George Webster followed the costume suggestion and allowed downtown roads to be closed for two hours each morning of the six-day event to accommodate street parties. The new sport of chuckwagon racing was introduced and proved immediately popular. 138,950 people attended and the event earned a profit. Over 167,000 people attended in 1924 and the success guaranteed that the Stampede and Exhibition would be held together permanently. Attendance grew annually throughout the 1920s, peaking at 258,496 in 1928, but the onset of the Great Depression resulted in attendance declines and financial losses. After consecutive years of losses in 1930 and 1931, the exhibition board was forced to make cutbacks, a decision that strained the relationship between the board and Weadick. Furthering the divide was Weadick's growing resentment of the board's control of what he considered his event. The issue came to a head in 1932 when Weadick and Richardson engaged in a loud argument over the situation, ending with Weadick's threat to quit entirely. One month later, the exhibition board announced that it had relieved him of his duties. Angered by the decision, Weadick sued the exhibition board for \$100,000, citing breach of contract and unfair dismissal. His claim was upheld in courts, but he was awarded only \$2,750 plus legal fees. Embittered by the events, Weadick remained at odds with the board for 20 years until he was invited to the 1952 Stampede as an honoured guest and parade marshal. At least seven movies were filmed at the Stampede by 1950. The most profitable, the 1925 silent film The Calgary Stampede, used footage from the rodeo and exposed people across North America to the event. Hollywood stars and foreign dignitaries were attracted to the Stampede; Bob Hope and Bing Crosby each served as parade marshals during the 1950s, while Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip made their first of two visits to the event as part of their 1959 tour of Canada. The Queen also opened the 1973 Stampede. ### Expansion The discovery of the Leduc No. 1 oil well in 1946 and major reserves in the Turner Valley area southwest of the city ushered in a period of growth and prosperity. Calgary was transformed from an agricultural community into the oil and gas capital of Canada. The city's population nearly doubled between 1949 and 1956, and Calgary's immigrant population not only embraced the Stampede, but encouraged friends and family in their home towns to do the same. The 1950s represented the golden age of the Calgary Stampede. Attendance records were broken nearly every year in the 1950s and overall attendance increased by 200,000 from 1949 to 1959. The growth necessitated expansion of the exhibition grounds. The 7,500-seat Stampede Corral was completed in 1950 as the largest indoor arena in Western Canada. It housed the Calgary Stampeders hockey team, which was operated by the Board of Governors and won the Western Hockey League championship in 1954. Acts such as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and Louis Armstrong played the Corral, although the arena's poor acoustics were a frequent concern to organizers and patrons. Improvements were made to the grandstand and the race track was rebuilt in 1954. The Big Four Building, named in honour of the Stampede's benefactors, opened in 1959 to serve as the city's largest exhibition hall in the summer, and was converted into a 24-sheet curling facility each winter. The improvements failed to alleviate all the pressures growth had caused: chronic parking shortages and inability to accommodate demand for tickets to the rodeo and grandstand shows continued. Attendance continued to grow throughout the 1960s and 1970s, topping 500,000 for the first time in 1962 and reaching 654,000 in 1966. Organizers expanded the event from six days to nine in 1967 and then to ten the following year. The Stampede exceeded one million visitors for the first time in 1976. The park, meanwhile, continued to grow. The Round-Up Centre opened in 1979 as the new exhibition hall, and the Olympic Saddledome was completed in 1983. The Saddledome replaced the Corral as the city's top sporting arena, and both facilities hosted hockey and figure skating events at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Maintaining the traditional focus on agriculture and western heritage remained a priority for the Calgary Stampede as the city grew into a major financial and oil hub in Western Canada. "Aggie Days", a program designed to introduce urban schoolchildren to agriculture was introduced in 1989 and proved immediately popular. A ten-year expansion plan called Horizon 2000 was released in 1990 detailing plans to grow Stampede Park into a year-round destination for Calgarians; an updated plan was released in 2004. The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede organization dropped the word "exhibition" from its title in 2007, and has since been known simply as the Calgary Stampede. Attendance has plateaued around 1.2 million since 2000, however the Stampede set an attendance record of 1,409,371 while celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2012. ### Flooding Severe flooding in Calgary two weeks before the July 5 opening of the 2013 Stampede caused significant damage to the grounds. Stampede officials promised, however, that the event would be staged as planned. Some of the main events, and all concerts, scheduled for the Saddledome were cancelled due to flood damage to the facility, while other events were relocated to other locations. ### COVID-19 pandemic On April 23, the 2020 Stampede was cancelled for the first time in almost a century due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Community-oriented events held in compliance with Alberta public health orders were organized on the original dates of the Stampede, including pop-up drive-throughs offering pancakes and midway food staples, and maintaining the event's fireworks show. The cancellation made a significant economic impact, as recent editions had contributed \$540 million to the province's economy. In April 2021, Alberta's chief medical officer of health Deena Hinshaw projected that the province could lift some of its restrictions on gatherings by late-June, while Premier Jason Kenney stated that the province could begin doing so once at least two thirds of its residents have been vaccinated. However, soon afterwards, the province began to enact stricter public health orders to control a major ongoing wave of infections. On May 14, the Stampede announced that it did plan to hold an in-person event for 2021, but that the structure of the event would have to be "very different" to comply with whatever public health orders will be in effect by then. On May 26, the Alberta government announced a revised "Open for Summer" plan for easing public health orders, which would allow the majority of restrictions to be lifted two weeks after 70% of eligible residents receive at least one vaccine dose (provided that hospitalizations continue to decline). It was later announced that restrictions would be fully lifted on July 1. Despite the lifting of public health restrictions, measures such as social distancing would still be encouraged, and the capacity of Stampede Park would therefore be controlled. There would be pre-purchased entry to the grounds and reduced capacity for events. Citing that participants would not have enough time to prepare for the Stampede on short notice due to other chuckwagon racing events leading up to it being cancelled, the Rangeland Derby was cancelled for the second year in a row. Admission to Nashville North (which would be an open-air stage rather than a tent) required proof of vaccination or a negative rapid test. As the Mayor of Calgary did not issue a permit for it to occur on public streets, the Stampede parade was downsized and held as a broadcast-only event within Stampede Park, with no public spectators admitted. To compensate for the cancellation of the Rangeland Derby, bronc riding events were added to the rodeo's evening sessions. The decision to go on with the Stampede was met with mixed reactions, including concerns that it could become a superspreading event because Alberta's reopening criteria were based only on the first vaccine dose and not being fully vaccinated. There was also criticism from the chuckwagon racing community over the cancellation of the Rangeland Derby. On July 27, Alberta Health Services stated that it had only officially attributed 71 cases of COVID-19 to the Stampede, out of a total attendance of 528,998. ## Events ### Parade The parade serves as the official opening of the Stampede and begins shortly before 9 a.m. on the first Friday of the event. Each year features a different parade marshal, chosen to reflect the public's interests at that time. Politicians, athletes, actors and other dignitaries have all served as marshals. The event features dozens of marching bands, over 150 floats and hundreds of horses with entrants from around the world, and combines western themes with modern ones. Cowboys, First Nations dancers and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in their red serges are joined by clowns, bands, politicians and business leaders. The first Stampede parade, held in 1912, was attended by 75,000 people, greater than the city's population at the time. As many as 350,000 people attended the parade in 2009, while the presence of Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at the 2011 parade as part of their tour of Canada increased attendance to a record estimate of 425,000. The parade was downsized and closed to the public in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ### Rodeo The rodeo is the heart of the Calgary Stampede. It is one of the largest, and the most famous event of its kind in the world. With a prize of \$100,000 to the winner of each major discipline and \$1,000,000 total on championship day alone, it also offers the richest payout. Cowboys consider performing in front of over 20,000 fans daily to be the highlight of the rodeo season. There are six major disciplines – bull riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, tie down roping, saddle bronc and bareback riding – and four novice events – junior steer riding, novice bareback, novice saddle bronc and wild pony racing. Each event is organized as its own tournament, and the cowboys and girls are divided into two pools. The first pool competes each night for the first four nights, and the second each night for four nights following. The top four in each pool advance to the Sunday final, and the remainder compete on Saturday for a wild card spot in the final. The competitor with the best time or score on Sunday wins the \$100,000 grand prize. Most livestock for the rodeo events come from the 22,000-acre (89 km<sup>2</sup>) Stampede Ranch located near the town of Hanna. The ranch was created in 1961 as a means of improving the quality of bucking horses and bulls and to guarantee supply. The first of its kind in North America, the Stampede Ranch operates a breeding program that produces some of the top rodeo stock in the world and supplies rodeos throughout southern Alberta, and as far south as Las Vegas. ### Rangeland Derby Weadick is credited with inventing the sport of chuckwagon racing in 1923, inspired either by seeing a similar event in 1922 at the Gleichen Stampede or watching impromptu races as he grew up. He devised the sport to be a new and exciting event for the newly joined Exhibition and Stampede. Weadick invited ranchers to enter their wagons and crews to compete for a total of \$275 in prize money. Officially called the Rangeland Derby, and nicknamed the "half-mile of hell" or the "dash for cash", chuckwagon racing proved immediately popular and quickly became the event's largest attraction. While only six teams raced in 1923, today's Rangeland Derby consists of 36 teams competing for \$1.15 million in prize money. Joe Carbury was the voice of the Rangeland Derby for 45 years, until 2008. His distinctive voice and signature phrase of "and they're offfffffff!" to announce the start of a race made him a local legend, and earned him induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. The chuckwagon drivers auction advertising space on their wagons before each year's Stampede. The first advertisement on the tarp cover of a chuckwagon was made in 1941, and Lloyd Nelson was the last person to win the Rangeland Derby without a sponsored wagon, doing so in 1956. The current practice of selling advertising via a tarp auction began in 1979. The revenue generated by the auctions, a record \$4 million for the 2012 Stampede, is considered an indicator of the strength of Calgary's economy. The Rangeland Derby was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ### Exhibition When the agricultural exhibition was first launched in 1886, Alberta was an overwhelmingly rural province. Today, agricultural producers make up less than two percent of the province's population, but the exhibition remains an integral part of the Calgary Stampede. Nearly 70% of all Stampede visitors visit the Agriculture Zone for the displays and demonstrations as well as western events. Numerous competitions are held as part of the exhibition. The American National Cutting Horse Association sanctions a World Series of Cutting event, and the World Championship Blacksmith Competition used to be held, attracting top blacksmiths from around the world. Farm and ranch demonstrations feature numerous breeds of livestock along with stock dog trials and team penning competitions. Additionally, the exhibition serves to educate the public about Alberta's ranching and agricultural heritage along with modern food production displays through events like Ag-tivity in the City. The Stampede works with Alberta 4-H clubs to encourage youth participation in agricultural pursuits. ### Midway The Calgary Stampede midway has been operated by North American Midway Entertainment, and its predecessor Conklin Shows, since 1976. The midway is the only part of the event operated on a for-profit basis. It is considered an essential component of the Stampede, but is separate from the predominantly western theme. The midway opens on the Thursday night before other events begin, known as "sneak-a-peek" night. In addition to the traditional rides and carnival games, the midway features four concert areas. Nashville North, a large party tent, made its debut in 1993 as a country music venue. It was followed one-year later by what is now known as the Coca-Cola Stage that offers family entertainment during the day and rock and pop acts during the evenings. The Saddledome hosts headlining acts, including Garth Brooks and The Beach Boys, who were booked for the Stampede's 100th anniversary in 2012. In 2018, the Stampede's newest concert venue, The Big Four Roadhouse, opened for Stampede-time and year-round events. ### Market The Stampede Market is located in the BMO Centre on the northwest corner of the park. It offers 38,000 square metres (410,000 sq ft) of retail space and in 2019 began highlighting local artisans. The Western Oasis, a subsection of the market, offers cowboy and western-themed artwork, bronze statues, craftwork, foods and wine. Lured by the opportunity to show their wares to the one million people who attend the Stampede, some vendors wait years before gaining admittance, and those that do consider it one of the prime events of the year. ## Stampede Park Stampede Park is located southeast of Downtown Calgary in the Beltline District and is serviced by Calgary Transit's light rail system. Permanent structures at the site include the Saddledome, Big Four Building, BMO Centre – a convention and exhibition facility – a casino, the Stampede Grandstand, the agriculture building, and a number of facilities that support the exhibition and livestock shows. The park remains at its original location, though attempts were made to relocate. In 1964, the Stampede Board made plans to purchase former military land in southwest Calgary near Glenmore Trail and 24 Street and relocate the park there. A fully developed plan was released in 1965, and while it had the support of the civic and federal governments, intense opposition from nearby residents quashed the proposal. Space concerns remained a constant issue, and a new plan to push northward into the Victoria Park community beginning in 1968 initiated a series of conflicts with the neighbourhood and city council that persisted for decades. While Victoria Park fell into steady decline, it was not until 2007 that the final buildings were removed, paving the way for both an expansion of Stampede Park and an urban renewal program for the area. With the land finally secured, the Stampede organization embarked on a \$400-million expansion that is planned to feature a new retail and entertainment district, an urban park, a new agricultural arena and potentially a new hotel. The expansion was originally planned to be complete by 2011, but delays and an economic downturn have pushed the expected completion of the project back to 2014. Stampede Park has long been a central gathering place for Calgarians and tourists. In addition to attendance at the Calgary Stampede, over 2.5 million people attend other sporting events, concerts, trade shows and meetings on a grounds that hosts over 1,000 events annually. ## People Each year, a queen and two princesses are selected as Stampede royalty. They are chosen via a contest open to any woman between the ages of 19 and 24 who resides in Alberta. An emphasis is placed on horsemanship skills and ability to serve as ambassadors for both the Stampede and the city. The first Stampede Queen, Patsy Rodgers, was selected in 1946 while the princesses were first chosen the following year. The royal trio serve one-year terms during which they will make hundreds of appearances throughout southern Alberta and across North America. They then become members of the Calgary Stampede Queens' Alumni Association, founded in 1971. The association organizes fundraisers and events in support of organizations that work with special needs children. ### First Nations participation During each Stampede, the five nations of the Treaty 7–the Tsuu T'ina, Piikani, Stoney, Kainai and Siksika–create a camp on the bank of the Elbow River in the southern section of Stampede Park, originally known as the Indian Village, but renamed Elbow River Camp in 2018. They erect tipis, organize pow wows, offer arts and crafts, and re-enact elements of their traditional lifestyle. Each year, an Indian Princess is selected from one of the five nations to represent the Treaty 7 as part of the Stampede's royalty. The village is among the Stampede's most popular attractions. First Nations people had been frequent participants in the city's exhibitions since they were first held in 1886, taking part in parades and sporting events and entertaining spectators with traditional dances. By 1912 however, pressure from agents of the Department of Indian Affairs to suppress their historic traditions and to keep them on their farms nearly ended native participation. Weadick hoped to include native people as a feature of his Stampede, but Indian Affairs opposed his efforts and asked the Duke of Connaught, Canada's Governor General, to support their position. The Duke refused, and after Weadick gained the support of political contacts in Ottawa, including future Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, the path was cleared. Hundreds of Indigenous peoples, representing six tribes, participated at the 1912 Stampede. They camped in tipis and wore their finest traditional regalia, making them among the most popular participants in the parade. Tom Three Persons, of the Blood (Kainai) tribe, emerged as one of the Stampede's first heroes, amazing spectators with a winning performance in the saddle bronc competition. He was the only Canadian champion of the first Stampede and became the first person to successfully ride Cyclone, a notorious horse that had thrown over 100 riders during its career. The federal government of Prime Minister Borden attempted to prevent a repeat occurrence, modifying the Indian Act in 1914 to make it illegal for Indigenous peoples to participate in fairs or parades without permission from the local Indian Agent. The new law ended native participation in the Calgary Exhibition, but when Weadick returned in 1919, he successfully fought for their return to the fairgrounds. The Indian Affairs Department under the government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King attempted again to ban native participation in 1925 without success. While conflicts between the Stampede and Indian Affairs continued until 1932, the Indian Village remained, and has remained, a staple on the grounds. First Nations members and the Stampede board have occasionally met with conflict. The original location of the Indian Village was on low-lying ground that frequently flooded, a problem that was not resolved until 1974 when the village was moved to its current location. Complaints about low appearance fees paid to tipi owners, lack of input on committees related to their participation and accusations that natives were being exploited have periodically been made throughout the years. The Stoneys famously boycotted the 1950 Stampede following a rule change that cancelled a policy giving any Indigenous person free admittance upon showing their treaty card. The event that year was marred by violent thunderstorms, which led to apocryphal stories that the band had performed a rain dance in an effort to ruin the fair. Despite the conflicts, the native communities around Calgary have been enthusiastic supporters of the Stampede and the Indian Village. The tipi owners have been long-term participants – many are third or fourth generation – and the Stampede has helped preserve and display First Nations cultures to the public. The village again relocated in 2016, doubled in size and featured a new exhibit displaying the partnership between the city, local First Nations and the Stampede. During the 2018 Stampede, it was announced that the name of the area would be changed to reflect "reconciliation and increased understanding of Indigenous peoples as modern and strong and resilient"; after a voting process among the camps, it was announced on the final day of the Stampede that the Indian Village would be renamed "Elbow River Camp". ### Employment and volunteerism Operation of the park throughout the year requires 300 full-time and 1,400 part-time employees. An additional 3,500 seasonal workers are hired for the Stampede itself. The seasonal positions are often filled by Calgary's youth, and for many, represents their first paying jobs. The organization is maintained by a legion of volunteers, however. Over 2,000 volunteers sit on 50 committees responsible for all aspects of the Stampede's operation. Chief among them are the board of directors. The board is made up of 25 individuals; 20 elected from amongst the shareholders, three representing the city, one the province and the most recent president of the Stampede board. Nearly half of all volunteers have served for more than 10 years, and some as long as 60. ### Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede When the Calgary Stampede brought in The Rockettes from New York City in 1964 as part of the grandstand show, they auditioned young local dancers to participate as the "Calgary Kidettes". The group was meant to be a one-time addition to the show, but proved popular with spectators, and returned for three subsequent years. By 1968, the Kidettes were renamed the Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede and remained part of the nightly grandstand show, growing into a headline act by the 1970s. The group was modeled on the American group Up with People but with a style reflecting the pioneer culture of Alberta and Western Canada. The Young Canadians made television and live appearances throughout North America and attracted large crowds every year at the Calgary Stampede. In 1982, the Stampede Foundation set up the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts to offer professional training to singers and dancers between the ages of 7 and 19, paid for by scholarships from the Stampede organization. Two of the founders of the Young Canadians were director Randy Avery and choreographer Margot McDermott who remained with the group throughout the 1970s and 80s. In 2017, a class action lawsuit with over 70 class members was launched alleging that the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Limited and the Calgary Stampede Foundation were negligent over their failure to alert police despite being aware of sexual abuse in The Young Canadians. In 2018, a staffer with The Young Canadians was criminally convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually exploiting six members of the group between 1992 and 2014. In June 2023, the defendants reached a settlement in which they accepted liability and would pay all damages resulting from their negligence, with punitive damages to be determined later. ### The Stampede Showband The Stampede Showband was created in 1971 to serve as the organization's musical ambassadors. The troupe features over 150 members between the ages of 16 and 21, and has been named the world champion of marching show bands seven times, lastly being in July, 2023.The group has performed all over the world, in front of royalty and world leaders, and at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics. In 2019, the Showband performed the national anthem at the 107th Grey Cup accompanied by Young Canadians singer, Lindsey Kelly. The Showband performs year round, and make over 100 appearances during the Stampede alone. They performed in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California for the third time in 2012 as part of the Stampede's 100th anniversary celebrations. The Showband also performed "O Canada" every night during the chuckwagon races with the member of the Young Canadians singing the anthem in English and French. The Stampede Showriders were created in 1985 as a precision equestrian drill team and colour guard that accompanies the Showband. ### Calgary Stampede Talent Search The Calgary Stampede Talent Search was created in 1981 as an annual competition for amateur artists (aged 13 to 21). Junior performers (aged 6 to 12) are showcased every evening as well. The competition takes place during the stampede and is intended to discover and develop talented young southern Albertans. ## Animal welfare The Stampede has attempted to balance rodeo tradition against the concerns of animal welfare groups who argue that the sport is inhumane. Officials defend the sport, calling the animals the "stars of the show" and stating that the Stampede is "passionate about the proper treatment of animals". The Calgary Humane Society has found itself at odds with other organizations by choosing to work with the Stampede to ensure that stress on the animals is kept to a minimum. It is one of two such groups, in addition to veterinarians, who are on hand to monitor the rodeo. Chuckwagon racing is a particular source of controversy. Animal rights groups protest the event, arguing that the sport causes undue suffering for the horses. Racers admit the sport is dangerous, but defend their sport amidst the controversy, arguing that the animals are well cared for, and that allowing them to race saves many horses from prematurely going to slaughter. Following a particularly deadly series of accidents in 1986 where nine horses were killed in chuckwagon racing incidents alone – including five horses in one spectacular crash – humane society officials, fans and even some drivers called for major changes to the races, while others called for the sport to be banned entirely. Numerous rule changes were announced prior to the 1987 event. The Calgary chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals accepted the changes, stating it would not call for the sport to be banned given that Stampede officials had moved to improve animal safety, further changes were announced in 2011. Tie down roping is a particular focus of efforts to eliminate the event. The Stampede altered its policies in 2010 to enforce the rules of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. Additionally, the Stampede was the first rodeo to introduce a no-time penalty for competitors who make a dangerous tackle in the steer wrestling event. Several more changes were made in 2011, the rule changes were announced after six animals died at the 2010 Stampede and were met with mixed reactions from both cowboys and animal welfare groups. Such changes have not completely eliminated all risks; periodic accidents have continued to result in the deaths of horses and livestock. One of the deadliest incidents in Stampede history occurred in 2005 when, late in a trail ride meant to help celebrate the province's centennial, a group of about 200 horses spooked and in the melee nine horses were killed after they were pushed off a city bridge into the Bow River. While similar trail rides had been completed without incident in the past, Stampede officials announced they would not attempt any further rides unless they could ensure the safety of the horses. Animal welfare groups have called animal deaths "depressingly predictable" and seek a boycott of the rodeo. In the United Kingdom travel agencies have been asked to stop offering tourism packages to the Stampede, and in 2010, 92 members of the UK Parliament signed an Early Day Motion asking their Canadian counterparts to ban rodeo. Several groups petitioned the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to cancel their planned attendance in 2011. However, the couple attended and participated in a private demonstration of rodeo and chuckwagon events. ## Broadcasting Live coverage of the rodeo and Rangeland Derby competitions were broadcast by the CBC Sports website and Sportsnet One. CBC Television carried daily, late-night highlight shows, and coverage on the weekend. Supplemental coverage was, until 2013, seen on CBC's former sister cable network Bold. In 2019, U.S. sports channel CBS Sports Network aired nightly half-hour recaps covering the Stampede's rodeo (under the PBR Summer of Rodeo banner), while CBS broadcast a one-hour highlight show of the championship on July 21. In 2021, rodeo coverage moved to Sportsnet in Canada and The Cowboy Channel in the United States. ## Community The festival spirit during Stampede extends throughout the city. Parade day serves as an unofficial holiday as many companies give employees half or full days off to attend. People of all walks of life, from executives to students, discard formal attire for casual western dress, typically represented by Wrangler jeans and cowboy hats. Many Calgarians have reduced productivity during the event because they take a relaxed attitude towards their usual workplace and personal responsibilities. However, the community and corporate events held during the Stampede create social networking opportunities and help newcomers acclimatize to the city. The Stampede is an important stop for political leaders as part of their annual summer tours of the country, sometimes called the barbecue circuit. ### Pancake breakfasts The pancake breakfast is a local institution during Stampede. Dozens are held throughout the city each day, hosted by community groups, corporations, churches, politicians and the Stampede itself. The tradition of pancake breakfasts dates back to the 1923 Stampede when a chuckwagon driver by the name of Jack Morton invited passing citizens to join him for his morning meals. The largest is the breakfast hosted at the Chinook Centre shopping mall. Four hundred volunteers are required to feed over 60,000 people who attend the one-day event that had its 50th anniversary in 2010. Other groups, such as the Calgary Stampede Caravan, feed as many as 120,000 people over ten days. The rising popularity of the barbecue grill in the 1960s and the city's population boom at the time brought with it the growth of community and company barbecues throughout the city during Stampede. Community booster groups have exported the tradition across the country as a symbol of Calgary's hospitality. Among them are the Calgary Grey Cup Committee, whose volunteers have hosted pancake breakfasts on the day of the Canadian Football League championship game for over three decades, sometimes in spite of poor weather conditions for the annual November contest. ### Stampede parties The size and number of parties each year during Stampede is viewed as an indicator of Calgary's economic strength. Corporations and community groups hold lavish events throughout the city for their staff and clients, while bars and pubs erect party tents, the largest of which draws up to 20,000 people per day. Paul Vickers, who owns several establishments in the city, estimates that he makes up to 20 percent of his annual revenue during the ten days of Stampede alone. Some parties have become known for heavy drinking and relaxed morals, so much so that one hotel's satirical ad promising to safely store a patron's wedding ring during Stampede was widely viewed as a legitimate offer. The parties are not without consequences, as lawyers have noted a significant increase in divorce filings in the weeks following the Stampede, primarily on claims of infidelity. Clinics see an increase in people seeking testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and Calgary is said to experience an annual baby boom each April – nine months after the event. ## Relationship with the city The Stampede has become inexorably linked to the city's identity. Calgary has long been called the "Stampede City", and carries the informal nickname of "Cowtown". The event's iconic status offers Calgary global publicity and plays a significant role in defining the city's image. Calgary's Canadian Football League team has been called the Stampeders since 1945, and it is a name shared by other teams in various sports throughout the city's history, including the Stampeders hockey team that operated in the years following World War II. The Stampede has strong polling support within the province. A 2006 Ipsos-Reid poll found that 86 percent of Albertans felt that it raised the civic quality of life and considered it one of the region's most important cultural events. Nearly three in four stated they look forward to the annual event. However, critics argue that it is not a reflection of Alberta's frontier history, but represents a mythical impression of western cowboy culture created by 19th-century wild west shows. Part of the event's success can be attributed to the close relationship the Stampede has often shared with both the civic government and community leaders. Mayors of Calgary and city aldermen have sat on the Stampede Board of Governors at the same time they occupied public office, and the Stampede's ability to convince wealthy and influential citizens to volunteer their time has allowed the organization to gain a high-profile within the city. The Stampede operates on city-owned land, pays no property tax on its lease, and typically faces little to no political interference from City Hall. It operates as a non-profit entity with all income reinvested into the park. All improvements to the park would revert to city control if the lease were allowed to expire. Likewise, the Stampede has support from the media, which has been accused of providing an inordinate amount of positive coverage to the event while trivializing negative aspects. The local media faced national scrutiny in 2009 when both major newspapers refused to run anti-rodeo ads sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society. While the Calgary Herald simply refused to run the ad, the Calgary Sun defended its position in an editorial. The Sun refuted charges it was kowtowing to the Stampede and justified its refusal by claiming "we are Calgarians and allowing a group of outsiders to come in and insult a proud Calgary tradition seemed just plain wrong." The Herald reversed its decision a year later, running a full-page ad sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society. ### Economic impact and tourism While 70 percent of Stampede attendees are from the Calgary region, officials work to promote the event across the globe. As such, the Calgary Stampede is known around the world. The Stampede draws foreign visitors primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and is experiencing growing attendance by tourists from Asia and South America. A 2019 Conference Board of Canada Report found the annual economic impact of the Calgary Stampede’s year-round activities generated \$540.8 million across the province of Alberta. The 10-day event accounted for \$282.5 million of that amount. In Calgary alone, the year-round activities of the Stampede accounted for \$449.8 million. Of that, 227.4 million was generated by the 10-day Stampede. Stampede officials estimated in 2009 that the city of Calgary had a gross economic impact of \$172.4 million from the ten-day event alone, with a wider provincial total of \$226.7 million. In terms of economic impact, the Stampede is the highest grossing festival in Canada, ahead of Ottawa's Winterlude, the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, and the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. Additionally, Stampede officials estimate that for every dollar spent at Stampede Park, tourists spend \$2.65 in the rest of the city. A poll conducted in 2011 found that 40 percent of Calgarians who intended to attend the Stampede expected to spend \$150–\$400 over the course of the event, and 7 percent stated that they would spend more than that. ### Promoting Calgary Civic leaders have consistently noted the Stampede's impact on the city. Mayor Andrew Davison claimed in 1944 that the event "had done more to advertise Calgary than any single agency", an opinion that has been echoed by his successors. Stampede officials have made similar claims, arguing that the event is one of Canada's most important tourist attractions. The Canadian Tourism Commission placed the event in its Signature Experiences Collection, one of six such events or locations in Alberta. According to Ralph Klein, former mayor of Calgary and premier of Alberta, the Stampede symbolizes the province's spirit. He cited the friendly and welcoming attitude and festival spirit of the city's populace during the event, which community booster groups export around the world. Among examples cited was the infamous 1948 Grey Cup game in which two trains of Stampeder football fans descended on Toronto and launched an unprecedented series of celebrations before, during and after the game that included riding a horse into the lobby of the Royal York Hotel. The events helped turn the Grey Cup into a national festival and the largest single-day sporting event in the country. ## See also - Calgary White Hat - Canadian Finals Rodeo, Canada's other big rodeo - Canadian Professional Rodeo Association - Chuckwagon - Festivals in Alberta - Festival Western de Saint-Tite, eastern Canada's largest rodeo - Raymond Stampede, Canada's oldest rodeo - Reg Kesler
16,796	Kuiper belt	1,173,001,027	Area of the Solar System beyond the planets, comprising small bodies	[ "Articles containing video clips", "Astronomical objects discovered in 1992", "Extraterrestrial water", "Kuiper belt objects", "Trans-Neptunian region" ]	The Kuiper belt (/ˈkaɪpər/ KY-pər) is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies or remnants from when the Solar System formed. While many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia, and water. The Kuiper belt is home to most of the objects that astronomers generally accept as dwarf planets: Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake. Some of the Solar System's moons, such as Neptune's Triton and Saturn's Phoebe, may have originated in the region. The Kuiper belt is named in honor of Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who conjectured the existence of a similar belt in 1951. However, it was not until 1980 that astronomer Julio Angel Fernandez published a paper suggesting the existence of a comet belt beyond Neptune, which could serve as a source for short-period comets. Although the Kuiper belt is named after Gerard Kuiper, Fernandez was the researcher who first predicted its existence. In 1992, minor planet (15760) Albion was discovered, the first Kuiper belt object (KBO) since Pluto (in 1930) and Charon (in 1978). Since its discovery, the number of known KBOs has increased to thousands, and more than 100,000 KBOs over 100 km (62 mi) in diameter are thought to exist. The Kuiper belt was initially thought to be the main repository for periodic comets, those with orbits lasting less than 200 years. Studies since the mid-1990s have shown that the belt is dynamically stable and that comets' true place of origin is the scattered disc, a dynamically active zone created by the outward motion of Neptune 4.5 billion years ago; scattered disc objects such as Eris have extremely eccentric orbits that take them as far as 100 AU from the Sun. The Kuiper belt is distinct from the hypothesized Oort cloud, which is believed to be a thousand times more distant and mostly spherical. The objects within the Kuiper belt, together with the members of the scattered disc and any potential Hills cloud or Oort cloud objects, are collectively referred to as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Pluto is the largest and most massive member of the Kuiper belt and the largest and the second-most-massive known TNO, surpassed only by Eris in the scattered disc. Originally considered a planet, Pluto's status as part of the Kuiper belt caused it to be reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. It is compositionally similar to many other objects of the Kuiper belt, and its orbital period is characteristic of a class of KBOs, known as "plutinos," that share the same 2:3 resonance with Neptune. The Kuiper belt and Neptune may be treated as a marker of the extent of the Solar System, alternatives being the heliopause and the distance at which the Sun's gravitational influence is matched by that of other stars (estimated to be between 50000 AU and 125000 AU). ## History After the discovery of Pluto in 1930, many speculated that it might not be alone. The region now called the Kuiper belt was hypothesized in various forms for decades. It was only in 1992 that the first direct evidence for its existence was found. The number and variety of prior speculations on the nature of the Kuiper belt have led to continued uncertainty as to who deserves credit for first proposing it. ### Hypotheses The first astronomer to suggest the existence of a trans-Neptunian population was Frederick C. Leonard. Soon after Pluto's discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Leonard pondered whether it was "not likely that in Pluto there has come to light the first of a series of ultra-Neptunian bodies, the remaining members of which still await discovery but which are destined eventually to be detected". That same year, astronomer Armin O. Leuschner suggested that Pluto "may be one of many long-period planetary objects yet to be discovered." In 1943, in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Kenneth Edgeworth hypothesized that, in the region beyond Neptune, the material within the primordial solar nebula was too widely spaced to condense into planets, and so rather condensed into a myriad smaller bodies. From this he concluded that "the outer region of the solar system, beyond the orbits of the planets, is occupied by a very large number of comparatively small bodies" and that, from time to time, one of their number "wanders from its own sphere and appears as an occasional visitor to the inner solar system", becoming a comet. In 1951, in a paper in Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium, Gerard Kuiper speculated on a similar disc having formed early in the Solar System's evolution and concluded that the disc consisted of "remnants of original clusterings which have lost many members that became stray asteroids, much as has occurred with open galactic clusters dissolving into stars." In another paper, based upon a lecture Kuiper gave in 1950, also called On the Origin of the Solar System, Kuiper wrote about the "outermost region of the solar nebula, from 38 to 50 astr. units (i.e., just outside proto-Neptune)" where "condensation products (ices of H20, NH3, CH4, etc.) must have formed, and the flakes must have slowly collected and formed larger aggregates, estimated to range up to 1 km. or more in size." He continued to write that "these condensations appear to account for the comets, in size, number and composition." According to Kuiper "the planet Pluto, which sweeps through the whole zone from 30 to 50 astr. units, is held responsible for having started the scattering of the comets throughout the solar system." It is said that Kuiper was operating on the assumption, common in his time, that Pluto was the size of Earth and had therefore scattered these bodies out toward the Oort cloud or out of the Solar System; there would not be a Kuiper belt today if this were correct. The hypothesis took many other forms in the following decades. In 1962, physicist Al G.W. Cameron postulated the existence of "a tremendous mass of small material on the outskirts of the solar system". In 1964, Fred Whipple, who popularised the famous "dirty snowball" hypothesis for cometary structure, thought that a "comet belt" might be massive enough to cause the purported discrepancies in the orbit of Uranus that had sparked the search for Planet X, or, at the very least, massive enough to affect the orbits of known comets. Observation ruled out this hypothesis. In 1977, Charles Kowal discovered 2060 Chiron, an icy planetoid with an orbit between Saturn and Uranus. He used a blink comparator, the same device that had allowed Clyde Tombaugh to discover Pluto nearly 50 years before. In 1992, another object, 5145 Pholus, was discovered in a similar orbit. Today, an entire population of comet-like bodies, called the centaurs, is known to exist in the region between Jupiter and Neptune. The centaurs' orbits are unstable and have dynamical lifetimes of a few million years. From the time of Chiron's discovery in 1977, astronomers have speculated that the centaurs therefore must be frequently replenished by some outer reservoir. Further evidence for the existence of the Kuiper belt later emerged from the study of comets. That comets have finite lifespans has been known for some time. As they approach the Sun, its heat causes their volatile surfaces to sublimate into space, gradually dispersing them. In order for comets to continue to be visible over the age of the Solar System, they must be replenished frequently. A proposal for such an area of replenishment is the Oort cloud, possibly a spherical swarm of comets extending beyond 50,000 AU from the Sun first hypothesised by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1950. The Oort cloud is thought to be the point of origin of long-period comets, which are those, like Hale–Bopp, with orbits lasting thousands of years.There is another comet population, known as short-period or periodic comets, consisting of those comets that, like Halley's Comet, have orbital periods of less than 200 years. By the 1970s, the rate at which short-period comets were being discovered was becoming increasingly inconsistent with their having emerged solely from the Oort cloud. For an Oort cloud object to become a short-period comet, it would first have to be captured by the giant planets. In a paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1980, Uruguayan astronomer Julio Fernández stated that for every short-period comet to be sent into the inner Solar System from the Oort cloud, 600 would have to be ejected into interstellar space. He speculated that a comet belt from between 35 and 50 AU would be required to account for the observed number of comets. Following up on Fernández's work, in 1988 the Canadian team of Martin Duncan, Tom Quinn and Scott Tremaine ran a number of computer simulations to determine if all observed comets could have arrived from the Oort cloud. They found that the Oort cloud could not account for all short-period comets, particularly as short-period comets are clustered near the plane of the Solar System, whereas Oort-cloud comets tend to arrive from any point in the sky. With a "belt", as Fernández described it, added to the formulations, the simulations matched observations. Reportedly because the words "Kuiper" and "comet belt" appeared in the opening sentence of Fernández's paper, Tremaine named this hypothetical region the "Kuiper belt". ### Discovery In 1987, astronomer David Jewitt, then at MIT, became increasingly puzzled by "the apparent emptiness of the outer Solar System". He encouraged then-graduate student Jane Luu to aid him in his endeavour to locate another object beyond Pluto's orbit, because, as he told her, "If we don't, nobody will." Using telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, Jewitt and Luu conducted their search in much the same way as Clyde Tombaugh and Charles Kowal had, with a blink comparator. Initially, examination of each pair of plates took about eight hours, but the process was sped up with the arrival of electronic charge-coupled devices or CCDs, which, though their field of view was narrower, were not only more efficient at collecting light (they retained 90% of the light that hit them, rather than the 10% achieved by photographs) but allowed the blinking process to be done virtually, on a computer screen. Today, CCDs form the basis for most astronomical detectors. In 1988, Jewitt moved to the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. Luu later joined him to work at the University of Hawaii's 2.24 m telescope at Mauna Kea. Eventually, the field of view for CCDs had increased to 1024 by 1024 pixels, which allowed searches to be conducted far more rapidly. Finally, after five years of searching, Jewitt and Luu announced on 30 August 1992 the "Discovery of the candidate Kuiper belt object 1992 QB<sub>1</sub>". This object would later be named 15760 Albion. Six months later, they discovered a second object in the region, (181708) 1993 FW. By 2018, over 2000 Kuiper belts objects had been discovered. Over one thousand bodies were found in a belt in the twenty years (1992–2012), after finding (named in 2018, 15760 Albion), showing a vast belt of bodies more than just Pluto and Albion. By the 2010s the full extent and nature of Kuiper belt bodies is largely unknown. Finally, in the late 2010s, two KBOs were closely flown past by an uncrewed spacecraft, providing much closer observations of the Plutonian system and another KBO. Studies conducted since the trans-Neptunian region was first charted have shown that the region now called the Kuiper belt is not the point of origin of short-period comets, but that they instead derive from a linked population called the scattered disc. The scattered disc was created when Neptune migrated outward into the proto-Kuiper belt, which at the time was much closer to the Sun, and left in its wake a population of dynamically stable objects that could never be affected by its orbit (the Kuiper belt proper), and a population whose perihelia are close enough that Neptune can still disturb them as it travels around the Sun (the scattered disc). Because the scattered disc is dynamically active and the Kuiper belt relatively dynamically stable, the scattered disc is now seen as the most likely point of origin for periodic comets. ### Name Astronomers sometimes use the alternative name Edgeworth–Kuiper belt to credit Edgeworth, and KBOs are occasionally referred to as EKOs. Brian G. Marsden claims that neither deserves true credit: "Neither Edgeworth nor Kuiper wrote about anything remotely like what we are now seeing, but Fred Whipple did". David Jewitt comments: "If anything ... Fernández most nearly deserves the credit for predicting the Kuiper Belt." KBOs are sometimes called "kuiperoids", a name suggested by Clyde Tombaugh. The term "trans-Neptunian object" (TNO) is recommended for objects in the belt by several scientific groups because the term is less controversial than all others—it is not an exact synonym though, as TNOs include all objects orbiting the Sun past the orbit of Neptune, not just those in the Kuiper belt. ## Structure At its fullest extent (but excluding the scattered disc), including its outlying regions, the Kuiper belt stretches from roughly 30–55 AU. The main body of the belt is generally accepted to extend from the 2:3 mean-motion resonance (see below) at 39.5 AU to the 1:2 resonance at roughly 48 AU. The Kuiper belt is quite thick, with the main concentration extending as much as ten degrees outside the ecliptic plane and a more diffuse distribution of objects extending several times farther. Overall it more resembles a torus or doughnut than a belt. Its mean position is inclined to the ecliptic by 1.86 degrees. The presence of Neptune has a profound effect on the Kuiper belt's structure due to orbital resonances. Over a timescale comparable to the age of the Solar System, Neptune's gravity destabilises the orbits of any objects that happen to lie in certain regions, and either sends them into the inner Solar System or out into the scattered disc or interstellar space. This causes the Kuiper belt to have pronounced gaps in its current layout, similar to the Kirkwood gaps in the asteroid belt. In the region between 40 and 42 AU, for instance, no objects can retain a stable orbit over such times, and any observed in that region must have migrated there relatively recently. ### Classical belt Between the 2:3 and 1:2 resonances with Neptune, at approximately 42–48 AU, the gravitational interactions with Neptune occur over an extended timescale, and objects can exist with their orbits essentially unaltered. This region is known as the classical Kuiper belt, and its members comprise roughly two thirds of KBOs observed to date. Because the first modern KBO discovered (Albion, but long called (15760) 1992 QB<sub>1</sub>), is considered the prototype of this group, classical KBOs are often referred to as cubewanos ("Q-B-1-os"). The guidelines established by the IAU demand that classical KBOs be given names of mythological beings associated with creation. The classical Kuiper belt appears to be a composite of two separate populations. The first, known as the "dynamically cold" population, has orbits much like the planets; nearly circular, with an orbital eccentricity of less than 0.1, and with relatively low inclinations up to about 10° (they lie close to the plane of the Solar System rather than at an angle). The cold population also contains a concentration of objects, referred to as the kernel, with semi-major axes at 44–44.5 AU. The second, the "dynamically hot" population, has orbits much more inclined to the ecliptic, by up to 30°. The two populations have been named this way not because of any major difference in temperature, but from analogy to particles in a gas, which increase their relative velocity as they become heated up. Not only are the two populations in different orbits, the cold population also differs in color and albedo, being redder and brighter, has a larger fraction of binary objects, has a different size distribution, and lacks very large objects. The mass of the dynamically cold population is roughly 30 times less than the mass of the hot. The difference in colors may be a reflection of different compositions, which suggests they formed in different regions. The hot population is proposed to have formed near Neptune's original orbit and to have been scattered out during the migration of the giant planets. The cold population, on the other hand, has been proposed to have formed more or less in its current position because the loose binaries would be unlikely to survive encounters with Neptune. Although the Nice model appears to be able to at least partially explain a compositional difference, it has also been suggested the color difference may reflect differences in surface evolution. ### Resonances When an object's orbital period is an exact ratio of Neptune's (a situation called a mean-motion resonance), then it can become locked in a synchronised motion with Neptune and avoid being perturbed away if their relative alignments are appropriate. If, for instance, an object orbits the Sun twice for every three Neptune orbits, and if it reaches perihelion with Neptune a quarter of an orbit away from it, then whenever it returns to perihelion, Neptune will always be in about the same relative position as it began, because it will have completed 1+1⁄2 orbits in the same time. This is known as the 2:3 (or 3:2) resonance, and it corresponds to a characteristic semi-major axis of about 39.4 AU. This 2:3 resonance is populated by about 200 known objects, including Pluto together with its moons. In recognition of this, the members of this family are known as plutinos. Many plutinos, including Pluto, have orbits that cross that of Neptune, although their resonance means they can never collide. Plutinos have high orbital eccentricities, suggesting that they are not native to their current positions but were instead thrown haphazardly into their orbits by the migrating Neptune. IAU guidelines dictate that all plutinos must, like Pluto, be named for underworld deities. The 1:2 resonance (whose objects complete half an orbit for each of Neptune's) corresponds to semi-major axes of \~47.7 AU, and is sparsely populated. Its residents are sometimes referred to as twotinos. Other resonances also exist at 3:4, 3:5, 4:7, and 2:5. Neptune has a number of trojan objects, which occupy its Lagrangian points, gravitationally stable regions leading and trailing it in its orbit. Neptune trojans are in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Neptune and often have very stable orbits. Additionally, there is a relative absence of objects with semi-major axes below 39 AU that cannot apparently be explained by the present resonances. The currently accepted hypothesis for the cause of this is that as Neptune migrated outward, unstable orbital resonances moved gradually through this region, and thus any objects within it were swept up, or gravitationally ejected from it. ### Kuiper cliff The 1:2 resonance at 47.8 AU appears to be an edge beyond which few objects are known. It is not clear whether it is actually the outer edge of the classical belt or just the beginning of a broad gap. Objects have been detected at the 2:5 resonance at roughly 55 AU, well outside the classical belt; predictions of a large number of bodies in classical orbits between these resonances have not been verified through observation. Based on estimations of the primordial mass required to form Uranus and Neptune, as well as bodies as large as Pluto (see ), earlier models of the Kuiper belt had suggested that the number of large objects would increase by a factor of two beyond 50 AU, so this sudden drastic falloff, known as the Kuiper cliff, was unexpected, and to date its cause is unknown. Bernstein, Trilling, et al. (2003) found evidence that the rapid decline in objects of 100 km or more in radius beyond 50 AU is real, and not due to observational bias. Possible explanations include that material at that distance was too scarce or too scattered to accrete into large objects, or that subsequent processes removed or destroyed those that did. Patryk Lykawka of Kobe University claimed that the gravitational attraction of an unseen large planetary object, perhaps the size of Earth or Mars, might be responsible. ## Origin The precise origins of the Kuiper belt and its complex structure are still unclear, and astronomers are awaiting the completion of several wide-field survey telescopes such as Pan-STARRS and the future LSST, which should reveal many currently unknown KBOs. These surveys will provide data that will help determine answers to these questions. Pan-STARRS 1 finished its primary science mission in 2014, and the full data from the Pan-STARRS 1 surveys were published in 2019, helping reveal many more KBOs. The Kuiper belt is thought to consist of planetesimals, fragments from the original protoplanetary disc around the Sun that failed to fully coalesce into planets and instead formed into smaller bodies, the largest less than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) in diameter. Studies of the crater counts on Pluto and Charon revealed a scarcity of small craters suggesting that such objects formed directly as sizeable objects in the range of tens of kilometers in diameter rather than being accreted from much smaller, roughly kilometer scale bodies. Hypothetical mechanisms for the formation of these larger bodies include the gravitational collapse of clouds of pebbles concentrated between eddies in a turbulent protoplanetary disk or in streaming instabilities. These collapsing clouds may fragment, forming binaries. Modern computer simulations show the Kuiper belt to have been strongly influenced by Jupiter and Neptune, and also suggest that neither Uranus nor Neptune could have formed in their present positions, because too little primordial matter existed at that range to produce objects of such high mass. Instead, these planets are estimated to have formed closer to Jupiter. Scattering of planetesimals early in the Solar System's history would have led to migration of the orbits of the giant planets: Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune drifted outwards, whereas Jupiter drifted inwards. Eventually, the orbits shifted to the point where Jupiter and Saturn reached an exact 1:2 resonance; Jupiter orbited the Sun twice for every one Saturn orbit. The gravitational repercussions of such a resonance ultimately destabilized the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, causing them to be scattered outward onto high-eccentricity orbits that crossed the primordial planetesimal disc. While Neptune's orbit was highly eccentric, its mean-motion resonances overlapped and the orbits of the planetesimals evolved chaotically, allowing planetesimals to wander outward as far as Neptune's 1:2 resonance to form a dynamically cold belt of low-inclination objects. Later, after its eccentricity decreased, Neptune's orbit expanded outward toward its current position. Many planetesimals were captured into and remain in resonances during this migration, others evolved onto higher-inclination and lower-eccentricity orbits and escaped from the resonances onto stable orbits. Many more planetesimals were scattered inward, with small fractions being captured as Jupiter trojans, as irregular satellites orbiting the giant planets, and as outer belt asteroids. The remainder were scattered outward again by Jupiter and in most cases ejected from the Solar System reducing the primordial Kuiper belt population by 99% or more. The original version of the currently most popular model, the "Nice model", reproduces many characteristics of the Kuiper belt such as the "cold" and "hot" populations, resonant objects, and a scattered disc, but it still fails to account for some of the characteristics of their distributions. The model predicts a higher average eccentricity in classical KBO orbits than is observed (0.10–0.13 versus 0.07) and its predicted inclination distribution contains too few high inclination objects. In addition, the frequency of binary objects in the cold belt, many of which are far apart and loosely bound, also poses a problem for the model. These are predicted to have been separated during encounters with Neptune, leading some to propose that the cold disc formed at its current location, representing the only truly local population of small bodies in the solar system. A recent modification of the Nice model has the Solar System begin with five giant planets, including an additional ice giant, in a chain of mean-motion resonances. About 400 million years after the formation of the Solar System the resonance chain is broken. Instead of being scattered into the disc, the ice giants first migrate outward several AU. This divergent migration eventually leads to a resonance crossing, destabilizing the orbits of the planets. The extra ice giant encounters Saturn and is scattered inward onto a Jupiter-crossing orbit and after a series of encounters is ejected from the Solar System. The remaining planets then continue their migration until the planetesimal disc is nearly depleted with small fractions remaining in various locations. As in the original Nice model, objects are captured into resonances with Neptune during its outward migration. Some remain in the resonances, others evolve onto higher-inclination, lower-eccentricity orbits, and are released onto stable orbits forming the dynamically hot classical belt. The hot belt's inclination distribution can be reproduced if Neptune migrated from 24 AU to 30 AU on a 30 Myr timescale. When Neptune migrates to 28 AU, it has a gravitational encounter with the extra ice giant. Objects captured from the cold belt into the 1:2 mean-motion resonance with Neptune are left behind as a local concentration at 44 AU when this encounter causes Neptune's semi-major axis to jump outward. The objects deposited in the cold belt include some loosely bound 'blue' binaries originating from closer than the cold belt's current location. If Neptune's eccentricity remains small during this encounter, the chaotic evolution of orbits of the original Nice model is avoided and a primordial cold belt is preserved. In the later phases of Neptune's migration, a slow sweeping of mean-motion resonances removes the higher-eccentricity objects from the cold belt, truncating its eccentricity distribution. ## Composition Being distant from the Sun and major planets, Kuiper belt objects are thought to be relatively unaffected by the processes that have shaped and altered other Solar System objects; thus, determining their composition would provide substantial information on the makeup of the earliest Solar System. Due to their small size and extreme distance from Earth, the chemical makeup of KBOs is very difficult to determine. The principal method by which astronomers determine the composition of a celestial object is spectroscopy. When an object's light is broken into its component colors, an image akin to a rainbow is formed. This image is called a spectrum. Different substances absorb light at different wavelengths, and when the spectrum for a specific object is unravelled, dark lines (called absorption lines) appear where the substances within it have absorbed that particular wavelength of light. Every element or compound has its own unique spectroscopic signature, and by reading an object's full spectral "fingerprint", astronomers can determine its composition. Analysis indicates that Kuiper belt objects are composed of a mixture of rock and a variety of ices such as water, methane, and ammonia. The temperature of the belt is only about 50 K, so many compounds that would be gaseous closer to the Sun remain solid. The densities and rock–ice fractions are known for only a small number of objects for which the diameters and the masses have been determined. The diameter can be determined by imaging with a high-resolution telescope such as the Hubble Space Telescope, by the timing of an occultation when an object passes in front of a star or, most commonly, by using the albedo of an object calculated from its infrared emissions. The masses are determined using the semi-major axes and periods of satellites, which are therefore known only for a few binary objects. The densities range from less than 0.4 to 2.6 g/cm<sup>3</sup>. The least dense objects are thought to be largely composed of ice and have significant porosity. The densest objects are likely composed of rock with a thin crust of ice. There is a trend of low densities for small objects and high densities for the largest objects. One possible explanation for this trend is that ice was lost from the surface layers when differentiated objects collided to form the largest objects. Initially, detailed analysis of KBOs was impossible, and so astronomers were only able to determine the most basic facts about their makeup, primarily their color. These first data showed a broad range of colors among KBOs, ranging from neutral grey to deep red. This suggested that their surfaces were composed of a wide range of compounds, from dirty ices to hydrocarbons. This diversity was startling, as astronomers had expected KBOs to be uniformly dark, having lost most of the volatile ices from their surfaces to the effects of cosmic rays. Various solutions were suggested for this discrepancy, including resurfacing by impacts or outgassing. Jewitt and Luu's spectral analysis of the known Kuiper belt objects in 2001 found that the variation in color was too extreme to be easily explained by random impacts. The radiation from the Sun is thought to have chemically altered methane on the surface of KBOs, producing products such as tholins. Makemake has been shown to possess a number of hydrocarbons derived from the radiation-processing of methane, including ethane, ethylene and acetylene. Although to date most KBOs still appear spectrally featureless due to their faintness, there have been a number of successes in determining their composition. In 1996, Robert H. Brown et al. acquired spectroscopic data on the KBO 1993 SC, which revealed that its surface composition is markedly similar to that of Pluto, as well as Neptune's moon Triton, with large amounts of methane ice. For the smaller objects, only colors and in some cases the albedos have been determined. These objects largely fall into two classes: gray with low albedos, or very red with higher albedos. The difference in colors and albedos is hypothesized to be due to the retention or the loss of hydrogen sulfide (H<sub>2</sub>S) on the surface of these objects, with the surfaces of those that formed far enough from the Sun to retain H<sub>2</sub>S being reddened due to irradiation. The largest KBOs, such as Pluto and Quaoar, have surfaces rich in volatile compounds such as methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide; the presence of these molecules is likely due to their moderate vapor pressure in the 30–50 K temperature range of the Kuiper belt. This allows them to occasionally boil off their surfaces and then fall again as snow, whereas compounds with higher boiling points would remain solid. The relative abundances of these three compounds in the largest KBOs is directly related to their surface gravity and ambient temperature, which determines which they can retain. Water ice has been detected in several KBOs, including members of the Haumea family such as , mid-sized objects such as 38628 Huya and 20000 Varuna, and also on some small objects. The presence of crystalline ice on large and mid-sized objects, including 50000 Quaoar where ammonia hydrate has also been detected, may indicate past tectonic activity aided by melting point lowering due to the presence of ammonia. ## Mass and size distribution Despite its vast extent, the collective mass of the Kuiper belt is relatively low. The total mass of the dynamically hot population is estimated to be 1% the mass of the Earth. The dynamically cold population is estimated to be much smaller with only 0.03% the mass of the Earth. While the dynamically hot population is thought to be the remnant of a much larger population that formed closer to the Sun and was scattered outward during the migration of the giant planets, in contrast, the dynamically cold population is thought to have formed at its current location. The most recent estimate (2018) puts the total mass of the Kuiper belt at (1.97±0.30)×10<sup>−2</sup> Earth masses based on the influence that it exerts on the motion of planets. The small total mass of the dynamically cold population presents some problems for models of the Solar System's formation because a sizable mass is required for accretion of KBOs larger than 100 km (62 mi) in diameter. If the cold classical Kuiper belt had always had its current low density, these large objects simply could not have formed by the collision and mergers of smaller planetesimals. Moreover, the eccentricity and inclination of current orbits make the encounters quite "violent" resulting in destruction rather than accretion. The removal of a large fraction of the mass of the dynamically cold population is thought to be unlikely. Neptune's current influence is too weak to explain such a massive "vacuuming", and the extent of mass loss by collisional grinding is limited by the presence of loosely bound binaries in the cold disk, which are likely to be disrupted in collisions. Instead of forming from the collisions of smaller planetesimals, the larger object may have formed directly from the collapse of clouds of pebbles. The size distributions of the Kuiper belt objects follow a number of power laws. A power law describes the relationship between N(D) (the number of objects of diameter greater than D) and D, and is referred to as brightness slope. The number of objects is inversely proportional to some power of the diameter D: $\frac{d N}{d D} \propto D^{-q}.$ which yields (assuming q is not 1) $$N\propto D^{1-q}+\text{a constant }.$$ (The constant may be non-zero only if the power law doesn't apply at high values of D.) Early estimates that were based on measurements of the apparent magnitude distribution found a value of q = 4 ± 0.5, which implied that there are 8 (=2<sup>3</sup>) times more objects in the 100–200 km range than in the 200–400 km range. Recent research has revealed that the size distributions of the hot classical and cold classical objects have differing slopes. The slope for the hot objects is q = 5.3 at large diameters and q = 2.0 at small diameters with the change in slope at 110 km. The slope for the cold objects is q = 8.2 at large diameters and q = 2.9 at small diameters with a change in slope at 140 km. The size distributions of the scattering objects, the plutinos, and the Neptune trojans have slopes similar to the other dynamically hot populations, but may instead have a divot, a sharp decrease in the number of objects below a specific size. This divot is hypothesized to be due to either the collisional evolution of the population, or to be due to the population having formed with no objects below this size, with the smaller objects being fragments of the original objects. The smallest known Kuiper belt objects with radii below 1 km have only been detected by stellar occultations, as they are far too dim (magnitude 35) to be seen directly by telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope. The first reports of these occultations were from Schlichting et al. in December 2009, who announced the discovery of a small, sub-kilometre-radius Kuiper belt object in archival Hubble photometry from March 2007. With an estimated radius of 520±60 m or a diameter of 1040±120 m, the object was detected by Hubble's star tracking system when it briefly occulted a star for 0.3 seconds. In a subsequent study published in December 2012, Schlichting et al. performed a more thorough analysis of archival Hubble photometry and reported another occultation event by a sub-kilometre-sized Kuiper belt object, estimated to be 530±70 m in radius or 1060±140 m in diameter. From the occultation events detected in 2009 and 2012, Schlichting et al. determined the Kuiper belt object size distribution slope to be q = 3.6 ± 0.2 or q = 3.8 ± 0.2, with the assumptions of a single power law and a uniform ecliptic latitude distribution. Their result implies a strong deficit of sub-kilometer-sized Kuiper belt objects compared to extrapolations from the population of larger Kuiper belt objects with diameters above 90 km. ## Scattered objects The scattered disc is a sparsely populated region, overlapping with the Kuiper belt but extending to beyond 100 AU. Scattered disc objects (SDOs) have very elliptical orbits, often also very inclined to the ecliptic. Most models of Solar System formation show both KBOs and SDOs first forming in a primordial belt, with later gravitational interactions, particularly with Neptune, sending the objects outward, some into stable orbits (the KBOs) and some into unstable orbits, the scattered disc. Due to its unstable nature, the scattered disc is suspected to be the point of origin of many of the Solar System's short-period comets. Their dynamic orbits occasionally force them into the inner Solar System, first becoming centaurs, and then short-period comets. According to the Minor Planet Center, which officially catalogues all trans-Neptunian objects, a KBO is any object that orbits exclusively within the defined Kuiper belt region regardless of origin or composition. Objects found outside the belt are classed as scattered objects. In some scientific circles the term "Kuiper belt object" has become synonymous with any icy minor planet native to the outer Solar System assumed to have been part of that initial class, even if its orbit during the bulk of Solar System history has been beyond the Kuiper belt (e.g. in the scattered-disc region). They often describe scattered disc objects as "scattered Kuiper belt objects". Eris, which is known to be more massive than Pluto, is often referred to as a KBO, but is technically an SDO. A consensus among astronomers as to the precise definition of the Kuiper belt has yet to be reached, and this issue remains unresolved. The centaurs, which are not normally considered part of the Kuiper belt, are also thought to be scattered objects, the only difference being that they were scattered inward, rather than outward. The Minor Planet Center groups the centaurs and the SDOs together as scattered objects. ### Triton During its period of migration, Neptune is thought to have captured a large KBO, Triton, which is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit (that is, it orbits opposite to Neptune's rotation). This suggests that, unlike the large moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, which are thought to have coalesced from rotating discs of material around their young parent planets, Triton was a fully formed body that was captured from surrounding space. Gravitational capture of an object is not easy: it requires some mechanism to slow down the object enough to be caught by the larger object's gravity. A possible explanation is that Triton was part of a binary when it encountered Neptune. (Many KBOs are members of binaries. See below.) Ejection of the other member of the binary by Neptune could then explain Triton's capture. Triton is only 14% larger than Pluto, and spectral analysis of both worlds shows that their surfaces are largely composed of similar materials, such as methane and carbon monoxide. All this points to the conclusion that Triton was once a KBO that was captured by Neptune during its outward migration. ## Largest KBOs Since 2000, a number of KBOs with diameters of between 500 and 1,500 km (932 mi), more than half that of Pluto (diameter 2370 km), have been discovered. 50000 Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1,200 km across. and , both announced on 29 July 2005, are larger still. Other objects, such as 28978 Ixion (discovered in 2001) and 20000 Varuna (discovered in 2000), measure roughly 600–700 km (373–435 mi) across. ### Pluto The discovery of these large KBOs in orbits similar to Pluto's led many to conclude that, aside from its relative size, Pluto was not particularly different from other members of the Kuiper belt. Not only are these objects similar to Pluto in size, but many also have natural satellites, and are of similar composition (methane and carbon monoxide have been found both on Pluto and on the largest KBOs). Thus, just as Ceres was considered a planet before the discovery of its fellow asteroids, some began to suggest that Pluto might also be reclassified. The issue was brought to a head by the discovery of Eris, an object in the scattered disc far beyond the Kuiper belt, that is now known to be 27% more massive than Pluto. (Eris was originally thought to be larger than Pluto by volume, but the New Horizons mission found this not to be the case.) In response, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was forced to define what a planet is for the first time, and in so doing included in their definition that a planet must have "cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit". As Pluto shares its orbit with many other sizable objects, it was deemed not to have cleared its orbit and was thus reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet, making it a member of the Kuiper belt. It is not clear how many KBOs are large enough to be dwarf planets. Consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many dwarf-planet candidates suggests that not many are. , Pluto, Haumea, , and Makemake are accepted by most astronomers; some have proposed other bodies, such as , , , and . ### Satellites The six largest TNOs (Eris, Pluto, Gonggong, Makemake, Haumea and Quaoar) are all known to have satellites, and two of them have more than one. A higher percentage of the larger KBOs have satellites than the smaller objects in the Kuiper belt, suggesting that a different formation mechanism was responsible. There are also a high number of binaries (two objects close enough in mass to be orbiting "each other") in the Kuiper belt. The most notable example is the Pluto–Charon binary, but it is estimated that around 11% of KBOs exist in binaries. ## Exploration On 19 January 2006, the first spacecraft to explore the Kuiper belt, New Horizons, was launched, which flew by Pluto on 14 July 2015. Beyond the Pluto flyby, the mission's goal was to locate and investigate other, farther objects in the Kuiper belt. On 15 October 2014, it was revealed that Hubble had uncovered three potential targets, provisionally designated PT1 ("potential target 1"), PT2 and PT3 by the New Horizons team. The objects' diameters were estimated to be in the 30–55 km range; too small to be seen by ground telescopes, at distances from the Sun of 43–44 AU, which would put the encounters in the 2018–2019 period. The initial estimated probabilities that these objects were reachable within New Horizons' fuel budget were 100%, 7%, and 97%, respectively. All were members of the "cold" (low-inclination, low-eccentricity) classical Kuiper belt, and thus very different from Pluto. PT1 (given the temporary designation "1110113Y" on the HST web site), the most favorably situated object, was magnitude 26.8, 30–45 km in diameter, and was encountered in January 2019. Once sufficient orbital information was provided, the Minor Planet Center gave official designations to the three target KBOs: (PT1), (PT2), and (PT3). By the fall of 2014, a possible fourth target, , had been eliminated by follow-up observations. PT2 was out of the running before the Pluto flyby. On 26 August 2015, the first target, (nicknamed "Ultima Thule" and later named 486958 Arrokoth), was chosen. Course adjustment took place in late October and early November 2015, leading to a flyby in January 2019. On 1 July 2016, NASA approved additional funding for New Horizons to visit the object. On 2 December 2015, New Horizons detected what was then called (later named 15810 Arawn) from 270 million kilometres (170×10^<sup>6</sup> mi) away. On 1 January 2019, New Horizons successfully flew by Arrokoth, returning data showing Arrokoth to be a contact binary 32 km long by 16 km wide. The Ralph instrument aboard New Horizons confirmed Arrokoth's red color. Data from the fly-by will continue to be downloaded over the next 20 months. No follow-up missions for New Horizons are planned, though at least two concepts for missions that would return to orbit or land on Pluto have been studied. Beyond Pluto, there exist many large KBOs that cannot be visited with New Horizons, such as the dwarf planets Makemake and Haumea. New missions would be tasked to explore and study these objects in detail. Thales Alenia Space has studied the logistics of an orbiter mission to Haumea, a high priority scientific target due to its status as the parent body of a collisional family that includes several other TNOs, as well as Haumea's ring and two moons. The lead author, Joel Poncy, has advocated for new technology that would allow spacecraft to reach and orbit KBOs in 10–20 years or less. New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern has informally suggested missions that would flyby the planets Uranus or Neptune before visiting new KBO targets, thus furthering the exploration of the Kuiper belt while also visiting these ice giant planets for the first time since the Voyager 2 flybys in the 1980s. ### Design studies and concept missions Quaoar has been considered as a flyby target for a probe tasked with exploring the interstellar medium, as it currently lies near the heliospheric nose; Pontus Brandt at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and his colleagues have studied a probe that would flyby Quaoar in the 2030s before continuing to the interstellar medium through the heliospheric nose. Among their interests in Quaoar include its likely disappearing methane atmosphere and cryovolcanism. The mission studied by Brandt and his colleagues would launch using SLS and achieve 30 km/s using a Jupiter flyby. Alternatively, for an orbiter mission, a study published in 2012 concluded that Ixion and Huya are among the most feasible targets. For instance, the authors calculated that an orbiter mission could reach Ixion after 17 years cruise time if launched in 2039. ## Extrasolar Kuiper belts By 2006, astronomers had resolved dust discs thought to be Kuiper belt-like structures around nine stars other than the Sun. They appear to fall into two categories: wide belts, with radii of over 50 AU, and narrow belts (tentatively like that of the Solar System) with radii of between 20 and 30 AU and relatively sharp boundaries. Beyond this, 15–20% of solar-type stars have an observed infrared excess that is suggestive of massive Kuiper-belt-like structures. Most known debris discs around other stars are fairly young, but the two images on the right, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in January 2006, are old enough (roughly 300 million years) to have settled into stable configurations. The left image is a "top view" of a wide belt, and the right image is an "edge view" of a narrow belt. Computer simulations of dust in the Kuiper belt suggest that when it was younger, it may have resembled the narrow rings seen around younger stars. ## See also - Asteroid belt - List of possible dwarf planets - List of trans-Neptunian objects - Planet Nine
34,780,511	Washington v. Texas	1,124,031,801	null	[ "1967 in Texas", "1967 in United States case law", "Compulsory Process Clause case law", "Incorporation case law", "Legal history of Texas", "United States Supreme Court cases", "United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court" ]	Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14 (1967), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court decided that the Compulsory Process Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution (guaranteeing the right of a criminal defendant to force the attendance of witnesses for their side) is applicable in state courts as well as federal courts. Jackie Washington had attempted to call his co-defendant as a witness, but was blocked by Texas courts because state law prevented co-defendants from testifying for each other, under the theory that they would be likely to lie for each other on the stand. The Supreme Court reasoned that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment made the right to be able to compel defense witnesses to testify necessary for a defendant's "due process" rights to fair proceedings, which applies to the states. Only Justice John Marshall Harlan II parted from the Court's "due process" focus, though he agreed with the outcome, as he regularly did in cases involving whether to apply federal rights to state courts. The impact of Washington was narrowed by a later case, Taylor v. Illinois (1988), in which the Court said that "countervailing public interests", like the need to move through cases quickly, could be balanced against a defendant's right to present witnesses. In Taylor, the Supreme Court upheld a judge's order blocking defense witnesses from testifying due to the defense attorney's deliberate failure to disclose evidence to prosecutors earlier in the trial. The defense attorney's actions resulted in a lengthy delay in the proceedings which the trial judge felt was unjustified. Legal scholars have seen this new grant of discretion to trial judges as a change to relying on "efficient justice", a more limited vision of trial rights than the "right to present a defense" created in Washington. ## Background ### History of Compulsory Process Clause jurisprudence #### Ratification of the Sixth Amendment The Compulsory Process Clause was ratified as part of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the Bill of Rights in 1791. It accords a criminal defendant "the right ... to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor." The Clause was included among other rights (e.g. right to a notice of charges) as a foundation for how federal criminal justice would operate. Originally, the Sixth Amendment was only applicable to the federal government. Despite ratification of the Clause, compulsory process was not originally interpreted to permit co-defendants to testify for each other. States relied on a fear that two defendants would both "swear the other [out]" of the charge to prevent either defendant from being convicted. In Benson v. United States (1892), the Supreme Court explained the underlying common law theory for this prohibition; namely, that only witnesses who were "unaffected as a party by the result, and free from any of the temptations of interest" could testify. Federal courts accepted these common law rules and expressly applied them in United States v. Reid (1852). In Reid, the Court held that the common law pertaining to criminal procedure in force at the time of the Constitution's ratification would be applied in federal courts; this effectively kept the bar on co-defendant testimony. While Reid was overruled on different grounds in 1918, it stated the general practice for co-defendants as witnesses that existed before the Fourteenth Amendment. #### Application to the States After the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, the Supreme Court dealt with a series of cases regarding the scope of that amendment's Due Process Clause. This Clause says that "Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law". The Court initially rejected an argument that the Due Process Clause applied to the state governments in Hurtado v. California (1884), a case concerning the right to a grand jury hearing. Justice Matthews, writing for the majority of the Court, reasoned that "the Amendment prescribing due process of law is too vague and indefinite to operate as a practical restraint." While this decision rejected an expanded reach of the Due Process Clause, the Court stated that the Clause did protect against state encroachment on "fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all our civil and political institutions". Hurtado left open the question of what "fundamental principles of liberty and justice" would be protected. In 1897, the Court held in Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chicago (1897) that the Fifth Amendment's Just Compensation Clause relating to eminent domain takings was "an essential element of due process of law ordained by the Fourteenth Amendment" to the point that a Chicago taking of railroad property was "within the meaning of that amendment". In finding that application of the Due Process Clause, the Court said that just compensation constituted "a vital principle of republican institutions [without which] almost all other rights would become worthless". In the same year as the railroad takings case, the Court evaluated what procedural trial rights implicated the "fundamental principles of liberty" expressed in Hurtado. In Hovey v. Elliot, the Supreme Court specifically applied the Due Process Clause to some fair trial guarantees, holding that due process "secures an 'inherent right of defense'". Despite that broad statement, the Court emphasized that due to procedural issues with the case itself "our opinion is therefore exclusively confined to the case before us." A decade after Hovey, the Supreme Court announced its first rule for how the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment would be applied. In Twining v. New Jersey (1908), the Court held that "it is possible that some of the personal rights safeguarded by the first eight amendments against National action may also be safeguarded against state action, because a denial of them would be a denial of due process of law". This understanding of the meaning of "due process" opened up the possibility that the Bill of Rights could be applied to the states. Specifically, the Court said in Twining that the test was whether the right was embedded in "the very idea of free government". This test endorsed a "selective incorporation" approach, meaning one that would evaluate whether to apply a right to the states on a case-by-case basis. The selective incorporation principle was expanded on further in Palko v. Connecticut (1937), where the Court examined whether the right against double jeopardy should be incorporated against the states. In Palko, the Court stated that specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights could be applied to the states if the right was "found to be implicit in the concept of ordered liberty". Though eight justices agreed that the double jeopardy right was not "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty", the Palko test has remained the standard for incorporating rights against state and local governments. #### Expansion of procedural trial rights After Palko, the Court examined Bill of Rights protections one by one. Despite this incremental approach, the Court would eventually apply most rights to the states. In the realm of criminal procedure, this doctrine eventually came to protect the defendant's ability to "present exculpatory evidence and testimony of witnesses". For example, the Court in Brady v. Maryland (1963) used the Due Process Clause to require the state prosecution authorities to disclose evidence that is favorable to a defendant prior to trial. The Court's due process jurisprudence was expanded with the 1948 decision in In re Oliver, which revised the breadth of the "fundamental fairness" right. The Court wrote: > A person's right to reasonable notice of a charge against him, and an opportunity to be heard in his defense—a right to his day in court—are basic in our system of jurisprudence; and these rights include, as a minimum, a right to examine the witnesses against him, to offer testimony, and to be represented by counsel. ### Washington's trial Jackie Washington was charged with first-degree murder in Dallas. At the trial, Washington testified on his own behalf, and he put a great deal of the blame on an accomplice named Charles Fuller. He testified that Fuller had been carrying the murder weapon—a shotgun—at the scene. When he sought to have Fuller testify to back up his story, the trial judge blocked him on the basis of a Texas statute which provided that "persons charged or convicted as co-participants in the same crime could not testify for one another". The law, however, did not block a co-participant from testifying for the state. Washington was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison. His conviction was subsequently upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas's highest criminal court, in 1966. The Court of Criminal Appeals, which reasoned that the Compulsory Process Clause did not affect how the state treated the "competency" of a witness, rejected Washington's plea that Fuller should have been allowed to testify. Washington then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case, and the Supreme Court granted review. ## Opinion of the Court Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion of the Court, which spoke for eight justices in reversing the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Warren began by stating that the Court had never been "previously called upon to decide whether the right of the accused to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ... is so fundamental [that] it is incorporated in the Due Process Clause". Because of the incorporation to states of other procedural guarantees, the "right to offer the testimony of witnesses" could be given no less weight. Warren wrote that it was critical to the ability to "present a defense ... [a] defendant's version of the facts". This broad right was necessary to detail thoroughly, he wrote, because ignoring how the right would actually be applied would risk making the right to compel witnesses futile. After determining that the Sixth Amendment's "right to compulsory process is applicable in this state proceeding" (i.e. that the Compulsory Process Clause applied to the states), the question became whether the specific instance of Washington's trial was an unconstitutional deprivation of that right. Despite the common law restriction against co-defendants testifying for each other, Warren noted that federal courts had refused to be "bound by 'the dead hand of the common-law'" since 1918. Along with the precedent of prior federal court decisions, the fact that there were a great deal of exceptions to this rule demonstrated the "absurdity of the rule" itself. Specifically, under the Texas statute—which allowed a defendant acquitted at a separate trial to testify for the other defendant at the other's trial—the "law leaves [the co-defendant] free to testify when he has a great incentive to perjury, [but] bars his testimony in situations where he has a lesser motive to lie". Warren concluded that the nature of the Texas law at issue denied Washington the right for a fair trial using witnesses who could testify to "relevant and material" facts in the case. Here, while not entirely relying on the finding, the Court saw the law as "arbitrary" because its discrimination between the prosecution and defense served "no rational relationship" to any goal of preventing perjury. Further, the idea that a "competent" witness was barred from testifying, in and of itself, was held to be an unconstitutional predetermination on the part of the state legislature. The Court's decision upheld the importance of juries in evaluating the truth and credibility of witnesses' statements. Despite adopting a broad principle, the Court did not list any specific rules for how trial judges were to balance evidentiary standards and the right of the defendant to secure witnesses in his or her favor. ### Harlan's concurrence Justice Harlan, who agreed with the decision to reverse the Texas court's judgment but not with the majority's reasoning, wrote a short separate concurring opinion. He repeated his position that the Due Process Clause did not incorporate the Bill of Rights to the states; rather, the Due Process Clause was a "rational continuum, which, broadly speaking, includes a freedom from all substantial arbitrary impositions and purposeless restraints". He isolated the Texas law's distinction between the co-defendant testifying for the state while being barred from testifying for the defendant as having "no justification". Thus, he rejected holding the trial unconstitutional on Compulsory Process Clause grounds; he argued instead that the State's "arbitrary bar" against a criminal defendant's calling a co-defendant as a witness for his side, while allowing the co-defendant to testify for the prosecution, violated the Due Process Clause. ## Subsequent developments In two cases after Washington, the Court pulled back from its broad principle that a defendant in a criminal proceeding has a "right to a defense". In United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal (1982), the Court held that an argument by the government that it had an interest in deporting illegal aliens (some witnesses in the case) outweighed the defendant's right to "eye witness testimony". Additionally, in Taylor v. Illinois (1988), the Court held that "countervailing public interests" could also outweigh the defendant's compulsory process rights. In Taylor, a series of deliberate discovery violations by the defense counsel at trial led the trial judge to block attempts at postponing proceedings to allow a further undisclosed defense witness the chance to testify; the judge had held that there must be some sanction against the defense for their failure to disclose witnesses earlier in the case. A divided Court upheld the trial judge's preclusion of the witness, adding a new framework for balancing a defendant's right to a robust defense with a series of other factors. Namely, the new framework required looking at the state's interest in "efficient" justice, the state's interest in excluding evidence lacking integrity, the state's interest in a strong judicial authority with followed rules, and the prosecution interest in avoiding prejudice due to a defendant's discovery violation. ## Analysis and commentary Analysis of Washington has focused on the decision in the broader context of procedural trial rights. A 2007 article in the Georgetown Law Review by Martin Hewett was critical of the decision. Hewett's main criticism was based on the Court's lack of a standard on which to evaluate whether certain evidence was "material" to a defendant's case. Hewett noted that in a post-Washington decision in 1973, the Court applied a "case-specific" decision rather than a "general constitutional standard". This line of decisions, Hewett argued, led to a standard which allows a trial judge the authority to determine the "actual reliability of the evidence" in cases where a witness is not present. The "newly-seized power" was limited to the cases at hand in a manner which suggested the ambiguous calculus the Court was using was flawed. This vagueness in the standard came from cases where the "situations [involved] the reliability of the excluded evidence [that] could factfinder". Hewett concluded by arguing that all of these cases had diminished the protections of the jury and of the defendant's right to have his own defense. An article in the American Criminal Law Review, published in 2011 by Stacey Kime, disagreed with some of Hewett's arguments. Kime argued that "it is well settled that criminal defendants have a constitutional right to present exculpatory evidence", disagreeing with the idea that the basis for a robust defense had been gutted. Instead, she blamed the "incoherent" standard today on a lack of understanding of where the "source of this constitutional right" to have a strong defense lies. Unlike Hewett, who targeted post-Washington decisions, Kime believed that there were flaws in the Washington opinion itself. Specifically, she argued that "the Court's reasoning was not only unnecessary, but the Washington doctrine itself is inconsistent with the Sixth Amendment's history and text". In her review of the history behind the Sixth Amendment, Kime argued that James Madison could have drafted a more comprehensive right to "call for evidence" (as existed in the Virginia Declaration of Rights) but failed to do so. With this context in mind, she said, the Compulsory Process Clause likely enshrined the right to subpoena witnesses and have a fair trial, rather than a broader "right to have a defense". Kime's analysis concluded by stating that the decision in Washington had put "unnecessary tension between two analytically distinct constitutional rights".
18,952,631	Zion National Park	1,168,714,657	National park in Utah, United States	[ "1919 establishments in Utah", "Canyons and gorges of Utah", "Canyons and gorges of Washington County, Utah", "Civilian Conservation Corps in Utah", "Climbing areas of Utah", "Colorado Plateau", "Landforms of Iron County, Utah", "Landforms of Kane County, Utah", "National parks in Utah", "Protected areas established in 1919", "Protected areas of Iron County, Utah", "Protected areas of Kane County, Utah", "Protected areas of Washington County, Utah", "Zion National Park" ]	Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km<sup>2</sup>) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans, one of which was the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Ancestral Puebloans (who used to be called Anasazi by early non-indigenous archeologists)(c. 300 CE). Subsequently, what has been called the Virgin Anasazi culture (c. 500) and the Parowan Fremont group developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s. ## Name change In 1909, President William Howard Taft named the area Mukuntuweap National Monument in order to protect the canyon. In 1918, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service, Horace Albright, drafted a proposal to enlarge the existing monument and change the park's name to Zion National Monument, Zion being a term used by the Mormons. According to historian Hal Rothman: "The name change played to a prevalent bias of the time. Many believed that Spanish and Indian names would deter visitors who, if they could not pronounce the name of a place, might not bother to visit it. The new name, Zion, had greater appeal to an ethnocentric audience." On November 19, 1919, Congress redesignated the monument as Zion National Park, and the act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson. The Kolob section was proclaimed a separate Zion National Monument in 1937, but was incorporated into the national park in 1956. Congress designated 85% of the park a wilderness area in 2009. The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes nine formations that together represent 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation. At various periods in that time warm, shallow seas, streams, ponds and lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments covered the area. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateau lifted the region 10,000 feet (3,000 m) starting 13 million years ago. ## Park purpose As stated in the foundation document: > The purpose of Zion National Park is to preserve the dramatic geology including Zion Canyon and a labyrinth of deep and brilliantly colored Navajo sandstone canyons formed by extraordinary processes of erosion at the margin of the Colorado Plateau; to safeguard the park's wilderness character and its wild and scenic river values; to protect evidence of human history; and to provide for scientific research and the enjoyment and enlightenment of the public. ## Geography The park is located in southwestern Utah in Washington, Iron and Kane counties. Geomorphically, it is located on the Markagunt and Kolob plateaus, at the intersection of three North American geographic provinces: the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin, and the Mojave Desert. The northern part of the park is known as the Kolob Canyons section and is accessible from Interstate 15, exit 40. The 8,726-foot (2,660 m) summit of Horse Ranch Mountain is the highest point in the park; the lowest point is the 3,666-foot (1,117 m) elevation of Coal Pits Wash, creating a relief of about 5,100 feet (1,600 m). Streams in the area take rectangular paths because they follow jointing planes in the rocks. The stream gradient of the Virgin River, whose North Fork flows through Zion Canyon in the park, ranges from 50 to 80 feet per mile (9.5 to 15.2 m/km) (0.9–1.5%)—one of the steepest stream gradients in North America. The road into Zion Canyon is 6 miles (9.7 km) long, ending at the Temple of Sinawava, which is named for the coyote god of the Paiute Indians. The canyon becomes more narrow near the Temple and a hiking trail continues to the mouth of The Narrows, a gorge only 20 feet (6 m) wide and up to 2,000 feet (610 m) tall. The Zion Canyon road is served by a free shuttle bus from early April to late October and by private vehicles the other months of the year. Other roads in Zion are open to private vehicles year-round. The east side of the park is served by Zion-Mount Carmel Highway (SR-9), which passes through the Zion–Mount Carmel Tunnel and ends at US 89 at Mount Carmel Junction. Park features on the east side of the park include Checkerboard Mesa and The East Temple. The Kolob Terrace area, northwest of Zion Canyon, features a slot canyon called The Subway, and a panoramic view of the entire area from Lava Point. The Kolob Canyons section, further to the northwest near Cedar City, features Tucupit Point and one of the world's longest natural arches, Kolob Arch. Other notable geographic features of Zion Canyon include Angels Landing, The Great White Throne, the Court of the Patriarchs, The Sentinel, The West Temple, Towers of the Virgin, the Altar of Sacrifice, The Watchman, Weeping Rock, and the Emerald Pools. Spring weather is unpredictable, with stormy, wet days being common, mixed with occasional warm, sunny weather. Precipitation is normally heaviest in March. Spring wildflowers bloom from April through June, peaking in May. Fall days are usually clear and mild; nights are often cool. Summer days are hot (95 to 110 °F; 35 to 43 °C), but overnight lows are usually comfortable (65 to 70 °F; 18 to 21 °C). Afternoon thunderstorms are common from mid-July through mid-September. Storms may produce waterfalls as well as flash floods. Autumn tree-color displays begin in September in the high country; in Zion Canyon, autumn colors usually peak in late October. Winter in Zion Canyon is fairly mild. Winter storms bring rain or light snow to Zion Canyon and heavier snow to the higher elevations. Clear days may become quite warm, reaching 60 °F (16 °C); nights are often 20 to 40 °F (−7 to 4 °C). Winter storms can last several days and make roads icy. Zion roads are plowed, except the Kolob Terrace Road which is closed when covered with snow. Winter driving conditions last from November through March. ### Climate Zion National Park has a BSk (Köppen climate classification) cold semi-arid climate consisting of very hot summers and mild winters with a limited amount of precipitation throughout the year. ## History Archaeologists have divided the long span of Zion's human history into three cultural periods: the Archaic, Protohistoric and Historic periods. Each period is characterized by distinctive technological and social adaptations. ### Archaic period The first human presence in the region dates to 8,000 years ago when family groups camped where they could hunt or collect plants and seeds. About 2,000 years ago, some groups began growing corn and other crops, leading to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Later groups in this period built permanent villages called pueblos. Archaeologists call this the Archaic period and it lasted until c. 500. Baskets, cordage nets, and yucca fiber sandals have been found and dated to this period. The Archaic toolkits included flaked stone knives, drills, and stemmed dart points. The dart points were attached to wooden shafts and propelled by throwing devices called atlatls. By c. 300, some of the archaic groups developed into an early branch of seminomadic Anasazi, the Basketmakers. Basketmaker sites have grass- or stone-lined storage cists and shallow, partially underground dwellings called pithouses. They were hunters and gatherers who supplemented their diet with limited agriculture. Locally collected pine nuts were important for food and trade. ### Protohistoric period Both the Virgin Anasazi and the Parowan Fremont disappeared from the archaeological record of southwestern Utah by c. 1300. Extended droughts in the 11th and 12th centuries, interspersed with catastrophic flooding, may have made horticulture impossible in this arid region. Tradition and archaeological evidence hold that their replacements were Numic-speaking cousins of the Virgin Anasazi, such as the Southern Paiute and Ute. The newcomers migrated on a seasonal basis up and down valleys in search of wild seeds and game animals. Some, particularly the Southern Paiute, also planted fields of corn, sunflowers, and squash to supplement their diet. These more sedentary groups made brownware vessels that were used for storage and cooking. ### Exploration and settlement The Historic period begins in the late 18th century with the exploration of southern Utah by padre Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and padre Francisco Atanasio Domínguez. The padres passed near what is now the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center on October 13, 1776, becoming the first people of European descent known to visit the area. In 1825, trapper and trader Jedediah Smith explored some of the downstream areas while under contract with the American Fur Company. In 1847, Mormon farmers from the Salt Lake area became the first people of European descent to settle the Virgin River region. In 1851, the Parowan and Cedar City areas were settled by Mormons who used the Kolob Canyons area for timber, and for grazing cattle, sheep, and horses. They prospected for mineral deposits, and diverted Kolob water to irrigate crops in the valley below. Mormon settlers named the area Kolob which in Mormon scripture is the heavenly place nearest the residence of God. Settlements had expanded 30 miles (48 km) south to the lower Virgin River by 1858. That year, a Southern Paiute guide led young Mormon missionary and interpreter Nephi Johnson into the upper Virgin River area and Zion Canyon. Johnson wrote a favorable report about the agricultural potential of the upper Virgin River basin, and returned later that year to found the town of Virgin. In 1861 or 1862, Joseph Black made the arduous journey to Zion Canyon and was very impressed by its beauty. The floor of Zion Canyon was settled in 1863 by Isaac Behunin, who farmed corn, tobacco, and fruit trees. The Behunin family lived in Zion Canyon near the site of today's Zion Lodge during the summer, and wintered in Springdale. Behunin is credited with naming Zion, a reference to the place of peace mentioned in the Bible. Two more families settled Zion Canyon in the next couple of years, bringing with them cattle and other domesticated animals. The canyon floor was farmed until Zion became a Monument in 1909. The Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 entered the area after their first trip through the Grand Canyon. John Wesley Powell visited Zion Canyon in 1872 and named it Mukuntuweap, under the impression that that was the Paiute name. Powell Survey photographers John K. Hillers and James Fennemore first visited the Zion Canyon and Kolob Plateau region in the spring of 1872. Hillers returned in April 1873 to add more photographs to the "Virgin River Series" of photographs and stereographs. Hillers described wading the canyon for four days and nearly freezing to death to take his photographs. ### Protection and tourism Paintings of the canyon by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh were exhibited at the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904, followed by a favorable article in Scribner's Magazine the next year. The article and paintings, along with previously created photographs, paintings, and reports, led to President William Howard Taft's proclamation on July 31, 1909, that created Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 1917, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service visited the canyon and proposed changing its name from the locally unpopular Mukuntuweap to Zion, a name used by the local Mormon community. The United States Congress added more land and established Zion National Park on November 19, 1919. A separate Zion National Monument, the Kolob Canyons area, was proclaimed on January 22, 1937, and was incorporated into the park on July 11, 1956. Travel to the area before it was a national park was rare due to its remote location, lack of accommodations, and the absence of real roads in southern Utah. Old wagon roads were upgraded to the first automobile roads starting about 1910, and the road into Zion Canyon was built in 1917 leading to the Grotto, short of the present road that now ends at the Temple of Sinawava. Touring cars could reach Zion Canyon by the summer of 1917. The first visitor lodging in Zion Canyon, called Wylie Camp, was established that same year as a tent camp. The Utah Parks Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, acquired Wylie Camp in 1923, and offered ten-day rail/bus tours to Zion, nearby Bryce Canyon, the Kaibab Plateau, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Zion Lodge complex was built in 1925 at the site of the Wylie tent camp. Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the Zion Lodge in a rustic architectural style, while the Utah Parks Company funded the construction. ### Infrastructure improvements Work on the Zion Mount Carmel Highway started in 1927 to enable reliable access between Springdale and the east side of the park. The road opened in 1930 and park visit and travel in the area greatly increased. The most famous feature of the Zion – Mount Carmel Highway is its 1.1-mile (1.8 km) tunnel, which has six large windows cut through the massive sandstone cliff. In 1896, local rancher John Winder improved the Native American footpath up Echo Canyon, which later became the East Rim Trail. Entrepreneur David Flanigan used this trail in 1900 to build cableworks that lowered lumber into Zion Canyon from Cable Mountain. More than 200,000 board feet (470 m<sup>3</sup>) of lumber were lowered by 1906. The auto road was extended to the Temple of Sinawava, and a trail built from there 1 mile (1.6 km) to the start of the Narrows. Angel's Landing Trail was constructed in 1926 and two suspension bridges were built over the Virgin River. Other trails were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s. ### More recent history Zion National Park has been featured in numerous films, including The Deadwood Coach (1924), Arizona Bound (1927), Nevada (1927), Ramrod (1947) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Zion Canyon Scenic Drive provides access to Zion Canyon. Traffic congestion in the narrow canyon was recognized as a major problem in the 1990s and a public transportation system using propane-powered shuttle buses was instituted in the year 2000. As part of its shuttle fleet, Zion has two electric trams each holding up to 36 passengers. Usually from early April through late October, the scenic drive in Zion Canyon is closed to private vehicles and visitors ride the shuttle buses. The National Park Service has contracted the management of the shuttle bus system to transit operator RATP Dev. On April 12, 1995, heavy rains triggered a landslide that blocked the Virgin River in Zion Canyon. Over a period of two hours, the river carved away part of the only exit road from the canyon, trapping 450 guests and employees at the Zion Lodge. A one-lane, temporary road was constructed within 24 hours to allow evacuation of the Lodge. A more stable albeit temporary road was completed on May 25, 1995, to allow summer visitors to access the canyon. This road was replaced with a permanent road during the first half of 1996. The Zion–Mount Carmel Highway can be travelled year-round. Access for oversized vehicles requires a special permit, and is limited to daytime hours, as traffic through the tunnel must be one way to accommodate large vehicles. The 5-mile (8.0 km)-long Kolob Canyons Road was built to provide access to the Kolob Canyons section of the park. This road often closes in the winter. In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which designated and further protected 124,406 acres (50,345 ha) of park land, about 85% of the park, as the Zion Wilderness. In September 2015, flooding trapped a party of seven in Keyhole Canyon, a slot canyon in the park. The flash flood killed all seven members of the group, whose remains were located after a search lasting several days. In 2017, some scenes from the TV series Extinct were shot in the park. On March 25, 2020, the park campgrounds were closed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. ## Geology The nine known exposed geologic formations in Zion National Park are part of a super-sequence of rock units called the Grand Staircase. Together, these formations represent about 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation in that part of North America. The formations exposed in the Zion area were deposited as sediment in very different environments: - The warm, shallow (sometimes advancing or retreating) sea of the Kaibab and Moenkopi formations - Streams, ponds, and lakes of the Chinle, Moenave, and Kayenta formations - The vast desert of the Navajo and Temple Cap formations - The dry near-shore environment of the Carmel Formation Uplift affected the entire region, known as the Colorado Plateaus, by slowly raising these formations more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) higher than where they were deposited. This steepened the stream gradient of the ancestral Virgin and other rivers on the plateau. The faster-moving streams took advantage of uplift-created joints in the rocks. Eventually, all Cenozoic-aged formations were removed and gorges were cut into the plateaus. Zion Canyon was cut by the North Fork of the Virgin River in this way. During the later part of this process, lava flows and cinder cones covered parts of the area. High water volume in wet seasons does most of the downcutting in the main canyon. These flood events are responsible for transporting most of the 3 million short tons (2.7 million metric tons) of rock and sediment that the Virgin River transports yearly. The Virgin cuts away its canyon faster than its tributaries can cut away their own streambeds, so tributaries end in waterfalls from hanging valleys where they meet the Virgin. The valley between the peaks of the Twin Brothers is a notable example of a hanging valley in the canyon. ## Biology The Great Basin, Mojave Desert, and Colorado Plateau converge at Zion and the Kolob canyons. This, along with the varied topography of canyon–mesa country, differing soil types, and uneven water availability, provides diverse habitat for the equally diverse mix of plants and animals that live in the area. The park is home to 289 bird, 79 mammals, 28 reptiles, 7 fish, and 6 amphibian species. These organisms make their homes in one or more of four life zones found in the park: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Desert conditions persist on canyon bottoms and rocky ledges away from perennial streams. Sagebrush, prickly pear cactus, and rabbitbrush, along with sacred datura and Indian paintbrush, are common. Utah penstemon and golden aster can also be found. Milkvetch and prince's plume are found in pockets of selenium-rich soils. Common daytime animals include mule deer, rock squirrels, pinyon jays, and whiptail and collared lizards. Desert cottontails, jackrabbits, and Merriam's kangaroo rats come out at night. Cougars, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, gray foxes, and ring-tail cats are the top predators. Cooler conditions persist at mid-elevation slopes, from 3,900 to 5,500 feet (1,200 to 1,700 m). Stunted forests of pinyon pine and juniper coexist here with manzanita shrubs, cliffrose, serviceberry, scrub oak, and yucca. Stands of ponderosa pine, Gambel oak, manzanita and aspen populate the mesas and cliffs above 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons, and white-throated swifts can be seen in the area. Desert bighorn sheep were reintroduced in the park in 1973. California condors were reintroduced in the Arizona Strip and in 2014 the first successful breeding of condors in the park was confirmed. Nineteen species of bat also live in the area. Boxelder, Fremont cottonwood, maple, and willow dominate riparian plant communities. Animals such as bank beavers, flannel-mouth suckers, gnatcatchers, dippers, canyon wrens, the virgin spinedace, and water striders all make their homes in the riparian zones. ## Activities Rangers at the visitor centers in Zion Canyon and Kolob Canyons can help visitors plan their stay. Guided horseback riding trips, nature walks, and evening programs are available from late March to early November. The Junior Ranger Program for children ages 4 and up is active year-round at the Nature Center, Human History Museum, and the visitor centers. A bookstore attached to the Zion Canyon visitor center offers books, maps, and souvenirs. The Grotto in Zion Canyon, the visitor center, and the viewpoint at the end of Kolob Canyons Road have the only designated picnic sites. Trails Seven trails with round-trip times of half an hour (Weeping Rock) to 4 hours (Angels Landing) are found in Zion Canyon. Two popular trails, Taylor Creek (4 hours round trip) and Kolob Arch (8 hours round trip), are in the Kolob Canyons section of the park, near Cedar City. Hiking up into The Narrows from the Temple of Sinawava is popular in summer, but hiking beyond Big Springs requires a permit. The entire Narrows from Chamberlain's Ranch is a 16-mile one way trip that typically takes 12 hours of strenuous hiking. A shorter alternative is to enter the Narrows via Orderville Canyon. Both Orderville and the full Narrows require a back country permit. Entrance to the Parunuweap Canyon section of the park downstream of Labyrinth Falls is prohibited. Other often-used backcountry trails include the West Rim and LaVerkin Creek. The more primitive sections of Zion include the Kolob Terrace and the Kolob Canyons. A network of trails totaling 50 miles in distance connect Zion's northwest corner of the park (Lee Pass Trailhead) to its southeast section (East Rim Trailhead). Popularly known as the Zion Traverse, the route offers backpackers a diverse experience of the park. Zion is a center for rock climbing, with short walls like Spaceshot, Moonlight Buttress, Prodigal Son, Ashtar Command, and Touchstone being the most popular, highly rated routes. Camping and lodging Lodging in the park is available at Zion Lodge, located halfway through Zion Canyon. Just outside the park more lodging is available in Springdale. Zion has three campgrounds: South and Watchman at the far southern side of the park, and a primitive site at Lava Point in the middle of the park off Kolob Terrace Road. Overnight camping in the backcountry requires permits. ## See also - List of national parks of the United States - National Register of Historic Places listings in Zion National Park - National Register of Historic Places listings in Iron County, Kane County and Washington County, Utah
630,471	Howie Morenz	1,170,339,163	Canadian ice hockey player (1902–1937)	[ "1902 births", "1937 deaths", "Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery", "Canadian ice hockey centres", "Canadian people of Swiss-German descent", "Chicago Blackhawks players", "Hart Memorial Trophy winners", "Hockey Hall of Fame inductees", "Ice hockey people from Ontario", "Montreal Canadiens players", "National Hockey League players with retired numbers", "National Hockey League scoring leaders (prior to 1947–48)", "New York Rangers players", "Ontario Hockey Association Senior A League (1890–1979) players", "People from Perth County, Ontario", "Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)", "Sport deaths in Canada", "Stanley Cup champions" ]	Howard William Morenz (September 21, 1902 – March 8, 1937) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Beginning in 1923, he played centre for three National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Montreal Canadiens (in two stints), the Chicago Black Hawks, and the New York Rangers. Before joining the NHL, Morenz excelled in the junior Ontario Hockey Association, where his team played for the Memorial Cup, the championship for junior ice hockey in Canada. In the NHL, he was one of the most dominant players in the league and set several league scoring records. A strong skater, Morenz was referred to as the "Stratford Streak" and "Mitchell Meteor" in reference to his speed on the ice. Considered one of the first stars of the NHL, Morenz played 14 seasons in the league. He was a member of a Stanley Cup–winning team three times, all with the Canadiens. During his NHL career he placed in the top 10 leading scorers ten times. For seven straight seasons, Morenz led the Canadiens in both goals scored and points. He was named the winner of the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player of the league three times, and he led the league once in goals scored and twice in points scored. After the introduction of All-Star teams in 1931, he was named to the NHL first All-Star team twice and the NHL second All-Star team once. Morenz died from complications of a broken leg, an injury he suffered in a game. After his death, the Canadiens retired his jersey number, the first time the team had done so for any player. When the Hockey Hall of Fame opened in 1945, Morenz was one of the original nine inductees. In 1950, the Canadian Press named him the best ice hockey player of the first half of the 20th century, and in 2017 the NHL included him on their list of the 100 greatest players in league history. ## Personal life Born in Mitchell, Ontario to William Frederick Morenz and Rosena (Rose) Pauli, Howie Morenz had three sisters, Freda, Erma and Gertrude, and two brothers, Wilfred and Ezra. Morenz learned his hockey by playing shinny on the Thames River. At the age of eight, he played his first organized game as a goaltender, where he allowed 21 goals in a game. After that game, a coach switched Morenz to rover. Starting the 1916–17 junior season as a goaltender, Morenz became a forward when it became apparent his speed was much more suitable for an offensive role, and he helped the Mitchell ice hockey team win the Western Ontario junior championship. After the Morenz family moved to the nearby community of Stratford in May 1917, Morenz tried enlisting in the Canadian military but was refused when recruiters learned he was only 15 years old. At the age of 18, Morenz became an apprentice with the Canadian National Railways (CNR) factory in Stratford. When not playing hockey, Morenz bet avidly on horse races and played the ukulele. In 1926 he married Mary McKay; together, they had three children: Howie Jr. in 1927 (d. 2015), Donald in 1933 (d. 1939), and Marlene in 1934 (d. March 2, 2018). Marlene later married Bernie Geoffrion, who played for both the Canadiens and Rangers from 1950 to 1968. Their son, Morenz's grandson Dan, played for the Canadiens in 1979–80. Dan's son, Blake, played with the University of Wisconsin and won the Hobey Baker Award as best collegiate player in 2010. Selected in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators, he made his debut with the Predators in 2011, becoming the first fourth-generation NHL player, though this is not a 4-generation direct link since it goes through Howie Morenz's daughter marrying Bernie Geoffrion. Blake was traded to Montreal in 2012, meaning that all four generations of the Morenz-Geoffrion family have played within the Canadiens organization. ## Playing career ### Early career In 1920 Morenz joined the Stratford Midgets junior team (under 20 years old), leading the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) in assists and points during the 1920–21 regular season, and goals, assists and points in the playoffs. The Midgets won the league title and played in the 1921 Memorial Cup against the Winnipeg Falcons. While Morenz scored a hat trick (three goals) in the second game in the series, the Midgets lost the total-goals series 11–9. His performance in the Memorial Cup tournament earned him an invitation to play for the Stratford Indians, a senior league team, for the 1921–22 season. While he joined the Indians, he continued to play for the juniors as well. During the playoffs, he led both leagues in goals, assists, and points and he also led the senior league in penalty minutes. Playing exclusively in the senior league in the 1922–23 season, he led it in regular season assists, playoff goals, points, and penalty minutes. During a CNR hockey tournament held in December 1922 in Montreal, Morenz scored nine goals in a game for Stratford. A friend of Léo Dandurand, the owner of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League, refereed the game and told Dandurand how good Morenz was. Dandurand went to Stratford in January 1923 to watch Morenz play, and decided he wanted to sign him to the Canadiens. In April he met with William Morenz, because at the age of 20, Howie was still legally a minor. William told Dandurand that he wanted Howie to finish his apprenticeship at the CNR factory, which would take another two years. However, in July Dandurand learned that Morenz and his father had been in contact with the Toronto St. Patricks, a rival team in the NHL. Fearing that Morenz would sign in Toronto, Dandurand sent his friend, Cecil Hart, to Stratford with instructions to sign Morenz at any cost. On July 7, 1923, Morenz signed a contract with the Canadiens for three years with a salary of \$3,500 per year and a \$1,000 signing bonus, a considerable amount for a first-year professional. Right after signing the contract with the Canadiens, Morenz began to reconsider joining them. Stratford residents, as well as his senior team, wanted him to stay, and Morenz yielded to the pressure. He wrote a letter in August to Dandurand, explaining that he could not leave Stratford, and included the cheque given to him as a signing bonus. After receiving the letter, Dandurand phoned Morenz and told him to come to Montreal to talk in person. In Montreal, Morenz began explaining his reasons for not signing to Dandurand but began crying and could not finish. In response, Dandurand falsely threatened that if Morenz did not join the Canadiens, his professional hockey career would be over. Hearing this, Morenz relented and agreed to report to the Canadiens' training camp later in the year. ### Montreal Canadiens (1923–34) On December 3, 1923, Morenz arrived at his first Canadiens training camp and quickly impressed his new teammates. He made his NHL debut on December 26, 1923, in Ottawa against the Ottawa Senators, scoring a goal. At the conclusion of the 1923–24 season, Morenz's first in the NHL, he finished with 13 goals and 3 assists in 24 games. Finishing first in the league for the first time in five years, the Canadiens faced the Senators in the playoffs for the NHL championship. In the first game of the two-game, total-goals series, Morenz scored the only goal, and added another goal in the second game as the Canadiens won the series, five goals to two. As the champions of the NHL, the Canadiens played two teams from Western Canada for the Stanley Cup. They defeated the Vancouver Maroons of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) in two games of a best-of-three series and then faced the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). In the first game against Calgary, Morenz scored a hat trick as the Canadiens won by a score of 6–1. He scored another goal in the second game, as Montreal defeated the Tigers 3–0 to win their second Stanley Cup championship and Morenz's first with the team. The following season, Morenz scored 28 goals and had 11 assists for 39 points, placing second on the Canadiens and fourth in the NHL in scoring. That was followed with seven goals and eight points in six playoff games, as Montreal lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Victoria Cougars of the WCHL. Morenz tied with linemate Aurèle Joliat in leading the Canadiens in scoring in 1925–26 with 26 points, finishing fifth in the league. In 1926–27 he finished third in the league in goals, with 25, and points, with 32, to again lead the Canadiens. The one goal he scored in four playoff games was a series winner in the quarter-finals, eliminating the Montreal Maroons from postseason contention. The 1927–28 season was one of Morenz's best in the NHL. On March 24, 1928, in the final game of the regular season, Morenz earned two assists, tying the then-NHL record for assists in a season with 18 and becoming the first player to reach 50 points in a season, finishing with 51. As the league leader in goals, with 33, assists and points, Morenz was named the recipient of the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player. Though his scoring totals went down in 1928–29, with 17 goals and 27 points, Morenz still led the Canadiens in scoring, and tied for third overall in the league. In 1929–30 Morenz finished seventh in the league for scoring with 50 points, including scoring 40 goals for the first time; this included a game against the New York Americans on March 18, 1930, in which he scored five goals. In the playoffs, he added another three goals, including his second Stanley Cup-winning goal, as the Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins for their third Stanley Cup. In the 1930–31 season, Morenz scored 28 goals and matched his career high with 51 points, winning his second NHL scoring title, and being awarded the Hart Trophy for the second time. He was also named to the newly created NHL All-Star team, being selected as the first-team centre, as the top player in that position. In the playoffs, the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the second consecutive year, playing the Chicago Black Hawks. Playing with an injured shoulder and being held back by the Black Hawks, Morenz only scored one goal throughout ten playoff games, the final goal of the playoffs, as he won his third Stanley Cup with the Canadiens. The 1931–32 season was another productive season for Morenz. With 49 points he finished third in league scoring, and became the first player in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy for a third time, also being named to the first All-Star team again. In a March 17, 1932, game against the New York Americans, Morenz scored his 334th point with an assist, passing Cy Denneny as the NHL record holder for career points. Minor injuries led to Morenz's point totals going down the following season as he finished second on the Canadiens in scoring behind Joliat, the first time in seven years he did not lead the Canadiens, ending up 10th in the league with 35 points. In the playoffs, he had three assists in two games. The 1933–34 season also saw Morenz's goal and point totals fall, to 8 goals and 21 points. Even with his decline in scoring, he still managed to reach a significant milestone, once again passing Cy Denneny to do so. Against the Detroit Red Wings on December 23, 1933, he scored his 249th career goal, to become the NHL leader for career goals. On January 2, 1934, Morenz twisted his ankle in a game in New York, bruising the bone and tearing ligaments. It was the first serious injury of his career, and he was unable to play for a month. After returning to the team, Morenz was unable to play at his previous level, and the Canadiens' fans began booing him. With the decline in production, reports of the Canadiens wanting to trade Morenz began appearing in Montreal newspapers. When the Canadiens began their playoff series against the Chicago Black Hawks, the Canadiens' general manager, Léo Dandurand, confirmed that several teams wanted to acquire Morenz. After playing the first game with his usual speed and skill, Morenz broke his thumb in the second game, finishing with a goal and an assist for the playoffs. After the playoffs, Morenz addressed the trade rumours, telling a reporter that he would only play for the Canadiens, saying that "when I can't play for them, I'll never put on a skate again," though the Canadiens' management knew he was too passionate about hockey to quit. During the summer of 1934, Morenz became concerned about his future with the team. Newspapers continued to write that Morenz would be involved in a trade involving several players and teams. Adding to Morenz's concern was the lack of response from either of the Canadiens' owners, Léo Dandurand or Joe Cattarinich, informing him of what was happening. The rumours ended on October 3, 1934, when Morenz was traded along with goaltender Lorne Chabot and defenceman Marty Burke, to the Chicago Black Hawks for forwards Leroy Goldsworthy and Lionel Conacher, and defenceman Roger Jenkins. ### Chicago, New York and Montreal (1934–37) In his first season with the Black Hawks, 1934–35, Morenz played in all 48 games for the team, scoring 8 goals and 34 points, an improvement over the previous season. The Black Hawks reached the playoffs, though Morenz was held pointless in the two games played. The following season was not as good for Morenz. He did not feel comfortable in Chicago, and was being benched, playing fewer minutes than he was used to. After 23 games with the Black Hawks, in which he scored 15 points, Morenz was traded for the second time in his career; he was sent to the New York Rangers on January 26, 1936, for forward Glen Brydson. Playing 19 games for the Rangers, Morenz scored 2 goals and had another 4 assists for 6 points, giving him 21 points over the season. Over the summer of 1936, the Canadiens re-hired Cecil Hart to be the coach of the team. Hart agreed to the job on one condition: that the Canadiens bring Morenz back to the team. On September 1, 1936, Morenz once again joined the Canadiens, his contract being purchased by the team from the Rangers. The Canadiens spent most of the 1936–37 season as one of the best teams in the NHL; Morenz contributed regularly, occasionally showing the speed that had made him notable at the start of his career. By mid-January, he had 4 goals and 20 points, far better totals than previous years. #### Final game and death The Canadiens played the Chicago Black Hawks in Montreal on January 28, 1937. In the first period, Morenz went after the puck in the Chicago end while being chased by Black Hawks defenceman Earl Seibert. Morenz lost his balance and fell to the ice, crashing into the boards and catching his left skate in the wooden siding. Seibert, unable to stop, landed on him with full force. The resulting impact snapped Morenz's left leg, creating a noise heard throughout the rink. Helped to the Canadiens bench by his teammates, Morenz was taken to Hôpital St-Luc, where it was found that his leg was fractured in four places. Hart was initially hopeful that Morenz could return after six weeks, but after learning of the severity of the injury conceded that Morenz would not be able to play the rest of the season. While recovering in the hospital, Morenz received many get-well cards and visits from his teammates and players from other NHL teams. There were so many of them who brought drinks that a teammate remarked that "the whisky was on the dresser and the beer was under the bed." Though there were many visitors, Morenz often found himself alone in the hospital room, unable to move off his bed. To pass the time, he read newspapers to stay up to date with the Canadiens as they finished the season. Since his injury, the team had dropped in the standings, causing Morenz to worry. He began to think he would never play hockey again and became depressed. The Canadiens' team doctor, Dr. J.A. Hector Forgues, visited Morenz in late February and determined that he had suffered a nervous breakdown. To help Morenz, Dr. Forgues banned all visitors to his room, except for family and Canadiens officials. Mary, Morenz's wife, and their oldest son, Howie Jr., visited on most days, and William Morenz, his father, travelled from Stratford during the first week of March and stayed through March 5. On March 8, Morenz began complaining of chest pains, which doctors attributed to a heart attack. Mary Morenz and Cecil Hart were called to the hospital; around 11:30 pm, Morenz tried to get out of bed to use the washroom but collapsed on the floor and died from a coronary embolism caused by blood clots from his damaged leg, minutes before his wife and coach arrived. He was 34. The Canadiens were scheduled to play the Montreal Maroons the evening of March 9, a game the NHL offered to cancel in honour of Morenz's death. However Mary insisted the game be played, saying that Morenz would have wanted the game to continue. The players on the Canadiens and Maroons wore black armbands for the game, and prior to the start, two minutes of silence were observed in his honour. A similar event happened in New York, where the New York Rangers and New York Americans had a moment of silence before the start of their game. A funeral was held on March 11, at the Montreal Forum, the arena where the Canadiens played. Fans were allowed to file past the casket, laid at centre ice, and 50,000 people paid their respects. A rotating guard of honour of four Canadiens stood around the casket which was covered in flowers including a large wreath from Aurèle Joliat that was shaped like the number 7, Morenz's number, and a note from Morenz's three children. The entire service was broadcast on the radio, and after its conclusion he was buried in Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal. ## Legacy The city of Montreal mourned the death of Morenz for months. To honour him, the Canadiens retired his jersey number, 7, on November 2, 1937, the first time the team honoured a player in that fashion. This was prior to a benefit all-star game was held at the Forum to raise money for the Morenz family. A team composed of players from the Canadiens and Maroons was defeated 6–5 by a team of players from the other NHL teams. One of the most skilled players in the early NHL, Morenz led the Canadiens in both goals and points from 1926 until 1932, though he tied with Aurèle Joliat for points in 1926. At the time of his death, he had set an NHL record for most career points with 472. When the Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1945, he was among the first group of nine inductees. A 1950 Canadian Press poll named Morenz the best ice hockey player of the first half of the 20th century. In 1998 he was ranked 15th on The Hockey News''' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. When the NHL announced its 100 greatest players in conjunction with the league's centennial in 2017, Morenz was included on the list. Through his exciting play, Morenz encouraged the expansion of the NHL, helping bring professional hockey to the United States. Watching Morenz play during the 1924 Stanley Cup Finals between Montreal and Calgary, Morenz's first season in the NHL, Charles Adams, the owner of a chain of grocery stores, went back to Boston wanting a hockey team based in the city. That summer, the NHL granted Adams a franchise for the following season, the Boston Bruins. Boxing promoter Tex Rickard, owner of Madison Square Garden, also saw Morenz play early in his career and agreed to add ice to his building for an NHL team known as the New York Americans. As part of the agreement, Morenz and the Canadiens played the first game against the Americans on December 15, 1925. Morenz's daughter Marlene married Bernie Geoffrion, who also played for the Canadiens and Rangers, and was later inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. When the Canadiens retired Geoffrion's number on the night of his death on March 11, 2006, the team recognized the link between the two men. As Geoffrion's banner was being raised to the rafters, Morenz's banner was lowered halfway to the ice. Once Geoffrion's banner reached Morenz' banner, the two were raised together. ## Career statistics ### Regular season and playoffs - All statistics are taken from NHL.com.'' ## Awards ### NHL ## See also - List of ice hockey players who died during their playing career - List of National Hockey League retired numbers - List of players with five or more goals in an NHL game
52,876,567	2017 Africa Cup of Nations final	1,161,936,961	null	[ "2016–17 in Egyptian football", "2017 Africa Cup of Nations", "2017 in African football", "2017 in Cameroonian football", "2017 in Gabonese sport", "Africa Cup of Nations finals", "Cameroon national football team matches", "Egypt national football team matches", "February 2017 sports events in Africa", "Sports competitions in Libreville" ]	The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations final was an association football match to determine the winner of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The match was held at the Stade de l'Amitié in Libreville, Gabon, on 5 February 2017 and was contested by Cameroon and Egypt. The sixteen teams who had qualified for the tournament were divided into four groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the knock-out phase. Cameroon finished as runners-up in Group A before defeating Senegal and Ghana in the quarter-final and semi-final, while Egypt reached for the final by first winning Group D and then beating Morocco and Burkina Faso. Egypt started the final strongly and took a 1–0 lead through Mohamed Elneny after 22 minutes. Cameroon had more possession than Egypt in the first half, but their attack lacked potency, and Egypt led at half time. The Egyptians made few attempts to attack in the second half, and Cameroon equalised after 59 minutes through Nicolas Nkoulou, who had come on as a substitute. Egypt were unable to adjust, and Cameroon continued to have the better chances, eventually scoring again two minutes before the end, through Vincent Aboubakar, to record a 2–1 win. The victory marked their fifth Africa Cup of Nations title. As winners, they represented CAF at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, but they did not progress beyond the group phase. ## Background The Africa Cup of Nations, organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), is the primary international association football competition for African national teams. The 2017 tournament was the 31st edition since its inauguration in 1957. The hosts were Gabon, who were awarded the rights by CAF after original hosts Libya had to withdraw due to the civil war in that country. The tournament consisted of sixteen teams who had qualified for the event, divided into four round-robin groups consisting of four teams. The two top teams from each group advanced to a knock-out phase. Egypt were appearing in their 23rd tournament, and their 9th final. They had previously won seven (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010) and lost the 1962 final against Ethiopia at the Hailé Sélassié Stadium in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Cameroon were appearing in their 18th tournament, and their 7th final. They had previously won four (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002) and lost two (1986, 2008). Egypt and Cameroon had met in two Africa Cup of Nations finals before, in 1986 and 2008. Egypt won both of those finals. At the start of the tournament, Egypt were ranked 3rd among African nations in the FIFA World Rankings (35th in the world), while Cameroon were 12th (62nd in the world). ## Route to the final ### Cameroon Cameroon began their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Group A, alongside Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau and the hosts Gabon. Their opening game took place on 14 January 2017, against Burkina Faso. Cameroon took the lead after 35 minutes through a free kick by Benjamin Moukandjo, and then wasted two chances to extend their lead. Burkina Faso equalised in the 75th minute through a close-range goal from Issoufou Dayo, and the match finished as a 1–1 draw. In their second game Cameroon faced Guinea-Bissau, who were playing in their first Africa Cup of Nations and had only ever won four competitive matches in their history. Guinea-Bissau took the lead after 13 minutes through Piqueti, who shot into the top of the goal following a fast-paced run with the ball along most of the length of the pitch. Cameroon equalised after half time, with Sébastien Siani scoring from outside the penalty area, and a Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui goal on 78 minutes gave them the win. Their final group game was against tournament hosts Gabon. The game finished 0–0, although Gabon almost won the game in injury time when Denis Bouanga's shot hit the post and goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa had to save Didier Ndong's follow-up. The result ensured that Cameroon qualified for the quarter-finals in second place, behind Burkina Faso, while Gabon were eliminated. Cameroon's quarter-final was at the Stade de Franceville against Senegal on 28 January. Senegal had several chances during the game, with Mame Diouf shooting over the crossbar just before the 30-minute mark and Ondoa saving consecutive shots by Sadio Mané and Keita Baldé in the second half. Cameroon had to wait until 65 minutes into the game for what writers for BBC Sport described as their "first serious attempt on target". Robert Ndip Tambe hit a volley at Senegal goalkeeper Abdoulaye Diallo, who then saved a follow-up shot by Moukandjo. The Cameroon goalkeeper made late saves to shots from Mané again and Moussa Sow, who had come on as a substitute, leaving the match 0–0 at the end of normal time. Senegal had further chances in extra time but they could not convert them, and the game went to a penalty shoot-out. The first eight penalties were all scored, making it 4–4, but Mané then missed his kick. Vincent Aboubakar scored for Cameroon, to give them a place in the semi-final. This was again held in Franceville, on 2 February against Ghana. The match remained goalless until 72 minutes, with BBC Sport reporter Saj Chowdhury saying that Ghana had "underwhelmed against a side who were clear second favourites going into the match". Cameroon then broke the deadlock, Ngadeu-Ngadjui scoring after poor defending by Ghana. Christian Bassogog added a second goal in the final minute to seal a 2–0 win and a place in the final. ### Egypt Egypt's campaign commenced in the group stage, competing in Group D along with Ghana, Mali and Uganda. In their first match, played on 17 January 2017, they faced Mali. The game finished 0–0 with few scoring chances for either side. The best chance of the game was a header by Egypt's Marwan Mohsen, which was saved by Mali goalkeeper Oumar Sissoko. Mohamed Elneny also had two chances to score for Egypt, which he wasted, while Ousmane Coulibaly had a chance to seal a win for Mali late on, but his close-range header went over the crossbar. Egypt's second game was against Uganda in Port-Gentil on 21 January. On what reporters for Eurosport described as a "pitch of terrible quality", Egypt dominated the early part of the match as Trézéguet and Tarek Hamed both missed opportunities to take the lead. Uganda improved as the game progressed, and believed that they had scored after 55 minutes through Joseph Ochaya, but the goal was disallowed due to an offside decision. Egypt reasserted their dominance towards the end of the match, and were rewarded when Abdallah El Said, who had come on as a substitute, scored with a powerful shot from a cross by Mohamed Salah. Their final group game was against Ghana, and a Salah free kick after 10 minutes was sufficient to win the game 1–0. Egypt qualified as group winners, with Ghana in second place. Egypt faced Morocco in the quarter-final, on 29 January in Port-Gentil. Both teams had chances during the game, with Moroccan goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi twice saving from Salah and Aziz Bouhaddouz, Romain Saïss and Mbark Boussoufa missing opportunities for Morocco. With the match seemingly heading for extra time, substitute Mahmoud Abdel-Moneim scored after 87 minutes to seal a 1–0 win for Egypt. Their semi-final was against Burkina Faso, on 1 February in Libreville. Burkina Faso started the game stronger than Egypt, but it was Egypt who opened the scoring as Salah scored into the top corner of the goal after 66 minutes. Their lead lasted only 8 minutes, as Aristide Bancé scored an equaliser with a right-footed volley. The game finished 1–1 after 90 minutes, and went to penalties after no further goals were scored in extra time. Egypt missed their first penalty, with Burkina Faso goalkeeper Hervé Koffi saving El Said's strike. Burkina Faso scored their first three penalties, but Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary saved the fourth from his opposite number Koffi, to leave the score at 3–3. Amr Warda scored Egypt's fifth penalty, leaving Bertrand Traoré having to score to keep Burkina Faso in the tie. El-Hadary saved again, earning Egypt a 4–3 win and a place in the final. ## Match ### First half The match began at 8 pm local time (7 pm UTC) on 5 February 2017 at Libreville's Stade de l'Amitié, in front of 38,250 supporters. The weather at Libreville airport, 7.5 kilometres (5 mi) from the stadium, was partly cloudy at the time of kick off with a temperature of 28 °C (82 °F) and 84% humidity. Egypt wore red, white and black kits, while Cameroon were in green, red and yellow. The referee was Janny Sikazwe of Zambia. Egypt started the match with most of the possession, and almost opened the scoring on 2 minutes when El Said's shot from inside the penalty area was saved by Ondoa. Cameroon's first shot came on 7 minutes, from Siani, but it was easily saved by El Hadary. Cameroon began to have more of the possession after the quarter-hour, and Bassogog had a half-chance outside the penalty area which he shot high and wide. Egypt took the lead on 22 minutes. Elneny received the ball from Salah, who had cut in from the right, and shot right-footed high to the roof of the net past Ondoa on his left side. Adolphe Teikeu was replaced by Nicolas Nkoulou after 31 minutes, after sustaining a groin injury. Shortly afterwards, Cameroon almost scored when El Hadary failed to claim a cross, but the Egyptian defence was able to clear. Having failed to create many attacking opportunities for most of the half, Cameroon exerted some pressure in the final ten minutes before half time, but they remained unable to score. The half-time score was 1–0 to Egypt. Cameroon had more possession than Egypt in the first half, but the Egyptians had created more scoring opportunities. ### Second half Cameroon brought on Aboubakar in attack for Tambe at half time, despite Aboubakar not being fully fit. They continued to enjoy most of the possession, with Egypt seeking to defend their 1–0 lead and making little effort to attack. Cameroon were level after 59 minutes when substitute Nkoulou rose highest to score with a header to the right corner of the net after a cross from the left by Moukandjo. Having started the second half defensively, Egypt struggled to react after the goal went in against them. They made a substitution in the 66th minute, Ramadan Sobhi coming on for Trézéguet. Cameroon continued to have the best chances, including a header by Nkoulou from a corner in the 69th minute, which went over the top of the goal. One minute later they won another corner, when Moukandjo's shot was deflected behind. Ngadeu could not get the ball past El Hadary, however. Egypt began to play more with more attacking intent in the final 15 minutes of the game than they had in the rest of the half, as Cameroon began to settle back. However, with 2 minutes left, it was Cameroon who scored the winner. Aboubakar controlled a long ball forward with his chest on the edge of the box, and flicked the ball over Ali Gabr before gathering the ball and shooting right footed low to the right of the goalkeeper from 12 yards (11 m) out. Egypt argued that Aboubakar's foot had been too high when lobbing it over Gabr, but the goal was given. There was some fighting among the players 2 minutes into injury time, as Collins Fai was penalised for a foul and Ondoa attempted to waste time. Egypt's free kick was hit over the bar by Elneny. Bassogog was injured in the final minute of injury time, with Cameroon having no remaining substitutes, but they held on to win the game 2–1. ### Details ### Statistics ## Aftermath In summarising the "thrilling, edgy" final, BBC Sport's pundits noted that Egypt started comfortably, but allowed their opponents to "come at them" in the second half. Cameroon limited Egypt to mostly playing long balls, and their increasing pressure meant that the Egyptian players succumbed to fatigue in the closing stages of the match. CNN's match report concluded that Aboubakar being brought on at half time revitalised Cameroon's attack and was a turning point in the game. Moukandjo, Cameroon's captain, was named as the man of the match, while his team-mates Bassogog and Ondoa were voted the tournament's best player and best goalkeeper respectively. Cameroon's Belgian manager Hugo Broos praised the unity of his team, saying "I am happy for the players. This is not a group of football players, they are a group of friends." His Egyptian counterpart Héctor Cúper, who had lost twice before in major finals as coach of Valencia, expressed sorrow not for himself but "because there was so much hope especially among the people in Egypt and I am sorry for the players who put in so much effort". Cameroon's victory marked their fifth Africa Cup of Nations title. As winners, they went on to represent CAF at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. They were eliminated in the group phase, finishing bottom of Group B, having lost two games and drawn one. ## See also - 2017 Africa Cup of Nations knockout stage
4,221,644	North Road, Manchester	1,125,752,534	Football stadium and cricket field in Newton Heath, Manchester, England	[ "Buildings and structures demolished in 1893", "Defunct football venues in England", "Defunct football venues in Manchester", "Demolished buildings and structures in Manchester", "Football Alliance venues", "Manchester United F.C.", "Sports venues completed in 1878" ]	North Road was a football and cricket ground in Newton Heath, Manchester, England. It was the first home of Manchester United Football Club – then known as Newton Heath Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Football Club – from its foundation in 1878 until 1893, when the club moved to a new ground at Bank Street, Clayton. Initially the ground consisted only of the pitch, around which an estimated 12,000 spectators could congregate. The addition of stands in 1891 increased the capacity to about 15,000. The football club signed its first professional players in 1886 and began to break from its sponsoring railway company, but without the company's financial support it was unable to afford the rent on the ground and was evicted. ## History ### Early years Following the foundation of Newton Heath LYR F.C., at the request of the employees of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) company's Carriage and Wagon Works, the club needed a pitch to play on. The chosen site was owned by the Manchester Cathedral authorities, but although conveniently sited next to the wagon works it was a "bumpy, stony patch in summer, [and] a muddy, heavy swamp in the rainy months". The railway company agreed to pay a nominal rent to the authorities and to lease the ground to the football club. As it was next to the railway line operated by the LYR, the ground was often clouded in a thick mist of steam from passing trains. Players had to get changed in The Three Crowns public house, a few hundred yards away on Oldham Road, as there were no facilities nearby. There may have been some kind of refreshment offered to supporters at the eastern end of the site. The first recorded matches at the ground took place in 1880, two years after the club's formation, most of them friendlies. The first competitive match held at North Road was a Lancashire Cup first round match against Blackburn Olympic's reserve team, played on 27 October 1883, which Newton Heath lost 7–2. Details of the attendance have been lost, but it is assumed that the ground must have been enclosed by then, as an entry fee of 3d (about £ as of 2023) was charged for the match. Football became a professional sport in England in 1885, and Newton Heath signed their first professional players in the summer of 1886. The club's income was insufficient to cover its wage bill, and so the 3d admission charge was extended to all matches played at North Road, later rising to 6d. ### Expansion and eviction The ground originally had a capacity of about 12,000, but club officials decided that was not enough to give them any hope of joining the Football League. Some expansion took place in 1887, but in 1891 Newton Heath used what little financial reserves they had to purchase two grandstands, each able to hold 1,000 spectators. However, this transaction put the club at odds with the railway company, who refused to contribute any finance to the deal. The two organisations began to drift apart from then onwards, and in 1892 the club attempted to raise £2,000 in share capital to pay off the debts incurred by the expansion of the ground. The split also led the railway company to stop paying the rent due on the ground to the cathedral, who at about the same time decided to increase the rent. Under increasing financial pressure, especially as the cathedral authorities felt it inappropriate for the club to charge admission to the ground, an eviction notice was served on the club in June 1893. The club's management had been searching for a new stadium since the first eviction attempt in May the previous year, and they were able to move to a new ground on Bank Street, three miles away in Clayton. It proved impossible though to take the two grandstands to the new ground, and they were sold for £100. ### Present The stadium no longer exists, and North Road has been renamed Northampton Road. After a spell serving as playing fields for locals, Moston Brook High School was opened on the site. A red plaque was attached to one of the school's walls, marking the location of the old stadium, but it was stolen and not replaced. Following the school's closure in August 2000, the site was chosen by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) as the location of the North Manchester Business Park in 2002. ## Other uses Newton Heath LYR Football Club was also founded as a cricket club, and the North Road ground was used by both branches of the club. However, the cricket and football seasons often overlapped, causing conflicts between the two sports. The ground was barely adequate for football, despite the best efforts of groundsmen Charlie and Ned Massey, but its use in the winter made it even less suitable for cricket in the summer. ## Records Although attendance figures were not recorded for many of the earliest matches at North Road, the highest recorded attendance at the ground was approximately 15,000 for a First Division match against Sunderland on 4 March 1893. A similar attendance was also recorded for a friendly match against Gorton Villa on 5 September 1889. A record-low league attendance of approximately 1,000 was recorded for Football Alliance matches against Walsall Town Swifts and Birmingham City on 21 April 1890 and 13 December 1890 respectively. However, an attendance of 400 was recorded for a Manchester Cup match against Eccles on 31 January 1885. The earliest recorded four-figure attendance at the ground was 3,000 for a friendly with West Gorton (St. Mark's) on 12 November 1881. This was the first recorded meeting of the two rivals that eventually became Manchester United and Manchester City.
211,618	Australian raven	1,169,330,121	Passerine bird native to Australia	[ "Articles containing video clips", "Birds described in 1827", "Corvus", "Endemic birds of Australia", "Ravens", "Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors" ]	The Australian raven (Corvus coronoides) is a passerine bird in the genus Corvus native to much of southern and northeastern Australia. Measuring 46–53 centimetres (18–21 in) in length, it has all-black plumage, beak and mouth, as well as strong grey-black legs and feet. The upperparts are glossy, with a purple, blue, or green sheen, and its black feathers have grey bases. The Australian raven is distinguished from the Australian crow species by its throat hackles, which are prominent in adult birds. Older adult individuals have white irises, younger adults have white irises with an inner blue rim, while younger birds have dark brown irises until fifteen months of age, and hazel irises with an inner blue rim around each pupil until age two years and ten months. Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield described the Australian raven in 1827, its species name (coronoides) highlighting its similarity with the carrion crow (C. corone). Two subspecies are recognized, which differ slightly in calls and are quite divergent genetically. The preferred habitat is open woodland and transitional zones. It has adapted well to urban environments and is a common city bird in Sydney, Canberra, Perth and Brisbane. An omnivorous and opportunistic feeder, it eats a wide variety of plant and animal material, as well as food waste from urban areas. In eastern Australia, its range is strongly correlated with the presence of sheep, and it has been blamed for killing lambs. However, this is very rare, and the raven most often scavenges for afterbirth and stillborn animals as well as newborn lamb faeces. The Australian raven is territorial, with pairs generally bonding for life. Breeding takes place between July and September, with almost no variation across its range. The nest is a bowl-shaped structure of sticks sited high in a tree, or occasionally in a man-made structure such as a windmill or other building. ## Taxonomy and naming The Australian raven was first described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827, when they reported George Caley's early notes on the species from the Sydney district. Its specific epithet coronoides "crow-shaped" is derived from the Greek corone/κορόνη "crow" and eidos/είδος "shape" or "form". The two naturalists regarded the Australian raven as very similar in appearance to the carrion crow (C. corone) of Europe, though they noted it was larger with a longer bill. They did not give it a common name. The location where the type specimen was collected is not recorded, but thought to be in the Parramatta district. Christian Ludwig Brehm described Corvus affinis in 1845, later determined to be this species. In his 1865 Handbook to the Birds of Australia, John Gould recognised only one species of corvid in Australia, Corvus australis, which he called the white-eyed crow. He used Johann Friedrich Gmelin's 1788 name, which predated Vigors and Horsfield's description. In 1877 Richard Bowdler Sharpe recognised two species, but recorded that the feather bases of the type specimen of C. coronoides were white. He named C. coronoides as the "crow" and C. australis (as Corone australis) the "raven". Scottish naturalist William Robert Ogilvie-Grant corrected this in 1912 after re-examining the type specimen, clarifying the species as C. coronoides (raven, and incorporating little and forest ravens) and C. cecilae (Torresian crow). Gregory Mathews described the western subspecies perplexus in 1912, naming it the southwestern crow and noting that it was smaller than the nominate subspecies. He called C. coronoides coronoides the eastern crow, listing its range as New South Wales, and described what is now the Australian crow as another subspecies, C. coronoides cecilae, calling it the north-western crow and recording its range as northwestern Australia. In the same work he listed the raven as Corvus marianae, with a type specimen from Gosford and listing its range as New South Wales. He listed the little raven and forest raven as subspecies. Mathews had erected C. marianae in 1911 as the name after declaring Corvus australis Gould to be preoccupied; French-American ornithologist Charles Vaurie acted as first reviser under Article 24 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) Code and discarded C. australis as a junior homonym—in 1788, Gmelin had used the same binomial name to describe the black nunbird—to preserve the stability of the name. This has been followed by later authors. German ornithologist Erwin Stresemann lumped all Australian corvids plus other species as far as India into a single species, C. coronoides, as he believed there was intergradation between all characteristics such as iris colour, colour of feather bases and plumage. This was hotly disputed by Mathews. The official RAOU checklist listed three species (Australian raven, Torresian crow and little crow), with the little raven recognised as a fourth species in 1967 and forest raven in 1970. Stresemann described C. difficilis in 1943 from a single specimen, now thought to have been an unusual Australian raven or an Australian raven/Torresian crow hybrid. "Australian raven" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). Alternative names sometimes seen include southern raven, southern crow and Kelly, the last thought to have alluded to the Kelly Gang, though did not appear until the 1920s. Southern crow was considered by the RAOU before Australian raven was adopted as the official name for the species in 1926. The term "crow" is colloquially applied to any or all species of Australian corvid. The Australian raven was called wugan by the local Eora and Darug inhabitants of the Sydney Basin. ### Evolution and systematics The Australian raven's closest relatives are the other two species of raven occurring in Australia: the little raven and forest raven. The Australian raven is also somewhat closely related to the Torresian and little crow, although not as closely related as it is to the other raven species. Initial single gene genetic analysis of the genus using mitochondrial DNA showed the three raven species to belong to one lineage and the two crows to another. The genetic separation between species is small and there was a suggestion the little raven may be nested within the Australian raven, though the authors conceded more genetic work was needed. Subsequent multigene analysis using nuclear DNA by Jønsson and colleagues in 2012 showed the eastern and western subspecies of the Australian raven to form two clades, almost as genetically distinct as the forest and little raven are to each other. This led the authors to propose that the subspecies be recognised as separate species. Ian Rowley proposed that the common ancestor of the five species diverged into a tropical crow and temperate raven sometime after entering Australia from the north, which molecular evidence indicates occurred in the early Pliocene epoch around 4 million years ago. The raven diverged into the ancestor of the forest and little ravens in the east and Australian raven in the west, this split occurring around 2 million years ago in the early Pleistocene. As the climate became cooler and drier, the aridity of central Australia split them entirely. Furthermore, the eastern birds diverged into nomadic little ravens and, in forested refuges, forest ravens. As the climate eventually became warmer, the western birds spread eastwards and almost outcompeted forest ravens on mainland Australia. Rowley noted that the western subspecies of the Australian raven had features intermediate between the eastern subspecies of Australian and little ravens. Two subspecies are recognised: - C. c. coronoides, the nominate or eastern subspecies, is found across most of eastern Australia. Its range is also highly correlated with the presence of sheep. This is thought to be because of the frequency of dead animals, which can be an important source of food. Ornithologist Ian Rowley held that the eastern subspecies was expanding eastwards before European colonisation, and that this suggested it was of younger origin than the western subspecies, which appears static. The advent of agriculture facilitated further spread. - C. c. perplexus, the western subspecies, occurs from the head of the Great Australian Bight in South Australia westwards into Western Australia where its northern limits are Shark Bay and the mulga-eucalypt boundary line. It is less specialised in its habitat, as it does not share its distribution with the little raven, and does not appear to correlate with the range of sheep. The western subspecies has a slightly lower-pitched call than that of the eastern subspecies, with similarities to calls of the little raven. Of smaller size overall, it has a more slender bill and shorter hackles. There is otherwise no difference in plumage. Intermediate birds are found in the Eyre Peninsula, Gawler Ranges and vicinity of Lake Eyre in South Australia. ## Description Measuring 46–53 cm (18–21 in) in length with a 100 cm (39 in) wingspan and weighing around the 650 g (1.43 lb), the Australian raven is Australia's largest species of corvid. The adult Australian raven is an all black-bird with a black beak, mouth and tongue and sturdy black or grey-black legs and feet. The tibia is fully feathered and the tarsus is long, and the feet large and strong. It has white irises. The plumage is glossy with a blue-purple to a blue-green sheen, greenish over the ear coverts, depending on the light. The underparts are not glossy. The Australian raven has throat feathers (hackles) that are lanceolate with rounded tips, while the other four species of Australian corvids have bifurcate tips, though this can be difficult to see in the field. The hackles are also longer than those of the other four species; when they are raised (such as when the bird is calling), they give the bird an unusual bearded appearance. The upper third of the upper mandible, including the nares and nasal groove, is covered with bristles, which can be up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long. The heavy-set beak is tipped with a slight hook, and is longer than the bird's head. The wings are long and broad, with the longest of its ten primary feathers (usually the seventh but occasionally the eighth) almost reaching the end of the tail when the bird is at rest. The tail is rounded or wedge-shaped. The Australian raven can be distinguished from the two species of crow occurring in Australia by the grey base of the feathers, which is white in the latter species. The demarcation between pale and black regions on the feather is gradual in the ravens and sharply delineated in the crows. Feather bases are not normally visible when observing birds in the field, but can sometimes be seen on a windy day if the feathers are ruffled. Unlike the other four species, the Australian raven has a bare patch of skin under and extending to beside, the bill. This can be hard to discern in the field. The three species of raven are more heavily set with a broader chest than the two crow species, with the forest raven the stockiest of all. Relative size of species is only useful when two species can be seen side by side, as the overlap in size is large and the difference in size small. Juveniles resemble adults, but lack throat hackles, and sometimes have a pink fleshy gape. The bill is shorter and shallower; its base can be pinkish and the tip can be light grey. The plumage is more ruffled and softer in appearance, lacks the glossy highlights and often having a brown tinge. The bare skin on the throat is pink in birds that have recently left the nest. Eye colour varies with age, gradually lightening from juvenile to adult. Nestlings up to four months old have blue-grey irises, juveniles aged from four to fifteen months have dark brown irises, and immature birds have hazel irises with an inner blue rim around each pupil until age two years and ten months. Immature birds older than one year develop hackles, while some pink remains in the gape until the bird is two or three years of age. ### Vocalisations The territorial call of the Australian raven is a slow, high ah-ah-aaaah (similar to the near-open front unrounded vowel (IPA:/æ/)) with the last note drawn out. It uses this call to communicate with other Australian ravens in the area. When giving this call, the species has a horizontal posture, holding its head forward and body parallel to the ground, while perched on a prominent position. It ruffles its hackles and lowers its tail, and sometimes holds its beak open between calls. In contrast, the little raven and forest raven hold their bodies in an upright posture. This call becomes louder if trespassers encroach upon the Australian raven's territory. The five Australian species are very difficult to tell apart, with the call being the easiest way to do so, although the drawing-out of the final note—long held to be solely recorded for the Australian raven—has been recorded for the other species and is hence not diagnostic. The volume, pitch, tempo and order of notes can be changed depending on the message the Australian raven intends to convey. There is a variety of contact calls: a pair often makes a low murmuring sound when preening each other while roosting, and members of a flock carry on with a quiet chattering while at rest. Birds make a call and answer sequence if temporarily out of sight of one another while foraging. Birds in flocks make a single high-pitched caa while flying over another territory as a transit call to signify they are just passing through. An Australian raven will give a longer caa with a downward inflection to signify its return to the nest to its mate. ## Distribution and habitat The Australian raven is common throughout eastern Australia, and southern Western Australia (the populations being connected by a narrow strip across the Nullarbor Plain), but it is rarer and more scattered in the north, with isolated sightings in Cape York at Coen, Windmill Creek and the Mitchell River, and becoming more common south of Rockhampton in central Queensland. It is found throughout New South Wales, though is uncommon in the northeast of the state. It is rare in the Australian Alps, being replaced there by the little raven. It occurs across Victoria and eastern South Australia, through the Eyre Peninsula and Nullarbor Plain into Western Australia, across the state north to the Wooramel River. It is found on some offshore islands such as Rottnest Island and Kangaroo Island. It is a rare vagrant to Lord Howe Island. The Australian raven can be found in a wide range of natural and modified habitats. It requires available water and trees (or buildings) to roost in or perch on. Preferred habitats include eucalypt-dominated sclerophyll forest, and farmland adjacent to trees. It is also found in heath and mangroves. In areas where it occurs with the little raven, namely over much of central New South Wales, Victoria and into South Australia, the Australian raven is restricted to more forested areas while the latter species prefers more open areas. Similarly, in inland Australia it can share a range with the little crow, as the two do not appear to compete. However, the ranges of similar-sized forest raven and Torresian crow only narrowly overlap with the Australian raven as all three compete with each other. In central and western regions, Australian ravens and Torresian crows vie for the scattered uncommon trees and outcrops, and only one or the other are found there. It co-occurs with the forest raven in northeastern New South Wales from Port Stephens northwards. The Australian raven has adapted very well to human habitation in some cities and is the most common corvid in Canberra, Sydney and Perth; in Melbourne and Adelaide it is replaced by the little raven, and by the Torresian crow in Brisbane. Its large range, abundance and increasing population mean it is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. ## Behaviour Difficulties in distinguishing Australian corvids has hampered understanding of seasonal movements. The Australian raven is thought to be largely sedentary, with most movement of over 16 km (9.9 mi) due to flocks of non-breeding subadult birds. Juvenile birds leave their parents and join flocks when they are four or five months old. Smaller flocks of 8–30 birds stay within an area of around 260 square kilometres, while larger flocks of up to 300 birds may travel hundreds of kilometres seeking food. A single breeding pair and their brood can occupy a territory of up to around 120 hectares (300 acres) and remains there year-round, though groups of ravens may enter this area to forage. Australian ravens will defend their territory by chasing, dive-bombing and occasionally striking the backs of birds of prey, foxes or even people. They generally mate for life, though occasionally one male has been found to be mated with two females in adjacent territories. If the female dies, the male Australian raven maintains the territory and finds another mate, while if the male bird is lost, the female abandons the territory. No courtship behaviour has been observed, and species that mate for life often lack elaborate courting displays. Once they begin breeding at three years of age, they live another four to five years on average. During this time they produce two surviving young each year on average. The longest-lived Australian raven recorded is an adult (of at least 3 years of age) that was banded and recaptured alive 12 years and 5 months later. Australian ravens generally walk when moving around on the ground, though do hop when hurrying. They preen themselves frequently, particularly when roosting in the middle of the day. They also engage in allopreening, where birds will preen each other's head and neck. This takes place particularly in autumn, winter and spring, and is important in pair bonding. Either member may initiate it, generally by landing near the other bird, shuffling next to its mate, then bending its head forward and presenting its nape. ### Breeding Australian ravens begin breeding once they are three years old. Breeding season is from July to September, with no substantial difference in timing across its range around the country despite it inhabiting a range of diverse climates and habitats across 19 degrees of latitude. Rowley has pointed out this is unusual for a bird species with a wide range and has postulated that breeding is initiated by day length. Rarely, breeding can take place in May, June or October. Australian ravens generally nest in tall trees, never near to the ground as some species do. The nest also functions as a lookout post and so tall or emergent trees are selected. The ravens occasionally nest on buildings, telegraph poles, or tall windmills which allow the species to occupy areas lacking in tall trees. Windmills may have assisted the spread of the species in North Queensland and the Northern Territory. The highest recorded corvid nest in Australia was found atop the AWA Tower in Sydney. Nests are generally large and untidy, consisting of a bowl or platform of sticks lined with grasses, barks, and feathers that can be up to 5 cm (2.0 in) thick. As they are relatively heavy, they are built on larger forks in trees rather than out in the canopy. Building the nest is often time-consuming initially as the birds try (and often fail) to wedge sticks, which are 30–60 cm (12–24 in) long and 0.6–1.2 cm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) thick, into the tree fork to make a platform. Thinner sticks and rootlets are used to make the bowl before the bowl is lined with feathers. Both birds build the nest, with the female taking over the lining of the nest while the male brings her material. New nests are built each year generally, as the re-use of old ones might spread disease or parasites—nests become caked with faeces as the nestlings grow and the parents cannot keep up with its removal. Furthermore, old nests often disintegrate within twelve months due to their exposed locations. The female develops a brood patch—a patch of bare skin on the bird's underparts that reddens and becomes much more extensive from around three weeks before the first egg is laid. The skin itself is oedematous and wrinkled, and does not get re-feathered until December after the breeding season has finished. Their lofty locations makes monitoring of Australian raven nests difficult. A clutch can comprise up to six eggs, though usually four or five are laid, with five being the most common number. Measuring 45 by 30 mm (1+3⁄4 by 1+1⁄4 in), eggs are pale green or bluish-green and splotched with darker olive, brown and blackish markings. Eggs are quite variable, and thus which Australian corvid laid them cannot be reliably identified. Incubation of the eggs is done solely by the female over roughly 20 days. Incubation is intermittent initially, becoming constant by the time the third or fourth egg is laid. Only one brood is raised per year, though a second clutch may be laid if the first clutch is lost early in the season. Late clutches have poor survival rates, possibly due to chicks getting dehydrated on hot days as the year progresses or being eaten by wedge-tailed eagles. The chicks are altricial and nidicolous; that is, they are born helpless, naked and blind, and remain in the nest for an extended period. They have pink skin until 5 days of age, when feathers under the skin turn it grey. They lose their egg tooth at the same time. Their eyes begin opening at 5 to 6 days of age and are fully open by 11 to 12 days, by which time their feathers begin emerging. At 14 days, their primary feathers begin emerging, and they are fully feathered by 35–36 days old. They leave the nest at 40–45 days of age, and stay with the parents for three to four months after that. They follow their parents and beg for food for the first month outside the nest but are feeding themselves by the third month. Young birds are often attacked when they enter neighbouring territories, and melees ensue as their parents try to defend them and herd them back. ### Feeding The Australian raven is omnivorous, though eats more meat than smaller corvids. Its diet in summer contains a high proportion of insects, while more plant items are eaten in autumn. Flesh makes up over half its diet in winter. Invertebrates commonly eaten include spiders, millipedes, centipedes (which ravens behead before eating), grasshoppers, cicadas and caterpillars (especially of the family Noctuidae), which are important in feeding nestlings. Australian ravens sometimes eat yabbies (Cherax destructor) from the edges of dams. Unusually for a ground-feeding omnivore, earthworms are rarely eaten. Australian ravens have been reported killing birds of such size as young galahs (Eolophus roseicapillus) and starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Most mammals are eaten as carrion, as many species are too large for the raven to kill, though young rabbits are a frequent prey item. Australian ravens drink water frequently, up to ten times a day in hot weather. Birds have been observed dunking pieces of meat in water before eating them, as well as doing the same with hard biscuits to make them soggy and soft. Australian ravens are intelligent birds, and like many other corvids have innovative methods of seeking out food. Foraging takes place in the early morning or late afternoon; birds rest in the hotter part of the day. Food is taken mainly from the ground, birds either finding objects while flying overhead or by walking along and looking. However, they occasionally feed in trees—Australian ravens forage eucalypt foliage for Christmas beetles (Anoplognathus), and devote a substantial amount of time to look for nests and eggs to eat. They have also been known to take golf balls from fairways, possibly mistaking them for eggs. Ravens use their bill rather than their feet to explore or turn items on the ground (rocks or sticks) over or hold or snatch food while flying. They have also been recorded using fence posts as anvils to bash snails against before eating them. Australian ravens most often eat food where they find it unless taking food back for nestlings. Occasionally they have been observed caching carrion or a killed animal in a hole nearby to store it. They can pack shredded meat in their mouth under their tongue. Australian ravens have adapted well to eating food scraps in urban areas, such as school playgrounds, rubbish tips, bins outside supermarkets or restaurants, abattoirs, piggeries and farmyards. In one isolated study, they were observed feeding on nectar from eucalypt flowers. Australian ravens sometimes forage in mixed-species flocks with any of the other four species of Australian corvids. Sometimes they are aggressive with little ravens if both are at a food source and drive them off, though not if the smaller species greatly outnumber the larger. ### Parasites and predators A circovirus—given the name raven circovirus or RaCV—was isolated from an Australian raven suffering from feather lesions in 2006. It has affinities with canary circovirus (CaCV) and pigeon circovirus (PiCV). Its clinical significance is unknown. A species of Isospora—given the name of I. coronoideae was isolated from this species, its only known host. Tick infestation is rare in the Australian raven, with Ixodes holocyclus and Amblyomma triguttatum recorded. Lice and hippoboscid flies have been recorded yet little-researched, and an infestation by the fly Passeromyia longicornis was recorded in one nest. The wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) preys on adult, nestling, and fledgling Australian ravens, while the little eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides) also takes nestlings, and powerful owl (Ninox strenua) has been recorded killing adults; other birds of prey are seen as threats, yet there is no evidence they have successfully preyed on the ravens. The introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) competes with the Australian raven for carrion and can drive it off. It may also kill young birds that it catches on the ground. The channel-billed cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) has been recorded as a brood parasite. ## Relationship with humans Australian ravens sometimes die by being shot or poisoned—generally by farmers. Despite their fondness for roadkill, fewer ravens are hit by vehicles than Australian magpies. Research in the 1950s and 60s showed that 64% of Australian ravens perished in their first year of life. Immature birds are most at risk of dying. The Australian raven is a peaceful bird, showing no aggression toward humans or other birds without reason. However, the Australian raven is frequently blamed for the loss of young lambs. Scientific observation in the country's southeast showed that the killing of healthy lambs was rare, but that sick animals were predisposed to being attacked. Australian ravens mostly eat faeces (often from the lamb's anus), afterbirth or stillborn lambs. Newborn lamb faeces is nutritious, containing around 21–44% protein, 9–37% fat and 10–30% carbohydrate. It has the consistency of treacle and often sticks to the lamb's hindquarters or tail. The raven bites a sleeping lamb's tail, holding on and walking behind it when it wakes up. A healthy lamb would respond by running away or butting the bird, but a sick one might not respond and be attacked further as it alerts the bird that it is vulnerable. Wounded lambs can also succumb to Clostridium infection as these bacteria are present on raven bills. Ravens bring some benefits to agricultural areas as they clean away carrion and eat insects that are potentially damaging to crops. In areas of Western Australia, the species is classified as a Declared Pest of Agriculture under the provisions of the Agriculture and Related Resources Protection Act 1976, meaning that shooting on private land in rural areas is legal, although should be considered only after other options have been exhausted. ### In Indigenous culture In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Crow is a trickster, culture hero and ancestral being. In the Kulin nation in central Victoria he was known as Waa (also Wahn or Waang) and was regarded as one of two moiety ancestors, the other being the more sombre eaglehawk Bunjil. Legends relating to Crow have been observed in various Aboriginal language groups and cultures across Australia. To the Noongar people of southwestern Australia, the Australian raven was Waardar, "the Watcher" and was wily and unpredictable. Noongar people were socially divided into two moieties or kinships: waardarng-maat and marrnetj-maat, or members of the Australian raven and long-billed corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) respectively. ## Explanatory notes
18,701,553	2001 Football League First Division play-off final	1,170,272,486	Football match played on 28 May 2001 in Cardiff	[ "2001 Football League play-offs", "Bolton Wanderers F.C. matches", "EFL Championship play-off finals", "May 2001 sports events in the United Kingdom", "Preston North End F.C. matches" ]	The 2001 Football League First Division play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 28 May 2001 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League First Division, the second tier of English football, to the Premier League. The top two teams of the 2000–01 Football League First Division season gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the clubs placed from third to sixth position in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; Bolton Wanderers ended the season in third position while Preston North End finished fourth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2001–02 season in the Premier League. Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion were the losing semi-finalists. Winning the final was estimated by the UK media to be worth up to £30 million to the successful team. Played in front of a crowd of 54,328, the 2001 final was refereed by Uriah Rennie. Bolton took an early lead through Gareth Farrelly with a shot from outside the Preston penalty area. Second-half substitute Michael Ricketts doubled their lead late in the second half before Ricardo Gardner scored a third when he ran from inside his own half and shot past David Lucas in the Preston goal. The match ended 3–0 and saw Bolton promoted to the Premier League after a three-year absence. Despite being favourites for relegation in their following season, Bolton finished sixteenth in the Premier League, two places above the relegation zone. Preston ended their next campaign in eighth place in the First Division, two places below the 2002 Football League play-offs. ## Route to the final Bolton Wanderers finished the regular 2000–01 season in third place in the Football League First Division, the second tier of the English football league system, one place and nine points ahead of Preston North End. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Premier League and instead took part in the play-offs, along with Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, to determine the third promoted team. Bolton finished four points behind Blackburn Rovers (who were promoted in second place) and fourteen behind league winners Fulham. Preston faced Birmingham City in their play-off semi-final, with the first match of the two-legged tie taking part at St Andrew's in Birmingham on 13 May 2001. After a goalless first half in which Birmingham's Marcelo hit the Preston crossbar, Nicky Eaden put the home side ahead in the 54th minute. David Healy's strike 20 minutes later was saved by Ian Bennett in Birmingham's goal, while Darren Purse's late header went wide from 6 yards (5.5 m) ensuring the game ended 1–0 to Birmingham. The second leg of the semi-final was played four days later at Preston's Deepdale. Midway through the first half, Healy's strike high into the Birmingham net levelled the aggregate score. Five minutes into the second half, Danny Sonner's header struck the home side's crossbar and in the 59th minute, Geoff Horsfield gave Birmingham the lead overall when he converted a cross from Stan Lazaridis at the far post. Preston were awarded a penalty in the 78th minute after a Sonner handball, but Graham Alexander's spot-kick hit the bar. A late shot from Lazaridis rolled along Preston's goal line before Birmingham conceded an injury-time goal from Mark Rankine to make it 2–2 on aggregate and send the match into extra time. No goals were scored during the additional period, so a penalty shootout decided the match: Marcelo and Purse both missed their spot-kicks for Birmingham and although Preston's Rob Edwards saw his effort also go awry, Paul McKenna's converted shot ensured Preston won the shootout 4–2 to progress to the final. Bolton's opponents were West Bromwich Albion and the first leg of their play-off semi-final was hosted at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich on 13 May 2001. West Bromwich Albion dominated most of the match but it was not until a minute before half time that they took the lead with a goal from Jason Roberts who ran onto a Richard Sneekes pass and struck the ball past Matt Clarke in the Bolton goal. Ten minutes into the second half, Colin Hendry brought Roberts down and conceded a penalty which was converted by Lee Hughes to make it 2–0 to West Bromwich Albion. With less than ten minutes remaining, Guðni Bergsson scored with a header from Bo Hansen's corner to reduce the deficit. In the 88th minute, West Bromwich Albion's Tony Butler fouled Hansen to concede a penalty which was converted by Per Frandsen, and the match ended 2–2. The return leg of the semi-final was played four days later at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton. Bergsson opened the scoring for the home side after ten minutes, converting a free kick from Simon Charlton. In the 63rd minute, Ricardo Gardner doubled Bolton's lead on the day with a goal after running on to a pass from Anthony Barness. A last-minute goal from Michael Ricketts secured Bolton a 3–0 victory, and a 5–2 aggregate win and progression to the final. ## Match ### Background The 2001 Football League First Division play-off Final was Bolton's third appearance in the second tier play-off final: they had lost 2–0 in the 1999 final at Wembley Stadium against Watford and had defeated Reading 4–3 after extra time in the 1995 final. They had also lost to Ipswich Town 7–5 on aggregate in the previous season's play-offs. Preston were making their first appearance in the second tier play-off final, although they had lost 4–2 at Wembley against Wycombe Wanderers in the 1994 Third Division play-off final. Jon Macken was Preston's top scorer in the league throughout the regular season with 19 goals, while Ricketts was Bolton's leading marksman, also with 19. Bolton had last played in the top tier in the 1997–98 season when they were relegated on goal difference. Preston had not featured in the highest division in English football since their relegation in the 1960–61 season. This was the culmination of their first season back in the First Division, having been promoted from the Second Division the previous season. In the regular season, Bolton won both matches between the teams, with a 2–0 victory at home in August 2000 and a win by the same scoreline on New Year's Day in 2001. The referee for the match was Uriah Rennie representing the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Football Association. Prior to the final, former Preston player Mark Lawrenson noted: "If we go up it will be a great boost. And even if we go straight down again, we'll still get half the Premiership TV money for two years afterwards". Eamonn McCann, writing in the Sunday Tribune, called the fixture "a victory for tradition", suggesting it would be a "rare and relaxed experience for faithful lovers of football". The Bolton manager Sam Allardyce suggested his team's experience would stand them in good stead for the final: "I hope we can draw on our experience ... If we can do that then we have a fantastic chance of getting the victory we want". His side's supporters were allocated the Canton End of the Millennium Stadium which had hosted fans of every winning side during the period when the play-off finals were played there as a substitute location for Wembley Stadium between 2001 and 2006. Bolton's Paul Warhurst had recovered from a hamstring injury and was available for selection. Preston's manager David Moyes was expecting the return of three injured players in Rankine, Michael Jackson and Richard Cresswell. According to the UK media, victory in the final was expected to be worth around £30 million to the winning team. The presidents of both clubs, Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse, were in attendance to watch the match. ### Summary Bolton kicked off the match at 3 p.m. on 28 May 2001 in front of a Millennium Stadium crowd of 54,328. On five minutes, the first chance fell to Preston's Macken whose header from a Healy cross was straight at Clarke in the Bolton goal. Four minutes later, a Lee Cartwright cross found Healy at the near post but the opportunity was blocked by Hendry. Preston then had two successive corners, both cleared, before Bolton took the lead in the 16th minute. A long free kick was poorly cleared and allowed Gareth Farrelly to shoot from just outside the Preston penalty area, past David Lucas, to make it 1–0. Lucas then saved a Dean Holdsworth chance before a Bergsson header at the far post went over the goal. Bolton's domination of the game continued, and in the 32nd minute, Gardner's shot across goal was saved by Lucas. Eight minutes later, a low cross from Farrelly into the box was cleared by Preston's defence. With two minutes of the first half remaining, a mistake from Alexander allowed Hansen to take a snap shot which passed just over the Preston crossbar. Neither side made any changes during the half-time interval and Preston kicked off the second half. Two minutes in, Holdsworth made a run down the right and passed to Barness whose shot was too high. A minute later, a weak effort from Rankine was easily saved by Clarke. Preston began to exert pressure on Bolton with Healy in particular causing problems. In the 62nd minute, Farrelly passed to Holdsworth whose shot into the bottom left-hand corner was saved by Lucas. Three minutes later, an effort from Rankine went wide of the Bolton goal. Preston then made the first substitution of the game, with Iain Anderson coming on to replace Cartwright. In the 68th minute, Healy was denied by Clarke in the Bolton goal with a save low to his left. Bolton made their first change in the 70th minute, Hansen being substituted for Ricketts, with Allardyce changing his team's formation to a more defensive 4–4–2 from 4–3–3. Nine minutes later, Robbie Elliott came on in place of Frandsen for Bolton and in the 82nd minute, Preston made their second substitution, with Cresswell replacing McKenna. Two minutes later Clarke punched away a Healy cross to concede a corner from which Cresswell failed to capitalise from close range on a missed clearance. On 86 minutes, Ricketts hit the side netting with a shot and Preston responded with Sean Gregan striking over the Bolton bar. In the 89th minute, Ricketts doubled Bolton's lead, taking the ball from Farrelly, rounding the goalkeeper and passing into an empty net. In the first minute of injury time, Mike Whitlow came on for Bolton to replace Holdsworth, before Gardner increased their lead. He dispossessed Alexander in the Bolton half, went past a tiring Colin Murdock, and scored, making it 3–0 and securing Bolton's promotion to the Premier League. ### Details ## Post-match Allardyce, the winning manager, was elated: "I can't quite put what I feel into words ... I feel like the world has come off my shoulders. It is a phenomenal achievement." Reflecting on his side's defensive competence, he continued: "I think that's our 20th clean sheet of the season and that's the secret of our success – soaking up the pressure and hitting them on the break". Moyes agreed with his counterpart's pre-match assessment: "The difference was experience ... I hope we'll learn from it and come back again". He continued: "When you lose the last game of the season you think the season has been a failure – but it's been a wonderful season". He conceded that Bolton had deserved the victory, noting "I was happy to go in at the interval only one down ... I don't think it was stage fright, we just kept giving the ball away." The Guardian reported that Holdsworth was the man of the match. Farrelly, whose goal for Everton condemned Bolton to relegation three years prior, was relieved: "I was so delighted to see that goal go in. I got the goal that sent them down three years ago, and it is fair to say it has been mentioned since I signed". Lofthouse, described by the BBC as a "Bolton legend" said: "They played great, those lads, they were first class, every one of them ... It's the proudest moment – though there's one moment that beats it and that's when we won the FA Cup in '58." Bookmakers immediately made Bolton favourites to be relegated from the Premier League the following season. Bolton's Bergsson had intended to retire at the end of the season to follow a legal career in Iceland, but after securing promotion his postponed this decision, and went on to make 30 Premier League appearances the next season. In their following season, Bolton finished sixteenth in the Premier League, two places and four points above the relegation zone. Moyes left Preston in March 2002 to join Premier League club Everton and was replaced on an interim basis by Kelham O'Hanlon before Craig Brown was appointed the following month. Preston ended their next campaign in eighth place in the First Division, two places and three points below the play-offs.
18,926	Manitoba	1,172,759,704	Canadian province	[ "1870 establishments in Canada", "Canadian Prairies", "Manitoba", "Provinces and territories of Canada", "States and territories established in 1870" ]	Manitoba (/ˌmænɪˈtoʊbə/ MAN-ih-TOH-bə) is a province of Canada at the longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's fifth-most populous province, with a population of 1,342,153 as of 2021, of widely varied landscape, from arctic tundra and the Hudson Bay coastline in the north to dense boreal forest, large freshwater lakes, and prairie grassland in the central and southern regions. Indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now Manitoba for thousands of years. In the early 17th century, British and French fur traders began arriving in the area and establishing settlements. The Kingdom of England secured control of the region in 1673 and created a territory named Rupert's Land, which was placed under the administration of the Hudson's Bay Company. Rupert's Land, which included all of present-day Manitoba, grew and evolved from 1673 until 1869 with significant settlements of Indigenous and Métis people in the Red River Colony. In 1869, negotiations with the Government of Canada for the creation of the province of Manitoba commenced. During the negotiations, several factors led to an armed uprising of the Métis people against the Government of Canada, a conflict known as the Red River Rebellion. The resolution of the conflict and further negotiations led to Manitoba becoming the fifth province to join Canadian Confederation, when the Parliament of Canada passed the Manitoba Act on July 15, 1870. Manitoba's capital and largest city is Winnipeg, the seventh most populous municipality in Canada. Winnipeg is the seat of government, home to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the Provincial Court. Four of the province's five universities, all four of its professional sports teams, and most of its cultural activities (including Festival du Voyageur and Folklorama) are located in Winnipeg. The city has train and bus stations and an international airport; a Canadian Forces base, CFB Winnipeg, operates from the airport and is the regional headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. ## Etymology The name Manitoba possibly derives from either Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwe manidoobaa, both meaning . Alternatively, it may be from the Assiniboine minnetoba, meaning (the lake was known to French explorers as Lac des Prairies). The name was chosen by Thomas Spence for the new republic he proposed for the area south of the lake. Métis leader Louis Riel preferred the name over the proposed alternative of "Assiniboia". It was accepted in Ottawa under the Manitoba Act, 1870. ## History ### Indigenous societies and European settlement Modern-day Manitoba was inhabited by the First Nations people shortly after the last ice age glaciers retreated in the southwest about 10,000 years ago; the first exposed land was the Turtle Mountain area. The Ojibwe, Cree, Dene, Sioux, Mandan, and Assiniboine peoples founded settlements, and other tribes entered the area to trade. In Northern Manitoba, quartz was mined to make arrowheads. The first farming in Manitoba was along the Red River, where corn and other seed crops were planted before contact with Europeans. In 1611, Henry Hudson was one of the first Europeans to sail into what is now known as Hudson Bay, where he was abandoned by his crew. Thomas Button travelled this area in 1612 in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue Hudson. When the British ship Nonsuch sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668–1669, she became the first trading vessel to reach the area; that voyage led to the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company, to which the British government gave absolute control of the entire Hudson Bay watershed. This watershed was named Rupert's Land, after Prince Rupert, who helped to subsidize the Hudson's Bay Company. York Factory was founded in 1684 after the original fort of the Hudson's Bay Company, Fort Nelson (built in 1682), was destroyed by rival French traders. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, visited the Red River Valley in the 1730s to help open the area for French exploration and trade. As French explorers entered the area, a Montreal-based company, the North West Company, began trading with the local Indigenous people. Both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company built fur-trading forts; the two companies competed in southern Manitoba, occasionally resulting in violence, until they merged in 1821 (the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg preserve the history of this era). Great Britain secured the territory in 1763 after their victory over France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War, better known as the French and Indian War in North America; lasting from 1754 to 1763. The founding of the first agricultural community and settlements in 1812 by Lord Selkirk, north of the area which is now downtown Winnipeg, led to conflict between British colonists and the Métis. Twenty colonists, including the governor, and one Métis were killed in the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816. ### Confederation Rupert's Land was ceded to Canada by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869 and incorporated into the Northwest Territories; a lack of attention to Métis concerns caused Métis leader Louis Riel to establish a local provisional government which formed into the Convention of Forty and the subsequent elected Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia on 9 March 1870. This assembly subsequently sent three delegates to Ottawa to negotiate with the Canadian government. This resulted in the Manitoba Act and that province's entry into the Canadian Confederation. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald introduced the Manitoba Act in the House of Commons of Canada, the bill was given Royal Assent and Manitoba was brought into Canada as a province in 1870. Louis Riel was pursued by British army officer Garnet Wolseley because of the rebellion, and Riel fled into exile. The Canadian government blocked the Métis' attempts to obtain land promised to them as part of Manitoba's entry into confederation. Facing racism from the new flood of white settlers from Ontario, large numbers of Métis moved to what would become Saskatchewan and Alberta. Numbered Treaties were signed in the late 19th century with the chiefs of First Nations that lived in the area. They made specific promises of land for every family. As a result, a reserve system was established under the jurisdiction of the federal government. The prescribed amount of land promised to the native peoples was not always given; this led Indigenous groups to assert rights to the land through land claims, many of which are still ongoing. The original province of Manitoba was a square one-eighteenth of its current size, and was known colloquially as the "postage stamp province". Its borders were expanded in 1881, taking land from the Northwest Territories and the District of Keewatin, but Ontario claimed a large portion of the land; the disputed portion was awarded to Ontario in 1889. Manitoba grew to its current size in 1912, absorbing land from the Northwest Territories to reach 60°N, uniform with the northern reach of its western neighbours Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The Manitoba Schools Question showed the deep divergence of cultural values in the territory. The Catholic Franco-Manitobans had been guaranteed a state-supported separate school system in the original constitution of Manitoba, but a grassroots political movement among English Protestants from 1888 to 1890 demanded the end of French schools. In 1890, the Manitoba legislature passed a law removing funding for French Catholic schools. The French Catholic minority asked the federal government for support; however, the Orange Order and other anti-Catholic forces mobilized nationwide to oppose them. The federal Conservatives proposed remedial legislation to override Manitoba, but they were blocked by the Liberals, led by Wilfrid Laurier. Once elected Prime Minister in 1896, Laurier implemented a compromise stating Catholics in Manitoba could have their own religious instruction for 30 minutes at the end of the day if there were enough students to warrant it, implemented on a school-by-school basis. ### Contemporary era By 1911, Winnipeg was the third largest city in Canada, and remained so until overtaken by Vancouver in the 1920s. A boomtown, it grew quickly around the start of the 20th century, with outside investors and immigrants contributing to its success. The drop in growth in the second half of the decade was a result of the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, which reduced reliance on transcontinental railways for trade, as well as a decrease in immigration due to the outbreak of the First World War. Over 18,000 Manitoba residents enlisted in the first year of the war; by the end of the war, 14 Manitobans had received the Victoria Cross. During the First World War, Nellie McClung started the campaign for women's votes. On January 28, 1916, the vote for women was legalized. Manitoba was the first province to allow women to vote in provincial elections. This was two years before Canada as a country granted women the right to vote. After the First World War ended, severe discontent among farmers (over wheat prices) and union members (over wage rates) resulted in an upsurge of radicalism, coupled with a polarization over the rise of Bolshevism in Russia. The most dramatic result was the Winnipeg general strike of 1919. It began on 15 May and collapsed on 25 June 1919; as the workers gradually returned to their jobs, the Central Strike Committee decided to end the movement. Government efforts to violently crush the strike, including a Royal North-West Mounted Police charge into a crowd of protesters that resulted in multiple casualties and one death, had led to the arrest of the movement's leaders. In the aftermath, eight leaders went on trial, and most were convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy, illegal combinations, and seditious libel; four were deported under the Canadian Immigration Act. The Great Depression (1929–c. 1939) hit especially hard in Western Canada, including Manitoba. The collapse of the world market combined with a steep drop in agricultural production due to drought led to economic diversification, moving away from a reliance on wheat production. The Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, forerunner to the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP), was founded in 1932. Canada entered the Second World War in 1939. Winnipeg was one of the major commands for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan to train fighter pilots, and there were air training schools throughout Manitoba. Several Manitoba-based regiments were deployed overseas, including Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. In an effort to raise money for the war effort, the Victory Loan campaign organized "If Day" in 1942. The event featured a simulated Nazi invasion and occupation of Manitoba, and eventually raised over C\$65 million. Winnipeg was inundated during the 1950 Red River Flood and had to be partially evacuated. In that year, the Red River reached its highest level since 1861 and flooded most of the Red River Valley. The damage caused by the flood led then-Premier Duff Roblin to advocate for the construction of the Red River Floodway; it was completed in 1968 after six years of excavation. Permanent dikes were erected in eight towns south of Winnipeg, and clay dikes and diversion dams were built in the Winnipeg area. In 1997, the "Flood of the Century" caused over C\$400 million in damages in Manitoba, but the floodway prevented Winnipeg from flooding. In 1990, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attempted to pass the Meech Lake Accord, a series of constitutional amendments to persuade Quebec to endorse the Canada Act 1982. Unanimous support in the legislature was needed to bypass public consultation. Cree politician Elijah Harper opposed because he did not believe First Nations had been adequately involved in the Accord's process, and thus the Accord failed. Glen Murray, elected in Winnipeg in 1998, became the first openly gay mayor of a large North American city. The province was impacted by major flooding in 2009 and 2011. In 2004, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to ban indoor smoking in public places. In 2013, Manitoba was the second province to introduce accessibility legislation, protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. ## Geography Manitoba is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territory of Nunavut to the north, and the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south. Manitoba is at the centre of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, with a high volume of the water draining into Lake Winnipeg and then north down the Nelson River into Hudson Bay. This basin's rivers reach far west to the mountains, far south into the United States, and east into Ontario. Major watercourses include the Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, Winnipeg, Hayes, Whiteshell and Churchill rivers. Most of Manitoba's inhabited south has developed in the prehistoric bed of Glacial Lake Agassiz. This region, particularly the Red River Valley, is flat and fertile; receding glaciers left hilly and rocky areas throughout the province. The province has a saltwater coastline bordering Hudson Bay and more than 110,000 lakes, covering approximately 15.6 percent or 101,593 square kilometres (39,225 sq mi) of its surface area. Manitoba's major lakes are Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, and Lake Winnipeg, the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. A total of 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi) of traditional First Nations lands and boreal forest on Lake Winnipeg's east side were officially designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Pimachiowin Aki in 2018. Baldy Mountain is the province's highest point at 832 metres (2,730 ft) above sea level, and the Hudson Bay coast is the lowest at sea level. Riding Mountain, the Pembina Hills, Sandilands Provincial Forest, and the Canadian Shield are also upland regions. Much of the province's sparsely inhabited north and east lie on the irregular granite Canadian Shield, including Whiteshell, Atikaki, and Nopiming Provincial Parks. Extensive agriculture is found only in the province's southern areas, although there is grain farming in the Carrot Valley Region (near The Pas). Around 11 percent of Canada's farmland is in Manitoba. ### Climate Manitoba has an extreme continental climate. Temperatures and precipitation generally decrease from south to north and increase from east to west. Manitoba is far from the moderating influences of mountain ranges or large bodies of water. Because of the generally flat landscape, it is exposed to cold Arctic high-pressure air masses from the northwest during January and February. In the summer, air masses sometimes come out of the Southern United States, as warm humid air is drawn northward from the Gulf of Mexico. Temperatures exceed 30 °C (86 °F) numerous times each summer, and the combination of heat and humidity can bring the humidex value to the mid-40s. Carman, Manitoba, recorded the second-highest humidex ever in Canada in 2007, with 53.0. According to Environment Canada, Manitoba ranked first for clearest skies year round and ranked second for clearest skies in the summer and for the sunniest province in the winter and spring. Southern Manitoba (including the city of Winnipeg), falls into the humid continental climate zone (Köppen Dfb). This area is cold and windy in the winter and often has blizzards because of the open landscape. Summers are warm with a moderate length. This region is the most humid area in the prairie provinces, with moderate precipitation. Southwestern Manitoba, though under the same climate classification as the rest of Southern Manitoba, is closer to the semi-arid interior of Palliser's Triangle. The area is drier and more prone to droughts than other parts of southern Manitoba. This area is cold and windy in the winter and has frequent blizzards due to the openness of the Canadian Prairie landscape. Summers are generally warm to hot, with low to moderate humidity. Southern parts of the province, just north of Tornado Alley, experience tornadoes, with 16 confirmed touchdowns in 2016. In 2007, on 22 and 23 June, numerous tornadoes touched down, the largest an F5 tornado that devastated parts of Elie (the strongest recorded tornado in Canada). The province's northern sections (including the city of Thompson) fall in the subarctic climate zone (Köppen climate classification Dfc). This region features long and extremely cold winters and brief, warm summers with little precipitation. Overnight temperatures as low as −40 °C (−40 °F) occur on several days each winter. ### Flora and fauna Manitoba natural communities may be grouped within five ecozones: boreal plains, prairie, taiga shield, boreal shield and Hudson plains. Three of these—taiga shield, boreal shield and Hudson plain—contain part of the Boreal forest of Canada which covers the province's eastern, southeastern, and northern reaches. Forests make up about 263,000 square kilometres (102,000 sq mi), or 48 percent, of the province's land area. The forests consist of pines (Jack Pine, Red Pine, Eastern White Pine), spruces (White Spruce, Black Spruce), Balsam Fir, Tamarack (larch), poplars (Trembling Aspen, Balsam Poplar), birches (White Birch, Swamp Birch) and small pockets of Eastern White Cedar. Two sections of the province are not dominated by forest. The province's northeast corner bordering Hudson Bay is above the treeline and considered tundra. The tallgrass prairie once dominated the south-central and southeastern regions, including the Red River Valley. Mixed grass prairie is found in the southwestern region. Agriculture has replaced much of the natural vegetation but prairie can still be found in parks and protected areas; some are notable for the presence of the endangered western prairie fringed orchid. Manitoba is especially noted for its northern polar bear population; Churchill is commonly referred to as the "Polar Bear Capital". In the waters off the northern coast of the province are numerous marine species, including the beluga whale. Other populations of animals, including moose, white-tailed deer, mule deer, black and brown bears, coyote, cougar, red fox, Canada lynx, and gray wolf, are distributed throughout the province, especially in the provincial and national parks. There is a large population of red-sided garter snakes near Narcisse; the overwintering dens there are seasonally home to the world's largest concentration of snakes. Manitoba's bird diversity is enhanced by its position on two major migration routes, with 392 confirmed identified species; 287 of these nesting within the province. These include the great grey owl, the province's official bird, and the endangered peregrine falcon. Manitoba's lakes host 18 species of game fish, particularly species of trout, pike, and goldeye, as well as many smaller fish. ## Demography At the 2021 census, Manitoba had a population of 1,342,153, more than half of which is in Winnipeg. Although initial colonization of the province revolved mostly around homesteading, the last century has seen a shift towards urbanization; Manitoba is the only Canadian province with over fifty-five percent of its population in a single city. The largest ethnic group in Manitoba is English (16.1%), followed by Scottish (14.5%), German (13.6%), Ukrainian (12.6%), Irish (11.0%), French (9.3%), Filipino (7.0%), Métis (6.8%), Polish (6.0%), First Nations (4.5%), Mennonite (3.9%), Russian (3.7%), Dutch (3.3%), Indian (3.0%), and Icelandic (2.4%). Indigenous peoples (including Métis) are Manitoba's fastest-growing ethnic group, representing 13.6 percent of Manitoba's population as of 2001 (some reserves refused to allow census-takers to enumerate their populations or were otherwise incompletely counted). Gimli, Manitoba is home to the largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland. As of the 2021 Canadian Census, the ten most spoken languages in the province included English (1,288,950 or 98.6%), French (111,790 or 8.55%), Tagalog (73,440 or 5.62%), Punjabi (42,820 or 3.28%), German (41,980 or 3.21%), Hindi (26,980 or 2.06%), Spanish (23,435 or 1.79%), Mandarin (16,765 or 1.28%), Cree (16,115 or 1.23%), and Plautdietsch (15,055 or 1.15%). The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. Most Manitobans belong to a Christian denomination: on the 2021 census, 54.2% reported being Christian, followed by 2.7% Sikh, 2.0% Muslim, 1.4% Hindu, 0.9% Jewish, and 0.8% Indigenous spirituality. 36.7% reported no religious affiliation. The largest Christian denominations by number of adherents were the Roman Catholic Church with 21.2%; the United Church of Canada with 5.8%; and the Anglican Church of Canada with 3.3%. ## Economy Manitoba has a moderately strong economy based largely on natural resources. Its Gross Domestic Product was C\$50.834 billion in 2008. The province's economy grew 2.4 percent in 2008, the third consecutive year of growth. The average individual income in Manitoba in 2006 was C\$25,100 (compared to a national average of C\$26,500), ranking fifth-highest among the provinces. As of October 2009, Manitoba's unemployment rate was 5.8 percent. Manitoba's economy relies heavily on agriculture, tourism, electricity, oil, mining, and forestry. Agriculture is vital and is found mostly in the southern half of the province, although grain farming occurs as far north as The Pas. The most common agricultural activity is cattle husbandry, followed by assorted grains and oilseed. Manitoba is the nation's largest producer of sunflower seed and dry beans, and one of the leading sources of potatoes. Portage la Prairie is a major potato processing centre. Richardson International, one of the largest oat mills in the world, also has a plant in the municipality. Manitoba's largest employers are government and government-funded institutions, including crown corporations and services like hospitals and universities. Major private-sector employers are The Great-West Life Assurance Company, Cargill Ltd., and Richardson International. Manitoba also has large manufacturing and tourism sectors. Churchill's Arctic wildlife is a major tourist attraction; the town is a world capital for polar bear and beluga whale watchers. Manitoba is the only province with an Arctic deep-water seaport, at Churchill. In January 2018, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business claimed Manitoba was the most improved province for tackling red tape. ### Economic history Manitoba's early economy depended on mobility and living off the land. Indigenous Nations (Cree, Ojibwa, Dene, Sioux and Assiniboine) followed herds of bison and congregated to trade among themselves at key meeting places throughout the province. After the arrival of the first European traders in the 17th century, the economy centred on the trade of beaver pelts and other furs. Diversification of the economy came when Lord Selkirk brought the first agricultural settlers in 1811, though the triumph of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) over its competitors ensured the primacy of the fur trade over widespread agricultural colonization. HBC control of Rupert's Land ended in 1868; when Manitoba became a province in 1870, all land became the property of the federal government, with homesteads granted to settlers for farming. Transcontinental railways were constructed to simplify trade. Manitoba's economy depended mainly on farming, which persisted until drought and the Great Depression led to further diversification. ## Military bases CFB Winnipeg is a Canadian Forces Base at the Winnipeg International Airport. The base is home to flight operations support divisions and several training schools, as well as the 1 Canadian Air Division and Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters. 17 Wing of the Canadian Forces is based at CFB Winnipeg; the Wing has three squadrons and six schools. It supports 113 units from Thunder Bay to the Saskatchewan/Alberta border, and from the 49th parallel north to the high Arctic. 17 Wing acts as a deployed operating base for CF-18 Hornet fighter–bombers assigned to the Canadian NORAD Region. The two 17 Wing squadrons based in the city are: the 402 ("City of Winnipeg" Squadron), which flies the Canadian designed and produced de Havilland Canada CT-142 Dash 8 navigation trainer in support of the 1 Canadian Forces Flight Training School's Air Combat Systems Officer and Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator training programs (which trains all Canadian Air Combat Systems Officer); and the 435 ("Chinthe" Transport and Rescue Squadron), which flies the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tanker/transport in airlift search and rescue roles, and is the only Air Force squadron equipped and trained to conduct air-to-air refuelling of fighter aircraft. Canadian Forces Base Shilo (CFB Shilo) is an Operations and Training base of the Canadian Forces 35 kilometres (22 mi) east of Brandon. During the 1990s, Canadian Forces Base Shilo was designated as an Area Support Unit, acting as a local base of operations for Southwest Manitoba in times of military and civil emergency. CFB Shilo is the home of the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, both battalions of the 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, and the Royal Canadian Artillery. The Second Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI), which was originally stationed in Winnipeg (first at Fort Osborne, then in Kapyong Barracks), has operated out of CFB Shilo since 2004. CFB Shilo hosts a training unit, 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre. It serves as a base for support units of 3rd Canadian Division, also including 3 CDSG Signals Squadron, Shared Services Unit (West), 11 CF Health Services Centre, 1 Dental Unit, 1 Military Police Regiment, and an Integrated Personnel Support Centre. The base houses 1,700 soldiers. ## Government and politics After the control of Rupert's Land was passed from Great Britain to the Government of Canada in 1869, Manitoba attained full-fledged rights and responsibilities of self-government as the first Canadian province carved out of the Northwest Territories. The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba was established on 14 July 1870. Political parties first emerged between 1878 and 1883, with a two-party system (Liberals and Conservatives). The United Farmers of Manitoba appeared in 1922, and later merged with the Liberals in 1932. Other parties, including the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), appeared during the Great Depression; in the 1950s, Manitoban politics became a three-party system, and the Liberals gradually declined in power. The CCF became the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP), which came to power in 1969. Since then, the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP have been the dominant parties. Like all Canadian provinces, Manitoba is governed by a unicameral legislative assembly. The executive branch is formed by the governing party; the party leader is the premier of Manitoba, the head of the executive branch. The head of state, King Charles III, is represented by the lieutenant governor of Manitoba, who is appointed by the governor general of Canada on advice of the prime minister. The head of state is primarily a ceremonial role, although the lieutenant governor has the official responsibility of ensuring Manitoba has a duly constituted government. The Legislative Assembly consists of the 57 Members elected to represent the people of Manitoba. The premier of Manitoba is Heather Stefanson of the PC Party, after Brian Pallister's resignation. The province is represented in federal politics by 14 Members of Parliament and six Senators. Manitoba's judiciary consists of the Court of Appeal, the Court of King's Bench, and the Provincial Court. The Provincial Court is primarily for criminal law; 95 per cent of criminal cases in Manitoba are heard here. The Court of King's Bench is the highest trial court in the province. It has four jurisdictions: family law (child and family services cases), civil law, criminal law (for indictable offences), and appeals. The Court of Appeal hears appeals from both benches; its decisions can only be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. ### Official languages Both English and French are official languages of the legislature and courts of Manitoba, according to section 23 of the Manitoba Act, 1870 (part of the Constitution of Canada). In April 1890, the Manitoba legislature attempted to abolish the official status of French and ceased to publish bilingual legislation. However, in 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Reference re Manitoba Language Rights that section 23 still applied, and that legislation published only in English was invalid (unilingual legislation was declared valid for a temporary period to allow time for translation). Although French is an official language for the purposes of the legislature, legislation, and the courts, the Manitoba Act does not require it to be an official language for the purpose of the executive branch (except when performing legislative or judicial functions). Hence, Manitoba's government is not completely bilingual. The Manitoba French Language Services Policy of 1999 is intended to provide a comparable level of provincial government services in both official languages. According to the 2006 Census, 82.8 percent of Manitoba's population spoke only English, 3.2 percent spoke only French, 15.1 percent spoke both, and 0.9 percent spoke neither. In 2010, the provincial government of Manitoba passed the Aboriginal Languages Recognition Act, which gives official recognition to seven indigenous languages: Cree, Dakota, Dene, Inuktitut, Michif, Ojibway and Oji-Cree. ## Transportation Manitoba has two Class I railways: Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Winnipeg is centrally located on the main lines of both carriers, and both maintain large inter-modal terminals in the city. Via Rail offers transcontinental and Northern Manitoba passenger service from Winnipeg's Union Station. Numerous small regional and short-line railways also run trains within Manitoba: the Hudson Bay Railway, the Southern Manitoba Railway, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Manitoba, Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway, and Central Manitoba Railway. Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, Manitoba's largest airport, is one of only a few 24-hour unrestricted airports in Canada and is part of the National Airports System. A new, larger terminal opened in October 2011. It is the seventh busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic, serving 4,484,343 passengers in 2018, and the 11th busiest airport by aircraft movements. The airport handles approximately 195,000 tonnes (430,000,000 lb) of cargo annually, making it the third largest cargo airport in the country. Winnipeg is a major sorting facility for both FedEx and Purolator, and receives daily trans-border service from UPS. The Port of Churchill is the only Arctic deep-water port in Canada. It is nautically closer to ports in Northern Europe and Russia than any other port in Canada. It has four deep-sea berths for the loading and unloading of grain, general cargo and tanker vessels. The port is served by the Hudson Bay Railway. The port and railway came under complete community and Indigenous ownership in 2021, after AGT Food and Ingredients and Fairfax Financial transferred their shares in Arctic Gateway to OneNorth – a consortium of community and Indigenous partners which owned the other fifty percent of Arctic Gateway's shares. ## Education Public schools follow a provincially mandated curriculum in either French or English. There are sixty-five funded independent schools in Manitoba, including three boarding schools. These schools must follow the Manitoban curriculum and meet other provincial requirements. There are forty-four non-funded independent schools, which are not required to meet those standards. Public schools in Manitoba fall under the regulation of one of thirty-seven school divisions within the provincial education system (except for the Manitoba Band Operated Schools, which are administered by the federal government). In 2021, the provincial government announced a plan to merge all English-language school divisions into 15 regional catchment areas, overseen by a provincial education authority. There are five universities in Manitoba, regulated by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Literacy. Four of these universities are in Winnipeg: the University of Manitoba, the largest and most comprehensive; the University of Winnipeg, a liberal arts school primarily focused on undergrad studies downtown; Université de Saint-Boniface, the province's only French-language university; and the Canadian Mennonite University, a religious-based institution. The Université de Saint-Boniface, established in 1818 and now affiliated with the University of Manitoba, is the oldest university in Western Canada. Brandon University, formed in 1899 and in Brandon, is the province's only university not in Winnipeg. Manitoba has fifty-four public library systems. Of these, Winnipeg Public Library has the largest collections, at 1.1 million items as of 2020. ## Culture ### Arts The Minister of Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport is responsible for promoting and, to some extent, financing Manitoban culture. Manitoba is the birthplace of the Red River Jig, a combination of Indigenous pow-wows and European reels popular among early settlers. Manitoba's traditional music has strong roots in Métis and First Nations culture, in particular the old-time fiddling of the Métis. Manitoba's cultural scene also incorporates classical European traditions. The Winnipeg-based Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB), is Canada's oldest ballet and North America's longest continuously operating ballet company; it was granted its royal title in 1953 under Queen Elizabeth II. The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) performs classical music and new compositions at the Centennial Concert Hall. Manitoba Opera, founded in 1969, also performs out of the Centennial Concert Hall. Le Cercle Molière (founded 1925) is the oldest French-language theatre in Canada, and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (founded 1958) is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Manitoba Theatre for Young People was the first English-language theatre to win the Canadian Institute of the Arts for Young Audiences Award, and offers plays for children and teenagers as well as a theatre school. The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG), Manitoba's largest art gallery and the sixth largest in the country, hosts an art school for children; the WAG's permanent collection comprises over twenty thousand works, with a particular emphasis on Manitoban and Canadian art. The 1960s pop group the Guess Who was formed in Manitoba, and later became the first Canadian band to have a No. 1 hit in the United States; Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman later created Bachman–Turner Overdrive (BTO) with fellow Winnipeg-based musician Fred Turner. Fellow rocker Neil Young, grew up in Manitoba, and later played in Buffalo Springfield, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Folk rock band Crash Test Dummies formed in the late 1980s in Winnipeg and were the 1992 Juno Awards Group of the Year. Several prominent Canadian films were produced in Manitoba, such as The Stone Angel, based on the Margaret Laurence book of the same title, The Saddest Music in the World, Foodland, For Angela, and My Winnipeg. Major films shot in Manitoba include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Capote, both of which received Academy Award nominations. Falcon Beach, an internationally broadcast television drama, was filmed at Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba. Manitoba has a strong literary tradition. Bertram Brooker won the first-ever Governor General's Award for Fiction in 1936. Cartoonist Lynn Johnston, author of the comic strip For Better or For Worse, was a finalist for a 1994 Pulitzer Prize and inducted into the Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame. Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel and A Jest of God were set in Manawaka, a fictional town representing Neepawa; the latter title won the Governor General's Award in 1966. Carol Shields won both the Governor General's Award and the Pulitzer Prize for The Stone Diaries. Gabrielle Roy, a Franco-Manitoban writer, won the Governor General's Award three times. A quote from her writings is featured on the Canadian \$20 bill. Joan Thomas was nominated for the Governor General's Award twice and won in 2019 for Five Wives. The province has also been home to many of the key figures in Mennonite literature, including Governor General Award-winning Miriam Toews, Giller winner David Bergen, Armin Wiebe and many others. Sandra Birdsell, whose fiction focusses on her Métis and Mennonite heritage, was thrice nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for English Language Fiction, and also for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2001. ### Festivals Festivals take place throughout the province, with the largest centred in Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Folk Festival has an annual attendance of over 70,000. The Festival du Voyageur is an annual ten-day event held in Winnipeg's French Quarter, and is Western Canada's largest winter festival. It celebrates Canada's fur-trading past and French-Canadian heritage and culture. Folklorama, a multicultural festival run by the Folk Arts Council, receives around 400,000 pavilion visits each year, of which about thirty percent are from non-Winnipeg residents. The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is an annual alternative theatre festival, the second-largest festival of its kind in North America (after the Edmonton International Fringe Festival). ### Museums Manitoban museums document different aspects of the province's heritage. The Manitoba Museum is the largest museum in Manitoba and focuses on Manitoban history from prehistory to the 1920s. The full-size replica of the Nonsuch is the museum's showcase piece. The Manitoba Children's Museum at The Forks presents exhibits for children. There are two museums dedicated to the native flora and fauna of Manitoba: the Living Prairie Museum, a tall grass prairie preserve featuring 160 species of grasses and wildflowers, and FortWhyte Alive, a park encompassing prairie, lake, forest and wetland habitats, home to a large herd of bison. The Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre houses the largest collection of marine reptile fossils in Canada. Other museums feature the history of aviation, marine transport, and railways in the area. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is the first Canadian national museum outside of the National Capital Region. ### Media Winnipeg has two daily newspapers: the Winnipeg Free Press, a broadsheet with the highest circulation numbers in Manitoba, as well as the Winnipeg Sun, a smaller tabloid-style paper. There are several ethnic weekly newspapers, including the weekly French-language La Liberté, and regional and national magazines based in the city. Brandon has two newspapers: the daily Brandon Sun and the weekly Wheat City Journal. Many small towns have local newspapers. There are five English-language television stations and one French-language station based in Winnipeg. The Global Television Network (owned by Canwest) is headquartered in the city. Winnipeg is home to twenty-one AM and FM radio stations, two of which are French-language stations. Brandon's five local radio stations are provided by Astral Media and Westman Communications Group. In addition to the Brandon and Winnipeg stations, radio service is provided in rural areas and smaller towns by Golden West Broadcasting, Corus Entertainment, and local broadcasters. CBC Radio broadcasts local and national programming throughout the province. Native Communications is devoted to indigenous programming and broadcasts to many of the isolated native communities as well as to larger cities. ## Sports Manitoba has five professional sports teams: the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Canadian Football League), the Winnipeg Jets (National Hockey League) and Manitoba Moose (American Hockey League), the Winnipeg Goldeyes (American Association), and Valour FC (Canadian Premier League). The province was previously home to another team called the Winnipeg Jets, which played in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League from 1972 until 1996, when financial troubles prompted a sale and move of the team to Arizona, where they became the Phoenix Coyotes. A second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets returned after True North Sports & Entertainment bought the Atlanta Thrashers and moved the team to Winnipeg in time for the 2011 hockey season. Manitoba has one major junior-level ice hockey team, the Western Hockey League's Brandon Wheat Kings, and one junior football team, the Winnipeg Rifles of the Canadian Junior Football League. It is also home to two teams in the Western Women's Canadian Football League: the Manitoba Fearless and Winnipeg Wolfpack. The Manitoba Herd, meanwhile, compete in the National Ringette League. The province is represented in university athletics by the university of Manitoba Bisons, the university of Winnipeg Wesmen, and the Brandon University Bobcats. All three teams compete in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association, a regional division of U Sports. Curling is an important winter sport in the province with Manitoba producing more men's national champions than any other province, while additionally in the top 3 women's national champions, as well as multiple world champions in the sport. The province also hosts the world's largest curling tournament in the MCA Bonspiel. Although not as prominent as ice hockey and curling, long track speed skating also features as a notable and top winter sport in Manitoba. The province has produced some of the world's best female speed skaters including Susan Auch and the country's top Olympic medal earners Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes. ## See also - Outline of Manitoba
222,127	Las Meninas	1,168,142,440	1656 painting by Diego Velázquez	[ "1656 paintings", "Dogs in art", "Group portraits by Spanish artists", "Mirrors in art", "Paintings about painting", "Paintings of children", "Portraits by Diego Velázquez in the Museo del Prado", "Portraits of Philip IV of Spain by Diego Velázquez", "Self-portraits", "Works about dwarfism" ]	Las Meninas (Spanish for 'The Ladies-in-waiting' ) is a 1656 painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. It has become one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting, due to the way its complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and the uncertain relationship it creates between the viewer and the figures depicted. The painting is believed by F. J. Sánchez Cantón to depict a room in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid during the reign of King Philip IV of Spain, and presents several figures, most identifiable from the Spanish court, captured in a particular moment as if in a snapshot. Some of the figures look out of the canvas towards the viewer, while others interact among themselves. The five-year-old Infanta Margaret Theresa is surrounded by her entourage of maids of honour, chaperone, bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog. Just behind them, Velázquez portrays himself working at a large canvas. Velázquez looks outwards, beyond the pictorial space to where a viewer of the painting would stand. In the background there is a mirror that reflects the upper bodies of the king and queen. They appear to be placed outside the picture space in a position similar to that of the viewer, although some scholars have speculated that their image is a reflection from the painting Velázquez is shown working on. Las Meninas has long been recognised as one of the most important paintings in the history of Western art. The Baroque painter Luca Giordano said that it represents the "theology of painting", and in 1827 the president of the Royal Academy of Arts Sir Thomas Lawrence described the work in a letter to his successor David Wilkie as "the true philosophy of the art". More recently, it has been described as "Velázquez's supreme achievement, a highly self-conscious, calculated demonstration of what painting could achieve, and perhaps the most searching comment ever made on the possibilities of the easel painting". ## Background ### Court of Philip IV In 17th-century Spain, painters rarely enjoyed high social status. Painting was regarded as a craft, not an art such as poetry or music. Nonetheless, Velázquez worked his way up through the ranks of the court of Philip IV, and in February 1651 was appointed palace chamberlain (aposentador mayor del palacio). The post brought him status and material reward, but its duties made heavy demands on his time. During the remaining eight years of his life, he painted only a few works, mostly portraits of the royal family. When he painted Las Meninas, he had been with the royal household for 33 years. Philip IV's first wife, Elizabeth of France, died in 1644, and their only son, Balthasar Charles, died two years later. Lacking an heir, Philip married Mariana of Austria in 1649, and Margaret Theresa (1651–1673) was their first child, and their only one at the time of the painting. Subsequently, she had a short-lived brother Philip Prospero (1657–1661), and then Charles (1661–1700) arrived, who succeeded to the throne as Charles II at the age of three. Velázquez painted portraits of Mariana and her children, and although Philip himself resisted being portrayed in his old age he did allow Velázquez to include him in Las Meninas. In the early 1650s he gave Velázquez the Pieza Principal (main room) of the late Balthasar Charles's living quarters, by then serving as the palace museum, to use as his studio, where Las Meninas is set. Philip had his own chair in the studio and would often sit and watch Velázquez at work. Although constrained by rigid etiquette, the art-loving king seems to have had a close relationship with the painter. After Velázquez's death, Philip wrote "I am crushed" in the margin of a memorandum on the choice of his successor. During the 1640s and 1650s, Velázquez served as both court painter and curator of Philip IV's expanding collection of European art. He seems to have been given an unusual degree of freedom in the role. He supervised the decoration and interior design of the rooms holding the most valued paintings, adding mirrors, statues and tapestries. He was also responsible for the sourcing, attribution, hanging and inventory of many of the Spanish king's paintings. By the early 1650s, Velázquez was widely respected in Spain as a connoisseur. Much of the collection of the Prado today—including works by Titian, Raphael, and Rubens—were acquired and assembled under Velázquez's curatorship. ### Provenance and condition The painting was referred to in the earliest inventories as La Familia ("The Family"). A detailed description of Las Meninas, which provides the identification of several of the figures, was published by Antonio Palomino ("the Giorgio Vasari of the Spanish Golden Age") in 1724. Examination under infrared light reveals minor pentimenti, that is, there are traces of earlier working that the artist himself later altered. For example, at first Velázquez's own head inclined to his right rather than his left. The painting has been cut down on both the left and right sides. It was damaged in the 1734 fire that destroyed the Alcázar, and was restored by court painter Juan García de Miranda (1677–1749). The left cheek of the Infanta was almost completely repainted to compensate for a substantial loss of pigment. After its rescue from the fire, the painting was inventoried as part of the royal collection in 1747–48, and the Infanta was misidentified as Maria Theresa, Margaret Theresa's older half-sister, an error that was repeated when the painting was inventoried at the new Madrid Royal Palace in 1772. A 1794 inventory reverted to a version of the earlier title, The Family of Philip IV, which was repeated in the records of 1814. The painting entered the collection of the Museo del Prado on its foundation in 1819. In 1843, the Prado catalogue listed the work for the first time as Las Meninas. In recent years, the picture has suffered a loss of texture and hue. Due to exposure to pollution and crowds of visitors, the once-vivid contrasts between blue and white pigments in the costumes of the meninas have faded. It was last cleaned in 1984 under the supervision of the American conservator John Brealey, to remove a "yellow veil" of dust that had gathered since the previous restoration in the 19th century. The cleaning provoked, according to the art historian Federico Zeri, "furious protests, not because the picture had been damaged in any way, but because it looked different". However, in the opinion of López-Rey, the "restoration was impeccable". Due to its size, importance, and value, the painting is not lent out for exhibition. ### Painting materials A thorough technical investigation including a pigment analysis of Las Meninas was conducted around 1981 in the Museo del Prado. The analysis revealed the usual pigments of the Baroque period frequently used by Velázquez in his other paintings. The main pigments used for this painting were lead white, azurite (for the skirt of the kneeling menina), vermilion and red lake, ochres and carbon blacks. ## Description ### Subject Las Meninas is set in Velázquez's studio in Philip IV's alcázar palace in Madrid. The high-ceilinged room is presented, in the words of Silvio Gaggi, as "a simple box that could be divided into a perspective grid with a single vanishing point". In the centre of the foreground stands the Infanta Margaret Theresa (1). The five-year-old infanta, who later married Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, was at this point Philip and Mariana's only surviving child. She is attended by two ladies-in-waiting, or meninas: Doña Isabel de Velasco [Wikidata] (2), who is poised to curtsy to the princess, and Doña María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor [es] (3), who kneels before Margaret Theresa, offering her a drink from a red cup, or búcaro, that she holds on a golden tray. To the right of the Infanta are two dwarfs: the achondroplastic Austrian Mari Bárbola (4), and the Italian Nicolás Pertusato [es] (5), who playfully tries to rouse a sleepy mastiff with his foot. The dog is thought to be descended from two mastiffs from Lyme Hall in Cheshire, given to Philip III in 1604 by James I of England. Doña Marcela de Ulloa [es] (6), the princess's chaperone, stands behind them, dressed in mourning and talking to an unidentified bodyguard (or guardadamas) (7). To the rear and at right stands Don José Nieto Velázquez (8)—the queen's chamberlain during the 1650s, and head of the royal tapestry works—who may have been a relative of the artist. Nieto is shown standing but in pause, with his right knee bent and his feet on different steps. As the art critic Harriet Stone observes, it is uncertain whether he is "coming or going". He is rendered in silhouette and appears to hold open a curtain on a short flight of stairs, with an unclear wall or space behind. Both this backlight and the open doorway reveal space behind: in the words of the art historian Analisa Leppanen, they lure "our eyes inescapably into the depths". The royal couple's reflection pushes in the opposite direction, forward into the picture space. The vanishing point of the perspective is in the doorway, as can be shown by extending the line of the meeting of wall and ceiling on the right. Nieto is seen only by the king and queen, who share the viewer's point of view, and not by the figures in the foreground. In the footnotes of Joel Snyder's article, the author recognizes that Nieto is the queen's attendant and was required to be at hand to open and close doors for her. Snyder suggests that Nieto appears in the doorway so that the king and queen might depart. In the context of the painting, Snyder argues that the scene is the end of the royal couple's sitting for Velázquez and they are preparing to exit, explaining that is "why the menina to the right of the Infanta begins to curtsy". Velázquez himself (9) is pictured to the left of the scene, looking outward past a large canvas supported by an easel. On his chest is the red cross of the Order of Santiago, which he did not receive until 1659, three years after the painting was completed. According to Palomino, Philip ordered this to be added after Velázquez's death, "and some say that his Majesty himself painted it". From the painter's belt hang the symbolic keys of his court offices. A mirror on the back wall reflects the upper bodies and heads of two figures identified from other paintings, and by Palomino, as King Philip IV (10) and Queen Mariana (11). The most common assumption is that the reflection shows the couple in the pose they are holding for Velázquez as he paints them, while their daughter watches; and that the painting therefore shows their view of the scene. Of the nine figures depicted, five are looking directly out at the royal couple or the viewer. Their glances, along with the king and queen's reflection, affirm the royal couple's presence outside the painted space. Alternatively, art historians H. W. Janson and Joel Snyder suggest that the image of the king and queen is a reflection from Velázquez's canvas, the front of which is obscured from the viewer. Other writers say the canvas Velázquez is shown working on is unusually large for one of his portraits, and note that is about the same size as Las Meninas. The painting contains the only known double portrait of the royal couple painted by the artist. The point of view of the picture is approximately that of the royal couple, though this has been widely debated. Many critics suppose that the scene is viewed by the king and queen as they pose for a double portrait, while the Infanta and her companions are present only to make the process more enjoyable. Ernst Gombrich suggested that the picture might have been the sitters' idea: > Perhaps the princess was brought into the royal presence to relieve the boredom of the sitting and the King or the Queen remarked to Velazquez that here was a worthy subject for his brush. The words spoken by the sovereign are always treated as a command and so we may owe this masterpiece to a passing wish which only Velazquez was able to turn into reality. No single theory, however, has found universal agreement. Leo Steinberg suggests that the King and Queen are to the left of the viewer and the reflection in the mirror is that of the canvas, a portrait of the king and queen. Clark suggests that the work comprises a scene where the ladies-in-waiting are attempting to cajole the Infanta Doña Margarita to pose with her mother and father. In his 1960 book "Looking at Pictures", Clark writes: > Our first feeling is of being there. We are standing just to the right of the King and Queen, whose reflections we can see in the distant mirror, looking down an austere room in the Alcázar (hung with del Mazo's copies of Rubens) and watching a familiar situation. The Infanta Doña Margarita doesn't want to pose...She is now five years old, and she has had enough. [It is] an enormous picture, so big that it stands on the floor, in which she is going to appear with her parents; and somehow the Infanta must be persuaded. Her ladies-in-waiting, known by the Portuguese name of meninas... are doing their best to cajole her, and have brought her dwarfs, Maribarbola and Nicolasito, to amuse her. But in fact they alarm her almost as much as they alarm us. The back wall of the room, which is in shadow, is hung with rows of paintings, including one of a series of scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses by Rubens, and copies, by Velázquez's son-in-law and principal assistant del Mazo, of works by Jacob Jordaens. The paintings are shown in the exact positions recorded in an inventory taken around this time. The wall to the right is hung with a grid of eight smaller paintings, visible mainly as frames owing to their angle from the viewer. They can be identified from the inventory as more Mazo copies of paintings from the Rubens Ovid series, though only two of the subjects can be seen. The paintings on the back wall are recognized as representing Minerva Punishing Arachne and Apollo's Victory Over Marsyas. Both stories involve Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and patron of the arts. These two legends are both stories of mortals challenging gods and the dreadful consequences. One scholar points out that the legend dealing with two women, Minerva and Arachne, is on the same side of the mirror as the queen's reflection while the male legend, involving the god Apollo and the satyr Marsyas, is on the side of the king. ### Composition The painted surface is divided into quarters horizontally and sevenths vertically; this grid is used to organise the elaborate grouping of characters, and was a common device at the time. Velázquez presents nine figures—eleven if the king and queen's reflected images are included—yet they occupy only the lower half of the canvas. According to López-Rey, the painting has three focal points: the Infanta Margaret Theresa, the self-portrait and the half-length reflected images of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana. In 1960, Clark observed that the success of the composition is a result first and foremost of the accurate handling of light and shade: > Each focal point involves us in a new set of relations; and to paint a complex group like the Meninas, the painter must carry in his head a single consistent scale of relations which he can apply throughout. He may use all kinds of devices to help him do this—perspective is one of them—but ultimately the truth about a complete visual impression depends on one thing, truth of tone. Drawing may be summary, colours drab, but if the relations of tone are true, the picture will hold. However, the focal point of the painting is widely debated. Leo Steinberg argues that the orthogonals in the work are intentionally disguised so that the picture's focal center shifts. Similar to Lopez-Rey, he describes three foci. The man in the doorway, however, is the vanishing point. More specifically, the crook of his arm is where the orthogonals of the windows and lights of the ceiling meet. Depth and dimension are rendered by the use of linear perspective, by the overlapping of the layers of shapes, and in particular, as stated by Clark, through the use of tone. This compositional element operates within the picture in a number of ways. First, there is the appearance of natural light within the painted room and beyond it. The pictorial space in the midground and foreground is lit from two sources: by thin shafts of light from the open door, and by broad streams coming through the window to the right. The 20th-century French philosopher and cultural critic Michel Foucault observed that the light from the window illuminates both the studio foreground and the unrepresented area in front of it, in which the king, the queen, and the viewer are presumed to be situated. For José Ortega y Gasset, light divides the scene into three distinct parts, with foreground and background planes strongly illuminated, between which a darkened intermediate space includes silhouetted figures. Velázquez uses this light not only to add volume and definition to each form but also to define the focal points of the painting. As the light streams in from the right it brightly glints on the braid and golden hair of the female dwarf, who is nearest the light source. But because her face is turned from the light, and in shadow, its tonality does not make it a point of particular interest. Similarly, the light glances obliquely on the cheek of the lady-in-waiting near her, but not on her facial features. Much of her lightly coloured dress is dimmed by shadow. The Infanta, however, stands in full illumination, and with her face turned towards the light source, even though her gaze is not. Her face is framed by the pale gossamer of her hair, setting her apart from everything else in the picture. The light models the volumetric geometry of her form, defining the conic nature of a small torso bound rigidly into a corset and stiffened bodice, and the panniered skirt extending around her like an oval candy-box, casting its own deep shadow which, by its sharp contrast with the bright brocade, both emphasises and locates the small figure as the main point of attention. Velázquez further emphasises the Infanta by his positioning and lighting of her maids of honour, who are set opposite one another: before and behind the Infanta. The maid on the viewer's left is given a brightly lit profile, while her sleeve create a diagonal. Her opposite figure creates a broader but less defined reflection of her attention, making a diagonal space between them, in which their charge stands protected. A further internal diagonal passes through the space occupied by the Infanta. There is a similar connection between the female dwarf and the figure of Velázquez himself, both of whom look towards the viewer from similar angles, creating a visual tension. The face of Velázquez is dimly lit by light that is reflected, rather than direct. For this reason his features, though not as sharply defined, are more visible than those of the dwarf who is much nearer the light source. This appearance of a total face, full-on to the viewer, draws the attention, and its importance is marked, tonally, by the contrasting frame of dark hair, the light on the hand and brush, and the skilfully placed triangle of light on the artist's sleeve, pointing directly to the face. The mirror is a perfectly defined unbroken pale rectangle within a broad black rectangle. A clear geometric shape, like a lit face, draws the attention of the viewer more than a broken geometric shape such as the door, or a shadowed or oblique face such as that of the dwarf in the foreground or that of the man in the background. The viewer cannot distinguish the features of the king and queen, but in the opalescent sheen of the mirror's surface, the glowing ovals are plainly turned directly to the viewer. Jonathan Miller pointed out that apart from "adding suggestive gleams at the bevelled edges, the most important way the mirror betrays its identity is by disclosing imagery whose brightness is so inconsistent with the dimness of the surrounding wall that it can only have been borrowed, by reflection, from the strongly illuminated figures of the King and Queen". As the maids of honour are reflected in each other, so too do the king and queen have their doubles within the painting, in the dimly lit forms of the chaperone and guard, the two who serve and care for their daughter. The positioning of these figures sets up a pattern, one man, a couple, one man, a couple, and while the outer figures are nearer the viewer than the others, they all occupy the same horizontal band on the picture's surface. Adding to the inner complexities of the picture is the male dwarf in the foreground, whose raised hand echoes the gesture of the figure in the background, while his playful demeanour, and distraction from the central action, are in complete contrast with it. The informality of his pose, his shadowed profile, and his dark hair all serve to make him a mirror image to the kneeling attendant of the Infanta. However, the painter has set him forward of the light streaming through the window, and so minimised the contrast of tone on this foreground figure. Despite certain spatial ambiguities this is the painter's most thoroughly rendered architectural space, and the only one in which a ceiling is shown. According to López-Rey, in no other composition did Velázquez so dramatically lead the eye to areas beyond the viewer's sight: both the canvas he is seen painting, and the space beyond the frame where the king and queen stand can only be imagined. The bareness of the dark ceiling, the back of Velázquez's canvas, and the strict geometry of framed paintings contrast with the animated, brilliantly lit and sumptuously painted foreground entourage. Stone writes: > We cannot take in all the figures of the painting in one glance. Not only do the life-size proportions of the painting preclude such an appreciation, but also the fact that the heads of the figures are turned in different directions means that our gaze is deflected. The painting communicates through images which, in order to be understood, must thus be considered in sequence, one after the other, in the context of a history that is still unfolding. It is a history that is still unframed, even in this painting composed of frames within frames. According to Kahr, the composition could have been influenced by the traditional Dutch Gallery Pictures such as those by Frans Francken the Younger, Willem van Haecht, or David Teniers the Younger. Teniers' work was owned by Philip IV and would have been known by Velázquez. Like Las Meninas, they often depict formal visits by important collectors or rulers, a common occurrence, and "show a room with a series of windows dominating one side wall and paintings hung between the windows as well as on the other walls". Gallery Portraits were also used to glorify the artist as well as royalty or members of the higher classes, as may have been Velázquez's intention with this work. ### Mirror and reflection The spatial structure and positioning of the mirror's reflection are such that Philip IV and Mariana appear to be standing on the viewer's side of the pictorial space, facing the Infanta and her entourage. According to Janson, not only is the gathering of figures in the foreground for Philip and Mariana's benefit, but the painter's attention is concentrated on the couple, as he appears to be working on their portrait. Although they can only be seen in the mirror reflection, their distant image occupies a central position in the canvas, in terms of social hierarchy as well as composition. As spectators, the viewer's position in relation to the painting is uncertain. It has been debated whether the ruling couple are standing beside the viewer or have replaced the viewer, who sees the scene through their eyes. Lending weight to the latter idea are the gazes of three of the figures—Velázquez, the Infanta, and Maribarbola—who appear to be looking directly at the viewer. The mirror on the back wall indicates what is not there: the king and queen, and in the words of Harriet Stone, "the generations of spectators who assume the couple's place before the painting". Writing in 1980, the critics Snyder and Cohn observed: > Velázquez wanted the mirror to depend upon the useable [sic] painted canvas for its image. Why should he want that? The luminous image in the mirror appears to reflect the king and queen themselves, but it does more than just this: the mirror outdoes nature. The mirror image is only a reflection. A reflection of what? Of the real thing—of the art of Velázquez. In the presence of his divinely ordained monarchs ... Velázquez exults in his artistry and counsels Philip and Maria not to look for the revelation of their image in the natural reflection of a looking glass but rather in the penetrating vision of their master painter. In the presence of Velázquez, a mirror image is a poor imitation of the real. In Las Meninas, the king and queen are supposedly "outside" the painting, yet their reflection in the back wall mirror also places them "inside" the pictorial space. Snyder proposes it is "a mirror of majesty" or an allusion to the mirror for princes. While it is a literal reflection of the king and queen, Snyder writes "it is the image of exemplary monarchs, a reflection of ideal character". Later he focuses his attention on the princess, writing that Velázquez's portrait is "the painted equivalent of a manual for the education of the princess—a mirror of the princess". The painting is likely to have been influenced by Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, of 1434. At the time, van Eyck's painting hung in Philip's palace, and would have been familiar to Velázquez. The Arnolfini Portrait also has a mirror positioned at the back of the pictorial space, reflecting two figures who would have the same angle of vision as does the viewer of Velázquez's painting; they are too small to identify, but it has been speculated that one may be intended as the artist himself, though he is not shown in the act of painting. According to Lucien Dällenbach: > The mirror [in Las Meninas] faces the observer as in Van Eyck's painting. But here the procedure is more realistic to the degree that the "rearview" mirror in which the royal couple appears is no longer convex but flat. Whereas the reflection in the Flemish painting recomposed objects and characters within a space that is condensed and deformed by the curve of the mirror, that of Velázquez refuses to play with the laws of perspective: it projects onto the canvas the perfect double of the king and queen positioned in front of the painting. Jonathan Miller asks: "What are we to make of the blurred features of the royal couple? It is unlikely that it has anything to do with the optical imperfection of the mirror, which would, in reality, have displayed a focused image of the King and Queen". He notes that "in addition to the represented mirror, he teasingly implies an unrepresented one, without which it is difficult to imagine how he could have shown himself painting the picture we now see". ## Interpretation The elusiveness of Las Meninas, according to Dawson Carr, "suggests that art, and life, are an illusion". The relationship between illusion and reality were central concerns in Spanish culture during the 17th century, figuring largely in Don Quixote, the best-known work of Spanish Baroque literature. In this respect, Calderón de la Barca's play Life is a Dream is commonly seen as the literary equivalent of Velázquez's painting: > > What is a life? A frenzy. What is life? A shadow, an illusion, and a sham. The greatest good is small; all life, it seems Is just a dream, and even dreams are dreams. Jon Manchip White notes that the painting can be seen as a résumé of the whole of Velázquez's life and career, as well as a summary of his art to that point. He placed his only confirmed self-portrait in a room in the royal palace surrounded by an assembly of royalty, courtiers, and fine objects that represent his life at court. The art historian Svetlana Alpers suggests that, by portraying the artist at work in the company of royalty and nobility, Velázquez was claiming high status for both the artist and his art, and in particular to propose that painting is a liberal rather than a mechanical art. This distinction was a point of controversy at the time. It would have been significant to Velázquez, since the rules of the Order of Santiago excluded those whose occupations were mechanical. Kahr asserts that this was the best way for Velázquez to show that he was "neither a craftsman or a tradesman, but an official of the court". Furthermore, this was a way to prove himself worthy of acceptance by the royal family. Michel Foucault devoted the opening chapter of The Order of Things (1966) to an analysis of Las Meninas. Foucault describes the painting in meticulous detail, but in a language that is "neither prescribed by, nor filtered through the various texts of art-historical investigation". Foucault viewed the painting without regard to the subject matter, nor to the artist's biography, technical ability, sources and influences, social context, or relationship with his patrons. Instead he analyzes its conscious artifice, highlighting the complex network of visual relationships between painter, subject-model, and viewer: > We are looking at a picture in which the painter is in turn looking out at us. A mere confrontation, eyes catching one another's glance, direct looks superimposing themselves upon one another as they cross. And yet this slender line of reciprocal visibility embraces a whole complex network of uncertainties, exchanges, and feints. The painter is turning his eyes towards us only in so far as we happen to occupy the same position as his subject. For Foucault, Las Meninas illustrates the first signs of a new episteme, or way of thinking. It represents a midpoint between what he sees as the two "great discontinuities" in European thought, the classical and the modern: "Perhaps there exists, in this painting by Velázquez, the representation as it were of Classical representation, and the definition of the space it opens up to us ... representation, freed finally from the relation that was impeding it, can offer itself as representation in its pure form." > Now he (the painter) can be seen, caught in a moment of stillness, at the neutral centre of his oscillation. His dark torso and bright face are half-way between the visible and the invisible: emerging from the canvas beyond our view, he moves into our gaze; but when, in a moment, he makes a step to the right, removing himself from our gaze, he will be standing exactly in front of the canvas he is painting; he will enter that region where his painting, neglected for an instant, will, for him, become visible once more, free of shadow and free of reticence. As though the painter could not at the same time be seen on the picture where he is represented and also see that upon which he is representing something." ## Las Meninas as culmination of themes in Velázquez Many aspects of Las Meninas relate to earlier works by Velázquez in which he plays with conventions of representation. In the Rokeby Venus—his only surviving nude—the face of the subject is visible, blurred beyond any realism, in a mirror. The angle of the mirror is such that although "often described as looking at herself, [she] is more disconcertingly looking at us". In the early Christ in the House of Martha and Mary of 1618, Christ and his companions are seen only through a serving hatch to a room behind, according to the National Gallery (London), who are clear that this is the intention, although before restoration many art historians regarded this scene as either a painting hanging on the wall in the main scene, or a reflection in a mirror, and the debate has continued. The dress worn in the two scenes also differs: the main scene is in contemporary dress, while the scene with Christ uses conventional iconographic biblical dress. In Las Hilanderas, believed to have been painted the year after Las Meninas, two different scenes from Ovid are shown: one in contemporary dress in the foreground, and the other partly in antique dress, played before a tapestry on the back wall of a room behind the first. According to the critic Sira Dambe, "aspects of representation and power are addressed in this painting in ways closely connected with their treatment in Las Meninas". In a series of portraits of the late 1630s and 1640s—all now in the Prado—Velázquez painted clowns and other members of the royal household posing as gods, heroes, and philosophers; the intention is certainly partly comic, at least for those in the know, but in a highly ambiguous way. Velázquez's portraits of the royal family themselves had until then been straightforward, if often unflatteringly direct and highly complex in expression. On the other hand, his royal portraits, designed to be seen across vast palace rooms, feature more strongly than his other works the bravura handling for which he is famous: "Velázquez's handling of paint is exceptionally free, and as one approaches Las Meninas there is a point at which the figures suddenly dissolve into smears and blobs of paint. The long-handled brushes he used enabled him to stand back and judge the total effect." ## Influence In 1692, the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano became one of the few allowed to view paintings held in Philip IV's private apartments, and was greatly impressed by Las Meninas. Giordano described the work as the "theology of painting", and was inspired to paint A Homage to Velázquez (National Gallery, London). By the early 18th century his oeuvre was gaining international recognition, and later in the century British collectors ventured to Spain in search of acquisitions. Since the popularity of Italian art was then at its height among British connoisseurs, they concentrated on paintings that showed obvious Italian influence, largely ignoring others such as Las Meninas. An almost immediate influence can be seen in the two portraits by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo of subjects depicted in Las Meninas, which in some ways reverse the motif of that painting. Ten years later, in 1666, Mazo painted Infanta Margaret Theresa, who was then 15 and just about to leave Madrid to marry the Holy Roman Emperor. In the background are figures in two further receding doorways, one of which was the new King Charles (Margaret Theresa's brother), and another the dwarf Maribarbola. A Mazo portrait of the widowed Queen Mariana again shows, through a doorway in the Alcázar, the young king with dwarfs, possibly including Maribarbola, and attendants who offer him a drink. Mazo's painting of The Family of the Artist also shows a composition similar to that of Las Meninas. Francisco Goya etched a print of Las Meninas in 1778, and used Velázquez's painting as the model for his Charles IV of Spain and His Family. As in Las Meninas, the royal family in Goya's work is apparently visiting the artist's studio. In both paintings the artist is shown working on a canvas, of which only the rear is visible. Goya, however, replaces the atmospheric and warm perspective of Las Meninas with what Pierre Gassier calls a sense of "imminent suffocation". Goya's royal family is presented on a "stage facing the public, while in the shadow of the wings the painter, with a grim smile, points and says: 'Look at them and judge for yourself!' " The 19th-century British art collector William John Bankes travelled to Spain during the Peninsular War (1808–1814) and acquired a copy of Las Meninas painted by Mazo, which he believed to be an original preparatory oil sketch by Velázquez—although Velázquez did not usually paint studies. Bankes described his purchase as "the glory of my collection", noting that he had been "a long while in treaty for it and was obliged to pay a high price". A new appreciation for Velázquez's less Italianate paintings developed after 1819, when Ferdinand VII opened the royal collection to the public. In 1879 John Singer Sargent painted a small-scale copy of Las Meninas, while his 1882 painting The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit is a homage to Velázquez's panel. The Irish artist Sir John Lavery chose Velázquez's masterpiece as the basis for his portrait The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, 1913. George V visited Lavery's studio during the execution of the painting, and, perhaps remembering the legend that Philip IV had daubed the cross of the Knights of Santiago on the figure of Velázquez, asked Lavery if he could contribute to the portrait with his own hand. According to Lavery, "Thinking that royal blue might be an appropriate colour, I mixed it on the palette, and taking a brush he [George V] applied it to the Garter ribbon." Between August and December 1957, Pablo Picasso painted a series of 58 interpretations of Las Meninas, and figures from it, which currently fill the Las Meninas room of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, Spain. Picasso did not vary the characters within the series, but largely retained the naturalness of the scene; according to the museum, his works constitute an "exhaustive study of form, rhythm, colour and movement". A print of 1973 by Richard Hamilton called Picasso's Meninas draws on both Velázquez and Picasso. Photographer Joel-Peter Witkin was commissioned by the Spanish Ministry of Culture to create a work titled Las Meninas, New Mexico (1987) which references Velázquez's painting as well as other works by Spanish artists. In 2004, the video artist Eve Sussman filmed 89 Seconds at Alcázar, a high-definition video tableau inspired by Las Meninas. The work is a recreation of the moments leading up to and directly following the approximately 89 seconds when the royal family and their courtiers would have come together in the exact configuration of Velázquez's painting. Sussman had assembled a team of 35, including an architect, a set designer, a choreographer, a costume designer, actors, and a film crew. A 2008 exhibition at the Museu Picasso called "Forgetting Velázquez: Las Meninas" included art responding to Velázquez's painting by Fermín Aguayo, Avigdor Arikha, Claudio Bravo, Juan Carreño de Miranda, Michael Craig-Martin, Salvador Dalí, Juan Downey, Goya, Hamilton, Mazo, Vik Muniz, Jorge Oteiza, Picasso, Antonio Saura, Franz von Stuck, Sussman, Manolo Valdés, and Witkin, among others. In 2009 the Museo del Prado published online photographs of Las Meninas at a resolution of 14,000 megapixels. The Greek painter Kyriakos Katzourakis also refers to Las Meninas in his painting, Las Meninas (1976), which is on display in the National Gallery of Athens, Greece. ## See also - List of works by Diego Velázquez
7,053	Cannon	1,173,635,366	Large-caliber gun	[ "Articles containing video clips", "Cannon", "Chinese inventions" ]	A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge, effective range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon. The word cannon is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane, or reed. In the modern era, the term cannon has fallen into decline, replaced by guns or artillery, if not a more specific term such as howitzer or mortar, except for high-caliber automatic weapons firing bigger rounds than machine guns, called autocannons. The earliest known depiction of cannons appeared in Song dynasty China as early as the 12th century; however, solid archaeological and documentary evidence of cannons do not appear until the 13th century. In 1288, Yuan dynasty troops are recorded to have used hand cannon in combat, and the earliest extant cannon bearing a date of production comes from the same period. By the early 14th century, possible mentions of cannon had appeared in the Middle East and the depiction of one in Europe by 1326. Recorded usage of cannon began appearing almost immediately after. They subsequently spread to India, their usage on the subcontinent being first attested to in 1366. By the end of the 14th century, cannons were widespread throughout Eurasia. Cannons were used primarily as anti-infantry weapons until around 1374, when large cannons were recorded to have breached walls for the first time in Europe. Cannons featured prominently as siege weapons, and ever larger pieces appeared. In 1464 a 16,000 kg (35,000 lb) cannon known as the Great Turkish Bombard was created in the Ottoman Empire. Cannons as field artillery became more important after 1453, with the introduction of limber, which greatly improved cannon maneuverability and mobility. European cannons reached their longer, lighter, more accurate, and more efficient "classic form" around 1480. This classic European cannon design stayed relatively consistent in form with minor changes until the 1750s. ## Etymology and terminology The word cannon is derived from the Old Italian word cannone, meaning "large tube", which came from Latin canna, in turn originating from the Greek κάννα (kanna), "reed", and then generalised to mean any hollow tube-like object; cognate with Akkadian qanu(m) and Hebrew qāneh, "tube, reed". The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy, and 1418 in England. Both of the plural forms cannons and cannon are correct. ## History ### East Asia The cannon may have appeared as early as the 12th century in China, and was probably a parallel development or evolution of the fire-lance, a short ranged anti-personnel weapon combining a gunpowder-filled tube and a polearm of some sort. Co-viative projectiles such as iron scraps or porcelain shards were placed in fire lance barrels at some point, and eventually, the paper and bamboo materials of fire lance barrels were replaced by metal. The earliest known depiction of a cannon is a sculpture from the Dazu Rock Carvings in Sichuan dated to 1128, however, the earliest archaeological samples and textual accounts do not appear until the 13th century. The primary extant specimens of cannon from the 13th century are the Wuwei Bronze Cannon dated to 1227, the Heilongjiang hand cannon dated to 1288, and the Xanadu Gun dated to 1298. However, only the Xanadu gun contains an inscription bearing a date of production, so it is considered the earliest confirmed extant cannon. The Xanadu Gun is 34.7 cm in length and weighs 6.2 kg. The other cannons are dated using contextual evidence. The Heilongjiang hand cannon is also often considered by some to be the oldest firearm since it was unearthed near the area where the History of Yuan reports a battle took place involving hand cannons. According to the History of Yuan, in 1288, a Jurchen commander by the name of Li Ting led troops armed with hand cannons into battle against the rebel prince Nayan. Chen Bingying argues there were no guns before 1259, while Dang Shoushan believes the Wuwei gun and other Western Xia era samples point to the appearance of guns by 1220, and Stephen Haw goes even further by stating that guns were developed as early as 1200. Sinologist Joseph Needham and renaissance siege expert Thomas Arnold provide a more conservative estimate of around 1280 for the appearance of the "true" cannon. Whether or not any of these are correct, it seems likely that the gun was born sometime during the 13th century. References to cannons proliferated throughout China in the following centuries. Cannon featured in literary pieces. In 1341 Xian Zhang wrote a poem called The Iron Cannon Affair describing a cannonball fired from an eruptor which could "pierce the heart or belly when striking a man or horse, and even transfix several persons at once." By the 1350s the cannon was used extensively in Chinese warfare. In 1358 the Ming army failed to take a city due to its garrisons' usage of cannon, however, they themselves would use cannon, in the thousands, later on during the siege of Suzhou in 1366. The Mongol invasion of Java in 1293 brought gunpowder technology to the Nusantara archipelago in the form of cannon (Chinese: Pao). During the Ming dynasty cannons were used in riverine warfare at the Battle of Lake Poyang. One shipwreck in Shandong had a cannon dated to 1377 and an anchor dated to 1372. From the 13th to 15th centuries cannon-armed Chinese ships also travelled throughout Southeast Asia. Cannon appeared in Đại Việt by 1390 at the latest. The first of the western cannon to be introduced were breech-loaders in the early 16th century, which the Chinese began producing themselves by 1523 and improved on by including composite metal construction in their making. Japan did not acquire cannon until 1510 when a monk brought one back from China, and did not produce any in appreciable numbers. During the 1593 Siege of Pyongyang, 40,000 Ming troops deployed a variety of cannons against Japanese troops. Despite their defensive advantage and the use of arquebus by Japanese soldiers, the Japanese were at a severe disadvantage due to their lack of cannon. Throughout the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), the Ming–Joseon coalition used artillery widely in land and naval battles, including on the turtle ships of Yi Sun-sin. According to Ivan Petlin, the first Russian envoy to Beijing, in September 1619, the city was armed with large cannon with cannonballs weighing more than 30 kg (66 lb). His general observation was that the Chinese were militarily capable and had firearms: > There are many merchants and military persons in the Chinese Empire. They have firearms, and the Chinese are very skillful in military affairs. They go into battle against the Yellow Mongols who fight with bows and arrows. ### Western Europe Outside of China, the earliest texts to mention gunpowder are Roger Bacon's Opus Majus (1267) and Opus Tertium in what has been interpreted as references to firecrackers. In the early 20th century, a British artillery officer proposed that another work tentatively attributed to Bacon, Epistola de Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae, et de Nullitate Magiae, dated to 1247, contained an encrypted formula for gunpowder hidden in the text. These claims have been disputed by science historians. In any case, the formula itself is not useful for firearms or even firecrackers, burning slowly and producing mostly smoke. There is a record of a gun in Europe dating to 1322 being discovered in the nineteenth century but the artifact has since been lost. The earliest known European depiction of a gun appeared in 1326 in a manuscript by Walter de Milemete, although not necessarily drawn by him, known as De Nobilitatibus, sapientii et prudentiis regum (Concerning the Majesty, Wisdom, and Prudence of Kings), which displays a gun with a large arrow emerging from it and its user lowering a long stick to ignite the gun through the touch hole. In the same year, another similar illustration showed a darker gun being set off by a group of knights, which also featured in another work of de Milemete's, De secretis secretorum Aristotelis. On 11 February of that same year, the Signoria of Florence appointed two officers to obtain canones de mettallo and ammunition for the town's defense. In the following year a document from the Turin area recorded a certain amount was paid "for the making of a certain instrument or device made by Friar Marcello for the projection of pellets of lead". A reference from 1331 describes an attack mounted by two Germanic knights on Cividale del Friuli, using man-portable gunpowder weapons of some sort. The 1320s seem to have been the takeoff point for guns in Europe according to most modern military historians. Scholars suggest that the lack of gunpowder weapons in a well-traveled Venetian's catalogue for a new crusade in 1321 implies that guns were unknown in Europe up until this point, further solidifying the 1320 mark, however more evidence in this area may be forthcoming in the future. The oldest extant cannon in Europe is a small bronze example unearthed in Loshult, Scania in southern Sweden. It dates from the early-mid 14th century, and is currently in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. Early cannons in Europe often shot arrows and were known by an assortment of names such as pot-de-fer, tonnoire, ribaldis, and büszenpyle. The ribaldis, which shot large arrows and simplistic grapeshot, were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the Battle of Crécy, between 1345 and 1346. The Florentine Giovanni Villani recounts their destructiveness, indicating that by the end of the battle, "the whole plain was covered by men struck down by arrows and cannon balls". Similar cannon were also used at the Siege of Calais (1346–47), although it was not until the 1380s that the ribaudekin clearly became mounted on wheels. #### Early use The Battle of Crecy which pitted the English against the French in 1346 featured the early use of cannon which helped the longbowmen repulse a large force of Genoese crossbowmen deployed by the French. The English originally intended to use the cannon against cavalry sent to attack their archers, thinking that the loud noises produced by their cannon would panic the advancing horses along with killing the knights atop them. Early cannons could also be used for more than simply killing men and scaring horses. English cannon were used defensively in 1346 during the Siege of Breteuil to launch fire onto an advancing siege tower. In this way cannons could be used to burn down siege equipment before it reached the fortifications. The use of cannons to shoot fire could also be used offensively as another battle involved the setting of a castle ablaze with similar methods. The particular incendiary used in these projectiles was most likely a gunpowder mixture. This is one area where early Chinese and European cannons share a similarity as both were possibly used to shoot fire. Another aspect of early European cannons is that they were rather small, dwarfed by the bombards which would come later. In fact, it is possible that the cannons used at Crécy were capable of being moved rather quickly as there is an anonymous chronicle that notes the guns being used to attack the French camp, indicating that they would have been mobile enough to press the attack. These smaller cannons would eventually give way to larger, wall-breaching guns by the end of the 1300s. ### Islamic world There is no clear consensus on when the cannon first appeared in the Islamic world, with dates ranging from 1260 to the mid-14th century. The cannon may have appeared in the Islamic world in the late 13th century, with Ibn Khaldun in the 14th century stating that cannons were used in the Maghreb region of North Africa in 1274, and other Arabic military treatises in the 14th century referring to the use of cannon by Mamluk forces in 1260 and 1303, and by Muslim forces at the 1324 Siege of Huesca in Spain. However, some scholars do not accept these early dates. While the date of its first appearance is not entirely clear, the general consensus among most historians is that there is no doubt the Mamluk forces were using cannon by 1342. Other accounts may have also mentioned the use of cannon in the early 14th century. An Arabic text dating to 1320–1350 describes a type of gunpowder weapon called a midfa which uses gunpowder to shoot projectiles out of a tube at the end of a stock. Some scholars consider this a hand cannon while others dispute this claim. The Nasrid army besieging Elche in 1331 made use of "iron pellets shot with fire". According to historian Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, during the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, the Mamluks used cannon against the Mongols. He claims that this was "the first cannon in history" and used a gunpowder formula almost identical to the ideal composition for explosive gunpowder. He also argues that this was not known in China or Europe until much later. Al-Hassan further claims that the earliest textual evidence of cannon is from the Middle East, based on earlier originals which report hand-held cannons being used by the Mamluks at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. Such an early date is not accepted by some historians, including David Ayalon, Iqtidar Alam Khan, Joseph Needham and Tonio Andrade. Khan argues that it was the Mongols who introduced gunpowder to the Islamic world, and believes cannon only reached Mamluk Egypt in the 1370s. Needham argued that the term midfa, dated to textual sources from 1342 to 1352, did not refer to true hand-guns or bombards, and that contemporary accounts of a metal-barrel cannon in the Islamic world did not occur until 1365. Similarly, Andrade dates the textual appearance of cannons in middle eastern sources to the 1360s. Gabor Ágoston and David Ayalon note that the Mamluks had certainly used siege cannons by 1342 or the 1360s, respectively, but earlier uses of cannons in the Islamic World are vague with a possible appearance in the Emirate of Granada by the 1320s and 1330s, though evidence is inconclusive. Ibn Khaldun reported the use of cannon as siege machines by the Marinid sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf at the siege of Sijilmasa in 1274. The passage by Ibn Khaldun on the Marinid Siege of Sijilmassa in 1274 occurs as follows: "[The Sultan] installed siege engines ... and gunpowder engines ..., which project small balls of iron. These balls are ejected from a chamber ... placed in front of a kindling fire of gunpowder; this happens by a strange property which attributes all actions to the power of the Creator." The source is not contemporary and was written a century later around 1382. Its interpretation has been rejected as anachronistic by some historians, who urge caution regarding claims of Islamic firearms use in the 1204–1324 period as late medieval Arabic texts used the same word for gunpowder, naft, as they did for an earlier incendiary, naphtha. Ágoston and Peter Purton note that in the 1204–1324 period, late medieval Arabic texts used the same word for gunpowder, naft, that they used for an earlier incendiary, naphtha. Needham believes Ibn Khaldun was speaking of fire lances rather than hand cannon. The Ottoman Empire made good use of cannon as siege artillery. Sixty-eight super-sized bombards were used by Mehmed the Conqueror to capture Constantinople in 1453. Jim Bradbury argues that Urban, a Hungarian cannon engineer, introduced this cannon from Central Europe to the Ottoman realm; according to Paul Hammer, however, it could have been introduced from other Islamic countries which had earlier used cannons. These cannon could fire heavy stone balls a mile, and the sound of their blast could reportedly be heard from a distance of 10 miles (16 km). Shkodëran historian Marin Barleti discusses Turkish bombards at length in his book De obsidione Scodrensi (1504), describing the 1478–79 siege of Shkodra in which eleven bombards and two mortars were employed. The Ottomans also used cannon to control passage of ships through the Bosphorus strait. Ottoman cannons also proved effective at stopping crusaders at Varna in 1444 and Kosovo in 1448 despite the presence of European cannon in the former case. The similar Dardanelles Guns (for the location) were created by Munir Ali in 1464 and were still in use during the Anglo-Turkish War (1807–1809). These were cast in bronze into two parts: the chase (the barrel) and the breech, which combined weighed 18.4 tonnes. The two parts were screwed together using levers to facilitate moving it. Fathullah Shirazi, a Persian inhabitant of India who worked for Akbar in the Mughal Empire, developed a volley gun in the 16th century. While there is evidence of cannons in Iran as early as 1405 they were not widespread. This changed following the increased use of firearms by Shah Ismail I, and the Iranian army used 500 cannons by the 1620s, probably captured from the Ottomans or acquired by allies in Europe. By 1443, Iranians were also making some of their own cannon, as Mir Khawand wrote of a 1200 kg metal piece being made by an Iranian rikhtegar which was most likely a cannon. Due to the difficulties of transporting cannon in mountainous terrain, their use was less common compared to their use in Europe. ### Eastern Europe Documentary evidence of cannons in Russia does not appear until 1382 and they were used only in sieges, often by the defenders. It was not until 1475 when Ivan III established the first Russian cannon foundry in Moscow that they began to produce cannons natively. The earliest surviving cannon from Russia dates to 1485. Later on large cannons were known as bombards, ranging from three to five feet in length and were used by Dubrovnik and Kotor in defence during the later 14th century. The first bombards were made of iron, but bronze became more prevalent as it was recognized as more stable and capable of propelling stones weighing as much as 45 kilograms (99 lb). Around the same period, the Byzantine Empire began to accumulate its own cannon to face the Ottoman Empire, starting with medium-sized cannon 3 feet (0.91 m) long and of 10 in calibre. The earliest reliable recorded use of artillery in the region was against the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1396, forcing the Ottomans to withdraw. The Ottomans acquired their own cannon and laid siege to the Byzantine capital again in 1422. By 1453, the Ottomans used 68 Hungarian-made cannon for the 55-day bombardment of the walls of Constantinople, "hurling the pieces everywhere and killing those who happened to be nearby". The largest of their cannons was the Great Turkish Bombard, which required an operating crew of 200 men and 70 oxen, and 10,000 men to transport it. Gunpowder made the formerly devastating Greek fire obsolete, and with the final fall of Constantinople—which was protected by what were once the strongest walls in Europe—on 29 May 1453, "it was the end of an era in more ways than one". ### Southeast Asia Cannons were introduced to the Javanese Majapahit Empire when Kublai Khan's Mongol-Chinese army under the leadership of Ike Mese sought to invade Java in 1293. History of Yuan mentioned that the Mongol used a weapon called p'ao against Daha forces. This weapon is interpreted differently by researchers, it may be a trebuchet that throws thunderclap bombs, firearms, cannons, or rockets. It is possible that the gunpowder weapons carried by the Mongol–Chinese troops amounted to more than one type. Thomas Stamford Raffles wrote in The History of Java that in 1247 saka (1325 AD), cannons were widely used in Java especially by the Majapahit. It is recorded that the small kingdoms in Java that sought the protection of Majapahit had to hand over their cannons to the Majapahit. Majapahit under Mahapatih (prime minister) Gajah Mada (in office 1331–1364) utilized gunpowder technology obtained from Yuan dynasty for use in naval fleet. Mongol-Chinese gunpowder technology of Yuan dynasty resulted in eastern-style cetbang which is similar to Chinese cannon. Swivel guns however, only developed in the archipelago because of the close maritime relations of the Nusantara archipelago with the territory of West India after 1460 AD, which brought new types of gunpowder weapons to the archipelago, likely through Arab intermediaries. This weapon seems to be cannon and gun of Ottoman tradition, for example the prangi, which is a breech-loading swivel gun. A new type of cetbang, called the western-style cetbang, was derived from the Turkish prangi. Just like prangi, this cetbang is a breech-loading swivel gun made of bronze or iron, firing single rounds or scattershots (a large number of small bullets). Cannons derived from western-style cetbang can be found in Nusantara, among others were lantaka and lela. Most lantakas were made of bronze and the earliest ones were breech-loaded. There is a trend toward muzzle-loading weapons during colonial times. When the Portuguese came to the archipelago, they referred to the breech-loading swivel gun as berço, while the Spaniards call it verso. A pole gun (bedil tombak) was recorded as being used by Java in 1413. Duarte Barbosa c. 1514 said that the inhabitants of Java were great masters in casting artillery and very good artillerymen. They made many one-pounder cannon (cetbang or rentaka), long muskets, spingarde (arquebus), schioppi (hand cannon), Greek fire, guns (cannon), and other fireworks. Every place was considered excellent in casting artillery, and in the knowledge of using it. In 1513, the Javanese fleet led by Pati Unus sailed to attack Portuguese Malacca "with much artillery made in Java, for the Javanese are skilled in founding and casting, and in all works in iron, over and above what they have in India". By early 16th century, the Javanese already locally-producing large guns, some of them still survived until the present day and dubbed as "sacred cannon" or "holy cannon". These cannons varied between 180- and 260-pounders, weighing anywhere between 3 and 8 tons, length of them between 3 and 6 m (9.8 and 19.7 ft). Cannons were used by the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1352 during its invasion of the Khmer Empire. Within a decade large quantities of gunpowder could be found in the Khmer Empire. By the end of the century firearms were also used by the Trần dynasty. Saltpeter harvesting was recorded by Dutch and German travelers as being common in even the smallest villages and was collected from the decomposition process of large dung hills specifically piled for the purpose. The Dutch punishment for possession of non-permitted gunpowder appears to have been amputation. Ownership and manufacture of gunpowder was later prohibited by the colonial Dutch occupiers. According to colonel McKenzie quoted in Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles' The History of Java (1817), the purest sulfur was supplied from a crater from a mountain near the straits of Bali. ### Africa In Africa, the Adal Sultanate and the Abyssinian Empire both deployed cannons during the Adal-Abyssinian War. Imported from Arabia, and the wider Islamic world, the Adalites led by Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi were the first African power to introduce cannon warfare to the African continent. Later on as the Portuguese Empire entered the war it would supply and train the Abyssinians with cannons, while the Ottoman Empire sent soldiers and cannon to back Adal. The conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlock musket, cannon, and the arquebus over traditional weapons. ### Offensive and defensive use While previous smaller guns could burn down structures with fire, larger cannons were so effective that engineers were forced to develop stronger castle walls to prevent their keeps from falling. Nonetheless, cannons were used other purposes than battering down walls as fortifications began using cannons as defensive instruments such as an example in India where the fort of Raicher had gun ports built into its walls to accommodate the use of defensive cannons. In The Art of War, Niccolò Machiavelli opined that field artillery forced an army to take up a defensive posture and this opposed a more ideal offensive stance. Machiavelli's concerns can be seen in the criticisms of Portuguese mortars being used in India during the sixteenth century as lack of mobility was one of the key problems with the design. In Russia the early cannons were again placed in forts as a defensive tool. Cannon were also difficult to move around in certain types of terrain with mountains providing a great obstacle for them, for these reasons offensives conducted with cannons would be difficult to pull off in places such as Iran. ### Early modern period By the 16th century, cannons were made in a great variety of lengths and bore diameters, but the general rule was that the longer the barrel, the longer the range. Some cannons made during this time had barrels exceeding 10 ft (3.0 m) in length, and could weigh up to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg). Consequently, large amounts of gunpowder were needed to allow them to fire stone balls several hundred yards. By mid-century, European monarchs began to classify cannons to reduce the confusion. Henry II of France opted for six sizes of cannon, but others settled for more; the Spanish used twelve sizes, and the English sixteen. They are, from largest to smallest: the cannon royal, cannon, cannon serpentine, bastard cannon, demicannon, pedrero, culverin, basilisk, demiculverin, bastard culverin, saker, minion, falcon, falconet, serpentine, and rabinet. Better powder had been developed by this time as well. Instead of the finely ground powder used by the first bombards, powder was replaced by a "corned" variety of coarse grains. This coarse powder had pockets of air between grains, allowing fire to travel through and ignite the entire charge quickly and uniformly. The end of the Middle Ages saw the construction of larger, more powerful cannon, as well as their spread throughout the world. As they were not effective at breaching the newer fortifications resulting from the development of cannon, siege engines—such as siege towers and trebuchets—became less widely used. However, wooden "battery-towers" took on a similar role as siege towers in the gunpowder age—such as that used at Siege of Kazan in 1552, which could hold ten large-calibre cannon, in addition to 50 lighter pieces. Another notable effect of cannon on warfare during this period was the change in conventional fortifications. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote, "There is no wall, whatever its thickness that artillery will not destroy in only a few days." Although castles were not immediately made obsolete by cannon, their use and importance on the battlefield rapidly declined. Instead of majestic towers and merlons, the walls of new fortresses were thick, angled, and sloped, while towers became low and stout; increasing use was also made of earth and brick in breastworks and redoubts. These new defences became known as bastion forts, after their characteristic shape which attempted to force any advance towards it directly into the firing line of the guns. A few of these featured cannon batteries, such as the House of Tudor's Device Forts in England. Bastion forts soon replaced castles in Europe and, eventually, those in the Americas as well. By the end of the 15th century, several technological advancements made cannons more mobile. Wheeled gun carriages and trunnions became common, and the invention of the limber further facilitated transportation. As a result, field artillery became more viable, and began to see more widespread use, often alongside the larger cannons intended for sieges. Better gunpowder, cast-iron projectiles (replacing stone), and the standardisation of calibres meant that even relatively light cannons could be deadly. In The Art of War, Niccolò Machiavelli observed that "It is true that the arquebuses and the small artillery do much more harm than the heavy artillery." This was the case at the Battle of Flodden, in 1513: the English field guns outfired the Scottish siege artillery, firing two or three times as many rounds. Despite the increased maneuverability, however, cannon were still the slowest component of the army: a heavy English cannon required 23 horses to transport, while a culverin needed nine. Even with this many animals pulling, they still moved at a walking pace. Due to their relatively slow speed, and lack of organisation, and undeveloped tactics, the combination of pike and shot still dominated the battlefields of Europe. Innovations continued, notably the German invention of the mortar, a thick-walled, short-barrelled gun that blasted shot upward at a steep angle. Mortars were useful for sieges, as they could hit targets behind walls or other defences. This cannon found more use with the Dutch, who learnt to shoot bombs filled with powder from them. Setting the bomb fuse was a problem. "Single firing" was first used to ignite the fuse, where the bomb was placed with the fuse down against the cannon's propellant. This often resulted in the fuse being blown into the bomb, causing it to blow up as it left the mortar. Because of this, "double firing" was tried where the gunner lit the fuse and then the touch hole. This, however, required considerable skill and timing, and was especially dangerous if the gun misfired, leaving a lighted bomb in the barrel. Not until 1650 was it accidentally discovered that double-lighting was superfluous as the heat of firing would light the fuse. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden emphasised the use of light cannon and mobility in his army, and created new formations and tactics that revolutionised artillery. He discontinued using all 12 pounder—or heavier—cannon as field artillery, preferring, instead, to use cannons that could be handled by only a few men. One obsolete type of gun, the "leatheren", was replaced by 4 pounder and 9 pounder demi-culverins. These could be operated by three men, and pulled by only two horses. Gustavus Adolphus's army was also the first to use a cartridge that contained both powder and shot which sped up reloading, increasing the rate of fire. Finally, against infantry he pioneered the use of canister shot—essentially a tin can filled with musket balls. Until then there was no more than one cannon for every thousand infantrymen on the battlefield but Gustavus Adolphus increased the number of cannons sixfold. Each regiment was assigned two pieces, though he often arranged them into batteries instead of distributing them piecemeal. He used these batteries to break his opponent's infantry line, while his cavalry would outflank their heavy guns. At the Battle of Breitenfeld, in 1631, Adolphus proved the effectiveness of the changes made to his army, by defeating Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly. Although severely outnumbered, the Swedes were able to fire between three and five times as many volleys of artillery, and their infantry's linear formations helped ensure they did not lose any ground. Battered by cannon fire, and low on morale, Tilly's men broke ranks and fled. In England, cannons were being used to besiege various fortified buildings during the English Civil War. Nathaniel Nye is recorded as testing a Birmingham cannon in 1643 and experimenting with a saker in 1645. From 1645 he was the master gunner to the Parliamentarian garrison at Evesham and in 1646 he successfully directed the artillery at the Siege of Worcester, detailing his experiences and in his 1647 book The Art of Gunnery. Believing that war was as much a science as an art, his explanations focused on triangulation, arithmetic, theoretical mathematics, and cartography as well as practical considerations such as the ideal specification for gunpowder or slow matches. His book acknowledged mathematicians such as Robert Recorde and Marcus Jordanus as well as earlier military writers on artillery such as Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia and Thomas (or Francis) Malthus (author of A Treatise on Artificial Fire-Works). Around this time also came the idea of aiming the cannon to hit a target. Gunners controlled the range of their cannons by measuring the angle of elevation, using a "gunner's quadrant". Cannons did not have sights; therefore, even with measuring tools, aiming was still largely guesswork. In the latter half of the 17th century, the French engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban introduced a more systematic and scientific approach to attacking gunpowder fortresses, in a time when many field commanders "were notorious dunces in siegecraft". Careful sapping forward, supported by enfilading ricochets, was a key feature of this system, and it even allowed Vauban to calculate the length of time a siege would take. He was also a prolific builder of bastion forts, and did much to popularize the idea of "depth in defence" in the face of cannon. These principles were followed into the mid-19th century, when changes in armaments necessitated greater depth defence than Vauban had provided for. It was only in the years prior to World War I that new works began to break radically away from his designs. ### 18th and 19th centuries The lower tier of 17th-century English ships of the line were usually equipped with demi-cannons, guns that fired a 32-pound (15 kg) solid shot, and could weigh up to 3,400 pounds (1,500 kg). Demi-cannons were capable of firing these heavy metal balls with such force that they could penetrate more than a metre of solid oak, from a distance of 90 m (300 ft), and could dismast even the largest ships at close range. Full cannon fired a 42-pound (19 kg) shot, but were discontinued by the 18th century, as they were too unwieldy. By the end of the 18th century, principles long adopted in Europe specified the characteristics of the Royal Navy's cannon, as well as the acceptable defects, and their severity. The United States Navy tested guns by measuring them, firing them two or three times—termed "proof by powder"—and using pressurized water to detect leaks. The carronade was adopted by the Royal Navy in 1779; the lower muzzle velocity of the round shot when fired from this cannon was intended to create more wooden splinters when hitting the structure of an enemy vessel, as they were believed to be more deadly than the ball by itself. The carronade was much shorter, and weighed between a third to a quarter of the equivalent long gun; for example, a 32-pounder carronade weighed less than a ton, compared with a 32-pounder long gun, which weighed over 3 tons. The guns were, therefore, easier to handle, and also required less than half as much gunpowder, allowing fewer men to crew them. Carronades were manufactured in the usual naval gun calibres, but were not counted in a ship of the line's rated number of guns. As a result, the classification of Royal Navy vessels in this period can be misleading, as they often carried more cannons than were listed. Cannons were crucial in Napoleon's rise to power, and continued to play an important role in his army in later years. During the French Revolution, the unpopularity of the Directory led to riots and rebellions. When over 25,000 royalists led by General Danican assaulted Paris, Paul Barras was appointed to defend the capital; outnumbered five to one and disorganised, the Republicans were desperate. When Napoleon arrived, he reorganised the defences but realised that without cannons the city could not be held. He ordered Joachim Murat to bring the guns from the Sablons artillery park; the Major and his cavalry fought their way to the recently captured cannons, and brought them back to Napoleon. When Danican's poorly trained men attacked, on 13 Vendémiaire 1795 (5 October in the calendar used in France at the time), Napoleon ordered his cannon to fire grapeshot into the mob, an act that became known as the "whiff of grapeshot". The slaughter effectively ended the threat to the new government, while, at the same time, making Bonaparte a famous—and popular—public figure. Among the first generals to recognise that artillery was not being used to its full potential, Napoleon often massed his cannon into batteries and introduced several changes into the French artillery, improving it significantly and making it among the finest in Europe. Such tactics were successfully used by the French, for example, at the Battle of Friedland, when 66 guns fired a total of 3,000 roundshot and 500 rounds of grapeshot, inflicting severe casualties to the Russian forces, whose losses numbered over 20,000 killed and wounded, in total. At the Battle of Waterloo—Napoleon's final battle—the French army had many more artillery pieces than either the British or Prussians. As the battlefield was muddy, recoil caused cannons to bury themselves into the ground after firing, resulting in slow rates of fire, as more effort was required to move them back into an adequate firing position; also, roundshot did not ricochet with as much force from the wet earth. Despite the drawbacks, sustained artillery fire proved deadly during the engagement, especially during the French cavalry attack. The British infantry, having formed infantry squares, took heavy losses from the French guns, while their own cannons fired at the cuirassiers and lancers, when they fell back to regroup. Eventually, the French ceased their assault, after taking heavy losses from the British cannon and musket fire. In the 1810s and 1820s, greater emphasis was placed on the accuracy of long-range gunfire, and less on the weight of a broadside. Around 1822, George Marshall wrote Marshall's Practical Marine Gunnery. The book was used by cannon operators in the United States Navy throughout the 19th century. It listed all the types of cannons and instructions. The carronade, although initially very successful and widely adopted, disappeared from the Royal Navy in the 1850s after the development of wrought-iron-jacketed steel cannon by William Armstrong and Joseph Whitworth. Nevertheless, carronades were used in the American Civil War. Western cannons during the 19th century became larger, more destructive, more accurate, and could fire at longer range. One example is the American 3-inch (76 mm) wrought-iron, muzzle-loading rifle, or Griffen gun (usually called the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle), used during the American Civil War, which had an effective range of over 1.1 mi (1.8 km). Another is the smoothbore 12-pounder Napoleon, which originated in France in 1853 and was widely used by both sides in the American Civil War. This cannon was renowned for its sturdiness, reliability, firepower, flexibility, relatively lightweight, and range of 1,700 m (5,600 ft). The practice of rifling—casting spiralling lines inside the cannon's barrel—was applied to artillery more frequently by 1855, as it gave cannon projectiles gyroscopic stability, which improved their accuracy. One of the earliest rifled cannons was the breech-loading Armstrong Gun—also invented by William Armstrong—which boasted significantly improved range, accuracy, and power than earlier weapons. The projectile fired from the Armstrong gun could reportedly pierce through a ship's side and explode inside the enemy vessel, causing increased damage and casualties. The British military adopted the Armstrong gun, and was impressed; the Duke of Cambridge even declared that it "could do everything but speak". Despite being significantly more advanced than its predecessors, the Armstrong gun was rejected soon after its integration, in favour of the muzzle-loading pieces that had been in use before. While both types of gun were effective against wooden ships, neither had the capability to pierce the armour of ironclads; due to reports of slight problems with the breeches of the Armstrong gun, and their higher cost, the older muzzle-loaders were selected to remain in service instead. Realising that iron was more difficult to pierce with breech-loaded cannons, Armstrong designed rifled muzzle-loading guns, which proved successful; The Times reported: "even the fondest believers in the invulnerability of our present ironclads were obliged to confess that against such artillery, at such ranges, their plates and sides were almost as penetrable as wooden ships." The superior cannon of the Western world brought them tremendous advantages in warfare. For example, in the First Opium War in China, during the 19th century, British battleships bombarded the coastal areas and fortifications from afar, safe from the reach of the Chinese cannons. Similarly, the shortest war in recorded history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896, was brought to a swift conclusion by shelling from British cruisers. The cynical attitude towards recruited infantry in the face of ever more powerful field artillery is the source of the term cannon fodder, first used by François-René de Chateaubriand, in 1814; however, the concept of regarding soldiers as nothing more than "food for powder" was mentioned by William Shakespeare as early as 1598, in Henry IV, Part 1. ### 20th and 21st centuries Cannons in the 20th and 21st centuries are usually divided into sub-categories and given separate names. Some of the most widely used types of modern cannon are howitzers, mortars, guns, and autocannon, although a few very large-calibre cannon, custom-designed, have also been constructed. Nuclear artillery was experimented with, but was abandoned as impractical. Modern artillery is used in a variety of roles, depending on its type. According to NATO, the general role of artillery is to provide fire support, which is defined as "the application of fire, coordinated with the manoeuvre of forces to destroy, neutralize, or suppress the enemy". When referring to cannons, the term gun is often used incorrectly. In military usage, a gun is a cannon with a high muzzle velocity and a flat trajectory, useful for hitting the sides of targets such as walls, as opposed to howitzers or mortars, which have lower muzzle velocities, and fire indirectly, lobbing shells up and over obstacles to hit the target from above. By the early 20th century, infantry weapons had become more powerful, forcing most artillery away from the front lines. Despite the change to indirect fire, cannons proved highly effective during World War I, directly or indirectly causing over 75% of casualties. The onset of trench warfare after the first few months of World War I greatly increased the demand for howitzers, as they were more suited at hitting targets in trenches. Furthermore, their shells carried more explosives than those of guns, and caused considerably less barrel wear. The German army had the advantage here as they began the war with many more howitzers than the French. World War I also saw the use of the Paris Gun, the longest-ranged gun ever fired. This 200 mm (8 in) calibre gun was used by the Germans against Paris and could hit targets more than 122 km (76 mi) away. The Second World War sparked new developments in cannon technology. Among them were sabot rounds, hollow-charge projectiles, and proximity fuses, all of which increased the effectiveness of cannon against specific target. The proximity fuse emerged on the battlefields of Europe in late December 1944. Used to great effect in anti-aircraft projectiles, proximity fuses were fielded in both the European and Pacific Theatres of Operations; they were particularly useful against V-1 flying bombs and kamikaze planes. Although widely used in naval warfare, and in anti-air guns, both the British and Americans feared unexploded proximity fuses would be reverse engineered, leading to them limiting their use in continental battles. During the Battle of the Bulge, however, the fuses became known as the American artillery's "Christmas present" for the German army because of their effectiveness against German personnel in the open, when they frequently dispersed attacks. Anti-tank guns were also tremendously improved during the war: in 1939, the British used primarily 2 pounder and 6 pounder guns. By the end of the war, 17 pounders had proven much more effective against German tanks, and 32 pounders had entered development. Meanwhile, German tanks were continuously upgraded with better main guns, in addition to other improvements. For example, the Panzer III was originally designed with a 37 mm gun, but was mass-produced with a 50 mm cannon. To counter the threat of the Russian T-34s, another, more powerful 50 mm gun was introduced, only to give way to a larger 75 mm cannon, which was in a fixed mount as the StuG III, the most-produced German World War II armoured fighting vehicle of any type. Despite the improved guns, production of the Panzer III was ended in 1943, as the tank still could not match the T-34, and was replaced by the Panzer IV and Panther tanks. In 1944, the 8.8 cm KwK 43 and many variations, entered service with the Wehrmacht, and was used as both a tank main gun, and as the PaK 43 anti-tank gun. One of the most powerful guns to see service in World War II, it was capable of destroying any Allied tank at very long ranges. Despite being designed to fire at trajectories with a steep angle of descent, howitzers can be fired directly, as was done by the 11th Marine Regiment at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, during the Korean War. Two field batteries fired directly upon a battalion of Chinese infantry; the Marines were forced to brace themselves against their howitzers, as they had no time to dig them in. The Chinese infantry took heavy casualties, and were forced to retreat. The tendency to create larger calibre cannons during the World Wars has reversed since. The United States Army, for example, sought a lighter, more versatile howitzer, to replace their ageing pieces. As it could be towed, the M198 was selected to be the successor to the World War II–era cannons used at the time, and entered service in 1979. Still in use today, the M198 is, in turn, being slowly replaced by the M777 Ultralightweight howitzer, which weighs nearly half as much and can be more easily moved. Although land-based artillery such as the M198 are powerful, long-ranged, and accurate, naval guns have not been neglected, despite being much smaller than in the past, and, in some cases, having been replaced by cruise missiles. However, the Zumwalt-class destroyer's planned armament included the Advanced Gun System (AGS), a pair of 155 mm guns, which fire the Long Range Land-Attack Projectile. The warhead, which weighted 24 pounds (11 kg), had a circular error of probability of 50 m (160 ft), and was mounted on a rocket, to increase the effective range to 100 nmi (190 km), further than that of the Paris Gun. The AGS's barrels would be water cooled, and fire 10 rounds per minute, per gun. The combined firepower from both turrets would give a Zumwalt-class destroyer the firepower equivalent to 18 conventional M198 howitzers. The reason for the re-integration of cannons as a main armament in United States Navy ships was because satellite-guided munitions fired from a gun would be less expensive than a cruise missile but have a similar guidance capability. #### Autocannon Autocannons have an automatic firing mode, similar to that of a machine gun. They have mechanisms to automatically load their ammunition, and therefore have a higher rate of fire than artillery, often approaching, or, in the case of rotary autocannons, even surpassing the firing rate of a machine gun. While there is no minimum bore for autocannons, they are generally larger than machine guns, typically 20 mm or greater since World War II and are usually capable of using explosive ammunition even if it is not always used. Machine guns in contrast are usually too small to use explosive ammunition; such ammunition is additionally banned in international conflict for the parties to the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868. Most nations use rapid-fire cannon on light vehicles, replacing a more powerful, but heavier, tank gun. A typical autocannon is the 25 mm "Bushmaster" chain gun, mounted on the LAV-25 and M2 Bradley armoured vehicles. Autocannons may be capable of a very high rate of fire, but ammunition is heavy and bulky, limiting the amount carried. For this reason, both the 25 mm Bushmaster and the 30 mm RARDEN are deliberately designed with relatively low rates of fire. The typical rate of fire for a modern autocannon ranges from 90 to 1,800 rounds per minute. Systems with multiple barrels, such as a rotary autocannon, can have rates of fire of more than several thousand rounds per minute. The fastest of these is the GSh-6-23, which has a rate of fire of over 10,000 rounds per minute. Autocannons are often found in aircraft, where they replaced machine guns and as shipboard anti-aircraft weapons, as they provide greater destructive power than machine guns. #### Aircraft use The first documented installation of a cannon on an aircraft was on the Voisin Canon in 1911, displayed at the Paris Exposition that year. By World War I, all of the major powers were experimenting with aircraft-mounted cannons; however their low rate of fire and great size and weight precluded any of them from being anything other than experimental. The most successful (or least unsuccessful) was the SPAD 12 Ca.1 with a single 37mm Puteaux mounted to fire between the cylinder banks and through the propeller boss of the aircraft's Hispano-Suiza 8C. The pilot (by necessity an ace) had to manually reload each round. The first autocannon were developed during World War I as anti-aircraft guns, and one of these, the Coventry Ordnance Works "COW 37 mm gun", was installed in an aircraft. However, the war ended before it could be given a field trial, and it never became standard equipment in a production aircraft. Later trials had it fixed at a steep angle upwards in both the Vickers Type 161 and the Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter, an idea that would return later. During this period autocannons became available and several fighters of the German Luftwaffe and the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service were fitted with 20 mm cannons. They continued to be installed as an adjunct to machine guns rather than as a replacement, as the rate of fire was still too low and the complete installation too heavy. There was a some debate in the RAF as to whether the greater number of possible rounds being fired from a machine gun, or a smaller number of explosive rounds from a cannon was preferable. Improvements during the war in regards to rate of fire allowed the cannon to displace the machine gun almost entirely. The cannon was more effective against armour so they were increasingly used during the course of World War II, and newer fighters such as the Hawker Tempest usually carried two or four versus the six .50 Browning machine guns for US aircraft or eight to twelve M1919 Browning machine guns on earlier British aircraft. The Hispano-Suiza HS.404, Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, MG FF, and their numerous variants became among the most widely used autocannon in the war. Cannons, as with machine guns, were generally fixed to fire forwards (mounted in the wings, in the nose or fuselage, or in a pannier under either); or were mounted in gun turrets on heavier aircraft. Both the Germans and Japanese mounted cannons to fire upwards and forwards for use against heavy bombers, with the Germans calling guns so-installed Schräge Musik. This term derives from a German colloquialism for jazz music (the German word schräg means "off-key"). Preceding the Vietnam War the high speeds aircraft were attaining led to a move to remove the cannon due to the mistaken belief that they would be useless in a dogfight, but combat experience during the Vietnam War showed conclusively that despite advances in missiles, there was still a need for them. Nearly all modern fighter aircraft are armed with an autocannon and they are also commonly found on ground-attack aircraft. One of the most powerful examples is the 30mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling-type rotary cannon, mounted exclusively on the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. The Lockheed AC-130 gunship (a converted transport) can carry a 105 mm howitzer as well as a variety of autocannons ranging up to 40 mm. Both are used in the close air support role. ## Materials, parts, and terms Cannons in general have the form of a truncated cone with an internal cylindrical bore for holding an explosive charge and a projectile. The thickest, strongest, and closed part of the cone is located near the explosive charge. As any explosive charge will dissipate in all directions equally, the thickest portion of the cannon is useful for containing and directing this force. The backward motion of the cannon as its projectile leaves the bore is termed its recoil, and the effectiveness of the cannon can be measured in terms of how much this response can be diminished, though obviously diminishing recoil through increasing the overall mass of the cannon means decreased mobility. Field artillery cannon in Europe and the Americas were initially made most often of bronze, though later forms were constructed of cast iron and eventually steel. Bronze has several characteristics that made it preferable as a construction material: although it is relatively expensive, does not always alloy well, and can result in a final product that is "spongy about the bore", bronze is more flexible than iron and therefore less prone to bursting when exposed to high pressure; cast-iron cannon are less expensive and more durable generally than bronze and withstand being fired more times without deteriorating. However, cast-iron cannon have a tendency to burst without having shown any previous weakness or wear, and this makes them more dangerous to operate. The older and more-stable forms of cannon were muzzle-loading as opposed to breech-loading—to be used they had to have their ordnance packed down the bore through the muzzle rather than inserted through the breech. The following terms refer to the components or aspects of a classical western cannon (c. 1850) as illustrated here. In what follows, the words near, close, and behind will refer to those parts towards the thick, closed end of the piece, and far, front, in front of, and before to the thinner, open end. ### Negative spaces - Bore: The hollow cylinder bored down the centre of the cannon, including the base of the bore or bottom of the bore, the nearest end of the bore into which the ordnance (wadding, shot, etc.) gets packed. The diameter of the bore represents the cannon's calibre. - Chamber: The cylindrical, conical, or spherical recess at the nearest end of the bottom of the bore into which the gunpowder is packed. - Vent: A thin tube on the near end of the cannon connecting the explosive charge inside with an ignition source outside and often filled with a length of fuse; always located near the breech. Sometimes called the fuse hole or the touch hole. On the top of the vent on the outside of the cannon is a flat circular space called the vent field where the charge is lit. If the cannon is bronze, it will often have a vent piece made of copper screwed into the length of the vent. ### Solid spaces The main body of a cannon consists of three basic extensions: the foremost and the longest is called the chase, the middle portion is the reinforce, and the closest and briefest portion is the cascabel or cascable. - The chase: Simply the entire conical part of the cannon in front of the reinforce. It is the longest portion of the cannon, and includes the following elements: - The neck: the narrowest part of the chase, always located near the foremost end of the piece. - The muzzle: the portion of the chase forward of the neck. It includes the following: - The swell of the muzzle refers to the slight swell in the diameter of the piece at the very end of the chase. It is often chamfered on the inside to make loading the cannon easier. In some guns, this element is replaced with a wide ring and is called a muzzle band. - The face is the flat vertical plane at the foremost edge of the muzzle (and of the entire piece). - The muzzle mouldings are the tiered rings which connect the face with the rest of the muzzle, the first of which is called the lip and the second the fillet - The muzzle astragal and fillets are a series of three narrow rings running around the outside of the chase just behind the neck. Sometimes also collectively called the chase ring. - The chase astragal and fillets: these are a second series of such rings located at the near end of the chase. - The chase girdle: this is the brief length of the chase between the chase astragal and fillets and the reinforce. - The reinforce: This portion of the piece is frequently divided into a first reinforce and a second reinforce, but in any case is marked as separate from the chase by the presence of a narrow circular reinforce ring or band at its foremost end. The span of the reinforce also includes the following: - The trunnions are located at the foremost end of the reinforce just behind the reinforce ring. They consist of two cylinders perpendicular to the bore and below it which are used to mount the cannon on its carriage. - The rimbases are short broad rings located at the union of the trunnions and the cannon which provide support to the carriage attachment. - The reinforce band is only present if the cannon has two reinforces, and it divides the first reinforce from the second. - The breech refers to the mass of solid metal behind the bottom of the bore extending to the base of the breech and including the base ring; it also generally refers to the end of the cannon opposite the muzzle, i.e., the location where the explosion of the gunpowder begins as opposed to the opening through which the pressurized gas escapes. - The base ring forms a ring at the widest part of the entire cannon at the nearest end of the reinforce just before the cascabel. - The cascabel: This is that portion of the cannon behind the reinforce(s) and behind the base ring. It includes the following: - The knob which is the small spherical terminus of the piece; - The neck, a short, narrow piece of metal holding out the knob; and - The fillet, the tiered disk connecting the neck of the cascabel to the base of the breech. - The base of the breech is the metal disk that forms the most forward part of the cascabel and rests against the breech itself, right next to the base ring. To pack a muzzle-loading cannon, first gunpowder is poured down the bore. This is followed by a layer of wadding (often nothing more than paper), and then the cannonball itself. A certain amount of windage allows the ball to fit down the bore, though the greater the windage the less efficient the propulsion of the ball when the gunpowder is ignited. To fire the cannon, the fuse located in the vent is lit, quickly burning down to the gunpowder, which then explodes violently, propelling wadding and ball down the bore and out of the muzzle. A small portion of exploding gas also escapes through the vent, but this does not dramatically affect the total force exerted on the ball. Any large, smoothbore, muzzle-loading gun—used before the advent of breech-loading, rifled guns—may be referred to as a cannon, though once standardised names were assigned to different-sized cannon, the term specifically referred to a gun designed to fire a 42-pound (19 kg) shot, as distinct from a demi-cannon – 32 pounds (15 kg), culverin – 18 pounds (8.2 kg), or demi-culverin – 9 pounds (4.1 kg). Gun specifically refers to a type of cannon that fires projectiles at high speeds, and usually at relatively low angles; they have been used in warships, and as field artillery. The term cannon is also used for autocannon, a modern repeating weapon firing explosive projectiles. Cannon have been used extensively in fighter aircraft since World War II. ## Operation In the 1770s, cannon operation worked as follows: each cannon would be manned by two gunners, six soldiers, and four officers of artillery. The right gunner was to prime the piece and load it with powder, and the left gunner would fetch the powder from the magazine and be ready to fire the cannon at the officer's command. On each side of the cannon, three soldiers stood, to ram and sponge the cannon, and hold the ladle. The second soldier on the left was tasked with providing 50 bullets. Before loading, the cannon would be cleaned with a wet sponge to extinguish any smouldering material from the last shot. Fresh powder could be set off prematurely by lingering ignition sources. The powder was added, followed by wadding of paper or hay, and the ball was placed in and rammed down. After ramming, the cannon would be aimed with the elevation set using a quadrant and a plummet. At 45 degrees, the ball had the utmost range: about ten times the gun's level range. Any angle above a horizontal line was called random-shot. Wet sponges were used to cool the pieces every ten or twelve rounds. During the Napoleonic Wars, a British gun team consisted of five gunners to aim it, clean the bore with a damp sponge to quench any remaining embers before a fresh charge was introduced, and another to load the gun with a bag of powder and then the projectile. The fourth gunner pressed his thumb on the vent hole, to prevent a draught that might fan a flame. The charge loaded, the fourth would prick the bagged charge through the vent hole, and fill the vent with powder. On command, the fifth gunner would fire the piece with a slow match. Friction primers replaced slow match ignition by the mid-19th century. When a cannon had to be abandoned such as in a retreat or surrender, the touch hole of the cannon would be plugged flush with an iron spike, disabling the cannon (at least until metal boring tools could be used to remove the plug). This was called "spiking the cannon". A gun was said to be honeycombed when the surface of the bore had cavities, or holes in it, caused either by corrosion or casting defects. ### Legal considerations In the United States, muzzleloading cannons are not subject to any regulations at the federal level. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, muzzleloading cannons made before 1899 (and replicas) that are unable to fire fixed ammunition are considered antiques. They are not subject to the Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968 or National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. Muzzleloading cannons may be subject to state of local rules in some jurisdictions, however. ## Deceptive use Historically, logs or poles have been used as decoys to mislead the enemy as to the strength of an emplacement. The "Quaker Gun trick" was used by Colonel William Washington's Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War; in 1780, approximately 100 Loyalists surrendered to them, rather than face bombardment. During the American Civil War, Quaker guns were also used by the Confederates, to compensate for their shortage of artillery. The decoy cannon were painted black at the "muzzle", and positioned behind fortifications to delay Union attacks on those positions. On occasion, real gun carriages were used to complete the deception. ## In popular culture Cannon sounds have sometimes been used in classical pieces with a military theme. One of the best known examples of such a piece is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. The overture is to be performed using an artillery section together with the orchestra, resulting in noise levels high enough that musicians are required to wear ear protection. The cannon fire simulates Russian artillery bombardments of the Battle of Borodino, a critical battle in Napoleon's invasion of Russia, whose defeat the piece celebrates. When the overture was first performed, the cannon were fired by an electric current triggered by the conductor. However, the overture was not recorded with real cannon fire until Mercury Records and conductor Antal Doráti's 1958 recording of the Minnesota Orchestra. Cannon fire is also frequently used annually in presentations of the 1812 on the American Independence Day, a tradition started by Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops in 1974. The hard rock band AC/DC also used cannon in their song "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)", and in live shows replica Napoleonic cannon and pyrotechnics were used to perform the piece. A recording of that song has accompanied the firing of an authentic reproduction of a M1857 12-pounder Napoleon during Columbus Blue Jackets goal celebrations at Nationwide Arena since opening night of the 2007–08 season. The cannon is located behind the last row of section 111 and the focal point of the team's alternate logo on its third jerseys. Cannons have been fired in touchdown celebrations by several American football teams including the San Diego Chargers. The Pittsburgh Steelers used one only during the 1962 campaign but discontinued it after Buddy Dial was startled as a result of inadvertently running face-first into the cannon's smoky discharge in a 42–27 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at Forbes Field on October 21. ## Restoration Cannon recovered from the sea are often extensively damaged from exposure to salt water; because of this, electrolytic reduction treatment is required to forestall the process of corrosion. The cannon is then washed in deionized water to remove the electrolyte, and is treated in tannic acid, which prevents further rust and gives the metal a bluish-black colour. After this process, cannon on display may be protected from oxygen and moisture by a wax sealant. A coat of polyurethane may also be painted over the wax sealant, to prevent the wax-coated cannon from attracting dust in outdoor displays. In 2011, archaeologists say six cannon recovered from a river in Panama that could have belonged to legendary pirate Henry Morgan are being studied and could eventually be displayed after going through a restoration process.
69,644,775	Saint Vincent Beer	1,154,368,530	Beer brewed by monks in Pennsylvania, U.S.	[ "1856 establishments in Pennsylvania", "1918 disestablishments in Pennsylvania", "American beer brands", "Pope Pius IX", "Products and services discontinued in 1918", "Products introduced in 1856", "Saint Vincent College" ]	Saint Vincent Beer was a dark lager brewed by monks at Saint Vincent Archabbey in Unity Township, Pennsylvania, United States, between 1856 and 1918. Pope Pius IX granted the monks permission to brew in 1852, ending a dispute with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. The brewery was located in a log cabin near the Saint Vincent Archabbey Gristmill and a brick building supplemented the cabin in 1868. After production ceased, the monastery used the buildings for storage until they burned down in 1926. The walls were removed from the site in 1995 during the restoration of the gristmill. Production peaked at around 1,100 barrels in 1891. The popularity and widespread availability of the beer brought the monastery to the attention of the Catholic temperance movement. The theologian and professor Francesco Satolli, then the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, wrote to Archabbot Leander Schnerr asking for the brewing to cease in 1895. As part of a media campaign against the monastery, temperance advocate and Catholic priest George Zurcher published Monks and Their Decline in 1898 criticizing the archabbey for supporting the production and distribution of alcohol. The negative press ended its external sale by 1900, although the monks continued to produce the drink for internal consumption for another 18 years. Aurelius Stehle closed the brewery in 1918 after he was elected coadjutor archabbot. Several conflicting accounts exist concerning what became of its recipe. Local legend holds the monastery sold it to another brewery; however, the archabbey claims that it was never recorded and lost. ## Early years Boniface Wimmer emigrated to the United States from modern-day Germany where monks brewed beer in abbeys. In 1848, he and a group of novices settled in Unity Township, Pennsylvania, near Latrobe, and established Saint Vincent Archabbey. The following year, he gained ownership of a tavern and brewery in Indiana, Pennsylvania, but Michael O'Connor, the Bishop of Pittsburgh and a temperance supporter, objected to monastic ownership. Wimmer agreed to close the tavern but sought to retain the brewery. This upset O'Connor and he refused to grant the community that Wimmer founded status as a priory. Wimmer appealed O'Connor's refusal to Pope Pius IX during a trip to Rome, but was denied. Through pressure from Cardinal Giacomo Filippo Fransoni and King Ludwig I of Bavaria, the monks gained permission from Pius IX in 1852 to brew beer "providing that every disorder is avoided". Included was permission to sell the beverage wholesale. In 1856, the first Saint Vincent Beer was manufactured when the archabbey established a brewery in a small log building next to the archabbey's gristmill. To avoid further confrontation with O'Connor, Saint Vincent Beer was not made available for widespread sale until he resigned in 1860. Once established, the drink sold well and could be found as far away from the monastery as Baltimore and New York City by 1868. To meet demand, a new two-story brick brewery building was constructed next to the old one. This began the golden age of Saint Vincent Beer, which lasted through 1888. By 1868 the monastery was producing about 900 U.S. beer barrels (100,000 liters; 30,000 U.S. gallons; 20,000 imperial gallons) per year, with an output that peaked in 1891 at 1,119 barrels. For each barrel sold in 1868 at a \$14 () wholesale price, the archabbey made \$3 (). Other contemporary buildings added included a malt house, two ice houses, cellars for storing the finished beverage, and a cooper house where barrels were produced by the monks. ## Beer Fuss During the 1890s, Saint Vincent's golden age ended in controversy. The growing temperance movement in the United States condemned the archabbey in a era that became known as the "Beer Fuss" or "Beer Controversy" At the time, the Catholic Church was working to reduce alcoholism among recent immigrants to the United States. At the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, a resolution from reformist clergy banning monasteries from manufacturing beer was defeated, but a milder one chastising lay members who sold alcohol and encouraging them to enter another profession passed. Catholic temperance advocates saw the production and sale of the beverage by the monks as personally shameful and actively undermining of the church's ministry. Omer Klein, an archivist at Saint Vincent College, considers intra-Catholic ethnic conflicts between Irish-American Catholics and the German-American archabbey as the cause of the Beer Fuss. Jerome Oetgen, a historian of the archabbey, recounts how they drew criticism from Irish-Americans but counters that many of the staunchest critics were fellow German-Americans. The Beer Fuss began in 1892 after Andrew Hintenach, the second archabbot and in place for only four and a half years, resigned in disagreement over the manufacturing of alcohol. The "Abstinence Society" began the same year to pressure the monastery to cease manufacture. In 1895, the parish priest Ferdinand Kittell wrote to Leander Schnerr, the third archabbot, asking him to end the archabbey selling the drink to the public. Kittell wrote: > No complaint is made of the brewery itself, or your right of making or using beer; that is your own affair which we have no right to meddle. But for the fact of your selling it, and it being advertised in secular papers as "on tap" in various saloons, is regretted by the clergy of the diocese without exception, for it brings odium on the Church and shame on our people. Schnerr declined Kittell's request given the permission the monastery received in 1852 from Pope Pius IX. Since the local diocese did not control the monastery, Kittell petitioned Francesco Satolli, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, to stop the archabbey from selling Saint Vincent Beer. Satolli did not forward Kittell's letter to Pope Leo XIII but wrote to Schnerr asking him to stop the large-scale production of alcohol due to the "evil of intemperance" and the work of the Catholic temperance movement. Kittell also applied pressure from within the church and engaged in a media campaign against the monks by writing anti-Saint Vincent Archabbey articles in the Catholic Citizen and the Western Watchman. Kittell suggested that the archabbey and its seminary and college take after the University of Notre Dame, a thriving Catholic institution of higher education that did not need to produce alcohol to balance its finances. The Catholic priest and temperance advocate George Zurcher released his Monks and Their Decline pamphlet in 1898. Zurcher criticized the archabbey for brewing and not joining the temperance movement and mocked the post-nominal letters of Benedictines, OSB, claiming that they should stand for "the Order of Sacred Brewers", claiming the monks were contributing to the drunkenness of lay Catholics. The pamphlet brought the monastery into the popular consciousness outside of Pennsylvania. After being prompted by Martin Ignatius Joseph Griffin, a prominent historian of the Catholic Church, the New York Voice, a newspaper run by the Prohibition Party, released a "sensationalized exposé" about the archabbey, college, and brewery in April 1898. The monks responded with silence and the media lost interest in the story. ## Decline Due to the negative publicity and pressure from temperance groups, the monastery discontinued sales on April 29, 1899. For the next 18 years, the monks continued to brew the beverage for internal use. The brewery closed after Aurelius Stehle was elected coadjutor archabbot in 1918. The following year the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, which started the Prohibition era. Officially, the brewery building was used for storage for the farm in subsequent years, but monks may have made some bootleg beer there as well. On January 13, 1926, most of the brewery buildings burned down in the middle of the night. The ruins of the brewery complex stood until 1995 when they were demolished during the restoration of the gristmill. There are several conflicting accounts of what became of its recipe; local legend has it that the monks sold it to either the Latrobe Brewing Company or the Loyalhanna Brewing Company. The Latrobe Bulletin speculated in 2003 that the Loyalhanna Brewing Company's Monastery Beer was either the Saint Vincent Beer recipe or just named after Saint Vincent Archabbey. According to the monastery, the recipe was not written down and was lost when the brewmaster died. More recently, a monk, named only as 'Father Thomas', claimed the recipe was not lost, but stated that it was "not accessible" to the public in a 2009 NPR segment. ## Description The drink was a thick, dark, and hoppy lager, which local curator Lauren Lamendola described as "made in the tradition of authentic Bavarian breweries". The Pittsburgh Post praised the beverage's purity, quality, and slow brewing process. Monks harvested the necessary crops from the archabbey's fields, then malted and fermented the beer with water and hops on-site. They also aged the beer in open vats before barrelling it into casks produced on site. When they sold it, they did so in limited quantities to one or two bars in a town.
30,343,436	2011 U.S. Open Cup final	1,161,904,909	2011 final of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup	[ "2011 U.S. Open Cup", "2011 in Seattle", "2011 in sports in Washington (state)", "Chicago Fire FC matches", "October 2011 sports events in the United States", "Seattle Sounders FC matches", "Soccer in Seattle", "Sports competitions in Seattle", "U.S. Open Cup finals" ]	The 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final was a soccer match between the Seattle Sounders FC and the Chicago Fire, played on October 4, 2011, at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington. The match was the culmination of the 2011 U.S. Open Cup, a tournament open to amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer). This was the 98th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, the oldest ongoing competition in American soccer. The Seattle Sounders FC won by defeating the Chicago Fire 2–0 with goals scored by Fredy Montero and Osvaldo Alonso. The attendance was 36,615, breaking the record for the final set the previous year when Seattle also won and hosted. Seattle became the first team since 1968 to win three consecutive U.S. Open Cup championships and the fourth team ever to do so in the 98-year history of the tournament. Sounders FC automatically qualified for the third round of the U.S. Open Cup tournament by finishing among the top six in the 2010 Major League Soccer season. The Fire did not automatically qualify, and had to play through two qualification rounds before entering the official tournament. Prior to the final, Chicago and Seattle had met twice in 2011, with Seattle winning one game and the other ending in a draw. The final was televised live on Fox Soccer. This was the second consecutive year the tournament final was played at CenturyLink Field. As the winner of the tournament, Seattle earned a berth in the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League and received a \$100,000 cash prize. Chicago received a \$50,000 prize as the runner-up. Following the final, criticism was raised regarding Seattle winning hosting rights for each round they played. In response, U.S. Soccer announced changes to the rules for determining the host of tournament matches. ## Road to the final The U.S. Open Cup is an annual American soccer competition open to all U.S. Soccer affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League Soccer (MLS). The 2011 tournament was the 98th edition of the oldest soccer tournament in the United States. The MLS, which has teams that play in both the United States and Canada, was allowed to enter eight of its fifteen U.S.-based teams in the tournament. The top six MLS teams from the previous season's league standings qualified automatically for the tournament, while the remaining two spots were determined by preliminary qualification matches. The eight MLS entries began play in the third round of the tournament. In 2010, Seattle Sounders FC finished among the top six in the MLS overall league standings to qualify for the third round of the 2011 U.S. Open Cup. The Chicago Fire however, did not and therefore had to play a series of qualification matches against fellow MLS teams that finished outside of the top six to qualify for the Open Cup tournament. ### Chicago Fire Prior to reaching the 2011 final, the Chicago Fire had reached the U.S. Open Cup final five times in their 14-year history, the most of any MLS franchise, winning four out of five of the tournaments–most recently in 2006. The Fire began their 2011 Open Cup campaign on March 30, 2011, in the MLS qualification semifinals, hosting the Colorado Rapids at Shea Stadium in Peoria, Illinois. Chicago scored first with a goal from Gastón Puerari right before half time. Just one minute into the second half, the Rapids equalized with a goal from Andre Akpan. Following Akpan's goal, the match remained tied for 15 minutes until Chicago's Jalil Anibaba scored the match-winning goal in the 61st minute of play. Chicago moved on to the next round of qualification with a final score of 2–1. The Fire then turned their attention to their second and final qualification match hosted by the San Jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Played on May 24, 2011, in front of 4,124 spectators, the hosts took a two-goal lead in the first half with Ellis McLoughlin and Justin Morrow scoring in the 14th and 43rd minutes, respectively. The Fire halved the deficit in the 61st minute with a goal from Orr Barouch. Fifteen minutes later the Fire tied the score with a strike from Yamith Cuesta. The score remained tied until the end of regulation, leading to extra time, during which Chicago's Gonzalo Segares was ejected for dissent. Despite the Earthquakes' man advantage, the two sides remained tied during overtime, prompting a penalty shootout. In the fifth round of penalties, with Chicago leading 5–4, San Jose's Scott Sealy missed his shot as it deflected off the crossbar, giving the Fire a second qualifier victory and a berth into the third round of the 2011 U.S. Open Cup tournament. In the third round, Chicago faced the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Pro division. Rochester hosted the match on June 28 at the Rhinos' Sahlen's Stadium in front of a crowd of 5,558. The Fire's Diego Cháves netted the match's only goal in the 37th minute of play, earning the Fire a spot in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2008. In the quarterfinals, held on July 12, 2011, the Fire hosted MLS Eastern Conference rival the New York Red Bulls at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. Against mostly reserves for New York, the Fire won the match 4–0 with two goals from Orr Barouch and a goal each scored by Dominic Oduro and Yamith Cuesta. Due to power outages in the area following a severe thunderstorm, the game's start time was moved up from 7:30 pm to 5:00 pm local time, resulting in a late-arriving attendance of about 2,000. Following the match, uproar from Red Bull fans prompted coach Hans Backe to explain that fatigue was the reason for sending only his team's reserve players and an assistant coach to Chicago. New York had lost to DC United in league play just 2 days earlier. On August 31, 2011, the Fire played host to another USL Pro side, the Richmond Kickers, in the semifinal round. On their way to the semifinals, the Kickers defeated two MLS teams in consecutive rounds. They upset the Columbus Crew and Sporting Kansas City in the third round and the quarterfinals, respectively. The semifinal was hosted by the Fire at Toyota Park in front of a crowd of 8,909. In the 32nd minute, the Fire took the lead with a goal from Sebastián Grazzini. In the 61st minute, Chicago went up 2–0 with a goal from Dominic Oduro. Seven minutes later, the Kickers cut the lead in half with a goal from Yomby William. The Fire won 2–1, earning their sixth trip to the U.S. Open Cup final. ### Seattle Sounders FC In 2009, Seattle Sounders FC became the second MLS expansion club to win the U.S. Open Cup tournament, after the Chicago Fire in 1998. They defended their title in 2010 to win a second straight championship. Prior to the final, Sounders FC played U.S. Open Cup home games at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Washington. The facility is smaller than the club's home stadium for league matches, CenturyLink Field, but Sounders FC representatives preferred the atmosphere at Starfire for smaller cup matches. Sounders FC began the defense of their title on June 28, 2011, when they hosted the Kitsap Pumas of the USL Premier Development League from Bremerton, Washington. The match was played at Starfire in front of 3,811 fans. Seattle took the lead in the 39th minute when Michael Fucito scored off a headed pass from Nate Jaqua. Early in the second half Fucito doubled the lead by taking a pass from Mike Seamon and shooting past several defenders for the goal. Kitsap attempted their comeback in the 71st minute when Nikolas Besagno scored from a crossing pass from Robert Christner. In the 83rd minute, Kitsap forward Warlen Silva nearly equalized on a breakaway run, but his shot went into the side netting. Seattle was able to hold on for the 2–1 victory. Seattle then hosted their quarterfinal match on July 13 against a fellow MLS side, the Los Angeles Galaxy. The match was again held at Starfire, with an attendance of 4,322. Nate Jaqua scored following a pass from Pat Noonan in the 4th minute. In the 25th minute, Fredy Montero scored with a left-footed shot from an assist from Jaqua giving Seattle a 2–0 lead. The Galaxy gained a goal back in the 40th minute when Adam Cristman scored on a cross from Chris Birchall. In the 74th minute, Seattle midfielder Lamar Neagle scored from a cross by Álvaro Fernández, extending Seattle's lead to 2 goals. On August 30, 2011, Sounders FC hosted their semifinal opponent, FC Dallas, in front of 4,593 at Starfire Sports Complex. Both teams started their first team players for the match. Seattle applied offensive pressure for most of the first half and broke through with a goal in the 40th minute. Fredy Montero, who had just missed with a bicycle kick shot moments earlier, took a curling left-footed shot in front of goal for the score. Dallas nearly equalized in the 49th minute when Marvin Chavez had a shot bounce hard off the goal post. Dallas continued to attack for most of the second half, and Chavez again had a chance to equalize just before the final whistle, but his shot went high over the goal. With a final score of 1–0, Seattle secured their third straight appearance in the U.S. Open Cup final match. Following the match, Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman complained about how hosts are determined for U.S. Open Cup matches saying, "for me, this is one of the best events – the Lamar Hunt Open Cup – but I'd really like to see it into a structure where it's not a bid system. A bid system is where one team will buy the games because they're bidding higher." He continued, "it could go to the higher seeds, instead of a bid system where you're spending money, or it could be pre-determined. I think that brings out all the fairness to the event." ## Pre-match ### Venue selection On August 26, 2011, U.S. Soccer announced the potential sites for the final, depending on the outcome of the semifinals. It was determined through a blind bid process that if Seattle qualified for the final, they would host it at CenturyLink Field regardless of the opponent, for the second straight year. If FC Dallas defeated Sounders FC in the semifinals, they would host the Richmond Kickers at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, or visit the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, depending on the outcome of the other semifinal match. Seattle defeated Dallas and Chicago defeated Richmond in the semifinals, which resulted in Sounders FC hosting the Fire in the 2011 Open Cup final at CenturyLink Field. Seattle had hosted the previous final, in 2010, drawing a crowd of 31,311 and breaking the 81-year-old attendance record for the event set in 1929 when New York Hakoah defeated the Madison Kennel Club of St. Louis. Tickets for the 2011 final went on sale to the public on September 6. By September 19, it was announced that 27,000 tickets had already been sold. Nine days later, ticket sales surpassed 30,000 and it was announced that the "Hawks Nest" bleacher seats in the north end of CenturyLink Field would be made available for the event. In the week leading up to the final, Sounders FC owner and general manager Adrian Hanauer indicated that sections of the stadium would continue to be opened to meet demand. He stated that "no paying customer would be turned away." ### Analysis With a better MLS regular season record and home field advantage, Sounders FC were the favorites to win the match; however, the Fire had improved throughout the year through better play from their wingers and midfielders. Seattle and Chicago had met twice in MLS regular season matches in 2011. The first meeting, on April 9, 2011, resulted in a 2–1 win for Sounders FC in front of their home crowd. It was Seattle's 5th game of the season. The second meeting was hosted by Chicago on June 4, 2011, and resulted in a 0–0 draw. It was the first game for Chicago coach Frank Klopas as he replaced Carlos de los Cobos, who was fired by the club the previous week. As a player, Klopas had scored the winning goal for Chicago in the 1998 U.S. Open Cup final. As coach, ESPNChicago.com analyst Charlie Corr credited him with the team's successful shift in tactics since previously meeting Seattle. In the days leading up to the final, Seattle had recently finished a long road trip. Chicago's schedule made the match their third in a week's time. In preparation for the final, the managers fielded weaker sides during their respective league matches two days before the game, allowing them to rest several regular starters. The Sounders were playing well, having already clinched a MLS playoff berth. A victory over the New England Revolution on the weekend prior to the final gave the team a three-game winning streak. The Fire had defeated Real Salt Lake on September 28, but their playoff chances were diminished after a tie against the Houston Dynamo on the weekend prior to the final. ## Match The match was televised live on Fox Soccer with coverage starting at 7 pm PT (02:00 UTC). The attendance of 36,615 was a record crowd for the competition's final. Seattle's Emerald City Supporters unveiled tifo before kickoff depicting the Grim Reaper over the graves of D.C. United, the Columbus Crew, and the Chicago Fire. Injuries to key players were a concern for both teams in the buildup to the final. For Seattle, midfielder Mauro Rosales's knee was injured and he did not recover in time for the final. Also, Sounders FC defender James Riley was recovering from a concussion. He practiced in the week prior to the final and started in the match. For Chicago, midfielder Sebastian Grazzini was a key player who was questionable before the match. Grazzini began the game on the bench for Chicago. ### First half The match started with a frenetic pace as both teams earned free kick attempts within the opening two minutes. Seattle forward Mike Fucito had the first goal scoring opportunity of the match in the eighth minute as he broke free in the penalty area and took a shot on goal. The shot was kicked away by Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson. Neither side appeared to gain control as the match progressed through the first 10 minutes. In the 11th minute, Chicago midfielder Marco Pappa slipped between two defenders in the middle of the field and had a long range shot go just wide of the net. Two minutes later Pappa again had a long shot which forced Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller to make a save. Pappa was responsible for all five of his team's shots in the first half. In the 26th minute, Patrick Nyarko was shown a yellow card by referee Alex Prus for a hard tackle on Seattle's Osvaldo Alonso near the touch-line. As the match passed the 30 minute mark, Seattle began to take control as they held possession and created more scoring opportunities. Five minutes before half time Marco Pappa again tested the Seattle goalkeeper as he cut inside a defender and took a shot from 30 yards. The shot forced Kasey Keller to make a diving save. In the 44th minute Seattle striker Mike Fucito rushed onto a poor backpass by the Chicago defense and then backhealed a pass to Alvaro Fernandez who was streaking into the box. His shot was stopped with a reaching save by Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson. One minute later, in first half injury time, Seattle striker Fredy Montero nearly scored with a 20-yard shot that flew past the keeper and bounced off the left goal post. The half ended with the score tied 0–0. ### Second half At half time, Seattle midfielder Erik Frieberg was subbed on for Alvaro Fernandez, who had suffered a slight concussion during the first half. Shortly after the second half began, Seattle nearly broke the stalemate. In the 53rd minute, a Sounders FC throw-in was flicked on to Mike Fucito, who lifted a shot up and over the keeper. His shot was chased by several Chicago defenders as it crossed the goal mouth and bounced off the far goal post and back into play. In the 78th minute, Montero broke the deadlock on a corner kick taken by Erik Friberg. Sounders FC defender Jeff Parke headed the corner kick on goal and Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson saved the shot. The ball rebounded to the feet of Fredy Montero, who tapped the ball into the net for in the first goal of the game. Sounders FC now had a 1–0 lead. For much of the first half and early second half, Sounders FC's defensive efforts had been focused on closely defending Chicago midfield Pável Pardo. With Pardo unable to distribute the ball to Chicago's speedy wingers, Patrick Nyarko and Domonic Oduro, Chicago's offense had been effectively neutralized for much of the match. Fire coach Frank Klopas made two substitutions late in the match, bringing on forward Diego Chaves in the 80th minute and midfielder Sebastián Grazzini in the 85th. Chicago's best chance of the half came in the 90th minute when Dominic Oduro headed a shot toward Kasey Keller, who made the save even though the attempt was ruled offside. As the match neared its conclusion, Chicago shifted players forward as they searched for an equalizing goal. However, in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Osvaldo Alonso scored Seattle's second goal on a counterattack play as he dribbled around multiple defenders and the goalkeeper and finally tapped the ball into the net. The goal gave Sounders FC a 2–0 lead and sealed the victory. ### Details ### Statistics Overall ## Post-match Most of the record crowd remained after the game as they watched Seattle players and coaches engaged in the post match trophy awarding ceremony and celebrated on the field. In the post match press conference, Sigi Schmid praised his team's defensive efforts in the match, saying "We talked about making sure their defenders – and primarily Pável Pardo – didn’t have a chance to lift their heads and hit those long balls in behind." Schmid continued, "I thought Evans did a really good job. Sometimes we were stretched in the midfield, but I thought he did a very good job of stepping up to Pável. When you look at the 90 minutes, it was a rare occasion that he was able to hit a ball behind our defense." Chicago midfielder Logan Pause commented on the game saying, "It's disappointing. We came here to win. We were under the gun all night. They’re a great team, one of the best in the league. It was a great atmosphere and home field advantage. The better team won tonight unfortunately." The day after the match, Sounders FC flew a 3,000-square-foot (280 m<sup>2</sup>) scarf over Seattle and Bellevue in the afternoon and early evening respectively, in celebration of their victory. By winning the final, Sounders FC became the first MLS team to win the competition three times in a row, and the first club to do so in the competition since Greek American Atlas did so in 1969, 42 years earlier. Seattle also became the fourth team in the 98-year history of the tournament to win three in a row. As U.S. Open Cup champions, Seattle received the \$100,000 cash prize while Chicago was given \$50,000 as the runner up. Seattle also earned a berth in the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League with the victory. In the Champions League, Seattle won their group and were eventually knocked out of the tournament in the semifinals by Mexican club Santos Laguna. Sounders FC midfielder Osvaldo Alonso was voted the "player of the round" for the final. Alonso was recognized for his goal scoring effort as well as his record-setting fourth consecutive appearance as a player in the U.S. Open Cup final match. He had appeared first with the Charleston Battery in the 2008 final and then 3 times with Seattle from 2009 to 2011. Seattle forward Fredy Montero was recognized as the "player of the tournament" as he scored the game winning goals for Sounders FC in their quarterfinal, semifinal, and final matches. Osvaldo Alonso was one of the four finalists for "player of the tournament" along with Montero and two players from the semifinalist Richmond Kickers–Ronnie Pascale and David Bulow. ### Host selection process changes U.S. Soccer was criticized after the match for the secretive bid process that allows teams to outspend their opponents for hosting rights. Both the blind bidding process for hosting tournament matches and the manner in which MLS teams qualified for the tournament were widely criticized. An example of the concerns raised around hosting came from FC Dallas midfielder Daniel Hernandez on Twitter, where he complained about Seattle's home-field advantage throughout the 2011 tournament. Following the final, MLS and U.S. Soccer officials met to discuss rule changes to the tournament's host bidding system and team qualification processes. Sounders FC owner Adrian Hanauer commented on the changes and the possibility of raising the profile of the tournament, "I don’t think the bidding process is going to change the profile of the tournament, necessarily. It might make a few people happy, it might make a few people unhappy. But ultimately, I’m not convinced that's what is going to raise the profile." In January 2012, in preparation for the 2012 edition of the U.S. Open Cup, U.S. Soccer announced several changes to the tournament format. Included in these changes was the introduction of a new host selection process. Beginning in 2012, for all rounds of the tournament through the quarterfinals, a random host selection process would be used. While in previous years a blind bidding system was used to determine the host of a match, the new process has the host determined by blind draw if both teams' venues meet minimum standards. The blind bidding system for hosting rights remained in effect for the semifinals and final of the 2012 tournament. However, U.S. Soccer announced in 2013 that hosting for all rounds of the tournament would be determined randomly as long as both venues met minimum standards.
21,254,478	Gateway Protection Programme	1,132,965,724	British governmental refugee resettlement scheme	[ "Immigration to the United Kingdom", "Refugees in the United Kingdom", "Settlement schemes in Europe", "United Kingdom border control", "United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resettlement programmes" ]	The Gateway Protection Programme was a refugee resettlement scheme operated by the Government of the United Kingdom in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), offering a legal route for a quota of UNHCR-identified refugees to be resettled in the UK. Following a proposal by the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, in October 2001, the legal basis was established by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and the programme itself launched in March 2004. The programme enjoyed broad support from the UK's main political parties. The Gateway Protection Programme initially had a quota of 500 refugees per year, which was later increased to 750, but the actual number of refugees resettled in most years was fewer than the quota permitted. Afghan, Liberian, Congolese, Sudanese, Burmese, Ethiopian, Mauritanian, Iraqi, Bhutanese, Eritrean, Palestinian and Somali refugees were amongst those who were resettled under the programme. Refugees were resettled to locations in England and Scotland. Of the 18 local authorities participating as resettlement locations by 2012, eight were in the North West region of England and three in Yorkshire and the Humber. Evaluations of the programme have praised it as having a positive impact on the reception of refugees by local communities, but have also noted the difficulties these refugees have faced in securing employment. In 2019, the British government announced plans to merge the Gateway Protection Programme with two of the UK's other resettlement schemes to create a new, single resettlement scheme. This was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the Gateway Protection Programme closed after resettling 9,939 refugees since it began in 2004. The new, replacement UK Resettlement Scheme started in February 2021. ## Details The programme was the UK's "quota refugee" resettlement scheme. Refugees designated as particularly vulnerable by the UNHCR were assessed by the Home Office for eligibility under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. If they met the eligibility criteria, they were brought to the UK and granted indefinite leave to remain. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) assisted the process by facilitating pre-departure medical screening, counselling, dossier preparation, transport and immediate arrival assistance. Once in the UK, refugees were entered into a 12-month support programme intended to aid their integration. The programme involved local authorities and NGOs including the British Red Cross, the International Rescue Committee, Migrant Helpline, Refugee Action, the Refugee Arrivals Project, the Refugee Council, Scottish Refugee Council and Refugee Support. These organisations formed the Resettlement Inter-Agency Partnership at the planning stage of the programme, in order to pool their resources and form a partnership for the delivery of services to the resettled refugees. The programme was distinct from, and in addition to, ordinary provisions for claiming asylum in the United Kingdom. The Gateway Protection Programme was co-funded by the European Union, first through the European Refugee Fund and then through its successor, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Over the period 2009–14, the Home Office provided £29.97 million in funding and the EU £18.67 million. Anna Musgrave of the Refugee Council argued in 2014 that the programme "is rarely talked about and the Home Office, in the main, stay fairly quiet about it." ## History The Gateway Protection Programme was not the first British refugee resettlement programme. Other, informal resettlement programmes have included the Mandate Refugee Scheme, and the UK has also participated in the Ten or More Plan. The former is for so-called "mandate" refugees who have been granted refugee status by UNHCR in third countries. To qualify for the scheme, refugees must have close ties to the UK and it must also be demonstrated that the UK is the most appropriate country for their resettlement. The Ten or More Plan, established by UNHCR in 1973 and administered in the UK by the British Red Cross, is for refugees requiring medical attention not available in their current location. During the 1990s, 2,620 refugees were settled in the UK through these two programmes. In 2003, the UK's Ten or More Plan had a resettlement goal of 10 people and the Mandate Refugee Scheme 300. Refugees have also been resettled through specific programmes following emergencies, including 42,000 Ugandan Asians expelled from Uganda during 1972–74, 22,500 Vietnamese during 1979–92, over 2,500 Bosnians in the 1990s, and over 4,000 Kosovars in 1999. A new resettlement programme was proposed by the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett in October 2001, having been hinted at by the previous Home Secretary, Jack Straw, in a speech to the European Conference on Asylum in Lisbon in June 2000. The legal basis for the programme's funding was established by Section 59 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. This act was passed by the House of Commons by 362 votes to 74 in June 2002 and by the House of Lords – at the ninth attempt, following concern about the introduction of measures allowing for the detention of asylum seekers in rural areas) – in November 2002. The Gateway Protection Programme was subsequently established in March 2004, with the first refugees arriving in the UK on 19 March. Initially, the programme quota was set at 500 per year. The British government had faced criticism from academics and practitioners over the small number of refugees it has resettled in comparison with other developed states. For example, in 2001 the countries with the largest quota schemes were the United States (80,000 refugees), Canada (11,000) and Australia (10,000). Initially, David Blunkett had intended to raise the quota to 1,000 in the second year of the programme's operation, but local councils' reluctance to participate in the scheme meant that it was slow to take off. It has been argued that their reluctance showed that hostile attitudes towards asylum seekers had carried over to affect the most genuinely needy refugees. The quota remained at 500 per year until the 2008/09 financial year, when it was increased to 750 refugees per year. The number of refugees resettled under the scheme was small in comparison to the number of asylum seekers offered protection in the UK. For example, in 2013, 17,647 initial decisions on asylum claims were made by the Home Office, of which 5,734 (32.5 per cent) determined the applicant to be a refugee and granted them asylum, 53 (0.3 per cent) granted humanitarian protection and 540 (3.1 per cent) granted discretionary leave. 11,105 applications (62.9 per cent) were refused. Worldwide, there were 51.2 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2013, 16.7 million of whom were refugees. The programme was supported by the main British political parties at the national level since its inception, and there was also support from councillors from each of the main parties at the local authority level. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the scheme in 2014, refugee groups and others praised it as a successful programme and called for it to be expanded, particularly in light of the Syrian refugee crisis. In early 2014, Amnesty International and the Refugee Council campaigned for the government to offer resettlement or humanitarian protection to Syrian refugees above and beyond the Gateway quota of 750 per year, "to ensure that resettlement opportunities continue to be available to refugees from the rest of the world". The anniversary of the programme was also the occasion of further criticism of the 750 quota, with some commentators arguing that this was mean-spirited and continued to compare unfavourably with the refugee resettlement programmes of states including the United States, Canada and Australia. Others, such as academic Jonathan Darling, were more skeptical about expanding the scheme, for fear that any such a move would be accompanied by greater restrictions on the ability of people to claim asylum in the UK. He argues that "we must be critical of any attempts to expand such a quota-based scheme at the expense of a more progressive asylum system". Furthermore, he argues that the "hospitality" of the scheme was highly conditional and can be viewed as a form of "compassionate repression", with the UNHCR, the Home Office and local authorities all involved in "sorting, decision, and consideration over which individuals are the 'exceptional cases'", to the exclusion of others. In September 2015, in the context of the European migrant crisis, Labour Party leadership candidate Yvette Cooper called for an increase in the number of refugees resettled in the UK to 10,000. The prime minister, David Cameron, subsequently announced that the UK would resettle 20,000 refugees from camps in countries bordering Syria over the period to 2020 under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which was established in early 2014 and was distinct from, but modelled on, the Gateway Protection Programme. On 17 June 2019, the British Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, announced that a new resettlement scheme would be introduced from 2020, bringing the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, the Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme and the Gateway Protection Programme into a single programme with an initial quota of 5,000 people. The government stated that "the new programme will be simpler to operate and provide greater consistency in the way that the UK government resettles refugees". The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the launch of the new resettlement scheme, with the individual schemes it was intended to replace being placed on hold in March 2020 and limited resettlement under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme only resuming in late 2020. A January 2021 parliamentary briefing explained that since the pandemic, "there has been uncertainty over the Government's plans to launch the [UK Resettlement Scheme], and it is unclear whether the previous ambition to resettle 5,000 refugees in the first year of operation still stands". Government ministers confirmed that they still intended to launch a new programme, however. The new UK Resettlement Scheme started in February 2021. ## Refugees resettled The number of refugees resettled under the programme was below the quota in every year except for 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017. Refugees resettled included Liberians from Guinea and Sierra Leone, Congolese (DRC) from Uganda and Zambia, Sudanese from Uganda, Burmese (including Karen, Mon, Pa'O and Rohingya people) from Thailand, Ethiopians from Kenya, and Mauritanians from Senegal. Provision was made for 1,000 Iraqi refugees to be resettled in the UK between 1 April 2008 and the end of March 2010. In 2008, 236 Iraqis were resettled and as of 18 May, a further 212 had been resettled in 2009. However, in May 2009 the programme was shut down for those Iraqis resettling due to having worked in support of British occupying forces and therefore at risk for reprisals. This decision was criticised as premature and "mean-spirited" by some members of Parliament. Nonetheless, other Iraqis continued to be resettled under the Gateway Protection Programme and between 2004 and 2017, a total of 1,640 Iraqis were resettled as part of the programme. Other nationalities of refugees resettled under the scheme included Bhutanese, Eritreans, Palestinians, Sierra Leoneans and Somalis. ## Resettlement locations In March 2009, out of the 434 local authorities in the UK, 15 were participating in the programme. By 2012, a total of 18 local authorities had participated. In a review of the scheme, academics Duncan Sim and Kait Laughlin noted that "it is clear that, as with asylum seekers dispersed by the UK Borders Agency under Home Office dispersal policy, most refugees have been resettled away from London and south east England, a policy which may lead to separation of extended families". Of the 18 local authorities, eight were in North West England and three in Yorkshire and the Humber. The first refugees resettled under the programme were housed in Sheffield, which was the first city to join the scheme and which had branded itself the UK's first 'City of Sanctuary'. Others were housed in cities and towns including Bradford, Brighton and Hove, Bromley, Colchester, Hull, Middlesbrough, Motherwell, Norwich, and the Manchester area including Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport and Tameside. Sheffield, Bolton and Hull received the largest numbers, accounting for just under half of all refugees resettled under the programme between 2004 and 2012. The large proportion of refugees who were resettled in North West England has been attributed partly to strong leadership on migration issues in Greater Manchester. In 2007, North Lanarkshire Council won the "Creating Integrated Communities" category in the UK Housing Awards for its involvement in the Gateway Protection Programme. Research with Congolese refugees settled with North Lanarkshire Council in Motherwell found that the majority wanted to stay in the town and that they viewed it positively both as a location in its own right, and in comparison with other resettlement locations. In April 2007, Bolton Museum held an exhibition of photos of Sudanese refugees resettled in the town under the programme. A film, titled Moving to Mars was made about two ethnic Karen families resettled from Burma to Sheffield under the Gateway Protection Programme. The film opened the Sheffield International Documentary Festival in November 2009 and was aired on the television channel More4 on 2 February 2010. One ethnic Karen refugee resettled with his family in Sheffield in 2006, Kler Heh, signed a professional contract to play football for Sheffield United F.C. in March 2015. On 17 July 2009, three Congolese men resettled in Norwich under the programme were killed in a car crash on the A1 road. The Home Office released a promotional video in October 2009 that highlighted the success of the programme in resettling the first 15 Congolese families in Norwich in 2006. In 2011, the Home Office stopped using Norwich as a resettlement location in favour of locations in Yorkshire and Lancashire, reportedly to the disappointment of the local council. ## Evaluations Resettlement has been presented as a means of the UK fulfilling its obligations towards displaced people in the context of hostile public attitudes towards asylum seekers. Research has shown that members of the British public are generally well disposed to providing protection to genuine refugees, but are sceptical about the validity of asylum seekers' claims. A report published in 2005 states that "some participating agencies have been reluctant to pursue a proactive media strategy due to local political considerations and issues relating to the dispersal of asylum seekers". However, in February 2006, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department Andy Burnham, when asked about how the programme fitted in with community cohesion strategies, stated in the House of Commons that: > "The early evidence from areas in which authorities have participated in the programme shows that it has been successful in challenging some of the attacks on the notion of political asylum that we have heard in recent years. In Bolton and Sheffield in particular, the towns have rallied around the individuals who have come to them. The programme has been a positive experience for the receiving community and, of course, for the vulnerable individuals who have benefited from the protection that those towns have offered". A report into the experience of refugees resettled in Brighton and Hove under the scheme between October 2006 and October 2007 was published by the Sussex Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex in December 2007. The report found that the refugees had struggled to gain employment and English language skills. Another evaluation report undertaken for the Home Office and published in 2011 also found that only small numbers of resettled refugees were in paid employment, noting that many were still more concerned about meeting their basic needs. In February 2009, the Home Office published a report evaluating the effectiveness of the Gateway Protection Programme. The research it was based upon focused on refugees' integration into British society in the 18 months following their resettlement. The research found that refugees showed signs of integration, including the formation of social bonds through community groups and places of worship. The report noted that low employment rates and slow progress with acquiring English language skills were particular concerns. Younger refugees and children had made the most progress. No specific language lessons were provided under the Gateway Protection Programme. Instead, Gateway refugees who required help with their English language skills had been provided with access to mainstream English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses, which were run by a range of state, voluntary and community-based organisations. However, the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) Europe reported that in Sheffield, it could be difficult for resettled refugees to gain access to ESOL classes because demand generally exceeded supply – a situation also noted by an evaluation of the scheme's operation in Motherwell undertaken in 2013. The Motherwell evaluation found that most of the male refugees were in employment, but that many of them were not in jobs that allowed them to use their skills. The majority of women were not in work, reflecting a lack of job opportunities but also a lack of childcare provision. A number of programme evaluations have found that many resettled refugees have been the victims of verbal or physical attacks in the UK. The Home Office's 2009 evaluation noted that between one-quarter and half of each of four groups of Liberian and Congolese refugees resettled under the programme had suffered verbal or physical harassment. An evaluation undertaken by academics at Sheffield Hallam University for the Home Office in 2011 found that one-fifth of the refugees surveyed for the evaluation (who had been in the UK for a year) had been the victims of verbal or physical attacks in their first six months in the UK, and just over a fifth had been attacked in the second six months of their resettlement. Many of the victims of this abuse had not reported it to the authorities, and the authors of the evaluation suggested that this was a reason why there was a gap between the perceptions of refugee and service providers, who generally suggested that community relations were good. Verbal and physical attacks against refugees were also noted in the 2013 Motherwell evaluation. ## See also - Modern immigration to the United Kingdom - Third country resettlement
10,446,358	Interstate 70 in Colorado	1,147,790,561	Section of Interstate Highway in Colorado, United States	[ "Colorado River", "Interstate 70", "Interstate Highways in Colorado", "Transportation in Adams County, Colorado", "Transportation in Arapahoe County, Colorado", "Transportation in Clear Creek County, Colorado", "Transportation in Denver", "Transportation in Eagle County, Colorado", "Transportation in Elbert County, Colorado", "Transportation in Garfield County, Colorado", "Transportation in Jefferson County, Colorado", "Transportation in Kit Carson County, Colorado", "Transportation in Lincoln County, Colorado", "Transportation in Mesa County, Colorado", "Transportation in Summit County, Colorado" ]	Interstate 70 (I-70) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Cove Fort, Utah, to Baltimore, Maryland. In Colorado, the highway traverses an east–west route across the center of the state. In western Colorado, the highway connects the metropolitan areas of Grand Junction and Denver via a route through the Rocky Mountains. In eastern Colorado, the highway crosses the Great Plains, connecting Denver with metropolitan areas in Kansas and Missouri. Bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles, normally prohibited on Interstate Highways, are allowed on those stretches of I-70 in the Rockies where no other through route exists. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) lists the construction of I-70 among the engineering marvels undertaken in the Interstate Highway System and cites four major accomplishments: the section through the Dakota Hogback, Eisenhower Tunnel, Vail Pass, and Glenwood Canyon. The Eisenhower Tunnel, with a maximum elevation of 11,158 feet (3,401 m) and length of 1.7 miles (2.7 km), is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point along the Interstate Highway System. The portion through Glenwood Canyon was completed on October 14, 1992. This was one of the final pieces of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic and is one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the country. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) earned the 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the completion of I-70 through the canyon. When the Interstate Highway System was in the planning stages, the western terminus of I-70 was proposed to be at Denver. The portion west of Denver was included in the plans after lobbying by Governor Edwin C. Johnson, for whom one of the tunnels along I-70 is named. East of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the corridor of U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), one of the original transcontinental U.S. Highways. West of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the route of US 6, which was extended into Colorado during the 1930s. ## Route description ### Colorado River I-70 enters Colorado from Utah, concurrent with US 6 and US 50, on a plateau between the north rim of Ruby Canyon of the Colorado River and the south rim of the Book Cliffs. The plateau ends just past the state line and the highway descends into the Grand Valley, formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries. The Grand Valley is home to several towns and small cities that form the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area, the largest conurbation in the area regionally known as the Western Slope. The highway directly serves the communities of Fruita, Grand Junction, and Palisade. Grand Junction is the largest city between Denver and Salt Lake City and serves as the economic hub of the area. The freeway passes to the north of downtown, while US 6 and US 50 retain their original routes through downtown. US 6 rejoins I-70 east of Grand Junction; US 50 departs on a course toward Pueblo. I-70 exits the valley through De Beque Canyon, a path carved by the Colorado River that separates the Book Cliffs from Battlement Mesa. The river and its tributaries provide the course for the ascent up the Rocky Mountains. In the canyon, I-70 enters the Beavertail Mountain Tunnel, the first of several tunnels built to route the freeway across the Rockies. This tunnel design features a curved side wall, unusual for tunnels in the United States, where most tunnels feature a curved roof and flat side walls. Engineers borrowed a European design to give the tunnel added strength. After the canyon winds past the Book Cliffs, the highway follows the Colorado River through a valley containing the communities of Parachute and Rifle. ### Glenwood Canyon East of the city of Glenwood Springs, the highway enters Glenwood Canyon. Both the federal and state departments of transportation have praised the engineering achievement required to build the freeway through the narrow gorge while preserving the natural beauty of the canyon. A 12-mile (19 km) section of roadway features the No Name Tunnel, Hanging Lake Tunnel, Reverse Curve Tunnel, 40 bridges and viaducts, and miles of retaining walls. Through a significant portion of the canyon, the eastbound lanes extend cantilevered over the Colorado River and the westbound lanes are suspended on a viaduct several feet above the canyon floor. Along this run, the freeway hugs the north bank of the Colorado River, while the Central Corridor of the Union Pacific Railroad (formerly the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad) occupies the south bank. To minimize the hazards along this portion, a command center staffed with emergency response vehicles and tow trucks on standby monitors cameras along the tunnels and viaducts in the canyon. Traffic signals have been placed at strategic locations to stop traffic in the event of an accident, and variable message signs equipped with radar guns will automatically warn motorists exceeding the design speed of one of the curves. ### Rocky Mountains The highway departs the Colorado River near Dotsero, the name given to the railroad separation for the two primary mountain crossings, the original via Tennessee Pass/Royal Gorge and the newer and shorter Moffat Tunnel route. I-70 uses a separate route between the two rail corridors. From this junction, I-70 follows the Eagle River toward Vail Pass, at an elevation of 10,666 feet (3,251 m). In this canyon, I-70 reaches the western terminus of US 24, which meanders through the Rockies before rejoining I-70. US 24 is known as the Highway of the Fourteeners, from the concentration of mountains exceeding 14,000 feet (4,300 m) along the highway corridor. Along the ascent, I-70 serves the ski resort town of Vail and the ski areas of Beaver Creek Resort, Vail Ski Resort, and Copper Mountain. The construction of the freeway over Vail Pass is also listed as an engineering marvel. One of the challenges of this portion is the management of the wildlife that roams this area. Several parts of the approach to the pass feature large fences that prevent wildlife from crossing the freeway and direct the animals to one of several underpasses. At least one underpass is located along a natural migratory path and has been landscaped to encourage deer to cross. The highway descends to Dillon Reservoir, near the town of Frisco, and begins one final ascent to the Eisenhower Tunnel, where the freeway crosses the Continental Divide. At the time of dedication, this tunnel was the highest vehicular tunnel in the world, at 11,158 feet (3,401 m). As of 2010, the facility was still the highest vehicular tunnel in the US. The Eisenhower Tunnel is noted as both the longest mountain tunnel and the highest point on the Interstate Highway System. The tunnel has a command center, staffed with 52 full-time employees, to monitor traffic, remove stranded vehicles, and maintain generators to keep the tunnel's lighting and ventilation systems running in the event of a power failure. Signals are placed at each entrance and at various points inside the tunnel to close lanes or stop traffic in an emergency. There are several active and former ski resorts in the vicinity of the tunnel, including Breckenridge Ski Resort, Keystone Resort, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland Ski Area, Berthoud Pass Ski Area, and Winter Park Resort. ### Clear Creek The freeway follows Clear Creek down the eastern side of the Rockies, passing through the Veterans Memorial Tunnels near Idaho Springs. Farther to the east, I-70 departs the US 6 corridor, which continues to follow Clear Creek through a narrow, curving gorge. The Interstate, however, follows the corridor of US 40 out of the canyon. The highway crests a small mountain near Genesee Park to descend into Mount Vernon Canyon to exit the Rocky Mountains. This portion features grade-warning signs with unusual messages, such as "Trucks: Don't be fooled", "Truckers, you are not down yet", and "Are your brakes adjusted and cool?". Runaway truck ramps are a prominent feature along this portion of I-70, with a total of seven used along the descent of either side the Continental Divide to stop trucks with failed brakes. The last geographic feature of the Rocky Mountains traversed before the highway reaches the Great Plains is the Dakota Hogback. The path through the hogback features a massive cut that exposes various layers of rock millions of years old. The site includes a nature study area for visitors. ### Great Plains As the freeway passes from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Plains, I-70 enters the Denver metropolitan area, part of a larger urban area called the Front Range Urban Corridor. The freeway arcs around the northern edge of the LoDo district, the common name of the lower downtown area of Denver. Through the downtown area, US 40 is routed along Colfax Avenue, which served as the primary east–west artery through the Denver area before the construction of I-70. Through downtown, US 6 is routed along 6th Avenue before departing the I-70 corridor to join I-76 on a northeast course toward Nebraska. The freeway meets I-25 in an interchange frequently called the Mousetrap. From I-25 on to I-225, I-70 serves—together with those two Interstates—as part of an inner beltway around Denver. I-70 has one official branch in Colorado, I-270, which connects the Interstate with the Denver–Boulder Turnpike. Where these two freeways merge is the busiest portion of I-70 in the state, with an average of 183,000 vehicles per day as of 2009. While State Highway 470 (SH 470) and E-470 are not officially branches of I-70, they are remnants of plans for an I-470 outer beltway around Denver that were canceled when the allocated funds were spent elsewhere. Leaving Denver, the highway serves the redevelopment areas on the former site of Stapleton International Airport; runway 17R/35L crossed over the Interstate at the runway's midsection. East of Aurora, I-70 rejoins the alignment of US 40 at Colfax Avenue. The freeway proceeds east across the Great Plains, briefly dipping south to serve the city of Limon, which bills itself as Hub City because of the many rail and road arteries that intersect there. I-70 enters Kansas near Burlington, a small community known for having one of the oldest carousels in the United States. ## History In 1944, a report to the United States Congress outlined several interregional highways, among which was a freeway from the east along the US 40 corridor that ended in Denver. After Colorado officials lobbied successfully, the designation was extended west over the Rocky Mountains following US 6. The origins of both the US 40 and US 6 predate the United States Numbered Highway System, using established transcontinental trails. ### Earlier routes Before the formation of the US Highway System, the country relied on an informal network of roads, organized by various competing interests, collectively called the auto trail system. The surveyors of most trails chose either South Pass in Wyoming or a southern route through New Mexico to traverse the Rocky Mountains. Both options were less formidable than the higher mountain passes in Colorado but left the state without a transcontinental artery. When the planners of the Lincoln Highway also decided to cross the Rockies in Wyoming, officials pressed for a loop to branch from the main route in Nebraska, enter Colorado, and return to the main route in Wyoming. While the Lincoln Highway was briefly routed this way, the loop proved impractical and was soon removed. After losing the connection to the Lincoln Highway, officials convinced planners of the Victory Highway to traverse the state. The highway entered Colorado from Kansas along what was previously called the Smoky Hill Trail. The highway crossed the mountains along a trail blazed by a railroad surveyor and captain in the American Civil War, cresting at Berthoud Pass. After a round of political infighting between Utah and Nevada, the Victory Highway would become the Lincoln Highway's main rival for San Francisco-bound traffic. When the U.S. Highway system was unveiled in 1926, the Victory Highway was numbered US 40. While US 6 was also one of the original 1926 US Highways, the road originally served the portion of the country east of the Rocky Mountains. The highway was not extended to the Pacific coast until 1937, mostly following the Midland Trail. Around the time the U.S. Highway system was formed, the portion of the Midland Trail through Glenwood Canyon, known as the Taylor State Road, was destroyed by a flood. When US 6 was extended, the Works Progress Administration was rebuilding the road through the canyon and the Public Works Administration was nearing completion of a new highway over Vail Pass. In western Colorado, US 6 was routed concurrent with US 50 from the Utah state line to Grand Junction and eventually replaced US 24 from Grand Junction to near Vail. To keep these routes over the Rockies competitive with alternatives in other states, the Colorado Department of Highways relied on ingenuity to keep the roads safe. The department pioneered new machines to clear snow and various bridge and culvert designs to protect the roads from flooding. ### Interstate Highway planning Governor Edwin C. Johnson, for whom one of the tunnels along I-70 was later named, was a primary force in persuading the planners of the Interstate Highway System to extend the highway across the state. He stated to the Senate subcommittee in 1955: > You are going to have a four-lane highway through Wyoming. You are going to build two four-lane highways through New Mexico and Arizona. Colorado needs to be able to compete with our neighboring states. We do not want to take anything away from them. We do not want them to get way out ahead of us, either, because these interstate highways are going to be very attractive highways for the East and West to travel on. Colorado held several meetings to convince reluctant Utah officials they would benefit from a freeway link between Denver and Salt Lake City. Utah officials expressed concerns that, given the terrain between these cities, this link would be difficult to build. They later expressed concerns that the construction would drain resources from completing Interstate Highways they deemed to have a higher priority. Colorado officials persisted, presenting three alternatives to route I-70 west of Denver, using the corridors of US 40, US 6, and a route starting at Pueblo, proceeding west along US 50/US 285/US 24. In March 1955, Colorado officials succeeded in convincing Utah officials with the state legislature passing a resolution supporting a link with Denver. The two states jointly issued a proposal to Congress that would extend the plans for I-70 along the US 6 corridor. Under this proposal, the freeway would terminate at I-15 near Spanish Fork, Utah, linking the Front Range and Wasatch Front metropolitan areas. Congress approved the extension of I-70; however, the route still had to be approved by the representatives of the military on the planning committee. Military representatives were concerned that plans for this new highway network did not have a direct connection from the central part of the country to Southern California; and further felt Salt Lake City was adequately connected. Military planners approved the extension but moved the western terminus south to Cove Fort, using I-70 as part of a link between Denver with Los Angeles instead of Salt Lake City. Utah officials objected to the modification, complaining they were being asked to build a long and expensive freeway that would serve no populated areas of the state. After being told this was the only way the military would approve the extension, Utah officials agreed to build the freeway along the approved route. ### Construction The first Colorado portion of I-70 opened to traffic in 1961. This section bypassed and linked Idaho Springs to the junction where US 6 currently separates from I-70 west of the city. The majority of the alignment through Denver was completed by 1964. The Mousetrap reused some structures that were built in 1951, before the formation of the Interstate Highway System. The last piece east of Denver opened to traffic in 1977. #### Eisenhower Tunnel Planning on how to route the freeway over the Rocky Mountains began in the early 1960s. The US 6 corridor crosses two passes: Loveland Pass, at an elevation of 11,992 feet (3,655 m), and Vail Pass, at 10,666 feet (3,251 m). Engineers recommended tunneling under Loveland Pass to bypass the steep grades and hairpin curves required to navigate US 6. The project was originally called the Straight Creek Tunnel, after the waterway that runs along the western approach. The tunnel was later renamed the Eisenhower–Johnson Memorial Tunnel, after President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Colorado Governor Edwin C. Johnson. Construction on the first bore of the tunnel was started on March 15, 1968. Construction efforts suffered many setbacks, and the project went well over time and budget. One of the biggest setbacks was the discovery of fault lines in the path of the tunnel that were not discovered during the pilot bores. These faults began to slip during construction and emergency measures had to be taken to protect the tunnels and workers from cave-ins and collapses. A total of nine workers were killed during the construction of both bores. Further complicating construction was that the boring machines could not work as fast as expected at such high altitudes, and the productivity was significantly less than planned. The frustration prompted one engineer to comment, "We were going by the book, but the damned mountain couldn't read." The first bore was dedicated March 8, 1973. Initially, this tunnel was used for two-way traffic, with one lane for each direction. The amount of traffic through the tunnel exceeded predictions, and efforts soon began to expedite construction on the second tube (the Johnson bore), which was finished on December 21, 1979. The initial engineering cost estimate for the Eisenhower bore was \$42 million; the actual cost was \$108 million (equivalent to \$ in ). Approximately 90 percent of the funds were paid by the federal government, with the state of Colorado paying the rest. At the time, this figure set a record for the most expensive federally aided project. The excavation cost for the Johnson bore was \$102.8 million (equivalent to \$ in ). The tunnel construction became involved in the women's rights movement due to advocacy by Janet Bonnema after she was subjected to gender-based discrimination after being hired as an engineering technician for the construction of the Straight Creek Tunnel in 1970. Bonnema was restricted from entering the tunnel due to the miners' superstition that women who entered underground mines and tunnels would bring bad luck. In 1972, Bonnema filed a \$100,000 class action suit against CDOT, citing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As Colorado voters had passed the Equal Rights Amendment that year, the state settled Bonnema's case out of court for \$6,730. Bonnema entered the tunnel for the first time on November 9, 1972, prompting 66 workers to temporarily walk off the job; most returned the next day. She continued with the project until the tunnel opened. #### Vail Pass While designing the Eisenhower Tunnel, controversies erupted over how to build the portions over Vail Pass and Glenwood Canyon. The route of US 6 over Vail Pass has a distinctive "V" shape. Initially, engineers thought they could shorten the route of I-70 by about 10 miles (16 km) by tunneling from Gore Creek to South Willow Creek, an alternative known as the Red Buffalo Tunnel. This alternative sparked a nationwide controversy as it would require an easement across federally protected lands, through what is now called the Eagles Nest Wilderness. After the US Secretary of Agriculture refused to grant the easement, the engineers agreed to follow the existing route across Vail Pass. The engineers added infrastructure to accommodate wildlife and had significant portions of the viaducts constructed offsite and lifted in place to minimize the environmental footprint. The grade over Vail Pass reaches seven percent. #### Glenwood Canyon Glenwood Canyon has served as the primary transportation artery through the Rocky Mountains, even before the creation of U.S. Highways. Railroads have used the canyon since 1887, and a dirt road was built through the canyon in the early 20th century. The first paved road was built from 1936 to 1938 at a cost of \$1.5 million (equivalent to \$ in ). With the Eisenhower Tunnel finished, the last remaining obstacle for I-70 to be an interstate commercial artery was the two lane, non-freeway portion in Glenwood Canyon. Construction had started on this section in the 1960s with a small section opening to traffic in 1966. The remainder was stopped due to environmentalist protests that caused a 30-year controversy. The original design was criticized as "the epitome of environmental insensitivity". Engineers scrapped the original plans and started work on a new design that would minimize additional environmental impacts. A new design was underway by 1971, which was approved in 1975; however, environmental groups filed lawsuits to stop construction, and the controversy continued even when construction finally resumed in 1981. The final design included 40 bridges and viaducts, three additional tunnel bores (two were completed before construction was stopped in the 1960s), and 15 miles (24 km) of retaining walls for a stretch of freeway 12 miles (19 km) long. The project was further complicated by the need to build the four-lane freeway without disturbing the operations of the railroad. This required using special and coordinated blasting techniques. Engineers designed two separate tracks for the highway, one elevated above the other, to minimize the footprint in the canyon. The final design was praised for its environmental sensitivity. A Denver architect who helped design the freeway proclaimed, "Most of the people in western Colorado see it as having preserved the canyon." He further stated, "I think pieces of the highway elevate to the standard of public art." A portion of the project included shoring up the banks of the Colorado River to repair damage and remove flow restrictions created in the initial construction of US 6 in the 1930s. The freeway was finally completed on October 14, 1992, in a ceremony covered nationwide. Most coverage celebrated the engineering achievement or noted this was the last major piece of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic. However, newspapers in western Colorado celebrated the end of the frustrating traffic delays. For most of the final 10 years of construction, only a single lane of traffic that reversed direction every 30 minutes remained open in the canyon. One newspaper proudly proclaimed "You heard right. For the first time in more than 10 years, construction delays along that 12-mile [19 km] stretch of Interstate 70 will be non-existent." The cost was \$490 million (equivalent to \$ in ) to build 12 miles (19 km), 40 times the average cost per mile predicted by the planners of the Interstate Highway System. This figure exceeded that of I-15 through the Virgin River Gorge, which was previously proclaimed the most expensive rural freeway in the country. The construction of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon earned 30 awards for CDOT, including the 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. At the dedication, it was claimed that I-70 through Glenwood Canyon was the final piece of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic. For this reason, the system was proclaimed to be complete. However, at the time, there were still two sections of the original Interstate Highway System that had not been constructed: a section of I-95 in central New Jersey, that was not completed until 2018, and a section of I-70 in Breezewood, Pennsylvania. ### Incidents On August 1, 1984, a truck carrying six torpedos for the US Navy overturned while navigating a ramp at the Mousetrap, a complex interchange. The situation was made worse as no one answered at the phone number provided with the cargo, and an unknown liquid was leaking from one of the torpedoes. It took more than three hours before any military personnel arrived on the scene, US Army personnel from a nearby base. The incident left thousands of cars stranded and Denver's transportation network paralyzed for about eight hours. Approximately 50 residents in the area were evacuated. Investigations later revealed that the truck driver did not follow a recommended route provided by the state police, who specifically warned the driver to avoid the Mousetrap. The Navy promised reforms after being criticized for providing an unstaffed phone number with a hazardous cargo shipment, a violation of federal law, and failing to notify Denver officials about the shipment. The Mousetrap was grandfathered into the Interstate Highway System, with some structures built in 1951. The incident provided momentum to rebuild the interchange with a more modern and safer design. Construction began in several phases in 1987, and the last bridge was dedicated in 2003. In 2014, mile-marker 420 was altered by CDOT to read "Mile 419.99" following repeat thefts of the original sign due to the significance of the number 420 in cannabis culture. In 2019, a fiery crash killed four people and injured dozens. A previous, non-fatal accident in Wheat Ridge had resulted in backed up traffic for several miles. At the time of the second collision, the backup extended into Lakewood past the Colorado Mills Parkway exit. A semi-trailer truck descending the grades as the freeway entered the greater Denver area, driven by Rogel Aguilera Mederos, attempted to downshift, but he was unable re-engage the transmission. This resulted in the vehicle rapidly increasing in speed, with witnesses seeing the truck out of control near the Genesee exit, nine miles (14 km) from where the accident would occur. Witnesses also testified seeing the brakes smoking while the truck descended the hill. The driver passed at least one runaway truck ramp without entering, as well as four other exits where he could have exited the freeway. As the truck approached the backed up traffic, the driver attempted to swerve to the side of the road to avoid a collision but was unable as other trucks had already blocked this path while similarly attempting to avoid a collision. The truck collided with the backup and exploded. Over a dozen other vehicles were involved in the collision and four people died. The driver was charged with numerous offenses, including assault and vehicular homicide and initially sentenced to 110 years. This was controversial, due to the length of the sentence and the opinions of some victims and witnesses that the owner of the truck bore more responsibility. The company had previously been fined and cited for numerous brake-related violations as well as employing inexperienced truck drivers who were not fluent in English. Aguilera testified through an interpreter in his own defense and pleaded for mercy saying, "I ask God too many times why them and not me? Why did I survive that accident?". He also blamed his employer, testifying he was instructed to take back roads from the trip's origin in Wyoming and avoid the more commonly used road from Wyoming, I-25. Shortly after the accident, CDOT announced a location for an additional runaway truck ramp in this area. After the 2020 Grizzly Creek Fire, I-70 was closed in Glenwood Canyon in August 2021 due to significant damage by debris from the fire, causing large detours. The damage after the 2021 landslides required lengthy reconstruction of the road; the highway partially reopened on August 14, 2021. ### Legacy When first approved, the extension of I-70 from Denver to Cove Fort was criticized in some area newspapers as a road to nowhere; an information liaison specialist with USDOT in Baltimore, Maryland—the eastern terminus of I-70—claims people have asked "did we think Baltimoreans were so desperate to get to Cove Fort that we were willing to pay \$4 billion to get them there?". However, a resident engineer with USDOT has called the extension one of the "crown jewels" of the Interstate Highway System. In Colorado, the freeway helped unite the state, despite the two halves being separated by the formidable Rocky Mountains. The Eisenhower Tunnel alone is credited with saving up to an hour from the drive across the state. Prior to I-70's construction, the highway through Glenwood Canyon was one of the most dangerous in the state. With the improvements, the accident rate has dropped 40 percent even though traffic through the canyon has substantially increased. CDOT is considering the nomination of various portions of I-70 as a National Historic Landmark, even though the freeway will not qualify as historical for several decades. The freeway is credited with enhancing Colorado's ski industry. The ski resort town of Vail did not exist until I-70 began construction, with developers working in close partnership with CDOT. By 1984, the I-70 corridor between Denver and Grand Junction contained the largest concentration of ski resorts in the country. The towns and cities along the corridor have experienced significant growth, luring recreational visitors from the Denver area. As one conservationist lamented, I-70 "changed rural Colorado into non-rural Colorado". ## Future CDOT is replacing a 1.8-mile (2.9 km) viaduct that formerly carried I-70 between Brighton Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard in Denver with a below-grade highway. The \$1.2 billion project, financed through a public–private partnership with Kiewit and Meridiam, would add a new express toll lane and build frontage roads; the below-grade freeway would have a four-acre (1.6 ha) park built over the top between Clayton and Columbine streets. Traffic was moved onto the new alignment in late 2022; however, the project is not expected to be fully complete until 2023. ## Exit list ## See also - Business routes of Interstate 70 in Colorado
28,953	Stephen, King of England	1,172,819,845	King of England from 1135 to 1154	[ "1090s births", "1154 deaths", "11th-century French people", "12th-century Dukes of Normandy", "12th-century English monarchs", "12th-century French people", "Anglo-Normans", "Burials at Faversham Abbey", "Christians of the Second Crusade", "Deaths from digestive disease", "English Roman Catholics", "English people of French descent", "French Roman Catholics", "House of Blois", "Jure uxoris officeholders", "Monarchs taken prisoner in wartime", "Norman warriors", "People of The Anarchy", "Stephen, King of England" ]	Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne jure uxoris from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 until 1144. His reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda, whose son, Henry II, succeeded Stephen as the first of the Angevin kings of England. Stephen was born in the County of Blois in central France as the fourth son of Stephen-Henry, Count of Blois, and Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror. His father died while Stephen was still young, and he was brought up by his mother. Placed into the court of his uncle Henry I of England, Stephen rose in prominence and was granted extensive lands. He married Matilda of Boulogne, inheriting additional estates in Kent and Boulogne that made the couple one of the wealthiest in England. Stephen narrowly escaped drowning with Henry I's son, William Adelin, in the sinking of the White Ship in 1120; William's death left the succession of the English throne open to challenge. When Henry died in 1135, Stephen quickly crossed the English Channel and, with the help of his brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Abbot of Glastonbury, took the throne, arguing that the preservation of order across the kingdom took priority over his earlier oaths to support the claim of Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda. The early years of Stephen's reign were largely successful, despite a series of attacks on his possessions in England and Normandy by David I of Scotland, Welsh rebels, and the Empress Matilda's husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. In 1138, the Empress's half-brother Robert of Gloucester rebelled against Stephen, threatening civil war. Together with his close advisor, Waleran de Beaumont, Stephen took firm steps to defend his rule, including arresting a powerful family of bishops. When the Empress and Robert invaded in 1139, Stephen was unable to crush the revolt rapidly, and it took hold in the south-west of England. Captured at the battle of Lincoln in 1141, he was abandoned by many of his followers and lost control of Normandy. He was freed only after his wife and William of Ypres, one of his military commanders, captured Robert at the Rout of Winchester, but the war dragged on for many years with neither side able to win an advantage. Stephen became increasingly concerned with ensuring that his son Eustace would inherit his throne. The King tried to convince the church to agree to crown Eustace to reinforce his claim; Pope Eugene III refused, and Stephen found himself in a sequence of increasingly bitter arguments with his senior clergy. In 1153, the Empress's son Henry invaded England and built an alliance of powerful regional barons to support his claim for the throne. The two armies met at Wallingford, but neither side's barons were keen to fight another pitched battle. Stephen began to examine a negotiated peace, a process hastened by the sudden death of Eustace. Later in the year Stephen and Henry agreed to the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognised Henry as his heir in exchange for peace, passing over William, Stephen's second son. Stephen died the following year. Modern historians have extensively debated the extent to which his personality, external events, or the weaknesses in the Norman state contributed to this prolonged period of civil war. ## Early life (1097–1135) ### Childhood Stephen was born in Blois, France, in either 1092 or 1096. Stephen's father was Stephen-Henry, Count of Blois and Chartres, an important French nobleman and an active crusader who died when Stephen was at most ten years old. During the First Crusade, Stephen-Henry had acquired a reputation for cowardice, and he returned to the Levant again in 1101 to rebuild his reputation; there he was killed at the battle of Ramlah. Stephen's mother, Adela, was the daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders. She was famous among her contemporaries for her piety and strong personality. Indeed, Adela was a major reason for Stephen-Henry's return to the Levant. She had a strong formative influence on Stephen during his growing years; she would live to see her son take her father's throne of England, but would die within a year after that. In the 12th century, France was a loose collection of counties and smaller polities under the minimal control of the King of France. The King's power was linked to his control of the rich province of Île-de-France, just to the east of Stephen's home county of Blois. To the west lay the three counties of Maine, Anjou and Touraine, and to the north of Blois was the Duchy of Normandy, from which William the Conqueror had conquered England in 1066. William's children were still fighting over the collective Anglo-Norman inheritance. The rulers across this region spoke a similar language, albeit with regional dialects; followed the same religion; and were closely interrelated. They were also highly competitive and frequently in conflict with one another for valuable territory and the castles that controlled those territories. Stephen had at least four brothers and one sister, along with two probable half-sisters. His eldest brother was William, who under normal circumstances would have ruled Blois and Chartres. William was probably intellectually disabled, and Adela instead had the counties pass to her second son, later also Count Theobald II of Champagne. Stephen's other older brother, Odo, died young, probably in his early teens. Stephen's younger brother, Henry, was probably born four years after him. The brothers formed a close-knit family group, and Adela encouraged Stephen to take up the role of a feudal knight or baron, whilst steering Henry towards a career in the church, possibly so that their personal career interests would not overlap. Unusually, Stephen was raised in his mother's household rather than being sent to a close relative; he was taught Latin and riding, and was educated in recent history and Biblical stories by his tutor, William the Norman. ### Relationship with Henry I Stephen's early life was heavily influenced by his relationship with his uncle Henry I. Henry seized power in England following the death of his elder brother William Rufus. In 1106 he invaded and captured the Duchy of Normandy, controlled by his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, defeating Robert's army at the battle of Tinchebray. Henry then found himself in conflict with Louis VI of France, who took the opportunity to declare Robert's son, William Clito, the Duke of Normandy. Henry responded by forming a network of alliances with the western counties of France against Louis, resulting in a regional conflict that would last throughout Stephen's early life. Adela and Theobald allied themselves with Henry, and Stephen's mother decided to place him in Henry's court. Henry fought his next military campaign in Normandy, from 1111 onwards, where rebels led by Robert of Bellême were opposing his rule. Stephen was probably with Henry during the military campaign of 1112, when he was knighted by the King. He was present at court during the King's visit to the Abbey of Saint-Evroul in 1113. Stephen probably first visited England in either 1113 or 1115, almost certainly as part of Henry's court. Henry became a powerful patron of Stephen, and probably chose to support him because Stephen was part of his extended family and a regional ally, yet not sufficiently wealthy or powerful in his own right to represent a threat to either the King or his son and heir, William Adelin. As a third surviving son, even of an influential regional family, Stephen still needed the support of a powerful patron to progress in life. With Henry's support, he rapidly began to accumulate lands and possessions. Following the battle of Tinchebray in 1106, Henry confiscated the County of Mortain from his cousin William and the Honour of Eye from Robert Malet. In 1113, Stephen was granted both the title and the honour, although without the lands previously held by William in England. The gift of the Honour of Lancaster also followed after it was confiscated by Henry from Roger the Poitevin. Stephen was also given lands in Alençon in southern Normandy by Henry, but the local Normans rebelled, seeking assistance from Fulk IV, Count of Anjou. Stephen and his older brother Theobald were comprehensively beaten in the subsequent campaign, which culminated in the Battle of Alençon, and the territories were not recovered. ### White Ship and succession In 1120, the English political landscape changed dramatically. Three hundred passengers embarked on the White Ship to travel from Barfleur in Normandy to England, including the heir to the throne, William Adelin, and many other senior nobles. Stephen had intended to sail on the same ship but changed his mind at the last moment and got off to await another vessel, either out of concern for overcrowding on board the ship, or because he was suffering from diarrhoea. The ship foundered en route, and all but two of the passengers died, including William Adelin. With William Adelin dead, the inheritance to the English throne was thrown into doubt. Rules of succession in western Europe at the time were uncertain; in some parts of France, male primogeniture, in which the eldest son would inherit a title, was becoming increasingly popular. It was also traditional for the King of France to crown his successor whilst he himself was still alive, making the intended line of succession relatively clear, but this was not the case in England. In other parts of Europe, including Normandy and England, the tradition was for lands to be divided up, with the eldest son taking patrimonial lands—usually considered to be the most valuable—and younger sons being given smaller, or more recently acquired, partitions or estates. There was no precedent of a woman ruler. The problem was further complicated by the sequence of unstable Anglo-Norman successions over the previous sixty years — William the Conqueror had gained England by force; two of his sons, Robert Curthose and William Rufus, had fought a war amongst themselves for the throne, with Rufus, who was younger, emerging victorious; and Henry had likewise acquired control of Normandy only by force. There had been no peaceful, uncontested successions. Henry had only one other legitimate child, the future Empress Matilda, but as a woman she was at a substantial political disadvantage. Shortly after the death of his son, the King took a second wife, Adeliza of Louvain, but it became increasingly clear that he would not have another legitimate son, and he instead looked to Matilda as his intended heir. Matilda claimed the title of Holy Roman Empress through her marriage to Emperor Henry V, but her husband died in 1125, and she was remarried in 1128 to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, whose lands bordered the Duchy of Normandy. Geoffrey was unpopular with the Anglo-Norman elite: as an Angevin ruler, he was a traditional enemy of the Normans. At the same time, tensions continued to grow as a result of Henry's domestic policies, in particular the high level of revenue he was raising to pay for his various wars. Conflict was curtailed, however, by the power of the King's personality and reputation. Meanwhile, the King arranged for Stephen to marry Matilda in 1125, the daughter and only heiress of Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, who owned both the important continental port of Boulogne and vast estates in the north-west and south-east of England. In 1127, William Clito, a potential claimant to the English throne, seemed likely to become the Count of Flanders; Stephen was sent by the King on a mission to prevent this, and in the aftermath of his successful election, William Clito attacked Stephen's lands in neighbouring Boulogne in retaliation. Eventually, a truce was declared, and William died the following year. Henry attempted to build up a base of political support for Matilda in both England and Normandy, demanding that his court take oaths first in 1127, and then again in 1128 and 1131, to recognise Matilda as his immediate successor and recognise her descendants as the rightful rulers after her. Stephen was amongst those who took this oath in 1127. Nonetheless, relations between Henry, Matilda, and Geoffrey became increasingly strained towards the end of the King's life. Matilda and Geoffrey suspected that they lacked genuine support in England, and proposed to Henry in 1135 that the King should hand over the royal castles in Normandy to Matilda whilst he was still alive and insist on the Norman nobility swearing immediate allegiance to her, thereby giving the couple a much more powerful position after Henry's death. Henry angrily declined to do so, probably out of a concern that Geoffrey would try to seize power in Normandy somewhat earlier than intended. A fresh rebellion broke out in southern Normandy, and Geoffrey and Matilda intervened militarily on behalf of the rebels. In the middle of this confrontation, Henry unexpectedly fell ill and died near Lyons-la-Forêt. ## Succession (1135) Stephen was a well established figure in Anglo-Norman society by 1135. He was extremely wealthy, well-mannered and liked by his peers; he was also considered a man capable of firm action. Chroniclers recorded that despite his wealth and power he was a modest and easy-going leader, happy to sit with his men and servants, casually laughing and eating with them. He was very pious, both in terms of his observance of religious rituals and his personal generosity to the church. Stephen also had a personal Augustinian confessor appointed to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who implemented a penitential regime for him, and Stephen encouraged the new order of Cistercians to form abbeys on his estates, winning him additional allies within the church. Rumours about his father's cowardice during the First Crusade, however, continued to circulate, and a desire to avoid the same reputation may have influenced some of Stephen's rasher military actions. His wife, Matilda, played a major role in running their vast English estates, which contributed to the couple being the second-richest lay household in the country after the King and Queen. The landless Flemish nobleman William of Ypres had joined Stephen's household in 1133. Stephen's younger brother, Henry of Blois, had also risen to power under Henry I. Henry of Blois had become a Cluniac monk and followed Stephen to England, where the King made him Abbot of Glastonbury, the richest abbey in England. The King then appointed him Bishop of Winchester, one of the richest bishoprics, allowing him to retain Glastonbury as well. The combined revenues of the two positions made Henry of Winchester the second-richest man in England after the King. Henry of Winchester was keen to reverse what he perceived as encroachment by the Norman kings on the rights of the church. English kings had traditionally exercised a great deal of power and autonomy over the church within their territories. From the 1040s onwards, however, successive popes had put forward a reforming message that emphasised the importance of the church being "governed more coherently and more hierarchically from the centre" and established "its own sphere of authority and jurisdiction, separate from and independent of that of the lay ruler", in the words of historian Richard Huscroft. When news began to spread of Henry I's death, many of the potential claimants to the throne were not well placed to respond. Geoffrey and Matilda were in Anjou, rather awkwardly supporting the rebels in their campaign against the royal army, which included a number of Matilda's supporters such as Robert of Gloucester. Many of these barons had taken an oath to stay in Normandy until the late King was properly buried, which prevented them from returning to England. Stephen's brother Theobald was further south still, in Blois. Stephen, however, was in Boulogne, and when news reached him of Henry's death he left for England, accompanied by his military household. Robert of Gloucester had garrisoned the ports of Dover and Canterbury and some accounts suggest that they refused Stephen access when he first arrived. Nonetheless, Stephen probably reached his own estate on the edge of London by 8 December and over the next week he began to seize power in England. The crowds in London traditionally claimed a right to elect the King, and they proclaimed Stephen the new monarch, believing that he would grant the city new rights and privileges in return. Henry of Blois delivered the support of the church to Stephen: Stephen was able to advance to Winchester, where Roger, Bishop of Salisbury and Lord Chancellor, instructed the royal treasury to be handed over to Stephen. On 15 December, Henry delivered an agreement under which Stephen would grant extensive freedoms and liberties to the church, in exchange for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Papal Legate supporting his succession to the throne. There was the slight problem of the religious oath that Stephen had taken to support the Empress Matilda, but Henry convincingly argued that the late king had been wrong to insist that his court take the oath. Furthermore, the late king had only insisted on that oath to protect the stability of the kingdom, and in light of the chaos that might now ensue, Stephen would be justified in ignoring it. Henry was also able to persuade Hugh Bigod, the late king's royal steward, to swear that the King had changed his mind about the succession on his deathbed, nominating Stephen instead. Stephen's coronation was held a week later at Westminster Abbey on 22 December 1135. Meanwhile, the Norman nobility gathered at Le Neubourg to discuss declaring Theobald king, probably following the news that Stephen was gathering support in England. The Normans argued that Theobald, as the more senior grandson of William the Conqueror, had the most valid claim over the kingdom and the duchy, and was certainly preferable to Matilda. Theobald met with the Norman barons and Robert of Gloucester at Lisieux on 21 December. Their discussions were interrupted by the sudden news from England that Stephen's coronation was to occur the next day. Theobald then agreed to the Normans' proposal that he be made king, only to find that his former support immediately ebbed away: the barons were not prepared to support the division of England and Normandy by opposing Stephen, who subsequently financially compensated Theobald, who in return remained in Blois and supported his brother's succession. ## Early reign (1136–1139) ### Initial years (1136–1137) Stephen's new Anglo-Norman kingdom had been shaped by the Norman conquest of England in 1066, followed by the Norman expansion into south Wales over the coming years. Both the kingdom and duchy were dominated by a small number of major barons who owned lands on both sides of the English Channel, with the lesser barons beneath them usually having more localised holdings. The extent to which lands and positions should be passed down through hereditary right or by the gift of the King was still uncertain, and tensions concerning this issue had grown during the reign of Henry I. Certainly lands in Normandy, passed by hereditary right, were usually considered more important to major barons than those in England, where their possession was less certain. Henry had increased the authority and capabilities of the central royal administration, often bringing in "new men" to fulfil key positions rather than using the established nobility. In the process he had been able to maximise revenues and contain expenditures, resulting in a healthy surplus and a famously large treasury, but also increasing political tensions. Stephen had to intervene in the north of England immediately after his coronation. David I of Scotland invaded the north on the news of Henry's death, taking Carlisle, Newcastle and other key strongholds. Northern England was a disputed territory at this time, with the Scottish kings laying a traditional claim to Cumberland, and David also claiming Northumbria by virtue of his marriage to the daughter of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria. Stephen rapidly marched north with an army and met David at Durham. An agreement was made under which David would return most of the territory he had taken, with the exception of Carlisle. In return, Stephen confirmed the English possessions of David's son Henry, including the Earldom of Huntingdon. Returning south, Stephen held his first royal court at Easter 1136. A wide range of nobles gathered at Westminster for the event, including many of the Anglo-Norman barons and most of the higher officials of the church. Stephen issued a new royal charter, confirming the promises he had made to the church, promising to reverse Henry I's policies on the royal forests and to reform any abuses of the royal legal system. He portrayed himself as the natural successor to Henry's policies, and reconfirmed the existing seven earldoms in the kingdom on their existing holders. The Easter court was a lavish event, and a large amount of money was spent on the event itself, clothes and gifts. Stephen gave out grants of land and favours to those present and endowed numerous church foundations with land and privileges. His accession to the throne still needed to be ratified by the Pope, however, and Henry of Blois appears to have been responsible for ensuring that testimonials of support were sent both from Stephen's brother Theobald and from the French king Louis VI, to whom Stephen represented a useful balance to Angevin power in the north of France. Pope Innocent II confirmed Stephen as king by letter later that year, and Stephen's advisers circulated copies widely around England to demonstrate his legitimacy. Troubles continued across Stephen's kingdom. After the Welsh victory at the battle of Llwchwr in January 1136 and the successful ambush of Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare in April, south Wales rose in rebellion, starting in east Glamorgan and rapidly spreading across the rest of south Wales during 1137. Owain Gwynedd and Gruffydd ap Rhys successfully captured considerable territories, including Carmarthen Castle. Stephen responded by sending Richard's brother Baldwin and the Marcher Lord Robert Fitz Harold of Ewyas into Wales to pacify the region. Neither mission was particularly successful, and by the end of 1137 the King appears to have abandoned attempts to put down the rebellion. Historian David Crouch suggests that Stephen effectively "bowed out of Wales" around this time to concentrate on his other problems. Meanwhile, he had put down two revolts in the south-west led by Baldwin de Redvers and Robert of Bampton; Baldwin was released after his capture and travelled to Normandy, where he became an increasingly vocal critic of the King. The security of Normandy was also a concern. Geoffrey of Anjou invaded in early 1136 and, after a temporary truce, invaded later the same year, raiding and burning estates rather than trying to hold the territory. Events in England meant that Stephen was unable to travel to Normandy himself, so Waleran de Beaumont, appointed by Stephen as the lieutenant of Normandy, and Theobald led the efforts to defend the duchy. Stephen himself only returned to the duchy in 1137, where he met with Louis VI and Theobald to agree to an informal regional alliance, probably brokered by Henry, to counter the growing Angevin power in the region. As part of this deal, Louis recognised Stephen's son Eustace as Duke of Normandy in exchange for Eustace giving fealty to the French King. Stephen was less successful, however, in regaining the Argentan province along the Normandy and Anjou border, which Geoffrey had taken at the end of 1135. Stephen formed an army to retake it, but the frictions between his Flemish mercenary forces led by William of Ypres and the local Norman barons resulted in a battle between the two halves of his army. The Norman forces then deserted Stephen, forcing the King to give up his campaign. He agreed to another truce with Geoffrey, promising to pay him 2,000 marks a year in exchange for peace along the Norman borders. In the years following his succession, Stephen's relationship with the church became gradually more complex. The royal charter of 1136 had promised to review the ownership of all the lands that had been taken by the crown from the church since 1087, but these estates were now typically owned by nobles. Henry of Blois's claims, in his role as Abbot of Glastonbury, to extensive lands in Devon resulted in considerable local unrest. In 1136, Archbishop of Canterbury William de Corbeil died. Stephen responded by seizing his personal wealth, which caused some discontent amongst the senior clergy. Henry wanted to succeed to the post, but Stephen instead supported Theobald of Bec, who was eventually appointed. The papacy named Henry papal legate, possibly as consolation for not receiving Canterbury. Stephen's first few years as king can be interpreted in different ways. He stabilised the northern border with Scotland, contained Geoffrey's attacks on Normandy, was at peace with Louis VI, enjoyed good relations with the church and had the broad support of his barons. There were significant underlying problems, nonetheless. The north of England was now controlled by David and Prince Henry, Stephen had abandoned Wales, the fighting in Normandy had considerably destabilised the duchy, and an increasing number of barons felt that Stephen had given them neither the lands nor the titles they felt they deserved or were owed. Stephen was also rapidly running out of money: Henry's considerable treasury had been emptied by 1138 due to the costs of running Stephen's more lavish court and the need to raise and maintain his mercenary armies fighting in England and Normandy. ### Defending the kingdom (1138–1139) Stephen was attacked on several fronts during 1138. First, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, rebelled against the King, starting the descent into civil war in England. An illegitimate son of Henry I and the half-brother of the Empress Matilda, Robert was one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman barons, controlling estates in Normandy. He was known for his qualities as a statesman, his military experience, and leadership ability. Robert had tried to convince Theobald to take the throne in 1135; he did not attend Stephen's first court in 1136 and it took several summonses to convince him to attend court at Oxford later that year. In 1138, Robert renounced his fealty to Stephen and declared his support for Matilda, triggering a major regional rebellion in Kent and across the south-west of England, although Robert himself remained in Normandy. In France, Geoffrey of Anjou took advantage of the situation by re-invading Normandy. David I of Scotland also invaded the north of England once again, announcing that he was supporting the claim of his niece the Empress Matilda to the throne, pushing south into Yorkshire. Anglo-Norman warfare during the reign of Stephen was characterised by attritional military campaigns, in which commanders tried to seize key enemy castles in order to allow them to take control of their adversaries' territory and ultimately win a slow, strategic victory. The armies of the period centred on bodies of mounted, armoured knights, supported by infantry and crossbowmen. These forces were either feudal levies, drawn up by local nobles for a limited period of service during a campaign, or, increasingly, mercenaries, who were expensive but more flexible and often more skilled. These armies, however, were ill-suited to besieging castles, whether the older motte-and-bailey designs or the newer, stone-built keeps. Existing siege engines were significantly less powerful than the later trebuchet designs, giving defenders a substantial advantage over attackers. As a result, slow sieges to starve defenders out, or mining operations to undermine walls, tended to be preferred by commanders over direct assaults. Occasionally pitched battles were fought between armies but these were considered highly risky endeavours and were usually avoided by prudent commanders. The cost of warfare had risen considerably in the first part of the 12th century, and adequate supplies of ready cash were increasingly proving important in the success of campaigns. Stephen's personal qualities as a military leader focused on his skill in personal combat, his capabilities in siege warfare and a remarkable ability to move military forces quickly over relatively long distances. In response to the revolts and invasions, he rapidly undertook several military campaigns, focusing primarily on England rather than Normandy. His wife Matilda was sent to Kent with ships and resources from Boulogne, with the task of retaking the key port of Dover, under Robert's control. A small number of Stephen's household knights were sent north to help the fight against the Scots, where David's forces were defeated later that year at the battle of the Standard in August by the forces of Thurstan, the Archbishop of York. Despite this victory, however, David still occupied most of the north. Stephen himself went west in an attempt to regain control of Gloucestershire, first striking north into the Welsh Marches, taking Hereford and Shrewsbury, before heading south to Bath. The town of Bristol itself proved too strong for him, and Stephen contented himself with raiding and pillaging the surrounding area. The rebels appear to have expected Robert to intervene with support that year, but he remained in Normandy throughout, trying to persuade the Empress Matilda to invade England herself. Dover finally surrendered to the Queen's forces later in the year. Stephen's military campaign in England had progressed well, and historian David Crouch describes it as "a military achievement of the first rank". The King took the opportunity of his military advantage to forge a peace agreement with Scotland. Stephen's wife Matilda was sent to negotiate another agreement between Stephen and David, called the treaty of Durham; Northumbria and Cumbria would effectively be granted to David and his son Henry, in exchange for their fealty and future peace along the border. Unfortunately, the powerful Ranulf II, Earl of Chester, considered himself to hold the traditional rights to Carlisle and Cumberland and was extremely displeased to see them being given to the Scots. Nonetheless, Stephen could now focus his attention on the anticipated invasion of England by Robert and Matilda's forces. ### Road to civil war (1139) Stephen prepared for the Angevin invasion by creating a number of additional earldoms. Only a handful of earldoms had existed under Henry I and these had been largely symbolic in nature. Stephen created many more, filling them with men he considered to be loyal, capable military commanders, and in the more vulnerable parts of the country assigning them new lands and additional executive powers. He appears to have had several objectives in mind, including both ensuring the loyalty of his key supporters by granting them these honours, and improving his defences in key parts of the kingdom. Stephen was heavily influenced by his principal advisor, Waleran de Beaumont, the twin brother of Robert of Leicester. The Beaumont twins and their younger brother and cousins received the majority of these new earldoms. From 1138 onwards, Stephen gave them the earldoms of Worcester, Leicester, Hereford, Warwick and Pembroke, which – especially when combined with the possessions of Stephen's new ally, Prince Henry, in Cumberland and Northumbria – created a wide block of territory to act as a buffer zone between the troubled south-west, Chester, and the rest of the kingdom. With their new lands, the power of the Beamounts grew to the point where David Crouch suggests that it became "dangerous to be anything other than a friend of Waleran" at Stephen's court. Stephen took steps to remove a group of bishops he regarded as a threat to his rule. The royal administration under Henry I had been headed by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, who was supported by his nephews, Bishops Alexander of Lincoln and Nigel of Ely, and his son, Lord Chancellor Roger le Poer. These bishops were powerful landowners as well as ecclesiastical rulers, and they had begun to build new castles and increase the size of their military forces, leading Stephen to suspect that they were about to defect to the Empress Matilda. Bishop Roger and his family were also enemies of Waleran, who disliked their control of the royal administration. In June 1139, Stephen held his court in Oxford, where a fight between Alan of Brittany and Roger's men broke out, an incident probably deliberately created by Stephen. Stephen responded by demanding that Roger and the other bishops surrender all of their castles in England. This threat was backed up by the arrest of the bishops, with the exception of Nigel who had taken refuge in Devizes Castle; the bishop only surrendered after Stephen besieged the castle and threatened to execute Roger le Poer. The remaining castles were then surrendered to the King. Stephen's brother Henry was alarmed by this, both as a matter of principle, since Stephen had previously agreed in 1135 to respect the freedoms of the church, and more pragmatically because he himself had recently built six castles and had no desire to be treated in the same way. As the papal legate, he summoned the King to appear before an ecclesiastical council to answer for the arrests and seizure of property. Henry asserted the church's right to investigate and judge all charges against members of the clergy. Stephen sent Aubrey de Vere II as his spokesman to the council, who argued that Roger of Salisbury had been arrested not as a bishop, but rather in his role as a baron who had been preparing to change his support to the Empress Matilda. The King was supported by Hugh of Amiens, Archbishop of Rouen, who challenged the bishops to show how canon law entitled them to build or hold castles. Aubrey threatened that Stephen would complain to the pope that he was being harassed by the English church, and the council let the matter rest following an unsuccessful appeal to Rome. The incident successfully removed any military threat from the bishops, but it may have damaged Stephen's relationship with the senior clergy, and in particular with his brother Henry. ## Civil war (1139–1154) ### Initial phase of the war (1139–1140) The Angevin invasion finally arrived in 1139. Baldwin de Redvers crossed over from Normandy to Wareham in August in an initial attempt to capture a port to receive the Empress Matilda's invading army, but Stephen's forces forced him to retreat into the south-west. The following month, however, Henry I's widow, Adeliza, invited her stepdaughter to land at Arundel instead, and on 30 September Robert of Gloucester and the Empress arrived in England with 140 knights. The Empress stayed at Arundel Castle, whilst Robert marched north-west to Wallingford and Bristol, hoping to raise support for the rebellion and to link up with Miles of Gloucester, a capable military leader who took the opportunity to renounce his fealty to the King. Stephen promptly moved south, besieging Arundel and trapping Matilda inside the castle. Stephen then agreed to a truce proposed by his brother Henry; the full details of the truce are not known, but the results were that Stephen first released Matilda from the siege and then allowed her and her household of knights to be escorted to the south-west, where they were reunited with Robert. The reasoning behind Stephen's decision to release his rival remains unclear. Contemporary chroniclers suggested that Henry argued that it would be in Stephen's own best interests to release the Empress and concentrate instead on attacking Robert, and Stephen may have seen Robert, not the Empress, as his main opponent at this point in the conflict. He also faced a military dilemma at Arundel—the castle was considered almost impregnable, and he may have been worried that he was tying down his army in the south whilst Robert roamed freely in the west. Another theory is that Stephen released Matilda out of a sense of chivalry; he was certainly known for having a generous, courteous personality and women were not normally expected to be targeted in Anglo-Norman warfare. Having released the Empress, Stephen focused on pacifying the south-west of England. Although there had been few new defections to the Empress, his enemies now controlled a compact block of territory stretching out from Gloucester and Bristol south-west into Devon and Cornwall, west into the Welsh Marches and east as far as Oxford and Wallingford, threatening London. Stephen started by attacking Wallingford Castle, held by the Empress's childhood friend Brien FitzCount, only to find it too well defended. He then left behind some forces to blockade the castle and continued west into Wiltshire to attack Trowbridge Castle, taking the castles of South Cerney and Malmesbury en route. Meanwhile, Miles of Gloucester marched east, attacking Stephen's rearguard forces at Wallingford and threatening an advance on London. Stephen was forced to give up his western campaign, returning east to stabilise the situation and protect his capital. At the start of 1140, Nigel, Bishop of Ely, whose castles Stephen had confiscated the previous year, rebelled against Stephen as well. Nigel hoped to seize East Anglia and established his base of operations in the Isle of Ely, then surrounded by protective fenland. Stephen responded quickly, taking an army into the fens and using boats lashed together to form a causeway that allowed him to make a surprise attack on the isle. Nigel escaped to Gloucester, but his men and castle were captured, and order was temporarily restored in the east. Robert of Gloucester's men retook some of the territory that Stephen had taken in his 1139 campaign. In an effort to negotiate a truce, Henry of Blois held a peace conference at Bath, to which Stephen sent his wife. The conference collapsed over the insistence by Henry and the clergy that they should set the terms of any peace deal, which Stephen found unacceptable. Ranulf of Chester remained upset over Stephen's gift of the north of England to Prince Henry. Ranulf devised a plan for dealing with the problem by ambushing Henry whilst the prince was travelling back from Stephen's court to Scotland after Christmas. Stephen responded to rumours of this plan by escorting Henry himself north, but this gesture proved the final straw for Ranulf. Ranulf had previously claimed that he had the rights to Lincoln Castle, held by Stephen, and under the guise of a social visit, Ranulf seized the fortification in a surprise attack. Stephen marched north to Lincoln and agreed to a truce with Ranulf, probably to keep him from joining the Empress's faction, under which Ranulf would be allowed to keep the castle. Stephen returned to London but received news that Ranulf, his brother and their family were relaxing in Lincoln Castle with a minimal guard force, a ripe target for a surprise attack of his own. Abandoning the deal he had just made, Stephen gathered his army again and sped north, but not quite fast enough—Ranulf escaped Lincoln and declared his support for the Empress. Stephen was forced to place the castle under siege. ### Second phase of the war (1141–1142) While Stephen and his army besieged Lincoln Castle at the start of 1141, Robert and Ranulf advanced on the King's position with a somewhat larger force. When the news reached Stephen, he held a council to decide whether to give battle or to withdraw and gather additional soldiers: Stephen decided to fight, resulting in the Battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141. The King commanded the centre of his army, with Alan of Brittany on his right and William of Aumale on his left. Robert and Ranulf's forces had superiority in cavalry and Stephen dismounted many of his own knights to form a solid infantry block; he joined them himself, fighting on foot in the battle. Stephen was not a gifted public speaker, and delegated the pre-battle speech to Baldwin of Clare, who delivered a rousing declaration. After an initial success in which William's forces destroyed the Angevins' Welsh infantry, the battle went badly for Stephen. Robert and Ranulf's cavalry encircled Stephen's centre, and the King found himself surrounded by the enemy army. Many of his supporters, including Waleran de Beaumont and William of Ypres, fled from the field at this point but Stephen fought on, defending himself first with his sword and then, when that broke, with a borrowed battle axe. Finally, he was overwhelmed by Robert's men and taken away from the field in custody. Robert took Stephen back to Gloucester, where the King met with the Empress Matilda, and was then moved to Bristol Castle, traditionally used for holding high-status prisoners. He was initially left confined in relatively good conditions, but his security was later tightened and he was kept in chains. The Empress now began to take the necessary steps to have herself crowned queen in his place, which would require the agreement of the church and her coronation at Westminster. Bishop Henry summoned a council at Winchester before Easter in his capacity as papal legate to consider the clergy's view. He had made a private deal with the Empress Matilda that he would deliver the support of the church, if she agreed to give him control over church business in England. Henry handed over the royal treasury, rather depleted except for Stephen's crown, to the Empress, and excommunicated many of Stephen's supporters who refused to switch sides. Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury was unwilling to declare Matilda queen so rapidly, however, and a delegation of clergy and nobles, headed by Theobald, travelled to see Stephen in Bristol and consult about their moral dilemma: should they abandon their oaths of fealty to the King? Stephen agreed that, given the situation, he was prepared to release his subjects from their oath of fealty to him, and the clergy gathered again in Winchester after Easter to declare the Empress "Lady of England and Normandy" as a precursor to her coronation. When Matilda advanced to London in an effort to stage her coronation in June, though, she faced an uprising by the local citizens in support of Stephen that forced her to flee to Oxford, uncrowned. Once news of Stephen's capture reached him, Geoffrey of Anjou invaded Normandy again and, in the absence of Waleran of Beaumont, who was still fighting in England, Geoffrey took all the duchy south of the river Seine and east of the river Risle. No help was forthcoming from Stephen's brother Theobald this time either, who appears to have been preoccupied with his own problems with France—the new French king, Louis VII, had rejected his father's regional alliance, improving relations with Anjou and taking a more bellicose line with Theobald, which would result in war the following year. Geoffrey's success in Normandy and Stephen's weakness in England began to influence the loyalty of many Anglo-Norman barons, who feared losing their lands in England to Robert and the Empress, and their possessions in Normandy to Geoffrey. Many started to leave Stephen's faction. His friend and advisor Waleran was one of those who decided to defect in mid-1141, crossing into Normandy to secure his ancestral possessions by allying himself with the Angevins, and bringing Worcestershire into the Empress's camp. Waleran's twin brother, Robert of Leicester, effectively withdrew from fighting in the conflict at the same time. Other supporters of the Empress were restored in their former strongholds, such as Bishop Nigel of Ely, or received new earldoms in the west of England. The royal control over the minting of coins broke down, leading to coins being struck by local barons and bishops across the country. Stephen's wife, Matilda, played a critical part in keeping the King's cause alive during his captivity. Queen Matilda gathered Stephen's remaining lieutenants around her and the royal family in the south-east, advancing into London when the population rejected the Empress. Stephen's long-standing commander William of Ypres remained with the Queen in London; William Martel, the royal steward, commanded operations from Sherborne in Dorset, and Faramus of Boulogne ran the royal household. The Queen appears to have generated genuine sympathy and support from Stephen's more loyal followers. Henry's alliance with the Empress proved short-lived, as they soon fell out over political patronage and ecclesiastical policy; the bishop met the Queen at Guildford and transferred his support to her. The King's eventual release resulted from the Angevin defeat at the rout of Winchester. Robert of Gloucester and the Empress besieged Henry in the city of Winchester in July. Queen Matilda and William of Ypres then encircled the Angevin forces with their own army, reinforced with fresh troops from London. In the subsequent battle the Empress's forces were defeated and Robert of Gloucester himself was taken prisoner. Further negotiations attempted to deliver a general peace agreement but the Queen was unwilling to offer any compromise to the Empress, and Robert refused to accept any offer to encourage him to change sides to Stephen. Instead, in November the two sides simply exchanged Robert and the King, with Stephen releasing Robert on 1 November 1141. Stephen began re-establishing his authority. Henry held another church council, which this time reaffirmed Stephen's legitimacy to rule, and a fresh coronation of Stephen and Matilda occurred at Christmas 1141. At the beginning of 1142 Stephen fell ill, and by Easter rumours had begun to circulate that he had died. Possibly this illness was the result of his imprisonment the previous year, but he finally recovered and travelled north to raise new forces and to successfully convince Ranulf of Chester to change sides once again. Stephen then spent the summer attacking some of the new Angevin castles built the previous year, including Cirencester, Bampton and Wareham. In September, he spotted an opportunity to seize the Empress Matilda herself in Oxford. Oxford was a secure town, protected by walls and the river Isis, but Stephen led a sudden attack across the river, leading the charge and swimming part of the way. Once on the other side, the King and his men stormed into the town, trapping the Empress in the castle. Oxford Castle, however, was a powerful fortress and, rather than storming it, Stephen had to settle down for a long siege, albeit secure in the knowledge that Matilda was now surrounded. Just before Christmas, the Empress left the castle unobserved, crossed the icy river on foot and made her escape to Wallingford. The garrison surrendered shortly afterwards, but Stephen had lost an opportunity to capture his principal opponent. ### Stalemate (1143–1146) The war between the two sides in England reached a stalemate in the mid-1140s, while Geoffrey of Anjou consolidated his hold on power in Normandy. 1143 started precariously for Stephen when he was besieged by Robert of Gloucester at Wilton Castle, an assembly point for royal forces in Herefordshire. Stephen attempted to break out and escape, resulting in the battle of Wilton. Once again, the Angevin cavalry proved too strong, and for a moment it appeared that Stephen might be captured for a second time. On this occasion, however, William Martel, Stephen's steward, made a fierce rear guard effort, allowing Stephen to escape from the battlefield. Stephen valued William's loyalty sufficiently to agree to exchange Sherborne Castle for his safe release—this was one of the few instances where Stephen was prepared to give up a castle to ransom one of his men. In late 1143, Stephen faced a new threat in the east, when Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, rose up in rebellion against him in East Anglia. The King had disliked the Earl for several years, and provoked the conflict by summoning Geoffrey to court, where the King arrested him. He threatened to execute Geoffrey unless the Earl handed over his various castles, including the Tower of London, Saffron Walden and Pleshey, all important fortifications because they were in, or close to, London. Geoffrey gave in, but once free he headed north-east into the Fens to the Isle of Ely, from where he began a military campaign against Cambridge, with the intention of progressing south towards London. With all of his other problems and with Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, in open revolt in Norfolk, Stephen lacked the resources to track Geoffrey down in the Fens and made do with building a screen of castles between Ely and London, including Burwell Castle. For a period, the situation continued to worsen. Ranulf of Chester revolted once again in the summer of 1144, splitting up Stephen's Honour of Lancaster between himself and Prince Henry. In the west, Robert of Gloucester and his followers continued to raid the surrounding royalist territories, and Wallingford Castle remained a secure Angevin stronghold, too close to London for comfort. Meanwhile, Geoffrey of Anjou finished securing his hold on southern Normandy and in January 1144 he advanced into Rouen, the capital of the duchy, concluding his campaign. Louis VII recognised him as Duke of Normandy shortly after. By this point in the war, Stephen was depending increasingly on his immediate royal household, such as William of Ypres and others, and lacked the support of the major barons who might have been able to provide him with significant additional forces; after the events of 1141, Stephen made little use of his network of earls. After 1143 the war ground on, but progressing slightly better for Stephen. Miles of Gloucester, one of the most talented Angevin commanders, had died whilst hunting over the previous Christmas, relieving some of the pressure in the west. Geoffrey de Mandeville's rebellion continued until September 1144, when he died during an attack on Burwell. The war in the west progressed better in 1145, with the King recapturing Faringdon Castle in Oxfordshire. In the north, Stephen came to a fresh agreement with Ranulf of Chester, but then in 1146 repeated the ruse he had played on Geoffrey de Mandeville in 1143, first inviting Ranulf to court, before arresting him and threatening to execute him unless he handed over a number of castles, including Lincoln and Coventry. As with Geoffrey, the moment Ranulf was released he immediately rebelled, but the situation was a stalemate: Stephen had few forces in the north with which to prosecute a fresh campaign, whilst Ranulf lacked the castles to support an attack on Stephen. By this point, however, Stephen's practice of inviting barons to court and arresting them had brought him into some disrepute and increasing distrust. ### Final phases of the war (1147–1152) England had suffered extensively from the war by 1147, leading later Victorian historians to call the period of conflict "the Anarchy". The contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded how "there was nothing but disturbance and wickedness and robbery". Certainly in many parts of the country, such as Wiltshire, Berkshire, the Thames Valley and East Anglia, the fighting and raiding had caused serious devastation. Numerous "adulterine", or unauthorised, castles had been built as bases for local lords—the chronicler Robert of Torigny complained that as many as 1,115 such castles had been built during the conflict, although this was probably an exaggeration as elsewhere he suggested an alternative figure of 126. The previously centralised royal coinage system was fragmented, with Stephen, the Empress and local lords all minting their own coins. The royal forest law had collapsed in large parts of the country. Some parts of the country, though, were barely touched by the conflict—for example, Stephen's lands in the south-east and the Angevin heartlands around Gloucester and Bristol were largely unaffected, and David I ruled his territories in the north of England effectively. Stephen's overall income from his estates, however, declined seriously during the conflict, particularly after 1141, and royal control over the minting of new coins remained limited outside of the south-east and East Anglia. With Stephen often based in the south-east, increasingly Westminster, rather than the older site of Winchester, was used as the centre of royal government. The character of the conflict in England gradually began to shift; as historian Frank Barlow suggests, by the late 1140s "the civil war was over", barring the occasional outbreak of fighting. In 1147 Robert of Gloucester died peacefully, and the next year the Empress Matilda left south-west England for Normandy, both of which contributed to reducing the tempo of the war. The Second Crusade was announced, and many Angevin supporters, including Waleran of Beaumont, joined it, leaving the region for several years. Many of the barons were making individual peace agreements with each other to secure their lands and war gains. Geoffrey and Matilda's son, the future King Henry II of England, mounted a small mercenary invasion of England in 1147 but the expedition failed, not least because Henry lacked the funds to pay his men. Surprisingly, Stephen himself ended up paying their costs, allowing Henry to return home safely; his reasons for doing so are unclear. One potential explanation is his general courtesy to a member of his extended family; another is that he was starting to consider how to end the war peacefully, and saw this as a way of building a relationship with Henry. The young Henry FitzEmpress returned to England again in 1149, this time planning to form a northern alliance with Ranulf of Chester. The Angevin plan involved Ranulf agreeing to give up his claim to Carlisle, held by the Scots, in return for being given the rights to the whole of the Honour of Lancaster; Ranulf would give homage to both David and Henry FitzEmpress, with Henry having seniority. Following this peace agreement, Henry and Ranulf agreed to attack York, probably with help from the Scots. Stephen marched rapidly north to York and the planned attack disintegrated, leaving Henry to return to Normandy, where he was declared duke by his father. Although still young, Henry was increasingly gaining a reputation as an energetic and capable leader. His prestige and power increased further when he unexpectedly married the attractive Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, the recently divorced wife of Louis VII, in 1152. The marriage made Henry the future ruler of a huge swathe of territory across France. In the final years of the war, Stephen began to focus on the issue of his family and the succession. He wanted to confirm his eldest son, Eustace, as his successor, although chroniclers recorded that Eustace was infamous for levying heavy taxes and extorting money from those on his lands. Stephen's second son, William, was married to the extremely wealthy heiress Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey. In 1148, Stephen built the Cluniac Faversham Abbey as a resting place for his family. Both Stephen's wife, Matilda, and his brother Theobald died in 1152. ### Argument with the church (1145–1152) Stephen's relationship with the church deteriorated badly towards the end of his reign. The reforming movement within the church, which advocated greater autonomy from royal authority for the clergy, had continued to grow, while new voices such as the Cistercians had gained additional prestige within the monastic orders, eclipsing older orders such as the Cluniacs. Stephen's dispute with the church had its origins in 1140, when Archbishop Thurstan of York died. An argument then broke out between a group of reformers based in York and backed by Bernard of Clairvaux, the head of the Cistercian order, who preferred William of Rievaulx as the new archbishop, and Stephen and his brother Henry, who preferred various Blois family relatives. The row between Henry and Bernard grew increasingly personal, and Henry used his authority as legate to appoint his nephew William of York to the post in 1141 only to find that, when Pope Innocent II died in 1143, Bernard was able to get the appointment rejected by Rome. Bernard then convinced Pope Eugene III to overturn Henry's decision altogether in 1147, deposing William, and appointing Henry Murdac as archbishop instead. Stephen was furious over what he saw as potentially precedent-setting papal interference in his royal authority, and initially refused to allow Murdac into England. When Theobald, the Archbishop of Canterbury, went to consult with the Pope on the matter against Stephen's wishes, the King refused to allow him back into England either, and seized his estates. Stephen also cut his links to the Cistercian order, and turned instead to the Cluniacs, of which Henry was a member. Nonetheless, the pressure on Stephen to get Eustace confirmed as his legitimate heir continued to grow. The King gave Eustace the County of Boulogne in 1147, but it remained unclear whether Eustace would inherit England. Stephen's preferred option was to have Eustace crowned while he himself was still alive, as was the custom in France, but this was not the normal practice in England, and Celestine II, during his brief tenure as pope between 1143 and 1144, had banned any change to this practice. Since the only person who could crown Eustace was Archbishop Theobald, who refused to do so without agreement from the current pope, Eugene III, the matter reached an impasse. At the end of 1148, Stephen and Theobald came to a temporary compromise that allowed Theobald to return to England. Theobald was appointed a papal legate in 1151, adding to his authority. Stephen then made a fresh attempt to have Eustace crowned at Easter 1152, gathering his nobles to swear fealty to Eustace, and then insisting that Theobald and his bishops anoint him king. When Theobald refused yet again, Stephen and Eustace imprisoned both him and the bishops and refused to release them unless they agreed to crown Eustace. Theobald escaped again into temporary exile in Flanders, pursued to the coast by Stephen's knights, marking a low point in Stephen's relationship with the church. ### Treaties and peace (1153–1154) Henry FitzEmpress returned to England again at the start of 1153 with a small army, supported in the north and east of England by Ranulf of Chester and Hugh Bigod. Stephen's castle at Malmesbury was besieged by Henry's forces, and the King responded by marching west with an army to relieve it. He unsuccessfully attempted to force Henry's smaller army to fight a decisive battle along the river Avon. In the face of the increasingly wintry weather, Stephen agreed to a temporary truce and returned to London, leaving Henry to travel north through the Midlands where the powerful Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, announced his support for the Angevin cause. Despite only modest military successes, Henry and his allies now controlled the south-west, the Midlands and much of the north of England. Over the summer, Stephen intensified the long-running siege of Wallingford Castle in a final attempt to take this major Angevin stronghold. The fall of Wallingford appeared imminent and Henry marched south in an attempt to relieve the siege, arriving with a small army and placing Stephen's besieging forces under siege themselves. Upon news of this, Stephen gathered up a large force and marched from Oxford, and the two sides confronted each other across the River Thames at Wallingford in July. By this point in the war, the barons on both sides seem to have been eager to avoid an open battle. As a result, instead of a battle ensuing, members of the church brokered a truce, to the annoyance of both Stephen and Henry. In the aftermath of Wallingford, Stephen and Henry spoke together privately about a potential end to the war; Stephen's son Eustace, however, was furious about the peaceful outcome at Wallingford. He left his father and returned home to Cambridge to gather more funds for a fresh campaign, where he fell ill and died the next month. Eustace's death removed an obvious claimant to the throne and was politically convenient for those seeking a permanent peace in England. It is possible, however, that Stephen had already begun to consider passing over Eustace's claim; historian Edmund King observes that Eustace's claim to the throne was not mentioned in the discussions at Wallingford, for example, and this may have added to his anger. Fighting continued after Wallingford, but in a rather half-hearted fashion. Stephen lost the towns of Oxford and Stamford to Henry while the King was diverted fighting Hugh Bigod in the east of England, but Nottingham Castle survived an Angevin attempt to capture it. Meanwhile, Stephen's brother Henry of Blois and Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury were for once unified in an effort to broker a permanent peace between the two sides, putting pressure on Stephen to accept a deal. The armies of Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress met again at Winchester, where the two leaders would ratify the terms of a permanent peace in November. Stephen announced the Treaty of Winchester in Winchester Cathedral: he recognised Henry FitzEmpress as his adopted son and successor, in return for Henry doing homage to him; Stephen promised to listen to Henry's advice, but retained all his royal powers; Stephen's remaining son, William, would do homage to Henry and renounce his claim to the throne, in exchange for promises of the security of his lands; key royal castles would be held on Henry's behalf by guarantors, whilst Stephen would have access to Henry's castles; and the numerous foreign mercenaries would be demobilised and sent home. Stephen and Henry sealed the treaty with a kiss of peace in the cathedral. ## Death Stephen's decision to recognise Henry as his heir was, at the time, not necessarily a final solution to the civil war. Despite the issuing of new currency and administrative reforms, Stephen might potentially have lived for many more years, whilst Henry's position on the continent was far from secure. Although Stephen's son William was unprepared to challenge Henry for the throne in 1153, the situation could well have shifted in subsequent years—there were widespread rumours during 1154 that William planned to assassinate Henry, for example. Historian Graham White describes the treaty of Winchester as a "precarious peace", in line with the judgement of most modern historians that the situation in late 1153 was still uncertain and unpredictable. Certainly many problems remained to be resolved, including re-establishing royal authority over the provinces and resolving the complex issue of which barons should control the contested lands and estates after the long civil war. Stephen burst into activity in early 1154, travelling around the kingdom extensively. He began issuing royal writs for the south-west of England once again and travelled to York where he held a major court in an attempt to impress upon the northern barons that royal authority was being reasserted. After a busy summer in 1154, however, Stephen travelled to Dover to meet Thierry, Count of Flanders; some historians believe that the King was already ill and preparing to settle his family affairs. Stephen fell ill with a stomach disease and died on 25 October at the local priory, being buried at Faversham Abbey with his wife Matilda and son Eustace. ## Legacy ### Aftermath After Stephen's death, Henry II succeeded to the throne of England. Henry vigorously re-established royal authority in the aftermath of the civil war, dismantling castles and increasing revenues, although several of these trends had begun under Stephen. The destruction of castles under Henry was not as dramatic as once thought, and although he restored royal revenues, the economy of England remained broadly unchanged under both rulers. Stephen's son William was confirmed as the Earl of Surrey by Henry, and prospered under the new regime, with the occasional point of tension with Henry. Stephen's daughter Marie I, Countess of Boulogne, also survived her father; she had been placed in a convent by Stephen, but after his death she left and married. Stephen's middle son, Baldwin, and second daughter, Matilda, had died before 1147 and were buried at Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate. Stephen probably had three illegitimate sons, Gervase, Abbot of Westminster, Ralph and Americ, by his mistress Damette; Gervase became abbot in 1138, but after his father's death he was removed by Henry in 1157 and died shortly afterwards. ### Historiography Much of the modern history of Stephen's reign is based on accounts of chroniclers who lived in, or close to, the middle of the 12th century, forming a relatively rich account of the period. All of the main chronicler accounts carry significant regional biases in how they portray the disparate events. Several of the key chronicles were written in the south-west of England, including the Gesta Stephani, or "Acts of Stephen", and William of Malmesbury's Historia Novella, or "New History". In Normandy, Orderic Vitalis wrote his Ecclesiastical History, covering Stephen's reign until 1141, and Robert of Torigni wrote a later history of the rest of the period. Henry of Huntingdon, who lived in the east of England, produced the Historia Anglorum that provides a regional account of the reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was past its prime by the time of Stephen but is remembered for its striking account of conditions during "the Anarchy". Most of the chronicles carry some bias for or against Stephen, Robert of Gloucester or other key figures in the conflict. Those writing for the church after the events of Stephen's later reign, such as John of Salisbury for example, paint the King as a tyrant due to his argument with the Archbishop of Canterbury; by contrast, clerics in Durham regarded Stephen as a saviour, due to his contribution to the defeat of the Scots at the battle of the Standard. Later chronicles written during the reign of Henry II were generally more negative: Walter Map, for example, described Stephen as "a fine knight, but in other respects almost a fool". A number of charters were issued during Stephen's reign, often giving details of current events or daily routine, and these have become widely used as sources by modern historians. Historians in the "Whiggish" tradition that emerged during the Victorian era traced a progressive and universalist course of political and economic development in England over the medieval period. William Stubbs focused on these constitutional aspects of Stephen's reign in his 1874 volume the Constitutional History of England, beginning an enduring interest in Stephen and his reign. Stubbs' analysis, focusing on the disorder of the period, influenced his student John Round to coin the term "the Anarchy" to describe the period, a label that, whilst sometimes critiqued, continues to be used today. The late-Victorian scholar Frederic William Maitland also introduced the possibility that Stephen's reign marked a turning point in English legal history—the so-called "tenurial crisis". Stephen remains a popular subject for historical study: David Crouch suggests that after King John he is "arguably the most written-about medieval king of England". Modern historians vary in their assessments of Stephen as a king. Historian R. H. C. Davis's influential biography paints a picture of a weak king: a capable military leader in the field, full of activity and pleasant, but "beneath the surface ... mistrustful and sly", with poor strategic judgement that ultimately undermined his reign. Stephen's lack of sound policy judgement and his mishandling of international affairs, leading to the loss of Normandy and his consequent inability to win the civil war in England, is also highlighted by another of his biographers, David Crouch. Historian and biographer Edmund King, whilst painting a slightly more positive picture than Davis, also concludes that Stephen, while a stoic, pious and genial leader, was also rarely, if ever, his own man, usually relying upon stronger characters such as his wife, Matilda, and brother Henry. Historian Keith Stringer provides a more positive portrayal of Stephen, arguing that his ultimate failure as king was the result of external pressures on the Norman state, rather than the result of personal failings. ### Popular representations Stephen and his reign have been occasionally used in historical fiction. Stephen and his supporters appear in Ellis Peters' historical detective series The Cadfael Chronicles, set between 1137 and 1145. Peters' depiction of Stephen's reign is an essentially local narrative, focused on the town of Shrewsbury and its environs. Peters paints Stephen as a tolerant man and a reasonable ruler, despite his execution of the Shrewsbury defenders after the taking of the city in 1138. In contrast, he is depicted unsympathetically in both Ken Follett's historical novel The Pillars of the Earth and the TV mini-series adapted from it. ## Issue Stephen of Blois married Matilda of Boulogne in 1125. They had five children: - Baldwin (died in or before 1135) - Matilda (died before 1141), married in infancy to Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan - Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne (c. 1130 – 1153), ruled Boulogne 1146–1153 - William I, Count of Boulogne (c. 1135 – 1159), ruled Boulogne 1153–1159 - Marie I, Countess of Boulogne (c. 1136 – 1182), ruled Boulogne 1159–1182 King Stephen's illegitimate children by his mistress Damette included: - Gervase, Abbot of Westminster - Ralph - Amalric ## Genealogical chart
363,559	Pancreatic cancer	1,172,715,829	Type of endocrine gland cancer	[ "Digestive system neoplasia", "Gastrointestinal cancer", "Pancreas disorders", "Pancreatic cancer", "Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate" ]	Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of pancreatic cancer are known. The most common, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, accounts for about 90% of cases, and the term "pancreatic cancer" is sometimes used to refer only to that type. These adenocarcinomas start within the part of the pancreas that makes digestive enzymes. Several other types of cancer, which collectively represent the majority of the non-adenocarcinomas, can also arise from these cells. About 1–2% of cases of pancreatic cancer are neuroendocrine tumors, which arise from the hormone-producing cells of the pancreas. These are generally less aggressive than pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Signs and symptoms of the most-common form of pancreatic cancer may include yellow skin, abdominal or back pain, unexplained weight loss, light-colored stools, dark urine, and loss of appetite. Usually, no symptoms are seen in the disease's early stages, and symptoms that are specific enough to suggest pancreatic cancer typically do not develop until the disease has reached an advanced stage. By the time of diagnosis, pancreatic cancer has often spread to other parts of the body. Pancreatic cancer rarely occurs before the age of 40, and more than half of cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma occur in those over 70. Risk factors for pancreatic cancer include tobacco smoking, obesity, diabetes, and certain rare genetic conditions. About 25% of cases are linked to smoking, and 5–10% are linked to inherited genes. Pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed by a combination of medical imaging techniques such as ultrasound or computed tomography, blood tests, and examination of tissue samples (biopsy). The disease is divided into stages, from early (stage I) to late (stage IV). Screening the general population has not been found to be effective. The risk of developing pancreatic cancer is lower among non-smokers, and people who maintain a healthy weight and limit their consumption of red or processed meat; however, the risk is greater for men, especially at very high levels of red meat consumption. However, this is in debate, as a study performed by the International Journal of Cancer in 2013 did not find any statistically significant relationship between red meat consumption and pancreatic cancer, finding instead no male connection and only finding positive association of red meat consumption with pancreatic cancer risk in women after restriction to microscopically confirmed cases. Smokers' chances of developing the disease decrease if they stop smoking and almost return to that of the rest of the population after 20 years. Pancreatic cancer can be treated with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, palliative care, or a combination of these. Treatment options are partly based on the cancer stage. Surgery is the only treatment that can cure pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and may also be done to improve quality of life without the potential for cure. Pain management and medications to improve digestion are sometimes needed. Early palliative care is recommended even for those receiving treatment that aims for a cure. Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms of cancer globally, with one of the lowest survival rates. In 2015, pancreatic cancers of all types resulted in 411,600 deaths globally. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth-most-common cause of death from cancer in the United Kingdom, and the third most-common in the United States. The disease occurs most often in the developed world, where about 70% of the new cases in 2012 originated. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma typically has a very poor prognosis; after diagnosis, 25% of people survive one year and 12% live for five years. For cancers diagnosed early, the five-year survival rate rises to about 20%. Neuroendocrine cancers have better outcomes; at five years from diagnosis, 65% of those diagnosed are living, though survival considerably varies depending on the type of tumor. ## Types The many types of pancreatic cancer can be divided into two general groups. The vast majority of cases (about 95%) occur in the part of the pancreas that produces digestive enzymes, known as the exocrine component. Several subtypes of exocrine pancreatic cancers are described, but their diagnosis and treatment have much in common. The small minority of cancers that arise in the hormone-producing (endocrine) tissue of the pancreas have different clinical characteristics and are called pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, sometimes abbreviated as "PanNETs". Both groups occur mainly (but not exclusively) in people over 40, and are slightly more common in men, but some rare subtypes mainly occur in women or children. ### Exocrine cancers The exocrine group is dominated by pancreatic adenocarcinoma (variations of this name may add "invasive" and "ductal"), which is by far the most common type, representing about 85% of all pancreatic cancers. Nearly all these start in the ducts of the pancreas, as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). This is despite the fact that the tissue from which it arises – the pancreatic ductal epithelium – represents less than 10% of the pancreas by cell volume, because it constitutes only the ducts (an extensive but capillary-like duct-system fanning out) within the pancreas. This cancer originates in the ducts that carry secretions (such as enzymes and bicarbonate) away from the pancreas. About 60–70% of adenocarcinomas occur in the head of the pancreas. The next-most common type, acinar cell carcinoma of the pancreas, arises in the clusters of cells that produce these enzymes, and represents 5% of exocrine pancreas cancers. Like the 'functioning' endocrine cancers described below, acinar cell carcinomas may cause over-production of certain molecules, in this case digestive enzymes, which may cause symptoms such as skin rashes and joint pain. Cystadenocarcinomas account for 1% of pancreatic cancers, and they have a better prognosis than the other exocrine types. Pancreatoblastoma is a rare form, mostly occurring in childhood, and with a relatively good prognosis. Other exocrine cancers include adenosquamous carcinomas, signet ring cell carcinomas, hepatoid carcinomas, colloid carcinomas, undifferentiated carcinomas, and undifferentiated carcinomas with osteoclast-like giant cells. Solid pseudopapillary tumor is a rare low-grade neoplasm that mainly affects younger women, and generally has a very good prognosis. Pancreatic mucinous cystic neoplasms are a broad group of pancreas tumors that have varying malignant potential. They are being detected at a greatly increased rate as CT scans become more powerful and common, and discussion continues as how best to assess and treat them, given that many are benign. ### Neuroendocrine The small minority of tumors that arise elsewhere in the pancreas are mainly pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a diverse group of benign or malignant tumors that arise from the body's neuroendocrine cells, which are responsible for integrating the nervous and endocrine systems. NETs can start in most organs of the body, including the pancreas, where the various malignant types are all considered to be rare. PanNETs are grouped into 'functioning' and 'nonfunctioning' types, depending on the degree to which they produce hormones. The functioning types secrete hormones such as insulin, gastrin, and glucagon into the bloodstream, often in large quantities, giving rise to serious symptoms such as low blood sugar, but also favoring relatively early detection. The most common functioning PanNETs are insulinomas and gastrinomas, named after the hormones they secrete. The nonfunctioning types do not secrete hormones in a sufficient quantity to give rise to overt clinical symptoms, so nonfunctioning PanNETs are often diagnosed only after the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. As with other neuroendocrine tumors, the history of the terminology and classification of PanNETs is complex. PanNETs are sometimes called "islet cell cancers", though they are now known to not actually arise from islet cells as previously thought. ## Signs and symptoms Since pancreatic cancer usually does not cause recognizable symptoms in its early stages, the disease is typically not diagnosed until it has spread beyond the pancreas itself. This is one of the main reasons for the generally poor survival rates. Exceptions to this are the functioning PanNETs, where over-production of various active hormones can give rise to symptoms (which depend on the type of hormone). Bearing in mind that the disease is rarely diagnosed before the age of 40, common symptoms of pancreatic adenocarcinoma occurring before diagnosis include: - Pain in the upper abdomen or back, often spreading from around the stomach to the back. The location of the pain can indicate the part of the pancreas where a tumor is located. The pain may be worse at night and may increase over time to become severe and unremitting. It may be slightly relieved by bending forward. In the UK, about half of new cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed following a visit to a hospital emergency department for pain or jaundice. In up to two-thirds of people, abdominal pain is the main symptom, for 46% of the total accompanied by jaundice, with 13% having jaundice without pain. - Jaundice, a yellow tint to the whites of the eyes or skin, with or without pain, and possibly in combination with darkened urine, results when a cancer in the head of the pancreas obstructs the common bile duct as it runs through the pancreas. - Unexplained weight loss, either from loss of appetite, or loss of exocrine function resulting in poor digestion. - The tumor may compress neighboring organs, disrupting digestive processes and making it difficult for the stomach to empty, which may cause nausea and a feeling of fullness. The undigested fat leads to foul-smelling, fatty feces that are difficult to flush away. Constipation is also common. - At least 50% of people with pancreatic adenocarcinoma have diabetes at the time of diagnosis. While long-standing diabetes is a known risk factor for pancreatic cancer (see Risk factors), the cancer can itself cause diabetes, in which case recent onset of diabetes could be considered an early sign of the disease. People over 50 who develop diabetes have eight times the usual risk of developing pancreatic adenocarcinoma within three years, after which the relative risk declines. ### Other findings - Trousseau's syndrome – in which blood clots form spontaneously in the portal blood vessels (portal vein thrombosis), the deep veins of the extremities (deep vein thrombosis), or the superficial veins (superficial vein thrombosis) anywhere on the body – may be associated with pancreatic cancer, and is found in about 10% of cases. - Clinical depression has been reported in association with pancreatic cancer in some 10–20% of cases, and can be a hindrance to optimal management. The depression sometimes appears before the diagnosis of cancer, suggesting that it may be brought on by the biology of the disease. Other common manifestations of the disease include weakness and tiring easily, dry mouth, sleep problems, and a palpable abdominal mass. ### Symptoms of spread The spread of pancreatic cancer to other organs (metastasis) may also cause symptoms. Typically, pancreatic adenocarcinoma first spreads to nearby lymph nodes, and later to the liver or to the peritoneal cavity, large intestine, or lungs. Uncommonly, it spreads to the bones or brain. Cancers in the pancreas may also be secondary cancers that have spread from other parts of the body. This is uncommon, found in only about 2% of cases of pancreatic cancer. Kidney cancer is by far the most common cancer to spread to the pancreas, followed by colorectal cancer, and then cancers of the skin, breast, and lung. Surgery may be performed on the pancreas in such cases, whether in hope of a cure or to alleviate symptoms. ## Risk factors Risk factors for pancreatic adenocarcinoma include: - Age, sex, and ethnicity – the risk of developing pancreatic cancer increases with age. Most cases occur after age 65, while cases before age 40 are uncommon. The disease is slightly more common in men than in women. In the United States, it is over 1.5 times more common in African Americans, though incidence in Africa is low. - Cigarette smoking is the best-established avoidable risk factor for pancreatic cancer, approximately doubling risk among long-term smokers, the risk increasing with the number of cigarettes smoked and the years of smoking. The risk declines slowly after smoking cessation, taking some 20 years to return to almost that of nonsmokers. - Obesity – a body mass index greater than 35 increases relative risk by about half. - Family history – 5–10% of pancreatic cancer cases have an inherited component, where people have a family history of pancreatic cancer. The risk escalates greatly if more than one first-degree relative had the disease, and more modestly if they developed it before the age of 50. Most of the genes involved have not been identified. Hereditary pancreatitis gives a greatly increased lifetime risk of pancreatic cancer of 30–40% to the age of 70. Screening for early pancreatic cancer may be offered to individuals with hereditary pancreatitis on a research basis. Some people may choose to have their pancreas surgically removed to prevent cancer from developing in the future. Pancreatic cancer has been associated with these other rare hereditary syndromes: Peutz–Jeghers syndrome due to mutations in the STK11 tumor suppressor gene (very rare, but a very strong risk factor); dysplastic nevus syndrome (or familial atypical multiple mole and melanoma syndrome, FAMMM-PC) due to mutations in the CDKN2A tumor suppressor gene; autosomal recessive ataxia-telangiectasia and autosomal dominantly inherited mutations in the BRCA2 and PALB2 genes; hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (Lynch syndrome); and familial adenomatous polyposis. PanNETs have been associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) and von Hippel Lindau syndromes. - Chronic pancreatitis appears to almost triple risk, and as with diabetes, new-onset pancreatitis may be a symptom of a tumor. The risk of pancreatic cancer in individuals with familial pancreatitis is particularly high. - Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer and (as noted in the Signs and symptoms section) new-onset diabetes may also be an early sign of the disease. People who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for longer than 10 years may have a 50% increased risk, as compared with individuals without diabetes. In 2021, Venturi reported that pancreas is able to absorb in great quantity radioactive cesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) causing chronic pancreatitis and probably pancreatic cancer with damage of pancreatic islands, causing type 3c (pancreatogenic) diabetes. Chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer and diabetes mellitus increased in contaminated population, particularly children and adolescents, after Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear incidents. At the same time, worldwide pancreatic diseases, diabetes and environmental radiocesium are increasing. - Specific types of food (as distinct from obesity) have not been clearly shown to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. Dietary factors for which some evidence shows slightly increased risk include processed meat, red meat, and meat cooked at very high temperatures (e.g. by frying, broiling, or grilling). ### Alcohol Drinking alcohol excessively is a major cause of chronic pancreatitis, which in turn predisposes to pancreatic cancer, but considerable research has failed to firmly establish alcohol consumption as a direct risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Overall, the association is consistently weak and the majority of studies have found no association, with smoking a strong confounding factor. The evidence is stronger for a link with heavy drinking, of at least six drinks per day. ## Pathophysiology ### Precancer Exocrine cancers are thought to arise from several types of precancerous lesions within the pancreas, but these lesions do not always progress to cancer, and the increased numbers detected as a byproduct of the increasing use of CT scans for other reasons are not all treated. Apart from pancreatic serous cystadenomas, which are almost always benign, four types of precancerous lesion are recognized. The first is pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN). These lesions are microscopic abnormalities in the pancreas and are often found in autopsies of people with no diagnosed cancer. These lesions may progress from low to high grade and then to a tumor. More than 90% of cases at all grades carry a faulty KRAS gene, while in grades 2 and 3, damage to three further genes – CDKN2A (p16), p53, and SMAD4 – are increasingly often found. A second type is the intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN). These are macroscopic lesions, which are found in about 2% of all adults. This rate rises to about 10% by age 70. These lesions have about a 25% risk of developing into invasive cancer. They may have KRAS gene mutations (40–65% of cases) and in the GNAS Gs alpha subunit and RNF43, affecting the Wnt signaling pathway. Even if removed surgically, a considerably increased risk remains of pancreatic cancer developing subsequently. The third type, pancreatic mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN), mainly occurs in women, and may remain benign or progress to cancer. If these lesions become large, cause symptoms, or have suspicious features, they can usually be successfully removed by surgery. A fourth type of cancer that arises in the pancreas is the intraductal tubulopapillary neoplasm. This type was recognised by the WHO in 2010 and constitutes about 1–3% of all pancreatic neoplasms. Mean age at diagnosis is 61 years (range 35–78 years). About 50% of these lesions become invasive. Diagnosis depends on histology, as these lesions are very difficult to differentiate from other lesions on either clinical or radiological grounds. ### Invasive cancer The genetic events found in ductal adenocarcinoma have been well characterized, and complete exome sequencing has been done for the common types of tumor. Four genes have each been found to be mutated in the majority of adenocarcinomas: KRAS (in 95% of cases), CDKN2A (also in 95%), TP53 (75%), and SMAD4 (55%). The last of these is especially associated with a poor prognosis. SWI/SNF mutations/deletions occur in about 10–15% of the adenocarcinomas. The genetic alterations in several other types of pancreatic cancer and precancerous lesions have also been researched. Transcriptomics analyses and mRNA sequencing for the common forms of pancreatic cancer have found that 75% of human genes are expressed in the tumors, with some 200 genes more specifically expressed in pancreatic cancer as compared to other tumor types. ### PanNETs The genes often found mutated in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are different from those in exocrine pancreatic cancer. For example, KRAS mutation is normally absent. Instead, hereditary MEN1 gene mutations give risk to MEN1 syndrome, in which primary tumors occur in two or more endocrine glands. About 40–70% of people born with a MEN1 mutation eventually develop a PanNet. Other genes that are frequently mutated include DAXX, mTOR, and ATRX. ## Diagnosis The symptoms of pancreatic adenocarcinoma do not usually appear in the disease's early stages, and they are not individually distinctive to the disease. The symptoms at diagnosis vary according to the location of the cancer in the pancreas, which anatomists divide (from left to right on most diagrams) into the thick head, the neck, and the tapering body, ending in the tail. Regardless of a tumor's location, the most common symptom is unexplained weight loss, which may be considerable. A large minority (between 35% and 47%) of people diagnosed with the disease will have had nausea, vomiting, or a feeling of weakness. Tumors in the head of the pancreas typically also cause jaundice, pain, loss of appetite, dark urine, and light-colored stools. Tumors in the body and tail typically also cause pain. People sometimes have recent onset of atypical type 2 diabetes that is difficult to control, a history of recent but unexplained blood vessel inflammation caused by blood clots (thrombophlebitis) known as Trousseau sign, or a previous attack of pancreatitis. A doctor may suspect pancreatic cancer when the onset of diabetes in someone over 50 years old is accompanied by typical symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, persistent abdominal or back pain, indigestion, vomiting, or fatty feces. Jaundice accompanied by a painlessly swollen gallbladder (known as Courvoisier's sign) may also raise suspicion, and can help differentiate pancreatic cancer from gallstones. Medical imaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT scan) and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) are used both to confirm the diagnosis and to help decide whether the tumor can be surgically removed (its "resectability"). On contrast CT scan, pancreatic cancer typically shows a gradually increasing radiocontrast uptake, rather than a fast washout as seen in a normal pancreas or a delayed washout as seen in chronic pancreatitis. Magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography may also be used, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography may be useful in some cases. Abdominal ultrasound is less sensitive and will miss small tumors, but can identify cancers that have spread to the liver and build-up of fluid in the peritoneal cavity (ascites). It may be used for a quick and cheap first examination before other techniques. A biopsy by fine needle aspiration, often guided by endoscopic ultrasound, may be used where there is uncertainty over the diagnosis, but a histologic diagnosis is not usually required for removal of the tumor by surgery to go ahead. Liver function tests can show a combination of results indicative of bile duct obstruction (raised conjugated bilirubin, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase and alkaline phosphatase levels). CA19-9 (carbohydrate antigen 19.9) is a tumor marker that is frequently elevated in pancreatic cancer. However, it lacks sensitivity and specificity, not least because 5% of people lack the Lewis (a) antigen and cannot produce CA19-9. It has a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 73% in detecting pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and is used for following known cases rather than diagnosis. ### Histopathology The most common form of pancreatic cancer (adenocarcinoma) is typically characterized by moderately to poorly differentiated glandular structures on microscopic examination. There is typically considerable desmoplasia or formation of a dense fibrous stroma or structural tissue consisting of a range of cell types (including myofibroblasts, macrophages, lymphocytes and mast cells) and deposited material (such as type I collagen and hyaluronic acid). This creates a tumor microenvironment that is short of blood vessels (hypovascular) and so of oxygen (tumor hypoxia). It is thought that this prevents many chemotherapy drugs from reaching the tumor, as one factor making the cancer especially hard to treat. ### Staging #### Exocrine cancers Pancreatic cancer is usually staged following a CT scan. The most widely used cancer staging system for pancreatic cancer is the one formulated by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) together with the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). The AJCC-UICC staging system designates four main overall stages, ranging from early to advanced disease, based on TNM classification of Tumor size, spread to lymph Nodes, and Metastasis. To help decide treatment, the tumors are also divided into three broader categories based on whether surgical removal seems possible: in this way, tumors are judged to be "resectable", "borderline resectable", or "unresectable". When the disease is still in an early stage (AJCC-UICC stages I and II), without spread to large blood vessels or distant organs such as the liver or lungs, surgical resection of the tumor can normally be performed, if the patient is willing to undergo this major operation and is thought to be sufficiently fit. The AJCC-UICC staging system allows distinction between stage III tumors that are judged to be "borderline resectable" (where surgery is technically feasible because the celiac axis and superior mesenteric artery are still free) and those that are "unresectable" (due to more locally advanced disease); in terms of the more detailed TNM classification, these two groups correspond to T3 and T4 respectively. Locally advanced adenocarcinomas have spread into neighboring organs, which may be any of the following (in roughly decreasing order of frequency): the duodenum, stomach, transverse colon, spleen, adrenal gland, or kidney. Very often they also spread to the important blood or lymphatic vessels and nerves that run close to the pancreas, making surgery far more difficult. Typical sites for metastatic spread (stage IV disease) are the liver, peritoneal cavity and lungs, all of which occur in 50% or more of fully advanced cases. #### PanNETs The 2010 WHO classification of tumors of the digestive system grades all the pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) into three categories, based on their degree of cellular differentiation (from "NET G1" through to the poorly differentiated "NET G3"). The U.S. National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommends use of the same AJCC-UICC staging system as pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Using this scheme, the stage-by-stage outcomes for PanNETs are dissimilar to those of the exocrine cancers. A different TNM system for PanNETs has been proposed by the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society. ## Prevention and screening Apart from not smoking, the American Cancer Society recommends keeping a healthy weight, and increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, while decreasing consumption of red and processed meat, although there is no consistent evidence this will prevent or reduce pancreatic cancer specifically. A 2014 review of research concluded that there was evidence that consumption of citrus fruits and curcumin reduced risk of pancreatic cancer, while there was possibly a beneficial effect from whole grains, folate, selenium, and non-fried fish. In the general population, screening of large groups is not considered effective and may be harmful as of 2019, although newer techniques, and the screening of tightly targeted groups, are being evaluated. Nevertheless, regular screening with endoscopic ultrasound and MRI/CT imaging is recommended for those at high risk from inherited genetics. Use of aspirin is said to lower the risk of pancreatic cancer. ## Management ### Exocrine cancer A key assessment that is made after diagnosis is whether surgical removal of the tumor is possible (see Staging), as this is the only cure for this cancer. Whether or not surgical resection can be offered depends on how much the cancer has spread. The exact location of the tumor is also a significant factor, and CT can show how it relates to the major blood vessels passing close to the pancreas. The general health of the person must also be assessed, though age in itself is not an obstacle to surgery. Chemotherapy and, to a lesser extent, radiotherapy are likely to be offered to most people, whether or not surgery is possible. Specialists advise that the management of pancreatic cancer should be in the hands of a multidisciplinary team including specialists in several aspects of oncology, and is, therefore, best conducted in larger centers. #### Surgery Surgery with the intention of a cure is only possible in around one-fifth (20%) of new cases. Although CT scans help, in practice it can be difficult to determine whether the tumor can be fully removed (its "resectability"), and it may only become apparent during surgery that it is not possible to successfully remove the tumor without damaging other vital tissues. Whether or not surgical resection can be offered depends on various factors, including the precise extent of local anatomical adjacency to, or involvement of, the venous or arterial blood vessels, as well as surgical expertise and a careful consideration of projected post-operative recovery. The age of the person is not in itself a reason not to operate, but their general performance status needs to be adequate for a major operation. One particular feature that is evaluated is the encouraging presence, or discouraging absence, of a clear layer or plane of fat creating a barrier between the tumor and the vessels. Traditionally, an assessment is made of the tumor's proximity to major venous or arterial vessels, in terms of "abutment" (defined as the tumor touching no more than half a blood vessel's circumference without any fat to separate it), "encasement" (when the tumor encloses most of the vessel's circumference), or full vessel involvement. A resection that includes encased sections of blood vessels may be possible in some cases, particularly if preliminary neoadjuvant therapy is feasible, using chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Even when the operation appears to have been successful, cancerous cells are often found around the edges ("margins") of the removed tissue, when a pathologist examines them microscopically (this will always be done), indicating the cancer has not been entirely removed. Furthermore, cancer stem cells are usually not evident microscopically, and if they are present they may continue to develop and spread. An exploratory laparoscopy (a small, camera-guided surgical procedure) may therefore be performed to gain a clearer idea of the outcome of a full operation. For cancers involving the head of the pancreas, the Whipple procedure is the most commonly attempted curative surgical treatment. This is a major operation which involves removing the pancreatic head and the curve of the duodenum together ("pancreato-duodenectomy"), making a bypass for food from the stomach to the jejunum ("gastro-jejunostomy") and attaching a loop of jejunum to the cystic duct to drain bile ("cholecysto-jejunostomy"). It can be performed only if the person is likely to survive major surgery and if the cancer is localized without invading local structures or metastasizing. It can, therefore, be performed only in a minority of cases. Cancers of the tail of the pancreas can be resected using a procedure known as a distal pancreatectomy, which often also entails removal of the spleen. Nowadays, this can often be done using minimally invasive surgery. Although curative surgery no longer entails the very high death rates that occurred until the 1980s, a high proportion of people (about 30–45%) still have to be treated for a post-operative sickness that is not caused by the cancer itself. The most common complication of surgery is difficulty in emptying the stomach. Certain more limited surgical procedures may also be used to ease symptoms (see Palliative care): for instance, if the cancer is invading or compressing the duodenum or colon. In such cases, bypass surgery might overcome the obstruction and improve quality of life but is not intended as a cure. #### Chemotherapy After surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine or 5-FU can be offered if the person is sufficiently fit, after a recovery period of one to two months. In people not suitable for curative surgery, chemotherapy may be used to extend life or improve its quality. Before surgery, neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy may be used in cases that are considered to be "borderline resectable" (see Staging) in order to reduce the cancer to a level where surgery could be beneficial. In other cases neoadjuvant therapy remains controversial, because it delays surgery. Gemcitabine was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1997, after a clinical trial reported improvements in quality of life and a five-week improvement in median survival duration in people with advanced pancreatic cancer. This was the first chemotherapy drug approved by the FDA primarily for a nonsurvival clinical trial endpoint. Chemotherapy using gemcitabine alone was the standard for about a decade, as a number of trials testing it in combination with other drugs failed to demonstrate significantly better outcomes. However, the combination of gemcitabine with erlotinib was found to increase survival modestly, and erlotinib was licensed by the FDA for use in pancreatic cancer in 2005. The FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy regimen using four drugs was found more effective than gemcitabine, but with substantial side effects, and is thus only suitable for people with good performance status. This is also true of protein-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel), which was licensed by the FDA in 2013 for use with gemcitabine in pancreas cancer. By the end of 2013, both FOLFIRINOX and nab-paclitaxel with gemcitabine were regarded as good choices for those able to tolerate the side-effects, and gemcitabine remained an effective option for those who were not. A head-to-head trial between the two new options is awaited, and trials investigating other variations continue. However, the changes of the last few years have only increased survival times by a few months. Clinical trials are often conducted for novel adjuvant therapies. #### Radiotherapy The role of radiotherapy as an auxiliary (adjuvant) treatment after potentially curative surgery has been controversial since the 1980s. In the early 2000s the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer Research (ESPAC) showed prognostic superiority of adjuvant chemotherapy over chemoradiotherapy. The European Society for Medical Oncology recommends that adjuvant radiotherapy should only be used for people enrolled in clinical trials. However, there is a continuing tendency for clinicians in the US to be more ready to use adjuvant radiotherapy than those in Europe. Many clinical trials have tested a variety of treatment combinations since the 1980s, but have failed to settle the matter conclusively. Radiotherapy may form part of treatment to attempt to shrink a tumor to a resectable state, but its use on unresectable tumors remains controversial as there are conflicting results from clinical trials. The preliminary results of one trial, presented in 2013, "markedly reduced enthusiasm" for its use on locally advanced tumors. ### PanNETs Treatment of PanNETs, including the less common malignant types, may include a number of approaches. Some small tumors of less than 1 cm. that are identified incidentally, for example on a CT scan performed for other purposes, may be followed by watchful waiting. This depends on the assessed risk of surgery which is influenced by the site of the tumor and the presence of other medical problems. Tumors within the pancreas only (localized tumors), or with limited metastases, for example to the liver, may be removed by surgery. The type of surgery depends on the tumor location, and the degree of spread to lymph nodes. For localized tumors, the surgical procedure may be much less extensive than the types of surgery used to treat pancreatic adenocarcinoma described above, but otherwise surgical procedures are similar to those for exocrine tumors. The range of possible outcomes varies greatly; some types have a very high survival rate after surgery while others have a poor outlook. As all this group are rare, guidelines emphasize that treatment should be undertaken in a specialized center. Use of liver transplantation may be considered in certain cases of liver metastasis. For functioning tumors, the somatostatin analog class of medications, such as octreotide, can reduce the excessive production of hormones. Lanreotide can slow tumor growth. If the tumor is not amenable to surgical removal and is causing symptoms, targeted therapy with everolimus or sunitinib can reduce symptoms and slow progression of the disease. Standard cytotoxic chemotherapy is generally not very effective for PanNETs, but may be used when other drug treatments fail to prevent the disease from progressing, or in poorly differentiated PanNET cancers. Radiation therapy is occasionally used if there is pain due to anatomic extension, such as metastasis to bone. Some PanNETs absorb specific peptides or hormones, and these PanNETs may respond to nuclear medicine therapy with radiolabeled peptides or hormones such as iobenguane (iodine-131-MIBG). Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), cryoablation, and hepatic artery embolization may also be used. ### Palliative care Palliative care is medical care which focuses on treatment of symptoms from serious illness, such as cancer, and improving quality of life. Because pancreatic adenocarcinoma is usually diagnosed after it has progressed to an advanced stage, palliative care as a treatment of symptoms is often the only treatment possible. Palliative care focuses not on treating the underlying cancer, but on treating symptoms such as pain or nausea, and can assist in decision-making, including when or if hospice care will be beneficial. Pain can be managed with medications such as opioids or through procedural intervention, by a nerve block on the celiac plexus (CPB). This alters or, depending on the technique used, destroys the nerves that transmit pain from the abdomen. CPB is a safe and effective way to reduce the pain, which generally reduces the need to use opioid painkillers, which have significant negative side effects. Other symptoms or complications that can be treated with palliative surgery are obstruction by the tumor of the intestines or bile ducts. For the latter, which occurs in well over half of cases, a small metal tube called a stent may be inserted by endoscope to keep the ducts draining. Palliative care can also help treat depression that often comes with the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Both surgery and advanced inoperable tumors often lead to digestive system disorders from a lack of the exocrine products of the pancreas (exocrine insufficiency). These can be treated by taking pancreatin which contains manufactured pancreatic enzymes, and is best taken with food. Difficulty in emptying the stomach (delayed gastric emptying) is common and can be a serious problem, involving hospitalization. Treatment may involve a variety of approaches, including draining the stomach by nasogastric aspiration and drugs called proton-pump inhibitors or H<sub>2</sub> antagonists, which both reduce production of gastric acid. Medications like metoclopramide can also be used to clear stomach contents. ## Outcomes Pancreatic adenocarcinoma and the other less common exocrine cancers have a very poor prognosis, as they are normally diagnosed at a late stage when the cancer is already locally advanced or has spread to other parts of the body. Outcomes are much better for PanNETs: Many are benign and completely without clinical symptoms, and even those cases not treatable with surgery have an average five-year survival rate of 16%, although the outlook varies considerably according to the type. For locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinomas, which together represent over 80% of cases, numerous trials comparing chemotherapy regimes have shown increased survival times, but not to more than one year. Overall five-year survival for pancreatic cancer in the US has improved from 2% in cases diagnosed in 1975–1977, and 4% in 1987–1989 diagnoses, to 6% in 2003–2009. In the less than 20% of cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma with a diagnosis of a localized and small cancerous growth (less than 2 cm in Stage T1), about 20% of Americans survive to five years. About 1500 genes are linked to outcomes in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. These include both unfavorable genes, where high expression is related to poor outcome, for example C-Met and MUC-1, and favorable genes where high expression is associated with better survival, for example the transcription factor PELP1. ## Distribution In 2015, pancreatic cancers of all types resulted in 411,600 deaths globally. In 2014, an estimated 46,000 people in the US are expected to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 40,000 to die of it. Although it accounts for only 2.5% of new cases, pancreatic cancer is responsible for 6% of cancer deaths each year. It is the seventh highest cause of death from cancer worldwide. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth most common cause of death from cancer in the United Kingdom, and the third most common in the United States. Globally pancreatic cancer is the 11th most common cancer in women and the 12th most common in men. The majority of recorded cases occur in developed countries. People from the United States have an average lifetime risk of about 1 in 67 (or 1.5%) of developing the disease, slightly higher than the figure for the UK. The disease is more common in men than women, though the difference in rates has narrowed over recent decades, probably reflecting earlier increases in female smoking. In the United States the risk for African Americans is over 50% greater than for whites, but the rates in Africa and East Asia are much lower than those in North America or Europe. The United States, Central, and eastern Europe, and Argentina and Uruguay all have high rates. ### PanNETs The annual incidence of clinically recognized pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) is low (about 5 per one million person-years) and is dominated by the non-functioning types. Somewhere between 45% and 90% of PanNETs are thought to be of the non-functioning types. Studies of autopsies have uncovered small PanNETs rather frequently, suggesting that the prevalence of tumors that remain inert and asymptomatic may be relatively high. Overall PanNETs are thought to account for about 1 to 2% of all pancreatic tumors. The definition and classification of PanNETs has changed over time, affecting what is known about their epidemiology and clinical relevance. ## History ### Recognition and diagnosis The earliest recognition of pancreatic cancer has been attributed to the 18th-century Italian scientist Giovanni Battista Morgagni, the historical father of modern-day anatomic pathology, who claimed to have traced several cases of cancer in the pancreas. Many 18th and 19th-century physicians were skeptical about the existence of the disease, given the similar appearance of pancreatitis. Some case reports were published in the 1820s and 1830s, and a genuine histopathologic diagnosis was eventually recorded by the American clinician Jacob Mendes Da Costa, who also doubted the reliability of Morgagni's interpretations. By the start of the 20th century, cancer of the head of the pancreas had become a well-established diagnosis. Regarding the recognition of PanNETs, the possibility of cancer of the islet cells was initially suggested in 1888. The first case of hyperinsulinism due to a tumor of this type was reported in 1927. Recognition of a non-insulin-secreting type of PanNET is generally ascribed to the American surgeons, R. M. Zollinger and E. H. Ellison, who gave their names to Zollinger–Ellison syndrome, after postulating the existence of a gastrin-secreting pancreatic tumor in a report of two cases of unusually severe peptic ulcers published in 1955. In 2010, the WHO recommended that PanNETs be referred to as "neuroendocrine" rather than "endocrine" tumors. Small precancerous neoplasms for many pancreatic cancers are being detected at greatly increased rates by modern medical imaging. One type, the intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) was first described by Japanese researchers in 1982. It was noted in 2010 that: "For the next decade, little attention was paid to this report; however, over the subsequent 15 years, there has been a virtual explosion in the recognition of this tumor." ### Surgery The first reported partial pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed by the Italian surgeon Alessandro Codivilla in 1898, but the patient only survived 18 days before succumbing to complications. Early operations were compromised partly because of mistaken beliefs that people would die if their duodenum were removed, and also, at first, if the flow of pancreatic juices stopped. Later it was thought, also mistakenly, that the pancreatic duct could simply be tied up without serious adverse effects; in fact, it will very often leak later on. In 1907–1908, after some more unsuccessful operations by other surgeons, experimental procedures were tried on corpses by French surgeons. In 1912 the German surgeon Walther Kausch was the first to remove large parts of the duodenum and pancreas together (en bloc). This was in Breslau, now Wrocław, in Poland. In 1918 it was demonstrated, in operations on dogs, that it is possible to survive even after complete removal of the duodenum, but no such result was reported in human surgery until 1935, when the American surgeon Allen Oldfather Whipple published the results of a series of three operations at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Only one of the patients had the duodenum entirely removed, but he survived for two years before dying of metastasis to the liver. The first operation was unplanned, as cancer was only discovered in the operating theater. Whipple's success showed the way for the future, but the operation remained a difficult and dangerous one until recent decades. He published several refinements to his procedure, including the first total removal of the duodenum in 1940, but he only performed a total of 37 operations. The discovery in the late 1930s that vitamin K prevented bleeding with jaundice, and the development of blood transfusion as an everyday process, both improved post-operative survival, but about 25% of people never left hospital alive as late as the 1970s. In the 1970s a group of American surgeons wrote urging that the procedure was too dangerous and should be abandoned. Since then outcomes in larger centers have improved considerably, and mortality from the operation is often less than 4%. In 2006 a report was published of a series of 1,000 consecutive pancreatico-duodenectomies performed by a single surgeon from Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1969 and 2003. The rate of these operations had increased steadily over this period, with only three of them before 1980, and the median operating time reduced from 8.8 hours in the 1970s to 5.5 hours in the 2000s, and mortality within 30 days or in hospital was only 1%. Another series of 2,050 operations at the Massachusetts General Hospital between 1941 and 2011 showed a similar picture of improvement. ## Research directions Early-stage research on pancreatic cancer includes studies of genetics and early detection, treatment at different cancer stages, surgical strategies, and targeted therapies, such as inhibition of growth factors, immune therapies, and vaccines. Bile acids may have a role in the carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer. A key question is the timing of events as the disease develops and progresses – particularly the role of diabetes, and how and when the disease spreads. The knowledge that new onset of diabetes can be an early sign of the disease could facilitate timely diagnosis and prevention if a workable screening strategy can be developed. The European Registry of Hereditary Pancreatitis and Familial Pancreatic Cancer (EUROPAC) trial is aiming to determine whether regular screening is appropriate for people with a family history of the disease. Keyhole surgery (laparoscopy) rather than Whipple's procedure, particularly in terms of recovery time, is being evaluated. Irreversible electroporation is a relatively novel ablation technique with potential for downstaging and prolonging survival in persons with locally advanced disease, especially for tumors in proximity to peri-pancreatic vessels without risk of vascular trauma. Efforts are underway to develop new drugs, including those targeting molecular mechanisms for cancer onset, stem cells, and cell proliferation. A further approach involves the use of immunotherapy, such as oncolytic viruses. Galectin-specific mechanisms of the tumor microenvironment are under study. ## See also - Gastrointestinal cancer - Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (organization in the US) - Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research (organization in the US) - List of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
214,077	Messier 87	1,172,066,187	Elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster	[ "3C objects", "Arp objects", "Astronomical objects discovered in 1781", "Discoveries by Charles Messier", "Elliptical galaxies", "Messier 87", "Messier objects", "NGC objects", "Peculiar galaxies", "Principal Galaxies Catalogue objects", "Radio galaxies", "UGC objects", "Virgo (constellation)", "Virgo Cluster" ]	Messier 87 (also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, generally abbreviated to M87) is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo that contains several trillion stars. One of the largest and most massive galaxies in the local universe, it has a large population of globular clusters—about 15,000 compared with the 150–200 orbiting the Milky Way—and a jet of energetic plasma that originates at the core and extends at least 1,500 parsecs (4,900 light-years), traveling at a relativistic speed. It is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky and a popular target for both amateur and professional astronomers. The French astronomer Charles Messier discovered M87 in 1781, and cataloged it as a nebula. M87 is about 16.4 million parsecs (53 million light-years) from Earth and is the second-brightest galaxy within the northern Virgo Cluster, having many satellite galaxies. Unlike a disk-shaped spiral galaxy, M87 has no distinctive dust lanes. Instead, it has an almost featureless, ellipsoidal shape typical of most giant elliptical galaxies, diminishing in luminosity with distance from the center. Forming around one-sixth of its mass, M87's stars have a nearly spherically symmetric distribution. Their population density decreases with increasing distance from the core. It has an active supermassive black hole at its core, which forms the primary component of an active galactic nucleus. The black hole was imaged using data collected in 2017 by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), with a final, processed image released on 10 April 2019. In March 2021, the EHT Collaboration presented, for the first time, a polarized-based image of the black hole which may help better reveal the forces giving rise to quasars. The galaxy is a strong source of multi-wavelength radiation, particularly radio waves. It has an isophotal diameter of 40.55 kiloparsecs (132,000 light-years), with a diffuse galactic envelope that extends to a radius of about 150 kiloparsecs (490,000 light-years), where it is truncated—possibly by an encounter with another galaxy. Its interstellar medium consists of diffuse gas enriched by elements emitted from evolved stars. ## Observation history In 1781, the French astronomer Charles Messier published a catalogue of 103 objects that had a nebulous appearance as part of a list intended to identify objects that might otherwise be confused with comets. In subsequent use, each catalogue entry was prefixed with an "M". Thus, M87 was the eighty-seventh object listed in Messier's catalogue. During the 1880s, the object was included as NGC 4486 in the New General Catalogue of nebulae and star clusters assembled by the Danish-Irish astronomer John Dreyer, which he based primarily on the observations of the English astronomer John Herschel. In 1918, the American astronomer Heber Curtis of Lick Observatory noted M87's lack of a spiral structure and observed a "curious straight ray ... apparently connected with the nucleus by a thin line of matter." The ray appeared brightest near the galactic center. The following year, supernova SN 1919A within M87 reached a peak photographic magnitude of 21.5, although this event was not reported until photographic plates were examined by the Russian astronomer Innokentii A. Balanowski in 1922. ### Identification as a galaxy In 1922, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble categorized M87 as one of the brighter globular nebulae, as it lacked any spiral structure, but like spiral nebulae, appeared to belong to the family of non-galactic nebulae. In 1926 he produced a new categorization, distinguishing extragalactic from galactic nebulae, the former being independent star systems. M87 was classified as a type of elliptical extragalactic nebula with no apparent elongation (class E0). In 1931, Hubble described M87 as a member of the Virgo Cluster, and gave a provisional estimate of 1.8 million parsecs (5.9 million light-years) from Earth. It was then the only known elliptical nebula for which individual stars could be resolved, although it was pointed out that globular clusters would be indistinguishable from individual stars at such distances. In his 1936 The Realm of the Nebulae, Hubble examines the terminology of the day; some astronomers labeled extragalactic nebulae as external galaxies on the basis that they were stellar systems at far distances from our own galaxy, while others preferred the conventional term extragalactic nebulae, as galaxy was at that time a synonym for the Milky Way. M87 continued to be labelled as an extragalactic nebula at least until 1954. ### Modern research In 1947, a prominent radio source, Virgo A, was identified overlapping the location of M87. The source was confirmed to be M87 by 1953, and the linear relativistic jet emerging from the core of the galaxy was suggested as the cause. This jet extended from the core at a position angle of 260° to an angular distance of 20′′ with an angular width of 2′′. In 1969–1970, a strong component of the radio emission was found to closely align with the optical source of the jet. In 1966, the United States Naval Research Laboratory's Aerobee 150 rocket identified Virgo X-1, the first X-ray source in Virgo. The Aerobee rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range on 7 July 1967 yielded further evidence that the source of Virgo X-1 was the radio galaxy M87. Subsequent X-ray observations by the HEAO 1 and Einstein Observatory showed a complex source that included the active galactic nucleus of M87. However, there is little central concentration of the X-ray emission. M87 has been an important testing ground for techniques that measure the masses of central supermassive black holes in galaxies. In 1978, stellar-dynamical modeling of the mass distribution in M87 gave evidence for a central mass of five billion solar masses. After the installation of the COSTAR corrective-optics module in the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993, the Hubble Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) was used to measure the rotation velocity of the ionized gas disk at the center of M87, as an "early release observation" designed to test the scientific performance of the post-repair Hubble instruments. The FOS data indicated a central black hole mass of 2.4 billion , with 30% uncertainty. Globular clusters within M87 have been used to calibrate metallicity relations as well. M87 was observed by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) during much of 2017. The event horizon of the black hole at the center was directly imaged by the EHT, then revealed in a press conference on the issue date stated, filtering out from this the first image of a black hole's shadow. ## Visibility M87 is near a high declination limit of the Virgo constellation, abutting Coma Berenices. It lies along the line between the stars Epsilon Virginis and Denebola (Beta Leonis). The galaxy can be observed using a small telescope with a 6 cm (2.4 in) aperture, extending across an angular area of 7.2 × 6.8 arcminutes at a surface brightness of 12.9, with a very bright, 45 arcsecond core. Viewing the jet is a challenge without the aid of photography. Before 1991, the Ukrainian-American astronomer Otto Struve was the only person known to have seen the jet visually, using the 254 cm (100 in) Hooker telescope. In more recent years it has been observed in larger amateur telescopes under excellent conditions. ## Properties In the modified Hubble sequence galaxy morphological classification scheme of the French astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs, M87 is categorized as an E0p galaxy. "E0" designates an elliptical galaxy that displays no flattening—that is, it appears spherical. A "p" suffix indicates a peculiar galaxy that does not fit cleanly into the classification scheme; in this case, the peculiarity is the presence of the jet emerging from the core. In the Yerkes (Morgan) scheme, M87 is classified as a type-cD galaxy. A D galaxy has an elliptical-like nucleus surrounded by an extensive, dustless, diffuse envelope. A D type supergiant is called a cD galaxy. The distance to M87 has been estimated using several independent techniques. These include measurement of the luminosity of planetary nebulae, comparison with nearby galaxies whose distance is estimated using standard candles such as cepheid variables, the linear size distribution of globular clusters, and the tip of the red-giant branch method using individually resolved red giant stars. These measurements are consistent with each other, and their weighted average yields a distance estimate of 16.4 ± 0.5 megaparsecs (53.5 ± 1.63 million light-years). M87 is one of the most massive galaxies in the local Universe. Its diameter is estimated at 132,000 light-years, which is approximately 51% larger than that of the Milky Way. As an elliptical galaxy, the galaxy is a spheroid rather than a flattened disc, accounting for the substantially larger mass of M87. Within a radius of 32 kiloparsecs (100,000 light-years), the mass is (2.4±0.6)×10<sup>12</sup> times the mass of the Sun, which is double the mass of the Milky Way galaxy. As with other galaxies, only a fraction of this mass is in the form of stars: M87 has an estimated mass to luminosity ratio of 6.3 ± 0.8; that is, only about one part in six of the galaxy's mass is in the form of stars that radiate energy. This ratio varies from 5 to 30, approximately in proportion to r<sup>1.7</sup> in the region of 9–40 kiloparsecs (29,000–130,000 light-years) from the core. The total mass of M87 may be 200 times that of the Milky Way. The galaxy experiences an infall of gas at the rate of two to three solar masses per year, most of which may be accreted onto the core region. The extended stellar envelope of this galaxy reaches a radius of about 150 kiloparsecs (490,000 light-years), compared with about 100 kiloparsecs (330,000 light-years) for the Milky Way. Beyond that distance the outer edge of the galaxy has been truncated by some means; possibly by an earlier encounter with another galaxy. There is evidence of linear streams of stars to the northwest of the galaxy, which may have been created by tidal stripping of orbiting galaxies or by small satellite galaxies falling in toward M87. Moreover, a filament of hot, ionized gas in the northeastern outer part of the galaxy may be the remnant of a small, gas-rich galaxy that was disrupted by M87 and could be feeding its active nucleus. M87 is estimated to have at least 50 satellite galaxies, including NGC 4486B and NGC 4478. The spectrum of the nuclear region of M87 shows the emission lines of various ions, including hydrogen (HI, HII), helium (HeI), oxygen (OI, OII, OIII), nitrogen (NI), magnesium (MgII), and sulfur (SII). The line intensities for weakly ionized atoms (such as neutral atomic oxygen, OI) are stronger than those of strongly ionized atoms (such as doubly ionized oxygen, OIII). A galactic nucleus with such spectral properties is termed a LINER, for "low-ionization nuclear emission-line region". The mechanism and source of weak-line-dominated ionization in LINERs and M87 are under debate. Possible causes include shock-induced excitation in the outer parts of the disk or photoionization in the inner region powered by the jet. Elliptical galaxies such as M87 are believed to form as the result of one or more mergers of smaller galaxies. They generally contain relatively little cold interstellar gas (in comparison with spiral galaxies) and they are populated mostly by old stars, with little or no ongoing star formation. M87's elliptical shape is maintained by the random orbital motions of its constituent stars, in contrast to the more orderly rotational motions found in a spiral galaxy such as the Milky Way. Using the Very Large Telescope to study the motions of about 300 planetary nebulae, astronomers have determined that M87 absorbed a medium-sized star-forming spiral galaxy over the last billion years. This has resulted in the addition of some younger, bluer stars to M87. The distinctive spectral properties of the planetary nebulae allowed astronomers to discover a chevron-like structure in M87's halo which was produced by the incomplete phase-space mixing of a disrupted galaxy. ## Components ### Supermassive black hole M87\* The core of the galaxy contains a supermassive black hole (SMBH), designated M87\*, whose mass is billions of times that of the Earth's Sun; estimates had ranged from (3.5±0.8)×10<sup>9</sup> to (6.6±0.4)×10<sup>9</sup> , surpassed by 7.22+0.34 −0.40×10<sup>9</sup> in 2016. In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released measurements of the black hole's mass as (6.5 ± 0.2<sub>stat</sub> ± 0.7<sub>sys</sub>) × 10<sup>9</sup> . This is one of the highest known masses for such an object. A rotating disk of ionized gas surrounds the black hole, and is roughly perpendicular to the relativistic jet. The disk rotates at velocities of up to roughly 1,000 km/s (2,200,000 mph) and spans a maximum diameter of 25,000 AU (3.7 trillion km; 2.3 trillion mi). By comparison, Pluto averages 39 AU (5.8 billion km; 3.6 billion mi) from the Sun. Gas accretes onto the black hole at an estimated rate of one solar mass every ten years (about 90 Earth masses per day). The Schwarzschild radius of the black hole is 120 AU (18 billion kilometres; 11 billion miles). The diameter of the accretion disk, as seen from Earth, is 42 μas (microarcsecond), and the diameter of the black hole itself is 15 μas. By comparison, the diameter of the core of M87 is 45" (as, arcsecond), and the size of M87 is 7.2' x 6.8' (am, arcminute). A 2010 paper suggested that the black hole may be displaced from the galactic center by about seven parsecs (23 light-years). This was claimed to be in the opposite direction of the known jet, indicating acceleration of the black hole by it. Another suggestion was that the offset occurred during the merger of two supermassive black holes. However, a 2011 study did not find any statistically significant displacement, and a 2018 study of high-resolution images of M87 concluded that the apparent spatial offset was caused by temporal variations in the jet's brightness rather than a physical displacement of the black hole from the galaxy's center. This black hole is the first to be imaged. Data to produce the image were taken in April 2017, the image was produced during 2018 and was published on 10 April 2019. The image shows the shadow of the black hole, surrounded by an asymmetric emission ring with a diameter of 690 AU (103 billion km; 64 billion mi). The shadow radius is 2.6 times that of the black hole's Schwarzschild radius. The asymmetry in the brightness of the ring is due to relativistic beaming, whereby material moving towards the observer at relativistic velocities appears brighter. The visible material around the black hole rotates mostly clockwise with respect to the observer, which due to the direction of the axis of rotation causes the bottom part of the emission region to have a component of velocity toward the observer. The rotation parameter was estimated at $a=0.9 \pm 0.1$, corresponding to a rotation speed ≈ 0.4 c. After the black hole had been imaged, it was named Pōwehi, a Hawaiian word meaning "the adorned fathomless dark creation", taken from the ancient creation chant Kumulipo. On 24 March 2021, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration revealed a unprecedented unique view of the M87 black hole shadow: how it looks in polarized light. Polarization is a powerful tool which allows astronomers to probe physics behind the image in more detail. Light polarization informs us about the strength and orientation of magnetic fields in the ring of light around the black hole shadow. Knowing those is essential to understand how M87's supermassive black hole is launching jets of magnetized plasma, which expand at relativistic speeds beyond the M87 galaxy. On 14 April 2021, astronomers further reported that the M87 black hole and its surroundings were studied during Event Horizon Telescope 2017 observing run also by many multi-wavelength observatories from around the world. ### Jet The relativistic jet of matter emerging from the core extends at least 1.5 kiloparsecs (5,000 light-years) from the nucleus and consists of matter ejected from a supermassive black hole. The jet is highly collimated, appearing constrained to an angle of 60° within 0.8 pc (2.6 light-years) of the core, to about 16° at two parsecs (6.5 light-years), and to 6–7° at twelve parsecs (39 light-years). Its base has the diameter of 5.5 ± 0.4 Schwarzschild radii, and is probably powered by a prograde accretion disk around the spinning supermassive black hole. The German-American astronomer Walter Baade found that light from the jet was plane polarized, which suggests that the energy is generated by the acceleration of electrons moving at relativistic velocities in a magnetic field. The total energy of these electrons is estimated at 5.1 × 10<sup>56</sup> ergs (5.1 × 10<sup>49</sup> joules or 3.2 × 10<sup>68</sup> eV). This is roughly 10<sup>13</sup> times the energy produced in the entire Milky Way in one second, which is estimated at 5 × 10<sup>36</sup> joules. The jet is surrounded by a lower-velocity non-relativistic component. There is evidence of a counter jet, but it remains unseen from the Earth due to relativistic beaming. The jet is precessing, causing the outflow to form a helical pattern out to 1.6 parsecs (5.2 light-years). Lobes of expelled matter extend out to 80 kiloparsecs (260,000 light-years). In pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1999, the motion of M87's jet was measured at four to six times the speed of light. This phenomenon, called superluminal motion, is an illusion caused by the relativistic velocity of the jet. The time interval between any two light pulses emitted by the jet is, as registered by the observer, less than the actual interval due to the relativistic speed of the jet moving in the direction of the observer. This results in perceived faster-than-light speeds, though the jet itself has a velocity of only 80-85% the speed of light. Detection of such motion is used to support the theory that quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies may all be the same phenomenon, known as active galaxies, viewed from different perspectives. It is proposed that the nucleus of M87 is a BL Lacertae object (of lower luminosity than its surrounds) seen from a relatively large angle. Flux variations, characteristic of the BL Lacertae objects, have been observed in M87. Observations indicate that the rate at which material is ejected from the supermassive black hole is variable. These variations produce pressure waves in the hot gas surrounding M87. The Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected loops and rings in the gas. Their distribution suggests that minor eruptions occur every few million years. One of the rings, caused by a major eruption, is a shock wave 26 kiloparsecs (85,000 light-years) in diameter around the black hole. Other features observed include narrow X-ray-emitting filaments up to 31 kiloparsecs (100,000 light-years) long, and a large cavity in the hot gas caused by a major eruption 70 million years ago. The regular eruptions prevent a huge reservoir of gas from cooling and forming stars, implying that M87's evolution may have been seriously affected, preventing it from becoming a large spiral galaxy. M87 is a very strong source of gamma rays, the most energetic rays of the electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma rays emitted by M87 have been observed since the late 1990s. In 2006, using the High Energy Stereoscopic System Cherenkov telescopes, scientists measured the variations of the gamma ray flux coming from M87, and found that the flux changes over a matter of days. This short period indicates that the most likely source of the gamma rays is a supermassive black hole. In general, the smaller the diameter of the emission source, the faster the variation in flux. A knot of matter in the jet (designated HST-1), about 65 parsecs (210 light-years) from the core, has been tracked by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. By 2006, the X-ray intensity of this knot had increased by a factor of 50 over a four-year period, while the X-ray emission has since been decaying in a variable manner. The interaction of relativistic jets of plasma emanating from the core with the surrounding medium gives rise to radio lobes in active galaxies. The lobes occur in pairs and are often symmetrical. The two radio lobes of M87 together span about 80 kiloparsecs; the inner parts, extending up to 2 kiloparsecs, emit strongly at radio wavelengths. Two flows of material emerge from this region, one aligned with the jet itself and the other in the opposite direction. The flows are asymmetrical and deformed, implying that they encounter a dense intra-cluster medium. At greater distances, both flows diffuse into two lobes. The lobes are surrounded by a fainter halo of radio-emitting gas. ### Interstellar medium The space between the stars in M87 is filled with a diffuse interstellar medium of gas that has been chemically enriched by the elements ejected from stars as they passed beyond their main sequence lifetime. Carbon and nitrogen are continuously supplied by stars of intermediate mass as they pass through the asymptotic giant branch. The heavier elements from oxygen to iron are produced largely by supernova explosions within the galaxy. Of the heavy elements, about 60% were produced by core-collapse supernovae, while the remainder came from type Ia supernovae. The distribution of oxygen is roughly uniform throughout, at about half of the solar value (i.e., oxygen abundance in the Sun), while iron distribution peaks near the center where it approaches the solar iron value. Since oxygen is produced mainly by core-collapse supernovae, which occur during the early stages of galaxies, and mostly in outer star-forming regions, the distribution of these elements suggests an early enrichment of the interstellar medium from core-collapse supernovae and a continuous contribution from type Ia supernovae throughout the history of M87. The contribution of elements from these sources was much lower than in the Milky Way. Examination of M87 at far infrared wavelengths shows an excess emission at wavelengths longer than 25 μm. Normally, this may be an indication of thermal emission by warm dust. In the case of M87, the emission can be fully explained by synchrotron radiation from the jet; within the galaxy, silicate grains are expected to survive for no more than 46 million years because of the X-ray emission from the core. This dust may be destroyed by the hostile environment or expelled from the galaxy. The combined mass of dust in M87 is no more than 70,000 times the mass of the Sun. By comparison, the Milky Way's dust equals about a hundred million (10<sup>8</sup>) solar masses. Although M87 is an elliptical galaxy and therefore lacks the dust lanes of a spiral galaxy, optical filaments have been observed in it, which arise from gas falling towards the core. Emission probably comes from shock-induced excitation as the falling gas streams encounter X-rays from the core region. These filaments have an estimated mass of about 10,000 . Surrounding the galaxy is an extended corona with hot, low-density gas. ### Globular clusters M87 has an abnormally large population of globular clusters. A 2006 survey out to an angular distance of 25′ from the core estimates that there are 12,000 ± 800 globular clusters in orbit around M87, compared with 150–200 in and around the Milky Way. The clusters are similar in size distribution to those of the Milky Way, most having an effective radius of 1 to 6 parsecs. The size of the M87 clusters gradually increases with distance from the galactic center. Within a four-kiloparsec (13,000-light-year) radius of the core, the cluster metallicity—the abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium—is about half the abundance in the Sun. Outside this radius, metallicity steadily declines as the cluster distance from the core increases. Clusters with low metallicity are somewhat larger than metal-rich clusters. In 2014, HVGC-1, the first hypervelocity globular cluster, was discovered escaping from M87 at 2,300 km/s. The escape of the cluster with such a high velocity was speculated to have been the result of a close encounter with, and subsequent gravitational kick from, a supermassive black hole binary. Almost a hundred ultra-compact dwarfs have been identified in M87. They resemble globular clusters but have a diameter of ten parsecs (33 light-years) or more, much larger than the three-parsec (9.8-light-year) maximum of globular clusters. It is unclear whether they are dwarf galaxies captured by M87 or a new class of massive globular cluster. ## Environment M87 is near (or at) the center of the Virgo Cluster, a closely compacted structure of about 2,000 galaxies. This forms the core of the larger Virgo Supercluster, of which the Local Group (including the Milky Way) is an outlying member. It is organized into at least three distinct subsystems associated with the three large galaxies—M87, M49 and M86—with the core subgroup including M87 (Virgo A) and M49 (Virgo B). There is a preponderance of elliptical and S0 galaxies around M87. A chain of elliptical galaxies roughly aligns with the jet. In terms of mass, M87 is likely to be the largest, and coupled with centrality appears to be moving very little relative to the cluster as a whole. It is defined in one study as the cluster center. The cluster has a sparse gaseous medium that emits X-rays, lower in temperature toward the middle. The combined mass of the cluster is estimated to be 0.15 to 1.5 × 10<sup>15</sup> . Measurements of the motion of those intracluster starburst ("planetary") nebulae between M87 and M86 suggest that the two galaxies are moving toward each other and that this may be their first encounter. M87 may have interacted with M84, as evidenced by the truncation of M87's outer halo by tidal interactions. The truncated halo may also have been caused by contraction due to an unseen mass falling into M87 from the rest of the cluster, which may be the hypothesized dark matter. A third possibility is that the halo's formation was truncated by early feedback from the active galactic nucleus. ## See also - List of Messier objects - List of largest galaxies
34,525,690	Assassination of Spencer Perceval	1,167,816,943	1812 murder in London, England	[ "1810s murders in London", "1812 in London", "1812 murders in the United Kingdom", "19th century in the City of Westminster", "Assassinations in the United Kingdom", "Attacks on British politicians", "Crime in Westminster", "Deaths by firearm in London", "Deaths by person in London", "May 1812 events", "Murder in London", "Napoleonic Wars" ]	On 11 May 1812, at about 5:15 pm, Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Bellingham was detained; four days after the murder, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Newgate Prison on 18 May, one week after the assassination and one month before the start of the War of 1812. Perceval remains the sole British prime minister to have been assassinated. Perceval had led the Tory government since 1809, during a critical phase of the Napoleonic Wars. His determination to prosecute the war using the harshest of measures caused widespread poverty and unrest on the home front; thus the news of his death was a cause of rejoicing in the worst-affected parts of the country. Despite initial fears that the assassination might be linked to a general uprising, it transpired that Bellingham had acted alone, protesting against the government's failure to compensate him for his treatment a few years previously when he had been imprisoned in Russia for a trading debt. Bellingham's lack of remorse, and apparent certainty that his action was justified, raised questions about his sanity, but at his trial he was judged to be legally responsible for his actions.After Perceval's death, Parliament made generous provision to his widow and children and approved the erection of monuments. Thereafter his ministry was soon forgotten, his policies reversed, and he is generally better known for the manner of his death than for any of his achievements. Later historians have characterised Bellingham's hasty trial and execution as contrary to the principles of justice. The possibility that he was acting within a conspiracy, on behalf of a consortium of Liverpool traders hostile to Perceval's economic policies, was the subject of a 2012 study. ## Background ### Biography Spencer Perceval was born on 1 November 1762, the second son from the second marriage of John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont. He attended Harrow School and, in 1780, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a noted scholar and prizewinner. A deeply religious boy, he became closely aligned with evangelicalism at Cambridge and remained faithful all his life. Under the rule of primogeniture, Perceval had no realistic prospect of a family inheritance and needed to earn his living; on leaving Cambridge in 1783, he entered Lincoln's Inn to train as a lawyer. After being called to the bar in 1786, Perceval joined the Midland Circuit, where his family connections helped him to acquire a lucrative practice. In 1790 he married Jane Wilson, the couple eloping on her 21st birthday. The marriage proved happy and prolific; twelve children (six sons and six daughters) were born over the following fourteen years. Perceval's politics were highly conservative, and he acquired a reputation for his attacks on radicalism. As a junior prosecuting counsel in the trials of Thomas Paine and John Horne Tooke, he was noticed by senior politicians in the ruling Pitt ministry. In 1796, having refused the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland, Perceval was elected to Parliament as the Tory member for Northampton, and won acclaim in 1798 with a speech defending William Pitt's government against attacks by the radicals Charles James Fox and Francis Burdett. He was generally seen as a rising star in his party; his short stature and slight build earned him the nickname "Little P". Following Pitt's resignation in 1801, Perceval served as Solicitor General, and then as Attorney General, in the Addington ministry of 1801–1804, continuing in the latter office through the Pitt ministry of 1804–1806. His deep evangelical convictions led him to his unwavering opposition to the Roman Catholic Church and to Catholic emancipation, and his equally fervent support for the abolition of the slave trade, when he worked with fellow evangelicals such as William Wilberforce to secure the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807. When Pitt died in 1806 his government was succeeded by the cross-party "Ministry of All the Talents", under Lord Grenville. Perceval remained in opposition during this short-lived ministry, but when the Duke of Portland formed a new Tory administration in March 1807, Perceval took office as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Portland was elderly and ailing, and on his resignation in October 1809, Perceval succeeded him as First Lord of the Treasury—the formal title by which prime ministers were then known—after a wounding internecine leadership struggle. In addition to his duties as head of the government he retained the Chancellorship, largely because he could find no minister of appropriate stature who would accept the office. ### Troubled times Perceval's government was weakened by the refusals to serve of former ministers such as George Canning and William Huskisson. It faced massive problems at a time of considerable industrial unrest and at a low point in the war against Napoleon. The unsuccessful Walcheren Campaign in the Netherlands was unravelling, and the army of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, was pinned down in Portugal. At the outset of his ministry Perceval enjoyed the strong support of King George III, but in October 1810 the king lapsed into insanity and was permanently incapacitated. Perceval's relationship with the Prince of Wales, who became prince regent, was initially far less cordial, but in the following months he and Perceval established a reasonable affinity, perhaps motivated in part by the prince's fear that the king might recover and find his favourite statesman deposed. When the final British forces withdrew from Walcheren in February 1810, Wellington's force in Portugal was Britain's only military presence on the continent of Europe. Perceval insisted that it remain there, against the advice of most of his ministers and at great cost to the British exchequer. Ultimately this decision was vindicated, but for the time being his main weapon against Napoleon was the Orders in Council of 1807, inherited from the previous ministry. These had been issued as a tit-for-tat response to Napoleon's Continental System, a measure designed to destroy Britain's overseas trade. The Orders permitted the Royal Navy to detain any ship thought to be carrying goods to France or its continental allies. With both warring powers employing similar strategies, world trade shrank, leading to widespread hardship and dissatisfaction in key British industries, particularly textiles and cotton. There were frequent calls for modification or repeal of the Orders, which damaged relations with the United States to the point that, by early 1812, the two nations were on the brink of war. At home, Perceval upheld his earlier reputation as scourge of radicals, imprisoning Burdett and William Cobbett, the latter of whom continued to attack the government from his prison cell. Perceval was also faced with the anti-machine protests known as "Luddism", to which he reacted by introducing a bill making machine-breaking a capital offence; in the House of Lords the youthful Lord Byron called the legislation "barbarous". Despite these difficulties Perceval gradually established his authority, so that in 1811 Lord Liverpool, the war minister, observed that Perceval's authority in the House now equalled that of Pitt. Perceval's use of sinecures and other patronage to secure loyalties meant that by May 1812, despite much public protest against his harsh policies, his political position had become unassailable. According to the humorist Sydney Smith, Perceval combined "the head of a country parson with the tongue of an Old Bailey lawyer". Early in 1812 agitation for repeal of the Orders in Council increased. After riots in Manchester in April, Perceval consented to a House of Commons enquiry into the operation of the Orders; hearings began in May. Perceval was expected to attend the session on 11 May 1812; among the crowd in the lobby awaiting his arrival was a Liverpool merchant named John Bellingham. ## John Bellingham ### Early life John Bellingham was born in about 1770, in the county of Huntingdonshire. His father, also named John, was a land agent and painted miniature portraits. His mother Elizabeth was from a well-to-do Huntingdonshire family. In 1779, John senior became mentally ill, and, after confinement in an asylum, died in 1780 or 1781. The family were then provided for by William Daw, Elizabeth's brother-in-law, a prosperous lawyer who arranged Bellingham's appointment as an officer cadet on board the East India Company's ship Hartwell. En route to India the ship mutinied, and was wrecked off the coast of the Cape Verde islands; Bellingham survived and returned home. Daw then helped him to set up in business as a tin plate manufacturer in London, but after a few years the business failed and Bellingham was made bankrupt in 1794. Bellingham appears to have escaped debtors' prison, perhaps through the further intervention of Daw. Chastened by this experience, he decided to settle down and obtained a post as a book-keeper with a firm engaged in trade with Russia. Bellingham worked hard, and was sufficiently regarded by his employers to be appointed in 1800 as the firm's resident representative in Arkhangelsk, Russia. On his return home, he set up his own trading business and moved to Liverpool. In 1803, he married Mary Neville from Dublin. ### In Russia In 1804 Bellingham returned to Archangel to supervise a major commercial venture, accompanied by Mary and their infant son. His business completed, in November he prepared to return home, but was detained on account of a supposed unpaid debt. This arose from losses incurred by a business associate for which Bellingham was deemed liable. Bellingham denied any responsibility for the debt; his detention, he thought, was an act of revenge by powerful Russian merchants who—erroneously—thought that he had frustrated an insurance claim relating to a lost ship. Two arbitrators appointed by the governor of Archangel determined that he was responsible for a sum of 2,000 roubles (about £200), a fraction of the original amount claimed. Bellingham rejected this judgement. With the issue still unresolved, Bellingham obtained passes for him and his family to travel to the Russian capital, St Petersburg. In February 1805, as they prepared to set out, Bellingham's pass was revoked; Mary and the child were permitted to proceed, but he was arrested and imprisoned in Archangel. When he sought help from Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, the British ambassador in St Petersburg, the matter was dealt with by the British consul, Sir Stephen Shairp, who informed Bellingham that as the dispute involved a civil debt, he could not interfere. Bellingham remained in custody in Archangel until November 1805, when a new city governor ordered his release and allowed him to join Mary in St Petersburg. Here, instead of arranging his family's swift return to England, Bellingham laid charges against the Archangel authorities for false imprisonment and demanded compensation. In doing so he outraged the Russian authorities, who in June 1806 ordered his imprisonment. According to his later account, Bellingham was "often marched publicly through the city with gangs of felons and criminals of the worse description [to the] heart-rending humiliation of himself". Mary had meanwhile returned to England with her son (she was pregnant with her second child), eventually settling in Liverpool where she set up a millinery business with a friend, Mary Stevens. For the next three years Bellingham made constant demands for release and compensation, seeking help from Shairp, Leveson-Gower, and the latter's successor as ambassador, Lord Douglas. None were prepared to intercede on his behalf: "Thus", he later wrote when petitioning for redress, "without having offended any law, either civil or criminal, and without having injured any individual ... was your Petitioner bandied from one prison to another". Bellingham's position worsened in 1807 when Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit and aligned itself with Napoleon. Two further years passed before, after a direct petition to Tsar Alexander, he was released and ordered to leave Russia. Bellingham arrived in England, uncompensated, in December 1809, determined to secure justice. ### Seeking redress On his return to England Bellingham spent six months in London, seeking compensation for the imprisonment and financial losses he had suffered in Russia. He considered the British authorities to be responsible through their neglect of his repeated requests for help. Successively he petitioned the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the Privy Council, and Perceval himself; in each case his claims were politely rejected. Defeated and exhausted, in May 1811 Bellingham accepted his wife's ultimatum to abandon his campaign or otherwise lose her and his family. He joined her in Liverpool to begin life afresh. During the following eighteen months, Bellingham worked to rebuild his commercial career with modest success. Mary continued to work as a milliner. The fact that he remained uncompensated continued to rankle. In December 1811 Bellingham returned to London, ostensibly to conduct business there, but in reality to resume his campaign for redress. He petitioned the Prince Regent before resuming his efforts with the Privy Council, the Home Office and the Treasury, only to receive the same polite refusals as before. He then sent a copy of his petition to every member of Parliament, again to no avail. On 23 March 1812, Bellingham wrote to the magistrates at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, arguing that the government had "completely endeavoured to close the door of justice", and asking the court to intervene. He received a perfunctory reply. After consulting his own MP, Isaac Gascoyne, Bellingham made a final attempt to present his case to the government. On 18 April, he met with a Treasury official, Mr Hill, to whom he said that if he could get no satisfaction, he would take justice into his own hands. Hill, not perceiving these words as a threat, told him he should take whatever action he deemed proper. On 20 April, Bellingham purchased two .50 calibre (12.7 mm) pistols from a gunsmith of 58 Skinner Street. He also had a tailor sew an inside pocket to his coat. ## Assassination ### House of Commons, 11 May 1812 Bellingham's presence in the House of Commons lobby on 11 May caused no particular suspicion; he had made several recent visits, sometimes asking journalists to confirm specific ministers' identities. Bellingham's activities earlier that day did not overtly indicate a man preparing desperate measures. He had spent the morning writing letters and visiting his wife's business partner, Mary Stevens, who was in London at the time. In the afternoon he had accompanied his landlady and her son on a visit to the European Museum, in the St James's district of London. From there he made his way alone to the Palace of Westminster, arriving in the lobby shortly before five o'clock. In the House, as the session began at 4:30 pm, the Whig MP Henry Brougham, a leading opponent of the Orders, drew attention to Perceval's absence and remarked that he ought to be there. A messenger was sent to fetch Perceval from Downing Street, but met him in Parliament Street (Perceval having decided to walk and dispense with his usual carriage) on his way to the House, where he arrived at about 5:15. As Perceval entered the lobby, he was confronted by Bellingham who, drawing a pistol, shot the prime minister in the chest. Perceval staggered forward a few steps and exclaimed, "I am murdered!" before falling face down at the feet of William Smith, the MP for Norwich. (It was also variously reported Perceval had said, "Murder" or, "Oh my God".) Smith only realised that the victim was Perceval when he turned the body face upwards, having initially thought it was his friend William Wilberforce, an MP for Yorkshire, who had been shot. By the time he had been carried into the adjoining Speaker's quarters and propped up on a table with his feet on two chairs, Perceval was senseless, although there was still a faint pulse. When a surgeon arrived a few minutes later, the pulse had stopped, and Perceval was declared dead. In the pandemonium that followed, Bellingham sat quietly on a bench as Perceval was carried into the Speaker's quarters. In the lobby, such was the confusion that, according to a witness, had Bellingham "walked quietly out into the street, he would have escaped, and the committer of the murder would never have been known". As it was, an official who had seen the shooting identified Bellingham, who was seized, disarmed, manhandled and searched. He remained calm, submitting to his captors without a struggle. When asked to explain his actions, Bellingham replied that he was rectifying a denial of justice on the part of the government. The Speaker ordered that Bellingham be transferred to the Serjeant-at-Arms's quarters, where MPs who were also magistrates would conduct a committal hearing under the chairmanship of Harvey Christian Combe. The makeshift court heard evidence from eyewitnesses to the crime and sent messengers to search Bellingham's lodgings. The prisoner kept his composure throughout; although warned against self-incrimination, he insisted on explaining himself: "I have been ill-treated ... I have sought redress in vain. I am a most unfortunate man and feel here"—placing hand on heart—"sufficient justification for what I have done." He had, he said, exhausted all proper avenues and had made it clear to the authorities that he proposed to take independent action. He had been told to do his worst: "I have obeyed them. I have done my worst, and I rejoice in the deed." At around eight o'clock, Bellingham was formally charged with Perceval's murder, and was committed to Newgate Prison to await trial. ### Reaction Reports of the assassination spread quickly; in his history of the times, Arthur Bryant records the crude delight with which the news was received by hungry workers who had received nothing but woe from Perceval's government. In his prison cell, Cobbett understood their feelings; the shooting had "ridded them of one whom they looked upon as the leader among those whom they thought totally bent on the destruction of their liberties". The scenes outside the Palace of Westminster as Bellingham was taken out for transfer to Newgate were consistent with this mood; Samuel Romilly, the law reformer and MP for Wareham, heard from the assembled crowd "the most savage expressions of joy and exultation ... accompanied with regret that others, and particularly the attorney general, had not shared the same fate". The throng surged around the hackney coach carrying Bellingham; many tried to shake his hand, others mounted the coach-box and had to be beaten off with whips. Bellingham was hustled back into the building and kept there until the disorder had died down sufficiently for him to be moved, with a full military escort. Among the governing classes there were initial fears that the assassination might be part of a general insurrection, or might spark one. The authorities took precautions; the Foot Guards and mounted troops were deployed, as was the City militia, while local watches were reinforced. In contrast to the public's evident approval of Bellingham's actions, the mood among Perceval's friends and colleagues was sombre and sorrowful. When Parliament met the next day, Canning spoke of "a man ... of whom it might with particular truth be said that, whatever was the strength of political hostility, he had never before that last calamity provoked a single enemy". After further tributes from government and opposition members, the House moved a grant of £50,000 and an annuity of £2,000 to Perceval's widow, which provision, slightly amended, was approved in June. The regard in which Perceval was held by his peers was made evident in an anonymous 1812 poem, "Universal Sympathy, or, The Martyr'd Statesman": > > Such was his private, such his public life, That all who differ'd in polemic strife, Or varied in opinion with his plan, Agreed with one accord to love the man. ## Proceedings ### Preliminaries An inquest into Perceval's death was held on 12 May, at the Rose and Crown public house in Downing Street. Among those who gave evidence were Gascoyne, Smith, and Joseph Hume, a doctor and Radical MP. Hume had helped to detain Bellingham and now testified that from his controlled behaviour after the shooting, he appeared "perfectly sane". The coroner duly registered the cause of death as "wilful murder by John Bellingham". Armed with this verdict the Attorney General, Sir Vicary Gibbs, requested the Lord Chief Justice to arrange the earliest possible trial date. In Newgate Prison, Bellingham was questioned by magistrates. His calm demeanour and poise led them, unlike Hume, to doubt his sanity, although his keepers had observed no signs of unbalanced behaviour. James Harmer, Bellingham's solicitor, knew that insanity would provide the only conceivable defence for his client, and despatched agents to Liverpool to make enquiries there. While awaiting their reports he learned from an informant that Bellingham's father had died insane; he also heard evidence of his supposed derangement from Ann Billett, the prisoner's cousin, who had known him from childhood. On 14 May, a grand jury met in the Sessions House, Clerkenwell, and after hearing evidence from the eyewitnesses, found "a true Bill against John Bellingham for the murder of Spencer Perceval". The trial was arranged to take place the next day, Friday 15 May 1812, at the Old Bailey. When Bellingham received news of his forthcoming trial he asked Harmer to arrange for him to be represented in court by Brougham and Peter Alley, the latter an Irish lawyer with a reputation for flamboyance. Confident of his acquittal, Bellingham refused to discuss the case further with Harmer, and spent the afternoon and evening making notes. After drinking a glass of porter, he went to bed and slept soundly. ### Trial Bellingham's trial began at the Old Bailey on Friday 15 May 1812, under the presiding judge Sir James Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. The prosecuting team was led by the Attorney General, Gibbs, whose assistants included William Garrow, himself a future Attorney General. Brougham having declined, Bellingham was represented by Alley, assisted by Henry Revell Reynolds. The law at that time limited the role of defending counsel in capital cases; they could advise on points of law, and could examine and cross-examine witnesses, but otherwise Bellingham would have to present his own defence. After Bellingham had entered a not guilty plea, Alley asked for a postponement to allow him time to locate witnesses who could attest to the prisoner's insanity. This was opposed by Gibbs as a mere ploy to delay justice; Mansfield concurred, and the trial proceeded. Gibbs then summarised the prisoner's business activities before meeting misfortune in Russia—"whether through his own misconduct or by the justice or injustice of that country, I know not". He recounted Bellingham's unsuccessful efforts to obtain redress and the consequent growth of a desire for revenge. Having described the shooting, Gibbs dismissed the possibility of insanity, maintaining that Bellingham was, at the time of the deed, fully in control of his actions. Numerous eyewitnesses testified to what they had seen in the Commons lobby. The court also heard from a tailor who, shortly before the attack had, on Bellingham's instructions, modified the latter's coat by adding a special inside pocket, in which Bellingham had concealed his pistols. When Bellingham rose, he thanked the attorney general for rejecting the "insanity" strategy: "I think it is far more fortunate that such a plea ... should have been unfounded, than it should have existed in fact". He began his defence by asserting that "all the miseries which it is possible for human nature to endure" had fallen on him. He then read the petition that he had sent to the Prince Regent, and recalled his fruitless dealings with various government agencies. In his view the principal blame lay not with "that truly amiable and highly lamented individual, Mr Perceval", but with Leveson-Gower, the ambassador in St Petersburg who he felt had originally denied him justice, and who he said deserved the shot rather than the eventual victim. Bellingham's main witnesses were Ann Billett and her friend, Mary Clarke, both of whom testified to his history of derangement, and Catherine Figgins, a servant in Bellingham's lodgings. She had found him recently confused, but otherwise an honest and admirable lodger. As she stood down, Alley informed the court that two more witnesses had arrived from Liverpool. However, when they saw Bellingham, they realised that he was not the man to whose derangement they had come to attest and withdrew. Mansfield then began his summing up, during the course of which he clarified the law: "The single question is whether at the time this act was committed, he possessed a sufficient degree of understanding to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong". The judge advised the jury before they retired that the evidence showed Bellingham to be "in every respect a full and competent judge of all his actions". ### Verdict and sentence The jury retired, and within fifteen minutes returned with a guilty verdict. Bellingham appeared surprised but, from Thomas Hodgson's contemporary trial account, was calm, "with[out] any demonstrations of that concern which the awfulness of his situation was calculate to produce". Asked by the court clerk if he had anything to say, he remained silent. The judge then read the sentence, Hodgson records, "in a most solemn and affecting manner, which bathed many of the auditors in tears". First, he damned the crime "as odious and abominable in the eyes of God as it is hateful and abhorrent to the feelings of man". He reminded the prisoner of the short time, "a very short time", that remained for him to seek for mercy in another world, and then pronounced the sentence of death itself: "You shall be hanged by the neck until you be dead, your body to be dissected and anatomized". The entire trial had lasted less than eight hours. ### Execution Bellingham's execution was fixed for the morning of Monday 18 May. The day before, he was visited by the Revd Daniel Wilson, curate at St John's Chapel, Bedford Row, a future Bishop of Calcutta who hoped that Bellingham would show true repentance for his act. The clergyman was disappointed, concluding that "a more dreadful instance of depravity and hardness of heart has surely never occurred". Late on Sunday, Bellingham wrote a last letter to his wife, in which he appeared confident of his soul's destination: "Nine hours more will waft me to those happy shores where bliss is without alloy". Large crowds gathered outside Newgate Prison on 18 May; a force of troops stood by, since warnings had been received of a "Rescue Bellingham" movement. The crowd was calm and restrained, as was Bellingham when he appeared at the scaffold shortly before 8 o'clock. Hodgson records that Bellingham mounted the steps "with the utmost celerity ... his tread was bold and firm ... no indication of trembling, faltering, or irresolution appeared". Bellingham was then blindfolded, the rope fastened, and a final prayer was said by the chaplain. As the clock struck eight the trap door was released, and Bellingham dropped to his death. Cobbett, still incarcerated in Newgate, observed the crowd's reactions: "anxious looks ... half-horrified countenances ... mournful tears ... unanimous blessings". In accordance with the court's sentence, the body was cut down and sent to St Bartholomew's Hospital for dissection. In what the press described as "morbid sensationalism", Bellingham's clothes were sold for high prices to members of the public. ## Aftermath On 15 May, the House of Commons voted for the erection of a monument to the assassinated prime minister in Westminster Abbey. Later, memorials were placed in Lincoln's Inn and within Perceval's Northampton constituency. There is also a memorial to Perceval in St Luke's Church, Charlton, where he was buried, in the form of a bust and his brother's hatchment with the Perceval's coat of arms. On 8 June, the Regent appointed Lord Liverpool to head a new Tory administration. Despite their eulogies to their fallen leader, members of the new government soon began to distance themselves from his ministry. Many of the changes that Perceval had opposed were gradually introduced: greater press freedom, Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform. The Orders in Council were repealed on 23 June, but too late to avoid the declaration of war on the United Kingdom by the United States. Lord Liverpool's government did not maintain Perceval's resolution in acting against the illegal slave trade, which began to flourish as the authorities looked the other way. British historian Andro Linklater estimates that around 40,000 slaves were illegally transported from Africa to the West Indies because of lax enforcement of the law. Linklater cites Perceval's greatest achievement as his insistence on keeping Wellington's army in the field, a policy which helped to turn the tide in the Napoleonic Wars decisively in Britain's favour. Despite this, with the passage of time Perceval's reputation faded; Charles Dickens considered him "a third-rate politician scarcely fit to carry Lord Chatham's crutch". In due course, little but the fact of his assassination lingered in public memory. As the bicentenary of the shooting approached, Perceval was described in newspapers as "the prime minister that history forgot". The justice of Bellingham's conviction was first questioned by Brougham, who condemned the trial as "the greatest disgrace to English justice". In a study published in 2004, the American academic Kathleen S. Goddard criticises the timing of the trial so soon after the act, when passions were running high. She also draws attention to the court's refusal to allow an adjournment that would permit the defence to contact possible witnesses. There was, she maintains, insufficient evidence produced at the trial to determine the true state of Bellingham's sanity, and Mansfield's summing-up showed significant bias. Bellingham's claim to have acted alone was accepted in court; Linklater's 2012 study posits that he could have been an agent of other interests—perhaps Liverpool merchants, who bore the main brunt of Perceval's economic policies and had much to gain by his demise. Comments by a Liverpool newspaper, says Linklater, indicate that talk of assassination was common in the city. It remains unknown how Bellingham gained the funds to spend freely in the months preceding the assassination, when he was not apparently engaged in any business. This conspiracy theory has not convinced other historians; the columnist Bruce Anderson points to the lack of any concrete evidence to support it. In the months immediately following her husband's execution, Mary Bellingham continued to live and work in Liverpool. By the end of 1812 her business had failed, and thereafter her movements are obscure; she may have reverted to her maiden name. In January 1815, Jane Perceval married Sir Henry William Carr; she died, aged 74, in 1844. In 1828, The Times reported that Cornish industrialist landowner John Williams the Third (1753–1841) received a dream warning of Perceval's assassination on 2 or 3 May 1812, nearly ten days before the event, "correct in every detail". Perceval himself had a series of dreams culminating on 10 May with one of his own death, which he had while spending the night at the house of the Earl of Harrowby. He told the Earl of his dream, and the Earl tried to persuade Perceval not to attend Parliament that day, but Perceval refused to be scared off by "a mere dream" and headed for Westminster on the afternoon of 11 May. A distant kinsman of the assassin, Henry Bellingham, became Conservative MP for North West Norfolk in 1983 and held junior office in the Cameron–Clegg coalition of 2010–15. When he temporarily lost his seat in 1997—he regained it in 2001—his narrow defeat was widely regarded as arising from the intervention of Roger Percival, the candidate for the Referendum Party whose votes largely came from disgruntled Conservatives. Despite the different spelling, media accounts asserted Percival's descent from the assassinated prime minister's family, and reported the defeat as a belated form of revenge. The greater part of the Palace of Westminster (Westminster Hall apart) that stood at the time of the assassination was destroyed by an accidental fire in 1834, following which the Houses were comprehensively rebuilt and expanded. In July 2014, a brass memorial plaque was unveiled in St Stephen's Hall, Houses of Parliament, close to the place where Perceval was killed. Michael Ellis, Conservative MP for Northampton North (part of Perceval's old Northampton constituency) had campaigned for the plaque after four patterned floor tiles that were said to mark the spot had been removed by workmen in a recent renovation.
39,099,805	Lockheed C-130 Hercules in Australian service	1,166,856,731	History of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft in Australia	[ "20th century in Australia", "21st century in Australia", "Aircraft in Royal Australian Air Force service", "Australian military transport aircraft", "Lockheed C-130 Hercules" ]	The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has operated forty-eight Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The type entered Australian service in December 1958, when No. 36 Squadron accepted the first of twelve C-130As, replacing its venerable Douglas C-47 Dakotas. The acquisition made Australia the first operator of the Hercules after the United States. In 1966 the C-130As were joined by twelve C-130Es, which equipped No. 37 Squadron. The C-130As were replaced by twelve C-130Hs in 1978, and the C-130Es by twelve C-130J Super Hercules in 1999. No. 37 Squadron became the RAAF's sole Hercules operator in 2006, when No. 36 Squadron transferred its C-130Hs before converting to Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy transports. The C-130Hs were retired in November 2012, leaving the C-130J as the only model in Australian service. A further twenty C-130Js will be ordered to replace the current fleet. The RAAF's first strategic airlifter, the Hercules has frequently been used to deliver disaster relief in Australia and the Pacific region, as well as to support military deployments overseas. The aircraft saw extensive service during the Vietnam War, transporting troops and cargo to Southeast Asia and undertaking aeromedical evacuation. Nineteen of the RAAF's fleet of twenty-four C-130s took part in relief efforts in 1974–75 after Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin. Since then, the Hercules have been involved in humanitarian missions to New Guinea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bali, Sumatra, and New Zealand. They have also seen service during the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Fijian coups in 1987, operations in Somalia in 1993, INTERFET operations in East Timor in 1999–2000, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2001 to 2021. In over fifty years of Australian service, the Hercules have accumulated more than 800,000 flying hours. ## Acquisition ### Initial selection and purchase At the end of World War II, the RAAF's prime transport aircraft was the twin-engined Douglas C-47 Dakota. In 1946, C-47 operations were concentrated under No. 86 Wing and its three flying squadrons, Nos. 36, 37, and 38, based initially at RAAF Station Schofields, New South Wales. Despite the robustness and versatility of the Dakota, by the early 1950s the Air Force was looking for a replacement with greater cargo capacity and longer range, to better facilitate the deployment and supply of Australian forces. In 1954, the RAAF embarked on a major re-equipment drive, following a shift in defence funding that favoured the Air Force. The Air Officer Commanding Home Command, Air Vice Marshal Alister Murdoch, led a mission overseas to examine potential new fighter, bomber, transport and training aircraft. Four British transports were considered: the Blackburn Beverley, Bristol 179B, Bristol 195 and Short PD 16/1. The mission also assessed the American Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar, Fairchild C-123 Provider and Lockheed C-130A Hercules. Of these types, the mission assessed that the Beverley, C-123 and C-130 could potentially meet the RAAF's requirements. Following further consideration of the options after their return to Australia, in early 1955 the members of the mission unanimously recommended that Hercules be procured, as the other two types did not meet some of the most important elements of the requirement. At this time the Australian Government was reluctant to fund any new equipment for the RAAF, and a decision to acquire twelve C-130s was not made until mid-1957. A contract for these aircraft was signed in October that year. The Australian C-130As were to be similar to those in service with the United States Air Force (USAF), the main difference being the use of TF56-A-11 engines in the place of the usual TF56-A-1 and TF56-A-9s; these engines provided almost the same power, but were modified to meet Australian fuel requirements. The total cost for the aircraft, initial crew training and support equipment was \$US36 million (equivalent to about 16 million Australian pounds). The Hercules represented a huge improvement over the C-47 in payload, range, speed and manoeuvrability, as well as offering cabin pressurisation, short-takeoff-and-landing capability, and bulk loading and despatch via its rear cargo door. The Government expressed concern over the price, at one stage proposing the purchase of only three aircraft, but eventually the Air Force won approval for the twelve that it wanted. Described by the official history of the post-war RAAF as second only to the General Dynamics F-111C as the "most significant" acquisition by the Air Force, the Hercules gave the Australian military its first strategic airlift capability, which in years to come would provide a "lifeline" for deployments to Malaya, Vietnam, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Australia was the first country other than the United States to operate the Hercules. The RAAF's C-130As were also the last of this variant to be built. RAAF crews began training on the Hercules in mid-1958 at Sewart Air Force Base in Nashville, Tennessee. Much of the training took place on a simulator, augmented by approximately fifty hours flying time in the aircraft. To cope with the Hercules' complexities, the aircrew category of flight engineer, absent from the RAAF since World War II, was reinstated. A new category, that of loadmaster, was also instituted; airmen performing similar duties on Dakotas had done so on an ad hoc rather than a permanent basis, without a distinct category having been formalised. A specialist crew member was needed to make weight-and-balance calculations and oversee loading and despatch for the Hercules' 20-tonne freight capacity (compared to three-and-a-half tonnes in a Dakota) and for its range of cargo-delivery systems. A large hangar previously used to service seaplanes at RAAF Base Rathmines was disassembled and re-erected at RAAF Base Richmond, New South Wales, where the C-130s would be based. ### C-130E and C-130H acquisition A decision to purchase another twelve C-130s was announced in November 1964. At this time the C-130As were being used to supply the Australian forces engaged in the Vietnam War. This task demonstrated that the RAAF had insufficient long-ranged transport aircraft to simultaneously support overseas deployments and meet the force's domestic requirements in Australia. As a result, the Government decided to order twelve C-130E Hercules as part of a package of acquisitions for the RAAF and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) that also included ten Lockheed P-3 Orion and fourteen Grumman S-2 Tracker maritime patrol aircraft, as well as twelve Hawker Siddeley HS 748 transports. The 14.7-million-pound contract for the new C-130s was signed on 9 February 1965. In contrast to the concerns raised by the government over the cost of purchasing the C-130As, this expansion of the Hercules force gained ready agreement, due in no small part to the benefits for the armed services, particularly the Australian Army, demonstrated by the first twelve aircraft. The long-serving C-130As were replaced by new Hercules in the late 1970s; twelve C-130Hs were ordered in June 1976 for a cost of \$A86 million, and deliveries took place between July and October 1978. The RAAF's early model Hercules received several repairs and modifications during their service lives. During the early 1960s all of the C-130As were flown to the United States to receive new wing fuel tanks after the original tanks were affected by corrosion caused by tropical fungi and bacteria. Later that decade these aircraft received new panels on the upper surface of their wings after the original ones were found to be faulty. The C-130Es were also fitted with strengthened wing centre boxes in the early 1970s after equivalent USAF aircraft were found to be suffering from greater-than-expected wing stress during operations in Vietnam. During 1964 the C-130As received new doppler navigation systems, and the C-130Es and Hs were fitted with ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation systems from 1989. In 1994, four of No. 36 Squadron's C-130Hs were equipped with Electronic Warfare Self Protection packs, including radar and missile warning systems, and counter measures such as chaff and flares. Later in the decade, one of the C-130Hs was fitted with extensive signals intelligence equipment under the classified "Project Peacemate"; this aircraft was crewed by RAAF and Defence Signals Directorate personnel and its existence was never publicly confirmed by the Government. The modified C-130H was reported to still be active in the signals intelligence role in 2008. The C-130Hs were also among the first Australian military aircraft to be modified to allow aircrew to operate them while wearing night vision goggles. ### C-130J acquisition and planned fleet expansion The Australian Government ordered twelve C-130J Super Hercules in December 1995 and deliveries began during 1999. As part of the deal negotiated with Lockheed Martin, seven of the RAAF's C-130Es were transferred to the company in return for a reduced price on the new aircraft. At the time the order for the twelve C-130Js was placed, the Government also took out options for a further twenty-seven Super Hercules, but these were not taken up; the options included seven airborne early warning and control and eight aerial refuelling variants, as well as up to eight transports for the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The RAAF was the first operator of this C-130 variant, which was larger than earlier models and had a crew of only three (two pilots and a loadmaster) eliminating the navigator and flight engineer roles employed in earlier models. The aircraft initially suffered from serious mechanical and software problems as well as a shortage of spare parts, and were assessed as "experiencing significant operational shortfalls" in a 2002 Australian National Audit Office report. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation undertook considerable research into the C-130J design and developed improvements to the aircraft that addressed problems with excessive vibration. The 2009 Defence white paper Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030 called for the acquisition of two more C-130Js to partially replace the H variants. This purchase did not go ahead, as the government instead ordered a fifth Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The C-130Js have been updated since entering service. All of the aircraft were fitted with radar warning receivers by the end of 2012, and it is planned to equip the Hercules with Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures systems by 2016. As of 2015, the Hercules' communications capabilities were also to be updated by fitting the aircraft with satellite communications equipment and the equipment necessary to allow them to use the Link 16 data exchange network. At this time the C-130s were also to be fitted with new high-speed airdrop ramps at the rear of their cabin, and will be cleared to drop larger loads. The C-130J's operating software has also been upgraded over time, leading to improved performance. The RAAF is participating in the development of further software enhancements. During 2016 all of the C-130Js were fitted with advanced satellite communications systems that allowed the aircraft, and embarked troops, to be retasked while in flight. As part of this modification the aircraft were fitted with an additional crew station, and they carry a fourth crew member when necessary to handle complex communications tasks. In 2019 the RAAF was reported to be considering fitting Litening targeting pods to Hercules to improve crew situational awareness and allow aircraft to collect imagery as part of transport flights. Flight trials of a Hercules fitted with a Litening targeting pod began in early 2020 and were continuing in 2022, one of the C-130Js being modified to carry a variety of systems as part of the trial. In March 2015 Australian Aviation reported that, as part of the process of developing a new Defence White Paper, the Australian Government was considering purchasing two LC-130J Hercules fitted with landing skis and other equipment needed to allow the aircraft to operate in Antarctica. Such an acquisition would have supported the Australian Antarctic Division's operations following the closure of the Wilkins Runway near Casey Station. The 2016 Defence White Paper stated that the Hercules fleet would be maintained at twelve upgraded C-130J aircraft. A C-130J flew from Australia to Antarctica in February 2020, the first time a RAAF Hercules had done so since 1983. The ADF's 2020 Force Structure Plan identified a need to replace the C-130J Hercules with an expanded fleet of transport aircraft. In 2021 the RAAF requested information from Lockheed Martin about how it could supply 24 new C-130J-30s as well as six KC-130J aerial refuelling variants. The RAAF also approached Airbus, Embraer and Kawasaki for information about the transport aircraft each company produces. On 1 November 2022 the Department of Defence announced that, after evaluating a range of designs, it had concluded that only an expanded fleet of newly built C-130Js would meet the RAAF's needs. The variant selected is the C-130J-30, which is 4 metres (13 ft) longer than the RAAF's existing C-130Js. Approval was to be sought from the government in 2023 for this purchase, up to 24 C-130Js potentially being acquired. Ahead of Australian Government approval, the US State Department agreed to the potential sale of up to 24 C-130Js and associated equipment to Australia in November 2022. The Australian Defence Business Review reported that this acquisition may also be used to replace the RAAF's fleet of Alenia C-27J Spartans. In July 2023 the government announced that 20 C-130Js would be ordered to replace the current Hercules fleet. The first of the new C-130s is scheduled to be delivered in 2027. ## Operational service ### Introduction into service The RAAF's twelve C-130As were picked up by their newly trained Australian pilots from the Lockheed factory at Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia, and ferried to Australia in three groups between December 1958 and March 1959. No. 36 Squadron, located at RAAF Base Richmond, became the first unit to operate the new aircraft. Almost immediately they established regular courier services within Australia and to RAAF Base Butterworth in Malaya. These flights primarily involved transporting cargo, as Chief of the Air Staff Frederick Scherger directed in 1959 that the RAAF would continue to rely on chartered civil airliners to move military personnel on the grounds that these aircraft were better suited to the task and in wartime all the C-130s would be needed to supply troops near the front lines. In February 1960 a Hercules flew the RAAF's first AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles from the United States to Butterworth to equip the CAC Sabre fighters based there. Crew training was rigorous, and from mid-1960 involved the use of a simulator. Only seasoned transport pilots flew the Hercules in its early years of service, generally having undertaken a tour of duty with No. 38 Squadron's Dakotas. The official history of the post-war Air Force described the Hercules as "probably the biggest step-up in aircraft capabilities" the RAAF had ever received, considering it roughly four times as effective as the Dakota, taking into account the improvements in payload, range, and speed. When No. 78 (Fighter) Wing and its two squadrons of CAC Sabres deployed to Butterworth between October 1958 and February 1959, seven Dakotas were required to ferry the staff and equipment of No. 3 Squadron from Australia to Malaya, compared to two Hercules for No. 77 Squadron. The Hercules were the first turboprop aircraft operated by the RAAF. They were serviced by No. 486 Maintenance Squadron, deeper maintenance and upgrades being carried out by No. 2 Aircraft Depot (No. 2 AD), both units being based at Richmond. The availability of spare parts from the US caused problems early on, grounding one C-130A for almost a year. No. 36 Squadron commenced parachute trials with the Hercules in September 1960. Beginning in May 1962, RAAF forces based at Ubon, Thailand, under SEATO arrangements were supplied by a regular Hercules service. In December that year, the Hercules made their first troop-carrying flights into a combat zone, when one of No. 36 Squadron's C-130s joined a Commonwealth airlift from Singapore to Borneo at the commencement of the Konfrontasi between Indonesia and Malaysia; similar missions would be undertaken for a further five years. In 1964, the first two Dassault Mirage III fighters to be assembled in Australia were flown in pieces from France to the Government Aircraft Factories at Avalon, Victoria, by RAAF Hercules. The same year, following the entry into Australian service of the de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou with No. 38 Squadron, No. 486 Squadron was disbanded and its equipment and staff divided between Nos. 36 and 38 Squadrons. The RAAF's force of twelve C-130A Hercules was augmented by twelve C-130Es commencing in August 1966. No. 37 Squadron, disbanded in 1948, was re-formed at Richmond to operate the new models. No. 486 Squadron was also re-formed to provide maintenance for both Hercules squadrons. No. 36 Squadron's tasking was mainly domestic and tactical in nature; No. 37 Squadron's was overseas and strategic, owing to the longer range of its C-130Es. In May 1967, three Hercules of No. 37 Squadron supported Operation Fast Caravan, the deployment of 23 Mirages of No. 75 Squadron to Butterworth. ### Vietnam War era During the late 1960s, forty-two per cent of Hercules flying hours were devoted to Australian Army operations. The C-130s undertook long-range missions to support Australian forces fighting in the Vietnam War from 1965 until 1972. Following the deployment of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment to South Vietnam in early 1965, the RAAF began fortnightly C-130 flights into the country from June that year. These flights were initially conducted by C-130As, and carried high-priority cargo and passengers from Richmond to Vung Tau in South Vietnam via either Butterworth or Singapore. The scale of the supply flights into South Vietnam expanded in 1967 when No. 2 Squadron RAAF, which was equipped with English Electric Canberra bombers, was deployed to Phan Rang. A large airlift codenamed Winter Grip was also conducted in mid-1967 to replace two Australian Army battalions, which had completed their year-long tour of duty, with a pair of fresh battalions. The Hercules were called upon to support the withdrawal of the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) from South Vietnam, and Nos. 36 and 37 Squadrons undertook many sorties to fly equipment and personnel out of the country during 1971. In late 1972, C-130s were used to withdraw the last remaining Australian force in South Vietnam, the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam; the final elements of this force departed aboard two Hercules on 20 December 1972. As well as transport operations, the Hercules flew many evacuation flights out of Vietnam to transfer wounded or sick personnel to Australia, via Butterworth, for further treatment. These flights were initially conducted as part of the regular courier service, and the patients and RAAF nurses had to endure uncomfortable conditions as the aircraft had only rudimentary facilities for personnel on stretchers. Separate evacuation flights began on 1 July 1966, and continued at fortnightly intervals until 1972; more flights were made during periods in which 1 ATF suffered heavy casualties. Although the operation was generally successful, only C-130Es were assigned to this task from May 1967 after an article criticising the use of noisy C-130As to transport wounded personnel was published in The Medical Journal of Australia. The C-130Es provided much more comfortable conditions and were capable of flying directly between South Vietnam and Australia when required. A total of 3,164 patients had been transported to Australia by the time the C-130 evacuation flights ended in early 1972. The Hercules also returned the bodies of servicemen killed in Vietnam to Australia. Many of the RAAF's C-130s were redeployed to South Vietnam shortly before the end of the war in 1975. The rapid North Vietnamese advance during the Spring Offensive displaced hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians, and the Australian Government deployed a detachment of Hercules to Saigon in March 1975 as part of an international aid effort coordinated by the United States. This force, which was designated Detachment S, had an average strength of seven C-130s and about one hundred air and ground crew, and was initially used to transport civilian refugees away from the front lines. After South Vietnamese soldiers were reported to have been transported alongside civilians, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam directed that the Hercules were to only carry humanitarian cargo. As the North Vietnamese advanced on Saigon, Detachment S was moved to Bangkok in Thailand, but continued to fly into South Vietnam each day. Overall, Detachment S had carried 1,100 refugees and 900 tonnes of supplies by the end of the war. On 4 and 17 April, aircraft of the detachment flew 271 orphaned children to Bangkok as part of the US-led Operation Babylift. In late April, two of No. 37 Squadron's C-130Es were assigned to the United Nations to transport supplies throughout Southeast Asia; this force was designated Detachment N. The C-130Es began operations on 3 May, and were mainly used to fly supplies into Laos. The aircraft transported cargo between Thailand, Butterworth, Hong Kong and Singapore; by the time this mission ended in early June, the two Hercules had conducted 91 sorties for the UN. Aircraft of Detachment S evacuated Australian embassy personnel from Phnom Penh in Cambodia, as well as Saigon, shortly before they fell to Khmer Rouge and North Vietnamese forces in April 1975, after which the force returned to Australia. Detachment N also evacuated the Australian embassy in Vientiane, Laos, during early June 1975. ### Post-Vietnam tasks In the years after the end of the Vietnam War, the Hercules continued to take part in military exercises and support overseas peacekeeping commitments. They also became well known in the Southern Pacific after being called on for relief following natural disasters, including tsunami in New Guinea, cyclones in the Solomon Islands and Tonga, and fires and floods in Australia. The Hercules played a significant part in the evacuation of civilians following Cyclone Tracy in 1974–75; a No. 37 Squadron C-130E was the first aircraft to touch down in Darwin following the disaster. Eight of No. 36 Squadron's aircraft were involved in the relief effort, flying over 550 hours, and carrying 2,864 passengers and almost 800,000 lbs of cargo; No. 37 Squadron contributed 11 aircraft, flying 700 hours, and carrying 4,400 passengers and 1,300,000 lbs of cargo. On 19 January 1978 a C-130E returning to Australia from Butterworth was used to intercept a drug-smuggling aircraft near Darwin; the smuggler eventually landed at Katherine, and was arrested. After clocking up 147,000 accident-free flying hours over the course of 20 years, No. 36 Squadron's C-130As were replaced in 1978 by C-130H models. The C-130Hs were primarily used as tactical air lifters throughout their service with the RAAF, and worked closely with the Army's special forces units. The disposal of the C-130As took almost a decade, the process being subject to a police investigation. Attempts to sell the Hercules by tender during 1978 and 1979 were unsuccessful, and the American law firm Ford and Vlahos was appointed the sales agent for the aircraft in 1981. One was sold to the French Government in 1983 and subsequently transferred to the Chadian Air Force. Another two Hercules were sold to the Colombian charter company Aviaco in 1983, but the US State Department vetoed the deal shortly before it was to have been completed over suspicions that the aircraft would be used to smuggle drugs into the United States. A C-130A was transferred to the newly established company International Air Aid and leased to the International Red Cross to fly humanitarian supplies into Ethiopia during 1986, but this contract was cancelled after the C-130's pilot was accused by the Ethiopian government of photographing a military area. The Australian Federal Police eventually charged two people with defrauding the Commonwealth and conspiracy in relation to these attempts to dispose of the C-130As. Eventually, four of the C-130As were sold to Aboitiz Air Transport Corporation in May 1988 and another four were acquired by the Fowler Aeronautical Corporation the next year. Two of the remaining three aircraft were retained by the RAAF for training and heritage purposes, and the final C-130A was scrapped. In November 1978, a C-130H became the first Australian Hercules to land in Antarctica, at McMurdo Sound. In January–February 1979, two No. 37 Squadron C-130Es evacuated Australian and other foreign embassy staff from Tehran, shortly before the collapse of royal rule during the Iranian Revolution. During April 1982, a C-130H was fitted with aerial firefighting equipment acquired from the United States Forest Service for trials purposes; several Hercules later used this equipment to fight bushfires. On 5 April 1983, 23 of the RAAF's Hercules performed a formation flight over Sydney; the remaining aircraft was to have participated in this flight but was diverted to conduct a search-and-rescue task. The Hercules' twelve-hour endurance and ability to drop survival equipment over land or sea made it a useful aircraft for such missions. In 1986, No. 37 Squadron transported the Popemobiles during John Paul II's tour of Australia; its other unusual cargoes have included a Murray Grey stud bull presented to the Chinese Government in 1973, kangaroos and sheep for Malaysia, and archaeological exhibits from China. In February 1987, Nos. 36 and 37 Squadrons joined No. 33 Squadron (flying Boeing 707 tanker-transports) as part of a re-formed No. 86 Wing under the newly established Air Lift Group (renamed Air Mobility Group in April 2014). In May that year four C-130s flew a rifle company of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, from Townsville to Norfolk Island during Operation Morris Dance, the Australian Defence Force's response to the first of the 1987 Fijian coups; the soldiers subsequently embarked onto RAN warships by helicopter. In 1988, No. 37 Squadron's Hercules achieved 200,000 accident-free flying hours. No. 36 Squadron achieved 100,000 accident-free flying hours on the C-130H in 1990. Members of the travelling public experienced flying by Hercules in 1989, when the Australian Government employed the C-130s and 707s for transport during the pilots' dispute that curtailed operations by the two domestic airlines; the resulting spike in operational hours necessitated No. 486 Squadron sending detachments to several locations throughout the country to cope with increased maintenance demands. By the late 1980s, some C-130 maintenance tasks had been outsourced to commercial firms, and Air New Zealand won a four-year depot maintenance contract in 1990. In 1990, three No. 36 Squadron female pilots were employed for the first time in combat-related roles following the removal of the restriction against women in combat-related roles by the Australian Defence Force.[^1] Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, No. 86 Wing prepared to deploy five C-130s to the Middle East to evacuate 3,000 Australian citizens from Saudi Arabia in the event that Iraq also attacked that country. An operation to fly about 95 Australians and New Zealanders directly out of Iraq and Kuwait was also planned, but would have only been conducted as a last resort due to the great dangers involved. These evacuation flights were not required as Iraq did not invade Saudi Arabia, and the Australians in Iraq departed by road. A proposal to deploy some of the Hercules as part of Australia's contribution to the ensuing Gulf War was also rejected in late 1990 as the aircraft had to be held in reserve in case fighting on the Pacific island of Bougainville worsened and required an evacuation operation. After Operation Desert Storm commenced in January 1991, two C-130s were dispatched to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean where they were held at readiness to deploy to Saudi Arabia in case Australian citizens had to be evacuated; these aircraft moved to Singapore on 29 January and returned to Australia in early February. Other Hercules flew supplies for the RAN warships in the region from Australia to Muscat, Oman, from January 1991, and also transported a naval Clearance Diving Team to Muscat late in the month. In 1992, the Hercules of Nos. 36 and 37 Squadrons achieved a grand total of 500,000 accident-free flying hours; Lockheed presented No. 86 Wing with a trophy to commemorate the milestone. `The RAAF's Hercules fleet continued to support Australian military deployments during the 1990s and 2000s. In 1993, C-130s transported Australian troops to and from Somalia as part of Operation Solace. In late July the next year two C-130Hs flew water purifying equipment and medical supplies into Rwanda to assist the survivors of the genocide in that country. Six Hercules evacuated over 450 civilians from Cambodia following the coup in July 1997. No. 37 Squadron re-equipped with new-model C-130J Hercules in 1999; during the transition to the new aircraft the C-130Es were operated by No. 36 Squadron before being retired. The seven C-130Es transferred to Lockheed Martin as part of the C-130J purchase agreement were subsequently sold to Pakistan in 2004. Of these aircraft, six entered service with the Pakistan Air Force and the seventh was scrapped. The RAAF's other five C-130Es were retained to be used for ground training and museum purposes. At the end of 1999, No. 86 Wing ceased flying the regularly scheduled intra-Australia C-130 flights that had begun in May 1959. Although these courier flights had been one of the main tasks assigned to the Hercules force since the type's introduction, the reduction in commercial airfares during the late 1990s rendered them unnecessary.` A detachment of Hercules from Nos. 36 and 37 Squadrons supported INTERFET operations in East Timor between September 1999 and February 2000. When violence broke out following the East Timor Special Autonomy Referendum on 30 August 1999, C-130H sorties were flown into the then-Indonesian province from 6 to 14 September to evacuate United Nations personnel as well as other foreign citizens and East Timorese refugees. Four C-130E sorties were also conducted to drop food and other humanitarian supplies to refugees on 17 and 18 September. On 19 September a C-130 dropped a Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) team near the East Timorese capital of Dili ahead of the arrival of the main INTERFET force the next day. From 20 September, thirteen RAAF Hercules (designated No. 86 Wing Detachment B) and transport aircraft from several other countries flew troops and supplies into East Timor. These aircraft also dropped humanitarian supplies to refugees who had fled to mountainous regions. The poor condition of most East Timorese airfields and the potential threat of being fired upon by pro-Indonesian militia were constant dangers throughout this operation. The support arrangements for the RAAF's Hercules were reformed during 1999 and 2000. On 24 August 1999, the training sections of Nos. 33, 36 and 37 Squadrons and No. 503 Wing were combined to form No. 285 Squadron. This new squadron was assigned responsibility for training aircrew to operate C-130s and Boeing 707s using flight simulators, as well as aircraft temporarily assigned to the unit from the operational squadrons. Retired Hercules have also been used to train loadmasters. In May 2000, heavy maintenance of the C-130s, previously carried out by No. 2 AD (reformed as No. 503 Wing in July 1992) was contracted out to Qantas. Since the retirement of the Boeing 707 from RAAF service in June 2008, No. 285 Squadron has been dedicated to C-130 training. ### Iraq War and later operations From late 2001, Hercules began flying into Afghanistan to support the SAS squadron deployed as part of Operation Slipper, Australia's contribution to the War in Afghanistan. Five Hercules of Nos. 36 and 37 Squadrons joined relief efforts following the Bali Bombings in October 2002. In February 2003, a detachment of Hercules from No. 36 Squadron was deployed to the Middle East as part of the Australian contribution to the invasion of Iraq. These aircraft arrived on 10 February, and began flying transport sorties twelve days later. The C-130s were the main form of transport used to move Australian personnel and equipment in the theatre before and after the outbreak of fighting on 19 March. During the invasion the Hercules supported SAS operations in western Iraq, one being the first Coalition aircraft to land at Al Asad Airbase after it was secured by special forces personnel on 12 April. The C-130s transported supplies and equipment to airstrips in southern Iraq to support the operations of US and British forces. As the first phase of the war wound down, Australian Hercules flew medical supplies into Baghdad shortly after the city was captured. A rotating detachment of three Hercules was subsequently maintained in the Middle East to support the ongoing Australian contribution to the War in Afghanistan, as well as the forces stationed in Iraq. The aircraft assigned to this detachment amassed a total of 20,000 operational flying hours by March 2010. An American contractor travelling on an Australian C-130 in Iraq was killed on 27 June 2004 when the aircraft was struck by gunfire shortly after it took off from Baghdad. RAAF C-130s continued to support operations in and around Australia during the early 2000s. During April 2003 a C-130 formed part of the force that tracked the North Korean freighter Pong Su'' before it was boarded by special forces personnel off the coast of New South Wales. No. 37 Squadron Super Hercules & No. 36 Squadron Hercules took part in Operation Sumatra Assist in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami; the aircraft were initially used to fly supplies into the badly damaged city of Banda Aceh. Hercules flew Australian forces into East Timor during May 2006 after the government of that country requested assistance to quell a military mutiny and widespread violence. In July that year one of the C-130s deployed to the Middle East was sent to Cyprus, where it picked up Australians who had been evacuated from Lebanon following Israeli air raids and flew them to Turkey. RAAF C-130 operations were concentrated in No. 37 Squadron in November 2006, when No. 36 Squadron transferred its C-130Hs before re-equipping with Boeing C-17 Globemaster heavy transports and relocating to RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. The RAAF's contribution to Operation Papua New Guinea Assist following Cyclone Guba in November 2007 included two Hercules, three Caribous, and a Globemaster. In November 2008, the RAAF commemorated fifty years of Hercules operation. From that year only C-130Js were deployed to the Middle East. Four of the C-130Hs were placed in reserve at Richmond from 2009. Together with Globemasters, Hercules transported medical staff and equipment to aid victims of the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011. In May 2012 the government announced as part of the 2012–13 Budget that the remaining eight C-130Hs would be withdrawn from service a year earlier than previously scheduled. The aircraft were retired on 30 November that year. Two of the C-130Hs were retained by the Air Force for display at RAAF Museum and for ground training purposes at Richmond; four were donated to the Indonesian Air Force, and the RAAF was reported to be considering options for the disposal of the other six. By the time the C-130H fleet was retired, the twelve aircraft had flown almost 250,000 hours. In April 2013 the Australian government offered to sell five of the C-130Hs as well as spare parts and simulators to Indonesia at below their market value. The Indonesian government accepted this deal, and it was finalised on 26 July 2013. The RAAF celebrated 800,000 Hercules flying hours in September 2014. The C-130Js had by this time accumulated over 100,000 hours; they are expected to remain in service until 2030. [^1]: Australian National Audit Office, Developing Air Force's Combat Aircrew", p. 78
59,000,737	Lancaster's chevauchée of 1346	1,164,252,982	Campaign during the Hundred Years' War	[ "1346 in England", "1346 in France", "14th-century military history of the Kingdom of England", "Battles of the Hundred Years' War", "Conflicts in 1346", "Hundred Years' War, 1337–1360" ]	Lancaster's chevauchée of 1346 was a series of offensives directed by Henry, Earl of Lancaster, in southwestern France during autumn 1346, as a part of the Hundred Years' War. The year had started with a "huge" French army under John, Duke of Normandy, son and heir of King Philip VI, besieging the strategically important town of Aiguillon in Gascony. Lancaster refused battle and harassed the French supply lines while preventing Aiguillon from being blockaded. After a five-month siege the French were ordered north to confront the main English army, which on 12 July had landed in Normandy under Edward III of England and commenced the Crécy campaign. This left the French defences in the southwest both weak and disorganised. Lancaster took advantage by launching offensives into Quercy and the Bazadais and himself leading a third force on a large-scale mounted raid (a chevauchée) between 12 September and 31 October 1346. All three offensives were successful, with Lancaster's chevauchée, of approximately 2,000 English and Gascon soldiers, meeting no effective resistance from the French, penetrating 160 miles (260 kilometres) north and storming the rich city of Poitiers. His force then burnt and looted large areas of Saintonge, Aunis and Poitou, capturing numerous towns, castles and smaller fortified places as they went. The offensives completely disrupted the French defences and shifted the focus of the fighting from the heart of Gascony to 50 miles (80 kilometres) or more beyond its borders. ## Background Since the Norman Conquest of 1066, English monarchs had held titles and lands within France, the possession of which made them vassals of the kings of France. By 1337 only Gascony in southwestern France and Ponthieu in northern France were left. The independent-minded Gascons preferred their relationship with a distant English king who left them alone to one with a French king who would interfere in their affairs. Following a series of disagreements between Philip VI of France (r. 1328–1350) and Edward III of England (r. 1327–1377), on 24 May 1337 Philip's Great Council agreed Gascony should be taken back into Philip's hands, on the grounds that Edward was in breach of his obligations as a vassal. This marked the start of the Hundred Years' War, which was to last 116 years. Before the war commenced, at least 1000 ships a year departed from Gascony. Among their cargoes were over 80,000 tuns of locally produced wine. The duty levied by the English Crown on wine from Bordeaux was more than all other customs duties combined and by far the largest source of state income. Bordeaux, the capital of Gascony, had a population of over 50,000, greater than London's, and was possibly richer. However, by this time English Gascony had become so truncated by French encroachments that it relied on imports of food, largely from England. Any interruptions to regular shipping were liable to starve Gascony and financially cripple England; the French were well aware of this. The border between English and French territory in Gascony was extremely unclear. Many landholders owned a patchwork of widely separated estates, perhaps owing fealty to a different overlord for each. Each small estate was likely to have a fortified tower or keep, with larger estates having castles. Fortifications were also constructed at transport choke points, to collect tolls and to restrict military passage; fortified towns grew up alongside all bridges and most fords over the many rivers in the region. Military forces could support themselves by foraging so long as they moved on frequently. If they wished to remain in one place for any length of time, as was necessary to besiege a castle, then access to water transport was essential for supplies of food and fodder and desirable for such items as siege equipment. Although Gascony was the cause of the war, in most campaigning seasons the Gascons had had to rely on their own resources and had been hard pressed by the French. In 1339 the French besieged Bordeaux, the capital of Gascony, even breaking into the city with a large force before they were repulsed. Typically the Gascons could field 3,000–6,000 men, the large majority infantry, although up to two-thirds of them would be tied down in garrisons. Warfare was usually a struggle for possession of castles and other fortified points, and for the mutable loyalty of the local nobility. ### 1345 campaign By 1345, after eight years of war, English-controlled territory mostly consisted of a coastal strip from Bordeaux to Bayonne, with isolated strongholds further inland. In 1345 Edward III had sent Henry, Earl of Lancaster to Gascony, and had assembled his main army for action in northern France or Flanders. It had sailed but never landed, after the fleet was scattered in a storm. Knowledge of Edward III's intent had kept French focus on the north until late in the campaigning season. Meanwhile, Lancaster had led a whirlwind campaign at the head of an Anglo-Gascon army. He had smashed two large French armies at the battles of Bergerac and Auberoche, captured French towns and fortifications in much of Périgord and most of Agenais and given the English possessions in Gascony strategic depth. During the winter following this successful campaign, Lancaster's second in command, Ralph, Earl of Stafford, had marched on the vitally important town of Aiguillon, which commanded the junction of the Rivers Garonne and Lot, making it important both for trade and for military communications. The inhabitants had attacked the garrison and opened the gates to the English. ## French offensive John, Duke of Normandy, the son and heir of Philip VI, was placed in charge of all French forces in southwest France, as he had been the previous autumn. In March 1346 a French army under Duke John, numbering between 15,000 and 20,000, enormously superior to any force the Anglo-Gascons could field, marched on Aiguillon and besieged it on 1 April. On 2 April an arrière-ban, a formal call to arms for all able-bodied males, was announced for southern France. French national financial, logistical and manpower efforts were focused on this offensive. Edward III again gathered a large army in England. The French were aware of this, but given the extreme difficulty of disembarking an army other than at a port, the English no longer having access to a port in Flanders, and the existence of friendly ports in Brittany and Gascony, they assumed that Edward would sail for one of the latter; probably Gascony, in order to relieve Aiguillon. To guard against any possibility of an English landing in northern France, Philip VI relied on his powerful navy. This reliance was misplaced given the naval technology of the time and the French were unable to prevent Edward III successfully crossing the Channel and landing in the Cotentin Peninsula, in northern Normandy, on 12 July with an army between 12,000 and 15,000 strong. The English achieved complete strategic surprise and marched south, cutting a wide swath of destruction through some of the richest lands in France and burning every town they passed. Philip VI immediately recalled his main army, under Duke John, from Gascony. After a furious argument with his advisers, and according to some accounts his father's messenger, Duke John refused to move until his honour was satisfied. On 29 July Philip VI called an arrière-ban for northern France at Rouen. On 7 August the English reached the Seine. Philip VI again sent orders to John of Normandy insisting that he abandon the siege of Aiguillon and march his army north. Edward III marched south east and on 12 August his army was 20 miles (32 kilometres) from Paris. On 14 August Duke John attempted to arrange a local truce. Lancaster, well aware of the situation in the north and in the French camps around Aiguillon, refused. On 20 August, after over five months, the French abandoned the siege and marched away in considerable haste and disorder. Duke John did not rejoin the French army in the north until after it had been heavily defeated at the Battle of Crécy six days later. ## Anglo-Gascon offensive The withdrawal of Duke John's army led to the collapse of the French positions in southern Périgord and most of Agenais. The French only held on to their strongholds in the Garonne valley, Port-Sainte-Marie, Agen and Marmande downstream of Aiguillon. The English extended their control to include the whole of the Lot valley below Villeneuve and most of the remaining French outposts between the Lot and the Dordogne, during late August. Lancaster was able to capture most towns without a fight. John, Count of Armagnac, was appointed French royal lieutenant in the region after Duke John's withdrawal. He struggled to provide effective resistance because of lack of troops; insufficient funds; and repeatedly having his orders countermanded by Philip VI. He formally offered his resignation within three months of his appointment. Lancaster now held the operational initiative. In early September he launched three separate offensives. Local English sympathisers in the Agenais under Gaillard I de Durfort blockaded Agen and Porte Sainte Marie and raided into Quercy to the west. A large detachment of Gascons was split up to reoccupy the French-held territory to the south and west of the Garonne under the overall command of Alixandre de Caumont, in a mopping up operation. Lancaster took command of 1,000 men-at-arms and approximately the same number of mounted infantry and led them north on 12 September; most of this force was Gascon. The force in the Agenais raided deep into Quercy, penetrating over 50 miles (80 kilometres). Gaillard, leading 400 cavalry, captured the small town of Tulle. This sparked widespread panic in the province of Auvergne. The army of John of Armagnac was diverted to Tulle, which it besieged from mid-November until late December, when the Gascon occupiers surrendered on terms and were taken prisoner; all were ransomed. The whole French field army of the southwest was tied down by Gaillard's small force. The modern historian Jonathan Sumption describes this as "dislocating the royal administration in central and southern France for three months". The troops under Caumont swept through the Bazadais, capturing numerous French-held towns and fortifications for little or no loss. Many of these were handed over after negotiations; Bazas itself for example surrendered after negotiating access for its products through English-occupied territory on favourable terms. The French presence in the area was all but extinguished. ### Lancaster's chevauchée Lancaster targeted the rich provincial capital of Poitiers, deep in French-held territory – 160 miles (260 kilometres) north of his starting point. He marched from the Garonne to the Charente, 80 miles (130 kilometres), in eight days, arriving at Châteauneuf-sur-Charente which he captured. He then diverted 40 miles (64 kilometres) to Saint-Jean-d'Angély to rescue some English prisoners. Saint-Jean-d'Angély was stormed, captured, and sacked. Leaving a garrison, Lancaster turned back towards Poitiers, covering 20 miles a day and taking the towns of Melle and Lusignan on the way. Lancaster reached Poitiers late on 3 October. Poitiers occupied a naturally strong position, but its defences had seen little maintenance for centuries. The city had no royal garrison and the townspeople and local notables had fallen out of the habit of maintaining a guard. Defensive responsibilities were split between the town and three different church bodies, which had the effect of preventing any effective action. The English launched an immediate assault, but they were repulsed by an improvised force organised by some local noblemen. During the night the English found a breach in the wall, which had been deliberately created years before to allow easy access from the city to a nearby watermill. In the morning they seized it and forced their way into eastern Poitiers, killing everyone they came across. As was usual, only those who appeared wealthy enough to afford a ransom were spared. Most of the population fled the city, but over 600 were killed. The town was thoroughly sacked for eight days. Lancaster was unable to take the royal mint at Montreuil-Bonnin, 5 miles (8 kilometres) west of Poitiers, and marched rapidly back to Saint-Jean-d'Angély. He made no attempt to hold Poitiers; in the province of Poitou he only left troops at Lusignan, a small town with good walls and a strong, modern castle. Once back in Saintonge he took control of the Boutonne valley all the way to the sea, including the major port of Rochefort and the well-fortified island of Oléron. Lancaster then marched south, taking a large number of small towns and fortifications. The French were left in control of much of Saintonge: the eastern parts; the larger fortifications such as the province's capital, Saintes, and its strongest castle, Taillebourg; and several strategically important strongholds on the east bank of the Gironde. Lancaster arrived in Bordeaux, the capital of English Gascony, on 31 October seven weeks after he set out on his chevauchée. He returned to England in early 1347. ## Aftermath Lancaster left garrisons in the captured towns and castles throughout Saintonge and Aunis, with an especially large garrison at Saint-Jean-d'Angély. The Anglo-Gascons supported themselves by raiding French-held and French-leaning territory; as Sumption puts it, they "were not so much expected to control territory as to create chaos and insecurity". Whole provinces, securely held by the French only months before, were overrun by bandits, freebooters, deserters and retained troops of both sides. The population moved away from the villages to the relative safety of the towns, townsfolk who could, moved away from the area, and much of the agricultural land went uncultivated. The French ability to counter-attack was lost as they concentrated on attempting to defend the host of newly vulnerable locations or on recovering towns captured deep in what had been considered safe territory, as at Tulle. French trade declined and their taxation income from the area was severely curtailed. Lancaster had moved the focus of the fighting from the heart of Gascony to 50 miles or more beyond its borders. The English army in the north, after its victory at Crécy, went on to besiege Calais. Lancaster joined it there in the summer of 1347 and was present when Calais fell after an eleven-month siege, securing an English entrepôt into northern France which was held for two hundred years. The war in southwest France stayed far from Gascony. In 1355 Edward III's eldest son, Edward, the Black Prince, led a large-scale chevauchée north from Bordeaux that devastated France. After another devastating chevauchée in 1356, the French army, commanded by Duke John, now King John II of France, intercepted it and forced the outnumbered English to battle 3 miles (4.8 kilometres) from Poitiers; the French were decisively defeated and John was captured. ## Notes, citations and sources
29,914,209	The Magdalen Reading	1,156,575,126	Fragment of altarpiece painting by Rogier van der Weyden	[ "1430s paintings", "Altarpieces", "Books in art", "Collections of the National Gallery, London", "Paintings by Rogier van der Weyden", "Paintings depicting Mary Magdalene" ]	The Magdalen Reading is one of three surviving fragments of a large mid-15th-century oil-on-panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The panel, originally oak, was completed some time between 1435 and 1438 and has been in the National Gallery, London since 1860. It shows a woman with the pale skin, high cheek bones and oval eyelids typical of the idealised portraits of noble women of the period. She is identifiable as the Magdalen from the jar of ointment placed in the foreground, which is her traditional attribute in Christian art. She is presented as completely absorbed in her reading, a model of the contemplative life, repentant and absolved of past sins. In Catholic tradition the Magdalen was conflated with both Mary of Bethany who anointed the feet of Jesus with oil and the unnamed "sinner" of . Iconography of the Magdalen commonly shows her with a book, in a moment of reflection, in tears, or with eyes averted. The background of the painting had been overpainted with a thick layer of brown paint. A cleaning between 1955 and 1956 revealed the figure standing behind the Magdalene and the kneeling figure with its bare foot protruding in front of her, with a landscape visible through a window. The two partially seen figures are both cut off at the edges of the London panel. The figure above her has been identified as belonging to a fragment in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, which shows the head of Saint Joseph, while another Lisbon fragment, showing what is believed to be Saint Catherine of Alexandria, is thought to be from the same larger work. The original altarpiece was a sacra conversazione, known only through a drawing, Virgin and Child with Saints, in Stockholm's Nationalmuseum, which followed a partial copy of the painting that probably dated from the late 16th century. The drawing shows that The Magdalen occupied the lower right-hand corner of the altarpiece. The Lisbon fragments are each a third of the size of The Magdalen, which measures 62.2 cm × 54.4 cm (24.5 in × 21.4 in). Although internationally successful in his lifetime, van der Weyden fell from view during the 17th century, and was not rediscovered until the early 19th century. The Magdalen Reading can first be traced to an 1811 sale. After passing through the hands of a number of dealers in the Netherlands, the panel was purchased by the National Gallery, London, in 1860 from a collector in Paris. It is described by art historian Lorne Campbell as "one of the great masterpieces of 15th-century art and among van der Weyden's most important early works." ## Description Mary Magdalene as depicted in early Renaissance painting is a composite of various biblical figures. Here, she is based on Mary of Bethany, who is identified as the Magdalene in the Roman Catholic tradition. Mary of Bethany sat at Jesus' feet and "listened to His Word", and thus is seen as a contemplative figure. The counterpoint is Mary's sister Martha who, representative of the active life, wished that Mary would help her serve. Mary is shown by van der Weyden as youthful, sitting in quiet piety with her head tilted and eyes modestly averted from the viewer. She is absorbed in her reading of a holy book, the covers of which include a chemise of white cloth, a common form of protective binding. Four coloured cloth bookmarks are tied to a gold bar near the top of the spine. According to Lorne Campbell, the manuscript "looks rather like a 13th-century French Bible" and is "clearly a devotional text". It was rare for contemporary portraits to show women reading, and if the model herself could read then she was likely from a noble family. Van der Weyden often linked form and meaning, and in this fragment the semicircular outline of the Magdalene reinforces her quiet detachment from her surroundings. She is seated on a red cushion and rests her back against a wooden sideboard. By her feet is her usual attribute of an alabaster jar; in the Gospels she brought spices to the tomb of Jesus. The view through the window is of a distant canal, with an archer atop the garden wall and a figure walking on the other side of the water, whose reflection shows in the water. Van der Weyden's pose for the Magdalene is similar to a number of female religious figures painted by his master Robert Campin or his workshop. It closely resembles, in theme and tone, the figure of Saint Barbara in Campin's Werl Altarpiece, and also the Virgin in an Annunciation attributed to Campin in Brussels. Typically for a van der Weyden, the Magdalen's face has an almost sculpted look, and the elements of her clothes are conveyed in minute detail. She wears a green robe; in medieval art the Magdalene is usually depicted naked (sometimes clad only in her long hair) or in richly coloured dress, typically red, blue or green, almost never in white. Her robe is tightly pulled below her bust by a blue sash, while the gold brocade of her underskirt is adorned by a jewelled hem. Art critic Charles Darwent observed that the Magdalen's past as a "fallen woman" is hinted at by the nap in the fur lining of her dress and the few strands of hair loose from her veil. Darwent wrote, "Even her fingers, absent-mindedly circled, suggest completeness. In her mix of purity and eroticism, van der Weyden's Magdalen feels whole; but she isn't." In the medieval period, fur symbolized female sexuality and was commonly associated with the Magdalene. Medieval historian Philip Crispin explains that artists such as Memling and Matsys often portrayed the Magdalen in furs and notes that she "is noticeably dressed in fur-lined garments in The Magdalen Reading by Rogier van der Weyden". The level of detail used in portraying the Magdalene has been described by Campbell as "far exceed[ing]" van Eyck. Her lips are painted with a shades of vermilion, white and red which are mixed into each other to give a transparent look at the edges. The fur lining of her dress is painted in a range of greys running from almost pure white to pure black. Rogier gave the fur a textured look by painting stripes parallel to the line of the dress and then feathering the paint before it dried. The gold on the cloth is rendered with a variety of impasto, grid and dots of varying colour and size. Many of the objects around her are also closely detailed, in particular the wooden floor and nails, the folds of the Magdalene's dress, the costume of the figures in the exterior and the beads of Joseph's rosary. The effect of falling light is closely studied; Joseph's crystal rosary beads have bright highlights, while subtle delineations of light and shade can be seen in the sideboard's tracery and in the clasps of her book. Mary is absorbed in her reading and seemingly unaware of her surroundings. Van der Weyden has given her a quiet dignity although he is generally seen as the more emotional of the master Netherlandish painters of the era, in particular when contrasted with Jan van Eyck. Lorne Campbell describes the tiny figure of the woman seen through the window and her reflection in the water as "small miracles of painting", and says that "the attention to detail far exceeds that of Jan van Eyck and the skill of execution is astounding". He notes that these tiny details would have been impossible for a viewer to observe when the altarpiece was in its intended position. Other areas of the panel, however, have been described as dull and uninspired. One critic wrote that the areas of the floor and most of the cupboard behind her seem unfinished and "much too narrow and papery in effect". A number of objects placed on the cupboard are now barely visible save for their bases. The object on the right seated on legs alongside a box is likely a small pitcher, possibly a reliquary. A moulding to the left of the cupboard may represent a doorway. ## Altarpiece fragment Virgin and Child with Saints, a drawing in Stockholm's Nationalmuseum, is believed to be a study of a portion of the original altarpiece by a follower of van der Weyden, who possibly may have been the Master of the Coburger Rundblätter. The drawing has a loosely sketched background and shows, from left to right: an unidentified bishop saint with mitre and crosier making a blessing gesture; a narrow gap with a few wavy vertical lines suggesting a start at the outline of a further kneeling figure; a barefoot bearded figure in a rough robe identified as Saint John the Baptist; a seated Virgin holding on her lap the Christ Child who leans to the right, looking at a book; and holding the book, a kneeling beardless male identified as John the Evangelist. The drawing stops at the end of John's robe, at about the point on the London panel where Joseph's walking stick meets John and the Magdalene's robes. This suggests that the Magdalene panel was the first to be cut from the larger work. At an unknown point before 1811, the original altarpiece was broken into at least three pieces, possibly due to damage, although The Magdalen fragment is in good condition. The black overpaint was likely added after the early 17th century when Netherlandish painting had fallen from favour and was unfashionable. Campbell believes that after the removal of the background detail "it looked sufficiently like a genre piece to hang in a well-known collection of Dutch seventeenth-century paintings". From the size of three surviving panels in relation to the drawing, it is estimated that the original was at least 1 m high by 1.5 m wide; the bishop and the Magdalene seem to clearly mark the horizontal extremities, but the extent of the picture above and below the surviving elements and the drawing cannot be judged. This size is comparable with smaller altarpieces of the period. The background was overpainted with a thick layer of black/brown pigment until it was cleaned in 1955; it was only after the layer's removal that it was linked to the upper body and head of Joseph from the Lisbon piece. These two works were not recorded in inventory until 1907, when they appear in the collection of Léo Lardus in Suresnes, France. The London panel shows much of the clothing of two other figures from the original altarpiece. To the left of the Magdalene is the red robe of what appears to be a kneeling figure. The figure and robe, and less precisely the background, match a kneeling Saint John the Evangelist. Behind the Magdalen is a standing figure in blue and red robes, with linear rosary beads in one hand and a walking stick in the other. A panel at the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon shows the head of a figure believed to be the Saint Joseph; the background and clothes match with those of the figure behind the Magdalen on the London panel. There is a further small panel in Lisbon of a female head, richly or royally dressed, which first appeared in 1907 with the Joseph panel when it was recorded in the inventory of Leo Nardus at Suresnes. The figure may represent Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and from both the angle of her cloth and the fact that the river behind her would be parallel to that in the exterior of the London panel it can be assumed that she was kneeling. In the Stockholm drawing she is omitted, or only traces of her dress shown. The Joseph panel has a sliver of a view through a window to an exterior scene; if the other female is presumed to be kneeling, the trees above the waterway aligns with those in the London panel. Some art historians, including Martin Davies and John Ward, have been slow to allow the Catherine panel as part of the altarpiece, though it is undoubtedly by van der Weyden or a near-contemporary follower. Evidence against this link includes the fact that the moulding of the window to the left of the Gulbenkian female saint is plain, while that next to Saint Joseph is chamfered. Such an inconsistency in a single van der Weyden work is unusual. The panels are of equal thickness (1.3 cm) and of near-identical size; the Saint Catherine panel measures 18.6 cm × 21.7 cm (7.3 in × 8.5 in), the Saint Joseph 18.2 cm × 21 cm (7.2 in × 8.3 in). Lorne Campbell thinks that though the Catherine head is "obviously less well drawn and less successfully painted than the Magdalen", it "seems likely" that all three fragments came from the same original work; he points out that "about half way up the right edge of this fragment ["Catherine"] is a small triangle of red, outlined by a continuous underdrawn brushstroke ... It is likely that the red is part of the contour of the missing figure of the Baptist". The small piece is on the outermost edge of the panel, and only visible when it was removed from the frame. Ward believes the piece corresponds directly with the folds of John's robes. The Stockholm drawing contains a narrow blank gap to the right of the bishop with a few indistinct lines that could represent the lower profile of the kneeling figure of Saint Catherine. Although none of the faces in the three surviving panels match any in the drawing, a 1971 reconstruction by art historian John Ward—which combined all of the works into a composition of a central Virgin and Child flanked by six saints—is widely accepted. The Stockholm drawing's original location or history before the 19th century is unknown, except that the verso shows a surviving carving of the Virgin and Child attributed to a Brussels workshop from about 1440. This carving is also now in Portugal. ## Iconography Van der Weyden's depiction of the Magdalen is based on Mary of Bethany, identified by the time of Pope Gregory I as the repentant prostitute of . She then became associated with weeping and reading: Christ's mercy causes the eyes of the sinner to be contrite or tearful. Early Renaissance artists often conveyed this idea by portraying contemplative eyes, associating tears with words, and in turn weeping with reading. Examples can be seen in 16th-century works by Tintoretto and Titian which show the Magdalen reading, often with her eyes averted towards her book (and presumably away from a male gaze), or looking up to the heavens or, sometimes, glancing coyly towards the viewer. Writing in "The Crying Face", Mosche Barasch explains that in van der Weyden's time the gesture of averting or concealing the eyes became a "pictorial formula for crying". By the medieval period, reading became synonymous with devotion, which involved withdrawal from public view. Van der Weyden's placement of the Magdalen in an interior scene reflects the increasing literacy of domestic or laywomen in the mid-15th century. The increased production of devotional texts showed that noble women of the period routinely read texts such as a psalter or book of hours in the privacy of their homes. Whether the Magdalen herself was a reader, by the 17th century she was firmly established as such in the visual arts. Because the Magdalen was present at Christ's death and subsequent resurrection, she was seen as the bearer of news—a witness—and hence directly associated with the text. The Magdalen imagery further draws on the idea of Christ as the word, represented by a book, with the Magdalen as the reader learning of her own life story in a moment of reflection and repentance. Her devotion to reading reflects her traditional status as the piously repentant harlot, as well as a prophetess or seer. According to legend, the Magdalen lived the last 30 years of her life as a hermit in Sainte-Baume and is often shown with a book, reading or writing, symbolizing her later years of contemplation and repentance. By the 13th century she acquired the imagery of a once-shamed woman who, clothed in long hair, now hid her nakedness in exile and "borne by angels, floats between heaven and earth". The Magdalen's ointment jar was common in the lexicon of art in van der Weyden's period. Mary of Bethany may have used a jar when she repented of her sins at Christ's feet in her home; by the Renaissance, the image of the Magdalen was of the woman who bathed Christ's feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. She signified the "sacrament of anointing (Chrism and Unction)" by pouring precious spikenard on Christ's feet at his tomb. ## Dating and provenance The altarpiece's date is uncertain but believed to be between 1435 and 1438. Van der Weyden was made painter to the city of Brussels in 1435, and it is believed to have been painted after this appointment. The National Gallery gives "before 1438". Art historian John Ward notes that the altarpiece was one of van der Weyden's first masterpieces, created early in his career when he was still heavily influenced by Robert Campin. He proposes a c. 1437 date based on similarities to Campin's Werl Altarpiece. Because van der Weyden, like most of the early Netherlandish painters, was not rediscovered until the early 19th century, many of his works were wrongly attributed or dated, and major pieces such as the Berlin Miraflores Altarpiece continue to emerge. Conversely, when a number of pieces considered either by van der Weyden or assistants under his supervision were cleaned in the mid- to late 20th century, his hand or direct influence was disproved, or in the case of the Magdalen, associated with other images whose attribution had been uncertain. The Magdalen Reading can first be traced to an 1811 sale of the estate of Cassino, a little-known collector in Haarlem, when the work was already cut down. The painting is recorded in the inventory of Demoiselles Hoofman, also of Haarlem. After passing to the Nieuwenhuys brothers, who were leading dealers in art of the early Netherlandish period, it moved to the collector Edmond Beaucousin in Paris, whose "small but choice" collection of early Netherlandish paintings was purchased for the National Gallery, London by Charles Lock Eastlake in 1860; an acquisition that also included two Robert Campin portraits and panels by Simon Marmion (1425–1489). This was during a period of acquisition intended to establish the international prestige of the gallery. Probably before 1811, all the background except the red robe on the left and the alabaster jar and floorboards was overpainted in plain brown, which was not removed until the cleaning begun in 1955. In general the "painted surface is in very good condition", although better in the parts that were not overpainted, and there are a few small losses. The Magdalen Reading was transferred from its original oak to a mahogany panel (West Indian swietenia) by unknown craftsmen sometime between 1828 and when the National Gallery acquired it in 1860. Campbell states that the transfer was "Certainly after 1828, probably after 1845, and certainly before 1860", the year it was acquired by the National Gallery. Artificial ultramarine-coloured paint found in the transfer ground indicates that the change of panel took place after 1830. The heads in Lisbon are still on their original oak panels. The Stockholm drawing was discovered in a German inventory c. 1916 and is likely of Swedish origin. It was bequeathed by a Norwegian collector, Christian Langaad, to the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts in 1918. ## Gallery ## See also - List of works by Rogier van der Weyden
23,447,846	Nature fakers controversy	1,162,888,969	Academic debate	[ "1900s in the United States", "Anthropomorphism", "Biology controversies", "Environmental controversies", "Literary debates" ]	The nature fakers controversy was an early 20th-century American literary debate highlighting the conflict between science and sentiment in popular nature writing. The debate involved important American literary, environmental and political figures. Dubbed the "War of the Naturalists" by The New York Times, it revealed seemingly irreconcilable contemporary views of the natural world: while some nature writers of the day argued as to the veracity of their examples of anthropomorphic wild animals, others questioned an animal's ability to adapt, learn, teach, and reason. The controversy arose from a new literary movement, which followed a growth of interest in the natural world beginning in the late 19th century, and in which the natural world was depicted in a compassionate rather than realistic light. Works such as Ernest Thompson Seton's Wild Animals I Have Known (1898) and William J. Long's School of the Woods (1902) popularized this new genre and emphasized sympathetic and individualistic animal characters. In March 1903, naturalist and writer John Burroughs published an article entitled "Real and Sham Natural History" in The Atlantic Monthly. Lambasting writers such as Seton, Long, and Charles G. D. Roberts for their seemingly fantastical representations of wildlife, he also denounced the booming genre of realistic animal fiction as "yellow journalism of the woods". Burroughs' targets responded in defense of their work in various publications, as did their supporters, and the resulting controversy raged in the public press for nearly six years. The constant publicity given to the debate contributed to a growing distrust of the truthfulness of popular nature writing of the day, and often pitted scientist against writer. The controversy effectively ended when President Theodore Roosevelt publicly sided with Burroughs, publishing his article "Nature Fakers" in the September 1907 issue of Everybody's Magazine. Roosevelt popularized the negative colloquialism by which the controversy would later be known to describe one who purposefully fabricates details about the natural world. The definition of the term later expanded to include those who depicted nature with excessive sentimentality. ## Background ### Nature boom A renewed public interest in nature and its promise of aesthetic and recreational enjoyment began in the United States during the late 19th century. The country's first national park, Yellowstone, was established in 1872, and by 1900 it had been followed by half a dozen more. Railroads made it easy to get to the parks, and their advertising promoted the wonders of nature that could be seen courtesy of their trains. Tourists frequented the parks regularly, but there were also numerous opportunities for people to enjoy nature and outdoor recreation closer to home. City parks, such as New York City's Central Park, became popular destinations because of their accessibility, and camps like the ones owned by the YMCA were frequented by children of all ages. Wilderness protection and the conservation movement, led by figures such as John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, also began to appear at this time. By the turn of the century, those in favor of recreational ideals of nature began to clash with conservationists such as Muir. Likewise, critics and natural scientists became skeptical of what they saw as a growing cult of nature, which was thought to wrongly champion sentimentality and aesthetics rather than scientific facts. Sympathy for animals and their survival also became a developing thought in the 19th century, due in part to wide acceptance of theories pertaining to organic evolution. In 1837, Charles Darwin wrote in his diary that "If we choose to let conjecture run wild, then animals, our fellow brethren in pain, disease, death, suffering and famine—our slaves in the most laborious works, our companions in our amusements—they may partake of our origin in one common ancestor—we may be all melted together." ### Literature As the popularity and marketability of the natural world rose during the late 19th century, books dedicated to nature came to be in great demand. One reviewer noted in 1901 that "It is a part of the progress of the day that the nature study is coming into prominence in our schemes of education, and, beyond these, is entering into our plans for coveted diversion, yet it is a real surprise that so large and increasing a number of each season's publications are devoted to the purpose." Such literature was regularly published in a wide variety of subjects: children's animal books, wilderness novels, nature guides, and travelogues were all immensely popular. The study of nature quickly became part of the public school curriculum, making nature writing increasingly profitable. As the public's hunger for such imaginative works grew, a new genre in which nature was depicted in a compassionate, rather than realistic, light began to take form. The tendency to portray animals as having human traits was not new; Aesop's moralistic animal tales were still popular with readers of the day, and inspired such works as Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894). However, one of the features separating the turn-of-the-century animal writers from those before them was the desire to have their animals set an example through their noble, sympathetic characteristics. Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, for example, told the story of a gentle horse seemingly from the animal's own point of view; after being published in the United States by the American Humane Education Society in 1890, Sewell's book helped further the cause against animal cruelty. The budding animal welfare movement helped establish a climate for wider public support of wildlife conservation, and soon nature writers similarly sought to gain sympathy for wild animals—specifically those who seemingly displayed honorable human traits—by depicting them in a positive light. One popular nature writer of the day, Mabel Osgood Wright, told of wolves nobly taking their own lives after losing their mates. Author and illustrator Ernest Thompson Seton published his first book, the bestselling Wild Animals I Have Known, in 1898. The first entry in a new genre of realistic wild-animal stories, Seton's collection of short stories quickly became one of the most popular books of its day. Although he had considered himself "a naturalist of the usual type, trying merely to accumulate specimens and facts" during his early career, he later began to write factual material "in the form of romantic stories—fiction in the form of presentation, but solid in fact in their basis and their message." The first story in the collection, "Lobo, The King of Currumpaw" was based upon Seton's experience hunting wolves in the Southwest. It became a classic, setting the tone for his future works that would similarly depict animals—especially predators who were often demonized in literature—as compassionate, individualistic beings. Seton was reportedly denounced by readers for having killed Lobo, only to write about the experience; however, as biographer Brian Morris stated, the readers' sympathies "are directed, as Seton meant them to be, toward the wild animal, rather than against the teller of the tale". Seton's intention in writing his stories was to "freely translate" the animals' language into English, as they "have no speech as we understand it". The stories were typically prefaced by the author's strong assertion of their accuracy, and Wild Animals I Have Known marked the nature writer's first emphasis on the perspective of a wild animal. As Canadian poet and author Charles G.D. Roberts described it, the genre focused on "the personality, individuality, mentality, of an animal, as well as its purely physical characteristics." ## Beginning of controversy (1903) ### "Real and Sham Natural History" Naturalist and writer John Burroughs (1837–1921) was respected for his numerous nature essays. Known as an outspoken advocate for the conservation movement in the United States, he was later described by his biographer Edward Renehan as "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world". Burroughs believed that the nature writer must remain faithful to nature as well as the personal responses to what they witness; he wrote in the introduction to his 1895 book Wake-Robin that the "literary naturalist does not take liberties with facts; facts are the flora upon which he lives. The more and the fresher the facts the better." When The Atlantic Monthly published a glowing review of the Reverend William J. Long's 1902 work School of the Woods: Some Life Studies of Animal Instinct and Animal Training, Burroughs became incensed. Long had previously published six books, and while Burroughs was not pleased with the clergyman's previous efforts, he believed this particular work was an unacceptable example of nature writing. Long insisted not only that animals demonstrated unique and individualistic behavior, unpredictable to science, but he also wrote that there was "absolutely no limit to the variety and adaptiveness of Nature, even in a single species." Burroughs was not the first to take issue with the growing genre that blurred the line between fact and fiction, or the liberties it often took with the natural world; Ernest Ingersoll also found fault with School of the Woods, stating it "would be an epoch-making book in both zoology and psychology could its statements be established." Believing that authors such as Long were deliberately misleading the public for financial gain, Burroughs decided to prove that their fantastical depictions of wild animals were not only impossible, but ultimately damaging to the general public's understanding of nature. In March 1903, Burroughs submitted a scathing essay to The Atlantic Monthly entitled "Real and Sham Natural History"; the editor, Bliss Perry, reportedly found the piece so "ill-natured" and "peevish" that he sent it back to Burroughs for revisions. Burroughs began his article with praise for authors such as Ingersoll, Frank M. Chapman and Florence Merriam Bailey, all of whom he believed exemplified good nature writing. Championing his own strict adherence to observed fact, Burroughs singled out four books for criticism: Seton's Wild Animals I have Known, Roberts' The Kindred of the Wild, William Davenport Hulbert's Forest Neighbours, and Long's School of the Woods. In particular he blamed Seton's collection of stories for founding the sentimental animal story genre; he even amended the title of the collection to Wild Animals I Alone Have Known. Further denouncing Seton's claims that his stories featured events and behaviors he had personally witnessed, Burroughs wrote: > Mr. Thompson Seton says in capital letters that his stories are true, and it is this emphatic assertion that makes the judicious grieve. True as romance, true in their artistic effects, true in their power to entertain the young reader, they certainly are but true as natural history they as certainly are not ... There are no stories of animal intelligence and cunning on record, that I am aware of, that match his. Chief among Burroughs' complaints was Long's questioning of the role of instinct in animal learning, something that Burroughs and many scientists of the day accepted without doubt. Long had written that after many years of studying wild animals, he was "convinced that instinct plays a much smaller part than we have supposed; that an animal's success or failure in the ceaseless struggle for life depends, not upon instinct, but upon the kind of training which the animal learns from its mother." In reply to this assertion, Burroughs wrote in "Real and Sham Natural History": "The crows do not train their young. They have no fortresses, or schools, or colleges, or examining boards, or diplomas, or medals of honor, or hospitals, or churches, or telephones, or postal deliveries, or anything of the sort. Indeed, the poorest backwoods hamlet has more of the appurtenances of civilization than the best organized crow or other wild animal community in the land!" Burroughs summed up by deeming Long a fraud, stating that his "book reads like that of a man who has really never been to the woods, but who sits in his study and cooks up these yarns from things he has read in Forest and Stream, or in other sporting journals. Of real observation there is hardly a vestige in his book; of deliberate trifling with natural history there is no end". Soon after the publication of Burroughs' article, The Atlantic Monthly began receiving responses from readers. Among the many letters written in support for Burroughs' assertions was an article published in the Boston Evening Transcript in defense of Long's reputation as both a writer and a respected man of the cloth. Written by fellow clergyman Charles Prescott Daniels, the article, which was titled "Discord in the Forest: John Burroughs vs. William J. Long", suggested that Burroughs left "the reader with a kinder feeling for Mr. Long than for Mr. Burroughs, and [left] him, too, with a suspicion that, after all, the beasts and birds will forgive Mr. Long for having so amiably misrepresented them." ### Long's response Many of the authors Burroughs criticized in his essays chose not to issue direct rebuttals. As Jack London would later write, they chose to simply "climb a tree and let the cataclysm go by". Seton, who had previously met Burroughs and had a great deal of respect for the elder naturalist, was confident enough in his own reputation so as not to stage a public reply. Other authors wrote to both him and Burroughs in Seton's defense, however; author and editor Hamlin Garland both wrote to Burroughs and spoke to him personally in this regard, saying that Seton's "stories are based on careful observation." Three weeks after Burroughs' article appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, he and Seton met at a literary dinner given by Andrew Carnegie; while accounts of the meeting vary, the two men seemed to make amends. William J. Long, on the other hand, readily became a publicly vocal enemy of the naturalist after receiving much of Burroughs' initial criticism. A Congregationalist minister from Massachusetts, Long was an amateur naturalist and avid camper who spent summers hiking in Canada. Shortly after Burroughs published his initial essay, Long was reported to have previously resigned from his parish so as to devote himself to writing and lecturing on nature full-time. Rather than be discouraged by Burroughs' criticism—which included the other man calling Long "the worst of these nature-writing offenders"—within weeks of the publication of "Real and Sham Natural History", Long submitted a stern reply to the Boston Evening Transcript. Two months later, he published a longer article titled "The Modern School of Nature-Study and its Critics" in the North American Review. In the latter essay, Long insisted that there was a difference between the study of nature and the study of science; whereas science concerned itself with laws and generalizations, the study of nature was far more complex as it allowed for the recognition of individual life forms. He wrote, "The difference between Nature and Science is the difference between a man who loves animals, and so understands them, and the man who studies Zoology; it is the difference between the woman who cherishes her old-fashioned flower-garden and the professor who lectures on Botany in a college class-room." Long's intention was to divide the old school naturalists (which included Burroughs among its members) from what he saw as the newly formed school, of which he was part, whose members were capable of seeing animals as individuals. Because he wrote personal nature essays, and not scientific reports, Long believed that his readers required from him "not simply eyes and ears and a note-book; but insight, imagination, and, above all, an intense human sympathy, by which alone the inner life of an animal becomes luminous, and without which the living creatures are little better than stuffed specimens". While his explanation was found to be credible by some readers, Long's critics faulted an example he gave of two orioles he had seen building a nest outside his window. Intended to prove his thesis about the unpredictable and adaptive nature of wild animals, he wrote of how the pair "plainly deliberated" their elaborate swinging nest that had been made out of three sticks fastened together; when finished, the birds then "tied a single knot at the extreme end" of a dangling string so it would not unravel over time. Burroughs and his allies were again incensed at Long's insistence that what he wrote was based entirely upon fact, and quickly responded with criticism; Burroughs' written reply reportedly proved to be almost too harsh for publication. The Atlantic Monthly did not wish to escalate the debate, so it was ultimately published by Century Magazine. Evoking Long's story of the orioles, Burroughs wrote, "After such an example as this, how long will it be before the water-birds will be building little rush cradles for their young or rush boats driven about the ponds and lakes by means of leafy sails, or before Jenny Wren will be living in a log cabin of her own construction?" ## Escalation (1903–1904) ### Animal surgery Threatened financially by Burroughs' condemnation, Long's publishers came to their client's defense by distributing a pamphlet defending his positions. In late 1903, Long published a new book titled A Little Brother to the Bear. In the preface, he wrote: "Except where it is plainly stated otherwise, all the incidents and observations have passed under my own eyes and have been confirmed later by other observers ... I have simply tried to make all these animals as interesting to the reader as they were to me when I discovered them." While The New York Times reviewed it favorably, pointing out its "close observation and loving attention to the details of wood life", Long's critics were quick to note a number of propositions regarding wildlife. An essay in the book titled "Animal Surgery", in which Long wrote of various animals' ability to treat and mend their own injuries, particularly riled his critics. He told of how animals such as muskrat, beaver and bear were capable of intentionally bandaging their wounds and stumps of amputated limbs by coating them with materials such as tree resin or clay to keep the injury clean. The example that received the greatest attention was the story about a "woodcock genius" who set his own broken leg and applied a cast to the injury: > At first he took soft clay in his bill from the edge of the water and seemed to be smearing it on one leg near the knee. Then he fluttered away on one foot for a short distance and seemed to be pulling tiny roots and fibers of grass, which he worked into the clay that he had already smeared on his leg. Again he took some clay and plastered it over the fibers, putting on more and more till I could plainly see the enlargement, working away with strange, silent intentness for fully fifteen minutes, while I watched and wondered, scarce believing my eyes. Then he stood perfectly still for a full hour under an overhanging sod, where the eye could with difficulty find him, his only motion meanwhile being an occasional rubbing and smoothing of the clay bandage with his bill, until it hardened enough to suit him, whereupon he fluttered away from the brook and disappeared in the thick woods. Long's theories about animal surgery garnered negative attention from the scientific community as well as the literary; biologist William Morton Wheeler wrote to Science in February 1904 that Long's story was "a series of anecdotes which for rank and impossible humanization of the animal can hardly be surpassed." Other scientists agreed about the dubiousness of Long's claims, and publicly rebuked him for not providing evidence as to his observations in a scientifically-accepted format. Long responded in turn, insisting that "If scientists and comparative-psychologists are honestly looking for new facts in the animal world, I have enough to fill several regular editions of Science, every one of which is supported not only by my own personal observation, but by the testimony of other honest men whose word can be taken without hesitation." As to the woodcock story, Long provided several accounts from other men who had witnessed as much; an Ohio man, for example, reportedly found upon shooting a similar bird that it "had evidently broken its leg above the knee joint. There was a bandage around it, composed of a hard clay-like substance, interwoven with grass or a woody fiber of some kind. The bone seemed to have been set properly and had knit perfectly." None of Long's witnesses were able to provide specimens for study, however, and Science followed Long's essay with the note, "We Hope that this discussion will not be carried further." ### Animal psychology Ruminating on his previous clashes with Long in regard to an animal's ability to learn behaviors, Burroughs began to focus the ire of his essay-writing on those who upheld the idea of animal psychology. In a series of articles published in Century Magazine, he steadfastly argued that animals functioned on little more than instinct and a very limited ability to learn from experience. He wrote that creatures, unlike humans, are "rational without reason, and wise without understanding." Although mainly repeating his earlier points, one of Burroughs' essays was accompanied by a cartoon parodying Long's School of the Woods; dubbed "A Lesson in Wisdom", it showed Mother Nature sitting in a field surrounded by five foxes who look on as she reads from a book titled The Fox Who Lost His Tail in the Trap. The belief that animals were intelligent enough to learn and reason, much like a human, was largely born from Darwin's assertion of the evolutionary link between humans and animals. Beginning in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, the progression from the cause of animal welfare—due to the budding belief that animals could feel pain and suffering—to that of an animal's mental capacity was readily made in popular nature writing. Therefore, Long was not the first to write of the learned intelligence of animals. Seton often stressed in his stories the wit of the animals he witnessed, as well as the fact that most of them had been "taught" survival skills by either their mothers or their pack leaders. Other writers supported the idea of animal education: Ernest Ingersoll wrote of "morning lessons" in hunting for nuts, and respected bird watcher Olive Thorne Miller described several different teaching endeavors, such as a music lesson taught from one mother bird to her chicks. Miller would also suggest, although partly in jest, that even some of the flowers were intelligent. ## Controversy dies down (1904–1905) Largely silent until then, in 1904 both Seton and Roberts made small efforts to defend their brand of nature writing from its critics, mainly Burroughs. In the preface to his new book The Watchers of the Trails, Roberts specifically responded to Burroughs' criticism by carefully pointing out that his stories were "avowedly fiction". However, he continued: "They are, at the same time, true, in that the material of which they are moulded consists of facts". Later that year, Century Magazine published Seton's only public response to Burroughs' criticisms, especially those made in the previous year's Atlantic Monthly article in which the naturalist branded Seton the originator of the faulty genre. Seton's response was in the form of a lighthearted tale about a critic named Little Mucky—obviously meant to parody Burroughs himself—who climbs a hill called Big Periodic, only to throw mud at a newcomer who attracts attention away from him. The moral of the story, Seton wrote, was that "Notoriety is a poisonous substitute for fame." Despite the best efforts of the press, the debate began to die down in late 1904. In December that year, after suffering from ailing eyesight for several years, Long went temporarily blind at the age of 47. Despite this setback, he continued to write; in early 1905 he began publishing a series of essays in Harper's Monthly under the pseudonym Peter Rabbit; told from the point of view of the "author", the essays commented upon the human condition, animal intelligence, and the controversy first begun by Burroughs two years prior. The essays were published a year later in a collection titled Brier-Patch Philosophy. This book included the dedication: "To those who have found Their Own World to be something of a Brier-Patch the Rabbit Dedicates his little book of Cheerful Philosophy." Burroughs continued to publicly disagree with Long and his allies, and a number of his essays dedicated to "sham nature history" were collected in the volume Ways of Nature, published in late 1905. Admitting that his authorial tone had changed since 1903, he wrote in the preface that "My readers will find this volume quite a departure in certain ways from the tone and spirit of my previous books, especially in regard to the subject of animal intelligence. Heretofore I have made the most of every gleam of intelligence of bird or four-footed beast that came under my observation, often, I fancy, making too much of it, and giving the wild creatures credit for more 'sense' than they really possessed." Mabel Osgood Wright weighed in on the debate in a 1905 essay titled "Nature as a Field for Fiction", in which she criticized both sides. Believing that nature writing could imbue animal characters with human qualities in order to better connect with the reader on an emotional level, Wright argued that nature writing should nonetheless strive to be factual and not fantastical. Although Roberts had largely escaped criticism for his previous work, his novel Red Fox attracted attention from Burroughs and his allies after its publication in 1906. The work contains stories relating to a single animal, the eponymous Red Fox, who was described by the author as "fairly typical, both in his characteristics and in the experiences that befall him, in spite of the fact that he is stronger and cleverer than the average run of foxes." Burroughs' critique of the book began by expressing his admiration for Roberts' "genius", but again stressed his belief that animals were governed by instinct, rather than instruction or intuition. He pointed to particular passages, such as when the fox escaped a group of hounds by running across the backs of sheep on a field, as disingenuous and misleading. ## Roosevelt's involvement ### Pre-1907 President Theodore Roosevelt was a well-publicized nature-enthusiast, known for his grand hunting expeditions. While he admired the natural world and the animals who inhabited it, he believed that animals served a singular purpose: to satisfy human needs, especially in the name of progress. Roosevelt had been following the debate in newspaper articles and magazines with great interest, and as a result he became a friend and confidant of John Burroughs; shortly after Burroughs' first article condemning popular nature writers as sham naturalists, Roosevelt sent him a letter of support as well as an invitation to travel west in each other's company. In April 1903, Roosevelt and Burroughs explored Yellowstone National Park and its surrounding areas together. In late 1905, Roosevelt received a copy of Long's book Northern Trails from the publisher. Based upon the author's travels in Canada, most of the stories involved a noble, white wolf named Wayeeses. As in other works, Long asserted that "every incident in this wolf's life, from his grasshopper hunting to the cunning caribou chase, and from the den in the rocks to the meeting of wolf and children on the storm-swept barrens, is minutely true in fact, and is based squarely upon my own observations and that of my Indians." While Roosevelt reportedly enjoyed a majority of the book—he even read it aloud to his children—he found fault with Long's dramatic description of how a wolf killed caribou by piercing the animal's heart with its teeth. "A terrific rush," Long wrote in Northern Trails, "a quick snap under the stag's chest just behind the fore legs, where the heart lay". Drawing upon his own extensive hunting experience, Roosevelt wrote confidentially to the book's publisher about Long's description being "sheer nonsense", concluding that it "is so very unusual" and anatomically impossible that it could not be true. In his letter, of which he also sent a copy to Burroughs, Roosevelt pointed out the physical difficulty a wolf would have if attempting to kill its prey in such a manner, while also commenting upon the unlikeliness of other wolf stories written by Long. Burroughs agreed with the President's assertions, and urged him to comment publicly on the subject, although the other man demurred. When Roosevelt published Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter in October 1905, however, he not only dedicated it to the elder naturalist, but he also made his first public foray in what would become known as the nature fakers controversy: "I wish to express my hearty appreciation of your warfare against the sham nature-writers—those whom you have called 'the yellow journalists of the woods' ... You in your own person have illustrated what can be done by the lover of nature who has trained himself to keen observation, who describes accurately what is thus observed, and who, finally, possesses the additional gift of writing with charm and interest." ### "Nature Fakers" After four years of privately denouncing the popular nature writers in letters and conversation, Roosevelt decided to weigh in publicly; while alerting Burroughs that he had finally broken his silence, he wrote: "I know that as President I ought not to do this". He had given an interview to journalist Edward B. Clark, who quoted Roosevelt in the article "Roosevelt on the Nature Fakirs" in the June 1907 issue of Everybody's Magazine. Roosevelt not only spoke out against Long, but other authors like Jack London and Roberts, who wrote what he called "'unnatural' history". Roosevelt popularized the term "nature faker" over Clark's original spelling, and defined it in his essay as "an object of derision to every scientist worthy of the name, to every real lover of the wilderness, to every faunal naturalist, to every true hunter or nature lover. But it is evident that [the nature faker] completely deceives many good people who are wholly ignorant of wild life. Sometimes he draws on his own imagination for his fictions; sometimes he gets them second-hand from irresponsible guides or trappers or Indians." He voiced displeasure with and disbelief of London's descriptions of dog fighting in White Fang, as well as Long's stories about Wayeeses the wolf taking down prey; Roosevelt was so specific as to debate the depicted outcome of the fights based on the size of the animals involved. Long's books in particular were deemed a "genuine crime", especially against the country's children. Fearing that a curriculum including sentimental nature stories would corrupt young children, Roosevelt wrote: "As for the matter of giving these books to children for the purpose of teaching them the facts of natural history—why, it's an outrage." Not long after Roosevelt's views were made public, Long responded with vigor, and the resulting publicity started the controversy anew. He began by sending a private letter to the President, which he later released to the press, informing Roosevelt that he would soon regret his "foolish words ... With all my soul I regret this necessity and shrink from it, but you have brought it upon yourself." In an interview with The New York Times, Long called Roosevelt "cowardly" and the article "venomous", but his main criticism stemmed from the President's status as a "gamekiller"; Roosevelt, Long claimed, "has no sympathy with any brand of nature study except his own." While a number of scientists wrote in support of Roosevelt and his position, Long produced several witnesses to prove his claims; to combat one of Roosevelt's specific complaints, Long provided a statement from "a full-blooded Sioux Indian" who declared that wolves in the area where Wayeeses was said to live were known to attack prey in the chest. Long also insisted that he himself had come upon the remains of a deer slain in a similar way. Long's most effective tactic against Roosevelt, however, was not to argue biological matters, but to attack the President's motives in becoming involved in such a debate. In reference to Roosevelt's published works describing his hunting expeditions, Long wrote: "I find after carefully reading two of his big books that every time he gets near the heart of a wild thing he invariably puts a bullet through it." The Boston Globe published an article titled "President a Slayer Not Lover of Animals", while the same missive was called "Long Will Combat Roosevelt Until Latter is Whipped" in Philadelphia's Public Ledger; in it, Long wrote: "Roosevelt is a man who takes savage delight in whooping through the woods killing everything in sight." He continued, "The idea of Mr. Roosevelt assuming the part of a naturalist is absurd. He is a hunter". Not everyone took the President's involvement in the controversy seriously; he was often included in satirical cartoons of the day, pointing to the superficial and tedious disagreements for which the writers lambasted one another. Writing in the June 8, 1907 issue of the Outlook, editor Lyman Abbot stated that Roosevelt's desire to become embroiled in such a debate stemmed from his "extraordinary vitality, coupled with his unusual interest in all that concerns human welfare" making "it very difficult for him to keep silence in the presence of anything which he thinks injurious to his fellow-men." The President's participation in the controversy attested to its magnitude, however; as one observer wrote, "From an insignificant smudge [the issue] has become a roaring blaze and its sparks are kindling throughout the land." Roosevelt did not at first respond to Long's claims, allegedly considering the author "too small game to shoot twice." He did, however, write to Burroughs that he had "no quarrel with Mr. Long for the conclusions he draws from the facts. Our quarrel with him is because he invents the facts." Burroughs proceeded to publicly defend the President against Long's attacks, condemning him and the expert witnesses Long produced to support his claims about the events and behaviors he depicted in his works. Newspapers around the country continuously published interviews with the two naturalists, while comedic depictions of the controversy and its participants were becoming popular with readers. One such parody referred to a non-existent book called How to Tell the Animals from the Wild Flowers, including an illustration which depicted an anthropomorphic "Dandy Lion" with a cane, top hat and monocle. This joke inspired a similarly satirical book, which was published under the title How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers; a collection of humorous illustrations and poems by physicist and children's author Robert Williams Wood, the work included pairings of birds and their corresponding flowers, emphasizing their visual similarities. Making a thinly veiled reference to the much publicized controversy surrounding those authors who were now called "nature fakers", the book concludes: "I have freely drawn upon / The works of Gray and Audubon, / Avoiding though the frequent blunders / Of those who study Nature's wonders." ## End of controversy and aftermath Seeing that his initial pronouncement did nothing to quell the controversy surrounding the faults of popular nature writing, Roosevelt finally responded to Long's ongoing criticism in the fall of 1907. His article, which was written under his own name and simply titled "Nature Fakers", was published in the September issue of Everybody's Magazine. Beginning with a list of nature writers that the President admired and felt best represented the genre (Burroughs, Muir, and Olive Thorne Miller, among others), he soon fell into criticizing the "yellow journalists of the woods" who "can easily believe three impossible things before breakfast; and they do not mind in the least if the impossibilities are mutually contradictory". While he focused on the "nature fakers", especially Long, he shifted the focus of his attack to place responsibility not on the authors, but on their publishers and the school boards who regularly accepted their works for reading material. He wrote: > Our quarrel is not with these men, but with those who give them their chance. We who believe in the study of nature feel that a real knowledge and appreciation of wild things, of trees, flowers, birds, and of the grim and crafty creatures of the wilderness, give an added beauty and health to life. Therefore we abhor deliberate or reckless untruth in this study as much as in any other; and therefore we feel that a grave wrong is committed by all who, holding a position that entitles them to respect, yet condone and encourage such untruth. With Roosevelt's final public word on the matter, the controversy began to die down in earnest, although its key players continued to comment on the debate's major points for the next few years. The New York Times favored the President's position in an editorial titled "The War of the Naturalists", while some still supported Long and his literary efforts. Long was traveling in Maine when Roosevelt's "Nature Fakers" article was published, and did not respond to the criticisms against him with his past vigor. He later wrote that "the only fakir in the whole controversy, in my judgment, is the big fakir at Washington". Long's literary reputation steadily declined, although he continued to write and publish well into the early 1950s. For his remaining life, Burroughs continued to write disparagingly about the effect of sentimental animal stories. In his 1908 book Leaf And Tendril, he wrote: > A great many intelligent persons tolerate or encourage our fake natural history on the ground that they find it entertaining, and that it interests the school-children in the wild life about them. Is the truth, then, without value for its own sake? What would these good people think of a United States school history that took the same liberties with facts that some of our nature writers do: that, for instance, made Washington take his army over the Delaware in balloons, or in sleighs on the solid ice with bands playing; or that made Lincoln a victim of the Evil Eye; or that portrayed his slayer as a self-sacrificing hero; or that represented the little Monitor that eventful day on Hampton Roads as diving under the Merrimac and tossing it ashore on its beak? > > The nature fakers take just this kind of liberties with the facts of our natural history. The young reader finds it entertaining, no doubt, but is this sufficient justification? Also in 1908, Jack London broke his silence on his condemnation during the controversy by publishing an essay in Collier's Weekly entitled "The Other Animals". Directly addressing Roosevelt's past criticism of his novels, London called the President "homocentric" and "an amateur." He further wrote: "I have been guilty of writing two animal-stories — two books about dogs. The writing of these two stories, on my part, was in truth a protest against the 'humanizing' of animals, of which it seemed to me several 'animal writers' had been profoundly guilty. Time and again, and many times, in my narratives, I wrote, speaking of my dog-heroes: 'He did not think these things; he merely did them,' etc. And I did this repeatedly, to the clogging of my narrative and in violation of my artistic canons; and I did it in order to hammer into the average human understanding that these dog-heroes of mine were not directed by abstract reasoning, but by instinct, sensation, and emotion, and by simple reasoning. Also, I endeavored to make my stories in line with the facts of evolution; I hewed them to the mark set by scientific research, and awoke, one day, to find myself bundled neck and crop into the camp of the nature-fakers." Hoping to establish his credentials once and for all as an expert field naturalist, Ernest Thompson Seton spent several years of the controversy working diligently on his two-volume work Life-Histories of Northern Animals, which was published in 1909. After an enlarged edition of the book was published as Lives of Game Animals, Seton was ironically awarded the Burroughs Medal in 1927, a prize named after the venerable naturalist who had once so criticized Seton's work. Over time, the term "nature faker" began to take on a new meaning; rather than describing someone who purposely told false stories about animals, it became synonymous with those who overly sentimentalized the natural world. In 1910, journalist and writer Richard Harding Davis published a short story titled "The Nature Faker" in Collier's Weekly, which used the term to refer to the lead character, Herrick, a hapless nature sentimentalist. Animation pioneer John R. Bray also showcased this new definition of "nature faker" while satirizing Roosevelt in two silent cartoons called "Colonel Heeza Liar, Nature Faker" (1915 and 1924). The controversy had far-reaching effects in literary and scientific circles, and marked the first time that a President of the United States weighed in as a "literary and cultural critic—specifically, as an ecocritic." Though blind naturalist and author Clarence Hawkes deemed the literary debate "a veritable tempest in the teapot," after the controversy had died down he came to believe "if I ever make a bad break in regard to my natural history statements that I was doomed." The author Ralph H. Lutts wrote in his 1990 work The Nature Fakers: Wildlife, Science & Sentiment that the nature fakers controversy "was far more than a clash over the accuracy of animal stories or the question of whether animals can reason"; rather, the debate signified the changing sensibilities of writers and readers at the turn of the 20th century. ## See also
5,493,695	Kit (association football)	1,168,198,943	Equipment and attire worn by players	[ "Association football kits", "Laws of association football", "Sports uniforms", "Sportswear" ]	In association football, kit (also referred to as a strip or uniform) is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sport's rules specify the minimum kit which a player must use, and also prohibit the use of anything that is dangerous to either the player or another participant. Individual competitions may stipulate further restrictions, such as regulating the size of logos displayed on shirts and stating that, in the event of a match between teams with identical or similar colours, the away team must change to different coloured attire. Footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Originally a team of players wore numbers from 1 to 11, corresponding roughly to their playing positions, but at the professional level this has generally been superseded by squad numbering, whereby each player in a squad is allocated a fixed number for the duration of a season. Professional clubs also usually display players' surnames or nicknames on their shirts, above (or, infrequently, below) their squad numbers. Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. In the twentieth century, boots became lighter and softer, shorts were worn at a shorter length, and advances in clothing manufacture and printing allowed shirts to be made in lighter synthetic fibres with increasingly colourful and complex designs. With the rise of advertising in the 20th century, sponsors' logos began to appear on shirts, and replica strips were made available for fans to purchase, generating significant amounts of revenue for clubs. ## Equipment ### Basic equipment The rules set out the basic equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4 (Players' Equipment). Five separate items are specified: shirt (also known as a jersey), shorts, socks (also known as stockings), footwear and shin pads. Goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots ("soccer shoes" or "cleats" in North America), the Laws do not specify that these are required. Shirts must have sleeves (both short and long sleeves are accepted), and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the same colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and "provide a reasonable degree of protection". The only other restriction on equipment defined is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything deemed dangerous to himself or another player. It is normal for individual competitions to specify that all outfield players on a team must wear the same colours, though the Law states only "The two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and also the referee and the assistant referees". In the event of a match between teams who would normally wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. Because of this requirement a team's second-choice is often referred to as its "away kit" or "away colours", although it is not unknown, especially at international level, for teams to opt to wear their away colours even when not required to by a clash of colours, or to wear them when they are the home team. The England national team sometimes plays in red shirts even when their white standard kit does not clash with their opponent, as this was the strip worn when the team won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. In some cases both teams have been forced (or chose) to wear their second choice away kits; such as the match between Netherlands and Brazil in the 1974 FIFA World Cup where they wore white and dark blue rather than their first choice of orange and yellow, respectively; and the match between Netherlands and Spain in the 2014 FIFA World Cup where they wore dark blue and white rather than their home colors of orange and red, respectively. Many professional clubs also have a "third kit", ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the same basic colour scheme for several decades, and the colours themselves form an integral part of a club's culture. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation. These are usually based on the colours of the country's national flag, although there are exceptions—the Italy national team, for example, wear blue as it was the colour of the House of Savoy, the Australian team like most Australian sporting teams wear the Australian National Colours of green and gold, neither of which appear on the flag, and the Dutch national team wear orange, the colour of the Dutch Royal House. Shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Most professional clubs have sponsors' logos on the front of their shirts, which can generate significant levels of income, and some also offer sponsors the chance to place their logos on the back of their shirts. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed. Competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. A player's number is usually printed on the back of the shirt, although international teams often also place numbers on the front, and professional teams generally print a player's surname above their number. The captain of each team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify them as the captain to the referee and supporters. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be made either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, and have studs attached to the soles. Studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread. Modern boots such as the Adidas Predator, originally designed by former Liverpool player Craig Johnston, feature increasingly intricate, scientifically aided designs and features such as air pockets in the soles and rubber "blades" on the sole rather than studs. The blades have been the subject of controversy as several top managers have blamed them for injuries both to opposition players and to the wearers themselves. The rules specify that all players, regardless of gender, must wear the same kit, however in September 2008 the Dutch women's team FC de Rakt made international headlines by swapping its old strip for a new one featuring short skirts and tight-fitting shirts. This innovation, which had been requested by the team itself, was initially vetoed by the KNVB, Dutch football's governing body, but this decision was reversed when it was revealed that the FC de Rakt team were wearing hot pants (very short shorts) under their skirts, and were therefore technically in compliance. ### Other equipment All players are permitted to wear gloves, and goalkeepers usually wear specialist goalkeeping gloves. Prior to the 1970s gloves were rarely worn, but it is now extremely unusual to see a goalkeeper without gloves. In Portugal's match against England in the Euro 2004 tournament, Ricardo drew much comment for deciding to remove his gloves during the penalty shoot-out. Since the 1980s significant advancements have been made in the design of gloves, which now feature protectors to prevent the fingers bending backwards, segmentation to allow greater flexibility, and palms made of materials designed to protect the hand and to enhance a player's grip. Gloves are available in a variety of different cuts, including "flat palm", "roll finger" and "negative", with variations in the stitching and fit. Goalkeepers sometimes also wear caps to prevent glare from the sun or floodlights affecting their performance. Players with sight problems may wear glasses as long as there is no risk of them falling off or breaking and thereby becoming dangerous. Most players affected choose to wear contact lenses, although Dutch player Edgar Davids, unable to wear contact lenses due to glaucoma, was known for his distinctive wraparound goggles. Other items that may be dangerous to other players, such as jewellery, however, are not allowed. Players may also choose to wear headgear to protect themselves from head injury, or to prevent further such injuries, such as Petr Čech and Cristian Chivu's use of rugby helmets, as long as it presents no risk to the safety of the wearer or any other player. ### Match officials' kit Referees, assistant referees and fourth officials wear kits of a similar style to that worn by players; until the 1950s it was more common for a referee to wear a blazer than a jersey. Officials wear shirts of a different colour to those worn by the two teams and their goalkeepers. Black is the traditional colour worn by officials, and "the man in black" is widely used as an informal term for a referee, although increasingly other colours are being used in the modern era to minimise colour clashes. The 1994 World Cup was the first in which FIFA dispensed with black kits for officials. Referees also sometimes have sponsors' logos on their shirts, although these are normally confined to the sleeves. ## History ### Victorian era The first written evidence of a clothing item specifically dedicated to football comes in 1526, from the Great Wardrobe of King Henry VIII of England, which included a reference to a pair of football boots. The earliest evidence of coloured shirts used to identify football teams comes from early English public school football games, for example an image of Winchester College football from before 1840 is entitled "The commoners have red and the college boys blue jerseys" and such colours are mentioned again in a Bell's Life in London article of 1858. House sporting colours are mentioned in Rugby football (rule XXI) as early as 1845: "No player may wear cap or jersey without leave from the head of his house". In 1848, it was noted at Rugby that "considerable improvement has taken place in the last few years, in the appearance of a match... in the use of peculiar dress consisting of velvet caps and jerseys" Organised association football was first played in England in the 1860s, and many teams would probably play in whatever clothing they had available, with players of the same team distinguishing themselves by wearing coloured caps or sashes. The Sheffield club rules in 1857 required members to acquire one red and one dark blue cap, in order to form teams within the membership for matches. One report of an 1860 match played to an indeterminate code, between Spalding Football Club and Spalding Victoria, refers to Spalding as the "pinks" and Victoria as the "blues". Limiting colours simply to caps or sashes proved to be problematic though, and an 1867 handbook of the game suggested that teams should attempt "if it can be previously so arranged, to have one side with striped jerseys of one colour, say red, and the other with another, say blue. This prevents confusion and wild attempts to wrest the ball from your neighbour." The Charles Alcock football yearbooks from 1868 also included return forms which asked club secretaries to include details of club colours. The first standard strips emerged with the founding of the FA, the Football Association's initial minutes recording some of the club colours, such as the Royal Engineers A.F.C.'s red and blue, and Lincoln's white jerseys with red, white, and blue caps. Many clubs opted for colours associated with the schools or other sporting organisations from which the clubs had emerged. Blackburn Rovers, for example, adopted shirts of a halved design based on those of the team for former pupils of Malvern College, one of the schools where the sport had developed. Their original colours of light blue and white were chosen to reflect an association with Cambridge University, where a number of the club's founders had been educated. Colours and designs often changed dramatically between matches, with Bolton Wanderers turning out in both pink shirts and white shirts with red spots within the same year. Rather than the modern shorts, players wore long knickerbockers or full-length trousers, often with a belt or even braces. Lord Kinnaird, an early star of the game, was noted for always being resplendent in long white trousers. There were no numbers printed on shirts to identify individual players, and the programme for an 1875 match between Queen's Park and Wanderers in Glasgow identifies the players by the colours of their caps or stockings. The first shin pads were worn in 1874 by the Nottingham Forest player Sam Weller Widdowson, who cut down a pair of cricket pads and wore them outside his stockings. Initially the concept was ridiculed but it soon caught on with other players. By the turn of the century pads had become smaller and were being worn inside the stockings. As the game gradually moved away from being a pursuit for wealthy amateurs to one dominated by working-class professionals, kits changed accordingly. The clubs themselves, rather than individual players, were now responsible for purchasing kit and financial concerns, along with the need for the growing numbers of spectators to easily identify the players, led to the lurid colours of earlier years being abandoned in favour of simple combinations of primary colours. In 1890, the Football League, which had been formed two years earlier, ruled that no two member teams could register similar colours, so as to avoid clashes. This rule was later abandoned in favour of one stipulating that all teams must have a second set of shirts in a different colour available. Initially the home team was required to change colours in the event of a clash, but in 1921 the rule was amended to require the away team to change. Specialised football boots began to emerge in the professional era, taking the place of everyday shoes or work boots. Players initially simply nailed strips of leather to their boots to enhance their grip, leading the Football Association to rule in 1863 that no nails could project from boots. By the 1880s these crude attachments had become studs. Boots of this era were made of heavy leather, had hard toecaps, and came high above a player's ankles. ### Early 20th century As the game began to spread to Europe and beyond, clubs adopted kits similar to those worn in the United Kingdom, and in some cases chose colours directly inspired by British clubs. In 1903, Juventus of Italy adopted a black and white strip inspired by Notts County. Two years later, Argentina's Club Atlético Independiente adopted red shirts after watching Nottingham Forest play. In 1904, the Football Association dropped its rule that players' knickerbockers must cover their knees and teams began wearing them much shorter. They became known as "knickers", and were referred to by this term until the 1960s when "shorts" became the preferred term. Initially, almost all teams wore knickers of a contrasting colour to their shirts. In 1909, in a bid to assist referees in identifying the goalkeeper amongst a ruck of players, the rules were amended to state that the goalkeeper must wear a shirt of a different colour to their team-mates. Initially it was specified that goalkeepers' shirts must be either scarlet or royal blue, but when green was added as a third option in 1912 it caught on to the extent that soon almost every goalkeeper was playing in green. In this period goalkeepers generally wore a heavy woollen garment more akin to a jumper than the shirts worn by outfield players. Sporadic experiments with numbered shirts took place in the 1920s but the idea did not initially catch on. The first major match in which numbers were worn was the 1933 FA Cup Final between Everton and Manchester City. Rather than the numbers being added to the clubs' existing strips, two special sets, one white and one red, were made for the final and allocated to the two teams by the toss of a coin. The Everton players wore numbers 1–11, while the City players wore 12–22. It was not until around the time of the Second World War that numbering became standard, with teams wearing numbers 1–11. Although there were no regulations on which player should wear which number, specific numbers came to be associated with specific positions on the field of play, examples of which were the number 9 shirt for the team's main striker and the number 1 shirt for the goalkeeper. In contrast to the usual practice, Scottish club Celtic wore numbers on their shorts rather than their shirts until 1975 for international matches, and until 1994 for domestic matches. The 1930s also saw great advancements in boot manufacture, with new synthetic materials and softer leathers becoming available. By 1936 players in Europe were wearing boots which weighed only a third of the weight of the rigid boots of a decade earlier, although British clubs did not adopt the new-style boots, with players such as Billy Wright openly pronouncing their disdain for the new footwear and claiming that it was more suited to ballet than football. In the period immediately after the war, many teams in Europe were forced to wear unusual kits due to clothing restrictions. England's Oldham Athletic, who had traditionally worn blue and white, spent two seasons playing in red and white shirts borrowed from a local rugby league club, and Scotland's Clyde wore khaki. In the 1950s kits worn by players in southern Europe and South America became much more lightweight, with V-necks replacing collars on shirts and synthetic fabrics replacing heavy natural fibres. The first boots to be cut below the ankle rather than high-topped were introduced by Adidas in 1954. Although they cost twice as much as existing styles, the boots were a huge success and cemented the German company's place in the football market. Around the same time Adidas also developed the first boots with screw-in studs which could be changed according to pitch conditions. Other areas were slower to adopt the new styles – British clubs again resisted change and stuck resolutely to kits little different from those worn before the war, and Eastern European teams continued to wear kits that were deemed old-fashioned elsewhere. The FC Dynamo Moscow team that toured Western Europe in 1945 drew almost as much comment for the players' long baggy shorts as for the quality of their football. With the advent of international competitions such as the European Cup, the southern European style spread to the rest of the continent and by the end of the decade the heavy shirts and boots of the pre-war years had fallen entirely out of use. The 1960s saw little innovation in kit design, with clubs generally opting for simple colour schemes which looked good under the newly adopted floodlights. Designs from the late 1960s and early 1970s are highly regarded by football fans. ### Modern era In the 1970s, clubs began to create strongly individual strips, and in 1975, Leeds United, who had changed their traditional blue and gold colours to all white in the 1960s to mimic Real Madrid, became the first club to design shirts which could be sold to fans in the form of replicas. Driven by commercial concerns, other clubs soon followed suit, adding manufacturers' logos and a higher level of trim. In 1973, German team Eintracht Braunschweig signed a deal with local alcohol producer Jägermeister to display its logo on the front of their shirts. Soon almost all major clubs had signed such deals, and the cost to companies who sponsor large teams has increased dramatically. In 2008 German club FC Bayern Munich received €25 million in sponsorship money from Deutsche Telekom. However Spanish clubs FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao refused to allow sponsors' logos to appear on their shirts as recently as 2005. Until 2011 Barcelona refused paying sponsors in favour of wearing the UNICEF logo on their shirts while donating €1.5 million to the charity per year. Players also began to sign sponsorship deals with individual companies. In 1974 Johan Cruijff refused to wear the Dutch national team's strip as its Adidas branding conflicted with his own individual contract with Puma, and was permitted to wear a version without the Adidas branding. Puma had also paid Pelé \$120,000 to wear their boots and specifically requested that he bend down and tie his laces at the start of the 1970 FIFA World Cup final, ensuring a close-up of the boots for a worldwide television audience. In the 1970s, the U.S.-based North American Soccer League experimented with printing players' names on their shirts and allocating each player a squad number rather than simply numbering the 11 players starting a game from 1 to 11, but these ideas did not catch on at the time in other countries, although Italy's A.C. Milan added names to players' shirts in 1980. The names were removed in 1981 and for many years they would not be adopted by any other team in Italy. In the 1980s, manufacturers such as Hummel and Adidas began to design shirts with increasingly intricate designs, as new technology led to the introduction of such design elements as shadow prints and pinstripes. Hummel's distinctive halved strip designed for the Danish national team for the 1986 FIFA World Cup caused a stir in the media but FIFA worried about moiré artefacts in television pictures. Shorts became shorter than ever during the 1970s and 1980s, and often included the player's number on the front. In the 1991 FA Cup Final Tottenham Hotspur's players lined up in long baggy shorts. Although, the new look was derided, clubs in Britain and elsewhere had within a short time adopted the longer shorts. In the 1990s shirt designs became increasingly complex, with many teams sporting extremely gaudy colour schemes. Design decisions were increasingly driven by the need for the shirt to look good when worn by fans as a fashion item, but many designs from this era have since come to be regarded as amongst the worst of all time. In 1996, Manchester United notoriously introduced a grey strip which had been specifically designed to look good when worn with jeans, but abandoned it halfway through a match after manager Alex Ferguson claimed that the reason why his team was losing 3–0 was that the players could not see each other on the pitch. United switched to different colours for the second half and scored one goal without reply. The leading leagues also introduced squad numbers, whereby each player is allocated a specific number for the duration of a season. A brief fad arose for players celebrating goals by lifting or completely removing their shirts to reveal political, religious or personal slogans printed on undershirts. This led to a ruling from the International Football Association Board in 2002 that undershirts must not contain slogans or logos; since 2004 it has been a bookable offence for players to remove their shirts. The market for replica shirts has grown enormously, with the revenue generated for leading clubs and the frequency with which they change designs coming under increased scrutiny, especially in the United Kingdom, where the market for replicas is worth in excess of £200m. Several clubs have been accused of price fixing, and in 2003 Manchester United were fined £1.65m by the Office of Fair Trading. The high prices charged for replicas have also led to many fans buying fake shirts which are imported from countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. The chance for fans to purchase a shirt bearing the name and number of a star player can lead to significant revenue for a club. In the first six months after David Beckham's transfer to Real Madrid the club sold more than one million shirts bearing his name. A market has also developed for shirts worn by players during significant matches, which are sold as collector's items. The shirt worn by Pelé in the 1970 FIFA World Cup Final sold at auction for over £150,000 in 2002. A number of advances in kit design have taken place since 2000, with varying degrees of success. In 2002 the Cameroon national team competed in the African Cup of Nations in Mali wearing shirts with no sleeves, but FIFA later ruled that such garments were not considered to be shirts and therefore were not permitted. Manufacturers Puma AG initially added "invisible" black sleeves to comply with the ruling, but later supplied the team with new one-piece singlet-style tops. FIFA ordered the team not to wear the tops but the ruling was disregarded, with the result that the Cameroon team was docked six points in its qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a decision later reversed after an appeal. More successful were the skin-tight shirts designed for the Italian national team by manufacturers Kappa, a style subsequently emulated by other national teams and club sides. A brief fashion for men wearing snood-scarf neckwarmers ended in 2011 when the IFAB banned them as potentially dangerous. A ban on women wearing the hijab was introduced by the IFAB in 2007, but lifted in 2012 after pressure from Prince Ali of Jordan. In keeping with French views, the French Football Federation said it would maintain its ban. ## See also - Retro kit - Shirt swapping - History of association football
12,454,109	Crescent honeyeater	1,153,532,140	Passerine bird of the family Meliphagidae from southeastern Australia	[ "Birds described in 1801", "Birds of New South Wales", "Birds of South Australia", "Birds of Tasmania", "Birds of Victoria (state)", "Endemic birds of Australia", "Phylidonyris" ]	The crescent honeyeater (Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus) is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to southeastern Australia. A member of the genus Phylidonyris, it is most closely related to the common New Holland honeyeater (P. novaehollandiae) and the white-cheeked honeyeater (P. niger). Two subspecies are recognized, with P. p. halmaturinus restricted in range to Kangaroo Island and the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia. It has dark grey plumage and paler underparts, highlighted by yellow wing-patches and a broad, black crescent, outlined in white, down the sides of its breast. The species exhibits slight sexual dimorphism, with the female being duller in colour than the male. Juvenile birds are similar to the female, though the yellow wing-patches of male nestlings can be easily distinguished. The male has a complex and variable song, which is heard throughout the year. It sings from an exposed perch, and during the breeding season performs song flights. The crescent honeyeater is found in areas of dense vegetation including sclerophyll forest and alpine habitats, as well as heathland, and parks and gardens, where its diet is made up of nectar and invertebrates. It forms long-term pairs, and often stays committed to one breeding site for several years. The female builds the nest and does most of the caring for the two to three young, which become independent within 40 days of laying its egg. The parent birds use a range of anti-predator strategies, but nestlings can be taken by snakes, kookaburras, currawongs, or cats. While the crescent honeyeater faces a number of threats, its population numbers and distribution are sufficient for it to be listed as of Least Concern for conservation. ## Taxonomy The crescent honeyeater was originally described by ornithologist John Latham in 1801 as Certhia pyrrhoptera, because of an assumed relationship with the treecreepers Certhia. It was later named Certhia australasiana by George Shaw in 1812, Melithreptus melanoleucus by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1817, and Meliphaga inornata by John Gould in 1838. The generic term comes from the French phylidonyre, which combines the names for a honeyeater and a sunbird (previously thought to belong to the same family). The specific epithet is derived from the Ancient Greek stems pyrrhos meaning 'fire' and pteron meaning 'wing', in reference to the yellow wing patches. Some guidebooks have the binomial name written as Phylidonyris pyrrhoptera; however, a review in 2001 ruled that the genus name was masculine, hence pyrrhopterus is the correct specific name. Two subspecies are recognised: the nominate form P. p. pyrrhopterus over most of its range; and P. p. halmaturinus, which is restricted to Kangaroo Island and the Mount Lofty Ranges. A 2004 molecular study showed its close relatives to be the New Holland honeyeater and the white-cheeked honeyeater, the three forming the now small genus Phylidonyris. A 2017 genetic study using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA found the white-streaked honeyeater to also lie within the clade. The ancestor of the crescent honeyeater diverged from the lineage giving rise to the white-streaked, New Holland and white-cheeked honeyeaters around 7.5 million years ago. DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea. "Crescent honeyeater" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). Other common names include chinawing, Egypt and horseshoe honeyeater. Gould called it the Tasmanian honeyeater. ## Description ### Appearance The crescent honeyeater measures 14–17 centimetres (5.5–6.7 in) in length with a wingspan of 16–23 centimetres (6.3–9.1 in), and it weighs about 16 grams (0.56 oz). It is sexually dimorphic with the female a paler version of the male. The male is mostly dark grey, with clear yellow wing-patches; a broad black crescent, outlined in white, down the sides of the breast; and a white streak above the eye. The top of the tail is black with yellow edges to the feathers forming distinctive yellow panels on the sides of the tail. White tips on the undertail are usually only visible in flight. The underparts are pale brownish-grey fading to white. The female is duller, more olive-brown than grey, with duller yellow wing-patches and faded crescent-shaped markings. Both sexes have dark grey legs and feet, deep ruby eyes and a long, downcurved black bill. The gape is also black. Young birds are similar to the adults, though not as strongly marked, and have dark grey bills, duller brown eyes, and yellow gapes. Male nestlings can be distinguished by their more extensive yellow wing-patches from seven days old. Moulting patterns of the species are poorly known; crescent honeyeaters appear to replace their primary flight feathers between October and January. While both subspecies have the same general appearance, the female of halmaturinus has paler plumage than the nominate race, and both male and female have a smaller wing and tail and longer bill. The halmaturinus population on Kangaroo Island has a significantly shorter wing and longer bill than the Mount Lofty population, although this size variation of an insular form is at odds with Allen's and Bergmann's rules. ### Vocalisation The crescent honeyeater has a range of musical calls and songs. One study recorded chatter alarm calls similar to the New Holland honeyeater, a number of harsh monosyllabic or tri-syllabic contact calls, and complex and diverse songs. The most common contact call is a loud, carrying "e-gypt", while the alarm call is a sharp and rapid "chip-chip-chip". The male also has a melodic song which is heard throughout the year, at any time of the day. The structure of the song is complex and diverse, and includes both a descending whistle and a musical two-note call. The male's song is performed from an exposed perch or within the tree canopy, and it engages in mating displays (song flights) during the breeding season. When the female is on the nest and the male nearby, they utter low soft notes identified as "whisper song". ## Distribution and habitat There are records of scattered populations of the crescent honeyeater on the Central Tablelands, the Mid North Coast, and in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, and it is widespread in the areas of New South Wales south of Dharug National Park and east of Bathurst. In Victoria it is widespread across an area from the NSW border south west to Wallan with scattered populations recorded further west. It is widespread in Tasmania, except in the northeastern part of the state where it is more sparsely distributed. It is restricted to sclerophyll forest in eastern South Australia, where isolated populations have been recorded in the Mount Lofty Ranges and on Kangaroo Island. Local influxes have occurred outside its normal range in response to changes in habitat. Recorded population densities range from 0.3 birds per hectare (0.12/acre) near Orbost, to 8.7 pairs per hectare (3.5/acre) in Boola Boola State Forest, also in Victoria. While the crescent honeyeater occupies a wide variety of habitats including coastal heath, rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest, mountain forest, alpine woodland, damp gullies and thick tea-tree scrub, they all demonstrate its preference for dense vegetation. It has been frequently recorded in wet sclerophyll forest dominated by eucalypts and with a thick mid-story and understory of shrubs such as blackwood, silver wattle, Cassinia, Prostanthera, and Correa. At higher altitudes it occurs in alpine heathlands and in woodlands of stunted eucalypt or conifers. The movements of the crescent honeyeater within its range are incompletely known. There is widespread evidence of seasonal migration to lower altitudes in cooler months, yet a proportion of the population remains sedentary. Autumn and winter migration to the lowland coastal areas is seen in southern Tasmania, where it is not unusual to see it in urban parks and gardens, as well as in Gippsland, and the New South Wales Central and South Coast. In the Sydney region, some birds appear to move down from the Blue Mountains to Sydney for the cooler months, yet others remain in either location for the whole year. It is only seen in alpine and subalpine areas of the Snowy Mountains in warmer snow-free months (mainly October to April). Other populations of crescent honeyeaters follow a more nomadic pattern of following food sources; this has been recorded in the Blue Mountains and parts of Victoria. ## Behaviour ### Breeding Crescent honeyeaters occupy territories during the breeding season of July to March, with pairs often staying on in the territory at the end of the season and committing to one breeding site for several years. Banding studies have recaptured birds within metres of the nest in which they were raised, and one female was re-trapped at the banding place almost ten years later. The pairs nest solitarily, or in loose colonies with nests around 10 metres (33 ft) apart. The male defends the territory, which is used both for foraging and breeding, though during the breeding season he is more active in protecting the area, and therefore much more vocal. During courtship the male performs song flights, soaring with quivering wings and continuously calling with a high piping note. The female builds the nest close to the boundary of the territory, usually near water, low in the shrubs. It is a deep, cup-shaped, bulky nest of cobweb, bark, grass, twigs, roots and other plant materials, lined with grass, down, moss, and fur. The long strips of bark from stringybark or messmate trees are often used. The clutch size is 2 or 3, occasionally 4. Measuring 19 millimetres (0.75 in) by 15 millimetres (0.59 in), the eggs are pale pink, sometimes buff-tinged, with lavender and chestnut splotches. The base colour is darker at the larger end. The female incubates and broods the eggs, but both sexes feed the nestlings and remove faecal sacs, although the female does the majority of caring for the young. The young birds are fed insects, with flies making up much of the regurgitated material, according to one study. The incubation period is 13 days, followed by a fledging period of 13 days. The parent birds feed the fledglings for around two weeks after they leave the nest, but the young do not remain long in the parents' territory. The young are independent within 40 days of egg-laying. Parent birds have been observed using a range of anti-predator strategies: the female staying on the nest until almost touched; one or other of the pair performing distraction displays, fluttering wings and moving across the ground; the female flying rapidly at the intruder; and both birds giving harsh scolding calls when a kookaburra, tiger snake or currawong approached. The nests of the crescent honeyeater are usually low in the shrubs, which makes them and their young vulnerable to predation by snakes and other birds; however, domestic and feral cats are the most likely predators to hunt this species. Crescent honeyeaters pair in long-term relationships that often last for the whole year; however, while they are socially monogamous, they appear to be sexually promiscuous. One study found that only 42% of the nestlings were sired by the male partner at the nest, despite paternity guards such as pairing and territorial defence. The crescent honeyeaters observed exhibited a number of characteristics consistent with genetic promiscuity: sexual dimorphism, with sex-specific plumages identifiable at nestling stage; reduced male contribution to feeding and caring for the young; vigorous defence of the territory by the male; and frequent intrusions into other territories by females which were tolerated by the males holding those territories. ### Feeding The crescent honeyeater is arboreal, foraging mainly among the foliage and flowers in the understory and tree canopy on nectar, fruits and small insects. It has been recorded eating the honeydew of psyllids, soft scale and felt scale insects. It feeds primarily by probing flowers for nectar, and gleaning foliage and bark and sallying for insects. While regularly observed feeding singly or in pairs, the crescent honeyeater has also been recorded moving in loose feeding flocks, and gathering in large groups at productive food sources. A study in forest near Hobart in Tasmania found that the crescent honeyeater's diet was wholly composed of insects during the breeding season, while nectar was a significant component during winter. Insects consumed included moths and flies. Tree-trunks were the site of foraging around two-thirds of the time, and foliage a third. It fed on nectar as plants came into flower in the autumn and winter, and then foraged in Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) during the breeding season in spring. The flowering of royal grevillea (Grevillea victoriae) over summer in subalpine areas in the Snowy Mountains attracted large numbers of crescent honeyeaters. It feeds intensively when sources are plentiful and, when feeding on flame heath (Astroloma conostephioides), it was recorded visiting an average of 34 flowers per minute. Other plants it has been recorded visiting include a number of Banksia species, waratah (Telopea), tubular flowered genera including Astroloma, Epacris and Correa, mistletoes of the genus Amyema, and eucalypts in the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia. In Bondi State Forest it was also recorded feeding at cluster-flower geebung (Persoonia confertiflora), native holly (Lomatia ilicifolia), tall shaggy-pea (Oxylobium arborescens), silver wattle (Acacia dealbata) and blackthorn (Bursaria spinosa). Local differences in flower foraging patterns have been observed in South Australia; populations on Kangaroo Island forage more often at Adenanthos flowers than those in the nearby Fleurieu Peninsula, while the latter forage more often at eucalypt blooms, and at a higher diversity of plants overall. ## Conservation status While the population numbers and distribution are sufficient for the crescent honeyeater to be listed as of Least Concern for conservation, numbers have fluctuated significantly over the past twenty-five years and currently seem to be in decline. The threats to the crescent honeyeater include habitat destruction, as the alpine forests in which it breeds are being reduced by weed infestations, severe bushfires, drought and land-clearing. The crescent honeyeater's dependence on long-term partnerships and breeding territories means that breeding success is threatened by the death of one partner or the destruction of habitual territory. The influx of birds to urban areas also places them at increased risk of accidents and predation. Cats have been recorded preying on crescent honeyeaters, and at least one guide urges cat owners to keep their cats in enclosures when outside the house or to provide a stimulating indoor environment for them.
66,951	Józef Piłsudski	1,173,810,888	Polish politician, First Marshall, and Prime Minister (1867–1935)	[ "1867 births", "1935 deaths", "19th-century Polish nobility", "20th-century Polish nobility", "Burials at Wawel Cathedral", "Candidates for President of Poland", "Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party members", "Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism", "Deaths from cancer in Poland", "Deaths from liver cancer", "Government ministers of Poland", "Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun", "Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour", "Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta", "Grand Crosses of the Virtuti Militari", "Heads of state of Poland", "Józef Piłsudski", "Knights Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy", "Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus", "Leaders who took power by coup", "Marshals of Poland", "Members of the Provisional Council of State", "People from Sventsyansky Uyezd", "People from Švenčionys District Municipality", "People of the Polish May Coup (pro-Piłsudski side)", "Polish Military Organisation members", "Polish Roman Catholics", "Polish Socialist Party politicians", "Polish anti-communists", "Polish exiles in the Russian Empire", "Polish generals", "Polish independence activists", "Polish legionnaires (World War I)", "Polish nationalists", "Polish people of World War I", "Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War", "Prime Ministers of Poland", "Recipients of the Cross of Independence with Swords", "Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland)", "Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)", "Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class I", "Recipients of the Order of Lāčplēsis, 1st class", "Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave", "Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)", "Sanacja politicians" ]	Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918–1922) and First Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he became an increasingly dominant figure in Polish politics and exerted significant influence on shaping the country's foreign policy. Piłsudski is viewed as a father of the Second Polish Republic, which was re-established in 1918, 123 years after the final Partition of Poland in 1795, and was considered de facto leader (1926–35) of the Second Polish Republic as the Minister of Military Affairs. Seeing himself as a descendant of the culture and traditions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Piłsudski believed in a multi-ethnic Poland—"a home of nations" including indigenous ethnic and religious minorities. Early in his political career, Piłsudski became a leader of the Polish Socialist Party. Believing Poland's independence would be won militarily, he formed the Polish Legions. In 1914, he predicted a new major war would defeat the Russian Empire and the Central Powers. After World War I began in 1914, Piłsudski's Legions fought alongside Austria-Hungary against Russia. In 1917, with Russia faring poorly in the war, he withdrew his support for the Central Powers, and was imprisoned in Magdeburg by the Germans. Piłsudski was Poland's Chief of State from November 1918, when Poland regained its independence, until 1922. From 1919–21 he commanded Polish forces in six wars that re-defined the country's borders. On the verge of defeat in the Polish–Soviet War in August 1920, his forces repelled the invading Soviet Russians at the Battle of Warsaw. In 1923, with a government dominated by his opponents, in particular the National Democrats, Piłsudski retired from active politics. Three years later he returned to power in the May Coup and became the strongman of the Sanacja regime. He focused on military and foreign affairs until his death in 1935, developing a cult of personality that has survived into the 21st century. Although some aspects of Piłsudski's administration, such as imprisoning his political opponents at Bereza Kartuska, are controversial, he remains one of the most influential figures in Polish twentieth-century history and is widely regarded as a founder of modern Poland. ## Early life ### Birth, family, and education Piłsudski was born 5 December 1867 to the noble Piłsudski family at their manor near the village of Zułów (Zalavas, now in Lithuania). At his birth, the village was part of the Russian Empire and had been so since 1795. Before that, it was in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, an integral part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1795. After World War I, the village fell under Polish administration and was part of Poland when Piłsudski became Prime Minister. During World War II, the village became part of the USSR. The estate was part of the dowry brought by his mother, Maria, a member of the wealthy Billewicz family. The Piłsudski family, although pauperized, cherished Polish patriotic traditions, and are characterized either as Polish or as Polonized-Lithuanian. Józef was the second son born to the family. Józef was not an especially diligent student when he attended the Russian Gymnasium in Vilnius. Along with his brothers Bronisław, Adam and Jan, Józef was introduced by his mother Maria to Polish history and literature, which were suppressed by the Imperial authorities. His father, also named Józef, fought in the January 1863 Uprising against Russian rule. The family resented the government's Russification policies. Young Józef profoundly disliked having to attend Russian Orthodox Church service and left school with an aversion for the Russian Tsar, its empire, and its culture. In 1885 Piłsudski started medical studies at Kharkov University where he became involved with Narodnaya Volya, part of the Russian Narodniki revolutionary movement. In 1886, he was suspended for participating in student demonstrations. He was rejected by the University of Dorpat, whose authorities had been informed of his political affiliation. On 22 March 1887, he was arrested by Tsarist authorities on a charge of plotting with Vilnius socialists to assassinate Tsar Alexander III; Piłsudski's main connection to the plot was the involvement of his brother Bronisław. Józef was sentenced to five years' exile in Siberia, first at Kirensk on the Lena River, then at Tunka. ### Exile to Siberia While being transported in a prisoners' convoy to Siberia, Piłsudski was held for several weeks at a prison in Irkutsk. During his stay, another inmate insulted a guard and refused to apologize; Piłsudski and other political prisoners were beaten by the guards for their defiance and Piłsudski lost two teeth. He took part in a subsequent hunger strike until the authorities reinstated political prisoners' privileges that had been suspended after the incident. For his involvement, he was sentenced in 1888 to six months' imprisonment. He had to spend the first night of his incarceration in 40-degree-below-zero Siberian cold; this led to an illness that nearly killed him and health problems that would plague him throughout life. During his exile, Piłsudski met many Sybiraks, groups of people who have resettled to Siberia. He was allowed to work in an occupation of his choosing and tutored local children in mathematics and foreign languages (he knew French, German and Lithuanian in addition to Russian and his native Polish; he would later learn English). Local officials decided that, as a Polish noble, he was not entitled to the 10-ruble pension received by others. ## Polish Socialist Party ### Early activism and marriages In 1892, Piłsudski returned from exile and settled in Adomavas Manor near Teneniai. In 1893, he joined the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), and helped organize their Lithuanian branch. Initially, he sided with the Socialists' more radical wing, but despite the socialist movement's ostensible internationalism, he remained a Polish nationalist. In 1894, as its chief editor, he published an underground socialist newspaper called Robotnik (The Worker); he would also be one of its chief writers and a typesetter. In 1895, he became a PPS leader, promoting the position that doctrinal issues were of minor importance and socialist ideology should be merged with nationalist ideology because this combination offered the greatest chance of restoring Polish independence. On 15 July 1899, while an underground organizer, Piłsudski married a fellow socialist organizer named Maria Juszkiewiczowa (née Koplewska). According to his biographer, Wacław Jędrzejewicz, the marriage was less romantic than pragmatic in nature. The printing press of "Robotnik" was in their apartment first in Vilnius, then in Łódź. A pretext of regular family life made them less subject to suspicion. Russian law also protected a wife from prosecution for the illegal activities of her husband. The marriage deteriorated when, several years later, Piłsudski began an affair with a younger socialist, Aleksandra Szczerbińska. Maria died in 1921, and in October, Piłsudski married Aleksandra. By then, the couple had two daughters, Wanda and Jadwiga. In February 1900 Piłsudski was imprisoned at the Warsaw Citadel when Russian authorities found Robotnik's underground printing press in Łódź. He feigned mental illness in May 1901 and escaped from a mental hospital at Saint Petersburg with the help of a Polish physician, Władysław Mazurkiewicz, and others. He fled to Galicia, then part of Austria-Hungary, and thence to Leytonstone in London, staying with Leon Wasilewski and his family. ### Creation of an armed resistance At the beginning of the 1900s, almost all parties in Russian Poland and Lithuania took a conciliatory position toward the Russian Empire and aimed at negotiating within it a limited autonomy for Poland. Piłsudski's PPS was the only political force prepared to fight the Empire for Polish independence and to resort to violence to achieve that goal. On the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in the summer of 1904, Piłsudski traveled to Tokyo, Japan, where he tried unsuccessfully to obtain that country's assistance for an uprising in Poland. He offered to supply Japan with intelligence to support its war with Russia, and proposed the creation of a Polish Legion from Poles, conscripted into the Russian Army, who had been captured by Japan. He also suggested a "Promethean" project directed at breaking up the Russian Empire, a goal that he later continued to pursue. Meeting with Yamagata Aritomo, he suggested that starting a guerrilla war in Poland would distract Russia and asked for Japan to supply him with weapons. Although the Japanese diplomat Hayashi Tadasu supported the plan, the Japanese government, including Yamagata, was more skeptical. Piłsudski's arch-rival, Roman Dmowski, travelled to Japan and argued against Piłsudski's plan, discouraging the Japanese government from supporting a Polish revolution because he thought it was doomed to fail. The Japanese offered Piłsudski much less than he hoped; he received Japan's help in purchasing weapons and ammunition for the PPS and their combat organisation, and the Japanese declined the Legion proposal. In the fall of 1904, Piłsudski formed a paramilitary unit (the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party, or bojówki) aiming to create an armed resistance movement against the Russian authorities. The PPS organized demonstrations, mainly in Warsaw; on 28 October 1904, Russian Cossack cavalry attacked a demonstration, and in reprisal, during a demonstration on 13 November, Piłsudski's paramilitary opened fire on Russian police and military. Initially concentrating their attention on spies and informers, in March 1905 the paramilitary began using bombs to assassinate selected Russian police officers. ### Russian Revolution During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Piłsudski played a leading role in events in Congress Poland. In early 1905 he ordered the PPS to launch a general strike there; it involved some 400,000 workers and lasted two months until it was broken by the Russian authorities. In June 1905, Piłsudski sent paramilitary aid to an uprising in Łódź, later called June Days. In Łódź, armed clashes broke out between Piłsudski's paramilitaries and gunmen loyal to Dmowski and his National Democrats. On 22 December 1905, Piłsudski called for all Polish workers to rise up; the call went largely unheeded. Piłsudski instructed the PPS to boycott the elections to the First Duma. The decision, and his resolve to try to win Polish independence through revolution, caused tensions within the PPS, and in November 1906, the party fractured over Piłsudski's leadership. His faction came to be called the "Old Faction" or "Revolutionary Faction" ("Starzy" or "Frakcja Rewolucyjna"), while their opponents were known as the "Young Faction", "Moderate Faction" or "Left Wing" ("Młodzi", "Frakcja Umiarkowana", "Lewica"). The "Young" sympathized with the Social Democrats of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, and believed priority should be given to co-operation with Russian revolutionaries in toppling the tsarist regime and creating a socialist utopia to facilitate negotiations for independence. Piłsudski and his supporters in the Revolutionary Faction continued to plot a revolution against Tsarist Russia to secure Polish independence. By 1909, his faction was the majority in the PPS, and Piłsudski remained an important PPS leader until the outbreak of the First World War. ### Preparation for WWI Piłsudski anticipated a coming European war with the need to organize the leadership of a future Polish Army. He wanted to secure Poland's independence from the three empires that partitioned Poland out of political existence in the late 18th century. In 1906 Piłsudski, with the connivance of the Austrian authorities, founded a military school in Kraków for the training of paramilitary units. In 1906 alone, the 800-strong paramilitaries, operating in five-man teams in Congress Poland, killed 336 Russian officials; in subsequent years, the number of their casualties declined, and the paramilitaries' numbers increased to some 2,000 in 1908. The paramilitaries also held up Russian currency transports that were leaving Polish territories. On the night of 26/27 September 1908, they robbed a Russian mail train that was carrying tax revenues from Warsaw to Saint Petersburg. Piłsudski, who took part in this Bezdany raid near Vilnius, used the obtained funds to finance his secret military organization. The funds totaled 200,812 rubles was a fortune for the time and equaled the paramilitaries' entire takes of the two preceding years. In 1908, Piłsudski transformed his paramilitary units into an "Association for Active Struggle" (Związek Walki Czynnej, or ZWC), headed by three of his associates, Władysław Sikorski, Marian Kukiel and Kazimierz Sosnkowski. The ZWC's main purpose was to train officers and noncommissioned officers for a future Polish Army. In 1910, two legal paramilitary organizations were created in the Austrian zone of Poland, one in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), and one in Kraków, to conduct training in military science. With the permission of the Austrian officials, Piłsudski founded a series of "sporting clubs", then the Riflemen's Association, for cover to train a Polish military force. In 1912, Piłsudski (using the pseudonym "Mieczysław") became commander-in-chief of a Riflemen's Association (Związek Strzelecki). By 1914, they increased to 12,000 men. In 1914, while giving a lecture in Paris, Piłsudski declared, "Only the sword now carries any weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation", arguing that Polish independence can only be achieved through military struggle against the partitioning powers. ## World War I At a meeting in Paris in 1914, Piłsudski presciently declared that for Poland to regain independence in the impending war, Russia must be beaten by the Central Powers (the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires), and the latter powers must in their turn be beaten by France, Britain and the United States. At the outbreak of the war on 3 August in Kraków, Piłsudski formed a small cadre military unit called the First Cadre Company from members of the Riflemen's Association and Polish Rifle Squads. That same day, a cavalry unit under Władysław Belina-Prażmowski were sent to reconnoitre across the Russian border before the official declaration of war between Austria-Hungary and Russia on 6 August. Piłsudski's strategy was to send his forces north across the border into Russian Poland into an area the Russian Army evacuated in the hope of breaking through to Warsaw and sparking a nation-wide revolution. Using his limited forces in those early days, he backed his orders with the sanction of a fictitious "National Government in Warsaw", and he bent and stretched Austrian orders to the utmost, taking initiatives, moving forward, and establishing Polish institutions in liberated towns while the Austrians saw his forces as good only for scouting or for supporting main Austrian formations. On 12 August 1914, Piłsudski's forces took the town of Kielce, of Kielce Governorate, but Piłsudski found the residents less supportive than he had expected. On 27 August Piłsudski established the Polish Legions, formed within the Austro-Hungarian Army, and took personal command of their First Brigade, which he would lead into several victorious battles. He also secretly informed the British government in the fall of 1914 that his Legions would never fight against France or Britain, only Russia. Piłsudski decreed that Legions' personnel were to be addressed by the French Revolution-inspired "Citizen" (Obywatel), and he was referred to as "the Commandant" ("Komendant"). Piłsudski enjoyed extreme respect and loyalty from his men, which would remain for years to come. The Polish Legions fought against Russia, at the side of the Central Powers, until 1917. In August 1914, Piłsudski set up the Polish Military Organisation (Polska Organizacja Wojskowa), which served as a precursor Polish intelligence agency and was designed to perform espionage and sabotage missions. In mid-1916, after the Battle of Kostiuchnówka, in which the Polish Legions delayed a Russian offensive at a cost of over 2,000 casualties, Piłsudski demanded that the Central Powers issue a guarantee of independence for Poland. He supported that demand with his own proffered resignation and that of many of the Legions' officers. On 5 November 1916 the Central Powers proclaimed the independence of Poland, hoping to increase the number of Polish troops that could be sent to the Eastern Front against Russia, thereby relieving German forces to bolster the Western Front. Piłsudski agreed to serve in the Regency Kingdom of Poland, created by the Central Powers, and acted as minister of war in the newly formed Polish Regency government; as such, he was responsible for the Polnische Wehrmacht. After the Russian Revolution in early 1917, and in view of the worsening situation of the Central Powers, Piłsudski took an increasingly uncompromising stance by insisting that his men no longer be treated as "German colonial troops" and be only used to fight Russia. Anticipating the Central Powers' defeat in the war, he did not wish to be allied with the losing side. In the aftermath of a July 1917 "Oath Crisis" when Piłsudski forbade Polish soldiers to swear a loyalty oath to the Central Powers, he was arrested and imprisoned at Magdeburg. The Polish units were disbanded and the men were incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Army while the Polish Military Organization began attacking German targets. Piłsudski's arrest greatly enhanced his reputation among Poles, many of whom began to see him as the leader who was willing to take on all the partitioning powers. On 8 November 1918, three days before the Armistice, Piłsudski and his colleague, Colonel Kazimierz Sosnkowski, were released by the Germans from Magdeburg and soon placed on a train bound for Polish capital of Warsaw, as the collapsing Germans hoped that Piłsudski would create a force that was friendly to them. ## Rebuilding Poland ### Head of state On 11 November 1918, Piłsudski was appointed Commander in Chief of Polish forces by the Regency Council and was entrusted with creating a national government for the newly independent country. Later that day, which would become Poland's Independence Day, he proclaimed an independent Polish state. That week, Piłsudski negotiated the evacuation of the German garrison from Warsaw and of other German troops from Ober Ost. Over 55,000 Germans peacefully departed Poland, leaving their weapons to the Poles. In the coming months, over 400,000 in total departed over Polish territories. On 14 November 1918, Piłsudski was asked to supervise provisionally the running of the country. On 22 November he officially received, from the new government of Jędrzej Moraczewski, the title of Provisional Chief of State (Tymczasowy Naczelnik Państwa) of renascent Poland. Various Polish military organizations and provisional governments (the Regency Council in Warsaw; Ignacy Daszyński's government in Lublin; and the Polish Liquidation Committee in Kraków) supported Piłsudski. He established a coalition government that was predominantly socialist and introduced many reforms long proclaimed as necessary by the Polish Socialist Party, such as the eight-hour day, free school education and women's suffrage, to avoid major unrest. As head of state, Piłsudski believed he must remain separated from partisan politics. The day after his arrival in Warsaw, he met with old colleagues from his time working with the underground resistance, who addressed him socialist-style as "Comrade" (Towarzysz) and asked for his support for their revolutionary policies. He refused it and supposedly answered: "Comrades, I took the red tram of socialism to the stop called Independence, and that's where I got off. You may keep on to the final stop if you wish, but from now on let's address each other as 'Mister' [rather than continue using the socialist term of address, 'Comrade']!" However, the authenticity of this quote is disputed. Piłsudski declined to support any party and did not form any political organization of his own; instead, he advocated creating a coalition government. ### First policies Piłsudski set about organizing a Polish army out of Polish veterans of the German, Russian, and Austrian armies. Much of former Russian Poland had been destroyed in the war, and systematic looting by the Germans had reduced the region's wealth by at least 10%. A British diplomat who visited Warsaw in January 1919 reported: "I have nowhere seen anything like the evidence of extreme poverty and wretchedness that meet one's eye at almost every turn." In addition, the country had to unify the disparate systems of law, economics, and administration in the former German, Austrian, and Russian sectors of Poland. There were nine legal systems, five currencies, and 66 types of rail systems (with 165 models of locomotives), each needing to be consolidated. Biographer Wacław Jędrzejewicz described Piłsudski as very deliberate in his decision-making: Piłsudski collected all available pertinent information, then took his time weighing it before arriving at a final decision. He held long working hours, and maintained a simple lifestyle, eating plain meals alone at an inexpensive restaurant. Though he was popular with much of the Polish public, his reputation as a loner (the result of many years' underground work) and as a man who distrusted almost everyone led to strained relations with other Polish politicians. Piłsudski and the first Polish government were distrusted in the West because he had co-operated with the Central Powers from 1914 to 1917 and because the governments of Daszyński and Moraczewski were primarily socialist. It was not until January 1919, when pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski became Prime Minister of Poland and foreign minister of a new government, that Poland was recognized in the West. Two separate governments were claiming to be Poland's legitimate government: Piłsudski's in Warsaw and Dmowski's in Paris. To ensure that Poland had a single government and to avert civil war, Paderewski met with Dmowski and Piłsudski and persuaded them to join forces, with Piłsudski acting as Provisional Chief of State and Commander-in-Chief, while Dmowski and Paderewski represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference. Articles 87–93 of the Treaty of Versailles and the Little Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, formally established Poland as an independent and sovereign state in the international arena. Piłsudski often clashed with Dmowski for viewing the Poles as the dominant nationality in renascent Poland, and attempting to send the Blue Army to Poland through Danzig, Germany (now Gdańsk, Poland). On 5 January 1919, some of Dmowski's supporters (Marian Januszajtis-Żegota and Eustachy Sapieha) attempted a coup against Piłsudski but failed. On 20 February 1919 Polish parliament (the Sejm) confirmed his office when it passed the Little Constitution of 1919, although Piłsudski proclaimed his intention to eventually relinquish his powers to the parliament. "Provisional" was struck from his title, and Piłsudski held the office of the Chief of State until 9 December 1922, after Gabriel Narutowicz was elected as the first president of Poland. Piłsudski's major foreign policy initiative was a proposed federation (to be called "Międzymorze" (Polish for "Between-Seas"), and known from the Latin as Intermarium, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. In addition to Poland and Lithuania, it was to consist of Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Estonia, somewhat in emulation of the pre-partition Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Piłsudski's plan met with opposition from most of the prospective member states, which refused to relinquish their independence, as well as the Allied powers, who thought it to be too bold a change to the existing balance-of-power structure. According to historian George Sanford, it was around 1920 that Piłsudski came to realize the infeasibility of that version of his Intermarium project. Instead of a Central and Eastern European alliance, there soon appeared a series of border conflicts, including the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918–19), the Polish-Lithuanian War (1920, culminating in Żeligowski's Mutiny), Polish-Czechoslovak border conflicts (beginning in 1918), and most notably the Polish-Soviet War (1919–21). Winston Churchill commented, "The war of giants has ended; the wars of the pygmies have begun." ## Polish–Soviet War In the aftermath of World War I, there was unrest on all Polish borders. Regarding Poland's future frontiers, Piłsudski said: "All that we can gain in the west depends on the Entente—on the extent to which it may wish to squeeze Germany." The situation was different in the east, of which Piłsudski said that "there are doors that open and close, and it depends on who forces them open and how far." In the east, Polish forces clashed with Ukrainian forces in the Polish–Ukrainian War, and Piłsudski's first orders as Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army, on 12 November 1918, were to provide support for the Polish struggle in Lviv. Piłsudski was aware that the Bolsheviks would not ally with an independent Poland and predicted that war with them was inevitable. He viewed their advance west as a major problem, but he also considered the Bolsheviks less dangerous for Poland than their White opponents. The "White Russians", representatives of the old Russian Empire, were willing to accept limited independence for Poland, probably within borders similar to those of the former Congress Poland. They objected to Polish control of Ukraine, which was crucial for Piłsudski's Intermarium project. This contrasted with the Bolsheviks, who proclaimed the partitions of Poland null and void. Piłsudski speculated that Poland would be better off with the Bolsheviks, alienated from the Western powers, than with a restored Russian Empire. By ignoring the strong pressures from the Entente Cordiale to join the attack on Lenin's struggling Bolshevik government, Piłsudski probably saved it in the summer and the fall of 1919. After the Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919, and a series of escalating battles that resulted in the Poles advancing eastward, on 21 April 1920, Marshal Piłsudski (as his rank had been since March 1920) signed a military alliance called the Treaty of Warsaw with Ukrainian leader Symon Petliura. The treaty allowed both countries to conduct joint operations against Soviet Russia. The goal of the Polish-Ukrainian Treaty was to establish an independent Ukraine and independent Poland in alliance, resembling that once existing within Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Polish and Ukrainian Armies under Piłsudski's command launched a successful offensive against the Russian forces in Ukraine and on 7 May 1920, with remarkably little fighting, they captured Kiev. The Bolshevik leadership framed the Polish actions as an invasion, successfully generating popular support for their cause at home. The Soviets then launched a counter-offensive from Belarus, and counterattacked in Ukraine, advancing into Poland in a drive toward Germany to encourage the Communist Party of Germany in their struggles for power. The Soviets announced their plans to invade Western Europe; Soviet Communist theoretician Nikolai Bukharin, writing in Pravda, hoped for the resources to carry the campaign beyond Warsaw "straight to London and Paris". Soviet commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky's order of the day for 2 July 1920 read: "To the West! Over the corpse of White Poland lies the road to worldwide conflagration. March upon Vilnius, Minsk, Warsaw!" and "onward to Berlin over the corpse of Poland!" On 1 July 1920, in view of the rapidly advancing Soviet offensive, Poland's parliament, the Sejm, formed a Council for Defense of the Nation, chaired by Piłsudski, to provide expeditious decision-making as a temporary supplanting of the fractious Sejm. The National Democrats contended that the string of Bolshevik victories had been Piłsudski's fault and demanded that he resign; some even accused him of treason. On 19 July they failed to carry a vote of no-confidence in the council and this led to Dmowski's withdrawal from the Council. On 12 August, Piłsudski tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Wincenty Witos, offering to be the scapegoat if the military solution failed, but Witos refused to accept his resignation. The Entente pressured Poland to surrender and enter into negotiations with the Bolsheviks. Piłsudski, however, was a staunch advocate of continuing the fight. ### Miracle at the Vistula Piłsudski's plan called for Polish forces to withdraw across the Vistula River and to defend the bridgeheads at Warsaw and on the Wieprz River while some 25% of the available divisions concentrated to the south for a counteroffensive. Afterwards, two armies under General Józef Haller, facing Soviet frontal attack on Warsaw from the east, were to hold their entrenched positions while an army under General Władysław Sikorski was to strike north from outside Warsaw, cutting off Soviet forces that sought to envelop the Polish capital from that direction. The most important role of the plan was assigned to a relatively small, approximately 20,000-man, newly assembled "Reserve Army" (also known as the "Strike Group", "Grupa Uderzeniowa"), comprising the most determined, battle-hardened Polish units that were commanded by Piłsudski. Their task was to spearhead a lightning northward offensive, from the Vistula-Wieprz triangle south of Warsaw, through a weak spot that had been identified by Polish intelligence between the Soviet Western and Southwestern Fronts. That offensive would separate the Soviet Western Front from its reserves and disorganize its movements. Eventually, the gap between Sikorski's army and the "Strike Group" would close near the East Prussian border, bringing about the destruction of the encircled Soviet forces. Piłsudski's plan was criticized as "amateurish" by high-ranking army officers and military experts, quick to point out Piłsudski's lack of formal military education. However, the desperate situation of the Polish forces persuaded other commanders to support it. When a copy of the plan was acquired by the Soviets, Western Front commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky thought it was a ruse and disregarded it. Days later, the Soviets were defeated in the Battle of Warsaw, halting the Soviet advance in one of the worst defeats for the Red Army. Stanisław Stroński, a National Democrat Sejm deputy, coined the phrase "Miracle at the Vistula" (Cud nad Wisłą) to express his disapproval of Piłsudski's "Ukrainian adventure". Stroński's phrase was adopted as praise for Piłsudski by some patriotically- or piously-minded Poles, who were unaware of Stroński's ironic intent. While Piłsudski had a major role in crafting the war strategy, he was aided by others, notably Tadeusz Rozwadowski. Later, some supporters of Piłsudski would seek to portray him as the sole author of the Polish strategy, while his opponents would try to minimize his role. On the other hand, in the West, the role of General Maxime Weygand of the French Military Mission to Poland was, for a time, exaggerated. In February 1921, Piłsudski visited Paris, where, in negotiations with French President Alexandre Millerand, he laid the foundations for the Franco-Polish Military Alliance, which would be signed later that year. The Treaty of Riga, ending the Polish-Soviet War in March 1921, partitioned Belarus and Ukraine between Poland and Russia. Piłsudski called the treaty an "act of cowardice". The treaty and his secret approval of General Lucjan Żeligowski's capture of Vilnius from the Lithuanians marked an end to this incarnation of Piłsudski's federalist Intermarium plan. After Vilnius was occupied by the Central Lithuanian Army, Piłsudski said that he "could not help but regard them [Lithuanians] as brothers". In parliament, Piłsudski once said: "I cannot not reach out to Kaunas. .. I cannot disregard those brothers who consider the day of our triumph a day of shock and mourning." On 25 September 1921, when Piłsudski visited Lwów (now Lviv) for the opening of the first Eastern Trade Fair (Targi Wschodnie), he was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by Stepan Fedak, acting on behalf of Ukrainian-independence organizations, including the Ukrainian Military Organization. ## Retirement and coup The Polish Constitution of March 1921 severely limited the powers of the presidency intentionally, to prevent Piłsudski from waging war. This caused Piłsudski to decline to run for the office. On 9 December 1922, the Polish National Assembly elected Gabriel Narutowicz of Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"; his election, opposed by the right-wing parties, caused public unrest. On 14 December at the Belweder Palace, Piłsudski officially transferred his powers as Chief of State to his friend Narutowicz; the Naczelnik was replaced by the President. Two days later, on 16 December 1922, Narutowicz was shot dead by a right-wing painter and art critic, Eligiusz Niewiadomski, who had originally wanted to kill Piłsudski but had changed his target, influenced by National Democrat anti-Narutowicz propaganda. For Piłsudski, that was a major shock; he started to doubt that Poland could function as a democracy and supported a government led by a strong leader. He became Chief of the General Staff and, together with Minister of Military Affairs Władysław Sikorski, quelled the unrest by instituting a state of emergency. Stanisław Wojciechowski of Polish People's Party "Piast" (PSL Piast), another of Piłsudski's old colleagues, was elected the new president, and Wincenty Witos, also of PSL Piast, became prime minister. The new government, an alliance among the centrist PSL Piast, the right-wing Popular National Union and Christian Democrat parties, contained right-wing enemies of Piłsudski. He held them responsible for Narutowicz's death and declared that it was impossible to work with them. On 30 May 1923, Piłsudski resigned as Chief of the General Staff. Piłsudski criticized General Stanisław Szeptycki's proposal that the military should be supervised by civilians as an attempt to politicize the army, and on 28 June, he resigned his last political appointment. The same day, the Sejm's left-wing deputies voted for a resolution, thanking him for his work. Piłsudski went into retirement in Sulejówek, outside Warsaw, at his country manor, "Milusin", presented to him by his former soldiers. There, he wrote a series of political and military memoirs, including Rok 1920 (The Year 1920). Meanwhile, Poland's economy was a shambles. Hyperinflation fueled public unrest, and the government was unable to find a quick solution to the mounting unemployment and economic crisis. Piłsudski's allies and supporters repeatedly asked him to return to politics, and he began to create a new power base, centred on former members of the Polish Legions, the Polish Military Organization and some left-wing and intelligentsia parties. In 1925, after several governments had resigned in short order and the political scene was becoming increasingly chaotic, Piłsudski became more and more critical of the government and eventually issued statements demanding the resignation of the Witos cabinet. When the Chjeno-Piast coalition, which Piłsudski had strongly criticized, formed a new government, on 12–14 May 1926, Piłsudski returned to power in the May Coup, supported by the Polish Socialist Party, Liberation, the Peasant Party, and the Communist Party of Poland. Piłsudski had hoped for a bloodless coup but the government had refused to surrender; 215 soldiers and 164 civilians had been killed, and over 900 persons had been wounded. ## In government On 31 May 1926, the Sejm elected Piłsudski president of the Republic, but Piłsudski refused the office due to the presidency's limited powers. Another of his old friends, Ignacy Mościcki, was elected in his stead. Mościcki then appointed Piłsudski as Minister of Military Affairs (defence minister), a post he held for the rest of his life through eleven successive governments, two of which he headed from 1926 to 1928 and for a brief period in 1930. He also served as General Inspector of the Armed Forces and Chairman of The War Council. Piłsudski had no plans for major reforms; he quickly distanced himself from the most radical of his left-wing supporters and declared that his coup was to be a "revolution without revolutionary consequences". His goals were to stabilize the country, reduce the influence of political parties (which he blamed for corruption and inefficiency) and strengthen the army. His role in the Polish government over the subsequent years has been called a dictatorship or a "quasi-dictatorship". ### Internal politics Piłsudski's coup entailed sweeping limitations on parliamentary government, as his Sanation regime (1926–1939), at times employing authoritarian methods, sought to curb perceived corruption and incompetence of the parliament rule, and in Piłsudski's words, restore "moral health" to public life (hence the name of his faction, "Sanation", which could be understood as "moral purification"). From 1928, the Sanation authorities were represented by the Non-partisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government (BBWR). Popular support and an effective propaganda apparatus allowed Piłsudski to maintain his authoritarian powers, which could not be overruled either by the president, who was appointed by Piłsudski, or by the Sejm. The powers of the Sejm were curtailed by constitutional amendments that were introduced soon after the coup, on 2 August 1926. From 1926 to 1930, Piłsudski relied chiefly on propaganda to weaken the influence of opposition leaders. The culmination of his dictatorial and supralegal policies came in the 1930s, with the imprisonment and trial of political opponents (the Brest trials) on the eve of the 1930 Polish legislative election and with the 1934 establishment of the Bereza Kartuska Detention Camp for political prisoners in present day Biaroza, where some prisoners were brutally mistreated. After the BBWR's 1930 victory, Piłsudski allowed most internal matters to be decided by his colonels while he concentrated on military and foreign affairs. His treatment of political opponents and their 1930 arrest and imprisonment was internationally condemned and the events damaged Poland's reputation. Piłsudski became increasingly disillusioned with democracy in Poland. His intemperate public utterances (he called the Sejm a "prostitute") and his sending of 90 armed officers into the Sejm building in response to an impending vote of no-confidence caused concern in contemporary and modern observers who have seen his actions as setting precedents for authoritarian responses to political challenges. He sought to transform the parliamentary system into a presidential system; however, he opposed the introduction of totalitarianism. The adoption of a new Polish constitution in April 1935 was tailored by Piłsudski's supporters to his specifications, providing for a strong presidency; but the April Constitution served Poland until World War II, and carried its Government in Exile until the end of the war and beyond. Piłsudski's government depended more on his charismatic authority than on rational-legal authority. None of his followers could claim to be his legitimate heir, and after his death, the Sanation structure would quickly fracture, returning Poland to the pre-Piłsudski era of parliamentary political contention. Piłsudski's regime began a period of national stabilization and of improvement in the situation of ethnic minorities, which formed about a third of the Second Republic's population. Piłsudski replaced the National Democrats' "ethnic-assimilation" with a "state-assimilation" policy: citizens were judged not by their ethnicity but by their loyalty to the state. Widely recognized for his opposition to the National Democrats' anti-Semitic policies, he extended his policy of "state-assimilation" to Polish Jews. The years 1926 to 1935 and Piłsudski himself were favorably viewed by many Polish Jews whose situation improved especially under Piłsudski-appointed Prime Minister Kazimierz Bartel. Many Jews saw Piłsudski as their only hope for restraining antisemitic currents in Poland and for maintaining public order; he was seen as a guarantor of stability and a friend of the Jewish people, who voted for him and actively participated in his political bloc. Piłsudski's death in 1935 brought a deterioration in the quality of life of Poland's Jews. During the 1930s, a combination of developments, from the Great Depression to the vicious spiral of OUN terrorist attacks and government pacifications, caused government relations with the national minorities to deteriorate. Unrest among national minorities was also related to foreign policy. Troubles followed repressions in the largely-Ukrainian eastern Galicia, where nearly 1,800 persons were arrested. Tension also arose between the government and Poland's German minority, particularly in Upper Silesia. The government did not yield to calls for antisemitic measures, but the Jews (8.6% of Poland's population) grew discontented for economic reasons that were connected with the Depression. By the end of Piłsudski's life, his government's relations with national minorities were increasingly problematic. In the military sphere, Piłsudski was praised for his plan at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, but was criticized for subsequently concentrating on personnel management and neglecting modernization of military strategy and equipment. According to his detractors, his experiences in World War I and the Polish-Soviet War led him to over-estimate the importance of cavalry, and to neglect the development of armor and air forces. His supporters, on the other hand, contend that, particularly from the late 1920s, he supported the development of these military branches. Modern historians concluded that the limitations on Poland's military modernization in this period was less doctrinal than financial. ### Foreign policy Piłsudski sought to maintain his country's independence in the international arena. Assisted by his protégé, Foreign Minister Józef Beck, he sought support for Poland in alliances with western powers, such as France and Britain, and with friendly neighbors such as Romania and Hungary. A supporter of the Franco-Polish Military Alliance and the Polish–Romanian alliance, part of the Little Entente, Piłsudski was disappointed by the policy of appeasement pursued by the French and British governments, evident in their signing of the Locarno Treaties. The Locarno treaties were intended by the British government to ensure a peaceful handover the territories claimed by Germany such as the Sudetenland, the Polish Corridor, and the Free City of Danzig (modern Gdańsk, Poland) by improving Franco-German relations to such extent that France would dissolve its alliances in eastern Europe. Piłsudski aimed to maintain good relations with the Soviet Union and Germany, and relations with Germany and the Soviet Union during Piłsudski's tenure could, for the most part, be described as neutral. Under Piłsudski, Poland maintained good relations with neighboring Romania, Hungary and Latvia, but were strained with Czechoslovakia, and worse with Lithuania. A recurring fear of Piłsudski was that France would reach an agreement with Germany at the expense of Poland. In 1929, the French agreed to pull out of the Rhineland in 1930, five years earlier than what the Treaty of Versailles called. The same year, the French announced plans for the Maginot Line along the border with Germany, and construction of the Maginot line began in 1930. The Maginot line was a tacit French admission that Germany would be rearming beyond the limits set by the Treaty of Versailles in the near-future and that France intended to pursue a defensive strategy. At the time Poland signed the alliance with France in 1921, the French were occupying the Rhineland and Polish plans for a possible war with Reich were based on the assumption of a French offensive into the north German plain from their bases in the Rhineland. The French pullout from the Rhineland and a shift to a defensive strategy as epitomized by the Magniot line completely upset the entire basis of Polish foreign and defense policy. In June 1932, just before the Lausanne Conference opened, Piłsudski heard reports that the new German chancellor Franz von Papen was about to make an offer for a Franco-German alliance to the French Premier Édouard Herriot which would be at the expense of Poland. In response, Piłsudski sent the destroyer ORP Wicher into the harbour of Danzig. Though the issue was ostensibly about access rights for the Polish Navy in Danzig, the real purpose of sending Wircher was as a way to warn Herriot not to disadvantage Poland in a deal with Papen. The ensuring Danzig crisis sent the desired message to the French and improved the Polish Navy's access rights to Danzig. Poland signed the Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact in 1932. Critics of the pact state that it allowed Stalin to eliminate his socialist opponents, primarily in Ukraine. The pacts were supported by advocates of Piłsudski's Promethean programme. After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, Piłsudski is rumored to have proposed to France a preventive war against Germany. Lack of French enthusiasm may have been a reason for Poland signing the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact in 1934. Little evidence has, however, been found in French or Polish diplomatic archives that such a proposal for preventive war was ever actually advanced. Critics of Poland's pact with Germany accused Piłsudski of underestimating Hitler's aggressiveness, and giving Germany time to re-arm. Hitler repeatedly suggested a German-Polish alliance against the Soviet Union, but Piłsudski declined, instead seeking precious time to prepare for a potential war with either Germany or the Soviet Union. Just before his death, Piłsudski told Józef Beck that it must be Poland's policy to maintain neutral relations with Germany, keep up the Polish alliance with France and improve relations with the United Kingdom. The two non-aggression pacts were intended to strengthen Poland's position in the eyes of its allies and neighbors. Piłsudski was probably aware of the weakness of the pacts, stating: "Having these pacts, we are straddling two stools. This cannot last long. We have to know from which stool we will tumble first, and when that will be". ### Economic policy Despite coming from a socialist background and initially implementing socialist reforms, Piłsudski's regime followed the conservative free-market economic tradition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth throughout its existence. Poland had one of the lowest taxation rates in Europe, with 9.3% of taxes as a distribution of national income. Piłsudski's regime was also heavily dependent on foreign investments and economies, with 45.4% of Polish equity capital controlled by foreign corporations. After the Great Depression, the Polish economy crumbled and failed to recover until Ignacy Mościcki's government introduced economic reforms with more government interventions with an increase in tax revenues and public spending after Piłsudski's death. These interventionist policies saw Poland's economy recover from the recession until the USSR and the German invasion of Poland in 1939. ## Religious views Piłsudski's religious views are a matter of debate. He was baptised Roman Catholic on 15 December 1867 in the church of Powiewiórka (then Sventsiany deanery). His godparents were Joseph and Constance Martsinkovsky Ragalskaya. On 15 July 1899, at the village of Paproć Duża, near Łomża, he married Maria Juskiewicz, a divorcée. As the Catholic Church did not recognise divorces, she and Piłsudski had converted to Protestantism. Pilsudski later returned to the Catholic Church to marry Aleksandra Szczerbińska. Piłsudski and Aleksandra could not get married as Piłsudski's wife Maria refused to divorce him. It was only after Maria's death in 1921 that they were married, on 25 October the same year. ## Death By 1935, unbeknown to the public, Piłsudski had for several years been in declining health. On 12 May 1935, he died of liver cancer at Warsaw's Belweder Palace. The celebration of his life began spontaneously within half an hour of the announcement of his death. It was led by military personnel – former Legionnaires, members of the Polish Military Organization, veterans of the wars of 1919–21 – and by his political collaborators from his service as Chief of State, and later, Prime Minister and Inspector-General. The Communist Party of Poland immediately attacked Piłsudski as a fascist and capitalist, though fascists themselves did not see him as one of them. Other opponents of the Sanation regime were more civil; socialists (such as Ignacy Daszyński and Tomasz Arciszewski) and Christian Democrats (represented by Ignacy Paderewski, Stanisław Wojciechowski and Władysław Grabski) expressed condolences. The peasant parties split in their reactions (Wincenty Witos voicing criticism of Piłsudski, but Maciej Rataj and Stanisław Thugutt being supportive), while Roman Dmowski's National Democrats expressed a toned-down criticism.Condolences were officially expressed by the senior-ranking clergy, including by Pope Pius XI and by August Cardinal Hlond, Primate of Poland; indeed, the Pope called himself a "personal friend" of Piłsudski. Notable appreciation for Piłsudski was expressed by Poland's ethnic and religious minorities. Eastern Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic organizations expressed condolences, praising Piłsudski for his policies of religious tolerance. His death was a shock to members of the Jewish minority amongst which he was respected for his lack of prejudice and vocal opposition to the Endecja. Mainstream organizations of ethnic minorities similarly expressed their support for his policies of ethnic tolerance, though he was criticized by the Jewish Labour Bund and Ukrainian, German, and Lithuanian extremists. On the international scene, Pope Pius XI held a special ceremony on 18 May in the Holy See, a commemoration was conducted at League of Nations Geneva headquarters, and dozens of messages of condolence arrived in Poland from heads of state across the world, including Germany's Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, Italy's Benito Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III, France's Albert Lebrun and Pierre-Étienne Flandin, Austria's Wilhelm Miklas, Japan's Emperor Hirohito, and Britain's King George V. In Berlin, a service for Piłsudski was ordered by Adolf Hitler. This was the only time that Hitler attended a holy mass as a leader of the Third Reich and probably one of the last times when he was in a church. ### Funeral State funeral for Piłsudski was held in Warsaw and Kraków between 15 and 18 May 1935, including official masses and funeral processions in both cities. A funeral train toured Poland before the remains of Piłsudski were laid to rest at Wawel. A series of postcards, stamps and postmarks were also released to commemorate the event. The nation-wide ceremonies were accompanied by extensive media coverage and reflected the personality cult of Piłsudski. The final funeral procession in Krakow on May 18, with an estimated 300,000 participants and official representatives from 16 foreign states, constituted the largest public funeral in Poland's history. Separate funeral ceremonies were held for the burial of his brain, which Piłsudski had willed for study to Stefan Batory University, and his heart, which was interred in his mother's grave at Vilnius's Rasos Cemetery. In 1937, after a two-year display at St. Leonard's Crypt in Kraków's Wawel Cathedral, Piłsudski's remains were transferred to the Cathedral's Crypt under the Silver Bells. The decision, made by his long-standing adversary Adam Sapieha, then Archbishop of Krakow, incited widespread protests that included calls for Sapieha's removal, setting off a series of clashes between the representatives of the Polish Catholic Church and the Polish government in what has come to be known as "konflikt wawelski" ("Wawel conflict"). Despite heavy and protracted criticism, Sapieha never allowed Piłsudski's coffin to be transferred back to St. Leonard's Crypt. ## Legacy On 13 May 1935, in accordance with Piłsudski's last wishes, Edward Rydz-Śmigły was named by Poland's president and government to be Inspector-General of the Polish Armed Forces, and on 10 November 1936, he was elevated to Marshal of Poland. As the Polish government became increasingly authoritarian and conservative, the Rydz-Śmigły faction was opposed by the more moderate Ignacy Mościcki, who remained President. Although Rydz-Śmigły reconciled with the President in 1938, the ruling group remained divided into the "President's Men", mostly civilians (the "Castle Group", after the President's official residence, Warsaw's Royal Castle), and the "Marshal's Men" ("Piłsudski's colonels"), professional military officers and old comrades-in-arms of Piłsudski's. Some of this political division would continue in the Polish government in exile after the German invasion of Poland in 1939. After World War II, little of Piłsudski's political ideology influenced the policies of the Polish People's Republic, a de facto satellite of the Soviet Union. For a decade after World War II, Piłsudski was either ignored or condemned by Poland's Communist government, along with the entire interwar Second Polish Republic. This began to change after de-Stalinization and the Polish October in 1956, and historiography in Poland gradually moved away from a purely negative view of Piłsudski toward a more balanced and neutral assessment. After the 1991 disintegration of the Soviet Union, Piłsudski once again came to be publicly acknowledged as a Polish national hero. On the sixtieth anniversary of his death on 12 May 1995, Poland's Sejm adopted a resolution: "Józef Piłsudski will remain, in our nation's memory, the founder of its independence and the victorious leader who fended off a foreign assault that threatened the whole of Europe and its civilization. Józef Piłsudski served his country well and has entered our history forever." Piłsudski continues to be viewed by most Poles as a providential figure in the country's 20th-century history. Several military units have been named for Piłsudski, including the 1st Legions Infantry Division and armored train No. 51 ("I Marszałek"—"the First Marshal"). Also named for Piłsudski have been Piłsudski's Mound, one of four-man-made mounds in Kraków; the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America, a New York City research center and museum on the modern history of Poland; the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw; a passenger ship, ; a gunboat, ; and a racehorse, Pilsudski. Many Polish cities have their own "Piłsudski Street". There are statues of Piłsudski in many Polish cities; Warsaw, which has three in little more than a mile between the Belweder Palace, Piłsudski's residence, and Piłsudski Square. In 2020, Piłsudski's manor house in Sulejówek opened as a museum as part of the celebrations of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw. Piłsudski has been a character in numerous works of fiction, a trend already visible during his lifetime, including the 1922 novel Generał Barcz (General Barcz) by Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski. Later works in which he is featured include the 2007 novel Ice (Lód) by Jacek Dukaj. Poland's National Library lists over 500 publications related to Piłsudski; the U.S. Library of Congress, over 300. Piłsudski's life was the subject of a 2001 Polish television documentary, Marszałek Piłsudski, directed by Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki. He was also the subject of paintings by artists such as Jacek Malczewski (1916) and Wojciech Kossak (leaning on his sword, 1928; and astride his horse, Kasztanka, 1928), as well as photos and caricatures. He has been reported to be quite fond of the latter. ## Descendants Both daughters of Marshal Piłsudski returned to Poland in 1990, after the Revolutions of 1989 and the fall of the Communist system. Jadwiga Piłsudska's daughter Joanna Jaraczewska returned to Poland in 1979. She married a Polish Solidarity activist Janusz Onyszkiewicz in a political prison in 1983. Both were very involved in the Solidarity movement between 1979 and 1989. ## Honours Piłsudski has been awarded numerous honours, domestic and foreign. ## See also - Józef Piłsudski's cult of personality - List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s – 7 June 1926 - List of Poles - Piłsudskiite (Piłsudczyk)
14,901,877	Nikita Filatov	1,148,936,875	Ice hockey player from Russia	[ "1990 births", "Admiral Vladivostok players", "Binghamton Senators players", "Columbus Blue Jackets draft picks", "Columbus Blue Jackets players", "HC CSKA Moscow players", "HC Dynamo Moscow players", "HC Lada Togliatti players", "HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk players", "HC Spartak Moscow players", "HC Yugra players", "Ice hockey people from Moscow", "Living people", "National Hockey League first-round draft picks", "Ottawa Senators players", "Russian ice hockey left wingers", "Salavat Yulaev Ufa players", "Springfield Falcons players", "Syracuse Crunch players", "Toros Neftekamsk players", "Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod players" ]	Nikita Vasilyevich Filatov (Никита Васильевич Филатов; born May 25, 1990) is a Russian former professional ice hockey left winger who played in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Prior to 2012, Filatov played in North America for the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). At the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Filatov was selected sixth overall by the Blue Jackets. Filatov was the top-ranked European skater by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. Filatov played two seasons with the Blue Jackets organization. During the 2009–10 season, Filatov was unhappy with his situation in Columbus and was loaned to CSKA Moscow for the remainder of the season. At the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, the Blue Jackets then traded him to Ottawa in exchange for a third-round draft pick. In December 2011, the Senators loaned Filatov to CSKA Moscow for the balance of the 2011–12 season. The following season, Filatov signed with Salavat Yulaev. The Senators chose not to tender Filatov a qualifying offer, making him a free agent. Filatov has represented Russia in international hockey at two World U18 Championships, winning gold and silver medals, and three World Junior Championships, where he has won two bronze medals. He was named to the Tournament All-Star Team at the 2008 World U18 Championships and the 2009 World Junior Championships. ## Playing career ### Junior Filatov played minor and junior hockey in the CSKA Red Army hockey system from the age of 13. At the age of 15 during the 2005–06 season, he made his debut for CSKA-2—the club's junior team—where he continued to play during the 2006–07 season, and averaged more than three points per game. In the same season, Filatov made his international debut for Russia at the World Under 18 Championship. During the 2007–08 season, Filatov made his professional Russian Superleague (RSL) debut with CSKA, seeing limited action in five games. He spent the majority of the season playing at the junior level in Russia. With his CSKA junior team, Filatov played in 23 games, scoring 23 goals and providing 24 assists. Leading up to the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, the League's annual meeting at which the rights to amateur players are divided among teams, the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau ranked Filatov as the top European skater in their mid-term and final rankings. After the 2007–08 season, Filatov was selected sixth overall at the Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Filatov was also the first overall selection in the 2008 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft, selected by the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Sudbury General Manager Mike Foligno was comfortable with the risks of not knowing whether Filatov would play at junior or professional level when he came to North America. Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson would not guarantee Filatov a place on their team, saying, "We've already told Nikita that we'll see how things go in training camp and we'll decide what's best for him." ### Professional After being drafted by the Blue Jackets, Filatov signed a three-year contract with the club on July 10, 2008. His base salary for the contract was \$875,000, with bonus clauses that could bring the value as high as \$1.35 million per season. His signing with Columbus created some controversy within the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), however, as League President Alexander Medvedev claimed that the Blue Jackets owed CSKA Moscow compensation of at least \$1.5 million for signing Filatov. Medvedev claimed that although the term of the contract had expired, under Russian law it did not terminate until an indemnity amount had been negotiated. The Blue Jackets and Filatov believed that giving his club 30 days notice was sufficient to terminate the contract. CSKA threatened to withhold Filatov's transfer card, thus impeding his ability to play in another league, but Filatov, his lawyers and the Blue Jackets believed they had followed the necessary tenets of Russian law. Filatov's contract was one of six reviewed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in an attempt to mediate the disputes between the KHL and NHL. During this investigation, the players were unable to play international hockey sanctioned by the IIHF. In September, the KHL dropped its opposition to Filatov's contract with the Blue Jackets, and he received his transfer. Filatov did not make the team after attending training camp with the Blue Jackets, instead making his North American professional debut for the Blue Jackets' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. On October 15, 2008, however, Filatov was called up to the NHL, playing in his first game and scoring his first goal with the Blue Jackets on October 17 against the Nashville Predators. For the rest of the 2008–09 season, Filatov split time between the AHL and the NHL. He played eight games with the Blue Jackets, finishing the season with four goals. He became the first Blue Jackets rookie to record a hat-trick in the January 10, 2009, game against the Minnesota Wild. At the end of the season, Filatov had played 39 games with the Crunch in the AHL, scoring 16 goals and 16 assists. For his performances, he was named as a starter for the PlanetUSA team in the 2009 AHL All-Star Game. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Filatov made the Blue Jackets roster after training camp. Although healthy, he did not play in six of the team's first 18 games, a decision made by Columbus head coach Ken Hitchcock. Filatov was unhappy with his playing time and role on the team under Hitchcock and requested to be transferred back to his Russian club team. Hitchcock and the Blue Jackets coaching staff tried to improve Filatov's attention to defensive aspects of the game. The Blue Jackets management agreed to Filatov's request to return to Russia for the remainder of the season. This arrangement resulted from direct dealings between the Blue Jackets and CSKA Moscow, where Filatov's salary was paid by the Russian club, and the Blue Jackets retained his rights. Shortly after his return to Russia, Filatov set a KHL record by scoring the game-winning goal in three consecutive games. He was named the league's best newcomer (defined by the KHL as "a player born in 1987 or later, who has played no more than 20 top-level matches in previous national tournaments") for November, and the league's best rookie for the 11th week of the season. In his shortened season in Russia, Filatov played 26 games, scoring nine goals and adding 13 assists. Initial statements by both sides indicated the player would return to Columbus after the 2009–10 season, but after returning to Russia, Filatov was less clear about his intentions for the 2010–11 season, stating, "I hope I'll be back next year, but right now, it's really hard to say because it will again be a tough decision." Howson did not comment on Filatov's stance, except to say that he expected Filatov to be at the team's training camp prior to the 2010–11 season. Subsequently, Filatov stated after the 2009–10 season that he intended to return to Columbus for training camp. During the off-season, the Blue Jackets sent development coach Tyler Wright to Russia to train with Filatov to assess his readiness for the upcoming season, and to communicate the team's desire to work with him. Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel was pleased to see Filatov arrive in Columbus six weeks ahead of the team's 2010–11 season, allowing him a chance to mend relationships with his teammates who may have been annoyed by Filatov's departure. Howson said the team never doubted Filatov's skill: "Nikita has the skill and the ability to play in a top-six role." Arniel was optimistic about Filatov's return to the team, offering him a clean slate and a chance to earn a spot on one of the team's top two lines. After speaking with his friend Sergei Shirokov (who played for Arniel on the Manitoba Moose), Filatov was optimistic about working with Columbus's new head coach. Filatov started the season with the Blue Jackets at the NHL level and recorded seven assists in 23 games. In December 2010, Filatov was demoted to the AHL and spent the remainder of the season with the Springfield Falcons—Columbus's new AHL affiliate. With the Falcons, he played in 36 games, scoring nine goals and adding 11 assists. At the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Columbus severed their ties with Filatov, trading him to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a third-round pick. Filatov left his family vacationing in the Dominican Republic and joined the Senators for their development camp at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. He made the Senators out of training camp, but was a healthy scratch several times, splitting his time with Ottawa and the Binghamton Senators of the AHL. In November 2011, the Ottawa Citizen'''s Allen Panzeri reported from sources in Columbus that Filatov had refused to play the style the Blue Jackets asked of him, saying to his coach, "Filly [Filatov] don't do rebounds." In December, the Senators offered Filatov the choice to play the rest of the season with CSKA Moscow of the KHL and Filatov agreed. Senators general manager Bryan Murray suggested it was better for his development as Murray felt that Filatov needed to work on becoming stronger and compete harder to make it in the NHL. Head coach Paul MacLean felt Filatov's struggles in the NHL were surprising, considering he had 12 points in 15 games in the AHL. Filatov himself stated that he had to get better. MacLean had hoped that Filatov would have stayed and worked on his game in Binghamton, but Murray explained that it was more lucrative for Filatov to play in the KHL than at Binghamton, and did not block the transfer. Filatov did not immediately agree to terms with CSKA. For a few days it appeared that Filatov would not sign a contract with CSKA, so the Senators assigned him to Binghamton and threatened to suspend him in order to remove him from the Senators' salary cap. On December 18, 2011, Filatov agreed to a contract with CSKA Moscow. Despite Filatov leaving for the KHL, the Senators still had hopes to develop Filatov. His contract was ready to expire in June 2012, and the Senators planned to make a qualifying contract offer to Filatov to retain his NHL rights. However, in May 2012, Filatov chose to stay in the KHL and agreed to a one-year contract with Salavat Yulaev Ufa. After he signed with Salavat Yulaev, the Senators chose to not make the offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. After three seasons in the NHL, Filatov left with only six goals and eight assists in 53 NHL games. Stephen Whyno of The Globe and Mail identified him as one of the top five biggest "draft busts" in recent NHL history. Hockey's Future also rated Filatov a bust. He later said that financial considerations were the main factor in his decision to no longer play in North America. In the 2012–13 season, Filatov played in 47 games with Salavat Yulaev, scoring ten goals and adding 11 assists. Salavat Yulaev qualified for the 2013 Gagarin Cup playoffs, where Filatov had three goals and three assists in 13 games played. After winning a seven-game series against Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the team was eliminated by Ak Bars Kazan, four games to three. He remained with Salavat for the 2013–14 season, recording 13 goals and seven assists in 35 regular season games and one goal in the postseason. Salavat won two series in the 2014 playoffs before being defeated by Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the eventual KHL champions. Filatov played for two teams in 2014–15: after four games with Yugra, he spent the rest of the season with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, scoring five goals and assisting on 11 others in his 42 combined regular season appearances. He had one assist in four postseason games, as Torpedo lost in the first round to Gagarin Cup winners SKA Saint Petersburg. Filatov did not stay with Torpedo for the 2015–16 season; he instead played for his fifth and sixth career KHL teams. After five games with Admiral Vladivostok, in which he recorded one assist, he joined HC Dynamo Moscow and had three assists in 21 games. In 2016–17, Filatov played for HC Lada Togliatti and posted career-highs in goals (19) and assists (21). Following the 2017–18 season in which Filatov split between HC Lada Togliatti and HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, Filatov left as a free agent in the off-season and continued his journeyman career in the KHL by agreeing to a one-year deal with HC Spartak Moscow on June 4, 2018. In the 2018–19 season, Filatov made a positive start to the campaign, posting 8 points in 15 games with Spartak before he was traded in a return to Salavat Yulaev Ufa in exchange for Artyom Fyodorov on November 16, 2018. In 7 games with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, he did not record a point. Following the completion of the 2018–19 season, Filatov ended his professional playing career, transitioning to becoming a player agent under the guidance of notable agent, Sergei Isakov. ## International play Filatov has played extensively for Russia's national teams in under-18 and under-20 tournaments. His first IIHF competition for Russia was the 2007 U18 Championship held in Finland. Russia won a gold medal in that tournament, and as an underaged player, Filatov contributed four goals and five assists in seven games. He led the Russian team in total points and was second to Alexei Cherepanov in goals scored. After this tournament, Russia's coaches named Filatov as one of the team's three best players. Filatov also played at the 2008 U18 Championship held in his native Russia. Filatov captained the team to a silver medal, scoring three goals and adding six assists. He was named to the Tournament All-Star Team. At the 2008 World Junior Championship Filatov made his debut with Russia's under-20 junior squad. At the tournament, he scored four goals and added five assists, leading the Russian squad in total points and placing second to Viktor Tikhonov in goals scored. The Russian team captured bronze at the tournament after defeating the United States 4–2. Filatov scored two goals in the bronze medal game, and was named Russia's best player of the game by the IIHF. The AHL's Syracuse Crunch released Filatov to participate in the 2009 World Junior Championship held in Ottawa. Filatov served as Russia's captain for the tournament. In seven games at the tournament, he scored eight goals and added three assists, which tied him for fourth in tournament scoring. The Russian team again captured the bronze medal, this time by defeating Slovakia 5–2. Filatov was named best player of the game for a preliminary round game against Finland and for the bronze medal game against Slovakia, and he was named to the Tournament All-Star Team. After returning to Russia early in the 2009–10 season, Filatov had the opportunity to compete in a third World Junior Championship at the 2010 tournament held in Saskatchewan, Canada. As in 2009, he served as Russia's team captain. During preliminary round play, Filatov was named best player for Russia in their game against Finland. The tournament was a disappointment for the Russians after they lost to Switzerland in the quarterfinals. Prior to the fifth place game against the Czech Republic, Filatov was stripped of his captaincy and replaced by teammate Kirill Petrov after criticizing the team personnel during a media scrum. After participating in three World Junior Championships, Filatov is tied with Evgeny Kuznetsov as Russia's all-time leading scorer at the event—both forwards finished their junior careers with 26 points. ## Playing style Scouting reports on Filatov were mixed in advance of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Sergei Nemchinov, head coach of Russia's national junior team, said of Filatov, "He definitely has an NHL upside because he can score, is a well-rounded player and is responsible in the defensive zone." Independent scouting service Red Line Report at one point declared Filatov "the next best thing to Steven Stamkos" (who was eventually selected first overall in the 2008 Draft). McKeen's Hockey scouts described him as a cross between Ilya Kovalchuk and Maxim Afinogenov. His strengths included his skating and vision, as well as the inclination to play at high intensity. The NHL's Director of European Scouting, Goran Stubb, assessed Filatov's NHL readiness as, "Nikita is a leader, has a great attitude, an excellent work ethic and tons of talent." Other scouts were not as impressed with his defensive game, preferring to focus on his offensive abilities. Off the ice, Filatov does not train in a traditional gym or weight room, preferring to run outside in sand and lift objects such as trees and boulders. ## Personal life Filatov was born in Moscow, Russia, to parents Vasily and Yelena. He speaks fluent English due in large part to his mother—an English teacher who used to give him lessons at home. When he started playing professional hockey in North America for Syracuse, his mother stayed for several weeks to help him get acclimated to his new surroundings. ## Career statistics ### Regular season and playoffs ### International Statistics Sources'' ## Awards ### International ### Professional
42,595,708	Rhine campaign of 1796	1,148,305,688	Last campaign of the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars	[ "1796 in the Holy Roman Empire", "Battles involving Austria", "Battles involving France", "Battles involving Saxony", "Battles of the French Revolutionary Wars", "Battles of the War of the First Coalition", "Conflicts in 1796" ]	In the Rhine campaign of 1796 (June 1796 to February 1797), two First Coalition armies under the overall command of Archduke Charles outmaneuvered and defeated two French Republican armies. This was the last campaign of the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The French military strategy against Austria called for a three-pronged invasion to surround Vienna, ideally capturing the city and forcing the Holy Roman Emperor to surrender and accept French Revolutionary territorial integrity. The French assembled the Army of Sambre and Meuse commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan against the Austrian Army of the Lower Rhine in the north. The Army of the Rhine and Moselle, led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau, opposed the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine in the south. A third army, the Army of Italy, commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, approached Vienna through northern Italy. The early success of the Army of Italy initially forced the Coalition commander, Archduke Charles, to transfer 25,000 men commanded by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser to northern Italy. This weakened the Coalition force along the 340-kilometer (211-mile) front stretching along the Rhine from Basel to the North Sea. Later, a feint by Jourdan's Army of Sambre and Meuse convinced Charles to shift troops to the north, allowing Moreau to cross the Rhine at the Battle of Kehl on 24 June and defeated the Archduke's Imperial contingents. Both French armies penetrated deep into eastern and southern Germany by late July, forcing the southern states of the Holy Roman Empire into punitive armistices. By August, the French armies had extended their fronts too thinly and rivalry among the French generals complicated cooperation between the two armies. Because the two French armies operated independently, Charles was able to leave Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour with a weaker army in front of Moreau on the southernmost flank and move many reinforcements to the army of Wilhelm von Wartensleben in the north. At the Battle of Amberg on 24 August and the Battle of Würzburg on 3 September, Charles defeated Jourdan's northern army and compelled the French army to retreat, eventually to the west bank of the Rhine. With Jourdan neutralized and retreating into France, Charles left Franz von Werneck to watch the Army of Sambre and Meuse, making sure it did not try to recover a foothold on the east bank of the Rhine. After securing the Rhine crossings at Bruchsal and Kehl, Charles forced Moreau to retreat south. During the winter the Austrians reduced the French bridgeheads in the sieges of Kehl and the Hüningen, and forced Moreau's army back to France. Despite Charles' success in the Rhineland, Austria lost the war in Italy, against Napoleon Bonaparte, which resulted in the Peace of Campo Formio. ## Background The rulers of Europe initially viewed the French Revolution as an internal dispute between the French king Louis XVI and his subjects. As revolutionary rhetoric grew more strident, the monarchs of Europe declared their interests as one with those of Louis and his family. The Declaration of Pillnitz (27 August 1791) threatened ambiguous, but quite serious, consequences if anything should happen to the French royal family. French émigrés, who had the support of the Habsburgs, the Prussians, and the British, continued to agitate for a counter-revolution. Finally, on 20 April 1792, the French National Convention declared war on the Habsburg monarchy, pushing all of the Holy Roman Empire into war. Consequently, in this War of the First Coalition (1792–98), France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her, plus Great Britain, the Kingdom of Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. From 1793 to 1795, French successes varied. By 1794, the armies of the French Republic were in a state of disruption. The most radical of the revolutionaries purged the military of all men conceivably loyal to the Ancien Régime. The levée en masse created a new army with thousands of illiterate, untrained men placed under the command of officers whose principal qualifications may have been their loyalty to the Revolution instead their military acumen. Traditional military organization was disrupted by the formation of the new demi-brigade, units created by the amalgamation of old military units with new revolutionary formations: each demi-brigade included one unit of the old royalist army and two from the new mass conscription. The losses of this revolutionized army in the Rhine Campaign of 1795 disappointed the French public and the French government. Furthermore, by 1795, the army had already made itself odious throughout France, by both rumor and action, through its rapacious dependence upon the countryside for material support and its general lawlessness and undisciplined behavior. After April 1796, the military was paid in metallic rather than worthless paper currency, but pay was still well in arrears. The French Directory believed that war should pay for itself and did not budget to pay, feed, and equip its troops. Thus, a campaign that would take the army out of France became increasingly urgent for both budgetary and internal security reasons. ### Political terrain The predominantly German-speaking states on the east bank of the Rhine were part of the vast complex of territories in central Europe called the Holy Roman Empire, of which the Archduchy of Austria was a principal polity and its archduke typically the Holy Roman Emperor. The French government considered the Holy Roman Empire as its principal continental enemy. The territories in the Empire of late 1796 included more than 1,000 entities, including Breisgau (Habsburg), Offenburg and Rottweil (free cities), the territories belonging to the princely families of Fürstenberg and Hohenzollern, the Duchy of Baden, the Duchy of Württemberg, and several dozen ecclesiastic polities. Many of these territories were not contiguous: a village could belong predominantly to one polity, but have a farmstead, a house, or even one or two strips of land that belonged to another polity. The size and influence of the polities varied, from the Kleinstaaterei, the little states that covered no more than a few square miles, or included several non-contiguous pieces, to such sizable, well-defined territories as Bavaria and Prussia. The governance of these states also varied: they included the autonomous free Imperial cities (also of different sizes and influence), ecclesiastical territories, and dynastic states such as Württemberg. Through the organization of Imperial Circles, also called Reichskreise, groups of states consolidated resources and promoted regional and organizational interests, including economic cooperation and military protection. Without the participation of such principal states of the Empire as the Archduchy of Austria, Prussia, the Electorate of Saxony, and Bavaria, for example, these small states were vulnerable to invasion and conquest because they were unable to defend themselves on their own. ### Geography The Rhine formed the boundary between the German states of the Holy Roman Empire and its neighbors. Any attack by either party required control of the crossings. The river began in the Swiss canton of Graubünden (also called the Grisons) near Lake Toma and flowed along the Alpine region bordered by Liechtenstein, northward into Lake Constance, where it traversed the lake. From Lake Constance, the river left the lake at Stein am Rhein and flowed westerly along the border between the German states and the Swiss cantons. The c. 150-kilometer (93 mi) stretch between Stein am Rhein and Basel, called the High Rhine, cut through steep hillsides only near the Rhine Falls and flowed over a gravel bed; in such places as the former rapids at Laufenburg, or after the confluence with the even larger Aare below Koblenz, Switzerland, it moved in torrents. At Basel, where the terrain flattened, the Rhine made a wide, northerly turn at the Rhine knee, and entered what the locals call the Rhine Ditch (Rheingraben). This formed part of a rift valley some 31 km (19 mi) wide bordered by the mountainous Black Forest on the east (German side) and the Vosges mountains on the west (French side). At the far edges of the eastern flood plain, tributaries cut deep defiles into the western slope of the mountains; this became especially important in the rainy autumn of 1796. Further to the north, the river became deeper and faster, until it widened into a delta, where it emptied into the North Sea. In the 1790s, this part of the river was wild and unpredictable and armies crossed at their peril. River channels wound through marsh and meadow, and created islands of trees and vegetation that were periodically submerged by floods. Flash floods originating in the mountains could submerge farms and fields. Any army wishing to traverse the river had to cross at specific points: in 1790, systems of viaducts and causeways made access across the river reliable, but only at Kehl, by Strasburg, at Hüningen, by Basel, and in the north by Mannheim. Sometimes, crossing could be executed at Neuf-Brisach, between Kehl and Hüningen, but the small bridgehead made this unreliable. Only to the north of Kaiserslauten did the river acquire a defined bank where fortified bridges offered reliable crossing points. ## War plans At the end of the Rhine Campaign of 1795 the two sides had called a truce, but both sides continued to plan for war. In a decree on 6 January 1796, Lazare Carnot, one of the five French Directors, gave Germany priority over Italy as a theater of war. The French First Republic's finances were in poor shape so its armies would be expected to invade new territories and then live off the conquered lands. Knowing that the French planned to invade Germany, on 20 May 1796 the Austrians announced that the truce would end on 31 May, and prepared for invasion. ### Habsburg and Imperial organization Initially, the Habsburg and Imperial troops numbered about 125,000, including three autonomous corps, of which 90,000 were commanded by the 25-year-old Archduke Charles, brother of the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II. Before the campaign in the Rhineland started, Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser took 25,000 of these as reinforcements to Italy after news arrived of Bonaparte's early successes. In the new situation, the Aulic Council, the Emperor's war advisors, gave Charles command over Austrian forces that had been transferred from the border provinces, and over the Imperial contingents (Kreistruppen) of the Holy Roman Empire. The Austrian strategy was to capture Trier and to use this position on the west bank to strike at each of the French armies in turn; failing that, the Archduke was to hold his ground. The 20,000-man right (north) wing under Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg stood on the east bank of the Rhine behind the river Sieg ("Fortune"), observing the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf. A portion patrolled the west bank and behind the river Nahe. The Mainz Fortress and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress garrisons totaled about 10,000 more, including 2,600 at Ehrenbreitstein. Charles concentrated the bulk of his force, commanded by one of his more experienced generals, Count Baillet Latour, between Karlsruhe and Darmstadt, where the confluence of the Rhine and the Main made an attack most likely; the rivers offered a gateway into eastern German states and ultimately to Vienna, with good bridges crossing a relatively well-defined river bank. A force occupied Kaiserslautern on the west bank. Wilhelm von Wartensleben's autonomous corps covered the line between Mainz and Giessen. The far left wing, under Anton Sztáray, Michael von Fröhlich and Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, guarded the Rhine border from Mannheim to Switzerland. This part of the army included the conscripts drafted from the Imperial Circles. Charles did not like to use the militias in any vital location and once it seemed clear to him that the French intended to cross at the middle Rhine, the Archduke felt no qualms placing his militia men at Kehl. In Spring 1796, when resumption of war appeared imminent, the 88 members of the Swabian Circle, which included most of the states (ecclesiastical, secular, and dynastic) in Upper Swabia, had raised a small force of about 7,000 men. These were field hands, the occasional journeyman, and day laborers drafted for service, but untrained in military matters. The remainder of the force included experienced troops from the Habsburg frontier troops stationed just north of Rastatt, and a cadre of French royalists and a couple of hundred mercenaries at Freiburg im Breisgau. Compared to French, Charles had half the number of troops covering a 340-kilometer (340,000 m) front that stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea in what Gunther Rothenberg called the "thin white line". Imperial troops could not cover the territory from Basel to Frankfurt with sufficient depth to resist the pressure of their opponents. ### French organization Lazare Carnot's grand plan called for the two French armies along the Rhine to press against the Austrian flanks. These armies were to be commanded by two of their most experienced generals, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and Jean Victor Moreau, who led (respectively) the Army of Sambre and Meuse and the Army of the Rhine and Moselle at the outset of the 1796 campaign. Moreau's army was positioned east of the Rhine at Hüningen and to the north, its center along the river Queich near Landau and its left wing extended west toward Saarbrücken. The Army of Rhine and Moselle numbered 71,581 foot soldiers and 6,515 cavalry, excluding gunners and sappers. The 80,000-man Army of Sambre and Meuse already held the west bank of the Rhine as far south as the Nahe and then southwest to Sankt Wendel. On the army's left (northern) flank, Jean Baptiste Kléber had 22,000 troops in a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Rhine in an entrenched camp at Düsseldorf. Kléber was to push south from Düsseldorf, while Jourdan's main force would besiege Mainz and then cross the Rhine into Franconia. It was hoped that this advance would induce the Austrians to withdraw all of their forces from the Rhine's west bank to face the French onslaught. While Jourdan's actions near Düsseldorf drew Austrian attention northward, Jean Victor Marie Moreau was to lead the Army of Rhine and Moselle across the Rhine at Neuf-Breisach, Kehl and Hüningen, invade the Duchy of Baden, besiege or take Mannheim, and subdue Swabia and the Duchy of Bavaria. Ultimately, Moreau was to converge on Vienna; Jourdan, who by mid-summer theoretically should have taken most of Franconia, would veer south to provide a rearguard for Moreau's advance on the Habsburg capital. Simultaneously, Napoleon Bonaparte was to invade Italy, neutralize the Kingdom of Sardinia and seize Lombardy from the Austrians. The Army of Italy was instructed to cross the Alps via the Tyrol and join the other French armies in crushing the Austrian forces in southern Germany. By the spring of 1796, Jourdan and Moreau each had 70,000 men while Bonaparte's army numbered 63,000, including reserves and garrisons. François Christophe de Kellermann also counted 20,000 troops in the Army of the Alps holding the area between Moreau and Bonaparte on the western side of modern Switzerland; there was a smaller army in southern France that played no role in the Rhine Campaign. ## Operations ### Crossing the Rhine According to plan, Kléber made the first move, advancing south from Düsseldorf against Württemberg's wing of the Army of the Lower Rhine. On 1 June 1796, a division of Kléber's troops led by François Joseph Lefebvre seized a bridge over the Sieg from Michael von Kienmayer's Austrians at Siegburg. Meanwhile, a second French division under Claude-Sylvestre Colaud menaced the Austrian left flank. Württemberg retreated south to Uckerath but then fell further back to a well-fortified position at Altenkirchen. On 4 June, Kléber defeated Württemberg in the Battle of Altenkirchen, capturing 1,500 Austrian soldiers, 12 artillery pieces and four colors. Charles withdrew the Austrian forces from the Rhine's west bank and gave the Army of the Upper Rhine the principal responsibility to defend Mainz. After this setback, Charles replaced Württemberg with Wartensleben, much to Württemberg's annoyance: the Duke returned to Vienna and offered the Aulic Council his persistent criticism of Charles' decisions and advice on how they could run the war better from the capital. Jourdan's main body crossed the Rhine on 10 June at Neuwied to join Kléber and the Army of Sambre and Meuse advanced to the river Lahn. Leaving 12,000 troops to guard Mannheim, Charles repositioned his troops among his two armies and swiftly moved north against Jourdan. The Archduke defeated the Army of Sambre and Meuse at the Battle of Wetzlar on 15 June 1796 and Jourdan lost no time in recrossing to the safety of the west shore of the Rhine at Neuwied. Following up, the Austrians clashed with Kléber's divisions at Uckerath, inflicting 3,000 casualties on the French for a loss of only 600. After his success, Charles left 35,000 men with Wartensleben, 30,000 more in Mainz and the other fortresses and moved south with 20,000 troops to help Latour. Kléber withdrew into the Düsseldorf defenses. The action was not an unmitigated success for the Coalition. While Charles was inflicting damage at Wetzlar and Uckerath, on 15 June, Desaix's 30,000-man command mauled Franz Petrasch's 11,000 Austrians at Maudach. The French lost 600 casualties while the Austrians suffered three times as many. After feinting at the Austrian positions near Mannheim, Moreau sent his army south from Speyer on a forced march to Strasburg; Desaix, leading the advanced guard, crossed the Rhine at Kehl near Strasburg on the night of 23/24 June. The Coalition's position at Kehl was modestly defended. On 24 June Louis Desaix's advance group attacked the out-classed Swabian farmhands there on the bridge, preceding the main force of 27,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. In the First Battle of Kehl the 10,065 French troops involved in the initial assault lost only 150 casualties. The Swabians were outnumbered and could not be reinforced. Most of the Imperial Army of the Rhine had remained near Mannheim, where Charles anticipated the principal attack. Neither the Condé's troops in Freiburg im Breisgau nor Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg's force in Rastatt could reach Kehl in time to support them. The Swabians suffered 700 casualties and lost 14 guns and 22 ammunition wagons. Moreau reinforced his newly won bridgehead on 26–27 June so that he had 30,000 troops to oppose only 18,000 locally based Coalition troops. Leaving Delaborde's division on the west bank to watch the Rhine between Neuf-Brisach and Hüningen, Moreau moved to the north against Latour. Separated from their commander, the Austrian left flank under Fröhlich and the Condé withdrew to the southeast. At Renchen on 28 June, Desaix caught up with Sztáray's column of 9,000 Austrian and Reichsarmee (Imperial) troops. For only 200 of their own casualties, the French inflicted losses of 550 killed and wounded, while capturing 850 men, seven guns and two ammunition wagons. Furthermore, at Hüningen, near Basel, on the same day that Moreau's advance guard crossed at Kehl, Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino executed a full crossing, and advanced unopposed east along the German shore of the Rhine, with the 16th and 50th Demi-brigades, the 68th, 50th and 68th line infantry, and six squadrons of cavalry that included the 3rd and 7th Hussars and the 10th Dragoons. This gave the French the desired pincer effect, the Army of the Sambre and Meuse approaching from the north, the bulk of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle crossing in the center, and Ferino crossing in the south. Within a day, Moreau had four divisions across the river, representing a fundamental success of the French plan, and they executed their plan with alacrity. From the south, Ferino pursued Fröhlich and the Condé in a wide sweep east-north-east toward Villingen while Gouvion Saint-Cyr chased the Kreistruppen into Rastatt. Latour and Sztáray tried to hold the line of the river Murg. The French employed 19,000 foot soldiers and 1,500 horsemen in the divisions of Alexandre Camille Taponier and François Antoine Louis Bourcier. The Austrian brought 6,000 men into action under the command of Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg and Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló. The French captured 200 Austrians and three field pieces. On 5 July 1796, Desaix defeated Latour at the Battle of Rastatt by turning both his flanks, and drove his Imperial and Habsburg combined force back to the river Alb. The Habsburg and Imperial armies did not have enough troops to hold off the Army of the Rhine and Moselle and would need reinforcements from Charles, who was occupied in the north keeping Jourdan pinned down on the west bank of the Rhine. ### French offensive Recognizing the need for reinforcements, and fearing his army would be flanked by Moreau's surprise crossings at Kehl and Hüningen, Charles arrived near Rastatt with more troops and prepared to advance against Moreau on 10 July. The French surprised him by attacking first, on 9 July. Despite the surprise, in the Battle of Ettlingen, Charles repulsed Desaix's attacks on his right flank, but Saint-Cyr and Taponier gained ground in the hills to the east of the town, and threatened his flank. Moreau lost 2,400 out of 36,000 men while Charles had 2,600 hors de combat out of 32,000 troops. Anxious about the security of his supply lines, though, Charles began a measured and careful retreat to the east. French successes continued. With Charles absent from the north, Jourdan recrossed the Rhine and drove Wartensleben behind the Lahn. Pushing forward again, the Army of Sambre and Meuse defeated its opponents at Friedberg (Hessen) on 10 July, while Charles was busy at Ettlingen. In this action, the Austrians suffered 1,000 casualties against a French loss of 700. Jourdan captured Frankfurt am Main on 16 July. Leaving behind François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers with 28,000 troops to blockade Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein, Jourdan pressed up the river Main. Following Carnot's strategy, the French commander continually operated against Wartensleben's north flank, causing the Austrian general to fall back. Jourdan's army numbered 46,197 men while Wartensleben counted 36,284 troops; Wartensleben felt no security in attacking the larger French force, and continued to withdraw to the northeast, further away from Charles' flank. Buoyed up by their forward movement and by the capture of Austrian supplies, the French captured Würzburg on 4 August. Three days later, the Army of Sambre and Meuse, under the temporary direction of Kléber, won another clash with Wartensleben at Forchheim on 7 August. Meanwhile, in the south the Army of Rhine and Moselle continually clashed with Charles' retreating army at Cannstadt near Stuttgart on 21 July 1796. The Swabians and Electorate of Bavaria began to negotiate with Moreau for relief; by mid-July, Moreau's army had control of most of southwestern Germany, and had most of the southwestern states in a punitive armistice. The Imperial troops (Kreistruppen) took little part in the remainder of the campaign and they were disarmed forcibly by Fröhlich, their commander, on 29 July at Biberach an der Riss before they disbanded and returned to their homes. Charles retreated with the Habsburg troops through Geislingen an der Steige around 2 August and was in Nördlingen by 10 August. At this date, Moreau had 45,000 men spread out on a 40 km (25 mi) front centered on Neresheim, but with both flanks unsecured. Meanwhile, Ferino's right wing was out of touch far to the south at Memmingen. Charles planned to cross to the south bank of the Danube, but Moreau was close enough to interfere with the operation. The Archduke decided to launch an attack instead. ### Stasis At this point in the campaign, either side could have crushed the other by joining their two armies. Wartensleben's recalcitrance frustrated Charles; Wartensleben was an old soldier, a veteran of the Seven Years' War and himself a scion of nobility who saw no need to bend to the wishes of a 25-year-old general, even if that general was an archduke, a brother to the Holy Roman Emperor, and his commander-in-chief. Wartensleben simply ignored instructions or requests from Charles to unite their flanks so that together they could turn and face the French with a united front, and he continued to withdraw further to the northeast, away from the commander-in-chief. Moreau and Jourdan faced similar difficulties. Jourdan continued in his single-minded pursuit of Wartensleben; Moreau continued his single-minded pursuit of Charles, penetrating deep into Bavaria. The French armies drew further and further away from the Rhine, and from each other, stretching their supply lines and decreasing the possibility of covering each other's flanks. Napoleon later wrote of Moreau's actions, "One would have said that he was ignorant that a French army existed on his left". The historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge asserted that the combined army "could have crushed the Austrians". ### Habsburg counteroffensive The Battle of Neresheim on 11 August marked the turning point; it was a series of clashes fought on a broad front during which the Austrians drove back Moreau's right (southern) flank and nearly captured his artillery park. When Moreau got ready to fight the following day, he discovered that the Austrians had slipped away and were crossing the Danube. Both armies lost about 3,000 men. Similarly, Jourdan experienced a setback in the north, during a clash at Sulzbach on 17 August, when Paul Kray's Austrians inflicted losses of 1,000 killed and wounded and 700 captured on the French while suffering losses of 900 killed and wounded and 200 captured. Despite their losses, the French continued their advance. Wartensleben's army retreated behind the river Naab on 18 August and, as Jourdan closed up to the Naab, he posted Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's division at Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz to observe Charles, hoping that would keep the Austrians from hitting him by surprise. Unbeknownst to them, Charles was receiving reinforcements south of the Danube that brought his strength up to 60,000 troops. He left 35,000 soldiers under the command of Latour to contain the Army of the Rhine and Moselle along the Danube. #### United Habsburg front By now Charles clearly understood that if he could unite with Wartenbsleben, he could pick off both the French armies in succession. Having sufficient reinforcements, and having transferred his supply line from Vienna to Bohemia, he planned to move north to unite with Wartensleben: if the stubborn old man would not come to him, the young archduke would go to the stubborn old man. With 25,000 of his best troops, Charles crossed to the north bank of the Danube at Regensburg. On 22 August 1796, Charles and Friedrich Joseph, Count of Nauendorf, encountered Bernadotte's division at Neumarkt. The outnumbered French were driven northwest through Altdorf bei Nürnberg to the river Pegnitz. Leaving Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze with a division to pursue Bernadotte, Charles thrust north at Jourdan's right flank. The French general fell back to Amberg as Charles and Wartensleben's forces converged on the Army of Sambre and Meuse. On 20 August, Moreau sent Jourdan a message vowing to closely follow Charles, which he did not do. In the Battle of Amberg on 24 August, Charles defeated the French and destroyed two battalions of their rearguard. The Austrians lost 400 killed and wounded out of 40,000 troops. Of a total of 34,000 soldiers, the French suffered losses of 1,200 killed and wounded plus 800 men and two colors captured. Jourdan retreated first to Sulzbach and then behind the river Wiesent where Bernadotte joined him on 28 August. Meanwhile, Hotze reoccupied Nürnberg. Jourdan, who had expected Moreau to keep Charles occupied in the south, now found himself facing a numerically superior enemy. As Jourdan fell back to Schweinfurt, he saw a chance to retrieve his campaign by offering battle at Würzburg, an important stronghold on the river Main. At this point, the petty jealousies and rivalries that had festered in the French Army over the summer came to a head. Jourdan had a spat with his wing commander Kléber and that officer suddenly resigned his command. Two generals from Kléber's clique, Bernadotte and Colaud, both made excuses to leave the army immediately. Faced with this mutiny, Jourdan replaced Bernadotte with General Henri Simon and split up Colaud's units among the other divisions. With his reorganized troops, Jourdan marched south with 30,000 men of the infantry divisions of Simon, Jean Étienne Championnet, and Paul Grenier, and with the reserve cavalry of Jacques Philippe Bonnaud. Lefebvre's division, 10,000-strong, remained at Schweinfurt to cover a possible retreat, if needed. Anticipating Jourdan's move, Charles rushed his army toward battle at Würzburg on 1 September. Marshaling the divisions of Hotze, Sztáray, Kray, Johann Sigismund Riesch, Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein and Wartensleben, the Austrians won the Battle of Würzburg on 3 September, forcing the French to retreat to the river Lahn. Charles lost 1,500 casualties out of 44,000 troops there, while inflicting 2,000 casualties on the outnumbered French. Another authority gave French losses as 2,000 killed and wounded plus 1,000 men and seven guns captured, while Austrian losses numbered 1,200 killed and wounded and 300 captured. Regardless, the losses at Würzburg compelled the French to lift the siege of Mainz on 7 September, and to move those troops to reinforce their lines further east. On 10 September, Marceau-Desgraviers reinforced the much-pressed Army of Sambre and Meuse with 12,000 troops that had been blockading the east side of Mainz. Jean Hardy's division on the west side of Mainz retreated to the Nahe, and dug in there. At this point, the French government belatedly transferred two divisions commanded by Jacques MacDonald and Jean Castelbert de Castelverd from France's idle Army of the North. MacDonald's division stopped at Düsseldorf while Castelverd's was placed in the French line on the lower Lahn. These reinforcements brought Jourdan's strength up to 50,000, which would have given him an edge on Charles, except that his abandonment of the sieges at Mainz, and later Mannheim and Philippsburg, released 16,200 and 11,630 Habsburg troops (respectively) to reinforce Charles' already overwhelming numbers. Moreau seemed oblivious to Jourdan's situation. Still far to the east of Jourdan, Moreau crossed to the south bank of the Danube on 19 August, leaving only Antoine Guillaume Delmas's division on the north bank. By no later than the 20th, Moreau was aware that Charles had recrossed the Danube, heading north, but instead of pursuing him, the French general pressed eastward toward the river Lech. Ferino's right wing, which had been wandering with seeming aimlessness around upper Swabia and Bavaria, finally rejoined the Army of Rhine and Moselle on 22 August, although Delaborde's division remained well to the south. Ferino's only notable action was repulsing a night attack by the 5,000–6,000-man Army of Condé at Kammlach on 13–14 August. The French Royalists and their mercenaries sustained 720 casualties, while Ferino lost a number of prisoners. In this action, Captain Maximilien Sébastien Foy led a Republican horse artillery battery with distinction. Facing the southernmost wing of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle, the combative Latour rashly stood to fight on the Lech near Augsburg on 24 August. Despite rising waters in which some soldiers drowned, Saint-Cyr and Ferino attacked across the river. In the Battle of Friedberg (Bavaria) the French crushed an Austrian infantry regiment, inflicting losses of 600 killed and wounded plus 1,200 men and 17 field guns captured. French casualties numbered 400. Over the next few days, Jourdan's army withdrew again to the west bank of the Rhine. After his disastrous panic at Diez, Castelverd held east bank entrenchments at Neuwied and Poncet crossed at Bonn while the other divisions retired behind the Sieg. Jourdan handed over command to Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville, on 22 September. Charles left 32,000 to 36,000 troops in the north and 9,000 more in Mainz and Mannheim, moving south with 16,000 to help intercept Moreau. Franz von Werneck was placed in charge of the northern force. Though Beurnonville's army grew to 80,000 men, he remained completely passive in the fall and winter of 1796. The disgraced Castelverd was later replaced by Jacques Desjardin. ### Moreau's retreat While Charles and his army ruined the French strategy in the north, Moreau moved too slowly in Bavaria. Although Saint-Cyr captured a crossing of the river Isar at Freising on 3 September, Latour and his Habsburg troops regrouped at Landshut. Latour, having visions of destroying Moreau's army in the south, pressed hard against the French rearguard. Saint-Cyr's center was directed to assault Latour's center while Ferino was instructed to turn the Austrian left under Condé and Karl Mercandin. Ferino was too distant to intervene, but his colleagues drove back the Austrians and seized Biberach an der Riss, together with 4,000 Austrian prisoners, 18 guns and two colors. The French lost 500 killed and wounded while the Austrians lost 300, but this was the last significant French victory of the campaign. Moreau sent Desaix to the Danube's north bank on 10 September, but Charles ignored this threat as the distraction it was. It soon became obvious that, like Jourdan's force in the north, the Army of Rhine and Moselle was isolated and too far extended, and had to retreat. In the first half of September, in Bavaria, Latour's 16,960 men hounded Moreau's army in a drive to the east while Fröhlich's 10,906 soldiers pushed from the south. Nauendorf's 5,815 men went north, and Petrasch's 5,564 troops continued their push to the west. On 18 September, Petrasch and 5,000 Austrians briefly captured the fortified bridgehead at Kehl before being driven out by Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg's counterattack. Each side suffered 2,000 killed, wounded and captured. Instead of burning the bridge, though, as they should have done, Petrasch's men plundered the French camp and lost the opportunity to trap Schauenburg's army on the west bank of the Rhine. Moreau began retreating on 19 September. By the 21st the Army of Rhine and Moselle reached the river Iller. On 1 October, the Austrians attacked, only to be repulsed by a brigade under Claude Lecourbe. On 2 October, Latour's army was deployed in a weak position with the river Riss behind it. Moreau ordered Desaix's left wing to attack Latour's right, commanded by Siegfried von Kospoth. At the same time, Moreau attacked with 39,000 troops, defeated Latour's 24,000 men in the Battle of Biberach. Moreau wanted to retreat through the Black Forest via the Kinzig river valley, but Nauendorf blocked that route. Instead, Saint-Cyr's column led the way over the Höllenthal, breaking through the Austrian net at Neustadt and reaching Freiburg im Breisgau on 12 October. Moreau's supply trains took a route down the river Wiese to Hüningen. The French general wanted to reach Kehl farther down the Rhine, but by this time Charles was barring the way with 35,000 soldiers. For his trains to get away, Moreau needed to hold his position for a few days. The Battle of Emmendingen was fought on 19 October, the 32,000 French losing 1,000 killed and wounded plus 1,800 men and two guns captured. The Austrians sustained 1,000 casualties out of 28,000 troops engaged. Beaupuy and Wartensleben were both killed. There was some fighting on the 20th, but when Charles advanced on 21 October the French were gone. Moreau sent Desaix's wing to the west bank of the Rhine at Breisach and, with the main part of his army, offered battle at Schliengen. Saint-Cyr held the low ground on the left near the Rhine while Ferino defended the hills on the right. Charles hoped to turn the French right and trap Moreau's army against the Rhine. In the Battle of Schliengen on 24 October, the French suffered 1,200 casualties out of 32,000 engaged. The Austrians counted 800 casualties out of 36,000 men. The French held off the Austrian attacks but retreated the next day and recrossed to the west bank of the Rhine on 26 October. In the south, the French held two east-bank bridgeheads. Moreau ordered Desaix to defend Kehl while Ferino and Abbatucci were to hold Hüningen. ### Armistice refused and subsequent sieges Moreau offered Charles an armistice and the Archduke was eager to accept it so that he could send 10,000 reinforcements to Italy, but the Aulic Council directed him to refuse it and to reduce Kehl and Hüningen. While Charles was instructed to reduce the cities, in early January, the French began transferring two divisions to Bonaparte's army in Italy. Bernadotte's 12,000 from the Army of Sambre and Meuse and Delmas's 9,500 from the Army of Rhine and Moselle went south to support Bonaparte's approach to Vienna. Instead of sending a comparable number of men to Italy to defend against the reinforcements, Charles gave Latour 29,000 infantry and 5,900 cavalry and ordered him to capture Kehl. The Siege of Kehl lasted from 10 November to 9 January 1797, during which the French suffered 4,000 and the Austrians 4,800 casualties. By a negotiated agreement, the French surrendered Kehl in return for an undisturbed withdrawal of the garrison into Strasbourg. Similarly, the French handed over the east-bank bridgehead at Hüningen on 5 February. ## Aftermath Moreau's ability to transfer troops to Italy, and Charles' inability to do so, made a fundamental difference in the outcome of the Italian campaign of 1796. At the outset of the campaign, the French military planners calculated that the best route to Vienna was through Germany, not Italy; consequently they focused the bulk of their force at the Rhine, long viewed by both the French and the Holy Roman Empire as the principal barrier between the two polities. The army that held the opposite bank controlled access to the crossings. Reflecting this philosophy, the Italian campaign received only 37,000 men and 60 guns to oppose more than 50,000 Allied troops in the theater. Nevertheless, Napoleon was successful at isolating the Sardinians from their Austrian allies at the Battle of Millesimo (13–14 April), and at the Battle of Lodi a month later. He then isolated the Neopolitans from the Austrians at the Battle of Borghetto on 30 May 1796. While engaged in defending the besieged bridgeheads at Kehl and Huningen, Moreau had been moving troops south to support Napoleon. The Austrian defeat at the Battle of Rivoli in January 1797, with some 14,000 Allied casualties, allowed Napoleon to surround and capture an Austrian relief column near Mantua. Soon after, the city itself surrendered to the French, who continued their advance eastward towards Austria. After a brief campaign during which the Austrian army was commanded by Charles, the French advanced to Judenburg, within 161 km (100 mi) of Vienna, and the Austrians agreed to a five-day truce. Napoleon claimed to have taken 150,000 prisoners, 170 standards, 500 pieces of heavy artillery, 600 field pieces, five pontoon trains, nine ships of the line, 12 frigates, 12 corvettes and 18 galleys; in an age when battlefield success was calculated not only by possession of the battlefield but also by the count of prisoners and spoils, the campaign was a decisive victory. In the Rhineland, Charles returned to the status quo antebellum. On 18 April 1797, Austria and France agreed to an armistice; this was followed by five months of negotiation, leading to the Peace of Campo Formio, which ended the War of the First Coalition, on 18 October 1797. The peace treaty was to be followed up by the Congress at Rastatt at which the parties would divide the spoils of war. Campo Formio's terms held until 1798, when both groups recovered their military strength and began the War of the Second Coalition. Despite the renewal of military action, the Congress continued its meetings in Rastatt until the assassination of the French delegation in April 1799. ## Commentary Dodge called Charles' military operations "masterful" but noted the difference in results between the Rhine and Italian campaigns. "In Germany, each opponent ended where he began; Bonaparte won all northern Italy by his new method of conducting war." Dodge credited Moreau with "ordinary talent" and Jourdan with even less. He stated that Carnot's plan of allowing his two northern armies to operate on separated lines contained the element of failure. In his five-volume analysis of the French Revolutionary Wars, Ramsay Weston Phipps speculated on why Moreau gained renown by the supposed skill of his retreat. Phipps suggested that it was not skillful for Moreau to allow the inferior columns of Latour, Nauendorf and Fröhlich to herd him back to France. Even during his advance, Phipps maintained, Moreau was irresolute. Jean-de-Dieu Soult, who participated in the campaign as an infantry brigadier, noted that Jourdan too made many errors but the French government's errors were worse. The French were unable to pay for supplies because their currency was worthless, so the soldiers stole everything. This ruined discipline and turned the local populations against the French. Jourdan seemed to have an unwarranted faith in Moreau's promise to follow Charles. His decision to give battle at Würzburg was partly done so as not to leave Moreau in the lurch. ## Notes and citations
143,809	The Fifth Element	1,172,752,366	1997 film by Luc Besson	[ "1990s English-language films", "1990s French films", "1990s science fiction action films", "1997 action films", "1997 films", "1997 science fiction films", "BAFTA winners (films)", "English-language French films", "Fictional-language films", "Films about ancient astronauts", "Films about extraterrestrial life", "Films directed by Luc Besson", "Films involved in plagiarism controversies", "Films scored by Éric Serra", "Films set in 1914", "Films set in Egypt", "Films set in the 23rd century", "Films shot at Pinewood Studios", "Films shot in London", "Films shot in Mauritania", "Films whose director won the Best Director César Award", "Films whose director won the Best Director Lumières Award", "Films with screenplays by Luc Besson", "Films with screenplays by Robert Mark Kamen", "Flying cars in fiction", "Foreign films set in the United States", "French action adventure films", "French films set in New York City", "French science fiction action films", "Gaumont Film Company films", "Science fantasy films", "Space adventure films" ]	The Fifth Element is a 1997 English-language French science fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, as well as co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker. Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his cab. To accomplish this, Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against the impending attack of a malevolent cosmic entity. Besson started writing the story that was developed as The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old; he was 38 when the film opened in cinemas. Besson wanted to shoot the film in France, but suitable facilities could not be found; filming took place in London and Mauritania instead. He hired comic artists Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, whose books inspired parts of the film, for production design. Costume design was by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The Fifth Element received mainly positive reviews, although some critics were highly negative. The film won in categories at the British Academy Film Awards, the César Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and the Lumières Awards, but also received nominations at the Golden Raspberry and Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. The Fifth Element was a strong financial success, earning more than US\$263 million at the box office on a \$90 million budget. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive European film ever made, and it remained the highest-grossing French film at the international box office until the release of The Intouchables in 2011. ## Plot In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans meet their human contact, a priest of a secret order, at an ancient Egyptian temple. They take the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every five thousand years, promising to protect it and return it before the great evil's re-emergence. The weapon consists of the four classical elements, as four engraved stones, plus a sarcophagus containing a "fifth element". In 2263, the great evil appears in deep space as a giant living fireball. It destroys an armed Earth spaceship as it heads to Earth. The Mondoshawans' current human contact on Earth, priest Vito Cornelius, informs the President of the Federated Territories of the great evil's history and of the weapon that can stop it. On their way to Earth, a Mondoshawan spacecraft carrying the weapon is ambushed and destroyed by a crew of Mangalores, alien mercenaries hired by Earth industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, who is working for the great evil. A severed hand in metal armor from the wreckage of the spacecraft is brought to New York City. From this, the government uses biotechnology to recreate the original occupant of the sarcophagus, a humanoid woman named Leeloo who remembers her previous life. Alarmed by the unfamiliar surroundings and high security, she escapes and jumps off a ledge, crashing into the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas, a former major in Earth's Special Forces. Dallas delivers Leeloo to Cornelius and his apprentice, David, who recognizes her as the Fifth Element. As Leeloo recuperates, she tells Cornelius that the stones were not on board the Mondoshawan ship. Simultaneously, the Mondoshawans inform Earth's government the stones were entrusted to an alien opera singer, the diva Plavalaguna. Zorg reneges on his deal with the Mangalores for failing to obtain the stones and kills some of them. Earth's military sends Dallas to meet Plavalaguna; a rigged radio contest provides a cover, awarding Dallas a luxury vacation aboard a flying hotel on planet Fhloston, accompanied by flamboyant talk-show host Ruby Rhod. It includes a concert by Plavalaguna, and learning that Leeloo shares his mission, Dallas lets her accompany him. Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple, then stows away on the luxury spaceship. The Mangalore crew, pursuing the stones for themselves, also illegally board the ship. During the concert, the Mangalores attack and Plavalaguna is killed. Dallas extracts the stones from her body and kills the Mangalore leader, causing the others to surrender. Zorg arrives, shoots and traumatizes Leeloo and activates a time bomb. He flees with a carrying case he presumes contains the stones, but returns when he discovers it is empty. He deactivates his bomb, but a dying Mangalore sets off his own, destroying the hotel and killing Zorg. Dallas, Cornelius, Leeloo and Rhod escape with the stones in Zorg's private spaceship. As the great evil approaches Earth, the four meet David at the temple. They deploy the stones but Leeloo, having learned of humanity's history of cruelty, has given up on life. Dallas declares his love for her and kisses her. Leeloo combines the power of the stones, emitting divine light onto the great evil and defeating it. She and Dallas are hailed as heroes and as dignitaries wait to greet them, the two passionately embrace in a recovery chamber. ## Cast ## Themes In an interview, Besson stated The Fifth Element was not a "big theme movie", although the film's theme was an important one. He wanted viewers to reach the point where Leeloo states, "What's the use of saving life when you see what you do with it?" and agree with her. Jay P. Telotte, writing in the book Science Fiction Film, credited the film with exploring the theme of political corruption. Brian Ott and Eric Aoki writing in the feminist journal Women's Studies in Communication considered gender to be one of the film's central themes. The authors criticized the film for erasing women from the introductory scenes, noting that only two appeared in the first twenty minutes: an androgynous, mostly speechless presidential aide, and Leeloo undergoing reconstruction. When females appear in the film, they are presented as passive objects, such as the sexualised flight and McDonald's attendants; or stripped of their femininity, such as the "butch" Major Iceborg. Stefan Brandt, in the book Subverting Masculinity, also said that the film "echoes stereotypical beliefs about gender" of all females in the film. He said that Leeloo left her passive role only during her fight with the Mangalores. Except for Tiny Lister's portrayal of the President, Brandt said that all males in the film were shown as unmanly as possible in various ways, such as Ruby Rhod's effeminacy, Vito Cornelius's clumsy form of speech, and General Munro's stupidity; their purpose was to make Korben's masculinity appear "god-like" by comparison. In the book The Films of Luc Besson, Susan Hayward considered The Fifth Element to be a classic story of a man "making his break from the tribe, proving his manhood, overthrowing the malevolent forces, and killing the chief, finally to reap the rewards of security and marriage". Korben's journey, however, is threatened not only by the Mangalores and Zorg, but also by Leeloo, who does not relent or help him until the last minute, when she accepts his declaration of love. The love story within The Fifth Element was considered to be one of the main narratives in the film, and it faces the same deadline as the main storyline. Hayward also considered the film to grapple with environmental damage, in so far as waste and pollution are visible throughout the film. Whereas science-fiction films often show a world wherein some new technology or threat either surpasses or fails humanity, The Films of Luc Besson included The Fifth Element among the minority of science-fiction films that "hold up a mirror" and show humankind as responsible. Hayward said the film was skeptical of capitalist consumerism, in so far as the gadgets Zorg collected in his office suggested that he had an unhealthy obsession for technology. The tension between technology and man is treated as a problem requiring a final resolution. ## Production As a teenager, Besson envisioned the world of The Fifth Element in an attempt to alleviate boredom. He began writing the script when he was 16, though the film was not released in cinemas until he was 38. The original story was set in the year 2300 and was about a "nobody" named Zaltman Bleros (later renamed Korben Dallas) who wins a trip to the Club Med resort on the planet Fhloston Paradise in the Angel constellation. There, he meets Leeloo, a "sand-girl" who has the "beauty of youth" despite being over 2,000 years old. Besson continued to work on the story for years. By 1991, when his documentary film Atlantis was released, he had a 400-page script. Nicolas Seydoux and Patrice Ledoux from Gaumont were the first people to take on the project. In November 1991, while looking for actors for the film, Besson met French comics creators Jean Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières and recruited them for the film's production design. Giraud and Mézières's comics inspired the look that Besson wanted for his futuristic New York City. Mézières had designed The Circles of Power (1994), which contains a character named S'Traks, who drives a flying taxicab through the congested air of the vast metropolis on the planet Rubanis. Mézières showed images of the flying taxi to Besson, who was inspired to change character Korben Dallas's background from a worker in a rocket-ship factory to a taxi driver who flies his cab around a Rubanis-inspired futuristic New York City. Besson's production also hired five other artists for the project. In addition, the noted fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier was hired to create the costumes. The team spent a year creating more than 8,000 drawings. During this time, Besson approached both Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson for the lead role, and also considered Julia Roberts for the role of Leeloo. Willis expressed interest, though he was reluctant to take on the role as the film was considered risky after his previous two films, Hudson Hawk and Billy Bathgate, had been received poorly. Gibson eventually turned down the role. While the production team impressed film companies with their designs, they struggled to find one willing to take on a budget approaching nearly \$100 million. In December 1992, production stopped without any prior warning, and the team disbanded. Besson wrote and directed the commercially successful film Léon: The Professional (1994). During that period, he continued to work on the script for The Fifth Element, shortening it. He reduced the film's budget to \$90 million before again attempting to find a studio willing to produce it. Columbia Pictures, which had a partnership in Leon, agreed to finance the film. By this time, Besson had decided to go with a lesser-known lead actor to save on production costs. Besson happened to be in Barry Josephson's office when Willis called regarding a different film. Besson asked to speak to Willis "just to say hello", and told him that The Fifth Element was finally going ahead, explaining his decision to go with a less-expensive actor. After a short silence, Willis said, "If I like the film, we can always come to an arrangement." After reading the script, Willis agreed to take on the role. Production began in early August 1995. Besson traveled to various places for casting, including Paris, London and Rome. He hired Gary Oldman (who had starred in Léon) for the role of Zorg, describing Oldman as "one of the top five actors in the world". For the character Leeloo, Besson chose Milla Jovovich from the 200 to 300 applicants he met in person. The "Divine Language" spoken by Leeloo is a fictional language of 400 words, invented by Besson. To practice, Jovovich and Besson held conversations and wrote letters to each other in the language. Besson was then married to Maïwenn Le Besco, who played the role of Diva Plavalaguna when filming began. He left her to take up with Jovovich during filming. Jovovich and Besson later married but divorced two years later in 1999. Although he wanted to shoot the film in France, Besson could not find suitable facilities and filmed in London. It was primarily filmed at Pinewood Studios on seven soundstages including the 007 Stage. Construction of sets began in October 1995. The opera scene was filmed at the Royal Opera House. Scenes depicted as being in Egypt were filmed in Mauritania; the first shoot, a background shot of the desert, occurred there on 5 January 1996. Filming with actors began in late January, and was completed 21 weeks later. Willis finished filming on 16 May, while Oldman only commenced filming the following week; the protagonist (Korben) and antagonist (Zorg) never actually share any screen time. Despite being filmed in London, The Fifth Element was a French production, the costliest European film ever made at the time. The designs of buildings in New York were derived from both metabolist-inspired masses of modular apartments from the 1960s and the futuristic designs of architect Antonio Sant'Elia in the 1910s. Besson demanded that most of the action shots take place in broad daylight, as he was reportedly tired of the dark spaceship corridors and dimly lit planets common in science-fiction films, and wanted a brighter, "cheerfully crazy" look as opposed to a gloomy, realistic one. Gaultier designed each of the 900 costumes worn by extras in the Fhloston Paradise scenes and checked each costume every morning. His designs, described as "intellectually transgressive", were said to challenge sexuality and gender norms. A single jacket he designed for the film cost \$5,000. Jovovich's costume worn from when her character was first revived was inspired by typical hospital dressing and bandages that provided minimal modesty. The original name of the character Ruby Rhod was Loc Rhod, which appears both in the original script and in the novel adapted from the film. Hayward speculated that the name change was a play on data in the periodic table. Rubidium is the first of the period 5 elements, and exactly halfway along that row is the element rhodium. Using the first half of each element yields "Rubi Rhod". Others have speculated this name is a play on the character's gender-bending persona, with a feminine first name and phallic surname. Prince was cast to portray Rhod but could not schedule filming around his touring dates. Chris Tucker and Jamie Foxx were each considered for the role; Besson liked Foxx but felt that Tucker's smaller body suited the character better. ### Effects Three different teams handled the three different types of special effects used in the film. Nick Allder directed mechanical and pyrotechnical effects, Nick Dudman was placed in charge of 'creature' effects, and Mark Stetson headed the visual effects team. Visual effects company Digital Domain was hired, and Karen Goulekas was given the role of digital effects supervisor. Alias, Autodesk Softimage, Arete, Side Effect's Prisms, RenderMan, and in-house software, were used by Digital Domain to create effects. Some individual shots used a combination of live action, scale models, computer-generated imagery, and particle systems. The lanes of traffic in the scenes in New York City were created with particle systems: > We had maybe eighty cityscape shots with CG cars hurtling around, and you couldn't animate them all by hand because there were just too many of them in each scene ... When the cars turned a corner, the velocity changes were automatic, so the animator didn't have to worry about that. They just planned the moves in a very blocky way, and the mathematics smoothed out the rest. Among the scale models used for filming were the buildings representing New York City. Dozens of apartment blocks and 25 skyscrapers, some 20 feet (6.1 m) high, were constructed in 1⁄24 scale. It took a team of eighty workers five months to build all the models. The windows of the buildings were cited by the team as one of the most time-consuming tasks, along with details behind the windows, such as furniture, blinds, lightboxes, and tiny pieces of flat artwork. Virtual sets built within digital environments were created to enhance the use of miniatures. Motion control cameras moved throughout the scale sets, and the data they collected was exported to track and generate the CG animation and particle systems. Other techniques used included digital matte paintings for backgrounds and the NURBS mathematical model for certain animations, including the sequence in which Leeloo's body is reconstructed. ### Soundtrack In The Fifth Element, some kind of music is playing during about ninety percent of the film; Besson's films have been described as "intrinsically musical". The score was composed by Éric Serra. He relies chiefly on the use of orchestral textures, such as the oboe and strings heard as the surgeons prepare to regenerate Leeloo, and the pizzicato as she is reconstructed. Serra also used many non-French influences, such as the Stalinist fanfare heard before the spaceport sequence, the reggae piece played in preparation for the flight, and the hula music that greets the passengers as they arrive in Fhloston. More conventional scoring techniques are present in the leitmotif that first sounds when professor Pacoli mentions the fifth element, the militaristic snares as the warship prepares to attack the dark planet, and the Mahlerian funereal piece heard when Leeloo learns about war. The music used for the taxicab chase scene, titled "Alech Taadi" by Algerian performer Khaled, did not appear on the film soundtrack but is available on Khaled's album N'ssi N'ssi. The Diva Dance opera performance used music from Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor: "Il dolce suono", the mad scene of Act III, Scene 2. It is one of the few pieces of music in the film that is diegetic. It was sung by Albanian soprano Inva Mula. The role of Plavalaguna was played by French actress Maïwenn Le Besco. Part One (titled "Lucia di Lammermoor") and Part Two (titled "The Diva Dance") of this piece are included as separate tracks on The Fifth Element soundtrack but are sequenced to create the effect of the entire performance seen in the film. The end of Part One blends into the beginning of Part Two, creating a smooth transition between the two tracks. Released as an album under Virgin Records, the soundtrack peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200. More than 200,000 copies of the lengthy soundtrack were sold in France alone. Rodney Batdorf of AllMusic gave the album three out of five stars, stating it was "diverse and accomplished, and it is just as effective outside of the film as it is within it." A review from Filmtracks.com also awarded the album three out of five stars. ## Release and reception ### Initial screening The film premiered on 7 May at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected as the opening film. Gaumont built an area for the screening that was over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m<sup>2</sup>). Guests were given a "Fifth Element" Swatch, which was used as their ticket for entry. The event included a futuristic ballet, a fashion show by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and fireworks. Gaumont spent between \$1 million and \$3 million on the event, a record at the time. The film's North American release was handled by Sony Pictures Releasing via its Columbia Pictures label. ### Box office The film debuted at number one in the US, earning \$17 million on its opening weekend. It became a box-office success, grossing over \$263 million, almost three times its budget of \$90 million. About 75% of the receipts for The Fifth Element were from markets outside the United States, and it was the ninth-highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. It was the most successful film at the box office in France in 1997, with more than 7.69 million seeing the film. In Germany, the film was awarded the Goldene Leinwand, a sales certification award for selling more than three million tickets at the box office. The Fifth Element became the highest-grossing French film at the foreign box-office, a record it held for 16 years until the release of The Intouchables in 2011. ### Critical response Despite the popular response, critics were split in their response to The Fifth Element. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times described the film as an "elaborate, even campy sci-fi extravaganza, which is nearly as hard to follow as last year's Mission: Impossible." He concluded that The Fifth Element was "a lot warmer, more fun, and boasts some of the most sophisticated, witty production and costume design you could ever hope to see." On the American film review At the Movies, both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film a "thumbs up". In his separate review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "one of the great goofy movies" and concluding, "I would not have missed seeing this film, and I recommend it for its richness of imagery. But at 127 minutes, which seems a reasonable length, it plays long." The film also received reviews that criticized its overblown style. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "A largely misfired European attempt to make an American-style sci-fi spectacular, The Fifth Element consists of a hodgepodge of elements that don't comfortably coalesce." David Edelstein of Slate said, "It may or may not be the worst movie ever made, but it is one of the most unhinged." Chris Tucker's performance as Ruby Rhod also divided critics. He was praised in the Los Angeles Times and Time; the latter called him "the summer's most outrageous special effect". Josh Winning of Total Film, singled out Tucker's performance as the low point of the film, ranking it as number 20 on his 2011 list, "50 Performances That Ruined Movies". The Fifth Element holds a approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews, with an average score of . The site's consensus reads: "Visually inventive and gleefully over the top, Luc Besson's The Fifth Element is a fantastic piece of pop sci-fi that never takes itself too seriously." At Metacritic, it has a weighted score of 52 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. ### Plagiarism suit Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean Giraud sued Besson after the film was released, claiming The Fifth Element had plagiarised their comic The Incal. Giraud sued for 13.1 million euros for unfair competition, 9 million euros in damages and interest, and two to five percent of the net operating revenues of the film. Jodorowsky sued for 700,000 euros. The case was dismissed in 2004 on the grounds that only "tiny fragments" of the comic had been used and Giraud had been hired by Besson to work on the film before the allegations were made. ## Adaptations A novel was adapted from the screenplay of The Fifth Element, written by Terry Bisson and published by HarperPrism in 1997. Rumors arose after the film's release that it would be followed by a sequel, tentatively titled Mr. Shadow. In 2011 Besson said that he never planned a sequel and has no desire to make one. Activision created a video game adaptation of The Fifth Element in 1998 for the PlayStation game console and PC. The PlayStation version generally received negative reviews, but the PC version was better received. Lauren Fielder from GameSpot described the PlayStation version as "quite possibly the worst game I've ever played". Doug Perry from IGN wrote: "Take Tomb Raider, add in Leeloo Multipass and boring puzzles, and you've got Fifth Element." A racing game based on the film, New York Race, was released in 2001. Eurogamer gave the game 6 out of 10, concluding: "New York Race is a fun little arcade racer, which oozes style, but it's something you'll grow tired of extremely quickly and as such remains fun only in short bursts." ## Accolades The Fifth Element was nominated for Best Sound Editing at the 70th Academy Awards, and for Best Sound Editing at the 1998 Golden Reel Awards, but lost to Titanic in both cases. It won the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects, and the Lumières Award for Best Director. It was nominated for seven César awards, winning three: Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design. It was nominated for Film of the Year at the 1997 European Film Awards, as well as the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, and the Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects. Thierry Arbogast was awarded the Technical Grand Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for his work on both The Fifth Element and She's So Lovely. The film received four Saturn Award nominations: Best Science Fiction Film, Best Costume, Best Special Effects, and Best Supporting Actress for Milla Jovovich. Jovovich's fight against the Mangalores was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight, and the actress was also nominated for Best Actress – Newcomer at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. Conversely, Jovovich received a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, and Chris Tucker was nominated for Worst New Star for his performances in both The Fifth Element and Money Talks. The film also received four nominations at the 1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor for Tucker and Worst Supporting Actress for Jovovich. ## Home media The original home video release of The Fifth Element took place in North America on 10 December 1997, on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD. The original DVD presented the film in its original 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen format, though carried no special features. The film was released in Sony's Superbit format in October 2001. In his review, Conrad Jeremy from IGN gave the picture quality of the original DVD release 9 out of 10, though awarded the Superbit version a perfect score for picture quality. Overall, the Superbit version was given 8 out of 10; the final score was brought down by the version's complete lack of special features. An "Ultimate Edition" set of two DVDs was released on 11 January 2005. The only difference between the Superbit version and the Ultimate Edition disc one is the addition of a "fact track", which when turned on displays trivia about the film, cast, and crew as the film plays. The second disc provides various special features, focusing on visual production, special effects, fashion in the film, featurettes, and interviews with Willis, Jovovich, and Tucker, as well as featurettes on the four different alien races in the film and Diva Plavalaguna. Ian Jane of DVD Talk praised the Ultimate Edition for its special features. The first Blu-ray release of the film on 20 June 2006 was criticised as having poor picture quality by Blu-ray standards, and for its lack of special features. In what has been called "an extremely rare move", Sony responded to complaints by making a remastered Blu-ray version available, released on 17 July 2007, and also offered a replacement exchange program for customers unhappy with the original Blu-ray release. Ben Williams from Blu-ray.com stated the remastered version "absolutely" made up for the substandard initial release, and praised its high video and audio quality; however, he criticised the continued lack of special features. The 20th-anniversary 4K remaster was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on 11 July 2017. ## Legacy The film has been described by CBS News, Rotten Tomatoes, and ComingSoon.com as a science-fiction cult classic. In 2007 the Visual Effects Society placed The Fifth Element at number 50, tied with Darby O'Gill and the Little People, on their list of the fifty most influential visual effects films of all time. In 2014 Time Out listed the film at number 42 on their "100 best sci-fi movies" list. Film critic Mark Kermode reported that The Fifth Element was one of the most divisive films among his readers, regarded as both the best and the worst summer blockbuster of all time. Years later, Kermode recalled: "I remember very clearly being in Cannes when [The] Fifth Element was first played, and it really divided the audience." Stephen Cass of Discover ranked the film the third-best science-fiction film on subscription service Hulu, writing, "People seem to either like or loathe The Fifth Element ... Lavish visuals and entertaining performances from Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Gary Oldman make this movie worth watching." In some circles, the film has gained a "so-bad-it's-good" status; Meredith Woerner of io9 listed The Fifth Element as one of "The 20 Best Worst Science-Fiction Movies of All Time". ### Cast comments Willis spoke favourably of the film in a 1999 interview, concluding: "It was a real fun movie to make." Tucker and Jovovich also spoke favourably of both their experiences making the film and working with Besson in interviews on the Ultimate Edition DVD; Jovovich described Besson as "the first really amazing director I had worked with". Asked in a 2014 interview if he liked the film, Gary Oldman stated, "Oh no. I can't bear it." He had explained in 2011: "It was me singing for my supper because Luc had come in and partly financed [my film] Nil by Mouth."
9,025,199	Golden-crowned sifaka	1,151,414,479	A medium-sized lemur with mostly white fur, prominent furry ears, and a golden-orange crown	[ "Critically endangered fauna of Africa", "EDGE species", "Endemic fauna of Madagascar", "Mammals described in 1988", "Mammals of Madagascar", "Sifakas", "Taxa named by Elwyn L. Simons" ]	The golden-crowned sifaka or Tattersall's sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli) is a medium-sized lemur characterized by mostly white fur, prominent furry ears, and a golden-orange crown. It is one of the smallest sifakas (genus Propithecus), weighing around 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) and measuring approximately 90 cm (35 in) from head to tail. Like all sifakas, it is a vertical clinger and leaper, and its diet includes mostly seeds and leaves. The golden-crowned sifaka is named after its discoverer, Ian Tattersall, who first spotted the species in 1974. However, it was not formally described until 1988, after a research team led by Elwyn L. Simons observed and captured some specimens for captive breeding. The golden-crowned sifaka most closely resembles the western forest sifakas of the P. verreauxi group, yet its karyotype suggests a closer relationship with the P. diadema group of eastern forest sifakas. Despite the similarities with both groups, more recent studies of its karyotype support its classification as a distinct species. Found in gallery, deciduous, and semi-evergreen forest, its restricted range includes 44 forest fragments, totaling an area of 44,125 hectares (109,040 acres; 170.37 sq mi), centered on the town of Daraina in northeast Madagascar. Its estimated population is 18,000 individuals. It is primarily active during the day, although it also tends to be active at dawn and dusk during the rainy season. It sleeps in tall emergent trees and is preyed upon by the fossa. The golden-crowned sifaka lives in groups of around five to six individuals, containing a balanced number of adult males and females. Scent is used to mark territories, which are defended by growling, chasing, and ritualistic leaping displays. Reproduction is seasonal, with gestation lasting six months and lactation lasting five months. Infants are weaned during the wet season to ensure the best chances of survival. The small range and fragmented populations of this species weigh heavily on its survival. Forest fragmentation, habitat destruction, poaching, slash-and-burn agriculture, and other human factors threaten its existence. The golden-crowned sifaka is listed by the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered. Its range was originally not covered by any national parks or protected areas in Madagascar, but a new protected area, Loky-Manambato reserve, was established in 2005 to include a 20,000 ha (49,000 acres; 77 sq mi) portion. Attempts have been made to keep the golden-crowned sifaka in captivity at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina. The small colony was maintained from 1988 to 2008. In Madagascar, lawlessness resulting from the 2009 political coup led to increased poaching of this species, and many were sold to local restaurants as a delicacy. ## Taxonomy and phylogeny The golden-crowned or Tattersall's sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli), known locally as ankomba malandy (or akomba malandy, meaning "white lemur"), was discovered in 1974 north of Vohemar in northeast Madagascar by Ian Tattersall, who observed but did not capture the animal. Unsure of its classification, Tattersall provisionally considered it a variant of the silky sifaka in his 1982 book, The Primates of Madagascar, citing its mostly off-white to yellowish fur, but also noting its uncharacteristic orange crown patch and tufted ears. Driven by a report in 1986 that the forest where Tattersall had observed this unique sifaka was contracted to be clear-cut for charcoal production, a research team from the Duke Lemur Center, led by Elwyn L. Simons, obtained permits to capture specimens for a captive breeding program. Simons and his team were the first to capture and observe the golden-crowned sifaka, formally describing it as a new species in 1988 and naming it in honor of Tattersall. The specimens were found 6 to 7 km (3.7 to 4.3 mi) northeast of Daraina, a village in the northeast corner of Madagascar. There have been conflicting studies regarding the taxonomic status of the golden-crowned sifaka. When described by Simons in 1988, size, vocalizations, and karyotypes (the number and appearance of chromosomes) were compared with the other sifakas. In terms of size, general morphology, and vocalizations, the golden-crowned sifaka is more comparable to the western forest sifakas (known as the P. verreauxi group) in that it is smaller in length and weight. Its karyotype, however, is more similar to that of the eastern forest sifakas (known as the P. diadema group). The golden-crowned sifaka has 42 chromosomes (2n=42), 16 of which are autosomal pairs (not sex chromosomes) that are meta- or submetacentric (where chromosome arms are equal or unequal in length, respectively). The remaining autosomal pairs are smaller and acrocentric (with the shorter chromosome arm difficult to observe). Its X chromosome is metacentric, which is comparable to that of the P. diadema group, not the P. verreauxi group. Given the conflicting information, its geographic isolation, as well as the unique long fur tufts on the ears—a trait not shared by any other sifaka—the golden-crowned sifaka was recognized as a distinct species. In 1997, comparisons of repeated DNA sequences within the family Indriidae supported Simon's classification, placing the golden-crowned sifaka as a sister group to the other sifakas. In 2001, a study involving mitochondrial DNA suggested a very recent divergence between it and the Coquerel's sifaka, then considered a subspecies of the P. verreauxi group. If this were true, the golden-crowned sifaka would not merit species status and would form a subclade with the Coquerel's sifaka within the P. verreauxi group. In 2004, a comparative study of the karyotypes of the three traditional species of sifakas provided insight into the chromosomal arrangements of all three groups. This study found that the golden-crowned sifaka differs from P. verreauxi group and P. diadema group by 9 and 17 chromosomal rearrangements respectively, and conversely argued that the golden-crowned sifaka is indeed a separate species and is more closely related to the P. verreauxi group. More recently, in 2007 a craniodental (skull and tooth) study provided evidence for 9 or 10 distinct sifaka species, including the golden-crowned sifaka. It also placed the golden-crowned sifaka within the P. verreauxi group. ## Anatomy and physiology The golden-crowned sifaka is one of the smallest sifaka species with a weight of 3.4 to 3.6 kg (7.5 to 7.9 lb), a head-body length of 45 to 47 cm (18 to 19 in), a tail length of 42 to 47 cm (17 to 19 in), and total length of 87 to 94 cm (34 to 37 in). It is comparable in size to the sifakas inhabiting the southern and western dry forests, such as Coquerel's sifaka, the crowned sifaka, Von der Decken's sifaka, and Verreaux's sifaka. It has a coat of moderately long, creamy-white fur with a golden tint, dark black or chocolate-brown fur on its neck and throat, pale orange fur on the tops of its legs and forelimbs, a white tail and hindlimbs, and a characteristic bright orange-gold crown. It is the only sifaka with prominent tufts of white fur protruding from its ears, making its head appear somewhat triangular and distinctive in appearance. Its eyes are orange, and its face is black and mostly hairless, with dark gray-black fur with white hairs stretching from beneath the eyes to the cheeks. Its snout is blunt and rounded, and its broad nose helps to distinguish it from other sifakas. Occasionally the bridge of the nose will have a patch of white fur. Similar to other sifakas, this arboreal animal has long, strong legs that enable it to cling and leap between tree trunks and branches. ## Geographic range and habitat The golden-crowned sifaka lives in dry deciduous, gallery, and semi-evergreen forests and is found at altitudes up to 500 m (1,640 ft), though it seems to prefer lower elevations. Surveys have shown it to be limited to highly fragmented forests surrounding the town of Daraina in an area encircled by the Manambato and Loky Rivers in northeastern Madagascar. The golden-crowned sifaka has one of the smallest geographic ranges of all indriid lemur species. Out of 75 forest fragments studied by researchers, its presence could be definitively reported in only 44, totaling 44,125 ha (109,040 acres; 170.37 sq mi). This study, published in 2002, also estimated the total species population and observed population densities. Home range size varied between 0.18 and 0.29 km<sup>2</sup> (0.069 and 0.112 sq mi) per group. With an average group size of five individuals, the population density ranged between 17 and 28 individuals per km<sup>2</sup>. Another home range size estimate of 0.09 to 0.12 km<sup>2</sup> (0.035 to 0.046 sq mi) has also been suggested with a population density range of 10 and 23 individuals per km<sup>2</sup>. The forested area available to the species within its desired elevation range was estimated at 360 km<sup>2</sup> (140 sq mi), yielding an estimated population of 6,120–10,080 and a breeding population between 2,520 and 3,960 individuals. However, a study published in 2010 using line transect data from 2006 and 2008 in five major forest fragments yielded an estimated population of 18,000 individuals. The species is sympatric (coexists) with two other medium-sized lemurs: the Sanford's brown lemur (Eulemur sanfordii) and the crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus). ## Behavior The golden-crowned sifaka is primarily active during the day (diurnal), but researchers have witnessed activity in the early morning and evening (crepuscular) during the rainy season (November through April). In captivity, it has been observed feeding at night, unlike captive Verreaux's sifakas. It travels between 461.7 and 1,077 m (1,515 and 3,533 ft) per day, an intermediate range compared to other sifakas of the eastern forests. The golden-crowned sifaka can be observed feeding and resting higher in the canopy during the dry season (May through October). It sleeps in the taller trees (the emergent layer) of the forest at night. When stressed, the golden-crowned sifaka emits grunting vocalizations as well as repeated "churrs" that escalate into a high-amplitude "whinney." Its ground predator alarm call, which sounds like "shē-fäk", closely resembles that of Verreaux's sifaka. It also emits mobbing alarm calls in response to birds of prey. ### Diet The diet of the golden-crowned sifaka consists of a wide variety of plants—as many as 80 species—whose availability varies based on the season. It is a seed predator, making seeds a year-round staple in its diet when available. The golden-crowned sifaka also eats unripe fruits, flowers, and leaves. One study showed a diet composition of 37% unripe fruit and seeds, 22% immature leaves, 17% mature leaves, 13% flowers, and 9% fruit pulp. Individuals have also been observed consuming tree bark during the dry season. In general, approximately 60% of its diet consists of unripe fruits and seed, mainly from leguminous pods, and less than 50% consists of leaves. At Daraina, it has been observed feeding on the sakoa tree (Poupartia caffra) and on mango trees. Immature leaves and flowers are eaten when available, in the early wet season. Daily traveling distance tends to increase when immature leaves are available. Studies have also shown that when food distribution is patchy, feeding times are shorter and more time is spent traveling. Dietary diversity has been shown to be consistent between populations, suggesting that it is important for the lemur to get a varied mix of nutrients and to protect itself from high levels of specific plant toxins. A study in 1993 showed variability and flexibility in feeding preferences between three research sites around Daraina. Plant species preferences (measured in feeding time) changed between wetter, intermediate, and drier forests: ### Social organization The social structure of the golden-crowned sifaka is very similar to that of Verreaux's sifaka, both averaging between five and six individuals per group, with a range between three and ten. Unlike the Verreaux's sifaka, group sex ratios are more evenly balanced, consisting of two or more members of both sexes. Females are dominant within the group, and only one female breeds successfully each season. Males will roam between groups during the mating season. Because of their smaller home ranges relative to other sifakas, group encounters are slightly more common, occurring a few times a month. It has been noted that the temperament of the golden-crowned sifaka is more volatile than that of other sifaka species and, in the case of a dispute, this animal frequently emits a grunt-like vocalization that seems to signal annoyance. Aggressive interactions between groups are generally non-physical but include loud growling, territorial marking, chasing, and ritualistic leaping displays. Same-sexed individuals act most aggressively towards each other during such encounters. Scent marking is the most common form of territorial defense, with scent marks acting as "signposts" to demarcate territorial boundaries. Females use glands in the genital regions ("anogenital") while males use both anogenital and chest glands. ### Reproduction The golden-crowned sifaka is a seasonal breeder, often mating during the last week of January. Its gestation period is a little less than six months, and its lactation period is five months. Research has indicated that reproduction is strategically linked with forest seasonality. Gestation starts in the later part of the wet season (late January), and continues for approximately 170 days. Parturition occurs in the middle of the dry season (late June or July). Weaning occurs during the middle of the wet season, in December, when an abundance of immature leaves is available. It is thought that such reproductive timing exists to ensure adequate protein intake from the immature leaves for both mother and child at the end of the lactation period. Females reproduce once every two years. Infants are born with little hair and initially cling to their mother's belly. As they mature, they begin to ride on her back. Following weaning, riding on the back is only tolerated for short durations, particularly when the group is alerted to the presence of a predator. By one year of age, the juveniles are 70% of their full adult body weight. Infant mortality is high in this species. Upon reaching sexual maturity, males leave their natal group and transfer to neighboring social groups. Observations by researchers and reports from local people indicate that this species will jump to the ground and cross more than 200 m (660 ft) of grassland to reach nearby forest patches. This suggests that forest fragmentation may not completely isolate separated populations. ## Predators and parasites The only predator known to target this species is the fossa, although the golden-crowned sifaka reacts to the presence of birds of prey with alarm calls. A hematology and serum chemistry study published in 1995 revealed that 59% of the wild golden-crowned sifakas sampled were infected with a microfilarial parasite, a potentially unknown species of nematode in the genus Mansonella. Healthy, infected individuals did not appear to be adversely affected by the infestation, but the overall effect on the dwindling population is unknown. Also, no malarial or intestinal parasites were found, although 48% of the golden-crowned sifakas examined had external ear mites. ## Human interactions While the golden-crowned sifaka faces few biological threats, such as predation, it faces many significant human-caused (anthropogenic) threats. Its habitat has been highly fragmented, with forest patches isolated by severely degraded grasslands. By 1985 it was estimated that 34% of the entire eastern rainforest of the island had disappeared, and by extrapolation it is predicted that at this rate of deforestation there will be no eastern rainforest left by 2020. Illegal logging practices, slash-and-burn agriculture (known as tavy), uncontrolled grass fires, gold mining, poaching, and clearing land for agricultural use have all significantly contributed to the significant deforestation witnessed in Madagascar and the ongoing decline of suitable habitat for this species. Malagasy farmers continue to use fire to clear out agricultural land and pasture for livestock, promoting grass growth while inhibiting forest regeneration. The fires sometimes burn out of control and destroy forest edges along with the natural flora, increasing the damage even further than intended. Due to the nature of Madagascar's geology and soil, tavy also depletes the fertility of the soil, accelerating the crop rotation rate and necessitating expansion into primary forests. Although coal is the preferred cooking fuel of the Malagasy people, the most affordable and prominent source of energy is timber, known as kitay. Wood is also used as a primary building material, only adding further incentive to remove trees from the forest. With the depletion of dead wood from the forest patches, the people have begun to remove young, healthy trees. This is seen most commonly in areas closest to villages. Although the shapes and sizes of forest fragments around the Daraina region have been mostly stable for 50 years prior to a study in 2002, the six years preceding the study had seen 5% of the small- to medium-sized forest fragments disappear due to increased human encroachment. A newly emergent threat facing the golden-crowned sifaka is hunting by the gold miners moving into the region's forests. Although mining operations are small scale, the practice of gold mining takes a toll on the forested regions because deep mining pits are often dug near or underneath large trees, disturbing the extensive root systems and ultimately killing the trees in the area. The influx of gold miners has also increased poaching pressure. Although the species is protected from hunting by local fady (taboo) around Daraina, due to their likeness to humans, and by Malagasy law, the gold miners who have immigrated to the area have begun to hunt the golden-crowned sifaka as a source of bushmeat. In 1993, David M. Meyers, a researcher who has studied the golden-crowned sifaka, speculated that if bushmeat hunting were to escalate, the species would go extinct in less than ten years since it is easy to find and not fearful of humans. Indeed, bushmeat hunting by people from nearby Ambilobe has already extirpated at least one isolated population. ### Conservation Because studies have shown that the golden-crowned sifaka are most likely to be found in large forest fragments (greater than 1,000 ha (2,500 acres; 3.9 sq mi)), the species is thought to be sensitive to forest fragmentation and degradation. However, since it has been found around gold mining camps and degraded forests, it is not restricted to undisturbed forests and appears to tolerate human activity. Regardless, with its low population, highly restricted range, and badly fragmented habitat, the prospect for survival for the golden-crowned sifaka is considered bleak. For these reasons, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added it to its list of the 25 most endangered primates in 2000. Previously, in 1992, the IUCN's Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) Primate Specialist Group also assigned the species its highest priority rating. As of its 2014 assessment, the golden-crowned sifaka is once again "Critically Endangered" on the IUCN Red List. This was an upgrade from 2008 when it was listed as Endangered. In previous assessments it was listed as Critically Endangered (1996 and 2000) and Endangered (1990 and 1994). The area inhabited by the golden-crowned sifaka is also an important agricultural and economical resource for the human population. Suggested conservation action aimed at protecting this species and its habitat has focused on offering varying degrees of protection to forest fragments in the region, allowing human activity and resource extraction in areas that have less conservation potential while strictly protecting areas critical to the species' survival. In 2002, none of the forested areas that the golden-crowned sifaka inhabits were part of a formally protected national park or reserve. A conservation study from 1989 called for the creation of a national park that includes the forest of Binara as well as the dry forests to the north of Daraina. A more recent study from 2002 proposed a network of protected forest areas including areas outside of the village of Daraina, forests north of the Monambato River, and the northern forests that constitute the species' northern reservoir. In 2005, Fanamby, a Malagasy non-governmental organization (NGO), teamed up with Conservation International to create a 20,000-hectare (49,000-acre; 77 sq mi) protected area that both Association Fanamby and the Ministry of Water and Forests manage. As of 2008, only ten forest patches that could support viable populations remained, according to the IUCN. Only one captive population of golden-crowned sifakas has been represented in a zoological collection. Building on a successful record of maintaining a viable captive Verreaux's sifaka population, the Duke Lemur Center (DLC) in Durham, North Carolina, requested and obtained permission from the government of Madagascar to capture and export this (then) unknown species for captive breeding. Plans were also made to establish a captive breeding program at the Ivoloina Forestry Station, now known as Parc Ivoloina. In November 1987, during the same expedition that resulted in the formal description of the species, two males and two females were caught and measured. Five others were also caught, but were released because they were juvenile males. In July 1988, a golden-crowned sifaka was born in captivity at the DLC. However, the captive population was small and not viable for long-term breeding, and captive sifakas have proven difficult to maintain due to their specialized dietary needs. The last captive individual died in 2008. Despite the loss of its small colony after 20 years, DLC believes that establishment of a captive population for conservation-oriented captive breeding purposes could provide an important second level of protection, particularly if habitat protection measures are unsuccessful. ### Effects of the 2009 political crisis As a result of the political crisis that began in 2009 and the resulting breakdown of law and order in Madagascar, poachers have hunted lemurs in the Daraina area and sold them to local restaurants as a delicacy. Pictures of dead lemurs that had been smoked for transport were taken by Fanamby and released by Conservation International in August 2009. The lemurs in the photographs included the endangered golden-crowned sifaka, as well as crowned lemurs. Around the time the photographs were released, 15 people were arrested for selling smoked lemurs, which were bought from hunters for 1,000 ariary, or around US\$0.53, and then sold in restaurants for 8,000 ariary (US\$4.20). Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, said that the arrests would not end the poaching since the poachers would "just get slaps on the wrist".
621	Amphibian	1,171,060,928	Class of ectothermic tetrapods	[ "Amphibians", "Amphibious organisms", "Extant Late Devonian first appearances", "Taxa named by John Edward Gray" ]	Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards, but unlike reptiles and other amniotes, require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species around the globe. The earliest amphibians evolved in the Devonian period from sarcopterygian fish with lungs and bony-limbed fins, features that were helpful in adapting to dry land. They diversified and became dominant during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, but were later displaced by reptiles and other vertebrates. The origin of modern amphibians belonging to Lissamphibia, which first appeared during the Early Triassic, around 250 million years ago, has long been contentious. However the emerging consensus is that they likely originated from temnospondyls, the most diverse group of prehistoric amphibians, during the Permian period. The three modern orders of amphibians are Anura (the frogs), Urodela (the salamanders), and Apoda (the caecilians). A fourth group, the Albanerpetontidae, became extinct around 2 million years ago. The number of known amphibian species is approximately 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a frog from New Guinea (Paedophryne amauensis) with a length of just 7.7 mm (0.30 in). The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) South China giant salamander (Andrias sligoi), but this is dwarfed by prehistoric temnospondyls such as Mastodonsaurus which could reach up to 6 m (20 ft) in length. The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology. ## Classification The word amphibian is derived from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος (amphíbios), which means 'both kinds of life', ἀμφί meaning 'of both kinds' and βιος meaning 'life'. The term was initially used as a general adjective for animals that could live on land or in water, including seals and otters. Traditionally, the class Amphibia includes all tetrapod vertebrates that are not amniotes. Amphibia in its widest sense (sensu lato) was divided into three subclasses, two of which are extinct: - Subclass Lepospondyli† (small Paleozoic group, which are more closely related to amniotes than Lissamphibia) - Subclass Temnospondyli† (diverse Paleozoic and early Mesozoic grade) - Subclass Lissamphibia (all modern amphibians, including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians) - Salientia (frogs, toads and relatives): Jurassic to present—7,360 current species in 53 families - Caudata (salamanders, newts and relatives): Jurassic to present—764 current species in 9 families - Gymnophiona (caecilians and relatives): Jurassic to present—215 current species in 10 families - Allocaudata† (Albanerpetontidae) Middle Jurassic – Early Pleistocene The actual number of species in each group depends on the taxonomic classification followed. The two most common systems are the classification adopted by the website AmphibiaWeb, University of California, Berkeley, and the classification by herpetologist Darrel Frost and the American Museum of Natural History, available as the online reference database "Amphibian Species of the World". The numbers of species cited above follows Frost and the total number of known amphibian species as of March 31, 2019, is exactly 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. With the phylogenetic classification, the taxon Labyrinthodontia has been discarded as it is a polyparaphyletic group without unique defining features apart from shared primitive characteristics. Classification varies according to the preferred phylogeny of the author and whether they use a stem-based or a node-based classification. Traditionally, amphibians as a class are defined as all tetrapods with a larval stage, while the group that includes the common ancestors of all living amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) and all their descendants is called Lissamphibia. The phylogeny of Paleozoic amphibians is uncertain, and Lissamphibia may possibly fall within extinct groups, like the Temnospondyli (traditionally placed in the subclass Labyrinthodontia) or the Lepospondyli, and in some analyses even in the amniotes. This means that advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature have removed a large number of basal Devonian and Carboniferous amphibian-type tetrapod groups that were formerly placed in Amphibia in Linnaean taxonomy, and included them elsewhere under cladistic taxonomy. If the common ancestor of amphibians and amniotes is included in Amphibia, it becomes a paraphyletic group. All modern amphibians are included in the subclass Lissamphibia, which is usually considered a clade, a group of species that have evolved from a common ancestor. The three modern orders are Anura (the frogs), Caudata (or Urodela, the salamanders), and Gymnophiona (or Apoda, the caecilians). It has been suggested that salamanders arose separately from a Temnospondyl-like ancestor, and even that caecilians are the sister group of the advanced reptiliomorph amphibians, and thus of amniotes. Although the fossils of several older proto-frogs with primitive characteristics are known, the oldest "true frog" is Prosalirus bitis, from the Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona. It is anatomically very similar to modern frogs. The oldest known caecilian is another Early Jurassic species, Eocaecilia micropodia, also from Arizona. The earliest salamander is Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis from the Late Jurassic of northeastern China. Authorities disagree as to whether Salientia is a superorder that includes the order Anura, or whether Anura is a sub-order of the order Salientia. The Lissamphibia are traditionally divided into three orders, but an extinct salamander-like family, the Albanerpetontidae, is now considered part of Lissamphibia alongside the superorder Salientia. Furthermore, Salientia includes all three recent orders plus the Triassic proto-frog, Triadobatrachus. ## Evolutionary history The first major groups of amphibians developed in the Devonian period, around 370 million years ago, from lobe-finned fish which were similar to the modern coelacanth and lungfish. These ancient lobe-finned fish had evolved multi-jointed leg-like fins with digits that enabled them to crawl along the sea bottom. Some fish had developed primitive lungs that help them breathe air when the stagnant pools of the Devonian swamps were low in oxygen. They could also use their strong fins to hoist themselves out of the water and onto dry land if circumstances so required. Eventually, their bony fins would evolve into limbs and they would become the ancestors to all tetrapods, including modern amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Despite being able to crawl on land, many of these prehistoric tetrapodomorph fish still spent most of their time in the water. They had started to develop lungs, but still breathed predominantly with gills. Many examples of species showing transitional features have been discovered. Ichthyostega was one of the first primitive amphibians, with nostrils and more efficient lungs. It had four sturdy limbs, a neck, a tail with fins and a skull very similar to that of the lobe-finned fish, Eusthenopteron. Amphibians evolved adaptations that allowed them to stay out of the water for longer periods. Their lungs improved and their skeletons became heavier and stronger, better able to support the weight of their bodies on land. They developed "hands" and "feet" with five or more digits; the skin became more capable of retaining body fluids and resisting desiccation. The fish's hyomandibula bone in the hyoid region behind the gills diminished in size and became the stapes of the amphibian ear, an adaptation necessary for hearing on dry land. An affinity between the amphibians and the teleost fish is the multi-folded structure of the teeth and the paired supra-occipital bones at the back of the head, neither of these features being found elsewhere in the animal kingdom. At the end of the Devonian period (360 million years ago), the seas, rivers and lakes were teeming with life while the land was the realm of early plants and devoid of vertebrates, though some, such as Ichthyostega, may have sometimes hauled themselves out of the water. It is thought they may have propelled themselves with their forelimbs, dragging their hindquarters in a similar manner to that used by the elephant seal. In the early Carboniferous (360 to 345 million years ago), the climate became wet and warm. Extensive swamps developed with mosses, ferns, horsetails and calamites. Air-breathing arthropods evolved and invaded the land where they provided food for the carnivorous amphibians that began to adapt to the terrestrial environment. There were no other tetrapods on the land and the amphibians were at the top of the food chain, occupying the ecological position currently held by the crocodile. Though equipped with limbs and the ability to breathe air, most still had a long tapering body and strong tail. They were the top land predators, sometimes reaching several metres in length, preying on the large insects of the period and the many types of fish in the water. They still needed to return to water to lay their shell-less eggs, and even most modern amphibians have a fully aquatic larval stage with gills like their fish ancestors. It was the development of the amniotic egg, which prevents the developing embryo from drying out, that enabled the reptiles to reproduce on land and which led to their dominance in the period that followed. After the Carboniferous rainforest collapse amphibian dominance gave way to reptiles, and amphibians were further devastated by the Permian–Triassic extinction event. During the Triassic Period (250 to 200 million years ago), the reptiles continued to out-compete the amphibians, leading to a reduction in both the amphibians' size and their importance in the biosphere. According to the fossil record, Lissamphibia, which includes all modern amphibians and is the only surviving lineage, may have branched off from the extinct groups Temnospondyli and Lepospondyli at some period between the Late Carboniferous and the Early Triassic. The relative scarcity of fossil evidence precludes precise dating, but the most recent molecular study, based on multilocus sequence typing, suggests a Late Carboniferous/Early Permian origin for extant amphibians. The origins and evolutionary relationships between the three main groups of amphibians is a matter of debate. A 2005 molecular phylogeny, based on rDNA analysis, suggests that salamanders and caecilians are more closely related to each other than they are to frogs. It also appears that the divergence of the three groups took place in the Paleozoic or early Mesozoic (around 250 million years ago), before the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea and soon after their divergence from the lobe-finned fish. The briefness of this period, and the swiftness with which radiation took place, would help account for the relative scarcity of primitive amphibian fossils. There are large gaps in the fossil record, the discovery of the dissorophoid temnospondyl Gerobatrachus from the Early Permian in Texas in 2008 provided a missing link with many of the characteristics of modern frogs. Molecular analysis suggests that the frog–salamander divergence took place considerably earlier than the palaeontological evidence indicates. One study suggested suggested that the last common ancestor of all modern amphibians lived about 315 million years ago, and that stereospondyl temnospondyls are the closest relatives to the caecilians. However, most studies support a single monophyletic origin of all modern amphibians within the dissorophoid temnospondyls. As they evolved from lunged fish, amphibians had to make certain adaptations for living on land, including the need to develop new means of locomotion. In the water, the sideways thrusts of their tails had propelled them forward, but on land, quite different mechanisms were required. Their vertebral columns, limbs, limb girdles and musculature needed to be strong enough to raise them off the ground for locomotion and feeding. Terrestrial adults discarded their lateral line systems and adapted their sensory systems to receive stimuli via the medium of the air. They needed to develop new methods to regulate their body heat to cope with fluctuations in ambient temperature. They developed behaviours suitable for reproduction in a terrestrial environment. Their skins were exposed to harmful ultraviolet rays that had previously been absorbed by the water. The skin changed to become more protective and prevent excessive water loss. ## Characteristics The superclass Tetrapoda is divided into four classes of vertebrate animals with four limbs. Reptiles, birds and mammals are amniotes, the eggs of which are either laid or carried by the female and are surrounded by several membranes, some of which are impervious. Lacking these membranes, amphibians require water bodies for reproduction, although some species have developed various strategies for protecting or bypassing the vulnerable aquatic larval stage. They are not found in the sea with the exception of one or two frogs that live in brackish water in mangrove swamps; the Anderson's salamander meanwhile occurs in brackish or salt water lakes. On land, amphibians are restricted to moist habitats because of the need to keep their skin damp. Modern amphibians have a simplified anatomy compared to their ancestors due to paedomorphosis, caused by two evolutionary trends: miniaturization and an unusually large genome, which result in a slower growth and development rate compared to other vertebrates. Another reason for their size is associated with their rapid metamorphosis, which seems to have evolved only in the ancestors of lissamphibia; in all other known lines the development was much more gradual. Because a remodeling of the feeding apparatus means they do not eat during the metamorphosis, the metamorphosis has to go faster the smaller the individual is, so it happens at an early stage when the larvae are still small. (The largest species of salamanders do not go through a metamorphosis.) Amphibians that lay eggs on land often go through the whole metamorphosis inside the egg. An anamniotic terrestrial egg is less than 1 cm in diameter due to diffusion problems, a size which puts a limit on the amount of posthatching growth. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a microhylid frog from New Guinea (Paedophryne amauensis) first discovered in 2012. It has an average length of 7.7 mm (0.30 in) and is part of a genus that contains four of the world's ten smallest frog species. The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) but this is a great deal smaller than the largest amphibian that ever existed—the extinct 9 m (30 ft) Prionosuchus, a crocodile-like temnospondyl dating to 270 million years ago from the middle Permian of Brazil. The largest frog is the African Goliath frog (Conraua goliath), which can reach 32 cm (13 in) and weigh 3 kg (6.6 lb). Amphibians are ectothermic (cold-blooded) vertebrates that do not maintain their body temperature through internal physiological processes. Their metabolic rate is low and as a result, their food and energy requirements are limited. In the adult state, they have tear ducts and movable eyelids, and most species have ears that can detect airborne or ground vibrations. They have muscular tongues, which in many species can be protruded. Modern amphibians have fully ossified vertebrae with articular processes. Their ribs are usually short and may be fused to the vertebrae. Their skulls are mostly broad and short, and are often incompletely ossified. Their skin contains little keratin and lacks scales, apart from a few fish-like scales in certain caecilians. The skin contains many mucous glands and in some species, poison glands (a type of granular gland). The hearts of amphibians have three chambers, two atria and one ventricle. They have a urinary bladder and nitrogenous waste products are excreted primarily as urea. Most amphibians lay their eggs in water and have aquatic larvae that undergo metamorphosis to become terrestrial adults. Amphibians breathe by means of a pump action in which air is first drawn into the buccopharyngeal region through the nostrils. These are then closed and the air is forced into the lungs by contraction of the throat. They supplement this with gas exchange through the skin. ### Anura The order Anura (from the Ancient Greek a(n)- meaning "without" and oura meaning "tail") comprises the frogs and toads. They usually have long hind limbs that fold underneath them, shorter forelimbs, webbed toes with no claws, no tails, large eyes and glandular moist skin. Members of this order with smooth skins are commonly referred to as frogs, while those with warty skins are known as toads. The difference is not a formal one taxonomically and there are numerous exceptions to this rule. Members of the family Bufonidae are known as the "true toads". Frogs range in size from the 30-centimetre (12 in) Goliath frog (Conraua goliath) of West Africa to the 7.7-millimetre (0.30 in) Paedophryne amauensis, first described in Papua New Guinea in 2012, which is also the smallest known vertebrate. Although most species are associated with water and damp habitats, some are specialised to live in trees or in deserts. They are found worldwide except for polar areas. Anura is divided into three suborders that are broadly accepted by the scientific community, but the relationships between some families remain unclear. Future molecular studies should provide further insights into their evolutionary relationships. The suborder Archaeobatrachia contains four families of primitive frogs. These are Ascaphidae, Bombinatoridae, Discoglossidae and Leiopelmatidae which have few derived features and are probably paraphyletic with regard to other frog lineages. The six families in the more evolutionarily advanced suborder Mesobatrachia are the fossorial Megophryidae, Pelobatidae, Pelodytidae, Scaphiopodidae and Rhinophrynidae and the obligatorily aquatic Pipidae. These have certain characteristics that are intermediate between the two other suborders. Neobatrachia is by far the largest suborder and includes the remaining families of modern frogs, including most common species. Ninety-six percent of the over 5,000 extant species of frog are neobatrachians. ### Caudata The order Caudata (from the Latin cauda meaning "tail") consists of the salamanders—elongated, low-slung animals that mostly resemble lizards in form. This is a symplesiomorphic trait and they are no more closely related to lizards than they are to mammals. Salamanders lack claws, have scale-free skins, either smooth or covered with tubercles, and tails that are usually flattened from side to side and often finned. They range in size from the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus), which has been reported to grow to a length of 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in), to the diminutive Thorius pennatulus from Mexico which seldom exceeds 20 mm (0.8 in) in length. Salamanders have a mostly Laurasian distribution, being present in much of the Holarctic region of the northern hemisphere. The family Plethodontidae is also found in Central America and South America north of the Amazon basin; South America was apparently invaded from Central America by about the start of the Miocene, 23 million years ago. Urodela is a name sometimes used for all the extant species of salamanders. Members of several salamander families have become paedomorphic and either fail to complete their metamorphosis or retain some larval characteristics as adults. Most salamanders are under 15 cm (6 in) long. They may be terrestrial or aquatic and many spend part of the year in each habitat. When on land, they mostly spend the day hidden under stones or logs or in dense vegetation, emerging in the evening and night to forage for worms, insects and other invertebrates. The suborder Cryptobranchoidea contains the primitive salamanders. A number of fossil cryptobranchids have been found, but there are only three living species, the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus), the Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) and the hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) from North America. These large amphibians retain several larval characteristics in their adult state; gills slits are present and the eyes are unlidded. A unique feature is their ability to feed by suction, depressing either the left side of their lower jaw or the right. The males excavate nests, persuade females to lay their egg strings inside them, and guard them. As well as breathing with lungs, they respire through the many folds in their thin skin, which has capillaries close to the surface. The suborder Salamandroidea contains the advanced salamanders. They differ from the cryptobranchids by having fused prearticular bones in the lower jaw, and by using internal fertilisation. In salamandrids, the male deposits a bundle of sperm, the spermatophore, and the female picks it up and inserts it into her cloaca where the sperm is stored until the eggs are laid. The largest family in this group is Plethodontidae, the lungless salamanders, which includes 60% of all salamander species. The family Salamandridae includes the true salamanders and the name "newt" is given to members of its subfamily Pleurodelinae. The third suborder, Sirenoidea, contains the four species of sirens, which are in a single family, Sirenidae. Members of this order are eel-like aquatic salamanders with much reduced forelimbs and no hind limbs. Some of their features are primitive while others are derived. Fertilisation is likely to be external as sirenids lack the cloacal glands used by male salamandrids to produce spermatophores and the females lack spermathecae for sperm storage. Despite this, the eggs are laid singly, a behaviour not conducive for external fertilisation. ### Gymnophiona The order Gymnophiona (from the Greek gymnos meaning "naked" and ophis meaning "serpent") or Apoda comprises the caecilians. These are long, cylindrical, limbless animals with a snake- or worm-like form. The adults vary in length from 8 to 75 centimetres (3 to 30 inches) with the exception of Thomson's caecilian (Caecilia thompsoni), which can reach 150 centimetres (4.9 feet). A caecilian's skin has a large number of transverse folds and in some species contains tiny embedded dermal scales. It has rudimentary eyes covered in skin, which are probably limited to discerning differences in light intensity. It also has a pair of short tentacles near the eye that can be extended and which have tactile and olfactory functions. Most caecilians live underground in burrows in damp soil, in rotten wood and under plant debris, but some are aquatic. Most species lay their eggs underground and when the larvae hatch, they make their way to adjacent bodies of water. Others brood their eggs and the larvae undergo metamorphosis before the eggs hatch. A few species give birth to live young, nourishing them with glandular secretions while they are in the oviduct. Caecilians have a mostly Gondwanan distribution, being found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Central and South America. ## Anatomy and physiology ### Skin The integumentary structure contains some typical characteristics common to terrestrial vertebrates, such as the presence of highly cornified outer layers, renewed periodically through a moulting process controlled by the pituitary and thyroid glands. Local thickenings (often called warts) are common, such as those found on toads. The outside of the skin is shed periodically mostly in one piece, in contrast to mammals and birds where it is shed in flakes. Amphibians often eat the sloughed skin. Caecilians are unique among amphibians in having mineralized dermal scales embedded in the dermis between the furrows in the skin. The similarity of these to the scales of bony fish is largely superficial. Lizards and some frogs have somewhat similar osteoderms forming bony deposits in the dermis, but this is an example of convergent evolution with similar structures having arisen independently in diverse vertebrate lineages. Amphibian skin is permeable to water. Gas exchange can take place through the skin (cutaneous respiration) and this allows adult amphibians to respire without rising to the surface of water and to hibernate at the bottom of ponds. To compensate for their thin and delicate skin, amphibians have evolved mucous glands, principally on their heads, backs and tails. The secretions produced by these help keep the skin moist. In addition, most species of amphibian have granular glands that secrete distasteful or poisonous substances. Some amphibian toxins can be lethal to humans while others have little effect. The main poison-producing glands, the parotoids, produce the neurotoxin bufotoxin and are located behind the ears of toads, along the backs of frogs, behind the eyes of salamanders and on the upper surface of caecilians. The skin colour of amphibians is produced by three layers of pigment cells called chromatophores. These three cell layers consist of the melanophores (occupying the deepest layer), the guanophores (forming an intermediate layer and containing many granules, producing a blue-green colour) and the lipophores (yellow, the most superficial layer). The colour change displayed by many species is initiated by hormones secreted by the pituitary gland. Unlike bony fish, there is no direct control of the pigment cells by the nervous system, and this results in the colour change taking place more slowly than happens in fish. A vividly coloured skin usually indicates that the species is toxic and is a warning sign to predators. ### Skeletal system and locomotion Amphibians have a skeletal system that is structurally homologous to other tetrapods, though with a number of variations. They all have four limbs except for the legless caecilians and a few species of salamander with reduced or no limbs. The bones are hollow and lightweight. The musculoskeletal system is strong to enable it to support the head and body. The bones are fully ossified and the vertebrae interlock with each other by means of overlapping processes. The pectoral girdle is supported by muscle, and the well-developed pelvic girdle is attached to the backbone by a pair of sacral ribs. The ilium slopes forward and the body is held closer to the ground than is the case in mammals. In most amphibians, there are four digits on the fore foot and five on the hind foot, but no claws on either. Some salamanders have fewer digits and the amphiumas are eel-like in appearance with tiny, stubby legs. The sirens are aquatic salamanders with stumpy forelimbs and no hind limbs. The caecilians are limbless. They burrow in the manner of earthworms with zones of muscle contractions moving along the body. On the surface of the ground or in water they move by undulating their body from side to side. In frogs, the hind legs are larger than the fore legs, especially so in those species that principally move by jumping or swimming. In the walkers and runners the hind limbs are not so large, and the burrowers mostly have short limbs and broad bodies. The feet have adaptations for the way of life, with webbing between the toes for swimming, broad adhesive toe pads for climbing, and keratinised tubercles on the hind feet for digging (frogs usually dig backwards into the soil). In most salamanders, the limbs are short and more or less the same length and project at right angles from the body. Locomotion on land is by walking and the tail often swings from side to side or is used as a prop, particularly when climbing. In their normal gait, only one leg is advanced at a time in the manner adopted by their ancestors, the lobe-finned fish. Some salamanders in the genus Aneides and certain plethodontids climb trees and have long limbs, large toepads and prehensile tails. In aquatic salamanders and in frog tadpoles, the tail has dorsal and ventral fins and is moved from side to side as a means of propulsion. Adult frogs do not have tails and caecilians have only very short ones. Salamanders use their tails in defence and some are prepared to jettison them to save their lives in a process known as autotomy. Certain species in the Plethodontidae have a weak zone at the base of the tail and use this strategy readily. The tail often continues to twitch after separation which may distract the attacker and allow the salamander to escape. Both tails and limbs can be regenerated. Adult frogs are unable to regrow limbs but tadpoles can do so. ### Circulatory system Amphibians have a juvenile stage and an adult stage, and the circulatory systems of the two are distinct. In the juvenile (or tadpole) stage, the circulation is similar to that of a fish; the two-chambered heart pumps the blood through the gills where it is oxygenated, and is spread around the body and back to the heart in a single loop. In the adult stage, amphibians (especially frogs) lose their gills and develop lungs. They have a heart that consists of a single ventricle and two atria. When the ventricle starts contracting, deoxygenated blood is pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs. Continued contraction then pumps oxygenated blood around the rest of the body. Mixing of the two bloodstreams is minimized by the anatomy of the chambers. ### Nervous and sensory systems The nervous system is basically the same as in other vertebrates, with a central brain, a spinal cord, and nerves throughout the body. The amphibian brain is relatively simple but broadly the same structurally as in reptiles, birds and mammals. Their brains are elongated, except in caecilians, and contain the usual motor and sensory areas of tetrapods. The pineal body, known to regulate sleep patterns in humans, is thought to produce the hormones involved in hibernation and aestivation in amphibians. Tadpoles retain the lateral line system of their ancestral fishes, but this is lost in terrestrial adult amphibians. Some caecilians possess electroreceptors that allow them to locate objects around them when submerged in water. The ears are well developed in frogs. There is no external ear, but the large circular eardrum lies on the surface of the head just behind the eye. This vibrates and sound is transmitted through a single bone, the stapes, to the inner ear. Only high-frequency sounds like mating calls are heard in this way, but low-frequency noises can be detected through another mechanism. There is a patch of specialized haircells, called papilla amphibiorum, in the inner ear capable of detecting deeper sounds. Another feature, unique to frogs and salamanders, is the columella-operculum complex adjoining the auditory capsule which is involved in the transmission of both airborne and seismic signals. The ears of salamanders and caecilians are less highly developed than those of frogs as they do not normally communicate with each other through the medium of sound. The eyes of tadpoles lack lids, but at metamorphosis, the cornea becomes more dome-shaped, the lens becomes flatter, and eyelids and associated glands and ducts develop. The adult eyes are an improvement on invertebrate eyes and were a first step in the development of more advanced vertebrate eyes. They allow colour vision and depth of focus. In the retinas are green rods, which are receptive to a wide range of wavelengths. ### Digestive and excretory systems Many amphibians catch their prey by flicking out an elongated tongue with a sticky tip and drawing it back into the mouth before seizing the item with their jaws. Some use inertial feeding to help them swallow the prey, repeatedly thrusting their head forward sharply causing the food to move backwards in their mouth by inertia. Most amphibians swallow their prey whole without much chewing so they possess voluminous stomachs. The short oesophagus is lined with cilia that help to move the food to the stomach and mucus produced by glands in the mouth and pharynx eases its passage. The enzyme chitinase produced in the stomach helps digest the chitinous cuticle of arthropod prey. Amphibians possess a pancreas, liver and gall bladder. The liver is usually large with two lobes. Its size is determined by its function as a glycogen and fat storage unit, and may change with the seasons as these reserves are built or used up. Adipose tissue is another important means of storing energy and this occurs in the abdomen (in internal structures called fat bodies), under the skin and, in some salamanders, in the tail. There are two kidneys located dorsally, near the roof of the body cavity. Their job is to filter the blood of metabolic waste and transport the urine via ureters to the urinary bladder where it is stored before being passed out periodically through the cloacal vent. Larvae and most aquatic adult amphibians excrete the nitrogen as ammonia in large quantities of dilute urine, while terrestrial species, with a greater need to conserve water, excrete the less toxic product urea. Some tree frogs with limited access to water excrete most of their metabolic waste as uric acid. #### Urinary bladder ### Respiratory system The lungs in amphibians are primitive compared to those of amniotes, possessing few internal septa and large alveoli, and consequently having a comparatively slow diffusion rate for oxygen entering the blood. Ventilation is accomplished by buccal pumping. Most amphibians, however, are able to exchange gases with the water or air via their skin. To enable sufficient cutaneous respiration, the surface of their highly vascularised skin must remain moist to allow the oxygen to diffuse at a sufficiently high rate. Because oxygen concentration in the water increases at both low temperatures and high flow rates, aquatic amphibians in these situations can rely primarily on cutaneous respiration, as in the Titicaca water frog and the hellbender salamander. In air, where oxygen is more concentrated, some small species can rely solely on cutaneous gas exchange, most famously the plethodontid salamanders, which have neither lungs nor gills. Many aquatic salamanders and all tadpoles have gills in their larval stage, with some (such as the axolotl) retaining gills as aquatic adults. ## Reproduction For the purpose of reproduction most amphibians require fresh water although some lay their eggs on land and have developed various means of keeping them moist. A few (e.g. Fejervarya raja) can inhabit brackish water, but there are no true marine amphibians. There are reports, however, of particular amphibian populations unexpectedly invading marine waters. Such was the case with the Black Sea invasion of the natural hybrid Pelophylax esculentus reported in 2010. Several hundred frog species in adaptive radiations (e.g., Eleutherodactylus, the Pacific Platymantis, the Australo-Papuan microhylids, and many other tropical frogs), however, do not need any water for breeding in the wild. They reproduce via direct development, an ecological and evolutionary adaptation that has allowed them to be completely independent from free-standing water. Almost all of these frogs live in wet tropical rainforests and their eggs hatch directly into miniature versions of the adult, passing through the tadpole stage within the egg. Reproductive success of many amphibians is dependent not only on the quantity of rainfall, but the seasonal timing. In the tropics, many amphibians breed continuously or at any time of year. In temperate regions, breeding is mostly seasonal, usually in the spring, and is triggered by increasing day length, rising temperatures or rainfall. Experiments have shown the importance of temperature, but the trigger event, especially in arid regions, is often a storm. In anurans, males usually arrive at the breeding sites before females and the vocal chorus they produce may stimulate ovulation in females and the endocrine activity of males that are not yet reproductively active. In caecilians, fertilisation is internal, the male extruding an intromittent organ, the , and inserting it into the female cloaca. The paired Müllerian glands inside the male cloaca secrete a fluid which resembles that produced by mammalian prostate glands and which may transport and nourish the sperm. Fertilisation probably takes place in the oviduct. The majority of salamanders also engage in internal fertilisation. In most of these, the male deposits a spermatophore, a small packet of sperm on top of a gelatinous cone, on the substrate either on land or in the water. The female takes up the sperm packet by grasping it with the lips of the cloaca and pushing it into the vent. The spermatozoa move to the spermatheca in the roof of the cloaca where they remain until ovulation which may be many months later. Courtship rituals and methods of transfer of the spermatophore vary between species. In some, the spermatophore may be placed directly into the female cloaca while in others, the female may be guided to the spermatophore or restrained with an embrace called amplexus. Certain primitive salamanders in the families Sirenidae, Hynobiidae and Cryptobranchidae practice external fertilisation in a similar manner to frogs, with the female laying the eggs in water and the male releasing sperm onto the egg mass. With a few exceptions, frogs use external fertilisation. The male grasps the female tightly with his forelimbs either behind the arms or in front of the back legs, or in the case of Epipedobates tricolor, around the neck. They remain in amplexus with their cloacae positioned close together while the female lays the eggs and the male covers them with sperm. Roughened nuptial pads on the male's hands aid in retaining grip. Often the male collects and retains the egg mass, forming a sort of basket with the hind feet. An exception is the granular poison frog (Oophaga granulifera) where the male and female place their cloacae in close proximity while facing in opposite directions and then release eggs and sperm simultaneously. The tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) exhibits internal fertilisation. The "tail" is only possessed by the male and is an extension of the cloaca and used to inseminate the female. This frog lives in fast-flowing streams and internal fertilisation prevents the sperm from being washed away before fertilisation occurs. The sperm may be retained in storage tubes attached to the oviduct until the following spring. Most frogs can be classified as either prolonged or explosive breeders. Typically, prolonged breeders congregate at a breeding site, the males usually arriving first, calling and setting up territories. Other satellite males remain quietly nearby, waiting for their opportunity to take over a territory. The females arrive sporadically, mate selection takes place and eggs are laid. The females depart and territories may change hands. More females appear and in due course, the breeding season comes to an end. Explosive breeders on the other hand are found where temporary pools appear in dry regions after rainfall. These frogs are typically fossorial species that emerge after heavy rains and congregate at a breeding site. They are attracted there by the calling of the first male to find a suitable place, perhaps a pool that forms in the same place each rainy season. The assembled frogs may call in unison and frenzied activity ensues, the males scrambling to mate with the usually smaller number of females. There is a direct competition between males to win the attention of the females in salamanders and newts, with elaborate courtship displays to keep the female's attention long enough to get her interested in choosing him to mate with. Some species store sperm through long breeding seasons, as the extra time may allow for interactions with rival sperm. ## Life cycle Most amphibians go through metamorphosis, a process of significant morphological change after birth. In typical amphibian development, eggs are laid in water and larvae are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. Frogs, toads and salamanders all hatch from the egg as larvae with external gills. Metamorphosis in amphibians is regulated by thyroxine concentration in the blood, which stimulates metamorphosis, and prolactin, which counteracts thyroxine's effect. Specific events are dependent on threshold values for different tissues. Because most embryonic development is outside the parental body, it is subject to many adaptations due to specific environmental circumstances. For this reason tadpoles can have horny ridges instead of Teeth, whisker-like skin extensions or fins. They also make use of a sensory lateral line organ similar to that of fish. After metamorphosis, these organs become redundant and will be reabsorbed by controlled cell death, called apoptosis. The variety of adaptations to specific environmental circumstances among amphibians is wide, with many discoveries still being made. ### Eggs In the egg, the embryo is suspended in perivitelline fluid and surrounded by semi-permeable gelatinous capsules, with the yolk mass providing nutrients. As the larvae hatch, the capsules are dissolved by enzymes secreted from gland at the tip of the snout. The eggs of some salamanders and frogs contain unicellular green algae. These penetrate the jelly envelope after the eggs are laid and may increase the supply of oxygen to the embryo through photosynthesis. They seem to both speed up the development of the larvae and reduce mortality. In the wood frog (Rana sylvatica), the interior of the globular egg cluster has been found to be up to 6 °C (11 °F) warmer than its surroundings, which is an advantage in its cool northern habitat. The eggs may be deposited singly, in cluster or in long strands. Sites for laying eggs include water, mud, burrows, debris and on plants or under logs or stones. The greenhouse frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris) lays eggs in small groups in the soil where they develop in about two weeks directly into juvenile frogs without an intervening larval stage. The tungara frog (Physalaemus pustulosus) builds a floating nest from foam to protect its eggs. First a raft is built, then eggs are laid in the centre, and finally a foam cap is overlaid. The foam has anti-microbial properties. It contains no detergents but is created by whipping up proteins and lectins secreted by the female. ### Larvae The eggs of amphibians are typically laid in water and hatch into free-living larvae that complete their development in water and later transform into either aquatic or terrestrial adults. In many species of frog and in most lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae), direct development takes place, the larvae growing within the eggs and emerging as miniature adults. Many caecilians and some other amphibians lay their eggs on land, and the newly hatched larvae wriggle or are transported to water bodies. Some caecilians, the alpine salamander (Salamandra atra) and some of the African live-bearing toads (Nectophrynoides spp.) are viviparous. Their larvae feed on glandular secretions and develop within the female's oviduct, often for long periods. Other amphibians, but not caecilians, are ovoviviparous. The eggs are retained in or on the parent's body, but the larvae subsist on the yolks of their eggs and receive no nourishment from the adult. The larvae emerge at varying stages of their growth, either before or after metamorphosis, according to their species. The toad genus Nectophrynoides exhibits all of these developmental patterns among its dozen or so members. Amphibian larvae are known as tadpoles. They have thick, rounded bodies with powerful muscular tails. #### Frogs Unlike in other amphibians, frog tadpoles do not resemble adults. The free-living larvae are normally fully aquatic, but the tadpoles of some species (such as Nannophrys ceylonensis) are semi-terrestrial and live among wet rocks. Tadpoles have cartilaginous skeletons, gills for respiration (external gills at first, internal gills later), lateral line systems and large tails that they use for swimming. Newly hatched tadpoles soon develop gill pouches that cover the gills. The lungs develop early and are used as accessory breathing organs, the tadpoles rising to the water surface to gulp air. Some species complete their development inside the egg and hatch directly into small frogs. These larvae do not have gills but instead have specialised areas of skin through which respiration takes place. While tadpoles do not have true teeth, in most species, the jaws have long, parallel rows of small keratinized structures called keradonts surrounded by a horny beak. Front legs are formed under the gill sac and hind legs become visible a few days later. Iodine and T4 (over stimulate the spectacular apoptosis [programmed cell death] of the cells of the larval gills, tail and fins) also stimulate the evolution of nervous systems transforming the aquatic, vegetarian tadpole into the terrestrial, carnivorous frog with better neurological, visuospatial, olfactory and cognitive abilities for hunting. In fact, tadpoles developing in ponds and streams are typically herbivorous. Pond tadpoles tend to have deep bodies, large caudal fins and small mouths; they swim in the quiet waters feeding on growing or loose fragments of vegetation. Stream dwellers mostly have larger mouths, shallow bodies and caudal fins; they attach themselves to plants and stones and feed on the surface films of algae and bacteria. They also feed on diatoms, filtered from the water through the gills, and stir up the sediment at bottom of the pond, ingesting edible fragments. They have a relatively long, spiral-shaped gut to enable them to digest this diet. Some species are carnivorous at the tadpole stage, eating insects, smaller tadpoles and fish. Young of the Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) can occasionally be cannibalistic, the younger tadpoles attacking a larger, more developed tadpole when it is undergoing metamorphosis. At metamorphosis, rapid changes in the body take place as the lifestyle of the frog changes completely. The spiral‐shaped mouth with horny tooth ridges is reabsorbed together with the spiral gut. The animal develops a large jaw, and its gills disappear along with its gill sac. Eyes and legs grow quickly, and a tongue is formed. There are associated changes in the neural networks such as development of stereoscopic vision and loss of the lateral line system. All this can happen in about a day. A few days later, the tail is reabsorbed, due to the higher thyroxine concentration required for this to take place. #### Salamanders At hatching, a typical salamander larva has eyes without lids, teeth in both upper and lower jaws, three pairs of feathery external gills, and a long tail with dorsal and ventral fins. The forelimbs may be partially developed and the hind limbs are rudimentary in pond-living species but may be rather more developed in species that reproduce in moving water. Pond-type larvae often have a pair of balancers, rod-like structures on either side of the head that may prevent the gills from becoming clogged up with sediment. Both of these are able to breed. Some have larvae that never fully develop into the adult form, a condition known as neoteny. Neoteny occurs when the animal's growth rate is very low and is usually linked to adverse conditions such as low water temperatures that may change the response of the tissues to the hormone thyroxine. as well as lack of food. There are fifteen species of obligate neotenic salamanders, including species of Necturus, Proteus and Amphiuma, and many examples of facultative ones, such as the northwestern salamander (Ambystoma gracile) and the tiger salamander (A. tigrinum) that adopt this strategy under appropriate environmental circumstances. Lungless salamanders in the family Plethodontidae are terrestrial and lay a small number of unpigmented eggs in a cluster among damp leaf litter. Each egg has a large yolk sac and the larva feeds on this while it develops inside the egg, emerging fully formed as a juvenile salamander. The female salamander often broods the eggs. In the genus Ensatinas, the female has been observed to coil around them and press her throat area against them, effectively massaging them with a mucous secretion. In newts and salamanders, metamorphosis is less dramatic than in frogs. This is because the larvae are already carnivorous and continue to feed as predators when they are adults so few changes are needed to their digestive systems. Their lungs are functional early, but the larvae do not make as much use of them as do tadpoles. Their gills are never covered by gill sacs and are reabsorbed just before the animals leave the water. Other changes include the reduction in size or loss of tail fins, the closure of gill slits, thickening of the skin, the development of eyelids, and certain changes in dentition and tongue structure. Salamanders are at their most vulnerable at metamorphosis as swimming speeds are reduced and transforming tails are encumbrances on land. Adult salamanders often have an aquatic phase in spring and summer, and a land phase in winter. For adaptation to a water phase, prolactin is the required hormone, and for adaptation to the land phase, thyroxine. External gills do not return in subsequent aquatic phases because these are completely absorbed upon leaving the water for the first time. #### Caecilians Most terrestrial caecilians that lay eggs do so in burrows or moist places on land near bodies of water. The development of the young of Ichthyophis glutinosus, a species from Sri Lanka, has been much studied. The eel-like larvae hatch out of the eggs and make their way to water. They have three pairs of external red feathery gills, a blunt head with two rudimentary eyes, a lateral line system and a short tail with fins. They swim by undulating their body from side to side. They are mostly active at night, soon lose their gills and make sorties onto land. Metamorphosis is gradual. By the age of about ten months they have developed a pointed head with sensory tentacles near the mouth and lost their eyes, lateral line systems and tails. The skin thickens, embedded scales develop and the body divides into segments. By this time, the caecilian has constructed a burrow and is living on land. In the majority of species of caecilians, the young are produced by viviparity. Typhlonectes compressicauda, a species from South America, is typical of these. Up to nine larvae can develop in the oviduct at any one time. They are elongated and have paired sac-like gills, small eyes and specialised scraping teeth. At first, they feed on the yolks of the eggs, but as this source of nourishment declines they begin to rasp at the ciliated epithelial cells that line the oviduct. This stimulates the secretion of fluids rich in lipids and mucoproteins on which they feed along with scrapings from the oviduct wall. They may increase their length sixfold and be two-fifths as long as their mother before being born. By this time they have undergone metamorphosis, lost their eyes and gills, developed a thicker skin and mouth tentacles, and reabsorbed their teeth. A permanent set of teeth grow through soon after birth. The ringed caecilian (Siphonops annulatus) has developed a unique adaptation for the purposes of reproduction. The progeny feed on a skin layer that is specially developed by the adult in a phenomenon known as maternal dermatophagy. The brood feed as a batch for about seven minutes at intervals of approximately three days which gives the skin an opportunity to regenerate. Meanwhile, they have been observed to ingest fluid exuded from the maternal cloaca. ### Parental care The care of offspring among amphibians has been little studied but, in general, the larger the number of eggs in a batch, the less likely it is that any degree of parental care takes place. Nevertheless, it is estimated that in up to 20% of amphibian species, one or both adults play some role in the care of the young. Those species that breed in smaller water bodies or other specialised habitats tend to have complex patterns of behaviour in the care of their young. Many woodland salamanders lay clutches of eggs under dead logs or stones on land. The black mountain salamander (Desmognathus welteri) does this, the mother brooding the eggs and guarding them from predation as the embryos feed on the yolks of their eggs. When fully developed, they break their way out of the egg capsules and disperse as juvenile salamanders. The male hellbender, a primitive salamander, excavates an underwater nest and encourages females to lay there. The male then guards the site for the two or three months before the eggs hatch, using body undulations to fan the eggs and increase their supply of oxygen. The male Colostethus subpunctatus, a tiny frog, protects the egg cluster which is hidden under a stone or log. When the eggs hatch, the male transports the tadpoles on his back, stuck there by a mucous secretion, to a temporary pool where he dips himself into the water and the tadpoles drop off. The male midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) winds egg strings round his thighs and carries the eggs around for up to eight weeks. He keeps them moist and when they are ready to hatch, he visits a pond or ditch and releases the tadpoles. The female gastric-brooding frog (Rheobatrachus spp.) reared larvae in her stomach after swallowing either the eggs or hatchlings; however, this stage was never observed before the species became extinct. The tadpoles secrete a hormone that inhibits digestion in the mother whilst they develop by consuming their very large yolk supply. The pouched frog (Assa darlingtoni) lays eggs on the ground. When they hatch, the male carries the tadpoles around in brood pouches on his hind legs. The aquatic Surinam toad (Pipa pipa) raises its young in pores on its back where they remain until metamorphosis. The granular poison frog (Oophaga granulifera) is typical of a number of tree frogs in the poison dart frog family Dendrobatidae. Its eggs are laid on the forest floor and when they hatch, the tadpoles are carried one by one on the back of an adult to a suitable water-filled crevice such as the axil of a leaf or the rosette of a bromeliad. The female visits the nursery sites regularly and deposits unfertilised eggs in the water and these are consumed by the tadpoles. ## Genetics and genomics Amphibians are notable among vertebrates for their diversity of chromosomes and genomes. The karyotypes (chromosomes) have been determined for at least 1,193 (14.5%) of the ≈8,200 known (diploid) species, including 963 anurans, 209 salamanders, and 21 caecilians. Generally, the karyotypes of diploid amphibians are characterized by 20–26 bi-armed chromosomes. Amphibians have also very large genomes compared to other taxa of vertebrates and corresponding variation in genome size (C-value: picograms of DNA in haploid nuclei). The genome sizes range from 0.95 to 11.5 pg in frogs, from 13.89 to 120.56 pg in salamanders, and from 2.94 to 11.78 pg in caecilians. The large genome sizes have prevented whole-genome sequencing of amphibians although a number of genomes have been published recently. The 1.7GB draft genome of Xenopus tropicalis was the first to be reported for amphibians in 2010. Compared to some salamanders this frog genome is tiny. For instance, the genome of the Mexican axolotl turned out to be 32 Gb, which is more than 10 times larger than the human genome (3GB). ## Feeding and diet With a few exceptions, adult amphibians are predators, feeding on virtually anything that moves that they can swallow. The diet mostly consists of small prey that do not move too fast such as beetles, caterpillars, earthworms and spiders. The sirens (Siren spp.) often ingest aquatic plant material with the invertebrates on which they feed and a Brazilian tree frog (Xenohyla truncata) includes a large quantity of fruit in its diet. The Mexican burrowing toad (Rhinophrynus dorsalis) has a specially adapted tongue for picking up ants and termites. It projects it with the tip foremost whereas other frogs flick out the rear part first, their tongues being hinged at the front. Food is mostly selected by sight, even in conditions of dim light. Movement of the prey triggers a feeding response. Frogs have been caught on fish hooks baited with red flannel and green frogs (Rana clamitans) have been found with stomachs full of elm seeds that they had seen floating past. Toads, salamanders and caecilians also use smell to detect prey. This response is mostly secondary because salamanders have been observed to remain stationary near odoriferous prey but only feed if it moves. Cave-dwelling amphibians normally hunt by smell. Some salamanders seem to have learned to recognize immobile prey when it has no smell, even in complete darkness. Amphibians usually swallow food whole but may chew it lightly first to subdue it. They typically have small hinged pedicellate teeth, a feature unique to amphibians. The base and crown of these are composed of dentine separated by an uncalcified layer and they are replaced at intervals. Salamanders, caecilians and some frogs have one or two rows of teeth in both jaws, but some frogs (Rana spp.) lack teeth in the lower jaw, and toads (Bufo spp.) have no teeth. In many amphibians there are also vomerine teeth attached to a facial bone in the roof of the mouth. The tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) is typical of the frogs and salamanders that hide under cover ready to ambush unwary invertebrates. Others amphibians, such as the Bufo spp. toads, actively search for prey, while the Argentine horned frog (Ceratophrys ornata) lures inquisitive prey closer by raising its hind feet over its back and vibrating its yellow toes. Among leaf litter frogs in Panama, frogs that actively hunt prey have narrow mouths and are slim, often brightly coloured and toxic, while ambushers have wide mouths and are broad and well-camouflaged. Caecilians do not flick their tongues, but catch their prey by grabbing it with their slightly backward-pointing teeth. The struggles of the prey and further jaw movements work it inwards and the caecilian usually retreats into its burrow. The subdued prey is gulped down whole. When they are newly hatched, frog larvae feed on the yolk of the egg. When this is exhausted some move on to feed on bacteria, algal crusts, detritus and raspings from submerged plants. Water is drawn in through their mouths, which are usually at the bottom of their heads, and passes through branchial food traps between their mouths and their gills where fine particles are trapped in mucus and filtered out. Others have specialised mouthparts consisting of a horny beak edged by several rows of labial teeth. They scrape and bite food of many kinds as well as stirring up the bottom sediment, filtering out larger particles with the papillae around their mouths. Some, such as the spadefoot toads, have strong biting jaws and are carnivorous or even cannibalistic. ## Vocalization The calls made by caecilians and salamanders are limited to occasional soft squeaks, grunts or hisses and have not been much studied. A clicking sound sometimes produced by caecilians may be a means of orientation, as in bats, or a form of communication. Most salamanders are considered voiceless, but the California giant salamander (Dicamptodon ensatus) has vocal cords and can produce a rattling or barking sound. Some species of salamander emit a quiet squeak or yelp if attacked. Frogs are much more vocal, especially during the breeding season when they use their voices to attract mates. The presence of a particular species in an area may be more easily discerned by its characteristic call than by a fleeting glimpse of the animal itself. In most species, the sound is produced by expelling air from the lungs over the vocal cords into an air sac or sacs in the throat or at the corner of the mouth. This may distend like a balloon and acts as a resonator, helping to transfer the sound to the atmosphere, or the water at times when the animal is submerged. The main vocalisation is the male's loud advertisement call which seeks to both encourage a female to approach and discourage other males from intruding on its territory. This call is modified to a quieter courtship call on the approach of a female or to a more aggressive version if a male intruder draws near. Calling carries the risk of attracting predators and involves the expenditure of much energy. Other calls include those given by a female in response to the advertisement call and a release call given by a male or female during unwanted attempts at amplexus. When a frog is attacked, a distress or fright call is emitted, often resembling a scream. The usually nocturnal Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) produces a rain call when there is rainfall during daylight hours. ## Territorial behaviour Little is known of the territorial behaviour of caecilians, but some frogs and salamanders defend home ranges. These are usually feeding, breeding or sheltering sites. Males normally exhibit such behaviour though in some species, females and even juveniles are also involved. Although in many frog species, females are larger than males, this is not the case in most species where males are actively involved in territorial defence. Some of these have specific adaptations such as enlarged teeth for biting or spines on the chest, arms or thumbs. In salamanders, defence of a territory involves adopting an aggressive posture and if necessary attacking the intruder. This may involve snapping, chasing and sometimes biting, occasionally causing the loss of a tail. The behaviour of red back salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) has been much studied. 91% of marked individuals that were later recaptured were within a metre (yard) of their original daytime retreat under a log or rock. A similar proportion, when moved experimentally a distance of 30 metres (98 ft), found their way back to their home base. The salamanders left odour marks around their territories which averaged 0.16 to 0.33 square metres (1.7 to 3.6 sq ft) in size and were sometimes inhabited by a male and female pair. These deterred the intrusion of others and delineated the boundaries between neighbouring areas. Much of their behaviour seemed stereotyped and did not involve any actual contact between individuals. An aggressive posture involved raising the body off the ground and glaring at the opponent who often turned away submissively. If the intruder persisted, a biting lunge was usually launched at either the tail region or the naso-labial grooves. Damage to either of these areas can reduce the fitness of the rival, either because of the need to regenerate tissue or because it impairs its ability to detect food. In frogs, male territorial behaviour is often observed at breeding locations; calling is both an announcement of ownership of part of this resource and an advertisement call to potential mates. In general, a deeper voice represents a heavier and more powerful individual, and this may be sufficient to prevent intrusion by smaller males. Much energy is used in the vocalization and it takes a toll on the territory holder who may be displaced by a fitter rival if he tires. There is a tendency for males to tolerate the holders of neighbouring territories while vigorously attacking unknown intruders. Holders of territories have a "home advantage" and usually come off better in an encounter between two similar-sized frogs. If threats are insufficient, chest to chest tussles may take place. Fighting methods include pushing and shoving, deflating the opponent's vocal sac, seizing him by the head, jumping on his back, biting, chasing, splashing, and ducking him under the water. ## Defence mechanisms Amphibians have soft bodies with thin skins, and lack claws, defensive armour, or spines. Nevertheless, they have evolved various defence mechanisms to keep themselves alive. The first line of defence in salamanders and frogs is the mucous secretion that they produce. This keeps their skin moist and makes them slippery and difficult to grip. The secretion is often sticky and distasteful or toxic. Snakes have been observed yawning and gaping when trying to swallow African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis), which gives the frogs an opportunity to escape. Caecilians have been little studied in this respect, but the Cayenne caecilian (Typhlonectes compressicauda) produces toxic mucus that has killed predatory fish in a feeding experiment in Brazil. In some salamanders, the skin is poisonous. The rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) from North America and other members of its genus contain the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX), the most toxic non-protein substance known and almost identical to that produced by pufferfish. Handling the newts does not cause harm, but ingestion of even the most minute amounts of the skin is deadly. In feeding trials, fish, frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals were all found to be susceptible. The only predators with some tolerance to the poison are certain populations of common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). In locations where both snake and salamander co-exist, the snakes have developed immunity through genetic changes and they feed on the amphibians with impunity. Coevolution occurs with the newt increasing its toxic capabilities at the same rate as the snake further develops its immunity. Some frogs and toads are toxic, the main poison glands being at the side of the neck and under the warts on the back. These regions are presented to the attacking animal and their secretions may be foul-tasting or cause various physical or neurological symptoms. Altogether, over 200 toxins have been isolated from the limited number of amphibian species that have been investigated. Poisonous species often use bright colouring to warn potential predators of their toxicity. These warning colours tend to be red or yellow combined with black, with the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) being an example. Once a predator has sampled one of these, it is likely to remember the colouration next time it encounters a similar animal. In some species, such as the fire-bellied toad (Bombina spp.), the warning colouration is on the belly and these animals adopt a defensive pose when attacked, exhibiting their bright colours to the predator. The frog Allobates zaparo is not poisonous, but mimics the appearance of other toxic species in its locality, a strategy that may deceive predators. Many amphibians are nocturnal and hide during the day, thereby avoiding diurnal predators that hunt by sight. Other amphibians use camouflage to avoid being detected. They have various colourings such as mottled browns, greys and olives to blend into the background. Some salamanders adopt defensive poses when faced by a potential predator such as the North American northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda). Their bodies writhe and they raise and lash their tails which makes it difficult for the predator to avoid contact with their poison-producing granular glands. A few salamanders will autotomise their tails when attacked, sacrificing this part of their anatomy to enable them to escape. The tail may have a constriction at its base to allow it to be easily detached. The tail is regenerated later, but the energy cost to the animal of replacing it is significant. Some frogs and toads inflate themselves to make themselves look large and fierce, and some spadefoot toads (Pelobates spp) scream and leap towards the attacker. Giant salamanders of the genus Andrias, as well as Ceratophrine and Pyxicephalus frogs possess sharp teeth and are capable of drawing blood with a defensive bite. The blackbelly salamander (Desmognathus quadramaculatus) can bite an attacking common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) two or three times its size on the head and often manages to escape. ## Cognition In amphibians, there is evidence of habituation, associative learning through both classical and instrumental learning, and discrimination abilities. Amphibians are widely considered to be sentient, able to feel emotions such as anxiety and fear. In one experiment, when offered live fruit flies (Drosophila virilis), salamanders chose the larger of 1 vs 2 and 2 vs 3. Frogs can distinguish between low numbers (1 vs 2, 2 vs 3, but not 3 vs 4) and large numbers (3 vs 6, 4 vs 8, but not 4 vs 6) of prey. This is irrespective of other characteristics, i.e. surface area, volume, weight and movement, although discrimination among large numbers may be based on surface area. ## Conservation Dramatic declines in amphibian populations, including population crashes and mass localized extinction, have been noted since the late 1980s from locations all over the world, and amphibian declines are thus perceived to be one of the most critical threats to global biodiversity. In 2004, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported stating that currently birds, mammals, and amphibians extinction rates were at minimum 48 times greater than natural extinction rates—possibly 1,024 times higher. In 2006, there were believed to be 4,035 species of amphibians that depended on water at some stage during their life cycle. Of these, 1,356 (33.6%) were considered to be threatened and this figure is likely to be an underestimate because it excludes 1,427 species for which there was insufficient data to assess their status. A number of causes are believed to be involved, including habitat destruction and modification, over-exploitation, pollution, introduced species, global warming, endocrine-disrupting pollutants, destruction of the ozone layer (ultraviolet radiation has shown to be especially damaging to the skin, eyes, and eggs of amphibians), and diseases like chytridiomycosis. However, many of the causes of amphibian declines are still poorly understood, and are a topic of ongoing discussion. ### Food webs and predation Any decline in amphibian numbers will affect the patterns of predation. The loss of carnivorous species near the top of the food chain will upset the delicate ecosystem balance and may cause dramatic increases in opportunistic species. Predators that feed on amphibians are affected by their decline. The western terrestrial garter snake (Thamnophis elegans) in California is largely aquatic and depends heavily on two species of frog that are decreasing in numbers, the Yosemite toad (Bufo canorus) and the mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa), putting the snake's future at risk. If the snake were to become scarce, this would affect birds of prey and other predators that feed on it. Meanwhile, in the ponds and lakes, fewer frogs means fewer tadpoles. These normally play an important role in controlling the growth of algae and also forage on detritus that accumulates as sediment on the bottom. A reduction in the number of tadpoles may lead to an overgrowth of algae, resulting in depletion of oxygen in the water when the algae later die and decompose. Aquatic invertebrates and fish might then die and there would be unpredictable ecological consequences. ### Pollution and pesticides The decline in amphibian and reptile populations has led to an awareness of the effects of pesticides on reptiles and amphibians. In the past, the argument that amphibians or reptiles were more susceptible to any chemical contamination than any land aquatic vertebrate was not supported by research until recently. Amphibians and reptiles have complex life cycles, live in different climate and ecological zones, and are more vulnerable to chemical exposure. Certain pesticides, such as organophosphates, neonicotinoids, and carbamates, react via cholinesterase inhibition. Cholinesterase is an enzyme that causes the hydrolysis of acetylcholine, an excitatory neurotransmitter that is abundant in the nervous system. AChE inhibitors are either reversible or irreversible, and carbamates are safer than organophosphorus insecticides, which are more likely to cause cholinergic poisoning. Reptile exposure to an AChE inhibitory pesticide may result in disruption of neural function in reptiles. The buildup of these inhibitory effects on motor performance, such as food consumption and other activities. ### Conservation and protection strategies The Amphibian Specialist Group of the IUCN is spearheading efforts to implement a comprehensive global strategy for amphibian conservation. Amphibian Ark is an organization that was formed to implement the ex-situ conservation recommendations of this plan, and they have been working with zoos and aquaria around the world, encouraging them to create assurance colonies of threatened amphibians. One such project is the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project that built on existing conservation efforts in Panama to create a country-wide response to the threat of chytridiomycosis. Another measure would be to stop exploitation of frogs for human consumption. In the Middle East, a growing appetite for eating frog legs and the consequent gathering of them for food was already linked to an increase in mosquitoes and thus has direct consequences for human health. ## See also - Cultural depictions of amphibians - List of amphibians - List of amphibian genera - List of threatened reptiles and amphibians of the United States
63,287,451	Wells and Wellington affair	1,170,152,314	1980s publication of three articles and its aftermath	[ "1980s controversies", "Animal-related controversies", "Biology controversies" ]	The Wells and Wellington affair was a dispute about the publication of three papers in the Australian Journal of Herpetology in 1983 and 1985. The periodical was established in 1981 as a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on the study of amphibians and reptiles (herpetology). Its first two issues were published under the editorship of Richard W. Wells, a first-year biology student at Australia's University of New England. Wells then ceased communicating with the journal's editorial board for two years before suddenly publishing three papers without peer review in the journal in 1983 and 1985. Coauthored by himself and high school teacher Cliff Ross Wellington, the papers reorganized the taxonomy of all of Australia's and New Zealand's amphibians and reptiles and proposed over 700 changes to the binomial nomenclature of the region's herpetofauna. Members of the herpetological community reacted strongly to the pair's actions and eventually brought a case to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to suppress the scientific names they had proposed. After four years of arguments, the commission opted not to vote on the case because it hinged largely on taxonomic arguments rather than nomenclatural ones, leaving some of Wells and Wellington's names available. The case's outcome highlighted the vulnerability to the established rules of biological nomenclature that desktop publishing presented. As of 2020, 24 of the specific names assigned by Wells and Wellington remained valid senior synonyms. ## Background and publication ### Australian Journal of Herpetology The Australian Journal of Herpetology was a scientific journal specialising in herpetology. Its publisher, the Sydney-based Australian Herpetologists' League, was established to facilitate the journal's production. The journal's editorial board consisted of three Australian researchers: Harold Heatwole, an associate professor at the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, New South Wales, Jeffrey Miller, also of UNE, and Max King of the Australian National University. Richard W. Wells, a first-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in biology at UNE who had previously collected zoological specimens for several Australian museums, served as the journal's editor. Its editorial board refereed submitted manuscripts and, once accepted, sent them to Wells for publication. Because of Wells's enrolment at UNE, the Australian Journal of Herpetology was able to use a mailing address at the university. In 1981, the Australian Herpetologists' League released the first and second issues of the first volume of the Australian Journal of Herpetology. They contained papers written both by professional and amateur researchers concerning a number of topics in Australian herpetology, including a description of a novel python species, "Python" bredli. The journal gained individual and institutional subscribers in Australia and abroad. Meanwhile, Wells did not complete his first year at UNE and moved to Sydney. ### Wells and Wellington's papers For two years, the journal did not release any further issues. During this time, the editorial board continued to forward accepted manuscripts to Wells, who maintained his UNE address despite having left Armidale. Then, without the board's knowledge, a 56-page double issue consisting of a single article, "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia" by Wells and Cliff Ross Wellington was published dated 31 December 1983. The paper reassessed the taxonomy of Australia's entire reptile class; in doing so, the pair named 33 novel genera and raised eight further genera from synonym status and established 214 additional species, either by elevating subspecies or resurrecting synonyms. The herpetologist Michael J. Tyler described the paper as including "more taxonomic changes [to Australia's herpetofauna] than had been proposed by all other authors in the previous decade". This issue of the journal listed Wells as the managing editor and Wellington as the advertising sales manager, a change from its prior two issues. Further, the journal stated that copyright was now held by Australian Biological Services, an entity which listed Wells's address for contact and payment. A single-issue supplemental series to the Australian Journal of Herpetology was released in 1985, dated 1 March. At first, only spiralbound printouts of the issue were reported as being available although in September 1985, several professionally printed copies were distributed in Brisbane, effectively rendering the publication date 30 September 1985. The issue contained two articles, both again coauthored by Wells and Wellington. The first, "A Classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia", reassessed Australia's amphibians, naming at least 57 novel genera, resurrecting nine more from synonym status, naming 146 novel species, and resurrecting 110 from synonym status. The second, "A Synopsis of the Amphibia and Reptilia of New Zealand", offered a similar treatment to New Zealand's amphibian and reptile classes, naming four novel genera and elevating or describing six new species. Among other references, "A Classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia" cited over 500 alleged papers, some ostensibly nearly 100 pages long, written primarily by Wells in 1983 and 1984 in the unknown journal Australian Herpetologist. Neither Australian Herpetologist nor the hundreds of papers purportedly published therein were reported as having been available at any major Australian libraries or listed in the Australian Bibliographic Network as of 1985. The first article also referred to several specimens housed in the "Australian Zoological Museum" which was Wells's private collection. ## Rationales and responses ### Initial reactions Upon the release of "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia", all three members of the Australian Journal of Herpetology's editorial board resigned. The trio wrote letters to the editor of the Herpetological Review, a journal published by the international Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, to clarify that the Australian Journal of Herpetology was not affiliated with UNE past its second issue and that Wells and Wellington's papers had been self-published and had not undergone peer review. Heatwole also encouraged authors whose papers had been accepted for future issues to send their work elsewhere, as Wells was unresponsive to calls to return their manuscripts to them. British paleontologist Tony Thulborn described reactions from professional herpetologists to the pair's actions as ranging "from disbelief to outrage". News of "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia" and the fallout of its publication was reported throughout 1984 in several New South Wales newspapers, including the Illawarra Mercury, the Blue Mountains Gazette and The Sydney Morning Herald. The latter wrote that the events were "one of the most interesting scientific bun-fights in Australia's history". Wells and Wellington's combined work put forth more than 700 changes to the binomial nomenclature of Australia's reptiles and amphibians, until this point believed to include around 900 species. Herpetologists asserted that the duo had described species without providing adequate diagnostic characteristics and established new taxa without identifying or examining type species. G. B. Monteith contended that the pair had named numerous species in trivial ways (including, for instance, naming a species after Darth Vader), and wrote that although Wells and Wellington had given some taxa names honouring working herpetologists, many of those namesakes supported suppressing the duo's work. Gordon C. Grigg, president of the Australian Society of Herpetologists, and the evolutionary biologist and ecologist Richard Shine wrote in a letter to the Herpetological Review that "the effect of these [Wells and Wellington's] publications, if taken seriously, would be to destabilise permanently the nomenclature of the Australian herpetofauna." The letter was cosigned by over 150 other herpetologists. In September 1984, the Australian Society of Herpetologists elected to petition the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) to suppress all of the names proposed in the first of the pair's three papers, the only one published at that point. Word spread outside the world of herpetology in 1985 when Monteith, an entomologist, reported on the affair in the Australian Entomological Society News Bulletin. Monteith's article, "Terrorist Tactics in Taxonomy", was subsequently republished in newsletters covering other fields of taxonomic study. The botanist Jan Frederik Veldkamp remarked that "this all may seem to be very funny, and it's happening to zoologists, anyway, but there is no reason to be so smug about this", continuing that plant nomenclature as governed by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature could be similarly susceptible to destabilization. In 1986, Thulborn reported on the situation in the international journal Nature. ### Wells and Wellington's justifications Wells and Wellington, the latter a teacher at Blaxland High School, said that they did "years of research" before publishing their first paper. Wellington claimed in 1984 that their work was self-published due to a dispute with the Australian Museum, to which the pair had donated several specimens. Nonetheless, he said that the museum had prevented him and Wells from using its reptile collections for their research, further saying that, > "It became obvious to us that there were people in the know who were keeping a lot of things to themselves [...] Our studies showed that there were many animals which were very distinctive and should have full specific status. Because some scientists were suppressing this for their own ends, these animals were suffering. How can you talk about conserving animals when you don't even know they exist?" Relative to other continents, Australia's herpetofauna had been subject to less in-depth research, primarily due to the continent's low population density, uneven population distribution, and high biodiversity. Monteith described the duo's justification for their papers as "a radical conservation ethic" and wrote that their intent appeared to be based on the belief that describing individual populations as distinct species would hasten efforts for their conservation. Wells and Wellington said in the introduction to their first paper that they hoped their work would be taken "not as anarchistic taxonomic vandalism, but as a decisive step intended to stir others into action". They intended to encourage others to generate research either to ratify their conclusions or counter them, either way putting out material to further understanding of reptile and amphibian life in the region. ### ICZN case 2531 Binomial nomenclature, the widely used system of identifying distinct species through two-part Latin names, is related to and distinct from the study of taxonomy, the description and arrangement of these different taxa in relationship to one another. Changes to taxonomy, whether subject to peer review or not, are regarded as reliant on the discretion of subsequent researchers who may choose to incorporate them into or ignore them in future works on the basis of their scientific rigour and the evidence provided. Changes to zoological nomenclature, meanwhile, are governed by the ICZN's International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (the Code), of which a key component is the Principle of Priority: that "the valid name of a taxon is the oldest available name applied to it". Thus the publication of a new name, so long as it complies with Code requirements but regardless of the quality of the source in which it appears, establishes it as a name of record. The ICZN published Grigg's case for suppressing the names provided in "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia", "A Classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia" and "A Synopsis of the Amphibia and Reptilia of New Zealand" in the June 1987 issue of their journal, the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. Case 2531 received "strong arguments" from at least 91 writers and was retrospectively characterised by the herpetologists David Williams, Wolfgang Wüster and Bryan Grieg Fry by "the usual professional decorum being notable by its absence in some of the attacks upon Wells and Wellington". In the initial case to suppress the names, Grigg described several specific issues with the Wells and Wellington works. He wrote that their claim that they examined almost 40,000 specimens (translating to more than ten each day every day for ten years) was unlikely. According to Grigg, the duo had taken 205 subspecies or synonyms directly from a 1983 book by Harold Cogger and colleagues and had elevated or resurrected them to species status with no further discussion. He added that while Wells and Wellington had claimed to have visited several museums outside Australia to examine specimens in their collections, these museums confirmed with him that they had not lent or shown specimens to either Wellington or Wells. Grigg wrote that while many taxonomists would likely reject the nomenclature contained in the three papers because of the quality of the underlying taxonomy, non-taxonomists unaware of the situation surrounding the works might accept the nomenclature, leading to nomenclatural destabilization. This outcome, Grigg speculated, would require piecemeal acceptance or refutation of all of the hundreds of changes offered by the pair in their papers. The researcher Glenn M. Shea wrote that the names in "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia", even those accompanied by "inadequate or erroneous" diagnoses, fulfilled the requirements of the Code and were thus available. However, Shea listed 43 species from "A Classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia" whose diagnoses did not differentiate them from the populations from which the pair was attempting to split them, and also identified three species whose diagnoses were reliant on works that were still in press at the time of Shea's comment (late 1987). Shea identified several proposed species whose holotypes were collected from outside the species' proposed ranges and several well-known populations of species that were suddenly without names based on Wells and Wellington's diagnoses. The researcher Jonathon Stone wrote that the ICZN permitting Wells and Wellington's names would set a negative precedent for subsequent researchers to enact nomenclatural changes without peer review. Several researchers rejected the argument that suppressing the pair's names was an act of censorship. The Australian Museum's Allan E. Greer rejected calls to suppress the names, noting that the Australian Museum, Cogger, Shea and others had already (by 1988) used some of the nomenclature in subsequent research. The taxonomist and nomenclaturist Alain Dubois and colleagues at the French National Museum of Natural History argued that the names should not be suppressed because it was not within the ICZN's purview or power to make taxonomic (versus nomenclatural) judgements; this sentiment was shared by a number of other authors. They wrote that many of Wells and Wellington's names could be rendered synonymous or unavailable through other means: proposed taxonomic changes like elevating subspecies to species were likely to be rejected by the world zoological community (rendering the names moot) and taxa lacking descriptions would automatically be considered nomina nuda per the provisions of the Code. However, Dubois and colleagues proposed that in some cases it might be advantageous for the ICZN to consider suppressing individual names on a case-by-case basis. In 1989, the researcher Kraig Adler published the book Contributions to the History of Herpetology. Its index of herpetologists by John S. Applegarth intentionally omitted Wells and Wellington on the basis that their works were "inconsistent with acceptable practices of taxonomy". Philippe Bouchet and colleagues at the French National Museum of Natural History described Applegarth's attitude as akin to "the Stalinist falsification of history" and by extension, asked facetiously if the pair "should be physically eliminated using an ice-pick". The ICZN decided the case in September 1991. The commission wrote that while Wells and Wellington had ignored many of the Code's ethical tenets and while taxonomic arguments against the pair's works were strong, the ICZN did not have the power to rule on the case on those grounds and thus opted not to vote on the case, thereby closing it. The immediate result of the ICZN opting not to vote on their case was to leave researchers of Australian herpetofauna with "a certain amount of detective work to determine which Wells and Wellington names are available, and for what species". Shea and fellow researcher Ross A. Sadlier synonymised around 60 of the duo's proposed species in a 1999 paper. The authorship of, means of publication of, and backlash to the final three Australian Journal of Herpetology articles are sometimes referred to collectively as the "Wells and Wellington affair". ## Legacy In 2001, the American herpetologist John Iverson, and the Australian herpetologists Scott Thomson and Arthur Georges evaluated the changes proposed by Wells and Wellington to Australian turtles and found that just three of them represented available names. In 2017, the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group recognised one subgeneric, one specific, and one subspecific name originally proposed by the duo as being valid senior synonyms among the world's turtle taxa. A 2020 update of the Reptile Database indicated that 23 specific names for reptiles first published in the Australian Journal of Herpetology papers were recognised as valid senior synonyms at the time: sixteen lizards (including three geckos), six snakes and one turtle. One amphibian, the northern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne pengilleyi), also retains a specific name assigned by the pair. Additionally, several generic names proposed by Wells and Wellington have been accepted and used by subsequent researchers. Although Wells and Wellington indicated that they intended to write reassessments of fish in Australia, reptiles in Papua New Guinea and global herpetological taxa similar to their three papers in the Australian Journal of Herpetology, Wells withdrew somewhat from the world of academic herpetology after the affair. He and Wellington republished several of their Australian Journal of Herpetology descriptions, some with slight changes, in the following decades. The first instance of this was apparently in the Australian Herpetologist in the late 1980s; Wells alone published other taxonomic works in the vanity journal Australian Biodiversity Record in the 2000s. In 1997, Robert Sprackland, Hobart Muir Smith, and Peter Strimple initiated another case with the ICZN (number 3043) to suppress a specific name (Varanus keithhornei) published by Wells and Wellington in 1985 in favour of a name proposed in 1991 by Sprackland, who had not seen the pair's 1985 description. Suppression was widely opposed and the ICZN decided in 2001 to conserve Wells and Wellington's name as the senior synonym. Both Wellington and Wells have occasionally weighed in on other ICZN cases or defended names from their Australian Journal of Herpetology papers as senior synonyms. In its 1991 case decision, the ICZN noted that the affair highlighted the need to update its Code to account for the effects that desktop publishing was having and would continue to have on the availability of scientific names. Nonetheless, 25 years after the affair, the herpetologists Van Wallach, Wolfgang Wüster and Donald G. Broadley wrote that "taxonomy remains as vulnerable to acts of nomenclatural vandalism as it was then". Indeed, the term "taxonomic vandalism", coined in the introduction to the pair's 1983 paper, has come be the most widely used term to describe the act of publishing low-evidence taxonomy for the purpose of proposing many new scientific names without peer review. Wells and Wellington's case was cited during a different ICZN case initiated nearly three decades later, concerning the taxonomic work of another amateur Australian herpetologist, Raymond Hoser. Hoser, who writes about Australian herpetofauna in the self-published Australasian Journal of Herpetology, gave the Pilbara death adder its scientific name (Acanthophis wellsi) in honour of Wells. ## See also - Journal hijacking
766,087	Street newspaper	1,170,168,947	Newspaper sold by the homeless or poor	[ "Alternative press", "Community and social services occupations", "Homelessness", "Street newspapers", "Types of journalism" ]	Street newspapers (or street papers) are newspapers or magazines sold by homeless or poor individuals and produced mainly to support these populations. Most such newspapers primarily provide coverage about homelessness and poverty-related issues, and seek to strengthen social networks within homeless communities. Street papers aim to give these individuals both employment opportunities and a voice in their community. In addition to being sold by homeless individuals, many of these papers are partially produced and written by them. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries several publications by charity, religious, and labor organizations tried to draw attention to the homeless, but street newspapers only became common after the founding of New York City's Street News in 1989. Similar papers are now published in over 30 countries, with most located in the United States and Western Europe. They are supported by governments, charities, and coalitions such as the International Network of Street Papers and the North American Street Newspaper Association. Although street newspapers have multiplied, many still face challenges, including funding shortages, unreliable staff and difficulty in generating interest and maintaining an audience. Street newspapers are sold mainly by homeless individuals, but the newspapers vary in how much content is submitted by them and how much of the coverage pertains to them: while some papers are written and published mainly by homeless contributors, others have a professional staff and attempt to emulate mainstream publications. These differences have caused controversy among street newspaper publishers over what type of material should be covered and to what extent the homeless should participate in writing and production. One popular street newspaper, The Big Issue, has been a focus of this controversy because it concentrates on attracting a large readership through coverage of mainstream issues and popular culture, whereas other newspapers emphasize homeless advocacy and social issues and earn less of a profit. ## History ### Historical foundations Although the modern street newspaper began with the 1989 publication of Street News in New York City, and the Street Sheet in San Francisco, 1989, newspapers sold by the poor and homeless to generate income and to bring attention to social problems date back to the late 19th century; journalism scholar Norma Fay Green has cited The War Cry, created by the Salvation Army in London in 1879, as an early form of "dissident, underground, alternative publication". The War Cry was sold by Salvation Army officers and the working poor to draw people's attention to the poor living conditions of these individuals. Another precursor to the modern street newspaper was Cincinnati's Hobo News, which ran from 1915 to 1930 and featured writing from prominent labor and social activists as well as Industrial Workers of the World members, alongside contributions of oral history, creative writing, and artwork from hoboes, or itinerant beggars. Most street papers published before 1970, such as The Catholic Worker (founded in 1933), were affiliated with religious organizations. Like workers' papers and other forms of alternative media in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, early street newspapers were often created because the founders believed mainstream news did not cover issues that were relevant to ordinary people. ### Modern street newspapers Modern street newspapers began to emerge in the United States in the late 1980s in response to increasing levels of homelessness and homeless advocates' dissatisfaction with the mainstream media's portrayals of the homeless. At the time, many media outlets portrayed homeless people as being all criminals and drug addicts, and suggested that homelessness was a result of laziness rather than societal or political factors. Thus, one motivation for the creation of the first street newspapers was to counter the negative coverage of homeless people that was coming from existing media. Street News, founded in late 1989 in New York City, is frequently cited as the first modern street newspaper. While some small papers were already being published when it was founded, Street News attracted the most attention and became the "catalyst" for many other papers. Many more street papers were launched in the early 1990s, crediting the high-profile New York paper as their inspiration, such as Spare Change News in Boston founded in 1992. During this period, an average of five new papers were created every year. This growth has been attributed both to changing attitudes and policies towards homeless individuals and to the ease of publishing provided by desktop computers; After 1989, at least 100 papers sprung up in over 30 countries. By 2008, an estimated 32 million people worldwide read street newspapers, and 250,000 poor, disadvantaged, or homeless individuals sold or contributed to them. Street papers have been started in many major cities worldwide, mainly in the United States and Western Europe. They have especially proliferated in Germany, which in 1999 had more street newspapers than the rest of Europe combined, and in Sweden, where the street papers Aluma, Situation Sthlm and Faktum won the 2006 grand prize award for journalism of the Swedish Publicists' Association. Street papers have been established in some cities in Canada, Africa, South America, and Asia. Even within the United States, some street newspapers (such as Chicago's bilingual Hasta Cuando) are published in languages other than English. In the mid-1990s, coalitions were established to strengthen the street newspaper movement. The International Network of Street Papers (INSP) (founded in 1994) and the North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) (founded in 1997) aim to provide support for street papers and to "uphold ethical standards". In particular, the INSP was established to help groups that were starting new street newspapers, to bring more mainstream media attention to the street newspaper movement during the 1990s, and to support interaction and cross-talk between street paper publishers and staff from different countries. The INSP and the NASNA voted to combine their resources in 2006; they have collaborated to found the Street News Service, a project which collects articles from member papers and archives them on the internet. National street paper coalitions have also been formed in Europe (there is a national coalition in Italy, and the Netherlands has the Straatmedia Groep Nederland). ## Description Most street newspapers have three main purposes: - To provide income and job skills to the homeless and other marginalized individuals, who act as vendors of and often contributors to the newspapers - To provide coverage of, and to educate the general public about, issues pertaining to homelessness and poverty - To establish social networks within homeless communities and between homeless individuals and service providers The defining characteristic of a street newspaper is that it is sold by homeless or marginalized vendors. While many street newspapers aim to provide coverage of social issues and educate the public about homelessness, this goal is often secondary: many people who buy street newspapers do so to support and express solidarity with the homeless vendor, rather than to read the paper. The precise demographics of the readership of street newspapers is unclear. A pair of 1993 surveys conducted by Chicago's StreetWise suggested that the paper's readers at the time tended to be college-educated, with slightly over half being female, and slightly over half unmarried. ### Operations and business Most street newspapers operate by selling the papers to homeless vendors for a fraction of the retail price (usually between 10% and 50%), after which the vendors sell the papers for the retail price and retain all the proceeds from street sales. The income vendors earn from sales is intended to help them "get back on their feet". The purpose of requiring vendors to purchase papers up front and earn back the money by selling them is to help them develop skills in financial management. Vendors for most newspapers are identifiable by badges or messenger bags. Many newspapers require that vendors sign a code of conduct or otherwise "clean up their act". Most street newspaper vendors in the United States and United Kingdom are homeless individuals, although in several other countries (especially in Europe) papers are mainly sold by refugees. Nevertheless, not all vendors are homeless; some have stable housing situations but are unable to hold other jobs, while others started out homeless but were eventually able to use their income from sales to find housing. In general, the major American street newspapers do not require prospective vendors to show proof of homelessness or poverty, and they do not require vendors to retire once they find stable housing. In the United States, during and after the Great Recession, there were many vendors who became "newly needy"—only recently homeless, or with only temporary financial difficulty—as opposed to the "chronically homeless" who have traditionally made up the majority of the vendor force. These vendors are often well-educated and have extensive work experience, but lost their jobs. Street papers start in a variety of ways. Some, such as Street Sense, are begun by homeless or formerly homeless individuals, whereas others are more professional ventures. Many, particularly in the United States, receive aid from local government and charities, and coalitions such as the International Network of Street Papers and the North American Street Newspaper Association provide workshops and support for new street papers. Many develop in a bottom-up fashion, starting up through volunteer work and "newcomers to the media business" and gradually expanding to include professionals. For most papers, the majority of revenue comes from sales, donations, and government grants, while some receive advertising revenue from local businesses. There has been some disagreement among street newspaper publishers and supporters over whether papers should accept advertising, with some arguing that advertising is practical and helps support the paper, and others claiming that many kinds of advertisements are inappropriate in a paper that is mainly geared towards the poor. Specific business models for street newspapers vary widely, ranging from vendor-managed papers that place the highest value upon homeless empowerment and involvement to highly professionalized and commercialized weeklies. Some papers (especially in Europe) operate as autonomous businesses, while others operate as parts of existing organizations or projects. There are papers that are very successful, such as the UK-based The Big Issue, which in 2001 sold nearly 300,000 copies a week and earned the equivalent of 1 millionUSD in profits, but many papers sell as few as 3,000 copies a month and barely generate a profit at all for the publishers. ### Coverage Most street newspapers report on issues regarding homelessness and poverty, sometimes functioning as a main source of information on policy changes and other practical issues that are relevant to the homeless but may go unreported in mainstream media. Many feature contributions from the homeless and the poor in addition to articles by activists and community organizers, including profiles of individual street newspaper vendors. For example, the first edition of Washington, D.C.'s Street Sense included a description of a prominent homeless community, an interview with a congresswoman, an editorial about the costs and benefits of taking a job, several poems about homelessness, a how-to column, and a section for recipes. A 2009 issue of the Lawrence, Kansas-based Change of Heart included a story on the recent bulldozing of a homeless camp, a review of a book on homelessness, a description of the Family Promise organization for homeless support, and a list of community resources; much of this content was submitted by the homeless. The writing style is often simple and clear; social scientist Kevin Howley describes street newspapers as having a "native eloquence". According to Howley, street newspapers are similar to citizen journalism in that both are a response to the perceived shortcomings of the mainstream media and both encourage involvement by non-professionals. A major difference between the two, however, is that the citizen journalism movement does not necessarily advocate a particular position, whereas street newspapers openly advocate for the homeless and poor. Unlike most street newspapers, the UK-based The Big Issue focuses mostly on celebrity news and interviews, rather than coverage of homelessness and poverty. It is still sold by homeless vendors and uses the bulk of its proceeds to support homeless individuals and advocacy organizations for the homeless, but the paper's content is mostly written by professional staff and geared towards a broad audience. Because of its professional nature and high production values, it has been a frequent target of criticism in an ongoing debate between adherents of professional and grassroots ideals of how street newspapers should work. ### Social benefits In addition to providing some individuals with income and employment, street newspapers are intended to give homeless participants responsibility and independence, and to create a tight-knit homeless community. Many offer additional programs to vendors, such as job training, housing placement assistance, and referral to other direct services. Others operate as a program of a larger social services organization—for instance, Chicago's StreetWise can refer vendors to providers of "drug and alcohol treatment, high school equivalency classes, career counseling, and permanent housing". Most are engaged in some form of organizing and advocacy regarding homelessness and poverty, and many function as "watchdogs" for the local homeless communities. Howley has described street newspapers as a means of mobilizing the networks of "formal and informal relationships that exist between the homeless, the unemployed, and the working poor, and shelter managers, healthcare workers, community organizers, and others who work on their behalf". ### Challenges and criticisms In the early days of street newspapers, people were often reluctant to buy from homeless vendors for fear that they were being scammed. Furthermore, many of the more activist papers fail to sell well because their writing and production are perceived to be unprofessional and lackluster. Topics covered are sometimes seen as lacking newsworthy content, and of little relevance or interest to the general public or the homeless community. Organizations in Montreal and San Francisco have responded to these criticisms by offering workshops in writing and journalism for homeless contributors. Papers such as StreetWise have in the past been criticized as "grim" and for having vendors that are too loud and intrusive. Some newspapers sell well but may not be widely read, as many people will donate to vendors without buying, or buy the newspaper and then throw it away. Howley has described readers' hesitance or unwillingness to read the papers as "compassion fatigue". On the other hand, those papers that do sell well and are widely read, such as The Big Issue, are often targets of criticism for being too "mainstream" or commercial. Other difficulties street newspapers face include high turnover of "transient" or unreliable staff, lack of adequate funding, lack of journalistic freedom for papers that are funded by local government, and, among some demographics, lack of interest in homeless issues. For example, journalism professor Jim Cunningham has attributed the difficulties in selling Calgary's Calgary Street Talk to the fact that the mostly middle-class, conservative population has "not enough sensitivity to the causes of homelessness". Finally, anti-homeless legislation often targets street newspapers and vendors; for example, in New York City and Cleveland, laws have prevented vendors from selling papers on public transit or other high-traffic areas, making it difficult for the papers Street News and Homeless Grapevine to earn revenue. ### Differing approaches Among proponents and publishers of street newspapers there is disagreement over how street newspapers should be run and what their goals should be, reflecting a "clash between two philosophies for advocating social change". On one side of the debate are papers that seek to function like a business and generate a profit and a wide readership in order to benefit the homeless in a practical way; on the other are papers that seek to provide a "voice" to the homeless and poor without watering down their message for a broad readership. Timothy Harris, the director of Real Change, has described the two camps as "liberal entrepreneurial" and "radical, grassroots activist". Controversy surrounding The Big Issue, the world's most widely circulated street newspaper, is a good example of these two schools of thought. The Big Issue is mostly a tabloid covering celebrity news; while it is sold by the homeless and generates a profit that is used to benefit the homeless, the content is not written by them and there is little coverage of social issues that are relevant to them. In the late 1990s when the London-based paper began making plans to enter markets in the United States, many American street newspaper publishers reacted defensively, saying they could not compete with the production values and mainstream appeal of the professionally produced The Big Issue or that The Big Issue did not do enough to provide a voice to the homeless. The reaction to The Big Issue raised what is now an ongoing conflict between commercialized, professional papers and more grassroots-style ones, with papers such as The Big Issue emulating mainstream papers and magazines in order to generate a large profit to invest in homeless issues and others focusing on political and social issues rather than on content that will generate money. Some street newspaper proponents believe that the primary aim of the papers should be to give homeless individuals a voice and to "fill the void" in mainstream media coverage, whereas others believe it should be to provide homeless individuals with jobs and an income. Other frequent areas of disagreement include the extent that the homeless should participate in the writing and printing of street newspapers, and whether street newspapers should accept advertising to generate revenue. Kevin Howley sums up the division between different street newspaper models when he questions if it is "possible (or desirable for that matter) to publish a dissident newspaper—that is, a publication committed to progressive social change—and still attract a wide audience". ## List of street newspapers
298,282	Wood Badge	1,163,890,916	Scouting award	[ "Scout leader training", "Scouting events", "Scouting spoken word files" ]	Wood Badge is a Scouting leadership programme and the related award for adult leaders in the programmes of Scout associations throughout the world. Wood Badge courses aim to make Scouters better leaders by teaching advanced leadership skills, and by creating a bond and commitment to the Scout movement. Courses generally have a combined classroom and practical outdoors-based phase followed by a Wood Badge ticket, also known as the project phase. By "working the ticket", participants put their newly gained experience into practice to attain ticket goals aiding the Scouting movement. The first Wood Badge training was organized by Francis "Skipper" Gidney and lectured at by Robert Baden-Powell and others at Gilwell Park (United Kingdom) in September 1919. Wood Badge training has since spread across the world with international variations. On completion of the course, participants are awarded the Wood Badge beads to recognize significant achievement in leadership and direct service to young people. The pair of small wooden beads, one on each end of a leather thong (string), is worn around the neck as part of the Scout uniform. The beads are presented together with a taupe neckerchief bearing a tartan patch of the Maclaren clan, honoring William de Bois Maclaren, who donated the £7000 to purchase Gilwell Park in 1919 plus an additional £3000 for improvements to the house that was on the estate. The neckerchief with the braided leather woggle (neckerchief slide) denotes the membership of the 1st Gilwell Scout Group or Gilwell Troop 1. Recipients of the Wood Badge are known as Wood Badgers or Gilwellians. ## Scout leader training course ### History Soon after founding the Scout movement, Robert Baden-Powell saw the need for leader training. Early Scoutmaster training camps were held in London and Yorkshire. Baden-Powell wanted practical training in the outdoors in campsites. World War I delayed the development of leader training, so the first formal Wood Badge course was not offered until 1919. Gilwell Park, just outside London, was purchased specifically to provide a venue for the course and the Opening Ceremonies were held on July 26, 1919. Francis Gidney, the first Camp Chief at Gilwell Park, conducted the first Wood Badge course there from September 8–19, 1919. It was produced by Percy Everett, the Commissioner of Training, and Baden-Powell himself gave lectures. The course was attended by 18 participants, and other lecturers. After this first course, Wood Badge training continued at Gilwell Park, and it became the home of leadership training in the Scout movement. ### Modern curriculum The principles underpinning the Wood Badge Training Scheme are: - Continuous Development - Essential Areas - Progressive With Multi-Entry Points - Not Time-Bound - Adaptable - Recognizing and Using the Scout Method - Acceptance of the Principles and Practices of Safe from Harm - Recognition of Individual Development Included in the Essential Areas above, a Wood Badge competence framework should cover development of the competencies in the following topic clusters: - Scouting (fundamentals) essentials such as Essential Characteristics of Scouting, Youth Program Implementation, Vision and Growth, Safe from Harm, etc. - Leadership and Management such as situational leadership, team management and development, taking initiative, leading change, learning organization, etc. - Project management such as generating ideas, working on plans and solutions, achieving results, evaluating success etc. - Communicating meaningfully, effectively and with cultural sensitivity. - Adult development such as facilitating learning, organizing training, providing coaching and mentoring support etc. Every suggested topic should have a list of competencies developed through various training programs. Generally, a Wood Badge course consists of classroom work, a series of self-study modules, outdoor training, and the Wood Badge "ticket" or "project". Classroom and outdoor training are often combined and taught together, and occur over one or more weeks or weekends. As part of completing this portion of the course, participants must write their tickets. The exact curriculum varies from country to country, but the training generally includes both theoretical and experiential learning. All course participants are introduced to the 1st Gilwell Scout group or Gilwell Scout Troop 1 (the latter name is used in the Boy Scouts of America and some other countries). In the Boy Scouts of America, they are also assigned to one of the traditional Wood Badge "critter" patrols. Instructors deliver training designed to strengthen the patrols. One-on-one work with an assigned troop guide helps each participant to reflect on what he has learned, so that he can better prepare an individualized "ticket". This part of the training program gives the adult Scouter the opportunity to assume the role of a Scout joining the original "model" troop, to learn firsthand how a troop ideally operates. The locale of all initial training is referred to as Gilwell Field, no matter its geographical location. ### Ticket The phrase 'working your ticket' comes from a story attributed in Scouting legend to Baden-Powell: Upon completion of a British soldier's service in India, he had to pay the cost of his ticket home. The most affordable way for a soldier to return was to engineer a progression of assignments that were successively closer to home. Part of the transformative power of the Wood Badge experience is the effective use of metaphor and tradition to reach both heart and mind. In most Scout associations, "working your ticket" is the culmination of Wood Badge training. Participants apply themselves and their new knowledge and skills to the completion of items designed to strengthen the individual's leadership and the home unit's organizational resilience in a project or "ticket". The ticket consists of specific goals that must be accomplished within a specified time, often 18 months due to the large amount of work involved. Effective tickets require much planning and are approved by the Wood Badge course staff before the course phase ends. Upon completion of the ticket, a participant is said to have earned his way back to Gilwell. ### On completion After completion of the Wood Badge course, participants are awarded the insignia in a Wood Badge bead ceremony. They receive automatic membership in 1st Gilwell Park Scout Group or Gilwell Troop 1. These leaders are henceforth called Gilwellians or Wood Badgers. It is estimated that worldwide over 100,000 Scouters have completed their Wood Badge training. The 1st Gilwell Scout Group meets annually during the first weekend in September at Gilwell Park for the Gilwell Reunion. Gilwell Reunions are also held in other places, often on that same weekend. ## Insignia Scout leaders who complete the Wood Badge program are recognized with insignia consisting of the Wood Badge beads, 1st Gilwell Group neckerchief and woggle. ### Woggle The Gilwell woggle is a two- or three-strand version of a Turk's head knot, which has no beginning and no end, and symbolizes the commitment of a Wood Badger to Scouting. In some countries, Wood Badge training is divided into more than one part and the Gilwell woggle is given for completion of Wood Badge Part I. First designed in the early 1920s by British Scouter Bill Shankley, the woggle was part of the leader training scheme by 1926. ### Beads The beads were first presented at the initial leadership course in September 1919 at Gilwell Park. The origins of Wood Badge beads can be traced back to 1888, when Baden-Powell was on a military campaign in Zululand (now part of South Africa). He pursued Dinuzulu, son of Cetshwayo, a Zulu king, for some time, but never managed to catch up with him. Dinuzulu was said to have had a 12-foot (4 m)-long necklace with more than a thousand acacia beads. Baden-Powell is claimed to have found the necklace when he came to Dinuzulu's deserted mountain stronghold. Such necklaces were known as iziQu in Zulu and were presented to brave warrior leaders. Much later, Baden-Powell sought a distinctive award for the participants in the first Gilwell course. He constructed the first award using two beads from the necklace he had recovered, and threaded them onto a leather thong given to him by an elderly South African in Mafeking, calling it the Wood Badge. While no official knot exists for tying the two ends of the thong together, the decorative diamond knot has become the most common. When produced, the thong is joined by a simple overhand knot and various region specific traditions have arisen around tying the diamond knot, including: having a fellow course member tie it; having a mentor or course leader tie it; and having the recipient tie it after completing some additional activity that shows he or she has mastered the skills taught to him or her during training. #### Significance of additional beads Wood Badge training programs award completion of the training with a different number of the "wooden beads": • 2 Beads for all Adults in Scouting (WB) whether at leadership or support level, • 3 Beads for Adults in Scouting (WB3) at managing, planning and implementing levels, • 4 Beads for Adults in Scouting (WB4) at a higher level of conceptualising, designing and developing. Historically, the wearing of a 5th bead or 6th bead has been a tradition emanating from the Founder’s day and is still a practice in a number of National Scouting Associations and Organizations today, mainly due to specific appointments. Five beads may be worn by those (volunteer and/or staff) with primary responsibility for Wood Badge training in a National Association or Organization. The fifth bead symbolizes the role of Deputy Camp Chief of Gilwell, the wearer's position as an official representative of Gilwell Park, and his or her function in maintaining the global integrity of Wood Badge training. The founder of the Scouting movement, Robert Baden-Powell, wore six beads, as did Sir Percy Everett, then Deputy Chief Scout and the Chief's right hand. Baden-Powell's beads are on display at Baden-Powell House in London. Everett endowed his six beads to be worn by the Camp Chief of Gilwell as a badge of office. ### 1st Gilwell Scout Group neckerchief The neckerchief is a universal symbol of Scouting and its Maclaren tartan represents Wood Badge's ties to Gilwell Park. The neckerchief, called a "necker" in British and some Commonwealth Scouting associations, is a standard triangular scarf made of cotton or wool twill with a taupe face and red back; a patch of Clan MacLaren tartan is affixed near the point. The pattern was adopted in honor of a British Scout commissioner who, as a descendant of the Scottish MacLaren clan, donated money for the Gilwell Park property on which the first Wood Badge program was held. Originally, the neckerchief was made entirely of triangular pieces of the tartan, but its expense forced the adoption of the current design. The neckerchief is often worn with the Gilwell woggle. ### Axe and Log The axe and log logo was conceived by the first Camp Chief, Francis Gidney, in the early 1920s to distinguish Gilwell Park from the Scout Headquarters. Gidney wanted to associate Gilwell Park with the outdoors and Scoutcraft rather than the business or administrative Headquarters offices. Scouters present at the original Wood Badge courses regularly saw axe blades masked for safety by being buried in a log. Seeing this, Gidney chose the axe and log as the totem of Gilwell Park. ### Other symbols The kudu horn is another Wood Badge symbol. Baden-Powell first encountered the kudu horn at the Battle of Shangani, where he discovered how the Matabele warriors used it to quickly spread a signal of alarm. He used the horn at the first Scout encampment at Brownsea Island in 1907. It is used from the early Wood Badge courses to signal the beginning of the course or an activity, and to inspire Scouters to always do better. The grass fields at the back of the White House at Gilwell Park are known as the Training Ground and The Orchard, and are where Wood Badge training was held from the early years onward. A large oak, known as the Gilwell Oak, separates the two fields. The Gilwell Oak symbol is associated with Wood Badge, although the beads for the Wood Badge have never been made of this oak. Wolf Cub leaders briefly followed a separate training system beginning in 1922, in which they were awarded the Akela Badge on completion. The badge was a single fang on a leather thong. Wolf Cub Leader Trainers wore two fangs. The Akela Badge was discontinued in 1925, and all leaders were awarded the Wood Badge on completion of their training. Very few of the fangs issued as Akela Badges can now be found. ## International training centers and trainers ### Australia Other sites providing Wood Badge training have taken the Gilwell name. The first Australian Wood Badge courses were held in 1920 after the return of two newly minted Deputy Camp Chiefs, Charles Hoadley and Mr. Russell at the home of Victorian Scouting, Gilwell Park, Gembrook. In 2003, Scouts Australia established the Scouts Australia Institute of Training, a government-registered National Vocational & Education Training (VET) provider. Under this registration, Scouts Australia awards a "Diploma of Leadership and Management" to those Adult Leaders who complete the Wood Badge training and additional competencies. The Diploma of Leadership and Management, like all Australian VET qualifications, is recognized throughout Australia by both government and private industry. This is an optional extra that Leaders and Rovers may undertake. ### Austria The first Wood Badge Training in Austria took place in 1932. Scoutmaster Joesef Miegl took his Wood Badge training in Gilwell Park and September 8 to 17, 1922, he led a Leader Training near Vienna, one of the first in Austria. Scouters from Austria, Germany, Italy and Hungary took part. He brought in many things he learned in Gilwell Park about International and British Scouting, but it was not an official Wood Badge training. ### Belgium The first Wood Badge training in Belgium was held in August 1923 at Jannée, led by Étienne Van Hoof. In the largest Scout association of the country, known as Les Scouts – Fédération des Scouts Baden-Powell de Belgique, it is necessary to complete the 3-steps formation in 3 years. After the 3 steps, the scout leader become a Wood Badger and he receives a Certificate as an animator in a holiday centre (Brevet d’animateur en centre de vacances (BACV)) by the French Community of Belgium. ### Canada Scouts Canada holds numerous Wood Badge training courses on an annual basis throughout the country. In this NSO, all Scouters (volunteers) are required to complete an online Wood Badge Part I Course, and are encouraged to complete a Wood Badge Part II program that includes self-directed learning, conducted through mentorship and coaching in addition to traditional courses and workshops. Upon completion of the Woodbadge Part II program a volunteer is conferred their "beads" and the Gilwell Necker. ### Finland Alfons Åkerman gave the first eight Wood Badge courses and was from 1927 to 1935 the first Deputy Camp Chief. In lieu of Gilwell training, the Finnish Scouts have a "Kolmiapila-Gilwell" (Trefoil-Gilwell), combining aspects of both girls' and boys' advanced leadership training. ### France The first Wood Badge training in France was held Easter 1923 by Père Sevin in Chamarande. ### Ireland Wood Badge training in Ireland goes back to the 1st Larch Hill of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland, who conducted Wood Badge courses that emphasized the Catholic approach to Scouting. This emphasis is now disappeared since the formation of Scouting Ireland. ### Israel The first Wood Badge training in Israel was held in April 1963 by John Thurman and took place at the Israeli Scout Ranch, together with 20 participants, Jews, Arabs and Druze. Since the first training, every Wood Badge course run by the Israel Boy and Girl Scouts Federation is a mutual event for all different religions and organizations in Scouting. ### Hungary In 2010, 21 year after the reorganization of Hungarian Scout Association, was the first Scoutmaster training with the Wood Badge. (There was other Scoutmaster training before, but these weren't organized according to the Wood Badge Framework.) The head of the first Wood Badge training in Hungary was Balázs Solymosi who has four beads. From 2010 to 2018, in 8 courses more than 50 adult leader performed successfully and awarded. In 2019 started a new era in Wood Badge training in Hungary. Two type of courses are available: one for leaders in the Association and one for local group leaders. The association level have the basis made by Balázs Solymosi, the group leader level based on a new training program. Both program gives the highest level of scouting knowledge from different point of view for the participants. ### Madagascar The First Wood Badge training of the Tily eto Madagasikara, known as the first Lasy Ravinala, was held in 1957 at Dinta Ambohidratrimo, Antananarivo, led by the first malagasy Chief Commissioner Samuel Randria. In Madagascar, the participants of the Wood badge camp can only wear the woggle. They will get their first two bead one year later after writing and defend a dissertation.The Gilwell neckerchief can only be worn by an three-bead (Trainer) and a four-bead (Trainer of trainer) holder. ### The Netherlands The first Wood Badge training in the Netherlands was held in July 1923 by Scoutmaster Jan Schaap, on Gilwell Ada's Hoeve, Ommen. At Gilwell Sint Walrick, Overasselt, the Catholic Scouts had their training. Since approximately 2000, the Dutch Wood Badge training takes place on the Scout campsite Buitenzorg, Baarn, or outdoors in Belgium or Germany under the name 'Gilwell Training'. ### Norway In Norway, Woodbadge is known as Trefoil-Gilwell Training. ### Philippines Wood Badge was introduced in the Philippines in 1953 with the first course held at Camp Gre-Zar in Novaliches, Quezon City. Today, Wood Badge courses are held at the Philippine Scouting Center for the Asia-Pacific Region, at the foothills of Mount Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna province. ### Romania Cercetasii Romaniei started implementing the Wood Badge system in 2015, by preparing trainers within a partnership with Ireland. The first Romanian-held Wood Badge training started in 2019. ### Sweden As in several other Nordic countries, the Swedish Wood Badge training is known as Trefoil Gilwell, being a unification of the former higher leadership programmes of the Swedish Guides and Scouts, known respectively as the Trefoil training and the Gilwell training. ### United Kingdom The first Wood Badge training took place on Gilwell Park. The estate continues to provide the service for British Scouters of The Scout Association and international participants. Original trainers include Baden-Powell and Gilwell Camp Chiefs Francis Gidney, John Wilson and John Thurman. ### United States Wood Badge was introduced to the United States by Baden-Powell. The first course was held in 1936 at the Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation, the Boy Scouts of America national training center until 1979. Despite this early first course, Wood Badge was not formally adopted in the United States until 1948 under the guidance of Bill Hillcourt who became the first national Deputy Camp Chief of Gilwell in the BSA, also called the Deputy Camp Chief for the United States. Wood Badge courses are held throughout the country at local council camps, others are held at the National High Adventure Bases. All are under the auspices of Scouting University.
69,171,027	To Be Loved (Adele song)	1,150,257,570	2021 song by Adele	[ "2020s ballads", "2021 songs", "Adele songs", "Songs written by Adele", "Songs written by Tobias Jesso Jr.", "Torch songs" ]	"To Be Loved" is a song by English singer Adele from her fourth studio album 30 (2021). Adele wrote it with Tobias Jesso Jr., who produced it with Shawn Everett. The song became available as the album's 11th track on 19 November 2021, when it was released by Columbia Records. A torch ballad, "To Be Loved" has piano instrumentation and sets Adele's echoey vocals over minimalistic production. The song is about the sacrifices one must make upon falling in love and addresses Adele's divorce from Simon Konecki, attempting to justify to her son why their marriage did not succeed. "To Be Loved" received universal acclaim from music critics, who highlighted Adele's vocal performance as her all-time best. Several publications included it in their list of the best songs of 2021. It reached the top 40 in Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the United States, and entered the charts in some other countries. Adele did not perform "To Be Loved" live, but shared a clip of her performing it, accompanied by a piano, on social media. ## Background and promotion Adele began working on her fourth studio album by 2018. She filed for divorce from her husband Simon Konecki in September 2019, which inspired the album. After experiencing anxiety, Adele undertook therapy sessions and mended her estranged relationship with her father. The years following the divorce plagued her, especially due to the effect it had on her son. Adele decided to have regular conversations with him, which she recorded following advice from her therapist. These conversations inspired her return to the studio and the album took shape as a body of work that would explain to her son why she left his father. Adele released "Easy on Me" as the lead single from the album, entitled 30, on 14 October 2021. Adele wrote the song "To Be Loved" with Tobias Jesso Jr., who had worked on two songs for her third studio album 25 (2015)—"When We Were Young" and "Lay Me Down". They finished an early version of "To Be Loved" in a Brentwood house without any studio equipment, with Adele recording vocal takes on her MacBook. Shawn Everett placed microphones and blankets all over the room and the piano for the final recording; Jesso Jr. recounted: "It was just us playing live and together. And so in the piano tracks, you can hear vocals and in the vocals, you can hear the piano." "To Be Loved" was among the songs Adele played for her father shortly prior to his dying from cancer, after which they both cried. She said about its inspiration: "My main goal in life is to be loved in love. And so I wanted to play it to my dad being like, 'You're the reason I haven't done that yet,' he was the reason I haven't fully accessed what it is to be in a loving relationship with somebody." While creating "To Be Loved", Adele envisioned playing it for her son when he would be in his 30s. The song was announced as the 11th track on the album on 1 November 2021. On 17 November, Adele posted a clip of her performing "To Be Loved" in her living room, accompanied by a piano. It was well-received on the Internet. Rolling Stone's Althea Legaspi described the rendition as "devastatingly gorgeous", and Billboard's Heran Mamo called it "casually soul-crushing". As her voice grew louder, the sound in the clip became increasingly distorted, which led Variety's Chris Willman and The Guardian Nigeria's Oreoritse Tariemi to comment that "it sound[ed] like it was about to break her phone". About the prospect of performing the song again in the future, Adele stated, "I don't think I'll do it live. I can't even listen to it, so no. I have to leave the room, I get really upset, I get really choked up." "To Be Loved" became available for digital download on 30, which was released two days later. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number 12 on the Official Audio Streaming Chart. The song charted at number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at number 16 on the Canadian Hot 100. In Australia, "To Be Loved" reached number 25. On the Billboard Global 200, the song peaked at number 19. It reached national record charts, at number 26 in Sweden, number 48 in Portugal, and number 116 in France. ## Composition "To Be Loved" is six minutes and 43 seconds long. Jesso Jr. played the piano, and produced the song with Everett, who recorded it at Will's Grandma's House in California and engineered it with Ivan Wayman. Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in New Jersey, and Matt Scatchell and Tom Elmhirst mixed it at Electric Lady Studios in New York. "To Be Loved" is a torch ballad, with minimalistic piano instrumentation. The song progresses at a slow tempo, which The Guardian's Alexis Petridis compared to a "12-mile tailback on the M62". It opens with a powerful and unabashed piano line. "To Be Loved" sets Adele's echoey vocals over bare and exposed production, which The A.V. Club's Gabrielle Sanchez thought sounded like "she's singing on an empty stage". She employs a chest belt that switches between a vibrato and vocal growls, spanning a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Adele's voice cracks during the bridge. She delivers the song's highest note with the words "I tried". The Telegraph's Neil McCormick described its climax as a testimonial epilogue gigantic enough to "blow out her vocal cords". Adele addresses her divorce from Konecki on "To Be Loved", explaining to her son why her marriage did not succeed, a theme also explored on 30's third track "My Little Love". The song has lyrics about persevering in a relationship with the sole reason of wanting to be loved. She describes the price one has to pay upon completely and unapologetically falling in love with someone else. Adele justifies the separation as she believes the marriage deprived her of the true love she had been seeking her whole life, and parts ways in hopes that a greater love is possible. On "To Be Loved", she confronts what it means to share her life, attempting to gauge where her trust and dependence transformed into self-erasure: "To be loved and love at the highest count/Means to lose all the things I can't live without," and states, "I can't live a lie". Slant Magazine's Eric Mason described the song as "the internal monologue of a Broadway actor who's been unexpectedly left alone on stage". ## Critical reception "To Be Loved" received rave reviews from music critics. Pitchfork's Gio Santiago named the song an "off-the-cuff masterpiece" and thought Adele reached new levels of vulnerability with it. He likened it to an 11 o'clock number and stated that it placed determinedly among a collection of heartbreak songs. Cat Sposato of NPR wrote that "To Be Loved" was Adele at her prime vocally, and believed she delivered her final vocals on it with extenuating passion that might be strong enough to cure her bygone lesions. Writing for The Observer, Kitty Empire named the song 30's defining track as well as "the Burj Khalifa of piano ballads". Jason Lipshutz of Billboard deemed it the most dexterous moment of the album and the "most mesmerizing powerhouse vocal performance" of Adele's career. Critics compared Adele's vocal performance on "To Be Loved" to Whitney Houston. Writing for Clash, Robin Murray thought her prolonged and dulcet vocal lines drew full strength from her throat, and further compared them to vocalised pirouettes performed by Houston during her prime. McCormick described "To Be Loved" as an eye-catching ballad, and opined that its final vocals were almost flabbergasting to hear, the crude emotion achieving something "beyond musical finesse". Sanchez thought Adele was at her pinnacle on the song, her "raw, powerhouse performance" likely to induce an impulse to applaud from the listener. Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes opined that it will go down in history, and saw her do what she is best at, "creat[ing] a world of feeling out of little more than her voice and then tak[ing] you to the brink". Kyle Mullin of Exclaim! thought the wounded piano and high notes of "To Be Loved" shared the chill-inducing quality of "Someone like You" (2011). Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood described the vocals in the song's climax as "a howl of pain", and deemed it so remarkable "everybody in Los Angeles didn't stop on the day she recorded it and wonder what they just heard". Murray thought the beautiful melody and chord structure of "To Be Loved" contrasted with its dark lyrics. NME's El Hunt felt the song's production is so tender, one can almost feel the silky "hammers of the keys". Sanchez praised its figurative lyricism. David Cobbald of The Line of Best Fit considered "To Be Loved" both lyrically and melodically strong, as well as "one of Adele's best vocal performances to date", but thought its replayability was compromised by its theatricality. Writing for MusicOMH, Graeme Marsh thought she went overboard feeling sorry for herself, and came across as if she was trying to convince herself she did everything to prevent her divorce, a recurring theme on 30, but described the song as stunning nonetheless. Several publications included "To Be Loved" in their list of the best songs of 2021. The Sydney Morning Herald's Robert Moran placed the song at number three, and deemed it worthy of a standing ovation due to Adele's stentorian vocals reminiscent of Houston. Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times included it at number six, and stated that it was emblematic of her being "regal as ever", but freshly open to the world and daring enough to get a little sullied. Willman listed "To Be Loved" at number seven, opined that it was the most monumental 30 track, and thought Adele's vocal performance on it would make listeners shout from their rooftops that "Adele is one of the great singers of our lifetime". The Los Angeles Times placed the song at number 10, and Wood declared it "the vocal performance of the year". Jordan Rose of Complex included "To Be Loved" at number 19, naming it one of the "crown jewels" of Adele's discography, and deemed it "beautiful, painful, and [illustrative of] one of the album's core themes: authentic love comes at a cost and it never truly fades away". The Line of Best Fit listed the song at number 37, and Cobbald stated that it was a standout on 30 and "arguably Adele's best vocal performance to date", topping off her position as the "queen of heartbroken millennials". Pitchfork's Owen Myers placed it at number 39, and praised her vocal control on it: "She pushes her voice way past the elegant restraint that is her signature, as it curdles into squalls and ragged screams." Andrew Unterberger of Billboard included "To Be Loved" at number 45, and remarked that Adele "sinks her heart, soul and diaphragm into [the] personal anthem about refusing to regret not looking before she leaps" over its deservedly lengthy duration. The song was also placed on unranked lists by the Associated Press and Vogue. ## Credits and personnel Credits are adapted from the liner notes of 30. - Tobias Jesso Jr. – producer, songwriter, piano - Shawn Everett –producer, engineering - Adele – songwriter - Randy Merrill – mastering - Matt Scatchell – mixing - Tom Elmhirst – mixing - Ivan Wayman – engineering ## Charts ## Certifications
6,396,868	Hughie Ferguson	1,164,298,181	Scottish footballer (1895–1930)	[ "1895 births", "1930 deaths", "1930 suicides", "Cardiff City F.C. players", "Dundee F.C. players", "English Football League players", "Footballers from Motherwell", "Men's association football forwards", "Motherwell F.C. players", "Parkhead F.C. players", "Scotland men's junior international footballers", "Scottish Football League players", "Scottish Football League representative players", "Scottish Junior Football Association players", "Scottish league football top scorers", "Scottish men's footballers", "Suicides by gas", "Suicides in Scotland", "Third Lanark A.C. players" ]	Hugh Ferguson (2 March 1895 – 8 January 1930) was a Scottish professional footballer. Born in Motherwell, he played for Parkhead at junior level as an amateur and was one of the most sought-after young players in Scotland before signing for his hometown club to begin his professional career. He established himself as a consistent scorer playing as a centre forward, finishing as the top goalscorer in the Scottish Football League on three occasions between 1918 and 1921. His 284 league goals remains a record at the club and, by 1925, he was the highest-scoring player in the history of the Scottish League. In 1925, Ferguson moved to Welsh side Cardiff City for £5,000 and continued his scoring exploits. He was the club's top goalscorer for four consecutive seasons and scored the winning goal in the 1927 FA Cup Final during a 1–0 victory over Arsenal. He also scored in the 1927 FA Charity Shield, during a 2–1 victory over amateur side Corinthians. Both results made Cardiff the only non-English team to have won the FA Cup or the FA Charity Shield. Despite his prolific scoring record, finishing his career with a goal average of 0.855 per game, he was never selected to play for Scotland, but did represent a Scottish League XI on three occasions. Ferguson returned to Scotland with Dundee in 1929, but struggled to reproduce his goalscoring form. Six months after his arrival, he had lost his place in the team and committed suicide on 8 January 1930 at the age of 34. He is one of only seven men in the history of the English and Scottish Football Leagues to have scored 350 league goals. ## Career ### Early career Ferguson started his career with local youth sides in his hometown of Motherwell and represented the Dalziel School's team as a half back. He moved on to the Motherwell branch of the Boys' Brigade and later Motherwell Hearts as an outside forward, helping the club reach the Scottish Juvenile Cup final. He joined Glasgow-based Parkhead in 1914, when he switched to playing as a centre forward. He appeared for the side in their victorious 1914–15 Scottish Junior Cup final over Port Glasgow Athletic Juniors. Ferguson opened the scoring after 20 minutes by hitting a first-time shot past the opposition goalkeeper, which The Sunday Post described as "a capital goal". Parkhead went on to win the match 2–0. At the end of his first season with Parkhead, he was chosen in a Glasgow Junior League XI against a Rest of Scotland XI and scored three of his side's goals in a 5–1 victory. The Midlothian Journal remarked that Ferguson was "in a class by himself". He entered into contract talks with Manchester City and was on the verge of signing for the club when the First World War escalated. With the suspension of football in England, the move was cancelled. Ahead of the 1915–16 season, with Scottish football continuing during the First World War, Ferguson held talks with his hometown side Motherwell and missed the start of Parkhead's opening game of the campaign after extensive discussions with Motherwell manager John Hunter ran late. He remained with Parkhead and by the mid-point of the campaign, Ferguson was one of the most coveted young players in the country, having scored more than 30 goals in the first four months of the season, and gaining the notice of several clubs. He turned down a second offer to join Motherwell the same month and was due to turn out for Rangers in a benefit match a month later, but withdrew after sustaining an injury while playing for Parkhead in the Scottish Junior Cup, a tie in which he scored five times. He was chosen to represent the Glasgow Junior League XI against a team from the Rest of Scotland for the second time in February 1916, and scored one of his side's goals in a 5–2 victory. The match served as a trial for the selection of a Scottish Junior side to take on their Irish counterparts in March, and Ferguson was duly selected. Against the Irish side, he was marked closely and missed several chances as his frustration over his treatment grew. He did win a penalty in the second half that he converted to seal a 2–0 win for Scotland. Syd Puddefoot recalled Ferguson playing against Shettleston in a Scottish Junior Cup match that had been delayed and risked the forward missing an appointment; Ferguson proceeded to score eight times for Parkhead before feigning injury to leave the game early with the result no longer in doubt. Parkhead went on to win the game 11–1. Ferguson also helped Parkhead reach a second consecutive Scottish Junior Cup final in 1916, but his side were defeated 2–0 by Petershill. After the 1916 final, many of Parkhead's squad were signed by professional clubs. Ferguson, who had scored more than 70 goals in his last year with the side, retained his amateur status longer than his teammates as he hoped for an offer from a Lancashire-based side in the Football League. The Sporting Chronicle described Ferguson as "the most debated junior player of his time", some regarding him as a "mere goalscorer", but added that "there is not a senior club in Scotland who would not give £10, many times multiplied, to get Ferguson". Ferguson returned to Parkhead for the start of the 1916–17 season and scored twice for the club in a 3–1 victory over Strathclyde. ### Motherwell #### Debut season and first top scorer award Ferguson came close to signing for Celtic, but eventually joined his hometown side Motherwell for the start of the 1916–17 Scottish Football League season. Following the collapse of his move to Manchester, he had stated that Motherwell was "the only other club he would think about". He made his professional debut for the club in a 2–2 draw with Raith Rovers on 19 August 1916, scoring both of his side's goals. Two weeks later, he scored his first senior hat-trick during a 4–2 win over Dundee and had a later strike disallowed for an earlier foul. Motherwell had trailed 1–0 at half-time before Ferguson inspired a second-half comeback. The first half of his season was limited owing to minor injuries, but he went on to finish his first campaign with 25 league goals, including a second hat-trick against Dumbarton in February 1917. His tally was the fourth highest in the league and accounted for nearly half his side's goals during the campaign. At the end of the season, he was selected in a Scottish League representative side for a benefit match against league champions Celtic; the Sheffield Star Green 'Un remarked that "few footballers have made their reputation as quickly". In the opening game of the 1917–18 season, Ferguson opened his account for the new campaign by netting all four of Motherwell's goals during a 4–2 victory over Third Lanark. During a league match against St Mirren in October, he was knocked unconscious after being fouled in the opposition penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty for the foul, from which the winning goal was scored. Ferguson was stretchered off the pitch and did not play for another three weeks. Further hat-tricks followed during the season; the first, against Ayr United in December, placed Ferguson as the highest-scoring player in Scotland at the end of 1917 with 22 goals. The second came a month later, against Queen's Park in January 1918. He finished the season as the Scottish League's top goalscorer with 34, three ahead of Third Lanark's David McLean. His goals helped Motherwell record a fifth-placed finish and become the highest-scoring team in the league, Ferguson again scoring around half of his side's goals. #### Further top five finishes Motherwell began the 1918–19 season in poor form, scoring only twice in their opening five matches, one of which was claimed by Ferguson. His season was affected by illness after he contracted a throat infection which forced him to miss most of the final two months of 1918. Motherwell recovered to repeat their fifth place finish the following year, but scored considerably fewer goals, Ferguson himself recording his lowest tally for the club in a full season after scoring 19 times in the league from 26 appearances, though he remained the team's top scorer. Ferguson scored his first goals of the 1919–20 season by netting a hat-trick in an opening-game victory over Dundee. He scored a second hat-trick against Hamilton Academical three weeks later, for which he received a gold watch from local businessman T. B. Hill. Ferguson followed this up with a brace against Raith Rovers in Motherwell's next game, placing him as the Scottish League's top goalscorer, having netted eleven times in his first six appearances, three ahead of his nearest rival. Ferguson also scored in all of his league appearances until 6 October, when his side were beaten by Dundee. His early season form led to his selection in a Scottish League XI to face an Irish League XI, but he withdrew from the match after sustaining an injury in a league match against Heart of Midlothian the week before. The injury kept Ferguson out for five weeks before making his return against Partick Thistle in mid-December. Despite his absence, by the end of January 1920, Ferguson remained tied with James Williamson of Hibernian as the league's top goalscorer with 21. Ferguson moved ahead of his rival after scoring a hat-trick during a 5–1 win over Clyde in early February. He was selected for the Scottish League XI for a second time and played in a 4–0 defeat to their English league counterparts on 20 March. His performance was criticised in The Sunday Post after he missed several chances to score. Ferguson finished the season as the Scottish League's top goalscorer with 33. His goals helped Motherwell claim third position in the league, their highest finish in the top tier at the time. #### Record-breaking season Ferguson continued his good form into the 1920–21 season and netted four of his side's goals during a 6–0 win over Queen's Park early in the campaign. He followed this up with a further hat-trick against Falkirk two weeks later and ended October as the joint-highest scorer in the league. His goalscoring form attracted attention from clubs in England's Football League and both Everton and Huddersfield Town made enquiries to Motherwell over a transfer but were turned down. He scored a further four goals during an 8–2 victory over bottom-placed side Dumbarton in November, reaching 21 goals for the season and becoming the highest-scoring player in Scotland and England at the time. One month later, Ferguson scored four goals in a single game for the third time during the season, this time in a 6–1 win over Ayr United. On 16 April, he repeated his four-goal achievement for the fourth time during the season in a victory over Aberdeen. In doing so, he surpassed the Scottish League record for goals in a single season of 39 set by Rangers' Willie Reid before the First World War. Ferguson's four goals took his tally to 40 for the season. He ended the campaign with 42 goals to finish as the league's top goalscorer for the third time in four seasons. His goals record would last until the following year, when Duncan Walker scored 45 goals for St Mirren. During the opening months of the 1921–22 season, Ferguson scored his first hat-trick of the campaign against Dumbarton, by which time he was one goal short of Walker. Two weeks later, he received his second cap for the Scottish League XI in October and scored for the side as they defeated their Irish counterparts 3–0. In December, he scored all of Motherwell's goals in a 5–2 victory over Clydebank, four of which came in the first half. Ferguson was frequently linked with moves to English clubs, but the Sunday Post reported in January 1922 that he had no desire to move out of Scotland and did not enjoy the English style of football. Ferguson fell ten short of Walker in the latter's record breaking season, finishing as the second-highest scorer in the league with 35. #### Near transfer and later years At the end of the 1921–22 season Ferguson was placed on the transfer list by Motherwell at his own behest; this prompted approaches from several clubs. In June 1922, Manchester City submitted an offer of £3,500 (around £215,000 in 2021) which was rejected by Motherwell, who valued Ferguson at around £4,000. City returned with a bid of £3,900 which was accepted by the Motherwell board but the transfer collapsed when Ferguson turned down the move. He also held talks with Football League Third Division South side Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic over a role as player-manager, which was reported by some newspapers as being completed. Ultimately no move came to fruition; Ferguson considered it unfair that he should receive no part of a potential transfer fee and he sat out the early weeks of the 1922–23 season. He eventually re-signed for Motherwell and made his return to the team in a 2–1 defeat against Aberdeen on 2 September, scoring his side's goal. Having scored six times by mid-October, Ferguson was called up to the Scottish League XI for a match against Ireland when George French withdrew due to injury. He scored a brace for the side as they won the match 3–0. Hat-tricks for Motherwell against Kilmarnock and Clyde in November doubled his tally for the season to 12 by the end of the month. Ferguson continued his streak of hat-tricks, adding further instances in December, January and February to take his tally of hat-tricks to five for the season. He also netted hat-tricks in victories over Falkirk and Bo'ness in the Scottish Cup. The latter victory in the fourth round resulted in Motherwell reaching the semi-final of the competition for the first time in the club's history. Ferguson finished the season as the second-highest scorer in Scotland with 29 league goals, despite missing 9 games throughout the campaign, falling one short of Hearts' Jock White. In the summer of 1923, Third Lanark arranged a tour of South America, but found themselves short of players. The team subsequently invited players from other Scottish teams to travel, with Ferguson agreeing to take part. He scored eight goals in as many matches against opponents including Independiente, Peñarol and a Uruguay XI. Ahead of the tour, the Athletic News wrote that Ferguson had been "the most effective centre-forward in Great Britain" during the early 1920s. During the following season, he was again among the top scorers early in the year and, by the end of October, had scored 12 goals leaving him trailing only Tom Jennings of Raith Rovers. Two weeks later, Ferguson was sent off in a 2–1 victory over Queen's Park after an altercation with an opposing defender when he retaliated against some rough play. He later received a reprimand from the Scottish Football Association but avoided any further punishment. Ferguson finished third in the scorers' ranking, behind Dundee forward Dave Halliday and Jennings, registering 27 goals in 33 league appearances. Despite his prolific scoring record, at the beginning of the 1924–25 season, Motherwell experimented by moving Ferguson to inside right rather than his usual central position. Although he frequented both positions, Ferguson maintained his scoring consistency and was one goal off being the league's highest goalscorer by late October. In January 1925, Ferguson was approached to play in the United States, but refused the offer. Later the same month, he scored five times in a 6–3 win against Galston in the first round of the Scottish Cup. Motherwell finished the season in 18th place, their lowest ranking since before the First World War. Ferguson however was the joint fourth-highest scorer in the league, but remained on the transfer list as the club looked to raise funds. Despite his listing, Ferguson remained with Motherwell for the start of the 1925–26 season and began the campaign by scoring a brace in a victory over Clydebank on the opening day. In his final season with the club, Ferguson scored 12 times in 12 appearances, leaving him one goal behind David McCrae as the second-highest scoring player in the Scottish league at the time. His last goals for the club came in a 2–0 win over Hamilton in which he scored both of his side's goals. ### Cardiff City In November 1925, officials from Welsh side Cardiff City submitted an offer for Ferguson. Their bid was rejected but they returned to meet Motherwell's asking price soon after; Ferguson signed for a fee of £5,000, just £1,000 less than the record transfer fee at the time. Such was his popularity at the Scottish club that the local steelworks closed for half an hour as the workers lined the streets to wave Ferguson off. A large crowd also gathered at the train station as he departed and a salute of 21 fog signals was issued from the David Colville & Sons works as he passed. Cardiff manager Fred Stewart, who was accompanying him, remarked that "he had never seen a player given such a send-off before". Ferguson was one of three Scots signed by Cardiff in short succession, Joe Cassidy and George McLachlan both arriving for a similar £5,000 fee combined. Ferguson made a goalscoring debut for the club in the Football League First Division on 7 November 1925 in a 5–2 win over Leicester City, a match in which Cassidy scored a hat-trick. After scoring once in his first three appearances, Ferguson embarked on a goalscoring run. He netted seven times in his next five games, including the winning goals in matches against Bolton Wanderers, Notts County and West Bromwich Albion. In his first season, Ferguson finished as the club's top goalscorer with 19 league goals, despite having played in only half of Cardiff's matches. His tally also included his first hat-trick in the Football League during a 4–2 victory over Notts County in April 1926. Cardiff ended the campaign in 16th place, avoiding relegation. The improvement in the team's attacking prowess following their new signings was credited for the improved form during the latter half of the season, Ferguson's goals being a cited as a major factor. He was again the club's top goalscorer in the 1926–27 season, netting 26 times in 39 league games, despite often playing at inside right as the club looked to fit both Ferguson and Len Davies into the starting lineup. During the campaign, Ferguson was instrumental in Cardiff's progression to the FA Cup final. He scored twice in their first four fixtures before netting the winning goal in a fourth round replay against Chelsea by converting a penalty kick. Ahead of their fourth-round tie with reigning Cup holders Bolton Wanderers, Ferguson adopted a "lucky" black cat named Trixie that he had noticed wandering at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, where the Cardiff team were staying. The cat had been following the players and was remarked as to have "showed distinct partiality for Hughie". Ferguson tracked down the animal's owners and persuaded them to give the cat away in exchange for tickets to the final if Cardiff advanced. In the semi-final, he scored a brace against Reading as Cardiff won 3–0 to reach the 1927 FA Cup Final. Having featured at inside right in all rounds leading up to the final, Ferguson was switched to centre-forward for the deciding match. In the 74th minute of the game, collecting a throw from the right, Ferguson hurried a tame shot toward the Arsenal goal. Dan Lewis, the Arsenal goalkeeper, appeared to collect the ball but, under pressure from the advancing Len Davies, allowed the ball to roll through his grasp; in a desperate attempt to retrieve the ball, Lewis only succeeded in knocking the ball with his elbow into his own net. Ernie Curtis, the 19‐year‐old teammate of Ferguson, said of the goal: "I was in line with the edge of the penalty area on the right when Hughie Ferguson hit the shot which Arsenal's goalie had crouched down for a little early. The ball spun as it travelled towards him, having taken a slight deflection so he was now slightly out of line with it. Len Davies was following the shot in and I think Dan must have had one eye on him. The result was that he didn't take it cleanly and it squirmed under him and over the line. Len jumped over him and into the net, but never actually touched it." Ferguson's goal led Cardiff to become the only team from outside England to have won the competition as they went on to win the match 1–0. His 26 league goals and 6 in the team's FA Cup run set a new club record for goals in a season with 32. The record stood until 2003 when Robert Earnshaw scored 35 in a single season. The following season, Ferguson netted seven times in his first ten league matches and also scored in a 2–1 victory over amateur side Corinthians in the 1927 FA Charity Shield on 12 October. Cardiff finished the season in sixth place but Ferguson's later months were hampered by injuries; he never played more than three consecutive league matches after the Christmas period. Despite this, he was again Cardiff's top goalscorer, netting 18 times in the league. In April 1928, he scored both goals in the final of the Welsh Cup as Cardiff defeated Bangor 2–0. Ferguson scored a penalty on the opening day of the 1928–29 season to give his side a 1–1 draw against Newcastle United. In the team's second match, he set a club record for goals in a league game after scoring five times against Burnley on 1 September 1928 as Cardiff ran out 7–0 winners. After eight matches, he led the First Division as its top goalscorer with ten goals. His scoring saw him surpass Steve Bloomer as the highest-scoring player in Scottish and English football on 352 goals, doing so in less time. He then began to suffer from persistent injury problems and, after playing in a 1–0 defeat to Aston Villa at the end of September, he made only three further appearances before Christmas. This coincided with a drop in form for Cardiff, who scored only 7 times in their next 13 games, during which the Western Mail bemoaned Ferguson's absence. He made his final league appearance for Cardiff on 23 February 1929, scoring in a 2–2 draw against Manchester United. With Cardiff struggling to avoid relegation and suffering financial problems, Ferguson was named as one of 12 players for whom the club was looking to obtain offers. His position was further weakened by the signing of another centre-forward, Jimmy Munro. Despite playing only 20 of the club's 42 league matches, Ferguson finished as Cardiff's top goalscorer for the fourth consecutive season with 14 league goals. This was also his 14th consecutive season as the top goalscorer of his team, at both Motherwell and Cardiff. His last appearance for the club came on 1 May, when he played in a 3–0 defeat to Connah's Quay & Shotton in the Welsh Cup final. ### Dundee Ferguson returned to Scotland with Dundee in June 1929. Cardiff had hoped to recoup £1,000 for him but the transfer was eventually completed for around £800. Ferguson had openly expressed his preference to return to Motherwell, an option that the club considered, but the move never came to fruition. He made his debut for Dundee on the opening day of the season against Falkirk, and began the campaign at centre-forward but struggled to live up to his goalscoring reputation. His first goal for the club came in October, when he netted the only goal of the game against Queen's Park. The Dundee Courier later reported that he was "not enjoying the best of health" at the time but played on. He was later moved to outside right before being dropped from the side entirely. His final game for the club was a 3–0 victory over Heart of Midlothian on 14 December 1929. His performance in the match was criticised and he was subsequently dropped from the first team. It was later reported that he had been suffering severe cramp in his legs that had left him struggling to sprint. ## Death Ferguson sank into depression and it was remarked that he displayed a "melancholy demeanour and evident physical suffering" in early January 1930 by his former colleagues at Motherwell. He had been suffering from insomnia for several months at the end of 1929 and had become worried about his health. On 8 January, he committed suicide, gassing himself at Dundee's ground Dens Park after remaining behind following a training session. His body was discovered the next morning by painters working at the ground. He was next to a gas ring which had been turned on, and his head was covered by an overcoat. He was rushed to Dundee Royal Infirmary but was pronounced dead. His death has often been cited as being influenced by the barracking of the crowd as he failed to produce the form expected of him on his return to Scotland. In his last game for Dundee, he received considerable criticism from the crowd as he struggled with cramp. The Dundee Evening Telegraph remarked that, for Ferguson, "the experience of that afternoon was tremendously painful." William McIntosh, a director of Dundee, commented that "(Ferguson) did his best for Dundee and he took his failure to heart. His lack of success was certainly not due to lack of trying ... lately he became obsessed with the idea that his usefulness as a footballer had come to an end." Aged 34, Ferguson left behind his wife Jessie and two children. Jessie was pregnant with the couple's third child at the time. His family have attributed his death to "an imbalance of his inner-ear" that had affected his balance and had led to his poor form. They believe this was caused by an undiagnosed brain tumour. Ferguson's body was moved from Dundee to Motherwell; four of his Dundee teammates carried his coffin to a waiting hearse while the remainder of the squad watched on. A small service was held at his home before he was buried in Airbles Cemetery in his hometown of Motherwell. ## Family and personal life Ferguson was born in Motherwell on 2 March 1895 and had six brothers and one sister. His father was killed in a colliery accident when Ferguson was 16. He married Jessie Andrews on 21 March 1924 in his hometown. His uncle, also named Hugh Ferguson, was a politician and served as a Member of Parliament for Motherwell and he sometimes assisted his uncle at political gatherings. Ferguson's son Jack later went on to represent Britain in water polo at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics. His daughter Sadie later married Dunfermline player James Hogg, brother of Scottish international Bobby Hogg. Ferguson was regarded as a clean-living player, he was teetotal, never smoked and attended church. He was also interested in and kept birds, displaying them in competitions organised by the Motherwell and District Cage Bird Association. He won his category while finishing runner-up in another in 1923 with a goldfinch mule and won several awards the following year. ## Style of play Ferguson's main attribute was his finishing ability; the Sporting Chronicle noted after his senior debut for Motherwell in 1916 that he "possessed all the physical qualities required in a centre-forward, and is unquestionably a fine marksman". At the end of his first senior season, the Daily Record wrote "Hugh can draw out the opposition, he can get a fair amount of work on the ball and he never forgets where the goal lies". The paper also referred to his physicality, noting that while it was not a major aspect of his game "he is no pigmy. He can take a knock, he can return one." Upon his signing for Cardiff in 1925, the Western Mail described him as "not a particularly big man but he is very wiry and nippy". He was also renowned for his modesty and sense of fair play. John Hunter, who managed Ferguson at Motherwell, described him as "irreproachable in conduct, a fine upright fellow, he was above all else a gentleman." One such example of this came in a league match against Hibernian while playing for Motherwell. Opposition goalkeeper Bill Harper had sustained an injury and the opportunity came to Ferguson to take advantage of this when he struggled to gather the ball from a cross. Rather than capitalise on Harper's misfortune, Ferguson allowed the keeper to recover and stop a certain goal. ### Scoring records Despite his performances for Motherwell, Ferguson was never selected for the Scottish national side. At the time of his departure from the club in 1925, Ferguson was the highest scoring player in the history of the Scottish League. He was later surpassed by Jimmy McGrory and Bob McPhail. He is one of only seven players to have scored more than 350 league goals in the history of Scottish and English football, finishing his career with a goal ratio per game of 0.855. For many years Ferguson held the Motherwell club record for scoring goals in consecutive games, until it was broken by Kevin van Veen in 2023. ## Career statistics ## Honours Cardiff City - FA Cup: 1926–27 - FA Charity Shield: 1927 - Welsh Cup: 1927–28; runner-up: 1928–29 Individual - Scottish Division One top goalscorer: 1917–18, 1919–20, 1920–21 ## See also - List of footballers in Scotland by number of league goals (200+)
23,863,433	Albert Levitt	1,170,841,561	American judge (1887–1968)	[ "1887 births", "1968 deaths", "20th-century American judges", "Activists from California", "American suffragists", "California Republicans", "Colgate University faculty", "Columbia College (New York) alumni", "Connecticut Republicans", "Critics of the Catholic Church", "George Washington University Law School faculty", "Harvard Law School alumni", "Judges of the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands", "Members of the United States Assay Commission", "Military personnel from Maryland", "New Hampshire Republicans", "People from Woodbine, Maryland", "Republican Party of the Virgin Islands politicians", "United States Army personnel of World War I", "University of North Dakota faculty", "Yale Law School alumni" ]	Albert Levitt (March 14, 1887 – June 18, 1968) was an American judge, law professor, Unitarian minister, attorney and government official. He unsuccessfully ran many times for public office in Connecticut, California and New Hampshire, generally receiving only a small percentage of the vote. While a judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands in 1935, he ordered that women there must be allowed to register and vote. Born in Maryland, Levitt joined the U.S. Army at age 17. He then went to seminary and spent several years as a student, eventually gaining degrees from three Ivy League universities. After World War I broke out, he twice served—once in the ambulance corps for the French, and once as a chaplain in the U.S. Army. In the latter capacity, he was wounded and gassed. After the war, Levitt became a lawyer. While at Harvard Law School, he was instrumental in the drafting of the Equal Rights Amendment. He then began a series of short-term positions teaching law. Eventually, he settled with his wife, the suffragist Elsie Hill, in Connecticut, and involved himself in politics. Though he was never elected to office, the small faction he led affected the outcome in several races, helping to elect Democrat Wilbur Cross as governor in 1930, and helping to defeat him in 1938. In general, his actions aided the Democrats against the Republicans, and he was rewarded for this with a position in the Justice Department under Franklin Delano Roosevelt beginning in 1933. Attorney General Homer Cummings appointed him a judge in 1935, and arranged for him to resume his work at the Justice Department after he resigned from that position the following year. He publicly broke with the Roosevelt administration in 1937, and lost his government job. After leaving the Justice Department, Levitt challenged the appointment of Hugo Black to the United States Supreme Court under the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution; in its decision, Ex parte Levitt, the court refused to consider his claims, stating that he lacked legal standing to bring them to court. In the early 1940s, he moved to California, and began to run as a fringe candidate in Republican primaries, including in the 1950 United States Senate election in California, finishing sixth out of six, behind the winner, Richard Nixon. He also formed the belief that the Roman Catholic Church was a great danger to American democracy and, in his campaigns, warned against its influence. He died in 1968. ## Early life Levitt was born on March 14, 1887, in Woodbine, Maryland; he was the son of Thomas Reeve Levitt and Ida Alee Levitt. At the age of seventeen, he joined the United States Army and rose to the rank of sergeant. He served in the Hospital Corps, and, from 1906 to 1907, in the Philippines. According to a 1937 news article, Levitt traveled four times around the world as a young man. After leaving the Army, he attended Meadville Theological School, which was run by the Unitarians, and received his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1911. In 1910, while a student at Meadville, he went on a canoe trip of 1,600 miles (2,600 km) with one other student from Buffalo to Pittsburgh by way of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. In 1912–1913, he served as assistant pastor at the Unitarian Willow Place Chapel in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, and was available to conduct services in the absence of the minister. In 1913, he graduated B.A., cum magnis honoribus, from Columbia University, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Levitt served as a lecturer at Columbia after his graduation, crossing the Atlantic to join the American Ambulance Corps in the French Army in 1915. He returned to the United States after several months, and spent a year, from 1915 to 1916, teaching philosophy at Colgate University. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, he joined the U.S. Army again and served from 1917 to 1919 as a chaplain. During his time on the Western Front, he was both wounded and gassed. ## Law student and professor ### Harvard and the ERA Levitt had spent a brief period at Harvard as an ROTC instructor; he returned there as a law student in 1919 and received his LL.B. the following year. As well as studying law, he served as minister to the Harvard Unitarian Society. While at Harvard, he came to view Dean Roscoe Pound as his mentor, and, in part due to his romantic relationship with women's rights activist Elsie Hill, became affiliated with the National Woman's Party (NWP). Women's rights leader Alice Paul consulted both Pound and Levitt in drafting what became known as the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to give equality to women without eroding special protections. Pound was willing to help, so long as his involvement was not publicized. Levitt, seeking to avoid conflict with existing laws protecting women, drafted at least 75 versions of the ERA for Paul. He also consulted with future Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, who was then counsel to the Washington, D.C., Minimum Wage Board. Frankfurter commented on several drafts, feeling that any version of the ERA would have the side effect of eviscerating current legal protections for women. Levitt attempted to change Frankfurter's mind, but was unsuccessful. He wrote to Paul, "The net result of the interview is nothing." Although both Pound and Frankfurter had given Levitt advice on condition that their names not be used, NWP activists incorrectly claimed that the two had approved the text of the ERA as suitable for either legislation or constitutional amendment. Levitt apologized to both, and wrote Paul that he could no longer consult anyone he trusted about the ERA for fear of being betrayed again. Nevertheless, influenced by Hill, he continued his work for Paul until the end of 1921. On December 24, 1921, by now working at the University of North Dakota, he married Hill in Chicago. With Levitt's duties keeping him in North Dakota, and Hill's keeping her in Washington, they planned to spend time together in the summer in her native Connecticut, but otherwise initially planned to live apart, both being busy with their own careers. The wedding was confidential, known only to a few friends and associates, until the matter became public the following month. Levitt proclaimed himself the luckiest man in the world, lucky because he had married a feminist, who would not allow the husband to be a czar. ### Roving professor Levitt resigned his chaplaincy of the Harvard Unitarians in June 1920 to accept a position as professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. While Levitt was there, in 1921, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him as a member of the annually-appointed Assay Commission, composed of citizens and officials who met at the Philadelphia Mint to test the previous year's coinage. During the summer of 1921, he was a lecturer on the circuit of the Radcliffe Chautauqua System. After a year at George Washington, he moved to the University of North Dakota, then returned to school himself at Yale Law School, receiving his J.D. in 1923. From 1923 to 1924, he served as a Special Assistant Attorney General, working in the War Transactions Section of the Justice Department. In 1924, he was hired as assistant professor of law at Washington and Lee University. He made a deep impression there as, according to the school's web site, "likely the most unusual, colorful, and, some would contend, eccentric law teacher in the history of Washington and Lee" but also as a "teacher of great ability". Levitt and Hill had a daughter in late 1924, and for the first time, the two lived together on a permanent basis, at Washington and Lee. Hill retained her maiden name and their daughter was known by the surname "Hill-Levitt", unconventional for the conservative southern town of Lexington, Virginia. Levitt was involved in conflict with the law school dean, and when his contract expired in 1927, it was not renewed. While at Washington and Lee, Levitt was one of two U.S. delegates to the International Penal Congress in July 1926 at Brussels. After his return to the United States, Levitt prepared a new law code, which it was suggested that each delegate prepare for consideration by the next congress, in 1929 at Vienna. In 1927, Levitt won a \$500 first prize offered by the publisher of Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy for an essay on the legal and social aspects of the murder in the book. ## Connecticut activist and federal official (1927–1937) ### Activist professor Levitt next taught law at Brooklyn Law School of St. Lawrence University, from 1927 to 1930. Residing in Redding, Connecticut, he was admitted to the state bar in 1928. He began to involve himself in public affairs, switching from the Democratic to the Republican Party over his support for Prohibition. He stated that he had been a Republican until World War I, but had been impressed by Wilson's efforts to keep the nation out of war, and thereafter had remained a Democrat because of a close personal friendship with the 1924 Democratic candidate for president, John W. Davis. He announced in 1928 that he would challenge the incumbent Republican representative in Connecticut's 4th district, Schuyler Merritt, but fell short of the necessary petition signatures to be listed on the ballot. In August 1929, Levitt began a battle to compel the Connecticut Attorney General to seek to oust the members of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Levitt alleged the commission was in violation of state law by failing to require the New Haven Railroad to eliminate at-grade crossings at the pace required by law. The commission felt that getting rid of the crossings was too expensive. This touched off a legal battle that went to Connecticut Superior Court at least six times and to the Supreme Court of Connecticut twice, and, despite initial success, eventually ended in a loss for Levitt. Fueled by his early success in his actions against the PUC, Levitt sought the Republican nomination for governor of Connecticut in 1930, decrying the influence of the state's Republican political boss, J. Henry Roraback. When the caucuses to choose delegates to the state nominating convention were held on September 5, 1930, Levitt was overwhelmingly defeated, electing only three delegates, none from his hometown of Redding. Just over a week later, Levitt was fired as a law professor, the dean stating that it was not due to his political activities, but because shrinking enrollment made his services unnecessary, and that "in view of the political activities that confront Prof. Levitt, he could not carry on his class work". At the state convention in Hartford on September 16, only four delegates supported Levitt, and Lieutenant Governor Ernest E. Rogers won the nomination. The following day, Levitt reacted by praising the Democratic candidate for governor, Wilbur L. Cross, and later stated he would vote for Cross. In October, he sought the Republican nomination for one of Redding's two seats in the Connecticut House of Representatives, but at the caucus received only 9 votes against 115 and 112 for the winners, with a third candidate finishing ahead of Levitt with 14 votes. Levitt then filed as an independent. In the general election on November 4, Cross was elected governor. Levitt was defeated in Redding, polling 98 votes as the two winning Republicans each received 376 votes. Despite the defeats, the New Britain Herald credited Levitt with influencing the gubernatorial election's outcome. ### Candidate and official After the 1930 elections, Levitt continued a battle against the Connecticut Light & Power company to compel it to extend power lines to his isolated dwelling in Redding without expense to him. This battle eventually failed in the Connecticut Supreme Court in April 1932. By then, there was criticism of Levitt. The Waterbury Democrat, in an editorial titled "Too much Levitt", accused him of being one of those "who continually criticize and offer no help in extracting our government from its precarious financial position". The Hartford Courant suggested that perhaps Levitt was right in his views of Connecticut, or maybe he was "just sore that so few are willing to be saved." Levitt practiced law, representing a group of Manchester residents who felt their electric rates were too high, as well as an association of taxpayers seeking to reduce water pollution by Danbury. In 1932, Levitt ran for governor as the candidate of the Independent Republican Party, which supported Prohibition and endorsed Republican President Herbert Hoover, but which named its own candidates for other offices. Governor Cross refused to debate Levitt, who was defeated, polling only 5,125 votes out of just under 600,000 cast. Levitt proclaimed himself delighted with the results, as the Independent Republican vote for senator had been larger than the margin of defeat for Republican Senator Hiram Bingham, whom Levitt had opposed. After the election, which also saw President Hoover defeated by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, there was immediate speculation Levitt would be rewarded for his activities against the regular Republican Party with a post in the new administration. Levitt went to Washington in search of a job that would allow him to continue his anti-Roraback activities. In July 1933, it was announced that Levitt would be a special assistant to Attorney General Homer Cummings, not attached to a particular department in the Justice Department, but available to act on assignments. The Courant noted: "Albert Levitt henceforth has to be reckoned with. He cannot be ignored." In Washington, Levitt was asked if there was a "Mrs. Levitt", and, when he responded there was not, found himself reputed to be a bachelor until he explained about Elsie Hill. He remained involved in Connecticut politics, predicting in December 1933 that his Independent Republicans would help defeat the Roraback-controlled regular Republicans. Divisions within the Independent Republican Party caused Levitt to seek to form the Citizens Party. This group nominated Levitt for the House of Representatives from the 4th district. Levitt resigned from the Department of Justice to undertake the race, as Cummings had ruled that federal employees could not run for important positions. In the November election, Levitt received 1,397 votes out of over 120,000 cast, finishing fourth out of the five candidates. In January 1935, he was rehired by the Department of Justice, causing some ill-feeling among Connecticut Democrats, as he had criticized the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in the 4th district, Edward T. Buckingham. ### Judge (1935–1936) Roosevelt had forced the resignation of the judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, T. Webber Wilson, in mid-1935. There had been political conflict involving Wilson in the United States Virgin Islands, and Cummings, who had the power of appointing the Virgin Islands judge, was expected to take care to appoint someone who could resolve the situation. The October 1935 appointment of Levitt, with his stormy past in Connecticut, thus came as something of a surprise. Levitt stated in an interview that he did not intend to be a public spectacle, but to live a lonely life, having brought a dog to assuage the loneliness, though both Elsie Hill and their daughter, Elsie Hill-Levitt, also came to St. Thomas. He was sworn in on October 17, 1935. Hill involved herself with local women's affairs and was outraged to learn that under Danish colonial law, still mostly in force in the Virgin Islands, local women could not vote. According to one local woman, Hill told women activists that if they brought suit, her husband would uphold the right of women to vote in the possession. Hill obtained a prominent New York attorney to represent the islanders without fee, and in November 1936, Judge Levitt ruled the disenfranchisement unconstitutional under the Nineteenth Amendment. The local electoral board still refused to register women, and the following month, Judge Levitt issued a writ of mandamus, forcing the board to comply. Levitt alienated much of the black population of the islands by sentencing a black man to five years for attempted rape on the same day he gave a white man a suspended sentence for raping his stepdaughter. These acts led to outcries, including from the governor of the United States Virgin Islands, Lawrence William Cramer, and from the Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes. Levitt had other conflicts with Governor Cramer, which culminated in the case of United States v. Leonard McIntosh, in which the defendant had admitted stealing government property, and a prison sentence was mandatory. After Levitt imposed sentence, Cramer not only pardoned McIntosh (possibly on instructions from Washington) but issued a lengthy statement condemning Levitt. Feeling justice was being obstructed, and his ability to impose it was being threatened, Levitt resigned, alleging interference by the governor and by the Department of the Interior. ### Return to Washington Levitt's resignation was accepted on August 1, 1936, and he was again appointed a special assistant attorney general, to work in the Office of the Solicitor General. When Cramer was nominated for a second term as governor, early the following year, his nomination was referred to the Senate Committee on Territories and Insular Possessions. Maryland Senator Millard Tydings, its chair, knowing of Levitt's opposition and seeking to block Cramer's reappointment, invited him to testify, which he did. Levitt's appearance in January 1937 (he testified again in April) put Cummings in the position of having one of his assistants publicly oppose an appointment by Roosevelt, who had made him attorney general. Cummings let the press know Levitt had acted without his knowledge or consent, and described his actions as "disgusting". Roosevelt and his administration put pressure on Tydings, who was up for re-election the following year, and the senator dropped his opposition to Cramer. Roosevelt promised Senate Majority Leader Joseph Robinson that he would have Levitt fired. Levitt also publicly opposed the president's court-packing plan, and was listed as a witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee, though he was not called to testify. In early July 1937, a Justice Department spokesman indicated that Levitt was about to be dismissed, and he resigned. The resignation letter, addressed to Cummings, was accepted in a letter by one of Cummings's underlings, and it omitted any praise of Levitt's job performance, as was customary under the circumstances. This was seen as a rebuke to Levitt. Levitt's resignation was effective August 10, 1937. ## Challenging Black (Ex parte Levitt) On August 12, 1937, Roosevelt nominated Senator Hugo Black of Alabama as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Justice Willis Van Devanter, which occurred shortly after Congress increased the pension paid to retired justices to 100 per cent of salary. Black had been elected for a six-year Senate term beginning in 1933. His nomination was controversial for political reasons, even though it was not then generally known he had been a Ku Klux Klan member, and for the first time in almost half a century, a presidential nomination of a senator was not immediately and unanimously confirmed. Nevertheless, Black was confirmed, 63–16, on August 17. On August 18, 1937, Levitt filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Black's seating. Levitt contended that since the law permitting justices to retire while keeping their full salary had been passed during the six-year term for which Black had been elected and that term had not yet expired, Black was ineligible under the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. He also argued that because Van Devanter, as a retired justice, remained able to hear lower court cases, there was no vacancy. Levitt's stand embarrassed Cummings, who had publicly stated that the probability of a challenge to Black's seating was so low as to be negligible, and put the attorney general in the position of having to denigrate the legal knowledge of a man he had appointed to a judgeship. Nevertheless, Cummings called the challenge "a typical Levitt escapade. It is an entirely futile effort that contains elements of comedy. It is not taken seriously by the Justice Department." Levitt was not alone in questioning the constitutionality of Black's appointment, with a notable supporter being Senator William E. Borah of Idaho, who stated that Levitt was on solid ground legally but did not know how he could get a day in court on his allegations. Black took his seat on October 4, 1937, having been sworn in earlier. Levitt, whom The New York Times described as a "soldier of fortune, preacher, professor, corporation lawyer, Federal judge and utility 'baiter'", introduced himself to the court. He then asked for permission to file a brief requesting that Black be required to show cause why he should be allowed to remain as a justice. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes asked Levitt whether his submission was in writing, and upon being assured it was, told Levitt to file it with the clerk. The court ruled on October 11, 1937. In its decision, Ex parte Levitt, the Court found that Levitt's standing, as a citizen and member of the Supreme Court Bar, was not sufficient to allow him to challenge the seating of Black. When he heard of the decision, Levitt quoted from the Book of Job: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my own ways before Him." In 1956, Levitt wrote to Justice Black that although he opposed the nomination he admired Black and was grateful to him for his "continuous defense and elucidation of our civil rights." ## Return to private life In late 1937, Levitt returned to Connecticut, and, as Roraback had died, sought reconciliation with the Connecticut Republican Party, offering suggestions as to how to send an anti-New Deal congressional delegation to Washington. He was by then a critic of the Roosevelt administration. He sought the Republican nomination for the House of Representatives from the 4th district in 1938, but was defeated. Instead, he accepted the Union Party nomination for probate judge of Redding. He successfully sued to get his name, and the Union Party, on the ballot. Levitt was defeated for judge. The party adopted the Republican nominee for governor, Raymond E. Baldwin. Cross got more votes as a Democrat than Baldwin got as a Republican, but votes cast for Baldwin as the Union Party candidate won him the election. Among the cases Levitt took as a lawyer was that of Kent E. Stoddard, a dairyman charged with violating the law by selling milk too cheaply. Stoddard was convicted and fined \$50, but Levitt appealed the case. In May 1940, the Connecticut Supreme Court decided the case, finding the statute under which Stoddard had been convicted unconstitutional. Another case, that of John Fodor for larceny, resulted in Levitt being brought up on charges by the bar association for charging an excessive fee. It was settled after Levitt returned \$1,559 of a \$2,750 fee. In 1939, Levitt taught the law of finance at the New York University School of Commerce. After the start of World War II that year, he initially opposed the repeal of the Embargo Act, fearing that would draw the U.S. into the conflict on the side of Britain and France, and in June 1940 sent a telegram to the White House demanding that Roosevelt disclose the contents of any secret agreements with the Allies to do so. Nevertheless, in September of that year, he endorsed Roosevelt for re-election over the Republican candidate, former corporate executive Wendell Willkie, stating that Willkie's platform was based on claims Roosevelt had been in office too long, and the Republican was leading no real opposition. In 1941, Levitt served as a special adviser to the Office of Production Management, Priorities Division. After leaving that position, in April 1941, he sent Roosevelt a telegram urging him to declare war on Germany, Italy and Japan as the only way for the United States to survive. In October, Levitt appeared before a committee of the House of Representatives assailing organized labor for obstructing defense efforts, and decrying government red tape. After the U.S. entered the war, Levitt opposed the War Manpower Commission on the grounds it violated the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition on involuntary servitude. ## California professor and candidate ### Early races Levitt taught at the Hastings School of Law in California, from 1942 to 1943. Remaining in California, in 1945, he criticized the Dumbarton Oaks proposals, that would result in the establishment of the United Nations, for giving Britain a permanent seat on the Security Council while India, with many times its population, went without. He suggested that the proposals would result in a "Fascist oligarchy" of less than a dozen men as dictators of the world. In 1946, Levitt, by then living in Santa Monica, ran for the Republican nomination for Congress from California's 16th district. At the time in California, candidates routinely ran in both the Republican and Democratic primaries as winning both was tantamount to election. This was known as cross filing. Levitt, running only in the Republican primary, challenged the practice in court, unsuccessfully. He was defeated in the June 4, 1946, primary. He also served as minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in Santa Monica. In 1947, Levitt wrote to J. Parnell Thomas, chair of the House Un-American Activities Committee, requesting that the committee "investigate the un-American activities of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States"; he offered to testify. He ran again for office in 1948, this time for the California State Assembly from the 37th district in Santa Barbara County. He again challenged the practice of cross filing, and was again denied, a ruling upheld by the California Supreme Court. He was defeated by Stanley T. Tomlinson, who successfully cross-filed. In 1949, when Francis Cardinal Spellman accused Eleanor Roosevelt of being anti-Catholic in her writings, Levitt wrote to the cleric and alleged that he had forfeited his American citizenship and was an alien representing a foreign power, the Vatican. ### 1950 Senate primary In December 1949, Levitt announced that he would be a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 1950 Senate election in California. The campaign organization of the favorite in the Republican primary, Congressman Richard Nixon, was able to identify Levitt as the person who had been involved in Connecticut politics of the 1930s—he had not mentioned that involvement in his campaign announcement. Although they had only scanty information on Levitt, Nixon staffers stated that they were unperturbed at his candidacy. In February 1950, Levitt challenged Nixon to a debate, and accused the congressman of dodging it. He stated that Nixon, known as an anti-communist, had in fact been responsible for aiding the Communist Party. Declining again to cross file, he ran on a platform of ending the Marshall Plan, cutting income taxes, and giving a weekly benefit to young people and the elderly. He expected that his main rival in the Republican primary would be the incumbent, Democratic Senator Sheridan Downey, and stated that Nixon "hasn't a chance". Levitt, whom the Washington Evening Star deemed "virtually unknown in California politics", was initially Nixon's only Republican opponent, the others in the Republican primary being cross-filing Democrats. Later, another fringe Republican candidate, Ulysses Grant Bixby Meyer, joined the race, but political observers gave neither man any chance. After Downey withdrew, the main Democratic contenders were Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas and publisher Manchester Boddy. In March, Levitt spoke against Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy's allegations that there were communists in the State Department, stating that they were made with the intent of helping America's enemies prevent reconciliation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. He traveled by bus through Northern California in April, and re-stated his campaign platform, which also included a return to Prohibition and forbidding public funds from being used to have a U.S. representative at the Vatican. The press paid virtually no attention to Levitt's campaign, which upset him. He addressed the Republican State Convention in Fresno on April 22, and told delegates that "the three enemies of our American way of life are communism, fascism, and Vaticanism". He was booed when he accused Nixon of pretending to fight communism while in fact aiding these three foes of the American way of life. Nixon, who also spoke at the convention, made no response to Levitt's charges. Levitt, after the convention, accused several members of Congress of following the dictates of the Vatican. In the June primary, both Levitt and Meyer won only a scattering of votes as Nixon advanced to face Douglas in the general election. Levitt finished sixth out of the six candidates in the Republican primary, garnering 15,929 votes to Nixon's 740,465, trailing even Meyer, who received 18,783. In 1952, Levitt ran for Congress from California's 22nd district, a newly created seat in the San Fernando Valley. He tried and failed to have Joseph F. Holt barred from the ballot on the grounds he was a member of the armed forces. This time Levitt cross-filed, but was easily defeated by Holt in the Republican primary, and by Dean McHenry in the Democratic. ## Perennial candidate and death In 1953, Levitt returned to Connecticut. He took a case as special counsel to the municipality of New Britain against the state highway department, seeking to alter the course of a freeway planned to go through New Britain. Alan Olmstead of the Meriden Record-Journal remembered Levitt's anti-Roraback days in the 1930s and wrote, "we do not expect him to be the giant-killer as of old ... but Levitt isn't quite as harmless as he looks. Even when he doesn't win, he has a highly developed nuisance habit." After Levitt sent to a congressional committee (and released to the press) a telegram stating that he had "what I believe to be irrefutable evidence that Senator Joseph McCarthy is, himself, a member of subversive organizations whose purpose is to overthrow the Government of the United States, by peaceable means if possible, but by force if necessary", Gerald L. K. Smith, editor of The Cross and the Flag, printed that Levitt's statement was "an obvious concoction, a lie from the whole cloth, released by Albert Levitt". He sued Smith for defamation, and won a judgment of \$750. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1955 reversed, stating that, > Levitt has been many times a candidate for public office. The Cross and the Flag is a periodical publication which has discussed the fitness and availability of persons for public office in the past. Political figures are the subject of discussion. It would go far to limit that public enlightenment in regard to political personalities if the courts should hold that attack and defense of such figures cannot be made in the press. He who seizes the sword may be wounded by a sword. When Levitt published an attack in a newspaper, he laid himself open to reprisals. In 1956, Levitt and Elsie Hill divorced; the same year he married Lilla Cabot Grew Moffat, a widow who was the daughter of former American diplomat Joseph C. Grew. When obtaining the marriage license, Albert Levitt gave an address of Ventura, California. The two remained married until his death. Later that year, Levitt received considerable publicity, including television interviews, by styling himself head of the Republican League of California, a group unknown to Republican officials, and opposing the renomination of Nixon, who was by then vice president. In 1957, it was announced in the newspapers that the Levitts would spend a vacation at their summer home in Hancock, New Hampshire, the former home of Thomas Sergeant Perry. But it was as a resident of Hancock that Levitt ran, in 1958, for Congress from New Hampshire's 1st congressional district, becoming the first person in the state's history to run for a district without living there, as Hancock lay in the 2nd district. He was defeated in the September primary. In 1960, Levitt, running for the Republican nomination for Senate from New Hampshire, telegraphed Pope John XXIII and asked him to clarify whether Senator John F. Kennedy, a Catholic who was seeking the Democratic nomination for president, owed political allegiance to the Vatican or to the United States. According to Levitt's research, some 150 principles of the Roman Catholic Church conflicted with the Constitution. There is no record of any reply by the Pope. Levitt was defeated in the Republican primary by Senator Styles Bridges, 86,837 votes to 6,256. This was followed, in 1962, by a run for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Hampshire's 2nd district. Levitt finished last out of six candidates, with under 2 percent of the vote. In 1964, he sought the Republican nomination for New Hampshire governor. He finished fifth of seven candidates (including a write-in, who finished third) with 822 votes out of some 63,000 cast. Among the cases Levitt was involved in during his final years was a defamation suit brought by the Knights of Columbus regarding a pamphlet distributed during the 1960 presidential campaign. Levitt appeared for the defendants in federal court in North Carolina by special permission, and the case was settled for \$1. After the case of Baker v. Carr required state legislative districts to be based on population, a New Hampshire constitutional convention devised a plan to be approved by the voters at the 1964 elections and implemented for the next elections. Levitt sued to have a plan implemented in time for the 1964 elections, but a three-judge panel of federal judges refused, citing the disruption it would cause in the election process. He served as national director of the Thomas Jefferson Society of the United States. Though he supported Kennedy as being willing to separate his religion from his loyalty to the U.S., Levitt stated that two representatives, including House Speaker John W. McCormack, were nationals of the Vatican. He continued to warn against the "subversive" political activities of the Catholic Church. Levitt spent time devising a peace plan for Rhodesia, making proposals for power-sharing between the races there. He corresponded with several officials, both in Britain and in Africa. In September 1967, Levitt appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, opining that President Lyndon B. Johnson was violating the Constitution by prosecuting the Vietnam War and by imposing sanctions on Rhodesia. Levitt died on June 18, 1968, in Manchester, New Hampshire. He was survived by his second wife, Lilla Grew Levitt, his daughter, and a granddaughter. Olmstead noted his passing, calling him "the unbelievable, improbable little character" whose attacks on the Roraback machine were responsible for Cross's election in 1930.
36,753	Magic Johnson	1,173,198,701	American basketball player and entrepreneur (born 1959)	[ "1959 births", "20th-century American businesspeople", "21st-century American businesspeople", "African-American Christians", "African-American activists", "African-American basketball coaches", "African-American basketball players", "African-American businesspeople", "African-American sports executives and administrators", "African-American television talk show hosts", "All-American college men's basketball players", "American businesspeople in insurance", "American businesspeople in retailing", "American chief executives of food industry companies", "American drink industry businesspeople", "American expatriate basketball people in Denmark", "American expatriate basketball people in Sweden", "American film studio executives", "American financiers", "American health activists", "American humanitarians", "American marketing businesspeople", "American men's basketball players", "American motivational speakers", "American music industry executives", "American philanthropists", "American real estate businesspeople", "American soccer chairmen and investors", "American television talk show hosts", "Basketball coaches from Michigan", "Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics", "Basketball players from Lansing, Michigan", "Basketball players from Los Angeles", "Basketball players from Orange County, California", "Businesspeople from Los Angeles", "Businesspeople from Michigan", "California Democrats", "ESPN people", "Grammy Award winners", "HIV/AIDS activists", "Late night television talk show hosts", "Living people", "Los Angeles Dodgers executives", "Los Angeles Dodgers owners", "Los Angeles Lakers draft picks", "Los Angeles Lakers executives", "Los Angeles Lakers head coaches", "Los Angeles Lakers owners", "Los Angeles Lakers players", "M7 Borås players", "Magic Johnson", "Major League Soccer owners", "McDonald's High School All-Americans", "Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics", "Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players", "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees", "National Basketball Association All-Stars", "National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award winners", "National Basketball Association broadcasters", "National Basketball Association first-overall draft picks", "National Basketball Association players with retired numbers", "Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball", "Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)", "People from Dana Point, California", "People with HIV/AIDS", "Point guards", "Power forwards (basketball)", "Sportspeople from Beverly Hills, California", "Starbucks people", "United States men's national basketball team players", "Washington Commanders owners" ]	Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time. Johnson played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning a national championship with Michigan State in 1979, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, leading the team to five NBA championships during their Showtime era. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests against his return from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time. Johnson's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards, three NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, 12 All-Star games, and nine All-NBA First Team selections. He led the league in regular season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game in both the regular season (11.19 assists per game) and the playoffs (12.35 assists per game). He also holds the record for most career assists in the playoffs. Johnson was a member of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team ("The Dream Team"), which won the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona. After leaving the NBA in 1991, Johnson formed the Magic Johnson All-Stars, a barnstorming team that traveled around the world playing exhibition games. Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 and selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021, and became a two-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame—being enshrined in 2002 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team". His friendship and rivalry with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, whom he faced in the 1979 NCAA finals and three NBA championship series, are well documented. Since his retirement, Johnson has been an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex, as well as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, broadcaster and motivational speaker. Johnson has owned stakes in National Football League (NFL), NBA, WNBA, Major League Soccer (MLS) and Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. He was a part-owner of the Lakers for several years and the team's president of basketball operations from 2017 to 2019. He is a member of Guggenheim Baseball Management that own the MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers and is additionally part of groups that own the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, MLS' Los Angeles FC, and NFL's Washington Commanders. Johnson has won 14 total championships during his career, six as a player and eight as an owner. ## Early life Earvin Johnson Jr. was born in Lansing, Michigan to General Motors assembly worker Earvin Sr. and school janitor Christine. Johnson, who had six siblings and three half-siblings by his father's previous marriage, was influenced by his parents' strong work ethic. His mother spent many hours after work each night cleaning their home and preparing the next day's meals, while his father did janitorial work at a used car lot and collected garbage, all while never missing a day at General Motors. Johnson would often help his father on the garbage route, and he was teased by neighborhood children who called him "Garbage Man". His mother raised him in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Johnson came to love basketball as a young man. His favorite basketball player growing up was Bill Russell, whom he admired more for his many championships than his athletic ability. He also idolized players such as Earl Monroe and Marques Haynes, and practiced "all day". Johnson came from an athletic family. His father played high school basketball in his home state of Mississippi, and Johnson learned the finer points about the game from him. Johnson's mother, originally from North Carolina, had also played basketball as a child, and she grew up watching her brothers play the game. By the time he had reached the eighth grade, Johnson had begun to think about a future in basketball. He had become a dominant junior high player, once scoring 48 points in a game. Johnson looked forward to playing at Sexton High School, a school with a very successful basketball team and history that also happened to be only five blocks from his home. His plans underwent a dramatic change when he learned that he would be bused to the predominantly white Everett High School instead of going to Sexton, which was predominantly black. Johnson's sister Pearl and brother Larry had bused to Everett the previous year and did not have a pleasant experience. There were incidents of racism, with rocks being thrown at buses carrying black students and white parents refusing to send their children to school. Larry was kicked off the basketball team after a confrontation during practice, prompting him to beg his brother not to play. Johnson did join the basketball team but became angry after several days when his new teammates ignored him during practice, not even passing the ball to him. He nearly got into a fight with another player before head coach George Fox intervened. Eventually, Johnson accepted his situation and the small group of black students looked to him as their leader. When recalling the events in his autobiography, My Life, he talked about how his time at Everett had changed him: > As I look back on it today, I see the whole picture very differently. It's true that I hated missing out on Sexton. And the first few months, I was miserable at Everett. But being bused to Everett turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. It got me out of my own little world and taught me how to understand white people, how to communicate and deal with them. ## High school career Johnson was first dubbed "Magic" as a 15-year-old sophomore playing for Everett High School, when he recorded a triple-double of 36 points, 18 rebounds, and 16 assists. After the game, Fred Stabley Jr., a sports writer for the Lansing State Journal, gave him the moniker despite the belief of Johnson's mother, a devout Christian, that the name was sacrilegious. In his final high school season, Johnson led Everett to a 27–1 win–loss record while averaging 28.8 points and 16.8 rebounds per game, and took his team to an overtime victory in the state championship game. Johnson dedicated the championship victory to his best friend Reggie Chastine, who was killed in a car accident the previous summer. He gave Chastine much of the credit for his development as a basketball player and as a person, saying years later, "I doubted myself back then." Johnson and Chastine were almost always together, playing basketball or riding around in Chastine's car. Upon learning of Chastine's death, Magic ran from his home, crying uncontrollably. Johnson, who finished his high school career with two All-State selections, was considered at the time to be the best high school player ever to come out of Michigan. He was also named to the inaugural McDonald's All-American team, which played in the 1977 Capital Classic. ## College career Although Johnson was recruited by several top-ranked colleges such as Indiana and UCLA, he decided to play close to home. His college decision came down to Michigan and Michigan State in East Lansing. He ultimately decided to attend Michigan State when coach Jud Heathcote told him he could play the point guard position. The talent already on Michigan State's roster also drew him to the program. Johnson did not initially aspire to play professionally, focusing instead on his communication studies major and desire to become a television commentator. Playing with future NBA draftees Greg Kelser, Jay Vincent, and Mike Brkovich, Johnson averaged 17.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game as a freshman, and led the Spartans to a 25–5 record, the Big Ten Conference title, and a berth in the 1978 NCAA tournament. The Spartans reached the Elite Eight, but lost narrowly to eventual national champion Kentucky. During the 1978–79 season, Michigan State again qualified for the NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the championship game and faced Indiana State, which was led by senior Larry Bird. In what was the most-watched college basketball game ever, Michigan State defeated Indiana State 75–64, and Johnson was voted Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. He was selected to the 1978–79 All-American team for his performance that season. After two years in college, during which he averaged 17.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game, Johnson entered the 1979 NBA draft. Jud Heathcote stepped down as coach of the Spartans after the 1994–95 season, and on June 8, 1995, Johnson returned to the Breslin Center to play in the Jud Heathcote All-Star Tribute Game. He led all scorers with 39 points. ## Professional career ### Rookie season in the NBA (1979–1980) Johnson was drafted first overall in 1979 by the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson said that what was "most amazing" about joining the Lakers was the chance to play alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the team's 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) center who became the leading scorer in NBA history. Despite Abdul-Jabbar's dominance, he had failed to win a championship with the Lakers, and Johnson was expected to help them achieve that goal. Lakers coach Jack McKinney had the 6-foot-9-inch (2.06 m) rookie Johnson, who some analysts thought should play forward, be a point guard, even though incumbent Norm Nixon was already one of the best in the league. Johnson averaged 18.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game for the season, was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Team, and was named an NBA All-Star Game starter. The Lakers compiled a 60–22 record in the regular season and reached the 1980 NBA Finals, where they faced the Philadelphia 76ers, who were led by forward Julius Erving. The Lakers took a 3–2 lead in the series, but Abdul-Jabbar, who averaged 33 points a game in the series, sprained his ankle in Game 5 and could not play in Game 6. Coach Paul Westhead, who had replaced McKinney early in the season after he had a near-fatal bicycle accident, decided to start Johnson at center in Game 6; Johnson recorded 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals in a 123–107 win, while playing guard, forward, and center at different times during the game. Johnson became the only rookie to win the NBA Finals MVP award, and his clutch performance is still regarded as one of the finest in NBA history. He also became one of four players to win NCAA and NBA championships in consecutive years. ### Ups and downs (1980–1983) Early in the 1980–81 season, Johnson was sidelined after he suffered torn cartilage in his left knee. He missed 45 games, and said that his rehabilitation was the "most down" he had ever felt. Johnson returned before the start of the 1981 playoffs, but the Lakers' then-assistant and future head coach Pat Riley later said Johnson's much-anticipated return made the Lakers a "divided team". The 54-win Lakers faced the 40–42 Houston Rockets in the first round of playoffs, where Houston upset the Lakers 2–1 after Johnson airballed a last-second shot in Game 3. In 1981, after the 1980–81 season, Johnson signed a 25-year, \$25 million contract with the Lakers (), which was the highest-paying contract in sports history up to that point. Early in the 1981–82 season, Johnson had a heated dispute with Westhead, who Johnson said made the Lakers "slow" and "predictable". After Johnson demanded to be traded, Lakers owner Jerry Buss fired Westhead and replaced him with Riley. Although Johnson denied responsibility for Westhead's firing, he was booed across the league, even by Laker fans. Buss was also unhappy with the Lakers' offense and had intended on firing Westhead days before the Westhead–Johnson altercation, but assistant GM Jerry West and GM Bill Sharman had convinced Buss to delay his decision. Despite his off-court troubles, Johnson averaged 18.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 9.5 assists, and a league-high 2.7 steals per game, and was voted a member of the All-NBA Second Team. He also joined Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the only NBA players to tally at least 700 points, 700 rebounds, and 700 assists in the same season. The Lakers advanced through the 1982 playoffs and faced Philadelphia for the second time in three years in the 1982 NBA Finals. After a triple-double from Johnson in Game 6, the Lakers defeated the Sixers 4–2, as Johnson won his second NBA Finals MVP award. During the championship series against the Sixers, Johnson averaged 16.2 points on .533 shooting, 10.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. Johnson later said that his third season was when the Lakers first became a great team, and he credited their success to Riley. During the 1982–83 NBA season, Johnson's first of nine consecutive double-double seasons, he averaged 16.8 points, 10.5 assists, and 8.6 rebounds per game, and earned his first All-NBA First Team nomination. The Lakers again reached the Finals, and for a third time faced the Sixers, who featured center Moses Malone as well as Erving. With Johnson's teammates Nixon, James Worthy, and Bob McAdoo all hobbled by injuries, the Lakers were swept by the Sixers, and Malone was crowned the Finals MVP. In a losing effort against Philadelphia, Johnson averaged 19.0 points on .403 shooting, 12.5 assists, and 7.8 rebounds per game. ### Battles against the Celtics (1983–1987) Prior to Johnson's fifth season, West—who had become the Lakers general manager—traded Nixon to free Johnson from sharing the ball-handling responsibilities. Johnson averaged another double-double season, with 17.6 points, 13.1 assists, and 7.3 rebounds per game. The Lakers reached the Finals for the third year in a row, where Johnson's Lakers and Bird's Celtics met for the first time in the postseason. The Lakers won the first game, and led by two points in Game 2 with 18 seconds to go, but after a layup by Gerald Henderson, Johnson failed to get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded, and the Lakers lost 124–121 in overtime. In Game 3, Johnson responded with 21 assists in a 137–104 win, but he made several crucial errors late in the contest during Game 4. In the final minute of the game, Johnson had the ball stolen by Celtics center Robert Parish, and then missed two free throws that could have won the game. The Celtics won Game 4 in overtime, and the teams split the next two games. In the decisive Game 7 in Boston, as the Lakers trailed by three points in the final minute, opposing point guard Dennis Johnson stole the ball from Johnson, a play that effectively ended the series. Friends Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre consoled him that night, talking until the morning in his Boston hotel room amidst fan celebrations on the street. During the Finals, Johnson averaged 18.0 points on .560 shooting, 13.6 assists, and 7.7 rebounds per game. Johnson later described the series as "the one championship we should have had but didn't get". In the 1984–85 regular season, Johnson averaged 18.3 points, 12.6 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game, and led the Lakers into the 1985 NBA Finals, where they faced the Celtics again. The series started poorly for the Lakers when they allowed an NBA Finals record 148 points to the Celtics in a 34-point loss in Game 1. However, Abdul-Jabbar, who was now 38 years old, scored 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in Game 2, and his 36 points in a Game 5 win were instrumental in establishing a 3–2 lead for Los Angeles. After the Lakers defeated the Celtics in six games, Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson, who averaged 18.3 points on .494 shooting, 14.0 assists, and 6.8 rebounds per game in the championship series, said the Finals win was the highlight of their careers. Johnson again averaged a double-double in the 1985–86 NBA season, with 18.8 points, 12.6 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game. The Lakers advanced to the Western Conference Finals, but were unable to defeat the Houston Rockets, who advanced to the Finals in five games. In the next season, Johnson averaged a career-high of 23.9 points, as well as 12.2 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game, and earned his first regular season MVP award. The Lakers met the Celtics for the third time in the NBA Finals, and in Game 4 Johnson hit a last-second hook shot over Celtics big men Parish and Kevin McHale to win the game 107–106. The game-winning shot, which Johnson dubbed his "junior, junior, junior sky-hook", helped Los Angeles defeat Boston in six games. Johnson was awarded his third Finals MVP title after averaging 26.2 points on .541 shooting, 13.0 assists, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.33 steals per game. ### Repeat and falling short (1987–1991) Before the 1987–88 NBA season, Lakers coach Pat Riley publicly promised that they would defend the NBA title, even though no team had won consecutive titles since the Celtics did so in the 1969 NBA Finals. Johnson had another productive season with averages of 19.6 points, 11.9 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game despite missing 10 games with a groin injury. In the 1988 playoffs, the Lakers swept the San Antonio Spurs in 3 games, then survived two 4–3 series against the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks to reach the Finals and face Thomas and the Detroit Pistons, who with players such as Bill Laimbeer, John Salley, Vinnie Johnson, and Dennis Rodman were known as the "Bad Boys" for their physical style of play. Johnson and Thomas greeted each other with a kiss on the cheek before the opening tip of Game 1, which they called a display of brotherly love. After the teams split the first six games, Lakers forward and Finals MVP James Worthy had his first career triple-double of 36 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists, and led his team to a 108–105 win. Despite not being named MVP, Johnson had a strong championship series, averaging 21.1 points on .550 shooting, 13 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game. It was the fifth and final NBA championship of his career. In the 1988–89 NBA season, Johnson's 22.5 points, 12.8 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game earned him his second MVP award, and the Lakers reached the 1989 NBA Finals, in which they again faced the Pistons. However, after Johnson went down with a hamstring injury in Game 2, the Lakers were no match for the Pistons, who swept them 4–0. Playing without Abdul-Jabbar for the first time, Johnson won his third MVP award after a strong 1989–90 NBA season in which he averaged 22.3 points, 11.5 assists, and 6.6 rebounds per game. However, the Lakers bowed out to the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference semifinals, which was the Lakers' earliest playoffs elimination in nine years. Mike Dunleavy became the Lakers' head coach in 1990–91, when Johnson had grown to be the league's third-oldest point guard. He had become more powerful and stronger than in his earlier years, but was also slower and less nimble. Under Dunleavy, the offense used more half-court sets, and the team had a renewed emphasis on defense. Johnson performed well during the season, with averages of 19.4 points, 12.5 assists, and 7 rebounds per game, and the Lakers reached the 1991 NBA Finals. There they faced the Chicago Bulls, led by shooting guard Michael Jordan, a five-time scoring champion regarded as the finest player of his era. Although the series was portrayed as a matchup between Johnson and Jordan, Bulls forward Scottie Pippen defended effectively against Johnson. Despite two triple-doubles from Johnson during the series, Finals MVP Jordan led his team to a 4–1 win. In the last championship series of his career, Johnson averaged 18.6 points on .431 shooting, 12.4 assists, and 8 rebounds per game. ### HIV announcement and Olympics (1991–1992) After a physical before the 1991–92 NBA season, Johnson discovered that he had tested positive for HIV. In a press conference held on November 7, 1991, Johnson made a public announcement that he would retire immediately. He stated that his wife Cookie and their unborn child did not have HIV, and that he would dedicate his life to "battle this deadly disease". Johnson initially said that he did not know how he contracted the disease, but later acknowledged that it was through having numerous sexual partners during his playing career. He admitted to having "harems of women" and talked openly about his sexual activities because "he was convinced that heterosexuals needed to know that they, too, were at risk". At the time, only a small percentage of HIV-positive American men had contracted it from heterosexual sex, and it was initially rumored that Johnson was gay or bisexual, although he denied both. Johnson later accused Isiah Thomas of spreading the rumors, a claim Thomas denied. Johnson's HIV announcement became a major news story in the United States, and in 2004 was named as ESPN's seventh-most memorable moment of the previous 25 years. Many articles praised Johnson as a hero, and the then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush said, "For me, Magic is a hero, a hero for anyone who loves sports." Despite his retirement, Johnson was voted by fans as a starter for the 1992 NBA All-Star Game at Orlando Arena, although his former teammates Byron Scott and A. C. Green said that Johnson should not play, and several NBA players, including Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone, argued that they would be at risk of contamination if Johnson sustained an open wound while on court. Johnson led the West to a 153–113 win and was crowned All-Star MVP after recording 25 points, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds. The game ended after he made a last-minute three-pointer, and players from both teams ran onto the court to congratulate Johnson. Johnson was chosen to compete in the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics for the U.S. national team, dubbed the "Dream Team" because of the NBA stars on the roster. The Dream Team, which along with Johnson included fellow Hall of Famers such as Bird, Michael Jordan, and Charles Barkley, was considered unbeatable. After qualifying for the Olympics with a gold medal at the 1992 Tournament of the Americas, the Dream Team dominated in Olympic competition, winning the gold medal with an 8–0 record, beating their opponents by an average of 43.8 points per game. Johnson averaged 8.0 points per game during the Olympics, and his 5.5 assists per game was second on the team. Johnson played infrequently because of knee problems, but he received standing ovations from the crowd, and used the opportunity to inspire HIV-positive people. ### Post-Olympics and later life Before the 1992–93 NBA season, Johnson announced his intention to stage an NBA comeback. After practicing and playing in several pre-season games, he retired again before the start of the regular season, citing controversy over his return sparked by opposition from several active players. In an August 2011 interview, Johnson said that in retrospect he wished that he had never retired after being diagnosed with HIV, saying, "If I knew what I know now, I wouldn't have retired." Johnson said that despite the physical, highly competitive practices and scrimmages leading up to the 1992 Olympics, some of those same teammates still expressed concerns about his return to the NBA. He said that he retired because he "didn't want to hurt the game." During his retirement, Johnson has written a book on safe sex, run several businesses, worked for NBC as a commentator, and toured Asia, Australia, and New Zealand with a basketball team of former college and NBA players. In 1985, Johnson created "A Midsummer Night's Magic", a yearly charity event which included a celebrity basketball game and a black tie dinner. The proceeds went to the United Negro College Fund, and Johnson held this event for twenty years, ending in 2005. "A Midsummer Night's Magic" eventually came under the umbrella of the Magic Johnson Foundation, which he founded in 1991. The 1992 event, which was the first one held after Johnson's appearance in the 1992 Olympics, raised over \$1.3 million for UNCF. Johnson joined Shaquille O'Neal and celebrity coach Spike Lee to lead the blue team to a 147–132 victory over the white team, which was coached by Arsenio Hall. #### Return to the Lakers as coach and player (1994, 1996) Johnson returned to the NBA as coach for the Lakers near the end of the 1993–94 NBA season, replacing Randy Pfund, and Bill Bertka, who served as an interim coach for two games. Johnson, who took the job at the urging of owner Jerry Buss, admitted "I've always had the desire (to coach) in the back of my mind." He insisted that his health was not an issue, while downplaying questions about returning as a player, saying, "I'm retired. Let's leave it at that." Amid speculation from general manager Jerry West that he may only coach until the end of the season, Johnson took over a team that had a 28–38 record, and won his first game as head coach, a 110–101 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. He was coaching a team that had five of his former teammates on the roster: Vlade Divac, Elden Campbell, Tony Smith, Kurt Rambis, James Worthy, and Michael Cooper, who was brought in as an assistant coach. Johnson, who still had a guaranteed player contract that would pay him \$14.6 million during the 1994–95 NBA season, signed a separate contract to coach the team that had no compensation. The Lakers played well initially, winning five of their first six games under Johnson, but after losing the next five games, Johnson announced that he was resigning as coach after the season. The Lakers finished the season on a ten-game losing streak, and Johnson's final record as a head coach was 5–11. Stating that it was never his dream to coach, he chose instead to purchase a 5% share of the team in June 1994. At the age of 36, Johnson attempted another comeback as a player when he rejoined the Lakers during the 1995–96 NBA season. During his retirement, Johnson began intense workouts to help his fight against HIV, raising his bench press from 135 to 300 pounds, and increasing his weight to 255 pounds. He officially returned to the team on January 29, 1996, and played his first game the following day against the Golden State Warriors. Coming off the bench, Johnson had 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists to help the Lakers to a 128–118 victory. On February 14, Johnson recorded the final triple-double of his career, when he scored 15 points, along with 10 rebounds and 13 assists in a victory against the Atlanta Hawks. Playing power forward, he averaged 14.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game in 32 games, and finished tied for 12th place with Charles Barkley in voting for the MVP Award. The Lakers had a record of 22–10 in the games Johnson played, and he considered his final comeback "a success." While Johnson played well in 1996, there were struggles both on and off the court. Cedric Ceballos, upset over a reduction in his playing time after Johnson's arrival, left the team for several days. He missed two games and was stripped of his title as team captain. Nick Van Exel received a seven-game suspension for bumping referee Ron Garretson during a game on April 9. Johnson was publicly critical of Van Exel, saying his actions were "inexcusable." Johnson was himself suspended five days later, when he bumped referee Scott Foster, missing three games. He also missed several games due to a calf injury. Despite these difficulties, the Lakers finished with a record of 53–29 and fourth seed in the NBA Playoffs. Although they were facing the defending NBA champion Houston Rockets, the Lakers had home court advantage in the five-game series. The Lakers played poorly in a Game 1 loss, prompting Johnson to express frustration with his role in coach Del Harris' offense. Johnson led the way to a Game 2 victory with 26 points, but averaged only 7.5 points per game for the remainder of the series, which the Rockets won three games to one. After the Lakers lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, Johnson initially expressed a desire to return to the team for the 1996–97 NBA season, but he also talked about joining another team as a free agent, hoping to see more playing time at point guard instead of power forward. A few days later, Johnson changed his mind and retired permanently, saying, "I am going out on my terms, something I couldn't say when I aborted a comeback in 1992." #### Magic Johnson All-Stars Determined to play competitive basketball despite being out of the NBA, Johnson formed the Magic Johnson All-Stars, a barnstorming team composed of former NBA and college players. In 1994, Johnson joined with former pros Mark Aguirre, Reggie Theus, John Long, Earl Cureton, Jim Farmer, and Lester Conner, as his team played games in Australia, Israel, South America, Europe, New Zealand, and Japan. They also toured the United States, playing five games against teams from the CBA. In the final game of the CBA series, Johnson had 30 points, 17 rebounds, and 13 assists, leading the All-Stars to a 126–121 victory over the Oklahoma City Cavalry. By the time he returned to the Lakers in 1996, the Magic Johnson All-Stars had amassed a record of 55–0, and Johnson was earning as much as \$365,000 per game. Johnson played with the team frequently over the next several years, with possibly the most memorable game occurring in November 2001. At the age of 42, Johnson played with the All-Stars against his alma mater, Michigan State. Although he played in a celebrity game to honor coach Jud Heathcoate in 1995, this was Johnson's first meaningful game played in his hometown of Lansing in 22 years. Playing in front of a sold-out arena, Johnson had a triple-double and played the entire game, but his all-star team lost to the Spartans by two points. Johnson's half-court shot at the buzzer would have won the game, but it fell short. On November 1, 2002, Johnson returned to play a second exhibition game against Michigan State. Playing with the Canberra Cannons of Australia's National Basketball League instead of his usual group of players, Johnson's team defeated the Spartans 104–85, as he scored 12 points and had 10 assists and 10 rebounds. #### Brief period in Scandinavia In 1999, Johnson joined the Swedish squad M7 Borås (now known as 'Borås Basket'), and was undefeated in five games with the team. Johnson also became a co-owner of the club; however, the project failed after one season and the club was forced into reconstruction. He later joined the Danish team The Great Danes. ## Rivalry with Larry Bird Johnson and Bird were first linked as rivals after Johnson's Michigan State Spartans squad defeated Bird's Indiana State Sycamores team in the 1979 NCAA finals. The rivalry continued in the NBA, and reached its climax when Boston and Los Angeles met in three out of four NBA Finals from 1984 to 1987, with the Lakers winning two out of three Finals. Johnson asserted that for him, the 82-game regular season was composed of 80 normal games, and two Lakers–Celtics games. Similarly, Bird admitted that Johnson's daily box score was the first thing he checked in the morning. Several journalists hypothesized that the Johnson–Bird rivalry was so appealing because it represented many other contrasts, such as the clash between the Lakers and Celtics, between Hollywood flashiness ("Showtime") and Boston/Indiana blue collar grit ("Celtic Pride"), and between blacks and whites. The rivalry was also significant because it drew national attention to the faltering NBA. Prior to Johnson and Bird's arrival, the NBA had gone through a decade of declining interest and low TV ratings. With the two future Hall of Famers, the league won a whole generation of new fans, drawing both traditionalist adherents of Bird's dirt court Indiana game and those appreciative of Johnson's public park flair. According to sports journalist Larry Schwartz of ESPN, Johnson and Bird saved the NBA from bankruptcy. Despite their on-court rivalry, Johnson and Bird became close friends during the filming of a 1984 Converse shoe advertisement that depicted them as enemies. Johnson appeared at Bird's retirement ceremony in 1992, and described Bird as a "friend forever"; during Johnson's Hall of Fame ceremony, Bird formally inducted his old rival. In 2009, Johnson and Bird collaborated with journalist Jackie MacMullan on a non-fiction book titled When the Game Was Ours. The book detailed their on-court rivalry and friendship with one another. The following year, HBO developed a documentary about their rivalry titled Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals, which was directed by Ezra Edelman. ## Legacy In 905 NBA games, Johnson tallied 17,707 points, 6,559 rebounds, and 10,141 assists, translating to career averages of 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 11.2 assists per game, the highest assists per game average in NBA history. Johnson shares the single-game playoff record for assists (24), holds the Finals record for assists in a game (21), and has the most playoff assists (2,346). He is the only player to average 12 assists in an NBA Finals series, achieving it six times. He holds the All-Star Game single-game record for assists (22), and the All-Star Game record for career assists (127). Johnson introduced a fast-paced style of basketball called "Showtime", described as a mix of "no-look passes off the fastbreak, pin-point alley-oops from halfcourt, spinning feeds and overhand bullets under the basket through triple teams." Fellow Lakers guard Michael Cooper said, "There have been times when [Johnson] has thrown passes and I wasn't sure where he was going. Then one of our guys catches the ball and scores, and I run back up the floor convinced that he must've thrown it through somebody." Johnson could dominate a game without scoring, running the offense and distributing the ball with flair. In the 1982 NBA Finals, he was named the Finals MVP averaging just 16.2 points, the lowest average of any Finals MVP award recipient in the three-point shot era. Johnson was exceptional because he played point guard despite being 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), a size reserved normally for frontcourt players. His career 138 triple-double games places him third all-time behind Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook. Johnson is the only player in NBA Finals history to have triple-doubles in multiple series-clinching games. For his feats, Johnson was voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players of All Time by the NBA in 1996, and selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted him in 2002. ESPN's SportsCentury ranked Johnson No. 17 in their "50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century" In 2006, ESPN.com rated Johnson the greatest point guard of all time, stating, "It could be argued that he's the one player in NBA history who was better than Michael Jordan." Bleacher Report also listed Johnson first in its all-time NBA point guard rankings. In 2022, to commemorate the NBA's 75th anniversary, The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time, and named Johnson as the 5th greatest player in NBA history, and the highest ranked point guard. Several of his achievements in individual games have also been named among the top moments in the NBA. At the 2019 NBA Awards, Johnson received the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award (shared with Bird). In 2022, the NBA began awarding MVPs for the conference finals; the Western Conference Finals MVP trophy is named after Johnson, while the Eastern Conference trophy is named after Bird. ## Executive career On February 21, 2017, Johnson replaced Jim Buss as the president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Lakers. Under Johnson, the Lakers sought to acquire multiple star players and cleared existing players, including future All-Star D'Angelo Russell, off of their roster in an attempt to free up room under the league's salary cap. The franchise reached an agreement with free agent LeBron James on a four-year contract in 2018, but efforts to trade for Anthony Davis during the 2018–19 season proved unsuccessful. The Lakers did not reach the playoffs during Johnson's executive tenure. In an impromptu news conference on April 9, 2019, Johnson resigned from the Lakers, citing his desire to return to his role as an NBA ambassador. ## Off the court ### Personal life Johnson first fathered a son in 1981 when Andre Johnson was born to Melissa Mitchell. Although Andre was raised by his mother, he visited Johnson each summer, and later worked for Magic Johnson Enterprises as a marketing director. In 1991, Johnson married Earlitha "Cookie" Kelly in a small wedding in Lansing which included guests Thomas, Aguirre, and Herb Williams. Johnson and Cookie have one son, Earvin III ("EJ"), who is openly gay and a star on the reality show Rich Kids of Beverly Hills. The couple adopted a daughter, Elisa, in 1995. Johnson resides in Beverly Hills and has a vacation home in Dana Point, California. Johnson is a Christian and has said his faith is "the most important thing" in his life. In 2010, Johnson and current and former NBA players such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Bill Russell, as well as Maya Moore from the WNBA, played a basketball game with President Barack Obama as an exhibition for a group of military troops who had been injured in action. The game was played at a gym inside Fort McNair, and reporters covering the president were not allowed to enter. The basketball game was a part of other festivities organized to celebrate Obama's 49th birthday. ### Relationship with Jerry Buss Johnson had an extremely close relationship with Lakers owner Jerry Buss, whom he saw as a mentor and father figure. Calling Buss his "second father" and "one of [his] best friends", Johnson spent five hours visiting Buss at the hospital just a few months before he died of cancer. Speaking to media just hours after Buss had died, Johnson was emotional, saying, "Without Dr. Jerry Buss, there is no Magic." Buss acquired the team from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979, shortly before he drafted Johnson with the \#1 pick in the 1979 NBA draft. Buss took a special interest in Johnson, introducing him to important Los Angeles business contacts and showing him how the Lakers organization was run, before eventually selling Johnson a stake in the team in 1994. Johnson credits Buss with giving him the business knowledge that enabled him to become part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Buss supported Johnson as he revealed his diagnosis of HIV in 1991, and he never hesitated to keep Johnson close to the organization, bringing him in as part-owner, and even as a coach. Johnson had never seriously considered coaching, but he agreed to take the head coaching position with the Lakers in 1994 at Buss' request. In 1992, Buss had given Johnson a contract that paid him \$14 million a year, as payback for all the years he was not the league's highest-paid player. Although Johnson's retirement prior to the 1992–93 NBA season voided this contract, Buss insisted that he still be paid. It was this arrangement that allowed Johnson to coach the team without receiving any additional salary. After Johnson ended his coaching stint, Buss sold him a 4% stake in the Lakers for \$10 million, and Johnson served as a team executive. ### Media figure and business interests In 1997, his production company Magic Johnson Entertainment signed a deal with Fox. In 1998, Johnson hosted a late night talk show on the Fox network called The Magic Hour, but the show was canceled after two months because of low ratings. Shortly after the cancellation of his talk show, Johnson started a record label. The label, initially called Magic 32 Records, was renamed Magic Johnson Music when Johnson signed a joint venture with MCA in 2000. Magic Johnson Music signed R&B artist Avant as its first act. Johnson also co-promoted Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope Tour through his company Magicworks. He has also worked as a motivational speaker, and was an NBA commentator for Turner Network Television for seven years, before becoming a studio analyst for ESPN's NBA Countdown in 2008. Johnson runs Magic Johnson Enterprises, a conglomerate company that has a net worth of \$700 million; its subsidiaries include Magic Johnson Productions, a promotional company; Magic Johnson Theaters, a nationwide chain of movie theaters; and Magic Johnson Entertainment, a film studio. In addition to these business ventures, Johnson has also created the Magic Card, a pre-paid MasterCard aimed at helping low-income people save money and participate in electronic commerce. In 2006, Johnson created a contract food service with Sodexo USA called Sodexo-Magic. In 2004, Johnson and his partner Ken Lombard sold Magic Johnson Theaters to Loews Cineplex Entertainment. The first Magic Johnson Theater located in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, closed in 2010 and re-opened in 2011 as Rave Cinema 15. In 2012, Johnson launched a cable TV network called Aspire, featuring programming targeted at black audiences, similar to networks such as Black Entertainment Television (BET) and TV One. Johnson began thinking of life after basketball while still playing for the Lakers. He wondered why so many athletes had failed at business, and sought advice. During his seventh season in the NBA, he had a meeting with Michael Ovitz, CEO of Creative Artists Agency. Ovitz encouraged him to start reading business magazines and to use every connection available to him. Johnson learned everything he could about business, often meeting with corporate executives during road trips. Johnson's first foray into business, a high-end sporting goods store named Magic 32, failed after only one year, costing him \$200,000. The experience taught him to listen to his customers and find out what products they wanted. Johnson has become a leading voice on how to invest in urban communities, creating redevelopment opportunities in underserved areas, most notably through his movie theaters and his partnership with Starbucks. He went to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz with the idea that he could successfully open the coffee shops in urban areas. After showing Schultz the tremendous buying power of minorities, Johnson was able to purchase 125 Starbucks stores, which reported higher than average per capita sales. The partnership, called Urban Coffee Opportunities, placed Starbucks in locations such as Detroit, Washington, D.C., Harlem, and the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles. Johnson sold his remaining interest in the stores back to the company in 2010, ending a successful twelve-year partnership. He has also made investments in urban real estate through the Canyon-Johnson and Yucaipa-Johnson funds. Another major project is with insurance services company Aon Corp. In 2005–2007, Johnson was a part of a syndicate that bought the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, then the tallest building in Brooklyn, for \$71 million and converted the 512-foot high landmark structure from an office building into luxury condominiums. In 1990, Johnson and Earl Graves Sr. obtained a large interest in the Washington, D.C. PepsiCo bottling operation, making it the company's largest minority-owned facility in the U.S. Johnson became a minority owner of the Lakers in 1994, having reportedly paid more than \$10 million for part ownership. He also held the title of team vice president. Johnson sold his ownership stake in the Lakers in October 2010 to Patrick Soon-Shiong, a Los Angeles surgeon and professor at UCLA, but continued as an unpaid vice president of the team. In February 2017, Johnson returned to the Lakers as an advisor to Jeanie Buss. In the wake of the Donald Sterling controversy, limited media reports indicated that Johnson had expressed an interest in purchasing the Los Angeles Clippers franchise. In 2015, Johnson completed his planned acquisition for a "majority, controlling interest" in EquiTrust Life Insurance Company, which manages \$14.5 billion in annuities, life insurance and other financial products. He is an investor for aXiomatic eSports, the ownership company of Team Liquid. ### Sports team ownership In January 2012, Johnson joined with Guggenheim Partners and Stan Kasten in a bid for ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. In March 2012, Johnson's ownership group was announced as the winner of the proceedings to buy the Dodgers. The Johnson-led group, which also includes movie executive Peter Guber, paid \$2 billion for the Dodgers. Johnson is considered the face of the ownership group while the controlling owner is Mark Walter. The Dodgers won the 2020 World Series. Johnson and Guber were also partners in the Dayton Dragons, a Class-A minor league baseball team based in Dayton, Ohio, that sold out more than 1,000 consecutive games, a record for professional sports. Johnson and Guber sold their stake in the Dragons in 2014. Together with Guggenheim, Johnson was also involved in buying the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA in 2014. As such, in 2014, Johnson was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25. He won the WNBA championship as the owner in 2016. Johnson announced co-ownership of a Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion franchise, Los Angeles FC, which began play in 2018 and won the MLS Cup in 2022. In 2023, Johnson invested \$240 million in a group led by Josh Harris that purchased the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL) for \$6.05 billion, the highest price ever paid for a sports team. A lifelong fan of the NFL, he considered it the greatest achievement of his business career and his agent said it was Johnson's "dream for years". Johnson had previously held talks with groups pursuing the Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders before joining Harris on an unsuccessful bid to buy the Denver Broncos. ### Politics Johnson is a supporter of the Democratic Party. In 2006, he publicly endorsed Phil Angelides for Governor of California. He supported Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign, and in 2010, he endorsed Barbara Boxer in her race for re-election to the U.S. Senate. In 2012, he endorsed Barack Obama for president. He endorsed and appeared in campaign ads for unsuccessful Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel in 2013. In 2015, he once again endorsed Hillary Clinton in her second presidential campaign. He hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on August 22, 2016. ### HIV activism > I think sometimes we think, "Well, only gay people can get it; it's not going to happen to me", and here I am saying that it can happen to anybody. Johnson was one of the first sports stars to go public about having HIV. AIDS activist Elizabeth Glaser, to whom Johnson had been introduced by a friend, convinced Johnson to go public about his diagnosis. "She made me promise before she died that I would become the face of the disease and really go out and help people and educate people about it", Johnson recalled in a 2011 interview with Frontline. After announcing his infection in November 1991, Johnson created the Magic Johnson Foundation to help combat HIV, although he later diversified the foundation to include other charitable goals. In 1992, he joined the National Commission on AIDS, a committee appointed by members of Congress and the Bush Administration. Johnson left after eight months, saying that the White House had "utterly ignored" the work of the panel, and had opposed the commission's recommendations, which included universal healthcare and the expansion of Medicaid to cover all low-income people with AIDS. He was also the main speaker for the United Nations (UN) World AIDS Day Conference in 1999, and has served as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. HIV had been associated with intravenous drug users and homosexuals, but Johnson's campaigns sought to show that the risk of infection was not limited to those groups. Johnson stated that his aim was to "help educate all people about what [HIV] is about" and teach others not to "discriminate against people who have HIV and AIDS". Johnson was later criticized by the AIDS community for his decreased involvement in publicizing the spread of the disease. A number of research papers have been written on the "Magic Johnson effect", the effect Johnson's HIV announcement had on various populations, particularly those outside the stereotypes of who got infected with HIV – that is, heterosexuals. Johnson's announcement was a "public-health catalyst", according to a West Virginia University paper, "rapidly correcting the public's understanding of who was at risk of infection". The paper argues there was a "large but temporary increase in the number of AIDS diagnoses for heterosexual men following the announcement" and suggests that, for some of those people, Johnson's announcement "prolonged patients' lifespans as a result of earlier access to medical care". A paper published in AIDS Education and Prevention, based on interviews with clients of a Philadelphia sexually-transmitted-disease clinic, found that "the announcement by Magic Johnson that he had been infected with HIV was associated with increased concern about HIV and with attitude and behavior changes that would lead to reduced risk". To prevent his HIV infection from progressing to AIDS, Johnson takes a daily combination of drugs, also called a drug cocktail. He has advertised GlaxoSmithKline's drugs, and partnered with Abbott Laboratories to publicize the fight against AIDS in African American communities. ## Awards and honors NBA - 10-time NBA champion (five as a player, five as owner/executive) - Three-time NBA MVP - Three-time Finals MVP - Nine-time All-NBA First Team - 12-time NBA All-Star - Two-time All-Star Game MVP - 1992 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award - Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 - Selected on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021 - No. 32 retired by the Lakers - Statue in front of Crypto.com Arena - Trophy named in Johnson's honor (Earvin "Magic" Johnson Trophy) awarded to Western Conference Finals MVP (established in 2022) USA Basketball - 1992 Olympic gold medal (U.S. national team) NCAA - 1979 NCAA champion (Michigan State) - No. 33 retired by Michigan State - Statue at Michigan State High school - 1977 Michigan high school state champion (Lansing Everett High School) Halls of Fame - Two-time Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductee: - 2002 – individual - 2010 – member of "The Dream Team" - College Basketball Hall of Fame (class of 2006) - FIBA Hall of Fame (class of 2017 as a member of "The Dream Team") - U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame (class of 2009 as a member of "The Dream Team") - Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Sports ownership - 2016 WNBA champion (as part owner of the Sparks) - 2020 World Series champion (as part owner of the Dodgers) - 2022 MLS Cup champion (as part owner of Los Angeles FC) NAACP Image Awards - 1992 Jackie Robinson Sports Award Entertainment - 1993 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album ## NBA career statistics ### Regular season \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1979–80 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 77 \\|\\| 72 \\|\\| 36.3 \\|\\| .530 \\|\\| .226 \\|\\| .810 \\|\\| 7.7 \\|\\| 7.3 \\|\\| 2.4 \\|\\| 0.5 \\|\\| 18.0 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left"\\|1980–81 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 37 \\|\\| 35 \\|\\| 37.1 \\|\\| .532 \\|\\| .176 \\|\\| .760 \\|\\| 8.6 \\|\\| 8.6 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\|3.4\* \\|\\| 0.7 \\|\\| 21.6 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1981–82 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 78 \\|\\| 77 \\|\\| 38.3 \\|\\| .537 \\|\\| .207 \\|\\| .760 \\|\\| 9.6 \\|\\| 9.5 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\|2.7\* \\|\\| 0.4 \\|\\| 18.6 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1982–83 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 79 \\|\\| 79 \\|\\| 36.8 \\|\\| .548 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .800 \\|\\| 8.6 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\|10.5\* \\|\\| 2.2 \\|\\| 0.6 \\|\\| 16.8 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left"\\|1983–84 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 67 \\|\\| 66 \\|\\| 38.3 \\|\\| .565 \\|\\| .207 \\|\\| .810 \\|\\| 7.3 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\|13.1\* \\|\\| 2.2 \\|\\| 0.7 \\|\\| 17.6 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1984–85 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 77 \\|\\| 77 \\|\\| 36.1 \\|\\| .561 \\|\\| .189 \\|\\| .843 \\|\\| 6.2 \\|\\| 12.6 \\|\\| 1.5 \\|\\| 0.3 \\|\\| 18.3 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1985–86 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 72 \\|\\| 70 \\|\\| 35.8 \\|\\| .526 \\|\\| .233 \\|\\| .871 \\|\\| 5.9 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\|12.6\* \\|\\| 1.6 \\|\\| 0.2 \\|\\| 18.8 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1986–87 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 80 \\|\\| 80 \\|\\| 36.3 \\|\\| .522 \\|\\| .205 \\|\\| .848 \\|\\| 6.3 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\|12.2\* \\|\\| 1.7 \\|\\| 0.4 \\|\\| 23.9 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1987–88 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 72 \\|\\| 70 \\|\\| 36.6 \\|\\| .492 \\|\\| .196 \\|\\| .853 \\|\\| 6.2 \\|\\| 11.9 \\|\\| 1.6 \\|\\| 0.2 \\|\\| 19.6 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1988–89 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 77 \\|\\| 77 \\|\\| 37.5 \\|\\| .509 \\|\\| .314 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\|.911\* \\|\\| 7.9 \\|\\| 12.8 \\|\\| 1.8 \\|\\| 0.3 \\|\\| 22.5 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1989–90 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 79 \\|\\| 79 \\|\\| 37.2 \\|\\| .480 \\|\\| .384 \\|\\| .890 \\|\\| 6.6 \\|\\| 11.5 \\|\\| 1.7 \\|\\| 0.4 \\|\\| 22.3 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1990–91 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 79 \\|\\| 79 \\|\\| 37.1 \\|\\| .477 \\|\\| .320 \\|\\| .906 \\|\\| 7.0 \\|\\| 12.5 \\|\\| 1.3 \\|\\| 0.2 \\|\\| 19.4 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1995–96 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 32 \\|\\| 9 \\|\\| 29.9 \\|\\| .466 \\|\\| .379 \\|\\| .856 \\|\\| 5.7 \\|\\| 6.9 \\|\\| 0.8 \\|\\| 0.4 \\|\\| 14.6 \\|- class="sortbottom" \\| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\\|Career \\| 906 \\|\\| 870 \\|\\| 36.7 \\|\\| .520 \\|\\| .303 \\|\\| .848 \\|\\| 7.2 \\|\\| style="background:#E0CEF2;"\\|11.2 \\|\\| 1.9 \\|\\| 0.4 \\|\\| 19.5 \\|- class="sortbottom" \\| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\\|All-Star \\| 11 \\|\\| 10 \\|\\| 30.1 \\|\\| .489 \\|\\| .476 \\|\\| .905 \\|\\| 5.2 \\|\\| 11.5 \\|\\| 1.9 \\|\\| 0.6 \\|\\| 16.0 ### Playoffs \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1980 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 16 \\|\\| 16 \\|\\| 41.1 \\|\\| .518 \\|\\| .250 \\|\\| .802 \\|\\| 10.5 \\|\\| 9.4 \\|\\| 3.1 \\|\\| 0.4 \\|\\| 18.3 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1981 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 3 \\|\\| 3 \\|\\| 42.3 \\|\\| .388 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .650 \\|\\| 13.7 \\|\\| 7.0 \\|\\| 2.7 \\|\\| 1.0 \\|\\| 17.0 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1982 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 14 \\|\\| 14 \\|\\| 40.1 \\|\\| .529 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .828 \\|\\| 11.3 \\|\\| 9.3 \\|\\| 2.9 \\|\\| 0.2 \\|\\| 17.4 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1983 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 15 \\|\\| 15 \\|\\| 42.9 \\|\\| .485 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .840 \\|\\| 8.5 \\|\\| 12.8 \\|\\| 2.3 \\|\\| 0.8 \\|\\| 17.9 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1984 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 21 \\|\\| 21 \\|\\| 39.9 \\|\\| .551 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .800 \\|\\| 6.6 \\|\\| 13.5 \\|\\| 2.0 \\|\\| 1.0 \\|\\| 18.2 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1985 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 19 \\|\\| 19 \\|\\| 36.2 \\|\\| .513 \\|\\| .143 \\|\\| .847 \\|\\| 7.1 \\|\\| 15.2 \\|\\| 1.7 \\|\\| 0.2 \\|\\| 17.5 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1986 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 14 \\|\\| 14 \\|\\| 38.6 \\|\\| .537 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .766 \\|\\| 7.1 \\|\\| 15.1 \\|\\| 1.9 \\|\\| 0.1 \\|\\| 21.6 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1987 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 18 \\|\\| 18 \\|\\| 37.0 \\|\\| .539 \\|\\| .200 \\|\\| .831 \\|\\| 7.7 \\|\\| 12.2 \\|\\| 1.7 \\|\\| 0.4 \\|\\| 21.8 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\\|1988 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 24 \\|\\| 24 \\|\\| 40.2 \\|\\| .514 \\|\\| .500 \\|\\| .852 \\|\\| 5.4 \\|\\| 12.6 \\|\\| 1.4 \\|\\| 0.2 \\|\\| 19.9 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1989 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 14 \\|\\| 14 \\|\\| 37.0 \\|\\| .489 \\|\\| .286 \\|\\| .907 \\|\\| 5.9 \\|\\| 11.8 \\|\\| 1.9 \\|\\| 0.2 \\|\\| 18.4 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1990 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 9 \\|\\| 9 \\|\\| 41.8 \\|\\| .490 \\|\\| .200 \\|\\| .886 \\|\\| 6.3 \\|\\| 12.8 \\|\\| 1.2 \\|\\| 0.1 \\|\\| 25.2 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1991 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 19 \\|\\| 19 \\|\\| 43.3 \\|\\| .440 \\|\\| .296 \\|\\| .882 \\|\\| 8.1 \\|\\| 12.6 \\|\\| 1.2 \\|\\| 0.0 \\|\\| 21.8 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1996 \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| 4 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 33.8 \\|\\| .385 \\|\\| .333 \\|\\| .848 \\|\\| 8.5 \\|\\| 6.5 \\|\\| 0.0 \\|\\| 0.0 \\|\\| 15.3 \\|- class=sortbottom \\| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\\|Career \\| 190 \\|\\| 186 \\|\\| 39.7 \\|\\| .506 \\|\\| .241 \\|\\| .838 \\|\\| 7.7 \\|\\| style="background:#E0CEF2;"\\|12.3 \\|\\| 1.9 \\|\\| 0.3 \\|\\| 19.5 \\|- ## Head coaching record \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|L.A. Lakers \\| style="text-align:left;"\\|1993–94 \\| 16 \\|\\| 5 \\|\\| 11 \\|\\| .313 \\|\\| style="text-align:center;"\\|(resigned) \\|\\| — \\|\\| — \\|\\| — \\|\\| — \\|\\| style="text-align:center;"\\|— \\|- \\| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\\|Career \\| 16 \\|\\| 5 \\|\\| 11 \\|\\| .313 \\|\\| \\|\\| — \\|\\| — \\|\\| — \\|\\| — \\|\\| style="text-align:center;"\\|— ## See also - List of athletes who came out of retirement - List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders - List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders - List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders - List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders - List of National Basketball Association career triple-double leaders - List of National Basketball Association career playoff scoring leaders - List of National Basketball Association career playoff rebounding leaders - List of National Basketball Association career playoff assists leaders - List of National Basketball Association career playoff steals leaders - List of National Basketball Association career playoff triple-double leaders - List of National Basketball Association career playoff turnovers leaders - List of National Basketball Association career playoff free throw scoring leaders - List of National Basketball Association players with most assists in a game - List of National Basketball Association players with most steals in a game
61,334	Pygmy hippopotamus	1,168,531,145	Small species of hippopotamus from West Africa	[ "Articles containing video clips", "EDGE species", "Endangered fauna of Africa", "Fauna of Rivers State", "Hippopotamuses", "Mammals described in 1849", "Mammals of West Africa", "Semiaquatic mammals" ]	The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis) is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has been extirpated from Nigeria. The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being its much larger relative, the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or Nile hippopotamus. The pygmy hippopotamus displays many terrestrial adaptations, but like the hippo, it is semiaquatic and relies on water to keep its skin moist and its body temperature cool. Behaviors such as mating and giving birth may occur in water or on land. The pygmy hippo is herbivorous, feeding on ferns, broad-leaved plants, grasses, and fruits it finds in the forests. A rare nocturnal forest creature, the pygmy hippopotamus is a difficult animal to study in the wild. Pygmy hippos were unknown outside West Africa until the 19th century. Introduced to zoos in the early 20th century, they breed well in captivity and the vast majority of research is derived from zoo specimens. The survival of the species in captivity is more assured than in the wild; in a 2015 assessment, the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimated that fewer than 2,500 pygmy hippos remain in the wild. Pygmy hippos are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, as forests are logged and converted to farm land, and are also vulnerable to poaching, hunting for bushmeat, natural predators, and war. Pygmy hippos are among the species illegally hunted for food in Liberia. ## Taxonomy and origins Nomenclature of the pygmy hippopotamus reflects that of the hippopotamus; the plural form is pygmy hippopotamuses or pygmy hippopotami. A male pygmy hippopotamus is known as a bull, a female as a cow, and a baby as a calf. A group of hippopotami is known as a herd or a bloat. The pygmy hippopotamus is a member of the family Hippopotamidae where it is classified as a member of the genus Choeropsis ("resembling a hog"). Members of Hippopotamidae are sometimes known as hippopotamids. Sometimes the sub-family Hippopotaminae is used. Further, some taxonomists group hippopotami and anthracotheres in the superfamily Anthracotheroidea or Hippopotamoidea. The taxonomy of the genus of the pygmy hippopotamus has changed as understanding of the animal has developed. Samuel G. Morton initially classified the animal as Hippopotamus minor, but later determined it was distinct enough to warrant its own genus, and labeled it Choeropsis. In 1977, Shirley C. Coryndon proposed that the pygmy hippopotamus was closely related to Hexaprotodon, a genus that consisted of prehistoric hippos mostly native to Asia. This assertion was widely accepted, until Boisserie asserted in 2005 that the pygmy hippopotamus was not a member of Hexaprotodon, after a thorough examination of the phylogeny of Hippopotamidae. He suggested instead that the pygmy hippopotamus was a distinct genus, and returned the animal to Choeropsis. ITIS verifies Hexaprotodon liberiensis as the valid scientific name. All agree that the modern pygmy hippopotamus, be it H. liberiensis or C. liberiensis, is the only extant member of its genus. The American Society of Mammalogists moved it back to Choeropsis in 2021, a move supported by the IUCN. ### Nigerian subspecies A distinct subspecies of pygmy hippopotamus existed in Nigeria until at least the 20th century, though the validity of this has been questioned. The existence of the subspecies, makes Choeropsis liberiensis liberiensis (or Hexaprotodon liberiensis liberiensis under the old classification) the full trinomial nomenclature for the Liberian pygmy hippopotamus. The Nigerian pygmy hippopotamus was never studied in the wild and never captured. All research and all zoo specimens are the Liberian subspecies. The Nigerian subspecies is classified as C. liberiensis heslopi. The Nigerian pygmy hippopotamus ranged in the Niger River Delta, especially near Port Harcourt, but no reliable reports exist after the collection of the museum specimens secured by Ian Heslop, a British colonial officer, in the early 1940s. It is probably extinct. The subspecies is separated by over 1,800 km (1,100 mi) and the Dahomey Gap, a region of savanna that divides the forest regions of West Africa. The subspecies is named after Heslop, who shot three members of it in 1935 and 1943. He estimated that perhaps no more than 30 pygmy hippos remained in the region. Heslop sent four pygmy hippopotamus skulls he collected to the British Museum of Natural History in London. These specimens were not subjected to taxonomic evaluation, however, until 1969 when Gordon Barclay Corbet [de] classified the skulls as belonging to a separate subspecies based on consistent variations in the proportions of the skulls. The Nigerian pygmy hippos were seen or shot in Rivers State, Imo State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria. While some local populations are aware that the species once existed, its history in the region is poorly documented. ### Evolution The evolution of the pygmy hippopotamus is most often studied in the context of its larger cousin. Both species were long believed to be most closely related to the family Suidae (pigs and hogs) or Tayassuidae (peccaries), but research within the last 10 years has determined that pygmy hippos and hippos are most closely related to cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around . This hypothesized ancestor likely split into two branches about six million years later. One branch would evolve into cetaceans, the other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, whose earliest member, from the Late Eocene, would have resembled narrow hippopotami with comparatively small and thin heads. Hippopotamids are deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus, which lived in Africa from . Kenyapotamus is known only through fragmentary fossils, but was similar in size to C. liberiensis. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa, and while at one point the species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotami have ever been discovered in the Americas. Starting the Archaeopotamus, likely ancestors to the genus Hippopotamus and Hexaprotodon, lived in Africa and the Middle East. While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the lineages of the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis, may have diverged as far back as . The ancestral form of the pygmy hippopotamus may be the genus Saotherium. Saotherium and Choeropsis are significantly more basal than Hippopotamus and Hexaprotodon, and thus more closely resemble the ancestral species of hippos. ### Extinct pygmy and dwarf hippos Several species of small hippopotamids have also become extinct in the Mediterranean in the late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Though these species are sometimes known as "pygmy hippopotami" they are not believed to be closely related to C. liberiensis. These include the Cretan dwarf hippopotamus (Hippopotamus creutzburgi), the Sicilian hippopotamus (Hippopotamus pentlandi), the Maltese hippopotamus (Hippopotamus melitensis) and the Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus (Hippopotamus minor). These species, though comparable in size to the pygmy hippopotamus, are considered dwarf hippopotamuses, rather than pygmies. They are likely descended from a full-sized species of European hippopotamus, and reached their small size through the evolutionary process of insular dwarfism which is common on islands; the ancestors of pygmy hippopotami were also small and thus there was never a dwarfing process. There were also several species of pygmy hippo on the island of Madagascar (see Malagasy hippopotamus). ## Description Pygmy hippos share the same general form as a hippopotamus. They have a graviportal skeleton, with four stubby legs and four toes on each foot, supporting a portly frame. Yet, the pygmy is only half as tall as the hippopotamus and weighs less than 1/4 as much as its larger cousin. Adult pygmy hippos stand about 75–100 cm (2.46–3.28 ft) high at the shoulder, are 150–175 cm (4.92–5.74 ft) in length and weigh 180–275 kg (397–606 lb). Their lifespan in captivity ranges from 30 to 55 years, though it is unlikely that they live this long in the wild. The skin is greenish-black or brown, shading to a creamy gray on the lower body. Their skin is very similar to the common hippo's, with a thin epidermis over a dermis that is several centimeters thick. Pygmy hippos have the same unusual secretion as common hippos, that gives a pinkish tinge to their bodies, and is sometimes described as "blood sweat" though the secretion is neither sweat nor blood. This substance, hipposudoric acid, is believed to have antiseptic and sunscreening properties. The skin of hippos dries out quickly and cracks, which is why both species spend so much time in water. The skeleton of C. liberiensis is more gracile than that of the common hippopotamus, meaning their bones are proportionally thinner. The common hippo's spine is parallel with the ground; the pygmy hippo's back slopes forward, a likely adaptation to pass more easily through dense forest vegetation. Proportionally, the pygmy hippo's legs and neck are longer and its head smaller. The orbits and nostrils of a pygmy hippo are much less pronounced, an adaptation from spending less time in deep water (where pronounced orbits and nostrils help the common hippo breathe and see). The feet of pygmy hippos are narrower, but the toes are more spread out and have less webbing, to assist in walking on the forest floor. Despite adaptations to a more terrestrial life than the common hippopotamus, pygmy hippos are still more aquatic than all other even-toed ungulates. The ears and nostrils of pygmy hippos have strong muscular valves to aid submerging underwater, and the skin physiology is dependent on the availability of water. ## Behavior The behavior of the pygmy hippo differs from the common hippo in many ways. Much of its behavior is more similar to that of a tapir, though this is an effect of convergent evolution. While the common hippopotamus is gregarious, pygmy hippos live either alone or in small groups, typically a mated pair or a mother and calf. Pygmy hippos tend to ignore each other rather than fight when they meet. Field studies have estimated that male pygmy hippos range over 1.85 km<sup>2</sup> (460 acres), while the range of a female is 0.4 to 0.6 km<sup>2</sup> (100–150 acres). Pygmy hippos spend most of the day hidden in rivers. They will rest in the same spot for several days in a row, before moving to a new spot. At least some pygmy hippos make use of dens or burrows that form in river banks. It is unknown if the pygmy hippos help create these dens, or how common it is to use them. Though a pygmy hippo has never been observed burrowing, other artiodactyls, such as warthogs, are burrowers. ### Diet Like the common hippopotamus, the pygmy hippo emerges from the water at dusk to feed. It relies on game trails to travel through dense forest vegetation. It marks trails by vigorously waving its tail while defecating to further spread its feces. The pygmy hippo spends about six hours a day foraging for food. Pygmy hippos are herbivorous. They do not eat aquatic vegetation to a significant extent and rarely eat grass because it is uncommon in the thick forests they inhabit. The bulk of a pygmy hippo's diet consists of ferns, broad-leaved plants and fruits that have fallen to the forest floor. The wide variety of plants pygmy hippos have been observed eating suggests that they will eat any plants available. This diet is of higher quality than that of the common hippopotamus. ### Reproduction A study of breeding behavior in the wild has never been conducted; the artificial conditions of captivity may cause the observed behavior of pygmy hippos in zoos to differ from natural conditions. Sexual maturity for the pygmy hippopotamus occurs between three and five years of age. The youngest reported age for giving birth is a pygmy hippo in the Zoo Basel, Switzerland which bore a calf at three years and three months. The oestrus cycle of a female pygmy hippo lasts an average of 35.5 days, with the oestrus itself lasting between 24 and 48 hours. Pygmy hippos consort for mating, but the duration of the relationship is unknown. In zoos they breed as monogamous pairs. Copulation can take place on land or in the water, and a pair will mate one to four times during an oestrus period. In captivity, pygmy hippos have been conceived and born in all months of the year. The gestation period ranges from 190 to 210 days, and usually a single young is born, though twins are known to occur. The common hippopotamus gives birth and mates only in the water, but pygmy hippos mate and give birth on both land and water. Young pygmy hippos can swim almost immediately. At birth, pygmy hippos weigh 4.5–6.2 kg (9.9–13.7 lb) with males weighing about 0.25 kg (0.55 lb) more than females. Pygmy hippos are fully weaned between six and eight months of age; before weaning they do not accompany their mother when she leaves the water to forage, but instead hide in the water by themselves. The mother returns to the hiding spot about three times a day and calls out for the calf to suckle. Suckling occurs with the mother lying on her side. ### Temperament Although not considered dangerous to humans and generally docile, Pygmy hippos can be highly aggressive at times. ## Conservation The greatest threat to the remaining pygmy hippopotamus population in the wild is loss of habitat. The forests in which pygmy hippos live have been subject to logging, settling and conversion to agriculture, with little efforts made to make logging sustainable. As forests shrink, the populations become more fragmented, leading to less genetic diversity in the potential mating pool. Pygmy hippos are among the species illegally hunted for food in Liberia. Their meat is said to be of excellent quality, like that of a wild boar; unlike those of the common hippo, the pygmy hippo's teeth have no value. The effects of West Africa's civil strife on the pygmy hippopotamus are unknown, but unlikely to be positive. The pygmy hippopotamus can be killed by leopards, pythons and crocodiles. How often this occurs is unknown. C. liberiensis was identified as one of the top 10 "focal species" in 2007 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) project. Some populations inhabit protected areas, such as the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone. Basel Zoo in Switzerland holds the international studbook and coordinates the entire captive pygmy hippo population that freely breeds in zoos around the world. Between 1970 and 1991 the population of pygmy hippos born in captivity more than doubled. The survival of the species in zoos is more certain than the survival of the species in the wild. In captivity, the pygmy hippo lives from 42 to 55 years, longer than in the wild. Since 1919, only 41 percent of pygmy hippos born in zoos have been male. ## History and folklore While the common hippopotamus was known to Europeans since classical antiquity, the pygmy hippopotamus was unknown outside its range in West Africa until the 19th century. Due to their nocturnal, forested existence, they were poorly known within their range as well. In Liberia the animal was traditionally known as a water cow. Early field reports of the animal misidentified it as a wild hog. Several skulls of the species were sent to the American natural scientist Samuel G. Morton, during his residency in Monrovia, Liberia. Morton first described the species in 1843. The first complete specimens were collected as part of a comprehensive investigation of Liberian fauna in the 1870s and 1880s by Dr. Johann Büttikofer. The specimens were taken to the Natural History Museum in Leiden, The Netherlands. The first pygmy hippo was brought to Europe in 1873 after being captured in Sierra Leone by a member of the British Colonial Service but died shortly after arrival. Pygmy hippos were successfully established in European zoos in 1911. They were first shipped to Germany and then to the Bronx Zoo in New York City where they also thrived. In 1927, Harvey Firestone of Firestone Tires presented Billy the pygmy hippo to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge donated Billy to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. According to the zoo, Billy is a common ancestor to most pygmy hippos in U.S. zoos today. Several folktales have been collected about the pygmy hippopotamus. One tale says that pygmy hippos carry a shining diamond in their mouths to help travel through thick forests at night; by day the pygmy hippo has a secret hiding place for the diamond, but if a hunter catches a pygmy hippo at night the diamond can be taken. Villagers sometimes believed that baby pygmy hippos do not nurse but rather lick secretions off the skin of the mother.
26,770,557	Evolution of lemurs	1,152,720,772	History of primate evolution on Madagascar	[ "Evolution of primates", "Lemurs" ]	Lemurs, primates belonging to the suborder Strepsirrhini which branched off from other primates less than 63 million years ago, evolved on the island of Madagascar, for at least 40 million years. They share some traits with the most basal primates, and thus are often confused as being ancestral to modern monkeys, apes, and humans. Instead, they merely resemble ancestral primates. Lemurs are thought to have evolved during the Eocene or earlier, sharing a closest common ancestor with lorises, pottos, and galagos (lorisoids). Fossils from Africa and some tests of nuclear DNA suggest that lemurs made their way to Madagascar between 40 and 52 mya. Other mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence comparisons offer an alternative date range of 62 to 65 mya. An ancestral lemur population is thought to have inadvertently rafted to the island on a floating mat of vegetation, although hypotheses for land bridges and island hopping have also been proposed. The timing and number of hypothesized colonizations has traditionally hinged on the phylogenetic affinities of the aye-aye, the most basal member of the lemur clade. Having undergone their own independent evolution on Madagascar, lemurs have diversified to fill many niches normally filled by other types of mammals. They include the smallest primates in the world, and once included some of the largest. Since the arrival of humans approximately 2,000 years ago, lemurs are now restricted to 10% of the island, or approximately 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles), with many facing extinction. ## Evolutionary history Lemurs are primates belonging to the suborder Strepsirrhini. Like other strepsirrhine primates, such as lorises, pottos, and galagos, they share ancestral traits with early primates. In this regard, lemurs are popularly confused with ancestral primates; however, lemurs did not give rise to monkeys and apes, but evolved independently on Madagascar. Primates first evolved sometime between the Middle Cretaceous and the early Paleocene periods on either the supercontinent of Laurasia or in Africa. According to molecular clock studies, the last common ancestor of all primates dates to around 79.6 mya, although the earliest known fossil primates are only 54–55 million years old. The closest relatives of primates are the extinct plesiadapiforms, the modern colugos (commonly and inaccurately named "flying lemurs"), and treeshrews. Some of the earliest known true primates are represented by the fossil groups Omomyidae, Eosimiidae, and Adapiformes. The relationship between known fossil primate families remains unclear. A conservative estimate for the divergence of haplorhines (tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans) and strepsirrhines is 58 to 63 mya. A consensus is emerging that places omomyids as a sister group to tarsiers, eosimids as a stem group to simians (non-tarsier haplorhines), and Djebelemur, an African genus likely to be related to an early Asian branch of cercamoniine adapiforms, as a stem group to modern strepsirrhines, including lemurs. In 2009, a highly publicized and scientifically criticized publication proclaimed that a 47-million-year-old adapiform fossil, Darwinius masillae, demonstrated both adapiform and simian traits, making it a transitional form between the prosimian and simian lineages. Media sources inaccurately dubbed the fossil as a "missing link" between lemurs and humans. Lemurs were traditionally thought to have evolved during the Eocene (55 to 37 mya) based on the fossil record, although molecular tests suggest the Paleocene (66 to 56 mya) or later. Until recently, they were thought to have descended directly from the diverse group of adapiforms due to several shared postcranial traits, as well as long snouts and small brains. Although adapiforms also had lemur-like auditory bullae, a prosimian characteristic, they had smaller brains and longer snouts than lemurs. There are also several other morphological differences. Most noticeably, adapiforms lack a key derived trait, the toothcomb, and possibly the toilet-claw, found not only in extant (living) strepsirrhines but also in tarsiers. Unlike lemurs, adapiforms exhibited a fused mandibular symphysis (a characteristic of simians) and also possessed four premolars, instead of three or two. Comparative studies of the cytochrome b gene, which are frequently used to determine phylogenetic relationships among mammals—particularly within families and genera—have been used to show that lemurs share common ancestry with lorisoids. This conclusion is also corroborated by the shared strepsirrhine toothcomb, an unusual trait that is unlikely to have evolved twice. If adapiforms were the ancestors of the living strepsirrhines, then the last common ancestor of modern strepsirrhines would have to predate the early Eocene, a view supported by molecular phylogenetic studies by Anne D. Yoder and Ziheng Yang in 2004, which showed that lemurs split from lorises approximately 62 to 65 mya. These dates were confirmed by more extensive tests by Julie Horvath et al. in 2008. These molecular studies also showed that lemuroids diversified before the modern lorisoids. Using a more limited data set and only nuclear genes, another study in 2005 by Céline Poux et al. dated the split between lemurs and lorises at 60 mya, lemur diversification at 50 mya, and the lemur colonization of Madagascar somewhere between these two approximate dates. However, the 2003 discovery of fossil lorisoids at the Fayum Depression in Egypt pushed the date of lorisoid divergence back to the Eocene, matching the divergence dates predicted by Yoder and Horvath. The fossil record tells a different story. Although it cannot show the earliest possible date for the appearance of a taxonomic group, other concerns have arisen about these vastly earlier divergence dates predicted independently of the fossil record. First, palaeontologists have expressed concerns that if primates have been around for significantly more than 66 million years, then the first one-third of the primate fossil record is missing. Another problem is that some of these molecular dates have overestimated the divergence of other mammalian orders, such as Rodentia, suggesting primate divergence might also be overestimated. One of the oldest known strepsirrhines, Djebelemur, dates from the early Eocene of northern Africa and lacks a fully differentiated toothcomb. Based on fossils and other genetic tests, a more conservative estimate dates the divergence between lemurs and lorises to around 50 to 55 mya. To complicate the ancestry puzzle, no terrestrial Eocene or Paleocene fossils have been found on Madagascar, and the fossil record from both Africa and Asia around this time is not much better. Fossil sites in Madagascar are restricted to only five windows in time, which omit most of the Cenozoic, from 66 mya to \~26,000 years ago. What little fossil-bearing rock exists from this vast span of time is dominated by marine strata along the west coast. The oldest lemur fossils on Madagascar are actually subfossils dating to the Late Pleistocene. ### Colonization of Madagascar Once part of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar broke away from eastern Africa, the most likely source of the ancestral lemur population, about 160 mya and then from Antarctica between 80 and 130 mya. Initially, the island drifted south from where it split from Africa (around modern Somalia) until it reached its current position between 80 and 90 mya. Around that time, it split with India, leaving it isolated in the Indian Ocean and separated from nearby Africa by the Mozambique Channel, a deep channel with a minimum width of approximately 560 km (350 mi). These separation dates and the estimated age of the primate lineage preclude any possibility that lemurs could have been on the island before Madagascar pulled away from Africa, an evolutionary process known as vicariance. In support of this, mammalian fossils on Madagascar from the Cretaceous (see Mesozoic mammals of Madagascar) include gondwanatheres and other mammalian groups that would not have been ancestral to lemurs or the other endemic mammals present on the island today. With Madagascar already geographically isolated by the Paleocene and lemur diversification dating to the same time, an explanation was needed for how lemurs had made it to the island. In the 19th century, prior to the theory of continental drift, scientists including Philip Sclater, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and Ernst Haeckel suggested that Madagascar and India were once part of a southern continent—named Lemuria by Sclater—that has since disappeared under the Indian Ocean. By the early 20th century, oceanic dispersal emerged as the most popular explanation for how lemurs reached the island. The idea first took shape under the anti-plate tectonics movement of the early 1900s, when renowned paleontologist William Diller Matthew proposed the idea in his influential article "Climate and Evolution" in 1915. In the article, Matthew could only account for the presence of lemurs in Madagascar by "rafting". In the 1940s, American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson coined the term "sweepstakes dispersal" for such unlikely events. As plate tectonics theory took hold, oceanic dispersal fell out of favor and was even considered by many researchers to be "miraculous" if it occurred. Despite the low likelihood of its occurrence, oceanic dispersal remains the most accepted explanation for numerous vertebrate colonizations of Madagascar, including that of the lemurs. Although unlikely, over long periods of time terrestrial animals can occasionally raft to remote islands on floating mats of tangled vegetation, which get flushed out to sea from major rivers by floodwaters. Any extended ocean voyage without fresh water or food would prove difficult for a large, warm-blooded (homeothermic) mammal, but today many small, nocturnal species of lemur exhibit heterothermy, which allows them to lower their metabolism and become dormant while living off fat reserves. Such a trait in a small, nocturnal lemur ancestor would have facilitated the ocean voyage and could have been passed on to its descendants. However, this trait has not been observed in the closely related lorisoids studied to date, and could have evolved on Madagascar in response to the island's harsh environmental conditions. Because only five terrestrial orders of mammals have made it to the island, each likely to have derived from a single colonization, and since these colonizations date to either the early Cenozoic or the early Miocene, the conditions for oceanic dispersal to Madagascar seem to have been better during two separate periods in the past. A report published in January 2010 supported this assumption by demonstrating that both Madagascar and Africa were 1,650 km (1,030 mi) south of their present-day positions around 60 mya, placing them in a different ocean gyre and reversing the strong current that presently flows away from Madagascar. The currents were even shown to be stronger than they are today, shortening the rafting time to approximately 30 days or less, making the crossing much easier for a small mammal. Over time, as the continental plates drifted northward, the currents gradually changed, and by 20 mya the window for oceanic dispersal had closed. Since the 1970s, the rafting hypothesis has been called into question by claims that lemur family Cheirogaleidae might be more closely related to the other Afro-Asian strepsirrhines than to the rest of the lemurs. This idea was initially based on similarities in behavior and molar morphology, although it gained support with the 2001 discovery of 30‐million-year-old Bugtilemur in Pakistan and the 2003 discovery of 40‐million-year-old Karanisia in Egypt. Karanisia is the oldest fossil found that bears a toothcomb, whereas Bugtilemur was thought to have a toothcomb, but also had even more similar molar morphology to Cheirogaleus (dwarf lemurs). If these relationships had been correct, the dates of these fossils would have had implications on the colonization of Madagascar, requiring two separate events. The most parsimonious explanation, given the genetic evidence and the absence of toothcombed primates in European fossil sites, is that stem strepsirrhines evolved on the Afro-Arabian landmass, dispersing to Madagascar and more recently from Africa to Asia. More recently, the structure and general presence of the toothcomb in Bugtilemur has been questioned, as well as many other dental features, suggesting it is most likely an adapiform. An alternative form of oceanic dispersal that had been considered was island hopping, where the lemur ancestors might have made it to Madagascar in small steps by colonizing exposed seamounts during times of low sea level. However, this is unlikely since the only seamounts found along the Davie Ridge would have been too small in such a wide channel. Even though the Comoro Islands between Africa and Madagascar are significantly larger, they are too young, having been formed by volcanic activity only around 8 mya. A land bridge between Madagascar and Africa has also been proposed, but a land bridge would have facilitated the migration of a much greater sampling of Africa's mammalian fauna than is endemic to the island. Furthermore, deep trenches separate Madagascar from the mainland, and prior to the Oligocene, sea level was significantly higher than today. A variant of the land bridge hypothesis has been proposed in an attempt to explain both how a land bridge could have formed, and why other mammalian orders failed to cross it. Geological studies have shown that following the collision of India and Asia, the Davie Fracture Zone had been pushed up by tectonic forces, possibly high enough to create a land bridge. Indeed, core samples along the Davie Fracture Zone suggest that at least parts of the Mozambique Channel were above sea level between 45 and 26 mya, or possibly as early as 55 mya. Following the Indian-Asian collision, the fault type changed from a strike-slip fault to a normal fault, and seafloor spreading created compression along the Davie Fracture Zone, causing it to rise. By the early Miocene, the East African Rift created tension along the fault, causing it to subside beneath the ocean. The divergence dates of many Malagasy mammalian orders formerly fell within this window. Old World monkeys, dogs, and cats did not diverge or arrive in Africa until later in the Miocene. However, more recent dating of divergence of the Malagasy mammalian clades falls outside of this land bridge window, and a much greater diversity of mammal groups would be expected on Madagascar had the land bridge been present during that stretch of time. The dating of the lemur colonization is controversial for the same reasons as strepsirrhine evolution. Using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, a single colonization has been estimated at 62 to 65 mya based on the split between the aye-aye and the rest of the lemurs. On the other hand, the sparse fossil record and some estimates based on other nuclear genes support a more recent estimate of 40 to 52 mya. Furthermore, a fossil strepsirrhine primate from Africa, Plesiopithecus, may suggest that the aye-aye and the rest of the lemurs diverged in Africa, which would require at least two colonization events. Once safely established on Madagascar, with its limited mammalian population, the lemurs were protected from the increasing competition from evolving arboreal mammalian groups. Monkeys had evolved by the Oligocene, and their intelligence, aggression, and deceptiveness may have given them the advantage in exploiting the environment over the diurnal adapiform primates in Africa and Asia, ultimately driving them to extinction and leaving only the nocturnal lorisoids. ### Diversification The ancestral lemur that colonized Madagascar is thought to have been small and nocturnal. More specifically, it is thought to have had adapiform-like cranial anatomy—particularly the cranial foramina and the middle ear—comparable to that of lemurids, while being similar to cheirogaleids in dentition and postcranial anatomy. Nothing definitive is known about the island's biogeography at the time of the colonization, however, the paleoclimate (ancient weather patterns) may have been affected by Madagascar's location below the subtropical ridge at 30° S latitude and disruption of the weather patterns by India as it drifted northward. Both would have created a drying effect on Madagascar, and as a result, the arid spiny bush that is currently found in the south and southwest of Madagascar would have dominated the island. This would have placed strong selection pressure for drought tolerance on the inhabitants of the island between the Cretaceous and the Eocene. As Madagascar edged above the subtropical ridge and India moved closer to Asia, the climate became less dry and the arid spiny bush retreated to the south and southwest. Lemurs have diversified greatly since first reaching Madagascar. The aye-aye and its extinct relations are thought to have diverged first, shortly after colonization. According to molecular studies, there have since been two major episodes of diversification, from which all other known extant and extinct family lineages emerged. The remaining families diverged in the first diversification episode, during a 10 to 12 million-year window between the Late Eocene (42 mya) and into the Oligocene (30 mya). The dates for this divergence window span the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, during which time climate cooling took place and changes in ocean currents altered weather patterns. Outside of Madagascar, these dates also coincide with the divergence of the lorisoid primates and five major clades of squirrels, all occupying niches similar to those of lemurs. The dates do not suggest that increased predation drove family-level divergence since the first carnivores arrived on the island between 24 and 18 mya. The precise relationship between the four of the five families of lemurs is disputed since they diverged during this narrow and distant window. Although all studies place Cheirogaleidae and Lepilemuridae as a sister clade to Indriidae and Lemuridae, some suggest that Cheirogaleidae and Lepilemuridae diverged first, while others suggest that Indriidae and Lemuridae were the first to branch off. The second major episode of diversification occurred during the Late Miocene, approximately 8 to 12 mya, and included the true lemurs (Eulemur) and the mouse lemurs (Microcebus). This event coincided with the beginning of the Indian monsoons, the last major change in climate to affect Madagascar. The populations of both the true lemurs and mouse lemurs were thought to have diverged due to habitat fragmentation when humans arrived on the island roughly 2,000 years ago. Only recently has molecular research shown a more distant split in these genera. Most surprising were the mouse lemurs, a group which is now thought to contain cryptic species, meaning they are indistinguishable from each other based solely on appearance. In contrast, true lemurs are easier to distinguish and exhibit sexual dichromatism. Studies in karyology, molecular genetics, and biogeographic patterns have also assisted in understanding their phylogeny and diversification. Although the divergence estimates for these two genera are imprecise, they overlap with a change to a wetter climate in Madagascar, as new weather patterns generated monsoons and likely influenced the plant life. This difference in evolutionary divergence between the two genera may be due to differences in their activity patterns. True lemurs are often diurnal, allowing potential mates to distinguish each other as well as other related species visually. Mouse lemurs, on the other hand, are nocturnal, reducing their ability to use visual signals for mate selection. Instead, they use olfactory and auditory signaling. For these reasons, true lemurs may have evolved sexual dichromatism while mouse lemurs evolved to be cryptic species. ## Distribution and diversity Since their arrival on Madagascar, lemurs have diversified both in behavior and morphology. Their diversity rivals that of the monkeys and apes found throughout the rest of the world, especially when the recently extinct subfossil lemurs are considered. Ranging in size from the 30 g (1.1 oz) Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, the world's smallest primate, to the extinct 160–200 kg (350–440 lb) Archaeoindris fontoynonti, lemurs evolved diverse forms of locomotion, varying levels of social complexity, and unique adaptations to the local climate. They went on to fill many niches normally occupied by monkeys, squirrels, woodpeckers, and large grazing ungulates. In addition to the incredible diversity between lemur families, there has also been great diversification among closely related lemurs. Yet despite separation by geographical barriers or by niche differentiation in sympatry, occasionally hybridization can occur. Lemur diversification has also created generalist species, such as the true lemurs of northern Madagascar, which are very adaptable, mostly nondescript, and found throughout most of the island's forests. Most of the 99 living lemur taxa are found only on Madagascar. Two species, the common brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus) and the mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz), can also be found on the Comoro Islands, although it is assumed that both species were introduced to the islands from northwestern Madagascar by humans within the last few hundred years. Molecular studies on Eulemur fulvus fulvus (from the mainland) and E. f. mayottensis (from the Comoro Islands) and on Comoro and mainland mongoose lemurs have supported this assumption by showing no genetic differences between the two populations. Because all lemurs, including these two brown lemur species, are only native to the island of Madagascar, they are considered to be endemic. Historically, lemurs ranged across the entire island inhabiting a wide variety of habitats, including dry deciduous forests, lowland forests, spiny thickets, subhumid forests, montane forest, and mangrove. Today, their collective range is restricted to 10% of the island, or approximately 60,000 km<sup>2</sup> (23,000 sq mi). Most of the remaining forests and lemurs are found along the periphery of the island. The center of the island, the Hauts-Plateaux, was converted by early settlers to rice paddies and grassland through slash-and-burn agriculture, known locally as tavy. As erosion depleted the soil, the cyclical forest regrowth and burning ended as the forest gradually failed to return. Today, the level of floral diversity increases with precipitation, from the dry southern forests to the wetter northern forests to the rainforests along the east coast. Increased foliage corresponds to increased faunal diversity, including the diversity and complexity of lemur communities. Having evolved in Madagascar's challenging environment, replete with poor soils, extreme shifts in poor, seasonal plant productivity, and devastating climatic events such as extended droughts and annual cyclones, lemurs have adopted unique combinations of unusual traits to survive, distinguishing them significantly from other primates. In response to limited, seasonal resources, lemurs may exhibit seasonal fat storage, hypometabolism (including torpor and hibernation in some cheirogaleids), small group sizes, low encephalization (relative brain size), cathemerality (activity both day and night), and/or strict breeding seasons. Secondarily, extreme resource limitations and seasonal breeding are thought to have resulted in three other relatively common lemur traits: female dominance, sexual monomorphism (lack of size differences between the sexes), and male–male competition for mates involving low levels of agonism (conflict), such as sperm competition. The arrival of humans on the island 1,500 to 2,000 years ago has taken a significant toll, not only on the size of lemur populations, but also on their diversity. Due to habitat destruction and hunting, at least 17 species and 8 genera have gone extinct and the populations of all species have decreased. A couple of species once thought to have gone extinct have since been rediscovered. The hairy-eared dwarf lemur (Allocebus trichotis) was only known from five museum specimens, most collected in the late 19th century and one in 1965. It was rediscovered in 1989 and has since been identified in five national parks, although it is very rare within its range. Likewise, the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) was thought to be extinct as recently as the late 1970s, but a population was located near Ranomafana National Park in the late 1980s. Historically, it had a much wider geographic distribution, shown by subfossil remains, but today it remains one of the world's 25 most endangered primates. One distinctive morph (possibly a species or subspecies) of sifaka, has not been so fortunate, having been extirpated from all known localities. Unless trends change, extinctions are likely to continue. Until recently, giant species of lemur existed on Madagascar. Now represented only by recent or subfossil remains, they were modern forms and are counted as part of the rich lemur diversity that evolved in isolation. Some of their adaptations were unlike those seen in lemurs today. All 17 extinct lemurs were larger than the extant forms, some weighing as much as 200 kg (440 lb), and are thought to have been active during the day. Not only were they unlike the living lemurs in both size and appearance, they also filled ecological niches that no longer exist or are now left unoccupied. Large parts of Madagascar, which are now devoid of forests and lemurs, once hosted diverse primate communities that included more than 20 species covering the full range of lemur sizes.
52,943,305	1896 Cedar Keys hurricane	1,173,468,586	Category 3 Atlantic hurricane in 1896	[ "1896 Atlantic hurricane season", "1896 natural disasters in the United States", "Category 3 Atlantic hurricanes", "Cedar Key, Florida", "Hurricanes in Florida", "Hurricanes in Georgia (U.S. state)", "Hurricanes in Maryland", "Hurricanes in New York (state)", "Hurricanes in North Carolina", "Hurricanes in Pennsylvania", "Hurricanes in South Carolina", "Hurricanes in Virginia", "Hurricanes in Washington, D.C.", "September 1896 events" ]	The 1896 Cedar Keys hurricane was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that devastated much of the East Coast of the United States, starting with Florida's Cedar Keys, near the end of September 1896. The storm's rapid movement allowed it to maintain much of its intensity after landfall and cause significant damage over a broad area; as a result, it became one of the costliest United States hurricanes at the time. The fourth tropical cyclone of the 1896 Atlantic hurricane season, it formed by September 22, likely from a tropical wave, before crossing the Caribbean Sea just south of the Greater Antilles. It entered the Gulf of Mexico as the equivalent of a major hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, and struck the Cedar Keys—an offshore island chain that includes the island and city of Cedar Key—early on the morning of September 29 with winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). The area was inundated by a devastating 10.5 ft (3.2 m) storm surge that undermined buildings, washed out the connecting railroad to the mainland, and submerged the smaller, outlying islands, where 31 people were killed. Strong winds also destroyed many of the red cedar trees that played an important role in the economy of the region. The cyclone continued inland over the Suwannee River valley, causing widespread destruction in dozens of communities across interior northern Florida; in the hardest-hit settlements, intense winds left few trees or buildings standing. The hurricane razed 5,000 sq mi (13,000 km<sup>2</sup>) of dense pine forests in northern Florida, crippling the turpentine industry. Crops and livestock were destroyed, and thousands of individuals were left homeless. The storm killed at least 70 people in mainland Florida, while inflicting approximately \$3 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) in property damage across the state. Speeding north, the hurricane ravaged southeastern Georgia and the Sea Islands. In Savannah, a 45-minute onslaught of fierce winds unroofed thousands of structures. Parks, cemeteries, and streets in the city were littered with fallen trees, and the Savannah River saw dozens of wrecked boats. At least 37 people in Georgia died. Strong winds and high tides battered southeastern South Carolina, ruining rice crops and peeling off roofs. The storm then tracked through mostly rural sectors of North Carolina and did significant wind damage in the Raleigh–Durham area. Although the hurricane was weakening and transitioning into an extratropical cyclone late on September 29, its rapid forward movement contributed to high wind velocities across parts of the Mid-Atlantic states, with gusts approaching 100 mph (160 km/h). Additionally, torrential rains fell west of the storm's track. In Virginia, cities and agricultural districts alike suffered extensive damage. Flash flooding in the Shenandoah Valley culminated in the failure of an earthen dam upstream from Staunton, unleashing a torrent of water that swept houses from their foundations and ravaged the town's commercial district. In Washington, D.C., thousands of trees were uprooted or snapped, communications were severed, and localized streaks of violent gusts damaged many public and private buildings. The White House grounds were left in disarray. High tides in the Chesapeake Bay triggered flooding in coastal cities. In Pennsylvania, flooding rains and powerful wind gusts produced widespread destruction. Railroads in western parts of the state were plagued by washouts and landslides, while in southeastern areas, hundreds of barns were destroyed. The storm demolished a 5,390 ft (1,640 m) bridge over the Susquehanna River, while the Gettysburg Battlefield lost hundreds of trees, a few of which struck and damaged historical monuments. Strong winds extended as far east as Long Island. Heavy rainfall reached west into Ohio, and the hurricane's extratropical remnants wrought havoc on shipping in the Great Lakes. The storm caused at least 202 deaths and wrought more than \$9.6 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) in damage. ## Meteorological history Although little is known about the system prior to its passage through the Leeward Islands as a tropical storm on September 22, it likely originated from a tropical wave that exited the western coast of Africa. Its track has been re-analyzed multiple times since the early 20th century. For several days, the storm moved westward through the northern Caribbean Sea, passing just south of Jamaica as a low-end hurricane on September 25. The cyclone steadily intensified, turned northward, and moved through the Yucatán Channel on September 28. The aftermath of the storm in western Cuba was consistent with the effects of a Category 1 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale, suggesting that the storm was a major hurricane of Category 3 intensity while passing west of the island. As the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico, it began to accelerate and curve toward the north-northeast. In the early morning on September 29, the center of the hurricane made landfall on Cedar Key, Florida, with a minimum central pressure of 960 mb (28.35 inHg), and moved inland across Levy County. The cyclone possessed an unusually tight core, with a 17 mi (27 km) radius of maximum wind, and was traveling at a swift pace of about 35 mph (55 km/h). Consequently, its estimated maximum winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) were higher than pressure alone would suggest. The small but intense hurricane continued northeastward through northern Florida and southeastern Georgia, and its core contracted further; outside of a narrow corridor along the storm's track, winds were comparatively light. At Savannah, Georgia, air pressure fell 15 hPa (0.45 inHg) in 45 minutes as the storm center passed just to the west around midday on September 29. The system weakened as it sped northward through the Carolinas, but when it reached the Mid-Atlantic states on the evening of September 29, its increasingly rapid forward movement contributed to renewed wind violence. A band of heavy rain was observed along and west of the storm's track from northern North Carolina to southern Pennsylvania, with the heaviest totals exceeding 6 in (150 mm). As the storm transitioned into an extratropical cyclone by early on September 30, its envelope of damaging winds expanded. The extratropical system passed west of Washington, D.C., and progressed into central Pennsylvania, dissipating near the Southern Tier of New York. Its remnants continued into the St. Lawrence Valley, where they merged with another low pressure area. ## Impact and aftermath As the hurricane passed to the south and then to the west of Cuba, strong winds and heavy rain showers were reported along the length of the island, beginning with Santiago de Cuba. Winds reached hurricane force at Cape San Antonio, the western tip of Cuba, and 60 mph (100 km/h) at Havana. However, few details of the effects in Cuba are available. The hurricane chiefly affected the eastern United States, impacting a broad region from Florida to New York over the course of just 24 hours. It was, at the time, one of the costliest hurricanes ever to strike the country. ### Florida Newspapers referred to the hurricane as the "worst ever known" in Florida. It caused at least \$3 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) in property damage throughout the state, and estimates of the number of individuals left homeless by the storm ran as high as 10,000 to 12,000. #### Cedar Keys and Levy County While the hurricane was still in the Gulf of Mexico on September 28, the Norwegian barque Saturn foundered off Key West. Her crew was rescued by a steamship and brought to New York City. As the storm came ashore, the Cedar Keys were struck by a 10.5 ft (3.2 m) storm surge that victims often erroneously called a "tidal wave." Yankeetown received an even higher storm surge of 12.6 ft (3.8 m). The main street through the center of Cedar Key—the most populous island in the Cedar Keys island chain—was severely flooded by 8 ft (2.4 m) of water, which invaded every building and left large sinkholes when it receded. Sidewalks along the street were washed out. The surge of water undermined the foundations of stone buildings, weakening many of them to the point of collapse, while sweeping away weaker structures. Inside the buildings left intact, mud was sometimes found several feet deep. The hurricane also contaminated wells with seawater and debris, so residents were forced to travel for clean water. Hardest-hit were the small outlying islands, which were fully submerged by the storm surge and "completely cleared out". Survivors often braced against young, supple trees that were able to withstand the storm's force, or used pieces of debris as flotation devices. Powerful winds added to the destruction by damaging or leveling numerous churches and houses that managed to remain out of the flood's reach. The hurricane's cumulative force wrecked at least 100 homes on Cedar Key, and damaged or destroyed every building on nearby Atsena Otie Key. A fire broke out during the storm and reduced two large Cedar Key hotels to mounds of coquina. When the storm abated, streets were strewn with piles of debris, including trees, roofs, railroad ties, and boats. A large ship called the Luna Davis was tossed ashore and sat in the middle of Cedar Key's business district for weeks after the storm. Interests in shellfish harvesting took a significant blow, as the hurricane ruined oyster beds and carried most fishing boats out to sea. The 4 mi (6.4 km) stretch of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad connecting Cedar Key to the mainland was completely washed out, leaving boats to transport people, mail, and supplies until the railway was rebuilt in mid-October. The hurricane destroyed large swaths of red cedar trees (Juniperus virginiana) in the islands and along the adjacent coastline, although that resource had already been in decline due to unsustainable harvesting practices. Cedar wood from the area was prized for making high-quality pencils; some companies produced the pencils locally while others shipped processed cedar to their factories elsewhere. The Eagle Pencil Company mill on Cedar Key was destroyed. Across the channel on Atsena Otie Key, the Eberhard Faber mill lost 3,000 cases of cedar slats, as well as unprocessed timbers, at a loss of around \$40,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). Several other mills were destroyed. Damage to the Faber facility was repaired following the storm, but it closed just two years later due to a shortage of local cedar wood. Atsena Otie Key was abandoned a few years after the hurricane, largely attributable to the closure of the mill, which provided income for 100 households on the island. In total, 31 people are known to have been killed by the hurricane in the Cedar Keys, mostly on the exposed outer islands; very few casualties were reported on Cedar Key itself. Immediately after the storm, there were unconfirmed reports that an entire fleet of sponge diving boats sank near the Cedar Keys, leading to the deaths of some 700 men. Only a few bodies of sponge divers were recovered, and modern historians believe that most of the vessels actually rode out the storm in sheltered parts of the island chain. When news of the disaster in the Cedar Keys reached the mainland, many less damaged communities in Florida and Georgia formed relief groups to collect donations for storm victims. Answering pleas to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide shelter for the homeless," Jacksonville sent thousands of dollars in aid, while Albany residents donated 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) of emergency supplies within days of the storm. Henry Flagler pledged a donation of \$1,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). By the end of October, the Jacksonville relief committee turned its focus to distributing goods and provisions instead of money, shipping hundreds of barrels of nails—highly sought-after for rebuilding efforts—to the hardest-hit areas. The destruction of timber continued onto the mainland, prompting one observer to remark that no usable trees were left standing between the mouths of the Waccasassa and Suwannee rivers. In Williston, nearly a dozen residences were destroyed, killing at least one person and injuring 15 more. Six prison inmates were killed by a falling tree on a farm near the town, and in total, about 13 people died in mainland Levy County. Damage throughout the county, including the Cedar Keys, was estimated at \$450,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). #### Interior Along the coast about midway between Tampa and Cedar Key, eight people on a sailboat died when their vessel was driven aground. In Tampa, the storm flooded low-lying areas, wrecked a bridge over Spanishtown Creek, and crumbled sea walls. As the hurricane proceeded inland, it devastated interior parts of the state. Reports from the hardest-hit localities were slow to reach the outside world because of extensive damage to communications infrastructure, as well as obstructed or washed out railroads. Initial reports indicated that at least 20 communities were "wrecked" by the hurricane. In these areas, almost all stores and houses were demolished, particularly in western Alachua and eastern Lafayette counties. Debris was often carried for miles. Farmers lost livestock, crops, and provisions needed for the winter, and hundreds of families were left homeless with little or no food. Along the Suwannee River, storm victims sought refuge in a makeshift shelter constructed from stray timbers. Extreme winds razed entire pine forests across numerous counties, initially uprooting weaker trees before shearing the rest off at their trunks during the height of the storm. By one estimate, the hurricane wiped out 5,000 sq mi (13,000 km<sup>2</sup>) of timber across the state. This transformed the landscape and gave it a "prairie-like appearance". The turpentine industry was decimated, as the value of the lost pine timber was estimated at \$1.5 million (equivalent to \$ million in ). Additionally, stills used to process turpentine were mangled. Consequently, some 2,500 turpentine workers were left unemployed. Phosphate processing plants east of the Suwanee River also sustained \$500,000 in damage (equivalent to \$ million in ). By several days after the hurricane, 12 people were reported dead across Alachua County. Five of them were in High Springs, including two seeking shelter in a box car that was blown off the tracks. Four turpentine workers in LaCrosse were crushed to death when a fallen tree landed on their cabin, and three others in the town were killed. In Newberry, which was "totally wrecked", three people died. About 20 homes and businesses in Gainesville were ravaged, as were a sawmill, church, and warehouse. In Boulogne, Nassau County, five people were killed when a school building collapsed; four were crushed inside, and a baby was fatally struck by airborne timbers from the disintegrating structure. One child escaped the school but later died along with two others when her house collapsed. Another school collapse in Hilliard took the lives of four individuals. Along the St Marys River in Kings Ferry, strong winds drove two ships into a marsh, killing three sailors. Six others died nearby. One sawmill owner donated free lumber to Kings Ferry residents so they could rebuild their homes. Several communities in Baker County were devastated, leaving seven people dead, as many as 100 injured, and hundreds destitute. The county sheriff estimated that merely a dozen houses out of a thousand survived the storm, that thousands of cows were killed, and that hundreds of thousands of trees were toppled. Not one church or school was left standing in the county, and damage there was estimated at \$250,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). Eight people were killed in Suwannee County, including two children crushed by the collapse of their home near Wellborn. In Columbia County, dozens of buildings suffered near or total destruction, while nine people were killed. One woman died in Grady, a small settlement in Lafayette County. Additionally, there were five fatalities in Bradford County, including one man reportedly struck by flying bricks that were lofted nearly a half mile downwind. Strong winds and heavy rainfall affected areas as far southeast as St. Augustine. In Fernandina Beach, the hurricane toppled oak trees and destroyed buildings. Although wind gusts in Jacksonville reached 70 mph (110 km/h), the effects were generally insignificant. ### Georgia The hurricane still had considerable strength when it entered southeastern Georgia. The winds brought down telephone, telegraph, and electric wires throughout the region, severing communications. Damage in the Sea Islands was extensive, costing an estimated \$500,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ); by some accounts, the winds were more intense than in the catastrophic hurricane of 1893, but without the exceptionally high storm surge. The tropical cyclone caused severe damage to the islands' plantations, ruining around a third of the rice crop, devastating the cotton crop, and killing up to 100 people. Charlton and Camden counties bore the brunt of the storm's force in Georgia, as evidenced by the complete clearing of dense pine forests east of Folkston. This dealt a \$500,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ) blow to the turpentine industry. Many structures in Folkston were destroyed, including multiple churches, a courthouse, and a school that collapsed with 38 students inside, all of whom safely escaped. In small communities throughout extreme southeastern Georgia, the storm caused widespread destruction of homes and businesses. Six people in Camden County were killed, including four in a logging settlement that was ravaged near the Florida border. In Brunswick, freight cars in rail yards were badly damaged, and railroads were clogged by fallen trees and utility poles. Estimates of property damage in Brunswick ran as high as \$500,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ), while five people died and many more were injured by flying debris. Hurricane-force wind gusts lifted the roof off the Oglethorpe Hotel and shattered its windows, while the L'Arioso Opera House, regarded as one of Brunswick's "most beautiful buildings", collapsed in the hurricane. At least six churches were severely damaged in the city, along with dozens of stores and residences. The hurricane sank numerous large vessels in the Brunswick harbor, including one loaded with 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) of dynamite, and blew others aground. Observers reported the masts of submerged sailing ships protruding from the surface of the water. On St. Simons Island, the storm destroyed bath houses, cottages, churches, and a pier, and inundated a hotel with sea water. Black settlements on the island suffered extensively. Overall, damage on St. Simons Island totaled \$150,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). To the north, damage was similarly severe in Darien. Eight people there were reported dead and buildings were "torn to pieces." Sustained winds in Savannah reached 75 mph (120 km/h), though maximum gusts were not ascertained because the recording anemometer malfunctioned at the height of the storm. The hurricane passed in an unusually brief period of two hours, with most of the damage being done over the course of about 45 minutes. Roofs were "rolled up like tissue-paper" in the fierce winds, while chimneys and brick walls were toppled. In all, thousands of buildings in the city were unroofed, with many of them totally destroyed. Trees were variously uprooted or snapped in parks and cemeteries, including Forsyth Park, considered the "pride of the city", which lost between half and three quarters of its trees. Piles of debris left streets impassable, even to pedestrians. Numerous large ships were driven ashore, though some survived unscathed, and dozens of smaller vessels were wrecked along waterways in the city. Several people, including the captain, drowned when the tugboat Robert Turner capsized in the Savannah River. Another craft, the Island Flower, sank nearby, killing three. The storm surge associated with the hurricane flooded low-lying coastal areas and washed away several miles of the Tybee Railroad. Wind gusts estimated at over 100 mph (160 km/h) demolished hotels and beachfront cottages on Tybee Island. Near Wilmington Island, a fisherman drowned after getting caught in the storm on a small boat. In Burroughs, along the outskirts of Savannah, two churches were leveled and three people were killed. Residents there were forced to abandon their homes and endure the storm in open fields to avoid injury. Initial estimates placed damage in Savannah at more than \$1 million (equivalent to \$ million in ), a quarter of which resulted from devastation to railroads. In particular, the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway and Central of Georgia Railway sustained extensive losses, and about 50 streetcars in Savannah were destroyed. Overall, the storm killed at least 17 people in and around Savannah. Even before the storm subsided, people crowded the streets in a "stampede" to verify the safety of friends and family. ### The Carolinas Southern South Carolina also saw the damaging effects of the storm, which was accompanied by estimated winds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h). On the north side of the Savannah River, mills and outbuildings on rice plantations were destroyed. Powerful gusts shifted a drawbridge spanning the river north of Hardeeville. Seven people in Hardeeville died in building failures, while train stations were blown down there and in Yemassee. Around Beaufort, the storm wrecked numerous boats and effected significant damage to homes and businesses. Wharves and warehouses were flooded, though low astronomical tides limited the extent of the inundation. The winds peeled off tin roofs, allowing rainwater to douse home interiors. In Charleston, tropical storm-force winds blew down fences, signs, and other light installations, but damage was generally minor, and no deaths were reported. The storm churned Charleston Harbor until waves breached seawalls and flooded low-lying areas. Total damage in the state was around \$25,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). In North Carolina, the weakening tropical cyclone tracked through predominately rural areas, limiting its adverse effects. Nonetheless, severe winds affected the Raleigh–Durham area, uprooting trees and littering streets with debris. One woman was killed when a large oak tree fell on her bedroom. Damage to utility lines left Raleigh without communications or electricity, while in Durham, a four-story tobacco curing barn collapsed with about 475,000 lb (215,000 kg) of tobacco inside, worth as much as \$60,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). About \$20,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ) in other property damage was attributed to the storm. Residents in Chapel Hill described the storm as the most severe in recent memory. ### Virginia and West Virginia As the cyclone expanded and accelerated, it entered Virginia with renewed violence, and produced what still stands as the most severe windstorm in Richmond's history. Generally, the strongest winds were mostly confined to east of the storm center's track. The East End of Richmond was hit particularly hard, but damage to church steeples, roofs, and chimneys was common throughout the whole city. Downed trees and broken branches carpeted the ground and clogged streets. All telegraph lines except one, which ran to Wilmington, North Carolina, were rendered useless, while communications in Petersburg were entirely cut off. Damage in Richmond totaled \$150,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). Rural areas were also severely impacted; in Boydton, the storm destroyed many barns and stables, crushing the livestock inside them. In farmlands throughout central Virginia, fences, crops, and outbuildings were blown down, stunting agriculture in the region. The destruction continued into northern portions of the state; brick walls were toppled and about 500 shade trees felled in Fredericksburg. Farms in Fairfax and Arlington counties were substantially damaged, and dozens of windmills were destroyed around Falls Church. Wooden houses were blown away. In Alexandria, four people were killed, while factories and homes along the Potomac River were damaged. One of the fatalities occurred when a three-story brick building partially collapsed onto the roof of a smaller house. Across the city, large sheets of tin roofs were peeled off buildings and followed erratic paths before hitting the ground in a clangor that "produced a pandemonium long to be remembered." Property in Alexandria incurred about \$400,000 in damage (equivalent to \$ million in ). Despite the destruction in the city, surveys of the storm's effects revealed that initial reports of its severity were exaggerated. In some cases, damage was enabled or worsened by pre-existing structural flaws. In Manassas, the winds shifted a church 6 in (0.15 m) off its foundation. Heavy rain fell along and west of the storm's track, most prodigiously in the Shenandoah Valley. Reports of 5 in (130 mm) or more were common; in Dale Enterprise, 6.3 in (160 mm) of rain fell in a period of 18 hours. Nearly 7 in (180 mm) of rain fell over Staunton in a similarly short span of time. The rapid inflow of water caused a lake in Staunton's Gypsy Hill Park to rise until its earthen dam failed around 10 p.m. local time, sending a large volume of water rushing into the town's business district. Along the way, the torrent swept away 25 homes, one of which was occupied by a family of four. Power was cut to the town after floodwaters inundated the electric plant, and multiple hotels, stores, and other businesses were extensively damaged. As waters rose, victims were forced to await rescue from their roofs. A local waterway known as Lewis Creek also overflowed its banks and contributed to the flooding. The Staunton flood took the lives of six people, and inflicted as much as \$500,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ) in property damage. In the countryside, about 40 horses and mules drowned. Deadly flooding also took place in Rockingham County, affecting the communities of Bridgewater, Elkton, and Keezletown. Three fatalities were reported in the county, and local infrastructure sustained \$20,000 in damage (equivalent to \$ million in ). The South Fork Shenandoah River at Luray swelled to 25.4 ft (7.7 m)—flood stage being 14 ft (4.3 m)—which still stands as one of its highest historical crests. In Stephens City, rushing waters crumbled bridges and washed out corn crops. A waterway in Waynesboro reportedly rose 15 ft (4.6 m) and flowed with enough force to wipe nearby buildings off their foundations. Urban flooding also plagued Roanoke streets. From there to Hagerstown, the Norfolk and Western Railway was severely washed out in multiple places. In total, property damage in Virginia amounted to at least \$1 million (equivalent to \$ million in ). Strong winds and significant rainfall extended into West Virginia, chiefly in northern and eastern parts of the state. Trees, fences, and houses were blown down in the Eastern Panhandle region, while flash floods undermined railroads and destroyed entire fields of crops. Some livestock drowned around Old Fields. ### Washington, D.C. In Washington, D.C., the storm's approach late on September 29 was marked by nearly continuous cloud to cloud lightning. Five-minute sustained southerly winds reached 66 mph (106 km/h), and peak gusts approached 100 mph (160 km/h); barometric pressure fell to 987 hPa (29.15 inHg). At the time, it was the worst storm to ever affect the city. The winds brought down signs, awnings, trees, and brick walls, while unroofing homes, toppling church steeples, and shattering windows. Electric, telegraph, and telephone utilities were lost. The destruction was not uniform, as poorly built structures often survived unscathed in the vicinity of much stronger buildings that incurred significant damage. It was deduced that the strongest gusts occurred in narrow "streaks". Approximately 5,000 trees were destroyed in the city, many of them being snapped 10 to 15 ft (3.0 to 4.6 m) above the ground. Some of the worst damage occurred in cemeteries, such as the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery, where 300 trees were prostrated. In a few cases, the fallen trees unearthed underlying coffins. A residence building under construction at the Catholic University of America was dismantled, and the personal home of President Grover Cleveland in Woodley Park lost its roof. Roofs of several government offices were also torn away, and the steeple of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church was "reduced to match wood". The Smithsonian Institution Building sustained notable damage. Fallen trees littered the grounds of the White House, among them being historic specimens like an elm planted by Abraham Lincoln. Some of the more celebrated trees were picked apart by passersby trying to procure souvenirs. The White House itself suffered some minor damage, mostly limited to dislodged coping and copper roofing, along with a few broken windows. Nearby, five men were entrapped and one killed when the Abert Building—a newly built, five-story brick structure on Pennsylvania Avenue—partially collapsed in the storm, crushing two adjoining buildings. Over the coming months, tenants filed multiple lawsuits against the building's owner after at least one local builder asserted that the wall failure resulted from neglectful construction. The Abert Building was completely repaired by October 14. On the Potomac River, where tides ran well above normal, ships broke free from their moorings and drifted downstream. In one instance, a large steamship called the George Leary struck and damaged six other ships. Numerous vessels capsized in the river, including the steamer Mary Washington and the schooner John W. Linnell. At the Washington Navy Yard, multiple buildings sustained damage. Overall losses in Washington, D.C. were approximately \$400,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ), and at least two dozen individuals in the city suffered injuries from falling debris. ### Maryland Destructive winds continued into central Maryland. A report from Sandy Spring estimated that 20% of trees in the region were uprooted, splintered, or violently twisted, often falling on utility wires and roads. Some of the trees left standing were stripped of their limbs and reduced to bare trunks. Telegraph poles crashed to the ground in large numbers. In some cases, damage patterns and eyewitness accounts suggested the formation of tornadoes embedded within the larger storm system. As in northern Virginia, churches, homes, and businesses incurred significant damage, some being wholly destroyed. Montgomery County was hit particularly hard; the storm wrecked an amusement park in Bethesda, forcing it to permanently close, while Gaithersburg was "most disastrously wrecked". Several individuals died in Montgomery County, including one man who died of a stress-induced heart attack. Most of the farms in central Maryland were affected to some degree. Periods of exceptionally heavy rainfall, amounting to 4.90 in (124 mm) in Flintstone and 3.91 in (99 mm) in Cumberland, caused rapid rises along waterways in the Potomac River watershed, inundating adjacent low-lying areas. The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad line in Cumberland was washed out. High tides in the Chesapeake Bay flooded streets in Annapolis. Farther north, at Baltimore, water funneled into the Inner Harbor and flooded the city's waterfront. Pratt Street was submerged waist deep, while an overflowing Jones Falls filled bordering streets with 8 ft (2.4 m) of water. Floodwaters drained into cellars and lower levels of warehouses, and forced some families to evacuate their homes. Hundreds of structures in Baltimore were damaged by the windstorm, and several small fires were ignited by downed power lines. Throughout Maryland, the storm took the lives of eight people and wrought \$500,000 in damage (equivalent to \$ million in ). ### Pennsylvania The storm arrived in Pennsylvania as an extratropical cyclone late on September 29, still accompanied by strong winds that disconnected wires and interrupted communications throughout the state. Property damage was severe in southeastern parts of the state, especially York and Lancaster counties, where barns were demolished and houses unroofed. Wind gusts in Harrisburg peaked at 72 mph (116 km/h) shortly after midnight. Debris from trees and buildings rained down on the city's streets as the storm produced erratic damage patterns, characterized by distinct two- or three-block gaps in the destruction. Large trees were uprooted "with masses of earth clinging to them as big as a room." In all, damage reached \$200,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ) in Harrisburg. On the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Philson, two freight trains violently collided, killing six vagrants. Several more train wrecks were attributed to obstructing storm debris. In Steelton, an overpass collapsed onto the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad shortly before a train careened through the rubble, damaging the locomotive and several cars. Additionally, two roundhouses were destroyed in Lebanon, with eight locomotives sustaining damage in one of the structures. The third incarnation of the Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge—a 5,390 ft (1,640 m) covered railroad bridge across the Susquehanna River—was shoved off its piers and demolished by the intense winds. Several people were reportedly inside the bridge when it collapsed, but this was not confirmed. The stone, wood, and steel span was replaced by a steel truss bridge less than a year later. At Sunbury, two steamboats sank in the Susquehanna. Across Lancaster County, hundreds of farmers lost their entire tobacco crops that were stored in barns and ready for market. Some of the tobacco barns were carried off their foundations and blown afield. The storm also destroyed more substantial brick structures. Damage in the county was estimated at \$1 million (equivalent to \$ million in ). Two men died in the Patterson Coal Company miners' village in Shamokin that was devastated by the winds and a subsequent fire that together destroyed dozens of houses and shanties. The storm destroyed equipment and facilities at the nearby Colbert Colliery, putting hundreds of miners out of work. In Reading, two men died in the collapse of an iron furnace casting house which left five others badly injured. Six children died to a storm-induced fire in tenement housing belonging to a mining company in Natalie. Hundreds of trees were blown down or broken on the historic battlefield at Gettysburg National Park, largely on Culp's Hill and Big Round Top. The 66th Ohio Infantry monument on Culp's Hill was destroyed by a fallen tree, and the nearby monument to the 78th and 102nd New York Volunteer Infantries sustained minor damage. In addition to the winds, several inches of rain fell in parts of the state; Altoona recorded 3.79 in (96 mm) of precipitation. Flash flooding along the Juniata River rushed through Huntingdon, washing out streets and railways, inundating homes, and drowning livestock. Washouts and landslides plagued railroads throughout western Pennsylvania. Overall, the storm caused over \$2 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) in damage in the state. ### Great Lakes region Strong winds associated with the extratropical cyclone impacted parts of central and western New York State, particularly around Syracuse; there, it was considered the worst storm in recent memory. Homes, barns, and factories lost their roofs in several towns, with some buildings near Ithaca being totally destroyed. Trees and communications lines suffered a similar fate as in many other areas along the storm's path. Trees in orchards were stripped of nearly all their fruit. Buffalo endured 53 mph (85 km/h) winds that tore wires and damaged roofs. Farther east, wind gusts exceeded 60 mph (100 km/h) at New York City, bringing down overhead wires. A switchboard at a telephone exchange in Brooklyn sparked a fire that caused \$30,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ) in damage. Several steamships limped into port at New York with significant damage. From New Jersey to Long Island, trees, fences, chimneys, windows, and political campaign signs fell victim to the storm. On the Hudson River at Newburgh, in the early morning hours on September 30, a tugboat collided with a passenger vessel, injuring two crew members of the former craft. "Considerable" wind damage extended north through the Hudson Valley, and trains along the West Shore Railroad were delayed by landslides and washouts. Total property damage in New York was assessed at \$50,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ). Heavy rainfall doused parts of Ohio for four days beginning on September 27. Resulting floods damaged crops and property, and the inclement weather disrupted William McKinley's presidential campaign activities at his home in Canton. On September 30, gales from the former hurricane swept across the Great Lakes. Hundreds of spectators lined the shores of Lake Michigan at Chicago, Illinois, to watch the enormous waves. A schooner was torn from its moorings at Chicago, and crashed into nearly a dozen smaller vessels while being blown about. The schooner Belle from Racine, Wisconsin, went missing amid the storm, while the barge Sumatra broke up and capsized near Milwaukee, taking the lives of four crew members; the captain, first mate, and cook were safely rescued. The storm damaged around \$75,000 worth of property on the Great Lakes (equivalent to \$ million in ). ## See also - List of United States hurricanes by area: - Florida - North Carolina - Delaware - Pennsylvania - New York - Tropical cyclone rainfall climatology - Hurricane Idalia (2023) – made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane along the Big Bend Coast
5,910,158	Head over Heels (American TV series)	1,173,683,128	1997 American TV series	[ "1990s American LGBT-related comedy television series", "1990s American sex comedy television series", "1990s American sitcoms", "1997 American television series debuts", "1997 American television series endings", "English-language television shows", "Television series by Sony Pictures Television", "Television shows set in Miami", "UPN original programming" ]	Head over Heels is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin that aired on United Paramount Network (UPN) from August 26 to October 28, 1997. It is set in the eponymous video dating agency based in Miami Beach, Florida, run by brothers Jack and Warren Baldwin (played by Peter Dobson and Mitchell Whitfield, respectively). The remainder of the cast consists of their employees, played by Eva LaRue, Patrick Bristow, and Cindy Ambuehl. Connie Stevens was initially cast as the Baldwins' mother, but never appeared in the show after the pilot was rewritten. Andrew Gottlieb was a co-producer, and Vince Cheung and Ben Montanio were consulting producers. The sitcom was the lowest-performing series tracked by Nielsen Holdings for the 1997–1998 television season. Since UPN primarily marketed its programming to African American audiences, critics questioned the show's lack of a black main character. With its inclusion of Ian, Head over Heels was one of 30 U.S. programs to feature a gay, lesbian or bisexual character that television season. It received a negative response from commentators, who criticized its sex comedy and characters. ## Premise and characters Set in Miami Beach, the series is about the Head over Heels video dating agency, operated by brothers Jack and Warren Baldwin (Peter Dobson and Mitchell Whitfield, respectively). Portrayed as opposites of one another, Warren is more involved in managing the agency than Jack. While Jack dates female clients, Warren still loves his estranged wife, who had an affair with a professional football player. The rest of the staff includes two romance counselors: Carmen (Eva LaRue) and Ian (Patrick Bristow). A self-identified feminist, Carmen is a PhD student studying human behavior and sexuality. The bisexual, celibate Ian is frequently questioned about his sexuality, and former stripper Valentina (Cindy Ambuehl) is a receptionist who is knowledgeable about computers. Karen Dior and Bernie Kopell guest starred in the series as themselves. Jim Lange, who Jack had idolized since childhood, also appears in an episode as himself. Head over Heels often relies on sex comedy, leading The Washington Post's Tom Shales to describe it as a "smutcom". Alan Frutkin of The Advocate compared the show to the sitcoms Friends and Married... with Children. The pilot episode features Warren having sex with a client in his office despite the agency's dating policy, and a bikini fashion show. Storylines in other episodes include Jack using Cap'n Crunch as an alias in chat rooms to seduce women and Valentina saying she would open the mail topless for \$1,000 a week. ## Production Montrose Productions produced Head over Heels in association with Jeff Franklin Productions and Columbia TriStar Television. Jeff Franklin was the show's creator and executive producer. Referring to Franklin's work on the sitcom Full House, Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News wrote: "I still wonder if Franklin isn't ridding himself of a lot of sexual TV frustration, after all those years with fictional giddy family members." Andrew Gottlieb co-produced the series, and Vince Cheung and Ben Montanio were consulting producers. Despite being set in Miami Beach, Head over Heels was filmed in Los Angeles. Matthew Diamond directed three episodes, and Amanda Bearse and Asaad Kelada did one episode apiece. Jonathan Wolf and Paul Buckley composed the series's music. During production, Connie Stevens was set to play the Baldwins' mother in a recurring role. A writer for Turner Classic Movies described the show as "resurrect[ing] [Stevens's] acting career". Although United Paramount Network (UPN) had ordered Head over Heels due to Stevens, the network removed her from the project following what it described as "a creative change". In the series's original pilot episode, the mother is the dating agency's original owner who passes it on to her sons. A "cavorting bimbo of a mother", she has a relationship with a Hispanic personal trainer and frequently talks about having sex with him. References to the dating company's history and the Baldwins' involvement were removed from the series. For the second version of the pilot, LaRue was added to the show after her character (Maria Santos) was removed from the soap opera All My Children. ## Episodes ## Broadcast history UPN ordered three new sitcoms for the 1997–1998 television season: Head over Heels, Hitz, and Good News. They were part of the network's decision to expand its prime-time schedule to four nights a week. Although UPN targeted its programming at African-American audiences, Head over Heels does not feature a black actor. Network president Dean Valentine denied accusations from "industry observers" that he was "abandoning the black audience or turning down projects featuring black stars and producers". Head over Heels was one of 30 U.S. programs that season to feature a gay, lesbian or bisexual character through its inclusion of Ian. About the character's sexuality, Patrick Bristow said he has "a rich, rich and spotted past". Sociologist Suzanna Danuta Walters wrote that Ian and Josh Nicolé Blair (in the sitcom Veronica's Closet) represented a trend in which "homosexuality is a running gag", and characters were in denial about their sexuality. Airing after Hitz, Head over Heels was broadcast on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm EST; it was originally scheduled for 8:30 pm. The series had a TV-PG parental rating for suggestive language and sexual situations; the Deseret News's Scott Pierce felt that it should have received a TV-14 rating for its sexual content. The series attracted a weekly average of 2.3 million viewers. It tied with Alright Already as the lowest-performing show (tracked by Nielsen Holdings) of the season. The overall viewing figures for both shows was 2.7 million viewers. Head over Heels was the first casualty of the 1997–1998 season. Although 13 episodes were ordered, only eight were broadcast. Despite reports that the series would air through November, its final episode was shown on October 28, 1997. Dobson and Whitfield appeared in all eight episodes, Bristow appeared in seven, and Ambuehl and LaRue appeared in four. ## Critical reception The series received negative reviews from television critics; according to E! News's Joal Ryan, it was known as the "Worst New Show of the Season" during its debut. Criticism was primarily directed at its sexual humor, such as a Deseret News writer criticizing its "tasteless, vulgar jokes about sexual performance, orgasms and bodily functions". Citing it as one of the season's worst half-hour shows, the Rocky Mountain News's Dusty Saunders described Head over Heels as an unsuccessful attempt to emulate Friends. Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times dismissed the show as "the mother of all asinine sitcoms [and] a show with as much weight as a G-string". Head over Heels did receive some positive remarks. Despite calling the show a miss for UPN, Tom Shales wrote that its humor was not as "ugly and vicious" as the sitcom Hitz; he also praised Patrick Bristow's scene stealer and Valentina's technological aptitude as "a cute touch". The opening titles received praise from Adam Sandler of Variety, who described it as "stylish and provocative" and comparable to those for the crime drama Silk Stalkings. Critics disliked the show's characters and called the female characterizations sexist. David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun singled out Valentina and the Baldwins' mother as examples of the series's poor representation of women. He was critical of the sexualization of Valentina, and the fact that the Baldwins' mother is defined through her relationship to her boyfriend. Sandler and the Los Angeles Daily News's Keith Marder felt that the show's characters relied on clichés. Marder summed up the series as "a mess of ridiculous caricatures and poor taste".
40,685,706	2014 Japanese Grand Prix	1,149,764,693	Formula One motor race	[ "2014 Formula One races", "2014 in Japanese motorsport", "Formula One controversies", "Japanese Grand Prix", "October 2014 sports events in Japan" ]	The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 5 October 2014 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie. It was the 15th race of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship, and the 30th Formula One Japanese Grand Prix. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the 44-lap race starting from second position. His teammate, Nico Rosberg, finished second and Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel was third. It was Hamilton's eighth victory of the season and the 30th of his Formula One career. Going into the race, Hamilton led Rosberg by three points in the World Drivers' Championship and their team led the World Constructors' Championship by 174 points over Red Bull. Heavy rain from Typhoon Phanfone made the track surface wet and reduced visibility. Starting from behind the safety car, the race was stopped after two laps and resumed 20 minutes later. Rosberg immediately blocked a pass by Hamilton heading into the first corner. His car then experienced oversteer, and Hamilton reduced the time deficit between them. Hamilton challenged Rosberg for the lead over the next four laps, before overtaking him on the 29th lap and pulling away. The race was scheduled to run for 53 laps, but was brought to an end on the 46th lap (with the result taken at the end of lap 44) after an accident involving Jules Bianchi. Bianchi lost control of his Marussia at the Dunlop Curve on the 43rd lap and collided with a tractor crane that was tending to Adrian Sutil's Sauber, which had spun off on the previous lap. Bianchi sustained severe head injuries in the accident, from which he died in his native France on 17 July 2015, thus becoming the first driver to die as a result of injuries sustained in a Formula One race since Ayrton Senna in 1994. The accident prompted Formula One's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to investigate the incident with a ten-person panel in which it was determined there was no single cause that prompted the crash. The investigation led to the virtual safety car (VSC) being introduced from the 2015 season onwards. The victory allowed Hamilton to increase his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to ten points over Rosberg, with Daniel Ricciardo a distant third. Mercedes extended their advantage over Red Bull in the World Constructors' Championship, and Williams remained ahead of Ferrari in the battle for third place with four races left in the season. ## Background The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was the 15th of the 19 races of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship, and the 30th running of the event as part of the Formula One World Championship. It was held on 5 October at the 5.807 km (3.608 mi) 18-turn Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie. The event's official name was the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, and it was scheduled to last 53 laps over a distance of 307.471 km (191.054 mi). Tyre supplier Pirelli brought four types of tyre to the race: two dry compounds (the white-banded medium "options" and the orange-banded hard "primes") and two wet-weather compounds (intermediate and full wet). The drag reduction system (DRS) had one activation zone for the race, on the straight linking the final and first corners. The circuit underwent changes following the previous year's race; parts of the track between the 14th and 15th turns were resurfaced, TecPro barriers were installed on the inside after the exit of turn 15 and lamp posts near debris fences outside turns 13 and 14 were moved back. Going into the race, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship with 241 points, three ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg, with Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo third with 181. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was fourth with 133, followed by Ricciardo's teammate Sebastian Vettel with 124. Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship with 479 points, having won eleven of the previous fourteen races of the season, while Red Bull were second with 305 points, having won the other three races; they were followed by Williams (187), Ferrari (178) and Force India (117). Mercedes had to outscore Red Bull by 41 points to clinch the Constructors' title in Japan. Despite reclaiming the Drivers' Championship lead at the preceding , Hamilton said that he was not relieved because of the closeness of the race. He said that he would take Rosberg's race-by-race approach and was happy to be performing well. Hamilton, who had yet to win the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, aimed for a victory at the circuit. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that the championship was out of their reach, although he hoped further reliability problems with the Mercedes cars would prolong the battle. Horner ruled out team orders favouring one driver over the other. Rosberg said he was looking forward to the race, and his car's speed gave him hope for a good result. Typhoon Phanfone, classified as a category-four storm, was forecast to make landfall over the eastern Japanese coast on race day with heavy rain and winds of up to 240 km/h (150 mph). Although the storm was predicted to miss Suzuka, heavy rain from its northern edge was expected to drench the circuit. The , scheduled for the following week, made it impossible for the Japanese Grand Prix to be postponed until Monday due to freight schedules to Russia for the teams' equipment. Bernie Ecclestone, owner of Formula One's commercial rights, raised the possibility of moving up the start time, but later said that the event would proceed as planned. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) race director, Charlie Whiting, suggested to race organisers that the start time be moved and warned them that the race would not take place unless it was declared safe, but they refused. Honda, the owners of the track, reportedly rejected the start time change to allow spectators to arrive at Suzuka in time for the start. Whiting was also overruled by senior FIA officials, who opposed the disruption of the event's worldwide television coverage. There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) entering two race drivers for the event and two free practice session participants. Max Verstappen replaced Jean-Éric Vergne as part of his preparation for a full-time seat at Toro Rosso in the 2015 season. Aged 17 years and three days, Verstappen was the youngest person in history to participate in a Formula One race weekend. Caterham confirmed that Roberto Merhi would replace Marcus Ericsson, and Kamui Kobayashi would drive in the race. Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Will Stevens was announced as participating in the first practice session in Max Chilton's car, but a problem with paperwork sent to the FIA Contract Recognition Board due to an industrial action in Germany prevented him from driving. ## Practice There were three practice sessions – two on Friday and a third on Saturday – preceding Sunday's race. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions lasted ninety minutes each; the third, one-hour session was held on Saturday morning. Mercedes conducted race simulations to see how the cars would behave with a heavy fuel load. Rosberg was fastest in the first practice session with a lap time of 1 minute, 35.461 seconds, ahead of teammate Hamilton in second. Alonso was third-fastest, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Räikkönen, Kevin Magnussen, Ricciardo, Jenson Button, Vettel and Daniil Kvyat. Verstappen's run ended early when he pulled over to the side of the track at the S curves with smoke billowing from his engine because of a broken exhaust valve, while Merhi spun at turn 13, causing Bottas to swerve to avoid him. In the second session, Hamilton set the fastest lap of the day at 1 minute, 35.078 seconds. Rosberg, Bottas, Button, Vettel, Räikkönen, Alonso, Magnussen, Kvyat and Ricciardo completed the top ten. Some cars went off the track; Ricciardo disrupted the session for eight minutes when an oversteer sent him into a barrier at turn 18. Kobayashi lost control of the rear of his Caterham at turn three, damaging his rear suspension and front wing, while Vergne stopped his car on the back straight after exiting the Spoon Curve with a fuel pump problem. Esteban Gutiérrez later lost control of his Sauber entering the Spoon Curve and crashed into a tyre barrier. Vergne stopped a second time with an electrical problem after exiting turn 14; this resulted in a second red flag stopping the session early due to limited time available. Rosberg recorded the fastest lap of the third session at 1 minute, 33.228 seconds, ahead of Hamilton and Alonso. Felipe Massa, Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Vergne, Kvyat and Button occupied positions four through ten. Hamilton drove quickly into the first turn but ran wide onto a run-off area and collided with a tyre barrier, damaging the left front quarter of his car. Gutiérrez lost control of his car's rear at the exit of turn 15 but avoided a crash. ## Qualifying Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 17th or below. The 107% rule was in effect during this part, requiring drivers to set a time within 107 per cent of the fastest lap in order to qualify. The second part lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 16th. The final session lasted 12 minutes and determined pole position to tenth. Cars who progressed to the final session were not allowed to change tyres for the race's start, using the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times in the second session. Rosberg set the fastest time in the second and third sessions to clinch his eighth pole position of the season, the twelfth of his career with a lap of 1 minute, 32.506 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Hamilton, who missed out on pole position when, on his final lap, he hit the chicane curb before accelerating too fast into the final corner. Williams teammates Bottas and Massa qualified third and fourth, and Alonso and Ricciardo took fifth and sixth. Magnussen, whose mistakes on his quickest timed lap cost him time, took seventh. His McLaren teammate, Button, secured eighth and locked one of his tyres—flat-spotting it and slowing him. Vettel, struggling on corners due partially to Red Bull's use of wet tyres, took ninth. Räikkönen was tenth, encountering problems with his car's balance which prevented him from pushing. Vergne was the fastest driver not to advance into the final session. Because his team had changed his engine, he received a ten-place grid penalty, his sixth of the season. This promoted Force India's Sergio Pérez to 11th position; he had encountered slower cars entering the final chicane, which forced him to slow and lose brake and tyre temperature. Kvyat's final timed lap was disrupted by slower cars; when he entered the first corner his tyres had not reached their optimum temperature, compromising his run and leaving him 12th. Nico Hülkenberg qualified 13th in the other Force India car after he locked his tyres at the final chicane. Adrian Sutil progressed to the second session after making balance set-up changes, and took 14th in its closing seconds; his Sauber teammate, Gutiérrez, struggled with tyre temperature and was delayed by traffic on his out-lap, leaving him 15th. Pastor Maldonado failed to advance beyond the first qualifying session, but Lotus installed a new engine (his sixth of the year) in his E22 chassis on Friday morning. Like Vergne, he incurred a ten-place grid penalty (carried over to the next race because he qualified within the top-ten bottom positions). His teammate, Romain Grosjean, took over 16th position and aimed to qualify higher; however, a change in wind direction prevented him from recording a faster lap time. Ericsson and Jules Bianchi started from 17th and 18th, with Kobayashi 19th and Vergne 20th. Chilton lost control of his Marussia's rear, causing him to start 21st. ### Qualifying classification The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold. Notes: - – Pastor Maldonado and Jean-Éric Vergne both received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding their quota of five engine components for the season. ## Race There was a large amount of standing water on the track at the start, since Typhoon Phanfone had brought heavy rain to the area. The air temperature was 20 °C (68 °F), and the track temperature was 24 °C (75 °F). About 142,000 people attended the race. The standing water caused heavy spray and impaired visibility, and all cars used full wet tyres. The race began behind the safety car at 15:00 Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00), with no formation lap; despite the slow speed, drivers struggled for grip on the wet surface. Ericsson lost control of his car after accelerating out of the final turn, spinning into a gravel trap; marshals pushed his car out of the gravel, allowing him to keep driving. Following complaints from Hamilton about poor visibility, the race was suspended after two laps. The cars drove back into the pit lane, lined up in grid formation and their engines were shut off. Several cars had their ride heights raised to make them less prone to aquaplaning on their underbody planks. The race was restarted 20 minutes later behind the safety car, after the rain eased. Alonso stopped his car with an electrical issue – possibly a short circuit from the wet conditions – to become the race's first retirement on lap 3. His departure promoted Ricciardo to fifth place, with Magnussen sixth and Button seventh. Although Hamilton became concerned about his Mercedes' brakes, he was told that it was a relatively minor sensor problem. He and Vergne reported that conditions had improved, but Vettel and Massa said that visibility remained poor. The safety car drove into the pit lane at the end of lap 9, and cars were allowed to overtake. Button immediately made a pit stop to fit intermediate tyres. Hamilton unsuccessfully attempted to overtake Rosberg heading into the first corner, while Vettel tried to pass Magnussen going into the hairpin, also without success; he then ran wide at the Spoon Curve but remained on the track. Pérez overtook Kvyat for ninth position on the lap. At the end of the first racing lap, Rosberg led Hamilton by 1.3 seconds; followed by Bottas, Massa, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Vettel, Räikkönen, Pérez and Kvyat. Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Räikkönen made pit stops to change to intermediate tyres on lap 12. After his early pit stop, Button moved up to eighth place on the same lap. Massa and Vettel made their pit stops on lap 13, Vettel moving in front of Massa and rejoining ahead of teammate Ricciardo. Rosberg made his pit stop on lap 14 and rejoined in second position, 22 seconds behind Hamilton (who recorded fast sector times in an attempt to move ahead of Rosberg after the latter's pit stop). Hamilton went off onto the run-off area at the Spoon Curve, reducing the gap by one second. Rosberg reclaimed first position when Hamilton approached the exit of the pit lane after the latter's stop. He reported that his car was oversteering, and Button held a 6.5-second advantage over both Williams cars. The Red Bull cars reduced the gap to Massa in sixth by lap 16, with Vettel moving to the inside line and passing Massa with a narrow margin at the hairpin on this lap; Ricciardo then attempted a similar manoeuvre on the outside at the Spoon Curve, but Massa accelerated clear heading into 130R corner. Magnussen made a second pit stop at the end of lap 16 to change his steering wheel. On lap 17 Ricciardo went to the outside of Massa on the S-curves and moved inside, passing Massa to move into sixth. Vettel overtook Bottas around the outside for fourth place on lap 18; Bottas then fell to sixth on lap 19 when Ricciardo passed him around the outside at the S-curves. Vettel began to reduce the gap to third-place Button, with Ricciardo driving at a speed similar to his teammate. Bottas was caught by his Williams teammate Massa, who pulled away from Hülkenberg (who went off the track at the second turn). Both Red Bull drivers were the fastest by lap 21, but Vettel was still 13 seconds behind Button and a further five seconds behind Rosberg, who now led Hamilton by only one second having run off the track at 130R. A dry line began to emerge by this time as some drivers drove through standing water to keep their tyre temperatures down. DRS was enabled on lap 24. Although Hamilton had closed Rosberg's lead to half a second and used DRS, he could not pass his teammate. Räikkönen made a pit stop this lap, which went wrong as his mechanics struggled to install a right-front wheel nut correctly. Hamilton tried to pass Rosberg again the following lap by running in his slipstream, but Rosberg held the line and had enough acceleration to defend first place. Hamilton held a tighter line, while Rosberg complained of more oversteer on lap 26. On lap 27, Hamilton forgot to deactivate his DRS system and lost control of his rear; his brakes locked, and he went onto the turn one run-off area. However, he caught up to Rosberg and ran closely behind his teammate into the hairpin without trying to pass. Hamilton moved across the track during the lap in an attempt to pass; Rosberg's car shuddered, and Hamilton got a better run onto the pit-lane straight. He was in Rosberg's slipstream before passing him on the outside heading into the first turn to take the lead on lap 29. Hamilton pushed hard and pulled away from Rosberg, who lost control heading into the pit-lane straight. Gutiérrez lost ninth position on lap 30 when he was passed by Kvyat, who drove through standing water on the inside of the pit lane straight and used DRS. Vettel made his second pit stop for intermediate tyres on the same lap, rejoining in fifth behind Ricciardo but ahead of both Williams cars. Button, still third, recorded faster lap times than Rosberg, closing the gap to 12.8 seconds by the beginning of lap 31. Pérez overtook Gutiérrez to take over tenth position on the same lap. Button made a second pit stop for new intermediate tyres at the end of lap 31; his pit crew also changed his steering wheel, lengthening the stop and putting him behind both Red Bull drivers. Vettel recorded a new fastest lap of the race at one minute and 51.915 seconds, 2.3 seconds quicker than Hamilton. Rosberg made his second pit stop, for new intermediate tyres, on lap 33 and came out behind Ricciardo. Magnussen experienced understeer and spun 360 degrees after running onto a run-off area. Hamilton made a pit stop at the end of lap 35 for new intermediate tyres, giving Ricciardo the lead. Heavy rain began to fall on lap 36; Ricciardo made his pit stop during this lap and rejoined fifth, behind Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel and Button. On lap 38, Magnussen ran wide onto the first-turn run-off area, while Vergne went off the track at the second corner and Vettel drove into a gravel trap at the S-turns; all three drivers continued running. Ricciardo closed up to Button on the same lap and attempted to pass him around the inside at the hairpin; Button defended his position, and Ricciardo ran wide. Hamilton recorded the overall fastest lap of the race on lap 39, at one minute and 51.600 seconds. Weather conditions continued to deteriorate, resulting in DRS being disabled on lap 41; visibility was reduced due to fading light and low cloud cover, while drivers were dazzled by the lights on their steering wheels. Ricciardo attempted to overtake Button again that lap by taking the inside lane into the hairpin, but Button took a wide line. Ricciardo finally got past at the hairpin on lap 42, with Button then making a pit stop for full wet tyres. On the same lap, Sutil aquaplaned into the outside tyre barrier at the left-hand Dunlop Curve (turn seven) atop a hill. Double yellow flags were waved at the corner to warn drivers about the incident, and Whiting did not use the safety car. Sutil's car was extracted from the track by a tractor crane that lap and turned backwards toward a gap in the barrier. Then, on lap 43, Bianchi lost control of his Marussia at 213 km/h (132 mph), veering right towards the run-off area on the outside the Dunlop Curve. Although he applied his throttle and brake pedals simultaneously, his fail-safe system did not work because the settings of his brake-by-wire system were incompatible. Bianchi collided with the left-rear wheel of the tractor crane, which caused extensive damage to his car; its roll bar was destroyed as it slid underneath. The impact briefly jolted the tractor crane off the ground, causing Sutil's car (suspended in the air by the crane) to fall to the ground. Marshals moved away from the scene to avoid being struck by Bianchi's Marussia. Calculations in July 2015 indicated a peak of 254 g<sub>0</sub> (2,490 m/s<sup>2</sup>), and data from the FIA's World Accident Database, which sources information from racing accidents worldwide, indicate that Bianchi's impact occurred 2.61 seconds after loss of control, at a speed of 123 km/h (76 mph) and an angle of 55 degrees. Bianchi was reported unconscious after not responding to a team radio call or marshals. Marshals reported the accident, and safety and medical cars were dispatched. Bianchi was extricated from his car and treated at the crash site before being taken by ambulance to the circuit's medical centre. Transport by helicopter was impossible due to the weather, so Bianchi was taken by ambulance with a police escort to Mie Prefectural General Medical Center in Yokkaichi, about 15 km (9.3 mi, a 32-minute drive) from the track. A second red flag was waved on lap 46, bringing the race to an early end; the results were taken from the running order at the end of lap 44. Hamilton thus won from teammate Rosberg by 9.1 seconds, with Vettel twenty seconds further back in third. Ricciardo finished just under ten seconds behind his Red Bull teammate, and nearly half a minute ahead of Button. Massa, Bottas, Hülkenberg, Vergne and Pérez rounded out the points-scoring positions. Kvyat, Räikkönen and Gutiérrez filled the next three positions, each one lap behind Hamilton, with Magnussen, Grosjean, Maldonado, Ericcson, Chilton and Kobayashi the last of the classified finishers who were not involved in any incident. Bianchi and Sutil were classified in 20th and 21st, despite their accidents. Hamilton and Rosberg both led on two occasions, with Rosberg leading 26 of the 44 laps and Hamilton the other 18. Hamilton's victory was his eighth of the season and the 30th of his Formula One career. ### After the race Out of respect for the seriously injured Bianchi, the top three finishers did not spray champagne. At the podium interviews, conducted by the 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell, Hamilton said that it had been a difficult race weekend and his speed near the end of the race was reminiscent of the 2008 British Grand Prix. Rosberg called it a good weekend for his team, and congratulated Hamilton on the victory. Vettel said that he was lucky that the safety car came out, and was happy with his performance. At a later press conference, Hamilton said that he was confident in his car's balance when he passed Rosberg on lap 28, and saw no difference in the amount of standing water on the track when more heavy rain fell. Although Rosberg's car was set up similar to Hamilton's, he was unhappy with its balance and tried to adjust it during his pit stop. According to Vettel, the weather was borderline and his team decided to make a pit stop when it deteriorated. Bianchi's crash overshadowed the race. His father, Philippe, initially reported to L'Équipe that Bianchi was in critical condition with a head injury and was undergoing an operation to reduce severe cranial bleeding. The FIA then said that CT scans indicated that Bianchi sustained a "severe head injury" in the crash, and would be admitted to the intensive care unit after surgery. His family later reported that he had a diffuse axonal injury, a traumatic brain injury common in vehicle accidents involving quick deceleration. The first family update after Bianchi's emergency surgery was made by his father during the week of 13 October; the driver was reportedly in a "desperate" condition, with doctors saying that his survival would be a miracle. His father said that he drew hope from the emergence of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher from his coma. Marussia also issued regular updates on Bianchi's condition, denying initial speculation about their role in the accident. Former FIA president Max Mosley described it as a "freak accident". Controversy arose after an amateur video clip of Bianchi's crash, showing a marshal waving a green flag at the crash site, was uploaded to social media. Four-time world champion Alain Prost said that the marshal should have moved away from the crash scene, but five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro said that it was normal practice and anyone who said otherwise was "mistaken". According to several commentators, the marshal committed no infraction. Former driver and Sky Sports F1 announcer Martin Brundle called for recovery vehicles to be barred from driving on the track. Driver steward Mika Salo defended Whiting's decision not to deploy the safety car after Sutil's crash, and minimised claims that the race was stopped for intensifying rain. Rede Globo lead commentator Galvão Bueno, however, was vocal in his criticism of Whiting's decision, describing it as "the biggest mistake I've seen in 40 years in Formula One". The FIA announced a ten-person review panel, composed of former drivers and team principals, to investigate the cause of the accident and published its findings four weeks later in Doha. According to the report, there was no single cause of Bianchi's accident; contributing factors included track conditions, car speed and the presence of a recovery vehicle on the track. The report made several suggestions to improve safety when recovering disabled vehicles (which were introduced for 2015), and concluded that it would have been impossible to mitigate Bianchi's injuries with changes to cockpit design. Since 2015, for safety reasons, the FIA has required that the start time of certain Grands Prix be at least four hours before sunset or dusk (except for designated night races). FIA safety commission chairman Peter Wright was quoted in July 2015 as saying that a closed cockpit would not have prevented Bianchi's head injuries, and vice-president Andy Mellow confirmed that attaching impact protection to recovery vehicles was unfeasible. Hospitalised in Yokkaichi, Bianchi remained in a critical but stable condition on a medical ventilator. He was removed from his induced coma in November and began breathing unaided, enabling him to be transferred to the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice (CHU) in Nice. Bianchi remained unconscious in critical condition there, but his family were better able to visit. On 13 July 2015, Bianchi's father said that he was "less optimistic" about his son's chances because of the lack of significant progress and the length of time since the accident. Bianchi died four days later, aged 25, thus becoming the first Formula One driver to be killed by injuries sustained during a Grand Prix since Ayrton Senna in 1994. Bianchi's funeral, on 21 July at Nice Cathedral, was attended by members of the Formula One community. The race result increased Hamilton's lead over Rosberg in the World Drivers' Championship to ten points. Ricciardo and Vettel maintained third and fourth place, and Alonso remained in fifth despite his retirement. Mercedes moved further ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship, with a 180-point lead over the Austrian team. Williams increased their advantage over Ferrari in the battle for third, and Force India retained fifth place with four races left in the season. ### Race classification Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold. Notes: - – Pastor Maldonado received a 20-second post-race time penalty for speeding in the pit-lane. - – Jules Bianchi and Adrian Sutil were classified as they had completed 90% of the 44 laps used to determine the race result. - – Jules Bianchi died on 17 July 2015 from injuries sustained during the accident. ## Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Constructors' Championship standings - Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. - Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion. ## See also - 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the event of the previous fatal accident in Formula One. - List of Formula One fatalities ## Explanatory notes and references ### Explanatory notes
20,406	M-theory	1,161,302,745	Framework of superstring theory	[ "1995 introductions", "String theory" ]	M-theory is a theory in physics that unifies all consistent versions of superstring theory. Edward Witten first conjectured the existence of such a theory at a string theory conference at the University of Southern California in 1995 (M-Theory - Edward Witten (1995)). Witten's announcement initiated a flurry of research activity known as the second superstring revolution. Prior to Witten's announcement, string theorists had identified five versions of superstring theory. Although these theories initially appeared to be very different, work by many physicists showed that the theories were related in intricate and nontrivial ways. Physicists found that apparently distinct theories could be unified by mathematical transformations called S-duality and T-duality. Witten's conjecture was based in part on the existence of these dualities and in part on the relationship of the string theories to a field theory called eleven-dimensional supergravity. Although a complete formulation of M-theory is not known, such a formulation should describe two- and five-dimensional objects called branes and should be approximated by eleven-dimensional supergravity at low energies. Modern attempts to formulate M-theory are typically based on matrix theory or the AdS/CFT correspondence. According to Witten, M should stand for "magic", "mystery" or "membrane" according to taste, and the true meaning of the title should be decided when a more fundamental formulation of the theory is known. Investigations of the mathematical structure of M-theory have spawned important theoretical results in physics and mathematics. More speculatively, M-theory may provide a framework for developing a unified theory of all of the fundamental forces of nature. Attempts to connect M-theory to experiment typically focus on compactifying its extra dimensions to construct candidate models of the four-dimensional world, although so far none has been verified to give rise to physics as observed in high-energy physics experiments. ## Background ### Quantum gravity and strings One of the deepest problems in modern physics is the problem of quantum gravity. The current understanding of gravity is based on Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which is formulated within the framework of classical physics. However, nongravitational forces are described within the framework of quantum mechanics, a radically different formalism for describing physical phenomena based on probability. A quantum theory of gravity is needed in order to reconcile general relativity with the principles of quantum mechanics, but difficulties arise when one attempts to apply the usual prescriptions of quantum theory to the force of gravity. String theory is a theoretical framework that attempts to reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics. In string theory, the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how strings propagate through space and interact with each other. In a given version of string theory, there is only one kind of string, which may look like a small loop or segment of ordinary string, and it can vibrate in different ways. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string will look just like an ordinary particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In this way, all of the different elementary particles may be viewed as vibrating strings. One of the vibrational states of a string gives rise to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries gravitational force. There are several versions of string theory: type I, type IIA, type IIB, and two flavors of heterotic string theory (SO(32) and E<sub>8</sub>×E<sub>8</sub>). The different theories allow different types of strings, and the particles that arise at low energies exhibit different symmetries. For example, the type I theory includes both open strings (which are segments with endpoints) and closed strings (which form closed loops), while types IIA and IIB include only closed strings. Each of these five string theories arises as a special limiting case of M-theory. This theory, like its string theory predecessors, is an example of a quantum theory of gravity. It describes a force just like the familiar gravitational force subject to the rules of quantum mechanics. ### Number of dimensions In everyday life, there are three familiar dimensions of space: height, width and depth. Einstein's general theory of relativity treats time as a dimension on par with the three spatial dimensions; in general relativity, space and time are not modeled as separate entities but are instead unified to a four-dimensional spacetime, three spatial dimensions and one time dimension. In this framework, the phenomenon of gravity is viewed as a consequence of the geometry of spacetime. In spite of the fact that the universe is well described by four-dimensional spacetime, there are several reasons why physicists consider theories in other dimensions. In some cases, by modeling spacetime in a different number of dimensions, a theory becomes more mathematically tractable, and one can perform calculations and gain general insights more easily. There are also situations where theories in two or three spacetime dimensions are useful for describing phenomena in condensed matter physics. Finally, there exist scenarios in which there could actually be more than four dimensions of spacetime which have nonetheless managed to escape detection. One notable feature of string theory and M-theory is that these theories require extra dimensions of spacetime for their mathematical consistency. In string theory, spacetime is ten-dimensional (nine spatial dimensions, and one time dimension), while in M-theory it is eleven-dimensional (ten spatial dimensions, and one time dimension). In order to describe real physical phenomena using these theories, one must therefore imagine scenarios in which these extra dimensions would not be observed in experiments. Compactification is one way of modifying the number of dimensions in a physical theory. In compactification, some of the extra dimensions are assumed to "close up" on themselves to form circles. In the limit where these curled-up dimensions become very small, one obtains a theory in which spacetime has effectively a lower number of dimensions. A standard analogy for this is to consider a multidimensional object such as a garden hose. If the hose is viewed from a sufficient distance, it appears to have only one dimension, its length. However, as one approaches the hose, one discovers that it contains a second dimension, its circumference. Thus, an ant crawling on the surface of the hose would move in two dimensions. ### Dualities Theories that arise as different limits of M-theory turn out to be related in highly nontrivial ways. One of the relationships that can exist between these different physical theories is called S-duality. This is a relationship which says that a collection of strongly interacting particles in one theory can, in some cases, be viewed as a collection of weakly interacting particles in a completely different theory. Roughly speaking, a collection of particles is said to be strongly interacting if they combine and decay often and weakly interacting if they do so infrequently. Type I string theory turns out to be equivalent by S-duality to the SO(32) heterotic string theory. Similarly, type IIB string theory is related to itself in a nontrivial way by S-duality. Another relationship between different string theories is T-duality. Here one considers strings propagating around a circular extra dimension. T-duality states that a string propagating around a circle of radius R is equivalent to a string propagating around a circle of radius 1/R in the sense that all observable quantities in one description are identified with quantities in the dual description. For example, a string has momentum as it propagates around a circle, and it can also wind around the circle one or more times. The number of times the string winds around a circle is called the winding number. If a string has momentum p and winding number n in one description, it will have momentum n and winding number p in the dual description. For example, type IIA string theory is equivalent to type IIB string theory via T-duality, and the two versions of heterotic string theory are also related by T-duality. In general, the term duality refers to a situation where two seemingly different physical systems turn out to be equivalent in a nontrivial way. If two theories are related by a duality, it means that one theory can be transformed in some way so that it ends up looking just like the other theory. The two theories are then said to be dual to one another under the transformation. Put differently, the two theories are mathematically different descriptions of the same phenomena. ### Supersymmetry Another important theoretical idea that plays a role in M-theory is supersymmetry. This is a mathematical relation that exists in certain physical theories between a class of particles called bosons and a class of particles called fermions. Roughly speaking, fermions are the constituents of matter, while bosons mediate interactions between particles. In theories with supersymmetry, each boson has a counterpart which is a fermion, and vice versa. When supersymmetry is imposed as a local symmetry, one automatically obtains a quantum mechanical theory that includes gravity. Such a theory is called a supergravity theory. A theory of strings that incorporates the idea of supersymmetry is called a superstring theory. There are several different versions of superstring theory which are all subsumed within the M-theory framework. At low energies, the superstring theories are approximated by supergravity in ten spacetime dimensions. Similarly, M-theory is approximated at low energies by supergravity in eleven dimensions. ### Branes In string theory and related theories such as supergravity theories, a brane is a physical object that generalizes the notion of a point particle to higher dimensions. For example, a point particle can be viewed as a brane of dimension zero, while a string can be viewed as a brane of dimension one. It is also possible to consider higher-dimensional branes. In dimension p, these are called p-branes. Branes are dynamical objects which can propagate through spacetime according to the rules of quantum mechanics. They can have mass and other attributes such as charge. A p-brane sweeps out a (p + 1)-dimensional volume in spacetime called its worldvolume. Physicists often study fields analogous to the electromagnetic field which live on the worldvolume of a brane. The word brane comes from the word "membrane" which refers to a two-dimensional brane. In string theory, the fundamental objects that give rise to elementary particles are the one-dimensional strings. Although the physical phenomena described by M-theory are still poorly understood, physicists know that the theory describes two- and five-dimensional branes. Much of the current research in M-theory attempts to better understand the properties of these branes. ## History and development ### Kaluza–Klein theory In the early 20th century, physicists and mathematicians including Albert Einstein and Hermann Minkowski pioneered the use of four-dimensional geometry for describing the physical world. These efforts culminated in the formulation of Einstein's general theory of relativity, which relates gravity to the geometry of four-dimensional spacetime. The success of general relativity led to efforts to apply higher dimensional geometry to explain other forces. In 1919, work by Theodor Kaluza showed that by passing to five-dimensional spacetime, one can unify gravity and electromagnetism into a single force. This idea was improved by physicist Oskar Klein, who suggested that the additional dimension proposed by Kaluza could take the form of a circle with radius around 10<sup>−30</sup> cm. The Kaluza–Klein theory and subsequent attempts by Einstein to develop unified field theory were never completely successful. In part this was because Kaluza–Klein theory predicted a particle (the radion), that has never been shown to exist, and in part because it was unable to correctly predict the ratio of an electron's mass to its charge. In addition, these theories were being developed just as other physicists were beginning to discover quantum mechanics, which would ultimately prove successful in describing known forces such as electromagnetism, as well as new nuclear forces that were being discovered throughout the middle part of the century. Thus it would take almost fifty years for the idea of new dimensions to be taken seriously again. ### Early work on supergravity New concepts and mathematical tools provided fresh insights into general relativity, giving rise to a period in the 1960s–70s now known as the golden age of general relativity. In the mid-1970s, physicists began studying higher-dimensional theories combining general relativity with supersymmetry, the so-called supergravity theories. General relativity does not place any limits on the possible dimensions of spacetime. Although the theory is typically formulated in four dimensions, one can write down the same equations for the gravitational field in any number of dimensions. Supergravity is more restrictive because it places an upper limit on the number of dimensions. In 1978, work by Werner Nahm showed that the maximum spacetime dimension in which one can formulate a consistent supersymmetric theory is eleven. In the same year, Eugène Cremmer, Bernard Julia, and Joël Scherk of the École Normale Supérieure showed that supergravity not only permits up to eleven dimensions but is in fact most elegant in this maximal number of dimensions. Initially, many physicists hoped that by compactifying eleven-dimensional supergravity, it might be possible to construct realistic models of our four-dimensional world. The hope was that such models would provide a unified description of the four fundamental forces of nature: electromagnetism, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and gravity. Interest in eleven-dimensional supergravity soon waned as various flaws in this scheme were discovered. One of the problems was that the laws of physics appear to distinguish between clockwise and counterclockwise, a phenomenon known as chirality. Edward Witten and others observed this chirality property cannot be readily derived by compactifying from eleven dimensions. In the first superstring revolution in 1984, many physicists turned to string theory as a unified theory of particle physics and quantum gravity. Unlike supergravity theory, string theory was able to accommodate the chirality of the standard model, and it provided a theory of gravity consistent with quantum effects. Another feature of string theory that many physicists were drawn to in the 1980s and 1990s was its high degree of uniqueness. In ordinary particle theories, one can consider any collection of elementary particles whose classical behavior is described by an arbitrary Lagrangian. In string theory, the possibilities are much more constrained: by the 1990s, physicists had argued that there were only five consistent supersymmetric versions of the theory. ### Relationships between string theories Although there were only a handful of consistent superstring theories, it remained a mystery why there was not just one consistent formulation. However, as physicists began to examine string theory more closely, they realized that these theories are related in intricate and nontrivial ways. In the late 1970s, Claus Montonen and David Olive had conjectured a special property of certain physical theories. A sharpened version of their conjecture concerns a theory called N = 4 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory, which describes theoretical particles formally similar to the quarks and gluons that make up atomic nuclei. The strength with which the particles of this theory interact is measured by a number called the coupling constant. The result of Montonen and Olive, now known as Montonen–Olive duality, states that N = 4 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory with coupling constant g is equivalent to the same theory with coupling constant 1/g. In other words, a system of strongly interacting particles (large coupling constant) has an equivalent description as a system of weakly interacting particles (small coupling constant) and vice versa by spin-moment. In the 1990s, several theorists generalized Montonen–Olive duality to the S-duality relationship, which connects different string theories. Ashoke Sen studied S-duality in the context of heterotic strings in four dimensions. Chris Hull and Paul Townsend showed that type IIB string theory with a large coupling constant is equivalent via S-duality to the same theory with small coupling constant. Theorists also found that different string theories may be related by T-duality. This duality implies that strings propagating on completely different spacetime geometries may be physically equivalent. ### Membranes and fivebranes String theory extends ordinary particle physics by replacing zero-dimensional point particles by one-dimensional objects called strings. In the late 1980s, it was natural for theorists to attempt to formulate other extensions in which particles are replaced by two-dimensional supermembranes or by higher-dimensional objects called branes. Such objects had been considered as early as 1962 by Paul Dirac, and they were reconsidered by a small but enthusiastic group of physicists in the 1980s. Supersymmetry severely restricts the possible number of dimensions of a brane. In 1987, Eric Bergshoeff, Ergin Sezgin, and Paul Townsend showed that eleven-dimensional supergravity includes two-dimensional branes. Intuitively, these objects look like sheets or membranes propagating through the eleven-dimensional spacetime. Shortly after this discovery, Michael Duff, Paul Howe, Takeo Inami, and Kellogg Stelle considered a particular compactification of eleven-dimensional supergravity with one of the dimensions curled up into a circle. In this setting, one can imagine the membrane wrapping around the circular dimension. If the radius of the circle is sufficiently small, then this membrane looks just like a string in ten-dimensional spacetime. In fact, Duff and his collaborators showed that this construction reproduces exactly the strings appearing in type IIA superstring theory. In 1990, Andrew Strominger published a similar result which suggested that strongly interacting strings in ten dimensions might have an equivalent description in terms of weakly interacting five-dimensional branes. Initially, physicists were unable to prove this relationship for two important reasons. On the one hand, the Montonen–Olive duality was still unproven, and so Strominger's conjecture was even more tenuous. On the other hand, there were many technical issues related to the quantum properties of five-dimensional branes. The first of these problems was solved in 1993 when Ashoke Sen established that certain physical theories require the existence of objects with both electric and magnetic charge which were predicted by the work of Montonen and Olive. In spite of this progress, the relationship between strings and five-dimensional branes remained conjectural because theorists were unable to quantize the branes. Starting in 1991, a team of researchers including Michael Duff, Ramzi Khuri, Jianxin Lu, and Ruben Minasian considered a special compactification of string theory in which four of the ten dimensions curl up. If one considers a five-dimensional brane wrapped around these extra dimensions, then the brane looks just like a one-dimensional string. In this way, the conjectured relationship between strings and branes was reduced to a relationship between strings and strings, and the latter could be tested using already established theoretical techniques. ### Second superstring revolution Speaking at the string theory conference at the University of Southern California in 1995, Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study made the surprising suggestion that all five superstring theories were in fact just different limiting cases of a single theory in eleven spacetime dimensions. Witten's announcement drew together all of the previous results on S- and T-duality and the appearance of two- and five-dimensional branes in string theory. In the months following Witten's announcement, hundreds of new papers appeared on the Internet confirming that the new theory involved membranes in an important way. Today this flurry of work is known as the second superstring revolution. One of the important developments following Witten's announcement was Witten's work in 1996 with string theorist Petr Hořava. Witten and Hořava studied M-theory on a special spacetime geometry with two ten-dimensional boundary components. Their work shed light on the mathematical structure of M-theory and suggested possible ways of connecting M-theory to real world physics. ### Origin of the term Initially, some physicists suggested that the new theory was a fundamental theory of membranes, but Witten was skeptical of the role of membranes in the theory. In a paper from 1996, Hořava and Witten wrote > As it has been proposed that the eleven-dimensional theory is a supermembrane theory but there are some reasons to doubt that interpretation, we will non-committally call it the M-theory, leaving to the future the relation of M to membranes. In the absence of an understanding of the true meaning and structure of M-theory, Witten has suggested that the M should stand for "magic", "mystery", or "membrane" according to taste, and the true meaning of the title should be decided when a more fundamental formulation of the theory is known. Years later, he would state, "I thought my colleagues would understand that it really stood for membrane. Unfortunately, it got people confused." ## Matrix theory ### BFSS matrix model In mathematics, a matrix is a rectangular array of numbers or other data. In physics, a matrix model is a particular kind of physical theory whose mathematical formulation involves the notion of a matrix in an important way. A matrix model describes the behavior of a set of matrices within the framework of quantum mechanics. One important example of a matrix model is the BFSS matrix model proposed by Tom Banks, Willy Fischler, Stephen Shenker, and Leonard Susskind in 1997. This theory describes the behavior of a set of nine large matrices. In their original paper, these authors showed, among other things, that the low energy limit of this matrix model is described by eleven-dimensional supergravity. These calculations led them to propose that the BFSS matrix model is exactly equivalent to M-theory. The BFSS matrix model can therefore be used as a prototype for a correct formulation of M-theory and a tool for investigating the properties of M-theory in a relatively simple setting. ### Noncommutative geometry In geometry, it is often useful to introduce coordinates. For example, in order to study the geometry of the Euclidean plane, one defines the coordinates x and y as the distances between any point in the plane and a pair of axes. In ordinary geometry, the coordinates of a point are numbers, so they can be multiplied, and the product of two coordinates does not depend on the order of multiplication. That is, xy = yx. This property of multiplication is known as the commutative law, and this relationship between geometry and the commutative algebra of coordinates is the starting point for much of modern geometry. Noncommutative geometry is a branch of mathematics that attempts to generalize this situation. Rather than working with ordinary numbers, one considers some similar objects, such as matrices, whose multiplication does not satisfy the commutative law (that is, objects for which xy is not necessarily equal to yx). One imagines that these noncommuting objects are coordinates on some more general notion of "space" and proves theorems about these generalized spaces by exploiting the analogy with ordinary geometry. In a paper from 1998, Alain Connes, Michael R. Douglas, and Albert Schwarz showed that some aspects of matrix models and M-theory are described by a noncommutative quantum field theory, a special kind of physical theory in which the coordinates on spacetime do not satisfy the commutativity property. This established a link between matrix models and M-theory on the one hand, and noncommutative geometry on the other hand. It quickly led to the discovery of other important links between noncommutative geometry and various physical theories. ## AdS/CFT correspondence ### Overview The application of quantum mechanics to physical objects such as the electromagnetic field, which are extended in space and time, is known as quantum field theory. In particle physics, quantum field theories form the basis for our understanding of elementary particles, which are modeled as excitations in the fundamental fields. Quantum field theories are also used throughout condensed matter physics to model particle-like objects called quasiparticles. One approach to formulating M-theory and studying its properties is provided by the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence. Proposed by Juan Maldacena in late 1997, the AdS/CFT correspondence is a theoretical result which implies that M-theory is in some cases equivalent to a quantum field theory. In addition to providing insights into the mathematical structure of string and M-theory, the AdS/CFT correspondence has shed light on many aspects of quantum field theory in regimes where traditional calculational techniques are ineffective. In the AdS/CFT correspondence, the geometry of spacetime is described in terms of a certain vacuum solution of Einstein's equation called anti-de Sitter space. In very elementary terms, anti-de Sitter space is a mathematical model of spacetime in which the notion of distance between points (the metric) is different from the notion of distance in ordinary Euclidean geometry. It is closely related to hyperbolic space, which can be viewed as a disk as illustrated on the left. This image shows a tessellation of a disk by triangles and squares. One can define the distance between points of this disk in such a way that all the triangles and squares are the same size and the circular outer boundary is infinitely far from any point in the interior. Now imagine a stack of hyperbolic disks where each disk represents the state of the universe at a given time. The resulting geometric object is three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. It looks like a solid cylinder in which any cross section is a copy of the hyperbolic disk. Time runs along the vertical direction in this picture. The surface of this cylinder plays an important role in the AdS/CFT correspondence. As with the hyperbolic plane, anti-de Sitter space is curved in such a way that any point in the interior is actually infinitely far from this boundary surface. This construction describes a hypothetical universe with only two space dimensions and one time dimension, but it can be generalized to any number of dimensions. Indeed, hyperbolic space can have more than two dimensions and one can "stack up" copies of hyperbolic space to get higher-dimensional models of anti-de Sitter space. An important feature of anti-de Sitter space is its boundary (which looks like a cylinder in the case of three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space). One property of this boundary is that, within a small region on the surface around any given point, it looks just like Minkowski space, the model of spacetime used in nongravitational physics. One can therefore consider an auxiliary theory in which "spacetime" is given by the boundary of anti-de Sitter space. This observation is the starting point for AdS/CFT correspondence, which states that the boundary of anti-de Sitter space can be regarded as the "spacetime" for a quantum field theory. The claim is that this quantum field theory is equivalent to the gravitational theory on the bulk anti-de Sitter space in the sense that there is a "dictionary" for translating entities and calculations in one theory into their counterparts in the other theory. For example, a single particle in the gravitational theory might correspond to some collection of particles in the boundary theory. In addition, the predictions in the two theories are quantitatively identical so that if two particles have a 40 percent chance of colliding in the gravitational theory, then the corresponding collections in the boundary theory would also have a 40 percent chance of colliding. ### 6D (2,0) superconformal field theory One particular realization of the AdS/CFT correspondence states that M-theory on the product space AdS<sub>7</sub>×S<sup>4</sup> is equivalent to the so-called (2,0)-theory on the six-dimensional boundary. Here "(2,0)" refers to the particular type of supersymmetry that appears in the theory. In this example, the spacetime of the gravitational theory is effectively seven-dimensional (hence the notation AdS<sub>7</sub>), and there are four additional "compact" dimensions (encoded by the S<sup>4</sup> factor). In the real world, spacetime is four-dimensional, at least macroscopically, so this version of the correspondence does not provide a realistic model of gravity. Likewise, the dual theory is not a viable model of any real-world system since it describes a world with six spacetime dimensions. Nevertheless, the (2,0)-theory has proven to be important for studying the general properties of quantum field theories. Indeed, this theory subsumes many mathematically interesting effective quantum field theories and points to new dualities relating these theories. For example, Luis Alday, Davide Gaiotto, and Yuji Tachikawa showed that by compactifying this theory on a surface, one obtains a four-dimensional quantum field theory, and there is a duality known as the AGT correspondence which relates the physics of this theory to certain physical concepts associated with the surface itself. More recently, theorists have extended these ideas to study the theories obtained by compactifying down to three dimensions. In addition to its applications in quantum field theory, the (2,0)-theory has spawned important results in pure mathematics. For example, the existence of the (2,0)-theory was used by Witten to give a "physical" explanation for a conjectural relationship in mathematics called the geometric Langlands correspondence. In subsequent work, Witten showed that the (2,0)-theory could be used to understand a concept in mathematics called Khovanov homology. Developed by Mikhail Khovanov around 2000, Khovanov homology provides a tool in knot theory, the branch of mathematics that studies and classifies the different shapes of knots. Another application of the (2,0)-theory in mathematics is the work of Davide Gaiotto, Greg Moore, and Andrew Neitzke, which used physical ideas to derive new results in hyperkähler geometry. ### ABJM superconformal field theory Another realization of the AdS/CFT correspondence states that M-theory on AdS<sub>4</sub>×S<sup>7</sup> is equivalent to a quantum field theory called the ABJM theory in three dimensions. In this version of the correspondence, seven of the dimensions of M-theory are curled up, leaving four non-compact dimensions. Since the spacetime of our universe is four-dimensional, this version of the correspondence provides a somewhat more realistic description of gravity. The ABJM theory appearing in this version of the correspondence is also interesting for a variety of reasons. Introduced by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis, and Maldacena, it is closely related to another quantum field theory called Chern–Simons theory. The latter theory was popularized by Witten in the late 1980s because of its applications to knot theory. In addition, the ABJM theory serves as a semi-realistic simplified model for solving problems that arise in condensed matter physics. ## Phenomenology ### Overview In addition to being an idea of considerable theoretical interest, M-theory provides a framework for constructing models of real world physics that combine general relativity with the standard model of particle physics. Phenomenology is the branch of theoretical physics in which physicists construct realistic models of nature from more abstract theoretical ideas. String phenomenology is the part of string theory that attempts to construct realistic models of particle physics based on string and M-theory. Typically, such models are based on the idea of compactification. Starting with the ten- or eleven-dimensional spacetime of string or M-theory, physicists postulate a shape for the extra dimensions. By choosing this shape appropriately, they can construct models roughly similar to the standard model of particle physics, together with additional undiscovered particles, usually supersymmetric partners to analogues of known particles. One popular way of deriving realistic physics from string theory is to start with the heterotic theory in ten dimensions and assume that the six extra dimensions of spacetime are shaped like a six-dimensional Calabi–Yau manifold. This is a special kind of geometric object named after mathematicians Eugenio Calabi and Shing-Tung Yau. Calabi–Yau manifolds offer many ways of extracting realistic physics from string theory. Other similar methods can be used to construct models with physics resembling to some extent that of our four-dimensional world based on M-theory. Partly because of theoretical and mathematical difficulties and partly because of the extremely high energies (beyond what is technologically possible for the foreseeable future) needed to test these theories experimentally, there is so far no experimental evidence that would unambiguously point to any of these models being a correct fundamental description of nature. This has led some in the community to criticize these approaches to unification and question the value of continued research on these problems. ### Compactification on G<sub>2</sub> manifolds In one approach to M-theory phenomenology, theorists assume that the seven extra dimensions of M-theory are shaped like a G<sub>2</sub> manifold. This is a special kind of seven-dimensional shape constructed by mathematician Dominic Joyce of the University of Oxford. These G<sub>2</sub> manifolds are still poorly understood mathematically, and this fact has made it difficult for physicists to fully develop this approach to phenomenology. For example, physicists and mathematicians often assume that space has a mathematical property called smoothness, but this property cannot be assumed in the case of a G<sub>2</sub> manifold if one wishes to recover the physics of our four-dimensional world. Another problem is that G<sub>2</sub> manifolds are not complex manifolds, so theorists are unable to use tools from the branch of mathematics known as complex analysis. Finally, there are many open questions about the existence, uniqueness, and other mathematical properties of G<sub>2</sub> manifolds, and mathematicians lack a systematic way of searching for these manifolds. ### Heterotic M-theory Because of the difficulties with G<sub>2</sub> manifolds, most attempts to construct realistic theories of physics based on M-theory have taken a more indirect approach to compactifying eleven-dimensional spacetime. One approach, pioneered by Witten, Hořava, Burt Ovrut, and others, is known as heterotic M-theory. In this approach, one imagines that one of the eleven dimensions of M-theory is shaped like a circle. If this circle is very small, then the spacetime becomes effectively ten-dimensional. One then assumes that six of the ten dimensions form a Calabi–Yau manifold. If this Calabi–Yau manifold is also taken to be small, one is left with a theory in four-dimensions. Heterotic M-theory has been used to construct models of brane cosmology in which the observable universe is thought to exist on a brane in a higher dimensional ambient space. It has also spawned alternative theories of the early universe that do not rely on the theory of cosmic inflation. ## Popularization - BBC Horizon: "Parallel Universes" – 2002 feature documentary by BBC Horizon, episode "Parallel Universes" focuses on the history and emergence of M-theory, and scientists involved - PBS.org-NOVA: The Elegant Universe] – 2003 Emmy Award-winning, three-hour miniseries by Nova with Brian Greene, adapted from his The Elegant Universe book (original PBS broadcast dates: October 28, 8–10 p.m. and November 4, 8–9 p.m., 2003) ## See also - F-theory - Multiverse
6,170,375	Brougham Castle	1,173,475,962	Medieval castle in Cumbria, England	[ "Castles in Cumbria", "English Heritage sites in Cumbria", "Ruined castles in England", "Ruins in Cumbria", "Scheduled monuments in Cumbria" ]	Brougham Castle (pronounced /ˈbruːm/) is a medieval building about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Penrith, Cumbria, England. The castle was founded by Robert I de Vieuxpont in the early 13th century. The site, near the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther, had been chosen by the Romans for a Roman fort called Brocavum. The castle, along with the fort, is a scheduled monument: "Brougham Roman fort and Brougham Castle". In its earliest form, the castle consisted of a stone keep, with an enclosure protected by an earthen bank and a wooden palisade. When the castle was built, Robert de Vieuxpont was one of the only lords in the region who were loyal to King John. The Vieuxponts were a powerful land-owning family in North West England, who also owned the castles of Appleby and Brough. In 1264, Robert de Vieuxpont's grandson, also named Robert, was declared a traitor, and his property was confiscated by Henry III. Brougham Castle and the other estates were eventually returned to the Vieuxpont family, and stayed in their possession until 1269, when the estates passed to the Clifford family through marriage. With the outbreak of the Wars of Scottish Independence, in 1296, Brougham became an important military base for Robert Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford. He began refortifying the castle: the wooden outer defences were replaced with stronger, more impressive stone walls, and a large stone gatehouse was added. The importance of Brougham and Robert Clifford was such that, in 1300, he hosted King Edward I of England at the castle. Robert's son, Roger Clifford, was executed as a traitor, in 1322, and the family estates passed into the possession of King Edward II of England, although they were returned once his son Edward III became king. The region was often at risk from the Scots, and in 1388, the castle was captured and sacked. Following this, the Cliffords began spending more time at their other castles, particularly Skipton Castle in Yorkshire. Brougham descended through several generations of Cliffords, intermittently serving as a residence. However, by 1592, it was in a state of disrepair, as George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland was spending more time in southern England due to his role as Queen's Champion. The castle was briefly restored in the early 17th century, to such an extent, that King James I of England was entertained there in 1617. In 1643, Lady Anne Clifford inherited the estates, including the castles of Brougham, Appleby, and Brough, and set about restoring them. Brougham Castle was kept in good condition for a short time, after Lady Anne's death in 1676; however, Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet, who had inherited the Clifford estates, sold the furnishings in 1714. The empty shell was left to decay, as it was too costly to maintain. As a ruin, Brougham Castle inspired a painting by J. M. W. Turner, and was mentioned at the start of William Wordsworth's poem The Prelude, as well as becoming the subject of Wordsworth's Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle upon the Restoration of Lord Clifford, the Shepherd, to the Estates and Honours of his Ancestors. The castle was left to the Ministry of Works, in the 1930s, and is today maintained by its successor, English Heritage. ## Background The site of Brougham Castle has been fortified since the Romans erected the fort of Brocavum at the intersection of three Roman roads. With the rivers Eamont and Lowther flowing nearby and meeting to the west, the site had natural defences and the area was fertile and easy to cultivate. A civilian settlement grew around the fort. When Angles arrived in the area they named the place Brougham, meaning "the village by the fort". Between the end of Roman rule in the early 5th century and the Norman Conquest in the late 11th century, Cumbria was a turbulent area. Although the site was a defendable position, there is no evidence that Brougham was refortified during this time. In 1092, William II (also known as William Rufus) captured Cumbria south of the Solway Firth and established a new border far north of Brougham. The site at Brougham remained unfortified. Carlisle Castle secured the border, and castles at Appleby and Brough, both south east of Brougham, protected the line of communication from Carlisle to Yorkshire. In 1203, the Barony of Westmorland – containing Appleby, Brough, and Brougham – was granted to Robert de Vieuxpont by King John. A favourite of John's, Vieuxpont was one of only a few lords loyal to him in northern England, whose inhabitants became so discontented with the king's rule that they eventually rebelled. Around 1214, Vieuxpont asserted control over more land, including half the manor of Brougham. It was in this atmosphere of unrest that Brougham Castle was founded. ## Under the Vieuxponts Vieuxpont was one of only a few supporters of the king in northern England, and he most likely began construction of Brougham Castle as soon as he acquired the land. At this stage, the castle would have been enclosed by an earthen bank surmounted by a timber palisade. The first three storeys of the stone keep date from this period. It was entered through the first floor via a forebuilding. To the east of this was a stone structure which was probably a hall. Building in stone was an expensive and time-consuming process. No records tell us how much Brougham cost to construct, but there are records for other stone construction. For example, the late-12th-century stone keep at Peveril Castle in Derbyshire would have cost around £200, although something on a much larger scale, such as the vast Château Gaillard, cost an estimated £15,000–20,000 and took several years to complete. In 1216, when a Scottish army invaded the Eden valley and Alan of Galloway occupied Westmorland, Brougham Castle played no part in the county's defence, probably because it was unfinished. Construction would have been suspended until Alan retreated in 1217. Vieuxpont received control over the king's revenues from Cumberland, and these helped fund the construction of the castle. Brougham Castle was constructed in the northern part of the old Roman fort, and stone from the ruins was probably used to help build the castle. When Robert de Vieuxpont died in 1228, his only son – John – was a minor, so his property was taken into the care of a warden. John de Vieuxpont died in 1241, before he came of age. The new heir, John's son Robert, was not old enough to inherit, so the family's lands remained in wardship. During this time, the estates fell into disrepair, and this probably included Brougham Castle. When Robert de Vieuxpont came of age in around 1257 he inherited considerable debts. He was one of the northern lords that revolted in support of Simon de Montfort in the Second Barons' War (1264–1267). By June 1264, Vieuxpont was dead; as he was considered a traitor, his property was confiscated by King Henry III. In 1266, the king pardoned Vieuxpont posthumously, and his two daughters inherited the family estates. The guardians of the two girls, who at the time were too young to marry, divided the Vieuxpont lands with the expectation that they would come into their possession through marriage. Isabel Vieuxpont was given in marriage to Roger Clifford, the son of her guardian, and with her the shrievalty of Westmorland and the castles of Brougham and Appleby transferred to the Cliffords. ## The Clifford family By 1269, Roger Clifford had married Isabel Vieuxpont and possession of Brougham Castle – as well as her other property – descended through the Clifford family. In 1283, Roger predeceased his wife, who died in 1292. At 18, their son Robert was not old enough to take possession of his lands. During his three-year minority, his estates suffered from neglect and poaching. When the Wars of Scottish Independence began in 1296, Robert Clifford played a prominent role in the conflict. As the furthest north of his castles, Brougham became Clifford's most important base, and he spent a lot of time there. It was during this period that Clifford undertook an extensive building programme. The timber palisade surrounding the site was replaced with a stone curtain wall. A four-storey stone residential tower, called the Tower of League, was built in the castle's south-west corner. A fourth storey was added to the keep, and a double gatehouse attached to its northern side. The construction of a new stone hall to the south of the keep may indicate that during the war there was a larger garrison present than in peacetime, or it may have been built in anticipation of a royal visit. In July 1300, Edward I – himself a renowned castle builder – visited Brougham with a large household of followers and the teenage Prince of Wales. Although it is not certain whether the king stayed at the castle, historians believe it to have been likely. In 1309, Robert Clifford was granted a licence to crenellate Brougham Castle; this has been taken as an indication that by this point the rebuilding was complete. Licences to crenellate granted permission for a person to fortify a site. They were also proof of a relationship with or favour from the monarch, who was the one responsible for granting permission. Edward I died in 1307, and his successor Edward II was distracted from war with Scotland by internal quarrels, enabling the Scottish to roam further south through England. In 1310 or 1311, Robert Clifford was given Skipton Castle; it was farther from the border than Brougham and at a time when Scottish raids were ravaging Westmorland, Clifford chose to spend more time and effort building at Skipton. Clifford was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, which ended the English counter-offensive into Scotland. At the time of Robert's death, his son Roger de Clifford, 2nd Baron de Clifford, was only 14 and not old enough to inherit. Therefore, the Clifford estates experienced another period of control through guardians, suffering from Scottish raids to such an extent that in 1317 the king granted Roger £200 towards the maintenance of his castles. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere was responsible for the upkeep of Brougham Castle and some other Clifford properties including Appleby Castle. Between 1316 and 1318 he spent £363 on the garrisons at Brougham and Appleby, though was supported by the king who gave £1,270 towards their upkeep. Funds to pay the garrison were not easily gathered from the Clifford estates, and they were accused of poaching and pillaging. In 1320, Roger Clifford was given his inheritance but probably spent more time at Skipton. He was executed as a traitor in 1322 after his capture at the Battle of Boroughbridge. Brougham Castle was amongst the Clifford lands confiscated and given to Andrew de Harcla for supporting the king against the uprising. However, by 1323 Harcla too had been executed for treason and the castle came into the possession of Edward II. In May 1323, a truce was signed between the Scots and English resulting in a reduction in garrison strength throughout northern England. When Edward III replaced Edward II on the throne, Robert Clifford, Roger's younger brother, was granted most of the lands that had been confiscated. By 1333, Robert had united under his control all the estates which had belonged to the Vieuxpont family. Hostilities between England and Scotland resumed in 1332 when Edward Balliol invaded to seize the Scottish throne for himself. He was expelled from Scotland in December 1333. On entering Westmorland, Balliol sought refuge with the Clifford family, staying at the castles of Appleby, Brougham, Brough, and Pendragon. Robert Clifford was not heavily involved in the renewed conflict, although he did take part in battles in 1332, 1337, and 1342. When the value of his property was assessed on his death in 1344 the estates of Brougham were suffering from the war, with indications that Brougham Castle was in a state of disrepair having endured the 1340s without funds for maintenance. Two minorities followed until Roger Clifford, 5th Baron Clifford, came of age in 1354. Another truce between Scotland and England was signed in 1357, this time lasting until 1384. Although Roger Clifford spent much time at Appleby – which was Westmorland's county town – he was responsible for rebuilding the domestic buildings at Brougham Castle, including the hall. He was ordered by the king to maintain a force of 40 men-at-arms and 50 mounted archers near the west end of the Scottish border region, and some were likely stationed at Brougham. The need for extra accommodation is a possible reason why Clifford began rebuilding. In August 1388, the Scottish launched an attack into England, with one force advancing east – and were eventually confronted at the Battle of Otterburn in Northumberland – and another raiding the west, reaching as far as Brough, 20 miles (32 km) to the south-east. During this time Brougham Castle was briefly captured by Scottish forces. Roger Clifford died at Skipton Castle in 1389, and the Clifford family began to lose interest in Westmorland. The Cliffords preferred their properties in Yorkshire to their dilapidated castles in Westmorland, which had been ravaged by wars with Scotland. Brougham Castle is not known to have been in use as a residence again until 1421, when a man was accused of forging coins in the castle. Although little is known about Brougham during this period, historians believe it likely that repairs were undertaken, and a rivalry emerged between the Clifford family and the House of Neville that would later have consequences for Brougham. The familial enmity meant that the Earl of Salisbury, a Neville, used his position as lord of Penrith to antagonise the Cliffords; it is likely that Brougham Castle was kept garrisoned due to its proximity to Penrith. In the Wars of the Roses (1455–1485), the two families were on opposing sides, the Cliffords supporting the House of Lancaster and the Nevilles supporting the House of York. When the Yorkist Edward IV took the throne in 1461 the lands of John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford were confiscated. In 1471, Edward IV granted Sir William Parr Brougham Castle and other properties which had belonged to the Cliffords. A year later Henry Clifford, John's son and heir, was pardoned and when the Lancastrian Henry Tudor took the throne as Henry VII, Henry Clifford appealed for the return of the Clifford estates. This was granted in November 1485. Henry Clifford lived until 1523. Under him and his son – also called Henry, who later became Earl of Cumberland – the castle was intermittently in use as a residence for the family. After Brough Castle was destroyed in a fire in 1521 it is likely that Brougham became the new administrative centre and focus of the local lordship. As Earl of Cumberland Henry controlled Penrith and Carlisle, although he was an unpopular landlord. When the north of England rose up in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, Henry was one of those targeted by the rebels. He confronted the rebel leaders at Kirkby Stephen in February 1537, and after his defeat he retreated to Brougham Castle. After the Pilgrimage of Grace was suppressed, there were reforms of regional government in the north west. One of the results was that the title of Earl of Cumberland no longer gave Clifford wardenship of Penrith and Carlisle, with Brougham Castle once again becoming the Cliffords' northernmost castle. Henry died in 1542 and his son, Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland, inherited the family estates. During the Rising of the North, in which Catholic magnates rebelled against Elizabeth I, Henry remained loyal to the Tudor dynasty despite the Cliffords being a Catholic family. He dismantled Appleby Castle to prevent it from being used against royal forces, and at the same time put Brougham at the service of the Elizabethan government, although there was no fighting at the castle. Under the second and third earls, Henry and George, the castle was still used as a residence, with the third earl being born at Brougham Castle. However, it was under George that the building began to decay and by 1592 it was deserted. George Clifford spent much time either in southern England in his role as Queen's Champion or at Skipton. An inventory of the castle's contents in 1595 demonstrates that the structure was a neglected, meagrely-furnished place, and what little furniture there was old and in disrepair. ## The Clifford Dowagers When George Clifford died in 1605, his wife Margaret became dowager countess and began repairing Brougham Castle, which became her favoured residence. Margaret contended with claims to the ownership of the family estates from her brother-in-law Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland, but held onto Brougham Castle. Her daughter, Lady Anne Clifford continued the restoration of the castle and other Clifford properties. The only one of Margaret's three children to survive childhood, Anne inherited the Clifford estates after her mother died in 1616. The inheritance was not without incident. The Earl of Cumberland again asserted his claim to the Clifford estates, however the privy council found in favour of Anne. The solution was only temporary, and in April 1617 the king decided that the Earl of Cumberland was the rightful heir, and the Clifford estates passed to Francis Clifford. Later the same year, James I visited Scotland and on his return journey he stayed at the castles of Carlisle, Brougham, and Appleby, where expensive banquets were given in his honour. It is estimated that the festivities cost around £1,200. After this, Brougham was almost forgotten by its owner and neglected. Francis Clifford died in 1641, and the death of his son Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland in 1643 left the line without a direct male heir. At this point, the Clifford estates reverted to Lady Anne. The English Civil War broke out in 1641. Brougham was one of several castles in the generally Royalist Cumberland and Westmorland that were garrisoned by Cavalier forces. Sir John Lowther, the garrison commander, stated that he took control of Brougham Castle not because it was strategically important, but to deny the Parliamentarians of its use. Whilst under Royalist control, Lady Anne donated the income from her estates to the upkeep of her castles. In June 1648, Appleby endured a four-day siege before capitulating to the Parliamentarians, but lightly manned Brougham Castle succumbed easily to Colonel John Lambert. Although many castles in Cumberland and Westmorland were dismantled so they could not be used again, Brougham was spared this fate, most likely because it was not strategically important. In 1650, Lady Anne Clifford began repairing Appleby and Brougham. Repairs were mostly complete by 1653, but continued for several years afterwards, the work costing an estimated £40,000. By this time Brougham Castle was no longer a serious fortification and had become Anne's country house. She laid out a garden on the site of the old Roman fort, which led to the discovery of such Roman artefacts as coins and three altars. A 10.5-foot (3.2 m) stone wall was built around the garden, enclosing an area from the gatehouse to the south end of the Roman fort. ## Picturesque ruin Lady Anne Clifford died at Brougham Castle in 1676 and her grandson, Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Thanet, inherited the Clifford estates. He died in 1679, and over the next five years possession passed through his three younger brothers. Under the youngest, Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet, Brougham Castle suffered particular neglect. In 1714, he decided that Appleby Castle was a sufficient residence and sold the contents of Brougham Castle for £570. Only the Tower of League was left untouched, but in 1723 its contents were also sold, for £40 By the 1750s, the castle's only practical use was as a ready source of building material for the village of Brougham, which prospered due to investment from the Earl of Thanet. In 1794, a record of the dilapidated state of the castle noted that "much of the interior walls have lately been removed, also, for the purposes of building houses for the adjoining farmhold". During the late 18th century, the Lake District became a popular visitor attraction and the sensibilities of Romanticism glamorised such historic ruins as Brougham Castle. In his poem The Prelude, William Wordsworth recounted exploring the ruins of Brougham as an adolescent with his sister. Brougham also provided inspiration for another of Wordsworth's poems, the Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle upon the Restoration of Lord Clifford, the Shepherd, to the Estates and Honours of his Ancestors. The fallen castle attracted sightseers and antiquarians such as William Gilpin and Richard Warner. In his diary, Journey to the Lake District from Cambridge 1779, William Wilberforce described Brougham Castle as a "very fine ruin". The painter J. M. W. Turner visited Brougham in 1809 and 1831, and on the first occasion produced a sketch which would be the starting point of a later watercolour. To avoid the castle decaying further, Charles Tufton, 10th Earl of Thanet, spent £41 repairing the structure in 1830, and his successor Henry Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet, undertook further repairs in the late 1840s, costing £421. Henry Tufton died in 1849, and castle ownership fell to Hothfields. Maintenance was too expensive for the family, and by 1859 cattle were being kept in its gatehouse, and visitors complained that parts of the romantic ruin had become inaccessible. Without sufficient funds, the castle quickly fell into marked decay. In 1915, the Ancient Monuments Board declared Brougham Castle a monument "whose preservation was regarded as being of national importance". With the introduction of bus services in the area, the castle experienced renewed interest from the public, and in the late 1920s around 2,000 people visited annually. In 1927, the 2nd Baron Hothfield granted guardianship of Brougham Castle to the Office of Works, although he retained ownership. The organisation repaired the castle at the cost of £5,925. In the 1930s an additional £1,050 was spent removing the masonry added in the 1840s. Brougham Castle survives essentially as it was when the main repairs were finished in the 1930s. The castle is a scheduled monument, meaning it is a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. Until 1984, when a survey of the standing structure was conducted, little archaeological investigation had taken place at Brougham Castle. The survey was part of a monograph on the castle detailing its history and the phasing of the structure. Brougham is one of only a few castles in Cumbria to have undergone extensive archaeological investigation. Today, the castle is open to the public, and a museum is run by English Heritage, the successor of the Office of Works. ## Layout The path to Brougham Castle leads from east to west. To the south, or the left of someone approaching the castle, are the earthworks of the Roman fort and the location of the 17th-century garden. The ground is terraced, and to the north the land slopes down towards the River Eamont. A moat runs alongside the east, south, and west faces of the castle, its width varying between 33–49 feet (10–15 m) and lying up to 11 feet (3.4 m) deep. Although the moat is now dry it is likely that it used to be filled with water. The castle is an irregular polygon, measuring about 223 ft (68 m) along the west side, 236 ft (72 m) along the south, 157 ft (48 m) wide in the east, and 177 ft (54 m) on the north side. Brougham Castle is entered through a three-storey double-gatehouse. Originally the coat of arms of Roger Clifford and his wife was carved above the entrance to the gatehouse but in the 19th century this was replaced by the current inscription, "Thys Made Roger", by Henry Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet. The inscription was originally above the entrance of the great hall built by Roger Clifford, 5th Baron Clifford. Erected on the slope inclining down to the river, the gatehouse was constructed in the early 14th century by Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford. The complex has three components: the inner and outer gatehouses and a courtyard in between. The inner gatehouse survives to a height of 41 ft (12.5 m) in the east. The ground-floor passage through the building is vaulted and there was a portcullis at the east end. A postern gate was hidden behind a buttress in the north side of the gatehouse and would have provided a discrete means of leaving the castle. The floors above the passageway each consisted of a single large room and were connected to the keep, allowing people to move between the two without having to go outside. In the 17th century Lady Anne Clifford converted the top floor into her bedroom. Like the inner gatehouse, the outer section had a square plan, and the upper floors would each have been occupied by a single room. The building survives to a height of 48 ft (14.5 m) in the east. Below the outer gatehouse was a dungeon, and at ground floor level on the north side the guardroom. The large rooms in both gatehouses would have been used as residences. Although the very top of the gatehouse no longer survives, it would have been crested by machicolations. Adjoined to the gatehouse is the 13th-century keep. A keep contained the main domestic accommodation in a castle, usually high-status, and also provided the last place of refuge if the surrounding enclosure fell during an assault. Brougham's keep has a square plan and is between 62–66 ft (19–20 m) high, although originally would have stood taller. Access to each floor was granted by a spiral staircase in the north-east corner, with each floor consisting of a single large room. The garderobe was located in the north-west corner. It had long been assumed that the keep was built in the last quarter of the 12th century due to its simple design; the square design, use of narrow buttresses at each corner, and entrance through a forebuilding are consistent with other keeps built in the late 12th century. By the 13th century, Brougham's keep would have been old fashioned compared to the polygonal structures introduced in the 13th century. However, historian Henry Summerson who assessed the historic documents for the castle concluded that construction could not have begun earlier than the first quarter of the 13th century. The wooden floors no longer survive, and the use of the rooms in the keep is mostly conjectural, but it is likely that the ground floor would have served as a storage room, with the first-floor being used as a hall and accommodation for the guards, and the second floor providing rooms for the lord. A final fourth storey was added in early 14th century. The keep would have been entered at first-floor level, through the east side where it was abutted by a forebuilding. Despite the keep's importance to the castle structure, little survives of the building today. South east of the keep was the hall, built by Roger Clifford in the late 14th century as a replacement for an earlier hall. It provided space for the castle's garrison, swelled by the Anglo-Scottish Wars, and was a location for the lord to eat with his soldiers. The hall had large windows which may have detracted from the building's defensive capability, although it has been postulated that casements bore large wooden shutters. The kitchen, which served the entire castle, was set in the south-east corner of the fortification. Along the south wall were arranged more lodgings, a well, and a chapel, the latter another addition by Roger Clifford. In the south-west corner of the castle was the Tower of League, built around 1300 by Roger Clifford. It included further rooms for accommodation, but notably would also have allowed defenders to fire on an enemy emerging from the gatehouse. Four storeys tall and with a single room at each level, the presence of a garderobe and fireplace on each floor suggests that the tower was reserved for high-status visitors. The tower's square plan is typical of such structures built in northern England at this time, as seen at castles such as Warkworth and Egremont, although it contrasts with rounded towers preferred in the south. ## Folklore The antiquary William Stukeley visited Brougham Castle in 1725 and recorded local beliefs about certain "monuments of stone" south of Brougham Castle: > They are generally by the country people said to be done by Michael Scot, a noted conjuror in their opinion, who was a monk of Holme abbey in Cumberland: they have a notion too that one Turquin, a giant, lived at Brougham castle; and there is a tower there, called Pagan tower; and Sir Lancelot de Lake lived at Mayborough, and slew him. Turquin, or Tarquin, is also associated in folklore with the ruins of Lammerside Castle nearby. The folklorist Marjorie Rowling identified him with another legendary local giant, Hugh Cesario, but Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson prefer to derive him from Sir Tarquin, an adversary of Sir Lancelot in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur; they believe that this story, unlocalized by Malory, probably became associated with north-west England because King Arthur was often said to hold his court in Carlisle. ## See also - Brougham Hall, a nearby ruined Hall - Castles in Great Britain and Ireland - List of castles in England - Ninekirks
206,932	Japanese battleship Yamato	1,172,911,536	Imperial Japanese Navy ship	[ "1940 ships", "Battleships sunk by aircraft", "Maritime incidents in April 1945", "Naval magazine explosions", "Ships built by Kure Naval Arsenal", "Ships sunk by US aircraft", "World War II battleships of Japan", "World War II shipwrecks in the East China Sea", "Yamato-class battleships" ]	Yamato (大和) was the lead ship of her class of battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing nearly 72,000 tonnes (71,000 long tons) at full load and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 in) Type 94 main guns, which were the largest guns ever mounted on a warship. Named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, Yamato was designed to counter the numerically superior battleship fleet of the United States, Japan's main rival in the Pacific. She was laid down in 1937 and formally commissioned a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Throughout 1942, she served as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and in June 1942 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the fleet from her bridge during the Battle of Midway, a disastrous defeat for Japan. Musashi took over as the Combined Fleet flagship in early 1943, and Yamato spent the rest of the year moving between the major Japanese naval bases of Truk and Kure in response to American threats. In December 1943, Yamato was torpedoed by an American submarine which necessitated repairs at Kure, where she was refitted with additional anti-aircraft guns and radar in early 1944. Although present at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, she played no part in the battle. The only time Yamato fired her main guns at enemy surface targets was in October 1944, when she was sent to engage American forces invading the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. While threatening to sink American troop transports, they encountered a light escort carrier group of the U.S. Navy's Task Force 77, "Taffy 3", in the Battle off Samar. The Japanese turned back after American air attacks convinced them they were engaging a powerful U.S. carrier fleet. During 1944, the balance of naval power in the Pacific decisively turned against Japan, and by early 1945 its fleet was much depleted and badly hobbled by critical fuel shortages in the home islands. In a desperate attempt to slow the Allied advance, Yamato was dispatched on a one-way mission to Okinawa in April 1945, with orders to beach herself and fight until destroyed, thus protecting the island. The task force was spotted south of Kyushu by U.S. submarines and aircraft, and on 7 April 1945 she was sunk by American carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers with the loss of most of her crew. ## Design and construction During the 1930s the Japanese government adopted an ultranationalist militancy with a view to greatly expand the Japanese Empire. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in 1934, renouncing its treaty obligations. After withdrawing from the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited the size and power of capital ships, the Imperial Japanese Navy began their design of the new Yamato class of heavy battleships. Their planners recognized Japan would be unable to compete with the output of U.S. naval shipyards should war break out, so the 70,000 ton vessels of the Yamato class were designed to be capable of engaging multiple enemy battleships at the same time. The keel of Yamato, the lead ship of the class, was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal, Hiroshima, on 4 November 1937 in a dockyard that had to be adapted to accommodate her enormous hull. The dock was deepened by one meter, and gantry cranes capable of lifting up to 350 tonnes were installed. Extreme secrecy was maintained throughout construction, a canopy even being erected over part of the dry dock to screen the ship from view. Yamato was launched on 8 August 1940, with Captain (later Vice Admiral) Miyazato Shutoku in command. A great effort was made to ensure the ships were built in extreme secrecy to prevent American intelligence officials from learning of their existence and specifications. ### Armament Yamato's main battery consisted of nine 45-caliber 46-centimetre (18.1 in) Type 94 guns—the largest ever fitted to a warship, although the shells were not as heavy as those fired by the British 18-inch naval guns of World War I. Each gun was 21.13 metres (69.3 ft) long, weighed 147.3 tonnes (162.4 short tons), and was capable of firing high-explosive or armor-piercing shells 42 kilometres (26 mi). Her secondary battery comprised twelve 155-millimetre (6.1 in) guns mounted in four triple turrets (one forward, one aft, two amidships), and twelve 12.7-centimetre (5 in) guns in six twin mounts (three on each side amidships). These turrets had been taken off the Mogami-class cruisers when those vessels were converted to a main armament of 20.3-centimetre (8 in) guns. In addition, Yamato carried twenty-four 25-millimetre (1 in) anti-aircraft guns, primarily mounted amidships. When refitted in 1944 and 1945 for naval engagements in the South Pacific, the secondary battery configuration was changed to six 155 mm guns and twenty-four 127 mm guns, and the number of 25 mm anti-aircraft guns was increased to 162. ## Service ### Trials and initial operations During October or November 1941 Yamato underwent sea trials, reaching her maximum possible speed of 27.4 knots (50.7 km/h; 31.5 mph). As war loomed, priority was given to accelerating military construction. On 16 December, months ahead of schedule, the battleship was formally commissioned at Kure, in a ceremony more austere than usual, as the Japanese were still intent on concealing the ship's characteristics. The same day, under Captain (later Vice Admiral) Gihachi Takayanagi, she joined fellow battleships Nagato and Mutsu in the 1st Battleship Division. On 12 February 1942, Yamato became the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's Combined Fleet. A veteran of Japan's crushing victory over Russia at the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, the Pearl Harbor victor was planning a decisive engagement with the United States Navy at Midway Island. After participating in war games Yamato departed Hiroshima Bay on 27 May for duty with Yamamoto's main battleship group. U.S. codebreakers were aware of Yamamoto's intentions, and the Battle of Midway proved disastrous for Japan's carrier force, with four fleet carriers and 332 aircraft lost. Yamamoto exercised overall command from Yamato's bridge, but his battle plan had widely dispersed his forces to lure the Americans into a trap, and the battleship group was too far away to take part in the engagement. On 5 June, Yamamoto ordered the remaining ships to return to Japan, so Yamato withdrew with the main battleship force to Hashirajima, before making her way back to Kure. Yamato left Kure for Truk on 17 August 1942. After 11 days at sea, she was sighted by the American submarine USS Flying Fish, which fired four torpedoes, all of which missed; Yamato arrived safely at Truk later that day. She remained there throughout the Guadalcanal campaign because of a lack of 46 cm ammunition suitable for shore bombardment, uncharted seas around Guadalcanal, and her high fuel consumption. Before the year's end, Captain (later Rear Admiral) Chiaki Matsuda was assigned to command Yamato. On 11 February 1943, Yamato was replaced by her sister ship Musashi as flagship of the Combined Fleet. Yamato spent only a single day away from Truk between her arrival in August 1942 and her departure on 8 May 1943. On that day, she set sail for Yokosuka and from there for Kure, arriving on 14 May. She spent nine days in dry dock for inspection and general repairs, and after sailing to Japan's western Inland Sea she was again dry-docked in late July for significant refitting and upgrades. On 16 August, Yamato began her return to Truk, where she joined a large task force formed in response to American raids on the Tarawa and Makin atolls. She sortied in late September with Nagato, three carriers, and smaller warships to intercept U.S. Task Force 15, and again a month later with six battleships, three carriers, and eleven cruisers. Intelligence had reported that Naval Station Pearl Harbor was nearly empty of ships, which the Japanese interpreted to mean that an American naval force would strike at Wake Island. But there were no radar contacts for six days, and the fleet returned to Truk, arriving on 26 October. Yamato escorted Transport Operation BO-1 from Truk to Yokosuka during 12–17 December. Subsequently, because of their extensive storage capacity and thick armor protection, Yamato and Musashi were pressed into service as transport vessels. On 25 December, while ferrying troops and equipment—which were wanted as reinforcements for the garrisons at Kavieng and the Admiralty Islands—from Yokosuka to Truk, Yamato and her task group were intercepted by the American submarine Skate about 180 miles (290 km) out at sea. Skate fired a spread of four torpedoes at Yamato; one struck the battleship's starboard side toward the stern. A hole 5 metres (16 ft) below the top of her anti-torpedo bulge and measuring some 25 metres (82 ft) across was ripped open in the hull, and a joint between the upper and lower armored belts failed, causing the rear turret's upper magazine to flood. Yamato took on about 3,000 tons of water but reached Truk later that day. The repair ship Akashi effected temporary repairs, and Yamato departed on 10 January 1944 for Kure. On 16 January Yamato arrived at Kure for repairs of the torpedo damage and was dry-docked until 3 February. During this time, armor plate sloped at 45° was fitted in the area of damage to her hull. It had been proposed that 5,000 long tons (5,100 t) of steel be used to bolster the ship's defense against flooding from torpedo hits outside the armored citadel, but this was rejected out of hand because the additional weight would have increased Yamato's displacement and draft too much. While Yamato was dry-docked, Captain Nobuei Morishita—former captain of the battleship Haruna—assumed command. On 25 February, Yamato and Musashi were reassigned from the 1st Battleship Division to the Second Fleet. Yamato was again dry-docked at Kure for further upgrades to all her radar and anti-aircraft systems from 25 February to 18 March 1944. Each of the two beam-mounted 6.1 inch (155-mm) triple turrets was removed and replaced by three pairs of 5-inch (127-mm) AA guns in double mounts. In addition, 8 triple and 26 single 25mm AA mounts were added, increasing the total number of 127 mm and 25 mm anti-aircraft guns to 24 and 162, respectively. Shelters were also added on the upper deck for the increased AA crews. A Type 13 air search and Type 22, Mod 4, surface search/gunnery control radar were installed, and the main mast was altered. Her radar suite was also upgraded to include infrared identification systems and aircraft search and gunnery control radars. She left the dry dock on 18 March and went through several trials beginning on 11 April. Yamato left Kure on 21 April and embarked soldiers and materiel the following day at Okinoshima for a mission to Manila, reaching the Philippines on 28 April. She then moved on to Malaya to join Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Mobile Fleet at Lingga; this force arrived at Tawi-Tawi on 14 May. ### Battle of the Philippine Sea In early June, Yamato and Musashi were again requisitioned as troop transports, this time to reinforce the garrison and naval defenses of the island of Biak as part of Operation Kon. The mission was cancelled when word reached Ozawa's headquarters of American carrier attacks on the Mariana Islands. Instead, the Imperial Japanese Navy reorganized, concentrating the majority of its remaining fighting strength in the hope of achieving a decisive success against the Americans. By this time though, the entire Japanese navy was inferior in numbers and experience to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. From 19 to 23 June 1944, Yamato escorted forces of Ozawa's Mobile Fleet during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, dubbed by American pilots "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". The Japanese lost three aircraft carriers and 426 aircraft; Yamato's only significant contribution was mistakenly opening fire on returning Japanese aircraft. Following the battle, Yamato withdrew with the Mobile Fleet to the Hashirajima staging area near Kure to refuel and re-arm. With Musashi she left the fleet on 24 June for the short journey to Kure, where she received five more triple 25 mm anti-aircraft mounts. The opportunity was taken to put in place "emergency buoyancy keeping procedures". These resulted in the removal of almost every flammable item from the battleship, including linoleum, bedding, and mattresses. In place of the latter, men slept on planks which could be used to repair damage. Flammable paints received a silicone-based overcoat, and additional portable pumps and fire fighting apparati were installed. Leaving Japan on 8 July, Yamato—accompanied by the battleships Musashi, Kongō, Nagato, and 11 cruisers and destroyers—sailed south. Yamato and Musashi headed for the Lingga Islands, arriving on 16–17 July. By this stage of the war, Japan's tanker fleet had been much reduced by marauding American submarines, so major fleet units were stationed in the East Indies to be near the source of their fuel supply. The battleships remained at the islands for the next three months. ### Battle of Leyte Gulf Between 22 and 25 October 1944, as part of Admiral Takeo Kurita's Center Force (also known as Force A or First Striking Force), Yamato took part in one of the largest naval engagements in history—the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In response to the American invasion of the Philippines, Operation Shō-Gō called for a number of Japanese groups to converge on the island of Leyte, where American troops were landing. On 18 October, Yamato was given a coating of black camouflage in preparation for her nighttime transit of the San Bernardino Strait; the main ingredient was soot taken from her smokestack. While en route to Leyte, the force was attacked in the Palawan Passage on 23 October by the submarines USS Darter and Dace, which sank two Takao-class heavy cruisers including Kurita's flagship, Atago, and damaged a third. Kurita survived the loss of Atago and transferred his flag to Yamato. #### Battle of the Sibuyan Sea The following day the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea hurt the Center Force badly with the loss of one more heavy cruiser, eliminating a substantial part of the fleet's anti-aircraft defence. During the course of the day, American carrier aircraft sortied 259 times. Aircraft from the USS Essex struck Yamato with two armor-piercing bombs and scored one near miss; Yamato suffered moderate damage and took on about 3,370 tonnes (3,320 long tons) of water but remained battleworthy. However, her sister ship Musashi became the focus of the American attacks and eventually sank after being hit with 17 bombs and 19 torpedoes. #### Battle off Samar Unknown to Kurita, the main American battle group under the command of Admiral William Halsey Jr., departed the Leyte Gulf area on the evening of 24 October. Convinced that Kurita's Center Force had been turned back, Halsey took his powerful Task Force 38 in pursuit of the Japanese Northern Force, a decoy group composed of one fleet aircraft carrier (Zuikaku), three light carriers, two Ise-class hybrid battleship-carriers, and their escorts. The deception was a success, drawing away five fleet carriers and five light carriers with more than 600 aircraft among them, six fast battleships, eight cruisers, and over 40 destroyers. During the hours of darkness, Kurita's force navigated the San Bernardino Strait, and shortly after dawn attacked an American formation that had remained in the area to provide close support for the invading troops. Known as "Taffy 3", this small group comprised six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts. In the initial stages of this battle, Yamato engaged enemy surface targets for the only time in her career, hitting several American ships. After Yamato confirmed primary battery hits on the escort carrier USS Gambier Bay, a spread of torpedoes heading for Yamato was spotted; the battleship was forced to steer away from the fighting to avoid them and was unable to rejoin the battle. Although armed only with torpedoes and 5 inch guns and under attack by large caliber cannons, the light American surface combatants, supported by FM-2 Wildcats and TBM Avengers from Taffy 3's escort carriers, attacked so ferociously that Kurita believed his ships were engaging a full American task force of fleet carriers. A mistaken report that he was facing six fleet carriers, three cruisers, and two destroyers led Kurita to order his task force to turn and disengage. Yamato emerged from the battle without serious damage; only three near misses from bombs and 17 casualties from strafing were suffered during the battle, while carrier strikes during the retreat caused light damage to the ship and injured or killed 21 crewmen. Three more heavy cruisers and one light cruiser were subsequently lost. The Centre Force sank one American escort carrier (CVE), two destroyers, and a destroyer escort. A second CVE was lost by kamikaze attack after the surface engagement. Following the engagement, Yamato and the remnants of Kurita's force returned to Brunei. On 15 November 1944, the 1st Battleship Division was disbanded, and Yamato became the flagship of the Second Fleet. On 21 November, while transiting the East China Sea in a withdrawal to Kure Naval Base, Yamato's battle group was attacked by the submarine USS Sealion. The battleship Kongō and destroyer Urakaze were lost. Yamato was immediately dry docked for repairs and anti-aircraft upgrades on reaching Kure, where several of the battleship's older anti-aircraft guns were replaced. On 25 November, Captain Aruga Kōsaku was named Yamato's commander. ### Operation Ten-Go On 1 January 1945, Yamato, Haruna and Nagato were transferred to the newly reactivated 1st Battleship Division. Yamato left dry dock two days later for Japan's Inland Sea. This reassignment was brief; the 1st Battleship Division was deactivated once again on 10 February, and Yamato was allotted to the 1st Carrier Division. On 19 March, American carrier aircraft from TG 58.1 attacked Kure Harbour. Although 16 warships were hit, Yamato sustained only minor damage from several near misses and from one bomb that struck her bridge. The intervention of a squadron of Kawanishi N1K1 "Shiden" fighters (named "George" by the Allies) flown by veteran Japanese fighter instructors prevented the raid from doing too much damage to the base and assembled ships, while Yamato's ability to maneuver—albeit slowly—in the Nasami Channel benefited her. As the final step before their planned invasion of the Japanese mainland, Allied forces invaded Okinawa on 1 April. The Imperial Japanese Navy's response was to organise a mission codenamed Operation Ten-Go that would commit much of Japan's remaining surface strength. Yamato and nine escorts (the cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers) would sail to Okinawa and, in concert with kamikaze and Okinawa-based army units, attack the Allied forces assembled on and around Okinawa. Yamato would then be beached to act as an unsinkable gun emplacement and continue to fight until destroyed. In preparation for the mission, Yamato had taken on a full stock of ammunition on 29 March. According to the Japanese plan, the ships were supposed to take aboard only enough fuel for a one way voyage to Okinawa, but additional fuel amounting to 60% of capacity was issued on the authority of local base commanders. Designated the "Surface Special Attack Force", the ships left Tokuyama at 15:20 on 6 April. However, the Allies had intercepted and decoded their radio transmissions, learning the particulars of Operation Ten-Go. Further confirmation of Japanese intentions came around 20:00 when the Surface Special Attack Force, navigating the Bungo Strait, was spotted by the American submarines Threadfin and Hackleback. Both reported Yamato's position to the main American carrier strike force, but neither could attack because of the speed of the Japanese ships—22 knots (25 mph; 41 km/h)—and their extreme zigzagging. The Allied forces around Okinawa braced for an assault. Admiral Raymond Spruance ordered six battleships already engaged in shore bombardment in the sector to prepare for surface action against Yamato. These orders were countermanded in favor of strikes from Admiral Marc Mitscher's aircraft carriers, but as a contingency the battleships together with 7 cruisers and 21 destroyers were sent to interdict the Japanese force before it could reach the vulnerable transports and landing craft. Yamato's crew were at general quarters and ready for anti-aircraft action by dawn on 7 April. The first Allied aircraft made contact with the Surface Special Attack Force at 08:23; two flying boats arrived soon thereafter, and for the next five hours, Yamato fired Common Type 3 or Beehive (3 Shiki tsûjôdan) shells at the Allied seaplanes but could not prevent them from shadowing the force. Yamato obtained her first radar contact with aircraft at 10:00; an hour later, American F6F Hellcat fighters appeared overhead to deal with any Japanese aircraft that might appear. None did. At about 12:30, 280 bomber and torpedo bomber aircraft arrived over the Japanese force. Asashimo, which had fallen out of formation with engine trouble, was caught and sunk by a detachment of aircraft from San Jacinto. The Surface Special Attack Force increased speed to 24 knots (28 mph; 44 km/h), and following standard Japanese anti-aircraft defensive measures, the destroyers began circling Yamato. The first aircraft swooped in to attack at 12:37. Yahagi turned and raced away at 35 knots (40 mph; 65 km/h) in an attempt to draw off some of the attackers; it drew off only an insignificant number. Yamato was not hit for four minutes, but at 12:41 two bombs obliterated two of her triple 25 mm anti-aircraft mounts and blew a hole in the deck. A third bomb destroyed her radar room and the starboard aft 127 mm mount. At 12:45 a single torpedo struck Yamato far forward on her port side, sending shock waves throughout the ship. At 12:46, another two bombs struck the port side, one slightly ahead of the aft 155 mm centreline turret and the other right on top of the gun. These caused a great deal of damage to the turret and its magazines; only one man survived. Because many of the ship's crew who did not go down with the vessel were killed by strafing aircraft as they swam in the oily water, the details are uncertain, but authors Garzke and Dulin record that little damage was caused. Shortly afterward, up to three more torpedoes struck Yamato. Two impacts, on the port side near the engine room and on one of the boiler rooms, are confirmed; the third is disputed but is regarded by Garzke and Dulin as probable because it would explain the reported flooding in Yamato's auxiliary steering room. The attack ended around 12:47, leaving the battleship listing 5–6° to port; counterflooding—deliberately flooding compartments on the other side of the ship—reduced the list to 1°. One boiler room had been disabled, slightly reducing Yamato's top speed, and strafing had incapacitated many of the gun crews who manned Yamato's unprotected 25 mm anti-aircraft weapons, sharply curtailing their effectiveness. The second attack started just before 13:00. In a coordinated strike, dive bombers flew high overhead to begin their runs while torpedo bombers approached from all directions at just above sea level. Overwhelmed by the number of targets, the battleship's anti-aircraft guns were ineffective, and the Japanese tried desperate measures to break up the attack. Yamato's main guns were loaded with Beehive shells fused to explode one second after firing—a mere 1,000 m (3,300 ft) from the ship—but these had little effect. Three or four torpedoes struck the battleship on the port side and one to starboard. Three hits, close together on the port side, are confirmed: one struck a fire room that had already been hit, one impacted a different fire room, and the third hit the hull adjacent to a damaged outboard engine room, increasing the water flow into that space and possibly flooding nearby locations. The fourth hit, unconfirmed, may have struck aft of the third; Garzke and Dulin believe this would explain the rapid flooding reported in that location. This attack left Yamato in a perilous position, listing 15–18° to port. Counterflooding of all remaining starboard void spaces lessened this to 10°, but further correction would have required repairs or flooding the starboard engine and fire rooms. Although the battleship was not yet in danger of sinking, the list meant the main battery was unable to fire, and her speed was limited to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). The third and most damaging attack developed at about 13:40. At least four bombs hit the ship's superstructure and caused heavy casualties among her 25 mm anti-aircraft gun crews. Many near misses drove in her outer plating, compromising her defense against torpedoes. Most serious were four more torpedo impacts. Three exploded on the port side, increasing water flow into the port inner engine room and flooding yet another fire room and the steering gear room. With the auxiliary steering room already under water, the ship lost maneuverability and became stuck in a starboard turn. The fourth torpedo most likely hit the starboard outer engine room, which, along with three other rooms on the starboard side, was being counterflooded to reduce the port list. The torpedo strike accelerated the rate of flooding and trapped many crewmen. At 14:02, the order was belatedly given to abandon ship. By this time, Yamato's speed had dropped to 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) and her list was increasing. Fires raged out of control, and alarms on the bridge warned of critical temperatures in the forward main battery magazines. Protocol called for flooding the magazines to prevent explosion, but the pumping stations had been knocked out. At 14:05, Yahagi sank, the victim of twelve bombs and seven torpedoes. At the same time, a final flight of torpedo bombers attacked Yamato from her starboard side. Her list was such that the torpedoes—set to a depth of 6.1 m (20 ft)—struck the bottom of her hull. The battleship continued her inexorable roll to port. By 14:20, the power went out, and her remaining 25 mm anti-aircraft guns began to drop into the sea. Three minutes later, Yamato capsized. Her main 46 cm turrets fell off, and as she rolled suction was created that drew swimming crewmen back toward the ship. When the roll reached approximately 120°, one of the two bow magazines detonated in a tremendous explosion. The resulting mushroom cloud—over 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) high—was seen 160 kilometres (99 mi) away on Kyūshū. Yamato sank rapidly, losing an estimated 3,055 of her 3,332 crew, including fleet commander Vice Admiral Seiichi Itō. The few survivors were recovered by the four surviving destroyers, which withdrew to Japan. From the first attack at 12:37 to the explosion at 14:23, Yamato was hit by at least 11 torpedoes and 6 bombs. There may have been two more torpedo and bomb hits, but this is not confirmed. The experience of the sinking of the ship was described by a Japanese survivor (Yoshida Matsuro) in Senken Yamato no saigo, translated into English as Requiem for the Battleship Yamato. ## Wreck discovery Because of often confused circumstances and incomplete information regarding their sinkings, it took until 2019 to discover and identify most wrecks of Japanese capital ships lost in World War II. Drawing on U.S. wartime records, an expedition to the East China Sea in 1982 produced some results, but the wreckage discovered could not be clearly identified. A second expedition returned to the site two years later, and the team's photographic and video records were later confirmed by one of the battleship's designers, Shigeru Makino, to show the Yamato's last resting place. The wreck lies 290 kilometres (180 mi) southwest of Kyushu under 340 metres (1,120 ft) of water in two main pieces; a bow section comprising the front two thirds of the ship, and a separate stern section. On 16 July 2015, a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers began meetings to study the feasibility of raising the ship from the ocean floor and recovering the remains of crewmembers entombed in the wreckage. The group said it plans to request government funds to research the technical feasibility of recovering the ship. In May 2016, the wreckage was surveyed using digital technology, giving a more detailed view and confirming the earlier identification. The resulting video revealed many details such as the Imperial chrysanthemum on the bow, the massive propeller, and the detached main gun turret. The nine-minute video of this survey is being shown at the Yamato Museum in Kure. ## Cultural significance From the time of their construction, Yamato and her sister Musashi carried significant weight in Japanese culture. The battleships represented the epitome of Imperial Japanese naval engineering, and because of their size, speed, and power, visibly embodied Japan's determination and readiness to defend its interests against the Western Powers and the United States in particular. Shigeru Fukudome, chief of the Operations Section of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, described the ships as "symbols of naval power that provided to officers and men alike a profound sense of confidence in their navy." Yamato's symbolic might was such that some Japanese citizens held the belief that their country could never fall as long as the ship was able to fight. Decades after the war, Yamato was memorialised in various forms by the Japanese. Historically, the word "Yamato" was used as a poetic name for Japan; thus, her name became a metaphor for the end of the Japanese empire. In April 1968, a memorial tower was erected at Cape Inutabu on Tokunoshima, an island in the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, to commemorate the lives lost in Operation Ten-Go. In October 1974, Leiji Matsumoto created a television series, Space Battleship Yamato, about rebuilding the battleship as a starship and its interstellar quest to save Earth. The series was a huge success, spawning eight feature films and four more TV series, the most recent of which was released in 2017. The series popularised the space opera. As post-war Japanese tried to redefine the purpose of their lives, Yamato became a symbol of heroism and of their desire to regain a sense of masculinity after their country's defeat in the war. Brought to the United States as Star Blazers, the animated series proved popular and established a foundation for anime in the North American entertainment market. The motif in Space Battleship Yamato was repeated in Silent Service, a popular manga and anime that explores issues of nuclear weapons and the Japan–U.S. relationship. It tells the story of a nuclear-powered super submarine whose crew mutinies and renames the vessel Yamato, in allusion to the World War II battleship and the ideals she symbolises. In 2005, the Yamato Museum was opened near the site of the former Kure shipyards. Although intended to educate on the maritime history of post Meiji era Japan, the museum gives special attention to its namesake; the battleship is a common theme among several of its exhibits, which includes a section dedicated to Matsumoto's animated series. The centrepiece of the museum, occupying a large section of the ground floor, is a 26.3-metre (86 ft) long model of Yamato (1:10 scale). In 2005, Toei released a 143-minute movie, Yamato, based on a book by Jun Henmi, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II; Tamiya released special editions of scale models of the battleship in conjunction with the film's release. The film is a tale about the sailors aboard the doomed battleship and the concepts of honour and duty. The film was shown on more than 290 screens across the country and was a commercial success, taking in a record 5.11 billion yen at the domestic box office. The 2019 Japanese film The Great War of Archimedes (アルキメデスの大戦, Archimedes no Taisen) based on a manga by Norifusa Mita tells the story of a dispute within the Japanese Navy over whether to fund the construction of aircraft carriers or a new battleship that would become Yamato. The film begins with the sinking of Yamato and ends with its commissioning. ## See also - Battleships in World War II - Bismarck-class battleship - Iowa-class battleship - King George V-class battleship (1939) - Littorio-class battleship - Richelieu-class battleship
767,804	Juwan Howard	1,168,110,466	American basketball player and coach (born 1973)	[ "1973 births", "All-American college men's basketball players", "American adoptees", "American men's basketball coaches", "American men's basketball players", "Basketball coaches from Illinois", "Basketball players from Chicago", "Centers (basketball)", "Charlotte Bobcats players", "Chicago Vocational High School alumni", "Dallas Mavericks players", "Denver Nuggets players", "Houston Rockets players", "Living people", "McDonald's High School All-Americans", "Miami Heat assistant coaches", "Miami Heat players", "Michigan Wolverines men's basketball coaches", "Michigan Wolverines men's basketball players", "National Basketball Association All-Stars", "Orlando Magic players", "Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)", "Portland Trail Blazers players", "Power forwards (basketball)", "Washington Bullets draft picks", "Washington Bullets players", "Washington Wizards players" ]	Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's team. A one-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA power forward, he began his NBA career as the fifth overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, selected by the Washington Bullets. Before he was drafted, he starred as an All-American on the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team. At Michigan he was part of the Fab Five recruiting class of 1991 that reached the finals of the NCAA tournament in 1992 and 1993. Howard was an All-American center and an honors student at Chicago Vocational Career Academy. Michigan was able to sign him early over numerous competing offers and then convince others in his recruiting class to join him. The Fab Five, which included Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, served as regular starters during their freshman and sophomore years for the 1991–92 and 1992–93 Wolverines. Although many of the Wolverines' accomplishments of the 1990s were vacated due to NCAA rules violations committed by four members of the program, Howard was not personally implicated in the scandal and his 1993–94 All-American season continues to be recognized. After one season as an All-Rookie player and a second as an All-Star and an All-NBA performer, he became the first NBA player to sign a \$100 million contract. In 2010, he signed with the Miami Heat and went on to make his first career NBA Finals appearance. He remained with the Heat the following season and won his first NBA championship during the 2012 NBA Finals. He returned to the Heat for part of the following season, and won a second championship. After retiring as a player in 2013, he remained with the Heat organization as an assistant coach for the next six seasons, before accepting the head coaching position at Michigan in 2019. Howard earned numerous awards for his performance as a coach in the 2020–21 season, including AP National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year. Howard became the second Michigan basketball coach to earn AP National Coach of the Year honors. Howard also became the first coach to earn a No.1 seed as both a player and coach, after the Wolverines secured a No.1 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. ## Early life Howard's grandmother, Jannie Mae Howard, was the daughter of sharecroppers from Belzoni, Mississippi. She had four daughters by her 19th birthday, including Howard's mother Helena. Helena was an employee at a Chicago restaurant when she became pregnant with Juwan. Howard's father, Leroy Watson, had just returned from the Army to a phone company job in Chicago. The two married quickly once they realized Helena was pregnant. For Howard's first week of life, his high school junior mother kept him in a drawer at Jannie Mae's house. Helena, who was 17 years old, did not want to be restricted or burdened raising her child, so Jannie Mae adopted him. His biological father, Leroy Watson Jr., wanted to name him Leroy Watson, III, but his grandmother rejected the suggestion, insisting on Juwan Antonio Howard. Although his mother visited on occasion as he was growing up, his grandmother raised him, along with two cousins. Howard has no siblings and is not close to his biological parents; his grandmother was the primary influence in his life. He moved with her to several low-income Chicago South Side projects; she kept him out of trouble and away from gangs as he was growing up. One of their residences was a three-bedroom apartment on 69th Street on the South Side of Chicago. As he blossomed under his grandmother's influence and discipline, he became her "pride and joy". ## High school Howard went to Chicago Vocational Career Academy, where he went on to play three seasons of varsity basketball. Vocational had an unheated gym and no locker rooms, which required that the team dress for games in a history classroom. Nonetheless, Howard went on to be named a 1991 All-American basketball player by Parade magazine and won McDonald's All American honors. He was also chosen for the National Honor Society and served as Vocational's homecoming king. During recruiting visits by college coaches such as Illinois' Lou Henson, DePaul's Joey Meyer and Michigan's Steve Fisher, Jannie Mae Howard did most of the questioning. ### Sophomore year At the start of his sophomore year in 1988, Howard was 15 years old and already expected to be a coveted blue chip recruit in 1991. He was regarded as one of the best sophomore basketball players in the Chicago metropolitan area. He scored 26 points in a Chicago Public High School League quarterfinal loss against a Deon Thomas-led Simeon Career Academy team. Vocational ended the year with a 23–7 record. Howard was a second-team selection and the only sophomore named to the league coaches' 20-man 1988–89 All-Public League team. The summer after his sophomore year, the 6-foot-8-inch (2.03 m) center attended the Nike Academic Betterment and Career Development (ABCD) camp, which was held annually in Princeton, New Jersey, during the late 1980s. There he was matched against the 7-foot-4-inch (2.24 m) Shawn Bradley. At this camp, even though the much-taller Bradley blocked his shots several times, Howard established himself as one of the best junior-year big men in the country. He was involved in controversy for receiving a second pair of sneakers at the camp because he was suspected of stealing them. Howard denied theft, but he was sent home on the last day of the six-day camp. Howard also participated in the Bill Cronauer camp in Rensselaer, Indiana, which more than 100 college coaches attended. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, he was ranked as one of the top 10 underclassmen in the country during the camp. Howard attended other camps that summer; his goal was to overcome Thomas, who was the reigning Chicago Tribune basketball player of the year, as the best big man in the state. By the time he ended his college career in 1994, Howard was drafted a full round ahead of Thomas. ### Junior year As Howard entered his junior year, some sources listed him as the best junior basketball player in Illinois, while others ranked Tom Kleinschmidt ahead of him. Taylor Bell of the Chicago Sun-Times noted that Howard was leaning toward playing either for DePaul or for Illinois. Howard was interested in Illinois because Thomas, whom Howard admired, had become a member of the 1989–90 Fighting Illini team. By the end of his junior year, league coaches named him to the first-team All-Chicago Public School League. He was selected to the Chicago Sun-Times All-Area team as well as the Class-AA All-State team and established himself as the top Chicago-area junior ahead of Kleinschmidt. Howard had a sub-par performance against King High School in the Chicago Public School League semifinals, but the Chicago Tribune named him to its All-State second team. Vocational finished the year 24–7. Howard was also an honors student. After his junior year, he was one of 10 Illinois players invited back to the Nike All-American Camp at Princeton. Others invited included Kleinschmidt, Donnie Boyce, William Gates, Billy Taylor, Rashard Griffith and Howard Nathan. Although Howard was considered one of the top prospects in the city of Chicago at that time, the player perceived as the best Chicago-area prospect was Glenn Robinson of Gary, Indiana. By this time, Howard had eliminated DePaul from consideration since Deryl Cunningham, another Chicago-area all-star who might have otherwise convinced Howard to stay in Chicago, had transferred to Kansas State. He was considering Michigan, Michigan State, Kentucky, Arizona, Dayton, Marquette and Illinois. Howard was evaluated as the best senior basketball player at the camp; the group of players in attendance included Chris Webber, Cherokee Parks, Robinson and Alan Henderson. After being named Most Valuable Player (MVP) at the prestigious Boston Shootout and acknowledged as the leading participant at the Nike camp, Howard was mentioned as the best prospect in the country. By this time, he had dropped Michigan State and Illinois from his list of possible college destinations and had begun considering UNLV as well. Following his time at the Nike camp, his household was besieged by recruiters. Howard issued the following statement: "Contact my coach. I do not want my grandmother and aunt upset about calls at all times of the day and night. I'm not the only person who lives in this house. I think my wishes should be respected. If not, when it comes time to make my decision, I'll take those things into account." Although Howard was the best performer at the camp, talent scout Bob Gibbons felt Webber and Robinson were equally talented prospects. Despite Howard's most recently listed college preferences and the fact that the team was under investigation for recruiting violations, Illinois continued pursuing Howard as its number one recruit. By the end of July 1990, Howard was projected to sign with Michigan. ### Senior year During Michigan's in-home visit, Howard's grandmother treated Michigan head coach Fisher, his assistants Mike Boyd and Brian Dutcher, Vocational coach Cook, Vocational assistant coach Donnie Kirskey, Lois Howard (Howard's aunt) and Howard to a soul food dinner. Dutcher had the responsibility to contact Howard several times a week. Howard grew close to assistant coach Kirskey, often staying at his house and using his car once he got a driver's license. During the summer 1990 30-day visitation period, Dutcher watched Howard practice 28 consecutive days. Dutcher developed an understanding of the dynamics of Howard's relationship with his grandmother. While other coaches, such as Lute Olson, almost ignored her during the recruiting, Dutcher understood that she was the key influence on his life, and understood that Kirskey also had sway with Howard. He encouraged Fisher to hire Kirskey for a summer basketball camp, which became the young athlete's introduction to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Howard was the president of Vocational's Senior Boys' Council. In the final days before his senior season decision regarding his college basketball team, Howard wavered between Arizona State and Michigan. He also made an official visit to Dayton. Despite the ongoing recruiting scandal, he made an unofficial visit to Illinois, which had recruited four of the five previous Chicago Public School League Illinois Players of the Year. At the time of his decision, Howard was considered one of the top five seniors in the country, but unlike many top basketball recruits, he decided not to hold a press conference to announce his choice. Although the official signing period was set for November 14–21, 1990, he selected Michigan on November 2. Howard's grandmother died of a heart attack a few hours after he announced that he would attend Michigan, and he moved in with his high school coach, Richard Cook. Howard averaged 26.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists during his senior season, and finished in the top 10 percent of his academic class. He took Vocational to the Public League semifinals where they lost to Westinghouse College Prep, finishing with a 25–5 record, despite his 25 points and 12 rebounds. He befriended Jimmy King when they visited Michigan on the same weekend; according to the Chicago Tribune Fisher Howard influenced King's decision to also enroll there. According to Clyde Travis of the Chicago Sun-Times, Howard's verbal commitment made up for Fisher's failure to recruit Eric Montross the prior year, even though Montross' father and grandfather had played for Michigan. With Jalen Rose, Webber, Howard and King – along with Ray Jackson, a less-heralded prospect – the Michigan recruiting class was considered to be the best in the nation. Some regarded the class as among the greatest recruiting classes of all time. As a senior, Howard edged Griffith and Kiwane Garris for the most votes to the Sun-Times annual All-Chicago Public School League boys' basketball team. He was also selected to the All-Area team and was a repeat Class-AA All-State selection. Howard, Kleinschmidt and Robinson were all selected to the 10-member first team of Parade magazine's 40-member high school All-America boys' basketball team. They were also chosen to play in the McDonald's All-America game. West MVP Webber posted 28 points and 12 rebounds in the game; with Howard adding 16 points.The West won 108–106. Howard also earned the Gatorade Circle of Champions' Illinois Player of the Year Award. Howard's ACT test score was high enough to make him eligible under Proposition 48 academic requirements to play as a freshman. Only eight of the top 25 Chicago Public School League players achieved a qualifying score on the test. ## College career ### Freshman year Howard matriculated to the University of Michigan and joined his fellow freshmen for the 1991–92 Michigan Wolverines in forming a group that became known as the Fab Five. He also joined future NBA personalities Eric Riley and Rob Pelinka. As Michigan celebrated Midnight Madness on October 15, 1991, there was already talk that at least four of the five freshmen would be starting before the season ended. (The five eventually started in a combined 304 of a possible 350 man-games among them during their first two seasons.) Early in his freshman season, Howard started in some games and came off the bench in others for the highly rated Wolverines. Over time, he won a starting role from Riley. In Michigan's first matchup against Illinois, Howard scored 13 points and denied Thomas the ball consistently enough to hold him to 8 shots. His biggest contribution in the game was getting his hand on a loose ball to force a jump ball with 16 seconds left and Michigan leading by only three points. In the Elite Eight round of the 1992 NCAA Men's Division I basketball tournament, Michigan faced a Jimmy Jackson-led Ohio State Buckeyes team that had beaten them twice during the regular season by double-digit margins. Michigan won the rematch, during which the Fab Five scored all but two of the Wolverines' points. The victory gave the 24–8 Wolverines a berth in the Final Four, where they found themselves matched against a 29–4 Bob Huggins-coached Cincinnati Bearcats team that averaged 83.6 points per game and had lost to only three teams, two of which had beaten Michigan. Nick Van Exel led Cincinnati in postseason scoring. Howard, King and Riley shaved their heads for the game. Michigan won and earned a rematch with a Duke Blue Devils team that had beaten them by three points in overtime in December. In the initial contest, Howard had scored only four points. Entering the final game, he was averaging 11.2 points and 6.3 rebounds for the season. The day before the game, Howard had stomach cramps and fever and received fluids to combat dehydration. As a result, he was exempted from mandatory media meetings. Howard was part of a rotation with Webber and Riley that guarded the National Player of the Year, Christian Laettner. During Laettner's first six possessions against Howard, Laettner dribbled the basketball off his foot, missed a shot, threw a pass that resulted in a turnover, traveled, threw the ball away and hit the backboard with a shot. Duke scored in its final 12 possessions of the championship game, going on a 23–6 run to win by a final margin of 71–51. Despite his condition, Howard contributed 9 points in 29 minutes. Howard earned a reputation for his quick feet, ability to grasp fundamentals, and excellent moves in the low post, but also for his 1-to-2 assist-to-turnover ratio and a high number of fouls. ### Sophomore year As his sophomore year began, media reports alleged that three Wolverines basketball players were paid \$300 each to participate in a charity basketball tournament in mid-1992, during the off-season. The reports further alleged that some others, including Howard, appeared at several summer basketball camps together, which was a possible violation of NCAA rules. At the beginning of his 1992–93 sophomore season, Michigan returned its top nine scorers and began the season ranked number one in the country by the Associated Press. Michigan lost its second game of the season in a rematch with Duke. Howard was described as the steadiest player on the team that season by coach Fisher. During the season, Howard purchased a million-dollar disability insurance policy approved by the NCAA under the Exceptional Student Athlete Disability Insurance Program available to student-athletes who are projected to be chosen high in the NBA, National Football League (NFL), and Major League Baseball drafts. In the semifinals of the 1993 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament against Kentucky, Howard contributed on offense and held Jamal Mashburn in check defensively; Mashburn did not make a field goal in the last 12:36 of regulation. Sportswriter Jay Mariotti wrote that Howard had done "a terrific defensive job" in guarding Mashburn. The 31–4 Wolverines were matched up against the 33–4 North Carolina Tar Heels in the championship game; both Fisher and North Carolina head coach Dean Smith were seeking their second national title. During the championship game Howard picked up his second personal foul with 9 minutes 42 seconds remaining in the first half and was soon substituted out as the entire team dealt with an accumulation of fouls. The game would be remembered for a late technical foul against Webber for attempting to call a time out when the Wolverines had none left; this led to a Tar Heels victory. Over the course of the season, Howard averaged 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds. After the season, Webber and Howard were invited to try out for the United States national basketball team that would compete at the 1993 World University Games and Under-22 World Championships. Howard did not make the team. ### Junior year With Webber's departure for the NBA after his sophomore season, the 1993–94 Wolverines team entered the season ranked fifth in the nation as it opened the season against number 13 . Since his grandmother had been born on December 25, Howard got a tattoo reading "Jannie Mae" over his heart during Christmas break. During the season, Howard contracted the chicken pox in January. Michigan had a 21–6 (13–4 Big Ten) record and tied with the Purdue Boilermakers for the conference lead with one game remaining. Michigan then lost (for the third time in its last four games) to a struggling team, and finished second in the Big Ten. After the season, Howard was selected as a first team All-Big-Ten member along with his teammate Rose, Purdue's Robinson, Michigan State's Shawn Respert, and Indiana's Damon Bailey. In the opening round of the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Howard helped Michigan to a 78–74 overtime victory over Pepperdine by scoring 28 points and adding 9 rebounds before fouling out. In the second round, Howard posted 34 points and 18 rebounds to lead the team to an 84–79 victory over Texas. Michigan faced a Joe Smith-led Maryland in the Sweet Sixteen round. Howard scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds before fouling out with 2:49 remaining in the 78–71 victory. Howard earned the regional MVP award with a game-high 30 points and 13 rebounds in the Elite Eight round, despite collecting two fouls in the first two minutes and losing against the Arkansas Razorbacks, which had United States President Bill Clinton in attendance as a vocal supporter. On April 18, Howard announced his intention to enter the 1994 NBA draft. The following day, Rose announced he would enter the draft as well. Howard was 37 credit hours short of University of Michigan degree requirements, but said he intended to keep his promise to his grandmother that he would earn his diploma. Howard left Michigan after being named an Associated Press third team All-American during his junior year, and was taken by the Washington Bullets fifth overall in the 1994 NBA Draft. Howard was represented by David Falk. ### Graduation Howard became the first NBA athlete who entered the draft early and graduated with his academic class, thus fulfilling a promise he had made to his grandmother on the last day he saw her alive. He told Mitch Albom that when he made it to the NBA, he realized how much leisure time the multimillionaire players had and decided to do something productive instead of find ways to spend his new riches. "I knew if I kept pushing it off, I'd never get it done", he said. He completed his final 32 course hours by taking summer classes in 1994 during the NBA off-season. He took correspondence classes and independent study courses during the following season, studying on road trips and mailing in his papers from the nearest post office. In the end, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications at Michigan. He told Albom that earning his degree made him a better example when speaking about staying in school. Although Howard had spent the prior year playing in the NBA, he returned to campus to partake in graduation ceremonies with his classmates. During the graduation, keynote speaker Marian Wright Edelman paid special recognition to Howard and Fab Five teammates King and Jackson, who graduated together, and noted that Howard's graduation made him a role model for children. ### Forfeits Although the Fab Five's games in the Final Four have since been forfeited, Howard was not among the players, which included Robert Traylor, Webber, Rose, Maurice Taylor, and Louis Bullock, called before a grand jury to testify in the University of Michigan basketball scandal. He was not implicated in the scandal. Although Michigan erased many of its records and accomplishments from 1992 to 1998 as part of self-imposed sanctions, Howard's status as a 1993–94 All-American remained intact. ## Professional career ### Washington Bullets / Wizards (1994–2001) #### 1994–95 season: Rookie season Entering the 1994–95 season, the NBA players and owners had not yet agreed on the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement, and Howard was unsigned two weeks before training camp began. He continued to train in Chicago in late September amidst rumors that his draft rights could be traded to another team. While holding out, he was rumored to be part of a trade package with the Chicago Bulls that included Calbert Cheaney and a first-round draft choice in exchange for Scottie Pippen. Another rumor had Howard being packaged with Rex Chapman and Don MacLean for Pippen. On November 9, eleventh overall 1994 NBA draft selection Carlos Rogers signed an NBA contract, making Howard the last first-round selection without a contract. He missed most of the first month of the season and resided at an O'Hare Airport hotel while protracted talks continued. Howard's agent David Falk said that one of the main problems was that the Bullets wanted Howard to sign for a lower average salary than number six selection Sharone Wright. The Bullets stuck to a 10-year, \$30 million (\$ million in dollars) offer. On November 17, Howard signed what was believed to be a 12-year, \$37.5 million (\$ million) contract. Howard's contract, which Sports Illustrated later said was an 11-year \$36 million (\$ million) deal, had an escape clause. Once he signed, he was reunited with Michigan teammate Webber as a member of the Bullets. Webber, who had also sat out training camp and the first eight games of the season, was traded from the Golden State Warriors to the Bullets on November 18 for Tom Gugliotta and three first-round draft choices. After Webber joined the Bullets, many thought that the two former Fab Five members would bring success to the team, coached by Lynam. The Washington front line was expected to include Webber, Howard, and Kevin Duckworth and to have Gheorghe Mureșan, a 7-foot-7-inch (231 cm) Romanian center, coming off the bench. Chapman, MacLean, Cheaney, Mitchell Butler and Scott Skiles were expected to provide solid perimeter play. Experts projected the Bullets as contenders for the Eastern Conference title. The Howard/Webber Bullets debut against the Boston Celtics established new Bullets television ratings records for the Home Team Sports network. However, the early season trade left the team in a state of confusion due to lack of familiarity, which resulted in communication difficulties on the court. Howard eventually moved into the starting lineup. As a power forward, Howard posted impressive numbers after he became a regular starter. Howard participated in the February 11, 1995, NBA All-Star weekend events as a member of the Rookie Challenge. He earned second team All-Rookie honors at the end of the season. That month, he became the second Bullet (since the award's inception in 1981) and first since Jeff Ruland in January 1982 to be named NBA Rookie of the Month. During the month he averaged 20.1 points, 8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 14 games, including his first two 30-point games. The following month Howard suffered an ankle injury, missing a total of 10 games (all of which were Bullets losses). Over the course of the season, he averaged 17.0 points per game and posted 17 double-doubles in 65 games played (52 starts). He totalled 30 points or more on three separate occasions. At the end of his rookie season Howard finished his undergraduate degree, and graduated from the University of Michigan, becoming the first NBA player to graduate after leaving college early. #### 1995–96 season: All-Star selection In the preseason, the Bullets played the Detroit Pistons in an October game at the University of Michigan's Crisler Arena, marking a homecoming for Howard. Webber was sidelined with a shoulder injury and missed the homecoming. Prior to the 1995–96 season, the Bullets were expected to be a contender with Webber, Howard, Muresan, Mark Price, and Robert Pack. However, Webber, Price and Pack missed almost the entire year (65, 75 and 51 games respectively) because of injuries. Howard earned his only career NBA All-Star Game selection for the February 11, 1996 game. He concluded the season by scoring at least 20 points in his last 16 games. Howard became just the second player in Washington franchise history, after Bernard King, to post back-to-back 40-point games (against Boston on April 17, 1996, with 40, and at Toronto on April 19, 1996, with 42). The 42 points proved to be his career high. His strong finish earned him an NBA Player of the Month award for April. In spite of the injuries to key teammates, 1995–96 was Howard's best season, statistically. During the season, he finished third in the NBA in minutes played, 6th in points scored and 10th in points per game (22.1). He was the Bullets' leading scorer. Over the course of the season, he accumulated 22 double-doubles in 81 games, including 6 in his last 8 games. At the end of the season, he was named to the All-NBA team. In addition to his two 40-point performances, he posted 3 additional 30-point performances and scored at least 20 points in 56 of 81 games. Averaging 22.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists, he helped the Bullets record 39 victories. This was not enough for the Bullets to make the playoffs during their ninth consecutive losing season. #### 1996–97 season: Free agency dispute After averaging 17 points per game as a rookie and more than 22 per game in his second season, Howard became a free agent when the Bullets made some salary cap transactions. The Bullets offered Howard an \$89 million contract, but the Miami Heat outbid them with a seven-year deal estimated to be worth \$98 to \$101 million. However, according to the NBA league office, the Heat miscalculated their available salary under the salary cap by excluding performance bonuses for Tim Hardaway and P. J. Brown and failing to account for the impact of renegotiating Alonzo Mourning's contract before coming to terms with Howard. The league rejected the contract on July 31 because Howard's \$9 million for the 1996–97 season placed the Heat over the cap. Howard then re-signed with the Bullets on August 5. He became the first player in NBA history to sign a contract worth more than \$100 million; his seven-year contract was worth \$105 million (). The league ruled on August 5 that the Bullets could re-sign Howard after having renounced his rights on July 15 to free up cap room to sign Tracy Murray and Lorenzo Williams if they forfeited their 1997 NBA draft first-round selection rights. The Bullets were not limited by the cap because they were re-signing their own player. The Heat pursued legal remedy in Florida state courts, seeking acknowledgment of the prior validity and superiority of their earlier contract. Although an arbitration case involving the two contracts that Howard had signed appeared likely, ESPN reported that the Heat dropped their legal pursuit of Howard. The league moved for federal jurisdiction although the case remained on the docket for New York University Law professor Daniel Collins to serve as arbitrator on three issues. Meanwhile, the Heat's contract was protected by a temporary injunction in Florida state court, which forbade any newer contract by Howard from abrogating his Miami contract. The Heat eventually dropped their case but the team, especially head coach Pat Riley, continued to vehemently claim that their case of wrongdoing in the form of erroneous rulings by the league had been very solid. If the Heat had pursued arbitration and had been found guilty of violating the salary cap, the team could have been fined \$5 million and Heat coach Riley could have been suspended for the season. By dropping their actions, the Heat avoided any possible penalties. As a statement against gun violence, Bullets owner Abe Pollin sought to change the franchise's name. The Bullets became the Washington Wizards after asking fans to vote on the name. Although before the 1996–97 NBA season the Bullets/Wizards were expected to make the playoffs with Webber, Howard, and Strickland, there were rumors that Webber had difficulty adjusting to being a less important part of the offensive game plan in the presence of All-Star Howard. Howard was plagued with shin splints, causing him to miss several preseason games. On November 11, 1996, Howard failed a sobriety test when he was caught speeding and was charged with driving while intoxicated. The following month he pleaded not guilty and committed to enter an alcohol rehabilitation and education program. After Lynam coached the Bullets to a 22–24 record, he was fired and the Bullets hired Bernie Bickerstaff, who posted a 22–13 record. Over the course of the 1996–97 season, Howard accumulated 24 double doubles in 82 games, while averaging 19.1 points and 8.1 rebounds. Although Howard averaged over 19 points per game and played all 82 games, he only scored 30 or more points twice during the regular season. The team finished its regular season with a 44–38 record but was swept in three games in the Eastern Conference first round by the Chicago Bulls, who went on to win their second consecutive NBA championship. The 1997 NBA Playoffs were Howard's only NBA playoff appearance in his six-plus seasons with the Washington franchise, and he averaged 18.7 points and 6 rebounds while playing 43 minutes per game. The playoff appearance marked the franchise's first playoff appearance since the 1988 NBA Playoffs. #### 1997–98 season The Wizards relocated from the US Airways Arena to the MCI Center for the 1997–98 season, during which Howard totaled 11 double-doubles in 64 games, while averaging 18.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. He scored between 20 and 29 points 31 times that season but failed to score 30 points in any game. Howard injured his ankle and was unable to play between February 5 and March 17. During Bickerstaff's only full season as the Washington coach, the team posted a 42–40 record. #### 1998–99 season After the 1998–99 NBA lockout, the Wizards posted an 18–32 record in the shortened season. The team started out 13–19 under Bickerstaff and was 5–13 under Jim Brovelli after Bickerstaff was fired. Howard was a vocal critic of Bickerstaff throughout his tenure, stating the coach was unable to make proper in-game adjustments. Howard, who again had an ankle injury, missed the last 14 games of the season. Over the course of the 1998–99 season, he posted 11 double-doubles and two 15-rebound performances in 36 games, while averaging 18.9 points and 7.0 rebounds. #### 1999–00 season During the 1999–2000 season, Howard accumulated 10 double-doubles in 82 games, while averaging 14.9 points and 8.1 rebounds. The Wizards endured a 14–30 start under head coach Gar Heard before going 15–23 under Heard's replacement, Darrell Walker. According to Sam Smith from the Chicago Tribune, Howard had become unpopular and a bit of a disappointment by his sixth season in Washington. He posted 30 points twice, including a season-high 36 in a fourth-quarter comeback to end a five-game losing streak in January. During the offseason, Howard's name surfaced in trade rumors that had him going to the New York Knicks in exchange for Ewing because the Wizards' management thought that the trade would better position the team for the 2001 free agent market. Following the season, Walker was replaced by Leonard Hamilton, becoming the team's sixth head coach since last making the NBA Playoffs four years earlier. #### 2000–01 season Although it had been five years since his only All-Star appearance, Howard was the fourth-highest-paid player in the NBA during the 2000–01 season, behind Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal and Mourning. Howard, along with Strickland and Richmond, were marquee names on the team under contract to earn at least \$10 million. On December 31, 2000, Howard, posted his career high of 15 made free throws in a game against the Detroit Pistons. ### Dallas Mavericks (2001–2002) Michael Jordan, who had become the Wizards' head of basketball operations the prior season, traded Howard, Obinna Ekezie, and Calvin Booth to the Dallas Mavericks for Laettner, Loy Vaught, Etan Thomas, Hubert Davis, Courtney Alexander and \$3 million on February 22, 2001, at the NBA trade deadline. Jordan's move was praised for freeing up salary cap space in advance of the NBA's first season with a luxury tax. The trade served the Mavericks by giving them a new offensive weapon and enabling them to match up defensively against the NBA Western Conference power forwards such as Wallace, Tim Duncan, Karl Malone and Webber. Washington finished the year with a 19–63 record under coach Hamilton. During the 2000–01 season, the Mavericks finished 53–29 under coach Don Nelson. Howard provided the Mavericks with a back-to-the-basket player who moved into the starting power-forward position, enabling Dirk Nowitzki to play small forward and Shawn Bradley to play center. During the season, Howard tallied 16 double-doubles and five 30-point performances in 81 games, while averaging 18.0 points and 7.1 rebounds. On a team with All-Star Michael Finley and future MVPs Steve Nash and Nowitzki, Howard was the highest-paid player. On March 20, Howard blocked five shots, his career high, against the Portland Trail Blazers. In the 2001 NBA Playoffs, the Mavericks advanced past the Utah Jazz 3 games to 2 before losing to the San Antonio Spurs, 4 games to 1. The Utah games marked the first time Howard played for a team that won an NBA playoff series. In the first game of the series against the Spurs, Howard slammed Spurs guard Derek Anderson to the floor while trying to block Anderson's layup late in the game. Anderson suffered a separated shoulder on the play, and Howard received a flagrant foul and was ejected. After the game, Howard, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, and Mavs owner Mark Cuban all said the foul was committed without malice or intent to injure Anderson. In the Mavericks' 10 playoff games, Howard totaled three double-doubles while averaging 13.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in 39.1 minutes. During the 2001–02 season, he posted 17 double-doubles and three 30-point performances in 81 games (72 starts), while averaging 14.6 points and 7.6 rebounds. This was the first time since his rookie holdout season that he did not start every game he played in. All reserve appearances occurred between November 21 and December 11, and eight of them were in consecutive games between November 21 and December 5. On January 31, he posted a career-high 16 rebounds against the Houston Rockets. ### Denver Nuggets (2002–2003) The Mavericks traded Howard with Donnell Harvey, Hardaway and a 2002 first-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for Raef LaFrentz, Avery Johnson, Van Exel and Tariq Abdul-Wahad on February 21, 2002. At the time of the trade, Howard was considered the Mavericks' best low-post defender. On March 25, 2002, he scored his 10,000th career point at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. Howard started all 28 games that he played for the Nuggets. Don Nelson's Mavericks went to the second round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs after trading Howard, while the Nuggets failed to make the playoffs under coaches Dan Issel and Mike Evans. By the end of the season, Nuggets general manager Vandeweghe had cleared almost \$20 million of salary cap space, leaving the team with few veterans and only Howard and Marcus Camby as well-known players. This made the team an undesirable coaching assignment for veteran coaches. In the offseason, the Nuggets replaced Evans with the relatively unknown Jeff Bzdelik. During a preseason game, Howard attempted to punch Al Harrington and Jermaine O'Neal, which earned him a suspension on October 25, 2002. As a result, Howard missed the Nuggets' first two games of the regular season, and this cost him \$458,000 in salary. Howard first attempted to hit Harrington late in the fourth quarter on a night when Howard had missed nine of ten shots. When O'Neal intervened, the two pushed and shoved each other before Howard started punching again. At around the same time, the University of Michigan basketball scandal investigation came to an end with many of the accomplishments of the Fab Five being rescinded through National Collegiate Athletic Association sanctions. Although many of the records of the Fab Five were erased, Howard's and teammate Rose's 1994 All-American recognitions were unaffected by the scandal. During the 2002–03 regular season, he accumulated 18 double-doubles, two 30-point performances, and three 15-rebound performances in 77 games, while averaging 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds. The 2002–03 Nuggets were 17–65 under Bzdelik. The team struggled with the league's lowest payroll and three rookies in the starting lineup. Howard started all 77 games in which he played. ### Orlando Magic (2003–2004) Howard signed what was believed to be a five-year, \$28 million contract as a free agent with the Orlando Magic on July 16, 2003; he had been expected to sign with either Detroit or Minnesota. During the season, teammate Tracy McGrady successfully defended his scoring championship, while Howard attempted to be a positive influence when the situation arose, such as when he attempted to stop McGrady from kicking the basketball into the stands twice in a row. McGrady missed the last 10 games of the season with knee problems (ending his season on March 24), leading to Howard's best performances of the season: Howard had 33 points and 11 rebounds on April 2 against the Atlanta Hawks, and he had 38 points on April 12 against the Chicago Bulls. Over the course of the 2003–04 season, he had 16 double-doubles and two 30-point performances in 81 games (77 starts), while averaging 17.2 points and 7.1 rebounds. The team compiled a 21–61 record, the worst in the NBA, under coaches Doc Rivers and Johnny Davis. ### Houston Rockets (2004–2007) On June 29, 2004, Howard and Magic teammates McGrady, Tyronn Lue and Reece Gaines were part of a seven-player trade that sent 2003–04 Houston Rockets starting guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, plus Kelvin Cato, to the Magic. Howard became the regular starting power forward on December 2 and started for the rest of the season. The 2004–05 Rockets were 51–31 under Van Gundy and lost in the first round of the 2005 NBA Playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks, four games to three. Although the Rockets made the playoffs, Howard's season ended on March 14, when he left a game with a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his right knee. Initially, the injury was supposed to sideline Howard for four weeks. The injury coincided with a period in which he developed symptoms of viral myocarditis, including heart palpitations, mild chest pains and fever and was diagnosed with a viral infection in his heart. His limited physical activity impaired his MCL rehabilitation. Over the course of the 2004–05 season, Howard achieved seven double-doubles in 61 games (47 starts), while averaging 9.6 points and 5.7 rebounds. During the 2005–06 season, Howard recorded 10 double-doubles and two 30-point performances in 80 games (all as a starter), while averaging 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds. He played 31.7 minutes per game, and this was the last season in which he averaged 30 minutes per game; this was also the final season in which Howard started at least half of the games in which he played. The Rockets were 34–48 under Van Gundy and missed the playoffs. Howard was suspended one game without pay in January for shoving the basketball into the face of Toronto guard Mike James in an exchange that occurred after Howard fouled James on a drive to the basket. Howard posted a season-high 31 points on April 17, 2006 against the Denver Nuggets. In the 2006–07 season, Howard achieved nine double-doubles in 80 games played (37 starts), while averaging 9.7 points and 5.9 rebounds. His 26.5 minutes per game marked a new career low. Howard only started 38 games, including 32 consecutive starts between December 26, 2006, and March 3, 2007.The 2006–07 Rockets were 52–30 under Van Gundy for the regular season. The Rockets entered the 2007 NBA Playoffs with little experience; Howard was one of only three players on the team (along with Rafer Alston and Dikembe Mutombo) to have previously won any NBA playoff series. Once the playoffs began, Howard served as a key reserve on the Rockets' short bench rotation that also included Luther Head and Mutombo. The Rockets managed to split the first 4 games even though Head and Howard only combined to average 7.6 points, including a combined pointless 0-for-10 game three. Although Howard had a productive game five with 12 points and 6 rebounds which contributed to a Rockets victory, the team lost in the first round of the 2007 playoffs to the Utah Jazz, four games to three. In the playoffs, reserve Howard averaged 5.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in 22.4 minutes. ### Return to Dallas (2007–2008) On June 14, 2007, Howard was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Mike James and Justin Reed. According to ESPN, he regretted not choosing Minnesota the last time he had been a free agent and was looking forward to playing with Garnett. Soon after Howard signed with Minnesota, the team traded Garnett to the Boston Celtics. Howard made it clear he was not interested in being on a team in Minnesota that was focused on developing young talent and consequently requested a trade once Garnett was no longer a member of the team. Howard still had \$6.88 million and \$7.38 million in salary owed to him over the next two seasons, which made him difficult to trade. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor noted that the team would attempt to accommodate his wishes but acknowledged that doing so would be difficult. On October 29, 2007, the Timberwolves waived Howard after agreeing to a contractual buyout agreement worth \$10 million spread over four years instead of the roughly \$14.25 million (\$6.88 million plus \$7.38 million) that Minnesota would otherwise have owed him. Howard agreed to terms with the Dallas Mavericks on October 30, 2007, but was not able to officially sign until the next day, when he cleared waivers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed publicly. During the 2007–08 season, he played in 50 games and made no starts, while averaging 1.1 points and 1.6 rebounds. In his limited role he never played more than 18 minutes and had season-highs of seven rebounds and six points. The 2007–08 Mavericks were 51–31 under coach Johnson and lost in the first round of the 2008 NBA Playoffs to the New Orleans Hornets four games to one. In the playoffs, Howard only appeared for a total of 11 minutes in three games. This was the first season in Howard's career in which he did not start in a single game. ### Return to Denver (2008) On October 3, 2008, Howard rejoined the Denver Nuggets, but was later released when the Nuggets made a three-for-one trade of Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb on November 3 that put them over the 15-man roster size limit. Before the trade, Howard had played in three games during the 2008–09 season. ### Charlotte Bobcats (2008–2009) On December 12, 2008, he was signed by the Charlotte Bobcats. During the 2008–09 season, he played in 42 games, making two starts; Howard averaged 4.1 points and 1.8 rebounds. In his reserve role, he played more than 20 minutes five times, including four straight appearances from January 28 to February 8, and had season-highs of five rebounds and 14 points. He posted 10 or more points five times. Howard played extended minutes on January 28, the night after Gerald Wallace suffered a left-lung collapse and a non-displaced fracture of the fifth rib from a flagrant foul by Andrew Bynum; in 24 minutes of action, he scored 9 points. During Howard's streak of 20-minute appearances, he sat out one intervening game on February 6 with a toe injury. On February 8, in only his second start as a Bobcat, he played a season-high 30 minutes, 39 seconds and posted a season-high 14 points. The subsequent night, Howard was out of the lineup again with a toe injury. The 2008–09 Bobcats were 35–47 under coach Larry Brown. ### Portland Trail Blazers (2009–2010) On September 17, 2009, Howard signed a one-year contract with the Portland Trail Blazers. On December 22, center Joel Przybilla injured his knee in the first quarter, allowing Howard to play additional minutes, which allowed Howard his first double-double since April 6, 2007. He had his other double-double of the 2009–10 season the next night when he made his first start of the season. All of Howard's performances with 10 rebounds or more occurred between December 22 and February 3. December 23 marked the start of 14 consecutive starting appearances and 24 starts in 26 appearances (ending on February 16) for him. Having lost Przybilla and Greg Oden for the season, Portland acquired Camby from the Los Angeles Clippers for Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw on February 17 prior to the trade deadline. During the 2009–10 season, he accumulated two double-doubles, played in 73 games, and made 27 starts, while averaging 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds. The 2009–10 Trail Blazers were 50–32 under coach Nate McMillan and lost in the first round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs to the Phoenix Suns, four games to two. Howard appeared in all six games, averaging 3.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in 14.5 minutes. He played the most minutes (17:51) in game 4, when he added 8 points and 7 rebounds to help even the series. ### Miami Heat (2010–2013) On July 20, 2010, Howard came to terms for the 2010–11 NBA season with the Miami Heat on a one-year contract for the veteran's minimum salary, which was \$1,352,181. Although he was only paid the minimum by the Heat, he was in the final year of his four-year buyout from the Timberwolves. By joining the Heat, Howard joined a team that by the time of the 2011 NBA playoffs, included former champion Dwyane Wade as well as a group of players such as LeBron James and Chris Bosh. In March, he was featured in the documentary film The Fab Five, which was about his time as a Wolverine, that reignited controversy and reinvigorated the Duke–Michigan basketball rivalry. For the season, Howard played 57 games for the 2010–11 Heat, all as a reserve. He averaged 2.4 points and 2.1 rebounds with season highs of 18 points and 7 rebounds. The Heat reached the NBA Finals, losing to the Dallas Mavericks four games to two. Howard averaged 1.5 points and .9 rebounds per game during the postseason. On December 10, 2011, Howard re-signed with the Heat for the same veteran's minimum salary as the year before. Howard appeared in 28 regular season games as a reserve with limited minutes. At age 39, Howard was the third-oldest active player in the league during the 2011–12 NBA season, behind Kurt Thomas and Grant Hill. On June 21, 2012, Howard became the first and only member of the Fab Five to win an NBA championship, as a role player on the 2011–12 Miami Heat. Following the season, Howard became an unrestricted free agent. At the 20th annual ESPY Awards, Howard and Heat teammate Mike Miller took to the stage to accept the award for Team of the Year. On March 2, 2013, Howard signed a 10-day contract with the 2012–13 Miami Heat. On March 12, 2013, he signed a second 10-day contract with the Heat, and on March 22, 2013, he was signed for the remainder of the season. He made his first appearance of the season for the Heat on March 24 against the Charlotte Bobcats tallying two points, a rebound and two assists in three minutes of play as the Heat made their way to their 26th consecutive victory. On April 15, he made his first start since April 14, 2010 as the Heat defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers without James, Wade, Bosh, Battier, Chalmers and Udonis Haslem in the penultimate game of the regular season. Howard's April 17 start in the season finale against the Orlando Magic marked Howard's 900th career start. With the retirement of Grant Hill on June 1, 2013, Howard became the oldest active player in the NBA at age 40. During the playoffs, Howard did not play. ## Player profile In college, Howard was regarded as one of the best defensive big men in the country. According to Mariotti, he was also regarded as a "rock-solid" power forward who provided rebounds and defense, in contrast to his flamboyant teammate Webber. Fisher referred to Howard as his "Rock of Gibraltar". His consistency was described by Chicago Tribune journalist Skip Myslenski as Michigan's "ballast, steadying them on those many occasions when they wavered. And their savior, rescuing them from their many follies". After the 1994 draft, NBA analyst Doug Collins described Howard as a player who could "play with his back to the basket" and "shoot from about 16 feet outside" and who played "with a lot of energy and emotion". The Bullets' general manager, John Nash, who was disappointed that Jason Kidd was no longer available at the fifth pick of the draft, told Jerry Bembry of The Baltimore Sun that Howard was "as fundamentally sound as any player in the draft" and that he "[had] a discipline about his game and [used] a high level of skill and technique". Bembry said, "Not only can Howard post up, he passes effectively and is able to hit a jumper up to 17 feet", adding that he also was "an excellent position defender". Later Bembry noted that he was a power forward who was able to play center, adding that at Michigan he was "most effective playing with his back to the basket" but could also pass effectively and hit medium-range jumpers. The Bullets' head coach, Jim Lynam, described Howard as a "complete player" and noted, "[H]e can defend you and he can score over you". Nash said that "the things that impressed me most about him were his character, his intelligence and his insight. He's a leader type." When he first became a free agent in 1996, Howard was described as versatile enough to play all three front-line positions (small forward, power forward and center), and Michael Jordan praised his "game, work ethic and character". As a Dallas player in 2000–01, he was still regarded as a versatile offensive player who could "take advantage of smaller defenders in the paint and then stretch his bigger defenders outside" in addition to being a solid rebounder. By 2001, Lacy J. Banks from the Chicago Sun-Times regarded him as a high-priced, under-achieving player, but in 2002, Banks described him as a solid veteran at the four (power forward position). In the NBA, Howard developed a respected inside post-up game and a reputation as a veteran leader, according to Kiki Vandeweghe, the general manager of the Denver Nuggets, Howard's team in 2003. When he signed with the Heat in 2010, Howard was lauded for his ability to play the power forward and center positions and for his professionalism. Howard also added frontcourt toughness. As an elder statesman with the Heat, he was regarded as a future NBA coach or general manager. ## Coaching career ### Miami Heat (2013–2019) On September 28, 2013, the Heat announced a reshuffling of their organization. The reshuffling included the announcement that Howard would remain with the Heat, moving officially into an assistant coaching role. The assistant coaching position was available after both Chad Kammerer and Keith Askins were moved from coaching to scouting positions. This effectively indicated Howard's retirement as a basketball player, as league regulations prohibit one from holding a coaching position while being an active player. Howard spent six seasons with the Heat as an assistant coach. In his first year, the Heat reached the 2014 NBA Finals in the final year of the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh trio, where they lost to the Spurs in 5 games. The Heat went on to make two more playoff appearances in Howard's remaining time as an assistant coach in Miami. Howard coached a number of All-Stars while with the Heat, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, and Bam Adebayo. ### Michigan (2019–present) On May 22, 2019, Howard was named the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team, signing a five-year contract. In 2021, after guiding the Wolverines to a 14–3 Big Ten record and their first Big Ten regular season title in seven years, Howard was named the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year, Sporting News Coach of the Year, and Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year, and awarded the Henry Iba Award by the USBWA. Michigan was named a No. 1 seed in the 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, making Howard the first person in NCAA history to enter the tournament as a No. 1 seed as both a player and a coach. On November 16, 2021, Michigan signed Howard to a five-year contract extension through the 2025–26 season. On February 20, 2022, an altercation involving Howard took place following a game between Michigan and the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center. The following day, Howard was suspended for the remainder of Michigan's regular season and fined \$40,000 for being in "clear violation of the Big Ten Conference's Sportsmanship Policy". Howard was allowed to return for the Big Ten Tournament and later the NCAA tournament, where the Wolverines reached the Sweet Sixteen. ## Personal life Howard has six children. One of Howard's children, son Juwan Howard Jr. (born February 5, 1992), is the child of Markita Blyden, who was runner-up for Michigan's Miss Basketball when she and her twin sister led Detroit's Murray–Wright High School to the 1990 Class A state championship game. Howard, Jr. finished his senior season at Detroit's Pershing High School in spring 2010. As a junior, he led his high school to the Michigan High School Athletic Association state championship. As a senior, he was named first team All-State by the Associated Press and Detroit Free Press. He played his freshman season for the 2010–11 Western Michigan Broncos before he transferred to the University of Detroit Mercy Titans. As a redshirt sophomore for the 2012–13 Detroit Titans, he became a regular starter and solid contributor. On July 6, 2002, Howard married Jenine Wardally. They have two sons: Jace, who was born in late September 2001, and Jett, who is two years younger. Jace committed to the University of Michigan on January 20, 2020 and currently plays under his father. Jett played alongside his brother at Michigan until being drafted to the Orlando Magic at pick \#11 in 2023 Howard is cousins with Angela Jackson, mother of NBA athletes Jalen McDaniels and Jaden McDaniels, making him first cousins once removed with them and his children second cousins with them. ### Philanthropy As a student athlete at the University of Michigan, Howard volunteered to visit patients at the University of Michigan Health System Hospitals in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He continued to engage in charity work and hospital visits throughout his career, including a Stay in School Jam for 6,500 local area students that he participated in along with several teammates and R&B artist Usher. Howard was recognized in 2001 as one of the "Good Guys in Sports" by The Sporting News for his civic contributions.[^1] In 2010, Howard won the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for his community efforts, philanthropic work and charitable contributions. He runs a yearly free basketball camp for youth, which is made possible by a partnership between the Juwan Howard Foundation and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Jordan Brand, Dell Computers, EMI Music, Vitamin Water and the NBA. His foundation partners with the CPS for a reading challenge; the top 300 readers, out of 30,000 annually, attend his camp. During and after his time as a member of the Heat, Howard was active in South Florida community outreach, fundraising and humanitarian efforts. ## Film and television appearances Howard appeared in the 1994 basketball film Hoop Dreams. He had a small role in the television drama The West Wing, appearing in a 1999 episode as a former Duke basketball player who served on Josiah Bartlet's Council on Physical Fitness and helped him win a game against his staff. Other appearances include the August 15, 1999 "The Art of Give and Take" episode of Arli\$\$, the season 5 (2005) "Michigan's Fab 5" episode of Beyond the Glory, the November 9, 1996 season 2 "Son-in-Law" episode of Hang Time and the 2011 documentary The Fab Five, produced by his Michigan teammate Jalen Rose. After his 18th season in the NBA, Howard worked with Rick Ross to produce a rap song entitled "It's Time to Ball" from an album Howard was working on entitled Full Court Press Volume 1. Howard most recently made a brief TV appearance in the pickup basketball game scene in Episode 8 of The Last Dance'', a documentary about the 1997–1998 Chicago Bulls championship season. ## Career statistics ### NBA #### Regular season \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 1994–95 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 65 \\|\\| 52 \\|\\| 36.1 \\|\\| .489 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .664 \\|\\| 8.4 \\|\\| 2.5 \\|\\| .8 \\|\\| .2 \\|\\| 17.0 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 1995–96 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 81 \\|\\| 81 \\|\\| 40.7 \\|\\| .489 \\|\\| .308 \\|\\| .749 \\|\\| 8.1 \\|\\| 4.4 \\|\\| .8 \\|\\| .5 \\|\\| 22.1 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 1996–97 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 82 \\|\\| 82 \\|\\| 40.5 \\|\\| .486 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .756 \\|\\| 8.0 \\|\\| 3.8 \\|\\| 1.1 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| 19.1 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 1997–98 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 64 \\|\\| 64 \\|\\| 40.0 \\|\\| .467 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .721 \\|\\| 7.0 \\|\\| 3.3 \\|\\| 1.3 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| 18.5 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 1998–99 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 36 \\|\\| 36 \\|\\| 39.7 \\|\\| .474 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .753 \\|\\| 8.1 \\|\\| 3.0 \\|\\| 1.2 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| 18.9 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 1999–2000 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 82 \\|\\| style="background:#cfecec;"\\| 82\* \\|\\| 35.5 \\|\\| .459 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .735 \\|\\| 5.7 \\|\\| 3.0 \\|\\| .8 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| 14.9 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2000–01 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 54 \\|\\| 54 \\|\\| 36.7 \\|\\| .474 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .770 \\|\\| 7.0 \\|\\| 2.9 \\|\\| .9 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| 18.2 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2000–01 \\| align="left" \\| Dallas \\| 27 \\|\\| 27 \\|\\| 36.8 \\|\\| .488 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .780 \\|\\| 7.1 \\|\\| 2.6 \\|\\| 1.1 \\|\\| .6 \\|\\| 17.8 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2001–02 \\| align="left" \\| Dallas \\| 53 \\|\\| 44 \\|\\| 31.3 \\|\\| .462 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .754 \\|\\| 7.4 \\|\\| 1.8 \\|\\| .5 \\|\\| .6 \\|\\| 12.9 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2001–02 \\| align="left" \\| Denver \\| 28 \\|\\| 28 \\|\\| 34.9 \\|\\| .457 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .770 \\|\\| 7.9 \\|\\| 2.7 \\|\\| .6 \\|\\| .6 \\|\\| 17.9 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2002–03 \\| align="left" \\| Denver \\| 77 \\|\\| 77 \\|\\| 35.5 \\|\\| .450 \\|\\| .500 \\|\\| .803 \\|\\| 7.6 \\|\\| 3.0 \\|\\| 1.0 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| 18.4 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2003–04 \\| align="left" \\| Orlando \\| 81 \\|\\| 77 \\|\\| 35.5 \\|\\| .453 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .809 \\|\\| 7.0 \\|\\| 2.0 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| 17.0 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2004–05 \\| align="left" \\| Houston \\| 61 \\|\\| 47 \\|\\| 26.6 \\|\\| .451 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .843 \\|\\| 5.7 \\|\\| 1.5 \\|\\| .5 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| 9.6 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2005–06 \\| align="left" \\| Houston \\| 80 \\|\\| 80 \\|\\| 31.7 \\|\\| .459 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .806 \\|\\| 6.7 \\|\\| 1.4 \\|\\| .6 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| 11.8 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2006–07 \\| align="left" \\| Houston \\| 80 \\|\\| 38 \\|\\| 26.5 \\|\\| .465 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .824 \\|\\| 5.9 \\|\\| 1.6 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| 9.7 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2007–08 \\| align="left" \\| Dallas \\| 50 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 7.1 \\|\\| .359 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .786 \\|\\| 1.6 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| 1.1 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2008–09 \\| align="left" \\| Denver \\| 3 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 7.3 \\|\\| .500 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| 1.3 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| .7 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2008–09 \\| align="left" \\| Charlotte \\| 39 \\|\\| 2 \\|\\| 11.5 \\|\\| .510 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .676 \\|\\| 1.8 \\|\\| .6 \\|\\| .2 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| 4.4 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2009–10 \\| align="left" \\| Portland \\| 73 \\|\\| 27 \\|\\| 22.4 \\|\\| .509 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .786 \\|\\| 4.6 \\|\\| .8 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| 6.0 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2010–11 \\| align="left" \\| Miami \\| 57 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 10.4 \\|\\| .440 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .829 \\|\\| 2.1 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| .2 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| 2.4 \\|- \\|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"\\|2011–12† \\| align="left" \\| Miami \\| 28 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 6.8 \\|\\| .309 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .800 \\|\\| 1.6 \\|\\| .4 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| 1.5 \\|- \\|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"\\|2012–13† \\| align="left" \\| Miami \\| 7 \\|\\| 2 \\|\\| 7.3 \\|\\| .526 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| 1.000 \\|\\| 1.1 \\|\\| .9 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| 3.0 \\|-class="sortbottom" \\| align="center" colspan=2\\| Career \\| 1208 \\|\\| 900 \\|\\| 30.3 \\|\\| .469 \\|\\| .120 \\|\\| .764 \\|\\| 6.1 \\|\\| 2.2 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| 13.4 \\|-class="sortbottom" \\| align="center" colspan=2\\| All-Star \\| 1 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 16.0 \\|\\| .200 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| 6.0 \\|\\| 2.0 \\|\\| 1.0 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| 2.0 #### Playoffs \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 1997 \\| align="left" \\| Washington \\| 3 \\|\\| 3 \\|\\| 43.0 \\|\\| .465 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .889 \\|\\| 6.0 \\|\\| 1.7 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| 18.7 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2001 \\| align="left" \\| Dallas \\| 10 \\|\\| 10 \\|\\| 39.1 \\|\\| .360 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .800 \\|\\| 8.3 \\|\\| 1.4 \\|\\| .6 \\|\\| .5 \\|\\| 13.4 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2007 \\| align="left" \\| Houston \\| 7 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 22.4 \\|\\| .400 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .636 \\|\\| 4.4 \\|\\| 1.0 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| 5.0 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2008 \\| align="left" \\| Dallas \\| 3 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 3.7 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .250 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .3 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2010 \\| align="left" \\| Portland \\| 6 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 14.5 \\|\\| .526 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| 2.7 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| .2 \\|\\| .2 \\|\\| 3.3 \\|- \\| align="left" \\| 2011 \\| align="left" \\| Miami \\| 11 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 5.5 \\|\\| .444 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .692 \\|\\| .9 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| 1.5 \\|- \\|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"\\|2012† \\|style="text-align:left;"\\|Miami \\| 9 \\|\\| 0 \\|\\| 2.7 \\|\\| .286 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .750 \\|\\| .1 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .0 \\|\\| .8 \\|-class="sortbottom" \\| align="center" colspan=2\\| Career \\| 49 \\|\\| 13 \\|\\| 17.5 \\|\\| .394 \\|\\| .000 \\|\\| .758 \\|\\| 3.2 \\|\\| .7 \\|\\| .3 \\|\\| .2 \\|\\| 5.5 ### College \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\| 1991–92 \\| align="left" \\| Michigan \\|34\\|\\|31\\|\\|28.1\\|\\|.450\\|\\|.000\\|\\|.688\\|\\|6.2\\|\\|1.8\\|\\|0.4\\|\\|0.6\\|\\|11.1 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\| 1992–93 \\| align="left" \\| Michigan \\|36\\|\\|36\\|\\|31.5\\|\\|.506\\|\\|.000\\|\\|.700\\|\\|7.4\\|\\|1.9\\|\\|0.6\\|\\|0.4\\|\\|14.6 \\|- \\| style="text-align:left;"\\| 1993–94 \\| align="left" \\| Michigan \\|30\\|\\|30\\|\\|34.9\\|\\|.556\\|\\|.143\\|\\|.675\\|\\|9.0\\|\\|2.4\\|\\|1.5\\|\\|0.7\\|\\|20.8' \\|- \\| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\\| Career \\|100\\|\\|97\\|\\|31.4\\|\\|.510\\|\\|.091\\|\\|.688\\|\\|7.5\\|\\|2.0\\|\\|0.8\\|\\|0.6\\|\\|15.3 ## Head coaching record ## See also - List of National Basketball Association career games played leaders - List of National Basketball Association seasons played leaders - List of oldest and youngest National Basketball Association players [^1]:
637,496	United States v. Wong Kim Ark	1,173,522,985	null	[ "1898 in United States case law", "Asian-American issues", "Chinese-American history", "History of immigration to the United States", "Race-related case law in the United States", "United States Citizenship Clause case law", "United States Fourteenth Amendment case law", "United States Supreme Court cases", "United States Supreme Court cases of the Fuller Court" ]	United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which held that "a child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China", automatically became a U.S. citizen at birth. This decision established an important precedent in its interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco in 1873, had been denied re-entry to the United States after a trip abroad, under a law restricting Chinese immigration and prohibiting immigrants from China from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens. He challenged the government's refusal to recognize his citizenship, and the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, holding that the citizenship language in the Fourteenth Amendment encompassed the circumstances of his birth and could not be limited in its effect by an act of Congress. The case highlighted disagreements over the precise meaning of one phrase in the Citizenship Clause—namely, the provision that a person born in the United States who is "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" acquires automatic citizenship. The Supreme Court's majority concluded that this phrase referred to being required to obey U.S. law; on this basis, they interpreted the language of the Fourteenth Amendment in a way that granted U.S. citizenship to children born of foreigners (a concept known as jus soli), with only a limited set of exceptions mostly based in English common law. The court's dissenters argued that being subject to the jurisdiction of the United States meant not being subject to any foreign power—that is, not being claimed as a citizen by another country via jus sanguinis (inheriting citizenship from a parent)—an interpretation which, in the minority's view, would have excluded "the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country". In the words of a 2007 legal analysis of events following the Wong Kim Ark decision, "The parameters of the jus soli principle, as stated by the court in Wong Kim Ark, have never been seriously questioned by the Supreme Court, and have been accepted as dogma by lower courts." A 2010 review of the history of the Citizenship Clause notes that the Wong Kim Ark decision held that the guarantee of birthright citizenship "applies to children of foreigners present on American soil" and states that the Supreme Court "has not re-examined this issue since the concept of 'illegal alien' entered the language". Since the 1990s, however, controversy has arisen over the longstanding practice of granting automatic citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, and legal scholars disagree over whether the Wong Kim Ark precedent applies when alien parents are in the country illegally. Attempts have been made from time to time in Congress to restrict birthright citizenship, either via statutory redefinition of the term jurisdiction, or by overriding both the Wong Kim Ark ruling and the Citizenship Clause itself through an amendment to the Constitution, but no such proposal has been enacted. ## Background ### Early history of United States citizenship law United States citizenship law is founded on two traditional principles—jus soli ("right of the soil"; a "common law" doctrine), and jus sanguinis ("right of the blood"; a "civil law" doctrine). Under jus soli, a child's citizenship would be acquired by birth within a country's territory, without reference to the political status or condition of the child's parents. Under jus sanguinis, the citizenship of a child would not depend on their place of birth, but instead follow the status of a parent (specifically, the father—or, in the case of an illegitimate birth, the mother). Throughout the history of the United States, the dominant legal principle governing citizenship has been jus soli—the principle that birth within the territorial limits of the United States confers automatic citizenship, excluding slaves before the American Civil War. Although there was no actual definition of citizenship in United States law until after the Civil War, it was generally accepted that anyone born in the United States was automatically a citizen. This applicability of jus soli, via the common law inherited in the United States from England, was upheld in an 1844 New York state case, Lynch v. Clarke, in which it was held that a woman born in New York City, of alien parents temporarily sojourning there, was a U.S. citizen. United States citizenship could also be acquired at birth via jus sanguinis (birth outside the country to a citizen parent), a right confirmed by Congress in the Naturalization Act of 1790. Additionally, alien immigrants to the United States could acquire citizenship via a process of naturalization—though access to naturalization was originally limited to "free white person[s]". African slaves were originally excluded from United States citizenship. In 1857, the United States Supreme Court held in Dred Scott v. Sandford that slaves, former slaves, and their descendants were not eligible under the Constitution to be citizens. Additionally, American Indians were not originally recognized as citizens, since Indian tribes were considered to be outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. government. ### Citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment After the Civil War and the subsequent abolition of slavery, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1866. One provision of this law declared as citizens, not only the freed slaves, but "all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed". Concerns were raised that the citizenship guarantee in the Civil Rights Act might be repealed by a later Congress or struck down as unconstitutional by the courts. Soon after the passage of the Act, Congress drafted the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and sent it to the states for ratification (a process which was completed in 1868). Among the Fourteenth Amendment's many provisions was the Citizenship Clause, which entrenched a guarantee of citizenship in the Constitution by stating, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The Citizenship Clause was proposed by Senator Jacob M. Howard of Michigan on May 30, 1866, as an amendment to the joint resolution from the House of Representatives which had framed the initial draft of the proposed Fourteenth Amendment. The heated debate on the proposed new language in the Senate focused on whether Howard's proposed language would apply more broadly than the wording of the 1866 Civil Rights Act. Howard said that the clause "is simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already, that every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States." He added that citizenship "will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons"—a comment which would later raise questions as to whether Congress had originally intended that U.S.-born children of foreign parents were to be included as citizens. Responding to concerns expressed by Edgar Cowan of Pennsylvania that liberalizing the right to citizenship might result in certain states being taken over by large populations of undesirable foreign immigrants, John Conness of California predicted that the Chinese population in California would likely remain very small, in large part because Chinese immigrants almost always eventually returned to China, and also because very few Chinese women left their homeland to come to the United States. James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin objected that the citizenship provision would not be sufficiently narrow to exclude American Indians from citizenship, and in an attempt to address this issue, he proposed to add a phrase taken from the Civil Rights Act—"excluding Indians not taxed". Although most Senators agreed that birthright citizenship should not be extended to the Indians, a majority saw no need to clarify the issue, and Doolittle's proposal was voted down. Upon its return to the House of Representatives, the proposed Fourteenth Amendment received little debate; no one spoke in opposition to the Senate's addition of the Citizenship Clause, and the complete proposed amendment was approved by the House on June 13, 1866, and declared to have been ratified on July 28, 1868. In 2006, Goodwin Liu, then an assistant professor at the Boalt Hall law school of the University of California, Berkeley, and later an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, wrote that although the legislative history of the Citizenship Clause is "somewhat thin", the clause's central role is evident in the historical context of the post-Civil War period. Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel of the Constitutional Accountability Center (a progressive think tank), argues that both supporters and opponents of the Citizenship Clause in 1866 shared the understanding that it would automatically grant citizenship to all persons born in the United States (except children of foreign ministers and invading armies)—an interpretation shared by Texas Solicitor General James C. Ho. Richard Aynes, dean of the University of Akron School of Law, takes a different view, proposing that the Citizenship Clause had "consequences which were unintended by the framers". ### Citizenship of Chinese persons in the United States Like many other immigrants, Chinese were drawn to the United States—initially to participate in the California Gold Rush of 1849, then moving on to railroad construction, farming, and work in cities. An 1868 treaty (named the Burlingame Treaty after one of the American negotiators) expanded trade and migration between the United States and China. The treaty did not address the citizenship of children born in the United States to Chinese parents, or vice versa. Regarding naturalization (acquisition of citizenship other than at birth), the treaty contained a provision stating that "nothing herein contained shall be held to confer naturalization ... upon the subjects of China in the United States." Chinese immigrants to the United States were met with considerable distrust, resentment, and discrimination almost from the time of their first arrival. Many politicians argued that the Chinese were so different in so many ways that they not only would never (or even could) assimilate into American culture, but that they represented a threat to the country's principles and institutions. In this climate of popular anti-Chinese sentiment, Congress in 1882 enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, which placed limits on Chinese immigration to the United States. (The original Chinese Exclusion Act was amended several times—such as by the 1888 Scott Act and the 1892 Geary Act—and as a result, it is sometimes referred to in the plural as the "Chinese Exclusion Acts".) Chinese already in the U.S. were allowed to stay, but they were ineligible for naturalization and, if they left the U.S. and later wished to return, they needed to apply anew and obtain approval again. Chinese laborers and miners were specifically barred from coming (or returning) to the United States under the terms of the law. ### Citizenship Clause cases prior to Wong Kim Ark After the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and prior to the Wong Kim Ark case, the question of jus soli citizenship for children of aliens arose only with reference to American Indians and Chinese. The Supreme Court ruled in an 1884 case (Elk v. Wilkins) that an Indian born on a reservation did not acquire United States citizenship at birth (because he was not subject to U.S. jurisdiction) and could not claim citizenship later on merely by moving to non-reservation U.S. territory and renouncing his former tribal allegiance. American Indians were subsequently granted citizenship by an act of Congress in 1924. The question of whether the Citizenship Clause applied to persons born in the United States to Chinese immigrants first came before the courts in an 1884 case, In re Look Tin Sing. Look Tin Sing was born in Mendocino, California in 1870 to Chinese immigrants. In 1879, his merchant father sent him to China; but upon returning from China in 1884 at age 14, he was barred from reentering the United States by officials who objected to his not having met the documentation requirements imposed at the time on Chinese immigrants under the Restriction Acts of 1882 or of 1884. Look's case was heard in the federal circuit court for California by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen J. Field and two other federal judges. Lucy E. Salyer, a history professor at the University of New Hampshire, writes that Justice Field "issued an open invitation to all lawyers in the area to give their opinions on the constitutional questions involved" in the case. Field focused on the meaning of the subject to the jurisdiction thereof phrase of the Citizenship Clause, held that Look was indeed subject to U.S. jurisdiction at the time of his birth irrespective of the alien status of his parents, and on this basis ordered U.S. officials to recognize Look as a citizen and allow him to enter the United States. The Look Tin Sing ruling was not appealed and was never reviewed by the Supreme Court. A similar conclusion was reached by the federal circuit court for Oregon in the 1888 cases of Ex parte Chin King and Ex parte Chan San Hee. In an 1892 case, Gee Fook Sing v. U.S., a federal appeals court in California for the same circuit (by this time known as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) concluded that a Chinese man would have been recognized as a United States citizen if he could have presented satisfactory evidence that he had in fact been born in the U.S. This case was also never brought before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court's 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases decision contained the statement that "The phrase, 'subject to its jurisdiction,' was intended to exclude from its operation children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign states born within the United States." However, since the Slaughterhouse Cases did not deal with claims of birthright citizenship, this comment was dismissed in Wong Kim Ark and later cases as a passing remark (obiter dictum) lacking any force as a controlling precedent. As to whether the Wong Kim Ark decision was correct on this point or not, modern scholars are divided. ### Wong Kim Ark Wong Kim Ark, a nonstandard Taishanese romanization of his name in Chinese (Chinese: 黃金德; Taishanese: Wōng Gim-ak), was born in San Francisco, California, at 751 Sacramento Street, the address of a Chinatown business (Quong Sing) maintained by his merchant parents. Various sources state or imply his year of birth as being 1873, 1871, or 1868. His father, Wong Si Ping (Chinese: 黃四平), and mother, Lee Wee (Chinese: 李薇), emigrated from Taishan, Guangdong, China and were not United States citizens, as the Naturalization Law of 1802 had made them ineligible for naturalization either before or after his birth. Wong did not become a merchant like his father, but worked as a cook in Chinatown restaurants. In 1889, Wong Kim Ark, then in his late teens, left for China with his parents, who decided to repatriate to China and to their ancestral village in Taishan, Ong Sing. While in Taishan, Wong Kim Ark married Yee Shee from a village near his familial one. Returning to the United States in 1890, he left behind in Taishan not only his parents but also his wife, who gave birth to their first son after he returned to California. Under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, he as a laborer could not bring his wife to the United States. Upon arrival alone at San Francisco in July 1890, he was readmitted on the ground that he was a native-born citizen of the United States, but only after an unnamed Bureau of Immigration official left a note in his file questioning the veracity of his claim of birth in the United States. In November 1894, Wong sailed to China for another temporary visit, to rejoin his wife at his family's village in Taishan, Guangdong. He met his oldest son for the first time, and his second son was conceived. But when he returned in August 1895 by SS Coptic, he was detained at the Port of San Francisco by the Collector of Customs, who denied him permission to enter the country, arguing that Wong was not a U.S. citizen despite his having been born in the U.S., but was instead a Chinese subject because his parents were Chinese. Wong was confined for five months on steamships off the coast of San Francisco while his case was being tried. According to Salyer, the San Francisco attorney George Collins had tried to persuade the federal Justice Department to bring a Chinese birthright citizenship case before the Supreme Court. An article by Collins was published in the May/June 1895 American Law Review, criticizing the Look Tin Sing ruling by Judge Field and the federal government's unwillingness to challenge it, and advocating the international law view of jus sanguinis citizenship. Eventually, Collins was able to convince U.S. Attorney Henry Foote, who "searched for a viable test case and settled on Wong Kim Ark". With the assistance of legal representation by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Wong Kim Ark challenged the refusal to recognize his birth claim to U.S. citizenship, and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus was filed on his behalf in federal district court. The arguments presented before District Judge William W. Morrow centered on which of two competing interpretations of the phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof in the Citizenship Clause should govern a situation involving a child born in the United States to alien parents. Wong's attorneys argued that the phrase meant "'subject to the laws of the United States,' comprehending, in this expression, the allegiance that aliens owe in a foreign country to obey its laws"—an interpretation, based on the common law inherited by the United States from England, that would encompass essentially everyone born in the U.S. via the principle of jus soli (citizenship based on place of birth). The U.S. government claimed that subject to the jurisdiction thereof meant "to be subject to the political jurisdiction of the United States"—an interpretation, based on international law, which would exclude parents and their children who owed allegiance to another country via the principle of jus sanguinis (citizenship inherited from a parent). The question of the citizenship status of U.S.-born children of alien parents had, up to this time, never been decided by the Supreme Court. The U.S. government argued that Wong's claim to U.S. citizenship was ruled out by the Supreme Court's interpretation of jurisdiction in its 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases ruling, but the district judge concluded that the language in question was obiter dictum and not directly relevant to the case at hand. The government also cited a similar statement in Elk v. Wilkins, but the judge was not convinced by this argument either. Wong's attorneys cited the Look Tin Sing case, and the district judge agreed that in the absence of clear direction from the Supreme Court, this case definitively settled the question of citizenship for Wong and others like him as far as federal courts in the Ninth Circuit were concerned. The judge saw the Look Tin Sing holding reaffirmed in the Gee Fook Sing case and noted further that another part of the Supreme Court's Slaughterhouse Cases opinion said that "it is only necessary that [a man] should be born or naturalized in the United States to be a citizen of the Union." Concluding that the Look Tin Sing decision constituted a controlling precedent in the Ninth Circuit, Judge Morrow ruled that subject to the jurisdiction thereof referred to being subject to U.S. law (the first of the two proposed interpretations). On January 3, 1896, the judge declared Wong Kim Ark to be a citizen because he was born in the U.S. The U.S. government appealed the district court ruling directly to the United States Supreme Court. According to Salyer, government officials—realizing that the decision in this case "was of great importance, not just to Chinese Americans, but to all American citizens who had been born to alien parents", and concerned about the possible effect of an early ruling by the Supreme Court on the 1896 presidential election—delayed the timing of their appeal so as to avoid the possibility of a decision based more on policy concerns than the merits of the case. Oral arguments before the Supreme Court were held on March 5, 1897. Solicitor General Holmes Conrad presented the government's case; Wong was represented before the Court by Maxwell Evarts, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General J. Hubley Ashton, and Thomas D. Riordan. The Supreme Court considered the "single question" in the case to be "whether a child born in the United States, of parent[s] of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China, becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States." It was conceded that if Wong was a U.S. citizen, "the acts of Congress known as the 'Chinese Exclusion Acts,' prohibiting persons of the Chinese race, and especially Chinese laborers, from coming into the United States, do not and cannot apply to him." ## Opinion of the Court In a 6–2 decision issued on March 28, 1898, the Supreme Court held that Wong Kim Ark had acquired U.S. citizenship at birth and that "the American citizenship which Wong Kim Ark acquired by birth within the United States has not been lost or taken away by anything happening since his birth." The opinion of the Court was written by Associate Justice Horace Gray and was joined by Associate Justices David J. Brewer, Henry B. Brown, George Shiras Jr., Edward Douglass White, and Rufus W. Peckham. Upholding the concept of jus soli (citizenship based on place of birth), the Court held that the Citizenship Clause needed to be interpreted in light of English common law, which had included as subjects virtually all native-born children, excluding only those who were born to foreign rulers or diplomats, born on foreign public ships, or born to enemy forces engaged in hostile occupation of the country's territory. The court's majority held that the subject to the jurisdiction phrase in the Citizenship Clause excluded from U.S. citizenship only those persons covered by one of these three exceptions (plus a fourth "single additional exception"—namely, that Indian tribes "not taxed" were not considered subject to U.S. jurisdiction). The majority concluded that none of these four exceptions to U.S. jurisdiction applied to Wong; in particular, they observed that "during all the time of their said residence in the United States, as domiciled residents therein, the said mother and father of said Wong Kim Ark were engaged in the prosecution of business, and were never engaged in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China". Quoting approvingly from an 1812 case, The Schooner Exchange v. M'Faddon, in which Chief Justice John Marshall said, "The jurisdiction of the nation within its own territory is necessarily exclusive and absolute"—and agreeing with the district judge who had heard Wong's original habeas corpus petition that comments in the Slaughterhouse Cases about the citizenship status of children born to non-citizen parents did not constitute a binding precedent—the Court ruled that Wong was a U.S. citizen from birth, via the Fourteenth Amendment, and that the restrictions of the Chinese Exclusion Act did not apply to him. An act of Congress, they held, does not trump the Constitution; such a law "cannot control [the Constitution's] meaning, or impair its effect, but must be construed and executed in subordination to its provisions." The majority opinion referred to Calvin's Case (1608) as stating the fundamental common law principle that all people born within the King's "allegiance" were subjects, including children of "aliens in amity". ### Dissent Chief Justice Melville Fuller was joined by Associate Justice John Harlan in a dissent which, "for the most part, may be said to be predicated upon the recognition of the international law doctrine". The dissenters argued that the history of U.S. citizenship law had broken with English common law tradition after independence—citing as an example the embracing in the U.S. of the right of expatriation (giving up of one's native citizenship) and the rejection of the contrary British doctrine of perpetual allegiance. The dissenters argued that the principle of jus sanguinis (that is, the concept of a child inheriting his or her father's citizenship by descent regardless of birthplace) had been more pervasive in U.S. legal history since independence. Based on an assessment of U.S. and Chinese treaty and naturalization law, the dissenters claimed that "the children of Chinese born in this country do not, ipso facto, become citizens of the United States unless the fourteenth amendment overrides both treaty and statute." Pointing to the language of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, an act of Congress which declared to be citizens "all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed", and which was enacted into law only two months before the Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress, the dissenters argued that "it is not open to reasonable doubt that the words 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof,' in the amendment, were used as synonymous with the words 'and not subject to any foreign power'". In the dissenters' view, excessive reliance on jus soli (birthplace) as the principal determiner of citizenship would lead to an untenable state of affairs in which "the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country, whether of royal parentage or not, or whether of the Mongolian, Malay or other race, were eligible to the presidency, while children of our citizens, born abroad, were not." The dissenters acknowledged that other children of foreigners—including former slaves—had, over the years, acquired U.S. citizenship through birth on U.S. soil. But they still saw a difference between those people and U.S.-born individuals of Chinese ancestry, because of strong cultural traditions discouraging Chinese immigrants from assimilating into mainstream American society, Chinese laws of the time which made renouncing allegiance to the Chinese emperor a capital crime, and the provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Act making Chinese immigrants already in the United States ineligible for citizenship. The question for the dissenters was "not whether [Wong Kim Ark] was born in the U.S. or subject to the jurisdiction thereof ... but whether his or her parents have the ability, under U.S. or foreign law, statutory or treaty-based, to become citizens of the U.S. themselves". In a lecture to a group of law students shortly before the decision was released, Harlan commented that the Chinese had long been excluded from American society "upon the idea that this is a race utterly foreign to us and never will assimilate with us." Without the exclusion legislation, Harlan stated his opinion that vast numbers of Chinese "would have rooted out the American population" in the western United States. Acknowledging the opposing view supporting citizenship for American-born Chinese, he said that "Of course, the argument on the other side is that the very words of the constitution embrace such a case." Commenting on the Wong Kim Ark case shortly after the issuance of the Court's ruling in 1898, San Francisco attorney Marshall B. Woodworth wrote that "the error the dissent apparently falls into is that it does not recognize that the United States, as a sovereign power, has the right to adopt any rule of citizenship it may see fit and that the rule of international law does not furnish [by its own force] the sole and exclusive test of citizenship of the United States". ## Subsequent developments ### Contemporary reactions In an analysis of the Wong Kim Ark case written shortly after the decision in 1898, Marshall B. Woodworth laid out the two competing theories of jurisdiction in the Citizenship Clause and observed that "[t]he fact that the decision of the court was not unanimous indicates that the question is at least debatable." Woodworth concluded, however, that the Supreme Court's ruling laid the issue to rest, saying that "it is difficult to see what valid objection can be raised thereto". Another analysis of the case, published by the Yale Law Journal (1898), favored the dissenting view. An editorial published in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 30, 1898, expressed concern that the Wong Kim Ark ruling (issued two days previously) "may have a wider effect upon the question of citizenship than the public supposes"—specifically, that it might lead to citizenship and voting rights not only for Chinese but also Japanese and American Indians. The editorial suggested that "it may become necessary ... to amend the Federal Constitution and definitely limit citizenship to whites and blacks." ### Impact on Wong Kim Ark's family As a result of Wong Kim Ark's U.S. citizenship being confirmed by the Supreme Court, Wong's eldest son came to the United States from China in 1910, seeking recognition as a citizen via jus sanguinis, but U.S. immigration officials claimed to see discrepancies in the testimony at his immigration hearing and refused to accept Wong's claim that the boy was his son. Wong's other three sons came to the United States between 1924 and 1926 and were accepted as citizens. Because of his citizenship, Wong Kim Ark's youngest son was drafted in World War II, and later made a career in the United States Merchant Marine. ### Citizenship law since Wong Kim Ark Current U.S. law on birthright citizenship (citizenship acquired at birth) acknowledges both citizenship through place of birth (jus soli) and citizenship inherited from parents (jus sanguinis). Before Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court had held in Elk v. Wilkins (1884) that birthplace by itself was not sufficient to grant citizenship to a Native American; however, Congress eventually granted full citizenship to American Indians via the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Restrictions on immigration and naturalization of Chinese were eventually lifted as a consequence of the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943 (also known as the Magnuson Act) and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. ### Wong Kim Ark and later cases In the years since Wong Kim Ark, the concept of jus soli citizenship has "never been seriously questioned by the Supreme Court, and [has] been accepted as dogma by lower courts". Citizenship cases since Wong Kim Ark have dealt mainly with situations falling outside the bounds of the Citizenship Clause—such as citizenship via jus sanguinis for foreign-born children of U.S. citizens, or circumstances under which U.S. citizenship may be lost. The Wong Kim Ark court's affirmation of jus soli as the primary rule determining United States citizenship has been cited in several Supreme Court decisions affirming the citizenship of U.S.-born individuals of Chinese or Japanese ancestry. The court's holding that the language of the Constitution should be understood in light of the common law has been cited in numerous Supreme Court decisions dealing with the interpretation of the Constitution or acts of Congress. The Wong Kim Ark court's understanding of Fourteenth Amendment jurisdiction was also cited in a 1982 case involving the rights of illegal immigrants. An unsuccessful effort was made in 1942 by the Native Sons of the Golden West to convince the Supreme Court to revisit and overrule the Wong Kim Ark ruling, in a case (Regan v. King) challenging the citizenship status of roughly 2,600 U.S.-born persons of Japanese ancestry. The plaintiffs' attorney termed Wong Kim Ark "one of the most injurious and unfortunate decisions" ever handed down by the Supreme Court and hoped the new case would give the court "an opportunity to correct itself". A federal district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals summarily rejected this contention, each citing Wong Kim Ark as a controlling precedent, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Federal appellate courts have repeatedly rejected attempts to cite the Wong Kim Ark opinion's use of the phrase citizenship by birth within the territory in support of claims that persons born in the Philippines during the period of its history when it was a United States possession were born in the U.S. (and thus entitled to U.S. citizenship via the Citizenship Clause). ### Wong Kim Ark and children of illegal immigrants Since the 1990s, controversy has arisen in some circles over the practice of granting automatic citizenship via jus soli to U.S.-born children of illegal aliens—controversially dubbed the "anchor baby" situation by some media correspondents and advocacy groups. Public debate over the issue has resulted in renewed discussion of the Wong Kim Ark decision. Some legal scholars, opposed to the idea that jus soli should apply to the children of illegal aliens, have argued that the Wong Kim Ark precedent does not apply when alien parents are in the country illegally. John C. Eastman, a former dean of the Chapman University School of Law, has argued that Wong Kim Ark does not entitle U.S.-born children of illegal aliens to gain automatic citizenship because, in his opinion, being subject to the jurisdiction of the United States requires a status of "full and complete jurisdiction" that does not apply to aliens who are in the country illegally. Eastman further argues that the Wong Kim Ark decision was fundamentally flawed in the way it dealt with the concept of jurisdiction, and that the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924—which followed Wong Kim Ark—would not have been necessary if Congress had believed "that the Citizenship Clause confers citizenship merely by accident of birth." A similar analysis of the jurisdiction question has been proposed by Professor Peter H. Schuck of the Yale School of Law and Rogers M. Smith, political science professor at Yale. According to law professor Lino Graglia of the University of Texas, even if Wong Kim Ark settled the status of children of legal residents, it did not do so for children of illegal residents; Graglia asserts that the case weighs against automatic birthright for illegal immigrants because the Court denied such citizenship for an analogous group, namely "children of alien enemies, born during and within their hostile occupation". Countering this view, Garrett Epps—a professor of law at the University of Baltimore—has stated that "In the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the United States Supreme Court held that this guarantee [of birthright citizenship] applies to children of foreigners present on American soil, even if their parents are not American citizens and indeed are not eligible to become U.S. citizens." Epps further notes that "as a practical matter, the American-born children receive recognition of their citizenship regardless of the immigration status of their parents." In Epps' opinion, the sponsors of the Fourteenth Amendment "were unwavering in their insistence that the Citizenship Clause was to cover" the children of such "undesirable immigrants" as Chinese and Gypsies, and he views the Wong Kim Ark ruling as an "unexceptionable" matter of reading the drafters' intent. Cristina Rodriguez, a professor at the New York University School of Law, has argued that Wong Kim Ark's situation was "similar in all meaningful respects" to that of children of illegal immigrants, because "they both involve immigrant parents ineligible for full membership in the polity, or immigrant populations that were tolerated but disdained or considered legally erasable." Rodriguez goes on to claim that the Wong Kim Ark ruling was "a powerful rejection of the idea that one's status depends on his parent's status." Noting contrary arguments (such as those put forth by Schuck and Smith), Rodriguez says that "For all practical purposes, this debate has been resolved. Though renewed interest over the last few years in immigration reform has prompted the introduction of legislation in Congress to deny the children of the unauthorized jus soli status, these measures have been political non-starters, in large part because of the widespread view that the Supreme Court would strike down any such legislation as unconstitutional." James C. Ho, currently a judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, has expressed a similar view to that of Rodriguez, saying that "Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. That birthright is protected no less for children of undocumented persons than for descendants of Mayflower passengers." Ho also argues that those who claim the Citizenship Clause was not in fact intended to confer citizenship on the children of aliens are disregarding the substance of the 1866 Senate debate over the proposal to add this language to the Fourteenth Amendment. Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at the UCLA School of Law, wrote in 2018 that "jurisdiction is an entity's power to impose its legal will on someone, and the U.S. unquestionably has the power to do that for children of illegal aliens as much as for children of legal aliens or of citizens." Although Volokh personally disagrees with the concept of "categorical birthright citizenship", he concedes that this was clearly intended by the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause. The Supreme Court's 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision—in a case involving illegal alien children (i.e., children born abroad who had come to the United States illegally along with their parents, and who had no basis for claiming U.S. citizenship)—has also been cited in support of a broad application of Fourteenth Amendment jurisdiction to illegal aliens and their children. A Texas state law had sought to deny such children a public education, and the Texas government had argued that "persons who have entered the United States illegally are not 'within the jurisdiction' of a State even if they are present within a State's boundaries and subject to its laws." A dictum footnote in the Court's majority opinion remarked that according to Wong Kim Ark, the Fourteenth Amendment's phrases subject to the jurisdiction thereof (in the Citizenship Clause) and within its jurisdiction (in the Equal Protection Clause) were essentially equivalent; that both expressions referred primarily to physical presence and not to political allegiance; and that the Wong Kim Ark decision benefited the children of illegal as well as legal aliens. As a result, the court rejected the claim that Fourteenth Amendment "jurisdiction" depended on whether someone had entered the U.S. legally or not. Although the four dissenting justices disagreed with the opinion of the Court regarding whether the children in question had a right to a public education, the dissenters agreed with the majority regarding the applicability of Fourteenth Amendment jurisdiction to illegal aliens. James C. Ho considers Plyler v. Doe to have "put to rest" any doubt over whether the sweeping language regarding jurisdiction in Wong Kim Ark applies to all aliens, even illegal aliens. The United States Department of State (the federal government agency responsible for international relations) considers U.S.-born children of illegal aliens to be subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and thus to have citizenship at birth. The State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual takes the position that this issue was settled by the Wong Kim Ark ruling. Some legal scholars still argue that the Wong Kim Ark ruling should be overturned through legislative means. Richard Posner, a judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, has criticized the granting of citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, suggesting that Congress can and should act to change this policy. Charles Wood, former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on immigration, has also opposed the practice, urging (in 1999) that it be stopped as quickly as possible, either by an act of Congress or a constitutional amendment. However, in the words of Lucy Salyer, "the birthright citizenship doctrine of Wong Kim Ark has remained intact for over a century, still perceived by most to be a natural and well-established rule in accordance with American principles and practice. It is unlikely to be uprooted easily." ### Legislative attempts to overturn Wong Kim Ark In response to public reaction against immigration and fears that U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants could serve as links to permit legal residency and eventual citizenship for family members who would otherwise be ineligible to remain in the country, bills have been introduced from time to time in Congress which have challenged the conventional interpretation of the Citizenship Clause and have sought (thus far unsuccessfully) to actively and explicitly deny citizenship at birth to U.S.-born children of foreign visitors or illegal aliens. As one example among many, the "Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009"—introduced in the House of Representatives of the 111th Congress as H.R. 1868, by Representative Nathan Deal of Georgia—was an attempt to exclude U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants from being considered subject to the jurisdiction of the United States for purposes of the Citizenship Clause. A similar proposal—named the "Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011"—was introduced in the House as H.R. 140 in the (112th) Congress on January 5, 2011 by Representative Steve King of Iowa, and in the Senate as S. 723 on April 5, 2011 by Senator David Vitter of Louisiana. Neither bill was discussed in Congress prior to the end of the session. Since an act of Congress challenging the accepted interpretation of the Citizenship Clause might very possibly be ruled unconstitutional by courts choosing to rely on Wong Kim Ark as a precedent, proposals have also been made to amend the Constitution so as to override the Fourteenth Amendment's language and deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal aliens or foreign visitors. For example, Senator Vitter of Louisiana introduced Senate Joint Resolution (S.J.Res.) 6 in the 111th Congress, but like H.R. 1868, it failed to reach the floor of either house of Congress before the 111th Congress adjourned on December 22, 2010. Vitter reintroduced this same proposed amendment as S.J.Res. 2 in the 112th Congress on January 25, 2011; it was not brought up for discussion or voted upon in either house of Congress. In 2010 and 2011, state legislators in Arizona introduced bills proposing to deny regular birth certificates to children born in Arizona whose parents could not prove they were in the United States legally. Supporters of such legislation reportedly hoped their efforts would cause the issue of birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal aliens to reach the Supreme Court, possibly resulting in a new decision narrowing or overruling Wong Kim Ark. On October 30, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intention to issue an executive order abolishing birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of non-citizens. On this same date, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he would introduce legislation in Congress to accomplish the same thing. Jon Feere, of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), has said that "Several legal scholars and political scientists who have delved into the history of the 14th Amendment have concluded that 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' has no plain meaning". Commenting on Trump's idea of an executive order, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said "you obviously cannot do that.... I think in this case the 14th Amendment is pretty clear, and that would involve a very, very lengthy constitutional process." Mark Krikorian, executive director of the CIS, said that if Trump follows through on his plan, "This will set up the court fight.... the order will be enjoined, [and the] case will eventually reach [the Supreme Court], which then will finally have to rule on the meaning of 'subject to the jurisdiction'." Neither Trump's promised executive order nor Graham's planned bill materialized before Trump left office in January 2021. ## See also - Birthright citizenship in the United States - Chinese American history - Indian Citizenship Act - List of United States immigration legislation - List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 169 - Nativism (politics) - United States nationality law ## General and cited references
40,986,946	Franklin Peale	1,072,051,326	Employee and officer of the Philadelphia Mint	[ "1795 births", "1870 deaths", "Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)", "De Peyster family", "Members of the American Antiquarian Society", "Members of the American Philosophical Society", "Peale family", "People from Philadelphia", "University of Pennsylvania alumni" ]	Benjamin Franklin Peale (born Aldrovand Peale; October 15, 1795 – May 5, 1870) was an employee and officer of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854. Although Peale introduced many innovations to the Mint of the United States, he was eventually dismissed amid allegations he had used his position for personal gain. Peale was the son of painter Charles Willson Peale, and was born in the museum of curiosities that his father ran in Philadelphia. For the most part, Franklin Peale's education was informal, though he took some classes at the University of Pennsylvania. He became adept in machine making. In 1820, he became an assistant to his father at the museum, and managed it after Charles Peale's death in 1827. In 1833, Peale was hired by the Mint, and was sent for two years to Europe to study and report back on coining techniques. He returned with plans for improvement, and designed the first steam-powered coinage press in the United States, installed in 1836. Peale was made Melter and Refiner of the Philadelphia Mint that year, and Chief Coiner three years later upon the retirement of the incumbent, Adam Eckfeldt, who continued in his work without pay. Eckfeldt's labor allowed Peale to run a medal business using Mint property. This sideline eventually caused Peale's downfall: conflicts with Engraver James B. Longacre and Melter and Refiner Richard Sears McCulloh led to Peale being accused of misconduct, and he was dismissed by President Franklin Pierce in 1854. In retirement, Peale continued his involvement in and leadership of many civic organizations; he died in 1870. Numismatic author Q. David Bowers suggests that the facts of Peale's career allow writers to draw very different conclusions about him. ## Early life and career Benjamin Franklin Peale was born October 15, 1795, to painter Charles Willson Peale and his second wife, the former Elizabeth de Peyster. As well as pursuing his art, Charles Peale ran a museum of curiosities housed in Philosophical Hall in Philadelphia, home of the American Philosophical Society. The boy was born in the family quarters in the museum. He was given the name Aldrovand, after the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi. Charles Peale recorded family births on the flyleaf of a copy of Matthew Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters, rather than in a Bible, and after recording "Aldrovand" added the notation, "if he likes that name when he comes of age". The father was a member of the American Philosophical Society, and in February 1796 brought his young son to a meeting, and asked the members to select another name for the child. They decided on Benjamin Franklin Peale, naming the boy after the Society's founder, Benjamin Franklin. Society legend holds that the boy was given the name while placed in the chair of the president of the Society, which had been donated by Franklin. Franklin Peale was one of sixteen children his father would have by his three wives. Elizabeth Peale died when Franklin was eight years old, but his father soon remarried, and the child was thereafter cared for by his stepmother. He was given little classroom education, though he did spend some time at a local school in nearby Bucks County, as well as at Germantown Academy and the University of Pennsylvania. For the most part, his education was informal, as was usual in the Peale family, with the student given the means to study what interested him, or what he appeared to be good at. In Franklin Peale's case, he made toys as a boy, and surveyed his father's farm near Germantown. Although he lacked the artistic talent of some of his brothers, such as Titian Peale, he proved mechanically inclined. At age 17, Peale began to work for the Delaware cotton factory of William Young, on the Brandywine River, learning the making of machines. He was an apt student, becoming adept as a turner, founder, and draftsman. He was tolerated in his desire for a mechanical career by his father, who considered it a foolish whim. Within a year, one of the Hodgson brothers, who ran a nearby machine shop, described Peale as highly capable with tools. At age 19 Peale returned to Germantown, where, having designed and supervised the installation of the machinery for a cotton factory there, he was put in charge, and continued to manage the factory for several years. He then moved to nearby Philadelphia, and worked for the firm of John & Coleman Sellers, which made machinery for card sticking. On April 24, 1815, Peale, still a minor at age 19, married Eliza Greatrake without his father's consent. Almost immediately, it became evident she had mental problems. Although Eliza bore Peale a child within the first year of the marriage (a daughter, Anna), she thereafter left him, returning to live with her mother, who had her committed to Pennsylvania Hospital as a "lunatic". The Peale family began a lengthy effort to show that Eliza Peale was mad when she married Franklin, a ground for annulment. With aid from the testimony of Captain Allen McLane, they were successful, and the annulment was granted on March 22, 1820. Franklin Peale was required to post assets as security for the support of his former wife; his sister Sophy lent him some of her stock in the museum for that purpose. In 1820, Peale left factory management to assist his aging father in running the museum, and remained there for over a decade. When Charles Willson Peale died in 1827, Franklin became the manager of the museum, and like his siblings, inherited stock in it. He not only maintained the exhibits, but added to them, contributing a "curious speaking toy" as well as the model for an early locomotive, which was used to draw two small cars in the museum, with seating for four people. At the time, the museum was located in the Old State House (today, Independence Hall), and Peale worked out a system for using the State House bell to inform fire companies of the location of a blaze. Peale was one of the founders of The Franklin Institute in 1824, one of several mechanics' institutes that came into being in the early 1820s to provide working men with technical education. It quickly became important and influential, organizing an exhibition of American manufactured goods that October, one of at least 26 such shows that it put on in the first 34 years of its existence. Peale taught natural history, mechanics (illustrating his lectures with models and drawings), and chemistry, livening the talks with experiments. He was for many years actively involved with The Franklin Institute, writing articles for its Journal and serving on key committees. ## Mint employee and officer (1833–1854) ### Hiring and Europe mission The second building to house the Philadelphia Mint opened in 1833, with up-to-date technology except in the coining process. For this, it used the transplanted machinery of its predecessor, using human muscle power to strike coins. Although the Mint wanted all coins to be identical to others of the same denomination, the use of the screw press was an impediment to this, as the force used to impress the design on the coins was not uniform. Additionally, the coinage dies were made by hand, leading to differences between coins of the same year struck from different dies. This state of affairs was unsatisfactory to the director, Samuel Moore, who had for several years contemplated purchasing a modern set of steam machinery for the production of coins from the Soho Mint in Birmingham, England, founded by coining pioneer Matthew Boulton. Moore instead decided to engage a new employee and send him on a special tour of European mints and refineries, in order to learn the best features of each and bring the knowledge home for use at the Philadelphia facility. The individual would be given the title of Assistant to the Assayer, Jacob R. Eckfeldt. Moore obtained the approval of Treasury Secretary Louis McLane and an appropriation of \$7,000 for the purpose. Moore, in a letter to McLane, noted that sending an agent to Europe to gather technology had been discussed in the past, but proposals had foundered over the difficulty of finding a person both competent enough to undertake the trip successfully and not too busy to spend a year or more in Europe. At the recommendation of the director's first cousin, Robert M. Patterson, Moore hired Peale for the position. According to Patterson, "I do not know any man more likely to succeed in such a mission. His skill, his perseverance, his address all fit him for the errand." Peale was willing to go, writing, "a variety of circumstances render me very desirous of vacating the situation that I have held for many years as Manager of the Phil<sup>a</sup> Museum, it will therefore be agreeable to change even at a pecuniary sacrifice." Peale departed from New York for Le Havre on May 8, 1833, arriving in Paris late in the month. At this time, it was only certain that Peale would visit Paris—a visit to England, with instruction at local mints and refineries, was still under discussion. Peale had been instructed to learn "parting," a newly developed method for separating gold and silver. This process, also dubbed refining, is necessary because nuggets that contain gold also contain some silver, and the latter metal must be removed before the gold can be alloyed with copper for coining. The older method of removing silver involved the use of nitric and sulphuric acids, and was dangerous and expensive. Director Moore also instructed Peale to gain the method of assaying silver by the "humid process" (titration), and to learn everything he could of coining technology and how it was powered by steam. Moore warned, "a very material object of your mission is to be regarded as unaccomplished, until you have become familiar with everything requisite for directing the formation of an establishment de novo [from nothing] ... and until you shall have acquired a good share of adroitness in the actual manipulations ... Whatever can be added to our information in regard to the treatment of the precious metals, and Mint processes and machinery is within the scope of your inquiries." Moore asked that, if Peale had any time remaining, to look into other technologies that might be useful to the United States, such as the gas illumination of cities. With the aid of the United States Minister to France, Edward Livingston, Peale gained permission to study closely the workings of the Monnaie de Paris. The staff there was cooperative, and Peale was able to learn the "humid" method from watching the assayer as he verified the silver content of the coins from the French branch mints. Peale's notes were supplemented by detailed engravings of all the fixtures used in the process, published and sold by the Paris mint at an expense of 98 francs 50 centimes, which Peale deemed worth the purchase on the US government's behalf. Peale also purchased a set of the apparatus for the humid method, made and sold by the mint; Peale paid 500 francs for this. Some of the machinery that would be installed on Peale's return to Philadelphia was based on what he saw in Paris. He sketched the Monnaie de Pariss Thonnelier model coin presses. He also copied the Paris facility's Tour á portrait reducing lathe. He could not learn parting there as the facility contracted the process to private refineries; attempts to gain permission to learn the process at these facilities failed when their owners demanded huge sums, believing that Peale, as a government agent, was flush with money. Peale journeyed to London, hoping that Moore's connections could get him instruction in the parting process. Although he visited the Royal Mint, he found officials there unhelpful and unwilling to teach him. In England, Peale studied the method of assaying via the humid process at Percival N. Johnson's refinery, and in 1835 introduced it to the Philadelphia Mint, replacing assaying by cupellation. Peale wrote that he "cannot speak in too high terms of Mr. Percival Johnson ... I have derived much useful information in his refinery particularly his method of separating silver, gold and paladium [palladium] by a shortened process". While in London, Peale ordered a delicate balance scale from his friend, expatriate American Joseph Saxton, and later induced Saxton to return to the United States and work for the Philadelphia Mint. Peale returned to France where, as the refiners wanted payment for teaching him the French method of parting, he learned it by observing the assayer at the branch mint in Rouen. He was not completely happy with this, as he was not allowed to practice it himself, or to experiment, but felt that he could reproduce what he had seen on his return to Philadelphia. Peale also visited the German mints of Dresden, Stuttgart, and Karlsruhe. In Germany, parting was done in iron vessels; although Peale noted these were cheaper than platinum ones, he preferred the latter, writing in December 1834 that use of iron "sometimes leads to losses that are embarrassing." He also visited Freiberg, in Saxony, observing the smelting and refining of lead ore. ### Return and results On June 17, 1835, Peale submitted his report to Moore, 276 pages of his observations at the various European mints he had visited, and his comments and recommendations. He warned, "in the organization of Mints in both France and England that there are offices and incumbents, that are useless, and who render no services of importance for their appointment". He recommended favorably the French practice of not appointing a coin designer, but having competitions judged jointly by Mint officers and by artists. Peale also urged the passage of a single, comprehensive Mint Act, to replace the scattered bits of legislation passed over the years; this was done in 1837. One recommendation submitted by Peale, but not adopted, was to have the Mint set up a guaranty department, to hallmark items made of gold or silver by the private sector as public assurance of their quality, as done by the Goldsmiths Company in London. He also recommended that the Philadelphia Mint strike medals, as did its French counterpart. He suggested that the Mint establish a museum of coins and coining, as the Paris facility had. Peale returned from Europe with plans he had drawn for a steam-powered coinage press, borrowing the steam machinery design from English mints and the toggle joint technology from French ones. In September, Patterson, by then Mint Director in place of the retired Moore, wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury, "we have just completed under the superintendence of Mr. Peale, a model of a coining press from plans which he saw in successful operation in France and in Germany, and possessing many very manifest advantages over the Screw press now applied at the Mint. Among these one of the most important is that [it] admits the immediate and easy application of steam power." Director Patterson called March 23, 1836 "an epoch in our coinage". To take advantage of the new press's increased production capacity, Peale designed a new machine to cut planchets, or blanks, from metal strips. This machine remained in use, almost unmodified, until 1902. Another of the steam-powered machines Peale had installed on his return was a milling machine, which was used to "upset" the coin—to form a rim around it. A Contamin portrait lathe was imported from France and installed at the Philadelphia Mint in 1837. Prior to this time, all coin dies for American coins had to be made individually, by hand at Philadelphia. Once the lathe was installed, they could be reproduced mechanically by the pantograph-like device. The first pieces produced by steam power at the Philadelphia Mint, commemorative medals, were struck on March 23, 1836. The first steam press there then began minting cents, with silver and gold coinage first struck there by steam towards the end of the year. Built by the Philadelphia firm of Merrick, Agnew, and Taylor to Peale's design, the press was able to coin 100 pieces per minute. After being retired from government service, the press was used at The Franklin Institute to strike miniature medals for many years, and in 2000 was moved to the American Numismatic Association's Money Museum in Colorado Springs. Patterson wrote, > The performance of the press, in which the power of the lever is substituted for that of the screw, has answered all our expectations. Since that time, all the copper coins have been struck by this press, and it has been lately used with success for coining half dollars. The workmen are now engaged in making other steam presses; and as these are completed, the coining by human labor be abandoned, and the work that can be executed in ... the Mint will be greatly increased. Numismatist Roger Burdette notes, "in most respects, Peale seems to have selected the best from European examples, and discarded all unnecessary complexity and ineffective motion." Although minor improvements were made from time to time, these machines struck the nation's coinage for the remainder of Peale's life. According to numismatist David Lange, "the fact-finding journey of [future] Philadelphia Mint Melter and Refiner Franklin Peale through the mints of Europe from 1833 to 1835 assured that United States coins would be second to none in terms of technology." Lange, in his history of the Mint, notes that though Peale ended his career by being fired amid accusations of impropriety, upon his return from Europe, "he was the bearer of many innovations devised in the mints of Europe and now made available to the United States Mint at Philadelphia". Robert Patterson III, son of the Mint Director under whom Peale served for many years, wrote that through Peale's report, "our Mint was placed in full possession of all that was then worthy to be known" from foreign mints and refineries. Patterson indicated that he had often thought, as he passed through the Philadelphia Mint's coining department, that a plaque should be set up to Peale reproducing the tribute to Sir Christopher Wren in London's St. Paul's Cathedral, Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice (if you seek his monument, look around you). ### Melter and Refiner Joseph Cloud had held the position of Melter and Refiner of the Philadelphia Mint since 1797. The Washington administration appointee resigned, effective at the start of 1836. Peale was nominated as Cloud's replacement by President Andrew Jackson on December 21, 1835, and was confirmed by the Senate on January 5, 1836. On taking office as Melter and Refiner, Peale implemented the changes he had recommended based on what he had seen in Europe. He also wanted additional mechanization in the mint's Coining Department, headed by Chief Coiner Adam Eckfeldt, whose son Jacob was the Philadelphia Mint's Assayer. Adam Eckfeldt had helped strike some of the first federal coins in 1792 and had been in his office since 1814. Eckfeldt was reluctant to adopt all Peale's recommendations, telling Peale's nephew, engineer George Sellers, "If Mr. Peale had full swing he would turn everything upside down ... he wants something better and no doubt he would have it if we were starting anew." As improvements crept in despite Eckfeldt's caution, the Chief Coiner saw their value and became more enthusiastic, noting the savings in working time afforded by the Contamin lathe, which had been imported from France after being seen by Peale there. To help deal with the increased output from the Philadelphia Mint, Peale invented a piling-box, allowing planchets or coins to be quickly stacked, and a counting board, speeding the work of the clerks. The counting board remained in use until the mints installed mechanical counters in 1934. One of the innovations that Peale introduced as Melter and Refiner was the use of salt in parting, using it to recover the silver dissolved in nitric acid when gold bullion was being purified. Previously, this could only be done by using copper, a process that generated dangerous and offensive fumes. Table salt (sodium chloride), dissolved in nitric acid, caused silver chloride to precipitate, which could be recovered as metallic silver through the use of zinc and sulfuric acid. This was a further refinement of the parting process; the director of the Monnaie de Paris, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, had first used a salt solution as an easy, accurate means of assaying silver. A Senate report in 1873 stated that Peale's advancement of this process "attests to his genius, enterprise, and high attainments". When there were calls in Congress in 1836 for a two-cent piece to be made of debased silver, or billon, Patterson had Peale, working with Second Engraver Christian Gobrecht, strike pattern coins to show that the coins would be easily counterfeited using base metals. In 1835, Congress had authorized branch mints at Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to strike into American coin the gold being mined in or entering the country through the South. Despite the rich gold deposits nearby, both Charlotte and Dahlonega were in areas lacking men with technical training; accordingly trained personnel would have to be sent from Philadelphia. New buildings were to be constructed. In August 1837, Mint Director Patterson received word of problems at both sites, including a partial collapse of the Dahlonega building. He wrote to Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury, proposing "to send, to both the Gold mints, a confidential & skillful person, who may ... give instructions as to correcting the errors, that have been committed ... I know of no one competent to this task, except our Melter & Refiner, Mr. Peale." Woodbury agreed, informing Patterson, "you are authorized to send Mr. Peak. [sic]" Peale, accompanied by his daughter Anna, arrived in Charlotte on September 23, 1837. He found that necessary equipment had not yet arrived, and without it he could do little. Peale ordered a search made, and reported to Patterson that he was "in a trap" in "this fag end of creation" in a town where "the only active beings are the hogs". Peale spent time visiting the mines on which the Charlotte Mint would rely for bullion. He proposed to Patterson that he continue to New Orleans after Dahlonega, to which the Mint Director replied that he would "exercise my veto upon your proposed long delay" and "your presence [in Philadelphia] cannot be dispensed with". On October 27, much of the missing equipment arrived in Charlotte, and Peale was able to complete his mission there and leave for Dahlonega on November 10. Following a difficult journey over primitive mountain roads, Franklin and Anna Peale arrived there on November 15. After assessing the problems at the nascent Dahlonega Mint, Peale reported to Patterson, > The workmanship of the Mint edifice is abominable, a letter might be three times filled with the details of errors and intentional mal construction, the first and greatest of which might be traced to Philada, in ordering a brick building in a country where there is no clay, the material employed for the brick making being the red soil of the Gold region, a decomposed granite ... put into brick by men who certainly deserve diplomas for Botching. Nevertheless, Peale recommended that construction on the building continue, as he deemed Congress unlikely to pass another appropriation for construction. The Peales left Dahlonega at the end of November. On their way north, Anna was slightly injured when the train in which they were riding through Virginia derailed. Peale was back at his desk at the Philadelphia Mint on December 23, 1837. Roger Burdette discusses the influence Peale had on the Mint in the 1830s: > In mid-1835 we find Philadelphia engineer/machinist Benjamin Franklin Peale discarding most of the complexity and tradition attendant to press design work of Thonnelier in Paris, Uhlhorn in Karlsruhe, and Boulton in London. Peale went to basic principles of equipment used at these great mints, and adapted it to the American model of efficiency. Equipment had to be robust and easy to repair. The vast distances of North America made it impossible to have mechanical experts at each mint, sitting, waiting for something to break ... The Mint Bureau of 1839 had to insist on similar ways of processing gold and silver [at the four mints], even if these processes were not the most efficient or inexpensive. As with equipment, we can again see Franklin Peale borrowing from the Royal Mint and Paris Mint such production methods that worked well, and discarding those of questionable utility in the American mints. ### Chief Coiner #### Appointment and early years When Adam Eckfeldt retired in 1839, he recommended Peale as his successor. As the Senate was not sitting, Peale was given a recess appointment as Chief Coiner of the Philadelphia Mint by President Martin Van Buren on March 27, 1839. On January 23, 1840, after the Senate reconvened, Van Buren nominated Peale; the Senate gave its approval on February 17. Despite his retirement, Eckfeldt continued to come to the mint every day until shortly before his death in February 1852, performing the function of Chief Coiner and leaving Peale with time on his hands. Soon after his appointment, Peale began to engage in a private business on the Mint's premises. He did this by designing, striking and selling medals for private commission, using government property and labor, and the Philadelphia Mint's facilities. Peale's enterprise was very profitable, as his expenses were minimal. This activity took place with the knowledge of the other officers of the Philadelphia Mint, most of whom were Peale's friends and relatives. Clients included corporations as well as one couple celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary. According to Robert E. Wright in his history of Philadelphia as an early financial center, the legality of Peale's business was unclear, but "the uncertainty of the situation made it almost inevitable that someone would make a stink on [Philadelphia's] Chestnut Street." This activity has been variously characterized by numismatic writers. According to coin dealer and numismatic author Q. David Bowers, "Peale started to abuse his position and privileges, in effect stealing services from the government". Burdette notes, "Overall, it appears that Peale used mint equipment and employees to make medals as instructed by Congress and the mint director, and to produce copies from private and official dies for sale to anyone who was interested. In the case of private sales, Peale seems to have used government metal, then reimbursed the bullion accounts when he collected for the medal. Profits were not accounted for in mint ledgers and it is unknown how much went to Peale, others at the mint or into the mint's Cabinet of Coins. The total amount was probably not large." After scalemaker Saxton left the Mint Service in 1844, much of the work of maintaining and modifying the sensitive balances for which Saxton was responsible fell to Peale. The Chief Coiner made a number of improvements to the scales, which he wrote up for an article in the Journal of The Franklin Institute in 1847. These balances, sensitive to .0001 troy ounces (0.00011 oz; 0.0031 g), were protected by plate glass from air currents and dust. #### Conflict with Longacre In 1844, Engraver Gobrecht died, and was replaced by James B. Longacre. The new incumbent had obtained his appointment through the influence of South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. He had no relationship to the families that dominated the Philadelphia Mint, such as the Pattersons and Eckfeldts, and the connection with the Southerner Calhoun was objectionable to Peale, Patterson, and their associates. They would have preferred no replacement for Gobrecht, with the New York engraver Charles Cushing White or others they knew and trusted brought in on contract as necessary. This would ensure Peale's highly profitable medal business was not threatened. Additionally, Longacre had no training, prior to his appointment, in coin or medal design, being a successful plate engraver, and Lange states that the Mint officers were "understandably" prejudiced against him. Peale sometimes worked on medals for the government, taking care to exclude Longacre from the process. During the Mexican–American War, Congress voted a gold medal to Major General Zachary Taylor for his victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Peale engraved the design from a portrait by William Carl Brown and a model by John T. Battin. After Taylor became president, Peale designed his Indian Peace Medal; Peale also engraved Indian Peace Medals for presidents John Tyler and James Polk, working from designs or models by other men. In 1846, Peale designed and engraved the Coast Survey Medal (also called the George M. Bache medal). Peale believed that all national commemorative medals, those authorized by Congress, should have their dies lodged at the Philadelphia Mint, and be struck there, and with Patterson's support urged the issuance of medals for presidents for whom no Indian Peace Medal had been designed, such as John Adams and William Henry Harrison. This was done, but not in Peale's time—for example, the William Henry Harrison medal was designed by later Assistant and Chief Engraver George T. Morgan. These works, like Peale's Indian Peace Medals, form part of the Mint's Presidential series, which continues to the present day. Peale's improvements had made it possible for dies to be reproduced mechanically, relieving the Mint's Engraver of much of his routine duties. In the absence of a need for new designs or denominations, Longacre had little to do but add the dates to dies. Some of these insertions were blundered, and modern-day numismatic scholars, such as R. W. Julian, have wondered if, as Peale and those who worked under him also sometimes inserted dates into dies, these mistakes were done intentionally in an attempt to bring discredit on Longacre. Nevertheless, Longacre's first few years at the Philadelphia Mint passed without serious conflict with Peale. All this changed in 1849, when Congress authorized a gold dollar and a double eagle (\$20 piece). This made Longacre the center of attention at the mint, as he would be responsible for producing the new designs and dies. It also brought him into direct conflict with Peale: the Engraver would need to use the Contamin lathe, which was necessary to Peale's medal business. Peale sought to sabotage Longacre's attempts, with the goal of having him dismissed, and such work contracted for outside the government, allowing the medal business to continue undisturbed. In this, Peale had the support of Director Patterson. As Longacre worked to complete the two new coins, he had to deal with interference from Peale. In early 1849, according to a letter written by Longacre the following year, the Engraver was approached by a member of the Mint staff, warning him that another officer (plainly Peale) sought to have the engraving work done outside the Mint, making Longacre redundant. Longacre's response to the information was to spend much of March 1849 preparing the dies for the gold dollar, at some cost to his health, as he later related. Longacre proceeded with work on the double eagle through late 1849, and described the obstacles set in his path by Peale: > The plan of operation selected for me was to have an electrotype mould made from my model, in copper, to serve as a pattern for a cast in iron. The operations of the galvanic battery for this purpose were conducted in the apartments of the chief coiner. The galvanic process failed, my model was destroyed in the operation. I had, however, taken the precaution to make a cast in plaster ... From this cast, as the only alternative, I procurred [sic] a metallic one which, however, was not perfect; but I thought I should be able to correct the imperfections in the engraving of the die ... this was a laborious task, but seasonably completed, entirely by my own hand. The die then had to be hardened in the coining department; it unluckily split in the process. According to numismatic historian Don Taxay, "under the circumstances, Peale's adoption of a process not normally used at the Mint, together with its catastrophic failure, seems more than coincidental." When Longacre completed the double eagle dies, they were rejected by Peale, who stated that the design was engraved too deeply to fully impress the coin, and the pieces would not stack properly. Taxay, however, noted that the one surviving 1849 double eagle displays no such problems, and by appearance would be level in a stack. Peale complained to Patterson, who wrote to Treasury Secretary William M. Meredith asking for Longacre's removal on December 25, 1849, on the ground he could not make proper dies. Meredith was apparently willing to have Longacre fired, but relented after the Engraver journeyed to Washington and met with him personally. Beginning in 1849, there were calls for a silver three-cent piece, and pattern coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint. Longacre's design featured a shield within a six-pointed star on one side. Peale offered a competing design, showing a Liberty cap, very similar to one Gobrecht had made in 1836 when a gold dollar had been proposed. Patterson preferred Peale's design, but reluctantly endorsed Longacre's, since it was in lower relief and could be struck more easily, and Treasury Secretary Thomas Corwin approved the Engraver's work. The three-cent piece went into circulation in 1851. In 1850, with the Mint faced with a vast increase in gold deposits due to the California Gold Rush, Peale suggested that the Mint hire women to supplement the staff assigned to weigh and adjust gold planchets, or coin blanks, describing the work as "being entirely suited to their capacity". The Mint did hire 40 women, who were (as of 1860) paid \$1.10 per ten-hour day, a sum considered generous. The Mint's hiring of women was the first time the American government had employed women to fill specific jobs at regular wages. In 1851, Peale designed a new steam engine for the Philadelphia Mint, using a "steeple" design without exterior pipes. Although designed to generate 100 horsepower, wear soon reduced its capacity. American journals of engineering mentioned Peale's latest work without comment; British journals pointed out the defects and suggested that time had passed Peale by. #### Downfall Not all of Peale's innovations were successful. He caused the Mint to purchase a large lathe for turning heavy metal rolls, which cost the government at least \$2,000 and that Peale conceded had never worked and likely never would. He bought from his nephew, George Sellers, a set of molds for casting ingots and accompanying equipment, which proved unusable as they were not adapted to the Mint's machinery. A drawbench made by Peale at the cost of at least \$1,500 proved dangerous as the piston would drive with tremendous force against the end of its cylinder, causing a concussion and endangering those nearby. "Peale's machine gun" was put aside by Mint staff as useless soon after its introduction. An 1853 attempt by Peale to convert the Philadelphia Mint's wood-burning annealing furnaces to use anthracite coal destroyed the furnaces, cost the government several thousand dollars, and led to Peale being ordered to undertake no more such projects. One invention that worked well was the "noisy sofa"—sitting on it set off a trumpet blast. Constructed at the cost of about \$200 in government funds, it graced in turn the offices of Peale and Patterson. These activities were financed through a provision of the Mint Act of 1837 that Patterson interpreted to allow the Mint to decline to give credit for small amounts of silver in gold deposits. This practice was twice approved by the then-Secretary of the Treasury, in 1837 and 1849. Small deposits of bullion were rounded down to be divisible by \$5, with the surplus kept and used at the discretion of Mint officials. This, and similar practices whereby officials financed activities without an appropriation from Congress, were brought to an end after Peale proposed a \$20,800 renovation of part of the Philadelphia Mint building in 1850, and ran over budget by \$12,000. To pay this, Patterson used the profits, or seignorage, projected to be made from the new three-cent pieces. When Congress heard of this, it passed the Act of February 21, 1853, requiring the Mint Director to regularly pay the seignorage into the Treasury. One flaw in Peale's medal business was his need to acquire gold and silver bullion within the Mint. This was paid for once the medal sold, and there was no problem while the Melter and Refiner of the Philadelphia Mint was Peale's friend Jonas R. McClintock. But in 1846, McClintock resigned and was replaced by Richard Sears McCulloh. At first, McCulloh gave Peale whatever gold and silver he needed without question, but came to object to doing so. Peale and McCulloh made a deal whereby the struck medal would remain in McCulloh's custody until Peale had replaced the bullion, but Peale objected that the procedure was "inconvenient". Beginning in August 1849, McCulloh refused further requests from Peale for bullion, and Peale instead gained it from the Mint's Treasurer. Peale did his best to make McCulloh's position difficult, such as refusing to accept bullion for coins except from McCulloh personally. In 1850, McCulloh resigned. In November of that year, the former official published an article in the New York Evening Express alleging that those employed at the Mint had transformed "it into a workshop for their gain". President Millard Fillmore sent the article to Secretary of the Treasury Corwin for an explanation; Corwin forwarded it to Patterson, who confirmed that Peale was running a private medal business on the premises, but stated that there was no interference with the performance of Peale's duties as Chief Coiner. Taxay noted that this was only true because the retired Adam Eckfeldt was still performing the duties of that office without salary, and this ceased in February 1852 when Eckfeldt died after a brief illness. The death of his predecessor caused Peale to write "a frantic letter" to the new Mint Director (Patterson had retired), George N. Eckert, stating that he urgently needed an assistant. McCulloh's campaign had continued; on August 1, 1851, he wrote directly to President Fillmore, accusing Peale of "lavish and unnecessary expenditure of public money", and stating that Peale was unfit to hold office. He alleged that Mint workmen had been detailed to make repairs to Peale's house while being paid for their time by the government. One man subsequently stated that he and another Mint employee spent two days working on Peale's house; another alleged that whenever the archery club of which Peale was a member met, Mint employees were sent to help with the arrangements. McCulloh also accused Peale of having Mint workers make furniture for his use when they would otherwise be idle. Corwin ordered an investigation, which dragged on for the next year and a half. Peale entered a statement in April 1852, alleging that McCulloh was accusing the Director and the accounting staff of "gross neglect of duty", and that McCulloh's attack on Peale's medal business was a slight on "the late venerable and much loved Adam Eckfeldt", whose precedent Peale stated he was following. Peale wrote in his defense, "I boldly claim to have done for the Mint and my country, much that will entitle me gratitude." Eckert was friendly towards Peale, and worked to discredit the accusations. McCulloh urged Corwin to review the correspondence himself, and the Secretary agreed, but both Corwin and Eckert left office in early 1853 with no action having been taken against Peale. McCulloh that summer published a pamphlet, The Proceedings of the Late Director of the Mint in Relation to the Official Misconduct of Franklin Peale Esq., Chief Coiner and Other Abuses in the Mint, printing much of the correspondence. This tract was reviewed by the new Mint Director, James Ross Snowden; he and the new Treasury Secretary, James Guthrie, decided to forbid private enterprises on the Mint's property. In August 1854, Guthrie issued regulations banning the practice. Taxay recorded that the new policy "seem[s] to have been ill-received in certain quarters of the Mint" but that as not all records are extant, the specifics are uncertain. According to Taxay, > It is clear, however, that Snowden wrote to Guthrie preferring charges against Peale, and that Guthrie in turn wrote to the President [Franklin Pierce] who, having no one else to write to, dismissed Peale at once ... Peale left the Mint on December 2, [1854,] never again to return. The reasons for Peale's firing were not publicly announced, and his friends and allies, such as William DuBois (Adam Eckfeldt's son-in-law and the Assistant Assayer (later Assayer) of the Philadelphia Mint) stated that it was so President Pierce could have the position to fill from the Democratic Party. Taxay noted that this explanation ignored the fact that Martin Van Buren, under whose administration Peale had been appointed Chief Coiner, was also a Democrat as president. Nevertheless, an 1873 Senate report on Peale's request for compensation after being dismissed stated, "why such a valuable officer was displaced does not appear". ## Later years, death, and assessment After his departure from the Philadelphia Mint, Peale initially retired from all employment. In 1864, he returned to the private sector as president of the Hazelton Coal and Rail Road Company, in which he had long been involved, remaining in that position through 1867. Civic organizations of which he was president included the Musical Fund Society of Pennsylvania and the Institution for Instruction to the Blind. He had been elected a manager of the latter organization in 1839, served on many important committees, and was elected its president in 1863, still holding the office at his death in 1870. A member of the American Philosophical Society since 1833, he served as one of its curators from 1838 to 1845 and from 1847 until 1870. A longtime member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, which his father had helped to found, he served as one of its directors through much of his retirement. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1865. In his later years, Peale spent some of his autumns at the Delaware Water Gap north of Philadelphia, searching for Stone Age artifacts and amassing a major collection. Peale catalogued his finds and added narrative descriptions, bequeathing the collection to the American Philosophical Society. An adept archer, he helped found the United Bowmen club, members of whom carried his casket to his grave, at his instructions. He was also, at his death, president of the Skater's Club. He was a lifelong skater, and developed a method for extracting a skater who broke through the ice that saved many lives. Peale was among those consulted in 1870 by Treasury Secretary George Boutwell in preparing the legislation to reform the Mint that became the Coinage Act of 1873. Peale advocated for the office of the Mint Director to be moved from Philadelphia to Washington; this was enacted. He supported the abolition of the gold dollar and the three-dollar piece, but these coins were not ended by Congress until 1890. He denigrated recent coin issues (many designed by Longacre, who had died in 1869), saying that their designs have, "hitherto been lamentably, if not disgracefully deficient". Peale married twice; his first marriage to Eliza Greatrake, contracted in 1815 while he was still a minor, produced one daughter, Anna, who survived him. His second, childless, marriage was to Caroline Girard Haslam, a widow, and the niece of the wealthy Stephen Girard; it lasted from 1839 to his death. He enjoyed the company of children, making toys by his own hand for them. Peale was in declining health in his final months, but was still able to continue his activities, and only a short illness preceded his death at his home at 1131 Girard Street in Philadelphia, on May 5, 1870. His final words were, "If this is death, it is as I wished, perfect peace, perfect comfort, perfect joy." Mint Director Henry Linderman stated in 1873 of Peale, "Although Mr. Peale undoubtedly received the cooperation of [Patterson and others], the inventions and improvements were peculiarly Mr. Peale's. I have no doubt whatever on that point. They were of almost incalculable value to the public service." George G. Evans, in his late 19th century history of the Mint, described Peale, "his mildness, integrity, gentlemanly bearing and high moral and mental culture constituted him a model officer". Walter Breen deemed Peale, "brilliant but unscrupulous". Burdette writes of Peale and his effect on the Mint, "during the generation from about 1830 to 1855, the greatest influence to operations and production came from one man: Benjamin Franklin Peale. He was the consummate 'machinist' of the day at a time when this term encompassed imaginative design, planning, construction and improvement of working processes ... While he had the complete support of mint directors Moore and Patterson, he was also held in high esteem by the common mint workers and Philadelphia's scientific elite. Results of many of his ideas lasted a century or more, until growth in population made nineteenth century engineering insufficient for modern coinage needs." According to Bowers, "today Peale is one of several Mint people who can be viewed from many different angles, each perspective sometimes leading certain writers to draw widely differing conclusions." After his dismissal, Peale petitioned Congress for \$30,000 as payment for improvements and inventions he had made for the government. The Senate twice, in 1858 and 1860, passed legislation to pay Peale \$10,000, but the House of Representatives declined to vote on it. In 1870, it was introduced in the Senate again, but did not pass. Legislation to compensate Peale in the amount of \$10,000 was enacted on March 3, 1873, after his death—the act was, according to its title, in relief of Anna E. Peale, Franklin Peale's daughter. The following month, Caroline Peale, Franklin's widow, gave the Mint a marble bust of her late husband, "to be set upon a pedestal, in some position, where it may be open to the inspection of visitors and preserve his memory to future generations." Taxay, writing in 1966, stated that he had been unable to ascertain the bust's whereabouts. ## References and sources Notes References Sources' [1795 births](Category:1795_births "wikilink") [1870 deaths](Category:1870_deaths "wikilink") [People from Philadelphia](Category:People_from_Philadelphia "wikilink") [University of Pennsylvania alumni](Category:University_of_Pennsylvania_alumni "wikilink") [Members of the American Philosophical Society](Category:Members_of_the_American_Philosophical_Society "wikilink") [De Peyster family](Category:De_Peyster_family "wikilink") [Franklin](Category:Peale_family "wikilink") [Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)](Category:Burials_at_Laurel_Hill_Cemetery_(Philadelphia) "wikilink") [Members of the American Antiquarian Society](Category:Members_of_the_American_Antiquarian_Society "wikilink")
62,400	Secretariat (horse)	1,172,026,162	1973 US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winner	[ "1970 racehorse births", "1989 racehorse deaths", "American Champion Thoroughbred broodmare sires", "American Champion racehorses", "American Grade 1 Stakes winners", "American Thoroughbred Horse of the Year", "Animal deaths by euthanasia", "Belmont Stakes winners", "Chefs-de-Race", "Eclipse Award winners", "Horse monuments", "Horse racing track record setters", "Individual male horses", "Kentucky Derby winners", "Preakness Stakes winners", "Racehorses bred in Virginia", "Racehorses trained in the United States", "Thoroughbred family 2-s", "Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winners", "United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees" ]	Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who was the ninth winner of the American Triple Crown, setting and still holding the fastest time record in all three of its constituent races. He is considered by many to be the greatest racehorse of all time. He became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and his record-breaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, which he won by 31 lengths, is widely regarded as one of the greatest races in history. During his racing career, he won five Eclipse Awards, including Horse of the Year honors at ages two and three. He was nominated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Secretariat was second to Man o' War. At age two, Secretariat finished fourth in his 1972 debut in a maiden race, but then won seven of his remaining eight starts, including five stakes victories. His only loss during this period was in the Champagne Stakes, where he finished first but was disqualified to second for interference. He received the Eclipse Award for champion two-year-old colt, and also was the 1972 Horse of the Year, a rare honor for a horse so young. At age three, Secretariat not only won the Triple Crown, but he also set speed records in all three races. His time in the Kentucky Derby still stands as the Churchill Downs track record for 1+1⁄4 miles, and his time in the Belmont Stakes stands as the American record for 1+1⁄2 miles on the dirt. In 2012, his actual time of 1:53 in the Preakness Stakes was recognized as a stakes record after an official review. Secretariat's win in the Gotham Stakes tied the track record for 1 mile, he set a world record in the Marlboro Cup at 1+1⁄8 miles and further proved his versatility by winning two major stakes races on turf. He lost three times that year: in the Wood Memorial, Whitney, and Woodward Stakes, but the brilliance of his nine wins made him an American icon. He won his second Horse of the Year title, plus Eclipse Awards for champion three-year-old colt and champion turf horse. At the beginning of his three-year-old year, Secretariat was syndicated for a record-breaking \$6.08 million (equivalent to \$ million in ), on the condition that he be retired from racing by the end of the year. Although he sired several successful racehorses, he ultimately was most influential through his daughters' offspring, becoming the leading broodmare sire in North America in 1992. His daughters produced several notable sires, including Storm Cat, A.P. Indy, Gone West, Dehere and Chief's Crown, and through them Secretariat appears in the pedigree of many modern champions. Secretariat died in 1989 as a result of laminitis at age 19. ## Background Secretariat was officially bred by Christopher Chenery's Meadow Stud, but the breeding was actually arranged by Penny Chenery (then known as Penny Tweedy), who had taken over the running of the stable in 1968 when her father became ill. Secretariat was sired by Bold Ruler and his dam was Somethingroyal, a daughter of Princequillo. Bold Ruler was the leading sire in North America from 1963 to 1969 and again in 1973. Owned by the Phipps family, Bold Ruler possessed both speed and stamina, having won the Preakness Stakes and Horse of the Year honors in 1957, and American Champion Sprint Horse honors in 1958. Bold Ruler was retired to stud at Claiborne Farm, but the Phipps family owned most of the mares to which Bold Ruler was bred, and few of his offspring were sold at public auction. To bring new blood into their breeding program, the Phipps family sometimes negotiated a foal-sharing agreement with other mare owners: Instead of charging a stud fee for Bold Ruler, they would arrange for multiple matings with Bold Ruler, either with two mares in one year or one mare over a two-year period. Assuming two foals were produced, the Phipps family would keep one and the mare's owner would keep the other, with a coin toss determining who received first pick. Under such an arrangement, Chenery sent two mares to be bred to Bold Ruler in 1968, Hasty Matelda and Somethingroyal. She then sent Cicada and Somethingroyal in 1969. The foal-sharing agreement stated that the winner of the coin toss would get first pick of the foals produced in 1969, while the loser of the toss would get first pick of the foals due in 1970. In the spring of 1969, a colt and filly were produced. In the 1969 breeding season, Cicada did not conceive, leaving only one foal due in the spring of 1970. Thus, the winner of the coin toss would get only one foal (the first pick from 1969), and the loser would get two (the second pick from 1969 and the only foal from 1970). Chenery later said that both owners hoped they would lose the coin toss, which was held in the fall of 1969 in the office of New York Racing Association Chairman Alfred G. Vanderbilt II, with Arthur "Bull" Hancock of Claiborne Farm as witness. Ogden Phipps won the toss and took the 1969 weanling filly out of Somethingroyal. The filly was named The Bride and never won a race, though she did later become a stakes producer. Chenery received the Hasty Matelda colt in 1969 and the as-yet-unborn 1970 foal of Somethingroyal, which turned out to be Secretariat. ### Early years On March 30, 1970, at 12:10 a.m. at the Meadow Stud in Caroline County, Virginia, Somethingroyal foaled a bright-red chestnut colt with three white socks and a star with a narrow stripe. The foal stood when he was 45 minutes old and nursed 30 minutes later. Howard Gentry, the manager of Meadow Stud, was at the foaling and later said, "He was a very well-made foal. He was as perfect a foal that I ever delivered." The colt soon distinguished himself from the others. "He was always the leader in the crowd," said Gentry's nephew, Robert, who also worked at the farm. "To us, he was Big Red, and he had a personality. He was a clown and was always cutting up, always into some devilment." Some time later, Chenery got her first look at the foal and made a one-word entry in her notebook: "Wow!" That fall, Chenery and Elizabeth Ham, the Meadow's longtime secretary, worked together to name the newly weaned colt. The first set of names submitted to the Jockey Club (Sceptre, Royal Line, and Something Special) played on the names of his sire and dam, but were rejected. The second set, submitted in January 1971, were Games of Chance, Deo Volente ("God Willing"), and Secretariat, the last suggested by Ham based on her previous job associated with the secretariat of the League of Nations (the predecessor of the United Nations). ## Appearance and conformation Secretariat grew into a massive, powerful horse said to resemble his sire's maternal grandsire, Discovery. He stood when fully grown. He was noted for being exceptionally well-balanced, described as having "nearly perfect" conformation and stride biomechanics. His chest was so large that he required a custom-made girth, and he was noted for his large, powerful, well-muscled hindquarters. An Australian trainer said of him, "He is incredible, an absolutely perfect horse. I never saw anything like him." Secretariat's absence of major conformation flaws was important, as horses with well made limbs and feet are less likely to become injured. Secretariat's hindquarters were the main source of his power, with a sloped croup that extended the length of his femur. When in full stride, his hind legs were able to reach far under himself, increasing his drive. His ample girth, long back and well-made neck all contributed to his heart-lung efficiency. The manner in which Secretariat's body parts fit together determined the efficiency of his stride, which affected his acceleration and endurance. Even very small differences in the length and angles of bones can have a major effect on performance. Secretariat was well put together even as a two-year-old, and by the time he was three, he had further matured in body and smoothed out his gait. The New York Racing Association's Dr. M. A. Gilman, a veterinarian who routinely measured leading thoroughbreds with a goal of applying science to create better ways to breed and evaluate racehorses, measured Secretariat's development from two to three as follows: Secretariat's length of stride was considered large even after taking into account his large frame and strong build. While training for the Preakness Stakes, his stride was measured as 24 feet, 11 inches. His powerful hindquarters allowed him to unleash "devastating" speed and because he was so well-muscled and had significant cardiac capacity, he could simply out-gallop competitors at nearly any point in a race. His weight before the Gotham Stakes in April 1973 was 1,155 pounds (524 kg). After completing the gruelling Triple Crown, his weight on June 15 had dropped only 24 pounds, to 1,131 pounds (513 kg). Secretariat was known for his appetite — during his three-year-old campaign, he ate 15 quarts of oats a day — and to keep his muscles in good condition, he needed fast workouts that could have won many a stakes race. Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm once said, > "You want to know who Secretariat is in human terms? Just imagine the greatest athlete in the world. The greatest. Now make him six-foot-three, the perfect height. Make him real intelligent and kind. And on top of that, make him the best-lookin' guy ever to come down the pike. He was all those things as a horse." ## Racing career Secretariat raced in Meadow Stables' blue-and-white-checkered colors. He never raced in track bandages, but typically wore a blinker hood, mostly to help him focus, but also because he had a tendency to run in toward the rail during races. In January 1972, he joined trainer Lucien Laurin's winter stable at Hialeah. Secretariat gained a reputation as a kind horse, likeable and unruffled in crowds or by the bumping that occurs between young horses. He had the physique of a runner but at first was awkward and clumsy. He was frequently outpaced by more precocious stable mates, running a quarter-mile in 26 seconds compared to 23 seconds by his peers. His regular exercise riders were Jim Gaffney and Charlie Davis. Davis was not initially impressed. "He was a big fat sucker", Davis said. "I mean, he was big. He wasn't in a hurry to do nothin'. He took his time. The quality was there, but he didn't show it until he wanted to." Gaffney though recalled his first ride on Secretariat in early 1972 as "having this big red machine under me, and from that very first day I knew he had a power of strength that I have never felt before ..." Groom Eddie Sweat was another important member of the Secretariat team, providing most of the daily hands-on care. Sweat once told a reporter, "I guess a groom gets closer to a horse than anyone. The owner, the trainer, they maybe see him once a day. But I lived with him, worked with him." Laurin sent Chenery regular updates on Secretariat's progress, saying that the colt was still learning to run, or that he still needed to lose his baby fat. Chenery recalled that when Secretariat was in training, Lucien once said: "Your big Bold Ruler colt don't show me nothin'. He can't outrun a fat man." But Secretariat made steady progress over the spring. On June 6, he wore blinkers for the first time to keep his attention focused and responded with a half-mile workout in a solid 473⁄5 seconds. On June 24, he ran a "bullet", the fastest workout of the day, at 6 furlongs in 1:124⁄5 on a sloppy track. Laurin called Chenery at her Colorado home and advised her that Secretariat was ready to race. ### 1972: Two-year-old season For his first start on July 4, 1972, at Aqueduct Racetrack, Secretariat was made the lukewarm favorite at 3–1. At the start, a horse named Quebec cut in front of the field, causing a chain reaction that resulted in Secretariat being bumped hard. According to jockey Paul Feliciano, he would have fallen if he hadn't been so strong. Secretariat recovered, only to run into traffic on the backstretch. In tenth position at the top of the stretch, he closed ground rapidly and finished fourth, beaten by only 1+1⁄4 lengths. In many of his subsequent races, Secretariat hung back at the start, which Laurin later attributed to the bumping he received in his debut. With Feliciano again up, Secretariat returned to the track on July 15 as the 6–5 favorite. He broke poorly, but then rushed past the field on the turn to win by six lengths. On July 31 in an allowance race at Saratoga, Feliciano was replaced by Ron Turcotte, the regular jockey for Meadow Stables. Turcotte had ridden the colt in several morning workouts but had missed his first two starts while recovering from a fall. Secretariat's commanding win as the 2–5 favorite caught the attention of veteran sportswriter, Charles Hatton. He later reported, "You carry an ideal around in your head, and boy, I thought, 'This is it.' I never saw perfection before. I absolutely could not fault him in any way. And neither could the rest of them and that was the amazing thing about it. The body and the head and the eye and the general attitude. It was just incredible. I couldn't believe my eyes, frankly." In August, Secretariat entered the Sanford Stakes, facing off with highly regarded Linda's Chief, the only horse ever to be favored against Secretariat in any of his races. Entering the stretch, Secretariat was blocked by the horses in front of him but then made his way through "like a hawk scattering a barnyard of chickens" on his way to a three-length win. Sportswriter Andrew Beyer covered the race for the Washington Star and later wrote, "Never have I watched a lightly raced 2-year-old stamp himself so definitively as a potential great." Ten days later in the Hopeful Stakes, Secretariat made a "dazzling" move, passing eight horses within 1⁄4 mile to take the lead then drawing off to win by five lengths. His time of 1:161⁄5 for 6+1⁄2 furlongs was only 3⁄5 of a second off the track record. Returning to Belmont Park on September 16, he won the Belmont Futurity by a length and a half after starting his move on the turn. He then ran in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont on October 14 as the 7–10 favorite. As had become his custom, he started slowly and then made a big move around the turn, blowing past his rivals to win by two lengths. However, following an inquiry by the racecourse stewards, Secretariat was disqualified and placed second for bearing in and interfering with Stop the Music, who was declared the winner. Secretariat then took the Laurel Futurity on October 28, winning by eight lengths over Stop the Music. His time on a sloppy track was just 1⁄5 of a second off the track record. He completed his season in the Garden State Futurity on November 18, dropping back early and making a powerful move around the turn to win by 3+1⁄2 lengths at 1–10 odds. Laurin said, "In all his races, he has taken the worst of it by coming from behind, usually circling his field. A colt has to be a real runner to do this consistently and get away with it." Secretariat won the Eclipse Award for American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse and, in a rare occurrence, two two-year-olds topped the balloting for 1972 American Horse of the Year honors, with Secretariat edging out the undefeated filly, La Prevoyante. Secretariat received the votes of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and the Daily Racing Form, while La Prevoyante was chosen by the National Turf Writers Association. Only one horse since then, Favorite Trick in 1997, has won that award as a two-year-old. ### 1973: Three-year-old season In January 1973, Christopher Chenery, the founder of Meadow Stables, died and the taxes on his estate forced his daughter Penny to consider selling Secretariat. Together with Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm, she instead managed to syndicate the horse, selling 32 shares worth \$190,000 each for a total of \$6.08 million, a world syndication record at the time, surpassing the previous record for Nijinsky who was syndicated for \$5.44 million in 1970. Hancock said the sale was easy, citing Secretariat's two-year-old performance, breeding, and appearance. "He's, well, he's a hell of a horse." Chenery retained four shares in the horse and would have complete control over his three-year-old racing campaign, but agreed that he would be retired at the end of the year. Secretariat wintered in Florida but did not race until March 17, 1973, in the Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct, where he went off as the heavy favorite. As the trainer of one of his opponents put it, "The only chance we have is if he falls down." Racing boxed in by horses on each side, Turcotte decided to go through a narrow gap between horses rather than try to circle the field. Secretariat broke free and won easily, but one of the other jockeys claimed that Secretariat had committed a foul going through the hole. The stewards reviewed photos from the race and determined that Secretariat was actually on the receiving end of a bump, so let the result stand. The Bay Shore established that Secretariat had improved over the winter and that he could also handle adversity. In the Gotham Stakes on April 7, Laurin decided to experiment with Secretariat's running style. With no speed horses entered in the race, Secretariat would be allowed to set his own pace. Accordingly, Turcotte hustled Secretariat from the starting gate and they led easily. Down the stretch though, Champagne Charlie came running and at the eighth pole was almost even. Turcotte tapped Secretariat once on each side with the whip and Secretariat drew away to win by three lengths. He ran the first 3/4 mile in 1:083⁄5 and finished the one-mile race in 1:332⁄5, matching the track record. His final preparatory race for the Kentucky Derby was the Wood Memorial, where he finished a surprising third to Angle Light and Santa Anita Derby winner Sham. Laurin was crushed, even though he had trained the winner, Angle Light, who set a slow pace and "stole" the race. Secretariat's loss was later attributed to a large abscess in his mouth, which made him sensitive to the bit. Before and after the race, there was some ill feeling between Laurin and the trainer of Sham, Pancho Martin, fanned by comments in the press. The dispute concerned the use of coupled entries as Martin had entered two horses in addition to Sham, all with the same owner. There was fear that an entry could be used tactically to gang up on another horse. Stung by such insinuations, Martin wound up scratching the two horses that he had originally entered with Sham, and asked Laurin to do the same, but Laurin could not follow suit as Secretariat and Angle Light had different owners. Because of the Wood Memorial results, Secretariat's chances in the Kentucky Derby became the subject of much speculation in the media. Some questioned his stamina: in part because of his "blocky" build, more typical of a sprinter, and in part because of Bold Ruler's reputation as a sire of precocious sprinters. Rumors circulated that Secretariat was unsound. #### Kentucky Derby The 1973 Kentucky Derby on May 5 attracted a crowd of 134,476 to Churchill Downs, then the largest crowd in North American racing history. The bettors made the entry of Secretariat and Angle Light the 3–2 favorite, with Sham the second choice at 5–2. The start was marred when Twice a Prince reared in his stall, hitting Our Native, positioned next to him, and causing Sham to bang his head against the gate, loosening two teeth. Sham then broke poorly and cut himself, also bumping into Navajo. Secretariat avoided problems by breaking last from post position 10, then cut over to the rail. Early leader Shecky Greene set a reasonable pace, then gave way to Sham around the far turn. Secretariat came charging as they entered the stretch and battled with Sham down the stretch, finally pulling away to win by 2+1⁄2 lengths. Our Native finished eight lengths further back in third. On his way to a still-standing track record of 1:592⁄5, Secretariat ran each quarter-mile segment faster than the one before it. The successive quarter-mile times were :251⁄5, :24, :234⁄5, :232⁄5, and :23. This means he was still accelerating as of the final quarter-mile of the race. No other horse had won the Derby in less than 2 minutes before, and it would not be accomplished again until Monarchos ran the race in 1:59.97 in 2001. Sportswriter Mike Sullivan later said: > I was at Secretariat's Derby, in '73 ... That was ... just beauty, you know? He started in last place, which he tended to do. I was covering the second-place horse, which wound up being Sham. It looked like Sham's race going into the last turn, I think. The thing you have to understand is that Sham was fast, a beautiful horse. He would have had the Triple Crown in another year. And it just didn't seem like there could be anything faster than that. Everybody was watching him. It was over, more or less. And all of a sudden there was this, like, just a disruption in the corner of your eye, in your peripheral vision. And then before you could make out what it was, here Secretariat came. And then Secretariat had passed him. No one had ever seen anything run like that — a lot of the old guys said the same thing. It was like he was some other animal out there. #### Preakness Stakes In the 1973 Preakness Stakes on May 19, Secretariat broke last, but then made a huge, last-to-first move on the first turn. Raymond Woolfe, a photographer for the Daily Racing Form, captured Secretariat launching the move with a leaping stride in the air. This was later used as the basis for the statue by John Skeaping that stands in the Belmont Park paddock. Turcotte later said that he was proudest of this win because of the split-second decision he made going into the turn: "I let my horse drop back, when I went to drop in, they started backing up into me. I said, 'I don't want to get trapped here.' So I just breezed by them." Secretariat completed the second quarter mile of the race in under 22 seconds. After reaching the lead with 5+1⁄2 furlongs to go, Secretariat was never challenged, and won by 2+1⁄2 lengths, with Sham again finishing second and Our Native in third, a further eight lengths back. It was the first time in history that the top three finishers in the Derby and Preakness were the same; the distance between each of the horses was also the same. The time of the race was disputed. The infield teletimer displayed a time of 1:55 but it had malfunctioned because of damage caused by people crossing the track to reach the infield. The Pimlico Race Course clocker E.T. McLean Jr. announced a hand time of 1:542⁄5, but two Daily Racing Form clockers claimed the time was 1:532⁄5, which would have broken the track record of 1:54 set by Cañonero II. Tapes of Secretariat and Cañonero II were played side by side by CBS, and Secretariat got to the finish line first on tape, though this was not a reliable method of timing a horse race at the time. The Maryland Jockey Club, which managed the Pimlico racetrack and is responsible for maintaining Preakness records, discarded both the electronic and Daily Racing Form times and recognized the clocker's 1:542⁄5 as the official time; however, the Daily Racing Form, for the first time in history, printed its own clocking of 1:532⁄5 underneath the official time in the chart of the race. On June 19, 2012, a special meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission was convened at Laurel Park at the request of Penny Chenery, who hired companies to conduct a forensic review of the videotapes of the race. After over two hours of testimony, the commission unanimously voted to change the time of Secretariat's win from 1:542⁄5 to 1:53, establishing a new stakes record. The Daily Racing Form announced that it would honor the commission's ruling with regard to the running time. With the revised time, Sham also would have broken the old stakes record. As Secretariat prepared for the Belmont Stakes, he appeared on the covers of three national magazines: Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated. He had become a national celebrity. William Nack wrote: "Secretariat suddenly transcended horse racing and became a cultural phenomenon, a sort of undeclared national holiday from the tortures of Watergate and the Vietnam War." Chenery needed a secretary to handle all the fan mail and hired the William Morris Agency to manage public engagements. Secretariat responded to his fame by learning to pose for the camera. #### Belmont Stakes Only four horses ran against Secretariat for the June 9 Belmont Stakes, including Sham and three other horses thought to have little chance by the bettors: Twice A Prince, My Gallant, and Private Smiles. With so few horses in the race, and Secretariat expected to win, no "show" bets were taken. Secretariat was sent off as a 1–10 favorite before a crowd of 69,138, then the second largest attendance in Belmont history. The race was televised by CBS and was watched by over 15 million households, an audience share of 52%. On race day, the track was fast, and the weather was warm and sunny. Secretariat broke well on the rail and Sham rushed up beside him. The two ran the first quarter in a quick :233⁄5 and the next quarter in a swift :223⁄5, completing the fastest opening half mile in the history of the race and opening ten lengths on the rest of the field. After the six-furlong mark, Sham began to tire, ultimately finishing last. Secretariat continued the fast pace and opened up a larger and larger margin on the field. His time for the mile was 1:341⁄5, over a second faster than the next fastest Belmont mile fraction in history, set by his sire Bold Ruler, who had eventually tired and finished third. Secretariat, however, did not falter. Turcotte said, "This horse really paced himself. He is smart: I think he knew he was going 1+1⁄2 miles, I never pushed him." In the stretch, Secretariat opened a lead of almost 1⁄16 of a mile on the rest of the field. At the finish, he won by 31 lengths, breaking the margin-of-victory record set by Triple Crown winner Count Fleet in 1943 of 25 lengths. CBS Television announcer Chic Anderson described the horse's pace in a famous commentary: > Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine! The time for the race was not only a record, it was the fastest 1+1⁄2 miles on dirt in history, 2:24 flat, breaking by more than two seconds the track and stakes record of 2:263⁄5 set 16 years earlier by Gallant Man. Secretariat's record still stands as an American record on the dirt. If the Beyer Speed Figure calculation had been developed during that time, Andrew Beyer calculated that Secretariat would have earned a figure of 139, the highest he has ever assigned. A large crowd had started gathering around the paddock hours before the Belmont, many missing the races run earlier in the day for a chance to see the horses up close. Secretariat and Chenery were greeted with an enthusiasm that Chenery responded to with a wave or smile; Secretariat was imperturbable. A large cheer went up at the break, but as the race went on, the two most commonly reported reactions were disbelief and fear that Secretariat had gone too fast. When it was clear that Secretariat would win, the sound reportedly made the grandstand shake. The Blood-Horse magazine editor Kent Hollingsworth described the impact: "Two twenty-four flat! I don't believe it. Impossible. But I saw it. I can't breathe. He won by a sixteenth of a mile! I saw it. I have to believe it." The race is widely considered the greatest performance of the twentieth century by a North American racehorse. Secretariat became the ninth Triple Crown winner in history, and the first since Citation in 1948, a gap of 25 years. Bettors holding 5,427 winning parimutuel tickets on Secretariat never redeemed them, presumably keeping them as souvenirs (and because the tickets would have paid only \$2.20 on a \$2 bet). #### Arlington Invitational Three weeks after his win at Belmont, Secretariat was shipped to Arlington Park for the June 30th Arlington Invitational. Laurin explained: "Even before the Belmont, you remember, I said I really didn't know how I could give this horse a rest. He's so strong and full of energy. Well, this is only a week and a half after the Belmont, and believe me when I tell you, if I don't run this horse he's going to hurt himself in his stall. So we decided it would be nice to race him in Chicago to let the people in the Midwest have a chance to see him run." The race was run at 1+1⁄8 miles with a purse of \$125,000. The challengers were grouped as a single betting entry at 6–1: Secretariat was 1–20 (the legal minimum) and created a minus pool of \$17,941. Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago declared that the Saturday of the race was Secretariat Day. A crowd of 41,223 (the largest at Arlington in three decades) greeted his arrival on the track with sustained applause. Secretariat broke poorly but soon went to the lead, setting slow early fractions. He gathered momentum on the final turn and eventually won by nine lengths in 1:47 flat, just 1⁄5 off the track record set by Damascus. George Plimpton commented, "With a better start, a horse to press him and less bow to his turns, Secretariat might have posted a time that would have stood a century." The July 10, 1973 New York Times reported that a number of Chicago fans in attendance did as their New York counterparts had in the Belmont Stakes and \$11,170 worth of winning tickets on Secretariat had not been cashed. #### Whitney Stakes Secretariat next went to Saratoga, popularly nicknamed "the graveyard of champions", in preparation for the Whitney Stakes on August 4, where he would face older horses for the first time. On July 27, he put in a stunning workout of 1:34 for a mile on a sloppy track, a time that would have broken Saratoga's track record. On race day though, he was beaten by the Allen Jerkens-trained Onion, a four-year-old gelding that had set a track record at 6+1⁄2 furlongs in his previous start. The track condition for the Whitney was labelled fast but was running slow, especially along the inside rail. Secretariat broke poorly and Onion led from the start, setting a slow pace running well off the rail. Down the backstretch, Turcotte chose to make his move along the rail rather than sweeping wide. Secretariat responded more sluggishly than usual and Turcotte went to the whip. Secretariat closed to within a head on the final turn before Onion pulled ahead in the straight to win by a length. A record crowd of more than 30,000 witnessed what was described as an "astonishing" upset. Despite Jerkens's reputation as the "Giant Killer," Secretariat's stunning loss can possibly be attributed to a viral infection, which caused a low-grade fever and diarrhea. "I was learning then that anything could happen in horse racing," said Chenery. "We knew he had a low-grade infection. But we decided he was strong enough to win anyway, and we were wrong." Secretariat lost his appetite and acted sluggishly for several days. Charles Hatton wrote: "He seemed distressingly ill walking off, and he missed the Travers. Returned to Belmont to point for the \$250,000 Marlboro, the sport's pin-up horse looked bloody awful, rather like one of those sick paintings which betoken an inner theatre of the macabre. It required supernatural recuperative powers to recover as he did. He was subjected to four severe preps in two weeks. Astonishingly, he gained weight and blossomed with every trial." #### Marlboro Cup On September 15, Secretariat returned to Belmont Park in the inaugural Marlboro Cup, which was originally intended to be a match race with stablemate Riva Ridge, the 1972 Derby and Belmont Stakes winner. After Secretariat's loss in the Whitney, the field was expanded to invite top horses from across the country. Entries included 1972 turf champion and top California stakes winner Cougar II, Canadian champion Kennedy Road, 1972 American champion three-year-old colt Key to the Mint, Travers winner Annihilate 'Em (the only other three-year-old in the race), and Onion. Riva Ridge was assigned top weight of 127 pounds (one pound over the weight-for-age scale), Key to the Mint and Cougar II were at 126 pounds, scale weight, while Secretariat was at 124, three pounds over scale for his age. The field included five champions, and the seven starters had won 63 stakes races between them. It rained the night before, but the track dried out by race time. Secretariat stalked a fast pace in fifth, while Riva Ridge rated just behind Onion and Kennedy Road. Around the turn, Secretariat raced wide and started to make up ground. Coming into the stretch, Secretariat overtook Riva Ridge, while the other early leaders dropped back. Secretariat drew away to win, completing 1+1⁄8 miles in 1:45 2⁄5, then a world record on the dirt for the distance. Riva Ridge ran second with Cougar II in third and Onion in fourth. Turcotte said, "Today he was the old Secretariat and he did it on his own." The purse for the Marlboro Cup was \$250,000, then the highest prize money offered: the win made Secretariat the 13th thoroughbred millionaire in history. #### Woodward Stakes After the Marlboro Cup, the original plan was to enter Riva Ridge in the 1+1⁄2 mile Woodward Stakes, just two weeks later, while Secretariat put in some slow workouts on the turf in preparation for the Man o' War Stakes in October. It rained before the Woodward and the track was sloppy, which Riva Ridge could not handle, so Secretariat was entered in his place. Secretariat led into the straight but was overtaken by the Allen Jerkens-trained four-year-old Prove Out, who pulled clear to win by 4+1⁄2 lengths despite carrying seven more pounds than Secretariat under the weight-for-age conditions of the race. Prove Out ran the race of his life that day: his time was the second-fastest mile-and-a-half on the dirt in Belmont Park's history despite the sloppy conditions. Prove Out went on to beat Riva Ridge in that year's Jockey Club Gold Cup. #### Man o' War Stakes On October 8, just nine days after the Woodward, Secretariat was moved to turf for the Man O' War Stakes at a distance of 1+1⁄2 miles. He faced Tentam, who had set a world record for 1+1⁄8 miles on the turf earlier that summer, and five others. Secretariat went to the lead early, followed by Tentam, who gradually closed the gap down the backstretch. Tentam got to within a half-length before Secretariat responded, pulling away by three lengths. Tentam made another run around the far turn, but Secretariat again drew away, eventually winning by five lengths over Tentam, with Big Spruce seven and a half lengths further back in third. Secretariat set a course record time of 2:244⁄5. After the race, Turcotte explained that "when Tentam came up to him in the backstretch I just chirped to him and he pulled away." #### Canadian International Stakes The syndication deal for Secretariat precluded the horse racing past age three. Accordingly, Secretariat's last race was against older horses in the Canadian International Stakes over one and five-eighths miles on the turf at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on October 28, 1973. The race was chosen in part because of long-time ties between E.P. Taylor and the Chenery family, and partly to honor Secretariat's Canadian connections, Laurin and Turcotte. Turcotte missed the race with a five-day suspension: Eddie Maple got the mount. The day of the race was cold, windy and wet, but the Marshall turf course was firm. Despite the weather, some 35,000 people turned out to greet Secretariat in a "virtual hysteria.” His biggest opponents were Kennedy Road, whom he had beaten in the Marlboro Cup, and Big Spruce, who had finished third in the Man o' War. Kennedy Road went to the early lead, while Secretariat moved to second after breaking from an outside post. On the backstretch, Secretariat made his move and forged to the lead. "Snorting steam in the raw twilight", he rounded the far turn with a 12-length lead before gearing down in the final furlong, ultimately winning by 6+1⁄2 lengths. Once again, many winning tickets went uncashed by souvenir hunters. After the race, Secretariat was brought to Aqueduct Racetrack where he was paraded with Turcotte dressed in the Meadow silks before a crowd of 32,990 in his final public appearance. "It's a sad day, and yet it's a great day," said Laurin. "I certainly wish he could run as a 4-year-old. He's a great horse and he loves to run." Altogether, Secretariat won 16 of his 21 career races, with three seconds and one third, and total earnings of \$1,316,808. For 1973, Secretariat was again named Horse of the Year and also won Eclipse Awards as the American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse and the American Champion Male Turf Horse. ## Retirement ### Stud career When Secretariat first retired to Claiborne Farm, his sperm showed some signs of immaturity, so he was bred to three non-thoroughbred mares in December 1973 to test his fertility. One of these, an Appaloosa named Leola, produced Secretariat's first foal in November 1974. Named First Secretary, the foal was a chestnut like his sire, but spotted like his dam. Secretariat's first official foal crop, arriving in 1975, consisted of 28 foals, the best of which was Dactylographer, who won the William Hill Futurity in October 1977. The first crop also included Canadian Bound, who at the 1976 Keeneland July sale was the first yearling to break the \$1 million barrier, selling for \$1.5 million. Canadian Bound, however, was a complete failure in racing, and for several years, the value of Secretariat's offspring declined considerably, especially given the rising popularity of Northern Dancer's offspring in the sales ring. Secretariat eventually sired a number of major stakes winners, including: - General Assembly, winner of the 1979 Travers Stakes, setting a track record of 2:00 flat that stood for 37 years. - Lady's Secret, 1986 Horse of the Year. - Risen Star, 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner. - Kingston Rule, 1990 Melbourne Cup winner, breaking the course record. - Tinners Way, born in 1990 to Secretariat's last crop, winner of the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Classic. Ultimately, Secretariat officially sired 663 named foals, including 341 winners (51.4%) and 54 stakes winners (8.1%). There has been some criticism of Secretariat as a stallion, mainly because he did not produce male offspring of his own ability and did not leave a leading sire son behind, but his legacy is assured through the quality of his daughters, several of whom were excellent racers and even more of whom were excellent producers. In 1992, Secretariat was the leading broodmare sire in North America. Overall, Secretariat's daughters produced 24 Grade/Group 1 winners. As a broodmare sire, Secretariat's most notable progeny were: - Weekend Surprise, a stakes winner and the 1992 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year. Her sons include 1990 Preakness winner Summer Squall and 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy. - Terlingua, a stakes winner and dam of leading sire Storm Cat. - Secrettame, a stakes winner and dam of important sire Gone West, whose descendants include Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones. - Six Crowns, dam of champion two-year-old and sire Chief's Crown. - Sister Dot, dam of champion two-year-old and sire Dehere. - Celtic Assembly, dam of Volksraad, leading sire in New Zealand. - Betty's Secret, dam of Secreto, winner of The Derby, and Istabraq, three-time winner of the Champion Hurdle. Through Weekend Surprise and Terlingua alone, Secretariat appears in the pedigree of numerous champions. Weekend Surprises's son A.P. Indy was the leading sire in North America in 2003 and 2006, and is the sire of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft and 2007 Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches. He has also established a successful sire-line that leads to Kentucky Derby winners Orb and California Chrome. A.P. Indy's leading sire-line descendant is Tapit, who led the sire list in 2014–2015 and is the sire of Belmont Stakes winners Tonalist and Creator. Terlingua's son Storm Cat is also a two time leading sire, whose offspring include Giant's Causeway, three-time leading sire in North America. Storm Cat also sired Yankee Gentleman, who is the broodmare sire of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Both Storm Cat and A.P. Indy appear in the pedigree of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Inbreeding to Secretariat has also proven successful, as exemplified by numerous graded stakes winners, including two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, as well as sprint champion Speightstown. Secretariat's paddock at Claiborne Farm bordered three other stallions: Drone, Sir Ivor, and Hall of Fame inductee Spectacular Bid. Secretariat did not pay much attention to Drone or Sir Ivor, but he and Spectacular Bid became friendly and occasionally raced each other along the fence line between their paddocks. ### Death In the fall of 1989, Secretariat became afflicted with laminitis—a painful and debilitating hoof condition. When his condition failed to improve after a month of treatment, he was euthanized on October 4 at the age of 19. Secretariat was buried at Claiborne Farm, given the rare honor of being buried whole (traditionally only the head, heart, and hooves of a winning race horse are buried). At the time of Secretariat's death, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy, Thomas Swerczek, head pathologist at the University of Kentucky, did not weigh Secretariat's heart, but stated, "We just stood there in stunned silence. We couldn't believe it. The heart was perfect. There were no problems with it. It was just this huge engine." Later, Swerczek also performed a necropsy on Sham, who died in 1993. Swerczek did weigh Sham's heart, and it was 18 pounds (8.2 kg). Based on Sham's measurement, and having necropsied both horses, he estimated Secretariat's heart probably weighed 22 pounds (10.0 kg), or about 2.5 times that of the average horse (8.5 pounds (3.9 kg)). An extremely large heart is a trait that occasionally occurs in thoroughbreds, hypothesized to be linked to a genetic condition, called the "x-factor", passed down in specific inheritance patterns. The x-factor can be traced to the historic racehorse Eclipse, who was necropsied after his death in 1789. Because Eclipse's heart appeared to be much larger than the hearts of other horses, it was weighed, and found to be 14 pounds (6.4 kg), almost twice the normal weight. Eclipse is believed to have passed the trait on via his daughters, and pedigree research verified that Secretariat traces his dam line to a daughter of Eclipse. Secretariat's success as a broodmare sire has been linked by some to this large heart theory. However, it has not been proven whether the x-factor exists, let alone if it contributes to athletic ability. ## Honors and recognition Secretariat was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974, the year following his Triple Crown victory. In 1994, Sports Illustrated ranked Secretariat \#17 in their list of the 40 greatest sports figures of the past 40 years. In 1999, ESPN listed him 35th of the 100 greatest North American athletes of the 20th century, the highest of three non-humans on the list (the other two were also racehorses: Man o' War at 84th and Citation at 97th). Secretariat ranked second behind Man o' War in The Blood-Horse'''s List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century. He was also ranked second behind Man o' War by both a six-member panel of experts assembled by the Associated Press, and a Sports Illustrated panel of seven experts. On October 16, 1999, in a ceremony conducted in the winner's circle at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, the U.S. Postal Service honored Secretariat with a 33-cent postage stamp bearing his image. In 2005, Secretariat was featured in ESPN Classic's show Who's No. 1? in the episode "Greatest Sports Performances". He was the only nonhuman on the list, with his run at Belmont ranking second behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. On May 2, 2007, Secretariat was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, marking the first time an animal received this honor. In 2013, Secretariat was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in honor of his victory in the Canadian International 40 years earlier. Secretariat was also the focus of a 2013 segment of 60 Minutes Sports. In March 2016, Secretariat's Triple Crown victory was rated \#13 in the Sports Illustrated listing of the 100 Greatest Moments in Sports History. Due to Secretariat's enduring popularity, Chenery remained a prominent figure in racing and a powerful advocate for thoroughbred aftercare and veterinary research until her death in 2017. In 2004, the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center, dedicated to reschooling former racehorses and matching them to new homes, opened at the Kentucky Horse Park. In 2010, Chenery developed the Secretariat Vox Populi ("voice of the people") Award, which is voted for by racing fans. It is intended to acknowledge "the horse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the American public and gained recognition for thoroughbred racing." The consideration of the racing fan's engagement is what distinguishes the Vox Populi award from others. The first honoree in 2010 was Zenyatta, that year's Horse of the Year, while the second award went to Rapid Redux, a former claimer who went on to win 22 consecutive races at smaller racetracks. Paynter received the 2012 award for his battle with laminitis, the same condition that led to Secretariat's death. "Paynter's popularity stems from his ability to battle and exceed expectations, making him the perfect choice as the recipient of this year's Vox Populi Award", said Chenery. "After seeing firsthand the devastating effects of this disease, I am even more convinced that the industry must continue to diligently fight laminitis. The progress we have made to date clearly benefited Paynter—a beautiful colt with a tremendous spirit." Various states and localities have also honored Secretariat. According to ESPN, 263 roads in the United States are named after him, more than any other athlete. Secretariat Drive is the most common option. In Illinois, the Secretariat Stakes was created in 1974 to honor his appearance at Arlington Park in 1973. In honor of Secretariat and Kentucky’s horse racing history, the University of Kentucky football uniforms incorporate blue-and-white checkers reminiscent of the silks of Meadow Stables. In Virginia, The Meadow, the farm at which he was foaled, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now known as The Meadow Historic District. In 2023, the Virginia ABC honored 50th Anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown win by making Ragged Branch Secretariat Reserve bourbon. Secretariat has been honored multiple times by Virginia's General Assembly with Triple Crown anniversary proclamations. In 2023, Caroline County received a proclamation by the General Assembly to honor the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's record-setting Triple Crown-win. ### Statues In 1974, Paul Mellon commissioned a bronze statue, sometimes known as Secretariat in Full Stride, from John Skeaping. The life-size statue remained in the center of the walking ring at Belmont Park until 1988 when it was replaced by a replica. The original is now located at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The Kentucky Horse Park has two other life-sized statues of Secretariat. The first, created by Jim Reno in 1992, shows Secretariat as an older sire, while the second, completed by Edwin Bogucki in 2004, shows him being led into the winner's circle after the Kentucky Derby. In 2015, a statue of Secretariat and Ron Turcotte crossing the finish line at the Belmont Stakes was unveiled in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Turcotte's hometown. On October 12, 2019, a new monument was unveiled during the Secretariat Festival at Keeneland in Lexington. The bronze statue by Jocelyn Russell shows Secretariat and Turcotte winning the Kentucky Derby. After the Festival, it was permanently relocated to the center of the traffic circle at Old Frankfort Pike and Alexandria Drive. A duplicate statue by Russell began a tour in Ashland, Virginia in March 2023. ### Media Keeneland was a set location for several racing scenes in the 2010 film, Secretariat. The 2010 film Secretariat''—starring Diane Lane as Penny Chenery, John Malkovich as Lucien Laurin, and Otto Thorwarth as Ron Turcotte—was written by Mike Rich, directed by Randall Wallace, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. ## Racing statistics Secretariat's earnings in 1973 were, at the time, a single-season record. ## Pedigree Secretariat was sired by Bold Ruler, who led the North America sire list eight times, more than any other stallion in the 20th century. He also led the juvenile (two-year-old) sire list a record six times. Before Secretariat's Triple Crown run, Bold Ruler was often categorized as a sire of precocious juveniles that lacked stamina or did not train on past age two. However, even before Secretariat, Bold Ruler actually had sired 11 stakes winners of races at 10 furlongs or more. Ultimately, seven of the ten Kentucky Derby winners in the 1970s can be traced directly to Bold Ruler in their tail male lines, including Secretariat and fellow Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. Secretariat's dam was Somethingroyal, the 1973 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year. Although Somethingroyal was unplaced in her only start, she had an excellent pedigree. Her sire Princequillo was the leading broodmare sire from 1966 to 1970 and was noted as a source of stamina and soundness. Her dam Imperatrice was a stakes winner who was purchased by Christopher Chenery at a dispersal sale in 1947 for \$30,000. Imperatrice produced several stakes winners and stakes producers for the Meadow. Prior to foaling Secretariat at age 18, Somethingroyal had already produced three stakes winners: Sir Gaylord, First Family and Syrian Sea, the latter a full sister to Secretariat. Sir Gaylord became an important sire, whose offspring included Epsom Derby winner Sir Ivor. Breeders speak of a "nick" occurring when a sire or grandsire produces significantly better offspring from the daughters of one particular sire than with mares from other bloodlines. The breeding of Bold Ruler with Somethingroyal is an example of a famous nick between Bold Ruler's sire Nasrullah and daughters of Princequillo. The goal was to balance the speed, precocity, and fiery temperament provided by the Nasrullah side of the pedigree with Princequillo's stamina, soundness, and sensible temperament. ## See also - List of historical horses
219,048	John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan	1,173,498,120	British peer and missing murder suspect	[ "1934 births", "1974 murders in the United Kingdom", "20th-century Anglo-Irish people", "20th-century British Army personnel", "20th-century English criminals", "Bingham Baronets, of Castlebar", "Coldstream Guards officers", "Criminals from London", "Earls of Lucan", "English gamblers", "English murderers", "Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999", "Murder in London", "People declared dead in absentia", "People educated at Eton College", "People from Marylebone", "Possibly living people", "Year of death uncertain" ]	Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 – disappeared 8 November 1974, declared dead 3 February 2016), commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer who disappeared after being suspected of murder. He was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, the eldest son of George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan, and Kaitlin Dawson. Lucan was an evacuee during the Second World War but returned to attend Eton College, and served with the Coldstream Guards in West Germany from 1953 to 1955. Having developed a taste for gambling, he played backgammon and bridge, and was an early member of the exclusive group of rich British gamblers at the Clermont Club. Lucan's losses often exceeded his winnings, yet he left his job at a London-based merchant bank and became a professional gambler. He was known as Lord Bingham from April 1949 until January 1964, during his father's lifetime. Lucan was considered for the role of James Bond in the cinematic adaptations of Ian Fleming's novels. He was known for his expensive tastes; he raced power boats and drove an Aston Martin. In 1963, Lucan married Veronica Duncan, with whom he had three children. The couple moved home to 46 Lower Belgrave Street in Belgravia in 1967, paying £17,500 for the house. After the marriage collapsed in late 1972, he moved out to a nearby property. A bitter custody battle ensued, which Lucan eventually lost. Apparently obsessed with regaining custody of the children, Lucan began to spy on his wife and record their telephone conversations. This fixation, combined with mounting legal expenses and gambling losses, had a dramatic effect on Lucan's life and personal finances. On the evening of 7 November 1974, Sandra Rivett, the nanny of Lucan's children, was bludgeoned to death in the kitchen of the Lucan family home. Lady Lucan was also attacked after going to investigate Rivett's whereabouts. She identified Lord Lucan as her assailant. Lucan had, by then, driven to visit a friend in Uckfield, East Sussex. Lucan then telephoned his mother and asked her to collect his children, saying there had been an incident at the family home; he also penned a letter. His car was later found abandoned in Newhaven, its interior stained with blood and its boot containing a piece of bandaged lead pipe similar to one found at the crime scene. By the time the police issued a warrant for his arrest a few days later, Lucan had vanished. At the inquest into Rivett's death, held in June 1975, the jury returned a verdict naming Lucan as her killer. There has been continuing interest in Lucan's fate, with hundreds of alleged sightings being reported in various countries around the world, none of which has been substantiated. Despite a police investigation and widespread press coverage, Lucan has never been found. He was presumed dead in chambers on 11 December 1992, and was declared legally dead in October 1999. In 2016, a death certificate was issued, allowing his titles to be inherited by his son George. ## Early life and education Richard John Bingham was born on 18 December 1934 at 19 Bentinck Street, Marylebone, London, the second child and elder son of George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan, an Anglo-Irish peer, and his wife Kaitlin Elizabeth Anne Dawson. A blood clot found in his mother's lung forced her to remain in a nursing home, so John, as he became known, was initially cared for by the family's nurserymaid, Lucy Sellers. Aged three years, John attended a pre-prep school in Tite Street with his elder sister Jane. In 1939, with the Second World War approaching, the two were taken to the relative safety of Wales. In 1940, joined by their younger siblings Sally and Hugh, the Lucan children travelled to Toronto in Canada, moving shortly thereafter to Mount Kisco, New York, United States. They stayed for five years with multi-millionairess Marcia Brady Tucker. John was enrolled at The Harvey School and spent summer holidays away from his siblings at a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains. While in the US, John and his siblings lived in grandeur and wanted for nothing, but on their return to England in February 1945 they were faced with the stark realities of wartime Britain. Rationing was still in force, their former home at Cheyne Walk had been bombed, and the family's house at 22 Eaton Square had had its windows blown out. Despite the family's noble ancestry, the 6th Earl and his wife were agnostics and socialists who preferred a more austere existence than that offered by Tucker, an extremely wealthy Christian. For a time, John suffered nightmares and was taken to a psychotherapist. As an adult he remained an agnostic, but ensured that his children attended Sunday school, preferring to give them a traditional childhood. At Eton College, John developed a taste for gambling. He supplemented his pocket money with income from bookmaking, placing his earnings into a "secret" bank account, and regularly left the school's grounds to attend horse races. According to his mother, John's academic record was "far from creditable", but he became captain of Roe's House before leaving in 1953 to undertake his National Service. He became a second lieutenant in his father's regiment, the Coldstream Guards, and was stationed mainly in Krefeld, West Germany. While there, he also became a keen poker player. ## Career On leaving the British Army in 1954, Lucan joined William Brandt's Sons and Co., a London-based merchant bank, on an annual salary of £500. In 1960 he met Stephen Raphael, a rich stockbroker who was a skilled backgammon player. They holidayed together in the Bahamas, went water-skiing, and played golf, backgammon and poker. Lucan became a regular gambler and an early member of John Aspinall's Clermont gaming club, located in Berkeley Square. Lucan often won at games of skill like backgammon and bridge, but he also accumulated huge losses. On one occasion Lucan lost £8,000, or about two-thirds of the money he received annually from various family trusts. On another disastrous night at a casino he lost £10,000. His uncle by marriage, stockbroker John Bevan, helped him to pay that particular debt, and Lucan repaid his uncle two years later. Lucan left Brandt's around 1960, shortly after he had won £26,000 playing chemin de fer. A colleague had been promoted before him, leading Lucan to leave his job in protest, saying, "Why should I work in a bank, when I can earn a year's money in one single night at the tables?" Lucan travelled to the US, where he played golf, raced power boats, and drove his Aston Martin around the West Coast. He also visited his elder sister Jane and his former guardian, Marcia Tucker. On his return to England he moved out of his parents' home in St John's Wood and into a flat in Park Crescent. ## Personal life ### Marriage and lifestyle Lucan met his future wife, Veronica Duncan, early in 1963. She was born in 1937 to Major Charles Moorhouse Duncan and his wife, Thelma. Veronica's father had died in a car accident when she was young, after which the family moved to South Africa. Her mother remarried, and her family returned to England, where her new stepfather became manager of a hotel in Guildford. With her sister, Christina, she was educated at St Swithun's School, Winchester. After displaying a talent for art Veronica went on to study at an art college in Bournemouth. The two sisters later shared a flat in London, where Veronica worked as a model and later as a secretary. Christina's marriage to the wealthy William Shand Kydd (half-brother to Peter Shand Kydd, stepfather to Diana Spencer, later Princess of Wales) introduced her to London high society, and it was at a golf-club function in the country that Veronica and Lucan first met. News of their engagement appeared in The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers on 14 October 1963, and the two were married at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, on 20 November. After a ceremony attended by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (one of whose ladies-in-waiting had been a relative of Lady Lucan), but few other prominent members of high society, the couple honeymooned in Europe, travelling first class on the Orient Express. Lucan's already embattled finances were given a welcome boost by his father, who provided him with a marriage settlement designed to finance a larger family home and any future additions to the Lucan family. Lucan repaid some of his creditors and purchased 46 Lower Belgrave Street in Belgravia, redecorating it to suit Veronica's tastes. Two months after the wedding, on 21 January 1964, Lucan's father died of a stroke. In addition to a reputed £250,000 inheritance, Lucan acquired his father's titles: Earl of Lucan; Baron Lucan of Castlebar; Baron Bingham of Melcombe Bingham and Baronet Bingham of Castlebar. His wife became the Countess of Lucan. The couple had three children: - Lady Frances Bingham, born on 24 October 1964 - Lord George Bingham, born on 21 September 1967 - Lady Camilla Bingham, born on 30 June 1970. Following the 1964 birth of their first daughter, Frances, from early in 1965 they employed a nanny, Lillian Jenkins, to look after her. Lucan tried to teach Veronica about gambling and traditional pursuits like hunting, shooting, and fishing. He bought her golf lessons; she later gave up the sport. Lucan's daily routine consisted of breakfast at 9:00 am, coffee, dealing with the morning's letters, reading the newspapers, and playing the piano. He sometimes jogged in the park and took his Doberman Pinscher for walks. Lunch at the Clermont Club was followed by afternoon games of backgammon. Returning home to change into black tie, the earl typically spent the remainder of the day at the Clermont, gambling into the early hours, watched sometimes by Veronica. In 1956, while still working at Brandt's, he had written of his desire to have "£2m in the bank", claiming that "motor-cars, yachts, expensive holidays, and security for the future would give myself and a lot of other people a lot of pleasure". Lucan was described by his friends as a shy and taciturn man, but with his tall stature, "luxuriant guardsman's moustache," and masculine pursuits, his exploits made him popular. His profligacy extended to hiring private aircraft to take his friends to the races, asking a car dealer he knew to source an Aston Martin drophead coupé, drinking expensive Russian vodka and racing power boats. In September 1966 he unsuccessfully screen tested for a part in Woman Times Seven, prompting him to decline a later offer from film producer Albert R. Broccoli to screen test him for the role of James Bond. As a professional gambler, Lucan was a skilled player, once rated amongst the world's top 10 backgammon competitors. He won the St James's Club tournament and was champion of the west coast of America. He gained the moniker "Lucky" Lucan, but his losses easily outweighed his winnings, and in reality he was anything but lucky. Lucan had interests in thoroughbred horses; in 1968 he paid more in race entry fees than he received in winnings. Despite some arguments over money, Veronica remained largely ignorant of his losses, retaining the use of accounts at Savile Row tailors and various Knightsbridge shops. Following the births of George and Camilla, Veronica suffered post-natal depression. Lucan became increasingly involved in her mental well-being, and in 1971 took her for treatment at a psychiatric clinic in Hampstead, where she refused to be admitted. Instead, she agreed to home visits from a psychiatrist and a course of antidepressants. In July 1972 the family holidayed in Monte Carlo, but Veronica quickly returned to England, leaving Lucan with their two elder children. The combined pressures of maintaining their finances, the costs of Lucan's gambling addiction, and Veronica's weakened mental condition took their toll on the marriage; two weeks after a strained family Christmas in 1972, Lucan moved into a small property in Eaton Row. ### Separation Some months later Lucan moved again, to a larger rented flat in nearby Elizabeth Street. Despite an early attempt by his wife at reconciliation, by that point all Lucan wanted from the marriage was custody of his children. In an effort to demonstrate that Veronica was unfit to look after them, Lucan began to spy on his family (his car was regularly seen parked in Lower Belgrave Street), later employing private detectives to perform the same task. He also canvassed doctors, who explained that his wife had not "gone mad", but was suffering from depression and anxiety. Lucan told his friends that nobody would work for Veronica – she had sacked Jenkins, the children's long-term nanny, in December 1972. Of the series of nannies employed in the house, one, 26-year-old Stefanja Sawicka, was told by Veronica that Lucan had hit her with a cane and had, on one occasion, pushed her down the stairs. The countess apparently feared for her safety and told Sawicka not to be surprised "if he kills me one day." Sawicka's time at the Lucan household ended late in March 1973. While with two of the children near Grosvenor Place, she was confronted by Lucan and two private detectives. They told her that the children had been made wards of court and that she must release them into his custody, which she did. Frances was collected from school later in the day. Veronica applied to the court to have the children returned, but concerned about the case's complexity, the judge set a date for the hearing three months ahead, for June 1973. To defend herself against Lucan's claims about her mental state, Veronica booked herself a four-day stay at the Priory Clinic in Roehampton. While it was acknowledged that she still required some psychiatric support, the doctors reported that there was no indication that she was mentally ill. Lucan's case depended upon Veronica being unable to care for the children, but at the hearing he was instead forced to defend his own behaviour toward her. After several weeks of witnesses and protracted arguments in camera, on the advice of his lawyers he conceded the case. Unimpressed by Lucan's character, Mr Justice Rees awarded custody to Veronica. The earl was allowed access every other weekend. Thus began a bitter dispute between the couple, involving many of their friends and Veronica's own sister. Lucan again began to watch his wife's movements. He recorded some of their telephone conversations with a small Sony tape recorder and played excerpts to any friends prepared to listen; he also told them – and his bank manager – that Veronica had been "spending money like water". Lucan continued to pay her £40 a week and may have cancelled their regular food order with Harrods. He delayed payment to the milkman and – knowing that Veronica was required by the court to employ a live-in nanny – the childcare agency. With no income of her own, Veronica took a part-time job in a local hospital. A temporary nanny, Elizabeth Murphy, was befriended by Lucan, who bought her drinks and asked her for information on his wife. He instructed his detective agency to investigate Murphy, looking for evidence that she was failing in her duty of care to his children. This they found; he dispensed with the detective agency's services when they presented him with bills amounting to several hundred pounds. Murphy was later hospitalised with cancer. Another temporary nanny, Christabel Martin, reported strange telephone calls to the house, some with heavy breathing and some from a man asking for non-existent people. Following a series of temporary nannies, Sandra Rivett started work in late 1974. ### Gambling Losing the court case proved devastating for Lucan. It had cost him an estimated £20,000, and by late 1974 his financial position was dire. As he drank more heavily and started chain-smoking, his friends began to worry. In drunken conversations with some of them, including Aspinall and his mother Lady Osborne, Lucan discussed murdering his wife. Greville Howard later gave a statement to the police describing how Lucan had talked of how killing his wife might save him from bankruptcy, how her body might be disposed of in the Solent and how he "would never be caught". Lucan borrowed £4,000 from his mother and asked Tucker for a loan of £100,000. Having no luck there, he wrote to Tucker's son, explaining how he wished to "buy" his children from Veronica; the money was not forthcoming. He turned to his friends and acquaintances, asking anyone plausible to loan him money to fund his gambling addiction. The financier James Goldsmith guaranteed a £5,000 overdraft for him, which for years remained unpaid. Lucan also applied to the discreet Edgware Trust. On request, he supplied details of his income, which was apparently around £12,000 a year from various family trusts. Lucan was required to provide a surety and received only £3,000 of the £5,000 he asked for. Much to their managers' consternation, his four bank accounts were overdrawn; Coutts, £2,841; Lloyds, £4,379; National Westminster, £1,290; Midland, £5,667. Even though by then he was playing for much lower stakes than had previously been the case, Lucan's gambling remained completely out of control. Ranson (1994) estimates that between September and October 1974 alone, the earl ran up debts of around £50,000. Taki Theodoracopulos, who recalled Lucan as a close friend for more than a decade, lent him £3,000 in cash three nights before the murder. Despite these problems, from late October 1974 Lucan's demeanour appeared to change for the better. His best man, John Wilbraham, remarked that Lucan's apparent obsession over regaining his children had diminished. While having dinner with his mother he cast aside talk of his family problems and turned instead to politics. On 6 November he met his uncle John Bevan, apparently in good spirits. Later that day he met 21-year-old Charlotte Andrina Colquhoun, who said that "he seemed very happy, just his usual self, and there was nothing to suggest that he was worried or depressed". He also dined at the Clermont with racing driver Graham Hill. At the time, casinos could open only between 2:00 pm and 4:00 am, so Lucan often gambled into the early hours of the morning. He took tablets to deal with his insomnia and therefore usually awoke around lunchtime. On 7 November though, he broke routine and called his solicitor early in the morning, and at 10:30 am took a call from Colquhoun. They arranged to eat at the Clermont at about 3:00 pm, but Lucan failed to appear. Colquhoun drove past the Clermont and Ladbroke clubs, and past Elizabeth Street, but could not find Lucan's car anywhere. Lucan also failed to arrive for his 1:00 pm lunch appointment with artist Dominic Elwes and banker Daniel Meinertzhagen, again at the Clermont. At 4:00 pm Lucan called at a chemist's on Lower Belgrave Street, close to Veronica's home, and asked the pharmacist there to identify a small capsule. It turned out to be Limbitrol 5, a drug for the treatment of anxiety and depression. Lucan had apparently made several similar visits since he separated from his wife; he never told the pharmacist where he got the drugs. At 4:45 pm he called a friend, literary agent Michael Hicks-Beach, and between 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm met with him at his flat on Elizabeth Street. Lucan wanted his help with an article on gambling he had been asked to write for an Oxford University magazine. Lucan drove Hicks-Beach home at about 8:00 pm, not in his Mercedes-Benz, but in "an old, dark, and scruffy Ford", possibly a Ford Corsair he borrowed from Michael Stoop several weeks earlier. At 8:30 pm he called the Clermont to check on a reservation for dinner with Greville Howard and friends. Howard had called him at 5:15 pm and asked if he wished to come to the theatre, but Lucan had declined and made the alternative suggestion to meet at the Clermont at 11:00 pm. He failed to arrive and did not answer his telephone when called. ## Murder ### Sandra Rivett Sandra Eleanor Rivett was born on 16 September 1945, the third child of Albert and Eunice Hensby. The family moved to Australia when she was two years old, but returned in 1955. Sandra was a popular child, described at school as "intelligent, although she does not excel academically". She worked for six months as an apprentice hairdresser before taking a job as a secretary in Croydon. After a failed romance, Sandra became a voluntary patient at a mental hospital near Redhill, Surrey, where she was treated for depression. She became engaged to a builder named John and took a job as a children's nanny for a doctor in Croydon. On 13 March 1964, she gave birth to a boy named Stephen, but, as her relationship with John was failing, she returned home to live with her parents and considered giving the baby up for adoption. Her parents took on the responsibility and adopted him in May 1965. Sandra later worked at a home for the elderly before moving to Portsmouth to stay with her older sister. While there she met Roger Rivett; the two married on 10 June 1967 in Croydon. Roger was serving as a Royal Navy able seaman and later worked as a loader for British Road Services, while Sandra worked part-time at Reedham Orphanage in Purley. In mid-1973 he took a job on an Esso tanker, returning to their flat in Kenley a few months later, by which time Sandra was employed by a cigarette company in Croydon. The marriage collapsed in May 1974 when, suspicious of Sandra's movements while he was away, Roger went to live with his parents. She was by then listed on the books of a Belgravia domestic agency and had been caring for an elderly couple in that district. A few weeks later she began to work for the Lucans. Sandra normally went out with her boyfriend, John Hankins, on Thursday nights, but had changed her night off and had seen him the previous day. The two last spoke on the telephone at about 8:00 pm on 7 November. After putting the younger children to bed, at about 8:55 pm she asked Veronica if she would like a cup of tea, before heading downstairs to the basement kitchen to make one. As she entered the room, Sandra was bludgeoned to death with a piece of bandaged lead pipe. Her killer then placed her body into a canvas mailbag. Meanwhile, wondering what had delayed her nanny, Lady Lucan descended from the first floor to see what had happened. She called to Rivett from the top of the basement stairs and was herself attacked. As she screamed for her life, her attacker told her to "shut up." Lady Lucan later claimed at that moment to have recognised her husband's voice. The two apparently continued to fight; she bit his fingers, and when he threw her face down to the carpet, managed to turn around and squeeze his testicles, causing him to release his grip on her throat and give up the fight. When she asked where Rivett was, Lucan was at first evasive, but eventually admitted to having killed her. Terrified, Lady Lucan told him she could help him escape if only he would remain at the house for a few days, to allow her injuries to heal. Lucan walked upstairs and sent his daughter to bed, then went into one of the bedrooms. When Veronica entered to lie on the bed, he told her to put towels down first to avoid staining the bedding. Lucan asked her if she had any barbiturates and went to the bathroom to get a wet towel, supposedly to clean Veronica's face. Lady Lucan realised her husband would be unable to hear her from the bathroom and made her escape, running outside to a nearby public house, the Plumbers Arms. Lucan may have arrived at the Chester Square home of Madelaine Florman (mother of one of Frances's school friends) sometime between 10:00 pm and 10:30 pm. Alone in the house, Florman ignored the door, but shortly afterwards she received an incoherent telephone call and put the receiver down. Bloodstains, which after forensic examination were found to be a mixture of blood groups A and B, were later discovered on her doorstep. Lucan certainly called his mother between 10:30 pm and 11:00 pm and asked her to collect the children from Lower Belgrave Street. According to the dowager countess, he spoke of a "terrible catastrophe" at his wife's home. He told her that he had been driving past the house when he saw Veronica fighting with a man in the basement. He had entered the property and found his wife screaming. The location from which Lucan made this call, and possibly the call to Florman, remains unknown. The police forced their way into Lady Lucan's home and discovered Rivett's body before his wife was taken by ambulance to St George's Hospital. Lucan drove the Ford Corsair 42 miles (68 km) to Uckfield, East Sussex, to visit his friends, the Maxwell-Scotts. Susan Maxwell-Scott's meeting with Lucan was his last confirmed sighting. ### Investigation By the time Detective Chief Superintendent Roy Ranson arrived at Lower Belgrave Street early on 8 November, the divisional surgeon had pronounced Rivett dead, and forensic officers and photographers had been called to the property. Other than the front door, which the first two officers on the scene had kicked in, there was no sign of a forced entry. A bloodstained towel was found in Veronica's first-floor bedroom. The area around the top of the basement staircase was heavily bloodstained. A bloodstained lead pipe lay on the floor. Pictures hanging from the staircase walls were askew and a metal banister rail was damaged. At the foot of the stairs, two cups and saucers lay in a pool of blood. Rivett's arm protruded from the canvas sack, which lay in a slowly expanding pool of blood. The light fitting at the bottom of the stairs was missing its bulb; one was noted nearby, on a chair. Blood was also found on various leaves in the adjoining rear garden. Officers also searched 5 Eaton Row, into which Lucan had moved early in 1973, interviewed his mother, whom he had called to take the children to her home in St John's Wood, and searched his last address at 72a Elizabeth Street. Nothing untoward was found; on the bed, a suit and shirt lay alongside a book on Greek shipping millionaires, and Lucan's wallet, car keys, money, driving licence, handkerchief and spectacles were on a bedside table. His passport was in a drawer and his blue Mercedes-Benz parked outside, its engine cold and its battery flat. Ranson then visited Lady Lucan at St George's Hospital. Although heavily sedated, she was able to describe what had happened to her. A police officer was left to guard her should her assailant return. Rivett's body was taken to the mortuary, and a search was undertaken of all local basement areas and gardens, skips and open spaces. After removing her corpse from the canvas sack and beginning the post mortem examination, pathologist Keith Simpson told Ranson he was certain that Rivett had been killed before her body was placed in the sack, and that in his opinion the lead pipe found at the scene could be the murder weapon. Her estranged husband, Roger, had an alibi for the night concerned and was eliminated from police inquiries. Other male friends and boyfriends were questioned and discounted as suspects. Rivett's parents confirmed that she had a good working relationship with Lady Lucan and was extremely fond of the children. Meanwhile, Lucan had yet to make an appearance, and so his description was circulated to police forces across the country. Newspapers and television stations were told only that Lucan was wanted by the police for questioning. Hours earlier, Lucan had again called his mother, at about 12:30 am. He told her that he would be in touch later that day, but declined to speak with the police constable who had accompanied her to her flat; instead, he said he would call the police later that morning. Ranson discovered that Lucan had travelled to Uckfield when he was called by Ian Maxwell-Scott, who told him that Lucan had arrived at his home a few hours after the murder and spoken with his wife, Susan. While there, the earl had written two letters to his brother-in-law, Bill Shand Kydd, and posted them to his London address. Maxwell-Scott also called Shand Kydd at his country house near Leighton Buzzard and told him about the letters, prompting the latter to immediately drive to London to collect them. After reading them, and noting that they were bloodstained, he took them to Ranson. When asked why she did not immediately inform the police of Lucan's presence, Susan said she had not seen any newspapers or television news, or listened to any radio broadcasts, that might have warned her of the importance of his visit. Meanwhile, Lucan's children were taken by their aunt, Lady Sarah Gibbs, to her home in Guilsborough, Northamptonshire, where they would remain for several weeks. On the day Lady Lucan was discharged from hospital, a High Court hearing confirmed that the children could return to live with her. Repeated press intrusions later forced the family to move to a friend's home in Plymouth. The Ford Corsair that Lucan had been seen driving, and whose details had the previous day been circulated across the country, was found on 10 November in Norman Road, Newhaven, about 16 miles (26 km) from Uckfield. In its boot was a piece of lead pipe covered in surgical tape and a full bottle of vodka. The car was removed for forensic examination. Later statements from two witnesses suggest that it was parked there sometime between 5:00 am and 8:00 am on the morning of 8 November. Its owner, Michael Stoop, also received a letter from Lucan, delivered to his club, the St James's. However, Stoop threw the envelope away and it was therefore not possible to check its postmark to see from where it had been sent. Ranson suspected a suicide, but a thorough search of Newhaven Downs was judged impossible. A partial search was made using tracker dogs, but all that was found were the skeletal remains of a judge who had disappeared years earlier. Police divers searched the harbour, and a partial search using infrared photography was undertaken the following year, to no avail. A warrant for Lucan's arrest, to answer charges of murdering Sandra Rivett and attempting to murder his wife, was issued on 12 November. Descriptions of his appearance, already issued to police forces across the UK, were then issued to Interpol. ### Forensic science The scientific examination of the lead pipes found at the murder scene and in the Corsair's boot revealed traces of blood on the pipe from 46 Lower Belgrave Street. This proved to be a mixture of Lady Lucan's (blood group A) and Rivett's (B) blood. Hair belonging to Lady Lucan was also found on that pipe, but none belonging to Rivett. The pipe found inside the Corsair had neither blood nor hair on it. Home Office scientists were unable to prove conclusively that both pipes were cut from the same, longer, piece of piping, although they thought it likely. The tape wrapped around both was similar, but those too could not be conclusively linked. The letters written to Kydd were stained with blood considered to be from both women. The letter to Stoop had no blood on it, but it was later proven that the paper it was written on had been torn from a writing pad found in the Corsair's boot. An examination of the blood stains found inside 46 Lower Belgrave Street demonstrated that Rivett had been attacked in the basement kitchen, while Lady Lucan had been attacked at the top of the basement stairs. The blood stains found inside the Corsair were of the AB blood group; the report concluded that this might have been a mixture of blood from both women. Hair similar to Lady Lucan's was also found inside the car. ### Media reaction By the afternoon of 8 November, the newspapers' early editions carried photographs of the Lucans across their front pages, accompanied by headlines like "Body in sack ... countess runs out screaming", and "Belgravia murder – earl sought". A meeting that day at the Clermont, between Aspinall, Meinertzhagen, Kydd, Elwes, Charles Benson, and Stephen Raphael became the cause of much press speculation. Meinertzhagen and Raphael later insisted that the gathering was just a rational discussion between concerned friends, keen to share anything they knew about what had happened, but the relationship between the Metropolitan Police and Lucan's social circle was strained; some officers complained that an "Eton mafia" worked against them. Susan Maxwell-Scott refused to add to her statement, and when Aspinall's mother, Lady Osborne, was asked if she could help locate Lucan's body, she replied, "The last I heard of him, he was being fed to the tigers at my son's zoo", prompting the police to search the house and the animal cages there. Police searched 14 country houses and estates, including Holkham Hall and Warwick Castle, to no avail. Amidst concerns expressed by the Labour MP Marcus Lipton that some people were "being a bit snooty" with the police, Benson wrote a letter to the editor to The Times asking him to either identify those people or "kindly withdraw his remarks". To its cost, the satirical magazine Private Eye accused Goldsmith of being at the Clermont meeting, when he was actually in Ireland. Elwes went to see Lady Lucan in hospital and was reportedly deeply shocked both by her appearance and her statement, "Who's the mad one now?" Elwes was apparently unhappy at some of the negative press coverage of the countess, and was later ostracised by his friends for his part in an article critical of Lucan, which appeared in The Sunday Times Magazine. He died by suicide in September 1975. Rivett's case made headlines around the world. Within days of the murder, newspapers reported on Lady Lucan's statement to the police, with claims that she had pretended to collude with her husband to ensure her safety. In January 1975 Lady Lucan gave an exclusive interview to the Daily Express. She also appeared in a murder reconstruction in the same newspaper, complete with posed photographs taken inside the house. ### Inquest The inquest into Sandra Rivett's death opened on 13 November 1974 and was led by the coroner for inner west London, Gavin Thurston. Two witnesses were called to the courtroom, which was packed with reporters; Roger Rivett, who confirmed that he had identified his wife's body, and the pathologist Keith Simpson, who confirmed that Rivett had died from being hit on the head with a blunt instrument. At Ranson's request, the hearing was then adjourned. Further adjournments were made on 11 December 1974 and 10 March 1975, before a full inquest was scheduled for 16 June 1975. The hearing began with introductions from various legal representatives, including a lawyer hired for Lucan by his mother. Thurston introduced the jury to the case and explained their duties. He had selected 33 witnesses to be called over the following few days, including Lady Lucan, who each day wore a dark coat and white headscarf. Thurston questioned her on her relationship with Lucan, her marriage, her financial affairs, her employment of Rivett and what had happened on the night of the attack. The dowager countess's Queen's Counsel attempted to ask Lady Lucan about the nature of their relationship or if she hated her husband, but Thurston ruled his line of questioning inadmissible. Woman Detective Constable Sally Blower, who had taken a statement from Lady Frances Lucan on 20 November 1974, read the young girl's words to the court. Frances had heard a scream, and a few minutes later had watched as her mother (blood on her face) and father had entered the room. Her mother had then sent her to bed. She later heard her father calling for her mother, asking where she was, and watched as he left the bathroom and walked downstairs. She also described how Rivett did not normally work on Thursday nights. The landlord of the Plumbers Arms pub described how Lady Lucan had entered his bar covered "head to toe in blood" before she fell into "a state of shock". He claimed that she shouted, "Help me, help me, I've just escaped from being murdered!" and, "My children, my children, he's murdered my nanny!" Simpson outlined his post-mortem examination, concluding that death was caused by "blunt head injuries" and "inhalation of blood". He confirmed that the lead pipe found at the scene was most likely responsible for Rivett's injuries; some, to the left eye and mouth, he thought more likely to have been caused by punches from a clenched fist. The last person to confirm seeing Lucan alive, Susan Maxwell-Scott, told the court that the earl looked "dishevelled", and his hair "a little ruffled". His trousers had a damp patch on the right hip. Lucan had told her that he was walking or passing by the Lower Belgrave Street residence when he saw Veronica being attacked by a man. He let himself in but slipped in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs. He told Maxwell-Scott that the attacker ran off, and that Veronica was "very hysterical" and accused him of having hired a hitman to kill her. Once the hearing had ended, Thurston made a summary of the evidence presented and told the jury their options. At 11:45 am, their foreman announced "Murder by Lord Lucan". Lucan became the first member of the House of Lords to be named a murderer since 1760, when Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, was hanged for killing his bailiff. He was also the last person to be committed by a coroner to the Crown Court for unlawful killing; the coroner's power to do so was removed by the Criminal Law Act 1977. Rivett's body, which had been held for several weeks following the murder, was released to her family and cremated at Croydon crematorium on 18 December 1974. A police spokesman cited Lady Lucan's desire not to upset the family as a reason for her non-attendance at the cremation. ### Lucan's defence Lucan's friends and family were critical of the inquest, which they felt offered a one-sided view of events. His mother told reporters that it did not serve "any useful purpose at all". Veronica's sister, Christina, said that she felt "great sadness and sorrow" at the verdict. Susan Maxwell-Scott continued to press the earl's claims of innocence and claimed to feel "awfully sorry" for the countess. However, as Lucan remained absent, his description of "a traumatic night of unbelievable coincidence" came only from the letters he authored and the people he spoke with soon after Rivett's murder. While his fingerprints were not found at the scene, his assertions make no provision for the lead pipe discovered in the boot of the Corsair, the claims by some that he discussed murdering his wife, or the lack of a viable suspect for the man he claimed to have seen fighting her. No sign of a forced entry was found, and officers attempting to demonstrate that Lucan could have seen into the basement kitchen, from the street, could only do so by stooping low to the pavement. The light in the basement of 46 Lower Belgrave Street was not working, making it even more difficult to see into the room; its lightbulb (which was tested and found to be in working order) was found removed from its holder and left lying on a chair. Furthermore, Lady Lucan claimed not to have entered the basement that night, contradicting the earl's version of events; his wife's account is supported by the forensic examination made of the blood splashes and stains around the property. Some traces of Lady Lucan's blood were found in the basement, the rear garden and on the canvas sack used to store Rivett's body; this may have been due to contamination at the scene. The man Lucan claimed to have seen could not have left through the basement's front door as it was locked, and the rear door led to a walled garden through which no trace of an escape was found. No signs that the man left by the ground level front door were discovered, and no witnesses reported seeing any such person near 46 Lower Belgrave Street. In contrast to his defenders, the national press were almost unanimous in their condemnation of Lucan. Their leader-writers ignored the risk of libel and identified him as Rivett's killer. ## Bankruptcy and estate As Lucan's bankruptcy proceeded, in August 1975 his creditors were informed that the missing earl had unsecured debts of £45,000 and preferential liabilities for £1,326. His assets were estimated at £22,632. The family silver was sold in March 1976 for around £30,000. His remaining debts were repaid by the Lucan family trust in the years immediately following his disappearance. Lucan's family was granted probate over his estate in 1999, but no death certificate was issued, and his heir, George Bingham, was refused permission to take his father's title and seat in the House of Lords. Following the passage of the Presumption of Death Act 2013, Bingham began a new attempt to have his father declared dead, which proved successful in a High Court hearing at the Rolls Building on 3 February 2016. He therefore inherited his father's title, becoming the 8th Earl of Lucan. ## Aftermath and reported sightings The last confirmed sighting of Lucan was at about 1:15 am on 8 November 1974 as he exited the driveway of the Maxwell-Scott property in Stoop's Ford Corsair, and his ultimate fate remains a mystery. Ranson initially claimed that Lucan had "done the honourable thing" and "fallen on his own sword", a view repeated by many of Lucan's friends, including Aspinall, who said that he believed that the earl was guilty of Rivett's murder and that he had committed suicide by scuttling his motorboat and jumping into the English Channel with a stone tied to his body. Lady Lucan believed that her husband had killed himself "like the nobleman he was". Ranson later changed his view, explaining that he considered it more likely that suicide was far from Lucan's thoughts, that a drowning at sea was implausible, and that the earl had moved to southern Africa. A detective who led a new investigation into Lucan's disappearance 32 years after the murder told the Telegraph that "the evidence points towards the fact that Lord Lucan left the country and lived abroad for a number of years". Susan Maxwell-Scott told author John Pearson that Lucan might have been helped out of the country by shadowy underground financiers before being judged too great a risk, killed, and buried in Switzerland. Advertising executive Jeremy Scott proposed a similar theory, as he was familiar with some of the Clermont Set. Lucan's disappearance has captivated the public's imagination for decades, with thousands of sightings reported around the world. One of the earliest such sightings occurred shortly after the murder, but it turned out to be British politician John Stonehouse who had attempted to fake his own death. The police travelled to France in June the following year to hunt another lead, to no avail. A sighting in Colombia turned out to be an American businessman. John Miller, a bounty hunter who previously kidnapped fugitive train robber Ronnie Biggs, claimed to have captured the earl in 1982 but was later exposed by the News of the World as a hoaxer. In 2003, a former Scotland Yard detective thought that he had tracked the earl to Goa, India, but the man whom he traced was actually Barry Halpin, a folk singer from Merseyside. In 2007, reporters in New Zealand interviewed a homeless British expatriate who neighbours claimed was the missing earl. George Bingham responded to claims that the two eldest Lucan children were sent to Gabon in the early 1980s so that their father might secretly watch them "from a distance" and denied ever visiting the country. Lady Lucan dismissed the newspaper claims of sightings as "nonsense", reiterating that her husband "was not the sort of Englishman to cope abroad". Lady Lucan died by suicide on 26 September 2017, believing she had undiagnosed Parkinson's disease. In 2020, a sighting was reported in Australia; a pensioner living in suburban Brisbane was alleged to be Lord Lucan by Professor Hassan Ugail, a leading computer scientist. Ugail claimed state-of-the-art facial recognition technology had positively identified the elderly man as the missing British aristocrat. The man, who lives in what was described as a Buddhist commune in Brisbane’s outer suburbs, was found by Ms Rivett’s son, Neil Berriman. The elderly man is the same age as Lucan. The man denied being Lord Lucan and no substantive proof has been provided that he is, or has any link with, the missing peer. ## See also - List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
4,396,940	White Deer Hole Creek	1,162,890,174	Tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River	[ "Rivers of Clinton County, Pennsylvania", "Rivers of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania", "Rivers of Pennsylvania", "Rivers of Union County, Pennsylvania", "Tributaries of the West Branch Susquehanna River" ]	White Deer Hole Creek is a 20.5-mile (33.0 km) tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Clinton, Lycoming and Union counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, the White Deer Hole Creek watershed drains parts of ten townships. The creek flows east in a valley of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians, through sandstone, limestone, and shale from the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods. As of 2006, the creek and its 67.2-square-mile (174 km<sup>2</sup>) watershed are relatively undeveloped, with 28.4 percent of the watershed given to agriculture and 71.6 percent covered by forest, including part of Tiadaghton State Forest. The western part of White Deer Hole Creek has very high water quality and is the only major creek section in Lycoming County classified as Class A Wild Trout Waters, defined by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission as "streams which support a population of naturally produced trout of sufficient size and abundance to support a long-term and rewarding sport fishery." The rest of the creek and its major tributary (Spring Creek) are kept stocked. There are opportunities in the watershed for canoeing, hunting, and camping, and trails for hiking and horseback riding. Historically, two paths of the native indigenous peoples ran along parts of White Deer Hole Creek. Settlers arrived by 1770, but fled in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. They returned and the creek served as the southern boundary of Lycoming County when it was formed on April 13, 1795. A logging railroad ran along the creek from 1901 to 1904 for timber clearcutting, and small-scale lumbering continues. During World War II a Trinitrotoluene (TNT) plant, which became a federal prison in 1952, was built in the watershed. Most development is in the eastern end of the valley, with two unincorporated villages, a hamlet, and most of the farms (many Amish). ## Name Two etymologies have been suggested for White Deer Hole Creek's unusual name. According to Donehoo, it is a translation of the Lenape (or Delaware) Woap-achtu-woalhen (meaning "white-deer digs a hole"). It is Opauchtooalin on the earliest map showing the creek (1755), while a 1759 map has both Opaghtanoten and its translation, "White Flint Creek". By 1770 (when the first settlers arrived) a map has "White Deer hole". In 1870, 88-year-old John Farley gave a second explanation of the name. His family had settled on the banks of White Deer Hole Creek in 1787, and John's father John built a mill on the creek by 1789. The creek was named because "a white deer is said to have been killed at an early day in a low hole or pond of water that once existed where my father built his mill". The hole was "a large circular basin of low ground of some ten acres [(four ha)] in extent....after my father's mill and dam were built the water of the dam overflowed and covered the most of the hollow basin of ground." The mill was just west of the mouth at the unincorporated village of Allenwood (then called Uniontown), now in Gregg Township in Union County. The name "White Deer Hole Creek" is unique in the USGS Geographic Names Information System and on its maps of the United States. Although the whole creek is now referred to by this name, in 1870 the name applied only to the section from the confluence with Spring Creek east to its mouth, while the main branch west of Spring Creek was called "South Creek". Meginness used this name in 1892 and it appeared on a 1915 state map of Union County (but not the 1916 Lycoming County map). As of 2022 the name "South Creek" has disappeared, but there is still a "South Creek Road" on the right bank of the creek in Gregg Township from near the mouth of Spring Creek west to the county line. According to Meginness, the 17-mile (27 km) long and 8-mile (13 km) wide White Deer Hole Creek valley was just called "White Deer valley" by many in 1892, and this is still common. Confusion about the names arises since White Deer Creek is the next creek south of White Deer Hole Creek (they are on opposite sides of South White Deer Ridge). The Lenape name for White Deer Creek was Woap'-achtu-hanne (translated as "white-deer stream"). Spring Creek is the only named tributary of White Deer Hole Creek. Five unnamed tributaries flow through named features of South White Deer Ridge. Going upstream in order they are: Beartrap Hollow, First Gap, Second Gap, Third Gap, and Fourth Gap. ## Course Lycoming County is about 130 miles (210 km) northwest of Philadelphia and 165 miles (266 km) east-northeast of Pittsburgh. The source of White Deer Hole Creek is in Crawford Township, just over the Clinton County line. Both it and the western half of the creek are within Tiadaghton State Forest. The creek flows east and soon crosses a natural gas pipeline and the Lycoming County line into Limestone Township. It soon flows into Washington Township, which has more of White Deer Hole Creek than any other township. It receives unnamed tributaries in the Fourth, Third, Second, and First Gaps of South White Deer Ridge on the south or right bank. The creek leaves Tiadaghton State Forest after the Third Gap (the forest itself continues along the ridge to the river), and stops being "Class A Wild Trout Waters" between the Second and First Gaps. It receives the unnamed tributary in Beartrap Hollow 10.8 miles (17.4 km) upstream of its mouth, then passes south of the unincorporated village of Elimsport. White Deer Hole Creek then flows east into Gregg Township in Union County, receiving its major tributary, Spring Creek, on the left bank 3.6 miles (5.8 km) upstream of its mouth. Spring Creek rises north of Elimsport in Washington Township and flows east-southeast, passing through Pennsylvania State Game Lands No. 252 and just south of the Federal Correctional Institute, Allenwood. The creek next flows just south of the hamlet of Spring Garden, then south of the village of Allenwood, where it has its confluence with the West Branch Susquehanna River. The direct distance between the source and mouth is only 16 miles (26 km). U.S. Route 15 and the Union County Industrial Railroad run north-south here along the river and cross the creek just before its mouth; however, this track is not in service as of 2022. Pennsylvania Route 44 runs east-west roughly parallel to the creek between Elimsport and Allenwood. Township roads run along the eastern two-thirds of the creek, and smaller, more primitive roads follow it to near its source. From the mouth of White Deer Hole Creek it is 17.7 miles (28.5 km) along the West Branch Susquehanna River to its confluence with the Susquehanna River at Northumberland. The elevation at the source is 2,180 feet (660 m), while the mouth is at an elevation of 445 feet (136 m). The difference in elevation, 1,735 feet (529 m), divided by the length of the creek of 20.5 miles (33.0 km) gives the average drop in elevation per unit length of creek or relief ratio of 84.6 feet/mile (16.0 m/km). The meander ratio is 1.14, so the creek's path is not entirely straight in its bed. The meandering increases near the mouth. For its entire length, White Deer Hole Creek runs along the north side of South White Deer Ridge, an east-west ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. North White Deer Ridge and Bald Eagle Mountain form the northern edge of the creek valley. There are 24 unnamed tributaries on the south side of the creek, all flowing down the side of South White Deer Ridge, while there are only 11 tributaries on the north side, including Spring Creek. White Deer Creek, the next major creek to the south, flows along the other side of South White Deer Ridge in Union County and is just 1.9 miles (3.1 km) away (as measured along the West Branch Susquehanna River). The next major creek to the north is Muncy Creek, 10.2 miles (16.4 km) away along the river, but on the opposite bank. The next creek to the north on the same bank (except for the small Black Run) is Black Hole Creek, on the south side of Bald Eagle Mountain. It has a watershed area of 21.1 square miles (55 km<sup>2</sup>) and enters the river 4.0 miles (6.4 km) away at the borough of Montgomery. White Deer Hole Creek joins the West Branch Susquehanna River 17.66 miles (28.42 km) upstream of its mouth. ## Geology White Deer Hole Creek is in a sandstone, limestone, and shale mountain region, entirely in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians. South and North White Deer Ridge and Bald Eagle Mountain are composed of sedimentary Ordovician rock, while the valley rock is Silurian, with a small Devonian region closer to the river, in the north. The watershed has no deposits of coal, nor natural gas or oil fields. The creek is in a narrow mountain valley with steep slopes in its upper reaches. In its middle and lower reaches it has steep mountain slopes to the south, and a wide valley with rolling hills and gentle slopes to the north. The channel pattern is transitional, with a trellised drainage pattern. From 1961 to 1995, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) operated one stream gauge on White Deer Hole Creek at the Gap Road bridge (upstream of Elimsport), for the uppermost 18.2 square miles (47 km<sup>2</sup>) of the watershed. The highest yearly peak discharge measured at this site was 4,200 cubic feet (120 m<sup>3</sup>) per second and the highest yearly peak gauge height was 11.83 feet (3.61 m), both on June 22, 1972, during Hurricane Agnes. The lowest yearly peak discharge in this time period was 135 cubic feet (3.8 m<sup>3</sup>) per second and the lowest yearly peak gauge height was 4.29 feet (1.31 m), both on November 26, 1986. The USGS also measured discharge at Allenwood, very near the creek's mouth, as part of water quality measurements on seven occasions between 1970 and 1975. The average discharge was 70.4 cubic feet (1.99 m<sup>3</sup>) per second, and ranged from a high of 111 cubic feet (3.1 m<sup>3</sup>) per second to a low of 33 cubic feet (0.93 m<sup>3</sup>) per second. There are no other known stream gauges on the creek. ## Watershed The White Deer Hole Creek watershed consists of 0.08 percent of the area of Clinton County, 4.40 percent of the area of Lycoming County, and 3.67 percent of the area of Union County. Neighboring watersheds are the West Branch Susquehanna River and its minor tributaries (north and east), White Deer Creek (south), and Fishing Creek (west). In 2000, the White Deer Hole Creek watershed population was 2,672. In the 1970s, Amish began moving to the Elimsport area from Lancaster County. In 1995 there were over 200 Amish in more than twenty families. In comparison, Washington Township's population was 1,619 in 2010 (and 1769 in 2020). Elimsport has Amish harness, machine repair, and food shops, and a new one-room school was built nearby in 1997. The watershed area is 67 square miles (170 km<sup>2</sup>), with 48 square miles (120 km<sup>2</sup>) of forest and 19 square miles (49 km<sup>2</sup>) for agriculture. By area, 1.1 percent of the watershed lies in Clinton County (in Crawford and Greene Townships), 81.6 percent lies in Lycoming County (in Brady, Clinton, Limestone, and Washington Townships), and 17.3 percent lies in Union County (in Gregg, Lewis, West Buffalo, and White Deer Townships). Spring Creek is the major tributary, draining an area of 21.1 square miles (55 km<sup>2</sup>) or 31 percent of the total White Deer Hole Creek watershed. No other tributaries are named and only the area of the tributary in Beartrap Hollow is known, with 0.42 square miles (1.1 km<sup>2</sup>) or 0.63 percent of the total. ### Water quality and pollution Clearcutting of forests in the early 20th century and the ordnance plant in the Second World War adversely affected the White Deer Hole Creek watershed's ecology and water quality. Agricultural runoff was and is another potential source of pollution. Gregg Township had no wastewater treatment plant until an 800,000-gallon/day (304 m<sup>3</sup>/day) plant was built along the river just north of the creek for the federal prison (90 percent) and village of Allenwood (10 percent). The drainage basin has been designated by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as "a high quality watershed" since 2001. The mean annual precipitation for White Deer Hole Creek is 40 to 42 inches (1,016 to 1,067 mm). Pennsylvania receives the most acid rain of any state in the United States. Because the creek is in a sandstone, limestone, and shale mountain region, it has a relatively low capacity to neutralize added acid. This makes it especially vulnerable to acid rain, which poses a threat to the long term health of the plants and animals in the creek. The total alkalinity of the "Class A Wild Trout Waters" is 2 for the 4.7 miles (7.6 km) of White Deer Hole Creek so classified, and 13 for the 3.0-mile (4.8 km) unnamed tributary in the Fourth Gap. ### Recreation Edward Gertler writes in Keystone Canoeing that White Deer Hole Creek "offers a good springtime beginner cruise through a pretty, agricultural valley" with "many satisfying views" and "good current and many easy riffles". Canoeing and kayaking are possible in spring and after hard rain, with 10.6 miles (17.1 km) of Class 1 whitewater on the International Scale of River Difficulty from Back Road bridge east to U.S. Route 15 (the mouth). One can start further upstream at the Gap Road bridge, for 2.0 miles (3.2 km) of Class 2 whitewater, but strainers are more of a problem here. White Deer Hole Creek is designated by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission as a "Class A Wild Trout Waters" stream, from the source downstream to the Township Road 384 (Gap Road) bridge. The unnamed tributary in Fourth Gap is also "Class A Wild Trout Waters". The creek downstream from the bridge, as well as Spring Creek, have been designated as approved trout waters by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and are stocked with trout and may be fished during trout season. Other fish found in the creek and river include carp, catfish, pickerel, and pike. Hunting, trapping, and fishing are possible with proper licenses in Tiadaghton State Forest and the 3,018 acres (1,221 ha) in State Game Lands No. 252. In 2002, a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources report on "State Forest Waters with Special Protection" rated White Deer Hole Creek from its source to Spring Creek as a "High Quality-Cold Water Fishery". In addition to these public lands, there are private hunting and fishing clubs and cabins along White Deer Hole Creek and its tributaries. Popular game species include American black bear, white-tailed deer, ruffed grouse, and wild turkey. Part of the 261-mile (420 km) Pennsylvania Mid State Trail, marked with orange blazes to indicate it is solely for hiking, runs along a section of White Deer Hole Creek from west of the Fourth Gap to beyond the source. There are other hiking trails in the watershed, and the Third Gap, Metzger, Mud Hole, Pennsylvania Mid State, Sawalt, and Mountain Gap trails are part of the 120-mile (190 km) Central Mountains Shared Use Trails System, marked with red blazes, in Tiadaghton and Bald Eagle State Forests in Union, Lycoming, and Clinton Counties. Roads and trails in the state forest are also open for horseback riding and mountain biking. Some trails are dedicated to cross-country skiing and snowmobiling in winter. The state forest is open for primitive camping, although certain areas require a permit. Small campfires are allowed, except from March to mid-May and October through November, or by order of the district forester, when self-contained stoves are allowed. ## History ### Native American paths The first recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley were the Susquehannocks, an Iroquoian speaking people. Their name meant "people of the muddy river" in the Algonquian, but their name for themselves is unknown. Decimated by diseases and warfare, they had largely died out, moved away, or been assimilated into other tribes by the early 18th century. The lands of the West Branch Susquehanna River valley were then chiefly occupied by the Munsee phratry of the Lenape (or Delaware), and were under the nominal control of the Five (later Six) Nations of the Iroquois. Two important paths of these native indigenous peoples ran along parts of White Deer Hole Creek. The Great Island Path was a major trail that ran north along the Susquehanna River from the Saponi village of Shamokin at modern Sunbury, fording the river there and following the west bank of the West Branch Susquehanna River north until White Deer Hole valley. The path turned west at Allenwood and followed White Deer Hole Creek until about the present location of Elimsport. There it headed northwest, crossed North White Deer Ridge and passed west through the Nippenose valley, then turned north and crossed Bald Eagle Mountain via McElhattan Creek and ran along the south bank of the river to the Great Island (near the present day city of Lock Haven). The stretch from the mouth of the creek to the Nippenose valley is approximately followed by Route 44. From the Great Island, the Great Shamokin Path continued further west to the modern boroughs of Clearfield and Kittanning, the last on the Allegheny River. Culbertson's Path followed White Deer Hole Creek west from Allenwood, then followed Spring Creek north, crossed Bald Eagle Mountain and followed Mosquito Run to the river at the current borough of Duboistown. Here it crossed the river to "French Margaret's Town" (western modern day Williamsport) before joining the major Sheshequin Path, which led north up Lycoming Creek to the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, modern New York, and the Iroquois there. These trails were only wide enough for one person, but settlers in White Deer Hole valley broadened the path to DuBoistown to take grain to Culbertson's mill on Mosquito Run, hence the name. Culbertson's Path was used as a part of the Underground Railroad until the American Civil War began in 1861. Escaped slaves would often wade in creeks to hide their scent from pursuing bloodhounds. In 2009, there is still a "Culbertson's Trail", for hiking over Bald Eagle Mountain from Pennsylvania Route 554 to Duboistown. ### Lycoming County boundaries When Lycoming County was organized on April 13, 1795, the bill passed by the Pennsylvania legislature defined the new county's boundaries thus: > That all that part of Northumberland County lying northwestward of a line drawn from the Mifflin county line on the summit of Nittany mountain; thence running along the top or highest ridge of said mountain, to where White Deer Hole creek runs through the same; and from thence by a direct line crossing the West Branch of Susquehanna, at the mouth of Black Hole creek to the end of Muncy Hills; thence along the top of Muncy Hills and the Bald Mountain to the Luzerne county line, shall be, and the same is hereby erected into a separate county, to be henceforth called and known by the name of Lycoming County. [emphasis added] The borders of the county have changed considerably since, but the White Deer Hole Creek watershed still approximates the county line in the south. Until 1861, what is now Gregg Township in Union County was a part of Brady Township in Lycoming County. Thus, until the start of the American Civil War, almost all of White Deer Hole Creek and its watershed were part of Lycoming County. ### Early inhabitants Prior to construction, the site of the wastewater treatment plant yielded archeological evidence of habitation by indigenous peoples from the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and Woodland periods. The only Native American inhabitant of the valley whose name is known, "Cochnehaw", lived near the mouth of White Deer Hole Creek. White Deer Hole Creek was acquired by the colonial government of Pennsylvania on November 5, 1768, as part of the "New Purchase" in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. The first settlers came to the valley in 1769 or 1770, and by 1778 there were 146 landowners on the township tax rolls (though many likely resided elsewhere.) In the American Revolutionary War, settlements throughout the Susquehanna valley were attacked by Loyalists and Native Americans allied with the British. After the Wyoming Valley battle and massacre in the summer of 1778 (near what is now Wilkes-Barre) and smaller local attacks, the "Big Runaway" occurred throughout the West Branch Susquehanna valley. Settlers fled from feared and actual attacks by the British and their allies. Settlers abandoned their homes and fields, drove their livestock south, and towed their possessions on rafts on the river to Sunbury. Their abandoned property was burnt by the attackers. Some settlers soon returned, only to flee again in the summer of 1779 in the "Little Runaway". Sullivan's Expedition helped stabilize the area and encouraged resettlement, which continued after the war. However, in 1787 there were only fourteen families in the valley: five on the river banks, five on White Deer Hole Creek between Spring Creek and the river, two on Spring Creek, and two on the creek west of Spring Creek. Six families left the area not long after 1787. The first grist mill was built on the creek in 1789, and four more were built in 1798, 1815, 1817, and 1842. ### Lumber and logging railroad Beginning with the first settlers, much of the land along White Deer Hole Creek was slowly cleared of timber. Small sawmills were constructed in the 19th century, and a much larger lumber operation was run by the Vincent Lumber Company from 1901 to 1904. The company built a narrow gauge 42 inches (1,100 mm) railroad from Elimsport 5 miles (8.0 km) west into timber, and a line east to Allenwood and the Reading Railroad there. The lumber railroad, which ended near the Fourth Gap, ran parallel to the creek. It was incorporated on June 24, 1901, (around the time of construction) as the "Allenwood and Western Railroad". The lumbering operation ceased in 1904 when the forests were gone. The railroad was torn up, and its one second-hand Shay locomotive was moved to the Vincent Lumber Company operation at Denholm in Juniata County. From 1900 to 1935, much of what is now Tiadaghton State Forest was purchased by Pennsylvania from lumber companies that had no further use for the clear-cut land. In the 1930s there were seven Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps to construct roads and trails in the forest. CCC Camp S-125-Pa (Elimsport) was located 15 miles (24 km) west of Allenwood along the creek, between the Third and Fourth Gaps. Small-scale lumbering continues in the watershed, but the forest is certified as well-managed "in an environmentally sensitive manner" and lumber from it qualifies for a "green label". Gertler reports lumber operations along White Deer Hole Creek near Elimsport in the early 1980s. A sawmill owned and operated by Amish on Route 44 in Elimsport burned down on May 10, 2006, causing \$500,000 in damages, but was expected to be back in operation in a month; it has since reopened. Despite this small-scale lumbering, the forests have grown back since the clear cutting of the 19th century, and are mixed oak, with blueberry and mountain laurel bushes. White Deer Hole Creek and its tributaries also have stands of hemlock and thickets of rhododendron along them. ### Ordnance plant to federal prison and game lands During the Second World War, the federal government built the \$50 million Susquehanna Ordnance Depot to make TNT on 8,500 acres (3,400 ha), partially in the White Deer Hole Creek watershed. In the spring of 1942, residents were evicted by eminent domain from 163 farms and 47 other properties in Gregg Township in Union County and Brady, Clinton, and Washington Townships in Lycoming County. The village of Alvira in Gregg Township disappeared. Alvira was founded in 1825 as "Wisetown" and had 100 inhabitants by 1900. Although the inhabitants were told they could return after the war, almost all the buildings seized were razed. Only some cemeteries and the nearby "Stone Church" remain. Construction of the plant involved some 10,000 people, and it took 3,500 to 4,500 employees to run the plant with its more than 200 buildings and 149 storage bunkers for TNT and high explosives, as well as storage racks of bombs. However, the need for TNT was lower than originally estimated and the project was nearly abandoned. By 1945, the only workers left at the depot were guards. The depot closed after the war and the land was used by the United States Army for testing. In 1950, the Federal Bureau of Prisons was given 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of the plant site, and began housing prisoners from the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary there in 1952. In 1957 the "Allenwood Prison Camp" was built, which became the "Federal Correctional Institute, Allenwood". This was greatly expanded in the early 1990s to become "the largest federal prison facility" in the United States. North of the White Deer Hole Creek watershed, some of the land was sold to make the "White Deer Golf Course" in Clinton Township, and in 1973, 125 acres (51 ha) of prison land in Brady Township were leased to Lycoming County for its landfill (which serves five counties). The remaining 3,018 acres (1,221 ha) were given to Pennsylvania and became State Game Lands 252. Many of the 149 concrete bunkers remain, but it is "a diverse mix of mature forest, impoundments, and brushy thickets, as well as a local hotspot for a variety of birds during migration". The watershed is a haven for wildlife. Common animals in the game lands include painted and common snapping turtles, muskrats, frogs, eastern cottontails, red foxes, and white-tailed deer, while birds include golden-winged, hooded, and blue-winged warblers, red-shouldered hawks, wood ducks, tundra swans, pied-billed grebes, American bitterns, herons, and belted kingfishers. The first barn owls to be banded in Lycoming County were in a barn near Elimsport in 2006. Gray squirrels, groundhogs, raccoons, crows, red-tailed hawks, downy woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, American robins, nuthatches, titmice, and sparrows are also found in the White Deer Hole Creek watershed. ## See also - Delaware Run, next tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River going downriver (left bank) - Black Run (West Branch Susquehanna River), next tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River going upriver (right bank) - List of rivers of Pennsylvania
679,074	Quatermass and the Pit	1,150,485,741	British television serial	[ "1950s British drama television series", "1950s British science fiction television series", "1958 British television series debuts", "1959 British television series endings", "BBC television dramas", "British fantasy television series", "Films directed by Rudolph Cartier", "Quatermass", "Television series about ancient astronauts" ]	Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the chief character, Professor Bernard Quatermass, reappeared in a 1979 ITV production called Quatermass. Like its predecessors, Quatermass and the Pit was written by Nigel Kneale. The serial continues the loose chronology of the Quatermass adventures. Workmen excavating a site in Knightsbridge, London, discover a strange skull and what at first appears to be an unexploded bomb. Quatermass and his newly appointed military superior at the British Rocket Group, Colonel Breen, become involved in the investigation when it becomes apparent that the object is an alien spacecraft. The ship and its contents have a powerful and malignant influence over many of those who come in contact with it, including Quatermass. He concludes that millions of years in the past the aliens, probably from Mars, had abducted pre-humans and modified them to give them psychic abilities much like their own before returning them to Earth, leaving a genetic legacy which is responsible for much of the war and racial strife in the world. The serial has been cited as having influenced Stephen King and the film director John Carpenter. It featured in the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute, which described it as "completely gripping". ## Background The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and Quatermass II (1955), both written by Nigel Kneale, had been critical and popular successes for the BBC, and in early 1957 the corporation decided to commission a third serial. Kneale had left the BBC shortly before, but was hired to write the new scripts on a freelance basis. The British Empire had been in transition since the 1920s, and the pace accelerated in the wake of the Second World War. More and more member states demanded independence, and a series of crises erupted during the 1950s, including the 1952 Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya and the Suez Crisis of 1956. During the same period immigration into Britain from the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean was on the increase, causing some resentment among elements of the British. At the time Kneale was working on his scripts black communities in Nottingham and London came under attack from mobs of white Britons. Kneale disdained most science-fiction works of the 1950s as overly escapist, and preferred to base his plots on current events. Kneale became keen to develop the serial as an allegory for the emerging racial tensions which culminated in the Notting Hill race riots of August and September 1958. Kneale was also inspired by the rebuilding of London in the 1950s. Huge pits were dug in the process of erecting new structures, and the digs found unexploded ordnance from the Blitz and the occasional Romano-British ruin. Kneale thought: "What if they uncovered a spaceship?" ## Plot Workmen discover a pre-human skull while building in the fictional Hobbs Lane (formerly Hob's Lane, Hob being an antiquated name for the Devil) in Knightsbridge, London. Dr Matthew Roney, a palaeontologist, examines the remains and reconstructs a dwarf-like humanoid with a large brain volume, which he believes to be a primitive man. As further excavation is undertaken, something that looks like a missile is unearthed; further work by Roney's group is halted because the military believe it to be an unexploded Second World War bomb. Roney calls in his friend Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Rocket Group to prevent the military from disturbing what he believes to be an archaeological find. Quatermass and Colonel Breen become intrigued by the site. Breen has recently been appointed, despite Quatermass's objections, to be nominally his deputy but in reality to lead the Rocket Group. As more of the artefact is uncovered additional fossils are found, which Roney dates to five million years ago, suggesting that the object is at least that old. The interior is empty, and a symbol of six intersecting circles, which Roney identifies as a pentacle, is etched on a wall that appears to conceal an inner chamber. The inner chamber wall of the object is so hard that even a borazon boron nitride drill makes no impression, and when the attempt is made, vibrations cause severe distress to people around the object. Quatermass interviews local residents and discovers reports of ghosts and poltergeists have been common in the area for decades. An hysterical soldier is carried out of the object, claiming to have seen a dwarf-like apparition walk through the wall of the artifact, a description that matches a 1927 newspaper account of a ghost. Following the drilling attempt, a hole opens up in the object's interior wall. Inside, Quatermass and the others find the remains of insect-like aliens resembling giant three-legged locusts, with stubby antennae on their heads giving the impression of horns. As Quatermass and Roney examine the remains, they theorise the aliens may have come from a planet habitable five million years ago - Mars. While clearing his equipment from the craft, the drill operator triggers more poltergeist activity, and runs through the streets in a panic until he finds sanctuary in a church. Quatermass and Roney find him there, and he describes visions of the insect aliens killing each other. As Quatermass investigates the history of the area, he finds accounts dating back to mediaeval times about devils and ghosts, all centred on incidents where the ground was disturbed. He suspects a psychic projection of these beings has remained on the alien ship and is being seen by those who come into contact with it. Quatermass decides to use Roney's optic-encephalogram, a device that records impressions from the optical centres of the brain, and see the visions for himself. Roney's assistant, Barbara Judd, is the most sensitive; placing the device on her, they record a violent purge of the Martian hive to root out unwanted mutations. Quatermass concludes that in its most primitive phase mankind was visited by this race of Martians. Some apes and primitive pre-humans were taken away and genetically altered to give them abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis and other psychic powers. They were then returned to Earth, and the buried artifact is one of the ships that had crashed at the end of its journey. With their home world dying, the aliens had tried to change humanity's ancestors to have minds and abilities similar to their own, but with a bodily form adapted to life on Earth; however, the aliens had become extinct before completing their work. As the human race bred and evolved, a percentage retained their psychic abilities which surfaced only sporadically. For centuries the buried ship had occasionally triggered those dormant abilities, which explained the reports of poltergeists; people were unknowingly using their own telekinesis to move objects around, and the ghost sightings were traces of a racial memory. The authorities, and Breen in particular, find this explanation preposterous despite being shown the recording of Barbara's vision. They instead suggest that the craft is a buried remnant from the London Blitz: a Nazi propaganda weapon, with the alien bodies fakes designed to create a panic. They decide to hold a media event to stem the rumours that are already spreading. Quatermass warns that if implanted psychic powers survive in the human race, there could also still be an ingrained compulsion to enact the "Wild Hunt" of a race purge, but the media event goes ahead regardless. The power cables that string into the craft fully activate it for the first time, and glowing and humming like a living thing it starts to draw upon this energy source and awaken the ancient racial programming. Those Londoners in whom the alien admixture remains strong fall under the ship's influence; they merge into a group mind and begin a telekinetic mass murder of those without the alien genes, an ethnic cleansing of those the alien race mind considers to be impure and weak. Breen stands transfixed and is eventually consumed by the energies from the craft as it slowly melts away and an image of a Martian "devil" floats in the sky above London. Fires and riots erupt. Quatermass himself succumbs to Martian influence and attempts to kill Roney, who lacks the alien gene and is immune to alien influence. Roney manages to shake Quatermass out of his trance, and remembering the legends of demons and their aversion to iron and water, proposes that a sufficient mass of iron connected to wet earth may be sufficient to short-circuit the apparition. Quatermass acquires a length of iron chain and tries to reach the "devil" but succumbs to its psychic pressure. Roney manages to walk up to the apparition and hurls the chain at it, resulting in him and the spacecraft being reduced to ashes. At the conclusion of the final episode Quatermass gives a television broadcast, at the end of which he delivers a warning directly to camera: "Every war crisis, witch hunt, race riot, and purge... is a reminder and a warning. We are the Martians. If we cannot control the [Martian] inheritance within us, this will be their second dead planet". ## Cast For the third time in as many serials the title role was played by a different actor, this time by André Morell; the part had initially been offered to Alec Clunes, but he declined. Morell had a reputation for playing authority figures, such as Colonel Green in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and had previously worked with Kneale and Cartier when he appeared as O'Brien in their BBC television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954). He had been the first actor offered the part of Quatermass, for the original serial The Quatermass Experiment in 1953; he turned the part down. Morell's portrayal of Quatermass has been described as the definitive interpretation of the character. Colonel Breen was played by Anthony Bushell, who was known for various similar military roles – including another bomb disposal officer in The Small Back Room (1949) – and preferred to be addressed as "Major Bushell", the rank he held during the Second World War. Roney was played by Canadian actor Cec Linder, John Stratton played Captain Potter, and Christine Finn played the other main character, Barbara Judd. Finn went on to provide the voices for various characters in the popular 1960s children's television series Thunderbirds. For the first time, Kneale used a character from a previous serial other than Quatermass himself, the journalist James Fullalove from The Quatermass Experiment. The production team had hoped that Paul Whitsun-Jones would be able to reprise the part; he was unavailable and Brian Worth was cast instead. Michael Ripper appeared as an army sergeant; he had been in Hammer Film Productions' adaptation of the second Quatermass serial, Quatermass 2, the previous year. ## Episodes ## Production ### Filming The director assigned was Rudolph Cartier, with whom Kneale had a good working relationship; the two had collaborated on the previous Quatermass serials, as well as the literary adaptations Wuthering Heights (1953) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954). The budget of £17,500 allocated for Quatermass and the Pit was larger than that of the previous Quatermass productions. Pre-production began in September 1958, while Cartier was still working on A Tale of Two Cities and A Midsummer Night's Dream for the BBC. As the two previous Quatermass serials had been scheduled in half-hour slots but, performed live, had overrun, Cartier requested 35-minute slots for the six episodes of Quatermass and the Pit. This was agreed in November 1958, just before the start of production on 24 November. The six episodes – "The Halfmen", "The Ghosts", "Imps and Demons", "The Enchanted", "The Wild Hunt" and "Hob" – were broadcast on Monday nights at 8 pm from 22 December 1958 to 26 January 1959. Each episode was predominantly live from Studio 1 of the BBC's Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London. The episodes were rehearsed from Tuesday to Saturday, usually at the Mary Wood Settlement in Tavistock Place, London, with camera rehearsals in the morning and afternoon of transmission. Not every scene was live; a significant amount of material was on 35 mm film and inserted during the performance. Most filming involved scenes set on location or those too technically complex or expansive to achieve live. The latter were shot at Ealing Studios, acquired by the BBC in 1955, when Cartier worked with the cinematographer A. A. Englander. Pre-filming was also used to show the passage of time in the second episode; the archaeological dig at Ealing was shown to have dug deeper into the ground than the equivalent set at Riverside, enabling a sense of time having elapsed that would not have been possible in an all-live production. Special effects were handled by the BBC Visual Effects Department, formed by Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine in 1954. Kine or Wilkie oversaw effects on a production; due to the number of effects, both worked on Quatermass and the Pit. The team pre-filmed most of their effects for use during the live broadcasts. They also oversaw practical effects for the Ealing filming and Riverside transmission, and constructed the bodies of the Martian creatures. Made just before videotape came into general use at the BBC, all six episodes of Quatermass and the Pit were preserved for a possible repeat by being telerecorded on 35 mm film. This was achieved with a specially synchronised film camera capturing the output of a video monitor; the process had been refined throughout the 1950s and recordings of Quatermass and the Pit. The serial was repeated in edited form as two 90-minute episodes, entitled "5 Million Years Old" and "Hob", on 26 December 1959 and 2 January 1960. Unlike many programmes of its era that were lost broadcasts, all six episodes survived. The third episode, "Imps and Demons", was re-shown on BBC Two on 7 November 1986 as part of the "TV50" season, celebrating 50 years of BBC television. Quatermass and the Pit was the last original production on which Kneale collaborated with Rudolph Cartier. ### Music The music was credited to Trevor Duncan, a pseudonym used by BBC radio producer Leonard Trebilco, whose music was obtained from stock discs. Quatermass and the Pit also used sound effects and electronic music to create a disturbing atmosphere. These tracks were created for the serial by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, overseen by Desmond Briscoe; Quatermass and the Pit was one of the productions for which Briscoe and the workshop became most renowned. It was the first time electronic music had been used in a science-fiction television production. ## Reception Quatermass and the Pit was watched by an average audience of 9.6 million viewers, peaking at 11 million for the final episode. The Times' television reviewer praised the opening episode the day after its transmission. Pointing out that "Professor Bernard Quatermass ... like all science fiction heroes, has to keep running hard if he is not to be overtaken by the world of fact", the anonymous reviewer went on to state how much he had enjoyed the episode as "an excellent example of Mr. Kneale's ability to hold an audience with promises alone; smooth, leisurely, and without any sensational incident". Kneale went on to use the Martian "Wild Hunt" as an allegory for the recent Notting Hill race riots, but some Black British leaders were upset by the depiction of racial tensions in the first episode, according to The Times' Birmingham correspondent: "Leaders of coloured minorities here to-day criticized the BBC for allowing a report that 'race riots are continuing in Birmingham', to be included in a fictional news bulletin during the first instalment of the new Quatermass television play last night". These themes and subtexts were highlighted by the British Film Institute's review of the serial when it was included in their TV 100 list in 2000, in 75th position – 20th out of the dramas featured: "In a story which mined mythology and folklore ... under the guise of genre it tackled serious themes of man's hostile nature and the military's perversion of science for its own ends". ## Influence In a 2006 Guardian article Mark Gatiss wrote: "What sci-fi piece of the past 50 years doesn't owe Kneale a huge debt? ... The 'ancient invasion' of Quatermass and the Pit cast a huge shadow ... its brilliant blending of superstition, witchcraft and ghosts into the story of a five-million-year-old Martian invasion is copper-bottomed genius". Gatiss was a scriptwriter for Doctor Who, a programme that had been particularly strongly influenced by the Quatermass serials throughout its history. Derrick Sherwin, the producer of Doctor Who in 1969, acknowledged Quatermass and the Pit's influence on the programme's move towards more realism and away from "wobbly jellies in outer space". The 1971 and 1977 Doctor Who serials The Dæmons and Image of the Fendahl share many elements with Quatermass and the Pit: the unearthing of an extraterrestrial spaceship, an alien race that has interfered with human evolution and is the basis for legends of devils, demons and witchcraft, and an alien influence over human evolution. Writer and critic Kim Newman cited Quatermass and the Pit as perfecting "the notion of the science-fictional detective story". Newman said the programme was an influence on horror fiction writer Stephen King, saying that King had "more or less rewritten Quatermass and the Pit in The Tommyknockers". Newman also wrote that both the 1976 novel The Space Vampires and its 1985 film adaptation Lifeforce were closely inspired by Quatermass and the Pit; they feature a malicious alien influence on humanity, are set largely in London, and the problem is resolved using cold iron. After Quatermass and the Pit Kneale felt that it was time to rest the character. By the early 1970s he had decided there were new avenues to explore, and the BBC planned a fourth Quatermass serial in 1972. The BBC did not proceed with the project, and Kneale's scripts were produced in 1979 as a four-part serial for Thames Television titled Quatermass. ## Other media As with the previous two Quatermass serials, the rights to adapt Quatermass and the Pit for the cinema were purchased by Hammer Film Productions. Their adaptation was released as the 1967 film Quatermass and the Pit, directed by Roy Ward Baker and scripted by Kneale. Scottish actor Andrew Keir starred as Quatermass, the role for which he was best remembered and regarded particularly highly in comparison to the previous film Quatermass, Brian Donlevy. The film, made in colour, is regarded by many commentators as a classic of the genre for the way it blends science fiction with the supernatural. In the United States the film was retitled Five Million Years to Earth. A script book of Quatermass and the Pit was released by Penguin Books in April 1960, with a cover by Kneale's artist brother Bryan Kneale. In 1979 this was re-published by Arrow Books to coincide with the transmission of the fourth and final Quatermass serial on ITV; this edition featured a new introduction by Kneale. The theatrical company Creation Productions staged a live adaptation of Quatermass and the Pit in a quarry near Nottingham in August 1997. The BBC made Quatermass and the Pit available to buy on VHS videotape in 1989 in a two-part format. It was edited from a 207 minute total runtime down to 178 minutes, largely by trimming comic relief segments. A full, unedited, episodic version of the serial was released on DVD by BBC Worldwide in 2005, as part of The Quatermass Collection box set. Also included were the surviving two episodes of The Quatermass Experiment, all of Quatermass II and various extra features. For the box set release, Quatermass and the Pit was extensively restored using film from the BBC archives. A process called VidFIRE was applied to the scenes originally broadcast live, restoring the fluid interlaced video look they would have had on transmission, but which was lost during the telerecording process. This was used to digitally remaster scenes for the DVD release. A Blu-ray edition was released in 2018 to mark the show's 60th anniversary. For this edition, some material trimmed from the DVD box set version for technical reasons was reinstated, and a set of audio commentaries prepared by Toby Hadoke, based on his interviews and archival audio recordings by various members of the cast and crew. ## Parodies A 1959 episode of the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show parodied Quatermass and the Pit. The episode "The Scarlet Capsule" was written by Spike Milligan, and used the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop sound effects made for the television serial. The serial was also parodied by the BBC television comedy series Hancock's Half Hour in an episode entitled "The Horror Serial", transmitted the week following the final episode. In it, Tony Hancock has just finished watching the final episode of Quatermass and the Pit, and becomes convinced that there is a crashed Martian space ship buried at the end of his garden. It is in fact an unexploded bomb, although Hancock claims that the warning "Achtung!" is really the Martian for Acton. This episode no longer exists in the BBC's archives, but a private collector's audio-only recording has been discovered, and released publicly on the Hancock's Half Hour Collectibles Volume One CD box set. It was parodied a third time in a sketch from the final series of The Two Ronnies in 1986: the sketch featured a guest appearance by Joanna Lumley.
36,700,660	Terang Boelan	1,166,588,124	1937 film from the Dutch East Indies	[ "1937 drama films", "1937 films", "1937 lost films", "Dutch East Indies films", "Films directed by Albert Balink", "Indonesian black-and-white films", "Indonesian drama films", "Indonesian-language films", "Lost Indonesian films", "Lost drama films" ]	Terang Boelan (; Indonesian for "Full Moon", Terang Bulan in the Enhanced Spelling System) is a 1937 film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Written by Saeroen, directed by Albert Balink, and starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah and Eddie T. Effendi, Terang Boelan follows two lovers who elope after one is almost forced to marry an opium smuggler. The film was shot in the Indies and Singapore, and was partially inspired by the 1936 Hollywood film The Jungle Princess. It was aimed at native audiences and included keroncong music, which was popular at the time, and several actors from Balink's previous work Pareh (1936). Terang Boelan was a commercial success in both the Indies and abroad, earning 200,000 Straits dollars in British Malaya. This success revived the faltering domestic film industry and inspired films aimed at Malay audiences in Malaya, creating a formula of songs, beautiful scenery and romance that was followed for decades afterwards. The Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran described it as a turning point in the history of Indonesian cinema for its catalytic effect on the industry's growth. Like many Indonesian films of the era, Terang Boelan has been lost since at least the 1970s. ## Plot Rohaya must separate from her lover, Kasim, so that she can marry her father's choice, the disreputable but rich Musa. The night before the wedding, Kasim plays the song "Terang Boelan" for Rohaya, and they agree to elope. The following day, Rohaya and Kasim escape from Sawoba Island to Malacca, where Kasim begins work at a drydock and Rohaya keeps busy as a housewife. They discover that Kasim's old friend Dullah has lived in Malacca for some time. Their life together is interrupted when Musa, who is revealed to be an opium dealer, discovers them. While Kasim is away at work, Rohaya's father comes and takes her back to Sawoba. Kasim, having discovered Musa's deeds, also returns to Sawoba and rallies the villagers to his side by telling them of Musa's opium dealings. He and Musa begin fighting. When it appears Kasim may lose, he is saved by Dullah, who had followed him back to Sawoba. The villagers and Rohaya's father agree that Kasim and Rohaya should be together, as they are truly in love. ## Cast ## Background During 1934 and early 1935, all feature films released in the Dutch East Indies had been made by the American-educated Chinese-Indonesian director The Teng Chun. His low budget but popular films were mainly inspired by Chinese mythology or martial arts, and although aimed at ethnic Chinese proved popular among native audiences because of their action sequences. The Teng Chun's dominance was an effect of the Great Depression and changing market trends. The Great Depression had led to the Dutch East Indies government collecting higher taxes and cinemas selling tickets at lower prices, ensuring that there was a very low profit margin for local films. As a result, cinemas in the colony mainly showed Hollywood productions, while the domestic industry decayed. The Teng Chun was able to continue his work only because his films often played to full theatres. In an attempt to show that locally produced, well-made films could be profitable, the Dutch journalist Albert Balink, who had no formal film experience, produced Pareh (Rice) in 1935 in collaboration with the ethnic Chinese Wong brothers (Othniel and Joshua), and the Dutch documentary filmmaker Mannus Franken. The film cost 20 times as much as an average local production, in part because of Balink's perfectionism, and was ultimately a failure. The Indonesian writer and cultural critic Armijn Pane wrote that Pareh had performed poorly with native audiences as it was seen as looking at them through European eyes. Pareh bankrupted its producers, and enabled The Teng Chun to dominate the industry – although with less traditional stories – for a further two years. ## Production By late 1936 Balink had obtained financial backing from several domestic and foreign companies with which he, the Wongs, and Franken opened the Dutch Indies Film Syndicate (Algemeen Nederlandsch Indisch Filmsyndicaat, or ANIF) in Batavia (now Jakarta). Although this new establishment focused mainly on newsreels and documentaries, on 1 January 1937 ANIF announced that it would produce several feature films, one of which was Terang Boelan. The story for Terang Boelan was written by Saeroen, a reporter with the newspaper Pemandangan who had close connections to the theatrical community, shortly after the domestic release of the American-produced Dorothy Lamour vehicle The Jungle Princess (1936), which served as an inspiration. The Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran wrote that this gave Terang Boelan stylistic and thematic similarities to the earlier film. The Indonesian film critic Salim Said also recognised such similarities, describing Terang Boelan as reflecting the "jungle princess" works popular at the time. Saeroen named the fictional island on which Terang Boelan takes place "Sawoba" after the crew: Saeroen, Wong, and Balink. Production had begun by February 1937, under Balink's direction and with the Wongs as cinematographers, only to be interrupted by the relocation of ANIF's offices. Filming had begun by May of that year. Sources conflict as to whether Franken was involved: Biran wrote that Franken had been left in charge of the studio's documentaries, while the American film scholar Karl G. Heider recorded Franken as co-directing the film. As opposed to The Teng Chun, who aimed his films at lower-class audiences, Balink aimed his film at educated native Indonesians, attempting to show them not from a European perspective but as they viewed themselves. According to Said, this arose as a reaction to Pareh's failure and resulted in a less ethnological approach. Terang Boelan was shot in black-and-white using highly flammable nitrate film at Cilincing in Batavia, Merak Beach in Banten, and Tanjong Katong in Singapore. The use of nitrate film may have been a factor in the film's later loss. The cast of Terang Boelan mainly consisted of actors who had appeared in Pareh. This included the leading actor, Rd Mochtar, and several minor players, including Eddie T. Effendi and Soekarsih. Other cast members, including the leading lady Roekiah and her husband Kartolo, were drawn from traditional toneel theatrical troupes; this may have been part of an effort to attract theatregoers. The film, which included the songs "Terang Boelan" and "Boenga Mawar" ("Rose"), required its cast to sing keroncong music (traditional music with Portuguese influences); because Mochtar's voice was ill-suited to the task, the musician Ismail Marzuki – who also composed the film's score – sang while Mochtar lip synced. ## Release and reception Terang Boelan premiered on 8 December 1937 at the Rex Theatre in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies; it played to a nearly full theatre. Also marketed under the Dutch title Het Eilan der Droomen, the film was advertised as showing that the Indies were as beautiful as Hawaii, a popular island paradise in Hollywood films. Posters also emphasised the use of Indonesian-language dialogue. William van der Heide, a lecturer on film studies at the University of Newcastle in Australia, notes that the film continued a trend of "Indonesianisation", or the application of a national (Indonesian) understanding to borrowed concepts; for Terang Boelan this indigenisation process involved the inclusion of "exotic local settings" and keroncong music. Such adaptations of foreign films had arisen several years earlier and continued long after Terang Boelan's release. The film was a commercial success, both in the Indies and nearby British Malaya. Native audiences filled the cinemas, most of them working-class people, including native fans of toneel and keroncong who rarely watched films. After being licensed by RKO Radio Pictures, the film was screened in British Malaya, where it was advertised as "the first and best Malay musical" and earned 200,000 Straits dollars (then equivalent to US\$ 114,470) in two months. Terang Boelan proved to be the most successful production in the area until Krisis (Crisis) in 1953, released after the Netherlands recognised Indonesia's independence in 1949. Despite the success, ANIF was displeased with the film and halted its other non-documentary productions; one of the studio's cameramen, an Indo man named J.J.W. Steffens, suggested that ANIF's management preferred works of non-fiction as a more intellectual medium. Disappointed by the company's reaction, Balink left the Indies and emigrated to the United States in March 1938. Terang Boelan's cast left ANIF not long afterwards and, after briefly touring Malaya, joined Tan's Film. They made their first film for Tan's, Fatima, in 1938. Mochtar, who soon married fellow Terang Boelan actress Soekarsih, continued to be cast as Roekiah's lover; the two were a popular screen couple until Mochtar left Tan's in 1940 over a wage dispute. ## Legacy The success of Terang Boelan led to an increase in film production in the colony, many of the films following the same formula, including songs, beautiful scenery and romance. Before Terang Boelan, local studios had generally been unsuccessful in finding a formula popular with audiences, but the triple successes of Terang Boelan, Fatima, and Alang-Alang (Grass, 1939) revived the industry. Four new production houses were established in 1940, and actors and actresses previously attached to theatrical troupes entered the film industry, which was reaching new audiences. Most locally produced films released in the Indies were made between 1939 and the Japanese occupation in 1942. Meanwhile, in Malaya, the brothers Run Run and Runme Shaw, drawing inspiration from Terang Boelan and Alang-Alang's success with Malay audiences, established Malay Film Productions in Singapore, where it became one of the more successful production houses. Heider considered Terang Boelan one of the two most important cinematic works from the Dutch East Indies during the 1930s; Balink's earlier film Pareh was the other. He notes that Terang Boelan "set the tone for popular Indonesian cinema", a tone that remained dominant into the 1990s. Biran considered the film a turning point in the history of Indonesian cinema, showing the possibilities of the medium and serving as a catalyst for further development. Said concurred, describing the film as a milestone in Indonesia's history because of the widespread formula it introduced. The repeated use of Terang Boelan's formula has been criticised. The director Teguh Karya, for instance, denounced films that used it without building on it, leaving the formula "undeveloped and static". Terang Boelan is considered lost, as are most domestic productions from the era. The Filipino film historian and director Nick Deocampo noted that productions made with nitrate film – such as Terang Boelan – burned easily and were thus easily lost, but suggested that copies of the film may have survived until the 1970s. In a 1991 publication Said, Heider, and the American translator John H. McGlynn expressed hope that a copy of the film might be lying around in someone's attic or closet in Indonesia or the Netherlands. ## See also - List of lost films ## Explanatory notes

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